#lupercus

May you have all the fertility / whips for kicks you wish for! 🩸

(Sadly, probably not the origin for Valentines -https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lupercalia.html#note:February_fifteenth )

February 13 to 15 many devotees, free Souls of the Ancient Way (Stregheria, Traditional Witchcraft) honor an ancient Italic Deity called Faun-Lupercus.

The old wolf, Lord keeper of flocks, Father purifier companies, Spirit of the forest where the oracle (Faunus headlights from the verb: to speak) occurs in the whisper of the leaves of the woods. The popular tradition regarded him as a good and auspicious God (from the verb favere: protect) is explained here as also the protection of fields and livestock in the aspect of Lupercus. Also remember that the Faun turns into a snake while in wolf Lupercus.

According Brelich is an ancient pre-Roman Italic Divinity: "everything that constitutes the substance of party-clutter ritual purification can be achieved without any necessary reference to a particular deity, the Lupercalia, as well as several other parties, may have roots oldest Roman polytheism of the same".

"Ancient Eternal Spirit, Wolf and Snake purify and protect all the devotees of the Ancient Way. Praise to you, Lord rural, half man and half animal".

Chthonic, Apotropaic, Purification, and Fertility

Now that we’ve dispelled common misconceptions, let’s get on to the business of discussing the origins of the festival.

A variety of names for the deity of the Lupercalia have been offered by ancient authors: Ovid names Faunus, or Pan (Fasti, ii); Plutarch suggests the She-Wolf Lupa and perhaps indirectly Pan Lycaeus (Romulus); Inuus by Livy (History of Rome, 1.5.2); and Lupercus by Justin (Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, 43.1.7). Some have also named Juno as a relevant deity. While I’m interested in discussing each, it is sufficient that we understand that the disagreement of which deity it was held for suggests that the Lupercalia was of ancient origin and originally a magical (occult) rather than religious rite.

Lupa, Luperca, Lupercus

Though the wolf in Italy was more highly venerated than any other animal in regards to magic, prophecy, and dread, there were few cults associated with them. The Faliscans of Mount Soratte (Soracte) worshiped the fire-wolf god Soranus. Soranus was chthonic, destructive, connected to the underworld, but was also sought for purification and prophecy. His priests were the Hirpi Sorani (hirpi being the Sabine word for wolf) who wore the skins of wolves as ritual garb. As part of their ceremony, the Hirpi Sorani would walk on coals unburned, partake of a sacrificial victim, and flee from the cave in which the ceremony was held. In time, Soranus was absorbed into Apollo Soranus.

More pertinent to the Lupercalia was the cult of Luperca. Plutarch relays the fable in which the Faliscans, in order to avert plague, were advised by an oracle to sacrifice a maiden to Juno every year. Juno’s priestess, Valeria Luperca, is chosen for sacrifice but is saved by the substitution of an animal through the intervention of a divine eagle. This story is similar to that of Iphigenia, wherein a maiden is saved (at least in some versions) by animal substitution. 

The close identification of Iphigenia with Artemis has led some scholars to speculate that Iphigenia was originally a hunting goddess whose cult was absorbed by Artemis. As there is no mention of human sacrifice to Juno anywhere else, and that her name is rooted in lupa or wolf, it is likely that Valeria Luperca was originally a wolf goddess that became subordinate to Juno. The fable may serve to explain how the terramara folk (represented by the divine eagle) put an end to the practice of human sacrifice.

Prior to the arrival of the Romans, the indigenous people inhabiting the Palatine were distinctly chthonic in religion. Shrines and tombs to gods of prophecy, death, and fertility are scattered all around the area, predating the founding of Rome. Of these the sacred fig tree of Rumina, goddess of breastfeeding mothers, stands nearby the Lupercal cave. The story of the nursing of Remus and Romulus by the She-Wolf, Lupa, is extremely well known and needs not repeating here. 

The Lupercal cave is named, unsurprisingly, after the wolf, whom Varro refers to as the goddess Luperca. This indicates the antiquity of the goddess as many, many goddesses were displaced by a male double (Lupercus in this example). Authors who name Lupercus as the god of the Lupercal explicitly refer to him as synonymous with Pan who is himself derived from a primitive wolf god. There is a pattern of chthonic, animal deities (Lycaeus, Solanus, Luperca) that become anthropomorphized (Pan Lyceaus, Apollo Solanus). Hence, Lupa (wolf) becomes Lupercus (wolf averter). 

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