#myth and legend

[dvktheartist]

Alviva, The Watcher of Fates

She does not carry the fallen to Valhalla—she carries their stories. In her luminous armor, cityscapes rise and fall, reflecting the lives she watches from above. A Valkyrie not of war, but of fate itself. Somewhere, in the book she writes, a name is already inscribed. Will it be yours?

[hecatesdelights]

The Black Dog, a Spectral Hound originating in English Folklore, seen in many old stories,it is mainly seen as malicious, or a harbinger of death, depending on which version you encounter

[luvinaeverdene]

Princess Mononoke (1997) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

[yvain]

Folklorists like Yearsley, writing soon after the turn of the century, argued that not only were the places of the dead and fairyland often indistinguishable—both were subterranean—but also the rituals for dealing with both groups and the prohibitions governing such relations were identical. For example, one could summon both fairies and the dead by striking the ground; one was forbidden to taste food in either fairyland or Hades. Both worlds were marked by timelessness; both groups lured the living to them and both were placated in the same way, with offerings of food or milk or with gifts. Both fairies and the dead were local, confined to one locality or even to one living group or family, and both presided over fertility. Significantly, the same tales and legends were told of both; interchangeability seemed to some, including Canon J. A. MacCulloch, a sign of identity. Hartland, for instance, noted in The Science of Fairy Tales (1891) that no clear-cut distinctions could be made between ghosts and fairies, since they shared the same traits, the same taboos, and the same tales.

Carole G. Silver, Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness

[sihayadunee]

Mythic Symbolism in the Mayfair Witches

a mythic and psychoanalytical thread exploring themes of: alchemy, star lovers, fairytales, greek myth, three fold goddesses, and beastly grooms within the amc series ‘anne rice’s mayfair witches’

*disclaimer*

This post will be split up into multiple parts as it is very lengthy.

The point of this post is not to discuss how the show adapts the source material, but instead how the show stands on its own, utilizing psychological and mythic motifs in its plot and character journeys.

For those who want to see the show, it is available on physical DVD and Blue-Ray as well as streaming. The entire eight episode first season is available on AMC+ which you can get a free trial for through Prime Video channels.

A second season has also already been green-lit. However the first season ends on what I would consider a very satisfying note.

Part One, Part Two

————————————————————————

THE TRIPLE GODDESS: MAIDEN, MOTHER, CRONE

Aside from Rowan’s story, there are two other Mayfair women whose lives we follow. The progenitor Suzanne in the 17th century, and Rowan’s biological mother Deirdre. While together they each represent one of the goddesses, we also see each of them move through these roles in their own journeys.

The concept of the triple goddess also has strong roots in the myth of the Greek Fates and the Norns of Norse myth. Both represent the Birth/Life/Death cycle. This archetype is also strongly associated with Persephone, Demeter and Hecate, or Artemis, Selene, and Hecate.

Each of these Mayfair women has a role directly associated with life and death. For example, Suzanne is a midwife whose work, like her aunt says, is not just curing people but also helping give them a good death.

Rowan, like Persephone as Maureen Murdock puts it, is pulled out of the innocence of everyday life into a deeper consciousness of self by Hades. Or in this case Lasher.

Furthermore, Deirdre like Demeter is overcome with grief and surrenders to her sorrow, when her daughter is taken from her. However in this instance her daughter is taken away by Carlotta.

Suzanne is like Hecate as Jean Shinoda Bolen describes, a guiding companion force. When Rowan meets a crossroads in her journey at the Witching Hour, Suzanne is there to guide her as the first matriarch, as a mistress of life and death.

They each have mirroring moments in their journeys. Just like Rowan, Suzanne too was visited by a murder of crows, and the Dark Night of the Soul that Rowan is facing is likened in dialogue to the dark subconscious place Deirdre is trapped. In fact, episode two is titled The Dark Place.

Each of them share the same animus. A being known as Lasher. He is bonded to each of the “Designees”, the matriarchs of the Mayfair family. We’ll delve into him soon enough.

DREAMS AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS

When Rowan uses her powers on the crows, causing a couple of them to fall down dead, she lays them down in her jacket, and drives off to a beach. She then walks to the shore and digs into the sand until she has a hole she can bury the crows in.

After this she takes a pill to force herself to sleep, both exhausted and desperate to flee into oblivion to escape her consciousness as it begins to recognize her shadow. But now as she is laying by the ocean, she is submerged in the unconscious. 

She experiences a dream that evokes Cinderella, fairy godmothers, transformation, and spiritual death. She is wearing a shimmering blue gown, and is chasing after Ellie who is leading her somewhere. She runs after her mother, who leads her to The Mayfair House. 

Whenever we see the house, it’s presented as a piece of nature itself, overgrown, hidden among trees, and the sound of water. It is a true representation of the subconscious, the underworld.

A FALSE START AND CLEANSING FIRE

When she finally goes to New Orleans, we think she’s going to get the answers she needs and reconnect with the feminine. However forces intervene and Rowan’s first impression of her Mayfair lineage and the power she possesses is one of fear, in part thanks to Ciprien Grieve. He means well, but his actions and perspective are a literal extension of Ellie as the “too good mother”.

The organization called the Talamasca that Ciprien is part of, actually puts a spell around his building where Rowan is staying. Which acts as a wall or barrier keeping Rowan separated from her Shadow. It was made to keep Lasher out. This is when we have that cleansing flame, as Lasher sets a fire to get the alarms to go off and Rowan to leave the building. 

And the first thing she intends to do, is find the Mayfair House which as we know is her subconscious…

End of Part Two

[lavender-laney]

It began with the narcissus flower.

Narcissus, a man whose love for his own mirror image ultimately led to his demise. It is a tale oft repeated by parents to their children, warning them to remain untainted by vanity.

"It is a curse," Lysandra's mother had told her the moment she'd begun her ascension into womanhood. Her mother held onto her shoulders as they stood at the edge of the washing pool together. Lysandra remembers this as the first time she had felt shy in the public pools, hyperaware of the beginnings of breasts forming on her young chest. "Unless you wish to bring Aphrodite's ire upon you, or suffer the same fate as that foolish man, you'd best tamp down any arrogant feelings that begin to fester."

Lysandra has never thought herself vain, always the one to remain neutral during the other handmaidens' titterings about who will gain the hand of a nobleman.

She has, however, caught herself wondering if Narcissus would have suffered the same fate if his unwavering attention had been focused upon the image of another. If Narcissus had instead fallen in love with a nymph, and spent his hours gazing upon her features until he withered away to nothing.

Lysandra often wonders if this is the fate she may suffer, before bidding such childish thoughts from her mind. Afterall, children's tales do not tell of lowly handmaidens. 

The narcissus flower is one Lysandra has never been fond of, and she's unsure if this distaste began before or after her mother had clutched her young shoulders like a harpy gripping a shuddering salmon.

Nonetheless, she can understand why Persephone had kneeled in the soft, dew-speckled grass to admire the flower. The way the warm morning light reflected its amber glow? The petals reaching towards the sun, appearing as though they had only just unfurled, fated for Persephone's admiring gaze? If Lysandra thought him capable of such artistry, she might believe Hades created this flower himself to entice the maiden.

Regardless, Lysandra feels nothing but contempt for narcissus – the flower, and the senseless man.

(Unwillingly, she feels the very same contempt for herself – for allowing her mother to so strongly sway her feelings for a measly flower, and for believing herself different than a man who simply felt love too strongly.)

Just a little something I'm working on! I was reading about the myths of Greek sirens and Persephone's handmaidens and got some ideas...

[catnipster69]

fic: Myth and Legend

Myth and Legend Published: 2023-11-12 Words: 9,309 Chapters:1/1 by catnipster

Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: M/M Fandom: Supernatural (TV 2005) Relationship: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester Characters: God | Chuck Shurley Additional Tags: Witches, Tentacle Monsters, No Tentacle Sex, Season/Series 12, Discord: The Winchester Gospels: A Wincest Writing Discord (Supernatural), Love Potion/Spell, Fuck Or Die, Bottom Dean Winchester/Top Sam Winchester, Frottage, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, First Time Language: English

Summary:

Dean found one of the Supernatural books written by Carver Edlund in a used bookstore, but unlike the rest of the texts he was familiar with, this one seemed like pure fiction. Fast-forward seven years, and this case involving a tentacle porn message board, witches, sex spells, and yes, saving the world with the power of gay love, started to seem a little familiar. You know, like déjà vu. Or like a crazy book supposedly written about your lives.

[thingsifoundongeoguessr]

Billy Mays?? Paul Bunyan???

[raewritestales]

The Forest Guardians

TW for body horror and light gore. please enjoy. Continue reading Untitled

[marshmyers]

Jocasta is just fifteen when she is told she must marry the King of Thebes, an old man she has never met. Her life has never been her own, and nor will it be unless she outlives her strange, absent husband.

Ismene is the same age when she is attacked in the palace she calls home. Since the day of her parents' tragic deaths a decade earlier, she has always longed to feel safe with the family she still has. But with a single act of violence, all that is about to change.

With the turn of these two events, a tragedy is set in motion. But not as we’ve known it.

FIND THIS TITLE AND OTHER GREEK MYTHS RETOLD HERE

[hecatesdelights]

Valkyries were the sacred Shield Maidens and Psychopomps of Mighty Odin

[luvinaeverdene]

Spirited Away (2001) Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

[obsidianandblacksatin]

👻 Unveiling the Mysteries of the Toyol 👻

Step into the eerie world of Southeast Asian folklore with our latest blog post about the Toyol. This mythical creature, believed to be the spirit of a child, is often summoned by sorcerers for its mischievous deeds. Learn more about its origins, stories, and the cultural significance that surrounds this fascinating legend. Read all about it here: https://nonightlight.wordpress.com/2024/10/02/the-supernatural-toyol-southeast-asias-mischievous-spirit/

[sihayadunee]

Mythic Symbolism in the Mayfair Witches

a mythic and psychoanalytical thread exploring themes of: alchemy, star lovers, fairytales, greek myth, three fold goddesses, and beastly grooms within the amc series ‘anne rice’s mayfair witches’

*disclaimer*

This post will be split up into multiple parts as it is very lengthy.

The point of this post is not to discuss how the show adapts the source material, but instead how the show stands on its own, utilizing psychological and mythic motifs in its plot and character journeys.

For those who want to see the show, it is available on physical DVD and Blue-Ray as well as streaming. The entire eight episode first season is available on AMC+ which you can get a free trial for through Prime Video channels.

A second season has also already been green-lit. However the first season ends on what I would consider a very satisfying note.

Part One, Part Two,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SEPARATION OF THE FEMININE AND THE ILLUSION OF SUCCESS

Our heroine Rowan was adopted, and we do come to learn the way she was separated from her birth mother. But from the start, despite having a loving adoptive mother, Rowan expresses nonetheless that she is searching for “home”.

This becomes more apparent later, as we see Rowan admit she wants to understand her genetics, where she comes from. Who she really is. Something that has been one way or another discouraged by her archetypal “too good” mother Ellie.

Rowan has compensated for this void and lack of control in her life, through success in her career. This is where we see how she has identified with the masculine and begun to traverse the male dominated medical field. She is confident in her ability to play the game until she comes out on top.

The dragon among her trials, is when Rowan learns that her mother Ellie’s cancer has returned. Her boss Dr. Keck appears seemingly as an ogre guarding her bridge toward finding a solution. Which leads her ultimately toward experiencing the illusory boon of success.

She goes to see Daniel Lemle about the position at his company. He is enthusiastic about the aspects of Rowan Dr. Keck was critical of, and to have her on his team and her mother submitted to the trial. This is that male validation she has been yearning for. However as she gets to know him and his style further, her enthusiasm wavers.

Once again she is encouraged to “run with the boys” to be a “killer”. And if she does this, she will succeed in retrieving the healing elixir for Ellie. However this means replacing an existing candidate in the trial with her mother.

This is something that morally she can not do. Fed up and in grief, this moment shatters her composure so thoroughly that the power inside of her which she has all along been struggling with (and that her ordinary world was not capable of addressing) lashes out at Lemle to his demise.

SPIRITUAL ARIDITY AND THE BLACKENING

Earlier when she is having a tryst with Max the bartender, we see how her intomacy is intentionally distant. She yearns for home, for companionship, but also doesn’t want to deal with the vulnerability that comes with it.

She compares the true love Max seeks, to something she experienced as a child with her literal and metaphorical shadow. She says it knew her thoughts and her secrets and had always loved her. But in the current state she is now, she looks back on this and dismisses it though the thought of it makes her wistful.

Rowan has ignored her shadow since she was young. Following her guilt and the passing of her mother, that’s now becoming impossible to keep doing. After Rowan flees her counselling session, dishonest with and in fear of herself, she is faced with a murder of crows perched by her car.

In alchemy, the crow is associated with the stage of Nigredo, calcination, or the Blackening. This is a stage of cleansing through the burning of ingredients into ash, often associated with death. To Jung this is the Dark Night of the Soul. Robert Bly also ties crows to the Shadow and the need to face it. We see crows and smoke heavily featured in promotional material for the show.

The bulk of the season then goes on to follow Rowan as she begins her descent to the goddess and encounters the literal personification of her shadow, of her animus. Progressively fulfilling stages in the alchemical process…

End of Part One

[terranautica]

Sʟᴏᴠᴇɴᴇ Fᴏʟᴋ ᴀɴᴅ Fᴀɪʀʏ Tᴀʟᴇs

3•∞  Hvaležni medved

The Thankful Bear

     Up there somewhere in the mountains, no one knows where anymore, a housewife was sewing in a shadow under a tree and rocking a baby in a cradle.      Suddenly—for she had not noticed anything before—a bear lumbered up to her and held out its paw, into which a big fat thorn was stuck. The woman was terrified, yet the bear did nothing but grumble meekly and pitifully. So the woman mustered up her courage and drew the thorn out of its paw. But the foul beast knocked over the cradle, picked it up and disappeared.      A while later it returned with the cradle, filled with the sweetest pears.

Illustration by Ančka Gošnik Godec, Slovene original below.

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