Hi all,
upon request I am reposting here a bit of research on the said subject
<<Hi Don, you asked me like ages ago if hellenic mythology has anything on sylphs and indeed it has
the name is Muses (inspirations), etheric helpers, of which the artistic 7 are the best known
there are other etheric assistants, like Nereeids, the underwater daughter of Nereus and a bunch of others
Cool?
Cheers>>
Would be great to know if we can have more input from other sources, mythologies
Cheers all yet again
It’s funny to me that the writings of both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S Lewis (especially the second) that I read as a child that helped me believe that it wasn’t wrong to think that there were beings who lived in the trees and wild places. I knew they were there but heard a lot from church that this was wrong. These authors were held as good Christians and yet much of what they wrote based much on the pagan Greek mythology, with the nymphs, naiads, nereids, and such. Cultures who don’t espouse beliefs that nature and the Earth are filled with wild evil things who need to be cast out as demons usually recognise the beings who watch over and work in the world.
Sidenote, Tolkien was a devout Catholic but he said he had vivid memories of a great land being washed under the ocean, which I believe he assumed was Atlantis. In his Lord of the Rings world, he had beings called the Valar who helped the Divine Source sing creation into existence; they were much like gods and goddesses. His race of elven people remind me of the Lemurians. All kinds of elemental, divine, and magical beings populated his writings. Tis’ a good thing he was considered a good Christian man or else there would be many children out there who wouldn’t be allowed to read his works. And C.S. Lewis’s books are very plainly full of Hellenic mythological creatures and practices; the centaur astrologers were the good guys in his books
The world is much more alive than many modern people ever consider.
Thought I would share a decent source on the subject, since I usually have a hard time finding this kind of stuff.
“Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” by Charles MacKay used to be one of the most popular books recommended by financial analysts and investors.
It of course mainly details market bubbles, but the author devotes a couple of chapters to slyphs, elementals, alchemy, the witch trials etc, but in order to document these ‘delusions’. The parts on elementals and slyphs etc were quite memorable. Just reading some of the info and dismissing the authors opinion provides a bit of insight, as the book was written in the early eighteen hundreds, and the author apparently did a fair amount of research back then. Just keep in mind his agenda and perspective.
There are apparently several different editions out there, the one I read was a reprint of a revised editions from the 1870s I believe, which had additional material, checking amazon, apparently some of the new editions are condensed, and only have the financial chapters. Might be worth checking the library or doing inter-library loan for one of the old hardcover editions. The versions you are looking for have over 600 or 700 pages, overall a very interesting book, even the financial part.
Forgot to check, but since it is public domain now, all the volumes are on project gutenburg, free to download and read, http://www.gutenberg.org
Just search by author for mackay, charles
