MANDRAKE
(MEDIEVAL)
The root of the mandrake plant grows in the shape of a human body. This root can be animated by magic, and sent to do the
magician’s bidding. There is no mistaking a mandrake root; they scream when you pull them out of the ground, and some say
the scream will drive you mad.
MANTICORE (Medieval)
The manticore has the head of a man, the body of a lion or tiger and the tail of a scorpion. It has three rows of teeth and a
voice like a trumpet mixed with a panpipe. Some half-educated critics believe the manticore is nothing more than a confused
description of a tiger, forgetting that our first description of a manticore is from Aristotle, whose student, Alexander the Great,
traveled to India and sent his teacher biological specimens from all points of the known world. If they knew lions and leopards
they certainly knew a tiger from a manticore and that the beast does exist, possibly in Afghanistan.
MARA (Medieval)
This is the source of our modern word for nightmare. This was not a creature we rode through the night; the mara rode us.
“Mara” is an Old English word for demon; the mara slipped into the room through a crack in wall or window and then rides
the victim like a succubus. The bad dreams and tangled hairs that the creature left behind were called “mare’s nest”.
Witches were sometimes accused of this behavior and then fined, outlawed, or put to death. Stories of witch riding are also
common in African American folklore.
A mara can be stopped if you seal the opening that it uses to enter; the creature will die if still trapped inside the room at dawn.
MEDUSA (See GORGON)
MERMAID (Worldwide)
Mermaids are fond of mortal sailor men. They flash and swirl about on moonlit nights, calling out for a lover to jump into their
arms.
The mermaids of the mid Atlantic were very aggressive in the old days. They demanded a sailor be tossed down to them, or
they threatened to sink the ship. It was bad luck to say a sailor’s name out loud in mermaid waters, because the Lorelei would
hear and ask for him by name.
Sea captains guarded against this by giving nicknames to the crew, naming them after tools and everyday objects. Hearing the
nicknames, the mermaids would call out “Hammer, come to me; Chest of Drawers, I need you!” and the sailors would throw
the object over the side instead of the man.
The mermaid wrapped her long hair around the man’s face, and as long as she was there he could breathe under water. She
took him to her home at the bottom of the sea, where he lived like a king until she tired and cast him back on shore. There are
exceptions, such as the keeper of the Eddystone lighthouse, who maintained a relationship with a mermaid for some time:
My father was the keeper of the Eddystone light;
He slept with a mermaid one fine night
Out of this union there came three:
A porpoise, a porgy and the other was me.
You will hear-- from some half-educated quarters-- that mermaids were imagined by sasilors who saw seals and manatees
bobbing up and down with their babies at their breast. Persons who think every myth has a rational explanation ought not to
be trusted; sailors who can’t tell a manatee from a mermaid ought not to be trusted either.
MIMI (Australian)
See also FAERY
Mimis are faery creatures of Australia. They are thin, delicate creatures so thin they canonly come out on nights when there is
no wind; th slightest breeze can break their bones or blow them thousands of miles from home.
Mimis live in crevices in the rocks. Sight and hearing are incredibly acute. At the slightest approach, the mimi will run to a rock
and blow on it, causing a magical door to open and close behind them. This is why the Aborigines almost never see them,
although anyone can hear them scampering about on the rocks at night.
MINOTAUR (Greek)
The minotaur was half man and half bull, a monster born out of the depraved Queen Pasiphae by a great white bull. Pasiphae’
s husband, King Minos, hid his wife’s shame in an impoossible maze called the labyrinth.
The labyrinth was designed by the engineer Daedalus. The king’s palace sat at the entrance, and the labyrinth itself went on
for endless miles of corridors, caverns, stairways and deceptive twists and turns.
(MORE TO COME...)
MONKEY (Asia)
Monkey is always wandering, bragging, grabbing at everything and never shutting up, showing off, asking questions, and
getting in and out of trouble.
A strutting Monkey once bragged to the Buddha that he could jump from whereto the ends of the earth if he
wanted. “Stand here then,” the Buddha said on the palm of my hand and show me what you can do.” The monkey
launched himself and flew through the air for many days. Landing at the Ends of the Earth—a spot marked by
pink marble pillars—the monkey marked his place by pissing at the base of the pillar. He then leaped back to
brag to the Buddha—and discovered that he had only jumped from one of Buddha’s fingers to another.
Traveling with a Buddhist monk in search of enlightenment, faced with 80 impossible tasks 100 chapters and demons and
temptations galore-- despite all his character flaws, Monkey finally achieves enlightenment, hope for even the silliest among us.
MOON RABBIT (Asia)
The people of Asia see the shadow of a rabbit on the face of the moon. This is the spirit of a rabbit who sacrificed his life so
that others could live; he threw himself into a fire to feed some starving monks. The Buddha rewarded this bunny Boddhisatva
by giving his brave little soul a home in the palace of the moon princess, where he stirs the elixir of eternal life.
MORGAN LE FAY (Arthurian)
See also FAERY
Morgan le Fay is the half faery sister of King Arthur. The role she plays in the life of Arthur is always changing, sometimes
friend and sometimes foe, typical of relationships between Faery folk and the human world.
The word “Faery” is derived from one of the old Latin names for the Fates, and Morgan is sometimes Morgana Fata, the
hand of Fate, turning the Wheel of Fortune up or down.
N
NAGA (Hindu)
The naga are an ancient race of serpent people who shared the dawn of time with the gods, demons and heroes. Naga have
serpent bodies and human heads and arms; sometimes are shown as many-headed cobras.
The image of the serpent occurs so often in ancient mythology because of certain natural powers the snake has. Coiled in
darkness, raising its head to the light, the serpent can bring death with just a touch. A snake can shed its skin, as though it
were “reborn” again and again. These abilities became symbols of death and resurrection for many ancient religions.
NEOCON BLOG BABBLER (United States)
NEOCON BLOG BABBLER: from the DSM-IV Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders:
Latent repressed homosexuality and gynophobia, with racism virus outbreaks under stress. Hatred of the poor, hatred of self,
hated of injured or damaged people described as "victims", self-hatred, and hatred of those sympathetic or supportive of
"victims".
To meet the criteria for this disease, persons must exhibit three or more of the following:
1) The use of the word "pussy" as an epithet, meaning somehow unmanly. It is striking that these sufferers would try to insult
others by identifying them with a part of the female anatomy that average adults have always been rather fond of.
2)The use of "faggot" as an insult (originally a word meaning a burning torch carried by Dutch citizens defending their homes
from floods, hence the 19th century ballad of hardy Netherlanders "Faggots and Dykes".)
It is remarkable that people suffering from this syndrome use references to homosexuality as the sine qua non of insults, the
worst thing you can call another man-- worse, apparently, than drug abuse, perjury, stealing old ladies' pensions, taking
bribes, ignorance, indifference, slander and libel, race-baiting, contempt of congress, consorting with the enemy, poisoning the
soil and water, hypocrisy, draft-dodging, gun crimes, weapons-trading, neglect, cocaine and alcohol abuse, religious
intolerance, etc., et alia.
Neocon Blog Babblers are fascinated by other men's penises, and what they might be doing with those penises. A state
referendum was passed in Michigan to deny employee benefits to men who play with other men's penises, whereas most
heterosexual males rarely think about other men's penises, with the exception of urologists, artists, and tailors. Phallocentric
courtesies such as "How they hanging?" or "Do you dress to the left or the right, sir?" are lost on them.
3)These sufferers will sometimes combine their fear and revulsion regarding women and male homosexuals. The resulting
complex of emotions will confuse the sufferer until he has no recourse but to resort to epithets like "liberal".
4)Up until the 1980's, the political term "liberal" was not considered derogatory, outside of certain right-wing fringe groups. It
was the sinister but sunny actor, lifeguard and General Electric spokesmodel Ronald Reagan, showing signs of Alzeheimer's
while still in office, that made it socially acceptable to denigrate someone for being "liberal", i.e., tolerant of divergent beliefs.
Ironically, the "laissez faire" or "live and let live" attitude of liberalism was applied by followers of Reagan to the economy and
business practices. The hypocrisy inherent in a "free market" full of sweetheart deals went unnoticed.
5) Sufferers show an inability to step outside of this complex of assumptions and prejudices long enough to vote for the long-
term good of their country. They defend against self-knowledge of this contradiction by loudly proclaiming their patriotism and
questioning the patriotism of dissenters.
6) Cognitive dissonance, a gap between what is said and what is done, to a remarkable degree. A candidate need not
increase funding for schools to hire more qualified math and science instructors, so long as he SAYS he wants "No Child Left
Behind." A candidate need not actually defend our shores, so long as he owns guns and is PERCEIVED to be "tough".
Wouldn't it be great if all those business majors and politicians' kids were given the same chance to defend their country that
the kids in Flint and East St. Louis were given? We would pay real money to see Tucker Carlson scrambling for cover.
(How did he become a television pundit? Was it something like Brett Summers being declared a "celebrity" on the Match
Game?)
Lastly (for now) we must face the clinical difficulties in trying to reason patients afflicted with neocon virus. Like alcoholics
and other addicts, they are not grateful to those who might point out their flaws. Instead we see a classic pattern of denial,
anger, projection, even outbreaks of self-righteous violence. They even resent those who might have more facts at hand as
"pointy-headed", "snooty", "elite", etc.
The decision to close their minds seems to occur at an early age-- inheriting the resentment of the parents, being snubbed by
liberal girls at a dance, the belief that someone wants to spoil their fun with guns, etc. Since their ideas cannot hold their own
in a marketplace of ideas without first discrediting the opposition, they band together with people who already agree with their
world view. The campaign of disinformation that brought them to this position of power would make the old Comintern
blush.
It saddens us when once respectable conservatives hitch their wagon to the neocon star; like Colorado Avalanche fans, these
conservatives are so desperate to be winners, they tolerate the neocons' thuggery as a necessary evil. We simply don't know if
this obtuseness, i.e. willful ignorance, is genetic or environmental. The future is dark, though lit by many eager fools. There is
no known cure, but is there Hope?
Weblog/ Post Comments HERE
NIXIE (European) See also FAERY
Nixies are water spirits; like the other elementals, they can be both beautiful and treacherous.
Female water sprites are found all over Europe and called by many names. Those called undines sometimes mate with human
beings, like the selkies of Scotland and Ireland.
A dangerous nixie called the Lorelei lives in the River Rhine; she lures men to their death like a Greek siren.
NYMPH (Greek and Roman)
A nymph is the feminine spirit or soul of a particular place. In the ancient imagination-- before real estate developers, civic
engineers and asphalt lots without trees-- places had souls, just as people and animals do. Things could acquire a spirit, an
existence separate from the conditions of the physical body. Consider the Velveteen Rabbit, or a Japanese garden.
There are many different species of nymph, named according to the place they live in: nereids are nymphs of the sea, dryads
dwell in trees, naiads in springs and pools.
A nymph will die if her dwelling place is desecrated or destroyed. Modern real-estate development and chemical
contamination have led to the destruction of the race.
