In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature entities, sometimes bound to a particular location or landform. Nymphs often accompanied various gods and goddesses, and were the frequent target of lusty satyrs. They are personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature. The Greek word νύμφη has "bride" and "veiled" among its meanings: hence, a married woman, and, in general, one of marriageable age. Others refer the word (and also Latin nubere and German Knospe) t ...

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Nymph - Nymph classifications Nymph - Foreign adaptations

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Siren - Appearance Siren - Encounters with the Sirens Siren - Popular culture

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Odysseus escaped the Sirens by having all his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. He was curious as to what the Sirens sounded like. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they ignored him. When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus stopped thrashing about and calmed down, and was released (Odyssey XII, 39). Jason had been warned by Chiron that Orpheus would be necessary in his journey. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played his music mo ...

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Siren, Siren - Appearance, Siren - Encounters with the Sirens, Siren - Popular culture

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In medieval legend, a succubus (plural succubi; from Latin succubare, "to lie under") is a female demon which seduces men (especially monks) in dreams to have sexual intercourse. They draw energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death. From mythology and fantasy, Lilith and the Lilin (Jewish), Lilitu (Sumerian) and Rusalka (Slavic) were succubi. According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Witches' Hammer", succubi would collect semen from the men they slept with, which incubi would then use to impregnate women. Children so begotten were supposed to ...

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Succubus - Appearance Succubus - In modern fiction

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A water sprite (or water faery) is a mythical creature that resembles a human female, but is the color of the sea. Water sprites are said to be able to breathe water or air and are mostly harmless unless threatened. See also: Dagon Jengu naiads nix nymph Mami Wata Melusine mermaid merman ...

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There's always a siren singing you to shipwreck. (don't reach out, don't reach out) Steer away from these rocks we'll be a walking disaster (don't reach out, don't reach out) The song "Siren" by Tori Amos is featured on the "Great Expectations" Soundtrack. Melinda Clarke plays a siren on an episode of Charmed titled Siren Song. There is a Marvel comics character named Siryn, whose mutant power is an ability ...

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Siren, Siren - Appearance, Siren - Encounters with the Sirens, Siren - Popular culture

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Succubi are often featured in fantasy fiction and role-playing games, and often shown with batlike wings and bikini clad. Succubi are often very prominent in the sexual aspects of fantasy fandoms and paraphilia. Charles Williams's 1937 novel Descent into Hell features an academic who consciously rejects the potential affections of a real woman in favor of a physically identical but perfectly obedient and pliable succubus. In Dungeons & Dragons succubi are numerous tanar'ri demons, many under the command of the Abyssa ...

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Succubus, Succubus - Appearance, Succubus - In modern fiction

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The German Nixe is a kind of river mermaid who lures men to drown, akin to the Celtic Melusine and similar to the Greek Siren. Nixe are water spirits who try to lure people into the water. The males can assume many different shapes, including that of a human, fish, and snake. The females are beautiful women with the tail of a fish. When they are in human forms they can be recognized by the wet hem of their clothes. The Nixes are considered as malignant in some quarters, but as harm ...

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Nix, Nix - Näcken, Nix - Bäckahästen, Nix - Nixe, Nix - Other meanings, Nix - Bibliography

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In the beginning of time, Creation, the world, was created out of the Wyld, the mutable murk of dream-stuff. The natives of the Wyld, taking affront to this island of order in their infinite sea of beautiful chaos, immediately attacked this blasphemous stability in a war called the Balorian Crusade. The leaders were Prince Balor of the Terrible Gaze, Princess Melusine of the Glittering Train, the Duke of Mirrors, the sisters Incarnadine and Veridian, and lastly the Thief of Words ...

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Fair Folk Exalted, Fair Folk Exalted - Overview, Fair Folk Exalted - Gameplay, Fair Folk Exalted - Criticism

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Legend has it that Parthenay was created with a wave of the fairy Melusine's wand. A thousand years ago, the Lords of Parthenay chose an easily defended site. The loop of the river Thouet with its rocky outcrop were occupied then fortified as early as the 11th century. A mighty castle, which no doubt had a solid keep, was built in the 12th century. These lords built convents and churches too: they made many gifts of land and gave what were considerable sums of money at the time to the church. Thus were built or rebuilt the Houses of G ...

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Parthenay, Parthenay - History, Parthenay - Sights

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The German Nixe is a kind of river mermaid who lures men to drown, akin to the Celtic Melusine and similar to the Greek Siren. Nixes are water spirits who try to lure people into the water. The males can assume many different shapes, including that of a human, fish, and snake. The females are beautiful women with the tail of a fish. When they are in human forms, they can be recognized by the wet hem of their clothes. The Nixes are considered as malignant in some quarters, but as harm ...

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Nix, Nix - Näcken, Nix - Bäckahästen, Nix - Nixe, Nix - Other meanings, Nix - Bibliography

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In an Arthurian legend, the Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play integral parts in the stories. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, taking the king to Avalon after the Battle of Camlann, enchanting Merlin and raising Lancelot after the death of his father. Different writers and copyists give her name(s) variously as Nimue, Viviane, Niniane, Nyneve, and other variations. Lady of the Lake - Origins. The Lady of the Lake's origins are probably ...

Including:

Lady of the Lake - Origins Lady of the Lake - The character in medieval literature Lady of the Lake - Later uses
Lady of the Lake - The Walter Scott poem and its musical settings Lady of the Lake - Other appearances and popular references
Lady of the Lake - External link

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The Charge of the Goddess is a traditional inspirational text sometimes used in Neopaganism and Wicca. Doreen Valiente, a student of Gerald Gardner, originally wrote a Charge in verse, and later in prose: the prose version is the one known today. It has since been modified and adapted by many others, and is in the public domain. The original text of the prose version is found in Eight Sabbats for Witches by Janet and Stewart Farrar. See The Rebirth of Witchcraft by Doreen Valien ...

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Tales of mermaids are nearly universal. The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria, ca. 1000 BCE. Atargatis, the mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, was a goddess who loved a mortal shepherd and in the process killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine nature. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid - human above the waist, fish below, though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as being a fish with a human head and legs, similar to the Babylonian Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo, wh ...

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Mermaid, Mermaid - Legend and myth, Mermaid - Fiction, Mermaid - Sirenomelia, Mermaid - Hoaxes, Mermaid - Heraldry

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The Scandinavian näcken, nøkken, strömkarlen, Grim or Fosse-Grim was a male water spirit who played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to drown in lakes or streams. If properly approached, he will teach a musician to play so adeptly "that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music"Sacred-Texts.com It is difficult to describe the actual appearance of the nix, as one of his central attributes was thought to be shape shifting. Perhaps he did not have any true shape. ...

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Nix, Nix - Näcken, Nix - Bäckahästen, Nix - Nixe, Nix - Other meanings, Nix - Bibliography

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Tales of mermaids are nearly universal. The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria, ca. 1000 BCE. Atargatis, the mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, was a goddess who loved a mortal shepherd and in the process killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine nature. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid - human above the waist, fish below, though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as being a fish with a human head and legs, similar to the Babylonian Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo, wh ...

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Mermaid, Mermaid - The Truth behind The Mermaid Myth?, Mermaid - Legend and myth, Mermaid - Fiction, Mermaid - Sirenomelia, Mermaid - Hoaxes, Mermaid - Heraldry

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Lust in demons is a controversial theme for Christian demonology. As usual, scholars disagree on the subject. On one hand, it is considered that demons can feel sexual desire, experience pleasure, fall in love, be jealous and passionate, hate, and lust is an inherent quality of their nature. On the other hand, other demonologists consider that demons cannot feel desire or love, less jealousy or passion, and use lust as a means to induce people to sin. Augustine of Hippo (5th century), Hincmar (early French theologian, archbisho ...

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Sexuality in Christian demonology, Sexuality in Christian demonology - The sexuality of demons, Sexuality in Christian demonology - Lust in demons, Sexuality in Christian demonology - Demons and sexual relations

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The Lusignans were among the French nobles who made great careers in the Crusades. An ancestor of the later Lusignan dynasty in the Holy Land, Hugh of Lusignan, was killed in the east during the Crusade of 1101. Another Hugh arrived in the 1160s and was captured in a battle with Nur ad-Din. In the 1170s, the brothers Guy and Amalric arrived in Jerusalem, having been expelled by Richard Lionheart (at that point, acting Duke of Aquitaine) from his realm, which meant that they were not allowed to sojourn at their home near Poitiers. In the Holy ...

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Lusignan, Lusignan - Origins, Lusignan - Crusader kings, Lusignan - Lords of Lusignan, Lusignan - Other Lusignans of renown, Lusignan - Second House of Lusignan in Cyprus etc

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Many versions of La Llorona's origin exist. Some describe a beautiful young woman in Mexico or New Mexico, who married or was seduced by a local man, by whom she had several children. The woman is sometimes given a Christian name; Sofia, Laura, and María are sometimes used. The man leaves her, sometimes for another woman, sometimes for reasons of employment, and sometimes just to be away from La Llorona and her several children. At any rate, La Llorona chooses to murder her children, almost always by drowning, either to spare them a life of poverty, to free herself to seek another man, or for reven ...

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La Llorona, La Llorona - The story, La Llorona - Comparisons to figures in other cultures

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Lamia in Bulgarian short stories and folk tales, is a mysterious creature with several heads, which can grow over and over again if cut, feeding on people's blood or (more often) killing young women. This monster often tortures villages and is to be found in caves or underground. In some tales, it has wings, in others, its breath is on fire. A Lamia has no gender but is usually perceived as a female. A Lamia in Basque legend is a water sprite that lives in caves. In the Basque Country, there are many places ...

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Lamia mythology, Lamia mythology - External link, Lamia mythology - Other uses of Lamia

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