Aegir’s Wave Daughters

Image by Eliessa Bell (fallenlights.net) In the diverse cultural myths from around the world there is such magic in the names people give to the forces of Nature. Generally the names are simply the foreign term for a natural phenomenon. For example, in Nordic mythology Aegir is a personification of the sea, and that’s exactly […]

Most people identify the caduceus (aside of, naturally, as a medical symbol) with the Roman god Mercury (originally, Hermes the Greek god). He is always depicted holding his tall winged staff wound about with a pair of snakes. Origins In reality, the caduceus is an ancient symbol, first appearing in Hindu and Mesopotamian cultures as […]

Mongooses (Photo: Aung Mint Myat) In San folklore and mythology it is the tiny creatures that are revered and admired ― for their wiliness, intelligence, and fast reflexes. Size is of no importance; spirit is everything. South African author Laurens van der Post, who spent years among the San people, wrote that the Bushman imagination […]

Egyptian Origins In Egypt, the first appearance of this symbol is traced back to around 3000 BCE, although the exact origin of the ankh is not known. (And there is plenty of evidence of the ankh in other cultures, imbued with much the same significance.) There are many theories, of course … The ankh’s original […]

Mysterious women who hold up mirrors to reflect a person’s past or future. Who unravel thread to wind it onto a spindle for future weaving. Who carve exotic shapes of runes into the bark of Yggdrasil, the mighty world ash-tree. They are Fates, Norns and Weavers of Destiny. These ladies, obscured by veils and mists, […]

AN ASTONISHING FACT … the earliest signs of equality ― and respect ― between men and women lie in Ancient Egypt. Yes, Egypt was a patriarchal society. But the number of ruling queens and female pharaohs seems to indicate a greater nuance. And these women were powerful with a capital P! Names that immediately stand […]

Tree of Life, World Tree or Cosmic Tree … most world mythologies have one. What is so magical about a tree? It connects the Earth with the Sky, the Underworld with the Cosmos, it reflects the cyclical nature of life . . . birth, decay, regeneration. It binds together the Five Elements: it is rooted in […]

Runes are a set of symbols that came out of icy northern climes in ancient times, particularly Scandinavia, but moved southward with migration. In early times each glyph represented an idea, or a concept. The runic symbols eventually evolved into a form of alphabet for writing and communication. The Old Norse word rún means ‘secret’ […]

Nature From Prehistoric times, ancient cultural groups have imbued numbers with magic and symbolism … different numbers for different groups. One of those special symbolic numbers is FOUR. Even in our modern times, number four fills our lives. Just think of the most obvious ones … there are the four cardinal points of the compass […]

What came first, the gods or the named planets?