satya_firestone (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
satya_firestone) wrote2013-08-09 10:52 am
satya_firestone) wrote2013-08-09 10:52 am
Entry tags:
Plants
We've been given Vaska words for a few plants. My original plan for this post was just to research these plants' associations with Witchcraft, and speculate how they could then relate to Sorgae 'Craft. However, in doing said research, I came upon information that takes me much farther than speculation.
Mus'kar'a - Amanita muscaria
This is the classic, quintessential toadstool mushroom. The red cap and white spots are a familiar image in fairytales, and this tree-loving fungus has hallucinogenic properties, which means it's had its uses in astral work throughout history. It's believed, in fact, that Nordic warriors used Amanita muscaria to induce their berserkr rages, a sacred blood-frienzied battle ecstasy.
Bringing this back to Sorgae, a few entries ago I discussed the rite of Orano ze Zoma, dancing the blood. In that right Sorgae Witches too charge up their blood for sacred work, using herbs and the sort of frenzy that is dance. From the OED, "zoma," "soma," "haeoma" are all related words which mean body or blood. And from Wikipedia:
So, Amanita muscaria may have been an ingredient in Hindu ecstatic ritual dancing, the catalyst for which is called Soma. This is remarakably similar to the Sorgae ecstatic dance, and while I do not know the recipe for that ritual drink, the inclusion of Mus'kar'a would not surprise me.
**Disclaimer: I do not suggest nor recommend experimentation with hallucinogenic plants unless under the supervision of someone highly experienced with them.**
Oak (in Vaska the word is essentially unchanged)
Oak trees have a long-standing association with Paganism. Most often, oak trees represent the Divine Masculine, as the Oak King or the Green Man. In Sorgae, it would seem, this is no different. From Wikipedia:
If we look back at my High Priest' s speculation on the Name of YHVH, it is plausible He and Zeus may be the same Deity. YHVH/Zeus is also then quite possibly the High God we Sorgae Witches know as Iove. Thus, oak could also be sacred to Him. Wikipedia continues:
Lightning (and by extension, thunder) are also associated with YHVH/Zeus/Iove, and here we have oak trees sacred to two prominent and influential Pagan European cultures' thunder/lightning Gods.
My High Priestess has in her possession pieces of an oak tree that was struck by lightning. She's offered to let me have one for my altar. After doing this research, I'm anxious to accept.
Mus'kar'a - Amanita muscaria
This is the classic, quintessential toadstool mushroom. The red cap and white spots are a familiar image in fairytales, and this tree-loving fungus has hallucinogenic properties, which means it's had its uses in astral work throughout history. It's believed, in fact, that Nordic warriors used Amanita muscaria to induce their berserkr rages, a sacred blood-frienzied battle ecstasy.
Bringing this back to Sorgae, a few entries ago I discussed the rite of Orano ze Zoma, dancing the blood. In that right Sorgae Witches too charge up their blood for sacred work, using herbs and the sort of frenzy that is dance. From the OED, "zoma," "soma," "haeoma" are all related words which mean body or blood. And from Wikipedia:
Soma
In 1968, R. Gordon Wasson proposed that A. muscaria was the Soma talked about in the Rig Veda of India, a claim which received widespread publicity and popular support at the time. He noted that descriptions of Soma omitted any description of roots, stems or seeds, which suggested a mushroom, and used the adjective hári "dazzling" or "flaming" which the author interprets as meaning red. One line described men urinating Soma; this recalled the practice of recycling urine in Siberia. Soma is mentioned as coming "from the mountains", which Wasson interpreted as the mushroom having being brought in with the Aryan invaders from the north. Indian scholars Santosh Kumar Dash and Sachinanda Padhy pointed out that both eating of mushrooms and drinking of urine were proscribed, using as a source the Manusmṛti. In 1971, Vedic scholar John Brough from Cambridge University rejected Wasson's theory and noted that the language was too vague to determine a description of Soma. In his 1976 survey, Hallucinogens and Culture, anthropologist Peter T. Furst evaluated the evidence for and against the identification of the fly agaric mushroom as the Vedic Soma, concluding cautiously in its favour.
So, Amanita muscaria may have been an ingredient in Hindu ecstatic ritual dancing, the catalyst for which is called Soma. This is remarakably similar to the Sorgae ecstatic dance, and while I do not know the recipe for that ritual drink, the inclusion of Mus'kar'a would not surprise me.
**Disclaimer: I do not suggest nor recommend experimentation with hallucinogenic plants unless under the supervision of someone highly experienced with them.**
Oak (in Vaska the word is essentially unchanged)
Oak trees have a long-standing association with Paganism. Most often, oak trees represent the Divine Masculine, as the Oak King or the Green Man. In Sorgae, it would seem, this is no different. From Wikipedia:
In Greek mythology, the oak is the tree sacred to Zeus, king of the gods. In Zeus's oracle in Dodona, Epirus, the sacred oak was the centerpiece of the precinct, and the priests would divine the pronouncements of the god by interpreting the rustling of the oak's leaves.
If we look back at my High Priest' s speculation on the Name of YHVH, it is plausible He and Zeus may be the same Deity. YHVH/Zeus is also then quite possibly the High God we Sorgae Witches know as Iove. Thus, oak could also be sacred to Him. Wikipedia continues:
In Celtic polytheism, the name of the oak tree was part of the Proto-Celtic word for 'druid': *derwo-weyd - > *druwid- ; however, Proto-Celtic *derwo- (and *dru-) can also be adjectives for 'strong' and 'firm', so Ranko Matasovic interprets that *druwid- may mean 'strong knowledge'. As in other Indo-European faiths, Taranus, being a Thunder God, was associated with the oak tree. The Indo-Europeans worshiped the oak and connected it with a thunder or lightning god; "tree" and drusmay also be cognate with "Druid," the Celtic priest to whom the oak was sacred. There has even been a study that shows that oaks are more likely to be struck by lightning than any other tree of the same height.
In Norse mythology, the oak was sacred to the thunder god, Thor. Thor's Oak was a sacred tree of the Germanic Chatti tribe.
Lightning (and by extension, thunder) are also associated with YHVH/Zeus/Iove, and here we have oak trees sacred to two prominent and influential Pagan European cultures' thunder/lightning Gods.
My High Priestess has in her possession pieces of an oak tree that was struck by lightning. She's offered to let me have one for my altar. After doing this research, I'm anxious to accept.
no subject
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
no subject