We must stop the menace of this horrible being interrupting our threads and shouting "BRAINS!!!" With your consent, Lord Moorluck, can I reposition all of the GARs to take care of it?
With all this talk of people moving to Texas, and in the Houston area, I might finally have a reason to visit my cousin in Friendswood.
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Angra Mainyu
In ancient Persian (Iran) religion and books of Zoroastrianism, Angra Mainyu is the god of darkness, the eternal destroyer of good, personification and creator of evil, bringer of death and disease. He is also known as Ahriman, and his name means "fiendish spirit".
He is seen as the personification of evil, he leading the dark forces against the hosts of Spenta Mainyu, the holy spirit, who assisted Ahura Mazda, the wise lord, and final victor of the cosmic conflict. Ahriman introduced the frost in winter, heat in summer, all manner of diseases and other ills, to thwart Ahura Mazda, and he also created the dragon Azi Dahaka, who brought ruin to the Earth.
When Ahura Mazda created the heavens, Azi Dahaka sprung into the sky like a snake, and in opposition to the stars formed the planets. Both Ahriman and Ormazd were offspring of Zurvan Akarana, who had vowed that the firstborn should reign as king. Ahriman thus ripped open his mother's womb, and Zurvan pronounced that he should rule only for nine thousand years, after which period his twin brother should reign in his place.
Ahriman's chief weapon was concupiscence, through which all that was his should be devoured, even his own creation. There was a female counterpart of Ahriman, called Az, and it is said that when Ahriman saw the righteous man he swooned, and lay in a faint for three thousand years, until the 'accursed whore', Jeh, awoke him and defiled men with her destructive spirit, introducing fear, jealousy, lust and greed into man.
Ahriman lives in darkness, in a place where all those who do evil go to after their demise (Hell) and his symbol is the snake. He is what in Christian religion can be called Satan.
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Anansi
The Ashanti trickster/culture hero, also called 'the Spider'. He is the intermediary of the sky god Nyame, his father, on whose command Anansi brings rain to quench the forest fires and determines the borders of oceans and rivers during floods. Later Anansi's place as representative was usurped by the chameleon. His mother is Asase Ya.
Anansi is sometimes regarded as the creator of the sun and the moon and the stars, as well as the one who instituted the succession of day and night. It is also believed that he created the first man, into which Nyame breathed life. A typical trickster, he is crafty, sly, villainous, but he also taught mankind how to sow grain and how to use the shovel on the fields. He set himself up as the first king of the human beings and even managed to marry Nyame's daughter. He was beaten only in his encounter with the wax girl, to whom he stuck fast, having struck her with his legs when she refused to talk to him. The people then rushed forwards and beat the tricky Anansi.
Anansi is one of the most popular characters in West African mythology.
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Quetzalcoatl
"Feathered Snake". One of the major deities of the Aztec, Toltecs, and other Middle American peoples. He is the creator sky-god and wise legislator. He organized the original cosmos and participated in the creation and destruction of various world periods. Quetzalcoatl ruled the fifth world cycle and created the humans of that cycle. The story goes that he descended to Mictlan, the underworld, and gathered the bones of the human beings of the previous epochs. Upon his return, he sprinkled his own blood upon these bones and fashioned thus the humans of the new era. He is also a god of the wind (the wind-god Ehecatl is one of his forms), as well as a water-god and fertility-god.
He is regarded as a son of the virgin goddess Coatlicue and as the twin brother of Xolotl. As the bringer of culture he introduced agriculture (maize) and the calendar and is the patron of the arts and the crafts.
In one myth the god allowed himself to be seduced by Tezcatlipoca, but threw himself on a funeral pyre out of remorse. After his death his heart became the morning-star, and is as such identified with the god Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. In dualistic Toltec religion, the opposing deity, Tezcatlipoca ("Smoking Mirror"), a god of the night, had reputedly driven Quetzalcoatl into exile. According to yet another tradition he left on a raft of snakes over the sea. In any case, Quetzalcoatl, described as light-skinned and bearded, would return in a certain year. Thus, when the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec king, Montezuma II, was easily convinced that Cortés was in fact the returning god.
The Aztec later made him a symbol of death and resurrection and a patron of priests. The higher priests were called Quetzalcoatl too. The god has a great affinity with the priest-king Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, who ruled the Toltecs in Tula in the 10th century. The cult of Quetzalcoatl was widespread in Teotihuacan (ca. 50km northeast of Mexico City), Tula (or Tullán, capitol of the Toltecs in middle Mexico), Xochilco, Cholula, Tenochtitlan (the current Mexico City), and Chichen Itza.
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Habaek
Water deity who lived in the Yalu River. He had three daughters--Yuhwa, Hweonhwa, and Wuihwa--the eldest of which was taken by Haemosu to be his bride. Habaek was angered that Haemosu did not honor him with an official offer of marriage and the ensuing ceremony, so he sent a message to Haemosu demanding that he return. Haemosu descended to Habaek's palace, where they tested each other's skill. Being deities, they tested each other in power of metamorphosis. Habaek first changed himself into a carp, but Haemosu changed himself into an otter and caught Habaek. Then Habaek changed into a deer, whereupon Haemosu changed into a wolf and chased him. Finally, Habaek changed into a quail, but Haemosu changed into a falcon and caught him again. Habaek gave up and acknowledged Haemosu's supremacy (the three stages represented Haemosu's supremacy on air, land, and sea). An official marriage ceremony was held and Habaek sent his daughter Yuhwa to heaven with Haemosu.
Before Haemosu's chariot could leave the water, Yuhwa escaped and returned to her father. Habaek was infuriated, and he ordered his daughter's lips stretched out and placed her in a stream. She was later caught in a net by the king's fishermen, and after cutting her lips three times she was finally able to speak. The king took her into his household, where she was impregnated by Haemosu through a sunbeam.
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Makea-Tutara
In Polynesian myth, Makea-Tutara is the father of Maui, and chief of the underworld. When Maui's mother Taranga visited that place she presented Maui to his father. He predicted a great future for his son and dedicated him to the gods. In that solemn ceremony, he sprinkled water of his son's head, but in spite of all his incantations, he was unable to give Maui immortality. With sadness in his heart, he sent Maui back to his life in this world.
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Dievini
Dievini (diminutive plural from dievs) is a collective name for the group of minor gods of the Latvian pantheon. Mostly, the Dievini act as protecting and household gods. The word itself seems to be a more recent construction. Although being less described in the classical folklore, these could be the deities honored more in day-to-day life as the actual rulers of the household fortune and therefore of more influence. Eliade suggests that such deities could be the ones honored more usually than the higher gods, who were invoked only in case of greater necessity or some emergency.
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Gaueko
"He of the night." It is a male personification of the Night and all its dangers. If daytime is for the humans and the living, the night is for the spirits and the dead. Thus Gaueko, when finding a man awaken and out at night, will warn him against performing some tasks when there is no light, and will urge him to go home quickly and stay there until sunrise. Nothing will happen if this person obeys, but if he or she defies or despises the night, Gaueko will be angered and punish this human.
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Yaksha
In Hindu myth, Yakshas are chthonic semi-divine beings, half god and half demon. They live under the earth in the Himalayas where they guard the wealth of the earth (gems, gold, silver, etc.). They are led by Kubera, the god of wealth. Like their leader, they have all fat bellies and plump legs. They have no special characteristics, are not violent, and are therefore called punyajana ("good beings"). Kubera's epithet is Punyajaneshvara.
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Othagwenda
Flint, the eldest of the twin culture heroes of the Seneca. His brother is Juskaha. He was hated by his grandmother and cast out shortly after birth, but his brother found him and brought him back. They later separated, to increase the size of their earth-island. The inspection of each other's work resulted in the twins' quarreling and the death of Othagwenda.
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Asherah
Asherah was a goddess popular with the ancient Israelites, despite their priests' call to remain loyal to Yahweh. Biblical prophets condemn her repeatedly under the name Ashtoreth; it is the use of this name, a seeming combination of Asherah and Astarte, which has caused so much confusion for modern scholars.
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Penthesilea
Queen of the Amazons who, in the post-Homeric legends, fought for Troy after Hector's death. She was slain by Achilles, who at that same moment was moved by her courage and beauty.
However, there is more than one version of Achilles versus Penthesilea. In several of these, it was Achilles who died, not she. (See: Heinrich von Kleist, Penthesilea (Drama) and Robert Graves, The Greek Myths Vol II, page 313.)
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Tasenetnofret
Tasenetnofret was an Ancient Egyptian goddess. She was the consort of Horus when he was Har-wer. Har-wer was the name of Horus at a more elderly age. Horus reached maturity at this stage in life, and at this time, Tasenetnofret became his companion. He got revenge for his father by overcoming Seth. He then became the king of Egypt. In Kom Ombo, which is northern Egypt, Har-wer was thought of as the son of the god Re, and therefore was identical with the sky god, Shu. His image is that of a falcon.
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Rhadamanthys
Rhadamanthys was the son of Zeus and Europa. He was the ruler of Crete, but, according to some, had to flee from the island for his brother Minos. He went to Boeotia where he married Alcmene, the former wife of Amphitryon. Because of his honesty and fairness, he became one of the judges in the underworld.
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Ull
In old Scandinavian myth, Ull ("glory") is the god of justice and dueling, as well as the patron god of agriculture. He excels in archery and in skiing and lives in his hall Ydalir ("yew dales"). He is regarded as the son of Sif and the stepson of Thor. When the giantess Skadi divorced Njord she married Ull.
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Boann
"She of the white cattle". Irish goddess goddess of bounty and fertility, whose totem is the sacred white cow. Also goddess of the River Boyne. She is the wife of the water god Nechtan or of Elcmar, and consort of the Dagda, by whom she was the mother of the god Aengus. To hide their union from Nechtan, Boann and the Dagda caused the sun to stand still for nine months, so that Aengus was conceived and born on the same day.
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Lambton Worm
The Lambton 'Worm' (old english for 'dragon') has long been part of folklore in Durham, England. The 'worm' began wreaking havoc in the middle ages, when a young member of the Lambton family caught an eel-like creature while fishing on a Sunday. He threw it down a well, where it grew to an enormous size. When the youth went off to on a crusade, the worm escaped the well and devoured anything that came near. It is said that the worm was long enough to wrap itself around the hill, now called "worm hill", completely three times, and it slept wound around the hill in this manner.
The young man managed to kill the worm upon his return from the crusades -- cutting the worm in three pieces -- but only with the help of a witch. His promise to her was that he would kill the first creature he met after his victory. Unfortunately, the first creature he met happened to be his father. Unable to murder his father, the young crusader reneged on his promise to the witch and condemned his family to a curse of untimely deaths that continued for nine generations.
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Yofune-Nushi
A sea-serpent from Japanese mythology. It lived in cave under the rocks of the Oki Island's cost. Every year on the night of June 13, the serpent had to be offered a fair maiden. If this was refused, the creature would cause storms and destroy the fishing fleet. One year, a young girl, called Tokoyo, volunteered to go as the serpent's next victim. When the monster approached her, ready to devour her, she pulled a knife and slashed at its eyes, blinding it. When the serpent reared back in pain and confusion, Tokoyo slew it.
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Vilkacis
Vilkacis (to be translated literally as "wolf's eyes"; 'werewolf') is usually a malicious creature; a scary being people can turn into. There are particular ways how the people with this curse turn into the wolves and then get their human appearance back. There are particular places, where this is said to have happened. Although mostly malevolent, on occasion it would bring treasures. It belongs to the same lower level of mythological beings as Dievini, Ragana, Pukis and Vadatajs. It is not clear whether Vilkacis it is human flesh or just the soul that transforms, as their are accounts of moving an apparently asleep person whose soul is out "running as a werewolf", after what the person turns out to be dead, as the soul couldn't enter the flesh to return.
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Havelock the Dane
A hero of medieval romance. Havelock was the orphan son of Birkabegn, the King of Denmark. When he was just a little boy, Havelock was cast adrift on the sea through the treachery of his guardians and the raft bore him to the coast of Lincolnshire. There he was found by a fisherman called Grim who brought the boy up as his own son. Havelock eventually became King of Denmark and of part of England. He suitably rewarded the old fisherman for all he had done, and with the money the fisherman built Grim's town or Grimsby.
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Ilya Muromets
A hero of Russian bylinas, the greatest bogatyr. He is the son of a farmer, and was born in village Karacharovo, near Murom. As a child Ilya Muromets was gravely ill and could not even move before 33 years. Later he was cured by an old singer, and a Svyatogor-bogatyr, dying, gave him his strength. Muromets went to the capital to be a warrior of Prince Vladimir the Red Sun. He defeated Solovey-Razboynik, a monster who lived in forests and which could kill people by screaming. Therefore Ilya became the Vladimir`s chief bogatyr. When Russia was attacked by Kalin, the tsar of steppe nomads, Ilya Muromets defeated him. Later, he kept the border against invaders, liberated Kiev from Idolishche, and performed many other feats.
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Telephus
Telephus appeared in the Homeric Cypria, one of the so-called epic cycles which relate events left out of the Homeric epics. His story is later retold many times by Greek and Roman dramatists, notably Euripides and the Roman Ennius. The story of Telephus exhibits many features common in world mythology.
He was the son of Heracles and the princess Auge, from Tegea. Auge's father, fearing an oracle that said his grandson would kill his uncles either, a) made the pregnant Auge a priestess of Athena and exposed the infant Telephus on Mt. Parthenion, who was then miraculously saved or suckled by a deer, and/or b) the infant Telephus and his mother were thrown into a crate and put into the sea where they landed in Asia Minor. The story of a child born under a curse and then exposed or set adrift and miraculously saved is common in Greek mythology, and in these respects Telephus differs hardly at all from Perseus, Oedipus, Romulus and Remus, or Heracles 1.
Telephus became king of the Mysians, where the Greeks mistakenly landed in their first attempt to find and besiege Troy. In the ensuing battle, Achilles wounded Telephus. When the wound would not heal, Telephus consulted an oracle which responded: "he that wounded shall heal."
In the reports we have about Euripides' lost play on the subject, Telephus went to Aulis disguised as a beggar to ask Achilles for help in healing his wound. Aristophanes has Aeschylus savagely criticize Euripides in his Frogs for having depicted a Greek hero so disgracefully. Achilles refused to heal the wound saying that he had no medical expertise. In another version of the story, Telephus is said to have somehow seized Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and leader of the Greeks, whom he threatened to kill unless Achilles agreed to help. But Odysseus pointed out that, as it was the spear that had inflicted the wound, the oracle meant that the spear must be the instrument of his healing. Scrapings from the spear were applied to Telephus' wound, and it was healed. This is another common motif in antiquity, the idea of sympathetic magic. In recompense Telephus was to lead the Greeks to Troy, but by this time Agamemnon had angered Artemis, and the Greeks were confined to Aulis.
Good morning father.
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Quetzalcoatl
"Feathered Snake". One of the major deities of the Aztec, Toltecs, and other Middle American peoples. He is the creator sky-god and wise legislator. He organized the original cosmos and participated in the creation and destruction of various world periods. Quetzalcoatl ruled the fifth world cycle and created the humans of that cycle. The story goes that he descended to Mictlan, the underworld, and gathered the bones of the human beings of the previous epochs. Upon his return, he sprinkled his own blood upon these bones and fashioned thus the humans of the new era. He is also a god of the wind (the wind-god Ehecatl is one of his forms), as well as a water-god and fertility-god.
He is regarded as a son of the virgin goddess Coatlicue and as the twin brother of Xolotl. As the bringer of culture he introduced agriculture (maize) and the calendar and is the patron of the arts and the crafts.In one myth the god allowed himself to be seduced by Tezcatlipoca, but threw himself on a funeral pyre out of remorse. After his death his heart became the morning-star, and is as such identified with the god Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. In dualistic Toltec religion, the opposing deity, Tezcatlipoca ("Smoking Mirror"), a god of the night, had reputedly driven Quetzalcoatl into exile. According to yet another tradition he left on a raft of snakes over the sea. In any case, Quetzalcoatl, described as light-skinned and bearded, would return in a certain year. Thus, when the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec king, Montezuma II, was easily convinced that Cortés was in fact the returning god.
The Aztec later made him a symbol of death and resurrection and a patron of priests. The higher priests were called Quetzalcoatl too. The god has a great affinity with the priest-king Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, who ruled the Toltecs in Tula in the 10th century. The cult of Quetzalcoatl was widespread in Teotihuacan (ca. 50km northeast of Mexico City), Tula (or Tullán, capitol of the Toltecs...
There is some dispute as to whether he is the serpent god Yig, or Ithaqqa.
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Telephus
Telephus appeared in the Homeric Cypria, one of the so-called epic cycles which relate events left out of the Homeric epics. His story is later retold many times by Greek and Roman dramatists, notably Euripides and the Roman Ennius. The story of Telephus exhibits many features common in world mythology.
He was the son of Heracles and the princess Auge, from Tegea. Auge's father, fearing an oracle that said his grandson would kill his uncles either, a) made the pregnant Auge a priestess of Athena and exposed the infant Telephus on Mt. Parthenion, who was then miraculously saved or suckled by a deer, and/or b) the infant Telephus and his mother were thrown into a crate and put into the sea where they landed in Asia Minor. The story of a child born under a curse and then exposed or set adrift and miraculously saved is common in Greek mythology, and in these respects Telephus differs hardly at all from Perseus, Oedipus, Romulus and Remus, or Heracles 1.Telephus became king of the Mysians, where the Greeks mistakenly landed in their first attempt to find and besiege Troy. In the ensuing battle, Achilles wounded Telephus. When the wound would not heal, Telephus consulted an oracle which responded: "he that wounded shall heal."
In the reports we have about Euripides' lost play on the subject, Telephus went to Aulis disguised as a beggar to ask Achilles for help in healing his wound. Aristophanes has Aeschylus savagely criticize Euripides in his Frogs for having depicted a Greek hero so disgracefully. Achilles refused to heal the wound saying that he had no medical expertise. In another version of the story, Telephus is said to have somehow seized Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and leader of the Greeks, whom he threatened to kill unless Achilles agreed to help. But Odysseus pointed out that, as it was the spear that had inflicted the wound, the oracle meant that the spear must be the instrument of his healing. Scrapings from the spear were applied to Telephus' wound, and it was healed. This...
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Ilya Muromets
A hero of Russian bylinas, the greatest bogatyr. He is the son of a farmer, and was born in village Karacharovo, near Murom. As a child Ilya Muromets was gravely ill and could not even move before 33 years. Later he was cured by an old singer, and a Svyatogor-bogatyr, dying, gave him his strength. Muromets went to the capital to be a warrior of Prince Vladimir the Red Sun. He defeated Solovey-Razboynik, a monster who lived in forests and which could kill people by screaming. Therefore Ilya became the Vladimir`s chief bogatyr. When Russia was attacked by Kalin, the tsar of steppe nomads, Ilya Muromets defeated him. Later, he kept the border against invaders, liberated Kiev from Idolishche, and performed many other feats.
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Havelock the Dane
A hero of medieval romance. Havelock was the orphan son of Birkabegn, the King of Denmark. When he was just a little boy, Havelock was cast adrift on the sea through the treachery of his guardians and the raft bore him to the coast of Lincolnshire. There he was found by a fisherman called Grim who brought the boy up as his own son. Havelock eventually became King of Denmark and of part of England. He suitably rewarded the old fisherman for all he had done, and with the money the fisherman built Grim's town or Grimsby.
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Who needs to write anything when you can just click reply on Aberzombie's posts.
Vilkacis
Vilkacis (to be translated literally as "wolf's eyes"; 'werewolf') is usually a malicious creature; a scary being people can turn into. There are particular ways how the people with this curse turn into the wolves and then get their human appearance back. There are particular places, where this is said to have happened. Although mostly malevolent, on occasion it would bring treasures. It belongs to the same lower level of mythological beings as Dievini, Ragana, Pukis and Vadatajs. It is not clear whether Vilkacis it is human flesh or just the soul that transforms, as their are accounts of moving an apparently asleep person whose soul is out "running as a werewolf", after what the person turns out to be dead, as the soul couldn't enter the flesh to return.
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Yofune-Nushi
A sea-serpent from Japanese mythology. It lived in cave under the rocks of the Oki Island's cost. Every year on the night of June 13, the serpent had to be offered a fair maiden. If this was refused, the creature would cause storms and destroy the fishing fleet. One year, a young girl, called Tokoyo, volunteered to go as the serpent's next victim. When the monster approached her, ready to devour her, she pulled a knife and slashed at its eyes, blinding it. When the serpent reared back in pain and confusion, Tokoyo slew it.
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Lambton Worm
The Lambton 'Worm' (old english for 'dragon') has long been part of folklore in Durham, England. The 'worm' began wreaking havoc in the middle ages, when a young member of the Lambton family caught an eel-like creature while fishing on a Sunday. He threw it down a well, where it grew to an enormous size. When the youth went off to on a crusade, the worm escaped the well and devoured anything that came near. It is said that the worm was long enough to wrap itself around the hill, now called "worm hill", completely three times, and it slept wound around the hill in this manner.
The young man managed to kill the worm upon his return from the crusades -- cutting the worm in three pieces -- but only with the help of a witch. His promise to her was that he would kill the first creature he met after his victory. Unfortunately, the first creature he met happened to be his father. Unable to murder his father, the young crusader reneged on his promise to the witch and condemned his family to a curse of untimely deaths that continued for nine generations.