Did You Know…About Sprites?

Tags

affinity for the elements, did you know, dobbie, elves, fae, faeries, house elves, J.K. Rowling, mythology, Sprites

Of the fae, most of us are acquainted with faeries and elves the best, but several other categories of the fae-dom tend to go unnoticed. One of them is the sprite, and much like their counterparts, these creatures are unpredictable and mischievous. Unlike faeries and elves, they have more otherworldly attributes.

Most often, sprites are paired with water, generally linked to elemental spirits, like the Nixie, which comes from nuhhussa, an Old High Germanic word meaning water sprite.  Mythology also called them water nymphs, naiads, or nyads, who were divine entities fixed in one place—differing them from gods and corporeal beings, like selkies and mermaids.

Water sprites are typically spotted near or in small lakes and streams. In Sweden, they can look like a man, a horse a bull, and even a cat or dog. The Bäckahästen make their victims ride on their backs to drown them.

Sprites also have affinities for plants. Brightly colored and roughly the size of larger insects, these sprites have dazzling translucent wings. Many are confused with exotic flowers and butterflies at first glance. At night, they may glow, allowing them to hide amongst the fireflies.

These creatures are more common than their faeries and elven counterparts, living deep in the woods—high amongst the branches, down near rivers and streams, or calm and cool-weathered hills.

Wooded sprites travel in swarms that bite if provoked, and they love to pester butterflies, which they fly faster and longer than. Routinely, the wake and bathe before hunting and eating plant pests, feeding their symbiotic relationship with the flowers, grasses, trees, and bushes.

Tree sprites are responsible for aiding trees in shaking off winter’s snow, budding leaves, and bearing fruit, which they love to snack on. They also help turn the leaves in autumn, and pluck limbs bare to complete the cycle. Afterwards, they hide deep within the trees during winter to keep the tree company and sing to the roots. Sometimes, they don’t make it to the next spring.

A Dobbie is another form of sprite, the “household sprite,” originally seen in 1811, earning its name from dobbin, a farm horse in Merchant of Venice. Sussex, England called such spirits Master Dobbs. Much like J.K. Rowling’s rendition of Dobby, appropriately named, the house sprites take interest in the families they’ve adopted. They live in the unused parts of the house and are often retiring about the time their families are waking up.

Have you heard of the sprite? Which one is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below!

 

Read a Russian Folktale about the Wood Sprite: here.

 

Sources:

https://www.paganspath.com/meta/faeries.htm

https://mythology.wikia.org/wiki/Sprite

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(folklore)

https://aspcwf.wordpress.com/the-many-types-of-tribes-of-wee-folk/alphabetical-listing-of-tribes-discussed-here/household-sprites/

Did You Know…About the Scarlet Queen?

Tags

did you know, fae, faerie mound, fairy folk, Marusya Negreev, Russian Revolution, Soviet throne, the bloody queen, the Scarlet Queen, Tsar Nicholas the second

Marusya Negreev, the Scarlet Queen, single-handedly seized the faerie mound in the Soviet Union just before the Russian Revolution and the fall of Tsar Nicholas the second. Many believe that the fall of the mound influenced the fall of the tsar’s regime, but no one knows for certain.

When Marusya gained power within the Soviet mound, she flayed her own parents for her merciless upbringing and proved to the people that she would defeat all who came against her. Ruthless and dispassionate, her name was a sign of what she’d been burdened with, and her family was blamed for much of her bitterness. Names prove potent enough to taint the soul, especially amongst the faerie folk.

Many fae died without their home to hide within—exposed to the Celampresians and humans. Anyone who did not serve Marusya fled her rule. Too many didn’t make it out and more never found their way to safety.

Immediately following Queen Tarkovsky stepping down from the Soviet throne, Scarlet ordered the execution of what amounted to be a hundred-thousand faerie folk, more than a third of the population, earning her the title as the Scarlet Queen. The bloody queen.

She ran off to join the Celampresians as the revolutionaries gained greater numbers than she had the strength to fight from within the mound. Her death toll rose to a quarter million afterwards.

Now, she works with the vampire queen, searching for ways inside what was left of the independent mounds and the truth about her birth.

Did You Know…About Cinderella?

Tags

#fracturedfairytales, After the Happily Ever After, Baba Yaga and Vasilisa, Charles Perrault's Cendrillon, Chinye, did you know, History of Cinderella, La Gatta Cenerentola, Native Algonquin legends, Rhodopis, The Brothers Grimm, Ye Xian

The versions we currently know of the Cinderella story glean their pieces from a piece dating back to the first century, which transformed a tale about a Greek slave girl becoming an Egyptian queen into a supernatural and magical romance.

The first variant of Cinderella is “Rhodopis,” which originated in Egypt and is believed to loosely based on a real person. Herodotus wrote a story about a young, Greek girl being kidnaped by pirates and sold to a kind Egyptian master. Unfortunately, her fellow slaves are less kind, so she finds solace in her animal friends. Then, she discovers fancy shoes in the Pharaoh’s court. Cue the romance, of course, as she marries the Pharaoh by the gods’ decree. This early tale appeared in various forms across eighteen centuries.

Another close version appeared in the sixth century, depicting a Greek wealthy prostitute named Rhodopis plots to have an eagle steal one of the slave girl’s shoes, fly it across the Mediterranean, and drop it into the lap of an Egyptian king. The shoe was a sign from the heavens, and the king quests to find its owner, marry her, and make her a queen.

In a ninth-century Chinese portrayal, Ye Xian is granted a single wish from some magical fishbones: to create a gown in hopes of finding a husband. A monarch finds the shoe—a gold fish-scale design—and quests for the woman with tiny enough feet to fit it. Ye Xian’s beauty prompts the king to marry her, and the terrible step-mother dies in her cave home, crushed by stones.

The medieval Phillipines created “Anne de Fernandez,” where the title character befriends Gold-Eyes, a talking-fish reincarnation of her mother. Anne’s evil step-family tricks Gold-Eyes, kills her, and prepares her for supper after sending Anne on an errand across the forest. She’s shown the bones when she returns. Her only way out of this hellhole is when the Prince of Talamban falls in love with her instead of one of her step-sisters. An intriguingly small, golden slipper, leads the prince back to Anne in spite of her family’s plotting.

In Japan, Chūjō-hime, escapes her evil step-mother with the help of Buddhist nuns. She joins their convent in the end. And in Korea, the mistreated Kongji goes to the mayor’s feast, meets his son, and the love story ensues.

Most of the newer bits stem from more recent tales, like the seventeenth-century’s “Cendrillon” or “The Little Glass Slipper” by Charles Perrault, which depicted a young girl forced into servitude to her stepfamily and is eventually rescued by a prince with the help of a lost glass slipper, a godmother, and magic, of course.  His account introduced the pumpkin and the cinder element, since the maiden slept beside the fire every night and woke covered in ash. But in Perrault’s world, the stepsisters apologize for being terrible and go on to marry lords.

Most of the countless depictions follow this theme. Although one version has Cinderella murder her stepmother. I want to read this one. And another shows Cinderella force-fed her own toe. Ick. Needless to say, this character and her story isn’t so easily defined, yet she permeates our culture so deeply. She intertwines together centuries of storytelling and many cultures.

Another modern version comes from an Italian collection of short stories. “La Gatta Cenerentola,” or “The Cat Cinderella,” also possessed the ingredients of the modern tale, the step-family, the magic, the missing slipper, but it brings more darkness. A woman named Zezolla flees from a king who wants to marry her, narrowly escaping him at two different celebrations, but he catches her at the third and thwarts her ability to abscond. Instead of uplifting love, Zezolla’s story ends in a forced marriage. Oh, and she has six evil step-sisters instead of two.

A second Italian variant of the tale—or a second-cousin to the story—headlines with a woman giving birth to a talking gourd. A prince stumbles upon it and takes it with him. Eventually, a girl emerges from the gourd and is kept as a slave by the prince, who mistreats her terribly. Beaten to keep her from his ball, she makes it there anyways in disguise. They meet, and he gives her gifts throughout the night, and in the morning, she serves him breakfast as her squashy self, but has slipped her gifts into his food, and he realizes she is his beloved. They get married. Um, what?

Well, without surprise, the Brothers Grimm got their hands on the tale, too, creating a much darker story in the nineteenth-century. “Aschenputtel,” or “Ash Fool,” provides a tree growing from her mother’s grave instead of a fairy godmother to grant Cinderella’s wishes. Instead of a dead father, he’s obstinately ignorant of his daughter’s misery. Grimm gives the girl golden shoes and has her step-sisters cut off their own toes to get the shoe to fit. However, Cinderella still marries the prince, and her step-sisters are bridesmaids, but doves peck their eyes out during the ceremony. Yes! That’s one to read to the kiddos. I mean, if your kiddo was like me as a child…

In Russia, “Baba Yaga and Vasilisa” was written in the mid-nineteenth century and is similarly more adult. The girl, Vasilisa, is sent to a witch by her step-mother, who assumes that the girl will die. But she survives the hut made of human bones, her brush with death reunites her with her dad via a helpful magic doll. Unfortunately, Baba Yaga punishes the cat whose only job was to kill Vasilisa by scratching out her eyes.

Native Algonquin legends in the late nineteenth century provided us with “The Hidden One,” a variance that emphasizes morals rather than revenge. A young warrior named Strong Wind could make himself invisible, which he uses to test the truthfulness of the women who’d like to marry him. Then, he meets three sisters; two claim to see him when they can’t, but the youngest and most abused, tells the truth and, therefore, ends up with Strong Wind.

Disney’s version of Cinderella piggybacked on the more kid-friendly elements, like the talking animals and songs popular in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. It also worked as an excellent marketing tool, showing the merits of consumerism—the nice ride, the fancy dress and shoes, and how a grand entrance really does make a great first impression. Oh, and did you know that sparkly dress was based on designs by Dior, a French luxury fashion designer?

Most recently in 1994, West Africa offers Chinye, a reprieve from the marriage mandate. The young girl is sent by her step-mother to fetch water in a dark, scary forest. Chinye is patient and good hearted, which leads her to a treasure in the woods. This provides her with the financial freedom of her greedy step-family, and she goes on to live a great life, helping others with her riches.

The Cinderella story most often tells us that we can overcome hardship. That we have the power to change our lives. And if you’re a hopeful romantic, that love will find a way to save us.

I had the honor of reading through and publishing so many new takes on the fairy tale in AFTER THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. But since Cinderella marries a Charming prince, and so does Snow White, I couldn’t resist smashing the two princesses together in the same kingdom as undercover agents. Yes, you heard me right. Think fairy princess and 007, abusive husbands, crafty DWARVES, and conspiracy theories.

Hardships are abound, but can these two overcome them all? Who’s to say? Well, I could, but I won’t.

 

What’s your favorite version of the Cinderella tale? Let me know in the comments below!

 

 

Sources:

https://www.vox.com/2015/3/15/8214405/cinderella-fairy-tale-history

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/cinderella-origins

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cinderella#Origins_and_history

https://www.npr.org/2015/03/13/392358854/a-girl-a-shoe-a-prince-the-endlessly-evolving-cinderella

Did You Know…About the Skoffín?

Tags

death gaze, demon harriers, did you know, hybrid creature, Icelandic lore, Icelandic myth, silver bullets, Skoffin, skuggabaldur

Sometimes fathered by a fox and mothered by a cat and occasionally born from an old hen’s small egg, the skoffín were often killed at birth. The creature is not quite a cat nor a fox, not quite wild nor tame, kind of human but also animal, and extremely dangerous. They are cunning and cruel, often referred to as the “demon harriers.”

Skoffín are partly bald with impressive teeth and claws. They change color with the seasons like an Artic fox, and its exact appearance varies. Born with their eyes open, they disappear quickly after birth and don’t return for up to three years, when they feast on nearby animals. Most are killed at birth because they’re not easy to kill once they reach maturity.

Keeping them under control in the wild is impossible. They are deadly to approach. Meeting their gaze would instantly kill both man and animal. Worse, some stories say that you were dead if they saw you, whether you saw them or not. The skoffín are intrinsically abhorrent and spiteful, and they wet their appetite for destruction by killing.

They are capable of moving in the day and night and are clever enough to hide on church roofs. It once killed people one by one as they left. The priest was smart enough to tie a mirror onto a long stick to kill the beast with its own gaze.

The skoffín is closely related to the skuggabaldur, which are fathered by a tom cat and mothered by a vixen. It is a bit more dangerous and can outsmart a human if it wanted. Should you encounter a skoffín in rural Iceland, try averting its gaze as long as possible and run, and showing a skoffín its reflection is the only way to guarantee its death. You might also try firing silver bullets at it, and carving a cross on them helps.

 

 

Sources:

https://blogs.transparent.com/icelandic/2012/10/18/dont-let-them-see-you/

https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2008/09/03/more-monsters-and-mythical-beings-skoffin/

https://icelanddefrosted.com/2013/04/13/mythical-icelandic-creatures-skoffin/

https://www.mythicalcreaturescatalogue.com/single-post/2016/06/05/Skoff%C3%ADn-Iceland

Did You Know…About the Succubus and Incubus Demons?

Tags

Cambion, demon mythology, did you know, incubus, Lilith, Medieval Christian demonology, qarinha, sex demons, sleep paralysis, succubus, yakshini

The succubus and incubus come from Medieval Christian demonology that do their evil work by seducing their victims. The succubus is the female counterpart, and males account for the incubus.

The myth has some basic variations, like how the succubi and incubi are two different demons. Incubi impregnate women with demon seed while succubi impregnates itself using a human male. Others say these beings are the same within a shape-shifting demon, which must collect semen from a male before shifting and using it to impregnates another woman. Less regularly, these creatures use intercourse to possess their victim directly, typically while the person sleeps.

(Photo Credit (c) Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard’s Nightmare)

It’s difficult to pin down a specific physical description for succubi and incubi since they have shapeshifting qualities, but some ancient tales portray them as hideously deformed creatures that were small and stooped. They crawled instead of walking with their raptor feet, fargoyle faces, and clawed fingers.

Now, modern depictions of succubus specifically, summons the image of a voluptuous woman with flawless skin and smooth curves in skimpy leather outfits that flaunt their bodies. You know, all the telltale signs that they’re sexy demons. Many modern succubi also commonly have bat wings, barbed tails, curled horns, and glowing eyes like their satanic patronage.

(Photo Credit (c) Elena Samko cosplay Succubus).

In other cultures and religions, sex remains a part of the demon’s mythology. Arabic cultures depict them as jinns, but there are also non-sexual variations where the demon pins the person to a bed and strangles or suffocates the victim in some way.

Often, succubi and incubi don’t care who they hurt in the midst of obtaining their goal, like attacking their victims’ significant other for catching them in the act, an Old Hag in Newfoundland, Canada, suffocates her victims in their sleep with her ancient, hideous bulk, and Ephialtes, from Greek mythology, leaps on its prey like a great frog.

Their personalities have also shifted over time. The original succubi and incubi were nasty, sneaky, controlling, and malicious, opposing the current trend of oozing intense charisma and seductive power that can tantalize the opposite sex. Despite being sex-crazed, the ancient version didn’t care about pleasing men, and like the modern versions, they often used sex to please themselves, to pervert the virtuous, to gain their life energy, or to produce children.

(Photo Credit (c) Igor Igorevich)

Jewish and Kabbalah mysticism showcases Lilith as their prime example of a succubus, transformed after leaving the Garden of Eden and sleeping with the archangel Samael. Originally, Lilith was a Sumerian goddess of fertility, but later became associated with dark demons. The Greek version, Iamia, was beautiful and turned into a monster by Hera.

Merlin, from Arthurian legend, is portrayed as a cambion, or the child of an incubus and a royal woman or nun. And half-human children are common in Japanese manga.

(Photo Credit (c) Devil May Cry Corrupted Vergil).

In one story from 2012, a young man describes a succubus taking form as an imaginary friend from childhood, Lucy, who told the boy as he grew that she would teach him some new, exciting things when he reached puberty. The young man grew obsessed with this invisible character, concerning his parents and sending him to a number of psychologists. At sixteen, Lucy encouraged him to date real women and coached him through his sexual encounters. She stuck around for years until the young man fell in love with and married a real woman.

Historically, sex-demons, especially female sex-demons, can be found in a lot of cultures, like the yakshini in India, the qarinha in Arabia, the deer woman in Native America, the mogwai in China, and the Lamia in Greece.

These legends spread wide as an explanation for sleep paralysis, hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations. It also helped explain sexual taboos and the “devil made me do it” excuse for unwanted pregnancies, incest, and nocturnal secretions. They’ve also been linked to schizophrenia.

Got a favorite succubu/incubi story or myth? Tell me about it in the comments below!

 

 

Sources:

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Incubus_and_succubus_myths

https://www.ranker.com/list/scary-stories-about-succubi/cheryl-adams-richkoff?page=3

https://mythology.net/demons/succubus/

 

 

Did You Know…About Snow White?

Tags

After the Happily Ever After, Brothers Grimm, cinderella, fairy tales, Margarete von Waldeck, Maria Sophia con Erthal, Padmavat, poisoned apple, snow white, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Most know Snow White from the Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the nineteenth-century German fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm: a young, beautiful girl loses her mother. When her father remarries, the princess’s vain and wicked stepmother grows jealous of the sweet fairness of Snow White. There’s this crazy, magical mirror who reminds the aging queen that she is, indeed, aging. Eventually, the queen sends a hitman after the princess, she flees, is taken in by seven coal workers in the woods. They do the whole domestic thing until a witch comes and poisons her. No worries, Disney gives her a happy ending with the prince kissing her awake and whisking her off to the royal castle. The Grimm version makes the stepmother queen put on red-hot shoes and dance until she drops dead. Gives the story a bit more justified karma if you ask me.

A lot of symbolism lies in the fairy tale, but interestingly enough, in 1994, Eckhard Sander, a German historian, uncovered a real woman who could have inspired the story: Margarete von Waldeck, a German countess who was forced to move to Burssels at sixteen by her stepmother, Katharina of Hatzfeld. There, the countess fell in love with a prince Phillip II who became king of several European countries, like Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, England, and Ireland—due to marriage. Margarete’s father and stepmother disapproved of their relationship because of its political inconvenience, and the young woman died at twenty-one, supposedly poisoned by Phillip II’s father, who also opposed to the romance.

Still, the connections continue as the seven dwarfs seem to resemble the children employed by her father in his copper mines. Many of them died due to the poor conditions, but those who lived had stunted growth and malformed limbs from malnutrition and difficult physical labor.

And finally, the poisoned apple may have stemmed from German history as well, when an old man fed poisoned apples to children whom he thought were stealing his fruit.

However, another group of Bavarian scholars believe that Snow White was based on Maria Sophia von Erthal of Bavaria. The daughter of landowner, Prince Philipp Christoph von Erthal and his wife, Baroness con Bettendorff. When her mother died, Sophia’s father married the Countess of Reichenstein, who hated her stepchildren and lived in a castle with a talking mirror, an acoustical toy manufactured in 1720.

The dwarves in Maria’s storied also linked to a mine in Bieber set amongst the seven mountains, which had tunnels so small that only very short miners that wore bright hoods as the dwarfs were depicted over the years.

Additionally, the glass coffin connected to the glass industry of the region, and the poisoned apple associated with the nightshade plants that grow abundantly in Lohr.

Other fictional variations of the story show the queen committing cannibalism, eating Snow White’s lungs and liver, and could be a connection to old Slavic tales of witches eating human hearts. This connects to the later versions where the queen requests her huntsman to return with Snow White’s heart.

In another, Snow White is the villain and jealous of her biological mother. A version earlier than Grimm’s showed Snow White being sent out to collect flowers and being abandoned, both by the mother and a servant. Later, the story changed the villain to a stepmother to be more acceptable for children.

Other traditions outside of Europe create further variations, like Albania’s version showed Snow White living with forty dragons and a ring causing her slumber. However, the tale twists the initial conflict by having Snow White’s teacher urging her to murder the queen for her place of power. Others say her two jealous sisters try to kill her instead.

An epic Indian poem, “Padmavat,” depicts a stepmother queen asking her parrot who is the most beautiful with a disagreeable reply. The same happened in an Armenian story, where a mother asked the moon the same question, resulting in the plot to kill her daughter. And a Russian tale creates a similar story of Snow White but replaces the dwarfs with knights.

Plenty of interpretations exist over the symbolism in the well-known tale: the seven-deadly sins and the seven dwarfs; the black, white, and red and their links to alchemy, Indian philosophy, and Egyptian culture; a metaphysical rebirth of Snow White’s reawakening; the poisoned apple links to Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, and etc. I could write a post all its own about these.

Another time.

Want to see more twists to the classic tale and others? Check out AFTER THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, and read my version “She of Silken Scarves,” which mixes Snow White, Cinderella, and Mission Impossible with a slew of conspiracy theories.

 

 

Sources:

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/exploring-true-origins-snow-white-and-seven-dwarfs-004150

http://mythicspiral.blogspot.com/2012/07/snow-white-and-seven-dwarfs.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White#Variations

Did You Know…About the Merfolk?

Tags

Atargatis, Blue Men of the Minch, did you know, Finfolk, fish gods, Kappa, merfolk, mermaids, selkies, The Mermaid Wife

Most are familiar with the Disney depiction of merfolk and Ariel’s struggle to find love on land, without her voice no less, a sanitized version of the Hans Christian Andersen’s tale where she does not have a happy ending, and spoiler, not only does she suffer with every step on land, she also dies a painful death.

This may be a reflection on mermaids’ association with misfortune and death, and the common merging of their mythology with that of sirens, luring sailors to their watery graves. But the mermen have also earned a severe reputation for summoning storms, sinking ships, and drowning sailors.

In any case, we see merfolk described as a half-human, half-fish hybrid creature, and we’ve had mythologies about these creatures for thousands of years, like Babylon’s Era and Oannes, the fish gods. Greek mythology tells of the god Triton, a messenger of the sea, and the Hindu and Candomblé still worship mer-goddesses.

An interesting version from the Shetland Islands mixes the merfolk with selkies, telling of strikingly beautiful women whose appearance is a temporary effect of donning fish skin. And if they lose the skin, they will be stuck on land. In one tale, “The Mermaid Wife,” a man, Unst, walked along the beach, saw a group of merfolk dancing in the sand under the moonlight with skins strewn across the ground. Unst snatched one and concealed it. When he returned to that spot, he happened upon the fairest of the women, sad over the theft of her skin and her exile. Unst offered protection, married the damsel, and they produced several children. After some years, their children found the hidden skin and returned it to their mother. She hugged them goodbye and sped off towards the sea. Unst returned from a trip just in time to chase after her and witness her magnificent transformation. Before she disappeared under the water with her merfolk family, she called back her love to him, but that her first husband was her true love.

Also in Scotland, the Blue Men of the Minch, are a group of mermen, who have blue-tinted skin and gray beards. They challenge ship captains before sieging the ship. If a captain is quick witted, he may best the Blue Men and save his men. They’ve also been known to battle against the Vikings and their Norse king, which may coincide with when the Vikings landed, wearing blue, veiled clothes.

The kappa from Japanese myth live in lakes, rivers, and on coasts, but they differ from the traditional merfolk by taking on a more child-like form with ape-like faces and tortoise shells on their backs. When they interact with humans, they, like the Blue Men of Minch, enjoy challenging humans to games of skill that come with a death penalty when lost. They also prefer to kill children or those silly enough to swim alone in secluded places; however, most prominently, they prefer fresh cucumbers, which might make a nice trade for one’s life.

The Ningyo, also from Japanese myth, have varying human characteristics, making them more monstrous and uglier with a deformed fish face, human torso, and long, bony fingers with sharp claws. These versions of the mermaids have a bonus: consuming their flesh grants immortality, but this comes with great risk as the Ningyo can place powerful curses on the humans who try to trap or wound them, linked with entire towns being swallowed by earthquakes and tsunamis.

In Norway and the Orkney Islands, they have myths of the Finfolkaheem, or Finfolk, which may be one of the least traditional versions, considered sorcerous shapeshifters. They do maintain negative relationships with humans, often abducting them as spouses or making them servants because if Finfolk marry one another, the Finwife will lose her mystical charm and age increases her ugliness in seven-year increments until she becomes a hag, which is why they prefer to abduct human males as their mates. The best way to escape their entrapments is by tossing a silver coin away from oneself, as they have an affinity for the precious metal.

The earliest rendition of a mermaid-like entity came from ancient Syria and their goddess, Atargatis, who watched over the general well-being of her people and their fertility. Human above the waist and fish below, she was obviously associated with water and had the biggest, most stunning temple, which featured a pond full of sacred fish.

A common thread amongst these myths create an intriguing paradox: the beauty and the beast trapped within the same creature. Some are victims, others are predators, but all manifest magic that affects the humans they interact with. Most commonly to the humanity’s demise.

 

Sources:

https://www.wired.com/2014/10/fantastically-wrong-strange-murderous-sometimes-sexy-history-mermaid/

https://www.livescience.com/39882-mermaid.html

http://mentalfloss.com/article/75471/9-mermaid-legends-around-world

Did You Know…About Druids Talking to Animals

Tags

animal guide, celtic deities, Celtic Religion, did you know, Druids talk to animals, Irish tragedy, magical horses, psychological transformations, sacred animals, welsh myths

In the old days, tribes lived with their animals differently than most do now. Druids sought involvement in life rather than detachment and simply included animals in their lives: spending time, caring for, and conversing with them beyond the ordinary. Animals in the spirit and physical world guide, counsel, heal, or protect us.

Druids learnt about animals’ special qualities and gifts through experience. The Ovate, especially, study animals and trees who hold particular attributes that they can call upon to help themselves, seeing or relating to them in our inner worlds as well as the outer worlds, too.

Tarbh-feis was a ritual where Druids cook a killed bull’s meat, go into a trance, and consume the sacred animal’s flesh to taste their magical powers. Imbas forosnai allowed the Druid to gain advice from these animals’ spirits. Many myths create links between speaking to animals with shapeshifting, which most ancient Druids believed were psychological transformations rather than physical ones.

In the “Tàin Bo Cuailgne,” two swinwherds with magical powers were the druidic keepers of the sacred animals. As the last rival Druids, they became two great magical bulls.

The Celtic religion were considered unusual since they highly regarded pigs when most considered the animal filthy and unhygienic. Yet, myths tell of a series of characters being transformed into swine, like Gwydion and Gildaethwy who birthed a piglet whom a wizard turned into a boy, like Cilhwch and Hen Wen, too.

Deer also featured prominently with the deer hunt motif that engrossed the hunter so that the deer could lead them through the gates of the Otherworld without them noticing. A great number of Celtic deities were depicted with stag antlers.

Magical horses were also common throughout the myths, some needing up to thirty women to satisfy their sexual lust, some rode easily over water, and some lured fools onto their backs and drowned the riders.

Swans imply a romantic context as they’re monogamous, used as the primary symbol of how love conquers all. In one of Ireland’s tragedies, a jealous stepmother turned Lir’s four children into swans for nine-hundred years, who could still speak to humans and make beautiful music.

Finally, the salmon embody wisdom. They swim in a magical pool where hazel nuts fall from the nine trees surrounding it. Eating the nuts gives them the salmon the wisdom of the trees. Some Welsh myths claim salmon as the oldest of all creatures. Those who taste salmon absorb knowledge.

Many Druid tribes felt connections to specific animals and believed in animal ancestry. Either way, animals guided and guarded them.

 

 

Sources:

https://druidnetwork.org/what-is-druidry/learning-resources/polytheist/lesson-thirteen/

https://www.druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-animal-lore

 

 

Breaking Down Satire: Satirical Violence

Tags

blood phoenix saga, Breaking Down Satire, derision, irony, sarcasm, sarchasm, satirical elements, satirical violence, vampires, wit

Often, when people talk about violence and satire, they’re discussing the violent acts within a text, especially video games.

Well, that’s not what satirical violence means. It’s when the subject is treated violently.

Since satire can have a wide range of tones and varying strengths of attack, violence can be considered one of the more cutting instruments in the tool box.

To clarify—or re-clarify—the purpose of satire is to ridicule human folly and vice through irony, derision, or wit, or my preference, sarcasm. So, violence takes that ridicule to an extreme.

One of my favorite examples of this is South Park: think “Raising the Bar,” how the present Barbara Streisand, “Taming Strange,” and “Go Fund Yourself,” amongst many, many more. The way they handle their subjects tend to be extreme to hammer their points home. Or so I assume. I may practice analysis for a living, but I will never claim to actually know the intent of an author. With that out of the way, let me provide an example where I do know the writer’s intent.

In nearly every one of my stories and novels, I make an attack on conformity. It’s my leading satirical note, and I hit it pretty viciously. One of the things I hammer is conforming to any group’s ideals—not just the leading ones.

Why? Because conformity means following without understanding one’s actions or behaviors. It eliminates original thought, which keeps people from analyzing messages completely.  Again, this is something I teach, and my favorite way to teach it is by presenting ideas that are not my own, playing devil’s advocate, and presenting interesting texts for examination since I don’t want to create twenty-four or forty-eight or ninety-six Alisha clones. Please, one of me is enough. I simply want individuals who can think for themselves and to seek out information on topics from multiple perspectives.

That’s the interesting thing about Ria, specifically, in my Blood Phoenix novels. Constantly, she’s reminded that the Assetato and the Celampresians are evil paranormal groups. One clearly claims good over the other, but both complete evil acts for the sake of their own goals. However, good and bad exist on both sides. The whole of one group cannot be defined by particular members of it.

The reason I call it satirical violence is because this lack of conformity gets her in a lot of trouble, and consistently. Most often, Ria’s right. Like when she refused to kill her victims, when she rebelled against those who kept her in a cage and fed her a child, when she refuses to show her fear of the queen vampire, when she helps a new renegade adjust, when she chose to surround herself with humans…I mean, I could list more, but I think I’ve made my point.

Violence is an important, and often misunderstood, characteristic of satire. It’s also one to be careful with as it can polarize more than the deftly crafted story will.

 

 

Did You Know…About the Types of Angels?

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Archangels, Cherubim, Different Angel Types, Dominions, Guardian Angels, Powers, Principalities, Seraphim, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, Thrones, Virtues

Originally, angels were known as god’s messengers, his shadows, and serve as the celestial host, but writing categorize them according to their proximity to god and his grace: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. Further definition breaks them into three houses: The Angels of Contemplation, of the Cosmos, and of Earth.

The Angels of Contemplation supervise the entire universe, concerned with the divine grace’s manifestations in the cosmos. They do not interact with humankind in a direct way.

This sect includes the Seraphim, who serve as god’s caretakers, singing his praises and circling his throne with grace. Because they bask in god’s presence, no other beings, not even other angels, can look at them, but they are described as having six wings, two covering their faces, two covering their feet, and two keeping them aloft. And as they sing tributes to the lord and god’s decrees, they never cease singing.

Also of this order are the Cherubim, who exist just beyond god’s throne and the Seraphim. Guardians of the light and the stars, they radiate divine light to cover the inverse with warmth and love. They are the keepers of knowledge and secrets, both Divine and Earthly. The Cherubim have a melding of typical angelic features; two or four wings; one of four faces, lion, ox, eagle, and man; or with the head of a lion, hands, arms, and torso of a man, and the legs and hooves of a calf.

Thrones are the last class of the upper echelon, whose primary purpose is to bare the throne of god and the first line of justice and keeping of celestial law. They ponder the initial temperament of every godly ruling on the guilty and bestow the verdict on those below. They’re known as humble creatures who maintain their neutrality and objectivity in order to dispense justice. Simple yet bizarre, thrones are large orbs or wheels covered in reflective eyes and glowing with shimmering iridescent light—often charioting god as they exist in the state between physical and celestial worlds.

The Angels of the Cosmos maintain balance between the spiritual and corporeal universes. They often pass between the planes and rarely come in contact with humans as they risk compromising man’s natural flaws. Their exposure to the constant, intense duel puts them in a precarious position, as those who are purest are the most susceptible to impurity.

The Dominions create the top tier whose primary purpose is to maintain the lines of communication between the worlds to regulate the duties of the angels below them in the hierarchy. They see across the infinite through endless eyes and have the ability to shift their physical bodies as they wish; although this makes them hard to describe, they typically carry a large orb or massive scepter as symbols of authority.

Next, the Virtues channel the vast energies throughout the cosmos in countless forms. Their chief objective is to convey the unending heavenly energy to the physical world to be broadcast into humanity’s collective consciousness. They bestow heavenly miracles and holy blessings for those god favors, so they are often associated with courageous heroes whose strive for good. These angels appear as pure light who oversee all the stars, planets, and moons that fill the galaxies—overseeing the nature of things to mark the seasons and elements.

Powers oversee the laws binging the physical realm, guarding peace, harmony, and order. The celestial energy they channel strengthens religion and bolsters the faithful against enemies of the church. They keep count of god’s followers, gather the truth, and hold all of the world’s history. Patrolling the borders of heaven, they act as the guardians in a more material manner and discourages any hellish invasion. The highest number of fallen angels come from this sect, possibly because of their proximity to temptation in the material world. Physically, they look like perfect humans with wings, marking them as the highest of the holy army.

Lastly, the Angels of Earth reside in the spiritual plane but are intricately involved with mankind’s affairs—present in the everyday lives of humanity, weaving in and out of our reality, listening and influencing. These angels are responsible for revelation, diplomacy, and retribution.

The Principalities bear the social mores needed for political and administrative success in the earthly realm. Functioning in large groups, they create positive and symbolic energies to structure the abstract and push the boundaries of what is possible. Allowed more freedom to interact with humanity, principalities determine others’ assignments. Like the other Earth Angels, few traits distinguish them apart from the Powers.

Archangels are the best known of the hierarchy. These sizable and imposing angels carry out god’s will, answering prayers, which is the main reason for their popularity. They indicate imminent great change.

The final sect of the hierarchy are simply angels, whose focus is on guarding humanity. Floating in the invisible ether, they are the lowest amongst their brethren due to their proximity to god and amalgamation of powers, but they hold an important place on Earth. Powerful and magnificent beings, they radiate perfect grace and spirituality. Some of them are actual Guardian Angels, assigned to individuals, places, and things. Innumerable others watch, record, and influence infinite worlds.

 

For centuries, religious scholars have categorized angels in dozens of different ways, and these nine orders are just the beginning. Stay tuned for more on angels, heaven, and hell in future Did You Know…posts.

Get to know more about my favorite angel offspring, Lily, in THE GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.