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Mohtz on Society6

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Word of the Day: кикимора

кикимора /kʲɪˈkʲimərə/ noun, feminine – a female spirit of marshes and wetlands, or a female house spirit; also, an ugly, badly groomed and dressed woman.

There are two different kinds of Kikimoras. The one that comes from the forest is married to the Domovoi. The other one comes from the swamp ( кики́мора боло́тная) and is married to Leshy. The latter can be identified by her wet footprints. Кикимора looks ugly and messy, so her name became common for this kind of look. Я сегодня проспала на работу, очень торопилась, и поэтому выгляжу, как кикимора.  Today I overslept for work, was in a hurry, and now I look like a kikimora.

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Ink Myths

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939), British artist and illustrator.

Born into a family of twelve children, this artist will find his way in the illustration of children's books, fantastic books, and collections of tales.

His style, delicate and impregnated of wonderful, reflects a sharp imagination and a developed sense of aesthetics, which will amaze generations of readers who will have his works between their hands.

(Printed illustrations details. The pictures show, in order: The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens, 1910 ; Brünnhilde the valkyrie goes to meet Siegmund, 1910 ; The Rhinemaidens, 1910 ; The Princess of the Frog Prince, 1909 ; Wotan chases after Brünnhilde, 1910 ; She went away accompanied by the Lions, 1909 ; Brünnhilde on Grane leaps onto the funeral pyre of Siegfried, 1911 ; Undine, 1909 ; Allerleirauh, unknown date; and finally, Brünnhilde slowly and silently leads her horse down the path to the cave, 1910)

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I had a dream where I was drawing her, so I decided to make it come true

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La Llorona

La Llorona (Spanish for “weeping woman”) is a popular urban legend found in Latin America. 

There are different versions of La Llorona depending on which Latin American country you are from or where the person you hear the story of La Llorona is from. Basically: long ago, a woman named Maria married a rich man, with whom she eventually had two children. Then their marriage hit a rough patch: her husband spent less and less time at home, and whenever he was home, he paid attention only to the children. Eventually, she sees him with another woman. Enraged beyond reason, some versions claim Maria drowned her two children—but she immediately regretted it, crying out, “Ay, mis hijos!” (Translation: “Oh, my children!”) Maria is sometimes said to have drowned herself afterward. But when she arrived at heaven’s gates, she was denied entry, banished back to purgatory on Earth until she could find her lost children. She’s now known as La Llorona, which translates to “the weeping woman.” Now, the legend says, she floats over and near bodies of water in her white, funeral gown, forever weeping as she searches for her lost children. Some versions of the story say she kidnaps or attacks children; others say she attacks cheating husbands. It is said that when her wails sound near she is actually far and when she sounds distant, she is actually very near. Regardless, when you hear her cries, the directive remains the same: run away, because she will cause misfortune to those who are near or hear her, or even death.

With all urban legend stories, there is always a kernel of truth that inspires these tales. La Llorona’s origins can be found in either a real person, as a prophesied omen, or as a Goddess (or two Goddess combined). 

It is said that La Llorona was actually La Malinche, a native woman who served as an interpreter, guide, and later mistress to Hernán Cortés during his conquest of Mexico. The conquistador left her after she gave birth and instead married a Spanish woman. Despised now by her own people, it is said that La Malinche murdered Cortés’ spawn in vengeance. There is no evidence that the historic La Malinche — who did in fact exist — killed her children or was exiled by her people. But even before the conquistadors showed up to colonize Latin America, there were stories of a weeping woman in Mexico-Tenochtitlan (current-day Mexico City). This woman was, according to theological advisors to Emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, an omen that bad news was coming. This weeping woman was believed to be one of ten omens predicting the conquest of Mexico.

But even before prophesied omens, La Llorona could also be either the goddess Cihuacōātl (Nahua for Snake Woman). She wears white and walks about at night while constantly crying. Another goddess that La Llorona could be is Chalchiuhtlicue (Nahua for the Jade-skirted one). Chalchiuhtlicue watched over the waters and was greatly feared because she would drown people. In order to honor her or appease her, the Mexica (commonly known as the Aztecs) would sacrifice children.        

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[Alexandra - Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Crystal Palace]

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Two of Wands

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The Dullahan

The Dullahan (Dulachán in Irish which means “dark man”) is also called Gan Ceann (meaning “without a head” in Irish) is apart of the Sídhe.

It is said that after sunset, on certain festivals and feast days, one of the most terrifying creatures in the spirit world, the Dullahan, can be seen riding a magnificent black stallion across the countryside.   

The Dullahan is depicted as a headless rider, usually on a black horse, who carries their own head under one arm. Usually, the Dullahan is male, but there are some female versions. The mouth is usually in a hideous grin that touches both sides of the head. Its eyes are constantly moving about and can see across the countryside even during the darkest nights. The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese. The Dullahan is believed to use the spine of a human corpse for a whip, and its wagon is adorned with funeral objects: it has candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels are made from thigh bones, and the wagon's covering is made from a worm-chewed pall or dried human skin. This fairy has a limited power of speech. Its disembodied head is permitted to speak just once on each journey it undertakes and then has only the ability to call the name of the person whose death it heralds. 

Unlike the Banshee, which is known to warn of imminent death in certain families, the Dullahan does not come to warn. He is a definite harbinger of someone’s demise.  A Dullahan will stop its snorting horse before the door of a house and shout the name of the person about to die, drawing forth the soul at the call. He may also stop at the very spot where a person will die. Beware watching him pass by. You’ll be punished by either having a bucket of blood thrown in your face or you might be struck blind in one eye.

There is no real defense against the Dullahan because he is death's herald. However, an artifact made of gold may frighten him away, for Dullahan's appear to have an irrational fear of this precious metal. Even a small amount of gold may suffice to drive them off. One story from Galway says that a man was on his way home when all of a sudden he heard the sound of horse’s hooves pounding along the road behind him. In dread, he turned around to look. It was the Dullahan. He tried to run, but nothing can outrun the angel of death. Then the man remembered that if he couldn’t outrun him, he could outsmart him. With that, he dropped a gold coin on the road. There was a loud roar in the air, high above him, and when he turned to look again, the Dullahan was gone.    

On nights of Irish feast days, it is advisable to stay at home with the curtains drawn; particularly around the end of August or early September when the festival of Crom Dubh reputedly took place. If you have to be abroad at this time, be sure to keep some gold object close to hand. The origins of the Dullahan are not known for certain, but he is thought to be the embodiment of an ancient Celtic god, Crom Dubh, or Black Crom. Crom Dubh was worshipped by the prehistoric king, Tighermas, who ruled in Ireland about fifteen hundred years ago and who legitimized human sacrifice to heathen idols. Being a fertility god, Crom Dubh demanded human lives each year, the most favored method of sacrifice being decapitation. 

The worship of Crom continued in Ireland until the sixth century, when Christian missionaries arrived from Scotland. They denounced all such worship and under their influence, the old sacrificial religions of Ireland began to lose favor. Nonetheless, Crom Dubh was not to be denied his annual quota of souls and took on a physical form which became known as the Dullahan or Far Dorocha (meaning dark man), the tangible embodiment of death. 

Art by Deimos-Remus

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The people of the Sídhe

The Gaelic word Sídhe had three meanings:  1. “Barrow” or “tumulus”: an ancient burial mounds often filled with treasure   2. “Fairy” or “Fairies” (Sídhe is used as singular and plural, but in old Irish síde is plural and síd is singular)  3. As the Sídhe that are Fairies often live within the sídhe that are barrows,  sídhe also means “Fairy mound.”

According to the Lebor Gebala Erenn, an ancient medieval text describing Ireland’s history as its Christian scribes understood it, the Tuatha dé Danaan were a supernatural race of people who invaded Ireland and defeated the Fir Bolg people, who ruled at the time. When the Gaels successfully invaded Ireland, the divine Tuatha dé Danaan (“people of the goddess Danu”) who were considered supernatural, angelic-like beings were driven underground.

  While underground they established their own parallel realms beneath the Earth. The Fairy mounds are their portals to their own realms. The Dagda assigned each member of the Tuatha dé Danaan residence in a sídhe/mound. Eventually, they became known as the Sídhe. The more common, widely-known name of "fairy" came from the unwillingness of the people to call the Sídhe or Danaan folk by their name, for that was considered bad luck. Euphemisms such as "hill folk," "the gentry," "wee folk," "good folk," "blessed folk," "good neighbors," or "fair folk" abounded, and "fair folk" was shortened to "fairies." The Sídhe are magnificent, passionate, proud, spirits. They perceive themselves as worthy of veneration and intense respect. They have an intense relationship with people, characterized by love and hostility. The Christians, when they came, severed any final loyalties and friendships that remained, by claiming them as devils, demons, evil spirits, and the like. This fostered fear, resentment and the rise of superstitions; gifts/ bribes would be left out in order to placate ‘the Good Folk’, for example, and fairy forts, mounds, and certain trees thought of as the Sídhe’s property would not be harmed, for fear of earning their wrath. The uncertainties that these creatures presented made people seek various protections for themselves against fairy mischief. Among the measures taken were: putting iron on a barn or house (hence, the familiar horseshoe over a door), tying on a red ribbon or religious amulet, or sprinkling rooms or people with urine (fairies were considered too fastidious to abide this). It was believed dangerous to disturb fairy dwellings, including raths (ancient forts), lisses (abandoned homesteads), and hills. Isolated trees and bushes were also regarded to be their domain and, therefore, to be left untouched.   Sídhe stand accused of stealing humans, especially babies, children, midwives, and wet-nurses. If a person was taken to a fairy kingdom, cautionary tales warned not to partake of the food if one wished to ever return to mortal realms again. If people spent too much time with the fair folk, they could get "fairy stroke" or "poic sídhe," and become all-knowing, yet fools. 

Attempts were made to keep them appeased. Food was left out for them; the first drops of milk were put on the floor for them, and walls would receive a libation of the first drops of whiskey from a still. But the Sídhe are master healers and may bestow medical knowledge on those people they favor. Fairy doctors combined herbal and shamanic healing and were trained directly by the Sídhe. But they could also cause illnesses like sudden tumors, stroke, and paralysis. 

The Sídhe are active from dawn until noon and then from dusk until after midnight. May Eve and Samhain Eve (Halloween) were especially associated with fairy movement, so people tended to stay indoors or would at least avoid fairy paths on those nights. Bad luck was also linked to any construction on fairy paths at any time.

Some common Sídhe are Selkies, Leprechauns, Banshee, and the Dullahan.