I want to do a study on red-headed gods.  There's this weird parallelism with certain deities having red hair--Seth and Loki, for example--where they also have other similar attributes, and I want to see how far those attributes go.  One significant similarity is that they tend to be part of pairs--Seth and Horus, Loki and Odin--and those dual gods ( Read more... )

A little more support for a connection between the strigoi and Lilitu:  the word for owl in Latin is strix, and mythologically owls were portrayed as flesh-devouring, blood-drinking night terrors.  Although the Burney Relief (showing the bird-footed woman) can't conclusively be linked to the figure of Lilitu, she is still a flesh-eating night demon ( Read more... )

Another possible connection I've been wondering about recently is between witches (specifically evil stepmother, youth-sucking, child-eating types found in stories like Snow White, various Baba Yaga tales, or Hansel and Gretel) and certain varieties of eastern vampire such as the shtriga, which preys exclusively on children and is generally ( Read more... )

I wonder if there's a message in the iconographic similarity of mythological beings with wings (primarily angels and other non-bird based winged creatures) and eastern deities with multiple arms (Shiva, Kuan Yin, etc.).  This of course begs the further question of what the origin of these creatures are.  I know that angels, at least the original ( Read more... )

There used to be some apologetic type theories about what really happened to Jephthah's daughter in the book of Judges--that instead of burning her, Jephthah may have been allowed to let her go into the wilderness and live as a virgin, sacrificing his future heirs rather than the girl.  She did spend a couple months lamenting her virginity, but the ( Read more... )

Because reading about the use of tagging and folksonomies in libraries is boring as hell, I was working on my perpetual, dying-and-rising story that's in its millionth incarnation at the moment.  I'm trying to use "The Wasteland" and the interpretation of the Fisher King found therein (even though Eliot pretty much acknowledged it's all bullshit ( Read more... )

This is probably testament to how tired I am right now (three hours of intense frustration will do that to you) but I had a weird thought about John the Baptist.  Is he part of the wild man archetype?  Like, woodwose, wild man of the woods, Iron Hans kind of thing?  I mean, I can see the Iron Hans story as transmitted by the Brothers Grimm being ( Read more... )

Someone posted this article over on ontd_political and I had to put a link here.  Haven't read the book, have no familiarity with Krasny, and the only Huxley I've read is Brave New World.  But the ideas Reza Aslan (article author) addresses, and the concept of not knowing as spirituality unto itself, is something I get all too well.

www.thedailybeast.com/blogs- ( Read more... )

I feel Xipe Totec would approve of this poem.  Also Hunter.  Skull-cults have been recorded (or surmised, based on fairly significant evidence) all over the world; there's even some indication that some groups of Neanderthals may have practiced a form of skull-veneration.  It's an intriguing concept.  Frankly, I think it makes a lot more sense than ( Read more... )

I don't like Columbus Day, so this is my bank holiday post.  Also, I have to note here--they celebrate Columbus Day in Spain?  Seriously?  One of my classmates lives there, and she mentioned it in today's chat (which she attended at 1:40 am!  Holy crap!  A non-mandatory chat.  I mean, I'm still up then, but I sure as fuck ain't working on school ( Read more... )