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Nature Spirits Elementals
Ancient Cultures Roman
This Romano-Greco amalgamation of spiritual
beliefs included Nature Spirits, Numina; ancestral and household deities; Lares and Penates;
anthropomorphic goddesses and gods; small shrines like Compita which were
placed at country crossroads and city intersections; festivals; and temples.
Romans honored the
Lares protective spirits of the household and the Penates spirits of the pantry by throwing some of the food from every meal into the air as an
offering. The blessings of the Lares and Penates were invoked prior to new
undertakings or on special family occasions.
Most homes had an atrium
shrine to the Lares and Penates, called a Lararium Shrine where they were honored on
specific monthly days by the Paterfamilias. The Lares Familiares mythological
spirits were domestic "Family Guardians". The Lararium, which looked like
a cupboard or niche, was usually located in a corner of the atrium or by the
hearth.
Under Roman law, the oldest
living male was the head of the household and oversaw the family business and
property. He was given absolute control over his household by Roman law and
performed certain religious rituals for the benefit of his family.
The Lares were attached to a specific locale and did not relocate with the family if they
moved. In the Aulularia of Plautus, Lars were described as lithe youths attired in short tunics with belted
undergarments and high boots. Sprightly and elegant, they wore garlands in their
hair. The Lars rewarded generosity of spirit and mean-spiritedness in kind.
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The Penates who were Lars
Familiares protected a specific family. the Lars were often represented by small
statues or by murals. In Greco-Romano mythos, a genius was an object, person or place with a semi-divine nature. The Di Penates
(Penates) were geniuses or patron goddesses and gods with specific powers.
In the picture above Oenone, one the Oread (Orestiad) Nature
Spirit Numen who inhabited mountains and valleys in the Roman-Greco Natural
World Landscape, was depicted. The offspring of Cybele (an Earth Mother goddess) and Cebren (a River Father god),
Oenone live on Mount Ida in Phrygia and was considered a worldly vineyards
goddess.
Oenone was portrayed in four different scenes above that
seemed to center around a newly married couple who came to her sacred grove
requesting her counsel and blessing regarding their marriage. In the first scene
on the upper left she appeared to be at the riverbank. In the second scene on
the left she thrust her staff into the water.
In the large scene on the right with a rock outcropping and
grove of trees as a backdrop, Oenone knelt at the rivers edge and intently
studied the rippling currents. There was a quill pen in her right hand and piece
of parchment on her lap as if she were posed to record for posterity what the
river waters revealed to her regarding the compatibility of the fates of the
couple.
In the last smaller scene on the left,
as their Penate patron goddess Oenone held the
parchment in her left hand and held her right hand up in a fare-well blessing as
the couple who were sitting in a tented wooden boat holding hands prepared to
begin their life journey together.
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Nature Spirits Elementals Fairies Beliefs Traditions Articles
Aboriginal Nature Spirits,
Air Sylphs,
Air Sylphs Assist Aurora Depiction,
Alchemical Elements,
Alchemical Elements Depiction,
Alchemical Four Grades of Fire,
Alchemy Nature Spirits,
Älvorna Elves Depiction,
Bækhesten Brook Horse,
Batukamma Festival Flower Arrangement Depiction,
Brownies
Celtic Nature Spirits,
Children of the Moon Goddess,
Chinese Nature Spirits,
Chinese Poetic Garden,
Chinese Poetic Garden Depiction,
Chinese Tea Scholar Statue,
Dandelion Depiction,
Dandelion Flower Deva,
Daoism Nature Spirits,
Daoist Nature,
Deva Flora,
Deva Flora Depiction,
Devas Shining Ones,
Deva Wind God Aeolus Depiction,
Di Penates,
Divine Alchemy,
Divine Farmer,
Divine Forest,
Druidic Otherworld,
Druidry Nature Spirits,
Dwarfs
Earth Gnomes,
Elves,
Elves Circle Dance Depiction,
Fair Fairy Face Depiction,
Fairies,
Fairies Circle Dance Depiction,
Fairies Looking Through Gothic Arch Depiction,
Fairies Prepare Magical Gateway Depiction,
Fairies Spring Equinox Gathering Depiction,
Fairies Toadstools Circle Dance,
Fairy Dance Depiction,
Fairy Hosts Celebrate Midsummer's Eve Depiction,
Fairyland Depiction,
Fairy Wood Depiction,
Feriae Festivals,
Fire Salamanders,
Five Elements,
Flower Fairies,
Flower Fairies Pixies Wood Elves Banquet,
Four Kinds Elemental Beings,
Four Kinds Nature Spirit Tribes
Futarasan Jinja Depiction,
Futarasan Jinja Kami,
Garden Gnomes Statues,
Gate Pines New Year Kadomatsu Depiction,
Germanic Gnome Hall Depiction,
Germanic Gnomes,
Germanic Nature Spirits,
Germanic Treelore,
Goshintai Kami Body,
Grass Elves,
Hamadryad Wood Elf Depiction,
Heathen Hallowed Traditions,
Heathenry Nature Spirits,
Herb Root Classic,
Hibiscus Depiction,
Hibiscus Flower Deva,
Hinduism Nature Spirits,
Holly Depiction,
Holly Flower Deva,
Iwasaka Stones,
Japanese Divine Forest,
Japanese Garden Designs,
Japanese Nature Spirits,
Jinja Shrines Sacred Groves,
Kami,
Kami Kamidana,
Kami Kamidana Depiction,
Kami Way Guji Kannushi Depiction,
Kami Way Sacred Grove Depiction,
Kumano Shinto Shrine Depiction,
Kumano Shinto Shrine Mountains,
Landscape Ancestral Spirits,
Landvaettir,
Lararium Shrine,
Lares and Penates,
Lars,
Leprechauns,
Lily Fairy Depiction,
Mahadevas,
Magician's Winter Garden Depiction,
Matsuri Kami Festivals,
Metal Element,
Morning Glory Depiction,
Morning Glory Flower Deva,
Natural World,
Natural World Celtic Locket,
Natural World Eucalypti Forest Depiction,
Nature Reserve Giant Panda,
Nature Spirit Numen,
Nemeton,
Nisse Household Nature Spirit Depiction,
Nixe Rhinemaidens,
Nymphs,
Oread Oenone,
Paganism Nature Spirits,
Penate Patron Goddess Oenone Depiction,
Pixies,
Pongal Harvest Festival Depiction,
Roman Nature Spirits,
Roman Numina,
Sacred Grove Depiction,
Sacred Groves,
Scandinavian Tomte,
Seaside Elves,
Shichi-Go-San Kami Passage Rites,
Shintoism Nature Spirits,
Shinto Spirituality of the Forest,
Silver Birch Treelore Depiction,
Sól Sun Goddess,
Sunflower Depiction,
Sunflower Flower Deva,
Tomte Brownie Depiction,
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Tree Spirits,
Undine Mermaid Depiction,
Undine Nature Spirit Depiction,
Undine Water Nymphs Depiction,
Water Undines,
Way of the Dao,
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Wood Elves,
Wood Nymphs Depiction,
Yellow River Mother Huang He Statue,
Yggdrasil World Tree,
Yorishiro Cedar Tree Depiction,
Yorishiro Hallowed Trees
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