Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Eldritch: Halloween 002


Okay, so I bet you guys were wondering where I was last week.  Well...
Momma Nature kicked our butts.  Nothing was too badly damaged and no one was hurt, but as you can see, we… well, we have a lot of work to do around here, and we can’t do it all by ourselves, so… it’s gonna be tight here for a month or three. And… I honestly don’t know how this will affect the comic. The computer’s been acting funny, and I wonder if somehow something got through the surge protector. I’m going to try my best to keep the comic going every week, but… I never saw this coming, and I’m a bit overwhelmed.
With the exception of my friend Wolfie, everyone loves a full moon, be it the Greek Goddess Selene (I always thought that was a nice touch in the Underworld movies), the makers of the Wolfman, or the folks who wrote The Werewolf’s Guide to Life.  So, I hope you guys are enjoying yours! 
I remember someone once telling me that the full moon had nothing to do with werewolves in folklore.  Which… well, wasn’t entirely true.  It just isn’t terribly common; though is certainly common enough to crop up in our modern mythos: our movies and books.

For instance, in Perigord, it was once said that some folks, particularly the sons of priests are compelled to become werewolves during the full moon.  The Voukodlak (a werewolf/vampirelike entity) prowls “When the moon is at her full,”and Sicilian werewolves occur when folks sleep with the full moon shining on their faces.  The werewolves of Palermo are also affected at the full moon, one use of lycanthropus flowers is to be done at the full moon, and Gervase of Tilbery seemed to suggest that lycanthropy was somehow linked to the full moon.  The German tale of Her Hellen’s lycanthropic adventure in the Harz Mountains occurs at a full moon, and in the works of Pliny, there is a werewolf transformation when “The moon shone as bright as day.”  Heck, the Full Moon is even offhandedly mentioned on one of my favorite werewolf legends “The other side.” 
It’s not a lot.  But I can certainly see where modern filmmakers got full moon fever.
And, of course, everyone has their take on how the full moon effects lycanthropes.  Some say it’s the light.  Others (Like one of the folks in a video linked below) have connected it with the tides and how much water we have in our bodies.  Which is a tad silly in my humble opinion, since the amount of water in a human is so tiny in comparison to the ocean, and since all matter would be effected, not just the water. 

Curiously enough, one explanation for werewolf myths that I’ve heard tossed around is that it was started by people suffering from a theoretical condition called “Lunar Effect.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_effect Opinions on it range from those who totally believe it, to those who think it’s hogwash.  For instance, this seems to sustain the idea: http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/tv/National-Geographic/98631/1354043548/Howling-at-the-Moon%3A-Are-Full-Moons-Linked-to-Lunacy-/videos while this is less supportive: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lunacy-and-the-full-moon .  I don’t know myself.  But one of my good friends, who works at a pizza call center, says the crazies call during the full moon… and, well, I know my mom sure gets cranky when the moon is full ;3
Okay, joking aside… the moon does play a role in nature, beyond the fairly negligible effect on geomagnetic fields and gravity.  For instance, there are these fish that spawn just after the full moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVEPkC9LBEQ and here’s another article with birds: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/18/full-moon-birds.html and yet another with frogs: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8145000/8145125.stm  Conversely, the 15th kissue of BBC wildlife magazine says that nocturnal insects are less active on the full moon.
Last but not least, have a full moon diagram for further reference.

  http://www.moonconnection.com/images/moon_phases_diagram.jpg

What do you guys think?  Does the full moon effect your behavior?
Werewolves (Around the world) --Elliot O’Donnell
A Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Culture --Charlotte Otten
Werewolves --Dr. Bob Curran
The Book of Werewolves --Sabine Baring-Gould
The Werewolf in Lore and Legend --Montague Summers
The Beast Within --Adam Douglas
The Book of the Moon --Rick Stroud

2 comments:

  1. minor problem. She is attacking the animal like a big cat -tiger, lion etc. Wolves don't really jump and bite the neck. They aim for legs first

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    Replies
    1. Wolves lack gripping paws and the size that Faith has as a werewolf. If she were in normal wolf form, she would attack differently... and wouldn't attack such large prey.

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