Aberdyfi
Aberdyfi is a village and community on the north side of the estuary of the River Dyfi in Gwynedd, on the west coast of Wales. The Community had a population of 878 as of the 2011 census; the electoral ward having a larger population of 1282. The village was founded around the harbour and shipbuilding industry, but is now best known as a seaside resort with a high quality beach; the town centre is on the river and seafront, around the original harbour and beach but it stretches back from the coast and up the steep hillside in the midst of typical Welsh coastal scenery of steep green hills and sheep farms. Penhelig, with its own railway station, is the eastern part of the town. Aberdyfi is a popular tourist attraction, with many returning holidaymakers from the metropolitan areas of England, such as the West Midlands, less than 100 miles to the east. A large proportion of houses in the village are now holiday homes, resulting in high house prices; the town is located within the Snowdonia National Park.
In the 2011 census, 38.5% of the population of Aberdyfi ward identified themselves as Welsh. An alternative, anglicised spelling of the village name is Aberdovey; this is historical but still used e.g. for the railway station. Local tradition suggests that the Romans established a track into Aberdyfi as part of the military occupation of Wales around AD78; the strategic location in mid-Wales was the site of several conferences between north and south Wales princes in 540, 1140, for the Council of Aberdyfi in 1216. The hill in the centre of Aberdyfi, Pen-y-Bryn, has been claimed to be the site of fortifications in the 1150s, which were soon destroyed; the site of Aberdyfi Castle however is said to be at the motte earthworks further up the river near Glandyfi. During the Spanish Armada of 1597, a Spanish ship, the Bear of Amsterdam missed her objective at Milford Haven and ended up having entered the Dyfi estuary, she was unable to leave for 10 days because of the wind and could not be boarded as no suitable boats were available.
An attempt to burn her was frustrated by winds and when she did leave she ended up being captured by a waiting English fleet off the Cornish coast. In the 1700s, the village grew with the appearance of several of the inns still in current use. Copper was mined in the present Copperhill Street, lead in Penhelig. An electoral ward in the same name exists; this ward includes Pennal community. The total population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 1,282. In the 1800s, Aberdyfi was at its peak as a port. Major exports were oak bark. Ship building was based in seven shipyards in Penhelig where 45 sailing ships were built between 1840 and 1880; the railway came to Aberdyfi in 1863 built by the Welsh Coast Railway. The first train was ferried across the River Dyfi, as the line to Dovey Junction and Machynlleth was not completed until 1867. Due to public demand, this section had to use a long tunnel behind Aberdyfi, further major earthworks and tunnels were needed along the bank of the river; this line, which became part of the Cambrian Railways, the Great Western Railway, is scenic.
A jetty was built with railway lines connecting it with the wharf and the main line. The Aberdyfi & Waterford Steamship Company imported livestock from Ireland which were taken further by the railway. Coal and timber were imported. Local coastal shipping links with Liverpool were strong, with many Aberdyfi men sailing on international voyages from Liverpool; the S. S. Dora was one of the last ships trading between Aberdyfi and Liverpool and was scuttled, with no loss of life, by a German submarine in 1917; the jetty and wharf continued in commercial use for coal until 1959. After prolonged negotiations, redevelopments from 1968–1971, including rebuilding the jetty, led to their present use for recreational purposes; some local fishing still occurs. The first Outward Bound centre was opened in Aberdyfi in 1941. Many of their activities involve the river and jetty; the first Aberdyfi lifeboat was bought in 1837. Run by the RNLI since 1853, it has taken part in many rescues, sometimes with loss of life of crew members.
The current lifeboat, an Atlantic 75, is housed in the boathouse by the jetty and is launched using a lifeboat tractor. It is averaging about 25 emergency launches each year. Chapels in Aberdyfi include the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist chapel, the English Presbyterian chapel, the Wesleyan Methodist chapel, the Welsh Independent congregational chapel; the Church in Wales is St Peter's. Road access to Aberdyfi is by the A493, with Tywyn four miles to the north and Machynlleth 11 miles to the east. Aberdyfi is on the Cambrian Coast railway line; the village of Aberdyfi has two railway stations and Penhelig. Trains on the Cambrian Line are operated by Transport for Wales; the local bus service is operated by Lloyds Coaches with services to Tywyn, where a connection can be made for Dolgellau, to Machynlleth, where connections are available to Aberystwyth. A ferry used to operate across the Dyfi river to Ynyslas; the last ferryman was Ellis Williams. Popular recreational activities focus on the beach and watersports, such as windsurfing, fishing, crabbing and canoeing on the estuary.
Activities in Aberdyfi The Dovey Yacht Club has a prominent position on the river front of the village. It was helped develop the popularity of the GP14 dinghy class, it organises races for dinghies throughout the season on the estuary of the River Dyfi. The Aberdovey Golf Club, founded in 1892, is a famous 18
Modern Paganism
Modern Paganism known as Contemporary Paganism and Neopaganism, is a collective term for new religious movements influenced by or derived from the various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe, North Africa and the Near East. Although they do share similarities, contemporary Pagan religious movements are diverse, no single set of beliefs, practices or texts are shared by them all. Most academics studying the phenomenon have treated it as a movement of different religions, whereas a minority instead characterise it as a single religion into which different Pagan faiths fit as denominations. Not all members of faiths or beliefs regarded as Neopagan self-identify as "Pagan". Adherents rely on pre-Christian and ethnographic sources to a variety of degrees. Academic research has placed the Pagan movement along a spectrum, with Eclecticism on one end and Polytheistic Reconstructionism on the other. Polytheism and pantheism are common features in Pagan theology. Rituals take place in private domestic settings.
The Pagan relationship with Christianity is strained. Contemporary Paganism has sometimes been associated with the New Age movement, with scholars highlighting both similarities and differences. From the 1990s onwards, scholars studying the modern Pagan movement have established the academic field of Pagan studies. There is "considerable disagreement as to the precise definition and proper usage" of the term "modern Paganism". Within the academic field of Pagan studies, there is no consensus regarding how contemporary Paganism can best be defined. Most scholars describe modern Paganism as a broad array of different religions rather than a singular religion in itself; the category of modern Paganism could be compared to the categories of Abrahamic religion and Dharmic religion in its structure. A second, less common definition found within Pagan studies – where it has been promoted by the religious studies scholars Michael F. Strmiska and Graham Harvey – characterises modern Paganism as a singular religion, into which groups like Wicca and Heathenry fit as denominations.
This perspective has been critiqued, given the lack of core commonalities in issues such as theology, ethics, holy days, or ritual practices within the Pagan movement. Contemporary Paganism has been defined as "a collection of modern religious and magical traditions that are self-consciously inspired by the pre-Judaic, pre-Christian, pre-Islamic belief systems of Europe, North Africa, the Near East." Thus, the view has been expressed that although "a diverse phenomenon", there is "an identifiable common element" running through the Pagan movement. Strmiska described Paganism as a movement "dedicated to reviving the polytheistic, nature-worshipping pagan religions of pre-Christian Europe and adapting them for the use of people in modern societies." The religious studies scholar Wouter Hanegraaff charactised Paganism as encompassing "all those modern movements which are, based on the conviction that what Christianity has traditionally denounced as idolatry and superstition represents/represented a profound and meaningful religious worldview and, that a religious practice based on this worldview can and should be revitalized in our modern world."Discussing the relationship between the different Pagan religions, religious studies scholars Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson stated that they were "like siblings who have taken different paths in life but still retain many visible similarities".
However, while viewing different forms of Paganism as distinct religions in their own right, there has been much "cross-fertilization" between these different faiths. Accordingly, many groups have exerted an influence on, in turn have been influenced by, other Pagan religions, thus making clear-cut distinctions between them more difficult for religious studies scholars to make; the various Pagan religions have been academically classified as new religious movements, with the anthropologist Kathryn Rountree describing Paganism as a whole as a "new religious phenomenon". A number of academics in North America, have considered modern Paganism to be a form of nature religion; some practitioners eschew the term "Pagan" altogether, choosing not to define themselves as such, but rather under the more specific name of their religion, like Heathen or Wiccan. This is because the term "Pagan" has its origins in Christian terminology, which the Pagans wish to avoid; some favor the term "ethnic religion" over "Paganism" – for instance the World Pagan Congress, founded in 1998, soon renamed itself the European Congress of Ethnic Religions – enjoying that term's association with the Greek ethnos and the academic field of ethnology.
Within linguistically Slavic areas of Europe, the term "Native Faith" is favored as a synonym for Paganism, being rendered as Ridnovirstvo in Ukrainian, Rodnoverie in Russian, Rodzimowierstwo in Polish. Alternately, many practitioners within these regions view "Native Faith" as a category that exists within modern Paganism but which does not encompass all Pagan religions. Other terms sometimes favored by Pagans are "traditional religion", "indigenous religion", "nativist religion", "reconstructionism". Various Pagans – including those like Michael York and Prudence Jones who are active in Pagan studies – have argued that, due to similarities in their respective spiritual world-views, the modern Pagan movement can be treated as part of the same global phenomenon as both pre-Christian religion, living indigenou
Wales
Wales is a country, part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Bristol Channel to the south, it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon, its highest summit; the country has a changeable, maritime climate. Welsh national identity emerged among the Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century; the whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party.
Welsh national feeling grew over the century. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, development of the mining and metallurgical industries transformed the country from an agricultural society into an industrial nation. Two-thirds of the population live in South Wales, including Cardiff, Swansea and the nearby valleys. Now that the country's traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales' economy depends on the public sector and service industries and tourism. Although Wales shares its political and social history with the rest of Great Britain, a majority of the population in most areas speaks English as a first language, the country has retained a distinct cultural identity and is bilingual. Over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west.
From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the "land of song", in part due to the eisteddfod tradition. At many international sporting events, such as the FIFA World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, Wales has its own national teams, though at the Olympic Games, Welsh athletes compete as part of a Great Britain team. Rugby union is seen as an expression of national consciousness; the English words "Wales" and "Welsh" derive from the same Germanic root, itself derived from the name of the Gaulish people known to the Romans as Volcae and which came to refer indiscriminately to all non-Germanic peoples. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Britons in particular, Wēalas when referring to their lands; the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. In Britain, the words were not restricted to modern Wales or to the Welsh but were used to refer to anything that the Anglo-Saxons associated with the Britons, including other non-Germanic territories in Britain and places in Anglo-Saxon territory associated with Britons, as well as items associated with non-Germanic Europeans, such as the walnut.
The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales. These words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning "fellow-countrymen"; the use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, different from other peoples. In particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage and language to the Welsh; the word came into use as a self-description before the 7th century. It is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. In Welsh literature, the word Cymry was used throughout the Middle Ages to describe the Welsh, though the older, more generic term Brythoniaid continued to be used to describe any of the Britonnic peoples and was the more common literary term until c. 1200. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh.
Until c. 1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of these names, Cambrian and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales and the Welsh people. Examples include the Cambrian Mountains, the newspaper Cambrian News, the organisations Cambrian Airways, Cambrian Railways, Cambrian Archaeological Association and the Royal Cambrian Academy of Art. Outside Wales, a related form survives as the name Cumbria in North West England, once a part of Yr Hen Ogledd; the Cumbric language, thought to
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. For Celts in close contact with Ancient Rome, such as the Gauls and Celtiberians, their mythology did not survive the Roman Empire, their subsequent conversion to Christianity and the loss of their Celtic languages, it is through contemporary Roman and Christian sources that their mythology has been preserved. The Celtic peoples who maintained either political or linguistic identities left vestigial remnants of their ancestral mythologies that were put into written form during the Middle Ages. Although the Celtic world at its height covered much of western and central Europe, it was not politically unified nor was there any substantial central source of cultural influence or homogeneity. Inscriptions of more than three hundred deities equated with their Roman counterparts, have survived, but of these most appear to have been genii locorum, local or tribal gods, few were worshiped.
However, from what has survived of Celtic mythology, it is possible to discern commonalities which hint at a more unified pantheon than is given credit. The nature and functions of these ancient gods can be deduced from their names, the location of their inscriptions, their iconography, the Roman gods they are equated with, similar figures from bodies of Celtic mythology. Celtic mythology is found in a number of distinct, if related, subgroups corresponding to the branches of the Celtic languages: Ancient Celtic religion mythology in Goidelic languages, represented chiefly by Irish mythology Mythological Cycle Ulster Cycle Fenian Cycle Cycles of the Kings mythology in Brittonic languages Welsh mythology Cornish mythology Breton mythology As a result of the scarcity of surviving materials bearing written Gaulish, it is surmised that the most of the Celtic writings were destroyed by the Romans, although a written form of Gaulish using Greek and North Italic alphabets was used. Julius Caesar attests to the literacy of the Gauls, but wrote that their priests, the druids, were forbidden to use writing to record certain verses of religious significance while noting that the Helvetii had a written census.
Rome introduced a more widespread habit of public inscriptions, broke the power of the druids in the areas it conquered. Although early Gaels in Ireland and parts of modern Wales used the Ogham script to record short inscriptions, more sophisticated literacy was not introduced to Celtic areas that had not been conquered by Rome until the advent of Christianity. Indeed, many Gaelic myths were first recorded by Christian monks, albeit without most of their original religious meanings; the oldest body of myths stemming from the Heroic Age is found only from the early medieval period of Ireland. As Christianity began to take over, the gods and goddesses were eliminated as such from the culture. What has survived includes material dealing with the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians, which forms the basis for the text Cath Maige Tuired "The Battle of Mag Tuireadh", as well as portions of the history-focused Lebor Gabála Érenn; the Tuatha Dé represent the functions of human society such as kingship and war, while the Fomorians represent chaos and wild nature.
The leader of the gods for the Irish pantheon appears to have been the Dagda. The Dagda was the figure on which male humans and other gods were based because he embodied ideal Irish traits. Celtic gods were considered to be a clan due to their lack of specialization and unknown origins; the particular character of the Dagda was as a figure of burlesque lampoonery in Irish mythology, some authors conclude that he was trusted to be benevolent enough to tolerate jokes at his own expense. Irish tales depict the Dagda as a figure of power, armed with a club. In Dorset there is a famous outline of an ithyphallic giant known as the Cerne Abbas Giant with a club cut into the chalky soil. While this was produced in modern times, it was long thought to be a representation of the Dagda; this has been called into question by recent studies which show that there may have been a representation of what looks like a large drapery hanging from the horizontal arm of the figure, leading to suspicion that this figure represents Hercules, with the skin of the Nemean lion over his arm and carrying the club he used to kill it.
In Gaul, it is speculated that the Dagda is associated with Sucellus, the striker, equipped with a hammer and cup. The Morrígan was a tripartite battle goddess of the Celts of Ancient Ireland, she was known as the Morrígan, but the different sections she was divided into were referred to as Nemain and Badb, with each representing different aspects of combat. She is most known for her involvement in the Táin Bó Cúailnge
Book of Taliesin
The Book of Taliesin is one of the most famous of Middle Welsh manuscripts, dating from the first half of the 14th century though many of the fifty-six poems it preserves are taken to originate in the 10th century or before. The volume contains some of the oldest poems in Welsh but not dating back to the sixth century and to a real poet called Taliesin; the manuscript, known as Peniarth MS 2 and kept at the National Library of Wales, is incomplete, having lost a number of its original leaves including the first. It was named Llyfr Taliessin in the seventeenth century by Edward Lhuyd and hence is known in English as "The Book of Taliesin"; the palaeographer John Gwenogvryn Evans dated the Book of Taliesin to around 1275, but Daniel Huws now dates it to the first quarter of the fourteenth century, the fourteenth-century dating is accepted. The Book of Taliesin was one of the collection of manuscripts amassed at the mansion of Hengwrt, near Dolgellau, Gwynedd, by the Welsh antiquary Robert Vaughan.
It appears that some "marks" awarded for poems – measuring their "value" – are extant in the margin of the Book of Taliesin. Titles adapted from Skene. XXXI "Gwaeith Gwen ystrad" XXXII Urien Yrechwydd XXXIII Eg gorffowys XXXIV Bei Lleas Vryan XXXV "Gweith Argoet Llwyfein" XXXVI Arddwyre Reged XXXVII "Yspeil Taliesin" XXXIX "Dadolwch Vryen" XII "Glaswawt Taliesin" XIV "Kerd Veib am Llyr" XV "Kadeir Teyrnon" XVIII Kychwedyl am dodyw XIX "Kanu y Med" XX "Kanu y Cwrwf" XXI "Mic Dinbych" XXIII "Trawsganu Kynon" XXV Torrit anuyndawl XXXVIII Rhagoriaeth Gwallawc XL "Marwnat Erof" XLI "Marwnat Madawg" XLII "Marwnat Corroi ap Dayry" XLIII "Marwnat Dylan eil Ton" XLIV "Marwnat Owain ap Vryen" XLV "Marwnat Aeddon" XLVI "Marwnat Cunedda" XLVIII "Marwnat Vthyr Pen" II Marwnat y Vil Veib V Deus Duw XXII "Plaeu yr Reifft" XXIV Lath Moessen XXVI Y gofiessvys byt XXVII Ar clawr eluyd XXVIII Ryfedaf na chiawr XXIX Ad duw meidat LI Trindawt tragywyd VI "Armes Prydein Vawr" X "Daronwy" XLVII "Armes Prydein Bychan" XLIX Kein gyfedwch LII "Gwawt Lud y Mawr" LIII Yn wir dymbi romani kar LIV "Ymarwar Llud Bychan" LVII Darogan Katwal I "Priv Cyfarch" III "Buarch Beird" IV "Aduvyneu Taliesin" VII "Angar Kyfyndawt" VIII "Kat Godeu" XI "Cadau Gwallawc" IX "Mab Gyrfeu Taliesin" XIII "Kadeir Taliesin" XVI "Kadeir Kerrituen" XVII "Kanu Ygwynt" XXX "Preiddeu Annwfn" LV "Kanu y Byt Mawr" LVI "Kanu y Byt Bychan" Many of the poems have been dated to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and are to be the work of poets adopting the Taliesin persona for the purposes of writing about awen, characterised by material such as: I have been a multitude of shapes, Before I assumed a consistent form.
I have been a sword, variegated, I have been a tear in the air, I have been in the dullest of stars. I have been a word among letters, I have been a book in the origin. A few are attributed internally to other poets. A full discussion of the provenance of each poem is included in the definitive editions of the book's contents poems by Marged Haycock. Twelve of the poems in the manuscript were identified by Ifor Williams as credibly being the work of a historical Taliesin, or at least'to be contemporary with Cynan Garwyn, his son Owain, Gwallawg' historical kings who ruled Powys; these are (giving Skene's numbering used in the content list below in Roman numerals, the numbering of Evans's edit
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. Goddesses have been linked with virtues such as beauty, love and fertility, they have been associated with ideas such as war and death. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious worship. For example, the worship of the female force that animates the world, is one of the three major sects of Hinduism; the primacy of a monotheistic or near-monotheistic "Great Goddess" is advocated by some modern matriarchists as a female version of, preceding, or analogue to, the Abrahamic God associated with the historical rise of monotheism in the Mediterranean Axis Age. Polytheist religions, including Polytheistic reconstructionists, honour multiple goddesses and gods, view them as discrete, separate beings; these deities may be part of a pantheon. The reconstructionists, like their ancient forebears, honour the deities particular to their country of origin; the noun goddess is a secondary formation. It first appeared in Middle English, from about 1350.
The English word follows the linguistic precedent of a number of languages—including Egyptian, Classical Greek, several Semitic languages—that add a feminine ending to the language's word for god. Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth, a 1988 interview with Bill Moyers, links the image of the Earth or Mother Goddess to symbols of fertility and reproduction. For example, Campbell states that, "There have been systems of religion where the mother is the prime parent, the source... We talk of Mother Earth, and in Egypt you have the Mother Heavens, the Goddess Nut, represented as the whole heavenly sphere". Campbell continues by stating that the correlation between fertility and the Goddess found its roots in agriculture: Bill Moyers: But what happened along the way to this reverence that in primitive societies was directed to the Goddess figure, the Great Goddess, the mother earth- what happened to that? Joseph Campbell: Well, associated with agriculture and the agricultural societies, it has to do with the earth.
The human woman gives birth just as the earth gives birth to the plants...so woman magic and earth magic are the same. They are related, and the personification of the energy that gives birth to forms and nourishes forms is properly female. It is in the agricultural world of ancient Mesopotamia, the Egyptian Nile, in the earlier planting-culture systems that the Goddess is the dominant mythic form. Campbell argues that the image of the Virgin Mary was derived from the image of Isis and her child Horus: "The antique model for the Madonna, is Isis with Horus at her breast". Inanna was the most worshipped goddess in ancient Sumer, she was syncretized with the East Semitic goddess Ishtar. Other Mesopotamian goddesses include Ninhursag, Ninlil and Gaga. Goddesses of the Ennead of Heliopolis: Tefnut, Nephthys, Isis Goddesses of the Ogdoad of Hermopolis: Naunet, Kauket, Hauhet. Cybele: Her Hittite name was Kubaba, but her name changed to Cybele in Phrygian and Roman culture, her effect can be seen on Artemis as the Lady of Ephesus.
Hebat: Mother Goddess of the Hittite pantheon and wife of the leader sky god, Teshub. She was the origin of the Hurrian cult. Arinniti: Hittite Goddess of the sun, she became patron of monarchy. Leto: A mother Goddess figure in Lykia, she was the main goddess of the capital city of Lykia League In pre-Islamic Mecca the goddesses Uzza, Manāt and al-Lāt were known as "the daughters of god". Uzzā was worshipped by the Nabataeans, who equated her with the Graeco-Roman goddesses Aphrodite, Urania and Caelestis; each of the three goddesses had a separate shrine near Mecca. Uzzā, was called upon for protection by the pre-Islamic Quraysh. "In 624 at the battle called "Uhud", the war cry of the Qurayshites was, "O people of Uzzā, people of Hubal!". In fact, in ancient times, the goddess and god were known as Allat and Allah, or what would better be termed as deities representing "husband and wife". According to Ibn Ishaq's controversial account of the Satanic Verses, these verses had endorsed them as intercessors for Muslims, but were abrogated.
Most Muslim scholars have regarded the story as implausible, while opinion is divided among western scholars such as Leone Caetani and John Burton, who argue against, William Muir and William Montgomery Watt, who argue for its plausibility. Pre-Christian and pre-Islamic goddesses in cultures that spoke Indo-European languages. Ushas: is the main goddess of the Rigveda. Prithivi: the Earth appears as a goddess. Rivers are deified as goddesses. Agneya: or Aagneya is the Hindu Goddess of Fire. Varuni: is the Hindu Goddess of Water. Bhoomi, Janani and Prithvi are names of the Hindu Goddess of Earth. Anahita: or Anahit, or Nahid, or Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā, or Aban: the divinity of "the Waters" and hence associated with fertility, healing and wisdom. Daena: a divinity, counted among the yazatas, representing insight and revelation, hence "conscience" or "religion". Spenta Armaiti: or Sandaramet, one of the Amesha Spentas, a female divinity associated with earth and Mother Nature, she is associated with the female virtue of devotion.
In the Iranian calendar, her name is on the twelfth month and the fifth day of the month. Ashi: a divinity of fertility and fortune in the Zoroastrian hierarchy of yazatas. Eleusinian Mysteries: Persephone, Baubo Artemis: Goddes
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller known as Max Müller, was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. Müller wrote both popular works on the subject of Indology; the Sacred Books of the East, a 50-volume set of English translations, was prepared under his direction. He promoted the idea of a Turanian family of languages. Friedrich Max Müller was born into a cultured family on 6 December 1823 in Dessau, the son of Wilhelm Müller, a lyric poet whose verse Franz Schubert had set to music in his song-cycles Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, his mother, Adelheid Müller, was the eldest daughter of a prime minister of Anhalt-Dessau. Carl Maria von Weber was a godfather. Müller was named after his mother's elder brother and after the central character, Max, in Weber's opera Der Freischütz. In life, he adopted Max as a part of his surname, believing that the prevalence of Müller as a name made it too common.
His name was recorded as "Maximilian" on several official documents, on some of his honours and in some other publications. Müller entered the gymnasium at Dessau. In 1829, after the death of his grandfather, he was sent to the Nicolai School at Leipzig, where he continued to his studies of music and classics, it was during his time in Leipzig that he met Felix Mendelssohn. In need of a scholarship to attend Leipzig University, Müller sat his abitur examination at Zerbst. While preparing, he found that the syllabus differed from what he had been taught, necessitating that he learn mathematics, modern languages and science, he entered Leipzig University in 1841 to study philology, leaving behind his early interest in music and poetry. Müller received his degree in 1843, his final dissertation was on Spinoza's Ethics. He displayed an aptitude for classical languages, learning Greek, Arabic and Sanskrit. In 1850 Müller was appointed deputy Taylorian professor of modern European languages at Oxford University.
In the following year, at the suggestion of Thomas Gaisford, he was made an honorary M. A. and a member of the college of Christ Church, Oxford. On succeeding to the full professorship in 1854, he received the full degree of M. A. by Decree of Convocation. In 1858 he was elected to a life fellowship at All Souls' College, he was defeated in the 1860 election for the Boden Professor of Sanskrit, a "keen disappointment" to him. Müller was far better qualified for the post than the other candidate, but his broad theological views, his Lutheranism, his German birth and lack of practical first-hand knowledge of India told against him. After the election he wrote to his mother, "all the best people voted for me, the Professors unanimously, but the vulgus profanum made the majority". In 1868, Müller became Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology, a position founded on his behalf, he held this chair until his death, although he retired from its active duties in 1875. In 1844, prior to commencing his academic career at Oxford, Müller studied in Berlin with Friedrich Schelling.
He began to translate the Upanishads for Schelling, continued to research Sanskrit under Franz Bopp, the first systematic scholar of the Indo-European languages. Schelling led Müller to relate the history of language to the history of religion. At this time, Müller published his first book, a German translation of the Hitopadesa, a collection of Indian fables. In 1845 Müller moved to Paris to study Sanskrit under Eugène Burnouf. Burnouf encouraged him to publish the complete Rigveda, making use of the manuscripts available in England, he moved to England in 1846 to study Sanskrit texts in the collection of the East India Company. He supported himself at first with his novel German Love being popular in its day. Müller's connections with the East India Company and with Sanskritists based at Oxford University led to a career in Britain, where he became the leading intellectual commentator on the culture of India. At the time, Britain controlled this territory as part of its Empire; this led to complex exchanges between Indian and British intellectual culture through Müller's links with the Brahmo Samaj.
Müller's Sanskrit studies came at a time when scholars had started to see language development in relation to cultural development. The recent discovery of the Indo-European language group had started to lead to much speculation about the relationship between Greco-Roman cultures and those of more ancient peoples. In particular the Vedic culture of India was thought to have been the ancestor of European Classical cultures. Scholars sought to compare the genetically related European and Asian languages to reconstruct the earliest form of the root-language; the Vedic language, was thought to be the oldest of the IE languages. Müller devoted himself to the study of this language, becoming one of the major Sanskrit scholars of his day, he believed that the earliest documents of Vedic culture should be studied to provide the key to the development of pagan European religions, of religious belief in general. To this end, Müller sought to understand the most ancient of the Rig-Veda. Müller was impressed by Ramakrishna Paramhansa, his contemporary and proponent of Vedantic philosophy, wrote several essays and books about him.
For Müller, the study of the language had to relate to the study of the culture in which it had been used. He came to the view that
listen) Ce-rid-wen) was an enchantress in Welsh medieval legend. She was the mother of a hideous son, Morfran, and a beautiful daughter, Creirwy, her husband was Tegid Foel, and they lived near Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid) in north Wales. Medieval Welsh poetry refers to her as possessing the cauldron of poetic inspiration (Awen) and the Tale of Taliesin recounts her swallowing her servant Gwion Bach who is then reborn through her as the poet Taliesin. Ceridwen is regarded by many modern Pagans as the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration.
