Tag: history

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Aztec Mythology: Mictlán

In Aztec cosmology, the soul intakes a journey to the Underworld after death and they have four destinations: the Sacred Orchard of the Gods, the Place of Darkness, the Kingdom of the Sun, and a paradise called the Mansion of the Moon.

The most common destination for a soul is Mictlán (Place of Darkness) with nine levels, crashing mountains and rushing rivers, and four years of struggle. There are 13 Heavens over which various gods and goddesses preside and provides the cultural basis for the Day of the Dead customs and celebrations.

Mictlantecuhtli is the skeletal Lord of the Land of the Dead – the supreme ruler of Mictlán. He oversees the place of eternal smoke and darkness along with his consort Mictlancihuatl.

Mictlán ruled by its Lord and Lady, is a gloomy place a soul reaches only after wandering for four years beneath the Earth, accompanied by a “soul-companion,” usually a do which was customarily cremated with the body.

Aztec myth tells how Quetzalcoatl (Nahuatl language means “feathered serpent”) journeyed into Mictlán at the dawning of the Fifth Sun (the present world era), and restored humankind to life with from the bones of those who had lived before. Bones are like seeds: everything that dies goes into the Earth, and from it new life is born in the sacred cycle of existence.

Quetzalcoatl’s Descent To Mictlán

At sunset, Mictlantechutli (Lord of Underworld) and Tonatiuh (Star God) take their place to illuminate the world of the dead.

Legend tells that after Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca created the world, the day and night, they placed Mictalntecuhtli and his wife Mictlancihuatl as Lord and Lady of the underworld.

The counterpart of Mictlán is the paradise known as Tlalocán, or the home of the god Tlaloc, where the dead who drowned or were struck by lightning would dwell.

The 4 houses of the dead:

•Chichihuacuauhco

•Mictlán

•Ilhuuicatl-Tonatiuh

•Tlalocán

Chichihuacuauhco is the first mansion, a place of dead children. In its middle there is a large tree whose branches drip milk so the children could might feed and gain strength. These children will return to the Earth when our world of the Fifth Sun is destroyed. That is why children died young so they might repopulate the Earth for the future.

Mictlán is the second house. Those who succumbed to illness and old age went to dwell in Mictlán. The soul must make a 4 year journey and pass through nine layers of the Underworld and various daunting tests. These included the dead coming to the river Apanohuaya which is impossible to cross without the help of an Itzcuintli (xoloitzcuintle), a special dog each family raised and cremated alongside the mourned deceased.

Among the Aztecs, the god Xolotl was a monstrous dog. During the creation of the Fifth Sun, Xolotl was hunted by Death and escaped him by transforming himself first into a sprout of maize, then into maguey leaves and finally as a salamander in a pool of water. The third time that Death found Xolotl, he trapped and killed him. Three important foodstuffs were produced from the body of this mythological dog.

Mictlantecuhtli, Lord of the Dead, had kept the bones of a man from a previous creation. Xolotl descended to the Underworld trying to steal these bones so that man could be reborn into the new world of the Fifth Sun. Xolotl recovered the bones and brought man to life again by piercing his penis and bleeding upon them. Xolotl is seen as an incarnation of the planet Venus as the Evening Star (the Morning Star was his twin brother Quetzalcoatl).

Xolotl is the canine companion of the Sun, following its path through both in the sky and the Underworld. Xolotl’s strong connection with the Uderworld, death and the dead is demonstrated by the symbols he bears. In the Codex Borbonicus Xolotl is pictured with a knife in his mouth (symbol of death), and has black wavy hair like the hair worn by the gods of death.

Upon recognising his dead master, the dog barks, then rushes to help the deceased to cross the river and carries its master upon his back while swimming.

After the crossing, the soul is stripped of all clothes, beginning the second part of his journey between two mountains that conflicted with each other. This pass is called Tepetl Monamiclia, where the deceased would make warily make their way hoping the two mountains wouldn’t clash and crush the passing traveler.

At the end of the pass, a descent down a hill strewn with flints and sharp obsidian (same material used to make knives) and the soul would call to Ilztepetl. But the stones still mercilessly cut the feet of the dead as they passed.

Celhuecayan, the eight mountains is covered i perpetual snow that falls constantly and is whipped up by strong winds.

The soul the arrives at the foot of a hill, the last part in the journey called Paniecatacoyan. These moors here are cold and large, where the dead would walk endlessly crossing the desolated land.

The soul then take a long path, where they are struck with arrows. This place is Temiminaloyan and the arrows are fired by unseen hands.

At the end of the path is Tecoylenaloyan, where the soul exists with thousands of fierce beasts. When any of the beasts reached them, the souks would throw open their chests and let the beasts eat their hearts.

The souls os then forced to dive into the Apanuiayo (black water river), and where the Xochilonal dwells. The soul must swim in this lake, dodging the animals, including the terrifying lizard to get to the next test.

Finally, tired, injured and exhausted with suffering, the soul reaches Chicunamictlan, where they would meet Mictlantecuchtli, the fierce God of the Death who would receive them with vengeance.

Here the soul’s cycle ends forever and here they would live until their bodies and their lives extinguish.

The long journey lasted for four years, in which the deceased came to his eternal rest.

The mansion where most of the dead arrived were those who would diedof natural causes.

The is the Kingdom of the Sun.

Here the warriors, slaughtered at the hands of their enemies, rest. Those souls of women who died in childbirth are counted among these. For among the Aztecs, pregnant women were like warriors who symbolically capture her child for the Aztec state in the painful and bloody battle of birth. Considered as female aspects of defeated heroic warriors, women dying in childbirth became fierce goddesses who carried the setting sun into the netherworld realm of Mictlán.

Mictlán is a place outside of the time. A wonderful infinite place, and a beautiful plain, at every day the sun rose, warriors beat their shields.

After four years, these warriors would turn into rich bird-feathers, small, living creatures eating the flowers.

Those who had died by drowning, lightning, and other deaths related to water and rain arrived at Tlalocán, the Mansion of the Moon, a place of unending springtime and a paradise of green plants. This place belongs to Tlaloc.

Tlaloc is also associated with caves, springs, and mountains, most specifically the sacred mountain in which he was believed to reside. His animal forms include herons and water-dwelling creatures such as amphibians, snails, and possibly sea creatures, particularly shellfish.

The dead arriving here would be happy, fresh and unconcerned. These dead hadn’t been cremated, but buried.

And so, between the mansions the dead Aztecs were divided, each person going to their designated place in the Mexican Underworld.

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Voodoo Folklore: Baron Samedi

Baron Samedi is the leader of the Barons and possibly the Gedés. He presides over a sprawling, confusing, complex clan of spirits. Baron Samedi literally means Baron Saturday, which may sound innocuous compared to Baron Cemetery but a connection through Christianity is Saturday was between the crucifixion on Friday and resurrection on the Sunday. Thus, the Saturday, belongs to Baron Samedi, Lord of the Dead. Or another possible explanation for the name is that Samedi is related to ‘Simbi’ or zombie in Haitian and there is only a coincidental resemblance to the French word for Saturday.

Baron Samedi spends is mostly in the invisible realm of the Haitian voodoo spirits. He is known to be outrageous – drinking rum and smoking cigars, swearing profusely, and making filthy jokes. The other spirits in the Guede family behave similarly but lacking the suaveness of Baron Samedi.

Despite being married to the loa, Maman Brigitte, the Baron chases after mortal women and lingers at the crossroads of life and death in the human world.

When someone dies, the Baron is said to dig their grave and meet their soul as it rises from that grave. He guides them into the underworld and only Baron Samedi has the power to accept an individual into the world of the dead. He also makes certain those who have died rot in the ground as they should, and no soul can return as a brainless zombie. For this act, he will demand payment which varies upon his mood at the time. On many occasions, he accepts gifts of cigars, rum, black coffee, or grilled peanuts but he may ask others to continue wearing black, white or purple.

Baron Samedi, is the head of the Guede family, the group of loas that control life and death. This powerful family of spirits possesses numerous abilities. The Baron is also a giver of life and can cure any mortal of a disease or wound provided he believes it is a worthwhile act to save the individual. The Baron even has the power to overcome voodoo hexes and curses. An individual who is cursed by a hex or other black magic is not guaranteed death if the Baron refuses to dig their grave. As the Master of the Dead and Guardian of Cemeteries, no one can enter the underworld without his permission. In this way, he can prevent death.

He a powerful healer and is especially sympathetic to terminally ill children. He can be just and kind. The Baron prefers children live full lives before joining him in the cemetery and underworld.

Baron Samedi is the crossroads where sex and death meet. The Spirit of an undying life-force and he may be petitioned for fertility. He is the guardian of ancestral knowledge and the link to ancestral spirits.

Baron Samedi is syncretized to Jesus because they both share the symbol of the cross. Baron Samedi’s associations with the cross may pre-date Christianity. In Congolese cosmology, the cross is the symbol of the life cycle: birth-death-rebirth.

Also known as: Bawon Samdi (Creole); Baron Sandi (Spanish); Baron Saturday

Classification: Lwa

Favored people: Children; women seeking to conceive; funeral workers; grave diggers; any whose work brings them into contact with death

Manifestation: an older, dark-skinned man in formal attire, dressed completely in black. He wears a black top hat, black suit, and may be smoking one of his beloved cigars. He wears impenetrable black sunglasses (one lens may be missing because he simultaneously sees the realms of the living and the dead.

Iconography: A chair chained to a cross.

Attributes: Coffin; phallus; skull and cross-bones; shovel; grave; black sunglasses; cross.

Offerings: Black coffee, plain bread, dry toast, roasted peanuts. He drinks rum in which twenty-one very hot peppers have been steeped. Cigars, cigarettes, dark sunglasses, Day of the Dead toys (the sexier and more macabre the better); A skull and crossbones pirate flag; beautiful wrought-iron crosses are crafted in his honor.

Colours: Black but also red or purple

Day: Saturday

Feasts: 2 November, Day of the Dead.

Time: Twilight tends to be a good time to invoke him or make requests.

Consort: Madame Brigitte. They may both be petitioned together for fertility, protection, or to save sick children.

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Breton Folklore: The Ankou

The Ankou (Breton), Ankow (Cornish) or Angau (Welsh) from Celtic legend most commonly occurs in Brittany. Here you can still spot the Ankou haunting many of the churches and cathedrals. What is the Ankou? It’s defiant remnant of Pagan influence that had survived hidden among the stone-work of Christian buildings.

The Ankou haunts the graveyard and he is the last soul to die in the village before the stroke of midnight that year. Doomed to stay another year on earth – he acts as guardian of the graveyard – until another soul takes his place the following year.

The Ankou is described as a tall man dressed in black who is very thin or skeletal looking and has white hair kept under a wide brimmed hat. He is carries a scythe and he either pushes a wheelbarrow or rides a rickety cart that squeaks when it moves. The horse-drawn cart may be drawn by two horse – one is emaciated while the other is fat.

The Ankou is both the harbinger of death and also the collector of souls.

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Irish Folklore: Féar Gortach

The Fear Gorta means Famine Man or Féar Gortach and refers to the Hungry or Famine Grass in Irish folklore.

The Famine or Hungry Man is a skeletal wraith and a harbinger of death. Féar Gortach is a folklore tale of a cursed patch of land where if you tread, you are doomed to die of starvation no matter how much you eat.

From Cork to Kilkenny and Galway to Connemara, tales of people losing their way on short routes across fields and being caught by the Hungry Grass.

A young man walking home on a sunny day, crosses through the field and is found days later, confuse, not knowing where he is and starving. He is taken home but no amount of nursing or food can save him from starving to death. Others are so overwhelmed by the touch of the cursed grass that they die from hunger where they stand. These victims of the Famine are also predatory, seeking others out to drag others onto the grass. The only protection is to carry a crust of bread in your pocket – but even that may not be enough to save you.

The Hungry Grass and the Hungry Man have two origins but the outcome facing either is much the same. Féar Gortach relates to one of the most dreadful eras in Irish history.

The Origins: The Irish Potato Fammine

It has many names: the Irish Great Hunger, The Great Famine and the Irish Potato Famine. The despair, death and devastation suffered in Ireland for almost a decade at the hands of British tyranny. Class discrimination, religious intolerance, enforced labour, deliberate starvation and forced exile were all endured under the dark skies and harsh winter after harsh winter.

British penal laws meant that parliamentary representatives were primarily British nationals and their male descendants were granted landed estates in Ireland. Irish Catholics who had previously had property had it confiscated and were forbidden from owning or leasing land or voting. The penal law was largely repealed before 1830, however Irish Catholics had to settle for leasing land back from the British landowners.

The potato was only introduced into Ireland in the 18th century but it soon became a staple food because of it was hardy enough to survive the Irish weather and it was a cheap product that went far for a family.

Unfortunately, potato crops became infested with an airborne fungus called phytophthora infestans, also known as potato blight. It soon became a countrywide disaster.

British Corn Laws were still in existence and fixed at an artificially high tariff on imports to protect British corn prices and keep them in control of the market. A petition was put forward for Queen Victoria to repeal the high tax – which did happen – but too late. This, combined with a high level of produce being exported out of Ireland by British landowners and merchants resulted in a food shortage of catastrophic proportions brought Ireland to its knees.

Charles Trevelyan and Black ‘47

Attempts at temporary relief measures were mismanaged and local committees would be unruly and incapable of the organisation required to put these measures in place successfully. Just when it was thought that things couldn’t get any worse, it did,

Charles Trevelyan was assigned the relief effort and he would become one of the most hated men in Irish history. Trevelyan was a civil servant with no compassion, empathy or connection to the Irish people he was tasked to assist.

His methods at creating employment, bringing food to the table and restarting the Irish economy were drawn out, complicated and ultimately, failed. Trevelyan and the British government were operating on the principle that the blight would be short lived and that nature would run its course.

The first year of the potato blight and food shortages was dire, but the Irish kept going with their small import of corn, selling off the little livestock they owned and borrowing money from brutal loaners.

The British Prime Minister Robert Peel had supplied Ireland with its corn imports but following his resignation in 1846, Trevelyan took complete control and cut off Ireland from further imports so the Irish weren’t relying on British support. Despite his procedures to develop a working economy in Ireland had failed.

The collapse of social systems and infrastructure and absence of food, Trevelyan sent soldiers to try to install order. One of the most brutal winters hit Ireland and under Trevelyan half a million Irish were out in the blizzards building roads. Men, women, children – barley clothed, starving and freezing – died where they stood.

1847 become known as ‘Black 47’ – the worst year of the Great Hunger. The population was emaciated and desperately trying to work on Trevelyan’s enterprises for almost no wages or food. Children went without any sustenance as their parents needed whatever food they had to work on road-building.

Disease ravished Ireland and most died from typhus, dysentery and the black fever rather than malnutrition. Finally, all of Trevelyan’s projects were closed down and soup kitchens and charity introduced but far too slowly and on too small a scale. In 1847 the third potato harvest failed.

The Rise of Fear Gorta & Féar Gortach

Death was the common and the dead were tossed into carts and tossed into makeshift graves without so much as a blessing and their souls condemned to Purgatory.

All over Ireland hundreds of mass graves were dug, and these Famine Graveyards as they became known were originally un-consecrated, although in later years many became memorialised and recognised as consecrated ground.

Others remained buried in cold, unhallowed ground and over the top of these mass graves the grass grew sparsely and it was cursed. It was hungry. From this situation, the Hungry Grass and the emaciated figure known as the Hungry Man emerged.

Supernatural origins and Lore

The most common lore behind the Féar Gortach is that is occurs as a result of fairy magic. Found in fields and cursed by the fairies of the Unseelie Court who use dark magic.

Whether as a source of famine or fairy folk, to stand on the Hungry Grass equals death. Slowly, starvation begins and the sufferer descends into madness. They eat and eat but no amount of food will ever satiate their hunger. Ultimately, the victim withers away and dies.

The Fear Gorta, or Hungry Man is not a man at all, but a Fae being. He’s associated with famine because his dreadful skeletal appearance, gaunt and haggard. His sallow skin is stretched thinly over an emaciated body. His clothing is made of tatters and rags and he looks like the walking dead. His appearance during times of great hardship and Famine. The Fear Gorta can be malevolent or benevolent, depending on his mood and the welcome he receives. He is known to call house to house begging and if he is treated kindly, he has the ability to bestow good blessings and wealth on those he deems worthy. Those who are unkind will feel his wrath and suffer abject poverty, famine and death.

There are no certain ways to defend yourself against either the Fear Gorta or Féar Gortach, but there are wardings and protections to carry a crust of bread in your pocket which may protect from the starvation effects of stepping on the Hungry Grass. It is believed that bread crumbs spread on the cursed grass will reverse the curse on those recently afflicted. Ultimately, salting and burning the field will bring closure to the cursed.

The Fear Gorta is a different issue. He is a solitary Fae without a master. There is no protection from his power. Decimation and despair will wake him and his withered, skeletal finger will point to his next victim.

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The Dearg-Due

The Dearg-Due means “red” in Irish but wasn’t the name of this poor girl during her life. In life, over two thousand years ago, she was a legendary beauty, with blood-red lips and pale blonde hair. Her true name has been lost to the ages, overshadowed instead by the thing she became. Men travelled from far and wide, and even from rival clans across the land, to just to look upon her, but also to try to win her hand in marriage. Despite her outward loveliness, she was Godly and kind, and a blessing to all who knew her.

Fatefully, she fell in love with a local peasant. His name too, has been forgotten, swallowed by the legend. He was a true match for her in all things. He was handsome and kind-hearted but lacked what meant the most to her Father: money.

Without money, there and no no status in the community there would be no security for the family. That love match wouldn’t be allowed to happen.
Instead, the Father gave his child to a vastly older, much crueler man to secure a title and a fortune for their family. While the father revelled in his newly acquired riches, he gave no thought to his daughter. She suffered daily mental and physical abuse at the hands of her new husband.. His particular pleasure was drawing blood from her – watching as the crimson welled from her soft, porcelain skin. When not being abused, she was kept locked away in a tower cell so that only her husband could see her…touch her…bleed her. And she waited, in vain, for the day that her former peasant lover would rescue her. It was a hope that kept her going for many months.

One day, she realized there was no rescue to come, no hope and nothing but the daily cruelty. She would have to saved herself. In the only way possible to her and grimmest of ways, she committed suicide by a slow, painful starvation. It’s buried in a small churchyard, near “Strongbow’s Tree,” in the County of Waterford,m in Southeast Ireland.

In the last days of her life, when the abuse had broken and twisted her kind spirit, she renounced God and vowed terrible vengeance. For the devout, souls of those who commit suicide can never rest and are doomed to walk in torment forever.

Some folklore in Ireland said if you pile stones on the graves of the newly dead it prevents them from rising again. No one piled stones on the wretched girl’s grave.
Her husband married soon after and her father, intoxicated by his new fortune was too immersed in his own greed to be bothered by his daughter’s death and attending to the grave.

She rose from her grave, filled with rage and lusting for vengeance. She went first to her fathers home. She appeared in his bedroom while he slept and killed him. She moved next to her former husband and found him in a bed with a number of women, void of any sadness or regret – clearly without remorse or regret.

She attacked and killed him then proceeded to suck the blood from his body. After drinking the blood of her evil husband, she felt invigorated and alive. This gave her a hunger for more blood that couldn’t be quenched.

The legend of the Dearg-Due or “Red Blood Sucker’ was born. She used her great beauty to lure unsuspecting young men and sank her teeth deep into their necks drinking greedily.
With each new taste for blood, she grew hungrier – feasting on the blood of as many men under the darkness of night as she could with promises of love.

Then she disappeared. What happened to her? Where did she go? Is she still out there?
folklore says the grave of the young woman can be found at a place called the Tree of Strongbow (or Strongbow’s Tree) in Waterford, Ireland.

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Eros and Psyche

The myth of Eros and Psyche is probably one of the best known love stories in Greek mythology. Eros, the son of Aphrodite and personification of intense desire threw arrows to to hit a person’s heart and make them fall in love. Psyche was a beautiful maiden, who accordingly personified the human soul. She becomes the symbol of the soul purified by passions and misfortunes and who is prepared to enjoy eternal happiness.

In the love story of Eros (Cupid in Romans) and Psyche (meaning “soul” in Greek), the perseverance of a man – even when he is possessed by passion and the effort of a woman to overcome many obstacles – are willing to sacrifice to achieve love.

Psyche was the youngest of a king’s three daughters but she was much more beautiful than her two sisters. The fame of her beauty spread throughout the whole kingdom and men kept coming to the palace to admire and worship her. They swore not even Aphrodite herself could compete with Psyche. The temples of Aphrodite saw less visitors and her altars covered with cold ash. Sculptors crafted no more statues in her honour but instead – all honours were reserved for Psyche.

Aphrodite couldn’t accept such a situation and asked for the aid from her son, Eros. She told him in distress, to use his power and make Psyche fall in love with the vilest and the most despicable creature who has ever walked the Earth. Eros agreed to but once he saw Psyche, his own heart was pierced by his own arrows. He couldn’t make Psyche fall love with a vile man but didn’t tell Aphrodite.

Psyche, however, couldn’t fall in love with anyone but, even more surprising, nobody would fall in love with her. Men were happy to admire her but they always married another. Her two sisters who were far less seductive had already held lavish weddings and married kings. Psyche was the most beautiful woman on Earth but always sad and lonely, always admired but never really loved. It seemed that no man would want her as his wife and this caused great anxiety and distress to her parents.

Her father visited the oracle of Delphi to ask Apollo for advice on what to do with finding Psyche a husband. Apollo decreed that Psyche, dressed in black should be brought to the summit of a mountain and to stay there alone. The husband that was assigned to her, a winged serpent, terrible and more powerful than the gods themselves, would come and take her for his wife.

Terrified, her parents locked themselves in their palaces to mourn her fate for the rest of their days.

She felt herself being lifted and carried into the air. Over the rocky hill and onwards to a soft meadow circled by trees with flowers He did l his best to make her forget her pain and put her to sleep.

All she’d heard was accommodating However, she could clearly hear the words: The a Liu mmediately honor you with a greatkj

Psyche woke up by the sound of clear stream and when she opened her eyes, she faced an imposing castle. It seemed destined for dividers in the kingdoms with silver walls and floors of an inlaid precious stones. Absolute silence ruled. It seemed uninhabited and Psychez

The following days passed in full joy and Psyche could not I’m remember any happier time of her life. However, day after day, she was feeling sadness that she could not see her husband. Moreover, she was left alone all day and boredom filled her heart. Suddenly, she started missing her family. They must have been mourning for her and she was alive and happy. This was not fair and she didn’t want her in her room until it must be family to suffer.n

Never had she taken such a refreshing bath nor tasted such delicious dishes. While eating, she heard a soft music around her, like a harp accompanying a numerous choir. She heard it.

The whole day she was alone and only accompanied by the voices. But somehow she knew her husband would come at night. And so it was. When she felt he was close to her and heard his voice whispering sweetly in her ear, her fears disappeared. Without even seeing him, she was certain that he was not a monster but the loving husband she had always been wishing for.

That night, she asked her mysterious husband to grant her a favor. She wanted her tow sisters to come up at the palace and make sure that she was fine. That would be a comfort for her old parents. At first, her husband refused but when Psyche turned out so sad, he told her. OK, I will allow your sisters to come up here, but I am warning you, do not let them influence you. If they do, you will destroy our relationship and suffer a lot.

Next day, her two sisters, carried by the wind, they came up to Psyche. They were all happy to see each other and cried in happiness. However, when they entered the palace, the two older sisters were amazed by all those magnificent treasures. During dinner, they heard a wonderful music and drank the most delicious of wines. Envy was flourishing in their heart and an irresistible curiosity to know the owner of such magnificence, the husband of Psyche. They kept asking the poor girl questions on her husband, his look and his occupation. Psyche just said that he was a young hunter.

But, they didn’t believe her, of course. Could a simple hunter be so rich? He must be a prince or even a god, they thought. The two sisters knew that compared to Psyche, their own wealth and happiness were nothing at all and in total jealousy, they made a plan to hurt their sister. When, they were saying goodbye, they two evil women told Psyche that her husband must be the awful snake that the oracle of Delphi had told her husband. That is why he doesn’t allow you to see him. Because he knows that if you see him, you will disgust in his sight and leave him forever. Oh, poor Psyche, how can you sleep with such a horrible creature?

From that day on, Psyche could think of nothing else but these words. Her sisters must be right. Why doesn’t he come to me in the day? Why doesn’t he allow me to see him? What is his secret? Why hasn’t he ever told me about his life? These thoughts were puzzling Psyche for many days long. He must be hiding something horrible and that is why he does not want to be seen in the daylight. I must find out. Tonight, when he falls to deep sleep, I will light a candle to see him. If he is a snake, I will kill him. Otherwise, I will turn the candle off and go happily to sleep. He had taken her decision, forgetting all about her husband’s warning.

Indeed, that night, when her husband fell asleep peacefully, she took courage and lit the candle. Walking on her toes she approached the bed and she felt a deep relief. The light did not show a monster but the most beautiful of men. Ashamed by her madness and her little confidence, Psyche fell down on her knees and thanked gods for this happiness. But while he was leaning on him, a drop of oil fell from the candle on the back of that handsome, young man. He woke up in pain and saw the light. He looked her at the eyes and, facing Psyche’s distrust, he left their bedroom without uttering a single word.

Psyche immediately ran after her husband. It was dark and she could not see him, but could hear his heartbroken voice: Love can not live without trust. Those were his last words before flying to the dark sky. The god of love!, she thought. He was my husband and I did not trust him. She cried and cried for days and then she decided to do anything to gain her back. She would look everywhere for him and she would prove her love.

Without knowing what else to do, she went to the temple of Aphrodite and prayed to the goddess. She asked Aphrodite to speak to her son and persuade him to get Psyche back. Aphrodite had not, of course, overcome her jealousy for Psyche and still wanted her revenge. She told the young girl that she needed to be completely sure that Psyche was the appropriate wife for her son. Therefore, Psyche should accomplish three tasks to prove her skills. If she failed in even one of these tasks, Eros would be lost for ever.

Psyche agreed and Aphrodite led her on a hill. There the goddess showed her a dune of different small seeds of wheat, poppies, millets and many others. I want you to separate these seeds by this afternoon. If you do not, I will never let you see Eros again, said Aphrodite and left. How could see do that? How could see separate all these tiny seeds? This was a cruel task that filled her eyes with tears. That moment, a group of ants were passing by and saw her in despair. Come, feel mercy for this poor girl and let us help her, they said to each other. They all responded to this appeal and worked hard, separating the seeds, something in which they were experts. From the big original dune, they formed several smaller dunes, each with one king of seed. These smaller dunes saw Aphrodite and became angry.

You have not finished your work she said and ordered Psyche to sleep on the ground, without giving her any food, while she leaned in her soft bed. She thought that if she could compel Psyche to hard work for a long time, her beauty would not resist. Meanwhile, Aphrodite would not let her son to leave his room, where he was all that time mourning for Psyche’s betrayal.

Next morning, Aphrodite came up with a new job from Psyche, a dangerous task. Can you see those black waters descending from the hill? That is River Estige, awful and abhorrent. Fill this bottle with its water, the goddess said. On reaching the waterfall, Psyche realized that the surrounding rocks were slippery and steep. The waters rushed through such abrupt rocks that only a winged creature could approach.

And indeed, an eagle helped her. It was flying with its huge wings above the river when it saw Psyche and fell sympathy for her. It seized the bottle from her hands with its beak, filled it with some black water and gave it back to Psyche. Venus accepted her with a cold smile. Someone helped you, she said sharply, otherwise you would not have been able to perform this task by your own. I’m going to give you another chance to prove you that you are as determined as you claim to be.

She gave a box to Psyche. She had to take it to the Underworld and ask Persephone, queen of the Dead, to drain a little of her beauty into the box. Obedient as usual, Psyche took the path leader of Hades. When she entered the gates and took the boat to the other bank, where the dead people used to leave, she gave much money to Charonte the boatman to help her find her way in the dark to the palace of Persephone.

Indeed, the boatman helped her and after a while, she was right in front of Persephone. When she asked her to drop a drain of her beauty in the box, Persephone was glad to serve Aphrodite. Psyche took the box and returned cheerful to the Earth. When she gave Aphrodite the box, the goddess got extremely angry. She yelled the poor girl that she would never let her go and she would always be her servant.

At this crucial moment, the Gods, who were watching this wrongdoing all this time, decided to take up action. They sent Hermes, the messenger God, to narrate Eros all the misfortunes that his wife through. Eros was touched and this healed the wound of betrayal. He left his room and found Psyche exhausted in his mother’s garden.

From that moment on, Eros and Psyche lived happily together in their lovely palace which is always full of roses and flowers. Psyche persuaded Eros to forgive his mother for what she had made her suffer. Even Aphrodite was happy because now that Psyche was living in the sky with her husband and as a wedding gift, Zeus made Psyche immortal and allowed her to taste ambrosia, the drink of the Gods.with her husband, men on earth had forgotten all about her and were again worshiping the true goddess of beauty.

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Blathnat: Irish Mythology

Goddess of the Tuatha de Danann

Blathnat is an Irish goddess of abundance and tales of her appear in the Ulster Cycle describing her as the beautiful, scheming and unfaithful queen of the sorcerer Cu Roi.

The intense love affair between Blathnat and Cuchulainn led to the death of her husband, Cu Roi. A common theme, Blathnat was one of the many women of the Otherworld who caused great harm to the mortal men who fell in love with them.

Blathnat belonged to the god-like tribe of the Tuatha de Danann who were considered benign deities by the druids and Celtic tribes. She owned a huge cauldron of plenty which was pulled by three cows. The cauldron brought abundance wherever it went.

In the Ulster Cycle of mythology, the tragic love triangle between Blathnat, Cu Roi and Cuchulainn is told.

Blathnat lived happily with her father, Mend, in the Otherworld kingdom of Inis Fer Falga (known today as the Isle of Man) she was abducted during a raid by Cuchulainn and Cu Roi. The pair also stole the cauldron of plenty and the three cows belonging to Blathnat Inis.

Cuchulainn and Cu Roi fell in love with the beautiful Blathnat and quarrelled over her. Cu Roi claimed Blathnat as part of the booty of the raid and Cuchulainn refused to let Blathnat leave with Cu Roi.

Cu Roi was a powerful sorcerer and skilled warrior. He humiliated Cuchulainn by cutting off all his hair after burying him up to his shoulders in the ground. Cuchulainn watched with sadness as Cu Roi left with Blathnat and all the booty. Blathnat was taken to Cathair Chonroi which was Cur Roi’s fortress in Dingle Peninsula in modern County Kerry.

Although Blathnat became the queen of Cathair Chonroi and was treated well by her husband, Cu Roi, the Otherworld kingdom of Cathair Chonroi was a forbidding and lonely place with its castle on top of a high peak in the Slieve Mis mountains.The castle was impenetrable because Cu Roi used spells and magic to confound his enemies. The castle would whirl around at night and the entrance couldn’t be found by those seeking to do Cu Roi harm.

A year later, Blathnat met Cuchulainn when he paid a visit to the castle. Cu Roi was away but had instructed Blathnat to be hospitable to their guest. Very soon, Cuchulainn and Blathnat became lovers and plotted the murder of Cu Roi so they might live together.

Cu Roi was not an easy man to kill because his soul rested in the stomach of a salmon which lived in a stream in the Slieve mountains. Blathnat had learned the secret of Cu Roi’s mortality by constantly flattering him. Once she knew, she told Cuchulainn to kill the salmon first before trying to slay Cu Roi.

Cuchulainn waited at nightfall for a signal from Blathnat so he may enter the castle while Cu Roi lay asleep. When Blathnat poured milk into a stream following out of the castle, the two lovers escaped by running across the battlements of the castle. But Cu Roi’s poet, Ferchertne, saw Cuchulainn and Blathnat fleeing the castle and guessed what had occurred.

Blathnat led Cuchulainn to her husband’s bedroom door and Cuchulainn murdered Cu Roi with a sword while he slept.

Cu Roi’s poet grabbed Blathnat’s hand and hurled himself from the castle’s walls, taking Blathnat with him to the ground below. Cuchulainn could only watch in horror as Blathnat and Ferchertne died instantly.

Some years later, Cuchulainn met his death at the hand of Cu Roi’s son, Lugai, after conspiring with the warrior goddess Medb. Lugaid ensured Cuchulainn suffered an agonising death in revenge for the murder of his father.

The druids and Celts in Ireland regarded Blathnat as an evil woman of the Otherworld who willingly plotted to kill her husband, Cu Roi, with her lover, Cuchulainn.

The modern interpretation of Blathnat’s actions is a young woman forced to marry a ma she didn’t love and was rescued by her true love, Cuchulainn.

The truth of the matter likely lies somewhere between the two.

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The Banshee

A Banshee is a fairy in Irish legend and her scream is believed to be an omen of death. The scream is also called ‘caoine’ which means ‘keening’ and is a warning that there will be an imminent death in the family. As the Irish families blended over time, it is said that each family has its own specific Banshee.

A Banshee is a disembodied spirit and appears in any of the following forms: a) A beautiful woman wearing a shroud b) A pale woman in a white dress with long red hair c) A woman with a long silver dress and silver hair d) A headless woman who is naked from the waist up and carrying a bowl of blood e) An old woman with long white hair wearing a green dress and frightening red eyes f) An old woman with long grey hair dressed all in black with a veil covering her face.

Historians traced the first banshee stories to the 8th century which were based on a tradition of women singing a sorrowful song to lament someone’s death. These women were known as ‘keeners’ and since they accepted alcohol as payment, they were thought sinners and punished as doomed to become Banshees.

According to the mythology of the Banshee, if she is seen, she vanishes into a cloud of mist with a noise like a bird flapping its wings. Banshees never cause death – they only serve to warn of it.

Not all Banshees are cold and impassive creatures. There are some that had such strong ties to their families they continued to watch over them in death. When they manifest themselves, these Banshees appear as beautiful enchanting women that sing a sorrowful, haunting song full of concern and love for their families. This song is heard a few days before the death of a family member and usually only by the one for will die.

There are angry and vengeful Banshees that during their lives had reasons to hate their families. They manifest as distorted and frightening apparitions filled with hatred. The howls emitted by these Banshees are enough to chill you to the bone and rather than warning a family member of their imminent death, these Banshees are delighting in vengeance via the death of someone they loathed.

In other Irish mythology stories, the Banshee is the ghost of a young girl who suffered a brutal death and her spirit remains to warn of an imminent a violent death to her family members. This Banshee appears as an old woman with rotten teeth and long fingernails wearing rags with blood red eyes. Looking directly into her hate-filled eyes brings about immediate death. Her mouth is always open as the piercing scream torments the living.

According to other tales, some Banshees derive pleasure from taking a life and actively find their victims and wail constantly until the person commits suicide or goes insane. There are even Banshees that tear people to shreds. This violent, bloody banshee features most commonly in modern horror films.

It is important to remember the role of the Banshee isn’t to bring or reliever death but warn a family member so they have time to prepare for the inevitable.

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Mirror Folklore

In folklore, a mirror is a doorway or portal through which spirits, including ghosts and demons can gain access to the physical world where demonic infestations and hauntings occur.

In prehistory, any shiny surface was regarded as a spirit doorway and used to summon spirits into the world. They also are used for seeing visions of the future.

Much of the folklore about mirrors is negative. They are viewed by some as “soul stealers” with the power to suck souls out from bodies. In the Greek myth of Narcissus, he sees his own reflection in water and falls in love with it, staring hopelessly until he dies.

In some Christian beliefs, the Devil and Demons can enter through mirrors to attack people.

There are also numerous beliefs about mirrors and the dead. In many folklores, when a person dies, all the mirrors in a house should be turned over because if the soul sees itself in a mirror, it will not rest or can become a vampire. Corpses seeing themselves in mirrors will also draw bad luck upon the household. In some cultural beliefs, where corpses are laid out in homes, people still believe that souls linger about the body until burial.

Another folk belief is if a person sees his or her own reflection in a room where someone has died, it is an omen of their own death. Mirrors also should be covered in sick rooms in the belief that when the soul is weakened it is more vulnerable to possession during illness.

In other folklore, mirrors are believed to reflect the soul and must be guarded lest the soul be lost. These fears carry over into superstitious customs, such as covering the mirrors in a house after death to prevent the souls of the living from being carried off by the ghost of the newly departed through a mirror.

In some Russian folklore, mirrors are considered the invention of the Devil because they have the power to draw souls from bodies. Similarly, mirrors and in some places of the world all shiny surfaces, must be covered in a house after a death to prevent the soul of the living from being carried off by the ghost of the newly dead. Mirrors are covered in case one sees the corpse looking over one’s shoulder.

In an old Persian spell, ghosts may be seen in a mirror by standing in front of it and combing the hair without thinking, speaking or moving.

In then folklore of the American Ozark, the appearance of a distant friend in a mirror means he or she will soon die.

The famous folklore that breaking a mirror means seven years of bad luck but also heralds a death in the family or household. For example, if a child breaks a mirror, one of the children in the house will die within the year.

If a home is plagued with unpleasant spirit activity, the mirror in the bedrooms should never be placed at the foot or head of a bed. To do is is considered a negative influence for a person to be able to see himself or herself from any angle in a mirror while in bed. Mirrors should also never reflect into each other as this creates an unstable psychic space. A folk remedy says a mirror should be placed so that it faces outward toward a door or window. The reasoning being when the unquiet spirit looks in a window or attempts to cross a door threshold, it will see its own reflection and be scared away. Mirrors can also be closed as portals by rubbing the edges of them or washing the surfaces in holy water.

Mirrors are also tools used in Divination and Magic. In divination, mirrors train the inner eye to perceive the unseen. Throughout history, mirror gazing has been used for prophecy, aid with healing, find lost objects and people and even to identify or find thieves and criminals.

The power of mirrors—or any reflective surface—to reveal what is hidden has been used since ancient times. Gazing upon any shining surface is one of the oldest forms of Scrying (a method of divination practiced by the early Egyptians, Arabs, the Magi of Persia, Greeks, and Romans). Magic mirrors are mentioned by numerous ancient authors, among them Apuleius, Saint Augustine, Pausanias, and Spartianus. According to Pausanias, divination for healing was best done with a mirror attached to a string . The string was dangled into water and the diviner ascertained whether or not a sick person would heal.

In ancient Greece, the witches of Thessaly reputedly wrote their oracles in human blood upon mirrors. Pythagoras was said to have a magic mirror that he held up to the Moon to see the future in it. Romans skilled in mirror reading were called specularii.

In the late Middle Ages, Catherine de Medicis reputedly had a magic mirror that enabled her to see the future for herself and for France. Pére Cotton, the confessor to King Henri IV of France, had a magic mirror that revealed to him any plots against the king.

In Christian folklore, mirrors enable demons to make themselves known. St. Patrick declared that Christians who said they could see Demons in mirrors would be expelled from the church until they repented.

In Vodoun, a magical mirror is called a minore. A minore is made of highly polished metal and is consecrated for the purpose of seeing visions in divination. Only a priest or priestess may use a minore.

For Magic, both flat mirrors and concave mirrors are used in magic. Other shiny and reflective surfaces work as well like crystal balls, good size crystals and bowls of water or ink. Franz Bardon taught precise instructions for making magical mirrors that would be “loaded” or empowered with the help of the elements, the Akasha, light and fluid condensers. The result of such a charged magic mirror should be stored wrapped in silk to protect its energies from contamination.

Mirrors are also used in Scrying which is accomplished by the astral and mental powers developed by the magician and not specifically the mirror. The mirror serves only as an aid for focusing such powers.

Visualising a person in a magical mirror enables contact. The scryer can then go to the astral plane to communicate with the dead. The living can be contacted through a mirror as well with the scryer visualizes the person intensely until they seem drawn out of the mirror.

The magic mirror can be used as a tool for investigating the past, present, and future. A mirror helps the magician transcend time to see events which is one of the most difficult aspects of mirror work.

The medieval magician Albertus Magnus recorded a formula for making a magic mirror: Buy a looking glass and inscribe upon it “S. Solam S. Tattler S. Echogordner Gematur.” Next, bury it at a Crossroads during an uneven hour and on the third day, go to the spot at the same hour and dig it up—but do not be the first person to gaze into the mirror. In fact, said magnus, it is best to let a dog or a cat take the first look.

The Aztecs used a mirror like surfaces to keep witches away. A bowl of water with a knife in it was placed in the entrances of homes. A witch looking into it would see her soul pierced by the knife and flee.

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Dullahan

The Dullahan is a headless rider on a black horse carrying carries his own head under one arm. Usually, the Dullahan is male, but there are some female versions.

The mouth of the head has a rictus grin and the eyes move constantly. The Dullahan also has the power to see across the countryside even during the darkest nights. The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese.

A spine is used as a whip and the Dullahan only stops riding when a person is due to die. The Dullahan calls out the doomed person’s name and at this point they immediately perish.

There is no way to bar access against the Dullahan with all locks and gates opening at the approach. Apparently, any who observe their work are doused in blood – marking them among the next to die. Occasionally, the spine whip is used to lash out their eyes. A piece of folklore says the Dullahan are frightened away by gold- no matter how small a brooch or pin.

After sunset on certain festivals and feast days, the Dullahan rides his magnificent black stallion across the country side. And wherever he stops, a mortal dies.

Unlike the Banshee, which is known to warn of an imminent death in certain families, the Dullahan does not come to warn. He is a harbinger of death and there is no defence against him – except perhaps, an object made of gold.

A story from Galway says that a man was walking his way home when he heard the sound of horse’s hooves pounding along the road behind him. He turned around to look and to see the Dullahan bearing down on him. He began to run but nothing can outrun the harbinger of death. The man remembered he might be able to outsmart the uncanny being. He dropped a gold coin in the middle of the road. High above him there was a loud road, and when he turned to look back at the road, the Dullahan was gone.