The God is also divided into aspects, of which there are three. He is the Horned One, the Hooded One, and the Old One. These aspects actually preserve the story of the evolution of The Old Religion, from the Hunter Gatherer Era into the Agricultural Community Era. The Horned One is the Stag God of the Forest. He comes from the time of the Hunter. The Hooded One is the Green Man (he who is hooded-in-the-green). He comes from the time in which Humankind was learning to grow crops, and came to rely less and less upon wild beasts for food. The Hooded One eventually replaced the Horned One, as the symbol of the Slain God. Because he came after the Stag God, we say that the Hooded One is the son of the Stag God. As Humans matured in their spirituality, they eventually came to view the God in a more Human Image, and thus emerged the Old One concept (Deity in Human Form).
The Stag God is the consort of the Temptress, for he is the base sexual nature (among other things). In his domesticated form he is the goat (and from this mythos, arose the Christian idea that witches copulated with goats) The Hooded One is the Consort of the Mother, as he represents the seed, which is planted in the Goddess, and he is the ripe pod, bearer of the seeds. The Old One is the consort of the Crone (symbols of wisdom and maturity). The Chaste Maiden has no Consort (and therefore IS Chaste).
This is an aspect of the Aridian Tradition which I did not intend to go into, when I first decided to post notes. I usually speak of the Clan Aspects of the Goddess: Fana, Jana, and Tana. And of the God as : Faunus, Janus, and Tanus. These were the names which the Triad Clans had chosen as their respective God and Goddess Images, within their Mystery Tradition (Earth, Lunar and Stellar). The names which Aradia used in the 14th Century were Diana and Dianus. When the Clans were forced to scatter during the time of the Inquisition, they chose these other names of the Deities who were generally connected with the Mystery Tradition which the respective Clan was seeking to preserve.
To further confuse you, it might be of interest to note that, in the Aridian Tradition, the waxing Year is represented by the Stag God, and the Waning Year is represented by the Wolf God. The Stag god is called Cern/Kern (no, not Herne, different Land and different Mythos) and the Wolf God is called Lupercus.
When viewed as a whole, the Tradition appears to be more closely linked with Etruscan influences, than with anything else. The Roman influence is clearly visible as well. As to Greek influence, there is the classical myth of Orestes and Iphigenia. According to this, Orestes fled Greece with his sister, after having been accused of the murder of a provincial King. Iphigenia had been a Priestess of Ar- temis/Diana, and together with Orestes established a Grove at Nemi Italy, in honor of the Goddess. Since we know that myths generally contain a seed of truth, we must consider a Greek contact, at the very least.
Aradia herself was a Tuscan witch, and brought the Tradition south with her, to the Alban Hills region of Nemi. Whether she brought it "home" to Nemi, or encountered a kindred Cult worship there, I suppose could make an interesting debate. There is nothing in our Family Lore to suggest that it came from outside of Italy, however. It seems to have always been the belief, in our Tradition, that our roots are deeply Tuscan. Legend says that our Clans were once in central and southern Italy as well, but had originally come from Northern Italy.
Essentially, from what my own research has brought to light, I feel that the strongest current flows back to Etruscan times. For example, the oldest name of the Goddess in our Tradition is Uni, and the oldest God name is Tagni. These are clearly Etruscan names. Also, the Stag God and the Wolf God are central figures in the Aridian Tradition and Etruscan vase paintings portray a Goddess holding up a Stag and a Wolf, one in each hand. We believe this portrays part of our Mythos.
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