Since ancient times, the Welsh have celebrated the Spring Equinox as a time when the Earth's various spiritual energies are especially potent, including the "Awen" - that flowing spirit of divine inspiration which is the source of all poetry and prophecy. #FolkloreThursday#folklore#mythology#Wales#Celtic
It's the Day of Zeus / Jupiter's Day / #Thursday! ⚡
Zeus-Jupiter statuette from the vicus of Dalheim in Luxembourg, which was part of the civitas of the Treveri, a Celtic tribe. It was found inside a small square building within an octagonal sanctuary and measures 61 cm (24 inches) in height.
🏛️ Late 2nd century CE, today in the Musée du Louvre
In Welsh King Arthur stories, Arthur's brother Cai the Tall (Sir Kay) had many superpowers, including making himself red hot. During rainstorms, Cai's friends would stay close to him, as Cai's extreme heat turned the raindrops to steam, keeping everyone dry.
🎨Disney's "Sword in the Stone" #LegendaryWednesday#WyrdWednesday#mythology#folklore#KingArthur#Arthuriana#Wales#Celtic
It's the Day of Hermes aka Mercurius Day aka #Wednesday! 🐏
"Sing, Muse, of Hermes, the son of Zeus and Maia, lord of Kyllene and Arkadia rich in flocks, the luck-bringing messenger of the gods whom Maia bare, the rich-tressed Nymphe, when she was joined in love with Zeus."
Homeric Hymn 4
🎨 #Hermes on a roof in Chalkis, Euboea, Greece 1937 Photo by Herbert List
This week's #MythologyMonday theme is #flowers. In #GreekMythology, several flowers are the result of transformations. The most well-known examples are #Aphrodite turning her dying lover #Adonis into a flower after he had been mauled by a boar, Apollon turning #Hyakinthos into a flower after he fatally wounded him with a discus, and the nymph Daphne turning into the first laurel tree to escape the unwanted amorous advances of #Apollon.
It's the first day of #MerMay! 🧜♀️
I'll be writing kissing cousins Hermes x Triton for my #Patreon patrons and members of my website. #Triton is the son of #Amphitrite and #Poseidon and he is the messenger of the sea much like #Hermes is the messenger of the Olympian gods. And work can always be mixed with pleasure, right?
Greetings, myth lovers! Join us this #Monday for the theme FLOWERS! 💐
Which myths are about a special flower or flowers? Tell us the #story in your toot and use the hashtag #MythologyMonday for boosts!
Your host @independentpen will be delighted by your beautiful flower myths! 🌻
🎨 Flora, Roman goddess of flowers and Springtime, on a fresco found in #Pompeii.
In some Christian folklore, the demon Leonard is inspector general of sorcery and grand master of the black sabbaths. Though Leonard acts shy and melancholy most of the time, he becomes commanding and even manic when speaking to assemblies of demons or sorcerers.
🎨Louis Le Breton #FolkloreSunday#GothicSpring#folklore#mythology#witch#demon#occult
Most surviving Welsh legends are heroic adventures rather than mythological origins of things. The few exceptions all involve the wizard Gwydion. He stole the first pigs, turned a woman into the first owl, and a sea god named like his nephew Dylan created the first gulls.
🎨Margaret Jones #FolkloreThursday#mythology#folklore#magic#Welsh#Celtic
Though in modern fantasy the term "dryad" means any tree nymph, to the ancient Greeks the dryads were only nymphs of oak trees. Other nymphs included daphnaie (laurels), epimelides (apple trees), meliae (ash trees), anthousai (flowers), and kissiae (ivy). #WyrdWednesday#folklore#mythology#greekmythology#Greek#fairy
Gwalchmai/Gawaine is one of the few warriors of King Arthur who doesn't have any superpowers in the original Welsh King Arthur stories, but is ironically the only who does have powers (superhuman strength based on the sun) in many later Arthurian romances.
🎨Howard Pyle #MythologyMonday#BookChatWeekly#mythology#folklore#KingArthur#Arthuriana#Wales#Celtic
Surprisingly, it was not King Arthur's sword that was one of the 13 Treasures of Britain in Welsh legend, but instead his cloak Gwenn. This silk cloak was white as snow and had a reddish-gold apple sewn at each of its corners. It could turn King Arthur invisible.
🎨Rubin Eynon #FolkloreSunday#mythology#folklore#Wales#Cornwall#KingArthur#Arthuriana
For those of you who have a soft spot for Cassandra in Greek mythology:
There is at least one Classical source that claims that she survived, and that she - along with her twin brother Helenus, her mother Queen Hecuba, and Hector's widow Andromache - started a new life in Chersonesus.
Hello, Myth Lovers! Join us for Monday's theme: Children. Which myths feature children, infants, or babies? Write out a #story and use the hashtag #MythologyMonday for boosts.
#FairyTaleTuesday: Theres historical evidence of #Celtic women who led their tribes into battle, as did the British queens #Boudicca and #Cartimandua. Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore`
RT @SomeSourcesSay1
Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, was the epitome of a woman scorned. After the Romans took her lands, flogged her and violated her daughters, she led an open revolt that brought Roman Britain t… https://twitter.com/SomeSourcesSay1/status/1235113010743701505
As she died, the goddess #Macha cursed the men of #Ulster, declaring that every time an enemy threatened, the warriors would become weak as women— some interpret this as ghost labor pains—for five days and four nights, for nine generations.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
#MythologyMonday: On the side of one hill of the #Loughcrew (Sliab na #Cailleach) complex is the Hag’s Chair. Atop that hill is a decorated cairn oriented to the sunrise on #spring and fall #Equinox.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and Folklore
#FaustianFriday: Black-winged Mórrígan and the scald-crow #Badb both took crow forms, as did the continental Celtic #Cathubodua. All were connected with battle.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
Finally reading Circe by Madelyn Miller. Great takes on some timeless, entertaining Greek myths.There's a lot missing from our education on Greek myths if, like me, you were raised with those tame anthologies published in the 1940s, etc. (for instance, there's much lgbtq+ goings on in the original stories)! Fun read! #Circe#mythology#madelinemiller
#Finnéces was eager to gain all the knowledge that the Salmon of Wisdom had from eating hazelnuts. For seven years the #druid had been waiting for just the right moment to gain the wisdom that the salmon held within itself. When the time was right, Finnéces/Finegas caught the fish, who came to his line as though by prearrangement.
The old druid set the fish to cook, leaving the boy #Fionn mac Cumhaill to watch it and warning him not to touch it or taste it. But the salmon sizzled and spattered onto Fionn’s thumb, which he stuck into his mouth to ease the pain. Immediately wisdom flooded him—the very wisdom that Finnéces had been hoping to attain.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore