Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

I'm going to be shocking and launch this week's Magic Monday a few minutes early, since I'm here on Dreamwidth,. (The picture is Thomas Taylor, the great Regency-era Platonist and worshiper of the Greek Gods, godfather of the modern Neopagan revival)

Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. Any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer, though it may be Tuesday sometime before I get to them all.

I've had several people ask about tipping me for answers here, and though I certainly don't require that I won't turn it down. You can use the button below to access my online tip jar. 

With that said, have at it! 

***This post is now closed to new questions. See you next week!***

Comments

Re: Awen and Aum

[ecosophia]

The term "awen" is documented in medieval Wales; Giraldus Cambrensis wrote about Welsh mediums called awenyddion, "people with awen." It's entirely possible that it has some kind of link with AUM via very old Indo-European roots. (I've documented chunks of unrecognized Indo-European myth in Iolo's writings, so this is at least plausible.)

On the other hand, I tend to think there's a lot to be said for the possibility that there's some essential reality of which the two words are not merely arbitrary reflections.

Still, this is fascinating. There are a number of other odd parallelisms between Japanese and Celtic (and proto-Celtic) traditions -- Japan, for example, has quite a few burial mounds and standing stones that look remarkably like those in Britain and Ireland.

Re: Awen and Aum

[(Anonymous)]

I've documented chunks of unrecognized Indo-European myth in Iolo's writings, so this is at least plausible.)

Oooh... Have you published this anywhere, online or off?

Bogatyr

Re: Awen and Aum

[ecosophia]

Yep. You'll find it in the 2014 issue of Trilithon, the annual journal published by the Ancient Order of Druids in America. You can download a copy of that issue for free from the AODA website here -- scroll down to the bottom.

Re: Awen and Aum

[(Anonymous)]

Excellent; I’ll look it up when I get a moment. Thanks!

Bogatyr

Re: Awen and Aum

[tunesmyth]

If the Awen/Aum connection isn't one you've come across before, I'm delighted to play the messenger in this case. When you say that you've documented chunks of unrecognized Indo-European myth in Iolo's writings, is there a book in which you did so?

I'm not sure about the standing stones you refer to, but I'd like to know. As for burial mounds, I presume you mean Kofun, the famous keyhole shaped burial mounds that pepper the entire island of Japan. Does the keyhole motif also appear in Britain and Ireland? (Or are you referring to something else?)

Re: Awen and Aum

[ecosophia]

I'd encountered it, but not really reflected on it in detail. My article on Indo-European myth in Iolo Morganwg's work is in the 2014 issue of Trilithon, which you can access here.

The kofun were what I was thinking of -- the specific keyhole shape is rare in northwestern Europe, but there are a range of shapes, and traditions relating to mound burial that I discuss in a forthcoming book about the legends around Merlin. As for standing stones, look at dosojin (stone steles placed along roadways and at village boundaries) sometime. They're smaller than the big standing stones people visit in northwestern Europe, but they serve similar energetic functions. Also, are you familiar with the stone circles at Oyu? Standing stones oriented to midsummer -- where have I heard of that before? ;-)

Re: Awen and Aum

[tunesmyth]

Fascinating! Thank you on all counts, I was not aware of any of those connections, and I now have a compelling reason to visit Akita on a summer solstice. :-)

Re: Awen and Aum

[temporaryreality]

First thought was to try to fish for some human to human connection (trade, travel, something unconscious), but then I thought to wonder if the above expressions are actually manifestations of spirits of place - perhaps island spirits like and spread certain concepts through us...