Category Archives: Mythology

April 16, 2016 · 5:09 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART TWENTY-FOUR

Pearl Harbo areaBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART TWENTY-FOUR  

Hi’iaka, Prince Lohiau and the mortal woman Wahine guided their double-canoe into Kou (modern-day Honolulu). The goddess’ companions were unaware of the passions raging within Hi’iaka now that she knew her sister Pele, the fire and volcano goddess, had unleashed a lava flow on her beloved lehua forest at Puna. That betrayal had convinced Hi’iaka to repay her older sister in kind by yielding to her growing attraction to Prince Lohiau – the intended husband of Pele. Continue reading →

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April 13, 2016 · 4:43 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART TWENTY-THREE

OahuBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART TWENTY-THREE

Following Hi’iaka’s triumph over the renegade shark gods named Kua and Kahole’a she decided that since she was already far up Mount Pohakea she would go all the way to the top and soak in the monumental view. In the waters below she saw the double-canoe in which Prince Lohiau and Hi’iaka’s mortal female friend Wahine were sailing along.

In some versions of the story Wahine – like Pele and Hi’iaka – is beginning to fall prey to Lohiau’s charms and begins rubbing noses with him. Causing her voice to be heard far below Hi’iaka warns the pair to cease and desist, since the prince is, after all, the intended husband of Hi’iaka’s sister Pele. Wahine and Lohiau separate and Hi’iaka uses her divine powers to extend her gaze all the way back to the Big Island. What she sees there fills her with alarm, dread and anger.    Continue reading →

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April 7, 2016 · 10:47 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART TWENTY-TWO

KauaiBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART TWENTY-TWO

Hi’iaka and her two mortal companions – the woman Wahine and Prince Lohiau, the intended groom of Pele – departed from Haena in a double-boat. They headed west around the island of Kauai and in some versions of this tale Hi’iaka left the vessel at one point, planning to rendezvous with Lohiau and Wahine at Mana.

On her inland detour Hi’iaka said a formal goodbye to another relative of her and Pele – the mountain god Pohaku. From there she traveled on foot through the sandy domain of the Menehune, the Hawaiian equivalents of elves and dwarves. The Menehune were delighted to see the goddess and accompanied her to the beach at Mana.  Continue reading →

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April 3, 2016 · 4:58 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART TWENTY-ONE

Kauai 2Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART TWENTY-ONE 

Hi’iaka, her mortal friend Wahine and the freshly-resurrected Prince Lohiau soaked in the praise of the throng surrounding them on the beach beneath the cliffs overlooking Haena. That crowd of Lohiau’s family and subjects felt a certain bittersweet elation. They knew that, though their prince had been restored to life they were about to figuratively lose him again when he moved away to the Big Island to become the mate of the volcano and fire goddess Pele. 

Eventually Hi’iaka led Prince Lohiau and the mortal woman Wahine through the rejoicing mob so that they could refresh themselves with the feel of the ocean waves. The trio froliced in the water for a time, then Lohiau could restrain himself no longer. He grabbed the first available surfboard and paddled out to enjoy some surfing. (Many figures in Hawaiian myths surf – even the deities.) 
Continue reading →

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April 1, 2016 · 1:35 am

CLOUDS WITHOUT WATER (1909): ALEISTER CROWLEY FOR APRIL 1st

Clouds Without WaterWhat better way to mark April Fool’s Day than by commemorating one of the wittiest and most daring of practical jokes, one perpetrated by Aleister Crowley in those brilliant years before drugs and/or self-delusion fogged his mind. Decades before the pathetic “Peekaboo Crowley” of much renown Aleister was still churning out some very enjoyable poetry – some of it brilliant. The Sword of Song and Konx Om Pax are my favorite volumes of verse by “the Laird of Boleskine” … AFTER Clouds Without Water, that is.  

Clouds Without Water was not Crowley’s only literary practical joke, of course, but the humor of it resonates to this very day, thanks mainly to the never-changing air of pious self-righteousness that afflicts most of the world’s clergy-members. And not just pious self-righteousness but a habit of condemning in the strongest language works of art which their self-limited minds clearly don’t understand.

THE JOKE: Clouds Without Water was published under one of Crowley’s pseudonyms – Reverend Charles Verey. It was circulated to various ministries and teaching colleges allegedly as a condemnation of “the type of atheism and socialism” that the young and the bohemian were embracing. Crowley – writing as Reverend Verey – wrote a foreward and a closing prayer for the volume of poetry as well as (when you know the full story) HILARIOUS footnotes expressing the kind of simplistic moral outrage that only the most narrow-minded of holy-rollers can spout.  Continue reading →

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March 31, 2016 · 8:52 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART TWENTY

Hawaii rainbowBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART TWENTY

In the aftermath of Hi’iaka’s defeat of the two sorceresses Kilioe and Kalanamainu’u, she and her mortal traveling companion Wahine were in sole possession of the battlefield: the cavern lair of the dead witches. As a bonus Hi’iaka’s divine powers had even managed to snag the wandering spirit of Prince Lohiau, which Kilioe and her ally had tried to destroy out of spite when their defeat at Hi’iaka’s hands seemed imminent. Continue reading →

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March 30, 2016 · 12:28 am

NORSE GODS: FORSETI

And remember, for my full list of neglected Norse deities click HERE

ForsetiFORSETI – The god of the laws for men and gods alike who acted as the judge and moderator for disputes among the deities of the Teutono-Norse pantheon. His powers of arbitration and unquestioned fairness were necessary for settling conflicts involving his hot-blooded and temperamental fellow divinities. It is unknown, but doubtful, if Forseti’s rulings were at all binding on Odin. He was the son of the god Baldur through his wife Nanna and lived in a Continue reading →

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March 26, 2016 · 9:16 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART NINETEEN

Haena

Haena on the island of Kauai

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART NINETEEN

Hi’iaka and her mortal traveling companion Wahine approached the sorceresses named Kilioe and Kalanamainu’u, ready for battle. The naked sorceresses who had stolen the corpse of Prince Lohiau were fighting on their home turf there in their cavern hideaway, where they were familiar with every shadowy tunnel and corner. 

Any advantage that may have provided Kilioe and her sister witch was lost the minute Hi’iaka saw Lohiau’s corpse on the mats that lined the floor. It was then that she realized that her speculation was right – the pair of sorceresses had used their dark magic to preserve Lohiau’s body in all its male glory. They had never been able to woo the late prince in life but wanted him all to themselves in death.     Continue reading →

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March 25, 2016 · 8:44 pm

INANNA: DEATH AND RESURRECTION

InannaSpring is the time of year that always puts me in mind of the many dead and resurrected deities who were featured in various seasonal myths around the world. This is a look at Inanna, but if you want more dead and resurrected gods and goddesses click HERE  

INANNA 

Pantheon: Sumerian (The Babylonians called her Ishtar) 

The Tale: Inanna the fertility goddess and queen of the heavens was looking to extend her reign to the land of the dead. She descended into the Netherworld, which was ruled over by her sister, the goddess Ereshkigal. Fighting on the death goddess’ own turf was foolish and Ereshkigal won the controntation and either nailed Inanna to a wall of her palace or impaled her on a stake, Vlad the Impaler style.

With Inanna thus imprisoned, vegetation died from the withering heat of summer, which could get even worse in that part of the world, where droughts could be so intense that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the only bodies of water that would NOT get dried up. The usual drought cycle continued, with vegetation dying, then animals who lived off it dying, etc. In the case of Inanna her dominion over sexual fertility also added the angle that males and females of all species lost all interest in sex and reproduction as well.   Continue reading →

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March 23, 2016 · 11:17 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART EIGHTEEN

Kauai

KAUAI

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART EIGHTEEN

On the island of Kauai the goddess Hi’iaka and her female mortal companion Wahine prepared to launch their assault on the cavern lair of the evil sorceresses named Kilioe and Kalanamainu’u. The entrance to that cavern was nearly inaccessible, since it was basically just a large hole on the side of a steep mountain hundreds of feet up.

Hi’iaka and Wahine needed to reach the cave to free the corpse of Prince Lohiau from the clutches of the sorceresses so that it (the corpse) could be reunited with its wandering spirit, thus restoring life to Lohiau, the chosen mate of Hi’iaka’s sister Pele, the fire and volcano goddess. (Meanwhile, Megan’s love for Stan is still unrequited since he is obsessed with his sexy new neighbor Samantha, not realizing she is his mother’s murderer Sam after a sex-change operation …)   

When our two heroines began to climb the sheer cliff wall the sorceresses used their dark magic to create winds strong enough to knock them back to the ground. After repeatedly being hindered by this maneuver Hi’iaka used her divine powers to make Kilioe and Kalanamainu’u so sensitive to sunlight that they had to retreat to the furthest reaches of their cave to avoid the burning pain.  Continue reading →

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