The Inuit and Their Beliefs

A frozen world where legends of the Earth, Sea, and Sky burned as bright as the Northern Lights, the Artic regions reflect the battle with the elements.  The Inuit peoples relied on the natural world to survive and this dependence created a lore which involved Shamanism.  These Shamans communicated with their Gods and Goddesses through visions while in a trance.  The was a harmonious relationship between the Shamans and the spirts of fire, water, and the wind. The spirits of the mountains and animals that inhabited the regions all possessed spirits which controlled the world around them.

Aulanerk a water spirit, important because it was one it surrounded them, caused the waves.  Agloolik another water spirit, resided below the ice and Nootaikok controlled the icebergs. The spirit of the sea Sedua was a main spirit controlling the food which came from the sea. She was cruel and harsh.

The Moon was of special importance.  The cycles of the moon determined the seasons which in turn ensured the abundance of game.  The stars positions were also noted as their appearance indicated the migration of the animals that were consumed.  Their myths were full of stories of the constellations and celestial bodies.  The Moon dominated their myths more so than the Sim.  Aningaaq or Moon Man was the essence of the sky.  He was helpful and he is depicted as benevolent and controlled fertility by the seasonal cycles.

The balance of the Inuit world was dictated by the Moon and the Sea, Moon Man and Sea Woman were major forces, the forces which controlled the Inuit life.

Sila the spirit of Air controlled rain, snow, storms and blizzards.  With her great powers she would take revenge when offended causing harsh weather and withholding food.

These Gods and Goddesses controlled the physical forces, maintaining harmony, protecting the animals of nature.  The Inuit revered nature and animals so much that animals had a part in some of their creation myths.

Since humans have inhabited the Earth they have sought to explain, understand, and control the world around them; their persistent attempt to make sense of nature has left behind and animated history of life in the inanimate.  The spirits of the wind, storms clouds all tell of another time when humans had a poignant intimacy with their Gods and of a life which in reality does not differ so much from our own.

The Visions of the End

A bringer of salvation is found in almost every culture of the world there contains a perfect, powerful personage who saves mankind from sin and eternal punishment from the Gods. The savior most commonly is a miraculous birth and is of royal descent. They are threatened at birth and are tempted by demons, there are works of miracles and redemption through grace. The coming of the savior is prophesied and the savior's experiences and the Creator's plans for human redemption are foretold.

In the Hindu beliefs Vishnu was incarnated as a turtle and had recovered the treasures lost during the Great Flood. He is believed to have had ten incarnations in this world in a variety of forms. In his incarnation as Matsya the fish Vishu warned Manu of the deluge so that Manu could build and board a ship “with the seeds of all living things.” He reappears to rescue the world whenever it is in danger. Kalki is the future incarnation and will redeem mankind from the present day evils. He will establish a new era. He will appear as a warrior on a white horse.

Buddhism is a philosophy of salvation. Buddhists believe that the Bodhisattvas refuse personal salvation and remain in the world to help suffering humanity on the path to enlightment and from perpetual reincarnation.

The myths of the Apocalypse as told in India is explained in “How Ruda Destroys the Universe”

At the beginning of the cycle the Earth was created by Brahma' during the time of the world it is sustained by Vishnu and at the end it is destroyed by Shiva. A t the beginning of a Day which lasts for 12,000 years of the devas which is 4,320,000 human years the world is recreated by the Eternal One when he awakens. Every Day or cycle is divided into 14 manvataras each ruled by a Manu. Each manvantara is followed by a Great Flood that destroys everything except that which is needed to repopulate the Earth. The continents are rearranged during the Flood. When the time comes when the Earth is depleted completely Vishnu takes the form of Rudra the Storm God and the Universe is eradicated.. All the waters of the Earth are dried up. The Earth is burnt and cleansed; the waters are returned with sheets of rain which are then drawn back into the clouds, the World is chaos and at the state where it can be recreated.

The end of the world is inevitable

The Aztec Beliefs

The mythology of the Aztec civilization dominated central Mexico in the 1400s and early 1500s,  and described a duality of the universe from flamboyant life to destruction. Worlds were created and destroyed in the myths, gods fought and destroyed one another. Commonly used item;colors, numbers, directions, days of the calendar were associated with these Gods and Goddesses. The religious life of the Aztec people was as drastic in celebration and ranged from keeping statues of the gods in homes to public ceremonies which were on a grand scale.

The Aztecs migrated to Mexico from the north; they were a group who formed an alliance and founded a city called Tenochtitlán.

The area they occupied was populated by civilizations who had developed gods myths and legends of their own and so the Aztecs absorbed Gods, stories, and beliefs from these earlier peoples and from the Maya. Aztec mythology contained religious and mythology of the many groups in Mexico and Central America.

In the Aztec beliefs and most of the myths and legends human life was shaped by forces beyond his control. The gods created people to work for them, they were considered servants of the Gods. These Gods did not protect or bestow gifts upon the people. Humans were responsible for the satisfaction of the Gods.; this was carried by satisfying the needs of the Gods which was in their belief sacrificing humans to feed the Gods the precious elixir of life blood. The need to satisfy the Gods, especially the sun god, depended on human sacrifices.

In the Aztec Creation Myth darkness covered the earth. The Gods gathered together and made a fire. Nanahuatzin, one of the gods, leaped into the fire and came out as the sun. The other gods had to give the sun their blood in order for him to travel to the sky and begin his course. Several myths relating how the gods sacrificed themselves are seen in the Aztec beliefs. The human sacrifices that the people performed were begun by the belief of the sacrifices made by the Gods themselves with blood sacrifices..

Priests conducted ceremonies at the temples, often with songs and dancing the priests offered sacrifices. Spanish explorers reported witnessing ceremonies in which hordes of people were laid on sacrificial altars. The reasoning behind the death of humans for the Gods can be related to the belief of the Aztecs that the world had died and been reborn and that the gods also died and were reborn. This rebirth of the world and the predetermined fate of humans and the world ties in with the myths and rituals of the Aztecs.

Also the Aztecs' calendar, an elaborate system,with two calendars: a 365-day solar calendar, based on the position of the sun, and a 260-day ritual calendar used for divination. Each day of the ritual calendar was influenced by a combination of gods and goddesses.

The 52-year cycle called the Calendar Round was also used and at the end of a Calendar Round, the Aztecs put out all their fires. When it came time for a new Calendar Round, there was a ceremony in which new fires were lit from flames burning in a human victim's chest.

Many Aztec myths are of the story of the five suns. The Aztecs believed that four suns, had existed before ours this was that there were four worlds. Different events had occurred and the catastrophes destroyed the world and it had come to an end.

The mythology of the Aztec people is a rich blend of numerous Gods and supernatural beings which is unique and intriguing. The religious beliefs in particular the Sun God and calendar system for which the are famous for shows a civilization that was advanced and had a superior knowledge of the world that surpassed others of the time period, although they absorbed much from their environment. There are some who believe that the myth of the 5 Suns and the end of the Earth will soon come to pass. The Aztecs have left behind a history of a mighty empire full of joy and despair a duality that persists in some of the world's most widely held beliefs.

Incest and Infidelity in the House of the Gods

Incest and Infidelity in the House of the Gods

Principal Gods of Greek Mythology

Zeus the supreme god of the Olympian gods was one of the most famous of the Greek Gods and one of the most renowned for his adulterous behavior. There was no discrimination when it came to getting the woman he desired whether mortal or immortal he managed to leave a legacy of Gods, Goddesses and divine heroes. The number of children that Zeus sired is unknown and speculations about his progeny are still being debated but some of the more famous ones can be found within his own family tree.

Zeus and Maia

One of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes, she was the daughter of Atlas and Pleione an Oceanid. The oldest of the Pleiades. They were sometimes called the Mountain Nymphs.

Zeus and Dione

A Titan with whom Zeus conceive Aphrodite. She had an Oracle at Dodone. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was one of four sisters the others being Mnemosyne, Phoebe and Themis. She was also said to have given birth to Dionysus by Zeus.

Zeus and Leto

A Titan born of Oceanus and Phoebe and the mother of the twin Gods Apollo and Diana. She is also said to be the protector of the young. While pregnant with the twins she was tormented by the wrath of Hera and destined to wander the Earth without rest. When it came time for the twins to be born the floating island of Delos granted her a place and she gave birth to Apollo and Diana.

Zeus and Demeter

Demeter was a Goddess of fertility and agriculture. She was a daughter of the Titans Cronus and his sister Rhea. She was the sister of Hestia, Hera and Hades, Poseidon and Zeus, who was also the father of her child Persephone. She and her daughter Persephone are associated with the Greek and Roman cult the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Zeus and Hera

Hera the Queen of the Gods was Zeus' sister they conceived a child called Hephaestus. Hephaestus was the God of the Blacksmiths fire and the patron of craftsmen. The volcanic fires of Mr Etna represented him. He was known as the lame god. Hera at his birth was disgusted by the sight of him and flung him from Mt Olympus and he fell landing in the sea where nymphs rescued him and brought him to Lemos where he was cared for. He created Zeus' thunderbolts. He was married to Aphrodite the Goddess of Love.

Zeus and Metis

Metis impregnated by Zeus was swallowed by Zeus when he was told by Gaia that Metis would have a daughter who would overthrow him. One day he experienced a roaring headache and commanded Hephaestus to strike him in the head with an axe Athena sprang forth fully armed in war gear she became a favorite of Zeus.

Not all of the women seduced by Zeus were immortal some of the most well nown of his mortal loves were:

Zeus and Danae

Zeus came to Danae in the guise of a golden shower after she had been imprisoned in a tower by her father their son was the hero Perseus

Zeus and Leda

One of the most famous offspring Helen of Troy Zeus visited Leda as a Swan it is said that Helen was born in an egg,

Zeus and Europa

Europa mothered 3 sons Minos, Sarpedon and Rhadamanthys with Zeus in the form of a bull

Zeus and Alkmene

The most famous bastard son is one of the children of Zeus and Aleme Hercules born of Zeus and his twin brother Likymnios by her husband Amphitryon

Zeus and Semele

The mother of Dionysis She requested at the instigation of Hera to see Zeus in his glory as a God. He consented and the sight burnt her but he saved the unborn child by sewing him in his thigh until he was born.

Egyptian Mythology

Among the greatest civilizations of the Earth, the Egyptian civilization has a rich diverse mythology all of their own. They are famous for the unique beliefs which have made the world call them a people with high moral values.

Atum has been credited to being the finisher of the world, and was called The Complete One which he wil lreturn to chaos at the end of the creative cycle. He was seen as all aspects of the world, the deities and all things being made of himself. One of the most prominent deities from the ancient times,he is portrayed as both a creator and father to the phraroh.

Atum was considered to be the first God, having created himself from the primordial waters Nu. Atum created the God Shu and the Goddess Tefnut.

The Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead pharoh's soul from his pyramid to the heavens. Known also a Solar God, with Sun God Ra, usually with the evening Sun.

Atum, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless abyss of the world before creation., he created divine and human beings. He is sometimes he is shown as a serpent, or as a bull or lizard.

Ptah is the patron of construction, metalworking, and sculpture, carpenters and shipbuilders.The glory of the Pyramids attest to the high value this God had for this anceint prople. Ptah was one of five major Egyptian gods with Ra, Osiris, Isis and Amun.

Ptah is the creator God he existed before all things, and by him the world was first conceived by Thought, and realized by the Word. He is shown in many forms. He is sometimes represented as a dwarf , howener, is generally represente as a man with green skin, wearing the divine beard, and holding a sceptre.






The ancient Egyptians believed in the concept of life after death. The ancient Egyptians considered the humans to be the gift as children of the Gods. On the death of a person, the body would be preserved with at most care without any signs of decay even though the motion of the body has completely stopped. The dead person’s body was preserved for the manifestation of individual spirit. The body of the person would be mummified and placed in the coffin as if the person was asleep; they buried the utensils, ornaments, the toiletries and essentials required by the person in his journey after death. They even placed weapons for the protection of the person and food inside of the burial chambers.

Anubis the jackal headed God of ancient Egypt is associated with the mummification and the dead in the afterlife. He was depicted as half human, half jackal. Since the jackal was a scavenger which threatened to consume dead bodies it was associated with cemetaries. During embalming ceremonies the embalmer wore an Anubis costume. One of the decrees of Anubis was the Guardian of the Scales deciding by the weight of truth where with the weighing the Heart Anubis determined the fate of souls.

Anubis was known to be the son of Ra, but in later myths he was thought to be son of Osiris. Anubis' half-brother was Horus, son of Osiris and Isis. One myth says that Anubis is the son of Nephthys and Set, Osiris' brother and the god of the desert and darkness.

Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the ancient Egyptian Religion. He was most often depicted as a falcon, or as a man with a falcon head.

Horus is the first known national god, the king who is a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death. Horus is the son of the Goddess Isis and the God Osiris. Horus role emcompassed many functions but most commonly being the god of the sun, war and protection.

Horus was born to the goddess Isis after she had found all the dismembered body parts of her murdered husband Orisis except his penis which was thrown into the Nile and eaten by a catfish. She used her Goddess powers to resurrect Osiris and fashion a gold member to conceive. Once Isis knew she was pregnant with Horus, she fled to hide from her brother Set who had killed Osiris and would have wanted to kill their son. Isis bore a divine son, Horus.

The Pharaoh as Horus in life became the Pharaoh as Osiris in death, where he was united with the rest of the gods. New incarnations of Horusin later incarnations succeeded the deceased pharaoh on earth in the form of new Pharaohs.

Set born of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb. His twin sister and wife was Nepthys. Another set of twins of Nut and Geb who became husband and wife: were the divine Osiris and Isis and their son was Horus.

The myths concerning these characters portray Osiris as a wise king, and content with his sister, Isis. Set envious of his brother killed and dismembered Osiris. Isis gathered his dismembered body and embalmed him. Osiris reigned over the afterworld as a king of the spirits of the dead. Horus his son was conceived by Isis.

From the land of the Sphinx comes tales of Gods with the faults of humans combined with the wisdom of the Gods. Intriging in form as in the emotional turmoils that these myths show of a civilization that has endured through the centuries and lives on until today. Pure in its attempts to understand the world in which they lived and the world that has lived on because of them.

The Baal Myth

Baal was a God of ancient Canaan, there he was worshiped as a God of fertility and rain. He was the son of El, the supreme god of the Canaanites, and the husband of the Goddess Anat.

Because of the importance of rain in the dry lands of the Near East, their local gods were usually associated with fertility and the cycle of rain and drought seasons. Baal was called the Lord of the Earth and Lord of the Rain and Dew.

Myths about Baal relate to fertility and the cycle of the seasons. The story of the battle between Baal and Mot, the god of death and infertility shows how the rain holds so much importance in their culture. According the recorded tales, Yam, the sea god, attempted to make a slave out of Baal. He sent messengers to Baal, asking him to surrender, but Baal drove them away. Baal and Yam fought with Baal using two magic weapons, he defeated him and took control of the waters. Yam represents the destructive nature of flooding the land and ruining crops and killing animals. Baal represents water's positive powers: rain and dew providing the nourishment needed to make crops grow. Baal is the spring rains and Mot represents the drought of the summer months. By defeating Mot, the rains in this case Baal, the earth is reborn each year and life flourishes in the dry Near East.

Worship of Baal in other ancient cultures. was widespread in the ancient world. Baal was also prominent in Egypt from about 1400 to 1075 B . C .. Baal was known to the Babylonians and Assyrians, and he equated to the God Marduk. The Greeks called identified him with Zeus.

Mythical stories that attempted to explain the nature of the physical world supported this religious belief. The basic features the Ba‘al religion revolved around the cycles of nature necessary for prosperity which were primarily growing crops; raising livestock and the survival of humankind. The fertility of land and crops played a large role in the Canaanite world as well as the rest of the Near East. Water was a major element in the myth and in an environment where human existence was often precarious human fertility was an important concern.

The theme of a cosmic battle among the gods personifies the struggle for life. The annual renewal of the earth in springtime makes it a myth of the cycle of seasons. This cosmic battle may not have been a historical event of the past, but occurred anew each year and was reenacted in rituals.

Witches and Witchcraft

Witchcraft is the use of supernatural powers and magical spells. In Christian Europe witches were thought to be in worshipers of Satan and used their powers to harm people and property. The concept of witchcraft as good and bad is increasingly distinguished with good witches involving healing.

Beliefs in witchcraft have existed in many cultures worldwide and still exist in some today.. The witch was a respected in primitive times and they were valued, not feared, they helped ease pain and healed people and their animals. In primitive times religion and magic were virtually the same. Priests were magicians and magicians were priests.

These beliefs were prominant in Early Europe of the 14th to 18th century, where witchcraft came to be seen as diabolical and resulted in the Witch Hunts.

In the Christian and Islamic faiths, sorcery came to be associated with evil.

Many French healers were accused of witchcraft a majority of the accused witches in Hungary seem to have been healers.

Some of the healers and diviners accused of witchcraft should be considered as Shamans. These people had contacts with fairies, spirits and traveling through the Otherworld. These beliefs are found in the folklore of most of Europe, and were described by the accused witches in Europe.

The basic characteristics of a witch is that they poscess the ability to cast a spell. A spell could consist of a set of words, or a verse. Spells are cast by many methods, by the binding or pricking of a wax image of a person to affect them magically; with incantations; by performing physical rituals; and by the use of magical herbs, amulets or potions.Necromacy is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for prophocy.

Today, it is thought that many witches and the possessed were those with dementia or other psychosis. In early times the medical and the psychological sciences to explore causes, other than possession, for the behavior of people was not as advanced as it is today; although Anceint Greece surpassed the European countries. A victim who was thought to be possessed because of their spastic jerkings and verbal utterances such as people with Tourette's syndrome were victims for the accusations of possessed. The involuntary profanities and barks, curses, tics, facial contortions were thought to be possessed by the Devil.

The name Witch conjures up Sabbaths and demonic activity to this day and the association of the Old Hag and her cat still crosses people's minds when it is uttered. Throughout time this reference has been made; and it has been proven that even when there is doubt there is still a grain or truth. Are witches a part of the imaginary world or is the imagined the truth buried in the seas of unknown.

The Journey from the Unknown bywena: The Allure of the World of Mythology

The Journey from the Unknown bywena: The Allure of the World of Mythology

The Allure of the World of Mythology

The Sea of mythology laps on the shore of truth.  A glimpse of the world beyond imagination.

Greece After the Trojan War

The Trojan War was a disaster for Greece eventually. Maybe because the war lasted for 10 years and during this time all the kings and armies of Greece were at the front. When the Greeks eventually conquered Troy and returned to their homes, they only found decaying societies.  Other speculation about the Greek decline after the war is that the Greeks wanted Troy because it probably reflected a real war  c.1200 B.C between the invading Greeks and the people of Troas, possibly over control of trade through the Dardanelles  and was not for Helen of Troy as it is written in the myth

 They spent much effort in the siege and when they finally conquered it, it without establishing their rule. This could be explained by historical citations of a  barbarian tribe which was invading and destroying the civilizations in the Middle East. Maybe the Greeks left Troy to prepare their defenses against them and since their economy was based on trading with the Middle Eastern countries, their civilization decayed because of the invasion.

Shortly after the Trojan War, there came a period known as the Dark Age.  Little is know about Greece in this time period. At the beginning of the 8th century B.C. there came an end to the Dark Age and the beginning of the Archaic Age. The literary work of the composer of the Iliad and the Odyssey, known as Homer,  were stories of creation told by Hesiod. These poets created what became the standard religious stories known and told about the ancestors of the Greeks. These were the gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus.

During the Archaic Age,  communities came into contact with one another. Monarchy gave way to aristocracies. The foundations for democracy emerged, and some small farmers decided to move into the urban area and brought the beginning of the city-state.

While the city had marketplaces, business and trade were considered dishonest.  Exchange was necessary to fulfill need for family, friends, or community and was not simply for profit. Standards for proper behavior for citizens made some tasks demeaning. There were slaves to do the work that was beneath the dignity of a citizen. Despite resistance to money-making, by the end of the Archaic Age, the use of coins began, which helped promote trade.

During the Archaic Age there was expansion. Greeks from the mainland set out to settle the Ionian east. Certain colonists began to question the world around them, to look for a pattern in life and the cosmos, these in turn became the first philosophers.

When the Greeks  invented the lyre, they produced a new music to accompany it. At the beginning to the Archaic age, statues copying  the Egyptian style, and appeared stiff and lifeless, by the end of the period and the beginning of the Classical Age, statues were being created more lifelike.

Following the Archaic Age was the Classical Age. The Archaic Age ended  after the Persian Wars.

The Classical Age brought new ideas, philosophy, and new medical techniques to the Greeks and the Grecian world flourished to become the center of the Ancient world.

The Journey from the Unknown bywena: Nymphs and Nereids

The Journey from the Unknown bywena: Nymphs and NereidsLove to Hate bywena

Love to Hate: Natural Remedies for Depression and Bipolar Disorder

Love to Hate: Natural Remedies for Depression and Bipolar DisorderThe Mythological Truth

Nymphs and Nereids

Mythological Creatures

Chinese Mythology

Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folk-tales, and religions that have been passed down both orally and written and includes creation myths and legends, including the founding of the Chinese culture and the Chinese state. The Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be a recording of true history. 

Legends were passed down in orally over thousands of years, before being written down. Myths were often passed down in theater and song.

According to Chinese mythology the Jade Emperor ruled the three realms: Heaven, Hell, and of the living. The Jade Emperor judged and gave recompense to saints, the living, and those that passed on according to the Jade Principles.

The Chinese dragon is one of the most important mythical creatures in Chinese mythology, the most powerful and divine creature with the control over all waters. They were believed to be able to create clouds with their breath. The dragons symbolize great power and were the benefactor of heroes and gods.

The most famous dragons is the God of rain and many people in different places pray to this dragon to receive rain a belief which has great importance in most cultures.

The contact of Chinese mythology and Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism were modified into beliefs that developed or were incorporated into Chinese culture. The teachings and beliefs became a part Chinese mythology.

 
Although the Chinese people are thought to be strict in their culture there is a rich and humorous side to their beliefs and their mythological stories shows these two faces of the people’s culture

Understanding Hell

In many religions, Hell is a place of punishment after physical death.  Many religions consider the time spent in Hell as everlasting and endless.  In some religions Hell is a period between incarnations. Historically Hell is beneath the Earth’s surface and often there are entrances to Hell from the land of the living. The other places the afterlife are Heaven, Purgatory and Limbo.

Hell is sometimes viewed as being controlled by demons that torment those punished and sent to Hell. There is usually a God of death such as Hades, or in the Christian and Islamic faiths Satan or Lucifer.

Punishment in Hell is related to the sins committed during life. Hell is customarily fire and sulfur   painful, and full of suffering. Hell in a number of religions is considered to be made up of zones of hot and cold hells as in Buddhism.

The Styx  is a river in Greek mythology that was a border line between Earth and the Underworld The gods made  promises on the river Styx; Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and when her request lead to her death he still had to fulfill it.  The river Styx supposedly had miraculous powers; according to one Grecian myth, Achilles was as a child his mother bathed him in it and was invulnerable; however she neglected his heel; in the expression of Achilles heal means a place that is a weak point.  

The ferryman Charon was believed to carry the souls of the dead across the river Styx into the underworld.  In ancient times placing a coin in the mouth of the deceased, was believed to help pay the toll for the ferry to cross the Styx River which would lead into one of the entrances of Hell.

There are many stories trying to explain life after death and Hell is one of the major themes in not only life but death.  In the overwhelming accounts of beliefs and religions the death myth is an attempt to understand and explain the unknown and the death myth is one of them.

The fear of death and the belief of life after death are phenomena found in all cultures. Scientists interested in the questions of how the similarities and the differences in the views of death of different cultures are explained, and the common order of similarities and differences. Shedding light on the ancient beliefs of death and life can be carried over to our own beliefs of death and the afterlife.

The Fountain of Youth

The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that has been said restores the youth of anyone who drinks from it. Tales these fountains have been told in narratives across the world for thousands of years.

Eternal youth is the belief of human physical immortality free of aging. The term youth is meant to be a reduction of the negative signs of aging, rather extending the lifespan.

 A fountain with an extraordinary type of water is located in Ethiopia, which gives the Ethiopians their exceptional long lives.  A story of the Water of Life describes the crossing the Land of Darkness to find the restorative spring.  These beliefs were very popular in Spain during and after the period of Moorish rule, and several explorers journeyed to America in search of the magical water.

 Eternal youth is a gift frequently desired in myth and legend, and it remains a popular theme in fiction. Stories of things such as the elixir of life are common throughout Europe and elsewhere. Eternal life and eternal youth although they differ in actual meaning is a recurrent theme in Greek and Roman mythology. The elixir of life, also known as the elixir of immortality is a legendary drink that grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. Many magicians and witches have pursued it. The elixir of life was also said to be able to create life. In Norse mythology it is described as providing the Gods apples that grant them eternal youthfulness.

Various myths tell the stories about the quest for rejuvenation. It was believed that magic or intervention of a supernatural power can bring back the youth and many mythical adventurers set out on quests for themselves, their relatives or some authority that sent them.

The stories continued well into the 16th century. A famous Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León led an expedition around the Caribbean islands to Florida to find the Fountain of Youth; many of the seekers perished in the attempt. The Fountain was nowhere to be found as locals were unaware of its exact location.

In some religions, people were to be rejuvenated after death prior to entering heaven.

The Fountain of Youth is a mythic spring that would supposedly grant eternal life and vigor to whoever drank from it. Legends and myths about the tale have existed since ancient times.  


However so far, achieving eternal youth remains beyond the capabilities of man. Unbelievably there is much research currently being conducted in the field of genetics which may prove to be an agent in reducing the process of aging at some time in the future.

Great Flood Myths

In countless cultural myths and religions there seems to be a common thread of a Great Flood.  While some of them are the result of colonization and conquering of the various civilizations it is still too common for it to be completely disputed as myth.

In Celtic mythology the story is that Heaven and Earth were great giants, and Heaven lay on the Earth their children were gathered between them, and the children and their mother were sad in the darkness. The bravest sons led his brothers in cutting up Heaven into pieces. His blood caused a great flood which spurted in waves and killed all humans except for one single pair, who were saved in a ship made by a compassionate Titan. The waters settled in hollows to become the oceans. The boldest son who had led in the destruction of Heaven was a Titan and became the king, the Titans and gods hated each other, and the king was driven from his throne by his son, who was born a god. The Titan went to the land of the departed. The Titan who built the ship also went there.

The Welsh believed that the lake of Llion ruptured, flooding all lands. Dwyfan and Dwyfach escaped in a ship with pairs of every living creature. They landed in Britain and proceeded to repopulate the world.

In Lithuanian the myth is that from his heavenly window, the supreme God saw nothing but war and injustice among mankind. He sent two giants, water and wind, to destroy the earth. After twenty days and nights, the earth was more or less destroyed. The supreme God, Pramzimas, watched the progress. While at his window he sat eating nuts and he discarded the shells by throwing them down. One landed on the peak one of the tallest mountains, where a few people and animals had found refuge. They climbed into the shell and in this way survived the flood. God's wrath lessened and, he ordered the wind and water to subside. The people scattered, except for one elderly couple who stayed where they landed.  God then sent the rainbow and told them to jump nine times over the bones. When they did nine other couples bounded up and from this came the nine Lithuanian tribes and their descendents.

In Grecian myth, Zeus sent a flood to destroy the men of the Bronze Age. Prometheus counseled his son Deucalion to build a chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high mountains.  The entire world beyond the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overcome. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha  after floating in the chest for nine days and nights, landed on Parnassus. When the rains ended, he sacrificed to Zeus.  Zeus ordered that he should throw stones over his head; they became men, and the stones which Pyrrha threw became women.

The first race of people was completely destroyed because they were extremely wicked. The waters of the deep opened, the rain fell in torrents, and the rivers and seas rose to cover the earth, killing all of them. Deucalion survived due to his goodness and faithfulness and  was the link to the first and second race of men. He loaded his wives, children and all animals into a great ark. The flood waters overflowed into a chasm opened in Hierapolis. 

This common theme of Great floods in the past civilizations suggests to some that the story of a universal beginning of life on the earth is a fact and not just a conjectuire.

The Gods role in the Trojan War

Throughout the Trojan War the Gods played a major part on both warring sides the Olympic Gods, Goddesses, and Demigods fight and play great roles in the human warfare. Paris had the favor of Aphrodite while the Greeks had Poseidon, Ares and Athena as there allies.  Aeneas was the son of Aphrodite.  Achilles was the son of Thetis and won honor and fame in the Trojan War; but also suffered death through the deceit of Paris.  Many of the other Gods sided with one or the other side as the whim struck.   Hera Sided with the Greeks as did Hephaestus and Poseidon. Apollo and Ares were on the side of the Trojans with Artemis. Zeus and Hades remained neutral for the most part. Even some of the minor Gods enjoyed meddling in the war Eris with the Trojans as did Leto.

The Greek society attached so much emphasis on the Gods to the point that the success of the warriors and kings during the Trojan War and other warfare of the time depended on the role of the gods and goddesses.

The famed Trojan War existed between the Trojans and the Greeks. During the time of when the war occurred, the people had a strong connection to the gods and believed that all their actions, activities were predestined by the gods. The Gods’ influence on the nature and characteristics of human beings in the way they think, act and believe was also a significant part of the culture. 

The gods and goddesses played a key role in determining the winners during competitions or wars between parties .The heroes in these wars were at the mercy of the gods who imposed their anger to disobedient and disrespectful acts by humans or by impulses of amusement. The Gods were at times fickle and their reaction of deliberate or accidental offences were punished by the offended God or Goddess. The Gods determined the heroines and heroes of the wars and in the human existence  in the Greek society.

Death in Mythology

Death it is common to all humans, regardless of culture, creed, religion, or race. We are all mortal, our lives are limited, and all each in our own way, seek understanding of what happens after we die.

Most cultures have a god of death into their mythology or religion. Death, as with birth, is the major parts of human life. These Gods often are one of the most important Gods of a religion. In some religions with a single powerful deity is an antagonistic deity which wages war against an all powerful benevolent God.   

In religions or mythologies which have a multifaceted system of Gods each governing various natural phenomena and features of human life, the occurrence of a deity who is designated with  presiding over death is almost essential to the basis of the religion or myth.

Not much is known of the Celtic beliefs of the afterlife. The Celtic Otherworld was an underworld, which was perceived as be a great misty island such as Avalon or in some cases simply a universe parallel to our own. The Celt Otherworld is considered as a place happier Earth; yet resembles the world in which we live, it is peaceful where everything and everyone are carefree and there is no pain.

The Buddhist afterlife is a series of paradises, each one higher and more splendid plane of consciousness, and where each person goes to based on virtue and spirituality. Nirvana, the highest plane, is when there is the release of the soul from all things human where souls exist in a pure state. The soul may spend eras in the various paradises, it eventually returns in reincarnation.

The Egyptian beliefs in death and the afterlife and the practices regarding the dead are not easily understood. Most of it is still unknown to this day, the purpose of the enormous burial chambers the pyramids, and other theories are hidden and still have to come to light to scholars.  The Egyptians believed in an underworld in that souls descend through burial. A great deal of their belief in the afterlife was associated with the pharaoh they worshipped, because the pharaoh was considered to be the representative of the gods. Proper & ceremonial burial of the pharaoh would ensure a place in a pleasing afterlife for each of his followers. The anointing and embalming of every body was a sacred ritual for the Egyptians, with priests of Anubis, God of the dead, wearing a death mask to perform the tasks. Most bodies were buried with personal items and riches that were cherished in life, so that the souls could take them with them to the afterlife.

The earliest Hebrew beliefs were pretty bleak. When the person died the soul was reduced to an insignificant wisp of psychic energy which descended into Sheol, a cavity beneath the Earth. The good and the evil both went to Sheol.  After time that changed, the good being going to one place of the afterlife and the evil in another. In Christianity this concept in its beliefs of heaven, purgatory and hell was incorporated.

The afterlife of Islam also has a paradise for the good and a hell and punishment for those who do evil. After the dead are buried and the mourners have departed, two angels are believed to visit the spirit of the departed for judgment. Questions are asked of the individual and if the dead answer all the questions correctly, they enter paradise. If the questions are answered incorrectly, they are sent to hell. There is a belief in a Day of Resurrection souls, when the dead will be made to face God and to be judged. All actions from the deceased the good and bad weighed.

In ancient Greek the most commonly known of the ancient beliefs, the afterlife has similarities to the religions of today such as Christianity.


 The Greeks believed that the dead were accompanied to the Underworld, ruled by the God Hades, and had to pay coins to the ferryman Charon to cross the River Styx, and enter the Underworld. The Greeks buried their dead with a coin or coins in their mouths, for the fee to Hades. Once in the Underworld, the dead were judged to be good or evil. The good ascended to the Elysian Fields, or Elysium, a place of paradise. The evil descended to fiery Tartarus, where they were punished for eternally, but in some instances there was a sentence of repentance for periods of time before becoming worthy to enter Elysium. This seemed to be a belief in a state of limbo where souls who were not good enough for Elysium, but not evil enough for Tartarus, would stay. This limbo is Asphodel. The Greeks also believed in reincarnation, where judges at the gates of Hades decided the incarnation of each soul.

Life and death unknown states that can only be clouded with mystery and dreams.  Idealistic ideas and conjecture can confront these obscure places where life continues on a higher plan and a happier existence.

Mythological Monsters

                                                                                              

The Cetos of Troy

The Cetos of Troy was a gigantic sea-monster sent by Poseidon to plague the land of Troy as punishment for King Laomedon's refusal to pay him for the building of the city's walls. When Laomedon built Troy, Poseidon and Apollo, who had lost favor with Zeus, were punished to serve Laomedon for wages, and accordingly Poseidon built the walls of Troy, while Apollo attended to the king's flocks on Mount Ida. 

When the two gods accomplished their tasks, Laomedon refused to recompense them as he had promised and expelled them from his dominions. Poseidon in return for the breach of promise by sent a marine monster into the territory of Troy, which ravaged the whole country. By the command of an oracle, the Trojans were obliged to sacrifice a maiden to the monster; and on one occasion it was decided by lot that Hesione, the daughter of Laomedon himself, to  be the victim. 

Fortunately for Hesione Heracles was returning from his expedition against the Amazons, and he promised to save the maiden, if Laomedon would give him the horses which Tros had once received from Zeus as a compensation for Ganymedes. Laomedon promised to give them to Heracles, but again when Heracles had killed the monster and saved Hesione he did not keep his word. Heracles waged war against Troy, and killed Laomedon, with all his sons, except Priam and gave Hesione to Telamon.

The Python

PYTHON was a monstrous serpent which Gaia , Mother Earth, appointed to guard the oracle at Delphi. The beast was said to have been born from the slime left behind after the great Deluge. He lived in the caves of mount Parnassus. When Apollo claimed the shrine as his own, he killed the dragon with his arrows. The oracle and festival of the god were then named Pythian after the dreaded beast.

The Dragons of Medea

The Dragons of Medea born of the blood of the Titans; were a pair of  winged Dragons which drew the flying chariot of the witch Medea. She summoned them to escape from Korinthos following the murder of King Kreon, his daughter Kreousa and her own children by Jason.

The Ismenian Dragon

The Ismenian dragon was a gigantic serpentine monster which guarded the sacred spring of Ismenos near Thebes. It was the offspring of Ares the God of war. When the hero Cadmus came to find water in order to found Thebes, he killed the ugly serpent by casting a stone.

The goddess Athena instructed him to sow the dragon's teeth in the earth, which harvested an army of warriors, called Spartan, five of who became the ancestral lords of Thebes.

Out of revenge Ares, the father of the dragon, transformed Cadmos and his wife into serpents.

The Hydra

The HYDRA LERNAIA was a gigantic, nine-headed serpent, which dwelled the swamps of Lerna. It is said that it was born of Typhoon and Echidna. Heracles was sent to destroy her as one of his twelve labors, but for each of her heads that he decapitated, two more were grown back. He used burning torches to the severed stumps, preventing them from regenerating. In the battle he also destroyed a giant crab who assisted the Hydra.

The Hydra and the Crab were placed in the skies as the Constellations Hydra and Cancer by Hera.   

The Chimera

The Chimera was a huge beast which wreaked havoc on the countryside of Lycia in Anatolia. It was a creature with the body and  head of a lion, a goat's head rising from its back, and a serpentine tail.

The hero Bellerophon was commanded to slay it by King Iobates. He battled with the beast on the back of the winged horse Pegusus and, drove a lead-tipped lance down the Chimaira's flaming throat and destroyed it. The Chimera was the result of the union of Typhoon and Echidna. It is said that the Sphinx the Nemeian Lion were the monster children of the Chimera.