Saturday, December 24, 2011

The Zorya


In Slavic mythology, the Zorya (alternately: Zarya, Zvezda, Zwezda) are the three (sometimes two) guardian goddesses, known as the Auroras.

They guard and watch over the doomsday hound that threatens to eat the constellation Ursa Minor, the 'little bear.' If the chain breaks loose and the constellation is devoured, the universe is said to end. The Auroras represent the Morning Star, Evening Star, and Midnight Star, respectively, although the Midnight Star is sometimes omitted. In some myths, the morning Zorya was the wife of the male Myesyats, the moon god, and was a major goddess. In other myths, the Zoryas are virgin goddesses who flank the sun (see sundog), and Myesyats is an unrelated female moon goddess. The Zorya are associated with marriage, protection, and exorcisms.

The Morning Star is Zorya Utrennyaya (also Zvezda Danica, Zvezda Dennitsa, Zwezda Dnieca, Zvezda Zornitsa, Zora). She opens the heavenly gates for the chariot of the sun in the morning. She is depicted as a fully armed and courageous warrior. She is the patron goddess of horses, and is associated with the planet Venus. She is invoked to protect against death in battle, and her prayers were addressed as "Defend me, O maiden, with your veil from the enemy, from the arquebus and arrow..."

The Evening Star is Zorya Vechernyaya (also Vecernja Zvezda, Zvezda Vechernaya, Zwezda Wieczoniaia, Zwezda Wieczernica, Zvezda Vechernitsa, Zarja). She closes the gates of heaven each night as the sun returns home.

The Midnight Star is Zorya Polunochnaya (also Zwezda Polnoca). Some legends omit this Zorya, leaving only the Morning and Evening Auroras. Each night, the sun dies in the Midnight Zorya's arms and is then restored to life. She is a goddess of death, rebirth, magic, mysticism, and wisdom.

The Zorya are sometimes associated with the Triple Goddess mythic archetype, with the Morning, Evening and Midnight Zoryas representing the maiden, mother, and crone, respectively.

From: Wiki
Zorya (Slavic) There were three Slavic dawn goddesses. There was Utrennyaya, the morning star; Vechernyaya, the evening star; and the midnight star was Zorya. All have the same duty, to guard a chained dog from eating the constellation Ursa Minor, the little bear. If the chain should break and the dog became loose, the universe will end. Due to this the Zoryas are guardians.
From: here

• Vechernyaya Zezhda 5
- celestial spirit - infer
- female 4,5,6,11
- the evening star 2,4,6,11
- the planet Mercury or Venus AHD4
- prominent in the west shortly after sunset AHD4
- sister to Zezhda Dennitsa 5
- sister to Zorya Utrenyaya, Zorya Vechernyaya & Polunocnica 5,6
aka Zwezda Wieczo[a]rniaia [Pol] 4
aka Gwiazda Wieczorna 4
- Gwiazdka (little star) 4
aka Vechernyaya Zvezda 2,6
- sister to Zvezda Dennitsa 6
- daughter to Dazhdbog 6
- daughter to Solntse 6,20
aka Vechernitsa 11
- vecher (evening) 11
- the planet Venus 11
- daughter to Dazhdbog 11
- associated with razputno vreme 11
- the hours after midnight 11
- (evil hours when roads mess up & lead to nowhere) 11
- literally: no roads time - infer
- raz- [OCS] (dis-, un-) 27
- po[o]t' [OCS] (way / road) 27

• Zezhda Dennitsa 5
- celestial spirit - infer
- female 2,5,6,11,20
- the morning star 2
- wife to Myesyats 2
- sister to Vechernyaya Zezhda 5
- sister to Zorya Utrenyaya, Zorya Vechernyaya & Polunocnica 5
aka Zorya Zwezda Dnieca 4
aka Zwezda Dnieca [Pol] 4
aka Gwiazda Poranna [Pol] 4
- gwiazdka (little star) 4
aka Zora Zornicka [Pol] 4
aka Zvezda Dennitsa 2,6
- sister to Vechernyaya Zvezda 6
- daughter to Dazhdbog 6
- daughter to Solntse 6,20
see Zorya Utrennyaya 6
aka Danica 6,20
- (day star) 6,20
- the planet Venus 6,20
- visible in the east just before or at sunrise AHD4
- seduced by Myesyats 6,20
- sister to the sun 20
aka Danitsa [Cro] [Srb] 6,20
aka Denica [Rus] 6,20
aka Dnevnitsa 11
- (day star) 11
- the planet Venus 11
- daughter to Dazhdbog 11
- associated with razputno vreme 11
- the hours after midnight 11
- (evil hours when roads mess up & lead to nowhere) 11
- literally: no roads time - infer
- raz- [OCS] (dis-, un-) 27
- po[o]t' [OCS] (way / road) 27
- vre[h]me[o] [OCS] (time) 27
aka Zornica 11
- (dawn star) 11
aka Zornitsa 11
aka Zurya Utrennyaya 20

• (the) Zorya / (the) Zorza [Pol] [Rus] 4,10
- prognostic spirits
- female 4,5
- the auroras 4,5
- the Slavic fates 4
aka (the) Zorya (ZOR-yah) 5
- daughters to Dazhdbog 5,6
- Zorya Utrenyaya 5
- Zorya Vechernyaya 5
- Polunocnica 5
aka (the) Zori 11
- zora (dawn) / zori (pl) 11

• Zorya Dennitsa 6
- temporal spirit - infer
- female 6
- aurora of the dawn 6
- wife to Svarog 6
- mother to Dazbog 6
see Zorya Utrennyaya 6

• Zorya Utrenyaya >ZOR-yah< 5,6,10
- temporal spirit - infer
- female 2,5,6,10,20
- aurora of the dawn 5,6,10,20
- sits on the fiery stone Alatuir 6,20
aka Alatyr 1
- from under which flows a healing river 6,20 / four rivers 1
- in Bouyan 6,20 or Bonyan: the otherworld paradise 6
- Buyan 1
- sister to Zorya Vechernyaya & Polunocnica 5
- sister to Zezhda Dennitsa & Vechernyaya Zezhda 5
aka Zorya Utrennyaya 2,6,20
- utro / jutro [OCS] (morning) 2,6
see Zvezda Dennitsa 6
see Zorya Dennitsa 6
aka Utrennyaya 6
aka Dnieca [Pol] 6
aka Dennitsa 20
- seduced by Myesyats 20

• Zorya Vechernyaya >ZOR-yah< 2,5,6,10,20
- temporal spirit - infer
- female 2,5,6,10,20
- aurora of the evening / sunset 5,6,10,20
- vecher (evening) 2
- dusk / twilight 6
- in Bouyan 6,20 or Bonyan: the otherworld paradise 6
- sister to Zorya Utrenyaya & Polunocnica 5
- sister to Zezhda Dennitsa & Vechernyaya Zezhda 5
aka Zarya Verchernyaya 6
aka Zvezda Vechemyaya 6
aka Wieczo[a]rniaia [Pol] 6
aka (the) Zarya 20
- the morning star 20
- vre[h]me[o] [OCS] (time) 27

From: Here
Zorya, Zarya : Verchernyaya, Utrennyaya
The Slavic ‘Three Fates’. ‘Three little sisters', they included Verchernyaya ('she of the aurora of Dusk/ Twilight', Pol. Wieczorniaia), she of Midnight, and the dawn-goddess Utrennyaya ('she of the aurora of Morning’, Pol. Dnieca). Utrennyaya and Vechernyaya were the most prominent, being daughters of the sun-god Dazhbog. Utrennyaya was identified with the morning star, Vechernyaya with the evening star. The latter was also a warrior-maiden.

Zorya Utrenyaya sits under an oak tree (i.e. Slavic 'world tree'?) on the fiery stone Alatuir and under her seat flows the healing river. Each day Zorya Utrennyaya opens the sky-palace gates for her father, who rides out across the sky. At the end of his daily travel, Zorya Vechernyaya closes the opposite gates.

Like the Norns of Norse mythology, the Zorya kept the doomsday wolf fettered to prevent it from wreaking destruction on the world. The Slavic wolf was bound to the pole star in Ursa Minor. When the chain breaks it will herald the end of the world. In fact, one of the Norns, Skuld, also was known as a Valkyrie ('warrior maiden'), paralleling Vechemayaya. Thus the Zorya are guardian goddesses of the universe. An Egyptian parallel of the three Zorya was the goddess Reret, who also kept the powers of destruction fettered by a chain.

The Zarya rule in Bouyan (or Bonyan), the Slavic otherworld paradise equivalent to the Celtic Avalon, Greek Hesperides, and so on. There are four streams issuing from under the magic stone Alatuir in the island paradise of Bonyan.
*
Zvezda Dennitsa
‘The Morning Star’. Daughter of the sun god, Dazhbog. She is synonymous with Zorya Utrennyaya. She is known to some as the wife of the moon god. She helps Vechernyaya Zvezda care for their father’s horses that he drives cross the sky each day.

Zvezda Vechemyaya
Slavonic goddess of the Evening Star. Another name for Zorya Vechernyaya.

From: Here

1 comment:

  1. Zorya Danica is the east slav goddes of the evening star..

    ReplyDelete