The Origins of the Gods - Part 2 (Video)

Hey friends! This is the 2nd part of the Origins of the Gods; leaving the Mesolithic period behind us and going for the Neolithic. The age of the deities associated with fertility and weather. Once again, I use the Norse deities as examples of the types of deities worshiped during prehistoric times. I hope you enjoy it and Tack för idag!

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9,000-Year-Old Shaman Sanctuary in Europe

There was a recent discovery in Europe of a 9,000-year-old shamanic sanctuary which shows that there was once a culture very knowledgeable in spiritual working. There are thousands of evidences of shamanism in many places all arround the world, but in European ground ancient shamanism is still a very delicate subject. There are not many findings of shamanism in Europe, and that's why this recent discovery might bring a new light to the knowledge we have about shamanic practices by our European ancestors.

One of the major society figures of the ancient cultures was the shaman, or the person who held the power and the knowledge to communicate with the spiritual world. According to ancient accounts, the practitioners of shamanism helped shape the first human societies. They were both wise and feared by the communities of the ancient world. The role of the shaman was not only being able to commune with the spirits of the land, ancestors, deities and the spirits of the afterlife, but also able to heal both body and soul, curse enemies, cure the land, give good council and basically being the one person everyone went to for all sorts of things. The guide of the community.

This all thing seems something out of a fairy tale; complete fantasy to our modern mind. However, with the help of the human sciences such as Anthropology and Archaeology, we modern humans are getting closer and closer to understand this very delicate subject. So it seems that these people, these shamans of bygone days, were really capable of preforming these wonderful, amazing and also terrible things. The human mind is quite powerful and maybe we have forgotten how to properly use it in some fields of consciousness. This new discovery came to help us understand all these strange facts.

In the year of 2012, archaeologists uncovered an unusual site near Lake Świdwie, in north-western Poland. After analyzing the settlement the team of researchers concluded that it dated back more than 9,000 years ago. One of the most amazing finds in this area consisted in a circular design of approximately six meters in diameter where the foundation of the structures was still visible. A trapezoid-like building with poles, encircled by an arch of rocks aligned at equal distances from each other. Within this ancient design, yew sticks were piercing through the ground so that they formed the shape of the Big Dipper – a fragment of the constellation Ursa Major, also known as The Great Bear. A construction made by our ancestors some time during the end of the Mesolithic Era and the beginning of the Neolithic revolution (dates differ from place to place and it took a good thousand years to spread all over Europe. These were our ancestors who had just found farming, and had begun to settle down in specific places, constructing the first villages, the first communities, and now they also started to have a keen interest in astronomy.

This discovery is unique, because other shaman settlements were only found in Siberia and Mongolia and never so close to European ground. Apparently this structure served as a sanctuary from where the spirit practitioners engaged into rituals and out-of-body experiences which are obviously out of reach from written history, and very difficult for modern science to explain. Pieces of wood used in smoking rituals, bark, herbaceous plants and animal bones presumably used as offerings and for driving off evil spirits before a ritual were also discovered at the site.

A rich collection of different stones were also found inside the sanctuary. Among them were syenite, diorite, granite, quartzite, sandstone, gneiss, and even unusual rocks for the Pomerania area such as red marble and green syenite. These were not picked at random or to only decorate the sanctuary. Such stones had a purpose closely linked to spiritual working. It was also discovered black amber and pumice – an extrusive volcanic rock obtained when molten lava is spit out of a volcano. This is an extraordinary and rich collection of stones, unique among the previously known Mesolithic sites, located both within the vast European Plain, and in the zone of the foothills and highlands. These stones had to be brought to this place. and not only did they came from the surrounding area, but also from distant lands, the best example of which is hornfels, which occurs closest in the Giant Mountains and the Harz Mountains.

The archaeological site later proved to be very rich in items mostly made of wood such as pendants and wood masks used in mystic rituals. Thanks to the favorable conditions of the area, all the unearthed pieces were very well preserved.

This interesting discovery adds another dimension to our written history due to the fact that it proves that shamans once ruled the plains of Europe before pré-christian beliefs and Christianity itself, of course. It also demonstrates that ancient Europeans had knowledgeable advisors who could read the stars, use advanced remedies from nature, and probably a list of other good many things that have been lost to us.

Another Neolithic site near Stonehenge

The buried remains of a mysterious prehistoric monument, close to the famous Stonehenge, has been found. This new site with 90 standing stones, of enormous size (close to 15 feet - 4 meters and half). However, this monument could originally have comprised up to 200 stones. Dating back to more or less 4,500 years ago, may have been used in neolithic times for rituals or as some kind of arena. 

The newly discovered stones are thought to have been toppled over, with the bank of the later Durrington Walls henge built over them (being the Durrington Walls an immense monument, so-called "superhenge", located less than three kilometres (1.8 miles) from Stonehenge. The earthwork enclosure at Durrington Walls was built about a century after Stonehenge - a ring of standing stones believed to have been erected between 3,000 and 2,000 BC. It is believed that the new stone row recently discovered could date back to the same period, or even earlier.

Meteorite fragment found inside a 9.000-year-old hut

Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology (IAE) in Szczecin discovered a meteorite fragment inside the remains of a Neolithic hut dating back more than 9,000 years in Bolków, northwest Poland, according to a news report in Naukaw Polsce. Academics believe the object was recognised as being ‘not of this world’ and was used for shamanic purposes.

Archaeologists had been carrying out excavations on the banks of Swidwie Lake in the West Pomeranian region for several years before discovering an unusual rock last year measuring 8cm in height and 5.3cm in width. The fragment was cylindrical shaped, porous, and unusually heavy, but it was not until recently that it was identified as a meteorite fragment.

The meteorite was discovered among a large group of sacral objects, including an amulet, a so-called ‘magic staff’ fashioned from antlers and decorated with geometrical motifs, and an engraved bone spear. The meteorite was brought to the shelter as a special object, not of this world, which must have been obvious to the contemporary men, knowledgeable of stone raw materials. The thing became an object of belief, and maybe even shamanic magic.

The discovered fragment is surprisingly heavy. In addition, the side profile shape suggests various associations; the original finder millennia ago probably saw in it shapes of a mysterious world of spirits. Close to the remains of the Neolithic hut with the meteorite, archaeologists found a second, almost identical dwelling in a peat layer. The central part of the huts contained the preserved traces of a hearth.

Neolithic structure in Pielinen island

In the Lake Pielinen in Northern Karelia which is in Finland, a Neolithic stone structure was found on an island. Of course previously sites similar to this one have been found but only in the Ostrobothnian coastal areas. This is the first of this kind inland in Finland.

The enclosure of the structure measures 25 x 18 metres. Typical to structures such as this, its outlines are traced with earth mounds, and there are several piles of stones around it. Depressions have also been dug in the ground.

The axle of this complex is aligned with the winter solstice sunrise and the summer solstice sunset, this is a design that we have already seen before in other areas, such as the famous Karnak temple complex in Egypt and of course Stonehenge in Britain.

Structures like this one are often called  “jätinkirkot” which means “giants’ churches” in the Ostrobothnian tradition, they are usually circular or rectangular, and date back around 3,000 and 1,800 BCE. Fifty structures like this have already been found in FInland, located near the shores of the Bay of Bothnia, in Ostrobothnia. It is still unknown for what purposes were these Neoithic structures used for, most think it was for religious purposes, but that is a bit shallow, however, the astronomical accuracy of the complexes also points to agricultural purposes, as these could have aided in accurate observation of the seasons, and it was most likely build by the hunter-gatherers of the late Stone Age.

Stud farm of Alter - Neolithic past and funeral rituals

The Neolithic period was the starting of a new era for humankind, the great revolution and evolution of the human condition and social behaviour. It was the time when us humans started to produce our own food, we moved from a society of hunter-gatherers to a society of farmers and started to domesticate animals. Agriculture was found and the necessity of storing food in containers to carry them in a safe manner and to let the food sufficiently protected from the various climate variations, also gave "birth" to the creation of ceramics. The human being began to settle in one place instead of being a constant nomad searching for food, creating their own food, which led to healthy food habits which in turn led to the growth of the population. As such, people started to create villages all over the world and taking with them this new way of life, teaching others about agriculture and having their own domesticated animals.

Portugal has always been one of the first places in Europe to accept these great evolutions, a place where thusands of cultures throughout history have settled and left behind their stories and their cultures. For many years people thought that the megalithic phenomenon in Portugal had a lo of influences from the other mediterranean countries, but in truth, it has more in common with the megalithic structures from the Atlantic countries ( in truth, Northern Portugal has Atlantic influences and the very climate is an atlantic climate ) such as Irland, Scotland, Wales and Britain, but also a lot of influences from Northern European countries and Central Europe Countries.

Giving this big introduction, I will tell you about the Archaeological excavations that took place in Alter which is on Alentejo in Portugal, inside a Stud farm from the VIII century and still working, and the Neolithic findings there, 15 years ago, were amazing and in that time, was something totally new in Archaeology.

People knew about the "death places" of the pré-historic peoples, their megalithic monuments and every thing involving the cult of the dead and the buildings where they placed them, so the question was, where did they live? In what did they live? Was it some kind of an house? an Hut? Well, indeed it was found a place where these people had lived for a period of time, since this was the time where agriculture and ceramics were something new, the findings were from the period where people were starting to settle in one place. It was found that these people already pave the ground of their dwellings, but the walls of these places were natural stone formations and the roof was made of natural elements such as wood. leafs etc. But as it is a place that when it rains... it rains a lot, they built channels around these shelters, for draining the water, the whole place was kept dry, in fact, during the excavations, it rained a lot, which made it difficult to work, and so that the archaeologists found and cleaned these drainage channels and after almost 6000 years these were still in perfect working order and helped a lot during the excavations in winter. What was also found, were the first ceramic works ever found which indicates that these people were not just evolved but wealthy and Ambar was also found, and from where does the Ambar comes? That is right, from the Baltic Sea, which means that these people from what would be later called Portugal, already had trading roots with the Norther peoples of Europe and vs versa, in a period of time before the Egyptians, whom also had Ambar almost 3000 years after the Neolithic peoples of Portugal.

Among the findings in this excavation, there was also one of the most ancient ovens of all time, with the base perfectly intact, this shows the mark of evolution and the first sedentarization process of the  peoples of the Neolithic.

Now people knew how these people lived, but not during the entire year, only for an amount of time, but in that area, there was a lot of megalithic structures, and the remains in there weren't all equal in the way of placing the deceased or preparing the body of the funeral rituals. Some remains were intact, meaning that the people died in the zone while they were living in there, other remains were inside a bag made ​​of animal skin, with bones vwith isible marks on how the meat has been removed, post-mortem, leaving only the bone, which means that the person died away from the site, most likely during the commercials routes or elsewhere where they would live the other part of the year, and therefore the body was thus prepared for easy transportation by the family members and when the time came to return to the same place, the body could then be placed among the ancestors. Others were cremated, again for the easy transportation, others show that they were previously buried in temporary sites and then transferred to the place and some bones showned that they were cut in half and opened, again after-death, deliberately cut, no fault in the preparation of the body, for in that they did sa good job without damaging the bones, these bones were so cut open so that the inside of those, the marrow, could be eaten, a cannibalistic ritual, a very common thing in many cultures, the person that ate that, was absorbing the essence of the dead, to have a bit of it, and as so prolonging life.

One of my teachers of PreHistory and Archaeology said about this kind of ritual cannibalism, now this my shock some very christian folks, is that this practice has been around for thousands of years worldwide and it is still practiced nowadays in some places, and even Christ turning to his disciples Said, referring to the bread: "Take, eat, this is My body." And, referring to the wine: "This is my blood" (Mt 26:26-28) and for three days no one heard of him anymore after his death, and after those three days he appeared, he was resurrected and ascended to heaven, this might be the symbolism of his soul that left the world and went to the afterlife, while in those three days, his disciples prepared his body, making the same cannibalistic rituals as Christ instructed them to do, by eating his body and his blood and having his own essence. Something to think about.

Note:  If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link ----> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

The Male Moon and the Female Sun

The Moon has always been of great importance since time long lost in memory, while humanity was still young and looked at the skies for guidance, not only with their deities but also as something to mark the passing of days so they could move from one place to another and count the distance by the passage of the moon. The moon was the first thing to be used as a calendar, in a time when agriculture didn't exist yet, so there was no need to relie on the phases of the sun, the Sun calendar only came during the Neolithic era, when it was requeired to mark the time for planting and harvest, thus beginning the agricultural cycle, that is why that the Moon was the first thing to mark the passage of time, because before agriculture was invented, humans were hunters and nomadic, they moved from one place to another most of the times during the night, avoiding being seen by predators or other humans from other tribes that may attack them. We know this because the oldest lunar calendar ever discovered yet, dates to the Aurignacian period during the Paleolithic era, around 32,000 years ago, the item has a series of Moons, from crescent to full, carved in a snakelike line on a piece of bone, it might have been a portable calendar that would have been carried by hunting trips or in great journeys, as in a way to know how much time had passed, or how much time it takes from one place to another.

The Moon was of such importance for early humans, that there has always been Moon Deities, since the discovery of the oldest archaeological sites that had marks, monuments, paintings etc.. about the Moon, every religion and every pantheon, before the coming of the religions based on abrahamic beliefs, had a Moon deity. According to the old beliefs and shamanic practices of old, the Moon deity is Male, of course there are as much Male Moon deities as there are Female ones, but in most religions from different parts of the earth, the Moon is Male.
Nowadays we are used to see the Moon Deity as Female, but that is because of the link between female menstrual cycles and the lunar cycles and modern pagans associate the moon to the female energies, but this also happens due to the cultural subjects that Wiccans adapt to their beliefs, for the first pagan religions to be study after some centuries hidden under the Christian veil, were the Greco-Roman beliefs, assumptions about the male side being rational and the female side being irrational, wild, and Wicca being the most popular neo-pagan religion these days, the Moon tends to be seen as Female.

In the Norse/Germanic pagan beliefs things are inverted, the Male deities tend to be more aggressive and wild, acting without wasting time thinking about the consequences, more passionate, aggressive, for example Odin as a god of war, wrathful, offensive, or Loki who does things without thinking in the consequences that might come from his actions, too impulsive, some times not knowing why he did the things he often does, or the god Freyr, with much passion, losing his mind for those he loves, doing everything for them, while the female side is more civilized, thoughtful, self-contained, more concerned with the welfare and good nutrition of their children, but they can also be very cold and protective.
In the Norse/Germanic pagan beliefs, Sunna is the Goddess of the Sun, casting brightness, the oposite of her Brother Mani, the god of the Moon, which has a more obscure behaviour, but he is also very enthusiastic with a playful spirit, however that isn't often seen.

Note: If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

Portugal and the Neolithic past

Portugal is the European country which has more megalithic and prehistoric monuments and sites than anyother country, it is a drean land for archaeologists.
There are a lot of monuments from other eras and from many other European cultures such as Celtic monuments in a very high quantity and concentrated to the north of Portugal all the way to the its center, Roman monuments from the south to the very capital of the country ( Lisbon ) and to the east near the border with Spain, Germanic archeological sites in the north and their architectural style is still very much visible in early christian churches when the Germanic tribe of the Vandals settled in Portugal with their origins in Sweden, migrating to the east of Europe and then into Portugal running away from the Huns. The Visigoths have also left a lot of culture, architecture and decendents and even from the Viking period we can find a lot of things in Portugal, and most curious of all, pottery with runes drawn and painted, dated from a period way before Europe has ever heard about the Norse peoples. Well the list goes on and on, but this is just the introduction of this post so you might see the rich culture that Portugal has, a country where most Europeans setteled since the Dawn of times, and even a few Asian, Arabic and African. But to where do i want to go with all ths talk? Well.. to explain that Portugal has always been the country faved by many since the Neolithic times, for quite plausible reasons, the weather, near the ocean for fishing, rich with flora and fauna, filled with wild Boars and Deer, very much hunted by the European peoples, Wolves, Foxes and Bears for fur ( these last ones unfortunately extinct ), great soils for agriculture, rich in diferente types of ore, which was one of the main reasons for Portugal having the best Celtic Blacksmiths of all Europe during the Bronze age and  Iron Age, also the main reason that led the Romans to plan their invasion against the Celts and the Lusitanian people. and for some spiritual reason that is yet to be discovered. The spiritual reason is what i want to talk about today, but more in a Archaeologist point of view, and than again, more in a normal observer of the landscape and its places of this fine country.
We all know that in Neolithic times, people used to raise great megalithic structures, Dolmens to place their dead and for spiritual/ritual purposes, Menhirs to mark the land or the borders of a tribe's land, to mark places where underground water flows, to extract it, places of cult and we know now that each of these Menhirs aren't placed randomly, their are all perfecly placed where the ley lines pass, the very energy of the earth, so Menhirs are like making acupuncture to earth itself, concentrating the energy of the earth into those places, which makes the soils fertil and attracts a lot of rain to the place because the electricity accumulated in the zone, works just like a magnetic force affecting the water particles in the clouds, pulling them, which makes them fall. There are also a lot of stone circles, Cromlechs and all the other Neolithic monuments  we know of. At this point you might ask, why is this so relevant? There are thousands of this all over Europe, why is Portugal so special about this? Well, there sure are thousands of Neolithic monuments all over Europe, but not as concentrated in one place as in Portugal, in other countries there might exist places with many of these monuments, but all over those countries these are too scattered, while in Portugal it's all over the place, there are even tiny villages filled with these structures in the surroundings with more than 90, you may find these monuments almost in every village and town, along the road, in the middle of forests, mountains or disguised as chapels. If you are a lover of the Neolithic period than you will love the town of Évora, one of the places of Portugal where Neolothic monuments are too much concentrated, in its surroundings there are more than 300 of these, including the famous Almendres Cromlech, a megalithic complex, the largest existing group of structured Menhirs of all Iberian Peninsula, and one of the largests in Europe, a primitive astronomical observatory, oriented to different directions associated with the Equinoxes.
Clearly Portugal was the country most faved by many people to settle not only for it's natural resources and riches but also for some spiritual purpose, the country is filled with Neolithic funeral monuments and burial mounds, not only from the inhabitants but also from other foreign people, and Évora might have been a very special place for these people, it is clearly the place for spiritual gathering, for religious purposes, to trade, to live, a place of knowledge and understanding and people wanted to be placed in the land after their death, there are thousands of Dolmens there. Watching the landscape and all these monuments when you are alone, you actually have the feeling that you are surrounded but thousands of people, and in a fraction of a second time freezes and all birds seize to sing, the wind stops and the leafs go quiet, and you can hear the whispers of those who once walked those lands.

Note: The artwork to illustrate this post is a drawing of a Menhir made by me. If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger