Mythology of True Blood and the Sookie Books

The Children of the Night and the Graphic Novel
A Tale of Censorship
By Aslinn Dhan

Eric Lover "Can someone please answer this question for me? When did people start becoming so uptight? Isn't free speech still acceptable anymore." From the True-Blood.net Forum

Comic books became a medium of writing and art entertainment in the 1930's. Though at first occupied with being silly, harmless children's tales, the comics began to delve into the darker world of the supernatural and the occult and true crime with comics like Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, and Suspense Comics.

Batman was the first of those darker comics that were very mainstream. Batman was a costumed hero who saw justice in a very skewed way. He was vicious and remorseless, not the wise sage of the 1960's television show who thought justice lay in the hands of the police. No, his view of justice was as twisted and dark as the crimes of his arch enemies. It is not until now that the Dark Knight has been embraced for his truer, darker nature and revealed to be as ruthless as the villains.

The reason for this and the other candy coated superheroes of news print is because of something that happened in the 1950's. Now the 1950's in America was by no means the gentler, sweeter time portrayed in the movies and TV shows like Happy Days. Rather it was a dark time when America almost wasn't America anymore.

Senator McCarthy was heading the witch hunt against the Communists and the lives of hundreds of actors, writers, directors and producers were being ruined for all time by the mere mention of their names in the UnAmerican Activities Committee.

The notion of censorship was becoming a notion that outwardly seemed to be an attempt to protect Americans from the evils of Communism. Popular media was being scrutinized and not just for political reasons, they were being scrutinized for moral reasons.

In 1954, a psychiatrist named Fredrick Wertham wrote a paper about violence and juvenile delinquency and the violence contained in comic books. In the firestorm of controversy, the comic book publishers creates the Comic Magazine Association of America. This organization was to act as oversight committee to examine and intervene in cases where the comic stories appeared too violent and glamourized the depictions of crime and horror.

Superheroes cleaned up their act first. They were no longer brooding, emotionally unstable, violent vigilantes in funny costumes. They were law abiding citizens who did their utmost to defend and protect. And they were all Americans.

But what about those monsters? The poor hapless Vampire was the first to go kicking and screaming into the sunlight in the name of sanitizing the comic book industry. Soon, it wasn't worth your time and effort to write and draw a Vampire story for a comic book.

Restrictions included:

1. You could show the Vampire with fangs, but they could not be seen near the human victim and they could not be shown as bloody.
2. Vampire hunters could talk about using religious objects but religious objects could not be seen in the actual fight with the Vampire.
3. Vampires had to die but you couldn't show them dying and you can't show them being killed.

And the same went for other children of the night. Werewolves, witches, ghouls, cannibals, man made monsters, creatures from the depths of the sea or the darkest part of the universe fell victim to the laws.

In 1971, however, the laws were overturned and the Vampire and their kith and kin returned to the page. In the early 80's we see the Vampire being cast as a variety of characters, including the super hero.

Source: The Vampire Book by J Gordon Melton

Wild Child
Raised By Wolves
By Aslinn Dhan

The most famous children raised by animals were the legendary Romulus and Remus. These two brothers were supposed to have been abandoned by their parents and left to be raised by a wolf. They go on to be the legendary founders of Rome.

Anthroplogists and folklorists believe, however that this is a mythical version of what happend to the two brothers who began the greatest empire in the ancient world. The truth may be far humbler. As linguists and folklorists and anthropologists began to study the myth of Romulus and Remus, they found that the word used in the mythology for wolf Lupa, or she-wolf, actually had another meaning for the Ancient Romans. To be referred to as a lupa was to be called a prostitute. So, in reality, the brothers, who by the way eventually went to war with one another, may actually have been the children of a prostitute. Interesting that they would rather have a myth that had them being raised by wolves, than a woman of questionable virtues.

But the stories persist that there are children who at a certain age are abandoned to be raised by animals. One noted anthropologist points out that primitive man learned how to create social structures, family bonds and leadership levels by studying animals who lived in packs, the wolf the primary animal of scrutiny. They noted that the pack chose both and female and a male leader, that the pack hunted and went to war together and formed family and pack alliances to benefit the whole pack.

The notion of people being raised by animals in such a way that all human charcteristics are subborned and the animal behavior embraced is not a new idea. As with the tale of Romulus and Remus, there are many others even up to present day. One of the first recorded tales come from France in the 1700's when a young boy was seen running in a crouched position with a group of wild dogs. When he was captured, he was naked, filthy, could not speak and went about on all fours or in a semi crouched position. He fought his captors, growled, howled and refused to wear clothes. He would not eat food on a plate at the table but instead knocked the food onto the floor and ate the food from there.

Eventually he did gain some of his human qualities. He tolerated clothes, could speak a few words and ate in a more conventional way. Eventually, however he died in captivity, never fully regaining his human self.

In 1990, welfare workers in South Africa found a two year old boy who was being raised more or less by the family dogs, a female dog in particular acted as his mother by proxy. The little boy was rescued and now lives a normal life, but the mother dog who fostered him died of grief two weeks later, mourning the loss of her "puppy".

Robert Eisler wrote in his book From Wolf to Man "The notion of animals adopting and raising a human, particularly in the case of a child raised by wolves, is as old as man himself. Man is basically lycan'thropic in nature, reaching back into his primordial soul and finding that the beast within may be more human than one might think," (257)

Source: The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger and From Wolf to Man by Robert Eisler

Fenrir the Wolf
More tales from the Norse
By Aslinn Dhan

In Norse mythology, the hound of hell, Garmr breaks free and begins it's wild howling throughout the Norse world signaling the end of days. According to the various myths, Fenrir is one of the three children born to Loki and the giantess Angrhoda.

Fenrir is a wolf man, Midgard, his sibling, is a snake, the third sibling is Hel, who lives near the Norse Tree of Life, Yggdrasil. Of all the children, Fenrir is the most ferocious. He was raised by the gods until he became too strong to handle, then they chained him up to keep him in check until the Norse version of the end of the world, called Ragnarok happens.

When Ragnarok happens, Gamr and Fenrir will literally join themselves together and become one creature and kills Odin (Woden) the king of the gods. When Odin is dead, the wolf creature will then destroy the old world of the gods and get ready for the new world.

Legend also has it, that after Odin dies, Vioart, the most powerful god after Thor, rises up and takes power and kills Fenrir and establishes a new kingdom in the Norse pantheon. In further tellings, when the wolf beast is killed, Gamr and Fenrir take back their former selves as two separate creatures and are rechristened Skoll and Hati, the wolves who alternately swallow the moon and the sun, bringing on the beginning and the end of each day.

Source: The Wolf Book by Brad Steiger and Edith Hamilton's Mythology and Timeless Tales of Gods and Heros by Edith Hamilton.

Werewolves from the Pulpit
A Sermon
By Aslinn Dhan

This entry is excerpted from an actual sermon give by Dr. Johann Geiler von Keysersperg (yeah, try saying that three times fast) in 1508.

What shall we say about werewolves? For there are werewolves which run about the villages devouring men, women and children___There are seven reasons that these creatures hunt their fellows.

1. Hunger
2. Savagery (sometimes translated as Rabies)
3. Age
4. Experience
5. Madness
6. Satan
7. The will of God

The first that cometh from hunger is a last resort, in times when the hunt is lean.

The second innate savagery, an uncontrollable desire for the flesh of their fellows, but none so tender as the beef to be had from children. And if the werewolf has children, then bringing food to them is tantamount.

Under the third topic, the wolf may hunt their fellows because they are too old to hunt wild animals. To take down a stag may require more of their energy, but because they are as the beast, even the most feeble among them can capture a man.

Number four recognizes the firmly held belief that once one has eaten of the flesh of your own kind, you are cursed to crave it forever. Anything else is sub par.

Number five concedes to the fact that in the wolf state, a usually reasonable man will not know his fellow and thus feed from his flesh never realizing he is killing his friend or brother

Number six is when the mind of a man who becomes the beast may be controlled by the devil.

All things happen because of the will of God and even though the effects are horrible, there may be a greater lesson to be learned by submitting to the will of the beast.

It can be said of this sermon (truncated though it is here) that Dr. Johann Geiler von Keysersperg did not consider werewolves inherently evil, nor any different from natural wolves.

Source: The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring Gould

The Earliest Werewolf Tale
By Aslinn Dhan

Appearing nearly two thousand years before the birth of Christ, The Epic of Gilgamesh reads like a primer for most of the tales we are most familiar with in the lore and legends of the children of the night. Here we read root legends of all super natural beings, the gods of old, demons, faery folk and monsters of all stripe.

The first written legend of the werewolf appears as a fragment story. King Gilgamesh a Sumerian king, wrote of his friendship with a werewolf called an Enkidu. Gilgamesh is famous for his quest for immortality and his befriending of the werewolf is a part of his journey.

At first, Gilgamesh thought that the key to immortality lay in making as many babies as he could. As a result no woman was safe from King Gilgamesh. The legend goes on that the goddess Aruru decides that Gilgamesh is abusing his position as both a man and a king. Aruru then makes Enkidu, a half man, half wolf creature to teach Gilgamesh about the way of the beast, the wild ones who mate only with the strongest and best females and guards what is his to guard and to challenge Gilgamesh in a fight if needs be.

Gilgamesh soon learns of the beast man, the werewolf and sends to him a lovely maiden to tempt him and ultimately tame him to bring him under control of the king. (Sounds familiar) The woman leads Enkidu to the capital city of Gilgamesh's kingdom and the king meets the werewolf and challenges him to a great battle. They fight for hours but they are so well matched, one cannot best the other. As a result, the two become great friends and together battle other creatures and even the gods themselves.

This pairing becomes intolerable. Ishtar, the queen of the gods decides she has had enough. She strikes Enkidu with a disease he cannot fight. She delivers it, with all things, a silver arrow.

After the death of his bosom friend, Gilgamesh decides immortality is not for him. Instead, he tells the reader that one should not look for immortality, but live the life one has and eat and drink and be merry and love well and rest well and know a good life.

Sources: Legends of Gilgamesh by Sean Moore-Turner and The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger

A Famous Werewolf Case
The Case of Peter Stumpf
By Aslinn Dhan

This case of werewolfism was so famous, the famed Gutenberg presses that mass printed the Holy Bible, printed what they called a pamphlet of several pages with woodcut illustrations to record the famous case.

Peter Stumpf was born in Cologne, Germany about 1525. In his youth he studied witchcraft and the dark arts of sorcery and had intimate friendships with various demons. While many sorcerers were intersted in gaining power on earth, Peter Stumpf was interesting in metamorphosis so he could literally prey upon men, women and children.

Peter Stumpf said he was given this power by Satan himself. He said that he conjured Satan and the devil gave him a belt made of a wolf's pelt which transformed him completely into the largest wolf that had ever been seen. Apparently he lived quietly among his fellows for many years. What his neighbors did not know was that Peter was not just a dude who worked black magik and changed into a werewolf, he also "married" his daughter in a Satanic wedding and had a son by her and had a mistress besides his wife and daughter. To all around him, however, he was an upstanding member of the community.

Until a rash of gruesome murders. There are always murders, murder is not a modern problem. But these more than the work of thieves and cut throats. The bodies were badly mutilated. They had been intimately assaulted and partially devoured. By the time Stumpf is caught, there have been thirteen grisly murders committed.

Stumpf was finally caught and he confessed to everything. He confessed to the witchcraft, the incest, the murders, which included the son he had with his daughter, and the rapes of the victims.

On October 31, 1589, he was stretched on a wheel and was pinch flayed in ten places in his body. This is when little pieces of flesh are held in hot pinchers and pulled from the body (ouch). His arms and legs were broken and his fingers and toes pulled from their sockets (owee). And finally his hands and feet were cut off and then he was castrated and then decapitated. His body was tied to a stake and burned but he was not alone. Burned with him was his daughter, the mother of his son whom he murdered and his mistress, because they may have started you as helpless victims, they ended up as faithless witches, no better than he.

Sources: The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger, The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring Gould, and The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers

Two Natured
The Curious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
By Aslinn Dhan

"There only devils when we hold on desperately to the part of ourselves that wants to let go. When we finally let go of that part, our demons become angels and we can go on to heaven," Jacob's Ladder- Film

The idea that there is something wild in all of us that desires to be set free is not a new one. We are all two natured. The demure, sweet girl who looks fresh as a daisy can actually be wild cat in the sack. They always said of Jeffery Dahmer that he was a quiet person, who was a good neighbor, and didn't bother anyone. At least til they started to complain about the smells coming from his apartment. Even John Wayne Gacy was said to be a real family man who loved nothing better than to dress up as a clown and entertain children. But Gacy said it best "A clown can get away with murder,"

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote his story in 1886, a scan't two years before the Jack the Ripper killings. It isn't a very well written novel. It is under developed and seems to be one of those in media reas novels, the story in the middle of things, incomplete and at times muddled. And was just one of a host of novels that were exploring the the darker part of the human psyche. Before, the monsters were something that came from the bowels of hell, or the lab, but this monster was a little closer to home. It was in the human mind.

The fact that Dr. Jekyll uses a drug to cause the transformation is secondary. It is simply the license for the other self to emerge and roam free. Stephen King calls it a "ripping good werewolf story" despite it's literary flaws. But I would argue that it just as well might be a Vampire story.

Dr. Jekyll is interested in the notion of the conscience, the thing that tells us right from wrong, and how it came to be developed to the state we now considered "civilized". He wonders if there is something more pure than the facades modern man has built up for himself and what noble savagery we have denied ourselves. He decides that he should experiment with himself and try to find out what it is like to let the primordial man out of the cage and roam the streets do as he will.

Mr. Hyde is the result. He is a cruder version of the Dr. so crude that though there is some resemblance to the good man, he is unrecognizable as the doctor. He is sensual, morally bankrupt, devoid of human conscience. He cares for nothing, has no pity or fear of retribution.

Mr. Hyde enjoys the administration of pain. He stomps a child to death in the street in front of it's screaming mother. He beats a whore to death in a brothel, he keeps a whore as his prisoner and beats and rapes her randomly. He bites bits of flesh from her and drinks her blood.

The evidence of his crimes are not kept hidden from Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll must go behind his alter ego and clean up the mess until one day, he finally decides that Hyde must go. But since Hyde is in his own head, he knows Jekyll plans to get rid of him. Hyde likes being free and decides that he does not need Jekyll. In the end, they do each other in. The moral of the story is there is both good and evil in all of us, but only the wise man keeps the evil in check all his life and never gives in to the temptation of enjoying the freedom that comes from bestiality.

The theme recurs in literature and popular fiction all the time. The Nutty Professor, for example is a comedic take on the Jekyll and Hyde story. Altered States is type of Jekyll and Hyde story wherein William Hurt uses sensory deprivation to revert to primal man. More modern zombi films like 28 Days and 28 Weeks can be construed as a modern J&H as a madness virus takes hold of people, making them like mad dogs. The convoluted Jacob's Ladder can be thought of as a Jekyll and Hyde take on the human will to survive.

There have been several films of the book. London After Midnight with Lon Chaney Sr., The Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Spencer Tracy, and Mary Reilly with John Malcovich. All are very interesting films, all have their own slight take on the tale. Mary Reilly is interesting because it is told from a the point of view of an Irish servant working for Dr. Jekyll who forms an emotional attachment to both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

But the story begs to ask the question: Which is better? The man or the beast and wouldn't we all just love to let the beast out and act out our darkest fantasies? Freud wrote that everyone has a desire to kill someone, just once, before we die, just for the experience. It is only our fear that holds us back.

Sources: The Annotated Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson edited by Matthew Crum, The Psychological Study of Man's Duality by Dr. William James, From Man to Wolf by Robert Eisler, The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, The Vampire Book by J. Gordon Melton, The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger

Sirius Black
Legend of the Black Dog
By Aslinn Dhan

And I bet you thought Sirius Black was only in the Harry Potter movies. Sirius, the constellation known as the "dog star" and the sur name Black recreates one of the most common legends to walk the heath in Great Britain. The Black Dog, also called the grim, is a portent of bad luck and is seen not only on the lonely roads of England, but has been seen and reported on by truckers and drivers on lonely highways in America, as well.

According to legend, the grim appears on lonely roads, indicating the a future disaster in the lives of those who see the mysterious animal appear and disappear before their eyes. The only exception seems to be in Somerset, England, where the weary traveler may follow the black dog through poor weather or foggy nights to get to their destination safely.

Various locations in England boast a haunting by the black dog. It is thought that the dog is a revenant of hell, sent to seek the souls of foolish people what travel alone at night. Others believe they are the souls of people who have been murdered. Still others believe the black dog is the ghost of witches who were brought to trial.

The most famous black dog is the black dog of Newgate Prison. A mix between a criminal house of detention and debtor's prison, Newgate was notorious because of the squalid conditions. Built during the time of Elizabeth I, the prison held Catholics, anti-throne rebels, and common felons. When Charles II took the throne, Quakers, who were loyal to the ideas of Oliver Cromwell and his rather grim view of the fun loving rural people of England and the decadent lives of the rich in London, were sent to Newgate to await deportation to the colonies in America.

Legend has it that the black dog is the spirit of a man called Scholler, who was brought to Newgate on the charge of witchcraft. He never got the chance to plead his case because starving prisoners killed and ate him. Afterwards the black dog began to appear to take it's revenge. Stories varied that the black dog was either the spirit of Scholler or it was his witches' familiar, there to revenge it's master.

Because of the very real fear of the animals, the prisoners managed to kill the jailers and escape Newgate. It was all for nothing. The dog, according to legend, hunted down every man who had a part in eating the poor doomed Scholler and once the last man was dead, the black dog returned to Newgate and to haunt the prison walls.

In America, the most famous incident of the black dog was in 1977 when a black dog supposedly talked a man into shooting several people that hot summer. The murderer's name was David Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam.

Source: The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger, Son of Sam: The Story of David Berkowitz by Mark Coe, Revenants, Witches and Demons of Great Britain by Aliester Martin

Beauty and the Beast
Another Werewolf Love Story
By Aslinn Dhan

My darling lives in a world that is not mine
An old child misunderstood. out of time
Timeless is the creature who is wise
And timeless is the prisoner in disguise
Oh who is the beauty. who the beast
Would you die of grieving when I leave
Two children too blind to see
I would fall in your shadow. I believe

Beauty and the Beast by Stevie Nicks

One of the most popular children's stories that suggests love between humans and the "two-natured" is the story of the beauty and the beast. But before you delve into this tale, get the Disney film out of your mind. It has no place here.

The Beauty and the Beast tale begins it's etymological life in mythology as a tale of virginity, sacrifice, sexual awakening and magik. The tale is basic. The Beast was a man who was turned into a beast because of some transgression to a magikal being. Some accounts in antiquity say it was a witch or shaman, others say it was a king or other leader. The curse can only be lifted if the Beast can find true love. She must be a pure woman, a virgin, who is willing to live with the Beast and be his lover. Willing is the key word here. The allure of possible wealth or station may well be an enticement to try, but you have to have a firmer resolve if you are to win the heart of the Beast.

The beast is not the gallant velvet clothed feral gentleman but a true animal man, who hunts and eats raw flesh and drinks blood. He looks like an animal and acts like an animal in all ways. The beauty must accept every facet of the beast's life. She must never question or disapprove what comes naturally to the beast. (That would leave Sookie out of the running)

In approving of the beast, she must be deflowered by him, willingly, in an act of love and passion, not merely submitting to sex. Indeed if she can bring herself to be the seducer, all the better. But she must pure. If the beast finds she is not a virgin, and he knows right away as the legend states that the beast can smell her purity, she becomes not so much as a dinner guest but dinner itself.

If she can do all these things and submitt to a wedding with an eager heart and great love and joy, then the beast will return to his human shape a very handsome man indeed. If there is one doubt, the magik knows it and he will not return to his human state and she becomes the wedding feast.

In the original tales, the Beauty never truly arrives and the beast is never really returned to his former state. He is eternally cursed to meet, court and love the human girls who attempt the challenge.

Sources: True Origins of Fairy Tales by Evan Michaels, From Wolf to Man by Robert Eisler, The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger, Beauty and the Beast and Themes of Sexuality by Anne Stewart

The Loup Garoux Ball
Werewolves of the Bayou
By Aslinn Dhan

There is a tale that comes out of the late 1600's, early 1700's, that there was at one time a group of supernatural immigrants that came to America and settled in a region that once belonged to the French. It is a tale preserved primarily among the African slaves, but found in some records and folk lore among the French. I had read pieces of the story in various books about werewolves and sent out an international call to various history departments and anthropology departments and finally found Professor Elisabeth Craig who sent me an email and told me the tale as she had found it as she wrote her dissertation on the animal myths of Northern France.

The story begins at the last years of the Holy Inquisition. The Inquisition was losing it's terrible grip on the European world because of changing social and world views. One of the remaining stories of that time tells the tale of the Witches of Loudon in France. America is a very new world and there are many people who would love to escape the harsh poverty of the old world and brave the new one to have a share in the promises that were already evident in the new.

There was a convent in Loudon, and it was at the center of a terrible trial against one it's priests. The members of the community had been accused of witchcraft, child sacrifice, bestiality and any other gruesome activity you could imagine. The priest in question had been tortured into a terrible confession and many of the sisters were as well.

This is where the story takes an odd turn. It is said that a group of sisters from the convent hired a ship. They consulted every almanac and every astronomer to know when the full moon would rise and made strange requests that the hold be made their confinement area "For the sake of privacy and piety" creating something of a cloister for the sisters, even as they sailed across the seas to the new world. They also had a specific list that included many live animals and the where with all to feed them because of the specific needs of the sisters.

The night the sisters boarded the ship, they traveled with a strange assortment of men and women. The sailors thought they looked quite strange, but as they were seamen, they thought the strangers were peculiar to their village.

All seemed well during the trip. The seas were fair and moved the ship at a good clip and they felt no ill will from the passengers, though the sailors had many superstitions regarding women and the clergy on their boats.

Then, about two weeks from the American shores, just as the full moon rose, a crew man heard a terrible wailing. It increased as the night went on and they listened to the sounds all night as they continued to sail west. For three nights, they heard the wailing and they muttered to themselves that they would be well rid of their passengers, that they must be savages who practice some holy ritual on the nights of the full moon.

Finally in America, the ship came into what would be called the Gulf of Mexico and came to rest in the newly established port of New Orleans. The sailors watched with relief as the nuns and their charges left their ship. When they were all gone, the sailors went to the hold and they could not believe what they saw for the hold was littered with animal bones and the walls of the hold were gouged in a way to suggest the clawing of huge animals. What had those women had aboard their ship?

In years to come, the African slaves began to tell a story of a group of creatures that came out under the full moon. These creatures, they said, would hold a ball and dance under the light of the full moon. They further said that though these creatures were animals, you could tell there were human souls inside them, because no animal, no matter how clever, could know how to waltz as they had seen their masters do.

Apparently, the nuns of Loudon saved more than their own hides when they undertook the journey to the new world. The story goes that the nuns had been approached by a man who explained that he and his community needed help getting to the new world. In order to procure the help and explain why it was needed, the man revealed that he and his friends were werewolves, the last pack in France, perhaps, in all of Europe and it was only in the New World that they could be free. After much consideration and examination of the scriptures, the sisters came to the decision that the werewolves were a part of God's creation and deserved to be free from persecution. So, they began to plan the most daring escape known in the world of the supernatural.

Source: The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger, The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring Gould, and the dissertation of Professor Elisabeth Craig, Oxford University, Oxford, England.

Good Doggie!!
The Dogs of God
By Aslinn Dhan

While we contemplate the relative good or evil of the Vampires of Louisiana, there is a story from Italy about a group of Werewolves called the Benandanti, or the good ones.

The people of Northern Italy tells a story that during the three times of Harvest: St. Lucia, Pentecost, and St. John's feast days, local witches would summon the devil to destroy or otherwise harvest the winter and spring grain to hold the people hostage to starvation. There in a certain village, there were a pack of werewolves, pious men and women who saw the rise of the devil and despaired at the loss of food for the village. Together the pack came up with a plan to fight the devil and keep him out of the harvest.

On the nights of the feast days, they would come out and guard the grain. These people would change into their wolfen forms and fight the demons, called "mowing devils" who would come to steal the grain from the field. One account told how there were was a great light as the earth opened up and the stink of sulfur and brimstone poured forth from the hell mouth and demons came out to steal the harvest and from out of the edges came the wolves, giants which simply could not be anything else but supernatural, would come and attack the mowers, driving them back into the hell mouth all the way to the edge of the crevice until the Devil himself even closed that for fear of the great beasts.

To celebrate the wolfen and their service to God, the Benandanti are remembered by the harvesters who dress up as wolves and leap and howl at the moon in thanks for the dogs of God.

Their story became more public when the last of the Benandanti, a man ninety years old related his tale on his death bed. After the man died and the seal of the confessional broken, the priest related the tale and declared that not all creatures of the night were evil, that some served the ultimate purpose of God.

Sources: The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger, The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Werewolf in Lore and Legend by Montague Summers, The Book of Werewolves by Sabine Baring Gould.

The Moon Led
The Moon and Lunacy
By Aslinn Dhan

From ancient times, man has been fascinated by the moon. Our closest celestial neighbor, the moon influences the tides, our gravitational pull and even the shape of the earth. It is the subject of love poems and horror stories.

The moon is associated with the goddess Diana. Diana is the goddess of the hunt, a virgin goddess, who oversees all of man's most primal behaviours. It is also associated with Isis, her Egyptian counterpart. And like women, the moon changes her shape, going from dark to full, demonstrating the gestational progress from waiting, to pregnancy through the end of gestation. The moon became our most basic measure of time, from moon to moon.

Herbalists believed that certain plants picked in the signs of the full moon were at their medicinal peak. Prayers and ceremonies performed at the full or the dark of the moon were solemn events. The gods, it was said, were more active during the full moon.

People, the ancients observed, changed too during the phases of the moon. They could be more aggressive or more loving or more energetic. Sometimes people could become more dangerous. Whether it was the moon or people's cultural attitude about the moon has lead to debate over the centuries.

Though psychiatrists and psychologists will swear vehemently there are no noticeable changes in people's behaviour during the full moon, if you talk to police officers, ambulance drivers, and people working in hospitals and institutions, they will tell you that the three days of the full moon are busy times indeed. As someone who worked in a day school for the developmentally challenged, I can tell you that some behaviours increased a great deal during the phases of the moon. It was so prevalent a belief that we kept a calendar marked with the moon's phases so we could be forewarned of a very active day. My sister, who is a nurse working in a nursing home, said that she observed the residents were more anxious and sometimes combative during the full moon.

During a time when the occult and science walked hand in hand, madness connected with the moon was called Lunacy. Lunacy, or being moon led, meant that you may be crazy all the time, but when the moon was full you were stark raving. Many of our modern serial killers admitted to a fascination, if not being led by the full moon.

The full moon caused change in people. They became more bestial, more savage. They were more like animals. They had no fear and seemed stronger. They craved flesh and blood or had insatiable lust. Like the wolf, the moon inspired them to howl and scream.

Or perhaps it is just that the moon gave the insane more light to prowl and to do their wicked deeds. After all, witches had been gathering at the times of the full moon to commune with their god (if you were Christian, translate god to the devil) Why not other creatures the early people believed in and feared.

Imagine a nighttime darkness unlit by electric lights. No cars, no street lights, no electric lights in the home. The only thing to illuminate the profound darkness was the moon. Dogs and wolves howled at the moon. And if you believed in Werewolves, they howled too.

Vampires, too, have a connection to the moon. The nighttime sun, the Vampire walked into the silvery light of the full moon to hunt their victims. In lore, it is said that a body of the recently deceased should be carefully guarded from the light of the full moon. If a Vampire is staked and you wish to revive him, simply haul his body to a clearing in the first night of the full moon and the light from the moon would heal him. (A good thing to know if you like one of those creatures ;D)

In Werewolf lore, people afflicted with lycan'thropy had some form of wolfish behaviour all the time but it was the full moon that caused the most drastic transformation from man into beast.

Is it true? I don't know. But there will be a full moon around the 5th or 6th of April. Check it out and see.

Sources: Secrets of the Moon by Marion Dawes, Moonled: Psychological observations of the Moon by Terry Johnson, The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters by Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Vampires and Vampirism by Montague Summers, Moondance: The Witches Guide to the Moon by Robin Stardreamer.

Hey There Little Red Riding Hood
A Child's First Werewolf Story
By Aslinn Dhan

Once upon a time, as the stories from our childhoods always begin, there was a young girl who met a wolf on her way to grandmother's house. That's the way the familiar story goes.

But the story is actually much older than that and has it's origins in tales told children in the days before the Christian Church come into the cultural mix of most story telling.

In the historical retelling of this tale, it is softened to a degree to make it less pagan and more cautionary, sort of a "Don't talk to strangers" story.

This story comes to me from a young man who is getting his doctorate's degree in anthropology and folk lore with an emphasis on children's fairy tales and their anthropological origins. He wishes for me to impart that not all fairy tales should be taken at face value but to ry to find the richer cultural roots of our favorite childhood tales, masked but preserved in some form in the tales we have loved as children.

Rebecca of the Red Cap

Rebecca lived in a deep forest in a little cottage. The forest was nestled in the deepest hollow and was inhabited by many creatures and plants and flowers. No one could want for food so long as they knew what plants and herbs they could eat. Few town people made their way into the wood but Rebecca was never afraid because she knew that the wise folk, people we call witches today, lived all around her. Though they lived far apart within the mountains and hollows, they always gathered at the new moon and the full moon to praise the Sacred Spirits and to celebrate the bounty they had from the forests and to teach the younger generation.

Rebecca was such a girl and was excited because on this full moon, she was to become one of the wise people, a witch. She had made a basket of cookies and cakes for the celebration and had also a jar of honey and a jug of wine. She put on her little red cap, the cap of the student and headed out to the meadow where the wise ones always met, where the moon in her fullest looked enormous and gave the innocent children of nature more than enough light for their frolic and worship.

She headed out and walked alone in the deep shadows of the forest. She was not afraid because she knew the forests well and she could see the dark cottages of other people as she made her way to the sabat. Along her way, she heard a noise and sensed some movement. Though she was not afraid, she knew that she must be very aware of the things around her because her teacher had told her that she would encounter a test and how she reacted would tell whether or not she was a good student of the Craft. Suddenly, walking along side her was a large old gray she wolf, loping along as if she had nothing better to do.

“Good evening little sister, where are you going this evening?” asked the Wolf.
“I am going to the sabat, Mother,” she answered the She Wolf.
“I see you have a red cap, are you being initiated this night?” asked the Wolf.
“Yes Mother, and I have brought good cakes and honey and wine,” answered Rebecca.
“You must have wonderful eyes to see through the darkness,” commented the Wolf.
“Not like your own large eyes Mother. Tell me, do all wolves have such eyes as yours?” asked the girl.
“Yes, for we see far into the future and understand the past,” answered the Wolf.
“And those claws, they must be very helpful. Do all wolves have such wonderful claws Mother?” asked Rebecca.
“Yes, for we dig deep for the knowledge of the world and the secrets of the earth,” answered the Wolf.
“And those wonderful teeth, Mother, like athames we use for directing energy and defense against evil. Do you use them that way as well?” asked the initiate.
“Yes, we care for all of the innocent children of nature and guard them all from evil and protect the wild things from disease as we hunt the weakest of them,” said the Wolf.

“You are very wise my Mother Wolf and have taught me much during my walk, for I have never thought of the wolves as one of the wise ones before. Is there nothing I can do for you?” asked Rebecca of the Red Cap.
“You can take me to sabat with you. I have been a witches’ familiar for these many long years and now the crone is dead. I was hoping that one of your teachers would appreciate my service to the wise one and make me human so I can be a teacher, too and live out my life a human,” answered the Wolf.
“I shall take you to sabat and be honored and take you before my teacher, for she is very wise and will surely know what to do in this matter,” said Rebecca.

They walked along in silence and came finally to the moon bathed meadow. The whole group was astonished to see the initiate in the company of such an enormous wolf. She walked quickly to her teacher and made her a little bow and said:

“Teacher, as I was walking to sabat tonight, I met this she wolf and she told me many things. She was the familiar of a wise crone and now her mistress is gone to the Summerland and she wishes to become a human now and live out her days as a wise one and teach her knowledge. Can we help her?” asked the young girl.

“I remember the wise one with the wolf companion and wondered what became of her familiar when she journeyed to the Summerland. You were very brave my little student and took the time to understand the Wolf. You have passed your test and will be initiated tonight. Sister Wolf, your wish will be granted. Brother will you help me?” the Teacher said, motioning to a large man who carried an axe on his belt. He nodded.

The Wolf wheeled around to face the man and stood up on her hind legs. In one swift motion, the man used his axe and opened the chest and belly of the Wolf and out came an older woman, peeling away the skin and standing in the moonlight. The wise ones came to her and led her to a stream and helped her bath and gave her clothes to wear. Rebecca’s teacher turned to the people and said:

“Our sister has no home and needs a place to live out her days. Who among you can take her to your hearth?” asked the wise woman.

“Teacher, I should like to offer my humble home to Mother Wolf if she will stoop to share it with me,” said Rebecca.

“I should be happy to share your home my daughter,” said Mother Wolf.

The night was a great one. Rebecca was initiated and given a black cap in place of her red cap, her cakes and honey and wine were considered superior and she had someone to share her life with and to learn from and the She Wolf got her wish and became a human and a wise one and found a home with a lovely young witch.

Source: The Anthroplogical Origins of Modern Myths and Legends by Sheridan Michael Graves

Werewolves and the Third Reich
By Aslinn Dhan

Author's Note This entry is meant in no way to insult German people of today, nor is it meant to malign the beautiful mythologies that come from the Norse traditions.

A German Nationalist created an organization called Organization Werewolf. This organization was loosely based on Norse mythology and the new post WWI German Identity Movement. The founder was a man by the name of Fritz Kappe. It was quickly quashed by the Weimar government, the government in Germany just after WWI but was resurrected by the Nazi government in 1945.

Adolf Hitler was an enthusiast of the Norse mythos and the occult. Based on writings attributed to Hitler, his ultimate plan, after the Nazi's had won the war, was to establish not only a Nazi world regime but to establish a new religion based on the ancient Norse religious system.

Adolf was fascinated with the mythology of Valhalla and the Valkyrie and the All Father. He felt a special kinship because his name Adolf meant Father Wolf and in his mind he was the Father of the new Germany.

Members of the organization called themselves werewolves and there were both men and women in the group. Basically a civil terrorist group, they harassed Allies and attempted various assassination plots against officers. In Leipsig, a group of female werewolves poured hot water on the Allied troops marching through their town. In Baden, a group of French soldiers were brutally massacred by the local werewolves.

At the Nuremberg Trials, several Nazi officers disavowed the Organization and even gave up information on their leader, a man named Martin Borman, who escaped capture.

When the film Shindler's List was opened in Russia in 1994, the Russian contingency of the group protested the film and tried to fire bomb many Moscow theaters showing the film.

Source: The Vampire Book by J Gordon Melton

Berserker
The Viking Weres
By Aslinn Dhan

It is a word we still use today. To go berserk is to lose your ability to feel fear, to be completely out of control, to have supernatural strength and blood lust. The Norse know a little about that.

The Norse, who were the people of Sweden, Norway, Scandinavia, and Germany were a highly developed group of people with complex laws, cultural practices and religious thought. They lived in a hostile, brutal climate and depended on their skills as hunters, warriors and sailors to protect, clothe, feed and nurture their people. They were fierce and competitive and used various tools to ensure the good health of their people. War and conquest was an integral part of Norse life.

Highly skilled soldiers, they planned intricate war plans that shocked and amazed Julius Caesar and Marcus Aurelius. Of the people, the Romans wrote: "Fiercer people were never known. We may say that we have won battles, but we will never defeat the people of the northern territories of the Roman Empire." (Marcus Aurelius: The Commentaries, page 256)

Before a battle, the great Norse armies would see their shaman for the rituals associated with war. Being brave in battle was the foremost importance to the Norse. Soldiers who displayed cowardice were not greeted by the Valkyries and would not be admitted into Valhalla. Prehistoric Norse observed the animals in their environment. The bear and the wolf were respected and emulated. The shaman would purify and bless each warrior and present him with a token of an animal whose spirit would endow them with bravery and strength, even to the point that the Northman would forget his human nature and become the animal they were being blessed with. They would become were-animals, men who took on the characteristics of the animal that protected and inspired them.

In one account by Publius, who recorded one battle in Norway: "They were as the beasts, no human heart beat within them. They were covered in blood and gore. One great Northman actually rallied his men with a great howl ripping from his throat and those around him howled in response." (The Great Norse Wars: Commentaries from Publius, page 175)

In modern war, we have heard of fierce battles where soldiers lost all sense of themselves and fought purely on the energies created by the heat and storm of battle. Though in modern times, the word berserk has been denigrated to mean "madness", in ancient times, being berserk meant to become other, greater than your human self.

Source: Marcus Aurelius: The Commentaries Marcus Aurelius/ Edward Stowe editor, The Great Norse Wars: Commentaries from Publius, Publius/ Stephanie DeMarcio editor

They Call it Puppy Love
Love and Werewolves
By Aslnn Dhan

When comparing the love/sexual relationships Sookie has with her two Vampires, and then comparing the mating complications she would encounter with weres, I don't know which is more complicated.

But in mythology, there isn't much on the love bonds weres have with humans. In fact, weres are tough to love because they seem to be black widows, they mate and kill.

Sabine Baring Gould in his landmark 1835 book The Book of Werewolves, the Methodist minister is fairly straight forward, Weres are beasts and they not only give in to their blood lusts but their carnal lusts as well. They simply have no romantic attachments and surrender totally to the beast within.

The exception to this was the story contained in Gerald of Cambresis' account of an encounter he had traveling through Ireland. He and a young monk were spending the night on the road. They built a fire, had their supper and had agreed to sleep in shifts as there were dangers lurking in the night. During the night, the camp was approached by a very large wolf who made it known to Gerald that he was a werewolf and he needed the ministry of the priest. The priest agreed to follow him. The werewolf explained that his wife was terribly wounded and was in need of the Last Rites and Holy Communion. The priest balked. How could he give Communion to a beast.

They followed the wolf into the woods and came to a cave. There inside, they found a very battered female wolf. The priest explained that was impossible for him to give her the rituals of the Church in her wolf form. Laboriously, the female wolf shed her skin to reveal her human self, a fairly gruesome sight as she actually peeled her wolf skin down to show her human head and torso, leaving the rest of her wolf. The priest agreed that this fulfilled his requirement for her to be "human" to have the rites and he performed them. She reclaimed her werewolf form and died. Gerald writes: "Her mate howled, as in pain, and licked the females snout and nuzzled her most lovingly." (page 369) Of all the writers of the occult, he seems to be the only one to record evidence of werewolf love.

Source: Carmina Gaelidica by Gerald of Cambresis, The Book of Werewolves Sabine Baring Gould

The Faerie Faith in Celtic Lands Today By Aslinn Dhan

One of the greatest pleasures of my life was knowing Frank O'Faolain. A young man, Dublin born and bred he loved his country and culture and told me about his beloved Grandparents, now long gone. Of his Grandfather, he spoke of the hard work he did as a boy and did all his life as a sheep farmer in Cork and of his Grandmother, a pious woman, who lived a life not unlike many of her generation, but a generation who clung to traditional beliefs as only the Irish could.

Catholic and mildly Republican, Frank told me that of the people he was closest to, his Grandmother was the pearl of his heart. One of the things that endeared him to his Grandmother was her belief in the world of Faerie. She was never one to hold with "superstition" but she had customs that Frank knew was dying out in Ireland as each generation became more modernized and there was a sadness in him because of it.

One of the things that Frank said about his Grandmother was the curious ritual she had of filling a faery dish for the house faeries. She had a small blue china dish that would hold no more than a teaspoon and she would pour a wee drop of milk into it. If she had made a bit of pound cake, a small crumb would be placed there as well. This she would do of the evening, as they went to bed and in the morning, it never failed that the milk and occasional piece of cake would be gone.

Even as a boy, he felt that it was probably a mouse getting in the house and finding the treat, but try as he might, he never caught sight of it, not even so much as a dropping, to indicate it was anything other than one of the helpful people, or wee ones, coming for their nightly snack.

Another thing she was adamant about was the fact that toadstool or mushroom rings were to be avoided at all costs. There the mortal man would disappear in that ring and be taken to the land to the land of Faerie to be held there until it suited them to let him go. If small objects went missing, like a button or a coin was missing, she blamed it on the Fae.

When Frank came back from Ireland after Christmas, he brought a wonderful book called The Faerie Faith of Celtic Lands by Siobhan O'Reilly. In it she talks primarily about neo-pagan religious groups that explore the old religion but she also explored the way Faerie culture still exists, even in today's modern Celtic countries.

She explains that while in many ways, Ireland is very much a Christian culture and very traditional at that, the reality is the way the early Celts embraced the Christian faith was very different from the way other countries embraced it. The myth that Patrick was the first Christian missionary has clouded the history, much as Americans are just now beginning to drop all those historical myths about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree. In actuality, there were many Christian missionaries in Ireland and they did the same thing as Patrick did, simply recreating what were Pagan symbols into Christian ones. For example the humble Shamrock, used by Patrick to teach the Pagans about the Christian Trinity. Fact is, Pagan Celts had used the shamrock as a symbol of the triune goddess for a thousand years and held the little clover as a sacred talisman.

In matters of Faerie, just as there were numerous Judeo-Christian myths and legends (the legend of Lilith, for example) so there were Celto-Christian myths, placing people of Celtic Myth in the stories they were hearing about Jesus and Mary and other people from the Bible. This cemented the faith in their minds, and while it was surely not orthodox, it inspired much of the later story telling, like the Arthurian tales, the Mabigon tales and the Ulster Cycle, bringing together pure Pagan fantasy with Christian symbolism that still lives on today.

With the passage of time, however these old ways of leaving the Faerie dish at night, of avoiding toadstool rings, and tying a bit of red ribbon in the mane of horse or putting a piece of iron, especially an iron cross in a baby's cradle to protect it from thieving Faeries is almost gone. But there is still a little corner of our hearts still peering into the world with childlike wonder at the idea there may well be Faeries at the foot of my garden.


Source: The Faerie Faith of Celtic Lands by Siobhan O'Reilly and How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill

The World of Faerie
By Aslinn Dhan

Since we are getting into Sookie's heritage and her "other" family tree, I thought I would spend a little time delving into the world of Faerie. I have a few things on this thread already, but I thought I would get into the topic a little deeper.

Faery is a reminder of a world in which we all once lived, connected with the earth, recognized in all nature. They are the personification of the hidden aspects of the world in which we all live. They reflect our world history, and our personal daily stories, full of drama: Love, lust, hate, death, war, faith and doubt, birth, trickery, enchantment, and longing.

Humans have maintained close contact with the Fae. In their most primal, truest forms, we perceive them simply as forces of radiant light. They act as guardians and guides, godmothers and muses, and even as agents of personal change and self-growth. They are the healers and handmaids of nature, connecting us with the elements.

The Fae do their best to shield themselves from us. There only a handful of humans who see the Fae anymore. Children of course see the Fae, along with poets and artists, psychics and seers, healers and those with a strong connection to mother earth. They have the most potential of seeing the Fae than any other sort of human.

The word faerie comes to us from many places but the most popular etymological source for the word Faerie is fatum, or fate. It was thought that the fae were the children of the fates, bestowing special gifts and blessings on each child born.

The names for the Fae are as various as the cultures of man: The Gracious Ones, The Good People, The Honest People, The Darlings, The Handsome People, The Little Helpers, and The Playful People.

There are many origin stories that explain where the Fae come from. The mystery of the Fae and where they come from are a part of all cultures. Faeries do predate Christianity, but many of their origin tales are wrapped up in the Judeo-Christian folklore, same as with Vampires and Weres.

In Norse Mythology, the great magikal giant Ymir was defeated and how the maggots devouring him (and his magik) transformed into three different kinds of faerie: The Liosalfar (The Light Elves) the Dockalfar (The Dark Elves) and the Duskenalfar (The Dusky Elves). The Light Elves are the ones who inhabit the world in the light of day, they are close to the sunlight and like all good, hearty things and beings. The Dark Elves are underground and like the darkness and are interested in creating trouble, wreaking havoc and starting wars. The Dusky Elves are the most common and the ones we are most likely to see. They have characteristics of both light and dark, reflecting us the most in their behavior and practices. Like all Fae they try their best to be cloaked from view, but if we are to see the Fae, these are likely to be the ones we would likely see. There are also the Seelie (the Blessed Court) and the Unseelie (the Damned Court).

Icelandic storytellers tell an origin tale of Eve. After the first man and woman were thrown out of paradise, Eve had many children. One day she had all her children at the water's edge, giving them a bath when the Lord God spoke to her. Terrified, as it had been some time since she last heard the voice of God, she hid the children she had washed in the surrounding bushes. "Are these all your children?" asked the Lord. "Yes," she lied. This angered God and he cursed Eve's hidden children: "Those you have hidden from me will remain hidden from all mankind!" They were since then known as the Huldre Folk- the Hidden People.

Some people believe that the Fae are fallen angels, some believe they are the souls of the "heathen dead", not good enough for heaven, but not bad enough for hell. Pixies are thought of as the souls of the unbaptized

Another tale, and one I am most familiar with, says that God created many creatures in heaven and earth. In Heaven he created the angels, or course, and he also created many little creatures that simply roamed the bounds of heaven. When Lucifer and his followers rebelled against God, they broke through the gates of heaven and swep up in their wake these smaller creatures. When God sealed the gates of heaven, he said,"Let those who are out, stay out and those who are in, stay in!" Lucifer and his followers were consigned to hell, the angels to heaven and wee creatures stayed on earth and became the Fae.

Sources: The Element Encyclopedia of Magikal Creatures by John and Caitlin Matthews, Faeries and Elves by the Editors of Time/Life Books, Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud, Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee and A Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith and George Moorse

Faerie Tribes and Clans
By Aslinn Dhan

Classifying faeries as a diffucult chore because Faeries simply are who they are in any given moment. But for the sake of this discussion, we shall use the elements to delve into the various tribes and clans of the Faerie world.

Earth Faeries

These creatures are securely bound to the earth element. Some are dark Faeries and some are light in their aspects but all have a certain measure of both. Earth Faeries are the spiritual force of nature, reflecting it's power, moods and cycles.

Gnomes

Earth dwellers, they live under our feet, in the rocks and deep roots of trees, in caves and quarries and mines. They can swim through the element like fish through the seas. In Jewish tradition, the gnomes dwell in the center of the earth. They are also known in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, Germany, and Bolivia. They are tricky and capricious, but also known to help miners by teaching them how to mine safely and warn of danger.

Fae of the Trees

Known as Dryads in Greek folklore and Wild or Green Men and Women in Celtic lore, along with brownies, pixies, and goblins, they make their homes near, around and inside the trees. In Norse traditions, they are called Wood Wives and in Italy, they are known as the Silvane and Silvani, who give birth to the folletti. Foletti are mercurial some of them being friendly if a little mischievous, and others down right evil, especially in matters of sex, as they are notorious for raping humans and Fae alike. They are also known to be kidnappers and cannibals of human children. In Italy, also, there are the Fauni. Fauni and Faunae are possible sources for the incubus and succubi of Vampire lore and were responsible for the bad dreams of humans and animals alike. These Fae might also become domesticated and live in human dwellings. So long as they are content, they are helpful and protective members of the family. Brownies, for example, are wonderful Fae in the home. Feed him well, and he will happily do chores and pinch any lazy human servants to action. Never offer him clothes, however, or he will abandon you.

Hob Goblins

This creature is a gem in the kitchen and at the hearth. Though it is designate as an earth faerie it is especially helpful around domestic fires They love to bake bread and cakes and cookies. But, beware, for they are also tempters, luring people into Faerie traps with enchanted Faerie food. Mine Goblins, like the gnomes, can be helpful too, but they can also be a little jealous, especially where precious gems and metals are to be found. They are known by many names, including: Hob-Gob, Tom Tit, Robin Round Cap, Hob Thrush, Goblin Groom, Robin Goodfellow and Puck.

The Grig

The Grig is the apple tree Faerie. It protects apple trees and appreciate it when apple pickers leave the smallest apples on the branches so they will grow over ripe and begin to ferment. When the fermented apples begin to fall, they go in to enjoy the intoxicating treat and dance celebrate among the the leaves and roots of their apple tree.

The Green Lady- Wales

Counterpart to the Green Man, she felt sorrow for the foolishness of the world. She has in her possession the cup of wisdom. Those who trust her and go to her drink of the cup and become wise women

Sheela Na Gig- The Green Woman- Ireland


This Faery is basically the same as the above except in her representation. In Ireland, she is represented with a woman who is displaying the organs of reproduction in a very obvious way. She is loud and bawdy and loves sex in all it's variations. To kiss the "lips" of the Sheela is to make you irresistible.

Pixies

The gymnasts of the Fae, they are the court jesters, funny and entertaining but not without their pesky ways to trouble you at times. They love to enchant mortals and cast spells that leave humans Pixie-Led. Pixies love to be helpful and do little chores around the house in secret. But they also like to be naughty: They steal horses and ride them to exhaustion, whisper dirty words in the ears of pious people, and steal kisses from young boys and girls. A Stray Sod is a wee pixie that looks like a little knot of loose grass. Kick a bit of loose grass and you may find you have lost your way, even if you are on your way home. Pixies are naked and content to be so.

It has been said that Pixies are the souls of Pagan children.

Black Annis, Peg Prowler, and Jenny Greenteeth

These are all Faerie Hags and have a reputation of being child eaters. They can be found in bogs and around stagnant pools

Frids

Frids love bread crumbs, and spilled milk, so they never cry over it. They love all of nature and hate it when humans are careless about the care of nature.

Pooka

A playful Faerie, he loves to live near the berry bushes where the Fae press the berries into wine. After Samhain, you are told to leave the berries alone because the pooka piss on them. They also appear to humans on lonely stretches of road as ponies or mules who seem docile enough until they are mounted and then they take their passenger on a wild ride.

Boggart

He is a household pest who ruins things like records and cds, cratches the paint on walls and the finish on furniture. He breaks toys, makes pictures fall and steals your pens, paper, scissors, kitchen knives, whatever useful thing they know you will need. (I must be partly Boggart because I routinely steal pens off people.)

Sources: Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud, Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, A Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith and George Moorse.

Faerie Tribes and Clans
Water Faeries
Part Two
By Aslinn Dhan

Water Faeries can be found in lakes, ponds, rivers, pools, springs and wells, fountains, the seas, raindrops, tear drops, and even blood. They love running water and crossing water is a way of entering the land of the Fae. Among the water Fae are the Nixies (England), Nereides (Greek), Fenetten (German), Kallraden (Sweden), the Bonga (India), the Glastig (Scotland), Strom Karl (Norway) and the Mermaids and Merrows and the Selkies and Kelpies.

Water Fae are bound to the fluid of life, even blood. They are the fae of intuition, transformation and the unconscious. Faery springs are often sought for fertility of not only the body but of the imagination.


The Lady of the Lake The mysterious keeper of the sword Excalibur of Arthurian lore, she uses the waters to hide herself and her kingdom from mortal eyes. Legends further have it that she and Merlin loved one another but he was fated to serve the whims of human kind and she was trapped forever in her watery realm.

The Gwragedd Annwn- Welsh water fae who have a propensity to fall in love with humans. They can be vindictive though, if their affections are not reciprocated. May have inspired the poem The Vampyre by James Clerk Maxwell (3:42).

Tir Nan Og: The Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty- A land under the water, Tir Nan Og is the land of magikal preservation and longevity. Oisin was reputed to have been wisked away to live in Tir Nan Og with his Faerie lover.

Kelpies- Water horse faeries, they can either be helpful or hazardous. They haunt lonely pools and, depending on their mood, either take them to their destination or jump into the water with them and drown and eat them.

Nucklavee- Scottish sea faerie, extremely ugly with red, raw muscles exposed, and black, brackish blood in it's veins. They eat other faeries.

Selkies- Irish Faerie lore has it they look like common seals but often discard their skins to sunbathe on the rocks as humans. If you happen upon a selkie, capture it's skin and you capture it's heart. But you have to keep the skin hidden and safe, for if they find it, they will return to the sea.

Mermaids and Merrows- Mermaids love mortal men and have been known to save sailors by enchanting them to live with them under the sea. They are beautiful to behold and human men rarely desire to be parted from their sea bound lovers. Merrows, or mermen, are extremely ugly, but don't let that deter you if you meet one. They are helpful and friendly and love human friendship. They tend to come to shore is the shape of small hornless cattle.

Nereides- Most dangerous at noon and midnight (the 'tween' times). If you encounter these fae, they will drive you insane. As well as water, they also travel in the whirlwinds. They steal human children. They love honey and may be placated with dishes of honey. They are also known as Nymphia, Naides, Oreades, and Dryades.

Nixies- They love to seduce human girls. They are musicians and dancers and are quite moody. The StromKarl (Swedish) are handsome, promiscuous, and a snappy dresser. He loves to dance and fornicate.

Glastig- Appearing as the half goat/half woman, they are like all the fae, either helpful or harmful. They can kill and drink humans (Vampire-like) or they can be domestic divas, taking care of hearth and home.

Sources: Element Encyclopedia of Magikal Creatures by John and Caitlin Matthews, Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud, Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, The Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith and George Moorse, Faeries and Elves by the Editors of Time Life Books

Faerie Tribes and Clans
Fire Faeries and Air Faeries
Part Three
By Aslinn Dhan

Fire Faeries

Fire is the most venerated of all natural phenomenon. It is the element most dealt with in mythology because human mastery of fire marks a turning point in in human development and civilization.

In Greek legends, Prometheus brought fire to humans. In Norse mythology Loki steals fire from the gods and brings it to humans. In New Zealand, Maui tricks the goddess of fire into giving up her precious element. In America, clever coyote brings fire to the People.

During Samhain and Beltaine, great bon fires are lit and messages to the gods are burned. The Norse of course burned the Yule log with the hopes and prayers of the people pinned to them as a message to the All Father. Native Americans call upon the spirits through fire and smoked tobacco for various blessings. Many religions use the burning of candles and incense as prayer offerings.

Funereal practices in some cultures include cremation, like the Norse, who immolated their dead on pyres, India, China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan practiced some form of cremation in their culture.

The Northern Lights are thought to be the Fae celebrating their various feasts and festivals.

Iron workers venerated fire for it's ability to melt, blend and harden metals.

The Fire Fae reflects fire's duality as comforter and destroyer, they can transform and regenerate at will.

The Will of the Wisp- Cunning and wise, these Fae are extremely cautious very thoughtful and live their life in balance. Call upon this Faery with a red candle and he will help guide your way.

Hinkey Punks- Also known as the dead lighters, they hang out in cemeteries and guide the dead to the next world. They are also known to guide lost people into dangerous swamps and bogs and over cliffs to their deaths.

Dwarfs- Not to be confused with human Little People, dwarfs are the metal workers of Faery. They make weapons and armor which are prized by humans and Faery alike. Dwarf's are the ones who created Thor's hammer, Freya's magikal necklace, and the metal threaded ropes used to bind Fenris the Wolf though they are slender as a thread.

Air Faeries

Air is the element of all winged Fae. They are the harbingers of thought, inspiration, and messages from the gods. They fly between the mundane world and the world of Faery.

The weather is most effected by the air Faeries. The Djinn in Arab lore bring the winds and sand storms called siroccos. Ukko is the Norse Fae of weather, causing wind, rain, fog, storms and thunder and lightning.

Gremlins, notorious for wrecking machines, especially aircraft, are cousins to imps and pixies.

The Wind Folletti, known in Italy as the "knot of wind" causes crop damage, blows in sudden rain and snow storms, and can only be driven away with the sounds of church bells. The basadone, a folletti of Northern Italy is known as the woman kisser and steals kisses in gentle breezes.

Sources: Good Faeries/Bad Faeries by Brian Froud, Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee and The Field Guide of the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith and George Moorse.

Fairies, Devas, Elementals and Angels
By Aolani

DEVA:

The word deva is from the Sanskrit language, meaning "a being of brilliant light" and is used to indicate a non-physical being.

A Deva refers to any of the spiritual forces or beings behind nature. According to Theosophists like Leadbeater and Alice A. Bailey, Devas represent a separate evolution to that of humanity. The concept of Devas as nature-spirits derives from the writings of the Theosophist Geoffrey Hodson.

In the Vedic religion of India, one of many divine powers roughly divided into sky, air, and earth divinities. During the Vedic period, the gods were divided into two classes, devas and asuras. In India devas gradually came to be more powerful, and the asuras came to be thought of as demons. In the monotheistic systems that emerged by the late Vedic period, devas were subordinate to one Supreme Being.
Buddhism Dictionary:

A god or supernatural being, normally resident in one of the numerous heavens and reborn there as the result of good karma. Buddhism inherited the Vedic concept of a pantheon of gods, originally 33, but which rapidly expanded in number. The gods are thought to reside on or over Mt. Meru, the cosmic mountain, and to be frequent visitors to the human world, especially to hear the Buddha's teachings. Offerings and sacrifices are made to the gods, and they may be appealed to for help or protection. They enjoy a lifespan of hundreds of thousands of years, but are eventually reborn when their good karma is exhausted, and are thus (in contrast to the Buddha) still within the realm of saṃsāra.
Asian Mythology:

Hindu gods, who inhabit their world of Deva-Loka. The term derives from the root div (to shine) and may be related to the Persian divas. Indra was foremost among the ancient Hindu gods and Deva-Loka was his heaven. In later mythology, Indra became inferior to Agni, Vayu, and Surya, but remained in power over other gods and spirits. The Deva-Loka of the gods included many nature spirits and angels.
According to theosophical teachings (which partially derive from Hinduism) devas constitute the ranks or orders of spirits who compose the hierarchy that rules the universe under the deity. Their numbers are vast and their functions are not all known to mankind, though generally these functions may be said to be connected with the evolution of systems and of life.
Of devas there are three kinds—bodiless devas, form devas, and passion devas. Bodiless devas belong to the higher mental world; their bodies are composed of mental elemental essence, and they belong to the first elemental kingdom. Form devas belong to the lower mental world; while their bodies are composed also of mental elemental essence, they belong to the second elemental kingdom. Passion devas belong to the astral world and their bodies are composed of astral elemental essence. Devas are superlatively great and glorious creatures; they have vast knowledge and power, are calm yet irresistible, and are in appearance altogether magnificent.
Devas at Findhorn:
Devas came into Western thought in a powerful way at the New Age community of Findhorn. In 1963, while struggling to survive in the trailer camp that would later become the community site, Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy MacLean were gardening. In her meditations that spring, MacLean's attention was called to the presence of the forces of nature. She was told to cooperate with nature by thinking about the higher nature spirits, the spirits of different forms from the clouds to the varieties of different plants.
Getting over some initial skepticism, she made contact and began to receive instructions from the devas that allowed them to produce a spectacular garden in the spartan conditions of northern Scotland. Over the next few years hundreds of messages were received and published from the devas which also began to articulate a philosophy of the wholeness of creation.

In the Findhorn material, the term refers to archetypal spiritual intelligences behind species, in other words the group soul of a species. But elsewhere the term is used to designate any elemental or nature spirit, the equivalent of fairies.
In the early days of the Findhorn Foundation (just outside Forres in the North East of Scotland,) wonderful plants and vegetables were grown on land that was almost purely sand, and it is thought that much of the inspiration and energy for this came from the various plant devas.
Every flower, every tree, every wildflower in fact every plant has its own ‘ deva’ or fairy, and by connecting with that deva and asking its helped in growing plants that we are hoping to grow, we can improve the fertility of anything that is growing in our garden or indeed anywhere.
In explaining the realms/efforts of Devas and Nature Spirits:

The Devic Realm: "We knew the devas to be that part of the angelic hierarchy that holds the archetypal pattern for each plant species and directs energy toward bringing a plant into form on the physical plane. " The Landscape Angel functioned as the genius loci, the Spirit of the Location which coordinated all the efforts within the landscape of a particular place. Each plant species also had its own deva: Pea Deva, Cabbage Deva, etc. which was the spirit overseeing the growth and wellbeing of a particular plant species.

Elementals/Nature Spirits: The term "elementals" was used here, though it is not exactly the same as the hermetic usage of the term "elementals," but rather more generally as a nature spirit or fairy found all over the world, elves, gnomes, etc. (not the Tuatha, who are of a particular land and history). Pan is all of nature (as seen in his very name), of countryside and woodland; he is head or god of the nature spirits. Such nature spirits include elves, gnomes, spirits of storm, rain and water, etc. "Learning to work with the nature spirits kept us on our toes. While the devas are anxious to cooperate but are rather detached from the results of their work, the nature spirits are more susceptible to direct influence by man and thus can get upset when he interferes with their work. We soon had a nature spirit strike on our hands."

In other words, at Findhorn, the founders saw the devas as the etheric architects, and the nature spirits as the actual builders/craftsmen and caretakers; you need the competencies and work of both an architect and a builder to create a house; same goes for plants and other things in nature.

As a tangent, the term "alfreka" (see the works of Pennick) means alf (elf/nature spirit) + barren/driven away. In the Norse/Anglian systems, the destruction of a neighbor's fields and lands was accomplished by sorceries creating the condition of alfreka, to make the land barren, to drive away the nature spirits and thus kill the life of that land. The same thing happened when the Christian clerics came and "exorcised" the various rocks and holy places, and drove the various deities and spirits from their ancient homes.

In Britain, where there is a tradition of fine gardens, almost invariably an area in each garden is left wild and tangled with "weeds". There is also a folk custom among farmers of leaving a bit of land amongst their fields, where humans are forbidden to go, as the domain of the fairies and elves.

In Scotland, this area of wild land is called "Clootie's Croft," "Black Faulie," "Devil's Croft,"
and "the Goodman's Field." These were generally parts of the BEST land, up to four acres, and often had old ruins or sites on it. Even in the face of threats by the clergy, these places were left uncultivated.

Pan told the founders of Findhorn that "in any garden, no matter the size, where the full cooperation of the nature spirits is desired a part should be left where, as far as possible, man does not enter. The nature spirits use this place as a focal point for their activity, a center from which to work." Humans were not to enter it, not even for ritual; it was dedicated for the spirits' own use.

In some small gardens, even a little tangled place of wild things should be left alone. Some cultures, such as in Bali, do the same thing, and they build little "spirit houses" for the spirits there.
Consciousness of the deva is directed to expansion. Devas are always conscious of their cosmic environment, and want to become ever more conscious of that what they encompass. Devas have an instinctive knowledge of cosmic patterns, relationships, and harmonies therefore they do not have to acquire knowledge. They exist in the form of energy in the astral realm and they are like fluid open vortexes of cosmic consciousness. People can often perceive them intuitively as the flowing essence of vortexes of energies. However, we may often perceive a physical shape as our consciousness filters the energy into something we can relate to.

Devas have memory and learn from past experiences and are conscious of the archetypes of the field in which they work. They react to and improve their work according to the physical influences on the life forms with which they work. As nature spirits, Devas are here to work with us and want to develop a relationship of mutual benefit. Devas have focused consciousness and action that can assist us to accomplish goals and projects in our lives.

Devas, part of the Angelic Kingdom and are in direct service to
the world of nature expressing themselves as one of the 4 elements:
fire, earth, air and water. Devas are anxious to cooperate [with man]
but are rather detached from the results of their work.

Angel Devas:

These beings, usually called angels, archangels and so on, are creative intelligences building our world. They know how to manipulate ethereal substances into ever more crystallized forms of which the end result is physical matter. They build vehicles for every life form.

They act from and are strictly connected with Divine Will and are very powerful in what they do. Their form changes as they move around, and changes over time.
They live in a state of immediate knowledge and are a source of happiness and exaltation. They live fully in the moment completely connected with and in unity with the flowing energy of the field they are working in.

They can create sounds in the ethereal worlds that have a positive effect on humans and their environment. They work with sounds, mantras, and movements to create energy patterns. Devas also encompass more abstract ideas or concepts like power, healing, music, peace, education.


In Norse mythology the equivalent angels are the Valkyries who were originally sinister spirits of slaughter, dark angels of death who soared over the battlefields like birds of prey, carrying out a warrior’s fate in the name of Odin. They chose the heroes of the battle and took them away to Valhalla, the heavenly home of honor for Odin's ghostly army. In later Norse mythology, the Valkyries were romanticized as Odin's Shield-Maidens, virgins with golden hair and snowy arms who served the chosen heroes everlasting mead and meat in the great hall of Valhalla. They also soared over the battlefield as lovely swan-maidens or splendid mounted Amazons. This was portrayed in the Volsung Saga and Niebelungenlied, where the heroine Brynhild was a beautiful fallen Valkyrie.
Celtic Angels:
In Celtic mythology, the Faeries were often seen as the helpers of mankind. They too have many correlations to their deeds as an angel would. There are a few lesser Goddesses which also acted as Angels; and perhaps that's why they're often referred to as the lesser Goddesses.
Are fairies and devas different? Fairies are in the middle of it all; devas are "above it all". Fairies are local; devas are international. Fairies are flighty, flirty, changeable; devas are responsible, staid, dependable. Fairies sparkle; devas emanate. Fairies party; devas oversee. Fairies may be invited into one's garden; no one would dare ask a deva to do anything. (A deva may well ask you to do something, however.)
Fairies:

The real fairy is related to the elves, but she is more interested in humans and animals, and has a strong magical persona. Fairies can act as protectors or guides for people involved in magic.

Elementals - Nature Spirits:

They are here to work with us and they love to connect with us. We actually have Elementals within our etheric body.
Specific Elementals are responsible for the well-being of your body. They transform the energies from nature and from our higher bodies to make them suitable for the etheric, and therefore the physical body, in this way keeping the energy levels up for every cell and organ in the body. This helps your body to function properly
in the physical realm in your everyday life so that you may fulfill a greater life purpose in the outer world.

The Elemental is instrumental in aiding in any self-healing process and it knows the blueprint of your atomic/molecular structure right down to the DNA/RNA cellular level. The Elemental can assist you in releasing trauma and memories stored held in the body. They are able to retrieve the information and release the 'know-
how' of how to best facilitate self healing or healing for others.

You can connect with Elementals through meditation or in a healing session. Elementals will help in the healing process and in keeping the body healthy and much more. As with all elementals or nature spirits an attitude of loving respect is needed by you.

Elementals support the body from the ground upwards, solidly grounding the body connecting up the spine up to the head.

Nature Spirits are for the most part composed of etheric matter. Their job is to build the plants. They channel the etheric forces they receive into physically constructing the particular plant patterns they are receiving from the devas. They are the physical workers who carry out the architectural blueprints. They express great joy and delight in their work. They vary in size from a fraction of an inch to elves who are three to four feet tall. Nature spirits are more susceptible to direct influence by man and thus can get upset when he interferes with their work.

Elementals: Within each of the four elements are nature spirits that are the spiritual essence of that element. They are made up of etheric substance that is unique and specific to their particular element. They are living entities oftentimes resembling humans in shape but inhabiting a world of their own.

The beings in the Elemental Kingdom work primarily on the mental plane and are known as "builders of form." Their specialty is translating thought-forms into physical forms by transforming mental patterns into etheric and then physical patterns. Each of them is a specialist in creating some specific form whether it be an electron or interstellar space. They take their orders from the devas.

Elementals range in size from smaller than an electron to vaster than galactic space. Like the angels, elemental beings begin their evolution small in size and increase their size as they evolve. The elementals serving on planet Earth materialize whatever they pick up from the thoughts and feelings of mankind. This relationship was intended to facilitate the re-manifestation of "heaven on Earth."

They have the power to change their size and appearance almost at will. They cannot, however, change elements. They do not remain individualized as humans are. These beings are animated by the thought power of the lower angels and so are thought forms of sorts.

They may be etheric thoughts forms, yet they have etheric flesh, blood, and bones. They live, propagate off spring, eat, talk, act, and sleep. They cannot be destroyed by grosser material elements such as fire, air, earth, and water because they are etheric in nature. they are not immortal. When their work is finished they are absorbed back into the ocean of spirit. They do live a very long time... 300 to 1,000 years."

Group Elementals:

These are attracted to a group at its formation and continuous existence depends strongly on the emotions in the group. The group elemental also influences the members of the group with a connection to the Christ Grid of Universal Consciousness, making a close connection between all the members. This Group Elemental influence and bring people who are of like mind to the group to assist with the goals of the group in a positive outcome. Groups can be towns, countries, organizations, companies, etc.

Sidhe (Tuatha De Danann):

The Tuatha De Danann is a race of beings that were once primarily known in Ireland but now known in many countries around the world. They move from one place to another and take great interest in man. During the night they are often seen traveling in spheres of light. You might have seen these orbs of light in photos, sometimes accompanied by beautiful music. Sidhe have been seen going through stone walls or into a hill side. They also have been known to directly affect the magnetic currents of the earth having a close relationship with nature and atmospheric phenomena. The Sidhe also have to power to look into the future with great accuracy.

The Sidhe have a reputation for teasing people, making jokes and disguising themselves.

Long ago the Sidhe were a people very much like us, living a life similar to humans. Their origin is unknown, but they are considered to be a non-human race of intelligent beings with great knowledge, and not quite physical, although many people have seen them. Now primarily middle-earth dwellers. Sidhe's are smaller than humans and have blond or golden hair are often described as tall, beautiful beings who have eternal youth but can appear to humans as any form they want.

In Ireland, the Sidhe fled to the depths of the earth, into caves and other underground places to avoid conflicts with humans. Their dwelling places are also often under lakes. Middle Earth where they reside is a place of harmony and beauty.

Sources:
Findhorn Community. The Findhorn Garden. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.
Hawken, Paul. The Magic of Findhorn. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.
MacLean, Dorothy. To Hear the Angels Sing. Middleton, WI: Lorian Press, 1980.
http://www.dnaalchemy.com/Devas_Elementals_and_Fairies.html
http://www.seekeronline.org/journals/y2006/mar06part3.html
http://www.matrifocus.com/LAM09/wisewoman.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/deva-religion-in-encyclopedia
http://hubpages.com/hub/Introducing-The-Angels
http://hengruh.livejournal.com/13522.html
http://www.psychicwise.com/faeries_and_plant_devas.htm

Vampires, Werewolves and Animals
The relationship between the supernatural and the natural
By Aslinn Dhan

My cat, Tina, came out of the shadows and asked to be tickled, and I bent over and scratched her head. To my surprise, the cat rubbed against Bill's legs, an activity he did nothing to discourage.
"You like this animal?" he asked, his voice neutral.
"It's my cat," I said. "Her name is Tina and I like her a lot"
Without comment, Bill stood still, waiting until Tina went her way into the darkness outside the porch light. (Dead Until Dark, page 48)

Dracula: "Listen to them, the children of the night, what sweet music they make,"
Harker: "Music? That awful howling?" Bram Stoker's Dracula (film)

I remember when I was a little girl, staying from time to time with my great grandmother, watching the behavior of one of a dozen or so tabby cats she's had during my brief relationship with her. I remember watching the nervous cat jump straight up in the air and my great grandmother saying the fairies must have pinched her to make her jump like that.

As I traveled through the world of ghosts, monsters and the fae through my mental travels as I read, I learned that the world of the supernatural and the natural move along side of one another in varying degrees of success, just as the supernatural world does with ordinary human beings. One of the most enduring myths was that dogs and cats could see the dead, that a patient person in the right position could peer between their ears and see the ghosts.

And then I saw Dracula and heard Bela Lugosi intone one of the Count's most famous lines "Listen to them, the children of the night, what sweet music they make," in response to the howling the Count and Jonathan Harker hear outside Castle Dracula.

Vampires have a very strange relationship in mythology with animals. They have an infinity for predators, probably because they are brothers under the skin. They also seem to have an infinity for the meaner creatures: the bat and the rat. Certain natural creatures are associated with Vampires, the bat being the most famous, but also the serpent or "worm" of the devil.

Van Helsing was wary around rats when he was hunting Dracula. He warned that the rats were Dracula's furry little spies who would report back to their infernal master. This may harken back to antiquity as the Plague was transmitted by the fleas on rats, and the Plague was associated with cases of Vampirism.

Werewolves have a tougher time of it. Because they are partly animal, they are sensed by natural animals as predators and feared. In the film Wolfen, stray dogs stayed away from the werewolves who prowled the ruins of the inner cities. In An American Werewolf in London, however, Jack wakes up in the wolf exhibit at the zoo and the wolves just sort of mill around him, as if he was one of them.

In Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot, the first murder in the town in the death of a dog named Doc, who had white spots on the places where dogs have "eyebrows". Legend has it the animals with white spots on their brows or eye lids can see the undead.

In Dead to the World when the Shreveport Weres and the Vampires went to fight the Were-witches who'd cursed Eric, Sookie notes that the neighborhood animals went quiet when they sensed a Vampire but they had a more unpredictable reaction to Weres.

So, apparently, the Vampires and Werewolves of myth and lore have just as unique and problematic relationship with one another as people have with both the natural world and the supernatural world. What should that tell us? That adversarial relationships are in the true order of things and the conflicts between the multiple worlds are a part of nature? Or does it suggest that we simply must embrace the reality of these worlds. This question may be the greatest conflict that our little telepathic barmaid may have to contemplate.

Source: The Werewolf Book by Brad Steiger and The Vampire Book by J Gordon Melton

A Vampiric Poem
The Vampyre
By James Clerk Maxwell
Translated into Modern English by Aslinn Dhan


There is a knight that rides through the wood
And a noble knight is he
And on an errand he is sent
He rides so hastily
He passed the oak; he passed the birch
He passed many a tree
But pleasant to him was sycamore tree
For beneath it he did see
The most beautiful girl ever he saw
So was she shiny and fair
And there she sat beneath the sycamore tree
Combing her golden hair
Then said the knight, "Oh lady bright
What chance has brought you here?
But say the word and you shall go
Back to your Kindred dear,"
Then she spoke, the lady fair
"I have no friends or kin,
But in a little boat I live,
Amid the wave's loud din,"
Then answered thus the noble knight,
"I'll follow you through all,
For when you are in your little boat
The world it seems is small,"
They traveled together through the wood
Til the end of the wood they came
And there he saw the wee, wee boat
That danced upon the waves.
First got in the lady fair
And then the knight so brave
They boared the wee, wee boat
And rowed with all their might
The noble knight, he turned about
And looked at the lady bright
He saw her blushing cheeks
And beheld her eyes so bright
But then her rosy cheeks turned pale
And her bright eyes lost their light
The poor, poor knight grew pale with fight
As his hair rose up in fear
Bygone days came to his mind
Of the lady he loved now dead.
The fair lady then said "You false knight
You have done so much ill
For I am the love you have forsaken
Though I love you still,
And I have waited in the woods so cold
At rest I cannot be
Til I drink the good life's blood
Of the man who betrayed me,"
He saw her lips were red with blood
He saw her lifeless eyes
With a loud cry said he "Get thee from my side
Thou Vampire corpse unclean!"
Too late, for he is in her magic boat
On the wide, wide sea
The Vampire sucks his good life's blood
And drinks him dead indeed.
So now beware, where ever you are
That walks the wood alone
Beware that deceitful spirit
The dead who sucks the blood.

Source: Vampires and Vampirism by Montague Summers

Vampires in the Far East
By Aslinn Dhan

In China, tales of Vampires are very well known. Called Chiang-Shih, the Vampire was an expression of the irrational soul. the very ordered and balanced belief systems of Ancient China, there were two parts of the human soul: The rational and the irrational. The irrational soul was called the p'ai.

Everyone has both souls, but at two separate times in your existence, the p'ai was more dominant, during one's gestational period in the womb and the moments of your death. If all the traditions surrounding the death of a person were not observed, the p'ai would become the dominating soul and would reanimate the body, creating a Chiang-Shih. The Chiang-Shih was characterized as looking like any other human except they glowed (Sookie routinely remarks on the fact that Vampires have a little glow) and then, when situations arose, they became fanged.

Chiang-Shihs could be made in many ways, though the catalyst for creation seems to be circumstances surrounding the death of the human. People who died in violence could become a Chiang-Shih. People who commited suicide, was executed by hanging or persons in accidents such as drowning as well as the dead who had not been properly honored with the appropriate burial ceremonies would also create the Chiang-Shihs. They are like classic Vampires and move around only at night and have trouble crossing running water.

Chiang-Shihs are also very violent and very strong. They do not have the power to glamour and are sexually voracious, but they like rape above seduction. They could, however fly and shape shift. And like Dracula, they are associated with the dragon, sometimes even shifting into a dragon.

Some protective measures against the Chiang-Shih are familiar to us. Garlic is a universal protective herb as well as salt, which is corrosive to the skin and eyes. In a manner similar to rescinding a Vampire's invitation, you need only grab your broom and literally sweep them out. Iron, rice, and red peas put on your thresholds and window sills will keep them out of your house as well. Chiang-Shihs also hate loud noises.

The only way to kill a Chiang-Shih is to cremate his remains.

Source: The Vampire Book by J Gordon Melton