MERCURIUS

MERCURIUS 

“The spiritus Mercuialis and his transformations represented as a monstrous dragon. It is a quaternary, in which the fourth is at the same time the unity of the three, the unity of being symbolized by the mystagogue Hermes. The three are: Luna, Sol and coniunctio Solis et Lunae in Taurus, the House Of Venus. Together They form ☿= Mercurius.” 

Carl Jung, The Collected Works Of C.G. Jung

MINOTAUR

MINOTAUR

“Minotaur, in Greek mythology, was a fabulous monster of Crete that had the body of a man and the head of a bull. It was the offspring of Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, and a snow-white bull sent to Minos by the god Poseidon for sacrifice. Minos, instead of sacrificing it, kept it alive; Poseidon as a punishment made Pasiphae fall in love with it. Her child by the bull was shut up in the Labyrinth created for Minos by Daedalus.” 

Encyclopedia Britannica 

“It was built to house the fearsome Minotaur, a creature born of the union of Parsiphaneë and a white bull, a monster half man and half bull itself. Ringed by a hedge or thorns, it lived in the very centre of the Labyrinth, existing only on human flesh. It was said that no man could survive the onslaught of its scythe-like horns.” 

“He gave Ariadne a ball of silken cord with which Theseus would be able to find his way through the Labyrinth. If she tied one end of the cord to the lintel of the maze doorway, the ball would unwind itself, threading its way through the twists and turns of the passages to the spot at the very centre where the Minotaur waited for its prey.” 

Michael Gibson, Gods, Men and Monsters

QUINOTAUR

QUINOTAUR 

“The Quinotaur has the head, chest and forelegs of a bull and the body and tail of a fish or serpent.”

Nicolle R. Murray, Naturally Monstrous and Magical Creatures of Western Europe 

“A far older legend of the Merovingian bloodline exists. Meroveus, the progenitor, was said to be sired by the Quinotaur, Neptune’s half-bull, half-fish sea-god or demigod.” 

Nialla Ni Macha, The Witches’ Almanac

AMMUT

AMMUT 

“Creature in the netherworld, usually depicted with the head of a crocodile, the foreparts of a lion (or panther) and the rear of a hippopotamus, whose principal epithets were ‘devourer of the dead’ and ‘great of death’. She is portrayed in vignettes illustrating Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead. The scenes show her waiting beside the scales in the Hall of the Two Truths, where the hearts of the dead were weighed against the feather of Maat. It was Ammut who consumed the hearts of those whose evil deeds made them unfit to proceed into the afterlife.” 

Ian Shaw & Paul Nicholson, The Dictionary Of Ancient Egypt

CHNOUBIS

CHNOUBIS

“This ringstone bears the name of the Egyptian Gnostic solar god Chnoubis, a lion-headed serpent.” 

The Penn Museum

“The lion-headed serpent was popular in magic and is often found pictured on amulets. The daimon is a syncretistic combination of the Egyptian creator god Khnum, the serpent Kneph and the star Knm.“ 

Hans Dieter Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri

“Kneph, a winged egg or globe with serpent or serpents.” 

James Stevens Curl, The Egyptian Revival

GLYCON

GLYCON
“In the middle of the 2nd century CE, on the shore of the Black Sea, any visitor could have had his future foretold by a divine snake with a human-like head, called Glycon. The serpent and his prophet Alexander were so respected, even the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius asked them for help.”

“The serpent’s head looked out from Alexander’s beard and it bore a striking resemblance to a human face.

Viktor Susnyak, Glycon, The Fake Snake Oracle and Alexander, His Prophet

“When they went in, the thing, of course, seemed to them a miracle, that the formerly tiny snake within a few days had turned into so great a serpent, with a human face, moreover, and tame!”

Lucian Of Samosata, Alexander The False Prophet

“The next morning he leapt forth into the city’s marketplace frenziedly hailed the city as blessed for being on the point of receiving the manifestation of the god, ran to the temple side and scooped around in the mud until he dredged up the egg, breaking it in his hand to reveal the young snake, to the amazement of the bystanders, who raised a shout, welcomed the god, called the city blessed, and cried out prayers for riches and health.”

“The marble and the bronzes portray Glycon as a rampant snake with sami-humanoid face and human hair, compatibly with Lucian’s description of the god. They also tell us things Lucian does not, namely that Glycon wore his hair long in the Pythagorean fashion of his sponsor, that he boasted prominent humanoid ears with which to heed his petitioners, and a final tail that was either bifurcated, trifurcated or leonine.”

Daniel Ogden, Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult In the Greek and Roman Worlds

PAZUZU

PAZUZU

“This amulet took the form of either a grotesque head of [Pazuzu] carved in the round or a bronze or stone plaque of the whole creature, with a bird-like chest, human arms and legs terminating in talons with one hand holding a thunderbolt aloft, four wings and a curled tail.”
H.W.F. Saggs, The Babylonians

“Pazuzu is represented in statuettes and engravings with bulging eyes in a canine face, a scaly body, snake-headed penis, the talons of a large bird, and enormous wings.”

Joshua J. Mark, World History Encyclopedia

“He stands on two legs and has human arms ending in claws, with two pairs of wings, a scorpion's tail, a snake-headed, erect penis, and a horned, bearded head with bulging eyes and snarling canine mouth.“

Sarah Graff, Pazuzu: Beyond Good and Evil

LEONTOCEPHALINE GOD

LEONTOCEPHALINE GOD

“Where the lion-headed figure, 'this cruel, ugly deity, clearly appears with his serpent, his four wings, as the master of the world’.”

Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin, The Western Response to Zoroaster

“The Mithraic lion-man was usually depicted entwined by a serpent with the serpent's head resting on his leonine visage, which often appeared menacing if not infernal. The lion-man was variously portrayed with keys and scepters.”

Yuri Stoyanov, The Other God: Dualist Religions From Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy

ABRAXAS

ABRAXAS

“"The Basilidian sect of Gnostics, of the second century, claimed Abraxas as their supreme god, and said that Jesus Christ was only a phantom sent to earth by him. They believed that his name contained great mysteries, as it was composed of the seven Greek letters which form the number 365, which is also the number of days in a year. Abraxas, they though, had under his command 365 gods, to whom they attributed 365 virtues, one for each day. The older Mythologists placed him among the number of Egyptian gods, and demonologists have described him as a demon, with the head of a king and with serpents forming his feet. He is represented on ancient amulets, with a whip in his hand. Many stones and gems cut in various symbolic forms such as the head of a foul, were worn by the Basilidians as amulets.”

Lewis Spence, An Encyclopedia Of the Occult

“In describing Abraxas, C. W. King says: "Bellermann considers the composite image, inscribed with the actual name Abraxas, to be a Gnostic Pantheos, representing the Supreme Being, with the Five Emanations marked out by appropriate symbols. From the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, spring the two supporters, Nous and Logos, expressed in the serpents, symbols of the inner senses, and the quickening understanding; on which account the Greeks had made the serpent the attribute of Pallas. His head--that of a cock--represents Phronesis, that bird being the emblem of foresight and of vigilance. His two arms hold the symbols of Sophia and Dynamis: the shield of Wisdom and the whip of Power."

Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings Of All Things

WAKANDAGI

 WAKANDAGI

"This is the name of a water monster in the traditions and beliefs of the Omaha and Mohawk Native American people of the United States. This massive being has a long serpentine body with horns on its head and legs with hooves, all of which resemble those of a deer."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

AIGAMUXA

AIGAMUXA

"In the mythology of Khoisin people of South Africa, the Aigamuxa are man-eating monsters that inhabit the dunes of the Kalahari Desert. These curious humanoids are described as having their eyes placed in the instep of their feet so that they are obliged to stop and lift a foot in order to see where they are going. Although they otherwise look relatively like humans, their huge bodies and heads make them fearsome adversaries, mainly because of their enormous fanglike teeth."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

MOKÊLE-MBÊMBE

 

MOKÊLE-MBÊMBE

"This is the name of a marine monster in the early travelers' lore of the West African coast. The Mokêle-Mbêmbe was said to be a monster resembling an elephant but having a single horn from its head and a tail resembling that of a crocodile or a scaly serpent."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

ROKUROKUBI

ROKUROKUBI
By day, rokurokubi appear to be ordinary women. By night, however, their bodies sleep while their necks stretch to an incredible length and roam around freely. Sometimes their heads attack small animals, sometime they lick up lamp oil with their long tongue, and sometimes they just cause mischief by scaring nearby people.

Matthew Meyer, Yokai.com

Among them are famous yuirei (ghosts), teenage (supernatural beings with both human and bird-like characteristics) and rokurokubi (phantoms with impossibly stretching necks, or heads that come off and fly around), all of which appear in 

Laficadio Hearn, Japanese Ghost Stories

“A rokuro-kubi is ordinarily conceived as a goblin whose neck stretches out to great lengths, but which nevertheless always remains attached to its body.”

Lafcadio Hearn, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies Of Strange Things

KRAKOW MONSTER

KRAKOW MONSTER
"The monster of Krakow, born in 1547, was a terrifying demonic figure in appearance, with webbed claws instead of hands and feet, a forked tail, flaming eyes, a sharp trunk-like nose and lion-like mouth, and animals' heads at its armpits, elbows and knees."
Jennifer Spinks, Monstrous Births

MARGYGR

MARGYGR

"This is the name of a type of mermaid in the traditions and folklore of the people of Greenland. The Margygr is described as hideously ugly with piercing eyes and a flat face."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

JERSEY DEVIL

JERSEY DEVIL

References to the 'Jersey Devil' do not appear in newspapers or other printed material until the twentieth century. The first major flap came in 1909. It is from these sightings that the popular image of the creature—batlike wings, horse head, claws, and general air of a dragon—became standardized."

Brian Regal, The Jersey Devil: The Real Story

AHUIZOTL

AHUIZOTL

"This is a cannibal creature from the folklore and legends of Mexico. It is described as looking somewhat like a dog in size and shape but with the paws of a monkey and a human hand at the extremity of its tail. This prehensile tail and hand were the means by which it seized its victims from the water's edge and dragged them down into the murky waters of its abode."

"The eyes, teeth, and nails were the delicacies sought by the Ahuizotl."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons

RAVENNA

RAVENNA

"It was depicted as having the torso and head of a human with either bat-like or eagle-like wings from the shoulders instead of arms. It had one leg covered in scales, upon which was a third eye and ending in one enormous eagle's talon."

Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons