It’s also said that Veles is associated with cattle, but I see Veles as being associated with the entire animal kingdom, and with the animalistic part of the human psyche/consciousness.

I think Veles is also associated with pleasures of life, altered consciousness, state of ecstasy, sexuality, fertility, intoxication, hypnosis, seduction, trickery, mischief,music, dancing, magic... To me Veles is associated with this earthly realm, and wild, untamed nature... This is only my personal interpretation, and my belief of what Veles represents.

For the main part, I’m drawn to Veles, because of his earthliness, and might I say his humanness. When I say I love the earth, I actually mean it. I really do love earth. Seeing harm being done to earth hurts me emotionally. I do look to the stars, and do wish to voyage across the universe. I am curious about what is out there in deep space, but my heart is here on earth. No other planet compares to our earth...

Belobog

This is one of the plants my mother told me about when we still lived in Russia rostov-on-Don. She told me everybody knew about healing power of this plant. She told me about more plants, but this is the one that comes to mind

Coltsfoot has been used in herbal medicine and has been consumed as a food product with some confectionery products, such as Coltsfoot Rock. Tussilago farfara leaves have been used in the traditional Austrian medicine internally (as tea or syrup) or externally (directly applied) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, skin, locomotor system, viral infections, flu, colds, fever, rheumatism and gout. An extract of the fresh leaves has also been used make cough drops and hard candy.[

This 6,000-year-old rock painting is from Juusjärvi, Kirkkonummi, Finland.

It is thought to depict a shaman falling into trance accompanied by a fish spirit helper, possibly a pike.

Akseli Gallén-Kallela 🇫🇮 — Kullervo's Curse (1899)

Depicted is a scene from the Kalevala in which Kullervo curses a herd of cows, turning them into bears to attack a woman who's been tormenting him.

The significance of the Kalevala

The first edition of the #Kalevala came out in 1835. Elias Lönnrot compiled it from folk poetry recorded into notebooks during his collection trips among poetry singers in 1828–1834. At the time of publication of the Kalevala, Finland was an autonomous grand duchy of Russia, and before that, until 1809, Finland was part of the Swedish Kingdom.

Especially for Finnish intellectuals, the Kalevala became a symbol of the Finnish past, Finnishness, the Finnish language and Finnish culture, a foundation on which they started to build the fragile Finnish identity. It also aroused much interest abroad, and brought a small, unknown people to the awareness of other Europeans.

The effect of the Kalevala on Finnish culture, arts and sciences has been significant. It has left its mark on the fine arts, literature, theatre, dance and music. It lives on in popular culture, films, comics, games and commercials. During different historical periods, the Kalevala has been given a number of various, sometimes strong, interpretations. However, there is no one way to interpret the Kalevala.

An amber figurine believed to be a depiction of Thor, from East Zealand, Denmark during the Viking Age. Happy Thursday!

The Birch, tree of creativity & discipline, was sacred to the Celtic bards, story tellers & poets who learnt & orally passed on the lore of their people. Trained bards always carried a silver branch, probably a birch, to help with clarity. #FolkloreThursday Img: Cicely Barker

Description and image from Maude Frome:

Some one in a geneology group recommend this book highly!