Our good friend Aethelwulf got his art shared on a wonderful art archive channel.

The Seelie and Unseelie Courts: Are two courts of Fae in Scottish folklore. They could be classed as political divisions within the realm of fae, or as seasonal differences in the attitudes or types of fae in Scotland. The Seelie (Blessed/Holy) Court is often considered more kind to humans, though this should not be confused with beneficial. More that they will warn humans who have crossed the line and may even help provided they are not offended. The Seelie court is broken down into further courts such as the Spring Court and Summer Court, notable members may include: Puck, Oberon, and Titania. More helpful spirits such as Hobgoblins and Brownies can be found in this court. The Unseelie (Unblessed/Unholy) Court is much the same except they are not likely to warn and will often harm humans without provocation, just because the fancy took them. If they are fond of humans rather than aid they may find you entertaining as a sort of pet. The Unseelie court is said to be present in Autumn and Winter and notable members include: Queen Mab and Morgan le Fae, Boggarts and Bogies may be present in this court. While these courts are by and large a sort of division within the realm of fae between different temperates and seasonal functions they in many ways resemble stories of the Riders of the Sidhe or the Wild Hunt. Their association with the seasons especially. It is also possible that there were only the Seelie Courts pre-Christianity split by seasons but the Unseelie court was added in later with the after effects of Christian beliefs on the folk faith.

Elen, Elen is a british goddess whose name likely derives from a word for fawn or deer. She is often considered a very old and very important British goddess. Despite very little remaining in the modern day about her at least clearly. She appears in an Aisling (Vision dream) in the Mabinogion. Mascen Wledig (Who is often thought to be based on the Roman emperor Maximus) has a dream that involved a red gold castle. Inside two children are playing chess, a king is carving chess pieces, and the Beautiful Elen is there. Upon waking Mascen becomes obsessed with finding Elen and has his men go look for her and after finding her proposes to her, she accepts and asks for the territory of three chiefs as her bridal payment. Receiving the Isle of Britain, she then builds many roads which “Oddly” are said to predate the supposedly Roman time period the story is meant to reference. She then leads an army to protect Britain from invading Celts, as in this story she is Celto-Roman, and said to be Gaulish in descent. However a female antlered figuring, place names, and other finds mark her as a likely British deity that has remnants of a once wider spread through Europe. The combination of her name and the belief she is an antlered goddess of great age, combined with her association with paths and roads resulted in her becoming classified not only as an antlered goddess but a Reindeer goddess. Considered so old she is said to have originated when Doggerland connected mainland Europe to Britain and the reindeer still roamed onto what became the British Isles. This combined with what could be an egregious symbiosis of various Siberian and far north Shamanic tribes association with Reindeer have resulted in her being classified as a shamanic goddess. However, she is still likely to be a horned/antlered goddess and the common headdress featuring antlers as well as cave art depicting the animal does bring such a possible association to light, especially when the Mabinogion Elen and her sovereignty and Aisling come into focus. All this together causes her to be known as Elen of the Hosts, Elen of the ways, as well as her Christianized Counterpart St. Helen. She is also at times thought to essentially be a sort of Land Dis of Britain not dissimilar to Skadi, in that she represents the land that must be made fertile by joining a king/sovereign/leader(male) to the land. It is unclear if this is truly the case though an unfit king causing the land to become infertile does appear in the story of the Fisher King due to his “leg” injury. Possibly both originate from an older concept or perhaps both are christianized to a point. From there unfortunately is UPG, with her becoming known as both a physical deity and the Green Woman. A feminine counterpart to the Green Man. While I can neither confirm nor deny her status as such, I see no clear evidence of such. However she clearly was an important if somewhat forgotten deity. She is said to be continued in traditions such as Abbots Bromley Horn Dance in Staffordshire which typically uses Reindeer antlers, other sections include Roads such as the High Deer Road. The possibility of a sort of Deer Mother becoming more obscure as the animal she was associated with being extricated from the land she was associated with is not far fetched, and like many goddesses who never make it into the books the folk culture keeps alive some of the oldest and most treasured stories. For who bothers writing down what everyone knows? What is your favorite thing about Elen?

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

Fairy Godmothers: Fairy Godmothers are a common fixture of modern fairy tales. They are mentioned in popular films (Cinderella/Sleeping Beauty), Book series (Discworld), and are so common in modern fantasy you'd think their origin was ancient and prolific. While their origin may be the Fairy Godmother herself is only a more recent incarnation of much older concepts and figures. The Fairy Godmother herself is most well known in the modern day from two Disney films Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. However these films use more recent literary versions of classic fairy tales and neither of the Brother's Grimm Versions use them. In Cinderella it is not a fairy godmother but the spirit of her deceased mother, sometimes in the form of a bird who appears to help her. Gifting her gowns and jewels and beauty from a tree that Cinderella had planted. In Sleeping Beauty/Briar Rose it is actually a group of wise women who gift her blessings while a jilted Wise Woman (Witches) who had not been invited takes the place of the famous Maleficent from the film. Across Europe the Fairy godmother while rarely appearing clearly aside from being a helpful faerie did not truly become a popular concept until after literary fairy tales became popular. Before the figures were thinly veiled female ancestors, spirits, wise women, or even goddesses. Many of the latter were forgotten in the tales or at least hidden very well, while the position of the Fairy Godmother taking the place of an ancestors spirit puts them in a similar situation to House Elves (Brownies, Domovoii, etc) who are often considered male ancestors who stuck around to aid their family as Tutelary spirits/deities. This does not discount or devalue such a concept as the faerie godmother, folklore shifts and new things can be added. Though perhaps next time the chores seem a bit too much, the ancestral women of your family or a goddess of the home and hearth may be a good group to appeal to instead. For who knows perhaps like “Cinder” ella the fireplace will be a liminal space with which the other realms may reach.

Simargl
Simargl is a deity or legendary creature in Slavic Mythology. He is often depicted as a winged dog or wolf sometimes surrounded by or omitting fire. Among the Slavic gods he sticks out like a sore thumb, while some of the gods have an animal form, few if any others are as distinct as Simargl. Simargl has many aspects to consider, though the validity of any of these like many Slavic gods is unknown if or to what extent they can be taken as true or false. In the book of Kolyada (a book that is not necessarily true myths so much as folklore inspired fiction. Or a rather long description of Unverifiable Personal Gnosis). Simargl is depicted as the first born from Svarog, and is born from the sparks of Svarog's hammer. Though in other depictions he is considered to be the younger god, born after Dazbog. Due to his supposed relation to Dazbog and Svarog he is sometimes conflated with Svarozivic, a fire deity whose name means “Son of Svarog”, and who is also considered the brother of Dazbog.
In this set of stories Simargl is the protector within the first generation of gods, before the birth of Perun, fighting off threats and carrying heavenly messages for the gods. Becoming both a warrior and a messenger deity. Simargl would appear as a young or old warrior and be able to turn the tide of the battle by embodying the strength of the gods themselves and imbuing it into his sides forces. In other appearances the winged flying dog was the more accurate description as he appeared and left a trail of fire behind him as he flew. Aside from this Simargl is identified at times with the deity Pereplut and here his mythology differs greatly, here he is the fertility of the world tree. With his tail and wings turning into vines in an almost green man like transformation. Representing fertility and new life. His association with War, fertility, shape-shifting, and fire seems to be the most consistent. However there is something interesting about Simargl, he was clearly denoted as important enough to be among the idols of Vladimir the Great alongside other gods such as Mokosh, Stribog, Dazbog and Perun. With some claiming he was used as a sort of appeasement for the nearby Iranians as they had the being Simurgh. But there are other Winged Dogs that fit this figure even more who need mentioned and the winged dog can be found as far away as Belgium.

Beginning with the Simurgh, while the name seems a likely connection the actual figure of Simargl is not. Simurgh is depicted far closer to a Sphynx or Griffin then the winged dog of the Slavs. Being large enough to carry off elephants and not even always depicted with his dog head but also that of birds. Simurgh exists as the king of birds and is often shown to be benevolent but not truly in the same way that Simargl is. Far to the west in Belgium is the Shape-shifting water spirit Kludde, so named for the noise it makes. Sometimes called a Nyx or a water spirit Kludde takes many forms though his current most popular one is that of a winged dog like chimera with fire for eyes. Though it is perhaps just south of the slavic lands in Armenia that Simargl's most similar beast is present. The Aralez, a kind of benevolent spirit or deity in the shape of a dog with wings. The Aralez were said to fly down and lick the wounds of dead warriors to resurrect them from the dead. Minus the fire this appearance is most in line with Simargl, though it is unknown if beyond form and the war association if the Aralez match up to Simargl at all. So the question than becomes what is Simargl? Is he truly Slavic? Well perhaps discussing one of the most well known myths of Simargl may help, though they seem to directly contradict all other conceptions of the deity. That of his role as the doomsday hound. In these stories Simargl's role is much more a fusion of that of Fenrir and Surtr rather than a sort of war and fertility deity. Here the Zorya also known as the Auroras are a duo or sometimes trio of goddesses who watch over Simargl while he is chained to Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor. For if he is ever to get free he will consume the constellation and the universe will end. This is in stark contrast to his other stories and conceptions especially given that the Zorya's are often said to serve his supposed brother Dazbog. What's more is I have been unable to find the origin of this myth, merely that it is commonly thought of to exist. This calls to mind an interesting possibility, that Simargl was betrayed. It is possible though unlikely that a myth involving a competition between Simargl and Dazbog where only one can be the god of the sun may have been a sort of brother vs brother myth, ending with Simargl being chained to the North Star and being relegated to an important, but definite second if not third fiddle to the sun itself. Inevitably angry over this he is watched over by the brightest stars at dawn, dusk, and nighttime in order to keep him from escaping and taking revenge upon his brother, the life giving sun. In effect ending the world, or perhaps he is the fire of war a burning of a new world, or a wild fire from which new plants grow in the ashes of his flames. Whats more is the possibility that Simargl is in fact human in form and the winged dog is a more recent addition, though it has quickly gained popularity and overcome any possible human form attributed to him.
Whether wild fire, universe consumer, warrior, fertile soil, the life giving fruit of the world tree, or solar deity Simargl has easily become one of the most recognizable gods of the Slavic pantheon and if he is in fact identified with Svarozivic, this god found his way as far west as Germany which may argue the possibility of Kludde being more than a mere water spirit. Like most Slavic deities much of it comes down to what you chose to consider true or not and your own personal understanding and experience. Though it seems clear the deity is here to stay contradictions, muddled origins, and winged dog form and all.


Also his Priests were supposedly Werewolves.

Our friend Alex over at Trova De Lid just put out a new song, also today is Bandcamp Friday so Bandcamp doesn't take a cut from artists today. Don't forget to Support your Pagan artists.

Gargoyle's are well known figures of modern fantasy, stone by day winged beasts by night. Terrifying visages upon ancient buildings staring down from ancient European cities. However, this Gargoyle, the one who fits well within the beasts of the night is a far more modern conception of what in the past were instead decorative water spouts. What people typically consider Gargoyle's are actually known as Grotesques. Though no one really calls them that as the legend of the Gargoyle has long ago subsumed the original term.
The tradition of decorative water spouts or gutters featuring monsters, dragons, humans, and chimeras of various kinds is not uncommon and was practiced across Europe and beyond. Some of them had specific stories or meanings attached to them, with the Lincoln Imp being an example of a grotesque that is tied into its own myth. The origin of the Gargoyle likely has to do with the legend of La Gargouille, a sort of dragon that plagued the town of Rouen until St. Romanus came and using the power of god tamed it, then took it into town where the people burnt it until all that remained was the neck and head which were fireproof. This was then mounted on the wall of the town, becoming the model of the Gargoyle for future generations. Though this may be a Christianized version of a practice from the ancient Celts, where the heads of the prey were possibly used as protective totems. This may be part of how the Gargoyle had its second function in the folklore. With the church including them in the architecture of cathedrals as a way to maintain attendance and acceptance of a foreign faith. The concept of protective totems made these into guardian spirits not dissimilar to the Chinese Stone Lions. These tales all seem to converge into the origin of the modern Gargoyle.
With monsters turned to stone or being the origin of a specific design. It seemed only a matter of time before these decorative demons would become a class of beasts all their own. As films, games, shows, and novels increasingly included the Gargoyle as one of its figures. With some taking a more tame approach while others embraced the demonic side espoused by the Church. The Gargoyle's current form has become a popular and beloved addition to the beasts and legends of European culture, and their status as protective wards and totems, more than deserves to return to the forefront. Whether demon or dragon, spirit or angel; The Gargoyle is a colorful and gothic addition to European culture.

This is a bit of magic in the world, and I do wish we could have far more like this and much less being removed sadly

Sugaar, the serpent in the Lauburu. Also known as Sugaar, Sugar, Sugoi, and Maju is a Basque god one of the most well known and prominent gods of Basque paganism. Sugaar is the husband of Mari and on Fridays he mates with her and produces storms, when they are traveling it is said to hail. He is considered at times to be on fire and when lightening strikes it is the flaming Sugaar streaking across the sky. He is considered to have had a child with a Scottish princess who gave birth to the mythical Basque lord of Biscay. Though this was likely done to try to give divine rights to certain families. Another tale tells of how two Basque brothers found the serpent in a cave and the younger cut off his tail at the cave in Baltzola the older brother disapproved of his brothers actions. Years later an old man approached the older brother who took him to the same cave and gave him gold and a belt to give to his brother, his brother refused to wear the belt and tied it to a tree and the tree caught fire leaving nothing but a hole in the ground. A rather odd version of the thunderer and storm deity in Europe Sugaar is the serpent in the Lauburu (Basque sun wheel) and it seems as if he is one part while his shedded skin is the other. He is usually depicted as a red snake, a red dragon, or a red snake with the body of a young man at the top half. His name may mean “High fire/flame” “Male serpent” or “Old Serpent”. What is your favorite thing about Sugaar?