Legends and Mythology

Rise of the Phoenix: There are Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Egyptian, and Native American counterparts of the Phoenix. (Fêng-Huang, Ho-oo, Firebird, Benu, and Yel respectively). All of these birds are identified with the sun."A mythical bird that never dies, the phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information about our environment and the events unfolding within it. The phoenix, with its great beauty, creates intense excitement and deathless inspiration." - The Feng Shui Handbook, feng shui Master Lam Kam Chuen

Classical Arabian Phoenix: Perhaps the most well known, the Arabian phoenix was a fabulous mythical bird, said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Making it's home near a cool well, the Phoenix would appear at dawn every morning to sing a song so enchanting that even the great sun god Apollo would stop to listen. It was said that only one phoenix existed at any one time, and it is very long-lived with a life span of 500 years, 540 years, 1000 years, 1461 years or even 12,994 years (according to various accounts). As the end of its life approached, the phoenix would build a pyre nest of aromatic branches and spices such as myrrh, sets it on fire, and is consumed in the flames. After three days the birth -- or as some legends say a rebirth -- the phoenix arises from the ashes. According to some sources, the phoenix arose from the midst of the flames. The young phoenix gathers the ashes of its predecessor into an egg of myrrh and takes it to Heliopolis, the city of the sun, to deposit it on the alter of the sun god. A symbolic representation of the Death and rebirth of the sun. It is also described as being either eagle like or heron like. It lives on dew, killing nothing and crushing nothing that it touches. Generally considered the king of birds. It has alternatively been called the bird of the sun, of Assyria, of Arabia, of the Ganges, the long-lived bird and the Egyptian bird...

There are countless deities associated with love and/or sexuality in every culture throughout history, here are some..

Aphrodite: In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture. According to Hesiod, she was born when Uranus (the father of the gods) was castrated by his son Cronus . Cronus threw the severed genitals into the ocean which began to churn and foam about them. From the aphros ("sea foam") arose Aphrodite, and the sea carried her to either Cyprus or Cythera. Hence she is often referred to as Kypris and Cytherea. Homer calls her a daughter of Zeus and Dione. After her birth, Zeus was afraid that the gods would fight over Aphrodite's hand in marriage so he married her off to the smith god Hephaestus the steadiest of the gods. He could hardly believe his good luck and used all his skills to make the most lavish jewels for her. He made her a girdle of finely wrought gold and wove magic into the filigree work. That was not very wise of him, for when she wore her magic girdle no one could resist her, and she was all too irresistible already.

 She loved gaiety and glamour and was not at all pleased at being the wife of sooty, hard-working Hephaestus. Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals. Among her mortal lovers, the most famous was perhaps Adonis . Some of her sons are Eros, Anteros, Hymenaios and Aeneas (with her Trojan lover Anchises. She is accompanied by the Graces. Her festival is the Aphrodisiac which was celebrated in various centers of Greece and especially in Athens and Corinth. Her priestesses were not prostitutes but women who represented the goddess and sexual intercourse with them was considered just one of the methods of worship. Aphrodite was originally an old-Asian goddess, similar to the Mesopotamian Ishtar and the Syro-Palestinian goddess Ashtart. Her attributes are a.o. the dolphin, the dove, the swan, the pomegranate and the lime tree. In Roman mythology Venus is the goddess of love and beauty and Cupid is love's messenger...

The remains of an ancient Greek city submerged beneath the waves and dating back over 5000 years may have been the basis for Atlantis and is proving to be one of the mostimportant finds of its kind anywhere in the world."The secrets of a lost city that may have inspired one of the world"s most enduring myths – the fable of Atlantis – have been brought to light from beneath the waters off southernGreece."

View: Full Article | Source: GuardianUnlimited.

In the tales of the supernatural, cats have always played a prominent role. If a black cat crosses your path, it is a sign of bad luck. And stories about witches and witchcraft usually center around a black cat also. Here in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, we have the legend of the Wampus Cat. This fearsome creature has been talked about for hundreds of years. It was a part of Cherokee Indian mythology that was later passed on to the white settlers and included in their folklore. The legendary beast that is today called the Wampus Cat was once known as Ewah by the Cherokees. Just the sight of this creature was enough to drive people insane, they said. The ancient tale about the Wampus Cat maintained that it was actually a Cherokee woman who did not trust her husband. One night, her husband went out with a group of fellow warriors to go on a hunt. His suspicious wife put on a mountain lion fur coat and went out to spy on him. When she was found out, the medicine man punished her by forcing the woman to wear the coat forever. Her spirit still wanders the Southern Appalachians in the form of the Wampus Cat, according to a Web site. There is another ancient Cherokee tale about the Wampus Cat. A long time ago, the creature had been terrorizing the villages and causing all kinds of misery for the Cherokees. One young warrior decided that his people had endured enough. He went out in search of the Wampus Cat in order to kill it. However, when he finally encountered the creature, he was driven insane. His brave and devoted wife decided she would take care of the problem herself but use a different tactic. She put on a mask and went up into the mountains searching for the creature. She managed to sneak up behind it. The cat turned and saw her fearsome mask. The creature was so terrified it ran away and was never seen again. However, it is said that the spirit of the young woman still wanders the mountains wearing her mask. As the white settlers moved into the Appalachians, they learned about the legend of the Wampus Cat and it became a part of their lore. To this day, folks living in Knoxville and other parts of east Tennessee claimed to have seen it. They report that it is.