Tag: supernatural

The Paranormal

Potential Magical / Pscyhic Abilities

S.C. Chalmers

Hello there! So, thinking about gaining some supernatural abilities? Or, you know, making up a character who has them?

Either way, here’s a list to choose from. Enjoy! 🙂

  • Astral projection – out-of-body experiences
  • clairvoyance / future sight / precognition
  • levitation
  • mind control
  • prophecy
  • remote viewing
  • telekinesis – ability to move things with your mind
  • telepathy – read minds
  • clairsentience – pick up sensations and relate messages through this.
  • clairempathy – to feel emotions from beyond the natural realm
  • combat sense – martial art of sensing what a combatant’s next move will be.
  • empath / sensitive – taking on other’s emotions, feeling them as your won.
  • genethlialogy – astrologically predicting the destiny of a newborn.
  • phyllorhodomancy – slapping rose petals against the palm and judging the future by the loudness of the clap (or the sound of the clap). Ancient Greek practice.
  • sortilege – medieval term for sorcery or one who divines
  • aerokinesis – ability to control or general wind and air
  • atmokinesis – control and mentally affect the weather
  • chlorokinesis – control plant life
  • solarkinesis – produce solar energy or heat; can be used like the sun (wouldn’t this make an awesome vampire-hunter?) 🙂
  • omnilingualism – ability to decipher any language
  • psychometry – gather details about the past and / or future of an object, person, or location, usually by being in close contact with it. Otherwise seen as gathering information / impressions from physical objects.
  • stichomancy – random opening of a book in hopes that the passage will reveal the future. (related to rhapsodomancy, which is divination by randomly opening a book of poetry specifically for the same reason, or bibliomancy.)
  • technopathy – control technology with your mind (I’m going to do this so I can actually make my electronics do what they’re supposed to!) 🙂
  • absorbtion – absorb various forms of energy and release it either as a similar effect or altered with other powers
  • echolocation – determine the location of objects in an environment using reflected sound waves (I’d like to see a non-bat character do this.) 🙂
  • temporal stasis – ability to slow down (or “freeze”) the molecules in an object until they stop moving.
  • photographic reflexes – ability to mimic any movement (athletic / martial arts) after seeing it once.
  • transmogrification – changing shape or form, even into inanimate objects.
  • aeromancy – divination from the air and sky, such as cloud shapes, comets, or sky color.
  • augury – interpreting signs and omens, but also fortune-telling in general.
  • margaritomancy – pearls under a pot (it’s said they bounce if a guilty person approaches.)
  • oomantia (also ooscopy, ovimancy) – reading eggs for omens and signs; fairly ancient divination technique
  • tiromancy – examining cheese for omens and signs
  • And my personal favorite divination tool:
  • geloscopy: divining the future from laughter. (Sounds like a fun way to live life, doesn’t it?) 🙂

So, any magical powers I really should have on my list? Mostly I’ve just listed the unusual or those that especially intrigue me. What about you?

Thanks for reading, and have a great week. Oh, and hey, like the post? Why not sign up to follow the blog?

Have a good one. 🙂

 

 

The Paranormal

Supernatural Tigers

S.C. Chalmers

I am flipping through my favorite mythology book today, The Dictionary of Mythology by J.A. Coleman, and we come upon T for Tiger. My source for this post is that book, p 1018 (yes, it’s a big ol’ beauty of a book.)

There is something beautiful about a tiger, something that reminds us of our (relatively) harmless pets back home, while at the same time we look at the size of their paws – as big as my head – and would be idiotic to forget just how powerful and dangerous they can be.

Tigers also show up in supernatural mythology.

Certainly you’ve seen pictorial representations of the tiger (along with the dragon) in Chinese culture. It inspires awe with its power and vitality within the culture – as it does in most places. If you wear a Tiger Claw (hu chao) amulet, it is said to ward off fear and to give the wearer the courage of the tiger. This animal is also the favorite transportation for deities (yes, if I was a god, I’d want to ride a tiger too, wouldn’t you?). Winter and the north are represented by the Black Tiger, while fire and the south are represented by the Red Tiger. East and Vegetation get the Blue Tiger, and the center and the sun get the Yellow Tiger. I am somewhat curious if the tiger is literally blue, red, and black.

Mr. Tiger shows up again in the East Indies where there is a myth about a race of men who could transform into tigers. Related to that, in Sumatran lore, a sinner who prays for reincarnation may leave his grave in the form of a tiger. (Hmm … those two myths are a story waiting to be written, aren’t they?)

In Hindu lore, as in the myths of the Chinese, the deities use tigers for transport, in this case Shiva. The Rajput people / line themselves claim to be descendants of tigers, which of course leads to more intriguing possibilities of body shifting and transformation.

In Japan, the tiger is the warriors’ emblem, and is said to live for 1,000 years. (I suppose living that long would be very helpful if you’re a warrior heading into battle. I’d want to be thinking in tiger-terms, too, never mind great ferocity in battle.)

Finally, in Malaysia tigers offer more intriguing possibilities and stir the imagination. They are said to be the incarnation of the dead or of the souls of sorcerers. Plus, it is said that a man can purchase the magic necessary to transform himself into a tiger both in life and after death. I wonder here if this is related to the East Indies belief where a penitent sinner can be reincarnated as a tiger?

So, have I inspired a shape-shifter story yet? Come on, I’ll convert you to a passion for shape-shifters yet. 😉

What do you think? Do intriguing possibilities lay in these myths? Have you heard any interesting myths / legends about tigers or other animals?

Thanks for reading, and hope you have a great week.

Oh, and hey! Like the post? Why not sign up for the blog? Have a good one. 🙂

The Paranormal

Getting Shifty: On Werewolves and other Shifters

S.C. Chalmers

Yes, you can definitely put me down on the werewolf side vs vampires; I’ve always had a quesy thing about blood – especially when it’s my own. And really, are vampires dead or not? “Undead” just doesn’t seem fair, since essentially they’re an animated corpse.

Anyway, I’m not interested in mud-slinging at the vampires – they’re all well and good – but rather, explain my own fascination with the top 10 reasons werewolves and other were-creatures reign supreme in my world.

  1. Warm-blooded.Often, actually hot-blooded. Animals run a bit warmer than we do, and since I’m perpetually chilly, having someone warm to snuggle with totally wins points.
  2. Animal instincts. Whereas vampires can be seen as cold and controlling, werewolves and other weres are more prone to follow their animal instincts, whether this means giving in to lust, fury, you name it; as a control-freak who rarely lets go, this is somewhat appealing to me.
  3. Variety. Yes, there are certainly varieties of vampires, but were-creatures open up a wide spectrum of possibility. There are were-wolves, were-panthers, were-cows (yes, really), were-you-name-it. When you come into some northern european myth, you have the possibility of man connecting with any kind of animal he or she desires … although sometimes they have to be a witch to do so.
  4. Grace. Ever watch a wolf or cat in action? ‘Nuff said.
  5. Muscle. Yes, I write romances, and when you live on only a liquid diet, well, you seem to get all pale and sickly. What about some muscle? Whether bulked or sleek, there’s muscle tone there most of us can only dream of.
  6. Freedom from human society’s rules. Indeed, this can be “to a point,” but have you ever been so infuriated with someone you wish you were young or stupid enough to just smack them? Especially when in animal form, were-creatures don’t have to follow the same rules. Have a beef with someone? Have it out with them (though hopefully only if they’re another were and therefore equal in strength and fury).
  7. Magic.  However your were-creature transforms, there’s definitely more than a touch of magic there; what could be better than that?
  8. Superhuman. Depending on the myth, this could mean simply addition of some animal senses / abilities to a normal human skill-set, or could be as much as immortality because of involvement with the magical world. Either way, pretty darn intriguing.
  9. Re-insertion of equality between man and animal. While not all men are animals (at least, not technically), it doesn’t seem any better than humans hold themselves as better than a much larger variety of creatures who are better able to live and adapt to this planet rather than just destroying and stomping all over it. Just saying.
  10. Examination of what it really means to be human. I know, it’s ironic that my favorite thing about were-creatures is how their humanity affects them, but sometimes humanity is best viewed and interpreted with a bit more of an outsider-viewpoint; after all, we’re all pretty close to it as humans ourselves.

So, what about you – vamps, or werewolves? Something else entirely? Do comment below. Thanks for reading, and have a great week.

The Paranormal

What is Magic?

S.C. Chalmers

Magic. So, what is it? What makes some things “real” magic, while other things are magic “tricks”? What separates magic from the rest of the supernatural and paranormal?

Personally, I like magic, or my idea of it. I believe magic is anything that defies understanding and explanation via science and current understanding. It encompasses myth, legend, creatures that shouldn’t exist, the impossible that happens. Magic exists in that place that brings us back to a time in childhood when everything really was possible – it didn’t have to follow the rules science and knowledge ingrain in us.

I’d like to say that magic is without limits, but does it? Or are those limits only placed on it because we have to make it able to fit into our highly limited world? If gravity works on everything on our planet, then gravity must work on magic, right?

Or maybe not. Maybe true magic is the breaking of all those rules, something which defies all of those rules – and that’s what defines it, because it can’t be explained. Action lacks the expected reaction. It’s why there really could be pots of gold at the end of rainbows, or creatures exist who are entirely defined by this defiance of the “rules” we define our world with. Maybe these creatures don’t need to break all of the rules – they may be subject to gravity and require sustenance, like the rest of us – but what if they broke lots of the other rules? What if they weren’t bound by time and space? They could somehow see and manipulate these things?

Hmm … does that make aliens magic? Or does it make magical races alien to us?

What do you think? Are werewolves only one step away from little green men with bug-eyes?

Thanks for reading. Have a great week.