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...

Having a Child Is Like Having Your Heart Walk Around Outside Your Body

I've been reading a lot about evolutionary psychology lately. It seems that what really made us human was the bond between mother and child. Our big brains force us into the world before we can even hold up our own heads. We essentially must continue gestating outside the womb. The learning and empathy that develops between mother and child in infancy forms the basis of everything we call love, and lays the foundation for our cooperative culture. Evolution, driven by the mothers. It's been a series of fascinating reads, and it's reminded me of the quote about how having a child is like forever having a piece of your heart walking around outside your body. Or, in the case of my painting, your whole heart. My heart and I, walking through the parking lot of the New York Renaissance Faire a couple of years ago. Having a Child Is Like Having Your Heart Walk Around Outside Your Body, original painting by Echoing Multiverse. Available via S...

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 ...

Medusa

Who was Medusa before the invading sea god supposedly defiled her? According to Marija Gimbutas, she dates at least as far back as 6000 BCE, based on a mask found at Sesklo. More recently, Medusa appears on the pediment of Artemis's Temple at Corfu, built around 580 BCE. On the pediment, Medusa is flanked by leopards. Large cats, like those associated with Artemis of Ephesus , the Great Mother Goddess of Anatolia, are sometimes considered to be guardians between worlds. Medusa's snakes are a symbol of rebirth. I've read that she may be a chthonic aspect of Artemis, much like Ereshkiga l was the underworld aspect of Inanna. Medusa original painting available through Saatchi Art . Prints, stickers, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Pediment from Artemis's Temple at Corfu ( source ) Or perhaps Medusa was a Moon Goddess. Robert Graves in The Greek Myths writes, "The Gorgons' names--Sth...

Egeria, Law Giver of Rome

In his book, Lord of the Four Quarters, Myths of the Royal Father , John Perry writes, "There is evidence in many parts of the world..., the council or assembly of elders of a tribe, served as the governing body for a Divine Woman or Queen who personified the Great Mother and presided over a matrilineal society. The early king of such cultures ruled, not in his own right, but in his capacity as consort to the Divine Woman." In the case of early Rome, the Divine Woman was the Goddess Egeria ( source ). She counseled and guided the legendary second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius (Latin numen designates "the expressed will of a deity"), during his reign from 715 - 673 BCE ( source ). She gave Numa the laws and rituals of Rome. She was also an oracle, and is sometimes described as a nymph, possibly due to her association with water. Egeria's spring, once surrounded by a sacred grove, is located close to Porta Capena gate to Rome. Its waters were dedic...

Arabian Goddesses al Uzza, Allat, and Manat and the Satanic Verses

al Uzza, Al-Lat, and Manat are Arabian Goddesses, triple Goddesses of pre-Islamic Arabia. They are famously depicted in a relief from the city of Hatra, created during the 2nd century AD, in which they appear atop a lion. These Goddesses are also mentioned in the Quran... "Have you thought of al-Lāt and al-‘Uzzá and Manāt, the third, the other? (Quran 53:19–20) "These are the exalted gharāniq, whose intercession is hoped for. Gharaniq is sometimes translated as cranes, deities of the sky. It is generally claimed that these verses show the influence of Satan and do not reflect the true tenets of Islam 😆 I had fun with duct tape shapes and a palette knife. al Uzza, al Lat, and Manat original painting available through Saatchi Art . Prints, stickers, and other merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Besides being named in the Quran, all three Goddesses are attested to in the Book of Idols , written by Arab scholar Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi (73...

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