There is a lot of interesting reading on the subject.Many cultures have these myths as part of their heritage from recent to ancient times.We are most familiar with the Native American including Raven the trickster and coyote.The movies have popularizes the werewolf and the vampire bat ideas.There are some groups who believe and/or want to be a part of particularly the vampires currently.There is also a conspiracy theory group believing the country and/or world leaders to be part of a plan to gain power to control the globe.Some think they are Aliens some part of a long standing Secret Society.I do not necessarily agree with those ideas but they are interesting.People and their belief systems are fascinating.
The belief in the possibility that humans could change shape has been traced to 600 B.C., when King Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible thought he'd suffered from a condition that involved romping around as a wild beast for four years and growing out his hair. By the 1500s in France, it was a diagnosable medical condition, known as lycanthropy. (In some countries, people also thought they could shift their shape into other creatures, such as bear, leopards, jackals, tigers, and birds.) Two of the most informative early sources about the myths were The Book of Were-Wolves, by Sabine Baring-Gould, a nineteenth-century archaeologist and historian, and The Werewolf, by Montague Summers. Both tracked the shape-shifting ideas from ancient times and across different cultures. Summers believed that these man-beasts were real and the result of some sort of encounter with Satan, which either produced lunacy via possession or the actual ability to shape-shift.
One that Baring-Gould relates from Scandinavia is a typical tale: A man and his son, both bandits, came upon two sleeping men in possession of wolf skins. They donned them and could not get them off. When they began to feel and howl like wolves, they went into the woods to slay hapless travelers together.
But these practices were taboo, and for some people taboo subjects acquired an erotic aura. These folks dressed in wolf-skins at night, according to Summers, as a way to contact Satan for the beast's special powers. When they managed to make "the change," says the lore, they were granted a period of complete abandon into blood and violence. Tales were told around Europe of hunters who hacked off the paw of a wolf only to find a woman's hand in their pouch and a woman in town with a mysteriously bandaged arm. That still plays out in novels and movies today.
I especially am interested in what those around me think.Here are some tid bits from some Etsy Artists:
JeweledAmbrosia
JeweledAmbrosia says:
sticknymph says:
Once, my ex and I were driving back from a friends house out in the country in a snowstorm and we saw a big dead white dog in the middle of the road. :( Then, a few seconds later, we saw a man standing at the side of the road who looked pure white and just like the dog in human form.
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this is similar to my roommate's experience, she saw a wolf running alongside her car on the highway, and looked back and a man was there... it was something like that, it's been a long time since I heard it.
TripleWillowGifts
TripleWillowGifts says:
Numerous cultures are full of legend and lore or shape shifters.
Many native american cultures (of which I am one) believe that shape shifters are part of witchery - not a good thing.
However, remember the greeks and their numerous stories about it. Didn't Zeus turn into things in order to hide himself from Hera while having affairs with mortal women? lol!
MoonFairy says:
I turn into a demonic being when I'm angry. Does that count?
trinlayk says:
gotta teenager? the transformation from "school day" to "going out Friday Night" is startling.
whittamore says:
sweetmeatclothing says:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ksPtnQmq2dc
some people think that a lot of politicians are really of a reptilian race, I linked a video, though I'm not really convinced, it would explain why they make the insane decisions that they do...
Julia
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that's the Illuminati, the secret rulers of the world. most high powered people are supposed to be reptiles. it's a common conspiracy theory. the guy running around saying people are really lizards is supposedly a disinformation ploy.
There are more interesting comments on the forum thread about shape shifting at etsy.
I do not believe you are a demon when mad,MoonFairy just maybe feel like one.Near the time of our divorce,i threw a hairbrush at my husband.It terrified me!
Mt teens are long gone and grown into actual human beings but I remember those transformations as well as when they got out of the car at Middle School and completely changed right there...
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