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.

Click image to enlarge.

North God - Ianos (ee-yah-nos) - We associate Him with the old European God, Janicot/Janus. Like Janus, He has two faces, one looking to the East and one looking to the West, to the Past and the Future.

We associate Ianos with gateways, opening (metaphorical) doors, and passages. His position in the North aligns Him with Earth and Silence, and the final stage on the journey to communion with the Divine. However, we have yet to figure out a way to Channel Him, as none of us, obviously, have two faces. A possibility may be two people standing back-to-back and Ianos being called into them both. Another may be having a Familiar also Channeled at the same time, so that Ianos communicates through both Witch and Familiar. But we haven't attempted any of this yet.

But with Hermes now in the South, and the Aquarian Age concerned with acceptance and new understandings, it seems to me to be an important step to take, Channeling this God of passage and gateways. Or, perhaps, another of Hermes' functions is to teach us how best to communicate with Ianos (Would it be Hermes that is to be Channeled simultaneously rather than a Familiar?). After all, the idea of a North-South axis (mythically called the North Star Road, or the World Tree) being crucial to Divine communion, is not a new one.

Appropriately, my first PBP post is about the Goddess who first made contact. Here is the "official" blurb for Her:

"North Goddess – Arduina (ard-WEEN-a) - identified with pentacles and the Altar and the now-extinct cave bear, Ursus Spelaeus. She claims to be from Old Europe, from the Ardennes, whose center is “Duna” - the Danube River. She speaks using the pre-Roman names for various areas and countries, in a language She calls Vaska."

Arduina is one of "my" Goddesses, as I was told I was associated with West, Northwest, and North (more on that in another post). But even before this, before I knew anything about Sorgae, for years I had an enormous She-Bear visit me in meditations. I called Her "Grandmother." Now I realize that it was likely Arduina.

I've met Arduina (via Channeling) a few times in ritual. She is warm and welcoming, and always glad to visit with we Witches. Though She always wants more infa, more babies. One of Her symbols is a pentacle, and rivers to Her are very important. Being the North Goddess, Her Element is Earth.

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My Coven is gradually building a website about Sorgae 'Craft, which can be found at Aranakh.org. As it is a revealed system, are far from knowing everything about this 'Craft and its Gods, and so what I write here will be my own personal impressions and experiences.