Tag: ideas

effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics

REINCARNATION

Reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that an aspect of a living being starts a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological death. The idea of reincarnation is found in many ancient cultures, and a belief in rebirth/metempsychosis was held by Greek historic figures, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato. It is also a common belief of various ancient and modern religions, and is found as well in many tribal societies around the world.

effulgentpoet:

mythology (and history) aesthetics

GHOST SHIPS

A ghost ship, also known as a phantom ship, is a ship with no living crew aboard; it may be a ghostly vessel in folklore or fiction, such as the Flying Dutchman, or a real derelict found adrift with its crew missing or dead under unknown circumstances, like the Mary Celeste. The term is sometimes used for ships that have been decommissioned but not yet scrapped,
as well as drifting boats that have been found after breaking loose of
their ropes and becoming carried away by the wind or the waves.

After passing Santa Maria Island in the Azores on 25 November 1872 (the last entry on the ship’s slate), the SV Mary Celeste, a merchant brigantine became derelict in unknown circumstances. No boats were found on board. She was found on 4 December 1872 between mainland Portugal and the Azores archipelago. The ship was devoid of all crew, but largely intact and under sail, heading toward the Strait of Gibraltar. The Octavius, an English trading ship returning from China, was supposedly found drifting off the coast of Greenland. The captain’s log showed that the ship had attempted the Northwest Passage,
which had never been successfully traversed. The ship and the bodies of
her frozen crew apparently completed the passage after drifting amongst
the pack ice for 13 years. X

effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics

WEREWOLVES (requested by summertrainmichael)

A werewolf is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (often a bite or scratch from another werewolf). The werewolf is a widespread concept in European folklore, existing in many variants, which are related by a common development of a Christian interpretation of underlying European folklore developed during the medieval period. From the early modern period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches, in the course of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. After the end of the witch-trials, the werewolf became of interest in folklore studies and in the emerging Gothic horror genre; werewolf fiction as a genre has pre-modern precedents in medieval romances (e.g. Bisclavret and Guillaume de Palerme) and developed in the 18th century out of the “semi-fictional” chap book tradition. The trappings of horror literature in the 20th century became part of the horror and fantasy genre of modern popular culture. X

effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics

DRAGONS

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies, and the Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan (namely the Japanese dragon), Korea and other East Asian countries. The two traditions may have evolved separately, but have influenced
each other to a certain extent, particularly with the cross-cultural
contact of recent centuries. The English word dragon derives from Greek δράκων (drákōn), “dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake”. X

effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics

GENIES

Genies are spirits in cultures of the Middle East and Africa. The term genie  comes from the Arabic word jinni, 
which referred to an evil spirit that could take the shape of an animal or person. It could be found in every kind of nonliving thing, even air and fire. … In ancient Rome, the term genii, the plural form of the Latin word genius, referred to the spirits that watched over every man. The genius was responsible for forming a man’s character and caused all actions. Believed to be present at birth, genius came to be thought of as great inborn ability. X

effulgentpoet:

history aesthetics

PIRATES

The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to usually one or more outbursts of piracy in the maritime history of the early modern period. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans the 1650s to the 1730s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy. Factors contributing to piracy during the Golden Age included the rise in quantities of valuable cargoes being shipped to Europe over vast ocean areas, reduced European navies in certain regions, the training and experience that many sailors had gained in European navies (particularly the Royal Navy), and ineffective government in European overseas colonies. The colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles and other related events. X

effulgentpoet:

mythology aesthetics

VAMPIRES

A vampire is a being from folklore that subsists by feeding on the vital force (generally in the form of blood) of the living. Vampiric entities have been recorded in most cultures; the term vampire was popularised in Western Europe after reports of an 18th century mass hysteria of a pre-existing folk belief in the Balkans and Eastern Europe that in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism. Local variants in Eastern Europe were also known by different names, such as shtriga in Albania, vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. In modern times, the vampire is generally held to be a fictitious entity, although belief in similar vampiric creatures still persists in some cultures. The charismatic and sophisticated vampire of modern fiction was born in 1819 with the publication of The Vampyre by John Polidori; the story was highly successful and arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century. Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and provided the basis of the modern vampire legend. The vampire has since become a dominant figure in the horror genre. X

call-me-winter-soldier:

The banshee aesthetic 

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mypieceofculture:

Mythical Aesthetics // Incubus Demon Boy

Incubus: Male demon who lies upon women in order to engage in sexual activity with them, often resulting in physical/mental harm or even death.

(Requested)

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Gorgon