![]() ![]() Not the way I would want to get a divinity’s help.) The ritual incantation asks the goddess to restore the child, protect her ( the mother) all her life and protect the ritual from intruders. ( In classical Italian witchcraft, the deity is threatened with torment by a higher power until the favor is granted. There was also a ritual where the mother could get the child back by threatening the goddess with volcanic tortures until the child was returned. Interestingly enough, Laverna is said to have aided unwed pregnant women, in the secret delivery of her child with the child being taken away. ![]() “I command that in future Laverna shall be the goddess of all the knaves or dishonest tradesmen, with the whole rubbish and refuse of the human race, who have been hitherto without a god or a devil, inasmuch as they have been too despicable for the one or the other.” When the mortal would come for payment that part which she swore upon was not apparent, so she would declare the agreement invalid. Virgil also tells tales of Laverna swindling mortals out of property by swearing on either her body or her head. But if he did his work of knavery badly or maladroitly, when he again invoked her he saw only the body but if he was clever, then he beheld the whole goddess…” “Whenever anyone planned or intended any knavery or aught wicked, he entered her temple, and invoked Laverna, who appeared to him as a woman’s head. ![]() Virgils states ( from Arcadia, link below): The statue of the goddess was sometime described as a head without a body or a body without a head. She was honored in a temple or a grove of trees near the Avenine Hill. Laverna’s worshippers would ask for her help in appearing law abiding or in the success of their illegal endeavors. No one would want to admit to honoring her. Though as the goddess of society’s underbelly, it makes sense that details of her would be scarce. Leland’s Arcadia had the most information upon her that I could find and he relies upon Virgil, Horace and Platus. This would certainly account for the lack of information on this goddess. Maybe a case of going to a divinity for help in an area opposite of their typical purpose, much like Apollo who could harm or heal. That is an interesting association as the Furies or Erinyes where believed to avenge crimes. Laverna is associated with the Roman Goddess Furina (also a goddess of thieves) who in turn is associated by some with the Furies. Modern scholars say she was probably an Etruscan underworld goddess but no one seems to be sure which one. Remember death, so that you may understand how to live.This week’s tribute (#7) is to the goddess, Laverna, the Roman goddess of thieves, frauds, plagiarists, hypocrites and ne’er-do-wells. I am the dancing skeleton at the feast, I am the voice whispered in the triumphant general's ear: Remember me. So that when life is cheated from you (and it will be), you have had the joy of it.Īll graves are unmarked all cemeteries full and empty. Live your life as a string of jewels, bright and beautiful and of value, for upon your death, this alone can not be taken from you. If you fear me or do not, this is my advice. I am She who takes the last coin from your pocket, the one you were to give to Charun for safe passage-you do not need it, really. I am the relentless thievery of Time, who unfastens the last breath from the body, unlocks the knotted sinew, and picks apart even the eternal bones. I see treasures thrown away, fortune unshared, precious things put aside for safekeeping then forgotten. I am here even on the well-lit street, for light always makes the darkness deeper. I am the snatching hand, the purse lifted and the coin lost and I am the woman in the shadows, watching, always watching. Darkness and the slow mould of the Earth: the lives buried, the gems undug, the riches hidden. ![]()
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