Friday, 4 October 2013

Neolithic Religion A new look at an old belief system as told by the Neolithic people themselves


 

 

 


 

 

 

Discovered  my 2005  pencil  notes on stone age religion that  had come to me in a  dream of  finding myself     in a  henge barrow religious ceremony  circa  end of new stone age  copper age  

for someone uncomfortable with crowds   I  tried to reconstruct what  I remember from a  barrow talk with woolly  Neolithic people

 strange I could give time or time slip   to  such things in 2005

 Everyone talking at once and  indicated a changing pantheon of deities    afterlife, creations  and belief systems around a  central  old stone age core

  Neolithic   divinity names  were  simple nouns   Sun,  Vegetation, water, underworld  etc  but I here i use  archetype names  ie Neksa 

 

 Kal was  their  ancient and once universal  ancestral   goddess  from the  paleolithic     the world  feminine holding up the    natural  world   supreme creator   totally obeyed    totally without mercy  yet all mercy all love

A survival from the old stone  age hunting   female  magic  and realisation

 Kalanash is the name  of  her wild and untouched  nature  that was once the  whole earth  passionate  untamed    a underworld  and  fertility  goddess,   all  the  dead who dwell  in her earth are alive    her rituals are dreams and spirits 

 

Dana the   goddess  of  human  nature, keeper of the  crop,   the calendar  and  seasons,   the pathways  and  boundaries

   Dananash is the  name of her cultivated and settled  land   and Dana can be seen to be   the  generic term for a local goddess   as the real name of  Dana is known only to the individual worshipper   as to say the name of  Dana would have  her power stolen by Kal

 Dana receives  regular ritual  and human lives as  boundary sacrifices

 

Bele  the  sun in travelling      also Bele  the moon and Bele  the  earth  and what can be  taken from the earth  

 

Neksa  the waters    rivers  and  springs    lifeforce wedded  to Bele  sun and moon  

 

Dunos  the   sun in shining       sky and  earth  in shining  wedded  to  Dana. Creator of Tir

 

Tir   the new son     the  greening of copper and the greening of the land   sun god who shines on his  believers   as a lover    wedded  to Neksa the waters  where he drowns  daily   in her love  and is then reborn daily  to Dana on land.     Creator of Finta  from this union with  Neksa  and Dana

 

Finta   the    boundaries    between  earth  and   ocean     bog,  mere  and marsh   Finta  is the  other  and  the  underworld     and grants life everlasting  to those born  to  Bele

 

 

   

Changes in  theology  late Neolithic  

 

Kal  has no secret name like   Dana       and is depicted as the wanderer   driven from her  land  hidden from people      who turns  the dead into animals  and   knows all secrets   A lover of Bele  she makes the earth fruitful   and wild. Kal  raises the storm   and  the  clouds    to beguile Bele     and  break down the boundaries  and pathways.   A vengeful  nature blinding Bele  in the arms of  Neksa with her  wild  thorns

 

Bele  is the rising  sun a blind man guided  by  Dunos   who guides  Bele  on his pathways   marked out  by the trails and causeways  and which  make up  the cultivated   land  Dananash   Bele is further guided by the running streams  and springs  of Neksa   and the irrigation channels her believers make  to   bring water  to the dead  to bring them  to Finta  who  takes them to the other life  as   bird like  people not animals

 

Kal the  Bone goddess  the idea of wild places ( Kalanash) and  undomesticated animals turn the  once  absolute feminine  Kal  into a  nightmare  demon    and outside goddess always present always at birth and death

 

The   union of sky and earth in  Dana  Dunos  and the creation of the new child Tir  at winter solstice  who  becomes  the greening of copper  and foliage   a  metal working  nature god  who takes Neksa from the arms of   Bele   and confines her waters  and flowing rivers   so that Sun  and Ocean die  in the power  of   settled humanity  and are taken to Finta   celebrated by  separating  lovers,  widening ditches and pathways 

 

Tir is   a god   greater than and   neither sky or earth    who   enters all believers  in  times of   ritual  using metal and  growing  crops   turning them into   "shining people" who will live forever  where as   Kal     now  referred to as Cal   is goddess  of outsiders  and the  wild.  Her  forests   and   rivers are  seen as  "standing  people"   and a transformation of  Kal /Cal  into a    green goddess of docility   accompanied   by  the  wandering birds  of  the  ancestors   Cala

 

  Late neolithic  stone age to  bronze age  changes in society  mirror changes  in the pantheon

Tir as  ultimate god  of  metal working,  nature   and land    also  creates  other deities to serve  him as  the  shining people are so weakened by  their devotions  to Tir   such as

Belin  the sun in fire  and sun in moon.

 Ke    the  human  woman  who learnt from Dana   who she served  from  childhood to old age  and supplants Dana  as the   new  goddess of Agriculture. 

 Gwy the  spear  a man who    becomes  a god of war and wages a successful war against  Tir  by stealing his metal  working powers.

 Suldoc    the creator  of a post Tir earth   the long man surveyor    kept imprisoned underground  after his  creation of a new  earth and  who speaks across  the  other boundaries ,

 Danu  the  former great goddess  now only a  boundary marking  goddess  receiving  human sacrifice  to mark the calendar.  

 Cala  the  goddess  of  outside secrets and dreams   whisperer and wanderer.

  Finte the   goddess  of rebirth  and the  underworld.  

 

 late Neolithic   copper age  religion   increasing patriachical   with recited   community anthems  telling  of hero quest  warriors  who change sex  and  live other peoples  lives ( Agarrtha, Arro  and Sone)    celebration of a god/goddess , lover  and leader   who speaks  to believers   directly in ritual  and  recitation  of  community anthems

strangely enough little emphasis on the  henge   and  the   solstice  seasons

 

 

 

 

some feedback on Zennor wedding  see previous  post  including one  reviewer  who had  contemplated  on the  meaning of the  title  Zennor wedding --  honestly its just a  place name!   Zennor in Cornwall

Don't contemplate  the meaning  it is  like spending a  day  meditating on the meaning of  place names   like  Trenton  New Jersey  or Walgett  New South  Wales

 

 

 

"Seems every civilization has some tale of forlorn love, widowed wanderers that haunt young lovers...I really liked the line about the goddess of the sea...but maybe it is female, jealous of love and hungry for sailors to make women on land feel her loneliness! or not...great write!"

 

 

"it's always interesting to hear about folklore from different places, especially that from the ocean which seems to have a unique appeal and set of legends attached to it. I like how you play upon the siren element, a bit like the mermaid luring sailors to their deaths before vanishing into the briny abyss."

 

"Sounds like maybe he ran off to the sea, or was monstrous kin to Grendel, and persisted through Greek legends - very clever and the sea, the mermaids and the men will always be romantically wondrous. Much enjoyed and thanks! (contemplating the title still)"

 

"loved it, not much more to say than that"

 

 Not  written any poetry  since early September     "the Ragletters"  my  kindle e book  available on Amazon world wide  now in third edition  

 

 

 

unsuccessful  in my application  for volunteer  in help with Dreamweaver    website design   and me a  former teacher of Dreamweaver    !!!

expressed "disappointment" in interview  delivery  re email in response      to make them feel important  and me as  loser but  truthfully my disappointment  with   their interview  delivery- was that I was interviewed by people with  no skills  or experience in  website design

 an IT support manager  who  commented" I was using   IT jargon and  terminology the  "IT support manager" had never heard  of" and who  to their frustration  totally  failed to  gain the higher  ground in  IT  points scoring with me  and the other who  spend all the  time asking me "what I had been doing in the past year"

as interviewers  go   they were a  comedy sketch

 

 

"I would love to meet and have a chat about what we can do. I do not have any paid tutoring at the moment, relying instead on volunteers. However, I would hope this may change in the future."

yet again   a Advert for  part time IT tutor  in my specialist area   like other organisations  in this area  they are charities  wanting to be community learning  centres but lacking the expertise  or funding  that they expect the services  of   skilled qualified    staff but dependent  on declining   government funding  have nothing  to pay  them with

 it  is nothing new

 

 

 Recently  an organisation was keen to have  me on their team as  adult learning  co coordinator   5 days a week  but  as volunteer staff only   and  can you recall how many  volunteer  IT tutor and  volunteer  Website  developer   positions   have I  had interviews for   and then discovered  they do   not   even pay travel expenses even if it is to the next  town or city   but  expected a minimum  of 16 hours a week from me

and what is the  UK   governments solution  announced  this week   re long term unemployed ie the ones I use to teach  that if they do not want to   pick up litter or cook for the elderly    everyone  on JSA job seekers allowance  £55 a  week    will  work at least  30 hours a  week unpaid for   local  charities   in what ever role  makes them useful!

 what a way for  charities to cut those  nuisance   salary costs!!!

 

 

 funny thing is  cleaners and   caring for the elderly  are one of few areas  still advertising jobs     obviously  government   with its new buzzline  "a  country and a party for hardworking people"   unrealistically see unemployed as a  welfare  millionaire sub culture   to be solved   to be  forced  like  criminals  into  free community service instead of  actually  creating jobs  and  funding training

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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