Sanshaa- The Death Goddess

In every shadow…

Every pantheon has its god or goddess of death and mine is no exception. Sanshaa, Lady of Death and Darkness. Her name came to me as a whisper in the wind on a dark night. She is in every shadowy corner, every dark alley at night, and works closely with Mossyr to know when to take souls into the great unknown. And when to bring them back for rebirth.

The world in a web

I dreamt of her once. The world was one great web and at the middle, a black spider. Throughout the web were many small creatures, and when one died, the spider would gently bundle it up and take it off the web, placing it into darkness. Sometimes, it would reach into the darkness and bring back one that had died earlier, placing it among the other creatures. I don’t know what happens in the darkness beyond the web, or why some come back, but it is clear that the spider was Sanshaa.

So it kind of goes without saying that spiders are sacred to her.

Sanshaa is much more than a death goddess though. She is death. She is darkness. She is in every shadow, and every shadow is a gateway into the dark realm. Her realm. But I believe that what she does, she does to preserve the light. Without light, there is no shadow. If there was only darkness, who would keep her company? Perhaps that’s why she brings some back. Who knows?

What I do know is that she likes the flowers and scent of jasmine, candlelight and dancing. Slow, seductive dancing. When I meditate on her, I light a black candle to focus on. If you need to ask someone for help with something that needs doing in the dark, she is the one to ask. It is to Sanshaa that I send offerings and pray to for her gentle hand to guide souls after death..

Bombarding my brain.

One night, a little while after my friends wedding, I had another breakthrough. I was just about to drop off to sleep, when I started to get a headache. It was small at first, barely noticeable. Then, slowly, I started getting what I can only call ‘mini-visions’. They were small and blurred, images of faces, landscapes. My headache got worse as the frequency and intensity of the visions increased. It was like there was someone sitting on my head, or squeezing it while fuzzy images flashed through my head. Not particularly pleasant, but the information I got from this experience was well worth it. There were about ten gods trying to get through to me, bombarding me to get me to notice them. Well. It bloody worked. When I realised what was happening I asked them to stop, said they were hurting me. When they didn’t back off, my boyfriend and I created a protective circle and asked for assistance and protection from Mossyr and his goddesses, Bast and Athena. They soon went away after that.

My belief is that the longer a god has been awake and worshiped  the stronger they are, which means what happened makes sense to me. Now, lets see if I can remember the names of all the gods that were bombarding me…. Luga, Kikree, Rilla, Andiba, Etan, Reina, Mein, Orau, Ansun, and Sanshaa. Quite the mix, when you find out what they all stand for.

It hasn’t happened again. Perhaps they’ve learned their lesson. Or maybe they’ve also realised that if they hurt me to the point where I can’t help them, there isn’t anyone else yet that can.

Mossyr

This post will be added to a page that can be found in the menu that will hold all the relevant information for this goddess.

The green lady of New Zealands abundant bush. Whether in the isolation of places like Milford sound or the dark patch in your backyard, Mossyr reigns discreetly.

In this pantheon Mossyr is the Goddess of the circle of life; birth, growth and death, and of the wild life that is found in her domain. She is also the huntress, and is pleased by shows of strength and survival. Our instincts come from her, but not only her. She is intrinsically linked with the god Luga, Lord of Beasts. Married to him, is the impression I get. It makes it just a little difficult to separate some of the facts about the two. One other thing I know fro certain is that Luga is associated with wolves, while Mossyr is associated with birds and moss.

It’s sad, but I don’t have any stories about her and the things she’s done. What I do know, is that when I meditate, about anything really, I can feel her. It is as easy as closing my eyes and I can be with her in her domain, peaceful and sometimes exciting. It is one of my favourite ways to relax and get advice from her, as well as information about herself and other gods.

A vision from two sleepy gods.

Okay, so continuing the story brings us to the ‘first contact’ with this new pantheon. I was just chilling out with some meditation, trying to find some inspiration for my search, when I got a vision.

I was standing in beautiful New Zealand bush, dark green light filtering through, lighting the moss that covered everything in sight. I looked around. Standing on the rocks littering a stream was the most beautiful, earthy woman I have ever seen. She had nut-brown skin, raven hair and around her shoulders, a cloak made all of moss. She smiled. When I looked at her, I felt peace. Like everything that had ever happened was supposed to happen, and I knew that I wouldn’t be bothered by it, or anything that happened in the future. Everything was just right.

Suddenly I was in a different forest, with tall, thin trees, the undergrowth less dense, bordering a leafy path. At the foot of one of the trees sat an old man, his head drooped forward as if asleep. I stepped forward, feeling drawn to him. He was dressed all in brown. Leather, it looked like, with a matching floppy hat, worn with age. As I stepped, he looked up at me. His eyes were as worn as his hat and full to the brim with knowledge. I had so many questions for him. Before I could voice them, he jumped up, literally jumped, with a grin on his face. He snatched his tall walking stick from where it had been hiding and said to me “You have to learn! Go on! Off you go! Do some learning!” And he was gone and I was being lead away by the Moss Lady (or Mossyr, as I have come to call her) towards the darker bush.

That was when I came out of this vision. As you might imagine, I was a bit shaken. Now, some might say that the old man might have been Odin, but he had both of his eyes. I have come to think of him as the Old Man Wanderer, who is always searching for knowledge. Yes, similar to Odin, but if it was him, and he wanted to be recognized, he would have made it very clear, I’m sure.

As for Mossyr, she shall have a separate post that I shall add to as I learn more. There are many more gods that have since awakened, occasionally bombarding me, wanting me to acknowledge them. One of my core beliefs is that all gods exist, but it is belief and faith that give them substance and power, so it is clear to me what they desire. Acknowledgement. Faith. Perhaps worship. The latter will come in time, as I’m going to try my best to acknowledge all that make themselves known to me.

It’s going to be a long, hard road.