Liber ab Clementia (Book of Humanity)^271
Like any discussion of lore, this book is not complete in any sense of the word.
Were it possible to create a complete reference, such a manuscript would fill the shelves
of many libraries. Whenever possible, I have used the most current and credible refer-
ence material to expand and make corrections on the lore that has made its way into
my Book of Shadows. However, with ongoing studies into these matters, reference
material becomes outdated quickly. Making matters even more confusing, the same
story told several times becomes different. In preparing this material, there were many
instances where mythology provided two, three, or even more sets of parents/lines for
a particular god or goddess. In those cases, I choose the lineage that not only seemed
most current in academic reference but also the one that fits the underlying story pre-
sented by the whole of the line. That is, I have set my focus more on the relationships of
the gods and goddesses rather than on individual deity forms.
We have traveled so many miles since our exodus from Africa. Along the way, we
left behind pockets of humanity who developed unique cultures. But our journey has
not been only along the coastlines and up through the Fertile Crescent. Our journey
has not been only across land and over sea. It has also been a journey of time. As we
migrated, those pockets of humanity grew into elder communities. Some of those com-
munities prospered and grew. Others reached a peak and then fell from sight to be
replaced by a different community in the same corner of the world. Other communities
merged and mingled, sometimes as the result of war. Other unique cultures have been
referred to as if they were one and the same for so long that folk have started to believe
they are one and the same.
What is important in these matters is to remember that although we have been
separated by both distance and time, we are one people. We are the children of Ash
and Elm, who were themselves the children of Summer and Winter as well as Sky and
Earth. This is why we can look to the many deities, separated by great distances of both
land and time and see the same archetypes over and over again. To illustrate that point,
I have diverged from the typical method of identifying the names of our Lord and
Lady. Where most books list only the community who praised the deity, I have listed
the general part of the world where that community is found. In so doing, I preserve
the common reference to community in the context of the discussion of each particular
deity, but I add the additional generalized geography of each as well. When I say gener-
alized, I mean just that. Because I know that Ireland is not part of Central Europe,
when listing the names of our Lord and Lady of Ireland, I include that reference in the
context of those deities. However, I also note that when it comes to cultural migration,
Ireland is part of Central Europe. After all, it is Irish lore itself that states the Irish
people moved into Central Europe after the Great Flood and only later into Ireland.
Where cultures have moved about and intermixed enough that I can not be com-
fortable placing them with one migration or the other, I have listed the ones that seem
most likely with respect to lore, elder science, and the newer science of mitochondria
DNA. It is my hope that by doing so, I have illustrated that the many archetypes of our
Lord and Lady are a matter of human migration (the general references) more than
they are a matter of individual cultures (the contextual references) because I feel very
strongly that these archetypes belong first to the world but that understanding theirz WB Chap 17.p65 271 7/11/2003, 6:04 PM