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18276066 GRIMM JACOB TEUTONIC MYTHOLOGY VOL 1

balder. the myth of balder, one of the most ingenious and beautiful in the edda, has happily for us been also handed down in a later form witli variations: and there is no better example of fluctuations in a god-myth. the edda sets forth, how the pure blameless deity is struck with mistiltein by the blind hosr, and must go down to the nether world, bewailed by all; nothing can fetch him back, and nanna the true wife follows him in death. in saxo, all is pitched in a lower key: balder and hother are rival suitors, both wooing nanna, and hother the favoured one manages to procure a magic sword, by which alone his enemy is vulnerable; when the fortune of war has wavered ions; between them, hother is at last victorious and slays the demigod, to whom hel, glad at the near prospect of possessing

allr. as a rule, the gothic id is represented by on. id and ohg. it: the gothic 1> by on. 11 and ohg. ld.2 but the os. and as. have id in both cases, and even in gothic, on. and ohg. a root will sometimes appear in both forms in the same language^ so that a close connexion between bal]9s and baldrs* paid and paltar, is possible after all. on mythological grounds it is even probable: balder's wife nanna is also the bold one, from nenna to dare; in gothic she would have been nanjjo from nan];jan, in ohg. naiuld from gi-nendan. the baldr of the edda may not distinguish himself by bold deeds, but in saxo he lights most valiantly; and neither of these naitatives pretends to give a complete account of his life. perhaps the gothic bedtime (jornandes 5, 29) traced their origin to a divine bal];s o

into a common noun. now as tlie bavarian p]or stood opposed to the alamannic zio, we ouglit to find out whether phol was in like manner unknown to the alamanns and the races most akin to them^ lastly, from eastern germany we are transported to the northwest by a name appertaining closely to the balder cultus, and again linking itself with the edda. the edda cites among the ases a son of baldr and nanna, forscti, who like his father dwelt in a shining hall glitnir (glit, nitor, splendor, ohg. kliz) built of gold and silver, and who (as baldr himself had been called the wisest, most eloquent and mildest god, whose verdicts are final, sn. 27) passed among gods and men for tlie wisest of judges; he settled all disputed matters (stem. 42^ sn. 31. 103, and we are told no more about him (see supp

e may have been a goddess wara, and beside sunia a sunid (see sujipl. in the same way or sage (saw, tale) is intensified into a heathen goddess saga, daughter of wuotan; like zeus's daughter the muse, she instructs mankind in that divine art which wuotan himself invented. i have argued in a separate treatise (kleine schr. 1, 83 112, that the frou avcntiure of the mid. ages is a relic of the same. nanna the wife of baldr would be in goth. nanjjo, ohg. nandd, as. aodc, the bold, courageous (p. 221, but, except in on, the simple female name is lost; procopius 1, 8 has gotliic qevhevdvda, on. thiosnanna (see suppl. inferences like these, from dying words to dead divinities, could be multiplied; to attempt them is not unprofitable, for they iiliarpen the eye to look in fresh quarters [for confi

ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

ngelists of the christian new testament- an ironic and splendid result of the ignorance of the greek religious historians concerning the ancient mysteries! probable the most inconsistent concept the sumerians possesses with reference to the craft is the naming of the goddess as a deity, not of the moon (as the craft would have it, but of the planet venus. the moon was governed by a male divinity, nanna (like inanna but minus the initial 'i, and was considered the father of the gods by the earliest sumerian religion. it should be noted, however, that all of the planetary deities, termed "the zoned ones" or zonei in greek, and indeed all of the sumerian deities, had both male and female manifestations, showing that the sumerians definitely recognised a yin-yang composition if the universe (t

composition if the universe (the "male moon" idea is, the editor is given to understand, common to so-called aryan mythologies. there is also evidence to show that every god and goddess also had both a good and an evil nature, and evil gods were banished in the exorcism formulae of that civilisation as well as the lesser forms of demon. the horned moon as mentioned, the god of the moon was called nanna by the sumerians. by the later sumerians and assyrians, he was called sin. in both cases, he was the father of the gods (of the planetary realm, the zonei, and was depicted as wearing horns, a symbol familiar to the witches as representative of their god. the horn shaped crown is illustrative of the crescent phases of the moon, and were symbolic of divinity in many cultures around the world

ae, the male and female participants in a rite of indian or chinese tantricism, or the shadow and the anima of jungian depth psychology. for many years, the moon remained the prime deity of the sumerians, constituting the essential personum of a religious and mystical drama that was performed roughly 3000 b.c. amid the deserts and marshes of mesopotamia. side by side with the worship of the moon, nanna, there was fear of the demon, pazuzu, a genie so amply recreated in the book and the movie by blatty, the exorcist, and similarly recognised as the devil himself by the church. pazuzu, the beast, was brought to life by aleister crowley, and the demon walked the earth once more. with publicity provided by h.p. lovecraft. the devil pazuzu was a prime example of the type of devil of which the s

heaven (names of zodiacal constellations are after budge's renderings) table vii [a.c] table xxv [s] 0. anu (tiamat) 1. sphere of the primum mobile enlil (absu) 2. sphere of the zodiac or fixed stars enki; lumashi (igigi) 3. sphere of saturn adar 4. sphere of jupiter marduk 5. sphere of mars nergal 6. sphere of the sun utu 7. sphere of venus inanna 8. sphere of mercury nebo 9. sphere of the moon nanna 10. sphere of the elements kia 11. air anna 12. mercury gudud 13. moon sin 14. venus dlibat 15. aries agru (xubur) 16. taurus kakkab u alap shame (kingu) 17. gemini re'u kinu shame u tu'ame rabuti (viper) 18. cancer shittu (snake) 19. leo kalbu rabu (lakhamu) 20. virgo shiru (whirlwind) 21. jupiter umunpaddu 22. libra zibanitum (ravening dog) 23. water badur 24. scorpio akrabu (scorpion-man)

on its surface for, in the dark days of the moon, or in cloud, there can be little protection against the fiends from the ancient lands should they break the barrier, or be let in by their servants upon the face of the earth. in such a case, no recourse is to be had until the light of the moon shines upon the earth, for the moon is the eldest among the zonei, and is the starry symbol of our pact. nanna, father of the gods, remember! wherefore, the amulet must be engraved upon pure silver in the full light of the moon, that the moon shine upon it at its working, and the essence of the moon incantations must be performed, and the prescribed rituals as given forth in this book. and the amulet must never be exposed to the light of the sun, for shammash called udu, in his jealousy, will rob the

eir people will cry unto them for safety, and it will not come forth. therefore, set thy face towards the ultimate goal and strive ever onward to the furthest reaches of the stars, though it mean thine own death; for such a death is as a sacrifice to the gods, and pleasing, that they will not forget their people. the zonei and their attributes, then, are as follows: the god of the moon is the god nanna. he is father of the zonei, and the eldest of the wanderers. he is long of beard, and bears a wand of lapis lazuli in his palm, and possesses the secret of the tides of blood. his colour is silver. his essence is to be found in silver, and in camphor, and in those things bearing the sign of the moon. he is sometimes called sin. his gate is the first you will pass in the rituals that follow

re working, having no other person about you who may watch you in its manufacture. being finished, it should be wrapped in a square of the finest silk and lain aside until such time as you desire its use, and then, it should be removed only after the sun has gone to its rest. no ray of sunlight should strike the seal, lest its power be rendered nil and a new seal must needs be cast. the number of nanna is thirty and this is his seal: the god of mercury is nebo. he is a very old spirit, having a long beard, and is the guardian of the gods, as well as the keeper of the knowledge of science. he wears a crown of one hundred horns, and the long robe of the priest. his colour is blue. his essence is in that metal known as quicksilver, and is sometimes also found in sand, and in those things bear

nufacture. the number of nebo is twelve and this is his seal: the goddess of venus is the most excellent queen inanna, called of the babylonians ishtar. she is the goddess of passion, both of love and of war, depending upon her sign and the time of her appearance in the heavens. she appears as a most beautiful lady, in the company of lions, and partakes of a subtle astral nature with the moon god nanna. when they are in agreement, that is, when their two plants are auspiciously arranged in the heavens, it is as two offering-cups split freely in the heavens, to rain the sweet wine of the gods upon the earth. and then there is great happiness and rejoicing. she sometimes appears in armour, and is thereby a most excellent guardian against the machinations of her sister, the dread queen ereshk

, venus being exalted in the heavens, with no one about watching its construction. being finished, it is to be wrapped in the purest silk and lain safely away, only to be removed when need arises, at any time. the number of inanna is fifteen, by which number she is frequently known in the incantations of the dispensation, her seal is the following. this god of the sun is the lord shammash, son of nanna. he is seated upon a throne of gold, wearing a crown of two horns, holding a sceptre aloft in his right hand and a flame disk in his life, sending rays in every direction. he is the god of light and of life. his colour is gold. his essence is to be found in gold, and in all golden objects and plants. he is sometimes called uduu. his gate is the fourth you will pass in the rituals that follow

earth: of the north, one lamp; pf the east, one lamp; of the south, one lamp; and of the west, one lamp. the oil should be pure, with no odour, or else sweet-smelling. the perfumes in the brazier should also be sweet-smelling, or especially appropriate to the star where thou wouldst desire entrance, after the fashion of thy country. the seven gates here follow: this is the first gate the gate of nanna, called sin: this is the second gate, of nebo: this is the third gate, of inanna called ishtar: this is the fourth gate, of shammash, called uddu: this is the fifth gate, of nergal: this is the sixth gate, of lord marduk: this is the seventh gate, of ninib, called adar: and the ritual of the walking must follow the formulae herein described: first, thou must observe the moon of purification

ing about thy gate on the ground will have gone. recite thine thanksgiving to the gods upon thine altar, strike the sword of the watcher that it may depart, and give the incantation of inanna which say how she conquered the realm of the underworld and vanquisheth kutulu. all idimmu will vanish thereby and thou wilt be thus free to depart the gate and extinguish the fire. thou mayest not call upon nanna till thou hast passed the gate of nanna. thou mayest not call nebo until his gate hast thou passed. similarly for the rest of the gates. when thou hast ascended to the limit of the ladder of lights, thou wilt have knowledge and power over the spheres, and wilt be able to summon them thereby in times of need. this will not give thee power over the absu, however, this power being obtained diff

wer over the demons that plague the mind and the body, pulling at the hair and grasping at the hands, and the screaming vile names into the airs of the night. for what comes on the wind can only be slain by he who knows the wind; and what comes on the seas can only be slain by he who knows the waters. this is it written, in the ancient covenant. the incantations of the gates the invocation of the nanna gate spirit of the moon, remember! nanna, father of the astral gods, remember! in the name of the covenant sworn between thee and the race of men, i call to thee! hearken, and remember! from the gates of the earth, i call thee! from the four gates of the land ki, i pray to thee! o lord, hero of the gods, who in heaven and upon the earth is exalted! lord nanna, of the race of anu, hear me! lo

na gate spirit of the moon, remember! nanna, father of the astral gods, remember! in the name of the covenant sworn between thee and the race of men, i call to thee! hearken, and remember! from the gates of the earth, i call thee! from the four gates of the land ki, i pray to thee! o lord, hero of the gods, who in heaven and upon the earth is exalted! lord nanna, of the race of anu, hear me! lord nanna, called sin, hear me! lord nanna, father of the gods of ur, hear me! lord nanna, god of the shining crown of night, hear me! maker of kings, progenitor of the land, giver of the gilded sceptre, hear me and remember! mighty father, whose thought is beyond the comprehension of gods and men, hear me and remember! gate of the great gates of the spheres, open unto me! master of the igigi, swing o

of the shining crown of night, hear me! maker of kings, progenitor of the land, giver of the gilded sceptre, hear me and remember! mighty father, whose thought is beyond the comprehension of gods and men, hear me and remember! gate of the great gates of the spheres, open unto me! master of the igigi, swing open thy gate! master of the annunaki, open the gate to the stars! ia namrasit! ia sin! ia nanna! bastamaaganasta ia kia kanpa! magabathi-ya nanna kanpa! mashrita nanna zia kanpa! ia mag! ia gamag! ia zagasthena kia! ashtag karelliosh! the invocation of the nebo gate spirit of the swift planet, remember! nebo, custodian of the gods, remember! nebo, father of the sacred writing, remember! in the name of the covenant sworn between thee and the race of men, i call to thee! hearken, and rem

agabathi-ya nanna kanpa! mashrita nanna zia kanpa! ia mag! ia gamag! ia zagasthena kia! ashtag karelliosh! the invocation of the nebo gate spirit of the swift planet, remember! nebo, custodian of the gods, remember! nebo, father of the sacred writing, remember! in the name of the covenant sworn between thee and the race of men, i call to thee! hearken, and remember! from the gate of the great god nanna, i call to thee! by the name which i was given on the lunar sphere, i call to thee! lord nebo, who does not know of thy wisdom? lord nebo, who does not know of thy magick? lord nebo, what spirit, on earth or in heavens, is not conjured by thy mystic writing? lord nebo, what spirit, on earth or in the heavens, is not compelled by the magick of thy spells? nebo kurios! lord of the subtle arts

tre that shall invade thine operation, or haunt thine habitat by day or by night. only charge them with them the words of the covenant and they will do as you ask, of thou be strong. and if thou performest these operations often, thou shalt see things becoming dark; and the wanderers in their spheres shall no more be seen by thee; and the stars in their places will lose their light, and the moon, nanna, by whom thou also workest, shall become black and extinguished, and aratagar shall be no more, and the earth shall abide not and around thee shall appear the flame, like lightning flashing in all directions, and all things will appear amid thunders, and from the cavities of the earth will leap forth the annunnaki, dog-faced, and thou shalt bring them down. and the sign of your race is this:

d not be detained any longer than is necessary, and some are indeed violent and impatient natures, and their task is to be given in as short a time as possible, and then they are to be released. after these, the spirits of the seven spheres may be invoked to advantage, after the priest has already trod their ways after the manner of the walking. after the priest has gained entrance to the gate of nanna, he may summon the spirits of that realm, but not before. these things you will learn in the course of your journey, and it is not necessary to put it all down here, save for a few noble formulae concerning the works of the sphere of libat, of ishtar, the queen. these are works of the gentle passions, which seek to engender affection between man and woman. and they may best be done in a circ

are upon thee! such are the words: ia ia ia io io io i am the god of gods i am the lord of darkness, and master of magicians i am the power and the knowledge i am before all things. i am before anu and the igigi i am before anu and the annunnaki i am before the seven shuruppaki i am before all things. i am before enki and shammash i am before all things. i am before inanna and ishtar i am before nanna and uddu i am before endukugga and nindukugga i am before ereshkigal i am before all things. before me was made nothing that was made. i am before all gods. i am before all days. i am before all men and legends of men. i am the ancient one. no man may seek my resting place. i receive the sun at night and the moon by day. i am the reciever of the sacrifice of the wanderers. the mountains of t

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

ious animals. the changing phases of the moon and its seeming disappearance for a day or two each month also led to additional speculations. modern werewolf lore has the wolf-like side of the person showing itself only during the evenings of the full moon. the moon was associated with various gods and goddesses, though primarily the latter. in hindu astrology, the moon was associated with the god nanna, though the more common associations are with the greek artemis, the roman luna, or the moonlight-giving mother of the zuni. it was especially associated with females as they identified the lunar cycle with the menstrual cycle. in the contemporary world, the moon has assumed a central role in the mythology developed by neo- paganism, especially its feminist element. the most comprehensive sy

KASAK VEEDE UNDERSTANDING PLANETS IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

have added to it. e.g. sumerians honoured ca 1000 gods, about fifty of whom were considered the main gods, and especially important were seven gods. the great seven. the functions of different gods tended to vary by city states, but of the great seven an was universally the god of heaven, enlil. the god of air and earth, and enki. the god of water and wisdom; less important were utu. the sun god, nanna. the moon god, inanna. the goddess of love and war, and ninhursag, the mother of gods (kramer 1977: 122.130; 146.152. the name and status of the main god depended on who had the power. in sumerian times, the greatest god was an, whose son was enki. in the old babylonian period, of course, the city god of babylon, marduk became the main god and was also to be son of enki and grandson of an. a

ree are also the only ones that have numerical counterparts in the assyrian tree of life. table 2. main gods of mesopotamia, the planets connected to them, and their portfolios by akkadian tradition. saturn is hard to interpret, as it is connected to ninurta, but this leads us through nabu straight to mercury. at first sight, the composition of such a table does not seem to be very hard. sumerian nanna and akkadian sin are the moongod, utu or .ama. is the sungod without a hint of doubt. with the rest, however, there are problems. for an estonian, the concept of stars as a heavenly writing. akkadian .i ir .ame or .i ir bur me. sounds quite homely. esarhaddon, a megalomanic assyrian king, said all the stars to be letters in which his name is written (rainer 1995: 9. subsequently, sumer akkad

stars as a heavenly writing. akkadian .i ir .ame or .i ir bur me. sounds quite homely. esarhaddon, a megalomanic assyrian king, said all the stars to be letters in which his name is written (rainer 1995: 9. subsequently, sumer akkad planet main portfolio of the god in akkadian tradition an anu god of heaven enlil marduk (b l) jupiter main god, god of air and earth enki ea god of waters and wisdom nanna sin moon moongod, god of fertility and prosperity utu .ama. sun sungod, god of justice inanna i.tar venus goddess of love and war (ninurta) nabu mercury god of wisdom and writing (savior, redeemer) ninurta ninurta saturn god of war and hunting? nergal mars god of plague, famine, war, and the underworld 15 we bring an excerpt of a list of witnesses from a pact between the same assyrian king a

d fs name was dsin (sumerian dnanna(r; dnanna is a rare sumerogram. dsin itself was originally written en.zu elord of wisdom f (later also written as dzu.en, with the earlier reading dsu fen soon shortened to dsin. though the moongod fs name can some18 times be written as dnanna-suen, this form was not used to denote the celestial body. there is also a variant dzu, which has shortened from zu.en. nanna was usually written d.e..ki, probably because of its connection with the city of ur (sum. d.e..ab.ki; an alternative spelling was d30, the symbolic number of the moon (leick 1998: 125. sometimes this number could be written without a determinative, just 30 (neugebauer 1955. this number marks wisdom in the assyrian tree of life (number 3 in cabala, which indeed is connected to the moongod dsi

LINDOW JOHN NORSE MYTHOLOGY A GUIDE TO THE GODS HEROES RITUALS AND BELIEFS

c-heroic sagas are prose with interspersed verse, and saxo adorns his latin prose with verse, often rather ornate but still thought to be translated from scandinavian originals. certainly the versions of the myths he presents often vary widely from the versions we have from iceland. to use the example of baldr fs death: in saxo fs version, baldr and hod are not brothers but rivals for the hand of nanna, a human beauty. hod is not blind.indeed, he is a most accomplished fellow. neither loki nor frigg appears in the story, and there is no mistletoe. no attempt is made to restore baldr from the world of the dead, and he enjoys only an attenuated funeral. saxo fs story adds some odd forest maidens and some magic food and sets the death of baldr in the context of several pitched battles between

rd is married to skadi, but he does not say that frey is married to gerd. and following this chronology, we might assume that baldr was, in snorri fs mind, already dead when the gods visited agir at the very beginning of skaldskaparmal, for he includes gerd in the guest list. however, we must take care with such assumptions. in the case of this guest list, for example, baldr is indeed absent, but nanna is present. either she did not after all cast herself on baldr fs funeral pyre, as snorri says she did in gylfaginning, or the chronology will not hold. such inconsistencies are, let me stress, not causes for worry. they are in the nature of mythology. similarly, we may think of events as occurring relatively early or relatively late in the mythological present. an example of a relatively ea

st of all plants, and from it you can note his beauty, both of hair and of face; he is the wisest of the asir and the most eloquent, and the most merciful, but that nature accompanies him, that none of his judgments stands. he lives where it is called breidablik; that is in heaven; in that place nothing can be nothing impure. h a few pages later snorri reports that forseti is the son of baldr and nanna nepsdottir. later in the gylfaginning he tells about baldr fs death and its aftermath, and these stories take up about 10 percent of the entire gylfaginning. baldr fs death actually comprises several constituent parts, and snorri is the first to combine them all in one fluid narrative, even if voluspa, a version of which he clearly had before him, tells most of the story. these parts may con

d, odin called to four berserks to look after the horse, and they could not hold it unless they killed it. then hyrrokkin went to the prow of the ship and shot it forward at the first try so that sparks leapt out of the runners and all the lands shook. h thor was enraged and would have killed her had the gods not pleaded for amnesty for her. thor kicked a little dwarf named lit into the fire, and nanna died of grief and was put on the pyre with baldr. the ring draupnir and baldr fs horse were also burned with him. the vengeance sequence comprises two parts. the first, regarding which snorri is silent in gylfaginning, is told in voluspa: gbaldr fs brother was/ quickly born/ that son of odin/ killed when he was one night old. h in skaldskaparmal, snorri reports that kennings for vali include

hey suspend a poisonous snake over him, dripping venom. his wife sigyn catches the venom in a pot, but when she goes to empty it the venom falls onto his face, and his writhings cause earthquakes. saxo grammaticus has a rather different story of baldr fs death and the aftermath. hotherus, the foster son of king gevarus, and balderus, the son of othinus and a demigod, have both fallen in love with nanna. hotherus acquires a special sword and a magic ring. nanna refuses balderus on the grounds that demigods and humans are incompatible. hotherus and an ally confront balderus and the gods in a sea battle and gain victory when hotherus slices the handle off thor fs hammer, the gods f major weapon, with his magic sword. hotherus marries nanna. in a subsequent battle balderus defeats him. balderu

rd and a magic ring. nanna refuses balderus on the grounds that demigods and humans are incompatible. hotherus and an ally confront balderus and the gods in a sea battle and gain victory when hotherus slices the handle off thor fs hammer, the gods f major weapon, with his magic sword. hotherus marries nanna. in a subsequent battle balderus defeats him. balderus is plagued by dreams of his desired nanna. hotherus is now chosen king of the danes, but in his absence the danes vote again, and this time they choose balderus. in a third battle hotherus is put to flight. in their final battle he wounds balderus. balderus dreams of proserpina (as saxo calls her, using the roman name for the greek persephone, who like hel presided over the underworld, dies, and is buried in a mound. the story now t

and as the conduit. bous avenger of baldr in the version of the story in saxo fs gesta danorum. bous was the result of othinus fs rape of the rutenian princess rinda. he grows up skilled with weapons, and when he is ten, odin summons him and argues that vengeance is more noble than killing random adversaries. when bous and hotherus (in saxo fs version, balderus fs competitor for the affections of nanna) meet in battle, bous kills hotherus but himself receives a mortal wound; he dies the next day. thus bous differs from vali, the avenger of baldr in the vernacular west scandinavian traditions, not just in his name, for vali survives not only the encounter with hod but also, and far more significantly, the cataclysmic demise of gods, giants, and the cosmos that is ragnarok. vali is truly an

or early-destroyer, forn-njotr (one-who-enjoys-sacrifices, or even perhaps forn- jotr (ancient-screamer. see also agir references and further reading: margaret clunies ross, gsnorri sturluson fs use of the norse origin legend of the sons of fornjot in his edda, h arkiv for nordisk filologi 98 (1983: 47.66, analyzes snorri fs understanding of natural forces as giants. forseti (chairman) baldr and nanna fs son. in poetry forseti is found only in grimnismal, stanza 15, in odin fs vision enumerating the abodes of the gods. glitnir is the tenth. it is studded with gold and thatched with silver as well. and there forseti dwells most of the day and settles all lawsuits. snorri includes forseti in the catalog of asir in gylfaginning: forseti is the son of baldr and nanna nepsdottir. he has that h

in and goes about with her hair down and a gold band about her head; she carries frigg fs trunk and looks after her shoes and shares secret counsels with her. h the prose preceding grimnismal in the poetic edda says that frigg sent her gtrunk-maiden h fulla to geirrod to trick him into mistreating the disguised odin, and in skaldskaparmal snorri says that gruler of fulla h is a kenning for frigg. nanna sent a finger ring back to fulla from the world of the dead in snorri fs recounting of the baldr story, and fulla is numbered with other important goddesses among the guests at agir fs party, according to the beginning of skaldskaparmal. fulla is presumably identical to the volla of the second merseburg charm. the etymology of the name appears to have to do with fullness, perhaps therefore f

passes over the river gjoll on the gjallarbru after being challenged by modgud; leaps over helgrind, the gate to hel fs compound; and sits beside his dead brother in hel fs hall. the next day he gets hel to agree to release baldr if all creation will weep (it will not, and from the world of the dead he takes back to the gods odin fs ring draupnir, which was burned on baldr fs pyre, and gifts from nanna to frigg. hermod is an interesting figure, but the myth is not about him. it is about baldr and hod, and they are the ones who return after ragnarok. see also baldr; gjallarbru; hel; modgud references and further reading: john lindow, murder and vengeance among the gods: baldr in scandinavian mythology, ff communications, 262 (helsinki: suomalainen tiedeakatemia, 1997, chapter 4. hildisvini

en loki said to him: gdo as others do and honor baldr as others do. i will show you where he is standing; shoot this stick at him. h hod took the mistletoe and shot it at baldr at loki fs direction. the shot flew through baldr, and he fell dead to the earth. in the gesta danorum of saxo grammaticus the cognate figure hotherus is a human king who, like the demigod balderus, has fallen in love with nanna. hotherus and an ally confront balderus and the gods in a sea battle and gain victory when hotherus slices the handle off thor fs hammer, the gods f major weapon, with his magic sword. hotherus then marries nanna. in a subsequent battle, balderus defeats him. balderus is plagued by dreams of his desired nanna. hotherus is now chosen king of the danes, but in his absence the danes vote again

r stanzas frequently end with the refrain gthat is all your family, foolish ottar. h this family of foolish ottar involved dynastic lines, such as the skjoldungar, skilfingar, odlingar, and ynglingar; some famous heroes, such as sigurd, gunnar, and hogni; and a few names that arouse interest from the point of view of the mythology. there is a frodi, apparently ottar fs maternal grandfather, and a nanna, the daughter of nokkvi; neither of these, however, seems to be imagined as anything other than a human ancestor of ottar. 194 norse mythology toward the end of the poem, in stanza 45, freyja asks that gmemory-beer h be brought to or by means of her boar, so that he (the boar? ottar? are they one and the same) may remember everything when he and anganty lr recount their genealogies. here the

t the entire world will be populated. see also hoddmimir fs forest; ragnarok lit (color, countenance) dwarf killed by thor at baldr fs funeral, according to snorri. the killing of lit, which appears only in gylfaginning, appears almost to be an incidental. the gods have had to send for hyrrokkin in order to launch baldr fs immobile funeral ship, and baldr fs body is aboard, as is that of his wife nanna, who according to snorri died of grief: then thor stood by and consecrated the pyre with mjollnir, and before his feet ran a certain dwarf; he is called lit. and thor kicked with his foot and knocked him into the fire, and he was burned up. lit is indeed listed among the dwarfs in the catalog of dwarfs (in stanza 12) and among the dwarfs in the thulur. his name appears to be the common noun

laufey. only the late sorla thattr states explicitly that nal and laufey are the same person: there was a man called farbauti. he was an old man and was married to that woman who was named laufey. she was both slender and weak, and for that reason she was called nal [needle. nal is unknown in skaldic and eddic poetry. see also farbauti; laufey; loki; sorla thattr deities, themes, and concepts 235 nanna wife of baldr, burned on the funeral pyre with him. no vernacular source has very much to say of nanna. snorri is the most informative. in the gylfaginning section of his edda, he does not mention nanna when he presents baldr. when he comes to forseti, he says that forseti is the son of baldr and nanna nepsdottir (nep is otherwise wholly unknown. in the description of baldr fs funeral snorri

ned on the funeral pyre with him. no vernacular source has very much to say of nanna. snorri is the most informative. in the gylfaginning section of his edda, he does not mention nanna when he presents baldr. when he comes to forseti, he says that forseti is the son of baldr and nanna nepsdottir (nep is otherwise wholly unknown. in the description of baldr fs funeral snorri refers to her again as nanna nepsdottir and says that when she, baldr fs wife, saw his body on the pyre, she gburst from grief h and was placed there alongside him. she accompanied him to hel and sent back with hermod some linen cloth for frigg and a finger ring for fulla, just as baldr returned the ring draupnir to odin. in the gesta danorum of saxo grammaticus, nanna is a human woman, the pivot of a love triangle invo

m of saxo grammaticus, nanna is a human woman, the pivot of a love triangle involving the demigod balderus and the human king hotherus. hotherus gets the girl, and balderus dies, still presumably loving her, killed by hotherus. voluspa, stanza 30, refers to valkyries as gnannas of odin. h i have used a capital letter, as though it were a name, but it is also possible that there was a common noun, nanna, which would have meant something like gwoman. h there is an account of a rus (probably swedish) viking age funeral in the writings of an arab traveler, ibn fadlan, in which a slave girl is sacrificed at the funeral of her master, just as nanna dies at baldr fs funeral and is burned beside him. was nanna a nanna? it seems unlikely, but considering the possibility will give some idea of the i

which a slave girl is sacrificed at the funeral of her master, just as nanna dies at baldr fs funeral and is burned beside him. was nanna a nanna? it seems unlikely, but considering the possibility will give some idea of the interpretive difficulties offered by scandinavian mythology. see also baldr; forseti; hod references and further readings: i consider in excruciating detail all the relevant nanna details and spin a very speculative hypothesis about nanna and nanna in chapter 3 of my murder and vengeance among the gods: baldr in scandinavian mythology, ff communications, 262 (helsinki: societas scientiarum fennica: 1997. nari and/or narfi son(s) of loki. in the gylfaginning section of his edda, snorri introduces loki as one galso numbered among the asir. h at the end of this introduct

SCHLAGER NEIL WORLD RELIGIONS REFERENCE LIBRARY

y recognized many gods. these gods had certain similarities in both traditions. many gods and goddesses personified elements of nature. in the mesopotamian pantheon, or collection of gods, the most important were the trio of the sky god, an (or anu; the god of storm and the earth, enlil; and the water god, ea (or enki. these were followed in importance by a second triad comprised of the moon god, nanna (or sin; the sun god, utu (or shamash; and the goddess of fertility and war, inanna 37 (also called ishtar. in the later stages of mesopotamian civilization the local god marduk became head of the pantheon. in egyptian religion the primary god was amen (amon or amun, king of the gods. next in importance was ra (or re, the sun god. these two were eventually joined in the cult of amen-ra. a cu

at, and averaged about 150 feet (45.7 meters) in height. ziggurats stretched tower-like toward the sky, forming a bridge between earth and heaven, like the mountains that were sacred to the sumerians. each mesopotamian city had at least one temple complex, and each complex was dedicated to the worship of a single deity. the temple complex in ur, for instance, honored the moon god sin (also called nanna by the sumerians. the city of uruk had both a temple to inanna and a ziggurat dedicated to anu. the complexes were managed by specialist priests, who were the only people allowed to worship the deities. the akkadians the development of religion in mesopotamia followed the movement of peoples in the region. historians say that the sumerian civilization lasted from about 3500 to about 2000 bce

was never destroyed but instead 40 world religions: almanac ancient religions of egypt and mesopotamia was added to and further refined. through successive rulers, including hammurabi (1792 1769 bce) and a host of others, the religious system continued. there may have been new rulers, but the gods were eternal. the names of the gods changed, however, as did the emphasis of religion. for example, nanna was the sumerian god of the moon. in akkadian, the language of sargon and his people, nanna was called sin or suen. inanna, mistress of heaven, became ishtar in akkadian. the direction of religion also changed over time. the early sumerians believed that humanity, after it was created, was given a divine spark by the god enlil. this not only made people the servants of the gods during their

animal. among the central deities were horus (left, with the head of a falcon, osiris, and isis. adam woolfitt/ corbis. 46 world religions: almanac ancient religions of egypt and mesopotamia the three chief gods in the sumerian pantheon were an, the sky god, enlil, the god of weather and storms, and enki, god of wisdom and the abzu. other important deities included the mother goddess, ninhursag; nanna, god of the moon who helped travelers find their way; utu, sun god and the watchful eye of justice; and inanna, the goddess of love and war and the one who guaranteed the kingship. inanna in particular had a strong and lasting influence on mesopotamian culture. she was featured in many fertility rites, but was also called upon in time of war. over the course of time, with movements of new pe

nd war and the one who guaranteed the kingship. inanna in particular had a strong and lasting influence on mesopotamian culture. she was featured in many fertility rites, but was also called upon in time of war. over the course of time, with movements of new people into the area, the names of the gods changed. for instance, the sumerian goddess innana received the akkadian name of ishtar, just as nanna later became sin and enki became ea. beliefs in ancient egypt egyptians believed that the world was brought into being by atum or ra, whose descendants were osiris, set, and isis. these, however, were just a fraction of the gods worshipped by egyptians. some estimates put the total number as high as one or two thousand different deities. what began as animal worship led to an immense pantheo

bce. these sites are khorsabad, nineveh, and nimrod. they represent spiritual guardians that repel evil, and they always appear in pairs. assyrian kings often had pairs of winged bulls flanking the entrance to their palaces. the sculptures were sometimes accompanied by inscriptions that called upon the winged bulls to deter enemies and protect the king. the mesopotamian moon god, sin (also called nanna, has a lapis lazuli beard and rides a winged bull. lapis lazuli is a blue semiprecious stone. a powerful and still popular symbol of ancient egypt s religion is the ankh. the ankh resembles a cross, but has an upside down teardrop shape at its top. in the ancient egyptian written language of hieroglyphs, the ankh represents life. it is often present in tomb carvings and other artwork. it is

rriage were combined. the sacred marriage brought together the king and the goddess innana, likely represented by a priestess. the ritual recognized the divine authority of the king to rule by marrying him to innana. it also promoted the king s fertility through the symbolic consummation of marriage with the goddess. pilgrimage sites for mesopotamians are not recorded. historians suspect that the nanna ziggurat, a great temple complex at ur to the moon god, was a major center for travelers who devoted that god. similarly, the inanna or ishtar ziggurat at uruk made have been a pilgrimage site for that important goddess. egypt one of the most important festivals in ancient egypt was opet. it took place yearly at the temple of luxor in thebes. the festival brought world religions: almanac 57

re the same as those for people in many other cultures: birth, marriage, and death. families were nuclear, that is, they consisted of a father, mother, and children. the father was accepted as head of the household. birth was an occasion for much religious care. women giving birth wore special ornaments to scare off the female demon lamashtu, who was said to kill or kidnap children. the moon god, nanna, was called upon to help the woman in labor. the earliest lullabies, or soothing songs sung to babies, were adapted from incantations, or sung prayers, to protect the infant. the next major rite of passage, marriage, was both a religious and a legal matter. law codes that survive show that marriage was celebrated in a ceremony that had five parts: 1. the engagement, in which parents agreed t

ove, tammuz. she is often described as very violent and is depicted holding several weapons and standing on a lion. marduk: the god of babylon who later came to be the supreme god. marduk fought an army of demons led by the goddess tiamat. the new year s festival celebrates the king s fitness to rule through a ceremony in which he bows to a statue of marduk. sin: the moon god. he is also known as nanna. he is lord of the calendar and oversees the seasons. sin wears a beard of the blue stone lapis lazuli and rides a winged bull. gods of the egyptian pantheon amen: called the king of gods. amen, also spelled amon or amun, was often combined with ra, or re. amen-ra was an even more powerful god. anubis: the god of embalming, or of preserving the bodies of the dead. anubis is depicted as a jac

road, farmington hills, michigan 48331-3535; call toll-free 800-877-4253; send faxes to 248-699-8097; or send e-mail via http//www.gale.com. world religions: biographies xi reader s guide this page intentionally left blank timeline of events c. 2300 c. 2260 bce life span of enheduanna. the daughter of the sumerian ruler sargon of akkad, enheduanna is made high priestess to the sumerian moon god, nanna, beginning a tradition that will last for the next five hundred years among the princesses of the kings of the middle eastern region of mesopotamia. enheduanna also establishes the religious cult of inanna, the daughter of the moon god. c. 2050 c. 1950 bce life span of abraham, a central figure in three major religions: judaism, christianity, and islam. 1353 bce akhenaten, also known as amen

d his brothers, haran and nahor, were born. abram was raised in a wealthy family. terah owned property and livestock and also is said to have made idols (images worshipped as gods) of various gods of ancient babylonia. polytheism, or belief in many gods, was common among mesopotamians and babylonians during this period. ur was the center of a cult, or group of religious followers, that worshipped nanna, the moon god. around the time of abram s birth, the babylonians began to recognize one god, marduk, as having power over all the other gods. some historians consider this an early move in the direction of monotheism, or the belief in one supreme being. many stories grew around the fact that terah produced idols and his son abram did not believe in worshipping them. people would pray to the

ously/ she was garbed in womanly beauty/ like the light of the rising moon/ how she was sumptuously attired. enheduanna is often referred to by historians as the first female poet and is even considered by some to be the first known author in all of literature. the daughter of the sumerian king sargon i of akkad (ruled c. 2334 c. 2279 bce, enheduanna was a high priestess to the sumerian moon god, nanna. as a priestess, enheduanna was regarded as having near-divine power herself. she chose nanna s daughter, inanna, a fertility goddess and the goddess of war, to be her personal goddess and protector. enheduanna established the religious cult of inanna and helped to spread belief in the goddess throughout the region. enheduanna also composed several hymns to inanna, including the exaltation o

out 150 feet (46 meters) in height. each ziggurat was built in honor of one of the many gods in the mesopotamian pantheon, or collection of gods and goddesses. the most important of these were the sky god, an; the storm god and earth god, enlil; and the water god, ea, who was sometimes also called the god of wisdom. these were followed in importance by a second threesome composed of the moon god, nanna; the sun god, utu; and the goddess of fertility and war, inanna. the temple complex in the city of ur honored nanna. uruk, one of the leading cultural centers of the early sumerian period, had temples to inanna and an. priests managed the running of the temples. ordinary citizens did not take part in the worship of the statues built to represent the various deities (gods and goddesses. enhed

r. the new position was known as ensi. by incorporating these functions, sargon fused the temporary civil leader with the permanent religious leader, and thereby reduced the political strength of the priests. in general, the akkadians combined elements of sumerian religion with their own rather than rejecting it. sargon appointed his firstborn daughter as the en, or priestess, to the sumerian god nanna in the city of ur. this may have been done to encourage the sumerian people to think of sargon less as a foreign invader and more as a rightful ruler chosen by the gods. nanna, the moon god, was the firstborn of enlil and ninlil, the goddess of earth, heaven, and air. sargon s daughter, whose birth name is unknown, took enheduanna as her en name. enheduanna means chief priestess of the ornam

of earth, heaven, and air. sargon s daughter, whose birth name is unknown, took enheduanna as her en name. enheduanna means chief priestess of the ornament of heaven. for the next five hundred years, royal princesses were traditionally installed as high priestesses at ur, one of mesopotamia s most world religions: biographies 123 enheduanna important centers. this linked the royal daughters with nanna, which in turn linked the kingship with the pantheon. princess, priestess, and poet during digs conducted at ur by english archaeologist sir leonard wooley in 1925 and 1927, a thin, see-through limestone disk was found. the disk bears a likeness of enheduanna on one side and an inscription identifying her as the wife of nanna and the daughter of king sargon on the other. most likely a religi

oup of gods and goddesses. inanna was described as cruel, vengeful, warlike, and destructive, but also as peaceful, tender, comforting, and mystical. she was seen as the protector of both sargon and his daughter, enheduanna. it was partly due to enheduanna s focus on the goddess that inanna became the most important deity in mesopotamia for more than five hundred years. inanna was the daughter of nanna, the moon god, and the twin sister of utu, the sun god. she was represented in the heavens by the planet venus. in fact, astronomers (scientists who study the planets and the stars) named a continent on that planet after her. in sumerian the name inanna means great lady of an, with an being the god of heaven. when she first began to be worshipped by the sumerians, inanna symbolized the life

half of each year and rejoined inanna for the other half. 124 world religions: biographies enheduanna on the disk. other duties included conducting a ceremony to purify water and caring for the giparu, the building attached to the temple that contained the priestess s private residence. enheduanna s position took her to the other major cities of mesopotamia, where she promoted not only her deity, nanna, but also the goddess inanna, whom enheduanna took as her personal deity and protector. priestesses were also responsible for composing hymns, songs, and poetry honoring the deities. some of the historical knowledge of enheduanna comes through the hymns she composed to inanna. these hymns were later transcribed in cuneiform, wedge-shaped writing carved with a pointed stick on clay tablets. m

ymns that has been translated into english is e-u-nir (temple hymns. this is a collection of forty-two verses written or gathered by enheduanna. each verse is addressed to a different temple in sumer or akkad. more hymns to inanna are included in in-nin me-hus-a (inanna and ebih. fragments of verses and hymns are also found in two smaller collections, e-u-gim e-a (hymn of praise to ekishnugal and nanna on assumption of en-ship) and hymn of praise to enheduanna. in all of these collections, enheduanna identifies herself somewhere in the text as the priestess of nanna and the creator of the verses. thus, it was possible that the copyists simply attributed these verses to the same person incorrectly. later study of the texts, however, showed enough similarities to prove that they were all by

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

th netzach hod yesod malkuth nudjer ptah thoth isis- amoun horus- osiris ra hathor- anubis khnum shu khonsu geb aither- uranus rhea hera zeus ares- apollo- aphrodite- hermes- artemis- demeter aether- coelus juno- jupiter mars- sol- venus- mercury- diana- ceres dagda- lugh danu- llyr morrigan- angus mac og brigit- ogma- cerridwen- cemunnos ymir- odin frigga- frey thor t y balder- freya- loki bragi nanna- nerthus brahman- vishnu mahasakti- indra shiva- krishna surya lakshmi pamati hunuman- chandra soma ganesha daath nephthys hypnos janus arianrhod heimdall aditi- pushan color and visualization as regardie stated in chapter five, once students are familiar with the basic exercise of the middle pillar (and the three pillars, they can expand their practices by visualizing the sephiroth in their

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

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