Traditional Humanoids: Dziwożona, Rakshasa & Nephilim - Part IV

Some mythical creatures have their origin in tradition and tales from the distant past. Each culture is associated with a multitude of interesting and odd creatures...many of these beings are humanoid. This is the last part of the series...a compilation of traditional humanoids:

Dziwożona, Female Demon

The Dziwożona is a female swamp demon or evil fairy in Slavic mythology known for being malicious and dangerous. It is also referred to as a Mamuna. These beings supposedly live in thickets near rivers, streams and lakes. Some say she took the form of an ugly, old woman with a hairy body, long straight hair and breasts so huge that she uses them to wash her clothes. Dziwożona is also be a shape shifter and can appear as a beautiful nymph capable of luring young men to their death. On her head she sometimes wore a red hat with a fern twig attached to it. It is said that she can lead anyone down the wrong path, literally and figuratively.

Dziwożona kidnapped human babies just after birth and replaced them with her own offspring, known as foundlings or changelings. A changeling could be recognized by its uncommon appearance...disproportionate body, often with some kind of disability...as well as an inherent wickedness. It had a huge abdomen, unusually small or large head, a hump, thin arms and legs, a hairy body and long claws. Its behavior was said to be marked by a great spitefulness towards people around it, a fear of its mother, noisiness, reluctance to sleep and exceptional gluttony. They rarely reached adulthood...but if it did, it was disabled and spoke gibberish. Many traditional Slavs thought Dziwożona was a goblin.

There were several ways to discourage child abductions but the most prevalent was that mother would tie a red ribbon around the child's hand, put a red hat on it's head and shield the face from the light of the moon. The red ribbon around the child's hand is still practiced in Poland today but the meaning behind it is mostly lost to the populace.

If the Dziwożona managed to take the infant away, there was still a method to get it back. The mother had to take the changeling to a waste heap, whip it with a birch twig and pour over it water from an eggshell, chanting "Take yours, give mine back!", at which point Dziwożona would fell sorry for her offspring and took it away, returning the child she stole.

Women at risk of becoming one of these demons after death were thought to be midwives, old maids, unmarried mothers, pregnant women who die before childbirth, as well as abandoned children born out of wedlock.

The following is a translated passage from a 18th century Polish narrative that warns of the Dziwożona (translated as Surprisewife):

...it is a midget or giant with scary eyes, big head, with twisted arms, green skin and long, reaching bottom breasts. At times theses deamons are not so frightful but they attack only mothers of illegitimate or non-baptized children. They cause harm with their breasts - like a flail with precision and determination, that they can even kill with such weapons.

One must be careful during contact because they also could switch the children. When mother doesn't care enough for her child, Dziwożona tries to still her baby and switch with the devil's child.

There is however a way to get back a stolen child. The mother has to leave the devil's child so the Dziwożona would be touched by baby's cry and will take him and give back the taken one. - slowianie.republika.pl

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Rakshasa, Evil Shapeshifter

The Rakshasa are a race of humanoid beings in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They are seen as a type of goblin or evil spirit. They are not equal in evil traits, but have been classified into four subraces:

Ak'chazar - These rakshasa have the heads of white tigers and are skinnier than common breed. They are unusually powerful spellcasters and specialize in necromantic magic. To use their necromantic powers to their full potential the Ak'chazar often use graveyards or old battlefields as their headquarters. When working on one of their dark schemes they often let their undead do the physical work while they stay behind the scenes themselves.

Naityan - These are shapeshifters with the ability to utilize different supernatural combat styles based on their current forms.

Naztharune - Naztharune have the heads of black tigers and are covered in black fur. They have few magical powers but compensate by being strong fighters, specializing in assassination. They lack most Rakshasa's need to be the leader of any organisation that they are part of, often working for other Rakshasa.

Zakyas - Zakyas resemble standard rakshasas, but rather than focusing on sorcery, they are skilled melee combatants and weapon masters. They use their weak magical powers to supplement their martial prowess.

The great ten-headed demon Ravana, enemy of Lord Ram, was a Rakshasa king

According to the legend, Rakshasas emerged from Brahma's foot. The Vishnu Purana also makes them descendants of Kasyapa and Khasa, a daughter of Daksha, through their son Rakshas; and the Ramayana states that when Brahma created the waters, he formed certain beings to guard them who were called Rakshasas. It is thought that the Rakshasas of the epic poems were the rude barbarian races of India who were subdued by the Aryans.

The Rakshasas are described in the Ramayana: "the Rakshasas sleeping in the houses were of every shape and form. Some of them disgusted the eye, while some were beautiful to look upon. Some had long arms and frightful shapes; some were very fat and some were very lean; some were mere dwarfs and some were prodigiously tall. Some had only one eye and others only one ear. Some had monstrous bellies, hanging breasts, long projecting teeth, and crooked thighs; whilst others were exceedingly beautiful to behold and clothed in great splendour. Some had two legs, some three legs, and some four legs. Some had the heads of serpents, some the heads of donkeys, some the heads of horses, and some the heads of elephants."

Many traditional Hindus believe these creature are indeed real and that it feeds on human flesh. They are shape changers and magicians, and often appear in the forms of humans, dogs, and large birds. They can make themselves invisible and can not enter a home without being invited. In the popular lore, Rakshasas are demons and fiends who haunt cemeteries, disturb sacrifices, harass priests, possess and devour human beings, and vex and afflict mankind in all sorts of ways. They are said to drink blood and preferred to attack infants and pregnant women.

They usually disturbed the sacrifices, and tortured the priests. Rakshasas are known to carry away beautiful women to whom they were attracted. The Rakshasas, male or female, were ugly in appearance, but they could assume any form they pleased with the powers they possessed. Occasionally they would serve as rank-and-file soldiers in the service of a warlord. There are epic tales of certain members of the race who rose to prominence, some of them as heroes, most of them as villains.

Most weapons don't work against these creatures. But all Rakshasas have a common weakness; that any crossbow blessed by a priest will kill them instantly. In addition there is said that a dagger of pure brass has the ability to slay it.

There are several modern depictions of Rakshasas including role playing games, comic book series and video games. For more detail references go to - Rakshasas in the Mahabharata

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Nephilim, Evil Behemoths

The word or term 'Nephilim' appears twice in the Hebrew Bible, both in the Torah. The first is Genesis 6:1-4, immediately before the Noah's ark story: When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

The second is Numbers 13:32-33, where the Hebrews have seen giants in Canaan: And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

'Nephilim' is rendered fallen, or possibly feller: a tyrant or bully. Several English translations rendered the word "giants", but of late translators seem to prefer leave it untranslated. The "giants" translation may have come from the Greek old testament where "nephilim" was "gegantes" which looks like "giant" but in modern Greek would be "titans". In Greek mythos, the titans were the supernaturally powerful offspring of gods and humans.

Some biblical researchers contend that the “Sons of God” were fallen angels who mated with human females and/or possessed human males and then mated with human females. These unions resulted in offspring, the Nephilim, that were “heroes of old, men of renown” It is also most important to note that they are mentioned almost simultaneous to God's statement that He would destroy the earth by flood, and it seems from this association that their effect upon mankind was one of the primary justifications that brought the destruction.

I read a commentary that stated that if this were fact, that the Nephilim had mated with a variety of species, then we would now have a variety non-humans among us. Each has their own special traits. One example is Vampires. They were created when Nephilim fused their DNA with vampire bats. Vampire bats come out at night when the sunlight is dim as sun hurts their eyes. Like the Vampire bat, human vampires are adversely affected by sunlight and crave blood. Many true vampires, crave blood from the time of their birth. Many have donors that give blood to them and keep them well supplied. Blood often restores them to full health and well being.

Another example given was Reptilians, that are non-humans that can shapeshift. This means that they can alter their DNA electrically to transform from a human form to one that is reptilian. They have to concentrate to keep their human shape, if not they turn into reptilian humanoid.

These were not the only examples given. Some involved malformation, birth defects, races, genetic differences, etc. For this reason, it is understandable why the Nazis made determined efforts to find evidence of Nephilims in order to twist the legends to conform with their barbaric beliefs.

We have all seen the photos of giant skeletons being unearthed as well as the urban legends told in regards to superhumans. But there was a strange incident that was disclosed a few years ago that just seemed to fade off without any explanation or followup.

In 2005, there were reports that a Giant Man was killed in the Afghanistan mountains. This man was described as pale white, 15 foot tall, 1100 pound, six fingered and six toed who was feeding on human parts. It was reported that the Giant Man was killed by US Military after he reportedly attacked by throwing large rocks at them. The corpse of this Giant Man was flown to Germany for autopsy according to witnesses. Apparently the information was presented on the Coast to Coast AM show and discussed by George Noory and Steve Quayle. Since that time there has been little mention of this incident.

Could this Giant Man have been a real being and/or had any relation to a Nephilim? Are there Nephilim living, thriving and breeding among us? Is there any connection with 2012 and the supposed 'end times' theories? There is a very good page on this subject at - LEVIATHAN CHAINED: The Legend of the Nephilim and the Cthulhu Mythos.

In the H.G. Wells book The Time Traveler, he describes a race of monsters that live in the earth and maintain a secret society that was technologically far more advanced than the surface people. As well, these underground humanoids fed on the surface dwellers. There is a story by a Native American woman who stated her tribe was plagued by "giant" people that would steal their dead to eat them. They were red haired and lived in caves. In the end the tribe burned these giants to death.

There are many stories in many cultures that refer to colossal beings in their midst. For us, it's simply a matter of what to believe.

Encounters with Flying Humanoids: Mothman, Manbirds, Gargoyles & Other Winged Beasts

The Cryptoterrestrials: A Meditation on Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us

Monster Files: A Look Inside Government Secrets and Classified Documents on Bizarre Creatures and Extraordinary Animals

Phantoms & Monsters: Cryptid Encounters

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THANKS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

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