Still reading OUTLANDER BOOKS  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlander_series  Really long books

Even an article in International Business http://www.ibtimes.com/outlander-audrey-brisson-joins-cast-sam-heughan-talks-about-season-2-1957718

Back to looking at Women this week–TODAY WOMEN AS GODDESSES AND LEGENDS

SHADI, GODDESS OF WINTER:  I like the VIking goddesses, they often are enjoyable to see–Shadi was the daughter of Thassi  (an ugly old Hrim-thurs giant); but unlike her father she was beautiful;  who was none-the less tricked into marriage to Niord, with one representing summer (Niord) and the other winter winter (3 of summer and 9 months winter) which did not work out as neither could endure residing in the other’s realm so that they parted and she married Odin and  went on to bear the king of Norway.   She was a marksman and was usually pictured with a dog.  The goddess of winter travel and  she  guided travelers over ice and snow and helped them reach their destination in safety.

AMAZONS:   Real o r not they have appeared in legend and with less certainty in historical accounts four thousand of years.   Heracles, the Greek adventurer found and killed (of course, what self respecting man would get beat –and leave a record to tell about) several including Aella whose name meant whirlwind.  The Greeks supposedly faced off against an entire army of the Female forces which they beat (surprise) and expelled  from Greece.  In more factual accounts  Barrow burial sites have been founded in the Ukraine with obviously female skeltons that are accompanied with mail shirt, lance and arrow heads which have been ascribed to Sarmatian Amazons.  Of course we have heard of Joan of Arc who lead the French against the English–she of course like all good Amazons was eventually defeated and died at the hands of the man lead and staffed British Armies.  But then the British had their own–Boudica, a woman who’s husband was killed and her daughters  raped by the Romans—she brought her arm against the Roman war machine and defeated and destroyed many of them, even burning their main town in the south–Ludinium, before she was finally defeated and died.

WATER NYMPHS were usually female and inhabited the waters of the seas, streams of many lands including Greece were according to legends a nymph named Clytie was cast unto the beach and entranced by the brightness she stayed and became rooted into the soil her silvery hair becoming petals and her fingers green leaves eventually becoming the first sun flower, whose blossom reflected the golden disk of the sun and followed its course throughout each day.

LILITH:  Adam’s first wife is the ultimate carnation of the evil female.  She is a Jewish legend–(who may have been adopted from an ancient Babylonian demon with a similar name lilitu or a Sumerian wind demon Lil to name just a few of similar demons who haunted the night preyed on poor defenseless men and those who actually have my sympathy young children) a demon who engages in erotic (oops) activities with male humans while they sleep (can you say wet dreams?).  She had added killing human infants by the middle ages.   Interestingly enough this demon’s failure to comply seems to stem (from legend at least) from the fact that she was created from the same dust as Adam and thus claims that she is equal to her mate rather than answering to him which Eve who was made from his rib was (though we know how that worked out with he snake and apple so….).  I sort of think of Lilith   as the first feminist.

WITCHES:  No way could I skip this one–for hundreds of years women (and to a lesser extend men) were burnt, drown and otherwise murdered in the name of  God to wipe an evil from the earth.  Christians preached that witches made pact with the devil for power and riches, but yet amazingly seemed to prosecute the poor and down trodden to the exclusion (except in a few unusual cases) of the rich and powerful, for this crime against God and man.  Most historians will tell you that most attributed witch activity was common to the healers and diviners of the early tribes and clans that eventually became suspect in the 1300s.  All across Europe and into the British Colonies these previously pillars of the community was prosecuted and killed–an estimated 1,869 men and 6,122 women.  (1563-1727 with many more killed from 1300-1562 for which no records appear to exist).  Society and the church put these wise women who often did not comply to the full tenants of the holy laws in their place with these executions  leaving those left to either go underground or the less brave to give up their ways altogether.  Oh by the way there are now over a million pagans in the world today  (and the number is reportedly growing) with most of them being Wicca, the modern form of witchcraft.

THE LOST WOMAN, DISTRESSED PRINCESS, MAIDEN IN DISTRESS, FEMALE EXTRODINARE:  Fairy tales, Legends and stories abound in every country, society and cult.  Take for instance the Irish tale of Oisin, an Irish warrior who became entranced with Niam of the Golden Hair, so much so that he left his kin and country riding across the western seas, carrying the Princess back to her bidden realm.  Once in the faerie lands there he had to fight a beast that threatened her people to prove his valor finally arriving in the Land of the Young, where the trees gave forth flower and fruit together and time was different from mortal time, the couple was welcomed with honor.  WHAT GOOD IS A FAIRY TALE IF THEY DON’T LIVE HAPPILY THERE AFTER?

“Magic is believing in yourself,
if you can do that,
you can make anything happen.”

– Wolfgang Von Goethe

SOURCES:

A FIELD GUIDE TO DEMONS, FARIES, FALLEN ANGELS. AND OTHER SUBSERSIVE SPIRTIS by Mack & Mack

HALLOWEEN by Ravenwolf

MYTHS OF THE NORSE From the Eadda and Saga by Guerber

THE ENCHANTED WORLD:

FABLED LANDS &

 SPELLS AND BINDINGS Time Life Books

WOMEN WARLORDS by Newark