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Alyosha Popovitch
In Russian folklore Alyosha Popovitch is an epic hero, a mighty warrior and a trickster. Unlike Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikititch and other heroes, who served prince Vladimir of Kiev, protected borders of old Russia and fought with various monsters, Alyosha won battles not by his physical superiority but by insidious tricks. He was always ready to play mischievous pranks on his friends too. Once, when Dobrynya went far away, Alyosha came to Dobrynya's wife and told her that her husband was dead and that she should marry him. She rejected him, and afterwards Dobrynya beat Alyosha to death.
According to the legend, Alyosha was born under peals of thunder, and the next day he jumped into the saddle and went "to see the world, to boast and to win". His main feat of arms was a victory over the monster Tugarin, also called the Worm's son, who threatened to burn Alyosha by its fire and suffocate him with smoke. Alyosha won the battle and killed Tugarin; he then hacked Tugarin's body into pieces and scattered them all over the battlefield.
His nickname means "a priest's son" and he received it because his father was a priest.
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Ekchuah
The Mayan fierce and violent god of war, associated with fallen warriors. He is also the patron of merchants and hence was portrayed carrying a sack of merchandise on his back. He is represented as a black man with a black-rimmed eye, a hanging lower lip and a scorpion tail. Ekchuah is the so-called 'God M'. His name means "black war chief".
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Heitsi-eibib
Legendary hero of the Khoikhoi (Hottentots). He is the son of a cow and some miraculous grass, eaten by the cow. Heitsi-eibib is a great magician, a patron of hunters, and a superb fighter. One of his feats was defeating the monstrous Ga-gorib. According to legend, he was killed on numerous occasions, after which he always resurrected himself (his cairns are found all over the Khoikhoi lands).
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Zao-jun
The "Lord of the Hearth", an immensely popular hearth and kitchen deity in Chinese folk religion. He is also the protector of the family. An image or picture of him is fixed above the hearth and from this position he notes everything that happens in the house. This he reports to Yu-huang on each New Year's Day. In order to make him submit a favorable to the Jade Emperor, people smear honey around his mouth on New Year's Eve. He is usually shown surrounded by a host of children, and is venerated by the whole family.
His veneration dates back from before the 2nd century BCE and, according to popular legend, this is how it began:
Once there was a man called Zhang Lang, who was married to a very virtuous woman. She brought good fortune and blessing upon his house. The man, however, fell in love with a young woman and left his wife. Rejected, she returned home to her ancestral house. From that day on, Zhang Lang was plagued with bad luck. The girl turned from him, he became blind, lost his wealth and had to resort to begging to support himself. As fate would have it, his search for alms brought him one day to the house of his former wife. Being blind, he did not recognize her, but she did. She invited him in and served him his favorite dish. This reminded Zhang of his lost happiness, and with tears running from his face, he related to her his sad tale. She ordered him to open his eyes, and as if by miracle, he regained his eyesight and recognized her. He was deeply ashamed of how he had treated her and was unable to remain in her presence, so he jumped into the hearth, not realizing it was lit. His wife attempted to save him, but only managed to salvage one of his legs 1. She mourned for him greatly, fixed a small plague above the hearth where he lost his life and made sacrifices to him. That was the beginning of his veneration as a hearth deity.
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Vadatajs
Demons who are responsible for making people lose their way in forests. They also send a traveler in the wrong direction on crossroads, so that this person's soul loses its way as well. The Vadatajs ("leading to nowhere") often assume the shape of an animal, but also that of a human being. They belong to the same lower level of deities as Dievini, Pukis and Ragana.
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Parcae
The Parcae are the Roman goddess of fate, similar to the Greek Moirae (Fates). Originally there was only one of them, Parca, a goddess of birth. Her name is derived from parere ("create, give birth") but later it was associated with pars (Greek: moira, "part") and thus analogous with the three Greek Moirae. The three Parcae are also called Tria Fata.
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Jahannam
Jahannam (Hebrew, gehinnom; Greek, gehenna) is the Islamic hell mentioned frequently in the Qur'an, It has seven gates (Qur'an 59. 71; 15. 43) and different levels, the lowest being the tree Zaqqum and a cauldron of pitch and fire. Punishments are in accord to the gravity of sins -- a theme much elaborated on by later commentators. The Qur'an is not clear if the punishments exacted on Muslim sinners last forever, and Muhammad's statement, "The condemned will be cast into fire, to dwell there so long as the heavens and earth shall last, unless God wills otherwise," does not make it clear as whether Allah ever would "will otherwise."
It is theorized, by some, that such statements, which are not definitive, merely serve to protect omnipotent freedom. Neither is it clear whether the new heavens and the new earths will be created when the present ones are ended, in a way corresponding to Allah's renewal of the skins of the damned, so that the fire can burn them again. In contrast, a kafir is generally thought to be punished eternally.
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Abigor
In pre Judeo-Christian theology, Abigor was one of the upper demons of Hell. Abigor supposedly commanded the infernal regions of Hell and was the demon of warfare and battle. He knows the secrets of victory which he will sell to the prince who will offer him his soul. He was depicted as riding a winged horse.
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Empung Luminuut
A popular goddess of the Minahas, on the northern peninsula of the Indonesian island Sulawesi (Celebes). She is the first deity, born from a rock and impregnated by the western wind. She gave birth to the sun-god Toar. With her son they became the primordial pair of gods, and both gods and man are their descendants.
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Fionn
A Scottish/Pictish magician, warrior, poet who almost achieved deity status. He was renowned as a destroyer of giants and other Celtic monsters. Fionn was a Scottish version of the Irish legendary hero Finn mac Cumhail. His followers were known as the Feine which is a close variation of the Irish Fenians or Fianna.
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Gimokodan
Among the Bagobo of Mindanao (Philippines), the Land of the Dead. It is surrounded by the Dark River. There, the souls of the dead will meet a many-breasted giantess who will suckle them before they enter Gimokodan. The land consists of two areas: the Red Region is reserved for the heroes who died in battle; the White Region is for ordinary people. They will rest in daytime and wander around at night.
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Ilmarinen
A Finnish sky-god, lord of wind and good weather (ilma), "giving calm and bad weather, and furthering travelers (sailors)", according to Agricola.
It is also the name of one of the heroes of the Kalevala, the eternal smith. He forged the sky, Sun and Moon. He also created the sampo on which the heavens rest, and even a golden wife for himself. Ilmarinen gave mankind fire and he taught them how to work with ores and make iron objects. He is the patron of travelers. He was a good friend of Väinämöinen and they often went on adventures together.
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Javerzaharses
In Armenian belief, the Javerzaharses are female spirits. They are invisible and endowed with certain knowledge. They can neither learn anything new nor forget anything old. These spirits, who are believed mortal, love weddings and singing, and are interested in marriage and childbirth. Their name means literally 'perpetual brides.'
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Kaj Yuam
The Heavenly Archer, a semi-legendary, heroic character in Hmong tradition. He is said to have created the first crossbow out of iron and copper and used it to shoot at the nine suns that turned around the world. He show down eight of them and when they fell out of the sky they caused drought and death. The remaining sun became frightened and hid herself, returning only when she heard the crowing of a rooster, which for ever afterwards bore a red plume where the sun's first rays struck it.
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Leviathan
Literally, "coiled". In the Bible, and especially the Old Testament, the Leviathan is some sort of chaos animal in the shape of a crocodile or a serpent. In other bible texts it is taken to mean a whale or dolphin, because the animal is there described as living in the sea. Later the Leviathan became a symbol of evil, an anti-divine power (some sort of devil) which will be destroyed on Judgement Day.
The Leviathan appears in more than one religion. In Canaanite mythology and literature, it is a monster called Lotan, 'the fleeing serpent, the coiling serpent, the powerful with the seven heads'. It was eventually killed by Baal. The Leviathan is also the Ugaritic god of evil.
"This great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein."
-- Ps. civ, 25-26
Come now, get back up over the fold!
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Nareau
The creator of the universe in the myths of the Gilbert Islands (current Kiribati). He is called Lord Spider. In the beginning he walked alone in the oppressive darkness of Te-Po-ma-Te-Maki ("the Darkness of the Embrace") and from a mussel shell he created the world. Then from sand and water he created two beings: Na Atibu and Nei Teuke, man and woman. They created the sun and the moon from Nareau's eyes, the stars from his brain and from his flesh and bones they made the islands and trees. From the union of those first two beings came forth the other gods. Nareau still appears on earth, as a spider.
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Omonga
The rice-spirit who dwells in the moon, according to the Tomori people of central Sulawesi. They perform sacrifices for Omonga in their rice barns. Without these ceremonies there would be no rice the following year. The spirit has to be treated with proper respect. If the people who fetch the rice from the barn are not properly clad, Omonga will become angry and eat up twice the amount of rice as they have taken out.
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Pane na Bolon
The divinity in Batak belief who ruled over the middle-earth. He was venerated under the name of Silampane or Naga Padoha. He had the form of a snake, dragon or Naga. Reigning over the world of men, his depiction is often associated with that of the eight points of a compass, called the desa na ualudesa sialuh (Karo-Batak). This divinity had a destructive aspect, capable of devouring plants and animals or of seizing the vital spirit of humans. The Datu (medicine-man) were therefore often consulted in order to know exactly in which the direction of head of Pane na Bolon was situated at any time so as to be able to direct one's actions accordingly.
Thus in the month of October, November and December (Si Paha pitu, -ualu, -sia) the head of the Naga faces Pastina or westward, and the Datu would recommend warriors when fighting to turn their backs to Purba, Angoni or Irisanna (East, South-East, or North-East) so that the god should not be able to take their lives, and by doing so safeguarded them from being wounded or killed by their enemies.
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Shaubarak
Spirit of darkness and patron of thieves in the pagan pantheon of the Ossetians, a mountain people claiming descent from the Indo-Iranian Sarmatians and living in the Caucasus, on the border between Russia and Georgia. When the Ossetians adopted Christianity, they identified Shaubarak with the figure of Satan. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, both North and South Ossetia have witnessed a revival of pagan ritual, heavily mixed with Christian (and, among the Muslim minority, Islamic) practice.
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Tagaro
The volcano-god of Mount Manaro, Ambae Island, Vanuatu. It is believed that human activities may anger him, leading to eruptions. Whenever the volcano shows some activity, they will gather at the crater rim and the chiefs will make a peace offering to Tagaro, such as a boar's tusk, a traditional gesture of appeasement, and offer apologies. They are are sure that the god will listen to them for the speak the language of the volcano.
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Uriel
"My light is God" or "flame of God. Uriel is one of the archangels of rabbinical angelology. He was sent by God to rebuke the presumption of Esdras in questioning the ways of God (II Esdras iv), and converses with him at length. He is mentioned in I Enoch, where he is one of the four archangels, but in 40-9 and 71 his place is taken by Phanuel. In 19-1 and 20-2 he is one of the 'watchers', 'the angel over the world and Tartarus'; and in 21.27 he explains the fate of the fallen angels. In 72 ff. Uriel, 'whom the eternal Lord of glory sets over all the luminaries of heaven', shows Enoch the celestial phenomena; in 33-3 he writes them down. In the lost 'Prayer of Joseph' he is the angel with whom Jacob wrestled, the eighth in rank from God, Jacob being the first. In the midrash, Uriel is said to be one of the four guardians of God's throne.
Uriel also appears in Milton's Paradise Lost where he is the 'Regent of the Sun' and 'sharpest-sighted spirit of all in heaven.'
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Veles
The Slavic god of cattle and horned livestock (skotyi bog). Veles also became associated with commerce, wealth, and prosperity; merchants often sealed their agreements by swearing upon his name, and legal documents sometimes concluded with oaths to him. This second attribute has led Roman Jakobson to speculate that, as an older, Indo-European deity, Veles absorbed some of the functions of the Vedic god Varuna, who was seen in part as a protector of world order and a guarantor of promises. B. A. Rybakov argues that Veles emerged during the neolithic era as a "master of the forest" – presiding over the souls of wild animals killed for food – then underwent a transformation to a "god of flocks" as Slavic societies made the transition from hunting and gathering to a more settled, agricultural existence. Some Baltic groups worshipped Veles as well, but connected him more with the underworld and the dead; the Lithuanian root vele means "shade of the deceased" or "shadow of death."
After the Christianization of the Slavs, Veles's identity was absorbed into the new religious order in several ways. In some places, he disappeared altogether. In others, Veles was depicted as the devil; the fact that he had often been pictured as a horned god made this equation natural, and as late as the 16th century, the Czechs referred to Veles as a demon. On the other hand, most Orthodox Russians identified Veles with St. Vlas (Blasius), who became the patron saint of livestock. Icons of St. Vlas were placed in cattle sheds, and on the saint's name day (February 12), cattle were treated to special feed.
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Xob
The Hmong god of thunder. It is said that he was once caught and hung above a fire to dry, but he escaped and flew away. The thunderous sound he made as he flew over the rice fields caused stunted rice crops for ever afterwards.
At the time of the great flood, the waters rose so high that waves hit the great gong at the mountain rooftop of the world. The sound awakened Xob and he came to man's rescue.
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Yamatanka
The Tibetan divine protector of Buddhism. He is the eternal enemy of Yama, the god of death, and his name means "he who ends Yama", but he is also called Yamari ("Yama's enemy") and Vajrabhairava ("terrifying"). He rides or stands on a bull and tramples Yama.
Yamatanka is depicted with sometimes as much as thirty-four arms, sixteen legs and nine heads, of which one is the head of a bull. He is one of the Dharmapalas and his color is blue. His Tibetan name is Tschoitschong.
C'mon, laddie. Stop falling below the fold and hold yerself up like a real man!
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Hey Aberzombie, do they have an entry about me?
How about this....
Angels
A number of numinous creatures subordinate to God appear through the Hebrew Bible; the Malach (messenger/angel) is only one variety. Others, distinguished from angels proper, include Irinim (Watchers/High Angels), Cherubim (Mighty Ones), Sarim (Princes), Seraphim (Fiery Ones), Chayyot ([Holy] Creatures), and Ofanim (Wheels). Collective terms for the full array of numina serving God include: Tzeva, (Host), B'nei ha-Elohim or B'nai Elim (Sons of God), and Kedoshim (Holy Ones). They are constituted in an Adat El, a divine assembly (Ps. 82; Job 1). A select number of angels in the Bible (three to be precise) have names. They are Michael, Gabriel, and Satan.
Angels can come in a wondrous variety of forms, although the Bible often neglects to give any description at all (Judges 6:11-14; Zechariah 4). They appear humanoid in most Biblical accounts (Numbers 22) and as such are often indistinguishable from human beings (Gen. 18; 32:10-13; Joshua 5:13-15; Judges 13:1-5) but they also may manifest themselves as pillars of fire and cloud, or as a fire within a bush (Ex. 3). The Psalms characterize natural phenomenon, like lightning, as God's melachim (Ps. 104:4). Other divine creatures appear to be winged parts of God's throne (Is. 6) or of the divine chariot (Ezek. 1). The appearance of cherubim is well known enough to be artistically rendered on the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25). Perhaps the most ambiguous creature is the Malach Adonai, an angel that may or may not be a visible manifestation of God.
Biblical angels fulfill a variety of functions, including conveying information to mortals, shielding, rescuing, and caring for Israelites, and smiting Israel's enemies. The Book of Daniel includes a number of ideas about angels that would be elaborated upon in post-Biblical tests, including named angels and guardian angels, that all the nations of the world have their own angelic prince, that angels are arranged hierarchically, and that angels have delimited spheres of authority.
Jewish sources of the Greco-Roman period expand on the traditions of angels found in the Hebrew Scriptures. We especially see the first systematic organization of Biblical hosts of heaven into a hierarchy of different castes of angels governing and serving on different levels of heaven. Zechariah's reference to the seven eyes of God (4:10) is understood to refer to either seven archangels, or the seven angel hosts in the seven heavens (I Enoch 61; Testament of the Patriarchs, Levi).
We also see the resurgence of a quasi-polytheistic view of the divine order recast in monotheistic terms. Now instead of having minor gods with specific spheres of power, lists of angels appear, all subordinate to God, but each designated with their sphere of authority (3 Enoch). This is accompanied by a proliferation of named angels. For the first time we hear of Uriel, Raphael, Peniel, Metatron, and many, many others (I Enoch, Tobit, IV Ezra).
There also an increasing awareness of an affinity between angels and mortals. It seems that the boundary between human and angelic states is permeable. Elaborating on cryptic passages found in the Bible (Gen. 5:24; II Kings 2:11), it is taught that exceptional mortals, such as Enoch, may be elevated to angelic status (I Enoch).
A sense of dualism, stronger than what is found in the Hebrew Scriptures, appears in Late Antiquity and leads to angels being divided into camps of light and darkness, as exemplified by the angelology informing the Manual of Discipline found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The mythic allusion to the misadventures of the Sons of God in Gen. 6:2 becomes the locus classicus for this belief. Thus the legend of fallen angels first appears in the pseudo-epigraphic writings (I Enoch 6, from the section sometimes called the Book of the Watchers). It is here also we first see the idea that angels envy humanity. The mythos of fallen angels eventually becomes a major theological motif in Christianity, but remains largely in the background in Rabbinic Judaism, exerting far less influence over subsequent Jewish cosmology (see Demons and Satan). The belief that angels may be invoked and employed by human initiates, later a staple element of Merkavah mysticism, first appears are this time (Testament of Solomon).
Generally speaking rabbinic literature deemphasizes the importance of angels when compared with their role in the Apocalyptic and Mystical traditions. For the first time the idea is suggested that angels have no free will (Shab. 88b; Gen. R. 48:11). But they do have intellect and an inner life; they argue and are capable of errors (Sand. 38b; Midrash Psalms 18:13). Angels exist to do a single task (BM 86b; Gen. R. 50:2) and exalted as they may be, angels are subordinate to humanity, or at least the righteous (Gen. R. 21; Sand. 93a; Ned. 32a; Deut. R. 1).
Still, references to angels in rabbinic literature are almost as vast as the Hosts of Heaven themselves. Many divine actions described in Scripture were now ascribed to various angels (Deut. R. 9; Gen R. 31:8; Sand. 105b). Contrary to this trend, however, the Passover Haggadah pointedly denies that angels played any role in the pivotal event of delivering Israel from Egypt (Magid).
Angelic functions are revealed to be even more varied and their role in the operation of the universe even more pervasive. For the first time the figure of Mavet (Death) in the Bible is identified as the Malach ha-Mavet (the Angel of Death). The Early Jewish concept of personal angels, of melachei sharet, and memuneh, "ministering" or "guardian" angels and "deputies," also comes to the fore in rabbinic literature. The idea that the angels form a choir singing the praises of God also captures comment and speculation by the Sages (Gen. R. 78:1).
While rabbinic writings offer no systematic angelology comparable to that coming out of contemporaneous Christian and magical circles, certain parallel notions can be seen. Thus we learn in Talmud that Michael, the angelic prince over Israel, serves as High Priest in Yerushalyim shel malah, the heavenly Jerusalem (Chag. 12b). Legends concerning the prophet-turned-angel Elijah become one of the most commonplace angelic tales. Elijah frequently appears among mortals, bearing revelations from heaven and resolving inscrutable questions.
That all angels (and not just seraphim and cheruvim) have wings is first mentioned during this period (Chag. 16a). The size of angels may vary from small to cosmic (Chag. 13b).
There also emerges a fundamental disagreement about the nature of angels. Some consider angels to God's "embodied decrees," elementals made of fire, like an Islamic ifrit, or from an impossible combination of fire and water (Sefer Yetzirah 1.7; S of S R. 10; T.Y. Rosh. H. 58). Others regard them as immaterial, disembodied intellects.
Unlike the Biblical writers, the Sages allow themselves to speculate on the origins of angels. They teach, for example, that angels did not pre-exist creation, but were formed as part of the heavens on the second day (Gen. R. 1:3; 3). Another Rabbi posits they came into existence on the fifth day, along with all winged creations.
In late antiquity angelology becomes a major element in Merkavah mysticism. Any adept wishing to ascend the palaces of the heavens and achieve a vision of the Divine Glory needed to know how to get past the angelic guardians (usually by knowing and invoking their names) at each level. Perhaps even more important to this mystical tradition, angels can be summoned and brought down to earth to serve a human initiate. Many rituals and practices devoted to this end have been preserved in the Hechalot writings. Starting in late antiquity, angels are increasingly related to and bound up with the everyday life of individuals.
Medieval Midrash reiterates and further develops earlier teaching about angels, but it is during this period that individual philosophers start to offer systematic and idiosyncratic interpretations of angels. Maimonides, for example, talks about them at length in his Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yisodei HaTorah (Laws of the Foundations of the Torah). While he meticulously classifies angelic rankings (there are ten), in his rationalistic system Maimonides equates them with the Aristotelian "intelligences" that mediate between the spheres. As such they are conscious and govern the spheres in their motion, but in his Aristotelian context Maimonides is saying they are forms of natural causation rather than supernatural beings. He also expands his definition to include natural phenomenon and even human psychology (he refers to the libidinous impulse as the "angel of lust"). Based on his he concludes there are two types of angels, eternal and ephemeral, the latter of which constantly pass in and out of existence. He also denies that angels ever take corporeal form; the encounters described in the Bible are only the dream visions of the patriarchs and matriarchs. By contrast other thinkers, like the German Pietist Eleazer of Worms, adhere to esoteric and unapologetically supernatural angelologies. Because of the exalted status of Torah study among Ashkenazi Jews, rituals for summoning angels, especially angels who could reveal secrets of the Torah, like the Sar ha-Torah and Sar ha-Panim (The Prince of the Torah and the Prince of the Presence), became widely known.
The early Medieval magical work Sefer ha-Razim catalogues hundreds of angels, along with how to influence them and to use their names in constructing protective amulets, throwing curses, and otherwise gaining power. Zohar, along with continuing the tradition of angelic taxonomy, sorting them into seven palaces and ranking them according to the four worlds of emanation (1:11-40), assigns angels feminine as well as masculine attributes (1:119b).
Visitations by angels were widely reported among kabbalists. The mystic-legalist Joseph Caro wrote of his maggid, the genius of the Mishna, who visited him in the night and taught him Torah ha-Sod, the esoteric Torah.
The main contribution of Chasidic thought to angelology was a distinctly anthropocentric, even psychological, interpretation of angelic nature. Specifically, early Chasidic masters held that ephemeral angels were the direct result of human action. Goodly deeds created good angels, destructive behavior created destructive angels, etc. In other words, most angels are ontologically the creation, really a byproduct, of humans rather than God! Thus the balance between the angelic and demonic forces in the universe is a direct result of human decision and action.
In the last quarter of the 20th Century, there has been renewed interest in angels is evidenced throughout the Jewish community.
Magical uses: The names of angels have apotropaic properties and frequently appear on amulets, magical inscriptions and formula. In the bedtime ritual Kriat Sh'ma al ha-Mitah, the angels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael are invoked for protection through the night. Angels have areas of specialization and can be summoned to assist mortals in these areas, such as learning and memorizing Torah.
Greek: angelos, messenger. Hebrew: Malach, Irin, Cheruv, Seref, Ofan, Chayyah, Sar, Memuneh, Ben Elohim, Kodesh.
Article copyright 2004 Geoffrey Dennis.
