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That which is imagined and not real. Legends which speak of creatures that come from a realm other than our own. Mysterious. Possessing some kind of power - be it knowledge, insight, or magical. Part human, part animal. Who can speak and communicate. Who can be good or evil.

A head of snakes that when you look into her eyes, it turns you to stone. Or perhaps it is a she with the tail of a fish who sings so beautifully, you just want to jump in the water and be with her. A giant with one eye. A horse with the head and body of a man. Or maybe the horse that flies. The body of a lion and the head of a man.

Where do these creatures come from?

In the ancient of times when knowledge was simple, animals were what man knew about most. Tending to animals. All animals effected his lifestyle. Animals were used symbolically to represent traits -strengths and weakness. The combination of animal with a human reflects a certain character.

For instance, the lion with the mans head. A leader certainly, who rules with courage, strength, with fury and intent. The woman with snakes on her head instead of hair. She must have nagged her husband to death. I mean that literally. Day in and day out, nag, nag, nag. Every time he looked at her when she nagged he saw this very ugly creature. Where today some might just call her a bitch, in the ancient times he saw a snake. A viper in fact. And it turned his heart cold like stone. And it wouldn't surprise me if her name was Medusa .

If creatures of fantasy are imaginations of the mind while it sleeps and dreams, then in the ancient of times they called it the dream time. When the mind talked to is host. With images and pictures. Some even went on vision quests.

It would not surprise me if some who went on the vision quests, might have used some kind of booster. To help alter the mind seeking its quest. After all, mushroom, peyote, and frogs have been around forever. In the realm where words are not spoken out loud for the thunder would burst your eardrums and shake you to your very core, symbols represented certain things. Animals. Lions, tigers, horses, goats, snakes. Dreams where the voice of time itself. People paid attention to their dreams.

The fantasy creatures of more recent times are symbolic as well. Dracula, Frankenstein, zombies. The living dead. What a sad thought that represents. Fairies, elf and leprechauns. And the list goes on and on. Visions of dreams of the ways one would like it to be, or the things one sees that actually are. Held in a vision of a dream, fueled by imagination and attitudes.

Learn more about this author, Kate St Clair.
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