Category Archives: Worldview

The Cailleach: A Celtic Goddess of Winter

Arkane Curiosities

Just as the Greeks celebrate the change from winter to summer with Persephone arising from the underworld, the Celts had the twin goddesses of Brigid and Cailleach. While the bright Brigid ruled over the summer months, Cailleach was the goddess of winter — the dwindling of the light.

Winter Goddess

Cailleach was known as the Veiled One or the Queen of Winter and she determined the severity of the colder months. Samhain, or October 31st, marked the end of the Celtic year and the start of Cailleach’s reign. This lasted until Beltane, May 1st, when Brigid ushered in the summer months. Some believe there were two aspects of the same goddess. 

This might explain why she aged backward. Cailleach began Samhain as an ancient crone and gradually became younger as the months marched toward spring. Cailleach had total control over the frigid winter winds, being called Cailleach Bhéara in Scotland, the master of winds. She would determine if we received and early spring.

Collecting Firewood

On Imbolc, February 1st, Cailleach ran out of firewood. This forced her to journey out into the woods to collect more. In the Manx tradition, she transformed into a mighty bird, gathering branches in her beak. In Ireland and Scotland, she journeyed out on foot. 

This chore determined how severe the last months of winter would be. If Cailleach wanted winter to go on, she would make the day sunny and bright, allowing her to find more firewood and prolong the harsh winds of winter. However, if she overslept, the day remained gray and stormy, signaling that warmer weather was soon to come. 

This tradition has carried over into the United States as Groundhog Day. It shifted to February 2nd, but the ritual is very similar. A sunny day means that Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow and bring six more weeks of winter. If the day is overcast, then he won’t see his shadow and we get an early spring. 

Oldest of Them All

There is a legend of a wandering friar and his scribe who chanced upon an old woman’s house (spoiler, this would be our Cailleach). The friar wanted to know how old the woman was, but she had survived so many winters, she couldn’t quite recall. All she did know was that each year she killed an ox and cooked up a soup. Then she’d toss the bones into the attic. 

The friar sent his young scribe scrambling up the ladder to throw the bones down for a count. As the pile grew, the friar soon ran out of paper in which to record the years this old lady had lived. He called up to the scribe to see how many bones were left. The scribe replied that he’d not even cleared one corner of the attic. 

Another tale involved Fintan the Wise, who accompanied Noah’s granddaughter to visit Ireland. This was before the Great Flood and Fintan felt he was the first to set foot on the Emerald Isle. Instead, he discovered Cailleach living in a small hut. 

Fintan was known as the man of a hundred lives, having lived some 5500 years. Yet he surmised that Cailleach was even older than he. He asked her, “Are you the one who ate the apples in the beginning?”, wondering if she might be Eve. He received no answer. 

The Well of Youth and the Green Isle

Perhaps Cailleach (also known as Beria) lived so long because each spring, she drank from the Well of Youth. These magical waters bubble up from the Green Island.This island, visible as only a speck off in the west, was a magical land where the only season was summer. It drifted along with the tides of the Atlantic, appearing off the coasts of Ireland and Scotland. Beria always knew where to find the isle and visited each spring to renew her life. 

Tim Kane

Pray to the Gods to Overcome Writer’s Block

Arkane Curiosities

As long as writing has existed, there have been writers staring at the blank page, utterly blocked. Often, we look to the divine to intervene and help us overcome writer’s block.

Here are three ancient deities of writing that might inspire your to greater narrative glory. 

Seshat, the Mistress of the House of Books

Seshat was a goddess credited with the invention of writing, though her consort, Thoth, received most of the credit. Seshat oversaw all libraries and was the patron of any form of writing. She is seen as either an aspect of Thoth, or his daughter or wife (Egyptian mythology is complicated). 

Seshat would guide the hands of scribes as they held their reeds, helping with their attempts to communicate with the divine. In fact, her name translated to “female scribe”. She is the only Egyptian goddess seen in the actual act of writing. 

Want your writing to live on forever, then Seshat is the one you should look to. The Egyptians believed that everything done on Earth was mirrored in heaven. When an author pens a story on the mortal plane, an ethereal copy was also created in the celestial realm. Seshat then placed this book in the library of the good, preserving it forever. Thus, when you pass on as a writer, everything you’ve written is waiting for you on the other side. 

Quetzalcoatl, the Rescuer of Light and Knowledge

After the world was created, the gods and humans lived together in harmony. Only Quetzalcoatl felt sorrow for he saw that the humans were subjugated by the other gods. Quetzalcoatl adopted the human form to share divine knowledge and writing with humankind. 

Quetzalcoatl was the god of writing and books. His name comes from the Nahuatl and is a compound of “Quetzal” and “Coatl”, or a combination of bird and snake. He was venerated in religious colleges and temples, where future priests were educated. 

The “Plumed God” consistently went out of his way to help us poor humans. According to legend, the Aztec people ate only roots and wild game. They knew about maize, but the plant only grew on the other side of a great mountain range. Other gods attempted to move the mountain with brute force. 

Only Quetzalcoatl used his wits. He noticed a stream of ants marching over the mountain. He transformed himself into an ant and finally reached the fields of maize. Still in ant form, he retrieved a single kernel and brought this back to the Aztec people, thus bringing them the gift of maize. 

Saraswati, Giver of Speech

The Hindu goddess Saraswati embodies all of the arts. She endowed us the Hindu people with speech, wisdom and the ability to learn. She is depicted with four hands, each representing aspects of human learning — mind, intellect, alertness and ego. In one hand she holds a lotus, the symbol of knowledge and the opposite hand, she grasps the sacred scriptures, the Vedas. 

A Hindu festival celebrates Saraswati’s birthday, on the fifth day of the month of Magha, known as Saraswati Puja and Saraswati Jayanti in India. Families encourage their young children to write their first words with their fingers, the very first step in writing. Educational institutions decorate statues of Saraswati, and often arrange poetic and musical celebrations. 

A Sanskrit mantra can be said to the goddess, asking to grant knowledge and wisdom. Here is the the Sanskrit version: 

“Om Saraswati Mahabhagey, Vidye Kamala Lochaney
Viswarupey Vishalakshmi, Vidyam Dehi Namohastutey
Jaya Jaya Devi, Charachara Sharey, Kuchayuga Shobhita, Mukta Haarey
Vina Ranjita, Pustaka Hastey, Bhagavati Bharati Devi Namohastutey.”

The English translation shows off the beauty of this mantra: 

“May Goddess Saraswati,
who is fair like the jasmine-colored moon,
and whose pure white garland is like frosty dew drops;
who is adorned in radiant white attire,
on whose beautiful arm rests the veena,
and whose throne is a white lotus;
who is surrounded and respected by the Gods, protect me.
May you fully remove my lethargy, sluggishness, and ignorance.”

There is also a curse of Saraswati. When we indulge in the arts, our fragile ego often drifts away from the pure pursuit of knowledge toward the bright lights of fame and wealth. All the more reason to ground yourself with the original intent Saraswati embodies. 

Perhaps one of these deities can inspire your own words. At the very least, you can feel in good company as writers for thousands of years have looked to the divine for inspiration. 

Tim Kane

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Weekly Gods (The Myths Behind the Days of the Week)

Arkane Curiosities

The passage of weeks shape our lives in so many ways. But the story of how we settled on seven days and the names of the days dates back thousands of years. 

Why Seven Days?

The Babylonians had remarkably good astronomical knowledge. In addition to the sun and the moon, they knew about the five closest planets. Add those up and you get seven celestial bodies — one for each day of the week. 

Seven days also matched the cycles of the moon — the time it took to transition from one phase to the next. 

The names for the days of the week corresponded with different Babylonian gods, each associated with a planet. 

  • Sun: Shamash
  • Moon: Sin
  • Mars: Nergal
  • Mercury: Nabu
  • Jupiter: Marduk
  • Venus: Ishtar
  • Saturn: Ninurta

The Greek Gods Take Over the Week

As the Greek civilization grew to dominate the Mediterranean, they were influenced by the Babylonians. They, too, named two days after the sun and the moon, calling them day of the Sun (Hemera Helio) and day of the moon (Hemera Selenes). Hemera was the goddess who personified the day.

All the other days of the week were named for Greek gods, instead of the visible planets. 

  • Tuesday became hemera Areos after Ares, the merciless god of war 
  • Wednesday was named hemera Hermu for Hermes, the messenger for the gods
  • Thursday was hemera Dios or Zeus’ day, the king of the gods and the lord of sky and thunder
  • Friday was named hemera Aphrodites after Aphrodite, goddess of love
  • Saturday became hemera Khronu from Kronos, the lord of the Titans, and Zeus’s father

The Romans Rename Everything

The Romans were famous for taking what someone else had done and slapping their own name on it. They simply took the Greek gods and replaced them with the Latin name.

  • Tuesday became dies Martis (after Mars)
  • Wednesday became dies Mercurii (after Mercury)
  • Thursday became dies Jovis (after Jove, also called Jupiter)
  • Friday became dies Veneris (after Venus)
  • Saturday became dies Saturni (after Saturn). This was also a winter festival called Saturnalia, where enslaved people traded places with their masters for a few festive days

The Romans continued to honor the sun and the moon, making “dies Solis” (for Sunday) and “dies Lunae” (for Monday).

Same Days Different Gods

The folks living across the Rhine River had continual contact with the Romans and adopted many of their customs. When the Roman Empire collapsed, Germanic tribes spread out over Europe. They kept the same days of the week, simply swapping out their own Norse gods for the Roman counterparts. 

Sunday
In German, this started as sunnon-dagaz “day of the sun”. The Norse mythology called the Sun Sunna. As it migrated into English, it became Soneday.

Monday
The Germanic tribes preserved this as a moon day. The “mon” in Monday represents the Moon.

Tuesday
This day was named after the Norse god Tyr, a god of warriors and combat (the closest to the Roman Mars). Tyr’s name was sometimes spelled Tiw, giving us Tiwesday.

Wednesday
The Germanic tribes associated their chief god, Odin, with the messenger god Mercury (both traveled to earth to deliver wisdom). If it seems a strange leap from Odin to Wednesday, we need to understand he was also called Woden, giving us Wodnesday.

Thursday
Just as the Romans and Greeks honored the king of the gods, the German tribes did the same, but with Thor rather than Zeus. There were two names to this day. We have the literal thunresdæg for “thunder’s day” or thorsdagr for “Thor’s day”.

Friday
This marks the biggest shift from the Greek/Roman system and what we know in English. Instead of the goddess of love, they opted for Odin’s wife Frigg (or Freda). The day was known as frigedæg and later simply fridai.

Saturday
The Germanic tribes didn’t assign a god to this day of the week. Instead, they kept the Roman name of Saturni, shifting to sæterdæg and later saterday.

Every time you mark a date on your calendar, you’re actually honoring ancient gods and goddesses that go back thousands of years. 

Tim Kane

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Reality Shifting (Manual or Automatic)

I never turn down a good pun. I imagine most reality travelers wish shifting were this easy. There’s been a lot of talk about reality shifting going around these days. For me, it’s hard to seperate from lucid dreaming, but maybe it’s just my lack of expertise.

In terms of the locations for this comic, I tried to pick the ones that popped up the most on search engines (listing the place rather than the “world”). Hogwarts of course represents Harry Potter. Hawkins is for Hawkins, Indiana (home of the Stranger Things crew). Wonderland, I think, needs no introduction and I’m happy to see such a classic is still a fav amongst the modern crowd. Finally, the Pink Place Apartments refers to Coraline, the world created by Neil Gaiman.

Tim Kane

Anatomy of a Latte

So how many tears, exactly, do into a latte? All I know is this, Starbucks isn’t really in the coffee business. For on, their java is terrible. Dark and burned. What they really sell is caffeine, sugar and image. You get a Starbucks because everyone has one. Maybe there’s some convenience thrown in. They have dominated the planet. Personally, I prefer to churn up my own java creations.

Though I have been known to indulge.

Tim Kane