Dogs of Annwn
“They were white as snow, and their ears red; and both white and red shone and gleamed.”
(Mabinogion)
The dog was one of the first animals domesticated by humanity and has accompanied humankind from the earliest stages of its evolution. Having absorbed the very spirit of friendship and assistance, this animal nonetheless has not lost its connection to its origins.
Many peoples, besides recognizing the dog’s protective and herding functions, also noted another — its ability to connect different worlds.
Traditionally the cat is considered the otherworldly animal, and that is partly true, although the dog’s role in this regard is no less pronounced. Cat and dog express two sides of that crossing — the active and the passive: the cat goes to the Other Side on her own and is, in general, indifferent whether anyone else goes with her, whereas the dog leads others there or back, guards the Crossing, and can be both a friend and an obstacle to the Crossing itself.
Great guides of souls such as Anubis, Hecate, and Hermes are depicted with a dog’s head or have the dog as their attribute.
Ancient notions of the dog as the wandering human soul are very persistent. The night-time howling of dogs in some cases or their sudden appearance in a house aroused superstitious fear: this was taken as a portent of death or misfortune. Meeting a dog on the road, especially at night, was also considered a bad omen. The fear is understandable if one recalls that in some countries it was said that before a person’s death a mysterious black dog runs three times around the house or lies down at its gate.
For carrying out funerary rites in Zoroastrianism, white “four-eyed” dogs (with dark patches beneath the eyes) are still used to this day. “Four-eyedness” implies the dogs’ ability to see death itself, which is tied to the ritual “sagdid” (“the dog’s gaze,” “inspection by the dog”), when the dog with its look drives the daeva away from the corpse of funerary defilement.
In Ancient Egypt, the dog was regarded generally as a guide of the dead; the dog always went to the River of Death, just like the Greek Cerberus. The capital of the 17th Egyptian nome, Cynopolis, throughout Ancient Egyptian history was a center of the cult of Anubis. Anubis, patron of the dead, was venerated in various forms — a black jackal, the wild dog Sab, in the form of a man with the head of a jackal or dog. Anubis-Sab was considered judge of the gods. His principal epithets were “Khenti-Amentiu,” that is, he who stands before the land of the West (the kingdom of the dead), “lord of Resetau” (the realm of the dead), “he who stands before the hall of the gods.” Anubis from the “other side of life” receives the deceased, accompanies him to the shore in the boat of the dead, and is present at the weighing of the heart. During the Old Kingdom Anubis was considered ruler of the Duat. In Ancient Egypt there were other cynocephalic deities — gods with a dog’s head. Their common task was to fight monsters, destroy enemies of the light, and guard the entrances to sacred places.
Hecate, with her triple form, had her war-dogs; she was called the White Dog, and dogs were sacrificed to her at crossroads; dogs were also sacrificed to Eileithyia. The dogs of Hades embody the unwelcoming nature of dawn and dusk, dangerous and demonic times when hostile forces prowl. The dog-monster Cerberus guards the entrance to the underworld. For the Greeks, the dog is also associated with Hermes, messenger of the gods, patron of travelers and guide of the souls of the dead, who also possesses a cynocephalic aspect. Being a psychopomp, like Hermes, the dog also has healing powers and accompanies Asclepius. It can heal, give birth, bring forth new life.
Let us not forget Garmr, one of the offspring of Loki and Angrboda, who is destined to devour the Moon and Týr.
In Celtic mythology the dog accompanied gods of the hunt, war and heroes, as well as the healing god Nodens. One of the attributes of the solar god Lugh was a magical, invincible dog, also famous for the saying that “…if he bathed in a stream, the waters ran like wine and milk.” According to Irish popular belief, otherworldly hounds can awaken and snatch away the soul of the dead if one begins to mourn too early or laments over him too loudly. Bran and Sgeolain, the dogs of Fionn mac Cumhaill, are of half-human origin. They accompany their master on all his journeys and are as skilled in many things as his human companions.
However, the chthonic functions of dogs manifest not only in myth and in symbolism — for the magus they are a living reality, primarily in the form of dogs who guard the threshold, the sacred pack of Semargl, or, in Celtic belief, the Dogs of Annwn.
It is these dogs who join the Wild Hunt; it is they who escort the Dini Shi.
Being the embodiment of Threshold powers, the Dogs of Annwn express their furious, active aspect, driving the mind back into the accustomed world.
Which magus crossing the Threshold has not encountered them? Which child destined to become a magus did not hide in terror upon seeing the gleam of their red eyes in the window?
Encountering the Dogs is a frequent element of rites of passage, and the key to successfully passing these rites is the ability to find common ground with them.
The Dogs of Annwn — despite their ferocity — are, after all, dogs: they are not inherently hostile, not alien to the human mind. They are more likely to test the mind rather than destroy it, and having realized this, the magus acquires the opportunity to befriend the Dark Pack, to pass unscathed through their snapping jaws.
At the same time, if frightened, the magus risks being torn apart by Dogs that have burst forth from the depths of the Psychocosmos.
Therefore firm self-mastery implies, among other things, an alliance with the pack, which then turns from an obstacle into a protective force for the traveler, watching over him on journeys through the Otherworld.
Thus, the pack of Annwn becomes a guide leading through the dark; the Dogs of Hecate carry magic.
That’s right, especially the second part) But I can hardly imagine warm contacts with these friendly ‘dogs’… IMHO))) You can just slip by unnoticed… running away or making a deal is impossible…
Hello, Enmerkar. I won’t hide it; I am very intrigued by this entry. Now I will try to explain why, and with your permission, I will ask a couple of questions. For several years now, my comrades and I have been exploring an area southeast of our city. Many things caught our interest there, but the main one at the moment is that there are concentrated power points or small places of Power, I don’t know how to properly call them. They are now commonly referred to as places of geomagnetic anomalies. In general, the typical set: a small plot of land, bushes, trees that grow there, bend towards the center of this place. And it’s so strong that some young trees completely break. One of the most active, strong places is located within the city limits (the others are outside), in a private sector park. The size of this spot is quite small, with a radius from the approximate center of a maximum of two meters. The bushes there are bent like a tent. So, we noticed long ago that when a walk is organized, or rather a hike to these places, often someone dreams of a pack of dogs behaving very aggressively. I’ve seen such dreams more than once; each time I had to fight the dogs in my dream. Then, there were a couple of cases where dogs attacked in reality, but the situation was resolved peacefully. However, the dreams with the enraged pack recurred periodically. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence that we considered places located in the suburbs as possible passages to another world or something similar. There were even more unpleasant cases: right in the place I described, we found killed dogs on multiple occasions. Moreover, an entire dog’s body was found only once, in other cases either without a head or, conversely, just heads. No matter how much we thought about it, we couldn’t find any ‘rational’ explanation. And so it has been for several years. We then noticed that the dogs in dreams resembled the dead, even though they moved like the living, well, a dream is a dream. So I would like to hear your comments on this matter. And also, can one create a ‘guard spirit’ using an animal?
I will start with the second question – you can create a protective deadening from an animal, and this has been widely used (it seems I mentioned it in the article about draugrs). As for the first question – the Hounds of Annun are indeed not very alive – they are otherworldly forces; in fact, they are a special form of the Guardian itself, the great god of the Limit. Regarding the dead dogs, it’s likely that people passing through there feel aggression from the Pack and project it onto dogs in general – and start to ‘take revenge’ on them. I have encountered similar matters when people, in fear of infernal forces, themselves became worse than any demons in their malice and aggression. Fear often expresses itself in aggression.
In my youth, a black dog chased me until I learned to leave it at a greater speed; if a collision occurred, I either woke up or killed it a little later! What kind of dog is this..? I had no aggression! )
There may be several options, in my opinion:
1. I was also chased, but not by a dog… In general, the same eggs, only in profile IMHO – it very much resembles a basic training on styles of ‘swimming’ in that environment. Besides accelerations to escape, I also had to draw complex ‘patterns’ with my legs… And yes… at some point, it becomes necessary to face this mocking creature, to oppose it))) I don’t know what this is…
I only remember – in reality, at that time, I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown and thank God I was in relative social isolation)
2. It’s unlikely that in your case this is the dog of the limit; those creatures do not roam in groups of less than three, and they don’t really look like dogs overall…
3. A small aggressive puppy often manifests a cold at the stage of recovery and a ‘glorious’ victory over the ‘beast’ in a dream precedes a drop and normalization of temperature.
4. Who hasn’t seen a huge Black dog in childhood?
All IMHO.
Imho… 1. A swimming lesson and overcoming fear for a small but future magician)) 2. I wouldn’t want to face them yet… There was once a special operation… to free People from the zombifying net – in one of the episodes – a convoy with cerberuses overcame – like a chameleon – becoming the same and running on four legs past – not quite dogs, but monsters…
3. In childhood and youth, I often caught colds – I think that’s also when my immunity was strengthened!
4. Childhood is an amazing time for a magician – they feel and understand everything there. but do not speak! ))
I love dogs. In my opinion, there is nothing more loyal. They have no duality. And if you look into the eyes of an offended dog, you see all the sorrow of the World. But my comment is not about that. A few days ago, just before dreaming, I ‘saw’ beings resembling humans in body but with dog heads, their skin color light brown. They spoke in a language unfamiliar to me. I can assume that when falling asleep, a person’s consciousness captures the streams of other consciousnesses.
Hunting is not hunting without dogs. The barking of dogs is more pleasant than the silence of lambs.
Allow me to ask a question, if I may express it this way.
In general and briefly, in childhood I had nightmares with the same plot. About from the age of seven to nine. Almost every night, I was chased by people with black (dark brown) skin and heads like dogs. Just like some Anubises 🙂
A large pack, possibly around thirty beings. I remember waking up in a cold sweat. Then for several years, I adjusted (already after nine). But in none of the nightmares did they manage to catch me, although for an unsteady consciousness it was undoubtedly a shock. At nine, it all went away, but I was afraid to see it again… So, dear Enmerkar, do you think this can be considered a manifestation of the Dogs of Anunnu? And most importantly, how can I restore contact with this and eventually uncover the mystery of childhood nightmares?
Thank you in advance 🙂
Any contact with the Hounds-Psychopomps is evidence that a person has approached the Threshold. Clearly, most of the stories in the above comments about encounters with Hounds are memories of contact with the Limit. They appear whenever the Threshold is close – before death, sometimes – before the birth of a child, more often – during Initiation (even unsuccessful). As for a new encounter with the Hounds of Annun, they will appear again when a person finds themselves near the Veil between worlds.
My knowledge of Celtic mythology is not very deep, but as far as I know, the hounds of the Wild Hunt pursue liars and promise-breakers once a year, during the well-known holiday. Perhaps this is why, in ancient times, giving a word to someone meant much more than it does now. From the standpoint of a magician’s impeccable conduct, is the favor/disfavor of the pack an indicative sign?
Sometimes I dream of the Hunt, of Hounds. I have my Dog there, huge and black, but I always fail to keep up with their crowd….)))