Even the man who is pure in heart
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the Moon is pure and bright...
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the Moon is pure and bright...
-Famous lines in "The Wolf Man," 1941
The word werewolf is most likely derived from two
old-Saxon words, wer (meaning man) and wulf (meaning wolf). As I researched
legends and myths of the werewolf for my novella, The Witch and the Wolf, I
discovered there’s more than one way to cause the transformation from man into
beast. Here are a few:
Birth
Being the seventh son of the seventh son, such a person could be
born with the ability to change into a werewolf. This also applies to the
seventh son with six girls as older siblings. The werewolf ‘gene’ could also be
passed to children whose parents turn into werewolves. Other methods include
being a child conceived under a new moon; being born on a new moon; being born
on a full moon Friday; being born on the winter solstice or Christmas Eve; and
being born on Friday the 13th.
Curse
The curse of the werewolf, also known as the Lycaeonia Curse, can be
bestowed by a person who is wronged in some way, using witchcraft, sorcery,
evil spirits, or divine punishment. This would cause the person cursed to
involuntarily change into a werewolf. The earliest story of such a curse can be
found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses where the Greek God, Zeus, is
angered by King Lycaon of Arcadia and dooms him to turn into a werewolf.
Bitten
Another method for turning into a werewolf is to be bitten by one.
Bacteria in the saliva of the werewolf find its way into the blood stream.
Alternately, a person could also be infected by a scratch. This is more
commonly found in fiction, being rare in legend for there was seldom much left
of a victim to become a werewolf.
Wolf-skin
A person desiring to become a werewolf could easily remove their
clothes and put on a belt or girdle made of a wolf-skin. Skinwalkers are also
found in Native American Indian lore where the person wears the pelt of the
wolf to complete the transformation.
Magic Salve
Another voluntary method is for the person to rub their bodies
with magic salve or ointment to transform into a werewolf. The ingredients of
the salve vary, but generally contained plant ingredients like nightshade,
belladonna root and henbane. Sometimes other ingredients were included, such as
bat’s blood, aconite, celery, soot, calamus, parsley, poplar leaves, and opium.
For solvent, they used pig fat, turpentine and olive oil and then after the
distillation of spirits was perfected alcohol served the purpose. This method
was often combined with the wolf-skin to become a werewolf.
Rituals
There are ceremonies and rituals that can be performed to achieve
the desired results of transforming into a werewolf. These could include devil
worship or asking evil spirits to assist in the change. Performing a ritual to
invoke the spirit of the wolf or if the spirit of the wolf calls to the person
are other methods.
~For more
information about paranormal romance author Tricia Schneider and her books
check out her website http://www.triciaschneider.com.
Veronica sez: Tricia's current series The Merriweather Witches:
The Witch and the Wolf begins with Lillian Merriweather as she's on the run from an unwanted suitor. Read more...
The Witch and the Vampire finds Melora Merriweather searching for a witch she is convinced will help her in her cause. Read more...
In The Witch's Thief, Basil Merriweather returns to discover his childhood sweetheart in danger. (To Be Released in 2014)
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