Category: Fantasy

Image by Eliessa Bell (fallenlights.net) In the diverse cultural myths from around the world there is such magic in the names people give to the forces of Nature. Generally the names are simply the foreign term for a natural phenomenon. For example, in Nordic mythology Aegir is a personification of the sea, and that’s exactly […]

Mongooses (Photo: Aung Mint Myat) In San folklore and mythology it is the tiny creatures that are revered and admired ― for their wiliness, intelligence, and fast reflexes. Size is of no importance; spirit is everything. South African author Laurens van der Post, who spent years among the San people, wrote that the Bushman imagination […]

Egyptian Origins In Egypt, the first appearance of this symbol is traced back to around 3000 BCE, although the exact origin of the ankh is not known. (And there is plenty of evidence of the ankh in other cultures, imbued with much the same significance.) There are many theories, of course … The ankh’s original […]

Mysterious women who hold up mirrors to reflect a person’s past or future. Who unravel thread to wind it onto a spindle for future weaving. Who carve exotic shapes of runes into the bark of Yggdrasil, the mighty world ash-tree. They are Fates, Norns and Weavers of Destiny. These ladies, obscured by veils and mists, […]

Tree of Life, World Tree or Cosmic Tree … most world mythologies have one. What is so magical about a tree? It connects the Earth with the Sky, the Underworld with the Cosmos, it reflects the cyclical nature of life . . . birth, decay, regeneration. It binds together the Five Elements: it is rooted in […]

There is something magical about the Moon. In its crescent phase it has a mysterious ephemeral quality, the most elegant curve scratched finely into the sky. As for the full Moon, its sheer size and luminescence as it hefts itself into the heavens often leaves me speechless. These forces of Nature are so powerful that […]

You might be one of those people who shudder and cringe at the thought of snakes. What is it that is so scary about these reptiles? Well, many things … one moment they’re there, physical; you can reach out and touch them (if you wanted to). But the next instant they have suddenly slipped away, […]