As I take a career and life journey’s “Walkabout” around Australia and Europe during the Summer of 2011, during my visit to the Australian National Museum I really for the very first time embrace the concept of the Australian Aborigine “Dreaming” and “Dreamtime” that I was first introduced to during my Anthropology of Religion class I took during my college years at Florida State University. Nevermore did the concept “sink” and “settle” in me more than at this time of my life that I could truly say in a “Stranger in a Strange Land’s” true essence of “grokking” the concept fully and spiritually. “The Dreaming” tells of the journey and actions of the Ancestral Beings when they were creating the natural world. An animistic narrative telling of a “timeless time” of formative creation and perpetual creating. This took place during a mythological era called “Dreamtime”. This is a sacred era when the ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed “The Creation”. The philosophy is infinite and demonstrates how the past and present is linked together to prophesize the future. The concept of “Dreaming” is often used to refer to a person’s or group’s set of beliefs and spirituality. The Australian Aborigine might refer to “Shark Dreaming”, “Kangaroo Dreaming”, or “Eucalypus Dreaming” and this would refer to particular natural items or life forms in their resident area or country, laying down patterns of life from which to follow. This creates their mythos, their creation stories, and their folklore as to why certain things have come to be. They believe that every person exists eternally in the Dreaming and represents both the spirit that existed before physical life began and is the spirit that exists after death as a “Spirit Being” or “Spirit Child”. The Spirit Being can only exist physically by being born from a mother, entering the fetus during the fifth month of pregnancy. Upon birth, that child is to become a special custodian of the land and country to which s/he was born, required to learn the stories, lore, and songlines of that particular place. Our natural world, especially that which is within one’s cultural heritage, race, and species, is what provides the link between the people and “The Dreaming”. The Act of Dreaming and the stories that are within them carry the truth from the past, blended together with the code for the Law, to operate and facilitate the present. Every story within “The Dreaming” weaved as creation through the “Milky Way” is a complete long complex tale, many of which discuss consequences and our future being. During the Dreamtime, the Australian Aborigines believed that the creators were both men and women who took on spiritual forms. These “cultural heroes and heroines” sometimes defined as spirits, other times as “God/desses”, would travel across a formless land, create sacred sites and significant places of interest during their travels weaving story and songlines that would guide the spirit beings they birthed in Creation. They joined together with various spirits to create the land, the waterways, the geographical features of the land, the skies, the seas, the plants, the animals, the stones, and all the other wo/men that exist. Every event that takes place would leave a record in the land. To the Dharawal, “Biami” the Great Spirit, went up into the skies to watch over their people and to make sure they obeyed his rules. Spirits habitating in waterholes, caves, and other spirit places to watch over or affect those people that lived near them. This was one of the reasons that another tribe would not conquer tribal lands for doing so would place them in a land full of strange and potentially hostile spirits. The Australian Aborigines believed in both good and evil spirits they called “Goonges”. Children would be warned not to go to certain areas for the “goonge will get them”. Same for the oceans, for they too contained spirits underneath the waters and explained deaths at sea, getting caught in a rip current, or attacks by various sea creatures. The Creators, or the Ancestral Spirits, were shape-changers who were half-human, both male and female, who used the powers, great wisdom, and intentions to create all of being. They lived and retired in the sky clouds. The Aborigine believed that every living creature were created by the Creators as “spirit-children” and/or “spirit animals” during the Dreamtime and were assigned to live in particular spirit places. They believed that their own birth was the result of a spirit child entering into the mother’s body and was brought into being during conception by the specific actions or designs of the creators to make spirit children in the Dreamtime. They also believed that after death their spirit would return to the spirit-place to await rebirth. It was in Dreamtime that the Creators and ancestral spirits created the world which we all live. The Australian aborigines embrace all of life and the phenemena that affects if as part of the vast and complex system of relationships that go back to the original acnestral Totemic Spirits of the Dreaming. The Dreaming establishes a culture’s and regional country’s laws, taboos, structures, and history in order to ensure the continuity of life and land in that area. Breaking these cause destruction to the areas that one’s spirit is meant to guard or caretake.
Upon wandering around the Australian National Museum in Canberra of the Australian Capital Territory, I discovered this fine bark painting. This unique Aboriginal folklore masterpiece consists of a application of ochres and polymer on bark with wooden restrainers attached to its rear. It was done in the 1980’s by Galuma Wirrpanda of the Aboriginal Manggalili clan in the Baniyala lands of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the painting that tells the story about the Milky Way and the Crocodile according to Aboriginal myth. This painting shows the “milnguya” or “Milky Way” as a river. A constellation in the Milky Way is seen as “The Crocodile” which is surrounded by stars that represent the deceased members of the Aboriginal Manggalili clan. The overturned canoe and paddles refer to the drowned ancestors of the Munuminya and Yikawanga who found their way to the Milky Way by following string made from the fur of the possum Marrngu.
This mythos was also very sacred to the Ancient Maya. Displayed is the crocodile mouth in the Milky Way, representing a dark rift called the “Xibalba” or “The Underworld”. It has similarities to that which the Aboriginal Australians and the Mayans who noticed it and embedded into their lore as well. Each night, this constellation changes its orientation causing the Milky Way to become north/south oriented on some nights and then on others it alternates to east and west. This relates to Aboriginal creation stories. It is told that the date of present creation took place on August 13, 3114 B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) On this date, the hearth was laid out – three stars from Orion were put in place by the Gods. During Mid-August each year, the Milky Way would be right overhead and this change in orientation would be highly notable. It was on February 5, 3112 B.C.E., two years after the hearth was created, that the cosmic tree of creation was lifted up to the heavens. On the 5th of February every year the Milky Way would also align directly overhead showing changes that is opposite to the mid-August alignment). Many believe that the sky is seen as a re-enactment of creation. As the constellations move, so do the cycle of stories from dusk to dawn. When the Milky Way is aligned to the north and south, it represents the world tree. As it turns to east and west, it becomes the crocodile tree that manifests as a canoe carrying the maize Gods across the sky in the Mayan Myth.
A treatise in 1989 on “Haitian Zombies”. Exploring Wade Davis’ work in Haiti with the compound made from tetrodotoxin utilized by witch doctors in creating real-life zombies as slaves.
Experience the full text of Thomas Baurley’s classic 1989 research paper, now in a convenient PDF e-book. This edition presents Baurley’s in-depth study from Florida State University on zombies and zombification within Haitian Vodou, with focused discussion of Wade Davis’s primary research and the lasting impact of these stories and beliefs. Baurley traces the journey of the zombie figure, from early cultural accounts rooted in Haitian tradition through the modern fascination found in comics, books, and movies. Drawing on ethnobiological and cultural studies, this work connects scientific, spiritual, and social explanations for zombification, making it a valuable resource for both scholars and curious readers.
As someone who has spent years examining the intersections of folklore and science in the Caribbean, I recognize the rigor and balance Baurley brings. His paper treats both Haitian belief and Western interpretations with care, challenging stereotypes without losing sight of local meanings. This edition is well-suited for researchers, students, and anyone interested in how a single concept can bridge culture, science, and global storytelling.
Product Features
Complete PDF e-book of Thomas Baurley’s original 1989 research
Thorough analysis of Haitian zombies and Vodou practices
Detailed discussion of Wade Davis’s work, including empirical and cultural findings
Historical overview: From slave-era Haiti to modern media depictions
References and citations for academic use
Easy digital access and searchability
Suitable for academic and general audiences
Pros and Cons
Pros
Delivers original academic insight not found in mainstream texts
Balances ethnographic, scientific, and media perspectives
Includes thorough documentation and references for further study
Written in a style accessible to broad audiences
Available instantly in digital format
Cons
Focused mostly on research up to 1989, with limited coverage of newer developments
PDF format may be less preferable for those wanting a physical copy
Uses some academic language that may require extra attention from casual readers
Baurley’s “Haitian Horror” stands out for its careful research, direct tone, and honest respect for Haitian cultural realities. This document invites further discussion and collaboration, making it a strong addition to any collection on anthropology, folklore, or global pop culture. If you have questions, wish to share your own research, or wish to connect on related projects, please reach out via the provided contact links.
Download your copy and join a deeper exchange on the roots and reach of the Haitian zombie.
Interested in the Original? Baurley, Thomas: 1989 Haitian Horror: Zombification as Myth or Reality?. Florida State University: 1989.
[ This is an update, revision, and expansion of our late 1980’s/early 1990’s pages on the Silver Elves and the Elf Queen’s Daughters we once had published on Geocities, then Faeid.com, then Treeleaves.com, Treeleavesoracle.org, and finally Technogypsie.com. After a bunch of internet research, interviews, correspondence, and discussions, this is the history we have assembled together of all we know about the Silver Elves and the Elf Queen’s Daughters. In addition, those pages are no longer separate and now condensed to a single file since the Silver Elves are now the official representatives of the Elf Queen’s Daughters. The Silver Elves assisted with revisions of this article in February 2011 ]
According to Wikipedia, The “Elf Queen’s Daughters” (EQD) were a group of elves originally operating from the South Bay area of San Francisco, California that later branched off to groups in Seattle, Washington. They had published a newsletter that was themed on “Bringing together male and female elves in celebration of ritual, magic, and the understanding of Fae”. They were Goddess oriented and referred to all of their members as “sisters”. They also possessed similar ecologically-based Pagan beliefs that are common with the modern “otherkin” movement as well as the Church of All Worlds, holding the image of the Earth in like respect to the “Gaia Hypothesis” – as a woman with trees for her hair, rivers for her veins, etc. as their image of the Earth as a physical Goddess, a living breathing Earth. Zardoa, who created ยThe Silver Elvesย was first awakened by the Elf Queenยs Daughters in 1975. The EQD taught Zardoa the casting of Astrological Charts, the I-Ching, and various spells of Enchantment. As an EQD Vortex, Zardoa founded the “Elves of the Southern Woodlands” in 1975 in Carbondale, Illinois soon after his visit to the Aurora Vortex. He was soon joined by Morning Moonstar. Later in 1978, Aeona Silversong also joined the Elves of the Southern Woodlands and Zardoa gifted her that name. A few months later in the summer of 1978, Zardoa awakened Silver Flame who became a part of that vortex before she moved to Gainesville, Fl. She was so much a part of the vortex that when the vortex relocated to Gainesville, Florida in 1979, the group did so to be near Silver Flame. Upon relocation, the Elves of the Southern Woodlands changed their name to the “Sylvan Elves” and in 1980 began publishing the Magical Elven Love Letters in order to share knowledge of the Elven Way to those interested. The ยSylvan Elvesย relocated to California in 1981 and took on the title of the “Silver Elves” as they are known today. In 2008 they relocated to Hawaii and are working on volume 3 of the Magical Elven Love Letters, An Elfin Book of Dreams: An Oracle of Faerie, and the Elfin Book of Changes. They are founders and elders of the “Elven Way”.
Lost Girl: Season 1 (Television NR: Showcase, 2010)
Creator: M.A. Lovretta. Starring: Anna Silk, Kris Holden-Ried and Ksenia Solo; and many others.
Its an expose of the Faerie world hidden within the human world where the season follows on the sensual charismatic Bo who never really felt at home with the humans tortured by not being able to experience love with them as she drains them to death during sex. She soon discovers she is a Succubus and is not alone, but in a world of the Genus Fae and without a tribe. She’s pushed to choose a tribe with the Dark Fae or the Light Fae, and decides to stay neutral. She becomes a renegade and teams up with a gothy girl human sidekick who becomes an investigator for the abnormal while figuring out who Bo’s mom is and her faerie origins. Falling in love with a Lycanthrope, at ends with the Morrigan, fighting off various species of Fae while keeping things secret from the human world. Full of mythology and faerie lore blended into the modern human world … this is a treasure and an action packed series. A must see for any faerie enthusiast. Rating: 5 stars out of 5
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Season 1:
Episode 1: It’s a Fae, Fae, Fae, Fae World (September 2010)
Episode 2: Where There’s a Will, There’s a Fae (19 September 2010)
Chupacabra Sighting Times Two
by Mike Krumboltz
Jul 14, 2010
A barn in Hood County, Texas, has become ground zero in the hunt for the chupacabra. Earlier this week, animal control officer Frank Hackett shot and killed what was unquestionably one of the ugliest creatures to ever walk the planet. That much we know. What’s less clear is whether or not the departed creature was the elusive goat-sucking beast. Interestingly, that wasn’t the only chupacabra sighting around Hood County. A second creature was spotted and killed several miles away. Both appear to be either hairless coyotes, extremely ugly dogs, or, who knows? Maybe the thing they call el chupacabra. In the wake of the discovery, Web searches on “chupacabra sightings” and “chupacabra texas” both roared to life, as did Web lookups for “chupacabra translation” and “chupacabra definition.” According to Virtue Science, the name literally translates to “goat sucker.” Legend states that the beast would attack goats and suck their blood. Think of them as a less sexy version of “Twilight”‘s infamous vampire Edward Cullen. Officer Hackett was careful not to say whether or not this is really the mysterious beast. He’s going to wait for the DNA tests before he makes up his mind. There is one thing he does know: “It wasn’t normal.” And another officer on the scene commented that she’d “never seen anything like it.” Below you can watch the locals discuss their findings, but beware. The images of the creature are quite nasty.
Wishing Trees “Wishing Trees” are very common throughout Ireland, England, and Scotland. They are usually individual trees upon which “folk magic”, “folk spells”, “faerie offerings”, or “prayers” are offered. Sometimes it is particular to a specific species, where the tree lives, or how it looks. Many times they are associated with faeries or a particular Deity. They are very common alongside sacred wells in Ireland and the UK. The practice usually involves petitions or offerings made to the tree, a nature spirit associated with the tree, a Saint, a God/dess, or the ancestors with a request for a wish to be fulfilled.
Coin trees involve the offering of coins to a particular tree. These are often hammered into an old trunk, branch, or small tree. Sometimes these are oaks, rowan trees, hawthorns, ash, or thorn trees. Some hawthorns serve for fertility magic such as a common one in Argyll, Scotland by the Ardmaddy House. Sometimes hundreds of coins are hammered into the bark and wood with the belief that a wish will be granted for each of the coins added. A similar one that is well known is the sacred well of ST. Maree in Loch Maree, Gairloch, Scotland has hundreds of coins hammered into it. Also all over the Yorkshire Dales, such as in the pictures shown here I took during a hike, are found hundreds of coins offered to nature spirits and/or faeries for a granting of a wish.
Clootie Wish Trees(a.k.a. Cloughtie or Rag Trees) are found next to sacred wells throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. This involves the practice of tying a piece of cloth, often called “clouties”, “clooties”, or “cloughties” to ask for an answer to a prayer, a wish, and/or a petition. As the rag decays, so will the illness; or so will the petition come true. It is a form of sympathetic magic. One of the most well-known “wishing trees” is the Madron Well in Cornwall. With the Madron well, a sacred well of healing, it is believed that as the cloth rots, the ailment that one is seeking a cure for disappears. Even Charles Darwin recorded the finding of a “wishing tree” in his travels in Argentina called “Walleechu” which was treated by the local inhabitants as a Deity. It was festooned with offerings such as cigars, food, water, and cloth hung from the branches by bright strips of colored thread. A popular wishing tree in Hong Kong is the “Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree” near the “Tin Hau Temple” in Lam Tsu where paper is tied to an orange and thrown up in the trees that stick will grant the petitioner a wish. The wishing tree next to Brigid’s Well in Kildare is a common tree for petitioning healing requests.
The Wishing Tree at Tobar Ghobnatan Holy Well not only consists of rags, but trinkets, rosaries, jewelry, prayer cards, toys, personal effects, and other items given as offerings. You can see these at Tobar Ghobnatan Wishing Trees. The concept is to leave behind something of yourself or someone that you love who is in need of prayers, healing, or petitions. The concept with the rags is that when it decays so will the illness that it represents. This is a kind of sympathetic magical rite.
Unfortunately, some pilgrims to the sites don’t realize how the spell or magic works. You can see this when they tie a piece of a plastic bag on the tree. Plastic will take forever to decay, and so will the illness it is to represent. If only they knew! In addition to the rags, others leave coins, jewelry, rings, prayer cards, figurines, toys, personal effects, and clothing items such as belts, shoes, garments, and trinkets. The cloutie and Wish trees found at Tobar Ghobnatan are considered to be dedicated to the Matron Saint of Ballyvourney and sacred Bee-Keeping mistress, Saint Ghobnatan holy pilgrimage site and monastic settlement known as “Tobar Ghobnatan”. This is the legendary home of St. Gobnait/Ghobnatan. It is located a kilometer south of the village of Ballyvourney where her church Mรณin Mรณr (a.k.a. Bairnech) was built.
ย Gillighans World * Tel / Fax 00 353 (0)71 30286 / 00 353 (0)71 84100 * Mobile 087 6811690 / 087 6780831 * e-mail [email protected] * Registered Office: Baroncourt, Kilmacowen, Ballysadare, County Sligo * Sligo, Ireland *
Gilligan’s World is a hidden little Faerie theme park, farm, and botanical gardens in the heart of Sligo County in the rolling countryside at the base of the famed Tuatha de Danaan battle mound, the “Knocknashee” the Legendary “Hill of the Faeries”, one of Irelands 7 sacred hills. Mainly centered around children, the park can be a bit of fun for adults and kids alike, especially for those in the faerie persuasion. This little magical kingdom was created by the Baronness of Leyny, the Lady Melody Urquhart (Ph.D) as a faerie habitat to capture the true spirit of Ireland and its mythological/archaeological past. In 1993, she left fame and fortune behind in England as a choreographer / producer / director/ and owner of a finishing school in order to build this sanctuary. Attracted to the Knocknashee, the Mullinabreena, the Hill of the Fairy Mansion or Palace. Complete with miniature model villages, enchanted glades, streams, botanical gardens, a petting zoo, snack shop, gift shop, library, restrooms, car park, picnic areas, and an inn. Streams, forests, wildlife ponds, an aquatic cave, play facilities, with games, quizzes, and puzzles to achieve. The staff is well educated about faerie lore and history. Great place for the kids, schools, coach tours, birthday parties, family groups, and overseas tourists. It has a stone tunnel entrance, with dolmen, an amphitheater, lush green lawns, and inspiration for the wild, wacky, kitch, artistic, imaginative, and fantasy. Its open 7 days a week, Easter through September from 12 to 6 pm on mondays thru fridays, 2 pm to 7 pm on saturdays and sundays. While very kitchy and centered around children, as an adult with a faerie fascination, I enjoyed the park very much – and hope to go back to actually explore the actual Knocknashee. Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5.
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From the dawn of religious thought there has been belief in an Underworld and/or an Otherworld. A place where we are trapped when we die, disturbed or without resolution, that sits upon our world, sometimes referred to as Limbo, Hades, The Waiting Place, and the Inbetween. Many believe in a Hell and a Heaven. Others believe in a Summerland. Others do not. Some believe in Reincarnation. But just about everyone has an opinion about where we go when we die.
The Otherworld is one place that many deduce is where human spirits reside after death. But it’s not just a place for ghosts and poltergeists. Still, it is also often labeled as a place of residence for all of the undead and supernatural, from zombies to vampires, from faeries to trolls, from Gods to Goddesses, and the elemental spirits of nature.
Celtic mythology calls โThe Otherworldโ (Orbis Alia) the โRealm of the Dead, the Home of the Deities, or the stronghold of other spirits, and the Mighty Sidhe.โ Folklore depicts the Otherworld as existing over the western sea or underground, such as in the Sidhe mounds of Ireland and the British Isles, or as a realm layered like a transparency over the world of the living but invisible to our physical sight. Iโm more of an advocate of the belief that the Elemental and Faerie Realm, Realm of Deities, and the Land of the Dead are all โseparateโ realms โฆ layered on top of each other as transparency-like layers of an onion in the worlds within worlds that make up the cosmology of universes in which we live.
The Irish described their Otherworld as underground and sometimes on islands in the Western Sea. I believe they actually saw it as a separate realm from the land of Faeries and the Sidhe, and scholars or folklorists, not being very well versed in the different dimensions, just lumped these worlds into one solitary world separate from the land of the living. There are many different references by the Irish to these realms, including Tir na mBeo (โthe Land of the Livingโ), Mag Mell (โDelightful Plainโ), and Tir na nog (โLand of the Youngโ), among other names.
This is one of the reasons I believe the Irish truly believed them to be different places. Irish mythology talks of these places as a country where the inhabitants never grew old, got sick, or died, where they were eternally at peace and happiness, and one year of occupation in that realm would equate to 100 human years.
The Greeks spoke of a similar place called the โElysiumโ (Greek mythology). Of course, the Greeks and the Irish may have a shared origin in ancient Proto-Indo-European religion, so that might make sense. There are many folktales in both cultures where a beautiful young woman often approaches the hero and sings of these happy lands, offering him an apple or the promise of her love in exchange for his assistance in battle. The myths have him following her on a journey over the sea, and they are never seen again.
Mythological and folklore elements involve boats of glass, chariots, horses, food, drink, and lures of love. Sometimes, the mortal man returns to the human realm to find his previous family and friends deceased for ages and, while believed to have been gone for a few years, were actually gone for hundreds of years. (ex: Tale of Oisin, Thomas the Rymer, Rip Van Winkle, Tale of Bran and Branwen, etc.) There are quests in the tales, and a magical mist always seems to descend upon them. They are always changed and affected by their contact with the Otherworld. How many of these individuals cross over from the human realm to the land of spirits or the dead is abundant in Indo-European folklore and stories. These seem to occur in liminal places, gateways, or on special days of the year.
The Gaelic festival of Samhain (November 1st), as well as Beltane (May 1st), are believed to date when the boundaries between the worlds become even more permeable than usual, and visitors from both realms can travel in between the realms, sometimes on purpose other times accidentally. Folklore is obsessed with the concern about preventing the intrusion of spirits into the human world and the loss of humans to the Otherworlds. Many spells, charms, superstitions, and rituals exist throughout history to prevent the crossing over of humans and entities between these dimensions. Some believe that Irish folklore is a heaven of sorts. Interpreters of Irish poetry and storytelling claim the Otherworld is simply a land of paradise, happiness, and summer.
I am of the opposite view that the realms those stories tell about are a completely different world than the land of the Dead. I believe that there is a land of Faeries (Sidhe, Faerieland or Faerieworld), a land of the Dead (Otherworld), a land of Demons (Underworld / Hades / Hell), a land of Deities (Summerland or Heaven).
Land of the Dead is what I refer to when I discuss the Otherworld. Brittany sees this as an island someplace west of Great Britain. When the souls of the dead leave the human body, they go to the homes of fishermen and knock desperately on their doors for the ferry to these islands. The fishermen would leave their homes and ferry the dead to these lands in ghostly ships called โBag a Noz.โ Christian beliefs on the British Isles talk about a Galicia northern coastal village called โSan Andres de Teixidoโ where a little hermitage consecrated to Saint Andrew houses his bones. Tacitus says this is where the โheavens, seas, and earth end.โ It is believed by many that if you donโt visit this place when you are living, you must visit after you die in the form of a serpent or lizard to take your journey to the land of the dead, according to words from Jesus through Andres. Many Spanish authors also claim this is the starting place for the souls of the dead on their trip to the Other World.
The Irish God of Gateways and the Sea, Manannon Mac Lir, is often seen as a gatekeeper between these Isles of the Dead and the Lands of the Living. In modern fantasy, such as in the tales of the television series โBuffy the Vampire Slayer,โ the gateway to the realms of the dead or the world of demons is called โThe Hellmouth.โ This serves as a magical portal between the worlds. Supposedly, it is a place of increased supernatural energy and a gate that attracts demons and other supernatural creatures as a hot spot. While completely created by the filmmakers, the concept is based on the gateways to the realm of the dead found in mythologies.
The โOtherworldโ as the โSpirit Worldโ or โLand of the Deadโ is seen as a habitation realm of spirits. The belief in spirits comes from the theory that the Earth itself and all living things on the Earth have spirit counterparts that existed before the physical creation, and a living soul consists of a spirit body united with a physical body. The spirit’s existence is composed of organized and refined spirit matter that extends to all life, including plants, animals, and humans.
Even the Christian bible refers to plant spirits as being created as spirits before they were created with physical bodies (Moses 3:5, 9). Under these beliefs, there are premortal and postmortal spirit worlds. Premortal spirits exist initially in โheaven,โ where monotheistic faiths believe their God lives. There is the belief by many that the spirit, after leaving the body from death, yet before the resurrection, is taken by an angel or a reaper to the home of God who gave them life; they are then often judged and/or assigned to a place of paradise or a place of hell and โouter darkness.โ Postmortal spirits inhabit a world where they reside and converse together in the same way as they do in the human world. There is the belief that they conduct similar activities, labor, and life as they did when they were living; it is a place where they learn and prepare for the next life as an extension of mortality. Those at unrest or unfinished with their mortal existence often haunt or are trapped in between the human realm and the Otherworld or the Underworld. Some equate these realms to be located in Middle Earth or akin to Hollow Earth Theory.
Mythological Placenames
The Underworld
is often a realm corresponding to what some call โthe Otherworld.โ In the studies of religion and mythology, this is a generic term that applies to โthe afterlifeโ or any place where newly dead souls go. It is often seen as a neutral or dystopic realm in the afterlife, instead of Heaven or Hell, so prophesized by the religion of Christianity. Many also believe it is a realm that resides atop our own where the unrested / disturbed / or spirits reside until they can pass on to the land of the dead. To some, it is a waiting place or a limbo. Others label the Underworld as Hell or Hades. The Underworld is referred to as Mctlan by the Aztec, Kurnugia by the Babylonians, Naraka or Niraya by the Buddhists, Annwn or Mag Mell by the Celts, Yum gan (??) by the Chinese, Aaru / Anubis / Duat / or Neter-khertet by the Egyptians, Toonela by the Estonians, Tuonela by the Finnish, Elysium / Asphodel Meadows / Hades / Tartaros by the Greeks, Sheol / Gehenna by the Hebrew, Naraka / Yamaloka by the Hindu, Uku Pacha by the Inca, Adlivun by the Inuit, Jahannam / Narr / Janna / Barzakh / Araf by the Islam, Yomi / Jigoku by the Japanese, โJi-Okโ ?? ?? by the Koreans, Aizsaule by the Latvians, Hawaiki by the M?ori, Pellumawida / Degin / Wenuleufu / Ngullchenmaiwe by the Mapuche, Metnal / Xibalba by the Maya, Bulu / Burotu / Murimuria / Nabangatai / Tuma by the Melanesians, Gimle / Hel / Niflheim / Valhall / Vingolf by the Norse, Ekera by the Oromo, Kasanaan / Empiyerno by the Philippine, Avaika (and other names) by the Polynesians, Shipap by the Pueblo, Inferno / Avernus / Orcus / Hades / Pluto by the Romans, Podsvetie / Peklo / Nava by the Slavs, Dilmun / Kur / Irkalla by the Sumerians, Guinee by the Vodou, and Hiyoyoa by the Wagawaga.
The Underworld is ruled by demons, spirits, veli, Cerberus, ghosts, and other supernatural guardians, as well as Baiame / Eingana by the Aboriginal, Allu / Anu / Anunnaku / Ereshkigal / Etemmu / Gallu / Humbaba / Mamitu / Nergal / Utnapishtim by the Akkadians, E Bukura e Dheut by the Albanians, Spandaramat by the Armenians, Mictlantecuhtli / Mictecacihuatl/ Chalmecacihuilt/ Chalmecatl by the Aztec, Erra / Nergal / Ninlil / Sursunabu / Ur-shanabi / Utnapishtim by the Babylonians, Batara Kala / Setesuyara by the Balinese, gNyan by the Bon, Yama / Emma-0- / Yanluo by the Buddhist, Mot by the Canaanites, Aed / Arawn / Cwn Annwn / Donn / Gwyn ap Nudd / Mannanon Mac Lire / Pwyll / Sluagh by the Celts, Gui / Yanluo by the Chinese, Demons / Devil / Satan / Lucifer by the Christians, Aken / Aker / Am-heh / Amunet / Ammit / Andjety / Anubis / Apep / Apis / Astennu / Ha / Imiut / Isis / Mehen / Naunet / Nehebkau / Nephthys / Nun / Nut / Osiris / Ptah / Seker / Thoth by the Egyptian, Jabru by the Elamites, Vanapagan by the Estonians, Charun / Culsu / Februus / Mania / Mantus / Nethuns / Tuchulcha / Vanth by the Etruscans, Kalma / Kipu-Tytti / Kivutar / Lovitar / Surma / Tuonen akka / Tuonetar / Tuoni / Vammatar by the Finnish, Cerberus / Charon / Hades / Keres / Persephone / Styx / Thanatos / Tartaros by the Greeks, Sasuleti by the Georgians, Taโxet / Tia by the Haida, Yamaraja by the Hindu, Kachina by the Hopi, Ala by the Ibo, Supay / Vichama by the Incan, Dwi Shri / Ndara by the Indonesian, Pana / Sedna by the Inuit, Malaโikah by Islam, Hisa-Me / Hotoke / Ika-Zuchi-no-Kami / Jikininki / Shiko-Me / Shiti Dama / Shi-Ryo / Yama by the Japanese, Dur by the Kassite, Preas Eyssaur by the Khmer, Veli / Velu mate / Zemes mate by the Latvian, Mot by the Levantine, Kalunga by the Lunda, Kewa by the Maori, Xibalba by the Maya, Egei / Ratumaibulu / Samulayo by the Melanesian, Chepi by the Narragansett, Estanatelhi by the Navajo, Mctanteot by the Niguiran, Garmr / Hel / Ran by the Norse, Angra Mainyu / Azhi Dahaka / Peri by the Persians, Bathala / Demonyo Demon / Lucifer / Dyablo Diablo / Satan / Diyos God by the Philippine, Horo by the Phoenicians, Men by the Phrygian, Hikuleo (and many others) by the Polynesians, Picullus by the Prussians, Iyatiku by the Pueblo, Cereberus / Dea Tacita / Dis Pater / Egestes / Fames / Inferi Dii / Larenta / Letum / Libitina / Mors / Orcus / Pluto / Proserpina / Viduus by the Romans, Dyavol / Satanaya by the Russians, Yambe-akka by the Saami, Amotken by the Salish, Chebeldei / Kul by the Siberians, Crnobog / Flins / Marzana / Nyia by the Slavs, Edimmu / Ekimmu, Urshanabi (and many others) by the Sumerians, Cur by the Tamil, Heros by the Thracian, Erlik by the Turkic, Baron Cimetiere / Baron La Croix / Baron Samedi / Ghede / Maman Brigitte / Marassa Jumeaux by the Vodoun, Tumudurere by the Wagawaga, Oya by the Yoruba, Nga by the Yurak, and Uhepono by the Zuni. [Retrieved from โhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underworldโ]
Many believe the underworld is hidden within the depths of the Earth; some say the center of the Earth. According to Greek Mythology, it is the Kingdom of the Dead and is ruled over by Hades (residing at the very depths), who is only concerned with increasing the population of the Underworld. It is surrounded by a series of rivers such as the Acheron (river of Woe), Cocytus (river of lamentation), Phlegethon (river of fire), the Styx (river of unbreakable oath), the Lethe (river of forgetfulness). Across the rivers lies the gate to the mortal realm guarded by Cerberus. Many believe the dead area is ferried across the Acheron by Charon to Hermes, who leads them to the gates. Only those who can afford the fare, with coins on their lips or eyelids, receive passage. The rest are trapped between the worlds.
Once in the Underworld, you cannot leave. At the Gates, those are judged by Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus, who pass sentence โ those who are good go to the Elysian Fields, and the rest go through ordeals and often to the depths of the Underworld. Many see the Underworld as an unpleasant realm of misery, death, despair, darkness, and shadow.
Oweynagat Cave – Cave of the Cats – Gateway to the Underworld and the Morrigan’s Palace.
The Sidhe or the Lands of the Fae
Ireland and the British Isles talk of an underground dimension or lands across the western seas hidden by mists where the original inhabitants of Ireland now live. The Mighty Sidhe, the Tuatha De Danann, and perhaps the Fomorians were all driven to this Underworld by waves of invaders such as the Gaels, who came from Spain and were led by chieftain Mil Espeine. It is believed they had no choice but to take refuge under the sidhe, which denotes โhills where the long barrows lay and which is also used to name a special kind of fairies in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, the daoine sidhe.โ There are believed to be Knocks (Irish cnoc), which are hollow hills inhabited by large communities of faeries often led by a King and/or Queen.
The most common sites are located in Ireland and known as Knockma (ruled by Finvarra of the Connaught fae), Knockany (ruled by Aine of the Munster Fae), and Newgrange in county Meath where the Angus og myth takes place, and archaeological ruins still exist; and in Brittany, the Castro of Altamira led by Xana Mega, the Queen of the Fairies.
Many believe that during certain times of the year, humans can find sidhe as the faeries can often be seen dancing under the moonlight. Others believe faerie gates or portals connect these realms, from archways in trees, holes in stones, and fairie rings of mushrooms. The Sacred Isles of the Western Sea are known as Isles of Paradise, where supernatural beings reside, from Sirens to Mer-folk and the Lands of the Young. The waters surrounding these isles have magical properties.
Sterile women perform rituals at La Lanzada Beach (Galicia), where nine successive waves wash over them to help them become pregnant in these lands. On some of these Islands, the Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes reside. Anglesey (Min), located on the Northern Welsh Coast, is a sacred island of the druids of Britain; the Scilly islands, where archaeological remains of proto-historical temples have been found; and some of the Hebrides Islands, which were, in the Gaelic tradition, home of ghosts and demons: on one of them, Skye, the Irish hero Cuchulainn was educated by the war goddess Scathach. [wikipedia]
