Eostre

The flowers are beginning to bloom, the sun has returned, Sunday is Easter! You've probably noticed that the date of Easter, unlike most Christian holidays, changes from year to year. Did you know that this is because Easter date is set by the "solar pagan calendar". The yearly celebration of bunnies and zombies occurs on the Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Why would a Christian holiday be celebrated based on a pagan calendar? According to The Field, "In 595 CE, Pope Gregory sent a mission of 40 monks led by a Benedictine called Augustine, prior of St Andrew’s monastery in Rome (and later the first Archbishop of Canterbury), to England with instructions to convert the pagan inhabitants to Christianity. Augustine was advised to allow the outward forms of the old, heathen festivals and beliefs to remain intact, but wherever possible to superimpose Christian ceremonies and philosophy on them."

Imbolc became Candlemas. Lughnasadh became Lammas or St Peter in Fetters day. The great festival of Sam-hain on 31 October became All Souls’ Night, followed by All Saints’ Day. The 12-day festival of Yule at the end of December became the celebration of Christ’s birth. "However, one festival was so ancient and so deeply entrenched in the pagan psyche that, although it was to become the most important and defining event in the ecclesiastical calendar, the Church did not attempt to change its name – Easter."

The Venerable Bede, famed early historian, writes about the culture of Anglo Saxon Northumbria in 724 CE, "Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance." Source: Wikipedia

Eostre is one member of a family of Indo-European dawn goddesses. Not many writings about Eostre survive, but we also have her cousin dawn goddesses Ausrine, Ushas, Eos, Ausekelis, Aurora, and their grandmother, Hausos. Umm...is it just me, or does Hausos sound kind of exactly like Jesus, especially if you say Jesus in Spanish? Is Jesus a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess, Hausos, another cousin of Eostre? Shrug. This week, I paint dawn goddesses, beginning with the enigmatic Eostre.

My painting of Eostre is based on the Ascension of Christ from an Anglo Saxon medieval illuminated manuscript, the Benedictional of St Aethelwold. Source: British Library. Original, prints, and merch avaialble from the shop link about, or on Fine Art America or RedBubble.

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Asherah

An inscription from Khirbet El-Qôm (near Jerusalem) dated to the 700s BCE and translated by archaeologist Judith Hadley reads, "Uriyahu the Rich wrote it. Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu by his Asherah and by his A[she]rah.” ( Source ) Asherah was the Great Goddess of the Ancient Near East. From this inscription and other evidence, it is surmised that Yahweh, the God of the Jews, once had a wife - Asherah. Asherah was also sometimes known as Astarte and was associated with lions and the planet Venus, like her relative, Ishtar/Inanna. Asherah's symbol was the tree of life, and her worship involved sacred groves and asherah poles. Asherah original painting available through Saatchi Art . Stickers, prints, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America. All of the Asherahs in my painting are based on figurines housed in the Isra...

Sophia and the Apocryphon of John

In 1945, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by an Egyptian farmer near the town of Nag Hammadi, Egypt. These early Christian texts date from the 3rd century CE, and include writings attributed to John the Baptist. The writings of John became known as the Secret Book of John, or the Apocryphon of John. A translation by Frederik Wisse can be read online . In the Apocryphon, there is a female counterpart to the Father - the holy Mother, Barbelo. "She is the forethought of the All - her light shines like his light - the perfect power... The first power, the glory of Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation... she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father." I became aware of the Apocryphon of John after reading a graphic novel by Marisa Acocella, The Big She-Bang, The Herstory of the Universe According to God the Mother (highly recommended, by ...

Nuwa

Nuwa is the great mother goddess of Chinese mythology, credited with creating humanity. She molded the first people out of clay by hand. Then she got tired, dipped a rope in the mud, and swung it around her head to make more. Thus were made the nobles and the peasantry. She has the body of a serpent. Nuwa, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via Saatchi Art .

Dewi Danu

Dewi Danu is a Balinese water, lake and river Goddess. The form of Hinduism practiced in Bali is also called Agama Tirta, or religion of the water ( source ). The "floating temple" of Pura Ulun Danu Bratan, on the western shore of Lake Bratan, is dedicated to Dewi Danu ( source ). Built in 1633, the temple is used for offerings and ceremonies dedicated to the Goddess, due to the importance of Lake Bratan as a main source of irrigation in central Bali ( source ). In Bali, besides supporting irrigated agriculture, holy water also holds power that can "cleanse spiritual impurities, fend off evil forces, and render the recipient immune to the attacks of negative or demonic forces." "In Indonesian Hindu Dharma, the 4 elements of Nature, or panchamahabhuta (Earth, Water, Fire, Air) are used in all religious rituals. Out of those, Water is the building block of life and of all living beings that are at the mercy of [the] God[dess]" ( source ). Dewi Danu orig...

Cosmic Goddess Eggs

I'm reading The Living Goddesses by Marija Gimbutas. She writes about the abundance of divine feminine figurines found in almost all levels of almost all Neolithic archaeological sites throughout Old Europe. She discusses how exaggerated body parts on these Neolithic figurines express various manifestations of the divine force. For example, “The symbolic value of exaggerated buttocks relates to ... double eggs, where the power of the life giving symbol increases by doubling. Sometimes the artisan molded the buttocks of a figurine on egg-shaped clay cores or pebbles; thus she or he may have felt the interconnectedness of the symbols of buttocks and eggs.” Creation myths around the world, from prehistory to Big Bang quantum science, involve the cosmic egg . Perhaps there were two cosmic eggs. The cosmic Goddess eggs. Cosmic Goddess Eggs original painting and fine art prints available through Saatchi Art . Prints and other merch also a...

Demon Cats

You've probably seen the happy, waving, beckoning Maneki Neko, but have you heard of her cousins, the Bakeneko? Bakeneko are demon cats. If a cat lives longer than 13 years in Japan and has not been treated like a god, it is likely to turn into a demon cat. It may kill its owner and shapeshift to take their place. If you have an old cat, beware. Every October in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, there is a bakeneko parade. I visited, through the magic of YouTube. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America .

Echoing Multiverse

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