Taliesin's Map

Apollo, Óðinn, Dian Cecht and Brihaspati: The High Priest of the Word  < Part 1 Part 2 The Priest and the Serpent This understanding of Apollo and Dian Cecht as parallels who themselves parallel Brihaspati may also explain why Apollo is seen as a slayer of a great serpent. Generally we would assume this general myth type to belong to the Thunderer god, as when Indra kills Vrtra, Zeus kills Typhon, and Thor kills the Midgard Serpent, etc. However, this seems to come back to the central Vedic myth complex of two distinct but connected serpents, Vrtra and Vala, who can be over-simplified as the "obstructing monster" and the "concealing monster." In simple terms, the slaying of Vrtra by Indra releases the waters which he has obstructed. The slaying of Vala releases the cattle of the sun, symbolic of the rays of light themselves, from the dark cave where he has concealed them. The Vrtra and Vala myths are closely linked, and so central are they that the identity of th...

    Apollo, Óðinn, Dian Cecht and Brihaspati: The High Priest of the Word Part 1      Brihaspati, Shukra and Usana In his post entitled " Odin as Brihaspati ," Thomas Rowsell has argued that the Norse god  Óðinn  has the mythos associated with the Vedic god Brihaspati. He points to the power of resurrecting the dead, which  Óðinn  learns via the 12th rune he receives from hanging on the windy tree (and an associated chant), a power which the son of Brihaspati, Kacha, also learns from Shukracharya by way of the Mriti Sanjeevni mantra. This seems to us perfectly on the right track, though there is a complication in it that should be expanded on, in that it is Shukracharya who himself first gains this mantra from a great show of devotional asceticism to Shiva, and Brihaspati's son, in this version of the myth, only gains it from him second. Shukracharya also has one eye poked out by lord Vishnu, leaving him with a missing eye similar t...