#rtkona

[faith-of-the-wheel]

Part 3: Ṛ́tkonā, what's in the name?

Devana by @johannapolle on Instagram

Firstly, we have to talk about the name. As you may have gathered from the previous entries of the series, only of a few of the cognates we have proposed are actually connected to bears explicitly. Her most widespread animal association seems to be deer, followed by bears, and other animals seen across the cognates include boars and wolves. I don't know which of these, if any, could be regarded as the primary animals associated with the huntress, but bears are certainly the most powerful and dangerous of them, and subject to a word taboo similar to the one associated with the word for wolf, with wolves being strongly associated with Rudros. Given the bear's associations in IE cultures, the way in which they are comparable to wolves in their having name taboos and being apex predators associated with warriors, I think it's, at the very least, an apt symbol for such a powerful and dangerous goddess.

Bears are a forest and mountain animal, especially from the perception of the steppe-dwelling PIEs, and these locations are commonly associated, often together, with nearly all cognates of Rtkona. They are a predator, much as a hunter, and have a strong association with parenthood in several myths across the IE cultures. The Germanic peoples notably associated them, along with wolves, and boars (with which Rtkona was also associated), with the frenzied Koryos-warband cognates, among other warriors.

Hélhēnā/Hélnā ("She of the Deer") would be just as accurate and likely to reflect Her character. Linguistically, the name Rtkona reflects only Artio, about whom nothing at all is known, and a possible but ultimately unlikely etymology for Artemis, which I myself doubt the authenticity of. I'd argue that a name reflecting deer could describe Her personality and function just as well, and would be thematically fitting with Gouwinda, The Cow Goddess archetype, and Ekwona, the Horse Goddess archetype. Whereas the Cow Goddess' sexuality is tamed, and functions in the service of the community and continuation of the family, and the Horse Goddess' sexuality is wild, promiscuous, and powerful, but often destructive, uncaring, and uprooting, perhaps the Deer Goddess' sexuality is indicative of virginal(perhaps primarily in principally unwed and therefore free from binds of traditional marriage sense) potential, the personal liberty that comes with autonomy without the destructiveness common to the Horse Goddess' character. Perhaps the story of Devana being wed to Veles is reflexive of this, while Artemis' eternal virginity reflects the same idea from the opposite perspective. Alternatively, one could still use the bear as a metaphor for Her character, describing Her as protective and aggressive tutelary deity, as a bear is of her cubs, ascribing a motherly aspect to Her, as several cognates do, and symbolize Her immanent power that guarantees Her personal liberty and martial respect, not to mention that she is almost always depicted as a huntress, and brown bears are apex predators. I'm sure you could do similar things with the aforementioned wolves, or even boars.

The point of all this is simply to say that while this is a goddess with what I consider to be a well-established character, Her name is not easy to pin down with linguistics, and the accuracy of Rtkona is not unquestionable. It's not an etymology as set in stone as say, Perkwunos, Xausos, or Dyeus. I'd argue even Rudrós's etymology has a stronger case. That doesn't make it inaccurate or even necessarily alien to Her PIE character, nor does it mean we shouldn't use the name, but it's worth noting that we don't have particularly strong evidence for this specific name compared to others, popular in usage as it is. I suspect Her to have been more a part of the women's and/or third function agricultural cults, which would help explain the inconsistency of Her name, and even why it's common for Her to be given the names tying Her to natural features and regions.

Her might epithets include:

Sk̑ōtyā́ / Sḱeɣwonā ("She who is a Shadow"/"Lady of the Shadows", from the names of Skaði and Scathach)

Ǵhwḗrṇtyā ("Lady of Wild Animals", from Potnia Theron, Feronia and Žvorūnė, although the latter two might lead me towards a rendering of Ǵhwḗrnā instead, but I haven't seen this form proposed yet as I have the former)

Weydnā ("Lady of the Woods/Trees", from Her connections with forests and the vegetation therein, from Medeina and epithets of Artemis)

Gu̯erna / Bherǵhna / Kwn̥tntyā ("Lady of the Mountain", from Arduinna/Ardbenna and epithets of Artemis)

Bhendhtynā ("She who Binds"/"Lady who Unties", from the name of Bendis, which may reflect a trifunctional nature as is commonly attested to the reconstructed Diwona as consort of Dyeus, although I consider that this might be the result of syncretism between Iranian religion and that of Thracians)

Kóryonā ("Lady of the Warriors"/"She of War", from the noun *kóryos which denotes a 'people under arms' and has been translated as 'army, war-band, unit of warriors'. While it is commonly connected to the IE Mannerbund by many, myself included, the connection is highly speculative and more convenient than anything else. Some cognates of Rtkona, namely Artemis, have also been connected to martial training, such as with the Spartan Agoge)

Keɣwtusna ("Lady of the fight / Lady of War", from *keh₃, "to fight")

Epuronā ("She-Boar"/"Lady of Boars")

Wĺ̥kwonā ("She-Wolf"/"She of Wolves")

Hélhēnā/Hélnā ("She-Deer"/"She of the Deer")

Possibly Diwona ("She of the Bright Sky", feminine form of Dyeus, which I assume to indicate her as his daughter, which may itself connected her to the sun goddess, Sexul, and if one were to identify her with Sexul, which we'll talk about later, one could her brother/consort with Menots, the moon, recreating a metathesis of the Greco-Albanian celestial associations of their cognates in accordance with the wider IE pattern)

Mena ( "She who Measures", feminine form of Menots, god of the moon, indicating Her lunar connections despite not often being THE moon deity of a given pantheon. Could also connect Her to memory, thought, time, and learning like Menots given the etymology and root meh₁-, meaning "to measure")

She likely had many epithets connecting her to local areas, given the names of Arduinna/Ardbenna, and many epithets applied to the more well attested cognates we've discussed. I'm from California myself, and use it as an epithet of Her's in my praxis with Her, as patron the region and it's nature, which I feel is quite fitting given the bear on our state flag, and the many mountains, streams, and in the north, forests, that cover the state.

[looking-at-the-deiwos]

could you write about Rtkona?

Ṛ́tkonā

Or as I write it Rtkona, her name means "She of the bears".

Rtkona is the goddess of hunting, wild animals esp. bears, and the constellation Ursa Major.

Proto Indo-European religion has many goddesses associated with animals like Gwóuwinda (cows), Ékwona (horses), and Rtkona. Gʷóuwindā lies within the center of social function as a goddess of marriage and family, while Ék̑wonā lies on the periphery between the social and asocial, as a war and fertility goddess. Meanwhile, Ṛ́tk̑onā represents the other side of that spectrum, as a goddess of wilderness and hunting in forests.

Offerings

imagery related to bears, woods or hunting

sticks taken from woods or other similar items

Devotional acts

take a walk in nature, especially in wild areas (safely)

invest in animal/nature conservation efforts

wear outfits inspired by bears

have images of bears around

take risks

Associations

Bears

the woods

the wilderness

forests

the hunt

Descendants in later pantheons

Artio (Celtic)

Artemis (Greek)

[faith-of-the-wheel]

Ṛ́tkonā part 1: Introduction and Cognates

The Indo-European Bear Goddess. A deity of hunting, wild animals, and the wilderness. Associated with the moon, the night, and liberty. An independent and dangerous woman. Her name is commonly reconstructed Rtkona means "She of the Bears", however etymology is sadly not our friend in this effort. We're going to really push the envelope with a few of these "cognates". I would also like to admit a certain level of bias. My own worship of Artemis is what brought me into paganism, my love of her and what she represents may color my thoughts on this reconstruction. I think a certain level Artemis-centric focus features in any and all attempts to reconstruct this goddess is going to be necessary for a variety of reasons(she's well attested, has a confluence of features and attributes seen in other cognates, etc), but I want my own personal bias to be noted. I'm gonna try and be objective, but if the end result ends being a somewhat broadened/indo-europeanized Artemis, don't say I didn't warn you. And in my defense, we're really scrounging for anything we can get with Rtkona.

Also, while I have called her a "bear goddess", I actually think the idea of a bear goddess as opposed to simply an animal goddess is poorly attested. We have several seemingly related mythological cognates for a powerful, dangerous, huntress, a potnia theron-type goddess. But the bear connection is much more tenuous. The huntress goddess herself seems to be almost exclusively attested in western traditions, so it may also be likely that was only worshiped widely in later times. A similar situation applies to Perkwunos, who also seems to be almost exclusively attested in western traditions(However, I and others have argued for cognates in Vedic Indra, and Parjanya, and possibly even in Ossetian/Alanic myth but that's more difficult to determine).

This name is typically formed from the name of the poorly attested celtic bear goddess, Artio(about whom we know almost nothing), and the theory that Artemis' name is related to the word for bear, which is highly contentious. But I have a tinfoil hat level, crackpot theory about this. We'll get to it right after a finish listing the cognates. Don't worry, there aren't many. And their details are even scarcer.

Another celtic goddess who we might consider is Arduinna. Delamaare gives the first part 'Arduo-' as ‘height’ or ‘high’, while Olmstead offers up an etymology derived from Ardbenna,  “She of the High Peak”, which connects her to the mountain-related Artemis Orthia("Upright/Standing"). Hansen connects her even more strongly to mountains.

Norse jotunn Skadi is a goddess of hunting, archery, and nature, especially mountains. She is also associated with wolves, skiing, and winter. She is most strongly connected to bears through her second husband, Odin(who, along with Thor, is VERY strongly associated with them), after her separation from the Vanir sea-god Njordr. I suspect that this may be due to the cult of Odin absorbing this aspect of her cult and their connections, which I'll definitely get into in part 2.

The Latin Diana is so closely associated with Artemis, the two can be hard to separate from a Italic point of view.

Her name is connected to Germanic nouns meaning "shadow" and "harm". The shadow connection is older, so we will focus on that. She is very strongly correlated with the environment of Scandinavia and some have speculated that the word itself means "Skadi's island". Dumezil has argued that Scandinavia its is connected a meaning of "darkness" and that Skadi's name comes from it. I don't hate this theory, it certainly holds some water, but if we assume he is wrong, then we can add a fourth cognate.

Irish Scathach, who's name is more concretely tied to "shadow". She is a legendary Scottish warrior woman and martial arts teacher who trains Cú Chulainn in combat. She is especially associated with the Isle of Skye, where her home Dún Scáith ("Fortress of Shadows") sits. She is called "The Shadow" and "Warrior Maid" and is the rival and sister of Aífe, both of whom are daughters of Árd-Greimne of Lethra.

Her connection to the Isle of Skye might indicate a Norse connection, which would likely be Skadi. Scathach gives a stronger example or Rtkona's martial aspect, seen as a somewhat but certainly real aspect of both Artemis and Skadi.

From Skadi and Scathach's names I have reconstructed the epithet Sḱeh₃onā (from *(s)ḱeh₃- "shadow"), written Skehona from here forward. I am not a linguistic, so this reconstruction might be terrible. But that the epithet "She of the Shadows" seems likely to me. Actually, given evenly our cognates are split here, Rtkona could be the epithet for all we know.

There is also the Lithuanian goddess Medeina/Medeinė (from medis "tree", or medė "forest"), who often treated as synonymous to Žvorūnė/Žvorūna (derived from žvėris – "beast". Note the connotation of power and danger here). She is a god of forests, hunting, and animals, especially wolves and hares.

There is also a similar goddess called Devanna(or Zevanna), associated with wild nature, forests, hunting and the moon, was worshiped by the western slavs. There are several interpretations of Devana's name. The most obvious etymology are words such as dziewa, dziewka, "girl, young woman, maiden", and dziewica, "virgin", a word derived from the dziewa. This evokes very Artemisian imagery. Another word, from which the name of the goddess may come from, may be the old Polish dziwy, "wild".

Thracian Bendis and Kotys could also be a cognates. Bendis is particular in that i think she may closely resembling Rtkona.

Finding an eastern cognate has proven extremely difficult, and sadly linguistics did not help. However, I have found two deities who may be of some use to us, albeit likely not in a historic sense.

The first is Aranyani, rigvedic goddess of forests and wild animals.

Aranyani(literally "forest")has one of the most descriptive hymns in the Rigveda. The Aranyani Suktam (Hymn 146 in the 10th mandala of the Rigveda) describes her as being elusive, fond of quiet glades in the jungle, and fearless of remote places. In the hymn, the supplicant entreats her to explain how she wanders so far from the fringe of civilization without becoming afraid or lonely. She wears anklets with bells, and though seldom seen, she can be heard by the tinkling of her anklets. She is also described as a dancer(as is Artemis in many instances, especially archaic, Indo-European-y ones). Her ability to feed both man and animals though she 'tills no lands' is what the supplicant finds most marvelous. The hymn is repeated in Taittiriya Brahmana and interpreted by the commentator of that work.

That was almost ripped straight from our old friend Wikipedia, minus a few spelling errors(feels good).

The second is Parvati. Kinda. Almost. Like I've said, we're really reaching here. But I'm working with what I've got(and what I've been able scrounge up from the local landfill) in order to frankenstein Rtkona together a bit. Her connection to Rtkona is both complicated as all hell, and very much in the vein Jurassic Park's frog DNA solution. So much so that Parvati gets her own part in the series. A preview of the reasons behind this exists in the third part of my series on Rudlos, which you'll be able to see enough. Hopefully.

That will be the next part I release, which will also include many of my own thoughts on Artemis, and consequently, Rtkona, and how I choose to reconstruct given a lack of particularly concrete linguistic or mythic evidence.