Scrooge and the Many Faces of Christmas

In 1843 Charles Dickens published a simple novella titled, 'A Christmas Carol'. This story is now synonymous with Christmas tradition and quintessential to what we feel as we approach midwinter. Dicken's central character Ebenezer Scrooge is seen as a metaphorical allegory to ourselves, his character helps us question whether we have become too hardened by life. This simple yet intricate story asks us to look beyond our past pain and material interests, to look beyond commercialism and recognize the true spirit of the season.

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, Illustrated by John Leech 1843

Marley's ghost, by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition.

Ebenezer Scrooge at the beginning of this tale is a miserable old man, who in his age has become a hermit and refuses to see beyond his own tight material existence. He forces his office worker Bob Cratchit to work long greuling hours with minimal pay. He refuses an invitation to his Nephews christmas dinner and sneers at a set of charity workers collecting money for the poor, referring christmas as a  'Humbug'. This term has coincidentally become what modern people say when brushing off holiday tradition. Scrooge is soon met by his partner in life who has died and comes to him as a ghost. His Partner Jacob Marley who is seven years dead carries a a long heavy chain that is wrapped over his shoulders and drags behind. It's length, link by link made of padlocks, money-boxes and keys. It is described by Marley as his own greed, chains that he established by exploiting the poor and dwelling on his own profit. He is deeply grieved and his punishment for his inhumanity is to walk the earth witnessing souls in torment, whom he has no power to help. He scolds Ebenezer that charity and mercy should have been his business and warns that on this very Christmas Eve he will be visited by three ghosts, for his time is almost too late. Scrooge draws close to a future that matches his late partner.

Jacob Marley, Arthur Rackham 1915

The first ghost that comes to Scrooge is called the Ghost of Christmas Past. This ghost appears as an angelic apparition, emitting light like the wick of a candle. This androgynous figure has no determinable age and carries a cap that resembles a candle extinguisher. This ghost takes Scrooge on a voyage to his past, experiencing his history of relationships and the choices he made that led him to his cold and private life. After seeing his father's neglect and later watching his younger self walk away from the only woman he ever loved he begs the ghost to see no more.

"The Ghost of Christmas Past "by P.J.Lynch (2006)

"These are the shadows of things that have been. That they are what they are, do not blame me!" 

Sol Eytinge Jr's, "Spirit of Christmas Past" (1868)

The ghost responds before Scrooge takes the it's cap and extinguishes the light. There after he finds himself back in his bedroom where the clock has not advanced. 

John Leech, 1843

The second ghost is called the Ghost of Christmas Present. This ghost closely resembles Father Christmas.

John Leech, 1843

'When he first appears before Scrooge, he invites him to "come in and know me better, man." According to Dickens' novel, the Ghost of Christmas Present appears to Scrooge as "a jolly giant" with dark brown curls. He wears a fur-lined green robe and on his head a holly wreath set with shining icicles. He carries a large torch, made to resemble a cornucopia, and appears accompanied by a great feast. He states that he has had "more than eighteen hundred" brothers and later reveals the ability to change his size to fit into any space. He also bears a scabbard with no sword in it, a representation of peace on Earth and good will toward men.' ---Wikipedia

"The Ghost of Christmas Present "by P.J.Lynch (2006)

This spirit can fly and change shapes allowing himself to see anything and everything, he at first towers above Ebenezer. Perhaps this depiction enhanced our own modern perception of St. Nicolaus. This ghost takes Scrooge all over London to witness festivity and deprivation, in these visions Scrooge is given an intimate chance to see how his actions affect the world around him, predominately with his underpaid clerk Bob Cratchit. After a  long journey the ghost pulls aside his robes to reveal two emaciated children clinging underneath. Scrooge is immediately disgusted by their appearance. The ghost names the boy Ignorance and the girl Want. 

McLoughlin Bros. 1896

"Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased." 

Sol Eytinge Jr's, "Ignorance & Want" (1868)

At the end of his visit, this ghost has aged significantly explaining to Ebenezer that he can only exist on the earth for one night, he leaves at the stroke of midnight. 

The third and final ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, his entrance is through an ominous rolling mist. 

"The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently approached. When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. ... It thrilled him [Scrooge] with a vague uncertain horror, to know that behind the mask there were eyes staring at him."

'In the Churchyard', Sol Eytinge (1868)

Scrooge is most haunted by this ghost, who points out the results of his selfishness. He is allowed to witness what the world becomes when he is gone and his absence is not missed. Finally in viewing his own lifeless body he is shaken to the core.

"The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come "by P.J.Lynch (2006)

"Good Spirit," he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: "Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life!"

Arthur Rackham, 1915

After the final spirit's departure Scrooge is given his second chance, he awakens to Christmas Day with a new heart. Like child he dances through the streets and sets out to positively effect everyone who crosses his path. He immediately corrects his behavior with his clerk, his nephew, and most significantly his previous lack of charity.  

John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. 

 “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!” 

― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

E.A. Abbey, 1876

“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.” 
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

In reading Charles Dickens immortal classic we are inspired by it's simple lessons. Do not take life for granted, for you are not immortal. Have a charitable heart, your actions could very well change another's destiny. Hold space for the spirit of Christmas, a time that asks us to view one another with our hearts and with gratitude.

Ebenezer's experience is perhaps allegorical, for many cultures throughout history anticipate that arrival of various spirits on Christmas. Ebenezer's ghostly partner, Jacob Marley, who comes dragging heavy chains and deathly apparitions is not unlike Krampus the Christmas Devil. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come also bares similar traits to the Krampus. 

Classic German depiction of St. Nicolaus & Krampus  on a greeting card.

Traditional Christmas myths and practices in Austria and Northern Italy recognize a partner akin to St. Nicolaus. He is called Krampus the Christmas Devil. He is seen as many things, a dark and mysterious gentleman, a hairy beast or simply a devil. In Alpine Folk legend he partners with St. Nicolaus and receives the naughty children. These children are frightened by this devilish figure who brings hellish visions.

Krampus & Naughty Child

Anthropologically Krampus has been lost in antiquity, transformed into the coal that is left in the stockings of naughty children. The origins of this devil are unknown, but pre-date Christianity. He is perhaps a variation on the old world god called Pan. Traditional parades in Germany still feature Krampus, a beastly devil dragging chains to frighten children into behaving. Jacob Marley's chain conjures a similar warning for Scrooge.

'Greeting from the Krampus', a greeting card from the early 1900's.

As an androgynous figure the ghost of Christmas Past bares resemblance to many other holiday saints. Christkindl is another angelic figure who comes during Christmas and is celebrated by old German tradition. Christkindl is considered an emissary from heaven, sometimes even the infant Christ himself. He is also called 'The Good Child'. He comes baring toys and treats, similar to St. Nicolaus, although...

'The Christ-Child & St. Nicolaus', Paul Hey (1867- 1952)

"[H]e is not the one who comes down the chimney. He is assisted by a young teenager wearing a crown of candles and dressed in white, and a boogeyman called Hans Trapp or Ruppelz. One hands out presents and candy, the other dishes out smacks and chastisements. For children who have misbehaved, the supreme punishment is to be hoisted into the wicker basket that the ogre carries on his back." (Edouard Brasey, Faeries and Demons)

Hans Trapp, Father Whipper Vintage Card 

Hans Trapp is not unlike the Krampus. Christkindl like Santa Claus will not come to children who are waiting up, traditionally he must preform his gift giving as the children sleep. In many European cultures 'The Christ Child' is still celebrated as the one who brings gifts on Christmas.

'Christkindel and Hans Trapp, in the Christmas Night' (Alpine tradition). Created by Schüler, published on L'Illustration, Journal Universel, Paris, 1858

Considering that Dickens ghost of Christmas Past emits a glow and can fly through the night perhaps this androgynous figure is an evolution of the Christkindl, who bares the light of heaven and at times is depicted with wings. Many other countries see the flight of various figures in Christmas folk tradition. 

Italy has Befana, a kindly witch who flies upon a broom, gifting good children presents and naughty children coal.

Russia and Ukraine share Kolyada, an elfish maiden who robes herself in white. She flies by the night traveling with a sophisticated sleigh and horse, delivering presents to children. Much like Santa there are Christmas Carols to honor her. 

It seems there are many ghosts and apparitions of Christmas Past, and while they drift into antiquity we see them evolve in our own traditions. Our very own St. Nicolaus is not unlike the Befana, and his companions Christkindl and the Krampus. They carry the message that Christmas is a time for spirits, a time of ghostly tales, and above all, 'magic'. And may the light of that festive winter candle never subside. 

*Pictures Above By: Pauline Ellison

Source Material:

•  The Enchanted World Series: The Book of Christmas, Time Life Books 1980
• Faeries and Demons and other Magical Creatures, Edouard Brasey, Barnes and Noble Books 2003
• Wikipedia.com
• Krampus.com
• Pinterest.com
• 'A Christmas Carol', Charles Dickens 1843/ Arthur Rackham 1915

The Wise Witch

Snap-Apple Night, by Daniel Maclise 1833, (Divination games in Ireland October 31st)

The end of October marks many things for the spirit and the Earth, shorter days and longer nights, and eerie tidings as legend tells that for one night the dead may again walk the earth. The end of October is canonized to our spirits by the likes of Halloween, or 'All Hallows Eve'. It is a time to tell rich and haunted ghost tales, a time to relish in sweets, and a time that conjures the sacred image of the 'witch'. History and marketing have often paired the 'witch' with all too cartoonish images of ghosts and big eyed ghouls. She rests in the corners of faerie tales and in the great world of fiction as a hermit, one who hides from the world with an ugly face and a big nose. She waits for unsuspecting victims to slip into her black web so she can enchant them and sometimes eat them. When she hides from the world she spends her time in the shadows of the forest, practising sorcery utilizing herbs from her mysterious garden and mindfully casting them into her bubbling iron cauldron. It is she who knows the earths deepest mysteries.

The image that first dances in the brain when we hear the word 'witch' is that of a cartoon, and that is the curse for the true Witch that has been lost to antiquity.

Magic Circle by John William Waterhouse, 1886

"To understand the word witch is to understand anthropology, history, the history of religion, the history of the relation between sexes, to understand, above all, the unconscious of the human being. For though there are as many theories of witchcraft as there are scholars in the British Museum library, underlying all of them is a comprehension of the image-making faculties of the human brain, it's yearning for myth and magic, it's need to denounce what it does not understand, it's transformation of common yearnings into images and archetypes, its metamorphosis of desires into demons, wishes--in short--into witches"--- (Erica Jong, Witches, 1981)

Witches by Hans Baldung, Woodcut 1508

The word witch stems from the Old English word wicce & witan, the first refers to wisdom and perhaps the Indo-European word weik, which refers to magic and religion, and the later literally translates "to know".  Many modern practitioners of Witchcraft, wanting to escape a negative history of persecution, have attached themselves to the word Wicca, in desire to be attached to "the wise".

The witches' name has been blackened by a history of those who lean heavily upon a patriarchal world view. Judaism, Christianity, and the Muslim faith have long since held a campaign to wash away any notion of worship that involved the earth, animals and dare say, Women.

Lilith by John Collier 1892

Witches have been told about since the beginning of time, they are found in legends, faerie tales and even historical religious documentation. One of the earliest witches rises out of ancient Jewish Mysticism, she was called Lilith. The hebrew term Lilith or "Lilit" translates literally to "night creatures" or "night hag". In Jewish lore Lilith was Adam's first wife in the Garden of Eden, she was said to have been created by the same earth/clay as Adam, as opposed to Eve, who was created from Adam's ribs. She left Adam after she refused to be subservient to him, some propose after she refused a forced sexual position. She moved out and into a certain demon. Lilith has found a resting place on the shelf of ancient demonology, evolving and transcending multiple cultures. To the Babylonians she is theorized as a Goddess of Light, perhaps the genesis for the post and modern Neo-pagan White Goddess. In the Latin Bible she is called Lamia, a certain crying daemon. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Ireland's most famous demon is that of the Banshee, she who slithers through the night, a ghostly apparition foretelling of death to come, always with tears in her eyes.  Some popular myths attach Lilith to the birth of Vampires.

Her gates are the gates of death, and from the entrance to the house

She sets out towards Sheol.

None of those who enter there will ever return,

And all who possess her will descend to the Pit.

--- Dead Sea Scrolls, Isaiah Scroll 34:14

Her house sinks down to death, 

And her course leads to the shades. 

And all who go there cannot return

And find again the paths of life.

--- Dead Sea Scrolls, Proverbs 2:18-19

The witch, unusually is the most popular character in children's literature, she who casts the spell upon the sleeping beauty, she, the impostor of a mother, threatened by her age and the princess of unyeilding beauty. She, the one who flies upon a broom and who's greatest threat is a bucket of water. Popular culture has taken history and at times made a mockery of it. 

Cover of 1st Edition, 1983 

In the middle ages the most popular legends and myth weaved around King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Tales about the famed king were told in fire lit rooms and the pathos was not devoid of sorcery and enchantresses. Most of the glory and the fall of the legendary King can be attributed to magic. The Lady of the Lake, a witch of sorts, is the one who presented Arthur with the magical sword Excalibur. Arthur's sister Morgana in legend is viewed sometimes as benevolent and in others a pure evil and powerful sorceress, for it is she who leads to his undoing. Marion Zimmer Bradley's 1983 Novel The Mists of Avalon, although fictional, gives a very historical view against the patriarchal Church who would eventually erase all ties to the Goddess, and strip the woman of her power.

Morgan le Fay, John R. Spencer Stanhope 1880

"In my time I have been called many things: sister, lover, priestess, wise-woman, queen. Now in truth I have come to be wise-woman, and a time may come when these things may need to be known. But in sober truth, I think it is the Christians who will tell the last tale. For ever the world of Fairy drifts further from the world in which the Christ holds sway. I have no quarrel with the Christ, only with his priests, who call the Great Goddess a demon and deny that she ever held power in this world. At best, they say that her power was of Satan. Or else they clothe her in the blue robe of the Lady of Nazareth---who indeed had power in her way, too----and say that she was ever a virgin. But what can a virgin know of the sorrows and travail of mankind?.... For, as I say, the world itself has changed. There was a time when a traveller, if he had the will and knew only a few secrets, could send his barge out into the Summer Sea and arrive not at Glastonbury of the monks, but at the Holy Isle of Avalon; for at that time the gates between the worlds drifted within the mists, and were open, one to another, as the traveller thought and willed. For this is the great secret, which was known to all educated men in our day: that by what men think, we create the world around us, daily new. 

And now the priests, thinking that this infringes upon the power of their God, who created the world once and for all to be unchanging, have closed those doors (which were never doors, except in the minds of men), and the pathway leads only to the priests' Isle, which they have safeguarded with the sound of their church bells, driving away all thoughts of another world lying in the darkness. Indeed, they say that world, if it indeed exists, is the property of Satan, and the doorway to Hell, if not Hell itself.

...For this is the thing the priests do not know, with their One God and One Truth: that there is no such thing as a true tale. Truth has many faces and the truth is like the old road to Avalon; it depends on your own will, and your own thoughts, whither the road will take you, and whether, at the end, you arrive in the holy Isle of Eternity or among the priests with their bells and their death and their Satan and Hell and damnation... but perhaps I am unjust even to them. Even the Lady of the Lake, who hated a priest's robe as she would have hated a poisonous viper, and with good cause too, chid me once for speaking evil of their God.

"For all the Gods are one God," she said to me then, as she had said many times before, and as I have said to my own novices many times, and as every priestess who comes after me will say again, "and all the Goddesses are one Goddess, and there is only one Initiator. And to every man his own truth and the God within." 

---Morgan le Fay, The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

Marion Zimmer's exploration of the departure of an old religion paints a perfect image of a changing world view that would eventually lead to devastating demonstration. 

Faust's Dream, by Luis Ricardo Falero 1880

"All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in woman insatiable...wherefore for the sake of fulfilling their lust they consort even with devils." ---Malleus Maleficarum, or The Hammer of Witches (1486), text used by the church to condemn witchcraft in early America.

Examination of a Witch by T.H. Matteson, inspired by the Salem Witch Trails 1853

No American household is unaware of The Salem Witch Trials, a historical time of hearings and ceremonial/ judicial scapegoating, that labeled and condemned various persons to death for alleged 'witchcraft'. This was the late 1600's and early 1700's in colonial Massachusetts. This time was polarized by The Reformation in Europe, which between 300 years through the early 1700's led to some, 70,000 to 100,000 executions. Each country had a system for various forms of torture including hangings, burnings and beheadings. The medieval torture method lasted longer than it should have. Outside of believed pacts with the 'Devil', these various scapegoats suffered worst at the hands of their communities. In Salem Massachusetts fearful people pointed their fingers at their neighbors, their actions were in direct relation to systematic repression in an overbaring patriarchal church. Once you were accused the only way out was to admit that you were in leauge with Satan. As late as 1865 an accused witch was burned in South Carolina.

'The Church is seen as a secular organization---a real-estate conglomerate, a powerful lobby for the oppression of women--- which has little or nothing to do with spiritual transcendence.'

---Satanism and Witchcraft, Witches, Erica Jong 1981   

The 8 Sabbats, Wheel of the Year painting at The Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle, Cornwall, England

The woman, the witch has always been associated to the night. There she rests representing the moon and the cycles within. Where the day represents light, masculinity, strength and sometimes transparency, the night represents darkness, sensuality and sometimes illusion. The night expands upon the power of the mind drawing us close to that which we fear, our deepest secrets and insecurities. There the old crone of antiquity waits in the dark begging those who draw forth to recognize their fears simply for what they are, and illuminate the beacon of light within.

The witch and the witches way teaches us to be inspired to listen to our intuition, to remember that true power and light comes from within. To look at the witch in the garden is to see she that speaks with the earth, sowing and harvesting remedy and protection. To see a witch on a broom is to see a liberated woman, for it is the broom who reveals a witches company.  

To see a maiden, is to see a mother and a crone. The three aspects of life. 

In a pre-Christain world Samhain, or November Eve, represented a time when the summer Goddess retreats and relinquishes power to the great Horned God of the winter, it is the pagan holiday to honor the sun's retreat. It is a time to rest near a bonfire, or that illuminated wick of a candle and honor the souls of the dead. It is a time to remember the duality of man kind, the strong masculine and the 'wise witch'.  

********
Source Materials:

• wikipedia.com
• The Theosophical Glossary, Helena P. Blavatsky, The Theosophy Co. 1892
• The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ballentine Books, Random House Inc. 1982
• Witches, Erica Jong, Abrams Inc. 1981 
• The Enchanted World: Wizards and Witches, Time Life Books 1980
• merriam-webster.com
• Intuition 

Undines or Sea-Faeries ~ Part I

John William Waterhouse, Hylas and the Nymphs, 1891

The long season of summer draws us closer to 'Water', to sooth us from the warm rays of the sun, to hydrate and nurture our bodies. Water is perhaps the most curious of the four elements because it is within our blood, it surrounds the world claiming two thirds of the earths surface. It reincarnates as cool rain in the summer and the frozen snow in the winter, falling down upon our highest peaks and then branching down mountains into rivers and tributaries, as if flowing through the very veins of the earth and then back into the blue ocean from whence it came. Anthropologically we are tied to the water, maintaining a history of myth and legend. Old myths of a great flood told about by the Grecian's, the Hindu and old Mesopotamia stand with the Old Testament documenting a time when the Ocean displayed it's great power.

Odin in an Icelandic illuminated manuscript (18th century)

Norse mythology placed great ancient powers within the very waters we see today. The old Nordic's believed that there were sacred faery wells in hidden places around the world. 'Wisdom was believed to reside in the water emanating at some points on the earth's surface. It was said that Odin, the supreme Norse god, in his relentless quest for knowledge, sacrificed one of his eyes for the privilege of drinking from such a rare well. The spring was hidden deep within the twisted roots of the cosmic tree from which the world had been formed, and was infused with magic so potent that a single draught of the cool, bubbling waters brought a flood of insight and understanding, accompanied by an undying thirst for more wisdom still.' (Water Spirits, Time-Life 1984)     

From 'The Secret Teachings of all Ages', Manly P. Hall, 1928

 
We look to the water with great curiosity and fear, there is an abundance of beauty in the fathoms below, but also much to wonder. A small five percent is what we have explored within our ocean. Every year new species of ocean life is discovered and myths shelved in antiquity emerge to startle our senses. Several decades ago the Giant Squid was only a legend attached to the likes of Jules Verne. Now science has begun to speculate what lies below the ocean trenches, what lies below where technology can not meander?

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014

The legend of the mermaid, as modern culture calls her, has stood the test of time. Christopher Columbus himself documented sightings of various sea-creatures in 1493, sailing the coast of Hispaniola. He documented three "female forms" which "rose high out of the sea, but were not as beautiful as they are represented". He reported that they were ugly and fat.  Perhaps the creatures were that of Manatees, or sea-cows, whose big torsos might be mistaken in murky waters. Historically these creatures have continued to trick the eyes of sailors, but sailors have a tendency to lean towards superstition. Who can blame them? Long periods of time at sea, strange figures in the water, sometimes the eye is not swift enough to follow the quick athletic torsos. Eventually you wonder if your eyes are simply playing tricks.

'The Mermaid', Howard Pyle, 1910

As Celtic and European cultures blamed the fey folk and little people for devilish things, the sea Captains and sailors too had to blame something for the many unusual experiences on the ocean, sounds emanating in the distance, cries in the cold night, perhaps human, perhaps not. The famed pirate Blackbeard documented records of enchanted seas and areas of ocean that his crew needed to avoid, claiming that specific areas of charted waters were 'enchanted'. Pirates were deathly afraid of merfolk predominantly mermaids. Early superstitions claimed that the females were more dangerous than their male counterparts, the males dwell in a bit more secrecy and are known never to come to the surface of the water. The females are historically known to be more curious observed as beautiful, they can be related to the famed Sirens of the Greek Pantheon.

'A Mermaid', John William Waterhouse, 1900

 Know you the Nixes, gay and fair?
Their eyes are black, and green their hair--
They lurk in sedgy shores.

---Old German Text

Tales of water nymphs and nixes emerged out of German and European cultures, most likely inspired by Greek myths. Nixes were naked Nymphs similar to Sirens but discovered in or near springs and lakes usually around banks of still water and reeds. In most cases they are witnessed combing their hair and singing alluring songs, but a wanderer who comes across such a sight should heed the warning told about in antiquity. These creatures will most certainly be their demise. 'Only the foolhardy lay down near the banks of brooks and the borders of springs. Solitary nymphs guarded the waters, and the sleeper might awaken to the sight of beauty that would lure him to his doom.' (Water Spirits, Time-Life 1984)

 Nixes were kind enough to lead their victims to death by drowning, Undine's were not so quick, with their malevolence of torture. 'The golden-haired undines possess exquisite treasures of pearl and nacre but mortals who try and steal these wonders are in danger of remaining forever imprisoned in the nymphs' magnificent underwater palaces.' (Arthur Rackham, Jewels from the Deep.) 

Jewels from the Deep, Arthur Rackham 1909

Theorized by Swiss author Paracelsus, Undine defines a water spirit, the elemental of water. In turn Paracelsus is responsible for naming earth elementals gnomes, and air elementals sylphs.

 undine, also spelled Ondine,  mythological figure of European tradition, a water nymph who becomes human when she falls in love with a man but is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her. Derived from the Greek figures known as Nereids, attendants of the sea god Poseidon.

---Encyclopedia Britanica

 New Latin undina, from Latin unda (meaning) wave

First Known Use: 1819

---Merriam Webster  

Classic wood engraving by George Heywood Maunoir Sumner

Source Material:

• Wikipedia.org
• Merriam-webster.com
•  abuddhistlibrary.com---Search: Elementals
• sacred-texts.com
•  norse-mythology.org
• oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/exploration.html (National Ocean Service)
• The Enchanted World Series, Water Spirits, Time-Life Books 1984
• An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Katherine Briggs, Pantheon Books 1976
• Faeries and Demons and other Magical Creatures, Edouard Brasey, Barnes and Noble Books 2003

    

Pan before he was called the 'Devil'

Witches Sabbat, Francisco de Goya 1789

There are a few gods in mythology who stand the test of time, evolving to better suit the developing world. Long ago, in the old age of Greece people accepted that the world was wondrous and abounding, vast with mysterious creatures, gods. Many such as the Unicorn, the Dragon and the Phoenix have remained divine in the minds eye. Fewer creatures such as Nymphs, Centaurs and Manticores survive in Bestiary's, on pages only revealed to the few who seek them out. These figures were once revered and honored as creations of the gods, but time has played many tricks upon them transforming them simply into parable.

Two Satyrs, Peter Paul Rubens (1557-1640)

Legend tells a time where man and these figures coexisted, habituating and sharing experiences both spiritually and physically. They explored the world dangerous and innocent. Darkness and light shared a relationship, kin to each-other and revered equally. Nymphs, traditionally female in spirit and anatomy, weaved through the woods representing Mother Earth naked and emotional, baring the greatest power outside of time, the power of creation. Centaurs and Satyrs, horned gods who were powerful in physique and strength, represented men, beasts by nature. Nymphs, an early form of faerie were divinely stitched to the night, as the moon is both mysterious and emotional, white goddesses. The beasts were related to the Sun, warm and intense with the strength to shape the season, devils and daemons before their definitions became unchaste.

Gustave Doré, Paradise Lost

Many religions and spiritual traditions honored the beast as half of the balance to our existence. Pagan cultures that were established well after ancient Greece carried the tradition of gods as archetypes and adopted them into their heritage, paying tribute to the divinity within men and women as a unit.

Engraving by Agostino Carracci, Italy, 1585-1600

The Satyr and Horned gods of the wood sealed to their brother the goat were eventually demonized by a witch-crazed world and chased out into obscurity by 'Christianity'. The horned god was transformed into Satan, the 'Devil', a figure no longer revered but feared. The Nymphs tied to Mother Earth, the goddess, Archetype of Sexuality eventually were sealed into dark churches as a new archetype, a 'Holy Virgin'. This was the metaphorical death of the unicorn, the true loss of innocence and separation, as the beast in man and the sexuality of the woman is the union necessary for creation. Many inquisitors during the dark European and American witch trials obsessed with the notion of what they called 'Sexual Union with the Devil', accusing girls as young as eight years old with this act. They were challenging, forcing fear and manipulation into an old world view of unity and creation.

Tarot, Rider-Waite-Smith 1910

The old world of Greece recognized a goat-god akin to the Satyrs, beast children of Dionysus the lord of fierce joy, his name was Pan. He was a Shepard, tending to the beasts of the forest and chasing his companions the Nymphs. He is most traditionally described as having the hind quarters and horns of a goat. He is considered the god of Nature, Flocks, Sheep, Shepherds and Mountain Wilds. He is almost always associated with sexuality.

"He was certainly not without the lustful propensities of his kind. He was said to have lain with everyone of Dionysus' maenads during their wild celebrations, and he fathered children on several of the retiring nymphs who guarded trees and mountain pools." --- The Enchanted World, Magical Beasts

The Magic of Pan's Flute, John Reinhard Weguelin 1905

The traditional pipes seen around his neck are fashioned by reeds that were discovered when he was in hot pursuit of a nymph named Syrinx. It is said that she vanished masking herself among the reeds. In turn, the pipes when played are surely the hypnotizing sounds of the Nymphs.

Pan and Syrinx,
Jean-François de Troy, 1722-1724

Satyrs are sometimes compared to fawns. Fawns have been explored through many various popular forms of literature, most notably and recently in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. Mr. Tumnus a popular character in the novel: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fawn and the first creature that the heroine Lucy Pevensie meets in the fantastic world called Narnia. He is benevolent and kind. He displays a respectable and reserved nature unlike Pan, although at one point in the story he is compelled to play his pipes to trick the young girl. It is interesting to note that The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe is often associated to Christianity as a theological parable. The irony here is that the fawn is a mythological creature tied to the very figure that has been transformed into the 'Devil'. C. S. Lewis once stated that the development of his story came from a simple image in his mind of a fawn walking through the snowy wood carrying a parcel and an umbrella.

Mr. Tumnus meets Lucy, Pauline Baynes 1950

The most recent popular appearance of Pan was in the 2006 film titled: Pan's Labyrinth, written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. In this Spanish film, a young girl in Spain during the Spanish Civil War 1944 is led by a fawn deep into a world of enchantment. Much like the Minotaur of Crete, Pan guards an elaborate labyrinth. It is interesting to note that Pan is the first fantastical creature to greet the young girl inspiring her into a a tricky mysterious world.           

Pan & Ofelia, Pan's Labyrinth Warner Brothers Pictures 2006

Source Material:

• Greek Mythology
• The Enchanted World, Magical Beasts, Time-Life Books 1985
• Witches; by Erica Jong, illustrated by Joseph A. Smith. New York: Harry A. Abrams 1981
• Wikipedia  
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis, illustrated by Pauline Baynes. New York, New York: Macmillian Publishing Co. 1950