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?

Tags

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.

Did You Know…About Dragons?

Tags

anatomy, combat, dragon abilities, dragon riddles, dragon scales, dragon senses, dragon's breath, dragon's lair, dragon's treasure, mythology

Okay, dragons are an immensely varied species, so let’s explore the basics.

Most dragons have wings, like a bat with extended fingers creating the frame, giving dragons six limbs and feet that they can use with versatility. Their tail also has many uses, steering in flight, propelling in the water, and as a defensive weapon. Scales cover dragons’ bodies, growing with them, shielding them, and as they’re used as armor, a dragon does not shed its skin. Their feet tend to have three or four toes forward facing and a thumb-like digit that allows them to grasp objects.

Their teeth are strong as are the muscles of their jaws. With four fangs, the number of other teeth depends on their age and what they eat. Horns that point backwards are meant for grooming and those aimed forward are defensive.

Their senses, on a majority, are heightened. Sight adapted for hunting allows them to accurately judge distances and see in the dark. A forked tongue helps with sniffing and sensing others by their scent. Taste is exceptional, although dragons tend to hate sweet flavors. Blindsense allows them to see invisible things and see with their eyes closed. However, their touch is deadened due to their thick skin, scales, and clawed feet, and their hearing is no better than humans.

Dragons’ brains are large, making them smart. They love riddles and poetry and art and jewels. They tend to be reclusive, solitary creatures, hidden away in lairs. They prefer their own company but makes exceptions when mating and raising children or wyrmlings. They rarely unite and fight together against a foe, which is why most encounter only one dragon at a time. But they will fight each other over treasure, lairs, or mates.

Finally, dragons are incredible fighters, able to incapacitate their enemies with a range of natural weapons. Dragon’s breath, for instance, stretches amongst various chemicals that are as different as each individual. If one has enough in its lungs, one can blow dragons breath onto its victims. Dragonfear freezes a victim’s muscles, pumps them with adrenaline, and clenches their stomach. And dragons also have a nature talent for spellcasting, which links with their own unique personalities.

 

 

Source: Suncatcher, Sindri. A Practical Guide to Dragons. Mirror Stone Books. 2006.

Did You Know…About the God of Chaos

Tags

Acheron, Apep, Apollymi, god of chaos, Juracán, Leviathan, Meleia, Primordial God, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Zoroastrainism

In Greek mythology, Chaos was the first primordial god—according to Hesiod—who formed the initial void of the universe, or the gap between heaven and earth. In his version, Chaos was the first thing to exist, and from it came Gaia, Earth; Tartarus, the Nether Abyss; and Eros, Love. When personified, he fathered Erebus, Darkness; and Nyx, Night. Yet, this personification didn’t keep him from being known as a far away, underground, or gloomy place beyond Tartarus.

The Abrahamic belief systems reference Chaoskampf, or a cosmic battle between a sea monster that represents the forces of chaos and a creator god or a cultural hero that imposes order by force. Judaism refers to this chaotic creature as Leviathan (or more modernly as the “great whale.”) Christianity refers to Leviathan as the image of Satan, who threatens God’s creatures by trying to eat them and with the attempted upheaval in the waters of Chaos. This version demonizes him as envious and one of the seven Princes of Hell.

In Zoroastrianism, hymns presented the two sides of existence as the mainyu, or the mind, spirit and otherwise abstract energy, and the angra, or the destructive, chaotic, disorderly, inhibitive, and malign, etc. manifestations. It also refers to the angra mainyuas “absolute antithesis.” The mythological story portrays a back and forth between good and evil with the personified Angra Mainyu planning to dry up the earth, urging hero Zoroaster to turn away from the good religion for sovereignty of the world, and battling Spenta Mainyu for possession of khvaraenah, or divine glory and fortune. Utlimately, Angra Mainyu is assigned to the nether world, one of darkness, to reign over the daevas, demons or opponents.

Anient Egyptians embodied chaos as deity Apep or Apophis. As Ra was the solar deity, bringing of light, his greatest enemy was the “Lord of Chaos.” As the personification of all evil, Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent that stretched sixteen yards in length and had a head made of flint. Although, he has been similarly depicted as a crocodile, like modern Judaism has shown the Leviathan. Myth has suggested, however, that Ra’s birth was a consequence of Apep’s primordial force, thus suggesting that evil is merely the consequence of an individual’s own struggles against non-existence.

In the native Caribbean cultures, the deity of chaos and disorder was believed to control the weather, particularly hurricanes, called Juracán. Taíno mythology, these storms were spawned and controlled by the goddess Guabancex, or “the one whose fury destroys everything,” as the Taínos were aware of the hurricane’s spiraling wind patterns, which they used when depicting the deity. When Guabancex’s volatile temper unleashed these hurricanes—or juracánes—she would interrupt the balance of rain and drought, rotating her arms in a spiral to pick up the ocean water and land and force it violently back over the Taíno settlements. She threatened the other deities to coerce them into joining the chaos.

As for my depiction of the Goddess of Chaos, Meleia—although she is much more the goddess of fate and destruction as well—I gleamed a bit of her position from reading Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series with Acheron, the harbinger of destruction, and his mother, Apollymi, the Goddess of Life, Death, and Wisdom and daughter of Chaos. I particularly liked how the duo were shown as the destroyers.

Meleia does not destroy all, as shown in her recent mini, she only has say over her own people. Well, sometimes good people must do bad things. It creates balance. This is reflected in Ria and her phoenix, making an amalgamation of power that will change the universe.

I like thinking of Meleia, and other creatures normally seen as evil, as individuals who do what they do out of necessity. This has a heck of a lot of cultural connections. Make the ones you will. All seen as purely evil have some sense of humanity to them. Some sense of mercy and good.

I know where Ria’s mercy lies. Meleia’s seem to reflect them. This makes me excited about learning about her, and getting to see pieces of her life as she becomes a more an integral part of Ria’s story.

Who knows, maybe after these next two books, she’ll have intrigued me to give her voice a story all its own.

Let’s see what happens.

Check out these related posts:

Gods of Chaos, a Meleia Mini

Did You Know…About the Hybrids & Chaos?

Did You Know…About the Phoenix?

Did You Know..About the REPpers?

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crime drama, Garden of Eden, lucifer, Paranormal high school, REPpers, Rule Enforcers of the Paranormal, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, The Lily Graves Series, war over heaven, young detective

Demons make up a large percentage of the police community in Lily’s world; however, other creatures filter through them as well. Their responsibilities are large and wide-spreading. And at the head of it all, sits Lily’s mother.

I don’t want to give it all away, but the war over heaven never ended. Power has exchanged hands a few times. During this, Adam has worked beside Lucifer since he was cast out of the Garden of Eden, which is why Adam is sent to babysit because he’s one of the few who can protect her. And, well, not only is she an important bargaining chip, she’s inherited Lucifer’s rare powers.

But what she’ll do with it all? I hate to say that I’m not sure. I think some type of special task force—my favorite in the detective genre on television, a guilty pleasure—but that’s not coming for a few books, so I don’t feel too pressured to know what the specifics are any time soon.

I trust my characters and their stories to add up to something in the long run. They haven’t let me down yet.

So, even though this doesn’t say much about what her future job will entail, her first semester does, and she’s not sure if she’s up for the profession by the end of it.

I’m afraid she doesn’t have much of a choice. As she says often, she’s the product of scientists, the FBI, and an arch angel.

“How old are you?” 

“I’m the product of scientists and the FBI, so fifty?” 

She was made for this. Literally.

Since I still know little, I may as well highlight a few of those moments below:

From Chapter Six, The Person-to-Person Checklist:

Starr linked her arm with mine. “My friends and I are going to practice spells if you want to come along. You might not be a witch, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself…especially with your studying.”

Wow. The school’s Snow-White-look-alike might make this place seem a little less lonely, but I wasn’t ready for a coven of witches conjuring spells. “The fear of sounding like a complete dork noted when I mention that I have homework. I need to catch up on, well, everything.”

“Probably for the better. Most groups don’t get along well with REPpers.”

Slang for my major in REP, Rule Enforcers of the Paranormal. REPpers punished their own. They punished everyone. They enforced the rules. At least, that’s what I gathered so far. Maybe I watched too many cop shows.

“Do witches?” Did this mean Starr and I wouldn’t get along?

“Depends.” Her slender shoulders reached for those delicate gold swoops dangling from her lobes. “Black magic witches don’t really care for you guys, and some white witches are still holding onto this, like, century-long grudge. Personally, I prefer the person-to-person checklist.”

“Checklist?”

“Honest. Sarcastic. Quick. Sweet. You know, there are others, like personal taste, but it’s so hard to dig that deep right off the bat. I’ll let you know next time.”

 

From Chapter Seventeen, The Mandatory Test Question:

A lot of us split into our own groups on our free time in school—in the halls and at lunch—otherwise, we get along in class and other activities. In fact, I hang out with a witch and a chimera. I watch her flirt-fight with a vampire in Art. I was the product of intermingling.

“It seems to depend on the individual. We stick to our own in larger groups, but when we’re in smaller ones, we mix together just as well. We’ve created sub-groups because of it.”

Adam nodded in approval and stood again, hands linked behind his back. “We were once segregated, and therefore, do have a tendency to be attracted to certain other species. In the same way, we fight. Shifters are territorial as are vampires, fey, and dragons. They tend to fight more with each other than others. Muses, ghosts, witches, and sirens are less territorial and used to migrating as needed or possible. Demons and angels sit somewhere between, more concerned with their position within their own society rather than a physical location in the cosmos.

“It becomes rather odd to have most species squashed together in one place for so long, but the experiment has proven useful in our government, our cities, and our relationships with human governments.

“That’s not to say problems don’t arise. We’ve had a few major incidents but not in a while. People start disappearing, and it’s usually a sign that something’s coming.”

I leaned forward again. “What kind of something?”

“Historically, various spells and sacrifices, cleansings, terrorist attacks. They’re typical of secular groups, human cults, and whack jobs. Most of us get along just fine.”

But when they disappear…like these three…bad things do happen. Were there more students gone, and I didn’t know about it? Maybe, I could get Starr to write me a little spell and Evan to teach me a few ins-and-outs of the school’s office and filing system.

A plan seeded in my brain, and before it could bloom, Adam tapped my desk, refocusing me like he was used to my going off on tangents of thought. Did a lot of REPpers do that? My dad and uncle did as links formed for them.

 

From Chapter Twenty-One, Running on Sugar:

“How do you stand the condescending coldness?”

A soft shrug. “I’m used to condescending, and I think it’s more of a tonal problem. One of my dad’s students was a really smart guy. Like put my dad to shame smart, and Dad is brilliant. Mensa brilliant. And the guy rubbed everyone the wrong way. Fact-driven. To the point. Always madsounding. He taught me how to read someone’s eyes and facial expressions with their words rather than their tone. Tone is too easily faked.”

“Man, you sound like a bonafide REPper.”

“I am a product of my upbringing.”

 

From Chapter Thirty-Nine, Stick to the Plan:

“Don’t patronize me. You pretend to care because you think I took those kids. That because of your mom, you’re enlightened. Made to be a REPper, better than the rest of us, but the world will burn because of you and your blood.”

 

Have I interested you enough to make you click on the cover? It magically transports you to the discounted e-book. It’ll be a fun ride; I promise. Just be sure to hold on.