Aranahk

One thing that has been a puzzlement to me, is Arduina talking about Mama Erta, a Mother-Earth Goddess She says She worshipped and served "when She was a Priestess." It always made me wonder what She meant. How was She once a Priestess, but now a Goddess? A possible answer has come from two places.

One, is something I've mentioned before the similarities between the words "Sorgitsak" in Vaska as the Gods have taught it to us, and "Sorginak" in modern Basque. As was stated then, "...it is deemed unclear by scholars whether 'Sorginak' refers to actual, physical Witches, or mythological beings. This is significant, because Sorgitsak, Witches who practice Sorgae 'Craft, are considered a race of Fae. So Sorgitsak are both physical, practicing Witches, and 'fabled beings.' We are the Fae of Will, in that we are the vehicles of Divine Will on this plane of existence." I doubt it is a point of any contention that Arduina was/is a Sorginak/Sorga. So from there stems the conflation between Priestess and Goddess; She is both human and so-called "mythological being" Who served an Earth Goddess.

However, that still begs the question of how this is at all possible. Aside from the assertion of Sorgae 'Craft that Witches are also Fae, I'll let a quote from the novel Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny address that issue:

Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being. One does not achieve it merely by being immortal, for even the lowliest laborer in the fields may achieve continuity of existence. […] Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken. […] Being a god is being able to recognize within one’s self these things that are important, and then strike the single note that brings them into alignment with everything else that exists. Then, beyond morals or logic or esthetics, one is wind or fire, the sea, the mountains, the rain, the sun or the stars, the flight of an arrow, the end of a day, the clasp of love. One rules through one’s ruling passions. Those who look upon gods then say, without even knowing their names, ‘He is Fire. She is Dance. He is Destruction. She is Love.’ […] they do not call themselves gods. Everyone else does, though, everyone who beholds them.

Arduina is a Goddess because we (and presumably someone, somewhere, before us), recognized Her as one. Just as Deity names being agreed upon by consensus between Witches and Gods, so too is the very condition of Her Godhood. She is a Goddess, because we name Her as such, and She does not object.

Vaska is the language Arduina spoke when She first arrived, and still often speaks. We believe it to be a predecessor to Basque, for several reasons.

One, mostly simply, is that in Spanish, the term for "Basque" is "Vasca." This is a bit obvious if you know the Spanish language; Bs and Vs have somewhat interchangeable sounds, and are in fact often voiced together. The "-que" suffix in Spanish is pronounced, roughly, "keh." So, if a Spanish-speaking person saw the word "Basque" written down, they may well pronounce it as "Vasca." Or, if they heard "Vasca" and tried to write it, it could conceivably be spelled, "Basque." As part of the Basque region is in Spain, none of this is very far-fetched

Another reason is that, in both Vaska and Basque, the suffix "-ak" is a plural. As Basque is essentially unrelated to any other known language, this unique characteristic seems significant.

But in addition, one of the most important words in Vaska is not unfamiliar to pre-Christian Basque Paganism. As I said, we believe Vaska to be a predecessor to modern Basque, thousands of years older. So, not all words we hear from the Gods will translate into the modern language. But one very nearly does.

We have been told that Sorgitzak means, "All Witches anywhere, any time, throughout all time and space." In Basque mythology, there is a word, Sorginak, which refers to "the assistants of the goddess Mari...It is also the Basque name for witches or pagan priestesses (though they could also be male), being difficult to discern between the mythological and real ones."

There is more to be said stemming from this one linguistic connection, But I'm saving it for next week's post.

I had another plan for this week, but it didn't turn out like I hoped. So instead, I'm going to share a collection of artwork amd icons I've aquired that represent some of the Gods of Sorgae.

( Image-heavy under the cut )

The original understanding the Coven had of Lamasu was that "we know the spiritual adventure of love and begin to understand the chain that will bind us to the physical.  We feel a great love with which we shall renew the Wasteland. At this time we Draw Southwest God [Dionysus], the keeper of the chain of physical desire, and Southeast Goddess [Gwenhevar], the essence of spiritual love."

However, my High Priestess and I and two of our Familiars did a Tarot reading about the yearly cycle with my Londa deck, and drew Page of Cups for Lamasu, meaning "perception, metaphysics, compassion. The true understanding within ourselves." It is a similar meaning, but enough of a shift that we assigned the South God [Hermes] and Southeast Goddess [Gwenhevar] to be invoked instead.

Since this is the first Sabeot/d entry I've done since that reading, here are the adjustments made to past Sabeot/ds as well.

( Read more... )

Lamasu was the only Sabeot/d that aligned symbolically with its Wiccan date-counterpart, Lammas, in my Juxtaposition entry. We haven't yet explored how these changes affect that model.

We speculated that these sorts of investigations and adjustments may need to be done every year, but it is also possible that this is merely a symptom of beginning the Aquarian Age. We've done our reading for this calendar year, and will just have to see what shifts, if any, occur with the next.

"Most Pagan systems acknowledge the importance of the cardinal directions, North, East, South and West. The Sorgae system adds the midpoints between the directions; Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest."

The above is quoted from a piece my High Priestess wrote about the Directions, and their associated Elements and Powers in Sorgae 'Craft. I plan to include that in next week's post dedicated to the Elements, as it is a very cohesive thing. So instead of editing and abridging the piece, I'm going to talk about "assigned" Directions.

Just as Sorgae Deities are associated with specific Directions, so are Sorgae Witches. Thus far, this has happened in ritual via Channeling. That is, Deity has informed us of our Directional associations.

All Sorgae Witches are automatically associated with the South, as it is the Direction of Will, and we are the vehicles for the Gods' Will on this plane. Each Witch is also associated with the Direction that corresponds to their Western Astrological Sun sign. In my case, that puts me West, since I am a Scorpio, which is a Water sign, and Water is in the West (again, more on the Elements next week).

However, I have also been told that I am "of the West and North," which indicates the arc from West itoi North, and therefore includes Northwest. So, to sum up, I am South, double West, North, and Northwest. Some Witches, however, are only given one Direction from Deity, not three as I was.

So when I say that a God or Goddess is "mine," I mean that They are associated with one of those three Directions (for reference, They are Kur and Ariadne in the West, Goh'len and Hekate in the Northwest, and Ianos and Arduina in the North). Though perhaps it is more accurate to say I am Theirs, as I do feel very much Owned by and Devoted to Them.

Otherwise, I am not entirely clear on what function these "assignments" serve yet. Perhaps it will mean I am most adept at Channeling those Goddesses, and understanding the messages of those Gods. Or that the Powers of those Directions are best made manifest through me.

As a fun sort of joke, my High Priestess recently bought me this shirt, part of the product line for the upcoming movie, "Oz, the Great and Powerful."

( Click the image for full view )

A final thought; I felt a personal pang of disappointment when I was not assigned Southeast, as I felt (and still feel) a deep connection with Atamenoch in that Direction. However, His Priestess (the South Goddess, Salonshai) asked me directly to keep a place for Him in my heart, and I've since realized that my placement in Northwest sets me up to look towards Him across the Circle. And I plan to, with all the love and adoration I can muster.