The White Goddess
"The White Goddess" by Robert Graves is an absolutely incredible
book which I have been obsessed with for a while now. A large part of
this page will make a lot more sense if you read the book first. I don't want to
paraphrase Graves' ideas too much, because there are already far too many third
hand accounts of what he wrote. "The White Goddess" has been hugely influential,
but too few people have actually read it for themselves. This section of the
page is devoted the ideas discussed in "The White Goddess" and also
"The Golden Bough"
by Sir James Frazer, (which is an even more gargantuan book, originally 12 volumes
later edited down to a single volume, and recently brought out as an illustrated
version. It is still probably better to dip into it, rather than read the whole
thing in one go. The golden bough was an oak branch covered in mistletoe. Ooops!
I've given the ending away! Sorry). I would also recommend
"The Goddesses and gods of old Europe 6500-3500 B.C.
Myths and cult images"
and "The Civilisation of the Goddess" both by
Marija Gimbutas, for an archaeologists view of Matriarchal
society in Prehistoric Europe. Both are beautifully illustrated with prehistoric
art, such as
The Goddess and sorrowful God sculptures from Cernavoda, Romania . It also mentions a theory that the bulls head in prehistoric art represents a womb. This picture of the Egyptian cow goddess seems to support this.
Rosemary Sutcliffe
wrote a novel called "Mark of the horse lord" which was set in Scotland
in Roman times, and concerns the conflict between the Patriarchal Scots
and the matriarchal Picts. The story is packed full of references to folklore
and myth: there is even a stone age tribe living in the hills, who are rarely
seen. The Scots believe them to have magic powers, and leave them offerings of
barley and milk.
Could this have been the origin of belief in fairies?
Another book which I read recently was "The feast of fools" by John David
Morley. It is (among other things) the story of Persephone set in 20th
century Munich. It is quite a heavy read and it's allegory and mythological references take a bit of deciphering, but don't let that put you off. The author has a great sense of humour.
Old editions of the journal Antiquity are packed full of interesting articles.
Two recently caught my eye:
Antiquity Volume XIX number 76, pages 194-202. "Concerning unicorns"
by W.H.Riddell (1943)
Antiquity Volume XVII number 66, pages 71-76. "The Crane Dance in East and West"
by Edward A. Armstrong (1943)
Both concern topics featured in "The White Goddess",
but draw different conclusions.
Unfortunately, there isn't room to discuss them here, but they are definately
worth the read if you can get hold of them.
Recently archaeologists found a 9000 year old flute in China. It was not
(as was widely reported) the earliest musical instrument, but it was the
oldest instrument which could still be played. It was carved from a bone
from a red crowned crane (Nature 401 p.336)
A while back, I stumbled across
The Ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne ,
which seems to me to be directly relevant to all of this.
Here are some recent photos from the Edinburgh Beltane and Samhain fire festivals.
Links to other sites on the web
The Goddess Hekate
Gwydions Hollow Hills
Includes a critical look at the ideas in
"The White Goddess"
Celtic Ogham
Includes a discussion on the origin of
Ogham based on the distribution of tree species. Also very comprehensive links
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