Artist: Dwie Judha Satria
Project: Animalia
Website: dwiejudhasatria.blogspot.co.uk
Welcome to the start of a new self-initiated project by Dwie Judha Satria.
Over the next few weeks and months Dwie will be exploring the symbolic meanings and significance of animals from several different historical and cultural perspectives.
Starting with the horse, each post will present you with Dwie’s own perception of the creature via an illustration and text providing some insights into the Creature’s history within a given cultural context.
This first post explores the horse in pagan beliefs. The Pagans (or gauls) hailed Epona as their horse goddess, she was the protector of horses, mules and stables. The story says she was born of a mare and described typically as a beautiful long haired woman, riding side saddle with her cornucopia, a symbol of fertility and abundance.
Epona was one of the pagan goddesses that was adopted by the Roman cavalry legion as a result of their adoration of the horse. The Roman empire made a temple for her and celebrate Epona’s day every December 18th.
Further reading:
angelfire.com/journal/ofapoet/epona.html
paganwiccan.about.com/od/othermagicspells/p/HorseMagic.htm
