llieo:

primaeros:

newjerseykannushi:

jesuslizardjournal:

amberosine:

vonbaghager:

neon-casket:

bookofmirrors:

Most of you probably know this is one of the Angel’s from Hellboy. But did you know that this is actually a more accurate protrayel of what angels are apparently supposed to look like according to The Bible? Although, and correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I remember they had 6 wings, covered with eyes on the wings. And had two eyes on their face, but used 2 wings to cover their face at all times, because if a mortal ever saw their face they would die. Angels from the bible are fucking terrifying honestly. :P 

boring personal tidbit/rambling: When I was a kid I used compulsive behaviors to control my extreme anxiety. I was also raised Southern Pentecostal which focuses a lot on Old Testament scripture. We were told about what angels really looked like in Sunday School when I was 6 or so. The bible mentions multiple faces, being covered in eyeballs, constant singing, lion heads, etc. This spawned an extreme fear of angels and they became the butt of my anxieties (“If I open and close this door 10 times I won’t see an angel”). I use to pray to never see an angel, and I had recurring nightmares that my sister locked me in a room with cement angel statues that came to life and approached me while screaming. Then they would skin me and sacrifice me.

If you think about it, angels are kind of horrifying. Besides being described as beasts and monsters, they’re practically brainless drones. Heavenly angels are only one step removed from demons. The only difference is demons fell from heaven because they chose to follow Lucifer… who was an angel (angel of music and one of god’s favorites). So they are these eyeball covered animal mashed up monsters who were only created to worship for eternity (part of humanities creation was so that something would choose to love god, not just worship him because they were created to). Angels fall into a lot of new age and conspiracy beliefs too which my church believed and taught. We were taught that the supernatural realms went in the order of Heaven, Hell, then Earth. So when the angels fell from heaven with Lucifer, some fell through hell and landed on Earth. We were taught they intermarried with early humans and created giants (Goliath’s origins) and taught witch craft to women (make-up, sluttiness, etc.) Imagine learning all of that nonsense as a 5 year old kid.

I love it when people actually know Angels are not winged bishies that sparkle and love mankind. They’re abominations, they’re alien, they’re beyond us. They’re creatures that biology as we know it does not apply to. Often they do not love mankind, they love God and God alone.

Really, Neon Genesis Evangeleon had a better idea of what Angels should really look and behave like (mindlessly subservient and driven towards their goal) than any other work of fiction I’ve seen so far. Though I’ve heard some tidbits from Supernatural at least, which has angels taking on human form but describing just what they look like when they’re not wearing their skin.

The angel that visited Mary first said “Do not be afraid”

Supposedly, somewhere in a work of text, Christ is described as a gored sheep with many heads and many horns and maybe many nimbuses/halos as well.

The Abrahamic religions were fucking metal, man. 

Righty-o, I used to be something of a freak when it came to angelogy back in middle/high school, I guess you can chalk it up to that ol’ eighth grader syndrome but angels are split into different ranks with their appearance becoming more alien and bizzare the higher up you go. From bottom to top we have…

The Third Sphere:

Angels: Basic messengers to humankind.

Archangels: Superiors to angels. There seems to be a differentiation between archangels and “Archangels” who are senior named angels that can belong to a different rank, i.e Raphael, Gabriel, Michael, etc.

Principalities/Rulers: They wear crowns or wield scepters. They oversee groups of people and inspire things like art and science.

Second Sphere:

Powers/Authorities: Warrior angels, they oversee the distribution of power among the rulers of man.

Virtues: They oversee the movement of the cosmos. 

Dominions: The angels who are Lords among angels and preside over nations. They look much like the everyday thought of angels but orbs of light above their heads. 

First Sphere: 

Thrones/Orphanim: Living symbols of justice and authority. They appear as a beryl-coloured wheel-within-a-wheel, their rims covered with hundreds of eyes.

Cherubim: Cherubim have four faces: one of each a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. They have four conjoined wings covered with eyes, a lion’s body figure, and they have ox’s feet. They guard the way to the Tree of Life and God’s Throne.

Seraphim: The caretakers of God’s Throne. The name Seraphim means “the burning ones.” The Seraphim have six wings. Two wings cover their face, two cover their body, and two cover their feet.

So glad I saved this Megami Tensei diagram: [x]

mmanalysis:

darkjez:

chadmsicard:

I dig this for a couple of reasons.

First, it’s got great style.

Perhaps more interestingly though, is that it’s a very different tone as far as the direction of aggression. Most people know the Clash of the Titans version where she’s  on the hunt for him once he shows up. But let’s face it, Medusa really gets the shaft from destiny overall. She starts out as a priestess in a temple who gets raped by Poseidon and gets cursed for it as if it was all her fault. The result is that she’s basically doomed to live without human contact for eternity. Then she’s hunted down specifically for her head by a demigod whose got all sorts of great toys and backing to get the job done and depicted as some sort of horrible monster for defending her turf from folks out to kill her.

There are some really interesting theories about regarding just what the whole ‘gorgon’ thing was really about from a historical perspective. It’s really quite a tragic tale about the rise of patriarchy and the purge of goddess-centric worshipers. There are also parallels to the Apollo versus Typhon story which is part of the same era. Harsh.

See, even the demystified stories from ancient times are fascinating!

deviantart:

Medusa by *MattRhodes

Reblogging for commentary. 

I wish there were more nuanced portrayals of Medusa than as just a scary, snake lady.

folkthings:

lunacylover:

Old Slavic symbol of Fern Flower

The fern flower Chervona Ruta is a magic flower in Slavic and Baltic mythology.

According to the myth, this flower blooms for a very short time on the eve of the Summer solstice. The flower brings fortune to the person who finds it. In various versions of the tale, the fern flower brings luck, wealth, or the ability to understand animal speech. However, the flower is closely guarded by evil spirits and anyone who finds the flower will have access to earthly riches, which have never benefited anyone, so the decision to pick the flower or leave it alone is left up to the individual.

In Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, the holiday is practiced on the eve of Ivan Kupala Day. Young girls wear wreaths in their hair and couples go into the woods searching for the fern flower. When they come out of the woods, if the male is wearing the girl’s wreath, it means the couple is engaged to be married. According to folklore, the flower is Chervona Ruta. The flower is yellow, but according to legend, it turns red on the eve of Ivan Kupala Day.