Mermaid

Mermaids - Spirits or Goddesses?

Lorelei

For thousands of years, men have told tales of beautiful and dangerous creatures that inhabit the waters of the world. But what do we really know about them? Are Mermaids goddesses or spirits? In European folklore, Mermaids (and more rarely, Mermen) were natural beings that, like fairies, had magical and prophetic powers. Although very long-lived, they were mortal and had no souls. There’s more to the story than this, though. So many creation myths concern female sea dragons and/or serpents that I feel that there could be a connection in these beliefs and myths to the Mermaid legends. It was later, in the Old Testament, that serpents and dragons became associated with the Devil and Satan - dragons are potent symbols of good fortune in Eastern religions. The fish is a covert Christian symbol 'ichthys', the initials of Jesus Christ, the Fisher of Men, and the ritual food - the Christian canon draws connections between Mary Magdalene and the ocean. Throughout, we see a pattern of sexual tension and mystery. So who are the Mermaids?

In ‘particularistic’ religions there are no gods but a range of spirits, from sojourning ghosts and mortal witches to perennial beings, whose natures and dispositions to man are attributed by categories. For example, Mermaids and leprechauns are both usually pictured as irresponsible. Many folktales record marriages between men and Mermaids who might assume human form. In most the man steals the Mermaid’s cap, belt, comb, or mirror – some object which represents both her magic and her sexuality. If she finds the stolen item, she returns at once to the sea; but whilst the object remains hidden, she lives with him. In some variants, the marriage lasts while certain agreed-upon conditions are fulfilled and it ends when the conditions are broken. Thus the Mermaid’s fishy attributes represent her dual nature, neither wholly magical nor wholly mortal.

Though sometimes kindly, Mermaids were often dangerous to man. Some legends say that, if offended, they caused floods or other disasters; their gifts brought misfortune. To see one on a voyage meant an omen of shipwreck. Sometimes, like Lorelei of the Rhine, they lured mortals to death by drowning or enticed young people to live with them underwater, as did the "Merrymaid" whose image is carved on a bench in the church of Zennor in Cornwall. The Sirens of Greek mythology were half-bird rather than half-fish, but they sang with such unearthly sweetness that sailors wrecked their ships on the rocks while listening; this likely gave rise to the popular motif of Mermaids singing men to their doom or otherwise enchanting them.

Similar divine or semi-divine beings appear in other ancient mythologies, such as the Chaldean sea-god Ea, or Oannes, a Merman; sea monsters also occur in panels of Maori ancestral carvings, and they are occasionally female with fish tails and long hair. Of course there are many other legends of mythological hybrid creatures that frighten and fascinate, such as Echidna (snake-woman), Sphinx (woman-lion-bird), Chimera (lion-goat-serpent), Faun/Satyr (goat-man), Minotaur (bull-man), Centaur (horse-man), Pegasus (horse-bird), Hippocampus (fish-horse), Empusa (animal-metal), Griffin/Wyvern (lion-eagle), Barnacle Goose (mollusc-bird), Basilisk/Cockatrice (cock-serpent) and Mandrake (plant-man).