Supernatural Friday: Fear the Sea

You heard of mermaids and mermen. You heard of selkies. Have you ever heard of the sorcerous finmen? Few people have. But yet, they are beings of the sea as are mermaids, mermen and selkies. In fact, in stories told, it is said the Finwike began life as a mermaid.

Their myth comes from the Orkney Islands. The story goes that they are mistrusted by mortals and have magic. That they have unparallel boating skills, as well power over storm and sea. These beings are also noted shapeshifters. 

Unlike the selkies (as in some tales), there were times they could come ashore. The Finfolk were truly amphibious. The Finfolk led a nomadic lifestyle, but spent long Orkney winters in the luxury of Finfolkaheem, a majestic city of unknown location, spposed to be at the bottom of the sea. The tales of storytellers tell that this fantastic undersea kingdom has  massive crystal halls and ornate gardens of multi-coloured seaweed. Lit by the phosphorescent glow of the sea, Finfolkaheem was decorated with swathes of draped curtains whose colours shifted like the ever-changing shades of the "Merry Dancers" - the Aurora Borealis. Towers of glistening white coral spiralled upwards, encrusted with pearls and precious gemstones. The kingdom was so rich that giant pearls were littered everywhere, often ground up by the merfolk to provide the powder that was scattered over the mermaids' tails to give them their sparkling sheen. In the waters surrounding Finfolkaheem, the Finfolk raised sea-cattle and magical sea-horses. Like the true gentry of their underwater world, they herded whales - from which they extracted milk - and, mounted on their aquatic steeds, would often hunt the animals of the sea using otters in place of dogs.
During summertime, the Finfolk returned to Orkney. It is there that they took up residence on their magical island home, Hildaland - one of Orkney's magical vanishing islands. it has been said that Hildaland was later taken from the Finfolk and renamed Eynhallow. 

Two distinct pf these kind of fairyfolk are within the ranks of the Finfolk - the Finman and the Finwife. Though tales of the Finmen  make up most of the bulk of the folklore and are fairly standard in their descriptions of the gloomy creatures. 
Like fairies of the land on the Orkney Islands, they also steral away mortals. Once caught, they spirit away their captives and transport them to their hidden island homes. It in these places that the unfortunate mortals are forced to remain for the rest of their days, usually as wife or husband of one of the Finfolk. 


Finwife:
While the Finman actively shunns contact with mortals - unless needs to for his purpose - the Finwife was more involved with her human neighbours. As a child of the Finfolk, the Finwife begins life as a mermaid -  beautiful with long, glistening fish tail. If the young mermaid marries a Finman - a fate that awaited her if she did not acquire a mortal huband - she became uglier an d uglier, eventually becoming a haggard Finwife. 

Tradition dictates that these Finwives went to shore and used her magic to earn precious silver for her husband. Once settled on land, she told her neighbours she was of Caithness origin - in other words not Orcadian. She pretended to earn a living by spinning and knitting. Also the Finwife was renowned for her skill in curing diseases in men and cattle, so it did not take long for her to become an invaluable member of the community. After that happened,  she began to practice her "infernal arts.",Meanwhile, she sent the silver coins she earned back to her avaricious husband beneath the waves. If the supply of "white metal" came sparingly or was delayed at any time, the unfortunate Finwife could expect a visit from her Finman husband. She did not want this, for when he came he would beat her so bad that the witch became confined to bed for days. A curious parallel to witch tales from other cultures is that the Finwife was said to keep a black cat, but there the similarity ends, as the Finwife's cat had the ability to transform into a fish so it could carry messages between its mistress and her relatives in Finfolkaheem.


Finman:

All Orkney Finmen carried the appearance of a well-made man, tall, dark, thin and sinewy, but with a stern, gloomy face. His rowing skills were unparalleled, making it easy for him to cross from Orkney to Norway, or Iceland, in seven "warts", or strokes, of the oar. 

They were often seen rowing in a small boat, without  a sail. The Finmen didn't need one, for they used their powerful magic to propel their boats. This magic also allowed the Finman to turn his vessel invisible, or even surround it with a fleet of phantom boats. 

Very territorial, the Finfolk took great exception to humans trespassing, or fishing, in their waters. Whenever a mortal fisherman dared enter their domain, the Finmen seized the man's line and kept hold of it until the line broke. Without a hook and sinker, the fisherman couldn't earn a living until new tackle was acquired. Other times, the Finmen waited until the fisherman had returned home and had put his boat to anchor. They slip off the anchor stone, and the vessel drifted free to the perils of tide and current. 
 In the dead of night, marauding Finmen wreaked extreme vengeance on fishermen, too. They either smashed the oars of the fisherman's boat or made a hole in the vessel's bottom.  These would cost the impertinent fisherman his life at a later date. What the firshermen did was cut a cross into the line sinker and marked with chalk or tar on the hull of the boat, ensuring that no Finman would come within half a mile.Another way to shake a pursuing Finman would be by throwing a silver coin in his general direction. Because of their passion for silver, the pursuer gave up the chase so he could retrieve the precious coin. This silver obsession meant that the Finmen were often seen to enter the service of a human, but more often they were the ones who hired the mortals.No doubt, the Finfolk's malevolent influence could have been used to explain away the many disappearances and deaths at sea. Christianity is blamed for the disappearance of Finfolk stories. Though the influence of the Finman and his kin was feared right through until at least the end of the nineteenth century.

Read My Weregoats Deserve Equal Rights Too! (Strangely Funny II Anthology Book Tour) + giveaway at I Smell Sheep Today

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Supernatural Friday-Werewolf-Part 2

 

Time for Supernatural Friday-Werewolf, Part 2.

The word werewolf is thought to derive from the Old English wer (or were)-pronounced as wear, wiar, war, and wulf. Wer translates as "man." The second half, wulf, is the ancestor of modern English "wolf." in some cases, it also has the general meaning, "beast." An alternate etymology also derives the first part from Old English, weri, meaning to wear or wearer of wolf skin. related to this is the Old Norse ulfhedar, which denoted lupine equivalents of the berserker, said to wear a bearskin in battle. There are other sources that claim that it came from warg-wolf. Warg is cognate with Old Norse vargr, meaning "rogue," "outlaw," or "wolf." No doubt, in Norse society, an outlaw was called vargr, or wolf, as hje might have slaughtered sheep or even human members of a "herd."

Werewolves in European folklore had tell-tale signs in their human forms that they were werewolves. Traits like meeting of both eyebrows over the bridge of the nose. curved fingernails, low set ears, and a swinging stride. One way to tell a werewolf in its human guise, was to cut the flesh when it is a human and you would see fur in the wound. A Russian superstition says that you can tell a werewolf by the bristles under his or her tongue.

Appearance of a werewolf varied from culture to culture, though they are distinguished from real wolves as having no tail (a trait thought characteristic of witches in animal forms), are often larger, and retain human eyes and voice. After returning to human form, they are weak, debilitated, and undergo painful, nervous depression. Many historical werewolves are writen that they suffered severe melancholia and manic depression, being conscious of their crimes. One universally reviled trait in medieval Europe had the werewolf devouring recently buried corpses, documented extensively, particularly in the Annales Medico-psychologiques in the 19th century.

Fennoscandian werewolves were old women whompossessed poisen coated claws and could paralyzed catle and chilodren with their gaze. Serbian vulkodlaks had the habit of congrgating annually in the winter months to strip off their wolf skins and hang from limbs of trees. They would take another's skin and burn it, releasing it from the curse. Haitian je-rouges try to trick mothers into giving away their childrenbyn waking them at night and askig their permission to take the child. This way the disoriented mother might say yes or no.

The werewolf can not be harmed by crucifixes or holy water, like vampires can be. But in many countries, it is thought rye and mistletoe are considered effective safeguards against a werewolf. Also mountain ash is believe to work. One Belgian legend states that no house is safe from an werwolf unless beneath the shade of a mountain ash tree. Werewolves have an aversion to wolfsbane, too. Werewolves can transformed during the winter solstice, Easter, and the full moon. And in Hungary, werewolves and vampires were closely related.

Various methods have existed for removing the werewolf form. In antiquity, the Greeks and Romans believed in the power of exhaustion to cure people from being lycantropes. The said werewolf would be subjected to long periods of physical activity to purged them of the malady. In medieval Europe, there were three ways to cure a person of being a werewolf. Medicinally (usually by use of wolfsbane), surgically, or by exorcism. Unfortunately, many of these cures proved fatal to the patients. Another came from a Silcian belief of Arabic origin: cure the monster by striking it on the forehead or scalp with a knife. Another way involved the piercing of a werewolf's hands with nails. In the German lowland of Schleswig-Holstein, a werewolf could be cured by addressing it three times by its Christian name. A Danish belief calims to simply scold it will cure the werewolf. Converting to Christianity was a common method of removing werewolfism in medieval times. A devotion to St. Hubert has also been cited as both cure for and protection from lycanthropes.

Some werewolves could not change back to human form if an article of clothing is taken from them. In Bisclavret by Marie de France, the nobleman, Bizunch, for reasons not described in the poem, had to transform into a wolf every week. His wife stole his clothing needed to restore his human shape, as she was cheating on him. He escapes the king's wolf hunt by imploring the king for m,ercy and accompanies the king thereafter. His behavior at court was considered very gentle, that his hateful attack on his wife and her lover was deemed justifiable, and the truth revealed.

The Beast of Gevaudan, a loup-garou, terrorized the genreal area of the former province of gevaudan, now called Lozere, in south-central France, from 1764 to 1767. This monster killed upwards of eighty men, women, and children. It was described as a giant wolf by a sole survivor of the attacks. The murders ceased after several wolves in the area had been hunted and killed. Strangely enough, a TV show was done to prove what this "werewolf" was. It was determined that it might have actually been a hyena, maybe even trained to kill. Was this the sole survivor, or one of the hunters, who owned this creature?

Thye 1th Century Belarusian Prince Usiaslau of Polatak was considered to have been a werewolf, capable of moving at superhuman speeds. This was recounted in The Tale of Igor's Campaign.

Clinical lycanthropy (where a human considers themselves a wolf) is a mental disorder--due to psychological causes as opposed to supernatural means in myths and folklore. This is a deep depression that becomes aviolent form of insanity. Many werewolf cases in history were works of Lycanthropic Disorder victims. The Book of daniel describes King Nebuchanezzar as suffering from depression that deterioted over a sever-year period into a frank psychosis at which he imagined himself to be a wolf. Robert burton referred in Anatomy of Melancholy, that those suffering an advanced form of melancholy and believing to be werewolves, hid during the day time but at night, would go abroad, barking, howling, and they would have unusually hollow eyes, plus scabbed legs and thighs, very dry and pale.

Werewolves are a frequent subject of modern fictional books, movies and TV shows. Though these werewolves are distinct in their attributed traits from those of original folklore, like vulnerability from silver weapons. This feature did not appear in stories about werewolves, not until the 19th century. The claim that the Beast of Gevaudan was slain by a silver bullet, did not appeared in the origianl accounts, but later by novelists retelling the tale from 1935 onwards.

Two American werewolves talked about today in nonfiction books and even movies or TV shows are the Beast of Bray Road and the Werewolf of Henrico (in my books, plus online).

A good website to check up on some good werewolf movies (even where the werewolf is not the main character--some are good, some are terrible, and some I had never seen myself, but a good way to enjoy a Saturday night viewing): http://www.werewolf.com/vb/showthread.php?t=897 . There is currently a werewolf movie out in theaters: Red Riding Hood.

Supernatural Friday-Werewolf-Part 1

 

Today for Supernatural Friday, we're going to talk about that shapeshifter, the werewolf.

The belief in humans that turn into wild predatory animals exists in all major world cultures. So werewolves are just one way to shift into the shape of an animal. Modern science believes that the stories may have come about as a result of the physical or mental characteristics of humans under the influence of real-life illnesses that made them look or act like wolves.

For the supernatural version, there is several ways to make the change, according to the myths. One is, of course, the full moon. Another way is by being cursed or bitten—like those criminals cursed by priests then became werewolves. Though the bitten part is very rare, unlike the movies or fiction books.. A third way (and I read a book that had something found on a medieval manuscript) is by taking a belt made of wolf fur and chanting some words during the full moon to shift into the wolf form. Another way said they were possessed by demons. Some lycanthropes (according to tales from the 17th century) assured people that they really were wolves and that their fur grew inside their body. Also to drink rainwater of the paw print of a wolf or drink from enchanted streams also affected metamorphosis. There is a tale of a baroness who drank from a spring in Germany that caused her to become a werewolf and that her husband when hunting one night, cut off her paw and found her wife back in their home, her hand missing. This is the same spring legend says that Hitler urged his “little werewolves”, or Gestapo, to drink from. In Italy, France and Germany, it was said that a man could turn into a werewolf if he, on a certain Wednesday or Friday, slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on his face. In other cultures, individuals born during a new moon or suffering from epilepsy were considered likely to be werewolves.

The Navajo, Hopi, Ute, and many other tribes believe in the existence of skinwalkers - malevolent witches capable of transforming into wolves, coyotes, bears, birds, or any other animals. The witch might wear the hide or skin of the animal identity it wants to assume, and when the transformation is complete, the human witch inherits the speed, strength, or cunning of the animal whose shape it has taken.

Skinwalkers are considered evil. They do many horrible things—make people ill and even commit murders. They are grave robbers and necrophilics. Often a greedy person kills a sibling or other relative so they can be initiated as a skinwalker. Practitioners of witchcraft are believed to be real in the Navajo community. Few Navajo want to cross paths with naagloshii, otherwise known as skinwalkers. They will not speak of these beings, especially with strangers, so not to attract the attention of one.
Lycanthropy is often confused with transmigration; but the essential feature of the were-animal is that it is the alternative form or the double of a living human being, while the soul-animal is the vehicle, temporary or permanent, of the spirit a dead human being. Still, humans reborn as wolves are often classed with lycanthropy, as well as these instances labelled in local folklore.

There are also tales of humans descending from animals. This is common reasons for tribal and clan origins. One story has the animal assuming human shape so their human descendents retained their human shapes, while another one has a human marrying a normal animal. North American indigenous traditions mingle the idea of bear ancestors and ursine shifters. Bears would shed their skin and mate with human women in this guise. The resulting offspring might be monsters and yet again, may be born as beautiful children with uncanny strength, even become shapeshifters themselves.

One being, Pan Hu from various Chinese legends, is depicted as a supernatural dog, or a canine shapeshifter. Supposedly, he married an emperor’s daughter and founded at least one race. He can become human in shape in all parts of him, except for his head. The Chinese stories write that the race descended from him are monsters with combined human and canine anatomy.

The shamanic Turkic peoples believed they are descendants of wolves. The Turkic myth of Asena tells how in Northern Chinese village Chinese soldiers raided it, but left a baby behind. An old she-wolf with a sky-blue mane, Asena, discovered the child and nursed him. Afterwards, the wolf gave birth to half wolf, half human cubs. These were the start of the Turkic people.

In Middle Ages of Europe, not only were those accused of being witches prosecuted and burned at the stake, but those accused of being werewolves done the same. It was thought that lycanthropy was practiced by witches too. The stories were told that the witches morphed into wolves and roamed the countryside to frighten people, killing and devouring them, too, besides livestock of the humans. Lycanthropes were even believed to be minor demons, and some whose killer instincts were considered exceptionally strong, were thought to be the Devil himself. Even if the werewolf was not a morphed witch, it was still related to witchcraft: tales were told about witches who arrived at Sabbats mounting these creatures. The evil and wicked acquired, according to Paracelsus, a 16th century alchemist, the shape of a wolf upon death, or could become such creatures if they were cursed by a priest, remaining morphed for seven years.

There is so much more to go into werewolves, and I may do so next week, continue on werewolves. So, tune in next week for Supernatural Friday.

A note: if werewolves did exist, a good time to catch one might be this Saturday night, March 19th. It seems that the moon will be closer to earth that it has been since 1993—the moon’s orbit will bring it so close to earth, that it will appear larger, and fuller, than it has been in almost two decades. People say that the change in the moon’s orbit may have caused the earthquake in Japan—or worse—another natural disaster of even more epic proportions is brewing.