I can’t actually answer your question for a couple of very important reasons. In short, Native American religions aren’t a monolith. There isn’t just one that you can pull from and represent all of North America. I’m assume you’re including the natives from Canada and Central America in your description of Native Americans since you said North America in general, which broadens the number of tribes significantly. There’s no way I can just tell you one, or even fifteen, creatures that represent all of North America. All tribes have their own beliefs and mythological creatures. Sure there is overlap, but even in that overlap the nuances and details depend on a particular tribe.  

There is also the question of what you mean by “prominent”. There are some creatures that are more well known, like skin-walkers, but that doesn’t mean that those creatures are necessarily believed in by many tribes. Do you want creatures people are just likely to know of? In which case, you won’t be representing many tribes nor keeping the creatures within the proper regions. Or do you want creatures that are common amongst many tribes? In which case, you’ll have to choose one version and risk painting a large swath of tribes with the same brush and erasing the nuances and differences between tribes. Either case has major dangers to it and aren’t exactly a good idea, unless of course you want your character to perhaps know of a creature because its a major problem in a certain area but explain that there are other creatures, they just aren’t as well known because they aren’t a problem for people/don’t interact with them.

Your best bet is to narrow this down to a specific region, and it would be even better if you did it by tribe, and keeping your characters in that area and doing deep research there. Or, if your characters have to move, choosing tribes in a few locations where your characters will be and studying deeply there.

Unless you can give me some more information, I unfortunately can’t give you more help than this. Sorry.

Best wishes,

Ajk’in

Hello!

Nanna, a Mesopotamian moon god later adopted by Sumerians as ‘Sin’, had a consort/wife Ningal. Ningal is strictly known as the goddess of reeds and associated with springtime, but she is also the mother of the sun, Utu.

Mama Quilla was the Incan moon goddess and sister-wife of Inti, the sun. She was rumoured to cry tears of silver and eclipses were attributed to her being in great pain. Inti appears in myth as both the personification of and the aspects of the sun, and in the insignia of many South American flags and coats of arms.

The Q’eqchi moon goddess, Po, is the daughter of the Earth god and she is wooed and captured by the sun. Eventually they consummate their relationship and are forced to flee from Po’s angry father. Po is associated with menstrual blood and her myth is very similar to the Greek one of Pandora unleashing ills on the Earth with her box: Po’s menstrual blood is transformed into snakes, insects, diseases and poison that assail life on earth.

The Lacandon people of Mexico and Guatemala also have married sun and moon deities, Qin and Akna, the sun-husband and moon-wife respectively. The sun is a man with “a ball of fire on his head”. They are vulnerable to Cisin, a powerful death god’s, giant jaguars who roam the edges of the world, trying to eat them. Akna has a special road in the sky that she walks up and down—when she is further up in the sky, her light is fainter, but she returns, she and the sun make love and she grows brighter. Qin walks on a road from one side of the Earth to the other, and at night Sukukyum, the god of the dead, carries him on a board to his home, where he stays until Sukukyum carries him to the other side of the world to start the next day’s trip.

According to Quintus Smyrnaeus, a Greek writing in the 4th c. CE, Selene the moon goddess bore to her brother Helios, the sun, the four Horai (“seasons”)—winter, spring, summer and autumn. The figures appear together on a mosaic from Imperial Rome although no other accounts in myth give Selene and Helios as lovers; more likely, their association with each other as well as the seasons have more to do with the symbolic link between the passage of time relating to days, months, and years.

Some inscriptions and artistic representations have been argued as proving a consort-type relationship between Catha, an Etruscan (the culture pre-dating the Romans) goddess and her cult counterpart Śuri, a solar god later associated with the sanctuary of Apollo Soranus (Apollo, commonly called Apollo Helius or Apollo Phoebus, was also strongly associated with the sun and solar worship). Catha is traditionally referred to as a sun goddess because of inscriptions that refer to her as “the daughter of the sun” or “the sun’s eye” but given her proximity to Śuri, the dual nature of sun/moon cults, and the fact that Selene, a later Greek goddess of the moon, was referred to by similar epithets, there is a strong argument that Catha may in fact be a lunar deity.

The Krachi people of West Africa believed that the sun and moon fell in love, married, and gave birth to the stars. But after a while, the moon grew bored of her husband and took a lover because she wanted the variety. The sun tried to work it out with the moon but she refused. So he gave her half of all their possessions and drove her out of the house. Half of the stars sided with him and the other half sided with the moon. The moon urges her star-children to fight their siblings who sided with the sun; this is how storms, lightning, and thunder came to be. When the moon wishes for her children to retreat, she sends her messenger, the rainbow. And whenever there’s an eclipse, the sun and moon are fighting in the sky once again. Man must beat his drum and threaten the sun as loud as he can at this time… or else the sun will kill and eat the moon.

The Dahomean people of West Africa (mainly Cameroon) believed in a supreme being named Mawu-Lisa. Mawu-Lisa were the androgynous offspring of Nana Baluku, the mother of all creation. In some versions, they’re brother and sister, in others they’re a being with one body and two faces. Mawu is the feminine face whose eyes resemble the moon. She is married to Lisa and she controls the night and all western territories. Her husband, Lisa, is the masculine face whose eyes are the sun. He controls the daylight and the east. Mawu-Lisa had many children who eventually ruled the kingdoms of the universe: the atmosphere, the earth, the sky, thunder, lightning, animals, forests, and the human lifespan.

Amaterasu is the Japanese sun goddess who features prominently in traditional Shinto creation myths. She is extremely important to the formation of the universe. She and her brother, Tsukuyomi, are born from the tragic story of the descent of their father, Izanagi, into the underworld to see his wife who had died. Upon finding her, they realize he cannot bring her back with him because she has eaten food in the underworld (sound familiar?), and he betrays his promise not to look at her (how about this?) and is chased back to the surface. When he undergoes the cleansing rite upon his return to earth. Izanagi washes out his left eye, and in doing so gives birth to Amaterasu, “shining in heaven”. He then washes out his right eye and from it springs forth Tsukuyomi, often given as meaning “moon counting”.

Amaterasu and her brother Tsukuyomi eventually become lovers, until he visited the land of Uke Mochi or Inari (“jewel of the rice storehouse”), goddess of food. Inari gave Tsukuyomi sustenance at his request…some versions give her spitting to create the food, others suggest she pulled it out of any and all available orifices. Insulted beyond reason, Tsukuyomi murdered her, creating a bounty of the variety of foods we now have on earth. Amaterasu was so angered by Tsukuyumi’s senseless violence that she banished him from the daytime sky, choosing instead to live out her days without him, and thus explaining the perpetual separation of the sun and moon.

In certain Nepalese myths that also appear in Northeast India, the sun and moon are a feuding husband and wife. The sun has numerous progeny that give off such an excess of heat that life on Earth is becoming unbearably hot. The moon tricks him into devouring his children with the promise that she, too, will devour her silvery, cold star children. The sun agrees and the moon deceives him by hiding away the stars so that they may not be seen by him; eventually, the sun discovers her ruse and they are locked in a chase that began at the dawn of time and will continue through eternity. Sometimes the sun will catch the moon and bite her, resulting in an eclipse. Every morning the sun devours the moon’s star-children or chases them away for the Moon to hide; at night, the moon will only bring the stars out on the advice of her eldest daughter, the morning and evening star, who looks out for the sun to ensure he does not pose a threat to them.

- Madame Mkunde and Renee

The Inuit have an extremely disturbing myth that includes sexual assault, incest and mutilation. Please skip over this paragraph if any of those subjects are triggering for you.

(Paragraph under the cut)

Hello!

The short answer is no.

The long answer is… maybe sort of, but not exactly.

The question is definitely very curious, but it’s missing one crucial detail: the historical and to some extent philosophical reality of the cultures.

Gender identity is a very recent concept. That doesn’t mean that genderqueer people were invented in 20th century: there are multiple examples of similar phenomena across the world. The difference is, they conceptualized it differently. I’d love to tell how, but finding research that uses the terms “sex” and “gender” consistently and systematically is godawful hard in this field, unless your particular interest revolves around feminism. A couple of books that I can recommend: “Making Sex” by T. Lacqueur and “Contextualizing Gender in Early Christian Discourse” by C.V. Stichele and T. Penner. However, I’ve struggled to find any constructive research concerned with non-Western cultures.

The long and the short of it is, gender is a social construct – and, as a social construct, it changed and transformed throughout human history. Consequently, the question of gender identity can well turn out to be a futile one: while some gods might be considered genderqueer in our modern understanding, their gender identification in ancient literature is up for interpretation. Can we call Thor trans just because he dons a dress to trick the giants in one of the sagas? Or Loki, who pretends to be an old woman in another? For starters, we’d need to define the term “gender” in the context of each and every culture we analyze, then we might be able to discuss how much of fluidity of gender can be observed and if we can call a god transgender or non-binary.

So, to cut it short: deities could not identify as genderqueer because there wasn’t a developed concept for that. We, from our specific perspective, might be able to assign genderqueer identities to them if we really wanted to – although, it would be missing the identifying oneself as someone, which is a crucial part of our modern understanding of what gender identity is, and in the context of the question posed here would be quite pointless, as your question seems to revolve specifically on the act of self-identification.

Blue

Hi there! 

Thanks for being patient with us! This answer took us a bit more research than expected but we hope what we were able to find is helpful to you.

So playing cards were first developed China around the 9th century AD. They were primarily used in drinking games and games of chance and may have started out as a sort of play money instead of real stakes. Of course since gambling is a universal pastime, the cards spread along the trade routes and landed in Persia, Arabia, Egypt (11th century), the Mediterranean (mid 14th century) and finally Europe in the 15th century. As a side note, playing cards took hold Japan thanks to Portuguese traders in the mid 16th century, not the Chinese, and karuta games using a variety of decks unique to Japan are still quite popular.

Tarot cards as we might recognize them originated in mid-15th century Italy and were designed as playing cards, as they are still frequently used by many European countries today. You can read more about them here, here and here. They were manufactured with gaming in mind, not divination or mysticism, although the designs were inspired by Italian court ideals and religious allegories popular at the time. Their association with magic probably started among rural communities as divination has always been a popular form of folk magic in Europe, despite the best efforts of the church. It’s unknown if tarot was ever associated directly with any local deities but it’s unlikely. Several location-specific decks were developed over time but it was only when it caught on with the higher class that specialized decks were invented—some of which are still in use today, such as the Tarot de Marseille (1780’s), Etteilla’s (aka Jean-Baptiste Alliette) Egyptian deck (1789), the Rider-Waite deck (1910), and Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris’ Thoth deck (1969). The Egyptian deck is undoubtedly a result of the Egyptomania that gripped Europe thanks to Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign and the Thoth deck is thanks to a fascination in magic and occultism that started thanks to the repeal in 1951 of the Witchcraft Act of 1735 (read more about the movement HERE).

So to answer your question, no, there are not any gods directly historically associated with Tarot although modern users may sometimes choose to do so based upon their own preferences. They’re seen as a bit like a telephone, they’re the method of connection to the occult but the carrier may be up to the user.

Now the funny thing is, thanks to the popularity of Tarot, there are a HUGE number of types of decks available, including a few East Asian themed decks that have been published within the past ten years although their actual connection to Chinese mythology and symbolism is tenuous at best.

~Tora

Hello!

As far as I can tell, you’re on the right track. Dragons in Chinese mythology are gods of the seas, rivers, lakes and storms, and water in general. I’ve found some reference to malevolent mountain dragons, adapted from Buddhist nagas, but nothing detailed. New World Encyclopedia also has a page detailing the attributes of dragons in different Asiatic folklore. We’ve answered another ask about the Dragon Kings in the past, which has a bit more info.

Good luck.

Silim, 

Utuabzu

Hello!

The tidbit is originally from The Japan Encyclopedia it looks like the following:

“Baku: Mythical animal of Chinese origin, vaguely resembling a tapir, supposed to be able to swallow anything, even mountains. It also swallows children’s nightmares” Louis Frédéric (1923-1996).

You can find the English version on Google books, but I’m not sure where to find the French version.

~Tora

Hello!

This is actually out of our area of expertise. We aren’t here to tell you how to write your story or even necessarily where you should get inspiration from. We’re just here if you want information on specific myths of mythological characters. So in regards to your question, it’s your story as long as you’re giving respect to what mythology you draw from then go for it.

If you want more info about a specific myth or even ScriptMyths discussions on why this is only one of many examples of using ancient texts in modern day media and fairly common, please send in another ask.

Best wishes, 

Ajk’in

Hello!

The legend of the Minotaur, a monstrous creature with the head of the bull and the body of man, comes to us from the Greek myths about the Minoan culture of Crete, a vaguely rectangle-shaped island in the Mediterranean with cultural links to Greece as well as Turkey.

There are two main narratives featuring the Minotaur: the story of its conception (aka that time Queen Pasiphae tricked a giant white bull—sent to the king of Crete by Poseidon—into getting her pregnant) and the story of its imprisonment within the labyrinth. The second is the tale of Theseus rescuing the youth of Athens from the labyrinth, only to leave his lady-love Ariadne stranded on an island, where she is later impregnated by Dionysus. Mythology! Where men wander around doing things, and women mostly just end up pregnant.

When you talk about the myth of the Minotaur being overdone, I’m assuming you mean the bits about how he’s scary, he’s in a labyrinth, and he’s a cannibal (hence Theseus and other youth of Athens being imprisoned in the Labyrinth—they were meant to be his snacks). Those are the well-known broad strokes of the myth. For a more complete picture, you might try looking into Europa—she was abducted by Zeus in the form of a—wait for it—giant bull and their union gave rise to the royal dynasty of Crete, culminating in the first king of Crete, Minos, and his queen Pasiphae, aka, the woman who banged another giant bull. Minos and Pasiphae also had children, one of whom was the same Ariadne whom Theseus rescued, only to later abandon her on Naxos. Which was ultimately fine for Ariadne because she was later deified as a result of her union to Dionysus—a god who was strongly linked to—WAIT FOR IT—bulls and was often said to visit mortals in the form of a bull. Symbolic motifs! Love ‘em.

Unfortunately there’s no Buzzfeed article “Top 10 Little-Known Aspects of the Minotaur Myth That Will Blow Your Mind in This Quiz That Will Also Tell You Which Powerpuff Girl You Are” (or maybe they’re working on it right now, who can say). My advice to you in the meantime is to go to the primary sources. Theoi.com’s page on Minotauros is a great place to start. It lists all the texts and hymns we have in the historical record that refer to the Minotaur.

Rereading the myths might help get the juices flowing and help you hit on which aspect of the myth it is that you really want to delve into to make it your own. The podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! has an excellent episode on Queen Pasiphae and Cretan culture (Episode IV “Queen Pasiphae did WHAT with a Bull?”). The myth of the Minotaur is also inextricably linked in popular consciousness to the Labyrinth that housed it. You can listen to Myths and Legends podcast episode “Icarus and Daedalus: A Portrait of the Artificer as a Young Man” for more on the man of legend, Daedalus, who built the labyrinth.

Once you’ve exhausted the primary sources, go for the secondary interpretations. Two major themes of the myth concerning the Minotaur’s conception are human hubris and the retribution of the gods, as detailed in “The Myth of the Minotaur: from genesis to the contemporary interpretation” by Maria Grazia Griffo. Her presentation is an excellent launch point for historical, artistic renderings of the Minotaur myth and what commentary it makes on its society of origin as well as modern society (e.g., Jorge Luis Borges’ short story “The House of Asterion”). Taking a more scientific approach, Matt Kaplan, in an episode of Ted Ed on the “Scientific Origins of the Minotaur”, suggested that the Cretans created the myth in order to explain the occurrence of earthquakes on their island, given the myth’s linkage to Poseidon, one of whose epithets was “Earthshaker”.

You may want to tackle some research about how and whether the labyrinth is connected to the child sacrifice supposedly practiced by the Cretans as their way of appeasing the minotaur that lived inside it. Or you could go another route and explore the symbolism of labyrinths in ancient and modern culture. It depends on what aspects you want to use to link your alien shapeshifter to its supposedly mythical origins, and how that resonates with the themes of your story. As with any device that’s “overdone”, it’s up to the author using it to peel back the layers of popular interpretation and present it to readers in a new light, enabling readers to see it in a form that’s new to them.

Bonne chance, 

Renee

Yes, I know some Ethiopian and North African mythology but you’ll need to be more specific with your ask for me to help you further. For now, all I can say is that North Africa and The Horn Of Africa/ East Africa are quite different and their mythologies are quite different. Ethiopian mythology is a bit tricky too because they’ve been Christian (and Muslim) since Ancient Times. This means that most of their mythology comes from individual tribes, folk tales and Aesops, or are Biblical or Islamic stories.

Until next time, 

Madame Mkunde

Hello!

Firstly, Oshun isn’t a healing deity. She is the patron goddess, or an orisha (a deity of the Yoruba people of West Africa— mainly Nigeria and Benin) of rivers and is more tied to divination than healing. If you want a healing deity, then go with Babalu-Aye, Erinle, Aja, or perhaps even a Jengu or a Mami Wata.

Babalu-Aye is the Orisha of infectious diseases (most commonly associated with HIV, smallpox, ebola, and leprosy) and healing. He’s called the “wrath of the Supreme God.” Babalú-Ayé is associated with Earth and strange dichotomies of nature (darkness and light, exile and movement, etc) and he’s much more changeable and aggressive than the others. There’s also Erinlė; he and Babalu-Aye both heal with medical gourds but he’s the saner one of the two. Erinlė is the benevolent physician to the other orisha. But he’s associated with masculinity, hunting, and the forces of the universe. He was married to Oshun. Aja is the orisha of the forest and she has a lot to do with herbal healing. She’s also more earth- and animal-connected and is the patroness of potions.

But if you want water and healing and Africa you’d want to use Jengu/ Mami Wata. They’re like beautiful, gap-toothed African mermaids who protect rivers and oceans. It seems like all of Africa (except the North) has these in some form or another. The Cameroonians call them Jengu. The Nigerians call them Mami Wata. They’re also seen in Haitian Voodoo and Louisiana Voodoo as Mami Wata, and they’re associated with snakes, pearls, and wealth. These minor deities heal people and act as intercessors between people and the spirits and are all around benevolent (as long as they’re being worshiped).

Until next time, 

Madame Mkunde

Hello!

We already have a post up about djinn here. If that doesn’t answer your questions or brings up more specific ones please send in another ask and we’ll do our best to give you an answer!

Best wishes, 

Ajk’in

Hello!

So we answered a question very similar to this about twins. We ended up having so many that we simply made a large list of twins (see here).

If you have more specific questions about a single pair of twins please let us know!

Best wishes, 

Ajk’in

Hello!

This question really delves into the nitty gritty of folklore and I like it!

First off, you specifically refer to not wanting to make assumptions about other cultures’ lore, but that’s something we’re going to do right off the bat. In fact, that’s partly what makes a good storyteller—the ability to read about something, or take some piece of information, and embellish it or come at it from a different perspective to give a fresh, exciting take.

Fae and Fair folk are epithets given to otherworldly creatures prominently featured in Irish mythology and folklore. There is some overlap with other places in the United Kingdom, most notably Scotland and England, but when you start to venture out of Ireland, you might hear variations on the names like pixies, spriggans, elves and leprechauns. The name with which you’re referring to the fae is important is it relates to certain behaviours ascribed to them. The fairies of the English/Irish/Scottish Seelie Court are literally “happy”, whereas the Unseelie Court fairies are “misfortunate”. The fairies of the first court are likely to bestow gifts upon humans; the fairies of the latter, more likely to assault and abduct without provocation. The Welsh Tylwyth Teg and the Irish Aos Sì, also categorized as the ageless and powerful Fair Folk, are considered to be more neutrally aligned, and inhabit a world parallel to humans that only intersects when they want it to.

Irish and Scottish folktales were deeply shaped by their exposure to Christianity, beginning as early as the 5th century CE. There are multiple theories as to the origins of the Fair Folk, which might be worth examining if you’re looking to delve into the motivation behind these rules and behaviours—some scholars have the fae as an archaic form of ancestor worship; some as fairies being the souls of the dead, disfigured and trapped on earth; one school of thought suggests they are fallen angels who were cast out of Heaven by god and denied entry to Hell by the devil himself (you see the Christian influence coming in here).

You’re on the right track asking for sources that depict the fairy-human relationship. The rules, etiquette, agreements, contracts and equivocating language that fairies use are all things cobbled together from the myriad depictions of humans interacting with fairies. The most notable compilers and collectors of those stories was W.B. Yeats, the Irish poet, in his book Fairy Folk Tales of Ireland. Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory, a member of the Irish landed gentry who was greatly interested in preserving Irish culture, fostered each others’ interest in folk tales. Lady Gregory published two collected volumes of Irish folk tales. Those two sources would be great places to start. Professor D. L. Ashliman, formerly of University of Pittsburgh, has also transcribed several hundred excerpts from various works of collected fairy stories from different cultures, including Irish, Scottish, and English.

Based on those sources, some patterns of behaviour come to light, which I’ve listed below:

Some common “rules” for interacting with fairies:

1- always be polite and never insulting

2- never make a promise to them you don’t intend to keep

3- do not litter or despoil a fairy dwelling (obvious or suspected)

4- don’t expect something for nothing—all interactions with fairy must be mutually profitable

Etiquette

1- never accept a fairy gift

2- do not eat fairy food or drink fairy wine

3- don’t step into a fairy ring/follow fairy music or a fairy procession/dance with the fairies/get romantic with a fairy

4- don’t reveal your “true” name to a fairy

5- don’t say thank you—it implies you owe them

6- don’t mention any newborn children you or someone else has got lying around

The problem, as I’ve already said, is that there’s nothing to tell us exactly why fairies were thought to behave a certain way, or interact with humans as they did. Stories about the Fair Folk have been recounted orally among people living in the United Kingdom for time immemorial, and they’ve always been regarded with a mixture of respect, delight, and fear. Even their epithets—”the Fair Folk”, “the Good People”—are supposedly deliberate attempts to soften their ire against humans by giving them a beneficent title they don’t necessarily deserve.

A traditional belief was that fairies were to blame for the disappearance or spoiling of common elements crucial to survival in rural Ireland. If a crop of wheat was harvested, but a child in the home died from malnourishment, the fairies had interfered with the essence of the wheat, taking it for themselves and leaving an empty simulacrum for the humans—something that might look healthy and nutritious, but is really devoid of value.

Two versions of the same story—one from Ireland, one from Scotland—tell of a deformed man, a hunchback, who unwittingly stumbles upon a fairy and is invited to take part in a dance. The fairies see his intention is pure and by this alone he warrants the removal of his hunch by the fairies (who do not ask him, but simply do it). A second man then wanders into the fairy gathering and his uncouth behaviour is rewarded with the deformity of the first man. In the Scottish version of the telling, the second man goes out of his way to find the fairies after the first man tells him of the miracle that befell him. It is the avaricious intent in the second man’s heart that ultimately dooms him to be punished by the fairies.

We can infer a couple of things from the morality in just these two stories (there are so many more): the first might be an example of the natural forces at work that Irish farmers may not have completely understood; the second, a fable meant to drive home the point that a pure heart will get more reward in life for being content with his lot and asking for nothing, than someone who goes out seeking to get whatever he can from whoever will give it to him.

My best advice to you, if you’re repurposing these myths to tell your own story, is to really spend some time getting inside them to understand what they’re about, and what it is that gives them their meaning. What makes the myth meaningful to the story you’re writing? And remember, if you meet a fair-haired stranger who asks you what you’re writing, don’t tell them your real name, or follow them down any garden paths, just to be safe.

Bonne chance, 

Renee

Hello!

So, as far as any of us know, there really isn’t anything that fits what you’re after. Lots of cultures have gods/spirits associated with toilets and defecation, but they’re not really malicious. Mostly, they’re fertility gods, reflecting the ancient practice of using the contents of toilets (nightsoil) as fertiliser. I suppose you could pick one and have it attack because somebody has offended it; this is fairly normal for gods and spirits the world over.

I’d suggest maybe an enraged genius loci, a Roman god of a place (I see no reason why a public loo couldn’t have one, and it fits your criteria re: Western) or Cloacina, the Roman goddess of sewers. But, keep in mind that gods do not tend to die easily, being immortal, so it’s going to seem weird if you have your protagonist kill it. Try giving it something it wants instead, like vengeance or justice.

Silim, 

Utuabzu

Hello!

So this isn’t really a question that falls within our realm because it depends more on terminology than it does in actual mythology. It largely depends on definition and preference, however, the main difference between race and species is that species is scientific while race is distinctly not.

Cheers,

Tex