sag-dab-sar - Tumblr blog

[sag-dab-sar]

TV Show: White roses the symbol of

Me: death

TV Show: innocence and purity

Me: . . . oh

[sag-dab-sar]

Lost my need to watch movie list damn it

There is an animated film thats an allegory for native american trauma anyone know what it is?

[sag-dab-sar]

This Picrew and last song you listened to.

Stolen from @khaire-traveler

Too tired to tag but @helvetica12point

(The black cat is Felix)

[sag-dab-sar]

Another ancient reblog response from my original blog. My 'communication is not needed' soap box has only become stronger. Nor is an interpersonal relationship required btw.

do i technically have to be devoted to the gods to worship them? like for the life of me, I’ve never been able to communicate with any of them, but I still very much respect them and want to thank them for everything they’ve done. I just dont think I really have the time or energy or knowledge to try to write hymns and prayers and try to build a real relationship with them

  if any of this even makes sense

 I JUST WANNA DO NICE THINGS FOR THEM SOMETIMES WITHOUT ASKING THEM FOR ANYTHING BUT I DONT KNOW IF THAT EVEN COUNTS

[sag-dab-sar]

Oh Happy Earth Day!

May Gaia & Uraš bring you happiness & peace 🌎

[sag-dab-sar]

I'm sure I've complained about this before but migraines are boring. I have a host of podcast episodes I want to listen to, my YT watch later list is piling up, I just resubscribed to Disney+/Hulu so I can catch up in Bleach, watch the newest Doctor Who, watch a few ep of Law & Order I want to rewatch, watch any of the movies I've written down in a note since most are on Hulu (I don't watch movies so the fact that I have a list is mind boggling).

One little problem: noise.

I cannot do any of that because it all makes fucking noise. And my migraines is aggravated by a small fan whirling let alone a show. Watching with subtitles simply wouldn't be enjoyable(?).

And lets not even start with how my migraine makes cognitive shit like reading also difficult so I don't even have an alternative.

Migraines are so fucking boring

[sag-dab-sar]

I finally moves all my "real" drafts that I normally kept in a pause queue (for easy access) to my google drive. Especially because tumblr will randomly post them regardless of the pause.

I also moved my rant/journal posts I wrote but decided not to post and let them rot in drafts to google drive.

I went through the rest of my drafts and deleted the ones I didn't care about or put them in the google drive folder for actual writing.

This left me with like 167 drafts when I had over 200. Mainly complex posts from my old blog (since I saved a backup) and a few reblogs I want to add to.

And also now I only have 7 queued posts (Inana book series) instead of whatever ridiculous amount I had.

This will definitely help me keep writing I think AND tumblr won't fucking delete all my hard work anymore.

AS TO THE TWO ANONS I claimed I'd get done in Jan... then March... now:

I'vs started working on the Ereškigal one again, finally now that life is kind of sort of calming down

[sag-dab-sar]

I was searching for some info on henotheistic tendencies in later Mesopotamian religion and got directed to the book Religion in Mesopotamia book (1998) by Bottero which luckily I already own and just had to get it off the bookshelf. I've spent the past like hour reading various section and I enjoy it, even if I don't agree with everything (based on synthesizing all the other info I've read on ANE). But something that really really bothers me is he just kind of completely ignores the 3rd millennium (writing) and 4th millennium (proto-writing & pre-writing), and just decides that Sumerian religion is so inseparable from the Semitic religions around it (the most apparent being Akkadian) that he won't even bother separating the two. Which as a Sumerian polytheist who prefers the 3rd millennium stuff, kind of sucks. Like for example he goes off about how Mesopotamians had to justify the extreme anthropomorphism in the 2nd millennium and its like if you looked further back as both Jacobsen and Katz do it's obvious that anthropomorphism and transcendence was gradual

This academic made the same gripe as I did link in his review

I will one day read the book cover to cover..... eventually.... probably........... . . . at some point.

[sag-dab-sar]

Don't touch my wheelchair. If you go to grab my chair absentmindedly I won't feel even remotely bad about how much these legitimately hurt.

They come off and on so no issue with putting my bag on, or if I do actually need help. Oddly the one on my left is harder to get on/off for some reason, but at least I have them now.

A little UPG: Damu seems to be very happy with me taking this step— waking up and choosing violence 😂 (wheelchair is dedicated to Epione and Damu).

[sag-dab-sar]

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE l APRIL 2024

ALFREDO JUÁREZ | RAMI ASTRO | JOSHUA INTINI | KENDALL RUST | DERAN HALL | KUZCOKHANDA | TREVOR MAHLMANN | OTHINGSTODO | NASA | STEVEN RATNIK

[sag-dab-sar]

Today is a solar eclipse the sun will be obscured almost entirely (only a sliver still visible) in my area. Tomorrow is the historical start date for the Sumerian Ur calendar (first "sight" of the waxing crescent) and thus an Akiti festival. I was planning on a procession that leads the deity away today and a procession of return tomorrow. And its was going to be Enlil (or An, Enlil, Enki not sure). But the meaning of leaving/returning would be perfect for a festival to Utu the Sun God. However, Amaterasu-Ōmikami forbade me from worshipping any other solar deities (or deities in solar aspect) many many years ago. So a solar celebration of Utu is out of the question. I just realized how intensely this can represent the story of Amaterasu-Ōmikami in the cave story so maybe I'll read that during the eclipse and maybe say the Hi-fu-mi prayer of purification (I'll be with my parents though)

---

Edit after:

The eclipse could only be seen with special glasses but it got super cold as we sat there, like my wheelchair rims got cold to the touch. And it became a grey sky without clouds which was weird.

I read the Kojiki rock-cave story while waiting for it to reach maximum

[sag-dab-sar]

I guess one might say the real 2024 April Fools Day was the friends we booped along the way.

[sag-dab-sar]

Fun Facts

Easter has NOTHING to do with:

Ishtar

Ostara

Pagan holidays

A goddess called Eostre (Bede was a speculating idiot and he’s the original source for this nonsense)

Easter has EVERYTHING to do with:

The Jewish celebration of the Passover seder

The Christian celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

Nobody stole our shit. Easter was never pagan to begin with. Rabbit was considered “fish” by the medieval Catholic Church so that people could eat it during the 40 days of Lent, and eggs laid during the Lenten fast were hardboiled for preservation and then eaten during the breaking of the fast on Easter Sunday. That’s why we have bunnies and eggs.

Stop conflating Easter with pagan holidays, and get the fuck out of here with that casual anti-semitism.

Thank you and good day.

[sag-dab-sar]

I made the mistake of looking in the notes.... as a Sumerian polytheist I am legally allowed to throttle 1 pagan who asserts Ištar = Ostara/Eostre per Easter season.

Also this was a joke but I guarantee when I'm playing tsougrisma this year Aphrodite Areia is definitely going to pop into my head and I'll be miffed if I lose 😂

Not everything the Christians do is stolen from some anonymous pagan culture. I'm sorry y'all but the Christians did actually come up with a bunch of shit on their own.

[sag-dab-sar]

Oh no, I forgot about the "eggs & bunnies actually come from Germanic fertility goddess rituals" annual assertion

Ya know, if every pagan is going to assert that ahistorical festival, can the Greek bright red Easter eggs (kokkina avga) come from a Definitely Real Historically Attested™ fertility festival to Aphrodite. They're red specifically to honor Aphrodite Areia and the traditional smacking the eggs together game (tsougrisma) is symbolic of a battlefield confrontation. And the victor of tsougrisma gets Aphrodite Areia's blessings of luck for the next year.

Not everything the Christians do is stolen from some anonymous pagan culture. I'm sorry y'all but the Christians did actually come up with a bunch of shit on their own.

[sag-dab-sar]

Mesopotamian Equinox Festivals: Akiti/Akitu(m)

𒀉𒆠𒋾

The source for this post is The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient Near East by Mark Cohen (Link) Its sprinkled throughout the book but there is allso a dedicated chapter starting at page 400.

Akiti is the Sumerian word for this festival while Akitu(m) is the Akkadian word. (Link)

⭐️ I wrote this so even if you only worship one Mesopotamian God it might be helpful

🌷 History 🍁

The original Akiti festival developed at Ur. They took place within the first and seventh months of the year. Months began on the first visible crescent following the new moon. The Akiti festival would coincide with the month that followed spring and fall equinox(s) meaning the first waxing moon after each equinox. For Ur this was month 1 and month 7.

It would begin at the 1st and go through the 5th (or 7th) of the month in the spring. In the fall it goes through the 1st to the 11th of the month.

It celebrated the triumphant return of Nanna, the city's primary patron God, to the city he claimed and symbolized all the activities he would do as a ruler to put his city in order. The proper preformance of this festival would assure that the God put society in order and establishes a good fate for the city and its inhabitants.

The waxing moon at the beginning of the month had two symbols first the shape of the moon signified the shape of the boat Nanna was returning in, second as the moon fills more and more Nanna is literally physically returning.

The Akiti festival was exported and in many places became associated with the return of their city's God. But when exported the date changed depending on location and sometimes it was incorporated into local festivals.

The ancient festival survived for over 2000 years. The earliest mention being in the middle of the third millennium BCE (3000-2001 BCE) to at least 689 BCE but was apparently also recorded during the Seleucid period which conquered Babylon in 331 BCE.

⭐️ It has also been revived by the ethnic Assyrian people during the 20th century to celebrate their New Year starting on April 1st (Info: link)

It was very important to say the least. And it seems during ancient times the underlying premise stayed the same: the triumph of a city or empire's main God and the securing of good fate and blessings for the next half year.

A common aspect was the God (idol) physically dwelling in an "Akiti house" that was usually built outside the city and then the God returning to their temple. The priests would make sure proper normal offerings and rites are preformed at the Akiti house. Both parts included a procession, with the return procession being more opulent.

🌷Today 🍁

So. How on earth does one celebrate this in the 3rd millennium CE?

A few ideas:

🔹 Maintain the oldest, "original", tradition. A celebration of Nanna being triumphant and organizing society.

However, that was very Ur center and didn't necessarily equate with anywhere else in Sumer. The festival was transferred to Nippur, the Sumerian city with the greatest religious significance as the city if Enlil.

🔹Celebrate the Nippur festival because of its Sumerian religious importance

Which took place during the 4th and 12th month breaking it away from any equinox associations. It was then incorporated into pre-existing Nippur festival in Šunumun based on the "Disputation of the Plow and the Hoe (Link)" & Šekinku's celebration of the Barley Harvest. Nippur also has the best calendar to reconstruct from as it survived in later calendars, so some Sumerian polytheist groups stick to this calendar.

🔹Celebrate Another City's festival

Many cities had them, I haven't read the full book there are a ton.

For example:

--Uruk Festival

Which took place at least during the 8th month to Anu, who is the highest God his name meaning Heaven and the divine marker.

--Badtibara Festival

Took place during the 7th month to Dumuzid in conjunction with "Elūlu celebration"

🔹Celebrate the festival as triumphant of the Gods of Earth rather than any city.

To adapt it to 21st century CE and a globally connected world. This could be An as the highest God, bestower of kingship, heaven; Enlil King of the Gods; or Enki as the world order-er, as commissioned by Enlil, in one myth. It probably depends on which time period you take from and whom you consider King or the highest God in relation to all of Earth.

🔹Other personalized form. Rest of post to help figure that out.

🌷 Aspects Of Festival 🍁

🔸Festival meaning itself:

Key ancient aspects:

A high ranking God "returning" (historically to their tutelary city)

Gratitude to the God for their presence, protection, and good will in the past half year.

Securing good prosperity and fate by the proper celebration of that deity for the next half year.

Some modern concepts you might apply:

Return in their "sphere of influence." Enki as fresh water. Nisaba as grain/food. Utu as justice/judicial process / the sun. So on.

Return in a worshiper's life.

Return in a worshiper's home.

Celebration of a God establishing order, prosperity and/or protection.

🔸Timing:

🌒 The date in the lunisolar calendar is fixed by the day directly following the New Moon that you can easily determine via internet. In ancient history you'd wait to physically see the new crescent but I can't exactly do that.

In blue I give the 2024 dates to show the myriad of range possibilities both spring and fall.

1st & 7th month of ancient Ur calendar

April 9, 2024 — 1 Šekinku, Ur Lunisolar

October 3, 2024 — 1 Akiti, Ur Lunisolar

4th & 12th month of ancient Nippur calendar

July 6, 2024 — 1 Šunumun, Nippur Lunisolar

January 30, 2025 — 1 Šekinku, Nippur Lunisolar

Spring & Fall equinox — Solar only. Modern idea.

March 19, 2024

September 22, 2024

1st of the Gregorian month the equinox occurs in. Combines the civic month + equinox idea to the modern Gregorian calendar.

March 1, 2024

September 1, 2024

First waxing moon crescent in the Gregorian month of the equinox. Combines the civic month + lunar aspect and equinox, to the modern Gregorian calendar.

March 11, 2024

September 3, 2024

🔸Length of festival:

5-7 days in Spring & 11 days in Fall — Reconstructionist

1-2 days — to allow for two processions.

1 day

🔸Which God:

I've included their primary ancient cities

Nanna, Original festival | Ur

An, Highest God Heaven | Uruk

Enlil, King of the Gods | Nippur

Enki, Order of Society specifically from the myth "Enki & the World Order (Link)" where Enlil commissions him to do so | Eridu

Marduk, Babylonian Empire's Akitu festival | Babylonia

Aššur, Assyrian Empire's Akitu festival | Aššur

[City/Empire God], if you reconstruct from a specific different Mesopotamia city or empire. Particularly if the God is exalted as establishing order in the city or empire. For example: Ninisina in Isin, Ninurta in Girsu— but these don't necessarily have historical associated Akitu festivals that are documented.

[God of your choice] while this removes it from its historical foundation it may make the celebration more applicable to your life. If you are a Mesopotamian polytheist or pagan I highly encourage you to pick one of the high Gods of the pantheon. But I thought I'd put this out there— especially for eclectics or non-Mesopotamian polytheists/pagans who want to worship a specific Mesopotamian God (Diĝir) in a symbolically proper way.

Additional Gods:

Gods in that God's retinue

Gods in the main God's family

Gods from the temple the idol was taken from and/or temples involved in the festival of that city (for example in Ur it was celebrated across 3 temples)

None

🔸Offerings:

Offerings based on the ancient lists given specifically for the festival. This might be significantly impossible but instead of slaughtering a sheep or a cow you could replace it with a serving of lamb or beef.

Historically accurate offerings. Can be Sumerian based or local based. (Link.)

Offerings of seasonal themed foods especially those local to your area— spring & fall.

Low Spoon / No Spoon libations (Link)

🌷Ritual & Activities🍁

Haven't wrote any detailed ritual but this is what I have mostly for 2 day or 1 day participation. [Note from 2024: I don't have the energy to create a revivalist style 5-7 day festival this year. Some can be found elsewhere online by other revivalist/reconstructionist groups]

🌼Ritual

▪️You could attempt to take the ritual instructions we have from other ancient cities that wrote about the Akiti/Akitu festivals. I have not read enough of of the book for that. But you can read the chapter starting at page 400 of the book linked at the beginning of this post for ideas.

▪️The basic ideas of ancient practice:

Finding a spot to place main God's representation away from their shrine/altar. This is the Akiti house.

Procession of main God's representation to that spot from their normal shrine/altar

There was lamentation & signs of grief about the absence of the God while they dwell 'away from their city'. The idol was so important in Mesopotamian practice that its absence could be the literal absence of the God, hence why idols were often stolen during war (Source Link). Thus when the representation is in the Akiti house you may express your sadness at the deity's absence.

Letting the main God's representation dwell there for a time, maybe an hour or overnight or a few days depending on length of festival. Libations and offerings are still given to the God at this location.

Procession back to altar after spending time in the Akiti house. A very joyous experience.

Offerings to the newly arrived deity and any additional deities. Also libations if you want.

Prayer of praise and of gratitude for their arrival.

Prayers of supplication for prosperity and protection.

Music, dance, poetry, hymns, reading a story, presenting art— anything that would entertain the God.

▪️Much shorter version:

Have the God representation on altar.

Take and walk around the room or your home to represent them "leaving."

Pause half way through the walk.

When paused proclaim that you miss the God.

Then walk back returning the representation to the altar

Proclaim your gratitude for the God returning to their altar.

Prayers of gratitude for their protection, their role, their meaning, etc. Prayers of supplication if you wish.

Small offering and/or libation.

▪️Hidden / In the Closet Version:

Not an obvious representation— jar candle, piece of jewelry like a bracelet, small nicknack that won't be questioned.

Keeping that item closed away / packed away purposefully representing Akiti house.

Wear it or keep it out in open the next day to represent the "returning"

Think "[God name] thank you for your presence"

Say an offering prayer/ offering intention in your head before a meal. (Also see low spoon offering post above)

Listen to music, play game, or some other activity "with" the God.

▪️Zero Spoon / No energy Version

Say goodnight to the God one day (Akiti house)

Saying good morning to the God when you wake up next day (The arrival at the city)

Say thank you to them when you take a bite of food or sip of liquid saying "for [God name], thank you for being here" (See Low Spoon Offering post for other possibilities)

🌼Activities:

Meal for the festival!!!

Give a plate to the God in an empty spot on the table or place it before them at their altar. Mesopotamian offerings are eaten afterward.

Creating altar specifically for this festival.

Any activities to entertain the Gods.

Going out to do fun activities to rejoice in this renewal.

Doing tasks that help bring order to your life. Clean closet, organize desk, pick up room etc.

Lamentation during the period the God is gone. Letting yourself feel the loneliness.

Rejoicing when the God returns. Letting yourself feel the joy.

This is a New Year (half year), so anything you might associate with renewal or review.

🌷Alternative Modern Equinox Celebrations🍁

These are brief ideas I haven't developed but may develop in the future. These idea you might develop on your own:

Celebrating the switching of summer & winter. Spring Equinox would be the beginning of Summer— Emeš and the Fall Equinox is the beginning of Winter — Enten. The understanding of these can be somewhat hard to grasp if you don't live in south Mesopotamia's climate. Here is the relevant myth: "The Disputation between Winter [Enten] and Summer [Emeš] (Link)" mediated by Enlil. Winter was deemed better because in Sumerian climate seasons winter provided the life giving water. This is cursory research from one myth.

The switch between Dumuzid & Ĝeštinana. As far as I can tell Dumuzid represents the seed planting in the Fall (winter) that leads to a bountiful harvest in the Spring (summer). Thus he would return from the underworld at the Fall Equinox and die at the Spring Equinox. Ĝeštinana returns to earth in Spring and goes to the underworld in Fall. Dumuzid cult and importance was massive but this cyclical nature with his sister doesn't seem to be super prevalent, as my research so far shows, but one could still celebrate it. The switch between the two siblings is not represented in all Dumuzid death literature (nor is Inana condemning him to the underworld by the way, usually he just dies not her fault). Thus this would be based primarily on "Inana's Descent into the Netherworld (Link)"

At the Spring Equinox celebrate Inana for fertility. Simply because a lot of fertility festivals seem to happen during spring, since you can see life blooming in some places on earth. Ištar does not equal Ôstara, Ēostre, or Easter in any way. Don't know what the Fall equivalent would be.

[sag-dab-sar]

@love-islike-abomb

[Tone note: this post isn't meant to be accusatory or combative I just wrote it at 3am while dead tired from migraine induced insomnia. Thats also why it got ridiculously long]

It doesn't mean "of the earth" the closest approximation to that would be Classical Latin's term pagus which described geographic determinations like a city vs province vs outside the city. Then in later Vulgar/Medieval Latin paganus could mean "rustic" because its reference to the country side. Among a myriad of other things these two terms referred to— it could even denote some one as a "civilian". But no where have I seen a translation "of the earth."

Regardless the comment I replied to (in the notes not my original reblog; no shade to them either they're great) stated it was the dictionary definition and people are allowed to interpret it however they want.

Except the definition in today's dictionary was not from classical antiquity it developed in medieval Christianity where it solely meant non-Christians. So no, it really can't be interpreted however one want's because it was specifically used to describe every religion Christians ran into while colonizing the world. Words can't be taken out of all context, and can only be reclaimed by a particular group. You can't reclaim pagan on behalf of practitioners of Shinto, Taoism, or Vodun etc.

Merriam Webster states paganism's definition as "spiritual beliefs and practices other than those of Judaism, Islam, or especially Christianity"

Cambridge Dictionary states paganism's definition as "relating to a religion that worships many gods, especially one that existed before the main world religions" and "belonging or relating to a modern religion that includes beliefs and activities that are not from any of the main religions of the world"

Oxford Language states paganisms definition as "(especially in historical contexts) holding or constituting religious beliefs other than those of the main or recognized religions."

So. Paganism is either:

Something other than Christianity, Islam, or Judaism

Something other than the "main religions of the world" or "main or recognized religions"

No idea what on earth the dictionary means by recognized religion unless we are looking at sovereign countries that actually have recognized and non-recognized religions such as Greece and Iran. So I'll ignore that vague statement.

World religions tend to be defined as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Sometimes Jainism and Sikhism are thrown into the group.

To get why it can be offensive it has to be looked at outside of neo-paganism. Such as its usage in historical and academic works (and one of my degrees included a lot of culture, history, and a religions studies minor so I read a lot of material that uses the term). I've always seen the term used to refer to any religion that doesn't fit the big three Abrahamic religions. The idea that the Dharmic religions are considered not-pagan is a bizarre claim to me since I've seen plenty of publications saying Hinduism is pagan and plenty of Christians agree with that. So I'm sticking with the more common usage a religion not in the three major Abrahamic ones.

So this divides the world into an arbitrary eurocentric category of "Our European civilized proper religion Christianity, as well as the vaguely related Jews and Muslims I guess, versus all the other inferior religions who haven't heard the Word of God yet" and if you think I'm stretching the idea by saying it implies inferiority you need to read literally any historical manuscript of medieval Christians, modern evangelical Christians, and even early anthropologists and ethnologists usage of "pagan". Because it absolutely did mean any of the following: inferiority, backwardness, primitive spirituality, or a dire need for Christianization. ... and sometimes even the "noble savage" trope got applied to "good" pagan religions— which should still undergo conversion to Christianity of course.

The word puts Christianity on a pedestal— which considering its modern definition started developing in medieval Christian Europe that makes sense. That leaves us with literally every other religion/spirituality in the world being placed into one category— "pagan" as far as Europeans were concerned.

Mandeaism? Pagan. Cao Dai? Pagan. Druze? Pagan. Baha'i Faith? Pagan. Taoism? Pagan. Samaritans? Pagan. Santeria? Pagan. Vodun? Pagan. Zoroastrianism? Pagan. Rastafari? Pagan. Mazu worship? Pagan. Shinto? Pagan. Animism? Pagan. Ancestor worshop? Pagan. Bon? Pagan. Actually just any indigenous religions literally anywhere ever? All pagan. Unacceptable schisms in Christianity such as Mormonism? Pagan. Historical religions everywhere throughout all of pre-Christian history? All pagan. Despite possible religious practices for at least 50,000 years and Christianity being a measly 2,000 years old.

I'll repeat, you cannot reclaim "pagan" for any of these religions, unless you personally practice it and also consider yourself pagan. Which brings it back around to "only use it as a self identifier."

Its a term of inferiority. A eurocentric term that praised their Christian religion over whoever they were writing about both past and present. (I do genuinely find it so weird when people define it as "pre-christian religions" as if Christianity isn't an absolute young toddler of a religion)

It can be used as a self identifier certainly but as I've already mentioned it should not be used in a general sense (just as witchcraft should not be used in a general sense), only use it for those who self identify with the term. And yes it can be offensive despite seemingly innocuous dictionary definitions. Because if you read enough literature with its usage outside neo-paganism its clear it had negative connotations. Even if that connotation was unintentional eurocentrism in anthropology.

Sorry this is long again 3am and I have no filter to make it more concise.

-Dyslexic not audio proof read-

Just a quick reminder~

Not all polytheists consider themselves as pagans, and not all pagans consider themselves polytheists. The two terms aren't universally interchangeable.

(Some people use the terms interchangeably for themselves because the terms are heavily intertwined for them. This is not the case for everyone.)