Twelve Menacing & Protective Mythological Figures
The term mythology comes from the Greek words mythos (“story of the people”) and logos (“word”) and so is defined as the spoken (later written) story of a culture. Modern scholars have divided myths into different types which serve many different cultural purposes.
Myths serve to explain the origin of the world, how various aspects of that world operate and why, the meaning of suffering and death and, always, serve to reinforce cultural values. Central to these stories are the supernatural characters – gods, heroes, demons, spirits – whose purpose is to convey the message.
These figures, whatever other purposes they served, were expressions of the fears and hopes of the people. The gods, in every ancient civilization, were considered benevolent in general, but there were always some deities who chose to make life difficult for humanity.
In the same way that one will tend to be more careful to humor and placate an intimidating teacher, professor, or supervisor more than one who is gracious and easy-going, the ancients were careful to make provision for menacing forces before thanking those who only meant them well. Amulets and charms, votive figures, incantations and prayers, gestures and daily devotions were used to protect one's self from supernatural threats and, in some cases, these practices found expression in a specific supernatural being.
Twelve Mythological Figures
The following list comes from cultures around the world, and the figures are chosen as representative of types. There are thousands of such figures from world mythology, and all have their own individual characteristics and particular functions in the culture that gave birth to them.
The twelve entities under consideration are:
The Manananggal – Philippines
Some of these are deities but the majority are supernatural entities endowed with powers lesser than the gods but far greater than human abilities. The underlying form of all the creatures signifies change, transformation, which is as inevitable as the human resistance to it. Humans derive comfort from the known and familiar and tend to shrink from, or actively resist, perceived threats to their established norm.
At the same time, there are obvious challenges in life which common sense dictates one should try to avoid such as death, disease, and loss, and these figures represented those threats and the hope of avoiding them. Among the greatest fears of the ancients, judging from the number of artifacts and incantations concerning it, was infant mortality because it threatened not only population growth but social stability.
