'Through these stories, (Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Lucretia, Publius Horatius Cocles, Gaius Fabricius) we gain a glimpse of how the Romans saw their ancestors and themselves. Early Rome was held up as a golden age, whose people embraced a simple lifestyle uncorrupted by excessive luxury. From this virtuous life, they won divine favour and drew the strength in adversity that gave Rome superiority over its neighbours. Later generations were taught to emulate and surpass their heroic forebears. It was this emulation that helped to drive the Republic’s expansion, which brought wealth into Rome on a previously unimaginable scale. And as the Republic finally collapsed into chaos and civil war, it was moral decline and the loss of ancestral virtue that the Romans invoked to explain their fate.'

David M. Gwynn on the Roman Republic (Gwynn, 2012, ‘The Roman Republic: A Very Short Introduction’)

(Image: Cincinnatus leaving the plow to make laws in Rome - Juan Antonio Ribera)

https://telegra.ph/Leshy-Personal-Experience-05-01

Leshy: Personal Experience

In this post I share with you my first personal experience with Leshy, his wrath and blessing.

-Daelendil, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

The River Lethe and Reincarnation in Greco-Roman Mythology

Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, is one of the five rivers of the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology; Lethe was also the name of the personification of forgetfulness and oblivion, with whom the river was often associated. The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life: in the Aeneid, in book VI, Virgil writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated.

"Spirits they are, to whom second bodies are owed by Fate, and at the water of Lethe’s stream they drink the soothing draught and long forgetfulness." (Aeneid, VI, 714-715)

This allows us to understand how the concept of reincarnation was present in the ancient Indo-European cultures outside of the Eastern paths.

- Patrick, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Ledberg Runestone

An interesting example of runic magic or a possible “galdr” (chant) of sorts can be observed in an 11th century stone in Sweden.

The main body of text is a Younger Futhark memorial to the carver’s father, Thorgautr (Thor-goth). The inscription then ends in the following charm:

ᚦᛘᚴ ᛬ ᛁᛁᛁ ᛬ ᛋᛋᛋ ᛬ ᛏᛏᛏ ᛬ ᛁᛁᛁ ᛬ ᛚᛚᛚ ᛬
þmk : iii : sss : ttt : iii : lll :

The first set of 3 letters correspond to the first 3 letters of a sequence of words. The final triplets are then the remaining letters in those words, yielding

>þistill, mistill, kistill
>thistle, mistletoe, casket

This formula, referred to as the Thistle Mistletoe Formula, is found in identical form in Denmark as well. The exact use of the formula isn’t known, but it is known that mistletoe was a sacred plant in pagan times. Pliny the Elder for instance recounts sacrifices by druids in oak grooves heavy in mistletoe, mistletoe is also the plant that kills Baldr, as a few examples.

-Hariwulfaz, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

HARDCOVER edition now available

The 6th century legendary seer-poet Taliesin tasted the liquid of Inspiration and underwent a series of metamorphoses. This was the archetypal bardic initiation and as he changed shape he traced within himself the changes of the cosmic powers. He became the Knower whose words were a mythological map…

Amazon USA link: https://tinyurl.com/3nffvytz

Amazon Canada link: https://tinyurl.com/3c7d8dx2

Unfortunately, print on demand hardcovers are not available from Amazon UK.
This hardcover can be found on other European Amazon sites, however.


- O’Gravy, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

📚 New Book-Review!

Taliesin's Map: The Comparative Guide to Celtic Mythology by @solarcult

Read here:

https://thegoldenone.se/2022/02/13/taliesins-map-the-comparative-guide-to-celtic-mythology/

Thank you to THE GOLDEN ONE for the thorough review!

- O’Gravy, The Sun Riders

Some good news:

I’ve been notified that SOME hardcover orders have already begun shipping, after only a few days, despite the site saying “usually ships in 3-4 weeks.”

I’m sure this will vary depending on your country and region and the 3-4 weeks could still apply in some places.

- O’Gravy

Scythian Scenes - An Original Poem

Pouring blood on the sword of Mihr
Riding with the Gods, covered in fear
Seething on the steppe of violence
Living off strength Targitaos lends

Milk and arrows, flow and fly
Even when our horses die
Clenching in the battle calm
Our swords in our palms

Enjoying their women with their mead
As virile as my violent, wild steed
Knowing their men were all dying or dead
To Mihr their Arms, To Mihr their heads

This poem is my own creation and is in reference to the Scythian worship of "Scythian Ares", as Herodotus put it, which the Scythians would sacrifice prisoners of war to, pouring their blood on an iron sword. This deity I believe is Mihr or Mithras, due to his association with the sword and its esoteric meaning. Targitaos being their equivalent to Hercules or Indra, a god of great strength.

-Kalin, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

"Since the West has long lost contact with its past traditional forms of which, apart from the religious world understood in an extremely restricted sense, almost nothing remains ... the contact between the elites of the West and the representatives of the traditional spirit of the East is a point of essential importance to ensure a return, to "galvanize", as it were, the latent forces. It is not a question of being unfaithful to ourselves by orientalizing us, but of receiving from the East what can be used to rediscover our own tradition, in order to go beyond the merely human, individualistic and rationalistic civilization of recent times, to gradually form an atmosphere favorable to the re-flourishing of the traditional West."

- Julius Evola, East and West

Sacred Animals in Paganism: The Woodpecker in Roman Tradition

It is no secret that many animals have associations with many Gods, as well as heroes, in European tradition. Wolves, ravens, eagles, bears, and more. They have unique traits that reflect the Gods that they are tied with. It speaks to the inherent connection that we have with nature and how it reflects the divine. The woodpecker, though overlooked, also has a divine connection and deserves the veneration it once held.

https://telegra.ph/The-Woodpecker-in-Roman-Tradition-02-20

- Grief, The Sun Riders
@solarcult