GONCOL THE TALTOS POWERS : MAGYAR PAGANISM #3

Today we might think of a a taltos such as Goncol as a wise man, an inventor, a psychic medium, an herbalist,  and as astronomer. He had much in common with Saint Frances of Assisi, Michelangelo, and Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan.

He is said to have communicated with animals.

He is said to have invented the horse drawn carriage including ones drawn by many horses with more horse power. However, one wonders if perhaps he was from the universe since the horse the taltos rode sounds like an old car that goes from broken down to one made of gold that could be fueled with hot cinders. Called a taltos parpa, this transformative ride is depicted as a horse with extra legs, just as he or she is depicted as having extra fingers. I wonder if this was taken literally or was an art depiction to show speed.

How fast could that "horse" go?

It would no longer be earth bound and fly. Faster than a bird. Faster than the wind. Faster than thought.

Colors of horses are associated with metallurgy if not alchemy. Yellow for Gold. Grey for Silver. Black for Iron. Red for fire. Taltos is said to have been able to move energy between opposites; sounds like creating electricity to me.

A Taltos had plant knowledge and could not only heal people physically and mentally with plant medicine but by performing rituals.

It's not lost on me that the horse is so important to the ancient Magyars that the animal would be an important "ride" into the heavens and up The World Tree. What sort of creatures or beings did he or she encounter in that travel? Ones that have answers the shaman could bring back.

Messages predictions, advice.

Since honoring the ancestors is still part of Hungarian culture, I suspect that a shaman could communicate with those already departed.

C 2021

MOON and STARS

 

THE TALTOS AND THE WORLD TREE : MAGYAR PAGANISM #2

It's common for people to confuse Hungarian / Magyar Paganism with Gypsy fortune telling and spells. Or, unfortunately, evil personified, such as in the fiction of Count Dracula in Transylvania and a belief in vampires, or even the madness of The Blood Countess who was considered evil and insane, a serial killer. (But read my book review on this Countess!)

It is none of that.

It's about shamanism.

Ancient Pagans believed that the world was flat and covered by a sky dome which had holes in it to let in the light of stars. 

The sun and moon were most important celestial deities.

There was an invisible tree that rose up from below the earth and had limbs springing out skyward and through layers of - for lack of a better term - of the universe. At the very top was a heaven - a place of beautiful and blissful existence.

There was more evil the further you traveled down, less as you went up. No surprise that the earth was in between good and evil and it would seem evil had the advantage. 

Only special people who were born with innate talent to go into a trance could travel the tree, which was thought to have three divisions / especially strong branches. The tree is called The World Tree. A beautiful carved sculpture of the tree, a modern reimagining, is presently in Godollo.

That person who went into trance was called a Taltos.

It was believed a child was chosen to be a Taltos before birth or by the age of seven by a supernatural being such as God or spirits. A Taltos could be male or female. The ability to be a Taltos was innate and not to be taught. 

The word Taltos clearly has multiple cultural evidence.

In Uralic languages it is related to the words meaning to know or understand. Tai haa.

Talt in Turkish means unconsciousness.

Taltos is related to Talt in Magyar. It means open wide.

You might wonder how traveling up The World Tree was thought of. The Taltos could climb the limbs but she or he could also ride a special horse.

How did a typical human know a child was meant to be a Taltos? Such a child liked to be solitary. Perhaps they were sickly. They had extra fingers, teeth, bones. In other words, they were peculiar.

// 

My meditation on this is that the genetics might indicate that the person meant to be a taltos was the result of inbreeding or, in the case of one of my relatives who had two sets of teeth and an extra rib, according to a physician, might have been a twin in a stage of development as a fetus. The tribe might have found all humans born within it to have value and ways to contribute. Shamans in some cultures took plant potions or used hallucigens as a way to travel. So far I haven't found any reference to this in Magyar shamanism. The emphasis seems to be on natural ability.

Horses were so important to the nomadic Magyar, it makes sense to me that riding a special was a way to "travel" the tree/ universe.

C 2021

Research for these posts comes from multiple sources.

FLYING CROW

 

MAGYAR PAGANISM ? SHAMANISM IS CORRECT #1

As you may know, the history of Hungary is that it became a country that affirmed Christianity and aligned itself with Roman Catholicism.

However, within Hungary there was a Protestant Reformation, Calvinism, Lutheranism, the Unitarians, as well as Greek Catholics, some Uniates, and Jewish beliefs, in particular Hassidic Jews. There were Masons (Freemasonry) which I think of as a religion too. There must have been people who didn't have faith or believe but, my guess is, felt the pressure to conform. 

This blog respects that acknowledgement of Christianity by Hungary and the Christian seasonal calendar - Easter, Christmas, Saint Stephen. 

Through my rather intensive work in genealogy and reading of documents I feel I've acquired more knowledge of Hungary and Hungarians than many Americans, except perhaps those were raised with the traditions or who are more recent immigrants here.  I acknowledge my heritage while being American.

I've become aware that as part of cultural awareness and pride in Hungary a New Pagan movement is happening. While I'm sure participants in Neopaganism or Native Faith around the globe research far more than me, in order to discover ancient lifeways, I'm also sure creativity is used to reimagine rituals and observances and values.

It's also confused in the usual mysterious origins of the people who evolved to self identify as Hungarian or Magyars today. Certainly there must have been multicultural influences along the way.

After reading around the subject of ancient Hungarian / Asiatic notions of human life and relationship to spirit, I feel it has much in common with certain tribal Native American notions. 

So, over the next few posts, I'm going to do a series of posts about Magyar Paganism.

I'm going to add my modern take on some of these, while trying to imagine a life lived so close to and subject to the natural world.

C 2021

THE WORLD TREE IN GODOLLO HUNGARY : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #7

The World Tree sculpture in Godollo is a modern take on the Magyar "native faith."

https://paganplaces.com/places/world-tree-in-godollo/

I've noticed that trees have figured in art installations at festivals in Hungary in recent years.

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to get to the entire series on this theme.

VOLUNTEERING AT A "FOOD BANK" in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Be you a true Christian or a Humanitarian or Humanist, you know that your fellow humans cannot exist without a most basic need for life. Food.

Around Christmas I posted an opinion that I reread a couple months later and I thought I'd been angry. 

Perhaps I should have explained that I had been encountering a great number of Holier Than Thou "Christians" who have an ugly, punishing attitude towards poor people, people who are often disabled, sick people. The attitude was "God is punishing them. They did something wrong."

There are tents housing homeless in increasing numbers around my part of town and the thought of being out there even one night scares the hell out of me. I had a taste of being a woman alone in the dark years ago. It happened in a simple way. I took a bus to a part of town that I didn't know my way around in to an electronics retail store and didn't realize that the bus service cut off rather early. I had a heavy package to carry. I sat waiting in a bus shelter for too long as I realised no bus was coming. This was pre cell phone. I didn't see a phone booth in a walkable distance. As it got darker, I decided I was better off sitting where I was than walking. The neighborhood looked creepier by the moment. I sat there all night, too cold to fall asleep, until a bus showed up at 5 am. 

Imagine what it must be to not even have a tent.

I've been involved in food distribution for some time, those without a requirement that the people in line be of a certain religion or give their names, or be citizens.

Unfortunately, Americans who never thought to get in line have been doing so. Especially old people on retirement.

I decided to volunteer for a Christian organization close to home to see how they do it. Previously the place I worked for that provides hot meals had closed down due to Covid -19 and reopened with a two person crew for Grab and Go.

I was surprised to learn that this food bank has multiple sources but a huge donor was Trader Joes, of my favorite grocers. A group leader told me they had done a pop-up distribution in which there is no announcement but as soon as people see, the lines form. They had given out 100 bags and ran out. She told me there is a food shortage. She meant in this country.

When volunteers arrive they have on masks and put on rubber gloves. A van arrives loaded with vegetables. Eggs, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy items appear but are rare.

Breads and desserts are plentiful. Canned goods from individuals not so.

Never the less in about an hour the cardboard boxes are opened and broken down and put into the dumpster, food is laid out by category, and the group fills about 35 bags, sometimes 60, with as much variety as can be arranged. 

People walk up or drive up to wait before we are done.

When the food bank opens only two questions are asked. Where do you live? How many in your family? Those bags are usually gone in half an hour.

If there is truly a lot left that food is taken to a rehab house. Any expired dairy is thrown out or rotting veggies put into a compost bin.

It's efficient and over quickly.

I recently met an immigrant from Central Europe who has a lawyer working on her citizenship. She expressed to me that all homeless are lazy people who do not want to work, or alcoholic or drug addicts. She is wrong. At the hot meals place a number of low income people who did not have enough after rent for food came. There were also homeless who lost their housing due to unexpected long term illness. 

Many loving and giving people who have wealth and security have been privately and quietly giving money to nonprofits through the crisis.

I encourage you to give up a coffee or a lunch and donate to a food bank instead.

To the manor born, oblige like a good noble.

Thanks!

EASTER

 

EGG