The Great God Veles
Among the Radiant figures who uphold the foundations of the Cosmos, the figure of the Great Guardian, the Mighty Earth God, occupies a central place in every mythology.
Though he is chief in virtually none of the peoples’ pantheons, this God has nonetheless always been the object of exceptional veneration as the Lord of life and death.
The many-faced Dagda of the Irish, Cernunnos of the continental Gauls, Heimdall of the Scandinavians, Pan among the Greeks, Janus of the Romans, and Veles of the Slavs — these are the gods who secure the stability of the boundaries of the cosmos.
The power that preserves the Boundaries of any object, the individuality of any mind, and the firmness and inviolability of any being is expressed as active resistance, the gates and their keeper. This power — immeasurable, secret, sometimes hostile, yet ultimately beneficent — has long inspired reverence among the wise and fear among the uninitiated.
Veneration of Veles was widespread among all the Slavic peoples. His cult even competed with the aristocratic cult of Perun and with another popular cult — Dazhbog.
As the Keeper of the threshold, Veles ensured the unity of life and death, holding the living in the world of Yav and the dead in Nav.
At the same time, Veles guarded the great power of the Earth — its separateness, remaining separate from his consort, the Sky. In this aspect he is known as Zibog, the Great Serpent of the Earth’s depths (but not Rarog — the Fire Serpent, who was an aspect of Semargl, the second Gatekeeping God).
As an Liminal deity, Veles is Lord of Magic, as well as of Wisdom and Music, of cosmic harmony.
This position puts Veles in opposition both with Perun — because Veles provides security while Perun provides protection, the passive versus active resistance to the mixing of worlds — and with Semargl, because Veles keeps the Gates closed while Semargl channels the current of power through them.
Even Svarog the Progenitor, Father of the gods, is not sovereign over the powers of Veles, who belongs to the primordial gods.
Like Svarog himself, Veles came from the Depths of Rod before the beginning of time, forming, along with Svarog and Lada, the First Trinity, and balancing it by his neutrality, Svarog’s active principle and Lada’s immanence.
The very process of Creation began with the emergence of the Fourth Principle — Semargl-Svarozhich, thereby forming the Quaternary of the Cosmos.
In the act of creation, Veles also functions as a balancing principle, uniting in himself both the beneficent aspects of the White God and the darkness of the Black God, reconciling Svarog and Dya — the heavenly fathers of Yav.
Veles’s feminine counterpart is the goddess Yasun, one of the faces of the Dark Mother, who bore the spirits of nature from him. Yet Veles is also the father of plants, animals, and people since he is the consort of the Great Mother Earth, of which Yasun is an aspect.
The very name Veles is etymologically related to notions of “Power“, “might,” and “hair” — a general designation for “creatures of the earth.”
As the master of Transition, Veles is a god of Vital Force, manifest everywhere in nature — in forests, in beasts, and even in stones. Yet the twilight nature of this god is never wholly diurnal nor wholly nocturnal — he is always ON THE THRESHOLD; strictly speaking, he is therefore neither the god of Life nor the god of Death, and at the same time he is Lord of Life and Death.
Since Veles dwells on the Threshold of worlds, he has two faces — one turned toward Yav and one toward Nav. Correspondingly, Yasun has the same faces, appearing in her sombre aspect as Usonsha-Yaga, who spawned the gloomy Navii. At the same time, as a Male deity, Veles is triune, appearing in two light aspects (usually symbolized by the Summer Bear and the Winter Ox) and a third dark aspect — the Serpent Zibog.
It is worth noting that the pagan notion of a “Dark” god differs significantly from Christianized ideas of darkness. Pagan conceptions of Darkness are associated with Primordial Chaos, in which lie the seeds of everything, whereas the Christian notion equates darkness with chaos of creation. It is clear that the Dark pagan gods and aspects, though unfriendly to the daylight mind, are not evil or destructive; by contrast, the forces of the Qliphoth, the demonic spirits of monotheistic religions, are oriented toward the destruction of the existing order. Thus, even in his Dark aspect, Veles is a beneficent god, the god of Death as rest from life and preparation for new rebirth. Therefore, Veles was conceived also as the Father of Life in the phenomenological sense, for without his permission no soul can be incarnated — it must pass from Nav into Yav through Veles’s Gates.
A slight crossing of these gates sometimes occurs in dreams, which are also under Veles’s dominion.
Thus every transition between worlds is controlled by gatekeepers — Veles and Semargl — forbidding and allowing passage.
It is no accident that Semargl appears as sacrificial fire, for it is precisely thus that the threshold between worlds is opened. Veles, who guards that Threshold, is everywhere — in the air around the altar and in the wood that feeds it, in the earth beneath it.
Among both ancient and modern volkhvs (pagan priests), Veles is one of the most venerated gods, for it is he who grants the Power and Wisdom of the very craft of the volkhv.
Incredible! In this article, discussing Svarog, Lada, revealing the hypostases of Veles and the nearby gods: Semargl, Yasunye, Perun, you are practically giving a complete description of the reaction of proton-proton three-phase synthesis, which occurs exactly like the process of the emergence of gods in all worlds and in this world as well. Everything happens according to the same laws. And this has led me to think that to create this synthesis reaction, it is not at all necessary to create a reactor. It seems to me that this is a model that can also be taken into account in wave genetics, and perhaps this construction is what the 24th pair of chromosomes has, which has not yet been deciphered, meaning it is quite possible that the reaction of proton-proton three-phase synthesis occurs specifically (at the beginning, everything is relative, but from the standpoint of material manifestation) at the micro-level and precisely in this 24th pair, which is present in many people, it’s just that it hasn’t been deciphered yet… I just think that when it becomes possible to at least theoretically approach the description of the components of this 24th chromosome of the human genome, the description of its formation and components will be identical. You can even say now that it should have 10 main components, just as there are 10 main stages of nuclear synthesis, as well as the manifestation of the pantheon of 10 ancient gods who stand at the foundation of all six worlds’ limits, just as ‘a tenth to God,’ which Jacob promised to give (where the concept of tithing comes from)… just a thought… Today is such a day! Happy holidays to you!!!!!!!!! And also, it dawned on me that our world indeed rests on three elephants, three whales, and one big turtle. You know, it really is true – this is indeed a schematic representation of the nuclear synthesis reaction I mentioned and perhaps is the key to deciphering the missing human gene. The whole secret lies in revealing the hypostasis of the Holy Trinity.
I am very glad that I accidentally came across you! I received so much information about paganism! A year ago, I came to the faith of our ancestors. Since then, I have been gathering everything bit by bit. I even wrote poems ‘My Opinion’ and ‘A Dream of a Spider, or Contemplation of Christianity’ (though I’m not sure if I am right in everything). Once again, thank you for the immense information! I will definitely come to visit you. With great respect, Lyudmila.
Can we draw an analogy between Veles and Shiva? Or Ganesha? 🙂
Different analogies can be drawn. If it’s with Indian religion, then of course, rather with Shiva. But different peoples saw the gods differently, and therefore such analogies are only appropriate with very large stretches and numerous caveats. It is more productive to perceive each mythological system in its own integrity.
I read it. Thank you. A good article. I was especially touched by Yasun. I didn’t know about her.
Dear readers! Have you ever tried to look at the Slavic Gods not as ‘Gods’, but as concepts? And they, in turn, describe the state of the soul/point of assembly of a person. Just remember that you are educated people and look at all this information from a different perspective… even just for a moment… maybe it will help someone 🙂 It helped me 🙂
Acidman4ik: Alas, ‘education’ does not save but protects, for a time… is it time? The key: 1) Empyrean – http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ushakov/1097338 2) Are the Gods Alive – https://enmerkar.com/en/myth/are-the-gods-alive 3) ‘Empyrean inside and outside, what is the essence?’ (C)
Thank you for the site!
Is there something common between Veles and St. Nicholas the Miracle Worker in Christianity?
All Gods are energies, vibrations, and states. The ability to master them is the opportunity to advance to a new level of development of one’s soul as a manifestation of femininity or masculinity.
I already know the answer to my question – Veles is Veles; and a mage is a mage (N. Ch.), in short. Thank you. Back in 2013, I had even sillier questions.
It should be remembered that the great Heavenly Goddess Makosh is not only the Goddess- Protector of growth and fertility, as many may think, but a Goddess who grants a good harvest to hardworking and diligent people.
Hello, I have never been interested in Slavic deities, pagan and such.
I stumbled upon this site by accident after one of my dreams; I do not trust dream interpretations (I don’t know on what basis they are created), and I decided to understand and search for information on the internet to understand what I dreamed about.
Here is what I dreamed:
I realized in my dream that I was next to a Divine something in the form of a bear, which seemed positive to me; it showed me something resembling chess pieces in a box, but I considered one of them inappropriate, I knew that it was not a figure, but a symbol (looking like a rectangle bent to the left), later I ran to warn a woman about something, but this deity flew by me smiling maliciously and caught up with that woman, after which it invited her to enter its building or something similar, she entered, after which another deity with good intentions rushed there too, displeased that the first deity had taken the woman so easily.
Today, I first found information about Veles and later found a similar symbol in the dream, what’s interesting is it also turned out to be Slavic, meaning something like fertility and readiness for birth. And Veles is also associated with fertility. I repeat, I have never read or seen anything like that, but the dream is still clearly in my head.