Class III: The Others
or horns. To ordinary folk, these can appear monstrous
(from the Latin monstrum, meaning “divine portent of
misfortune”). Today, the mundane world considers
such people as medical anomalies and mutations. But
in ancient times, they were the stuff of legends, giving
rise to many tales of “monsters.” The stories told about
them eventually evolved far beyond the reality, as
myths are wont to do...Lesson 2. Fauns, Satyrs & Sileni
Paintings and stories from ancient Greece, Rome, and
other countries frequently describe people with tails.
Sometimes they also have shaggy legs, hoofed feet,
animal ears, and even horns. These are variously called
satyrs, fauns, or sileni. Satyrs (called fauns by the
Romans) are half-human and half-goat; and the sileni
are half-human and half-horse. These are rural crea-
tures associated with the fields and woods and are
often shown sporting with Nymphs. In modern Greece
and Crete they are referred to collectively as calli-
cantzari, and they are popularly portrayed by cos-
tumed mummers during the 12 days following Christ-
mas. Many people dismiss them as purely imaginary
creatures, but I know better...
Many years ago, in the Summer of 1981, Morn-
ing Glory and I were on Chautauqua with one of our
living unicorns (Bedivere)—traveling around the Pa-
cific Northwest with a whole bunch of amazing per-
formers from the Oregon Country Faire. One place we
stopped for the night was a big hippie commune some-
where up in Washington, where we feasted and par-
tied in a huge barn with stained glass windows. It was
sometime in mid-July, and there was a full eclipse of
the Moon that night.
That evening, a woman and her young daughter
approached us outside in the silver moonlight. The
mother said: “You have a magickal creature. My daugh-
ter is also a magickal creature, and she would like you
to know...” Whereupon the little girl turned around
and shyly lifted up the back of her dress to show us.- Introduction:
Here There Be Monsters
ODAY THERE IS ONLY ONE SPECIES OF
humanity on the planet—Homo
sapiens sapiens. All humans
throughout the world have less
genetic diversity than can be
found in a single troupe of chim-
panzees. Samplings of mitochon-
drial DNA (passed only through
the mother-lines) indicate that all people now living
can trace our maternal ancestry to a single woman
who lived in Africa about 200,000 years ago. More-
over, our species was reduced to only a few thousand
about 65,000 years ago—possibly due to a huge volca-
nic eruption in Sumatra.
However, in former times there
were other humanoid
species as well —and
some people consider
that remnants may still
survive in the form of
Sasquatch (“Big-
foot”) and Yeti (the
“Abominable
Snowman”). In-
deed, woodwoses,
or “hairy wild
men,” are fre-
quently depicted in medieval art. En-
counters with such creatures, as well as any of the
great anthropoid (“manlike”) apes, would be quite
adequate to inspire stories of monstrous man-like be-
ings such as trolls and ogres.
But even among members of our own human spe-
cies, there can be a greater range of physical forms
than most people consider. “Little people” can be only
two or three feet tall, while others may grow to be
towering giants over eight feet (making great basket-
ball players!). In ancient times (and even today), such
people often formed communi-
ties of their own, if there were
enough of them. And then there
are the truly unusual and unique
ones—people born with ex-
tra or fewer limbs, digits, or
eyes; or two people fused to-
gether into one body, as with
“Siamese twins.” Some may
have skin covered in scales, hair,
or warts like a toad. Others
may have hoofed feet, tails,WoodwosesCallicantzariCorrected pages 3rd printing.2.p65 58 6/10/2004, 4:03 PM