Pets and Magical Creatures

Bats! Bats! Bats!

Large numbers of bats are fleeing the southern hemisphere. Why ? The bathologists can't explain the phenomenon.

It seems that the bats(creatures extremely sensitive to changes in climate or water) know somthing we don't.

Could it be somthing with We-know-who or is it just coincidence that he is at large now.

Only time will tell.....

By: Ruffo Wyrm

Werewolves

Interest in werewolves can be traced back as far as the ancient Greeks and Romans who wrote about those able to turn themselves into wolves. Telltale signs of a werewolf in human form include hair under the skin and eyebrows that meet between the eyes. The werewolf takes on its animal form in the moonlight, especially the light of the full moon.

Its wolfskin is virtually impenetrable, unless attacked by a weapon that has been specially blessed. Any wounds the werewolf receives remain when it returns to human form.

By: Jasmin Lace Chambers

(The Maiden and the Unicorn, c. 1602, Fresco
Palazzo Farnese, Rome)

Unicorns in Danger of Extinction

While highly sought after and well known by both the wizarding and muggle world, few know of the actual scarcity of these silver beasts.

A thousand years ago, unicorns were common enough that they entered the lore of muggles. However, because even then they were rarely seen, the tales changed the unicorn's appearance.

The muggle stories varied from a lion with a horn, to a horse with a horn, and anything in between. But even for wizards, seeing a unicorn today is a rare thing. Even though we know that they still exist, unicorns are becoming rarer, and rarer, and now are almost extinct, found in only the deepest forests around the world.

While unicorns once lived for several thousand years, today, their lives are shortened by poisoning from the muggle factories, as well as an occaisional few who are slain because of their blood. It is beleived that there are only around 200 unicorns left in the world, most living in regions which are unsuitable, because humans now live too close to where they once did.

There are only a few institutions which work to save the unicorn from complete extinction. Some of these organisations include the Unicorn Protection Foundation (UPF), and the British Society for the Preservation of Unicorns(BSPU). It would be much appreciated if anyone would volunteer to help save these creatures of the eldest magic.

By:
Aliana Starbolt

The

GORGON MEDUSA

Her Name and Origin:

Medusa means "sovereign female wisdom".

Medusa was actually imported into Greece from Libya where she was worshipped by the Libyan Amazons as their Serpent-Goddess. Medusa (Metis) was the destroyer aspect of the Great Triple Goddess also called Neith, Anath, Athene or Ath-enna in North Africa and Athana in 1400 c. BC Minoan Crete.

She was originally an aspect of the goddess Athene from Libya where she was the Serpent-Goddess of the Libyan Amazons. In her images, her hair sometimes resembles dread locks, showing her origins in Africa. There she had a hidden, dangerous face. It was inscribed that no one could possibly lift her veil, and that to look upon her face was to glimpse ones own death as she saw your future.

She has historically been seen as the archetype of the nasty mother, however she is far more complex.

She symbolizes:

*Sovereign female wisdom

*The female mysteries

*All the forces of the Great Goddess: Cycles of Time as past, present and future; Cycles of Nature as life, death and rebirth.

* She is universal Creativity and Destruction in eternal Transformation.

* She is the Guardian of the Thresholds and the Mediatrix between the Realms of heaven, earth and the underworld.

* She is Mistress of the Beasts.

* Latent and Active energy.

* Connection to the earth; the union of heaven and earth.

* She destroys in order to recreate balance.

* She purifies.

She is the ultimate truth of reality, the wholeness beyond duality. She rips away our mortal illusions. Forbidden yet liberating wisdom. The untamable forces of nature. As a young and beautiful woman she is fertility and life. As crone she consumes by devouring all on the earth plane. Through death we must return to the source, the abyss of transformation, the timeless realm. We must yield to her and her terms of mortality. She reflects a culture in harmony with nature.

By: Medusa

The Harpies

The Harpies are hybrid monsters called sometimes the hounds of Zeus. They were bird-bodied and girl-faced, and snatched away both things and living beings. They were, in Greek mithology, the children of Thaumas & Electra.

In earlier versions of Greek myth, Harpies were described as beautiful, winged maidens. Later they became winged monsters with the face of an ugly old woman and equipped with crooked, sharp talons. They were represented carrying off persons to the underworld and inflicting punishment or tormenting them. Those persons were never seen again. They live on the Strophades. The Harpies are probably the personification of storm winds.

By: Aylin Chateaunoir