DEITY VELES
The photo shows Velez in the middle, standing behind everyone, wearing a headdress resembling a star, with his arms spread to the sides and a bull's head on his chest. According to official data, scientists were able to reconstruct the image of this deity. Material taken from Wikipedia.
Deity Veles. Existed among the Slavs-Rusich in the pantheon of Pagan Gods when Christianity had not yet come to ancient Russia. But was he celebrated and praised equally with all the Gods considered "Great"? Was he "his own and the same" among the "good-light Gods"? Were offerings made to him identical to those made to other "gods of light, goodness, and joy"? Was he endowed with such qualities as they were? Or was he actually regarded and worshipped as the Deity of Nav, praised and celebrated by the Nav (Dark) Seers, Sorcerers, and Diviners. And were offerings made to him in the form of domestic animals and birds rather than grains and homemade bread with harvest fruits - as were offered to the "bright gods" at the shrines. And by what names did other Pagan peoples and states call him, and how did they perceive him. All of this raises considerable curiosity and prompts the investigation of the truth. How to find it when during the forced Christianization of Rus in 988 AD and for a couple of centuries afterward all the Deep Knowledge of the Slavic ethnicity was rapidly and efficiently eradicated. They were declared "Heresy of the Antichrist," and their adherents were forcibly pressured to renounce them, and dissenters were either subjected to torturous death penalties or suffered severe mutilations. What a few centuries later Scientists managed to partially restore and establish- in any case, there is no exact information. One can only speculate. In general, Scientists (real ones - not self-proclaimed allegedly from Science) as is customary to declare Scientifically in such hypotheses, did not and do not declare anything precise and indisputable. One can also try to discern the image of Veles in domestic artistic works based on folklore literature, where he miraculously survived to our time. And make one's intuitive guesses based on historical preserved data. It is also possible to gather information in the following way: Gather maximum patience and travel to Russian ancient provinces with roots going back to antiquity, persistently seeking current "Navian Sorcerers." They are those who obtained and transmitted their Knowledge orally all the time. And try to politely communicate with them and inquire about the Cult of this Deity. If lucky enough to engage in dialogues with extremely alienated, minimally civilized, and highly ascetic people, then the information they provide must also be added to the general baggage of collected Knowledge. Then the overall picture will begin to clarify even further, and there will be even more significant contradictions between different sources of information on this topic. And there are already plenty of them in just official Science alone.
I am personally very close and well acquainted with the deity Veles "not only by hearsay". Namely, when performing a ritual following Navian Witchcraft (or in Slavic Black Magic in a more understandable manner of expression), I very closely and regularly encounter in my Ritual Works, utilizing His Power, Strength, Energy, egregore, etc. When performing rituals in Voodoo traditions - I already contact Him under a different guise in that tradition: Danbala Legba. As an Occult Practitioner "working with this Deity" for almost twenty years to this day, I can say that many common people's perceptions of Him are extremely mistaken. As the common saying goes: As many people, so many opinions. Everyone perceives differently and makes corresponding conclusions. However, the "circle of knowledge and information retrieval on a Subtle Level" among Occult Practitioners is several-fold higher. Consequently, the information should be much more truthful, and discrepancies should be far less than among regular people. Let's consider everything and compare for ourselves.
MATERIAL FROM WIKIPEDIA:
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Veles, Volos (Veles, Veles, ancient Russian Veles, Volos) - a deity in the ancient Russian pagan pantheon, the "cattle god," the patron of storytellers and poetry.
According to the theory of the "primary myth," he is one of the central deities in Slavic mythology, the Serpent - the antagonist of the Thunderer Perun.
L. Niederle, A. L. Pogodin, V. J. Mansikka, M. Fasmer, and L. S. Klein distinguish Veles from Volos. According to G. Lovmyansky, "Veles most likely was a Russian demon, having nothing in common except a certain similarity in name with the cattle god Volos." The etymology of the name Veles is not precisely known. M. Fasmer assumed a connection between Veles and veliy (great) following the same model as belёsy < white. Y. V. Podlipchuk believes that unlike Volos, the god Veles did not exist at all, as the few examples of the use of this word in ancient Russian sources can be better understood based on the semantics of the word "great." For example, Boan in the "Lay of the Igor's Campaign," called "Velesov grandson" in it, is interpreted not as the descendant of a certain Veles, but as a "grandson of a hero." B. A. Uspensky, while occasionally using "Volos ~ Veles" in his book, the most detailed study to date of the cult of Volos, as tribute to the authority of V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov, still adheres to the spelling "Volos."
Deity Function
The agricultural functions of Veles can be traced in the custom of leaving him unthreshed sheaves, a few stalks of grains, as an offering. This sacrifice is called "Volosovoy borodka."
The cult of Veles, along with the cult of Perun, is considered by researchers as part of the oldest common Slavic beliefs, and the names of these deities are reconstructed at the Proto-Slavic level. There are elements of systematic opposition between the two main gods. For example, in the treaty between Rus and Byzantium in 907, Veles (referred to as Volos in the Primary Chronicle) is associated with gold, and Perun with weapons. In other sources, they are also contrasted:
"...who first served springs, and anger, and forks, and Mokosh, and this, and Perun, and Volos, cattle were. (and Rod and Rozhanitsy (=—?) and all those who are to them, for what is being done to them, they are to be similar to them. the same teaching to us charges the end of the age. — Word of the Christ-Lover"
"In the earliest times, they set up the chief idol, named Perun, the god of thunder, lightning, and rain clouds on a high hill above the Borichovy stream, in the likeness of a man… The second idol was Volos, the god of cattle. The third was Povizd: but we locals called him Pohvistch, commanding the god to be the air, the wind, and the disorder. The fourth idol was Lado, worshipped as the god of merriment and all good fortune… The fifth idol was Kupalo, who they considered the god of earthly fruits…
— Excerpts from the Kyiv Synopsis, About the idols of Vladimir"
In the Lay of the Igor's Campaign, the ancient poet Boyan is called "Veles's grandson":
"Could no one else compose like Boyan, the grandson of Veles"
— "Lay of the Igor's Campaign"
This epithet may indicate Veles's function as a god of wisdom, poetry, and ritual songs (the publishers of the "Lay" saw a parallel here with the "cattle" functions of Veles and concluded on the cult of a sacred poetic animal, similar to Pegasus).
Myths
In the collection by Grinchenko B. D. "From the Mouth of the People. Malorussian Tales, Fairy Tales, and More" contains a legend ("Kayanova Zhounka"), in which the god "Valosko" is mentioned. He is bewitched by an evil witch, the wife of Cain. When she was milking a cow belonging to the family of Abel, Valosko caught her in the act. He asked her what she was doing, and the witch replied: "I am doing that, stand up and stay!" After that, Valosko could not move from the spot until he allowed her to continue her wicked deeds. Since then, the legend says, witches, warlocks, werewolves, and shape-shifters have spread throughout the land. It is curious that the legend clearly shows the connection between the god Valosko and cattle.
Idols and Shrines of Veles
In Kyiv, the idol of Perun stood on a hill (and later became part of the pantheon erected by Prince Volodymyr in 978), while the idol of Veles was located in Kyiv "under the hill," probably in Kyiv Podil, the lower part of the city, near the harbor on the Pochayna River. The "Life of Volodymyr" states that this idol was overthrown during the baptism of Rus in 988: "...and they threw the idol of Volos into the Pochayna River."
Russian chronicles on the agreements between Oleg and Sviatoslav with the Greeks: In the year 6415 (911): "Emperor Leon and Alexander made peace with Olga, they promised each other peace and took oaths between themselves, kissed the cross themselves, and Olga led them to the oath and her husband according to Russian law and swore by their weapons and Perun, their god, and Volos, the god of cattle, and they established peace." In the year 6479 (971): "...and we have an oath from the god in whom we believe and from Perun and from Volos, the god of cattle."
Among the six gods of the Kyiv princely pantheon, Veles, despite the antiquity and universality of his cult, was not present. A similar division between the "top" and "bottom" can be seen in Macedonia, where there is the city of Veles, located under the hill of Elijah the Prophet (who took over the function of the thunderer from Perun), and in Croatia, where there is the settlement of Volosko under Mount Perun. This was also reflected in the social aspects of their worship: Veles was considered the god of "all Rus," while Perun was mainly the god of the princely retinue.
Veles ~ Volos on the coat of arms of the city of Volosovo (Leningrad Oblast)
In Rostov, the idol of Veles stood on the Chudsky End of the city as early as the 11th century. This is mentioned in the life of Abraham Rostov: "The Chudsky End worshiped the stone idol, Veles." However, according to the viewpoint of Y. V. Podlipchuk (see above), it simply refers to a large ("great") idol.
The city of Yaroslavl, according to a late literary legend of questionable authenticity (first recorded in 1781), was founded in 1010 on the site of the Bear Corner temple, which was dedicated to Veles and where the magicians kept a sacred bear. "To this idol that was worshipped a lot, a temple was built, and the magicians made their sacrifices, and this eternal flame kept for Veles, and sacrifices were made to it." Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who ruled in Rostov, killed the bear and dispersed the magicians.
According to a later literary legend, the tribe of Ilmen Slovenes worshipped the idol of Veles. In a story from the 17th century about a charter supposedly given by Alexander the Great to the ancestors of the Slavs, it is said: "These princes of the Slavic-Russians... greatly revered and worshipped this most honorable epistle in their temple on the right side of the idol Veles and bowed to it with respect, and they held a solemn celebration on the first day of the new month."
In Veliky Novgorod, there is the Church of Vlas on Volosovaya Street. There is an opinion that this is the site of the shrine of Veles. It is also possible that it was located on Peryni (the southwestern of the three shrines), where a church was later built, as suggested by B. A. Rybakov, in honor of St. Nicholas.
Shrines of Veles have been preserved in the Volosovsk
you District of the Leningrad Region and the Pavlograd District of the Dnipropetrovsk Region. The city of Volosovo is believed to be named after Veles by some researchers.
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Parallels in Comparative Mythology
The name Veles among the Slavs was associated with the star cluster Pleiades (Old Russian Volosyni, Bulgarian Vlasцite, Serbian Vlasićи) the constellation Taurus, also named in honor of bull worship.
According to reconstructions, the name Veles has a root form Yols - woodland spirit, devil, this opinion was first expressed by Zelenin D. K., later supported by other researchers. Toporov V. N. based on Macedonian and South Slavic folklore about the fairy Veles (*Vela or *Velsyni/*Volsyni) reconstructed a female character from the main myth, likely related and/or with a marriage motive to Veles or Vlasic- Pleiades. Possibly Veles fought with Perun for marriage to the goddess Mokosh. Veles is associated with the Serpent, water, "moist" trees (alder, fir, etc.), similar to the Baltic Velnya.
Proto-Slavic forms *Vel, *Vol can be compared with the Baltic god of the underworld Velsom, and his relative Vyalnyasom (devil), - the protector of cattle (mostly horses and horned cattle, including goats) and playing the flute. This links him with the Greek Pan, Roman Faun, Indian Pushan. In Vedic mythology, Veles is compared with the demon Val, who devours livestock. According to V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov, in the reconstructed "main myth" Veles was the opponent of Perun-thunderer, who stole his herds?.
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TESTIMONY FROM THE RENOWNED RESEARCHER OF SLAVIC PAGANISM - ACADEMICIAN BORIS ALEKSANDROVICH RYBAKOV:
Veles-Volos
The cult of Veles-Volos presents a more complex case. The chronicle definition of Volos as a "cattle god" gives us an important aspect of the cult: Veles was a god of wealth, animal husbandry, and perhaps fertility. Expressing the idea of wealth through the polysemantic word "cattle" (equivalent to Latin "pecunia" - "cattle," "wealth") leads us to a specific historical era when the main wealth of the tribe was indeed cattle, herds of large horned cattle, "cattle," i.e. the Bronze Age.
However, besides the reference to animal husbandry and wealth, the name Veles has another semantic nuance - the cult of the dead, ancestors, deceased souls. This was pointed out by A. N. Veselovskiy, bringing up a series of Baltic parallels (welis - Lithuanian - deceased, welci - souls of the dead). This thought was expressed by Ivanov and Toporov without reference to Veselovskiy and Galkovsky.
The material collected by linguists is abundant and interesting, but researchers often, in their enthusiasm, introduce materials that are completely unrelated to Veles, such as the Dnieper threshold VoiAmt/prog/ (as if "serpentine rampart"), Volyn, Wawel, and others.
The book by V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov, from which these examples are taken, gives the impression of a detailed card file, partially systematized, but not a comprehensive study. The book's main idea expressed in the title of the first part ("Reconstruction of Fragments of the Myth about the God of Thunder and His Opponent") is, in my opinion, not sufficiently solidly resolved.
Indeed, how can one speak of the god of thunder without mentioning Svarog - the god of celestial fire, or Rod, sitting in the air ("rodia" - lightning)? A review of the index reveals that there is not a single mention of Svarog or Rod in the entire book in any Slavic language! The main mistake of the two authors should be considered as not posing the question of the struggle between two principles (Thunderer and Opponent), an important and interesting question, but the unjust identification of the Opponent with Veles and simultaneously with the Dragon-Gorynych.
-------------------------------- 167 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 335 and following.
The opposition of Veles to Perun supposedly is based on a chronicle text, but in the chronicle, we see the opposite:
907. "...swearing by their weapons and by Perun their god and by Volos the god of cattle..."
971. "Let us swear by the god we believe in, by Perun and by Volos the god of cattle." 169.
-------------------------------- 168 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 45, 66.
169 Shakhmatov A. A. Primary Chronicle, p. 32 and 87.
The only reasonable conclusion about the difference between Perun and Volos from these excerpts from treaties with the Greeks is that in the Russian embassy teams of 907 and 971 were both warriors swearing by the mighty Perun and merchants giving their oath to their god of wealth Volos. There is no mention of any opposition between the two gods.
Also not successful is the second reference to the chronicle: "Vladimir... united in the state pantheon of Kievan Rus former adversaries (Perun - the god of the princely retinue and Veles - the god of all of Rus, i.e. the whole country)..." 170. No, Vladimir did not unite them: in 980 idols of Perun, Khors, Dazhbog, Stribog, Simargl, and Mokosh were established, as is known. Veles is not among them; the authors were mistaken. However, the most vulnerable point of Ivanov and Toporov's construction is, of course, the identification of Veles with the Dragon, not proven and contradicting the materials collected by the authors themselves. The authors did not show the reader how they overcame such an obstacle, like considering the Dragon-Gorynych, a devourer of people, as a kind and benevolent deity of wealth and prosperity. The authors' suggested "habitat of the opponent" (sea, lake, river, spring, cave) 172 is equally inapplicable to the cattle god Veles and to the Dragon, usually depicted as fiery and flying. After the interesting observations made by the authors regarding Perun, the fearsome god of armed cattle breeders of the 3rd-2nd millennia B.C., it seems extremely strange to recognize the "cattle god" Veles as the implacable opponent of Perun.
-------------------------------- 170 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 122.
171 Chronicle according to the Lavrentiev list. St. Petersburg, 1897, p. 77.
172 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 141.
The entire myth proposed by Ivanov and Toporov about the battle between Perun and Veles the Dragon seems concocted and completely unconvincing.
However, the "file" compiled by the authors can be useful. Their characterization of the opponent suggests some chthonic deity associated with water and the lower underworld, which was not so much an enemy as an antipode to the Thunderer. It brings to mind the lizard from the cosmogonic composition on shamanic drums. The lizard embodied and ruled the underworld with its underground and underwater spaces. The lizard swallowed the sun-deer in the west and spat it out in the east (see the introductory chapter).
In Polish records from the 15th century, we see a combination of cults of three deities - Lada, Lelia, and the mysterious Iesse or Iassa, which could be seen as a lizard (in a truncated form - jaze - serpent) 173. The combination of these three deities is not devoid of logical connection; all of them, due to their functions, are related to the increase of solar warmth, the seeding season, and ripening: Lada and Lelia symbolized the spring-summer flourishing of nature, and Jazhe represents that chthonic force without which the sun could not rise above the horizon. All three idols of Bald Mountain had to be appeased regardless of their positive or negative qualities. With this turn of the topic, the lizard or serpent could be at odds with the heavenly and solar gods; it is possible to assume a myth about the struggle of the celestial-solar principle with the subterranean-underwater one, but it is necessary to very carefully select what truly opposes and is hostile to the celestial principle.
-------------------------------- 173 Moszynski K. Folk Culture of the Slavs, § 475, p. 585.
Materials and observations by Ivanov and Toporov, taken regardless of their concept, allow us to construct (hypothetically, of course) a thousand-year history of the image of Veles. A deep hunting archaism leads to the initially mysterious connection of Veles with the bear.
Veles - hairy, shaggy; hence - volkhv - also shaggy (maybe dressed in bear skin? - B. R.). Veles is associated with the constellation Pleiades - Volosyn; the radiance of Volosyn foretells a successful hunt for a bear 174.
-------------------------------- 174 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 49, 54, 57, 65. To the bibliography compiled by the authors, it should be added the work of N. Yankovich, where he provides data on the Pleiades being named "Vlashichi", i.e., sons of Veles. See: Iankovic N. Astronomy in the traditions and customs of the Serbs. Belgrade, 1951, pp. 139-141.
It is worth noting that information about the connection of Veles with the bear cult comes from the far north of the Slavic world, from the Yaroslavl Volga region located on the border of the European taiga, where hunting preserved its significance for a long time.
It is extremely important to consider the significance noted by Ivanov and Toporov of the root "Vel" meaning "dead"; "wael" (Old English) - "left on the battlefield, corpse" 175. Perhaps here we will find an explanation for the later association of Veles with the cult of the dead. Initially, in the distant hunting past, Veles could have meant the "spirit of a slain beast", the "spirit of the hunter's prey", i.e. the god of that sole wealth of primitive hunters, which was embodied by the carcass of a defeated animal. The connection of Veles with the bear 176 allows us to date (stadiometrically) this cult to a later phase of development of the hunting society, when the early cult of heavenly deer was partially displaced by ideas of a male deity, the master of the forest, usually depicted as a bear. At the same time, at the same stage, there is also a replacement of the names of constellations: the constellation of the Deer becomes the Great Bear. Unfortunately, this stage is difficult to assign an absolute date to. Most likely, this is the Neolithic or the Bronze Age in its northern hunting form.
-------------------------------- 175 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 72.
176 Voronin N. N. Bear cult in Upper Volga Region. - Kraeved, notes of the State Yaroslavl Reserve, 1960, issue 4; Krainov D. A. Volosovo-Danilovsky burial site of the Fatyanovo culture. - SA, 1964, No. 1.
Since animal husbandry developed from hunting, from capturing and raising wild offspring, then as the transition to animal husbandry occurred, the master of the forest and the ruler of the forest animals could be reinterpreted as the protector of domesticated animals, becoming a "cattle god" in the literal sense of the word. In this case, a differentiation of the image must have inevitably occurred: on one hand, the bear, the "forest king", to whom pleas for the safety of all livestock were made, and on the other hand - Veles as the protector of cattle. The seemingly strange transition from beliefs about the patron of successful hunting to a cattle god is not so contrasting: in both cases, the end result was perceived as the killing and consumption of animals; the hunter pursued and killed free animals; the herder slaughtered tied-up livestock, but both fed themselves and their fellow tribesmen with meat.
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During the era of the armed dispersal of the northern Indo-European pastoralists, in addition to the archaic Veles, Perun was added, but this did not create a conflict situation: Veles protected and multiplied the herds belonging to the tribe, while Perun inspired the capture of others' herds and new pastures. Both deities were products of the new economic and social conditions.
The transition to agriculture did not require a new reinterpretation of the image of the "cattle god", as animal husbandry remained a significant and indispensable element of the complex Slavic agricultural-pastoral economy. Cattle provided for the plowing of fields, wool, leather, and fur for clothing, milk, cheese, butter for the table, horns and bones for crafts. Just as in the pastoral economy, cattle continued to symbolize the wealth of the tribe, specifically the part that, unlike grain, could be accumulated, exchanged, and alienated almost indefinitely. It is not surprising that up until the Middle Ages, the word "cattle" meant not only domestic animals but also property, money, wealth. The word "cattle-loving" meant greed; "cattleman" - a financial official, standing between the governor and the village elder; "cattle" - a treasury.
The gradually increasing influence of agriculture could only affect one thing: the archaic connection of Veles with the slain, dead beast, which arose in the hunting season, was now understood more broadly, as the world of the dead in general. Deceased ancestors were believed to be connected to the land; in the minds of ancient farmers, ancestors contributed to fertility and harvest. Feeding "dzads" at the cemetery or at the home table had an agrarian-magical nature. It is quite possible that it was for this reason, in connection with the ancestor cult, that Veles maintained a connection with the world of the dead in agricultural society.
It is worth noting that in the 19th century, peasant farmers offered Veles not the first sheaf of the new harvest, usually adorned with ribbons and kept in the house until the following year, but the last handful of ears left in the harvested field. The grain had been gathered, the field lay fallow, the farmer gathered his "harvest" in bundles and only then remembered Veles, leaving him the ears "on the beard", tying them in a knot. Along with this custom, among some Slavic peoples there was a respectful attitude towards the last sheaf taken from the field. It was called the "grandfather", "old man", "baba"; its grains were considered fertile and were mixed in with the sowing.
The designation of the last handful of ears as "Veles' beard" is known only to the Russians; it does not exist among the western and southern Slavs. Among the Yugoslavs, the expression "god's beard" has been preserved, but the name of the god has been forgotten.
The combination of the dead, harvested field with Veles' beard and the last sheaf somewhat explains the connection of Veles with the world of ancestors, resting in the earth and aiding its fertility.
However, the additional agricultural functions of the deity did not overshadow its fundamental essence: until the Christianization of Rus, Veles-Volos retained its meaning as the "cattle god" in the literal sense of the word. It was only because of this that the replacement of Veles by the homophonic saint Vlasii, who became the patron of cattle in Russian culture until the 19th century, could occur.
Thus, the following evolution of the image of Veles is outlined: initially, in the Neolithic hunting society (when the bear cult had already partially displaced the deer-calf cult), Veles could have been the master of the forest, the deity of the hunting prey, appearing in the guise of a bear. It is possible that his name itself was only a metaphorical allusion, prompted by a taboo on the true name: Veles - shaggy, hairy, like a late bear - honey-leader, as the deer - horned, antlered.
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In the beliefs of primitive hunters, there were obviously two main ideas: one related to nature in general, the abundance of hunt objects, and was personified in celestial female deities, as if giving birth to all animal offspring, and the other related, so to speak, to the technique of hunting, to obtaining the killed, dead animal. Volos embodied this second idea, and it is difficult to say at which stage of the development of hunting magic this image of a hairy patron of successful hunting emerged - after all, the mammoth was also hairy and woolly, and the Paleolithic rhinoceros was furry... The information that has come down to us about the connection of Volos with the cult of the bear dates to a significantly later period in the life of hunter-gatherer tribes, but it does not exclude the possibility of searching in deeper layers.
If the Ivanov and Toporov attempt to link the word "volkhv" with the same concept of "hairiness" is correct, then in our search for origins, we may find ourselves at the chronological depth when the hunter disguised himself in animal skin, when the sorcerer-priest, imitating the hunting process, appeared in animal skin and was hairy. Later bear hunters did not disguise themselves in bear skins, but as a ritual garment, the bear skin survived until the 19th century (bear feasts on March 24 among the Belarusians).
With the development of animal husbandry, the functions of the animal god became more complex with the protection of domestic animals. Volos became a deity of all blessings, both hunting and pastoral, a deity of all tribal wealth. The same metamorphosis occurred with hunting weapons: the halberd became the main magical object in rituals accompanying the first livestock turnout into pasture.
Agriculture, inseparably linked with animal husbandry, left Veles as the "cattle god" (in the broadest sense of the term "cattle") and somewhat revived the archaic connection of this deity with the idea of death, which was now understood through the prism of agrarian magic: the deceased, the cut down ears by sickles, were the farmer's prey; the soil layer giving birth to ears was also the receptacle of the ancestors' ashes. Veles, who in the times of totemism and belief in reincarnation linked the primitive hunter with the world of animals, now touched on the ancestor cult and the agrarian cycle of life and death, becoming to some extent an epiphanic deity connected with the fertility of the soil, i.e., he became the "cattle god" in a complex understanding of these words.
The evolution of Veles outlined here is confirmed by geographical observations: the cult of Veles is much clearer traced on the northern fringes of the Slavic world, where the role of hunting was preserved longer than in the south; Veles' connection with the world of the dead also appears more distinctly in the northern part of the Indo-European (including the Balto-Slavic) world.
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Among the pagan idols of medieval Slavs, the most common depiction is that of a bearded man with a huge aurochs horn, the "horn of abundance," in hand. These idols do not have any attributes of Perun, and the horn as a symbol of prosperity and abundance is a stable detail in almost all sculptures. The only deity that can be associated with these images is the bearded (as we know) "cattle god" Veles, the patron of the complex agricultural and pastoral economy of ancient Slavs.
A different picture is presented by the composition of five deities in the Zbruch idol. Four deities are located in the upper celestial sphere. These are two female deities, Perun, and an unknown male deity on the back of the idol. The plane of the earth with a circle of people is supported by another male deity depicted kneeling. It is most natural to identify this semi-chthonic deity of the lower world with Veles. The significant difference in the Zbruch composition is that the symbol of abundance - the horn here belongs not to a male deity, but to a female one, who heads the entire composition.
The positive role of the lower male deity is expressed in that on him, on his shoulders, rests the entire middle world, the world of ordinary people.
There is perhaps no irreconcilable contradiction between individual bearded idols with horns in their hands and one of the elements of a complex theological composition: in the first case, the Slav crafted an image of a god providing all the fullness of earthly blessings. This god was Veles-Volos. In the second case, the sculptor, enlightened by knowledge, decided to give the whole system of beliefs about gods, placing the male principle in the first place (the overall phallic form of the sculpture) and the female principle in the second place (the goddess on the frontal side). Armed Perun was pushed into the background. On the same plane as the main female figure is a god holding the earth with people on himself. This central facial aspect represented a thoughtful unity of the mother-goddess and the semi-chthonic (epiphanic) benevolent male deity, which could well represent Veles. Regardless of the attribution of medieval idols and the assumptions about their hunting origins, the image of Volos-Veles undoubtedly dates back to the pre-Slavic and even proto-Slavic era.
After the adoption of Christianity, the ancient Veles-Volos found its double in Saint Blaise of Sebaste, which, of course, happened by resonance. Bulgarian survakaries (I was lucky to witness the ritual in the village of Divle Radomir in 1946) in skins, colorful animal masks, with cattle bells at the waist, and with bright red staffs in hand significantly resurrect the appearance of ancient priests of Veles.
In the festive Slavic rituals, the name Veles is no longer mentioned, but around the New Year and during Maslenitsa, the songs mentioned Tur; bulls were led through the villages, horned masks, called "tur" were used in masquerades. It is possible that the ancient Veles could have had two animal embodiments: a more archaic, hunting one - the bear (preserved in the North) and a slightly later one associated with animal husbandry - the aurochs, encountered in the southern Slavic regions from Ukraine to Dalmatia. The introduction of Christianity must have imposed a strict ban on the name of the popular Slavic god and could have contributed to the emergence of a new formation in festive songs, such as the aurochs, the aurochs.
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-------------------------------- 185 Famintsyn A. S. Deities of the ancient Slavs, p. 237-240.
In Russian and among the Balts (Latvians), the New Year character known as Ovsen 186 is celebrated. Latvians primarily celebrate Usin on St. George's Day in spring. The origin of the term is debatable; it may be o-vesen (like o-lesh, o-pushka) - the eve of spring 187. Despite the calendar proximity of the "Veles days" and Ovsen, they are hardly to be compared.
-------------------------------- 186 Chicherov V. M. Winter period..., p. 69-70.
187 Dahl V. I. Explanatory Dictionary..., vol. I, p. 9.
A coincidentally preserved witness account of a church being built on the site of the Veles idol allowed for an interesting ethnographic material, shedding light on the cult of Veles. Another day of honoring the "cattle god" was now uncovered (in addition to the famous St. George's Day) - January 6th; the day of Veles concluded an extensive cycle of winter solstice festivities.
Veles's connection with the winter celebrations explains not only the ritual feasting in the form of domestic animals but also dressing up, wearing animal masks during festive days, and dancing in turned-out fur coats.
Old authors left us vivid descriptions of festive masquerades when people "at their own transgressive assemblies and with a certain Turo-Satan... recall their other identities and all human beauty, created in the image and likeness of God, with certain guises or masks, designed in a devilish manner...".
In another teaching, it is said more generally: "...we ourselves offer ourselves from humans into beasts" 188.
-------------------------------- 188 Galkovsky N. M. The struggle of Christianity..., vol. II, p. 187, 299.
The enduring tradition of festive costume changes into various animals and livestock-shaped baked goods becomes significantly more understandable after it was linked with the animal manifestation consecration and the construction of the Epiphany church on the site of the Veles idol.
The ancient "cattle god" held a prominent place in folk calendar rituals.
Dressing in animal masks and in fur coats was done twice a year - during the winter festivities and during Maslenitsa; both periods are associated with solar phases - the winter solstice and the spring equinox (Maslenitsa annually shifts from its original place in the church calendar). The pre-Christian Maslenitsa coincided in time with archaic bear awakenings - the holiday of bear awakening, when, as mentioned earlier, Belarusians ritually danced in fur coats outside. The definite connection of Veles with the bear, established by various researchers, allows for associating this "cattle god" with Maslenitsa dressing up in various animals. It turns out that the custom of ritual dress-up both during the winter festivities and during Maslenitsa is firmly linked to Veles in his primary animal deity form, complexified by later elements of the "cattle god".
If Veles-Volos was the focal point of the festival-Maslenitsa carnival rituals with its extensive song repertoire, mentioning Veles in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" becomes understandable. Choosing a way to begin his poem, the great author seems to emulate Boyan, trying out one style and then another, attempting to present to the reader how his predecessor Boyan may have started his poem:
Should I manage
to recount the deeds of Boyan, Veles's descendent...
The court poet, who celebrated Mstislav the Tmutarakanian and Yaroslav the Wise, is here named as a descendant of Veles.
According to records of ethnographers from the mid-19th century, it is known that around New Year, when bidding farewell to all things old, villages performed entire cycles of epic tales and old stories. And the New Year, judging by Bulgarian survakaries, was precisely Veles's holiday. The winter festivities were the culmination of celebratory song and dance creativity of all genres, and therefore it is not surprising that the deity around whom and for whom everything was sung turned out to be in the ancient Slavs' perception the patron of songs, stories, poetry in general. Performers of such ritual poetry, like epics and stories, could well be called "Veles's descendants."
The blurry nature of the cult of Veles in the ethnographic materials of the 19th century does not allow for a complete reconstruction of the entire calendar cycle of prayers to this deity. It can hypothetically be represented as follows:
1. The first week of January. Dressing in animal skins, wearing bull masks, rituals for invoking the protection of cattle.
2. Maslenitsa. Bear's Day (March 24). Bear dances, bull masks.
3. St. George's Day (April 23). First cattle drive-out. Pagan deity overshadowed by St. George.
4. Turitzas on Trinity Day (among Western Slavs). Connection with Veles is unclear.
5. Harvest. Leaving the last sheaves in the field for "Volos's beard". Keeping unthreshed sheaves for ritual feeding of cattle on "Veles days" (January 2 or 6). Making a straw beard placed under images.
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The works and conclusions of Scholars, Archaeologists, Researchers, etc., have been presented. But what can Occult Practices, Shamans, Navis, Volhvovatel, Wizards, who truly encounter and interact with the Power and Energy of the God Veles for their purposes, tell you about this issue? As a Practitioner who seeks and practices, and also regularly communicates with other Occult Masters, I can state with direct and complete confidence the following: This Deity is very Ancient, has a direct connection to Primordial Chaos, to Chthonic forces, and a major association with the World of the Dead. By no means is He essentially "a kindly old man with a benevolent gaze, reminiscent of Santa Claus". He accepts domestic animals as sacrifices. Based on my fortunate experiences when years ago I received answers to my questions in remote areas where fate led me, I can confidently say: Veles has never truly been a Deity bringing "joy and positivity". He has always been revered as the Lord of forest spirits, vampires, and other spirits of the land. Domestic animals and birds were always offered to appease him. This was done to prevent disasters such as drought, constant heavy rains, crop failure, livestock mortality, or even worse - a mass epidemic among the villagers themselves.
I also want to point out an interesting phenomenon: Veles has his "Deputy, Commander, Representative", often appearing in the form of a huge winged bear - the Deity "Sheleb" (as the indigenous Mansi people of the Urals called Him), also known as "Pan" in Ancient Greece, and as Humbaba in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Unfortunately, there is no information in primary sources about how he was named among the Slavs, as it was deliberately destroyed during the aggressive "struggle against Paganism" that prevailed during that time (Christianization of Rus). The God Veles in Ancient Greece strongly coincides in functions and qualities with the Deity Tartarus. In Scandinavia, He is Ymir. Among the Sumerians and Akkadians, He is Apsu (Abzu). This is how Occult Practitioners perceive Him. Simple people perceived Him under softer and less severe egregores: Volos among the Slavs, Enlil among the Sumerians and Akkadians, Wotan among the Germanic-Scandinavians, Osiris among the Ancient Egyptians, Baal, Moloch, Adramelech, the Golden Calf among the Carthaginians, and Ancient Semites. As seen and felt through observations, comparisons, and detailed analysis of this issue: Veles is Great, Multifaceted, Comprehensive, and Multidimensional in Essence.
Likewise, I strongly advise against taking information obtained from various present-day "neo-pagans" of modern "neo-paganism," referred to by them as "Rodnoverie" or "Rodobozhie," at face value. Such words were not in use among the Slavs - Rusichi. In general: it is not advisable to take seriously and rely on information about ancient Slavic gods provided by all these self-proclaimed pseudo-volkhvs with a past in the Komsomol and a current underground communist agenda. All these alleged "restorations of the Native Faith," spread in various "Veles Books" (fictional), "Slavonic-Aryan Vedas" of certain (fictitious) origin, and so on, are nothing more than FIGMENTS of imagination. Additionally, to note: the word "Veda" is not of Slavic origin but "borrowed" (or stolen by present-day "neo-pagans") from India, particularly from Hinduism, taken from the Sanskrit language (Please do not confuse it with the old Russian word "vedat"). The Egyptian sun god "Ra" NEVER belonged to the Slavic pantheon and was NOT "known" to the Slavs - Rusichi under that name. Various ridiculous videos with funny titles like "Games of the Gods," about some "Ingliya and Inglingi," and many other newly concocted notions, "cobbled together" from fantasies of the authors and complete nonsense - besides knowingly false information, carry nothing "profound or enlightening." And certainly no historical facts. To all those interested in Slavic Paganism, I advise seeking information from PRIMARY SOURCES, the authors and Academics of which are mentioned above. To all seekers, I wish you luck, a clear path, and vigilance.
IN THIS PHOTO, THE SCULPTURE OF VELES IS DEPICTED BEHIND ALL THE WARRIORS, WITH A STERN LOOK, WEARING A HEADGEAR RESEMBLING A STAR, AND POINTING DIRECTLY WITH HIS LEFT HAND. THIS IS THE ONLY CONFIRMED AND PRESUMED IMAGE OF HIM RECOGNIZED BY SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT. ALL OTHER REPRESENTATIONS OF VELES PRESENTED IN AMATEUR MODERN FANTASY AS A KIND OLD GRANDFATHER - IN FUR SKINS, WITH LONG GRAY HAIR, A LONG GRAY BEARD, ETC. - ARE NOTHING MORE THAN FALSIFICATION, MYSTIFICATION, AND FABRICATION. THE MATERIAL IS TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA.
The photo shows Velez in the middle, standing behind everyone, wearing a headdress resembling a star, with his arms spread to the sides and a bull's head on his chest. According to official data, scientists were able to reconstruct the image of this deity. Material taken from Wikipedia.
Deity Veles. Existed among the Slavs-Rusich in the pantheon of Pagan Gods when Christianity had not yet come to ancient Russia. But was he celebrated and praised equally with all the Gods considered "Great"? Was he "his own and the same" among the "good-light Gods"? Were offerings made to him identical to those made to other "gods of light, goodness, and joy"? Was he endowed with such qualities as they were? Or was he actually regarded and worshipped as the Deity of Nav, praised and celebrated by the Nav (Dark) Seers, Sorcerers, and Diviners. And were offerings made to him in the form of domestic animals and birds rather than grains and homemade bread with harvest fruits - as were offered to the "bright gods" at the shrines. And by what names did other Pagan peoples and states call him, and how did they perceive him. All of this raises considerable curiosity and prompts the investigation of the truth. How to find it when during the forced Christianization of Rus in 988 AD and for a couple of centuries afterward all the Deep Knowledge of the Slavic ethnicity was rapidly and efficiently eradicated. They were declared "Heresy of the Antichrist," and their adherents were forcibly pressured to renounce them, and dissenters were either subjected to torturous death penalties or suffered severe mutilations. What a few centuries later Scientists managed to partially restore and establish- in any case, there is no exact information. One can only speculate. In general, Scientists (real ones - not self-proclaimed allegedly from Science) as is customary to declare Scientifically in such hypotheses, did not and do not declare anything precise and indisputable. One can also try to discern the image of Veles in domestic artistic works based on folklore literature, where he miraculously survived to our time. And make one's intuitive guesses based on historical preserved data. It is also possible to gather information in the following way: Gather maximum patience and travel to Russian ancient provinces with roots going back to antiquity, persistently seeking current "Navian Sorcerers." They are those who obtained and transmitted their Knowledge orally all the time. And try to politely communicate with them and inquire about the Cult of this Deity. If lucky enough to engage in dialogues with extremely alienated, minimally civilized, and highly ascetic people, then the information they provide must also be added to the general baggage of collected Knowledge. Then the overall picture will begin to clarify even further, and there will be even more significant contradictions between different sources of information on this topic. And there are already plenty of them in just official Science alone.
I am personally very close and well acquainted with the deity Veles "not only by hearsay". Namely, when performing a ritual following Navian Witchcraft (or in Slavic Black Magic in a more understandable manner of expression), I very closely and regularly encounter in my Ritual Works, utilizing His Power, Strength, Energy, egregore, etc. When performing rituals in Voodoo traditions - I already contact Him under a different guise in that tradition: Danbala Legba. As an Occult Practitioner "working with this Deity" for almost twenty years to this day, I can say that many common people's perceptions of Him are extremely mistaken. As the common saying goes: As many people, so many opinions. Everyone perceives differently and makes corresponding conclusions. However, the "circle of knowledge and information retrieval on a Subtle Level" among Occult Practitioners is several-fold higher. Consequently, the information should be much more truthful, and discrepancies should be far less than among regular people. Let's consider everything and compare for ourselves.
MATERIAL FROM WIKIPEDIA:
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Veles, Volos (Veles, Veles, ancient Russian Veles, Volos) - a deity in the ancient Russian pagan pantheon, the "cattle god," the patron of storytellers and poetry.
According to the theory of the "primary myth," he is one of the central deities in Slavic mythology, the Serpent - the antagonist of the Thunderer Perun.
L. Niederle, A. L. Pogodin, V. J. Mansikka, M. Fasmer, and L. S. Klein distinguish Veles from Volos. According to G. Lovmyansky, "Veles most likely was a Russian demon, having nothing in common except a certain similarity in name with the cattle god Volos." The etymology of the name Veles is not precisely known. M. Fasmer assumed a connection between Veles and veliy (great) following the same model as belёsy < white. Y. V. Podlipchuk believes that unlike Volos, the god Veles did not exist at all, as the few examples of the use of this word in ancient Russian sources can be better understood based on the semantics of the word "great." For example, Boan in the "Lay of the Igor's Campaign," called "Velesov grandson" in it, is interpreted not as the descendant of a certain Veles, but as a "grandson of a hero." B. A. Uspensky, while occasionally using "Volos ~ Veles" in his book, the most detailed study to date of the cult of Volos, as tribute to the authority of V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov, still adheres to the spelling "Volos."
Deity Function
The agricultural functions of Veles can be traced in the custom of leaving him unthreshed sheaves, a few stalks of grains, as an offering. This sacrifice is called "Volosovoy borodka."
The cult of Veles, along with the cult of Perun, is considered by researchers as part of the oldest common Slavic beliefs, and the names of these deities are reconstructed at the Proto-Slavic level. There are elements of systematic opposition between the two main gods. For example, in the treaty between Rus and Byzantium in 907, Veles (referred to as Volos in the Primary Chronicle) is associated with gold, and Perun with weapons. In other sources, they are also contrasted:
"...who first served springs, and anger, and forks, and Mokosh, and this, and Perun, and Volos, cattle were. (and Rod and Rozhanitsy (=—?) and all those who are to them, for what is being done to them, they are to be similar to them. the same teaching to us charges the end of the age. — Word of the Christ-Lover"
"In the earliest times, they set up the chief idol, named Perun, the god of thunder, lightning, and rain clouds on a high hill above the Borichovy stream, in the likeness of a man… The second idol was Volos, the god of cattle. The third was Povizd: but we locals called him Pohvistch, commanding the god to be the air, the wind, and the disorder. The fourth idol was Lado, worshipped as the god of merriment and all good fortune… The fifth idol was Kupalo, who they considered the god of earthly fruits…
— Excerpts from the Kyiv Synopsis, About the idols of Vladimir"
In the Lay of the Igor's Campaign, the ancient poet Boyan is called "Veles's grandson":
"Could no one else compose like Boyan, the grandson of Veles"
— "Lay of the Igor's Campaign"
This epithet may indicate Veles's function as a god of wisdom, poetry, and ritual songs (the publishers of the "Lay" saw a parallel here with the "cattle" functions of Veles and concluded on the cult of a sacred poetic animal, similar to Pegasus).
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Myths
In the collection by Grinchenko B. D. "From the Mouth of the People.
Malorussian Tales, Fairy Tales, and More" contains a legend ("Kayanova Zhounka"), in which the god "Valosko" is mentioned. He is bewitched by an evil witch, the wife of Cain. When she was milking a cow belonging to the family of Abel, Valosko caught her in the act. He asked her what she was doing, and the witch replied: "I am doing that, stand up and stay!" After that, Valosko could not move from the spot until he allowed her to continue her wicked deeds. Since then, the legend says, witches, warlocks, werewolves, and shape-shifters have spread throughout the land. It is curious that the legend clearly shows the connection between the god Valosko and cattle.
Idols and Shrines of Veles
In Kyiv, the idol of Perun stood on a hill (and later became part of the pantheon erected by Prince Volodymyr in 978), while the idol of Veles was located in Kyiv "under the hill," probably in Kyiv Podil, the lower part of the city, near the harbor on the Pochayna River. The "Life of Volodymyr" states that this idol was overthrown during the baptism of Rus in 988: "...and they threw the idol of Volos into the Pochayna River."
Russian chronicles on the agreements between Oleg and Sviatoslav with the Greeks: In the year 6415 (911): "Emperor Leon and Alexander made peace with Olga, they promised each other peace and took oaths between themselves, kissed the cross themselves, and Olga led them to the oath and her husband according to Russian law and swore by their weapons and Perun, their god, and Volos, the god of cattle, and they established peace." In the year 6479 (971): "...and we have an oath from the god in whom we believe and from Perun and from Volos, the god of cattle."
Among the six gods of the Kyiv princely pantheon, Veles, despite the antiquity and universality of his cult, was not present. A similar division between the "top" and "bottom" can be seen in Macedonia, where there is the city of Veles, located under the hill of Elijah the Prophet (who took over the function of the thunderer from Perun), and in Croatia, where there is the settlement of Volosko under Mount Perun. This was also reflected in the social aspects of their worship: Veles was considered the god of "all Rus," while Perun was mainly the god of the princely retinue.
Veles ~ Volos on the coat of arms of the city of Volosovo (Leningrad Oblast)
In Rostov, the idol of Veles stood on the Chudsky End of the city as early as the 11th century. This is mentioned in the life of Abraham Rostov: "The Chudsky End worshiped the stone idol, Veles." However, according to the viewpoint of Y. V. Podlipchuk (see above), it simply refers to a large ("great") idol.
The city of Yaroslavl, according to a late literary legend of questionable authenticity (first recorded in 1781), was founded in 1010 on the site of the Bear Corner temple, which was dedicated to Veles and where the magicians kept a sacred bear. "To this idol that was worshipped a lot, a temple was built, and the magicians made their sacrifices, and this eternal flame kept for Veles, and sacrifices were made to it." Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who ruled in Rostov, killed the bear and dispersed the magicians.
According to a later literary legend, the tribe of Ilmen Slovenes worshipped the idol of Veles. In a story from the 17th century about a charter supposedly given by Alexander the Great to the ancestors of the Slavs, it is said: "These princes of the Slavic-Russians... greatly revered and worshipped this most honorable epistle in their temple on the right side of the idol Veles and bowed to it with respect, and they held a solemn celebration on the first day of the new month."
In Veliky Novgorod, there is the Church of Vlas on Volosovaya Street. There is an opinion that this is the site of the shrine of Veles. It is also possible that it was located on Peryni (the southwestern of the three shrines), where a church was later built, as suggested by B. A. Rybakov, in honor of St. Nicholas.
Shrines of Veles have been preserved in the Volosovsk
you District of the Leningrad Region and the Pavlograd District of the Dnipropetrovsk Region. The city of Volosovo is believed to be named after Veles by some researchers.
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Parallels in Comparative Mythology
The name Veles among the Slavs was associated with the star cluster Pleiades (Old Russian Volosyni, Bulgarian Vlasцite, Serbian Vlasićи) the constellation Taurus, also named in honor of bull worship.
According to reconstructions, the name Veles has a root form Yols - woodland spirit, devil, this opinion was first expressed by Zelenin D. K., later supported by other researchers. Toporov V. N. based on Macedonian and South Slavic folklore about the fairy Veles (*Vela or *Velsyni/*Volsyni) reconstructed a female character from the main myth, likely related and/or with a marriage motive to Veles or Vlasic- Pleiades. Possibly Veles fought with Perun for marriage to the goddess Mokosh. Veles is associated with the Serpent, water, "moist" trees (alder, fir, etc.), similar to the Baltic Velnya.
Proto-Slavic forms *Vel, *Vol can be compared with the Baltic god of the underworld Velsom, and his relative Vyalnyasom (devil), - the protector of cattle (mostly horses and horned cattle, including goats) and playing the flute. This links him with the Greek Pan, Roman Faun, Indian Pushan. In Vedic mythology, Veles is compared with the demon Val, who devours livestock. According to V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov, in the reconstructed "main myth" Veles was the opponent of Perun-thunderer, who stole his herds?.
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TESTIMONY FROM THE RENOWNED RESEARCHER OF SLAVIC PAGANISM - ACADEMICIAN BORIS ALEKSANDROVICH RYBAKOV:
Veles-Volos
The cult of Veles-Volos presents a more complex case. The chronicle definition of Volos as a "cattle god" gives us an important aspect of the cult: Veles was a god of wealth, animal husbandry, and perhaps fertility. Expressing the idea of wealth through the polysemantic word "cattle" (equivalent to Latin "pecunia" - "cattle," "wealth") leads us to a specific historical era when the main wealth of the tribe was indeed cattle, herds of large horned cattle, "cattle," i.e. the Bronze Age.
However, besides the reference to animal husbandry and wealth, the name Veles has another semantic nuance - the cult of the dead, ancestors, deceased souls. This was pointed out by A. N.
Veselovskiy, bringing up a series of Baltic parallels (welis - Lithuanian - deceased, welci - souls of the dead). This thought was expressed by Ivanov and Toporov without reference to Veselovskiy and Galkovsky.
The material collected by linguists is abundant and interesting, but researchers often, in their
enthusiasm, introduce materials that are completely unrelated to Veles, such as the Dnieper threshold VoiAmt/prog/ (as if "serpentine rampart"), Volyn, Wawel, and others.
The book by V. V. Ivanov and V. N. Toporov, from which these examples are taken, gives the impression of a detailed card file, partially systematized, but not a comprehensive study. The book's main idea expressed in the title of the first part ("Reconstruction of Fragments of the Myth about the God of Thunder and His Opponent") is, in my opinion, not sufficiently solidly resolved.
Indeed, how can one speak of the god of thunder without mentioning Svarog - the god of celestial fire, or Rod, sitting in the air ("rodia" - lightning)? A review of the index reveals that there is not a single mention of Svarog or Rod in the entire book in any Slavic language! The main mistake of the two authors should be considered as not posing the question of the struggle between two principles (Thunderer and Opponent), an important and interesting question, but the unjust identification of the Opponent with Veles and simultaneously with the Dragon-Gorynych.
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-------------------------------- 167 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 335 and following.
The opposition of Veles to Perun supposedly is based on a chronicle text, but in the chronicle, we see the opposite:
907. "...swearing by their weapons and by Perun their god and by Volos the god of cattle..."
971. "Let us swear by the god we believe in, by Perun and by Volos the god of cattle." 169.
-------------------------------- 168 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 45, 66.
169 Shakhmatov A. A. Primary Chronicle, p. 32 and 87.
The only reasonable conclusion about the difference between Perun and Volos from these excerpts from treaties with the Greeks is that in the Russian embassy teams of 907 and 971 were both warriors swearing by the mighty Perun and merchants giving their oath to their god of wealth Volos. There is no mention of any opposition between the two gods.
Also not successful is the second reference to the chronicle: "Vladimir... united in the state pantheon of Kievan Rus former adversaries (Perun - the god of the princely retinue and Veles - the god of all of Rus, i.e. the whole country)..." 170. No, Vladimir did not unite them: in 980 idols of Perun, Khors, Dazhbog, Stribog,
Simargl, and Mokosh were established, as is known. Veles is not among them; the authors were mistaken. However, the most vulnerable point of Ivanov and Toporov's construction is, of course, the identification of Veles with the Dragon, not proven and contradicting the materials collected by the authors themselves. The authors did not show the reader how they overcame such an obstacle, like considering the Dragon-Gorynych, a devourer of people, as a kind and benevolent deity of wealth and prosperity. The authors' suggested "habitat of the opponent" (sea, lake, river, spring, cave) 172 is equally inapplicable to the cattle god Veles and to the Dragon, usually depicted as fiery and flying. After the interesting observations made by the authors regarding Perun, the fearsome god of armed cattle breeders of the 3rd-2nd millennia B.C., it seems extremely strange to recognize the "cattle god" Veles as the implacable opponent of Perun.
-------------------------------- 170 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 122.
171 Chronicle according to the Lavrentiev list. St. Petersburg, 1897, p. 77.
172 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 141.
The entire myth proposed by Ivanov and Toporov about the battle between Perun and Veles the Dragon seems concocted and completely unconvincing.
However, the "file" compiled by the authors can be useful. Their characterization of the opponent suggests some chthonic deity associated with water and the lower underworld, which was not so much an enemy as an antipode to the Thunderer. It brings to mind the lizard from the cosmogonic composition on shamanic drums.
The lizard embodied and ruled the underworld with its underground and underwater spaces. The lizard swallowed the sun-deer in the west and spat it out in the east (see the introductory chapter).
In Polish records from the 15th century, we see a combination of cults of three deities - Lada, Lelia, and the mysterious Iesse or Iassa, which could be seen as a lizard (in a truncated form - jaze - serpent)
173. The combination of these three deities is not devoid of logical connection; all of them, due to their functions, are related to the increase of solar warmth, the seeding season, and ripening:
Lada and Lelia symbolized the spring-summer flourishing of nature, and Jazhe represents that chthonic force without which the sun could not rise above the horizon. All three idols of Bald Mountain had to be appeased regardless of their positive or negative qualities. With this turn of the topic, the lizard or serpent could be at odds with the heavenly and solar gods; it is possible to assume a myth about the struggle of the celestial-solar principle with the subterranean-underwater one, but it is necessary to very carefully select what truly opposes and is hostile to the celestial principle.
-------------------------------- 173 Moszynski K. Folk Culture of the Slavs, § 475, p. 585.
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Materials and observations by Ivanov and Toporov, taken regardless of their concept, allow us to construct (hypothetically, of course) a thousand-year history of the image of Veles. A deep hunting archaism leads to the initially mysterious connection of Veles with the bear.
Veles - hairy, shaggy; hence - volkhv - also shaggy (maybe dressed in bear skin? - B. R.). Veles is associated with the constellation Pleiades - Volosyn; the radiance of Volosyn foretells a successful hunt for a bear 174.
-------------------------------- 174 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 49, 54, 57, 65. To the bibliography compiled by the authors, it should be added the work of N. Yankovich, where he provides data on the Pleiades being named "Vlashichi", i.e., sons of Veles. See: Iankovic N. Astronomy in the traditions and customs of the Serbs. Belgrade, 1951, pp. 139-141.
It is worth noting that information about the connection of Veles with the bear cult comes from the far north of the Slavic world, from the Yaroslavl Volga region located on the border of the European taiga, where hunting preserved its significance for a long time.
It is extremely important to consider the significance noted by Ivanov and Toporov of the root "Vel" meaning "dead"; "wael" (Old English) - "left on the battlefield, corpse" 175. Perhaps here we will find an explanation for the later association of Veles with the cult of the dead. Initially, in the distant hunting past, Veles could have meant the "spirit of a slain beast", the "spirit of the hunter's prey", i.e. the god of that sole wealth of primitive hunters, which was embodied by the carcass of a defeated animal. The connection of Veles with the bear 176 allows us to date (stadiometrically) this cult to a later phase of development of the hunting society, when the early cult of heavenly deer was partially displaced by ideas of a male deity, the master of the forest, usually depicted as a bear. At the same time, at the same stage, there is also a replacement of the names of constellations: the constellation of the Deer becomes the Great Bear. Unfortunately, this stage is difficult to assign an absolute date to. Most likely, this is the Neolithic or the Bronze Age in its northern hunting form.
-------------------------------- 175 Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N. Studies..., p. 72.
176 Voronin N. N. Bear cult in Upper Volga Region. - Kraeved, notes of the State Yaroslavl Reserve, 1960, issue 4; Krainov D. A. Volosovo-Danilovsky burial site of the Fatyanovo culture. - SA, 1964, No. 1.
Since animal husbandry developed from hunting, from capturing and raising wild offspring, then as the transition to animal husbandry occurred, the master of the forest and the ruler of the forest animals could be reinterpreted as the protector of domesticated animals, becoming a "cattle god" in the literal sense of the word. In this case, a differentiation of the image must have inevitably occurred: on one hand, the bear, the "forest king", to whom pleas for the safety of all livestock were made, and on the other hand - Veles as the protector of cattle. The seemingly strange transition from beliefs about the patron of successful hunting to a cattle god is not so contrasting: in both cases, the end result was perceived as the killing and consumption of animals; the hunter pursued and killed free animals; the herder slaughtered tied-up livestock, but both fed themselves and their fellow tribesmen with meat.
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During the era of the armed dispersal of the northern Indo-European pastoralists, in addition to the archaic Veles, Perun was added, but this did not create a conflict situation: Veles protected and multiplied the herds belonging to the tribe, while Perun inspired the capture of others' herds and new pastures. Both deities were products of the new economic and social conditions.
The transition to agriculture did not require a new reinterpretation of the image of the "cattle god", as animal husbandry remained a significant and indispensable element of the complex Slavic agricultural-pastoral economy. Cattle provided for the plowing of fields, wool, leather, and fur for clothing, milk, cheese, butter for the table, horns and bones for crafts. Just as in the pastoral economy, cattle continued to symbolize the wealth of the tribe, specifically the part that, unlike grain, could be accumulated, exchanged, and alienated almost indefinitely. It is not surprising that up until the Middle Ages, the word "cattle" meant not only domestic animals but also property, money, wealth. The word "cattle-loving" meant greed; "cattleman" - a financial official, standing between the governor and the village elder; "cattle" - a treasury.
The gradually increasing influence of agriculture could only affect one thing: the archaic connection of Veles with the slain, dead beast, which arose in the hunting season, was now understood more broadly, as the world of the dead in general. Deceased ancestors were believed to be connected to the land; in the minds of ancient farmers, ancestors contributed to fertility and harvest. Feeding "dzads" at the cemetery or at the home table had an agrarian-magical nature. It is quite possible that it was for this reason, in connection with the ancestor cult, that Veles maintained a connection with the world of the dead in agricultural society.
It is worth noting that in the 19th century, peasant farmers offered Veles not the first sheaf of the new harvest, usually adorned with ribbons and kept in the house until the following year, but the last handful of ears left in the harvested field. The grain had been gathered, the field lay fallow, the farmer gathered his "harvest" in bundles and only then remembered Veles, leaving him the ears "on the beard", tying them in a knot. Along with this custom, among some Slavic peoples there was a respectful attitude towards the last sheaf taken from the field. It was called the "grandfather", "old man", "baba"; its grains were considered fertile and were mixed in with the sowing.
The designation of the last handful of ears as "Veles' beard" is known only to the Russians; it does not exist among the western and southern Slavs. Among the Yugoslavs, the expression "god's beard" has been preserved, but the name of the god has been forgotten.
The combination of the dead, harvested field with Veles' beard and the last sheaf somewhat explains the connection of Veles with the world of ancestors, resting in the earth and aiding its fertility.
However, the additional agricultural functions of the deity did not overshadow its fundamental essence: until the Christianization of Rus, Veles-Volos retained its meaning as the "cattle god" in the literal sense of the word. It was only because of this that the replacement of Veles by the homophonic saint Vlasii, who became the patron of cattle in Russian culture until the 19th century, could occur.
Thus, the following evolution of the image of Veles is outlined: initially, in the Neolithic hunting society (when the bear cult had already partially displaced the deer-calf cult), Veles could have been the master of the forest, the deity of the hunting prey, appearing in the guise of a bear. It is possible that his name itself was only a metaphorical allusion, prompted by a taboo on the true name: Veles - shaggy, hairy, like a late bear - honey-leader, as the deer - horned, antlered.
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In the beliefs of primitive hunters, there were obviously two main ideas: one related to nature in general, the abundance of hunt objects, and was personified in celestial female deities, as if giving birth to all animal offspring, and the other related, so to speak, to the technique of hunting, to obtaining the killed, dead animal. Volos embodied this second idea, and it is difficult to say at which stage of the development of hunting magic this image of a hairy patron of successful hunting emerged - after all, the mammoth was also hairy and woolly, and the Paleolithic rhinoceros was furry... The information that has come down to us about the connection of Volos with the cult of the bear dates to a significantly later period in the life of hunter-gatherer tribes, but it does not exclude the possibility of searching in deeper layers.
If the Ivanov and Toporov attempt to link the word "volkhv" with the same concept of "hairiness" is correct, then in our search for origins, we may find ourselves at the chronological depth when the hunter disguised himself in animal skin, when the sorcerer-priest, imitating the hunting process, appeared in animal skin and was hairy. Later bear hunters did not disguise themselves in bear skins, but as a ritual garment, the bear skin survived until the 19th century (bear feasts on March 24 among the Belarusians).
With the development of animal husbandry, the functions of the animal god became more complex with the protection of domestic animals. Volos became a deity of all blessings, both hunting and pastoral, a deity of all tribal wealth. The same metamorphosis occurred with hunting weapons: the halberd became the main magical object in rituals accompanying the first livestock turnout into pasture.
Agriculture, inseparably linked with animal husbandry, left Veles as the "cattle god" (in the broadest sense of the term "cattle") and somewhat revived the archaic connection of this deity with the idea of death, which was now understood through the prism of agrarian magic: the deceased, the cut down ears by sickles, were the farmer's prey; the soil layer giving birth to ears was also the receptacle of the ancestors' ashes. Veles, who in the times of totemism and belief in reincarnation linked the primitive hunter with the world of animals, now touched on the ancestor cult and the agrarian cycle of life and death, becoming to some extent an epiphanic deity connected with the fertility of the soil, i.e., he became the "cattle god" in a complex understanding of these words.
The evolution of Veles outlined here is confirmed by geographical observations: the cult of Veles is much clearer traced on the northern fringes of the Slavic world, where the role of hunting was preserved longer than in the south; Veles' connection with the world of the dead also appears more distinctly in the northern part of the Indo-European (including the Balto-Slavic) world.
Among the pagan idols of medieval Slavs, the most common depiction is that of a bearded man with a huge aurochs horn, the "horn of abundance," in hand. These idols do not have any attributes of Perun, and the horn as a symbol of prosperity and abundance is a stable detail in almost all sculptures. The only deity that can be associated with these images is the bearded (as we know) "cattle god" Veles, the patron of the complex agricultural and pastoral economy of ancient Slavs.
A different picture is presented by the composition of five deities in the Zbruch idol. Four deities are located in the upper celestial sphere. These are two female deities, Perun, and an unknown male deity on the back of the idol. The plane of the earth with a circle of people is supported by another male deity depicted kneeling. It is most natural to identify this semi-chthonic deity of the lower world with Veles. The significant difference in the Zbruch composition is that the symbol of abundance - the horn here belongs not to a male deity, but to a female one, who heads the entire composition.
The positive role of the lower male deity is expressed in that on him, on his shoulders, rests the entire middle world, the world of ordinary people.
There is perhaps no irreconcilable contradiction between individual bearded idols with horns in their hands and one of the elements of a complex theological composition: in the first case, the Slav crafted an image of a god providing all the fullness of earthly blessings. This god was Veles-Volos. In the second case, the sculptor, enlightened by knowledge, decided to give the whole system of beliefs about gods, placing the male principle in the first place (the overall phallic form of the sculpture) and the female principle in the second place (the goddess on the frontal side). Armed Perun was pushed into the background. On the same plane as the main female figure is a god holding the earth with people on himself. This central facial aspect represented a thoughtful unity of the mother-goddess and the semi-chthonic (epiphanic) benevolent male deity, which could well represent Veles. Regardless of the attribution of medieval idols and the assumptions about their hunting origins, the image of Volos-Veles undoubtedly dates back to the pre-Slavic and even proto-Slavic era.
After the adoption of Christianity, the ancient Veles-Volos found its double in Saint Blaise of Sebaste, which, of course, happened by resonance. Bulgarian survakaries (I was lucky to witness the ritual in the village of Divle Radomir in 1946) in skins, colorful animal masks, with cattle bells at the waist, and with bright red staffs in hand significantly resurrect the appearance of ancient priests of Veles.
In the festive Slavic rituals, the name Veles is no longer mentioned, but around the New Year and during Maslenitsa, the songs mentioned Tur; bulls were led through the villages, horned masks, called "tur" were used in masquerades. It is possible that the ancient Veles could have had two animal embodiments: a more archaic, hunting one - the bear (preserved in the North) and a slightly later one associated with animal husbandry - the aurochs, encountered in the southern Slavic regions from Ukraine to Dalmatia. The introduction of Christianity must have imposed a strict ban on the name of the popular Slavic god and could have contributed to the emergence of a new formation in festive songs, such as the aurochs, the aurochs.
-------------------------------- 185 Famintsyn A. S. Deities of the ancient Slavs, p. 237-240.
In Russian and among the Balts (Latvians), the New Year character known as Ovsen 186 is celebrated. Latvians primarily celebrate Usin on St. George's Day in spring. The origin of the term is debatable; it may be o-vesen (like o-lesh, o-pushka) - the eve of spring 187. Despite the calendar proximity of the "Veles days" and Ovsen, they are hardly to be compared.
-------------------------------- 186 Chicherov V. M. Winter period..., p. 69-70.
187 Dahl V. I. Explanatory Dictionary..., vol. I, p. 9.
A coincidentally preserved witness account of a church being built on the site of the Veles idol allowed for an interesting ethnographic material, shedding light on the cult of Veles. Another day of honoring the "cattle god" was now uncovered (in addition to the famous St. George's Day) - January 6th; the day of Veles concluded an extensive cycle of winter solstice festivities.
Veles's connection with the winter celebrations explains not only the ritual feasting in the form of domestic animals but also dressing up, wearing animal masks during festive days, and dancing in turned-out fur coats.
Old authors left us vivid descriptions of festive masquerades when people "at their own transgressive assemblies and with a certain Turo-Satan... recall their other identities and all human beauty, created in the image and likeness of God, with certain guises or masks, designed in a devilish manner...".
In another teaching, it is said more generally: "...we ourselves offer ourselves from humans into beasts" 188.
-------------------------------- 188 Galkovsky N. M. The struggle of Christianity..., vol. II, p. 187, 299.
The enduring tradition of festive costume changes into various animals and livestock-shaped baked goods becomes significantly more understandable after it was linked with the animal manifestation consecration and the construction of the Epiphany church on the site of the Veles idol.
The ancient "cattle god" held a prominent place in folk calendar rituals.
Dressing in animal masks and in fur coats was done twice a year - during the winter festivities and during Maslenitsa; both periods are associated with solar phases - the winter solstice and the spring equinox (Maslenitsa annually shifts from its original place in the church calendar). The pre-Christian Maslenitsa coincided in time with archaic bear awakenings - the holiday of bear awakening, when, as mentioned earlier, Belarusians ritually danced in fur coats outside. The definite connection of Veles with the bear, established by various researchers, allows for associating this "cattle god" with Maslenitsa dressing up in various animals. It turns out that the custom of ritual dress-up both during the winter festivities and during Maslenitsa is firmly linked to Veles in his primary animal deity form, complexified by later elements of the "cattle god".
If Veles-Volos was the focal point of the festival-Maslenitsa carnival rituals with its extensive song repertoire, mentioning Veles in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" becomes understandable. Choosing a way to begin his poem, the great author seems to emulate Boyan, trying out one style and then another, attempting to present to the reader how his predecessor Boyan may have started his poem:
Should I manage
to recount the deeds of Boyan, Veles's descendent...
The court poet, who celebrated Mstislav the Tmutarakanian and Yaroslav the Wise, is here named as a descendant of Veles.
According to records of ethnographers from the mid-19th century, it is known that around New Year, when bidding farewell to all things old, villages performed entire cycles of epic tales and old stories. And the New Year, judging by Bulgarian survakaries, was precisely Veles's holiday. The winter festivities were the culmination of celebratory song and dance creativity of all genres, and therefore it is not surprising that the deity around whom and for whom everything was sung turned out to be in the ancient Slavs' perception the patron of songs, stories, poetry in general. Performers of such ritual poetry, like epics and stories, could well be called "Veles's descendants."
The blurry nature of the cult of Veles in the ethnographic materials of the 19th century does not allow for a complete reconstruction of the entire calendar cycle of prayers to this deity. It can hypothetically be represented as follows:
1. The first week of January. Dressing in animal skins, wearing bull masks, rituals for invoking the protection of cattle.
2. Maslenitsa. Bear's Day (March 24). Bear dances, bull masks.
3. St. George's Day (April 23). First cattle drive-out. Pagan deity overshadowed by St. George.
4. Turitzas on Trinity Day (among Western Slavs). Connection with Veles is unclear.
5. Harvest. Leaving the last sheaves in the field for "Volos's beard". Keeping unthreshed sheaves for ritual feeding of cattle on "Veles days" (January 2 or 6). Making a straw beard placed under images.
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The works and conclusions of Scholars, Archaeologists, Researchers, etc., have been presented. But what can Occult Practices, Shamans, Navis, Volhvovatel, Wizards, who truly encounter and interact with the Power and Energy of the God Veles for their purposes, tell you about this issue? As a Practitioner who seeks and practices, and also regularly communicates with other Occult Masters, I can state with direct and complete confidence the following: This Deity is very Ancient, has a direct connection to Primordial Chaos, to Chthonic forces, and a major association with the World of the Dead. By no means is He essentially "a kindly old man with a benevolent gaze, reminiscent of Santa Claus". He accepts domestic animals as sacrifices. Based on my fortunate experiences when years ago I received answers to my questions in remote areas where fate led me, I can confidently say: Veles has never truly been a Deity bringing "joy and positivity". He has always been revered as the Lord of forest spirits, vampires, and other spirits of the land. Domestic animals and birds were always offered to appease him. This was done to prevent disasters such as drought, constant heavy rains, crop failure, livestock mortality, or even worse - a mass epidemic among the villagers themselves.
I also want to point out an interesting phenomenon: Veles has his "Deputy, Commander, Representative", often appearing in the form of a huge winged bear - the Deity "Sheleb" (as the indigenous Mansi people of the Urals called Him), also known as "Pan" in Ancient Greece, and as Humbaba in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Unfortunately, there is no information in primary sources about how he was named among the Slavs, as it was deliberately destroyed during the aggressive "struggle against Paganism" that prevailed during that time (Christianization of Rus). The God Veles in Ancient Greece strongly coincides in functions and qualities with the Deity Tartarus. In Scandinavia, He is Ymir. Among the Sumerians and Akkadians, He is Apsu (Abzu). This is how Occult Practitioners perceive Him. Simple people perceived Him under softer and less severe egregores: Volos among the Slavs, Enlil among the Sumerians and Akkadians, Wotan among the Germanic-Scandinavians, Osiris among the Ancient Egyptians, Baal, Moloch, Adramelech, the Golden Calf among the Carthaginians, and Ancient Semites. As seen and felt through observations, comparisons, and detailed analysis of this issue: Veles is Great, Multifaceted, Comprehensive, and Multidimensional in Essence.
Likewise, I strongly advise against taking information obtained from various present-day "neo-pagans" of modern "neo-paganism," referred to by them as "Rodnoverie" or "Rodobozhie," at face value. Such words were not in use among the Slavs - Rusichi. In general: it is not advisable to take seriously and rely on information about ancient Slavic gods provided by all these self-proclaimed pseudo-volkhvs with a past in the Komsomol and a current underground communist agenda. All these alleged "restorations of the Native Faith," spread in various "Veles Books" (fictional), "Slavonic-Aryan Vedas" of certain (fictitious) origin, and so on, are nothing more than FIGMENTS of imagination. Additionally, to note: the word "Veda" is not of Slavic origin but "borrowed" (or stolen by present-day "neo-pagans") from India, particularly from Hinduism, taken from the Sanskrit language (Please do not confuse it with the old Russian word "vedat"). The Egyptian sun god "Ra" NEVER belonged to the Slavic pantheon and was NOT "known" to the Slavs - Rusichi under that name. Various ridiculous videos with funny titles like "Games of the Gods," about some "Ingliya and Inglingi," and many other newly concocted notions, "cobbled together" from fantasies of the authors and complete nonsense - besides knowingly false information, carry nothing "profound or enlightening." And certainly no historical facts. To all those interested in Slavic Paganism, I advise seeking information from PRIMARY SOURCES, the authors and Academics of which are mentioned above. To all seekers, I wish you luck, a clear path, and vigilance.
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IN THIS PHOTO, THE SCULPTURE OF VELES IS DEPICTED BEHIND ALL THE WARRIORS, WITH A STERN LOOK, WEARING A HEADGEAR RESEMBLING A STAR, AND POINTING DIRECTLY WITH HIS LEFT HAND. THIS IS THE ONLY CONFIRMED AND PRESUMED IMAGE OF HIM RECOGNIZED BY SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT. ALL OTHER REPRESENTATIONS OF VELES PRESENTED IN AMATEUR MODERN FANTASY AS A KIND OLD GRANDFATHER - IN FUR SKINS, WITH LONG GRAY HAIR, A LONG GRAY BEARD, ETC. - ARE NOTHING MORE THAN FALSIFICATION, MYSTIFICATION, AND FABRICATION. THE MATERIAL IS TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA.:
