X is notoriously a difficult letter to make work during an A-Z Blog. Fortunately, there are freaky critters all over the world! Xíng Tiān is a creature in Chinese mythology. The giant Xíng Tiān followed his master into exile after a bitter defeat at the hands of The Yellow Emperor. After this Yellow Emperor caught up and executed Xing Tian’s master, Xing Tian issued a challenge for a duel. Xíng Tiān and The Yellow Emperor fought a ferocious battle with […]
Sorchia’s Universe–The Blog
514 posts
The short definition of witch is someone who practices magic—but the story is much more complex than that. First, witches can be male or female. Many male witches particularly hate the term warlock because it creates a division where there is none. Witches are old souls who have been through many lifetimes and in many forms. Male and Female just don’t apply. The tradition is matriarchal, but the form is variable. Second, magic is one dish with many flavors. You […]
A busy time here at Sorchia’s Universe. I’ve missed a couple of letters but plan to finish strong–with a BIG announcement coming soon. Here’s the thing about Voodoo dolls–they are not really Voodoo after all. Many religions use dolls or human figures in rituals–including Voodoo. The association, however, is mostly pure Hollywood. Ancient Greeks called them Kolossoi, and used them to protect a village by binding the deity and preventing harm from that source. Native Americans and other agricultural cultures […]
We are in the last half of the A-Z Blog and I’m getting my second wind. Since I write about this kind of stuff all the time, it isn’t unusual to find similar posts. Be sure to click the link at the end of this short post to read more about werewolves. Rougarou is the Louisianan or Cajun French version of Loup garou, a French term for werewolf. The story is the same except that the rougarou prowls the swamps […]
The Questing Beast is one of those critters who seem to only exist in literature—but it starts with Q so . . . . . It appears in Arthurian legend as a dragon-like creature with the head of a snake, the body of a leopard and the haunches of a hart. Its bite is poisonous with no antidote save intervention by one who knows the ancient religion. The curing spell requires a sacrifice of a life to save […]
Most of the creatures we’ll look at during this A-Z blog have their roots in ancient history. Except this one. According to the story, an Arab sheik released a Djinn sometime in the 1970s. The sheik planned to use the Jinn to take vengeance on the sheik’s neighbors, but Djinns being Djinns and sheiks being sheiks, nothing worked out as planned. The Djinn escaped from the sheik’s power, but continued to wreak havoc. Popobawa is a fairly local phenomena, causing […]