Writer's Challenge: Magic In America

[Weird Harold]

For those interested in "magic in america," and how mainstream fantasy auhors hndle it, Mercedes Lackey's Serrated Edge series mixes Elves and "NASCAR."

Elizabeth Anne Scarburough has also written several fantasy novels that mix Native American Myth with the modern American Southwest -- mostly western and southwestern native American Mythology.

Several other mainstream Fantasy authors have used Native American mythology in their works; they just haven't been as wildly popular as Harry Potter or as revered as JRR Tolkien.

The Central and South American Mythos -- mostly involving Quetzlcoatl (the Feathered Serpent God,) probably because it's such a neat name -- has been used in a few novels as well.

I do like the idea of immigrant gods pushing out or merging with the native american spirits.

A year or two ago, the chain story "Talisman" adopted an east asian Goddess as the source of the magic. perhaps something similar can be set up with an "American" artifact?

PS: Sasquatch should probably be avoided; Killermuffin has done the definitive Sasquatch Erotica story already.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Witchvox has an amazing listing of traditions including something called Apalacian Granny Magic.

The Appalachian Granny Magic Tradition of Witchcraft is one that is only recently being heard of. Though the tradition is a very old one, dating all the way back to the first settlers of the magical Appalachian Mountains who came over from Scotland and Ireland in the 1700's. They brought along their even older Irish and Scottish Magical Traditions with them. Those two 'old world' Traditions were then blended with a dash of the local tradition of the Tsalagi (Now, called the Cherokee Indians.) The recipe for the Appalachian Granny Magic Tradition was then complete, though this potion simmered on a low boil for many generations before anyone dubbed it with the name, 'Appalachian Granny Magic.'

The Witches of the Appalachian Mountains called themselves 'Water Witches' and/or 'Witch Doctors' depending upon whether they were personally more gifted in healing, midwifery and such realms of magic, or if they were more in tune with dowsing for water, ley lines, energy vortexes and the making of charms and potions. Often a Practitioner called themselves by both titles if they were so diverse in their Magical practices.


http://www.witchvox.com/trads/trad_afmt.html

http://www.witchvox.com/xbasics.html

 

[cloudy]

We're still the Tsalagi (the people), but it's hard for folks to pronounce, and just about every other tribal name translates to the same thing.

 

[sweetnpetite]

And let's not forget vodou and er.. I forgot what it's called. It's a sort of mythical Catholocism blend-- anyone know?

 

[cantdog]

I do wish you fellows would quit discussing this. Every second more limits come down, hemming us in. Leave it open, free and wild.

I'm in if not too many more silly rules get made.

cantdog

 

[sweetnpetite]

We're still the Tsalagi (the people), but it's hard for folks to pronounce, and just about every other tribal name translates to the same thing.

Have you heard of this appalation granny thingy?

 

[cloudy]

And let's not forget vodou and er.. I forgot what it's called. It's a sort of mythical Catholocism blend-- anyone know?

Santeria - a mix of voodoo and catholicism, practiced pretty widely down in the southern tip of Florida. Traditional voodoo is still practiced in the New Orleans area.

(blatant plug: my halloween story, Possession uses voodoo some)

 

[sweetnpetite]

I do wish you fellows would quit discussing this. Every second more limits come down, hemming us in. Leave it open, free and wild.

I'm in if not too many more silly rules get made.

cantdog

We haven't made any rules yet- just discussing possiblities.

will you be illustrating for us? (say yes, say yes)

 

[sweetnpetite]

Santeria - a mix of voodoo and catholicism, practiced pretty widely down in the southern tip of Florida. Traditional voodoo is still practiced in the New Orleans area.

(blatant plug: my halloween story, Possession uses voodoo some)

*Thank you* I knew the word- I jsut could **not** think of it.

 

[sweetnpetite]

damn you quiet cool! I was just about to go offline!

NOw I've been sucked into this extemely interesting conversation. I have things to do!!!!

 

[sweetnpetite]

Awakkule
An impish dwarf people who are regarded as helping spirits but also known to play pranks on the unsuspecting.

http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/americas/native_american/articles.html

Baaxpee
A spiritual transformative power. It is often used to describe fortunate or serendipitous events. Wisdom or wise choices come from Baaxpee. Although not a character, it is a transformational power. Xapaaliia are those things transformed.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Not sure if it applies, but if you are looking for fantasy/magic in America, a neat idea would be to have an american myth interwoven. A great character might be Brother Cyote, from native American myth. he is a trickster and each story could be some part of his grand scheme where he is the force behind your written characters actually seeing/becoming embroiled in a magical situation.

-Colly

 

[cloudy]

Not sure if it applies, but if you are looking for fantasy/magic in America, a neat idea would be to have an american myth interwoven. A great character might be Brother Cyote, from native American myth. he is a trickster and each story could be some part of his grand scheme where he is the force behind your written characters actually seeing/becoming embroiled in a magical situation.

-Colly

Good idea, Colly....Yotee appears in just about all of the native cultures, and in the same guise of the trickster, too.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Not sure if it applies, but if you are looking for fantasy/magic in America, a neat idea would be to have an american myth interwoven. A great character might be Brother Cyote, from native American myth. he is a trickster and each story could be some part of his grand scheme where he is the force behind your written characters actually seeing/becoming embroiled in a magical situation.

-Colly

That's kind of a neat way to intertwine them. (Maybe too many rules for cantdog though)

 

[sweetnpetite]

butterfly:

A universal Native America symbol. In the Apache Bear Dance they entice girls from the underworld. It figures prominently in the Hopi migration myth, Honon nyamu. Butterflies are created by the Zuni Paiyatemu playing a flute. Ajille [Navaho] disguises himself as one, and serves as hero and origin tales. Butterflies are also linked (minor motifs) to certain Thunder Bird narratives.


butterfly could probably be used in the mannor Colly suggested. (butterfly's are everywear, I think they'd make an excellent doorway to the magical realm)

here's another interesting entry:
burnt face:
Ridiculed because of his scarred face after falling into a fire, Burnt Face is a weeping recluse until he crosses manhood. While fasting on a mountain he moved rocks to form the first "medicine wheel". Another account regards Burnt Face's scars being healed by Eagle by ridding the eagle of Otter, a predator feeding on eagle eggs. Burnt Face now marries and lives long. Hence, prospects fast at medicine wheel during visions quests.

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Blank Check Ante:

Whatever it ends up being, i'll contribute to it.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Blank Check Ante:

Whatever it ends up being, i'll contribute to it.

Cool Luci

Can't wait!

Feel free to contribute to the general hub-ub as well

 

[sweetnpetite]

Not sure if it applies, but if you are looking for fantasy/magic in America, a neat idea would be to have an american myth interwoven. A great character might be Brother Cyote, from native American myth. he is a trickster and each story could be some part of his grand scheme where he is the force behind your written characters actually seeing/becoming embroiled in a magical situation.

-Colly

Found this about Cyote:

The Coyote mythlore is one of the most popular among the Native American. Coyote is a ubiquitous being and can be categorized in many types. In creation myths, Coyote appears as the Creator himself; but he may at the same time be the messenger, the culture hero, the trickster, the fool. He has also the ability of the transformer: in some stories he is a handsome young man; in others he is an animal; yet others present him as just a power, a sacred one.

According to Crow (and other Plains) tradition, Old Man Coyote impersonates the Creator, "Old Man Coyote took up a handful of mud and out of it made people" 1. His creative power is also spread onto words, "Old Man Coyote named buffalo, deer, elk, antelopes, and bear. And all these came into being" 2. In such myths Coyote-Creator is never mentioned as an animal, more, he can meet his animal counterpart, the coyote: they address each other as "elder brother" and "younger brother", and walk and talk together 3. According to A. Hultkranz, the impersonation of Coyote as Creator is a result of a taboo, a mythic substitute to the religious notion of the Great Spirit whose name was too dangerous and/or sacred to use apart from a special ceremony 4.

In Chelan myths, Coyote belongs to the animal people but he is at the same time "a power just like the Creator, the head of all the creatures" 5. Yet his being 'just like the Creator' does not really mean being 'the Creator': it is not seldom that Coyote-Just-Like-Creator is subject to the Creator, Great Chief Above, who can punish him, send him away, take powers away from him, etc. In the Pacific Northwest tradition, Coyote is mostly mentioned as a messenger, or minor power, "Coyote was sent to the camp of the chief of the Cold Wind tribe to deliver a challenge; Coyote traveled around to tell all the people in both tribes about the contest." sup>6 As such, Coyote "was cruelly treated, and his work was never done." 7.

As the culture hero, Coyote appears in various mythic traditions. His major heroic attributes are transformation, traveling, high deeds, power. He is engaged in changing the ways of rivers, standing of mountains, creating new landscapes and getting sacred things for people. Of mention is the tradition of Coyote fighting against monsters. According to Wasco tradition, Coyote was the hero to fight and kill Thunderbird, the killer of people, but he could do that not because of his personal power, but due to the help of the Spirit Chief; Coyote was trying his best, he was fighting hard, and he had to have fasted ten days before the fight, so advised by Spirit Chief 8. In many Wasco myths, Coyote rivals the Raven (Crow) about the same ordeal: in some stories, Multnomah Falls came to be by Coyote's efforts; in others, it is done by Raven.

More often than not Coyote is a trickster, but he is always different. In some stories, he is a noble trickster, "Coyote takes water from the Frog people... because it is not right that one people have all the water." 9. In others, he is mean, "Coyote determined to bring harm to Duck. He took Duck's wife and children, whom he treated badly." 10.

 

[cantdog]

We haven't made any rules yet- just discussing possiblities.

will you be illustrating for us? (say yes, say yes)

Nice pink butt!

Sure, I can do a few illos. I'm easy.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Nice pink butt!

Sure, I can do a few illos. I'm easy.

why thank you.

I knew you'd say yes

do you have a story idea brewing as well?

 

[Belegon]

Lots of possibilities here....I think I am in...

What if the humans were the second wave of european invaders? Faeries, leprauchans, et al, having made the journey several hundred years earlier as the human population of europe continued to grow and take up space?

 

[The_Fool]

Two recent works you might want to look at for inspiration.

First, is actually more a body of work. Charles de Lint is a Canadian author that does an incredible job of blending Celtic and Native American mythos into many of his works.

Second is Neal Gaiman's book "American Gods."

Just a thought....

 

[Black Tulip]

Since I know zilch about American legends, my contribution would be totally fiction. But I do find my imagination turning towards the big red wood trees. Something there, about why or how they grow that tall. Spirits, magical homes ... something like that, I think.

Would that be ok?

http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/snowman/grin.gif

Edited: damn, what am I doing? I don't have time to write!

 

[Alex De Kok]

I'm finding this interesting. No promises, but I'm tempted! Like Black Tulip, I know little or nothing about American mythology, but the concept of conflict - or cooperation - between old and new gods could make for some challenging tales.

As someone who was involved in both the 'Talisman' chain and Snippettsville, I'd like to make a couple of comments. In 'Talisman' we spent a lot of time deciding exactly what the Talisman was, but with that decided each writer told their own tale. We made it chronological for the order of submission, from Roman times through to the present. From what I've read on this magic concept, this needn't be the restriction we had, in fact I'd try to keep it loose and free choice of theme and era under the 'Magic' umbrella.

Snippettsville was different, in that everyone used the same locale, and there was some interchange of characters, but it was mainly the discipline of writing to a fixed length - nominal 600 words, limits were 585 - 605. We've closed it now, but over the year we managed to present 103 stories to readers, in twenty editions of the 'Tales' and three Specials. Good fun.

Alex

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The definitive books on a native American magical system have to be Carlos Castenada’s Don Juan books. They are frightening, funny, enlightening, and supposedly true, and present a view of the world that is uniquely native American and unlike any other mystical system in the world. Truly amazing.

There’s been a lot of argument over whether the stories are true or just Castenada’s invention. Personally, I think they’re true, but if not, they’re a work of just staggering imagination and consistency. Don Juan’s world of magic is real and right here, and I just don’t understand how anyone could make that stuff up.

You won’t find any magic wands or gnomes or any of that European stuff, but what you will find just makes all that seem like children’s fairy tales.

I don’t know if that’s what you guys are looking for. Maybe you just want to import European traditions to an American setting. But if you want a glimpse of how real native American magic works, look no further.

---Zoot