THE SUN RIDERS OFFICIAL MONTH OF MARS CHALLENGE II

Are you ready to come out of hibernation?
Like last year, we encourage you to join us in challenging ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually; getting ready for another season of action, productivity, building, and growing.

Here are our major goals for this March:

Goal I - Physical Fitness
Strengthen your body with regular exercise.
Set new goals for weight, reps, frequency etc, and achieve them. Don‘t slack!

Goal II - Reading and Studying
Read for at least 30 minutes every day and tackle those books you‘ve been meaning to get to.
Take notes, be present with the material.

Goal III - Spiritual Practice
Perform daily ritual, for example libation, prayer, meditation, and honor your gods and ancestors.

Goal IV - Abstinence/Fasting
Cease giving in to your vices. Cut out unhealthy habits such as smoking, drinking, sugar, late night snacking, mindless scrolling etc.

Push yourself and tackle as many goals as possible.
Honor your commitment!

@solarcult

Poem to the Unknown God

"Once more, before I move on
and set my sights ahead,
in loneliness I lift my hands up to you,
you to whom I flee,
to whom I, in the deepmost depth of my heart,
solemnly consecrated altars
so that ever
your voice may summon me again.

Deeply graved into those altars
glows the phrase: To The Unknown God.
I am his, although I have, until now,
also lingered amid the unholy mob;
I am his—and I feel the snares
that pull me down in the struggle and,
if I would flee,
compel me yet into his service.

I want to know you, Unknown One,
Who reaches deep into my soul,
Who roams through my life like a storm—
You Unfathomable One, akin to me!
I want to know you, even serve you."

- Friedrich Nietzsche, 1864

“Do not worship the Lord during the day, do not worship the Lord during the night; the Lord must be worshipped at the point of the meeting of day and night.”

------Abhinavagupta-Tantraloka

This post really resonated with me. My most profound spiritual experiences so far have always been at dawn or dusk. Get practicing if you’re not already. Also, I would suggest you get planning for a ritual on the dawn closest to the mid-April full moon. The group I’m a part of does this ritual each year after camping out, and it’s always fantastic.

I give a basic outline to a ritual you can try here.

- Owen, The Sun Riders
@Solarcult

Spiritual Practice: Libation to Ancestors

Part of our Mars Challenge is spiritual practice, and one of the most widespread and easy practices is libation, or a simple offering of wine, water or food to your ancestors or the Gods. Libation and offerings are attested in various cultures such as Germanic, Greek, Roman and Hindu (here called Abhisheka), possibly stemming from a Vedic practice. In the Greco-Roman world, librations to the dead and to chthonic Gods were done at night and these would be poured into the ground accompanied by a prayer. Germanic and Hindu practice consisted of bathing idols in the form of God poles, murtis and lingams (pillars) in blood, wine, milk, honey, or ghee. Preferably this would be done outside, on a full moon and with a prayer such as this, taken from Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus:

“Beloved [God], and all ye other Gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul; and may the outward and inward man be at one. May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy, and may I have such a quantity of gold as a temperate man and he only can bear and carry.“

Visualize the deity or ancestors you are offering to and confidently believe that you are in their presence. We suggest you also contemplate the sacrifices of your ancestors, actions of the Gods and the great amount of compassion they have for you; most of all, be joyful when preforming any spiritual practice.

- Kalin, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Are you crushing Goals in our Mars Challenge?

Let’s assess our progress as the first half of the month now lies behind us.

- Did you find new ways to push yourself physically?
- What have you been reading?
- Did you strengthen your spiritual practice?
- Which bad habits did you kick?

Tell us in the comments which goals you have committed to and what you have accomplished thus far, we’d love to hear from you.

@solarcult

Hardcover copies have been showing up on doorsteps lately, with many others still on their way.

Check your local Amazon site for availability and spread the knowledge around. Makes quite an esoteric St. Paddy’s Day gift (although the day is now upon us), and the March Equinox time period around Paddy’s Day coincides very closely with the Indo-European “Creation” myth that is found at the climax of the book.

Teach your Celtic relatives and friends their primordial March mythos. Reclaim the holiday.

U.S. link: https://tinyurl.com/66zbhzz2
U.K. Amazon currently only does paperbacks. link: https://tinyurl.com/y485dc9n

- O’Gravy, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

🍀 St. Patrick’s Day and the Creation of the World

St. Patrick’s Day is said to mark the death of St. Patrick and to commemorate the bringing of Christianity to Ireland. However, it occurs right around the time of the March Equinox (March 21) and near the Hindu equinox-related celebration of Holi (March 18). These mark the beginning of Spring.

As I’ve shown, the time around the March Equinox (perhaps connected to a nearby moon-event) would have marked the IE commemoration of the Creation of the world (which mythos Holi is also derived from).

As this is the beginning of Spring within the world, so it is the springing forth of the life of the cosmos from the primordial cosmic winter on a higher level, the creation of the world.

As St. Patrick’s Day is said to mark the bringing of Christianity to Ireland and the death of Patrick, the Irish Creation myth tells of the bringing of the Sons of Mil, the first ancestors of the Irish, to Ireland, and the death of Mac Greine (see: Ymir/Dyaus) and finally of Eber Finn (see: Odinn/Rudra). As such St. Patrick’s Day could be argued to be overlaid over this earlier mythos to some extent.

So today or in the next few days leading to the Equinox, pour a toast to your ancestors, the high gods, who came as the Sons of Mil to bring the Irish and their ancient ways to Ireland, and think of the primordial sacrifice of Father Sky, Mac Greine, and the subsequent death of Eber Finn, which in truth was the creation of a bridge back to divinity for those who followed, if its meaning is interpreted correctly.

The Celtic Creation Myth: https://taliesinsmap.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-celtic-creation-myth-branwen_21.html?m=1

- O’Gravy, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

As our Mars Challenge is coming to an end, I would like to check in with you all and hear about how this month may have affected you physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Have you experienced an increase in strength, endurance, vitality, piety?
Did you discover new passions, or free yourself of dependencies?

Did you enjoy this challenge, and would you like to participate in more events of this sort?

I’m always excited to read everyone’s feedback and learn about your battles and victories!
But it’s also important to acknowledge where you may have fallen short, given up, or overestimated yourself. All of those things are opportunities to evaluate and improve, to come back stronger and more determined the next time.

Please share your experiences with us in the comments!

☀️ PGM
@solarcult

Join Me in Daily Practice for the Month of April

Following the Mars challenge, one personal goal I'm setting myself for April is simple. 30 days of worship and meditation. I would like to invite any of our subscribers who are interested to take part as well. Even if it's as simple as integrating meditation or a small prayer into your daily routine.

See how your perception changes, any questions feel free to ask in the comments section as usual.

- Owen, The Sun Riders
@Solarcult

An Exercise in Expanding Our Knowledge of the Gods

A better understanding of the lore makes for better practice surrounding it. Inspired by Owen's post last Wednesday, I invite all of our readers to participate in getting to better know the Gods and Goddesses that we worship in their respective branches. Each month, select a deity that you wish to know more about. Consume and digest whatever source material there may be, or that you can find, as well as direct your prayers and meditation towards them. At the end of the month, begin anew with another deity. Discussion and collaboration is highly encouraged! Any thoughts, revelations and so on is welcome in our chats/discussion groups.

- Cormac Cás, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Hymn to Woden by William Lisle Bowles (24 September 1762 – 7 April 1850).

God of the battle, hear our prayer!
By the lifted falchion's glare;
By the uncouth fane sublime,
Marked with many a Runic rhyme;
By the 'weird sisters' dread,
That, posting through the battle red,
Choose the slain, and with them go
To Valhalla's halls below,
Where the phantom-chiefs prolong
Their echoing feast, a giant throng,
And their dreadful beverage drain
From the skulls of warriors slain:
God of the battle, hear our prayer;
And may we thy banquet share!
Save us, god, from slow disease;
From pains that the brave spirit freeze;
From the burning fever's rage;
From wailings of unhonoured age,
Drawing painful his last breath;
Give us in the battle death!
Let us lift our glittering shield,
And perish, perish in the field!
Now o'er Cumri's hills of snow
To death, or victory, we go;
Hark! the chiefs their cars prepare;
See! they bind their yellow hair;
Frenzy flashes from their eye,
They fly--our foes before them fly!
Woden, in thy empire drear,
Thou the groans of death dost hear,
And welcome to thy dusky hall
Those that for their country fall!
Hail, all hail the godlike train,
That with thee the goblet drain;
Or with many a huge compeer,
Lift, as erst, the shadowy spear!
Whilst Hela's inmost caverns dread
Echo to their giant tread,
And ten thousand thousand shields
Flash lightning o'er the glimmering fields!
Hark! the battle-shouts begin--
Louder sounds the glorious din:
Louder than the ice's roar,
Bursting on the thawing shore;
Or crashing pines that strew the plain,
When the whirlwinds hurl the main!
Riding through the death-field red,
And singling fast the destined dead,
See the fatal sisters fly!
Now my throbbing breast beats high--
Now I urge my panting steed,
Where the foemen thickest bleed.
Soon exulting I shall go,
Woden, to thy halls below;
Or o'er the victims, as they die,
Chaunt the song of Victory!

The Stages of Life in Greco-Roman Thought: An Extract from 'Life Cycle' by Tim Parkin

How we perceive the stages of life directly affects how we view others and ourselves. This work highlights how some European schools of thought viewed the stages of a person's life, with a focus on the Greco-Roman view.

The attached infographic contrasts the various views highlighted in the source.

- Owen, The Sun Riders
@solarcult

Spring

In proto-West Germanic, the spring season was referred to as *langatin, which essentially translates to “long day”, and refers to the lengthening of days. In old English this eventually became Lencten, which is the source of the modern English Lent. In German the cognate word is Lenz.

As a result, it is completely heathen to refer to this time of year as Lent.

In English, we also refer to the season as Spring, which likely comes from the idea that plants begin to spring forth from the Earth. Life comes back, animals “spring” forth from their dens and long winter slumbers. This time of year is under the domain of the Dawn Goddess, known as Eōstre to the English, Ostara to the Germans, Ausrinė to the Balts, and Uṣás to the Vedic Aryans many millennia ago, among other names.

She is a goddess of fertility, rebirth, and a herald of the Sun. If you haven’t already, say a prayer and pour a libation to this Goddess.

-Hariwulfaz, The Sun Riders
@solarcult