Slavic Deities
- Alternative names : JURATA, JŪRATĖ, JURASMAT
- Location : Lithuania, Latvia and Prussia
- Gender : Female
We connect with the Goddess Jurate to promote feelings of courage and unforeseen love. Her sway of the sea flows directing into our afflictions, washing away the fear and doubt, and rolling in the acceptance of the journey of love. There are times in life when we feel we do not have the strength or motivation to pursue the completion of our set goals of compassion and love. We must follow through, with pride and determination for the journey ahead.
We must never be driven away from our path, by unsettling feelings of fear or self-doubt. We should embrace the adventure of love, for it is a roller coaster that is the act of life personified.
Lithuanian Myth of Lost Love
A famous folktale favorite across the Baltic and beyond, Jurate is Queen of the Lithuanian mermaids — a rare and unusual mythological species. She is also a deity of healing who fell in love with a mortal called Kastysis.
At the deepest point of the Baltic Sea, a beautiful, goddess (sometimes described as a mermaid or undine) Jurate lived in a beautiful and unusually fascinating castle made completely from the shiny golden amber. While on the shores of the Baltic Sea (in Šventoji town to the north of Palanga), not far from the castle of the goddess, a young and handsome fisherman named Kastitys lived in the poor shack and earned for living with fishing.
Jurate ruled the sea and all of the sea-life. Each and every sea creature was not simply the subject to her, but a true lovely friend. Jurate knew that people were killing them for survival and although it destroyed her from the inside, there was nothing that could be done. A lot of people were dealing in the sea, relying on and surviving only due Jurate’s kindness, but one of them was known for being extremely active. A young fisherman named Kastitys was continuously disturbing the peace in her kingdom by catching daring amounts of fish. One day, Kastitys had not succeeded in his usual area and swam too near the castle of the beautiful goddess, despite the existing restrictions that his people respected for centuries.
The anger of Jurate knew no boundaries. This reckless fisherman must be stopped. Jurate sent mermaids to the fisherman with a warning stay away from her castle and to stop killing her fish friends. But this had no effect. Kastitys was desperate and daring – he ignored the warnings of the mermaids.
Even though she was angry, Jurate became extremely curious about this simple mortal who was not even slightly afraid of the anger of the gods. She decided that she wanted to see this person who was so fearless, and so she swam to the surface of the sea.
When Jurate saw the beautiful Kastitys, and heard the glorious songs he sang to entertain himself while fishing, she was completely won over, and fell desperately in love. Listening with delight to the songs, Jurate quite forgot that immortal gods were not allowed to enjoy fleeting human happiness. She completely forgot about everything that had once been important to her.
Jurate took Kastitys to her beautiful amber castle, and they spent days and nights enjoying each others company and their love, totally losing track of time. Unfortunately, their happiness didn’t last.
Perkunas, Baltic god of thunder, rain, mountains, oak trees and the sky was furious when he learned that the goddess had allowed herself a terrible liberty. To be involved in relationship with a mere mortal was unforgivable. Perkunas, was in love with Jurate. However Jurate did not return the feeling and was not interested in the thunder god in any way. She had rejected and spurned his love many times. Not only had she fallen in love with another man, but she had fallen in love with a mortal man!
He sent a bolt of lightning to destroy the goddess’ palace and kill her mortal lover. According to eyewitness reports, the amber palace was smashed into little bits and Kastysis smashed with it. Her healing efforts were in vain and he died.
Perkunas chained Jurate with gold chains to the ruins of the underwater palace. That was the high price that she had to pay for her short happiness.
She weeps tears of amber for her lost lover. When the storms stir the sea, fragments of her palace ruins are driven onto the shores of the Baltic. Tear drop shaped pieces are thought to be particular treasures as they are the tears washed from the grieving goddess’ eyes. These amber pieces are said to be as clear and true as her tragic love.
Years and centuries pass, but the immortal Goddess is still suffering. Day by day, looking at the lifeless body of her beloved, enmeshed in heavy golden chains, she is shedding bitter tears. The cold sea depths are beginning to sway from her inconsolable sobbing. A storm is rising. The storming sea is rolling its waves towards the shore throwing onto the sand splinters of the amber castle and small hardened drops – Jurate’s tears.
Jurate put everything on the line being with Kastytis, and lost, but she would do it again in a heartbeat because love is the only catalyst to pure happiness, that cannot be replicated or changed into anything else.
Embracing our deep connection to the goddess Jurate can help us find the bravery to take the ultimate risk to be in love. She is not commonly known as a goddess of love, but her story compares to that of no other. To honor her love, and incite feelings of bravery, utilization of an Amber crystal is best. Carry her legacy with you to inspire yourself to go against any odds in life to find your love.
Her strength is a type of bravery that often goes unnoticed; the willingness and courage to change your life into one of completely new templates. When you are in love, you suddenly feel that you can and will do anything and everything for that one special person. You put your entire life in their hands, and forget the vulnerability and openness of entrusting another human being with the baggage that is you. Commitment is often difficult, because sometimes you start off with nothing to lose, and end up losing everything. You put all your apples in one basket that you lose sight of the path in which the basket will travel; if it will be clear, or riddled with obstacles.
Love is a path often untraveled by man, as the journey is difficult and sometimes confusing. We must embrace our inner light of love and divinity. Embrace your goddess today, and promote love to everyone around you. Feel the love inside of you, and spread it to others.
Beautiful Amberella may have legs or a mermaid’s tail. She wears an amber crown and is bedecked with amber jewelry.
Although amber is the product of trees, because it was often found tossed up by waves, it was associated with the sea. Amber is the vehicle with which to communicate with Amberella. She is a completely benevolent spirit and may be requested to assist with love (especially forbidden love), fertility, pregnancy, and relief from poverty.
An Amberella Altar
Amber is considered magickally beneficial during pregnancy. Place amber jewelry on an altar dedicated to Amberella, requesting her blessings before you wear it. Decorate her altar with sea treasures such as shells, sea glass, and small stones, as well as images of mermaids and sea creatures.
Lithuanian Myth of Amberella
The beautiful maiden Amberella lived on the shores of the sea with her fisherman father and his wife. While swimming, Amberella is drawn into a whirlpool and pulled into the depths of the sea. Amberella finds that she has been captured by the Prince of the Seas to serve as his princess.
He keeps her as his wife in a fabulous undersea palace of amber. When Amberella begs to be returned to her parents, the prince is enraged. He mounts white foaming horses, grasps his princess in his arms, and rises to the surface in a furious storm.
As the Prince of the Seas and Amberella rise from the water, her parents see her in his grasp. She is adorned with an amber crown and amber necklace. In her hands she holds lumps of amber which she tosses to her grieving parents. As the prince and Amberella sink back into the sea, they realize their daughter is lost forever.
Now, when the Prince of Seas becomes angry, the seas begins to churn and storms rage. From her prison-palace below, Amberella tosses pieces of amber onto the shores to show her parents how much she misses and loves them.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Spirits
Holder of the Oath Ring; The Silent One
- Also known as: Oller, Ull, Uller, Ullr, Vuldor
- Origin: Norse:
- Rune: Ihwaz
- Tree: Yew (Holler’s home is Ydalir, Yew Tree Valley)
- Favored people: Holler likes the ladies. Skiers love Holler and he seems to love them right back.
Holler is the Lord of Frost and the King of Winter. He is a particularly primordial Norse deity, a mysterious, shadowy spirit. It’s unclear exactly where he sits on the Aesir / Vanir spectrum. Holler may be the son of Sif, the Golden-Tressed One. His father, if any, is unknown, although some suggest that he is of Frost Giant descent.
Holler’s name may be related to “glory.” He seems to have been venerated throughout Scandinavia, the Germanic lands, and the British Isles. According to some myths, when Odin goes wandering, he leaves Holler in charge of Asgard.
Holler is a master archer and hunter and a brilliant skier. Holler skis through the heavens, leaving stars in his wake. He controls the Aurora Borealis. Holler is the lord of justice and dueling. Allegedly invoking his name before a duel brings good luck. When he’s not zipping over the snow on his skis, Holler travels in a ship made from bone.
Holler the Hunter has associations with death. His sacred tree, the yew, is a funerary tree, found in grave yards, not least because of its poisonous berries. Holler may have hunted with poisoned arrows. He may be married to Hulda, weather goddess of birth and death. Like her, he is now associated with the Wild Hunt, and a more negative connotation as the God of Death, Disease and Devastation. It is said that he drags the doomed to his darkest dungeon and delights in dealing out disaster and destruction.
Post-Christianity, many of his more benevolent functions seem to have been transferred to Saint Hubert.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Spirits
- Also known as: Mother Holle, Frau Holle, Hulde
- Origin: Teutonic
- Realms: The sky, underground, mountains, wells
- Constellation: The Milky Way is the street she travels
- Elements: Earth, air, water
- Sacred animals: Wolves, Rabbits
- Color: White, blue
- Spirit Ally: Odin, with whom she sometimes leads the Wild Hunt
- Plants: Holly, elder, juniper, mugwort, flax, Sorcerer’s Violet (Vinca major – sometimes called Frau Holle)
- Sacred Days: The Winter Solstice is Hulda’s feast day. The twelve days between Dec 25 and Jan 6 are sacred to Hulda.
- Offerings: She loves music and dancing.
Manifestations:
A radiantly beautiful blond woman or a fierce old crone. In her guise as Queen of Witches, she has disheveled hair and a wild look.
She may also manifest as a woman when seen from the front but a tree from behind. She may be accompanied by an entourage of torch bearing rabbits who light her way.
About Hulda:
Hulda, a great and ancient goddess of birth and death, presides over a transit station for human souls, a crossroads between life and death. Hulda receives the souls of the newly dead into her realm and releases newborns to live new lives on Earth. Hulda bathes at midday in a fountain from which babies emerge, a well of life.
She was no unknown spirit but a prominent Northern European goddess. Holland is her namesake. Her name may be related to “holy.” Hulda lives in mountain caves and among elder trees, portals to her realm. Her realm may also be accessed via wells. She is sometimes witnessed walking alongside rivers or mountain paths, alone or accompanied by an entourage of rabbits and Fairies. She may be Queen of the Elves.
She plays a prominent part in German folk-lore and superstition. In stormy nights she can be often heard flying through the air, accompanied by weird spirits and witches. On such occasions it is dangerous for ill-doers to be abroad, as they will surely meet with severe punishment; while to the good she frequently appears as a benefactor. Her particular season is winter.
Hulda is a weather spirit. When she shakes her feather bed, it snows on Earth. Rain falls from her laundry rinse water. Fog hovering over a mountain may be smoke from Hulda’s fire. She guards and nurtures all the growing things of the forest. She was a culture-goddess, too, credited with introducing flax to Europe and teaching the art of making linen.
Banished after official conversion to Christianity, people were forbidden to venerate or contact Hulda. Those maintaining that practice were branded witches. Hulda was reclassified as a demon witch-goddess who attacked and harmed children.
She retains dominion over Pagan babies. People were urged to baptize their babies lest they end up in Hulda’s realm. Mother Holle, once so benevolent was transformed into a monster. People warned their children that if they weren’t obedient, Hulda would “get” them.
Vestiges of rituals invoking Hulda’s blessings on baby girls were retained by Ashkenazi Jews (the Hollekreisch), whether because Pagan women found discreet safety in that community rather than convert to Christianity or because Jews perceived Hulda’s resemblance to Lilith. Although rituals survive, many would be shocked and horrified to realize that they invoke a Pagan goddess.
Like Lilith, Hulda is not always so benevolent these days. She is a proud and resolutely Pagan spirit with little patience for hypocrites. Hulda can bestow fertility but she can take it away, too. She has power over storms, raising them as well as soothing them. She can be ambivalent toward people as demonstrated by Mother Holle, the Brothers Grimm fairytail in which she stars.
The theme involves young girls who wander into Hulda’s domain, either inadvertently or deliberately in anticipation of a reward. She rewards the girl who respects her and follows her commands with effort and devotion but causes excrement to rain down upon the lazy, disrespectful girl.
Found in:
- Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences
- The Encyclopedia of Spirits
- Titles: Goddess of Abundance, Queen of Witches
- Also known as: Bertha; Perchta; Frau Berta; Eisen Berta, Berchtli
- Origin: Germanic
- Sacred plants: Holly, mayflower
- Sacred creatures: Crickets, swans, geese.
Bavaria is the ancient stronghold of Berchta, goddess of abundance. Allegedly whatever you give her will be returned many times over. Berchta rules a sort of transit area for souls, caring for and guarding those who died as babies. Depending on the version, they either stay in her garden forever or she tends them until they reincarnate and receive new life. She protects living children, too. German folk tales describe a beautiful lady dressed in white who mysteriously appears in the middle of the night to nurse babies.
Initially, Perchta was the upholder of cultural taboos, such as the prohibition against spinning on holidays. She was an immensely popular goddess, and so post-Christianity she was aggressively demonized by the Church as a Queen of Witches. People were told to baptize their babies because otherwise they’d end up in Berchta’s realm, not in Heaven. She is among the leaders of the Wild Hunt, usually leading a parade of unbaptized babies.
She evolved into a bogeywoman still invoked as a threat to make children behave before Yule. She allegedly punishes “bad children” but gives gifts to good ones.
This old story is as follows:
In the folklore of Bavaria and Austria, Perchta was said to roam the countryside at midwinter, and to enter homes during the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany (especially on the Twelfth Night). She would know whether the children and young servants of the household had behaved well and worked hard all year. If they had, they might find a small silver coin next day, in a shoe or pail. If they had not, she would slit their bellies open, remove stomach and guts, and stuff the hole with straw and pebbles.
She was particularly concerned to see that girls had spun the whole of their allotted portion of flax or wool during the year. She would also slit people’s bellies open and stuff them with straw if they ate something on the night of her feast day other than the traditional meal of fish and gruel.
Berchta protects:
- Unbaptized babies
- Stillbirths, miscarriages, abortions
- Those driven to suicide by broken hearts or despair
- Dead souls who lack people to remember them
- Dead souls who have not received proper, respectful burial
The types of dead souls Berchta protects have a tendency to trouble the living by manifesting as destructive ghosts. Should you be afflicted by such a ghost, petition Berchta to soothe and remove it, escorting it to her realm, where it will be much happier.
- Manifestations
A beautiful woman with pearls braided into her gold hair. A white veil obscures her face, and she wears a long, white silk dress. She has another look too: an old decrepit hag with long, wild grey hair and disheveled clothes.
In many old descriptions, Bertha had one large foot, sometimes called a goose foot or swan foot. Grimm thought the strange foot symbolized her being a higher being who could shapeshift to animal form. He noticed that Bertha with a strange foot exists in many languages:
“It is apparently a swan maiden’s foot, which as a mark of her higher nature she cannot lay aside…and at the same time the spinning-woman’s splayfoot that worked the treadle”.
Because she sometimes manifests with one webbed goose foot, it is possible that Berchta may be the original Mother Goose. In the Tyrol she appears as little old woman with a very wrinkled face, bright lively eyes, and a long hooked nose; her hair is disheveled, her garments tattered and torn.
- Attributes
When she’s young and beautiful, she carries the keys to happiness in one hand and a spray of mayflowers in the other; as a hag, she carries a distaff.
- Realm
A subterranean palace with a fabulous garden where she welcomes souls of children who died in infancy.
She maintains other homes within hollow mountains.
- Spirit allies
Perchta travels with a retinue of spirits called Perchten. Christian legend says the devil rides in their midst, but this may indicate the presence of a male deity who accompanies her.
- Sacred time
Berchta is celebrated throughout the entire Yule season. Post-Christianity, Yule became synonymous with Christmas, but in its original Pagan context it was a lengthier season.
In German tradition, the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan 6) is Berchtentag – Berchta’s Day. The preceding eve is Berchtennacht. The festival is celebrated with processions characterized by grotesque masks.
- Sacred places
Berchtesgaden in the Austrian Alps means “Berchta’s Garden.” Many springs near Salzburg are named in her honor.
- Offerings
Leave offerings out for her on Epiphany Eve, the way offerings are left for Santa. Not milk and cookies, though. Berchta likes a hearty meal: herring and dumplings is her favorite. Give her schnapps or other alcoholic beverages.
A Goddess of Many Names
Perchta had many different names depending on the era and region: Grimm listed the names Perahta and Berchte as the main names, followed by Berchta in Old High German, as well as Behrta and Frau Perchta. In Baden, Swabia, Switzerland and Slovenian regions, she was often called Frau Faste (the lady of the Ember days) or Pehta or ‘Kvaternica’, in Slovene. Elsewhere she was known as Posterli, Quatemberca and Fronfastenweiber.
In southern Austria, in Carinthia among the Slovenes, a male form of Perchta was known as Quantembermann, in German, or Kvaternik, in Slovene (the man of the four Ember days). Grimm thought that her male counterpart or equivalent is Berchtold.
Regional variations of the name include Berigl, Berchtlmuada, Perhta-Baba, Zlobna Pehta, Bechtrababa, Sampa, Stampa, Lutzl, Zamperin, Pudelfrau, Zampermuatta and Rauweib.
Modern celebrations
In contemporary culture, Perchta is portrayed as a “rewarder of the generous, and the punisher of the bad, particularly lying children”.
Vestiges of devotion to Berchta survive in some Alpine villages where it is traditional to place offerings of food for her on rooftops so she finds them while riding by.
Today in Austria, particularly Salzburg, where she is said to wander through Hohensalzburg Castle at dead of night, the Perchten are still a traditional part of holidays and festivals (such as the Carnival Fastnacht). The wooden animal masks made for the festivals are today called Perchten.
In the Pongau region of Austria large processions of Schönperchten (“beautiful Perchten”) and Schiachperchten (“ugly Perchten”) are held every winter. Beautiful masks are said to encouraging financial windfalls, and the ugly masks are worn to drive away evil spirits.
Other regional variations include the Tresterer in the Austrian Pinzgau region, the stilt dancers in the town of Unken, the Schnabelpercht in the Unterinntal region and the Glöcklerlaufen (“bell-running”) in the Salzkammergut. A number of large ski-resorts have turned the tradition into a tourist attraction drawing large crowds every winter.
From: Encyclopedia of Spirits and Wikipedia
In his book Deutsche Mythologie (1835), Jacob Grimm noted that Russians used the word kupala to describe the bonfires they lit at the summer solstice, and recorded that some people explained the word as the name Kupulo, a harvest god.
Gods such as Koleda and Kupala were constructed from misinterpreted names of popular Slavic folk festivals; Koledo was the Slavic name for Christmas processions of carol singers, whilst Kupala comes from Ivan Kupala (literally: John the Baptist), whose festivity day is celebrated at the summer solstice in many Slavic countries.
Although the word kupala (or kupalo) is usually explained as “bather” (from kupat(i) ‘to bathe’), some scholars claim that it is not an epithet of John the Baptist, but a name of a pre-Christian Slavic deity, derived from some other root.
According to Vyacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov, the name Kupala is derived from the same Indo-European root as the name of Cupid, Roman god of love, which means ‘passion’ or ‘desire’. The cult of Kupala, the god of fertility and sexuality, was presumably replaced by worship of John the Baptist.
According to some texts on Slavic mythology, Kapalo or Kupalo is the god of the summer solstice. Kupalo is the mature, the aging Yarilo. Yarilo comes into human world (Yav) every spring to bring new life, fertility and rich harvest. In the summer he turns into Kupalo. His life on the world gradually moves to its end.
He has accomplished his mission in our world and sets off for the Underworld, so he can return again next summer.
This is why the Kupalo festival (summer solstice) is actually bidding farewell to the old-aged Yarilo – a preparation for his later ritual burial. During the celebrations, for the last time people express their joy of god Yarilo’s visit in their world, the happiness he had brought; they sing incantations and prayers to the fertile god to come again next year.
The year is half-way through, last fruitful months are elapsing and then winter will come – the time of death goddess Mora, time of darkness, cold, misery, illness and death.
Sources: Various