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...

Branwen, Reinterpreted

I started painting Goddesses in December 2020 as part of a Goddess art challenge, one Goddess per day from a prompt list. Many were new to me, so I had to research. Branwen was Goddess #7. Her story was mostly about her brother, Bran, as was my Branwen painting . She ended up dead of a broken heart. Death by patriarchy. After I had read more feminist angles, I repainted Branwen, and referenced an article by Judith Shaw, reinterpreting her (included in link above). It was a better interpretation than my first, but, I just read another section of The Living Goddesses by Marija Gimbutas , and I need to reinterpret her again. Branwen with her white raven, in front of Cadair Bronwen. Original painting, prints, and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Branwen is associated with the white raven. She is a Welsh goddess of sovereignty, and in the landscape she is represented by Cadair Bronwen, a rounded mo...

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 ...

Sheela Na Gig and the Power of the Vagina

The Guardian published a piece on Sheela Na Gigs for International Women's Day on Monday. Here's a link. A few weeks ago, I painted two Sheelas. Found on churches throughout the British Isles and Europe, Sheela Na Gigs are "figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva." There are over 100 documented examples just in Ireland. The carvings may be remnants of a pre-Christian mother goddess. They may also have been thought to ward off evil spirits. They're often found over doors or windows, and they're generally smiling. The two I have painted are from the Church of St. Mary and St. David at Kilpeck, Herefordshire, England and the Parish Church of Oaksey, Wiltshire. While I was researching the Sheelas I came across other related stories of, as the Guardian so deftly put it, "big vagina energy". The power of women (especially the nude form) to create life, protect it, or - conversely - take it away. My favorit...

Tawaret

Tawaret is an ancient Egyptian Great Mother Goddess who oversees childbirth. She has the head of a hippo, tail of a crocodile, limbs of a lioness, and torso of a pregnant woman. Saturday was International Worker's Day aka Labor Day in much of the world. Labor Day, Labor Goddess, because being a mom is job and the U.S. needs paid maternity leave like the rest of the developed world. Also, universal healthcare. The average price of hospital births in Pennsylvania is $19,764. That makes Tawaret and I displeased. Tawaret original painting and fine art prints available through Saatchi Art . Prints and other merch also available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . The Glencairn Museum writes, "Her very name emphasizes her power. Taweret (T3-wr.t) means “the great (female) one.” Greeks rendered her name as Thoeris. Further emphasizing her protective nature, Taweret usually carries or rests upon the s3 symbol, whi...

Nut

Nut is one of the oldest goddesses in the Egyptian pantheon, Mother of Isis, Osiris, Set, and Nephthys. She swallows the Sun every evening and rebirths it every morning. She is the Goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, mother of the gods, she who holds a thousand souls. Her fingers and toes touch the four cardinal directions, north, south, east, and west. In her human depiction, she is represented by cat pose in yoga. Nut original painting available through Saatchi Art . Prints and merch available in shop or through RedBubble or Fine Art America . She is also sometimes represented as a cow, with her milk representing the heavenly river, the Milky Way. Interesting, cat and cow poses alternate in yoga practice. The first domestic cattle were bred from the wild aurochs. Both male and female aurochs had large horns. Modern Texas longhorns are thought to be a relatively close relation to the aurochs. I once slept ...

Echoing Multiverse

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