She Wolves of Midwinter, Slavic & Balkan Animism in the traditions of a Shaman (part 1/2)
By Phoenix the Elder – I begin with the Romanian traditions as an ancient Wolf Clan people. The Balkan Romanian, Serbian and Slavic traditions such as Poland and Russia also wolf clan people and this includes the more divine aspect of woman and her life, which were part of our shamanic understandings in the first […]
Peasant Pagan
Slavic Peasants are Natural Pagans – Man in traditional folk or peasant dress in the town of Hriňová, Podpoľanie region, Central Slovakia.
Ukraine’s Night on Bare Mountain
Lysa Hora was the Legend of darkness of the rising powers of men, both pagan and christian, both politician and military at Bare (Bald) Mountain in Kyiv, Ukraine. People tend to think one is good and the other evil, but when you look at the destruction of white, red, black, yellow and brown indigenous cultures, […]
Ritualistic Fire
Phoenix the Elder – A picture expresses a thousand words and a spiritual image expresses ten thousand. The composition of this beautiful image depicts a Slavic Pagan Ritual, the day after Hallows’s Eve (all Souls day). Included in the image are rectangles in the foreground with bowls of water and lighted candles as part of […]
Alatyr – Slavic Magical Legends
By Phoenix of Elder Mountain Dreaming – The Russian Alatyr Stone, sometimes called the World Mother (Алатырь каменьям – мире мати) is a search for purity and truth and as a legend lost long ago on earth. The Russian myth explains it as a Mystical Stone of folktale and epic proportions, as the Russians prefer […]
Traditional Marzanna, Maslenitsa, Morena, Mora Goddesses, and Deities of the Night
By Phoenix the Elder – On the Winter Solstice Day, we begin to honor and build our Marzanna Effigy. The newer pagan traditions build it and burn it on the same day (the Spring Equinox), but the Shamanic cultures are much older so we begin to build her on the Winter Solstice and for those doing […]
Shamanochki Horned Kichka – The Evolution from Grandmother Shaman reduced to Maiden Bride
By Phoenix of Elder Mountain – I am particularly interested as a shaman, in my ancestral grandmothers and their ancient prehistoric rituals which were dominant before the 5th through 8th centuries. Before writing, we had art and oral traditions that carried our stories during the long winter moons and the celebrations of life. Much can be seen […]
Charms and Magic in Slovenia
Charms in the context of Magic Practices, the case of Slovenia by Monika Kropej In Slovenia, charms or invocations are one or two strophe formulas that the medicine woman or man used at addressing the powers beyond to procure healing or to influence certain natural processes. They are as if a bridge between this world […]
The Midnight Sun: A Generous Invitation to the Marriage of the Soul and the North Winds. Traditions of Kolyadki & Auseklis
By Phoenix of Elder Mountain Dreaming (and other contributors); Edited by Sarah Bernstein – The Midnight Sun is a very ancient tradition of the Moon Cultures. The earlier shamanistic cultures and the dreamers before them carried the symbolism of all things today. For the Moon lights our way through each season in all her images […]
The Pagans of Belarus – Andrei Liankevich
Андрей Ленкевич. Язычество – Belarus people have an original culture rooted back in the pre-religious times. The Belarusian culture has benefited from the fact that when the Slavic tribes came to settle in nowadays Belarus lands, they accept the achievements of the Baltic and Finno-Ugric tribes. This form of religious perception existed for about 15-20 […]