LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ FoLkLoReS & LeGeNdS~*~
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Folklore....
Once upon a time.....That's how they mostly start. They are the "Legends that go on forever," since the beginning of time. The grandmother of your grandmother told your Mother, and so now you know it to. Here are some for you to enjoy, for in each place, there is a "special story," that will always go on...
Welcome to ~*~ LIGHT OF ATLANTIS ~*~ FoLkLoReS & LeGeNdS, A place to share Mythical folklores & legends from around the World, a mystical walk through the Tunnel of Time back to the Era where all the mysterious Legends begin...Be enchanted & i am sure you will stay for more...
Blessed Be,
Oceanos
*Note: The Religious belief's here are not to be mocked, but as a 'teaching tool.' -
Ponce de Leon & The Fountain of Youth
Juan Ponce de Leon was born in San Tervas de Campos, Spain, in "about" 1474. Strangely, that is about all that is known of his early years... There is no record of his birth, of parent's names, or of his preteeen years. In his younger years it is said that he served as a squire and earned the nickname "the poor knight." This would indicate that his family was of the nobility... although not a significant or particularly influential one...
It is known, however, that almost from childhood, he trained himself in the arts of war and survival to prepare himself for future of daring and unimaginable adventures to the unknown. It was the opening of the "age of exploration", and the "Conquistadores" of Spain were leaving the shores of their homeland poor but courageous "knights erant" and returning... those lucky few who did return... with the ransom of kings...
In 1493 younG Ponce de Leon joined Columbus on his 2nd voyage to the Americas. After that he settled on a Caribbean island named Hispaniola to improve his fortunes and start a warlike career. He shortly rose to the position of Hispaniola's Military Commander and Deputy Governor. In 1506, at the age of 28, he discovered a close-by island named Borinquin which was later renamed Puerto Rico. Two years later, he became Governor of the fledgling Spanish Colony on that Island. Still, not completely satisfied... wanting more wealth, power, and glory, Ponce de Leon begged and persuaded the king to grant him men and ships to search for the infamous "fountain of youth".
The opening of the New World was also a re-opening, of sorts, of a far older one... Generations after Europe and most of the Orient had been completely explored, the opening of a vast new domain, completely unknown to Europeans, rekindled many of the myths and legends which had circulated in Europe since the days of Greece and Rome. Among these was the fabled "Fountain of Youth", a spring from which flowed the water of healing and eternal youth. Many scholars claim that De Leon heard the tale of the mirraculous fountain from the natives of Hispanola or Puerto Rico... this is both unlikely, in one regard, and highly likely in another. It is unlikely that the native population of either island had ever heard the tale before being questioned about it by de Leon and other newcomers... it is likely, in that the natives were likely to tell the Spaniards almost anything to get them... or at least a significant number of them... to go elsewhere.
In any case, the legend of the fabulous Fountain of Youth was old even when Ponce de Leon sailed for Florida on his quest to find it. Both the Greeks and the Romans spoke and sang of this spring and it's wonderful elixir. Undoubtedly, the tale was old, even then. Marco Polo heard the story in China...
In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon set sail from Puerto Rico, bound for the mainland, which had been discovered some 15 years before, but not, to that point, much explored. His fruitless quest for the Fountain of Youth inadvertently made him the first European to set foot in what is now Florida, which he named "Pascua de Florida" (feast of flowers) after a Spanish Easter holiday, since he landed there on Easter Sunday.
De Leon explored the Florida coast, and parts of the interior, between 1513 and 1521, and founding the city of St. Augustine, the oldest permanently settled city in the United States. It is this, the discovery of Florida for which he is most famous today.
A rather popular figure, and well thought of, which is a rarity among the ranks of the "Conquistadorer"... the inhabitants of Hispanola and Puerto Rico were overwhelmed by the news of his death in battle against the Calusa Indians in Central Florida. He did not die in the battle, itself, but was severely wounded, and most likely died from infection, which, given the primative medical treatment of the day, killed far more soldiers than ever did sword, shot or shell.
Although, he never found the "Fountain of Youth" Ponce de Leon's grand voyage over to the Americas left history rich with countless stories of his adventures. Is the Fountain of Youth a reality? Is is "out there" somewhere, still waiting to be found, or is it yet another glorious myth... a fanciful dream from the realm of folklore and legend? -
~Lilith ~ Queen of Hell
A female demon of the night who supposedly flies around searching for newborn children either to kidnap or strangle them. Also, she sleeps with men to seduce them into propagating demon sons. Legends told about Lilith are ancient. The rabbinical myths of Lilith being Adam's first wife seem to relate to the Sumero-Babylonian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili. To the Canaanites, Lilith was Baalat, the "Divine Lady." On a tablet from Ur, ca. 2000 BCE, she was addressed as Lillake.
One story is that God created Adam and Lilith as twins joined together at the back. She demanded equality with Adam, failing to achieve it, she left him in anger. This is sometimes accompanied by a Muslim legend that after leaving Adam Lilith slept with Satan, thus creating the demonic Djinn.
In another version of the myth of Lilith, she was Adam's first wife before Eve. Adam married her because he became tired of coupling with animals, a common Middle-Eastern herdsmen practice, though the Old Testament declared it a sin (Deuteronomy 27:21). Adam tried to make Lilith lie beneath him during sexual intercourse. Lilith would not meet this demand of male dominance. She cursed Adam and hurried to her home by the Red Sea.
Adam complained to God who then sent three angels, Sanvi, Sansanvi and Semangelaf, to bring Lilith back to Eden. Lilith rebuffed the angels by cursing them. While by the Red Sea Lilith became a lover to demons and producing 100 babies a day. The angels said that God would take these demon children away from her unless she returned to Adam. When she did not return, she was punished accordingly. And, God also gave Adam the docile Eve.
According to some Lilith's fecundity and sexual preferences showed she was a Great Mother of settled agricultural tribes, who resisted the invasions of the nomadic herdsmen, represented by Adam. It is felt the early Hebrews disliked the Great Mother who drank the blood of Abel, the herdsman, after being slain by the elder god of agriculture and smithcraft, Cain (Genesis 4:11). Lilith's Red Sea is but another version of Kali Ma's Ocean of Blood, which gave birth to all things but needed periodic sacrificial replenishment.
Speculation is that perhaps there was a connection between Lilith and the Etruscan divinity Lenith, who possessed no face and waited at the gate of the underworld along with Eita and Persipnei (Hecate and Persephone) to receive the souls of the dead. The underworld gate was a yoni, and also a lily, which had "no face." Admission into the underworld was frequently mythologized as a sexual union. (see Tantrism) The lily or lilu (lotus) was the Great Mother's flower-yoni, whose title formed Lilith's name.
Even though the story of Lilith disappeared from the canonical Bible, her daughters the lilim haunted men for over a thousand years. It was well into that Middle Ages that Jews still manufactured amulets to keep away the lilim. Supposedly they were lusty she-demons who copulated with men in all their dreams, causing nocturnal emissions.
The Greeks adopted the belief of the lilim, calling them Lamiae, Empusae (Forcers-In), or Daughters of Hecate. Likewise the Christians adopted the belief, calling them harlots of hell, or succubi, the counterpart of the incubi. Celebrant monks attempted to fend them off by sleeping with their hands over their genitals, clutching a crucifix.
Even though most of the Lilith legend is derived from Jewish folklore, descriptions of the Lilith demon appear in Iranian, Babylonian, Mexican, Greek, Arab, English, German, Oriental and Native American legends. Also, she sometimes has been associated with legendary and mythological characters such as the Queen of Sheba and Helen of Troy. In medieval Europe she was proclaimed to be the wife, concubine or grandmother of Satan.
Men who experienced nocturnal emissions during their sleep believed they had been seduced by Lilith and said certain incantations to prevent the offspring from becoming demons. It was thought each time a pious Christian had a wet dream, Lilith laughed. It was believed that Lilith was assisted in her bloodthirsty nocturnal quests by succubi, who gathered with her near the "mountains of darkness" to frolic with her demon lover Samael, whole name means "poison of God" (sam-el). The Zohar, the principal work of the Kabbalah, describes Lilith's powers at their height during the waning of the moon.
According to legend Lilith's attraction for children comes from the belief that God took her demon children from her when she did not return to Adam. It was believed that she launched a reign of terror against women in childbirth and newborn infants, especially boys. However, it also was believed that the three angels who were sent to fetch her by the Red Sea forced her to swear that whenever she saw their names or images on amulets that she would leave the infants and mothers alone.
These beliefs continued for centuries. As late as the 18th century, it was a common practice in many cultures to protect new mothers and their infants with amulets against Lilith. Males were most vulnerable during the first week of life, girls during the first three weeks. Sometimes a magic circle was drawn around the lying-in-bed, with a charm inscribed with the names of the three angels, Adam and Eve and the words "barring Lilith" or "protect this newborn child from all harm." Frequently amulets were place in the four corners and throughout the bedchamber. If a child laughed while sleeping, it was taken as a sign that Lilith was present. Tapping the child on the nose, it was believed, made her go away. -
The She-Wolf
~ Croatia
There was an enchanted mill, so that no one could stay there, because a she-wolf always haunted it. A soldier went once into the mill to sleep. He made a fire in the parlor, went up into the garret above, bored a hole with an auger in the floor, and peeped down into the parlor.
A she-wolf came in and looked about the mill to see whether she could find anything to eat. She found nothing, and then went to the fire, and said, "Skin down! Skin down! Skin down!" She raised herself upon her hind-legs, and her skin fell down. She took the skin, and hung it on a peg, and out of the wolf came a damsel. The damsel went to the fire, and fell asleep there.
He came down from the garret, took the skin, nailed it fast to the mill-wheel, then came into the mill, shouted over her, and said, "Good morning, damsel! How do you do?
She began to scream, "Skin on me! Skin on me! Skin on me!" But the skin could not come down, for it was fast nailed.
The pair married and had two children.
As soon as the elder son got to know that his mother was a wolf, he said to her, "Mamma! Mamma! I have heard that you are a wolf."
His mother replied, "What nonsense are you talking! How can you say that I am a wolf?"
The father of the two children went one day into the field to plow, and his son said, "Papa, let me, too, go with you."
His father said, "Come."
When they had come to the field, the son asked his father, "Papa, is it true that our mother is a wolf?"
The father said, "It is."
The son inquired, "And where is her skin?"
His father said, "There it is, on the mill-wheel."
No sooner had the son got home, than he said at once to his mother, "Mamma! Mamma! You are a wolf! I know where your skin is."
His mother asked him, "Where is my skin?"
He said, "There, on the mill-wheel."
His mother said to him, "Thank you, sonny, for rescuing me." Then she went away, and was never heard of more. -
~Firebird~
In Russian folklore the Firebird is a miraculous bird. Its feathers shine like silver and gold, its eyes sparkle like crystals, and it is usually been seen sitting on a golden perch. At midnight this bird comes to gardens and fields and illuminates the night as brightly as a thousand lights; just one feather from its tail could light up a dark room. The Firebird eats golden apples which give any who eat them youth, beauty and immortality; when the bird sings, pearls would fall from its beak. The FirebirdÂ’s chants can heal the sick and return the vision to the blind. -
Pandora's Box
the mists of time part and show us the past we see that even before the time of men, before our puny struggles and trials, there was life on the earth. If we look closely we can see the battles of the Titans and the Olympians. Such battles as men have never witnessed raged. Mountains were cast down and trampled under the fierce feet of the Titans. Thunderbolts pierced the sky and the lightning crowned the ever-restless waves.
Every day brought another victory or defeat for the forces involved in the struggle. For countless ages the battle continued. In this time before man neither side was assured victory. Even the immortals themselves had doubts. In time, the immortals became stronger. Because of this the great war was finally stilled. Zeus and his family had won the war and as victors, divided the earth.
Poseidon, Zeus' brother, was given dominion over the sea and its creatures. Since the earth was mostly sea it was a high honor. Often Zeus would look from Olympus and see Poseidon dancing in the waves as he cast about the earth. Such tempests he could throw for fun. But Zeus knew there was more to this than was readily apparent. For when Poseidon threw his storms over the waters he was only keeping his skills sharp in case their enemies should rise.
To his brother, Hades, he gave the underworld. This was the end of all creatures and because of this was considered to be important -- if dreary and somber. Though even Zeus had trouble seeing into the gloom that constantly swept that hard land there came a time when he too could hear the lost souls moaning for their loss of life and love. Though Zeus shuddered when he heard their cries he knew his brother was well satisfied and that was important.
With each of his kin satisfied life became wonderful for the immortals. Each pleasure sought was a pleasure gained. Everything they wanted was theirs and more.
As much as each desired the tranquility and serenity of this life there was another part of them that longed for the changes brought by confrontation. Having no wish to resurrect their enemies Zeus cast about for some other way to amuse his brothers and sisters.
From the clay of the earth he created the first creature that could reason. Man, he called him. When his creation desired another name Zeus granted he be called Epimetheus.
Epimetheus lived much like the gods. Sickness and even death were unknown. He was content and because of this his actions became predictable.
From his high seat on Olympus Zeus watched Epimetheus go about his day in happiness. Zeus gave Epimetheus dominion over the earth and its creatures. Epimetheus responded by praising Zeus. Zeus relished his praise.
But endless praise, in time, becomes as boring as no praise and Zeus decided to help his creation by giving him a mate. He called his brothers and sisters together and told them of his plan, "We must make this creature, this woman, to be like Epimetheus and yet unlike him. Where we took the best of all of us and created the man, this woman must be different."
"What do you mean, different?"
"Poseidon, this creature must be different in every way from man. Where man is hard, she will be soft. Where man is strong she will be weak. Where man is foolish, she will be wise. Where man is brave she will be timid. Where man shall be scared she will be brave."
"But, when they combine their talents won't they rival us?"
"Of course, but we won't tell them." Zeus said with a smile.
"You know best, brother. What can we give to help?" The sea god said as his beard began to dry and blow in the freshening breeze. Zeus rose from the throne and walked among them. With a stern look over his marble-like face he said, "From each of you I want the opposites in the world. When we give the woman the gift of love, we will also give the gift of jealousy. Where we give creature weakness, we must give her strength. We will make her appearance rival that of Aphrodite, but her insecurity will cause her to become vain. In time all of the contrary elements we can bring will be combined."
"Zeus, what shall you call this woman?"
"Hades, I shall call her Pandora.
"I see. Pandora means all. Very good."
And so the elements of the earth were gathered and separated according to their properties. To an intelligent mind the gift of an overwhelming curiosity was given. Zeus asked Athena why she gave this pair. Athena replied, "Though they seem to not be the opposite, they truly are. For as much as curiosity can lead to knowledge, curiosity eventually leads to the loss of that same knowledge. While knowledge is good and strong, it can be weakened by the need to know too much."
Zeus, a cloud passing over his countenance, finally smiled. "I see, Athena, but will the subtlety be lost on these creatures?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps. But we must give them the chance to be more together than they can ever be alone. Don't you agree?"
"Yes, I do." He said with the cloud moving away and the light of his smile warming the hearts of all.
When Epimetheus found Zeus' gift he was delighted. She was clever with her fingers and could do many of the things that troubled him. For all the time he had been living he had never managed to be patient enough to weave leaves together into a cup for the pure water that flowed from the earth. She mastered this almost immediately and Epimetheus took special care to thank the gods for their wonderful gift.
But on Olympus complacency soon lead to boredom and one day after a tiring day of hearing himself praised he called Hades to him. "Listen, I want you to go to the dark places you know so well and gather what you find. I want the sprites of disease, hunger, hopelessness, cruelty, and the rest. Bind them into a strong box and bring it to me."
"What for, brother?"
"Hades, I have my reasons. Please do as I ask."
"Of course."
The sun shone brightly overhead for the morning rain had passed leaving the world lush and green. Together Pandora and Epimetheus sat under an olive tree and tasted of the sweet gift of Athena once more. Up the road they saw a man walking carrying a heavy box. Together they ran to see if they might be of some help. Pandora asked, "Can we help carry your burden?" The traveler looked deeply into her eyes and with a hint of sadness said, "Yes, I suppose you must." -
Together Epimetheus and Pandora picked up the large box and carried it as they led the stranger to the shade of the olive tree. Placing the box down gently Pandora ran to fetch some clear water. Quickly she fashioned the reeds into a cup and brought the cool drink to the stranger.
With a sigh he accepted her gift and drank deeply of the blood of the earth. The stern look on his face finally began to ease and he knew he must continue his journey. "If it wouldn't be too much to ask, could I leave my chest here for a while? I need to hurry to complete my journey." Epimetheus looked over the young man and smiled, "Of course. Your box will be safe with us. Come after it when you will -- it will be here."
"Listen, Epimetheus and Pandora, you must not attempt to look inside. There could be terrible consequences if you do."
Epimetheus nodded his understanding and smiled," Don't worry about it. Nothing will disturb your box."
Pandora nodded her agreement, but her eyes never left the carefully decorated box. When the young man left to continue his journey he was suddenly gone. Epimetheus smiled, as he knew that he must have been one of the immortals.
Days passed and the box stood where the stranger had placed it. Often Pandora would look at the beautiful designs carved into its surface and wonder. She thought that anyone who could create such beauty for the outside of a container must have something special beyond comprehension enclosed.
Athena's seed of curiosity began to grow. Soon Pandora was spending every waking hour examining the box. Though she could not read, she knew there were words written in gold on the top of the box. The carvings of the men and women were beautiful and for hours she would let her fingers trace the designs quietly while an ever-growing curiosity encompassed her.
One day when Epimetheus was away for a minute Pandora placed her ear close to the box to see if any sound would escape. In a voice so faint it might have been the wind she heard, "Help us. Please open the box and let us out, Pandora."
Her fingers pulled her long black hair out of her way and she placed her naked ear against the box to see if she was being deceived. Faintly, but more clearly than before she heard, "Pandora, let us out. We need to be free."
With great hesitation she decided to peek inside to see if whoever was asking for her help looked like someone she would like to help. When she fingered the cord holding the chest closed, she was surprised that the knot fell open in her hands. She placed her hands on the edges of the lid. Casting her eyes around she looked to see if Epimetheus could see her. He could not. Faintly the voices cried again. With a stern resolve she began to lift. The box, instead of being hard to open as she anticipated, opened easily.
Pandora was expecting to be able to look and see who or what had called her. Instead the creatures of the box flew out in a torrent. Round her head and body they flew quickly stopping only long enough to bite and sting. Each of them were hateful spiteful creatures. She tried to shut the lid to stop their rush for freedom but they had escaped. After they tortured her for long moments they flew off to seek Epimetheus. What had she done?
She cried softly as she sat on the green grass under the pale sun and leaned against the box. Tears stained her beautiful face and she hung her head in shame. For though the creatures had not identified themselves something in her knew who they were.
Her bitter tears were amplified by the screams of Epimetheus as he was attacked without mercy. Finally when his cries had faded, Pandora heard a small sweet voice ask, "Pandora, can you please release me?"
"Why should I? Didn't you see who they were?"
"Of course I did, they are my sisters. But I can assure you I am not like them."
Pandora who felt all was lost sadly opened the box. A beautiful sprite with gossamer wings flew shimmering into the sunlight. Round and round her body the creature flew lighting only when a sore was encountered. As the creature touched the hurt -- it was gone. When Pandora had been healed completely the creature flew to heal Epimetheus. Pandora sat back against the box and thought. Hope, she was certain that was the creature's name continued her healing.
In time the sprite flew back and rested exhausted on Pandora's shoulder. Pandora watched as the creature drifted painlessly into her flesh and took up residence in her heart. She knew she had been given the gift that, even though it could not erase the pain she had brought to the world, could make that pain easier.
She smiled a soft smile for knowing there is hope, and hope is sometimes enough.
~By Robert Hoffman