The emergence of the cult of Osiris is, in most cases, dated to the end of the 5th dynasty, the period in which the name of Osiris appears in writing, and it is commonly held that before this period not a trace of the cult can be discerned. This study is intended to investigate whether this emergence was really so sudden, or if there is evidence to suggest this appearance was preceded by a period of development of the theology and mythology of the cult. One of the most important aspects of the mythology of the cult is the rebirth of Osiris. In the theology of the cult this rebirth was projected on mortal men, and led to the postulation that every human being, whether royal or non-royal, had the possibility to attain eternal life after death. What made this cult even more attractive is that this eternal life was not confined to the tomb, as it used to be for non-royalty. The study is concerned with the rebirth possibilities of non-royal persons and aims to determine the chronological development of the rebirth connotations of the various decoration themes that were used in the chapel of Old Kingdom tombs. The decoration themes that are the subject of the determinations are the group of bed-scenes consisting of the bed-making scene and the marital bed-scene, the development in form and length of the bread loaves on the offering table, the different aspects of the scenes in which the "lotus" flower is depicted, and the marsh scenes.

Standing astride the British landscape, looms the giant blue form of the Cailleach. Whether she is seen as a benevolent earth-shaping giantess, harsh winter hag goddess, shape-shifting crone, guardian of sacred wells and animals, or ancient bestower of sovereignty; the Cailleach appears in many roles and manifestations in myths and legends across the British Isles. Tracking the Cailleach across thousands of years through folklore, literature and place names, the authors have uncovered startling references which hint at a hidden priestess cult worshipping the Cailleach from ancient times through into the twentieth century. By exploring her myths and legends, they demonstrate the hugely significant role of the Cailleach in the early history of the British Isles. The demonization of the Cailleach through the Middle Ages by the Christian Church paralleled that of women and witches, and is reflected in various other supernatural hag figures possibly derived from her and discussed in detail, such as Black Annis, Gyre Carling, Mia Lia, Nicneven and the Old Woman of the Mountain. Looking beyond the veil of the sacred landscape, the vision of the Cailleach confronts the seeker, in hills and rocks, lakes and wells, burial chambers and stormy skies. Now finally the primal elemental power of the Cailleach is revealed in her full glory, in the tales and places of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man; as well as in traces of her presence in England, Wales, Jersey, Brittany, Spain and Norway. This unique and ground-breaking work brings together for the first time the wealth of folklore, stories and legends regarding this most significant of British supernatural figures, whose myths and wisdom are as relevant today as they have ever been.

Jill Dudley writes about the clash of St. Paul's concept of love with the sexual pleasures which the pagans enjoyed at the great temple of Aphrodite on Acrocorinth. She describes how the Apostle spent his time at nearby Old Corinth observing, preaching and converting, and why he wrote his Letters to the Corinthians. It is as it says on the back cover of the booklet: All you need to know about the sacred site, its myths, legends and its gods.

Environmental arts therapy and the Tree of life guides us through the Celtic calendar to explore the relationship between the feeling experience of the human heart and the turning year. Practical, poetic, innovative and magical, it invites us to make environmental art and ritual a vital and healing part of our lives once again and teaches us how to take the personal issues that bind and oppress us out into Nature where they can be met, confronted and transformed.

Everybody has heard of Helen of Troy, and knows that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Most people know that she was married bur ran off with somebody which caused the Trojan War. But who, in fact, was she? Whose daughter was she, and who was she married to? What exactly happened to cause her to act as she did, and how does her story end? The answers to all these questions are here in this Put it in Your Pocket booklet

Jill Dudley writes about the abduction of the goddess Demeter's daughter Persephone (otherwise known as Kore) by Hades, god of the underworld. She describes how Demeter came to Eleusis in search of her daughter, and why she chose it as the site for her Eleusian Mysteries, outlining some of the ancient rituals which took place there. It is as it says on the back cover: All you need to know about this sacred site, its myths, legends and its gods.

Trees mirror in many ways the life cycle of human beings: they are born from seed, they breathe and drink, they grow to maturity, reproduce and eventually die from age or disease. Their branches, roots and the veins of their leaves resemble human blood vessels, and certain species even ooze a reddish, blood-like sap when damaged.From ancient times, people appreciated the spiritual value of trees, singling out individual trees for special veneration. In Ireland the roots of tree worship reach deep into pagan Celtic religion and spirituality. Christine Zucchelli looks at these trees, from Fairy Thorns to Rag Trees, from Mass Bushes to Monument Trees. This fascinating exploration of their stories and legends reveals their spiritual, social and historical functions from pagan times to the present.

This book explores the way in which three ancient historians, writing in Latin, embedded the gods into their accounts of the past. Although previous scholarship has generally portrayed these writers as somewhat dismissive of traditional Roman religion, it is argued here that Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus saw themselves as being very close to the centre of those traditions. The gods are presented as a potent historical force, and a close reading of the historians' texts easily bears out this conclusion. Their treatment of the gods is not limited to portraying the role and power of the divine in the unfolding of the past: equally prominent is the negotiation with the reader concerning what constituted a 'proper' religious system. Priests and other religious experts function as an index of the decline (or restoration) of Rome and each writer formulates a sophisticated position on the practical and social aspects of Roman religion.

This is a comprehensive study of the Derveni Papyrus. The papyrus, found in 1962 near Thessaloniki, is not only one of the oldest surviving Greek papyri but is also considered by scholars as a document of primary importance for a better understanding of the religious and philosophical developments in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Gabor Betegh aims to reconstruct and systematically analyse the different strata of the text and their interrelation by exploring the archaeological context; the interpretation of rituals in the first columns of the text; the Orphic poem commented on by the author of the papyrus; and the cosmological and theological doctrines which emerge from the Derveni author's exegesis of the poem. Betegh discusses the place of the text in the context of late Presocratic philosophy and offers an important preliminary edition of the text of the papyrus with critical apparatus and English translation.

No other god of the Greeks is as widely present in the monuments and nature of Greece and Italy, in the sensuous tradition of antiquity, as Dionysos. In myth and image, in visionary experience and ritual representation, the Greeks possessed a complete expression of indestructible life, the essence of Dionysos. In this work, the noted mythologist and historian of religion Carl Kerenyi presents a historical account of the religion of Dionysos from its beginnings in the Minoan culture down to its transition to a cosmic and cosmopolitan religion of late antiquity under the Roman Empire. From the wealth of Greek literary, epigraphic, and monumental traditions, Kerenyi constructs a picture of Dionysian worship, always underlining the constitutive element of myth.

Included in this study are the secret cult scenes of the women's mysteries both within and beyond Attica, the mystic sacrificial rite at Delphi, and the great public Dionysian festivals at Athens. The way in which the Athenian people received and assimilated tragedy in its immanent connection with Dionysos is seen as the greatest miracle in all cultural history. Tragedy and New Comedy are seen as high spiritual forms of the Dionysian religion, and the Dionysian element itself is seen as a chapter in the religious history of Europe."

Jill Dudley describes how Apollo came to Delphi and killed the Python/Dragoness, then claimed for himself the magnificent sacred site on the foothills of Mt. Parnassus. She describes some of the more important buildings, and writes about the ancient ritual of enquiry; she also lists some of the oracle's responses, including those regarding Christianity. It is as it says on the back cover: All you need to know about the sacred site, its myths, legends and its gods.

Jill Dudley writes about the earliest myths regarding the Acropolis, the strange birth of the goddess Athena, and the contest between her and Poseidon, god of the sea, for the patronage of the city. She explains the reason for the Panathenaia festival, and describes the importance of the goddess' image (said to have fallen from heaven) on which the defence of the city was thought to depend. It is as it says on the back cover of the booklet: All you need to know about the sacred site, its myths, legends and its gods.

The Wooden Horse is legendary, but what exactly was it? Why did the Greek warriors construct such a thing in the first place? And what was it that made the Trojans believe the Greeks had sailed away and the ten-year Trojan War was over? All these questions are answered in this fifth booklet of the Put it in Your Pocket Series.

The fabled land of Nubia, whose very name means 'gold,' was famous in ancient times for its supplies of precious metal, exotic material, and intricate craftsmanship. Many of the adornments made in Nubia are masterpieces of the jeweler's art-marvels of design and construction rivaling, and often surpassing, adornments made in Egypt and the rest of the ancient Mediterranean world. Although these unique treasures are among the most stunning to have survived from antiquity, they remain little known. Richly illustrated with beautiful photographs of these exquisite items, many of them never before published, Nubian Gold also places the jewelry within the cultural contexts in which it was manufactured and employed. It tells the story not only of the treasures themselves but of the exciting tales of their discovery and the rich background of the exotic and remote civilizations that produced them. The book also explores the innovative techniques used to procure the precious materials used in the jewelry and to craft them into intricate ornaments replete with magical purpose and coded meaning.Featured in the book are not only the intricately crafted pieces themselves but depictions of them in sculpture, relief, and painting as well as references to them in ancient texts, locating them within the full spectrum of Nubian history, from the earliest beginnings of society to the advent of Christianity.

In this volume, first published in 2006, Sandra Blakely considers technological myths and rituals associated with ancient Greek daimones, who made metal; and African rituals in which iron plays a central role. Noting the rich semantic web of associations that has connected metallurgy to magic, birth, kingship, autochthony, and territorial possession in both Greek and African cultures, Blakely examines them together in order to cast light on the Greek demons, which are only fragmentarily preserved and which have often been equated to general types of smithing gods. Her comparison demonstrates that these demons are more sophisticated and ritually useful than has been previously acknowledged. This book provides new insights into the position of technology in Greek myth. Providing a new methodology for the study of Greek religion, which uses comparative cultural material in a thoughtful and careful way, it helps close the fifty-year gap between the social sciences and Classical philology in the theoretical understanding and study of technological systems.

The Evolution of Religious Doctrines From the Eschatology of the Ancient Egyptians. "In writing the explanation of the Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man, I have gone back to the foundation of the human as a beginning, and traced these signs from the first Pygmies, and their then meaning, up to the latter-day Christians, and shown the evolution and meaning of the same, back to the Primordial Signs and Symbols and Sign Language, which have never been studied or taken into account either in Freemasonry, the Christian doctrines or the Eschatology of the Egyptians." Partial Contents: Freemasonry Generally, Totemism; Hieroglyphics; Remains of Ritual found amongst the Zapotecs, Mexicans, People of Yucatan and Central America; Myths and Legends same as Egyptian; Tribes of West Africa; Birthplace of Man and various Exodes; The Pygmies; Druids and Israelites; Chaldeans; Origin of the Zodiac; Oriental Origins; The Incas; The Buddhists; Steller to Solar Mythos; Origins and Explanations of Other

The mystery, magic and myth of Manannan. The sea is a powerful, driving force for many people, a source of sustenance as well as danger. It is no surprise that Manannan, the Celtic God of the sea, should be an important figure but one who is also as ambiguous as the element he is associated with: a trickster, a magic worker, an advisor and a warrior. In this book you will get to know the many faces of Manannan, called the son of the ocean, and learn of his important place in mythology and the pivotal role he plays in many events. 'This highly intelligent but accessible book belongs on the shelves and nightstands of lovers of Celtic myth.' Courtney Weber, author of Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magic of the Celtic Goddess

This book explores the way in which three ancient historians, writing in Latin, embedded the gods into their accounts of the past. Although previous scholarship has generally portrayed these writers as somewhat dismissive of traditional Roman religion, it is argued here that Livy, Tacitus and Ammianus saw themselves as being very close to the centre of those traditions. The gods are presented as a potent historical force, and a close reading of the historians' texts easily bears out this conclusion. Their treatment of the gods is not limited to portraying the role and power of the divine in the unfolding of the past: equally prominent is the negotiation with the reader concerning what constituted a 'proper' religious system. Priests and other religious experts function as an index of the decline (or restoration) of Rome and each writer formulates a sophisticated position on the practical and social aspects of Roman religion.

The goddess Artemis is best known today as a goddess of the hunt and of the new moon, yet to those who worshipped at her ancient temples and sanctuaries she was far more than just that. To them she was a powerful and complex goddess whose influence spread far and wide throughout the ancient world. She was worshipped and celebrated as a goddess of childbirth, women, song, dance and of wild animals. As the daughter of the Titan goddess Leto by the Olympian Fathre god Zeus, Artemis would prove herself from the moment of her own birth, by assisting her mother with the birth of her own twin brother, Apollo. Zeus, who fathered children with many other goddesses and mortals, had a special affection for ARtemis from the start and gave her all the gifts she asked for and more, making her one of the most powerful of the Olympian goddesses. Artemis, Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon by Sorita D'Este, explores the myths, powers and worship of this beautiful goddess. It is a throrough study with details of her temples and sanctuaries, the festivals which were held in honour of her, the roles she fulfilled in the myths, animals which were sacred to her, her relationship with her virgin attendants and other deities, as well as the many titles which were bestowed upon her. This groundbreaking book provides the most comprehensive study of this enduring goddess to date. ------ About the Author Sorita D'Este is a writer and researcher who lives and works in London, UK.She has a passion for the mysteries and gods of the western world and much of her work is focused on the spritiual and magical practices of ancient Greece, Rome and Britian. She is the co-author of The Guises of the Morrigan and Circle of Fire. Additionally she is a regular contributor to magazines, part works and journals, including DeAgostini's Enhancing your Mind Body & Spirit and Llewellyn's Annuals.