The Winged Demoness of Death: Vanth and the Etruscan Underworld
On the walls of a 300 BCE Etruscan tomb, Vanth, a winged demoness of dark and stern gaze, flanks a door to the Great Unknown.
Psychopomps: Tour Guides to the Afterlife
Psychopomps — beings who guide the soul to the afterlife — have long been part of mythology and folklore, ranging from Hermes to Anubis to birds, bees and even children’s story characters.
Tinker Bell’s Lover: The Hidden Desires of Celtic Fairies
“The ocean is not so strong as the waves of thy longing,” the fairy whispered to the man she desired as a human lover. Was she casting a spell on him?
Finnish Folklore: Louhi, Witch of the North
Do you know the stories of The Kalevala? If you do you are in select company like J.R.R. Tolkien who loved the stories and drew on them for his own writing.
Aurora Borealis: the Folklore of the Northern Lights
The Auroras, as we know today, are dependent on the interactions of the sun and our upper atmosphere, and have thus appeared since before history began to be recorded. And it appears that each age of history has had their own ideas about what caused the Auroras, what they consisted of, and what they signified.