hypnotists
God of fertility
The God of fertility associated with Navya (the lower world) was Veles (Volos, Vlas). The name Veles goes back to the ancient root “vel” with the meaning “dead”. But since the world of the dead was associated with the idea of magic power, the owner of which subdues people, the same root means power and is found in the words “power”, “command”, “possess”, “great”. Descent into the other world brings the hero omniscience, special wisdom, often associated with poetic features, so Veles is simultaneously the God of wisdom and poetry (the prophetic singer Boyan in” the Word about Igor’s regiment “is called the grandson of “Veles’s grandson”). Continue reading
Except Rasputin: Holy Fools, mystics and charlatans in the entourage of Nicholas II
The symbol of the moral degradation of power under the last Russian Emperor was the elder Grigory Rasputin. The uncritical confidence of the Royal family in the scandalous visionary caused confusion and indignation among dignitaries and the public. But even before the appearance of Rasputin at the court of the king was sympathetic to dubious characters. Among them there were wizards, hypnotists, fortune-tellers, and many other charlatans who looked like the “Holy devil”.
Both the Emperor and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna were distinguished by their piety and reverence for Orthodoxy. For many years they waited for the birth of an heir, but only daughters were born. The sense of evil fate strengthened the religious views of the already impressionable couple. Continue reading