Shapeshifters Reviewed

Hi dear friends and followers welcome back again, I do pray you all hade a wonderful weekend. Today we revisit the world wide recorded myths and legends on shapeshifters. You are welcome to come along as well. Have a great read, my dear friends

What Do You Think You Saw?

Shapeshifting, defined as an intentional full body transformation to look like another creature, is a common theme in mythology and folklore. Having the ability to change their appearance enables creatures to trick, deceive, hunt, and kill humans and animals. The following is a list of the top ten legendary shapeshifters from around the world:

Lesky – A lesky is a male woodland creature from Slavic mythology, believed to protect the forest and its animals. Although leskies appear as very tall men, they have the ability to shapeshift into any form—plant of animal. Leskies have beards made of living grass and vines, and often have a tail, hooves, and horns. In human form, they have pale white skin and glowing, dark green eyes. Because they are lords of the forest, they have close bonds with wolves and bears. When encountered, it is commonly believed that leskies will lead people astray, make them ill, and sometimes even tickle them to death. Although not always evil, they are very mischievous and have lured lost wanderers into their caves and kidnapped young women.

Selkie – Selkies are seal-like creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish mythology. Selkies are able to shapeshift into human form by shedding their seal skin (which is very risky because they must reapply that same skin in order to return to their original form). Legends surrounding these creatures usually revolve around romantic tragedies. In many cases, humans have unknowingly fallen in love with them, but had their hearts broken because selkies are only allowed to have contact with humans for a short period of time before having to return to the sea. These creatures have been known to lure humans into the sea by creating illusions and a false sense of reality.

Selkie – The expression, “To go berserk,” was in our vernacular long before anyone “went ballistic.” Berserkers were a group of Norse warriors. Although mostly human, upon entering battle, they became uncontrollable and enter a trance-like fury, which caused them to transform into wolves, bears, or wild bulls. Or so they thought themselves to be. Their uncontrollable rage gave rise to the word “berserk.” Before battle, berserkers would adorn themselves in the pelts of bears and wolves helping them make complete transformations when necessary. Berserkers are known for having bloodshot eyes, incredible strength, and unlimited endurance. It is said that Scandanavian kings used berserkers in their armies, as hired men, and as their royal bodyguards.

Kitsune – In Japanese folklore, the Kitsune is an intelligent and magical being, whose strength increases with age and wisdom. These fox-like creatures — believed to have as many as nine tails — can assume human form and are notoriously mischievous. Although they are unable to shapeshift into human form before the age of 100, they prefer to take on the form of a beautiful young woman or elderly man when they can. Kitsune can willingly enter a person’s dreams and create illusions so vivid that people perceive them as reality and are driven to insanity. They can fly, become invisible, and can generate fire or lightening. In some parts of the world, the Kitsune are even believed to be able to bend time and space.

Puca – The Puca (pronounced “pooka”) originated from Celtic folklore. It is a mythological fairy and the ultimate shapeshifter, able to assume many forms, such as a horse, rabbit, goat, goblin, and dog. Puca commonly appear as a black horse with a luxurious mane and glowing, orange eyes. These creatures have the ability to use a human voice, and are known to give good advice to those who respectfully ask for it; however when feeling mischievous, they enjoy confusing and scaring humans. Puca are very sociable creatures that enjoy getting together and playing pranks on unsuspecting children and adults. In many regions of the world, they are believed to reside in the mountains and hills.

Wendigo – The Wendigo appears in Algonquian mythology, and are generally described as large, alien-like canine beasts. They are evil and cannibalistic, and are almost always associated with the bitter-cold winters. Algonquians believe that when a human engages in the act of cannibalism, they will transform into a Wendigo as a result of being possessed by the demonic spirit of the beast. Because these creatures embody gluttony and greed, an individual, once trans- formed, will become violent and obsessed with consuming large amounts of human flesh. Never satisfied, these newly-turned Wendigos will kill many people. They are believed to live in rural and highly forested or mountainous regions.

Encantado – An Encantado is a legendary creature from Brazil, known to live in a deep underwater realm. They most often appear as a type of freshwater dolphin or sea snake, and have the ability to transform into human form. As humans, they have superior musical ability, are very seductive, and are attracted to crowds and parties. Encantados are able to control storms and haunt humans. Using various forms of mind control, encantados can inflict illness, insanity and even death. Many Brazilian natives will not go near the Amazon River at night, and some have even claimed to see and interact with them.

Aswang – Aswangs come from Filipino folklore, and are described as being a combination of vampire and witch, and are almost always a female with characteristic bloodshot eyes who can transform into either a large black dog or boar. These creatures are cannibals known to stalk, kill, and eat people at night, sometimes even eating children and unborn fetuses. In human form they appear to be normal, shy, and elusive, yet when the sun sets they turn into savage and deadly beasts. In the middle ages, the Aswang was the most feared creature in the Philippines.

Vampires – Paging Barnabas Collins! These are legendary creatures known to feed on the blood of humans and animals. The original mythological vampire, unlike the modern day ones, are said to be bloated in appearance, ruddy, and dark purplish in color. These shapeshifters can take on many forms, often choosing to take on the form of a bat or human. As masters of disguise they will seduce their human victims, waiting for the right moment to kill them and drain their body of blood. Although typically described as being an undead immortal, some cultures believe vampires to be living creatures. In the past, European belief in vampires led to mass hysteria, which resulted in riots, killing sprees, staked humans, and innocent people being accused of vampirism. The most famous recently recorded case of vampirism was about a 19-year-old girl named Mercy L. Brown, who died in Exeter, Rhode Island in 1892.

Lycanthrope – Also known as werewolves, lycanthropes are mytho- logical shapeshifters who are humans but, by the light of a full moon, can turn into wolf-like creatures. With one bite, a werewolf can infect another human and turn them into a creature of the moon, like themselves. Although the werewolf myth began in Europe, many accounts of lycanthropes come from all over the world. Werewolves have distinct characteristics such as the meeting of both eyebrows at the bridge of the nose, curved fingernails, low set ears, and super human strength and senses. When in human form—their weak form—a werewolf can be identified by cutting into the flesh and finding hair underneath, or by revealing special bristles under the tongue.This is all that I have found from web sources on shapeshifters. Can you add to this? Who – or what – do you think you saw?

Dear friends and followers, tomorow I will be posting my own knowledge and personal experiences with the phenomena of shape shifter. I hope you are able to drop by and have a read and share your thoughts with me. Thank you very much 

With love from your Fairy Lady 

Gaea's Tantrum

Hi dear friend and followers. Today I have a beautiful poem to share with you. Please share your thoughts with me. 

Gaea's Tantrum

Clouds gather on the horizon.

The bright moon is soon swallowed up

and darkness falls upon the forest.

Dark and slate grey is the sky,

fat with moisture drawn from the coastal sea.

Silence blankets us; there is a lull, 

as though the forest holds its breath -

The calm before the storm.

Distant rumbles from the leaden clouds,

dark,and ominous, interlaced with lightning flashes.

Children huddle with mom, squeezing brown stuffed bears.

Rain taps on window panes, drop by drop, one by one,

before pelting the glass like a lover's tossed pebbles,

as though trying to come through the window,

thumping against the hard, parched summer ground.

The storm

The sky lights up followed by peals of thunder,

loud enough to cause pictures to shake,

and window panes to rattle in their frames.

The house shakes. The children cuddle up to mom

shivering in fear, and shedding tears.

The wind blew and the house seems to talk!

Another loud crash as a big oak falls nearby.

The wind and rain abated, the full moon shines

through the gaps in the clouds. The clouds part,

and light comes out to play like Nature's children.

The children race out the door to run and play in the wet grass.

Parents drink coffee while watching from the porch.

The peace after the storm.

Stars glittering, bright silver moon shining,

and Mother Natures orchestra playing its enchanting melodies.

The children fast asleep, dreaming of dancing in an enchanted forest.

Composed by me Cindy ©

With love from your Fairy Lady ♥❤

Hi you all, it's Frizzy Lizzy time

Hi dear friends and followers welcome to my humble blog. Today is the day to visit Aunt Lizzy. You are welcome to come along as well. Have a great read, my dear friends 

"Hi Peeps, yep it's that time again."

About getting older. some people just get all weird about it.

"I say to them, don't get all weird about getting older. Your age is merely the number of years the world has been enjoying you."

"I'm not surprised the first man that landed on the moon left his footprints all over the place. Most men leave a mess wherever they go. They seem to have this need to mark their territory."

"Men are like a pair of pantyhose:  They will either run, cling or they don't fit right at the crotch"

"But still they do have a use but if I could, I think it would be a lot simpler if I just brought sex back" "Now if I could only find the damn receipt."

"Well when it comes to sex I ask is my glass half full or half empty. I see it as one more glass to wash. It's not that a good man is hard to find, not if you read lots of romance novels."

"At least I still go out a lot at night, out of bed, out of bed to use the bathroom."

Frizzy goes into the kitchen and pours herself a coffee, turns up the volume on the radio on the shelf, then shuffles her way back (in her fuzzy pink slippers) into the living room to her recliner, sits for a moment holding her coffee and contemplates, then says to herself. "I'm at the age now where when I hear the song 'Afternoon Delight,' I think of a nap."

"My word of advice to you today is that there is a simple way to get a man's attention:  Mute the TV."

"Y'all have a nice day, folks!  And, oh, I almost forgot.  Fluffy says hi!"

I am grateful for your comments, requests, and suggestions.   Have a beautiful day!  Thank you for improving mine!

With love from your Fairy Lady ♥❤

Native American Dragons

Hi dear friends and followers welcome to my humble blog. Today we will be journeying further into The Native American traditions, legends and myths. We will be in particularly following the tracks of the dragons and dinosaurs, particularly in  north and south America.

Native American Dragons

The Piasa Bird

The legent of this creature was presented in-depth a few months ago. Here is a link to what we have found on this creature and a few lines from the story as a teaser for you: It was August 1675. A seven-member expedition paddled west through the Straits of Mackinac, searching the middle Mississippi River region for a passage to the Pacific. The first European exploration of the area, they were led by Father Jacques Marquette, a French missionary, and Louis Jolliet, a fur-trader and cartographer.

The explorers left despite dire warnings from local Indians – there is a winged monster in the area that devours all who come near it.
____________________________ 

And now for today's presentation about Native American Dragons

Nanabozho


Nanabozho was the main character in many of the myths told by the Chippewa people, who once lived on the shores of Lake Superior, the setting of this story:

One day Nanabozho came home to find that his young cousin was missing. Searching for tracks he found the trail of the Great Serpent. The serpent must have taken his cousin.

He packed a bow and arrows and followed the serpent’s trail. It took him over rivers, mountains and valleys to the shores of Manitou Lake. At the bottom of the lake Nanabozho could see the house of the Great Serpent. Living there with the serpent was an assortment of monstrous and evil spirits. The serpent itself, a huge multi-colored scaly beast, was wrapped around the body of Nanabozho’s cousin.

Intent on revenge, Nanabozho utilised some of the trickery he was famous for.

He ordered the clouds to disappear and the wind to be still. When the air above the lake became stagnant, he asked the sun to burn as hot and bright as it could. If the water boiled, he thought, the serpent would leave the lake and seek the shade of the trees beside the lake.

Nanabozho found a spot near the trees, transformed himself into a tree stump and waited. The sun burned fiercely. After some time the water in the lake began to simmer. Some small serpents came up to the surface. They looked around for Nanabozho but couldn’t see him.

The water boiled. The Great Serpent rose out of the water and moved toward the shore, with his evil spirits behind him. It knew of Nanabozho’s trickery and guessed that the stump could be him in disguise.

It sent some small serpents to attack it, but Nanabozho, although he was scared, kept quiet until they gave up.

The Great Serpent slipped out of the lake and sheltered under the trees, as did all its companions. Nanabozho waited until they were all asleep. When they were, he silently drew an arrow from his quiver, and fired it at the heart of the Great Serpent. His aim was true. The serpent awoke with a howl so loud that the mountains all shook. It plunged into the water, dived to the bottom and tore the body of Nanabozho’s cousin into hundreds of pieces.

The Great Serpent knew that it would soon die from the wound, so it planned one final act of revenge. It caused the water of the lake to swell upward out over the land.

The flood surged across the valleys and Nanabozho fled before it. He ran back to his village, shouting, “Run to the mountains! The Great Serpent is flooding the Earth! Run! Run!”

The people did as he said and climbed to the top of a mountain. Nanabozho kept running until he reached a high mountain near Lake Superior, the highest mountain around. Other people were also there, seeking safety from the flood. As other mountaintops disappeared below the water, Nanabozho made a raft out of timber and placed all the people and animals upon it.
Then the highest mountain was also overwhelmed by the flood, but the people on the raft survived. After many days the floods receded and life started over again. The Great Serpent was dead.

Many other stories of Nanabozho were made famous in the poem “The Song of Hiawatha” by Longfellow – with a lot of distortion from the originals, not the least being calling the hero Hiawatha instead of Nanabozho.
Quetzalcoatl

Close to Mexico City are the pyramids of Teotihuacan. They are carved with many things – including a dragon called Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl was not an evil dragon. He was the ancient cultural hero among the Aztec, the Toltec and other Meso-American peoples.

He taught them how to write and explained agriculture to them. He introduced the calendar, monotheism, music, dance and so on – in essence he civilised them.

The Maya knew him as Kulkulkan, and the Quiché called him Gucumatz. The same god appeared in Zuni rituals as Kolowisi and a Hopi ritual named him as palulukong.

All of these have the same meaning: “plumed serpent”.
In his dragon form he ruled the wind, the rain and the fertility of the earth, the cycles of human sustenance. As a celestial and terrestrial being he was man’s magical connection to the mysteries of heaven and the sacred earthly realm.

Quetzalcoatl was an integral part of the creation of each of the worlds/cycles/ suns of the Aztecs. The fifth age was initiated by Quetzalcoatl in 3,113 B.C. and is due to complete its cycle on Dec. 21, 2012.

Just prior to the age of the fifth sun, Quetzalcoatl created man by going to the underworld and retrieving the bones of an earlier human incarnation. On his return journey he stumbled and fell, breaking the bones, and therefore the resulting people came out in all different shapes and sizes.

When he was driven away by war he promised to return to his people one day. Some accounts have him leaving in a dragon boat or on a raft of serpents. Some believe he sacrificed his human body and flew off into the sky to become the bright planet we know as Venus.

To the ancients the planet Venus was seen as highly important being second to the Sun and the Moon. The ancient Greeks believed that a massive comet named “Phaeton” (or “Blazing Star”) nearly collided with Earth, setting our planet on fire before it transformed into Venus.

The ancient Assyrians knew Venus as the “...fearful dragon…who is clothed in fire.” The Aztecs knew it as “The star that smoked”, and the Midrash called it the “...brilliant light… blazing from one end of the cosmos to the other”.

Were dragons and a glowing Venus part of the same set of circumstances?

At the Mayan/Toltec ruins of Chichen Itza (Yucatan, Mexico) is “El Castle”, the pyramid of Kulkulcan / Quetzalcoatl – it is the largest and most important ceremonial structure there.

The pyramid is directionally oriented to mark the summer and winter solstices. Hence, it has often been erroneously labelled the Pyramid of the Sun, despite obviously being dedicated to Kulkulcan, the feathered serpent.

Although the original structure dates back to about 600 CE, successions of new temples were built upon previous ones through until the 13th. Rising to a height of ninety feet the pyramid features many numbers important to the Maya. Each of its four-faces has a stairway with ninety-one steps (91×4 = 364). Adding the top platform gives us the number of days in the solar year. The faces incorporate 18 terraces, one for each month in the Mayan religious year, and 52 panels – every 52 years the Maya feared that the world would end.At sunset of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes an interesting effect can be viewed, as witnessed by Graham Hancock:

“By about 5.15 in the evening it was clear what was happening. So skilfully was this magnificent pyramid aligned to the trajectory of the setting equinoctial sun that it had been possible for the ancient builders to contrive a pattern of light and shadow on the western side of the northern stairway. Very gradually, as the minutes ticked by and the sun fell lower in the sky, this pattern, which was projected by the north-western corner of the pyramid, gained in shape and substance. By around 5.30 p.m., it had manifested itself fully as a gigantic undulating serpent with seven coils of shadow defined by seven triangles of light. The tail of the serpent reached the top platform of the pyramid, with its body extending down the balustrade all the way to the ground where a huge sculpted serpent’s head with gaping jaws completed the illusion at the base of the stairway.”

Elaborate panels and stone carvings featuring images of serpents appear all over the pyramid.
The association between cosmos, snakes, catastrophes and cultural deities continues.

Thunderbird and Dragon Legend

Did fire breathing dragons ever exist? Fire breathing dragons are described in ancient legends from all over the world and are even described in the Bible. That no modern reptile can perform such a feat does not necessarily mean that none ever existed.


Various creation scientists have proposed very interesting and distinctly plausible mechanisms by which a dragon or dinosaur-like creature might actually have been able to breathe fire. While fossils do not tell us for sure whether these creatures could actually breathe fire, examples such as the bombardier beetle show the Creator's wisdom and ability to design wonderfully complex biological mechanisms to accomplish all sorts of amazing feats.

Legends of fire-breathing dragons have fascinated people for centuries and appear in cultures all over the world throughout history. Fire-breathing dragons exist in artwork and literature, but is it possible that they also existed in real life? Nearly all cultures have dragon legends,

although they had no contact with each other, and the Bible even speaks of the fire breathing Leviathan.

It seems possible that all these legends might have been based on a real creature, specifically a dragon or dinosaur-like creature that had biological mechanisms which allowed it to breathe fire.

One Native American tale talks about the Fire Dragon. According to legend, the "Chief of All the Earth" fell in love with a young woman named Ataentsic.

After passing several tests, she entered heaven, where she joined the “Chief of All the Earth” as his bride. However, the chief thought that the child she bore belonged to the Fire Dragon, and he cast both mother and child from heaven. They fell to Earth, where they began the human race.
The Gaasyendietha exists in the legends of the Seneca people. It could shoot fire from its mouth and was also said to travel across the heavens in a stream of fire. For this reason it is also called the “meteor-fire dragon.” This fire dragon was said to live in the depths of rivers and lakes.

Many Native American peoples have stories of Thunderbirds, massive reptilian birds that were said to bring thunder when they flapped their wings and to shoot lightning out of their mouths. These birds were very large, with fearsome beaks and claws. Their huge size led to obviously exaggerated legends of Thunderbirds that plucked live whales out of the sea.

One story describes a Thunderbird that fell to the earth as follows:
"The people shuddered as they looked at the monster’s skeleton. The bird had fallen so hard they thought, that its bones were partly sunk in the rock. But the warriors could see that its wingspread was as big as four tall men standing on top of one another. The strange creature had fierce claws on its wings, as well as on its feet, and the beak was long and sharp. There was a long, bony crest on its head. The people knew that they had never seen a bird like it before.”

The description of the Thunderbirds matches that of some type of pterosaur,

possibly a pteranodon.
In Illinois, the Illini Indians tell a similar story of the Piasa (the "bird that devours man"). This giant bird preyed on large game animals and even people until one day the Illini Chief came up with a plan to kill it. 

He stood out where the Piasa could see him, and when it swooped down to grab him, twenty warriors emerged from the bushes and killed the Piasa. John Russell, a writer, later entered the cave where the Piasa lived and found it covered with a "mass of human bones".

Mayan relief sculptures, figurines from Acambaro, Mexico, and Ica stones from Peru all show similar pictures of lizard-like creatures with wings. These pictures strongly resemble the pterosaur class of dinosaurs.

Here's a bit of news from Stanford University in California.

Stanford Fossil Historian Links Dinosaur Bones to Mythological Creatures

BY

HUMANITIES AT STANFORD

October 2, 2008

Many paleontologists today believe there are connections between the mythological dragons that ancient peoples believed in and the human discovery of dinosaur fossils.

Adrienne Mayor, a Stanford visiting scholar who researches both folklore and fossils supports that theory and has written two books which explore those connections.

When The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the largest children’s museum in the U.S., needed an expert to help them link creatures of the imagination to real dinosaur fossils for a new exhibit, they called on Mayor for her unique expertise.

The new exhibit, "Dragons Unearthed," features a 66-million-year-old, first-of-its-kind, dragon-like dinosaur, called Dracorex. There’s no denying that Dracorex’s long muzzle and spiky horns conjure up visions of a magical beast, but the museum needed an expert to confirm that it wasn’t a coincidence that Dracorex looked more like a dragon than a dinosaur.

With her extensive studies of ancient cultures’ conceptions of fossils as evidence of dragons, Mayor’s expertise proved to be exactly what museum curators needed. Mayor was asked to share her thoughts on Dracorex, named Dracorex hogwartsia in honor of children’s author J.K. Rowling.

“The shape of the dinosaur’s skull, with its long muzzle, bizarre knobs and horns, surprised the scientists,” she said. “But the skull looks strangely familiar to anyone who has studied dragons! Dracorex has a remarkable resemblance to the dragons of ancient China and medieval Europe.”

Mayor, a scholar of Classics and History of Science, has spent years looking at the link between paleontological findings and the dragon myths that populated many ancient and medieval religions and cultures and survive even today. Mayor’s latest publication, Fossil Legends of the First Americans, correlates Native American myths with the fossils they are known or presumed to have observed.

Mayor combined her keen interest in paleontology with an abundance of long-forgotten literary, artistic and paleontological evidence to support her thesis that at least some of the fantastic mythological monsters were based on paleontological realities.

According to Mayor, Sioux People who found a skull like that of Dracorex might have identified it as “Unktehi,”

the mythical horned water monster of the South Dakota Badlands, where the fossil was unearthed. She continued, “Dracorex helps us understand how fossils of mysterious, extinct animals may have inspired ancient people around the world to believe that dragons and other fabulous creatures once lived. Like modern paleontologists, fossil hunters in antiquity tried to imagine the appearance and behavior of the creatures whose bones they found.”

Adrienne Mayor is an independent scholar who investigates scientific realities embedded in myth and classical antiquity. Her research looks at ancient "folk science" precursors, alternatives, and parallels to modern scientific methods. Mayor's books, The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times and Fossil Legends of the First Americans opened a new field within geomythology. She is active in classical folklore, and is an independent scholar in Stanford’s Classics Department and the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Program.

Dragons Unearthed, which opened at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis on September 18th, 2008, highlights information that helps to explain how fossils of mysterious, extinct animals may have inspired ancient people around the world to believe that dragons and other fabulous creatures once lived. Many paleontologists today believe there might be a link between the mythological creatures ancient peoples believed to be dragons and the discovery of dinosaur fossils.

Dragons Unearthed is a family-friendly, art-based exhibit centered that explores the mythology behind dragons using true dinosaur facts.

Thank you very much for visiting blog my dear friends and I hope that you have found these Native American legend of the dragons an interesting topic to read. 

Please feel free to comment or leave any suggestions and requests you may have and I will do what ever I can to come up something on any requested topics. Have a beautiful day

With love from your Fairy Lady ♥❤