Godyssey

Godyssey, 6 days ago to random

Thule has meant many things, originally being a Greco-Roman location that was the furthest place known to be north. Whether Shetland, Estonia, or as medieval writers claimed, Iceland or maybe Greenland, modern mysticism has made something darker of it. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 6 days ago to random

Though Shangri-La is a work of 20th century fiction, it may well be based on the Tibetan Buddhist Nghe-Beyul Khembalung, a hidden valley refuge for true believers bordering on paradise: in places like this beyul, time becomes immaterial and holy matters preside. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 13 days ago to random

In the Aegean, modern sailors may encounter a wonder of the ancient world: Alexander the Great's sister, Thessalonike, who now lives as a mermaid. She asks sailors, "What of King Alexander?" and those who say he conquers the world still are allowed to live. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 23 days ago to random

The placement of a horseshoe above a door is a hotly debated topic. Some argue that it should go right side up, the horseshoe catching luck and giving luck to the home; others argue the shoe should be upside down, pouring good luck on visitors.

#FolkyFriday where do you fall?

Godyssey, 26 days ago to random

Japanese folklore speaks of the senbiki ōkami,a pack of wolves that travelers climb trees to avoid: except these are no ordinary wolves. They climb onto each other's backs, almost reaching the top, always missing by just one wolf. #FairyTaleTuesday

🖼️: M. Meyer

Godyssey, 27 days ago to random

How was the Mead of Poetry brewed? Cruel dwarfs slit the throat of the god of wisdom Kvasir, and used it to make honeyed mead that made their words into gold, a skill coveted by the giants and gods, and eventually gifted to humanity too. #MythologyMonday

🖼️: F. Stassen

Godyssey, 1 month ago to random

Since the time of Spanish colonization of California, the Dark Watchers of the Santa Lucia Mountains have been a thing of wonder. Los Vigilantes Oscuros have been reported from those peaks, watching the people down below: but why? #WyrdWednesday

Godyssey, 1 month ago to random

Nagual are shapeshifters, human tricksters born with shamanic powers and familiars they can use for good or evil: the person must choose. Found across Mesoamerica with evidence stretching back millennias, modern Mexican naguals are often associated with brujería. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 1 month ago to random

In early modern European folklore, witch's ointment is a salve by which witches could fly, rubbed on either their bodies or on objects like brooms. Made from the fat of children and various herbs, it is believed the real make of this is a hallucinogen. #LegendaryWednesday

Godyssey, 1 month ago to random

Elixirs were the art of the descendants of Helios and Perse. Circe, master of potions, used one to turn Scylla into a bladder-like sea monster, and later turn men into pigs on her island home. Her niece, Medea, was the mistress of poisons, which unfortunately she used against her own family. #WyrdWednesday

🖼️: J.H. Waterhouse

Godyssey, 1 month ago to random

Gaia is the original Mother Earth, the embodiment of the world we live in according to the Greeks. They swore upon her, and all oaths taken or broken in her name were known to her. All things, man and god, nymph and satyr, come from Gaia, She Who Endures. Now the question is: is she a globe or a spherical disc, as the pre-Hellenistic Greeks believed? #MythologyMonday @mythologymonday

Godyssey, 2 months ago to random

Scatach is the great teacher of martial combat in Gaelic folklore, and most famously the teacher of Irish CuChulainn and other great Irish warriors of his age. She lives in an island fortress on the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, and her sole rival in combat is her sister Aife. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

Though the Romans supposedly wiped out the druid class among the Gauls, in the Empire's waning years there were reports of dryades, female druids who often held more than one job in their community but were known to give divine prophecy in a druidic fashion. Britonic druids lasted much longer, while Irish druids, male and female, lasted well into the last thousand years, though their social role had been diminished greatly by Christianity. #FairytaleTuesday

🖼️: A. Cabanel

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

Ragnarok is rather musical, if you think about it: it begins with the blowing of Heimdall's horn, the Gjallarhorn, and the battle will see a prelude of drums, as the Ship of the Dead, Naglfar the Nail Snare, ferries the monsters led by Loki and Surtr to Vígríðr, the final battlefield. These drums help the ship beat the current and bring the forces of darkness to the final showdown of Norse myth. #MythologyMonday

🖼️: CinnamonDevil

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

More than any other god of European origin, Odin is the god of sacrifice: he sacrificed his eye for wisdom, his life for knowledge, and his peace of mind for knowledge of the future. He could know the future, but never interfere in a meaningful way. #LegendaryWednesday

🖼️: J. Powell

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

We now know "Viking horn" helmets were never anything but ceremonial if that, and are quite rare: so why do we associate the Viking Age with winged and horned helmets? In 1876, Carl Emil Doepler, costume designer for a performance of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle, added them for extra rizz: and we've seen how pop culture has embraced this ever since. #WyrdWednesday

A scene from Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part 1," advertising the (then) false sequel History of the World Part 2 sequence "A Viking Funeral." The Vikings take their heads off, revealing the horns are not part of their helmet: the horns are on the Vikings!

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

Apropos of nothing going on in Greece, here's some queer couples of myth and history.

Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow Greece will be a little more equitable.

A young soldier wraps the wound of an older soldier, popularly believed to be Achilles and Patrocles.

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

Iso Onna are coast women, mysterious women who appear out of the waters near Japan's coasts but primarily in Kyushu. Dripping wet with a voice that mesmerizes, those who hear it walk slowly closer, not realizing they are near a cliff: they then plummet to their doom. Those who get close enough find their voice can become a paralyzing shriek: do not approach these lusty women. #MythologyMonday

🖼️: M. Meyer

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

Satyrs are known primarily for their lusty ways, seducing men and women alike. Such is their proclivity for lust that the term satyr is now a common term for male lust, often in excess. The god of pandemonium, Pan, is also depicted as a satyr. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 3 months ago to random

Spring is the time of youth in Nordic myth, and belongs to the goddess Idunn, whose apples keep the gods young and hearty. To kidnap her is to threaten the decay of age and dark winter. #FolkloreSunday

🖼️: J.D. Penrose

Godyssey, 4 months ago to random

The Journey to the West is the most famous of East Asian mythical journeys, where the famed Buddhist monk Xuanzang (sometimes called Tripitaka) journeys to India for ancient wisdom. His three guardians, Sun Wukong the Monkey King, piggish Zhu Bajie, and sandy Sha Wujing, battle demons and dark gods, finding enlightenment along the way. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 4 months ago to folklore

Imbolc is one of the oldest Gaelic holidays, with examples found in ancient Irish literature and archeological evidence. The beginning of spring, Groundhog Day traces its origins to the Cailleach going hunting for firewood: if the weather is bright and sunny, it means winter will last longer. If the weather is dreadful, she won't get much wood: winter will end sooner and Brigid will return more quickly. Happy Imbolc! #Folklore #FolkloreThursday

🖼: M-T. Caya

Godyssey, 4 months ago to random

Once the parts of Osiris were collected, his son Anubis, aided by his mother Nephthys and aunt Isis, rebuilt and mummified the pharaoh of the gods for proper burial, allowing him to travel to the Duat. This is the mythical origin of Egyptian mummification. #MythologyMonday

Godyssey, 4 months ago to random

The Eleusinian mysteries replicate the cycle of kidnapping and return of Persephone and Demeter's hunt for her. An agricultural cult, it celebrates the seasons and growth of agriculture and its rituals and myths celebrate these chthonic deities. Such was the popularity of these mysteries that everyone from slaves to emperors traveled to Eleusis to take part from around the Mediterranean. #MythologyMonday