Month: August 2013

dahliafyodorovna:

Svetovid

Svetovid (Polish: Świętowit, Russian: Святовит), is a Slavic deity of war, fertility and abundance primarily venerated on the island of Rügen into the 12th century. He is often considered a local Rugian variant of the pan-Slavic god Perun.

Sometimes referred to as Beli (or Byali) Vid (Beli = white, bright, shining), Svetovid is often depicted with a sword or bow in one hand and a drinking horn in the other. Other important symbols included the white horse, which were kept in his temple and used in divination.

Svetovid is associated with war and divination and depicted as a four-headed god with two heads looking forward and two back. A statue portraying the god shows him with four heads, each one looking in a separate direction, a symbolical representation of the four directions of the compass, and also perhaps the four seasons of the year. Each face had a specific colour. The northern face of this totem was white (hence White Russia / Belarus and the White Sea), the western, red (hence Red Ruthenia), the southern, black (hence the Black Sea) and the eastern, green (hence Zelenyj klyn).

Boris Rybakov argued for identification of the faces with the gods Perun, Svarog, Lada and Mokosh (compare Zbruch idol). Joined together, they see all four sides of the world. This gave rise to a false etymology of the name of the god as “world-seer" (svet = “world", vid = “sight"; Svetovid = “worldseer"). However, the forms Sventevith and Zvantewith show that the name derives from the word svętъ, meaning “saint, holy". The second stem is sometimes reconstructed as vit = “lord, ruler, winner".

The name recorded in chronicles of contemporary Christian monks is Svantevit, which, if we assume it was properly transcribed, could be an adjective meaning approx. “Dawning One" (svantev,svitanje = “dawning, raising of the Sun in the morning" + it, adjective suffix), implying either a connection with the “Morning Star" or with the Sun itself.

Beyond the names above referenced, Svetovid can also be known as Svyatovit (Ukrainian), Svyatovid (alternative name in Ukrainian), Svyentovit (alternative name in Ukrainian), Svetovid (Serbian, Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian and Bosnian, and alternative name in Bulgarian), Suvid (alternative name in Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian), Svantevit (Wendish, alternative name in Ukrainian and possibly the original proto-Slavic name), Svantevid (alternative name in Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian), Svantovit (Czech and Slovak), Svantovít (Czech), Svantovid (alternative name in Serbo-Croat and Bosniak), Swantovít, Sventovit, Zvantevith (Latin and alternative name in Serbo-Croatian), Świętowit (Polish), Światowid, Sutvid, Svevid, and Vid.

stregoicadance:

Deathwomb Catachesis by Pseudogod

cover artwork by Antichrist Kramer

interior artwork by Occultorture

ihavenohonor:

We know that all the Autiot are not only symbols of different states of energy, but are actually those states which they represent. They are not, as it were, snapshots of fixed, congealed states; they are alive and active. Hence, they can react in opposite ways to the cosmic flow of living energy. Suares, The Sepher Yetsira (Sefer Yetzirah), p.129

It was the Kabbalists themselves who preserved the correct text, initially concealing it from outsiders. Around 1550, Rabbi Moshe Cordvero, leader of the Safed school and the greatest Kabbalist of the day, sifted through the ten best manuscripts available, choosing the one most closely fitting the tradition of the Kabbalists. A generation later,the text was further refined by the Ari (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria), one of the greatest Kabbalists of all time. This text, known as the Ari Version, was published a number of time, usually as part of some other collection. It resembles the Short Version in many ways, but there are some very significant differences in assignment. In general, the Ari Version is the only one which is in agreement with the Zohar.

Aryeh Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, Aronson, 1995 p. xxv (via ihavenohonor)