Celtic fairy traditions
Morrígan
A war goddess in the survey’s account of the Badb.
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Names and descriptions of beings change across texts and traditions. Begin with a particular account, then follow the recorded relationships, images and stories that help explain its role.
204 entries · A–Z
Celtic fairy traditions
A war goddess in the survey’s account of the Badb.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
The skilled builder whose art cannot prevent his fall but constructs the infernal capital.
Theosophical astral cosmology
A nonhuman evolutionary kingdom in Leadbeater’s classification of fairies.
Egyptian funerary religion
Sisterly mourner and guardian of Osiris’s restored body.
Dante, Inferno
The centaur assigned to escort the travellers through the first round of the seventh circle.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
The ancient consort of Chaos, seated in the court of the unformed deep.
Dante, Inferno
A giant whose incomprehensible cry is answered by Virgil’s direction to use his horn.
Theosophical astral cosmology
An exalted mode of service given a specialized Theosophical interpretation.
Egyptian funerary religion
Starry sky goddess and protective presence over the dead.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
A leading apparition whose cry precedes a traveller’s loss of the road.
William Blake’s illuminated mythology in America: A Prophecy
Blake’s chained, transforming youth becomes the fiery power confronted by Albion’s Angel in the revolutionary poem.
Kingship, restored life and the dead in ancient Egyptian religion
Explore Osiris through the story of Isis and Horus, funerary judgment, grain rituals and the relationship between the god and the deceased in Egyptian religion.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
Mighty oxen whose struggle draws a monstrous lake creature from its hiding place.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
The mountain daughter whose devotion brings her into union with Shiva.
Dante, Inferno
The angry boatman who carries the living traveller across the fifth circle.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
The changeling of Welsh fairy belief, whose legend could turn illness into a charge of substitution.
Dante, Inferno
The alarmed guardian who fails to prevent the travellers entering the fourth circle.
Celtic fairy traditions
Horse-associated fairy beings in Patrick Waters’s testimony, linked with horse-dealing and racecourses and distinguished from the noble gentry.
Welsh folklore, Wirt Sikes
A mischievous fairy whose name extends beyond the wandering elf-fire.
Egyptian funerary religion
Solar god whose daily passage becomes a path for the deceased.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Krishna’s beloved, whose closeness and separation shape the dance-of-love narrative.
Japanese legends, Davis retelling
The thunder figure carrying an arc of drums in Davis’s account.
Indian traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
The prince of Ayodhya whose exile and return form the centre of the Ramayana.
John Milton, Paradise Lost
The sociable angel who instructs the human pair through a visit and shared meal.