By the Gods!

Genies

“Genie” is a term derived from the Arabic “Jinni” and while we have a brief article on their Islamic origin here, we’re going to take this time to elaborate a little more.

A jinni is a mischievous or even malevolent spirit that can take the form of any animal or person, and is said to have magic powers. I’m sure that isn’t news to all of you Disney fans out there, but did you know they have their own separate Jinn community?

It’s true! They have their own laws, customs and kings (presumably way more fun than ours, with Robin Williams singing constantly). 

Despite having all that fun stuff going for them, they seem to spend most of their time trying to tempt humans into wicked acts. In the 13th century the Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah deemed the Jinn “ignorant, untruthful oppressive and treacherous.” According to Taymiyyah, much of what a lay person would perceive as “magic” was actually the Jinn hard at work, messing with us. This makes us here at By The Gods! glad that we have Never had a friend like them.

Satan

Buckle up, kids–-we’re in for a big one! Satan, the big baddie, is a character that most people throughout the world are at least marginally familiar with. He wears quite a few different hats, however, and his role has changed a great deal over the 2,300-odd years he’s been around. 

His first appearance was in the book of Job, where he speaks to the god of the Israelites (Yahweh) about the nature of humanity’s faith. He is named as Satan, which means “the Adversary.” All Satan did was ask the big questions: he observed that those mortals who led rich and happy lives had no problem worshipping God, but how would they feel if they had it all taken away? God saw the point, and picked poor Job, a rich farmin’ man, to prove himself correct. He killed Job’s family, took all of his money, land, and cattle, and covered him with boils. Through it all, Job continued to worship, and God got to whip out the satisfying “told you so!” to Satan. 

Satan, you see, was just another divine dude up in heaven with God. Ipso facto, he was an angel. After the Job story, the Hebrews began to see ol’ Satan as an evil force, and eventually the source of all evil. This suggests the influence of Persian thinking: a battle between good and evil, going forever. After all, the Israelites came from Persia before the whole Egypt/Exodus debacle, and it only makes sense that some mythological and cultural diffusion can be seen there. They created a hierarchy of demons for him to control, to oppose God and his angelic hierarchy, and eventually he had his own origin story put together: the tale, as far as ancient Jewish lore is concerned, had Satan rebelling against God and was hurled by an angel (probably Michael, if you’re curious) into the abyss. 

Now, the Christians really ran with the Satan-stuff. “The Devil” can be traced back to the Latin diabolus, which is the source of “diabolical,” and became synonymous with Satan back in the day. In the Apocryphal book of John the Evangelist, Jesus describes Satan’s transformation into an handsome fellow with a tail and cloven hoofs. After that, more and more of the world’s wicked side became attributed to Satan.

Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno (a part of his Divine Comedy) had Satan at the innermost ring of hell as a great three-faced beast, half-frozen in ice, eternally devouring Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius (Dante was a 14-th century Italian, and not a fan of the whole Julius Caesar-murder-thing). Note: no fire and brimstone. Milton, who expanded on the rebellion motif, put together Paradise Lost in the 17th century, which told the tale of Satan (aka Lucifer) and his rebellion in heaven. In the poem Satan sets himself up as the defeated rebels’ leader, and founds hell on the platform of  poisoning God’s favourite thing: mankind. “Lucifer” translates to the title “Morning Star” or “Light-bearer,” which was how Satan was known before he was cast out of heaven. Back then, he was a powerful angel, according to Christian lore, and was either a Cherubim or Power in the Angelic Hierarchy.

Ciguapa

Ciguapa originate in Tanio (A tribe from what is now the Dominican Republic) mythology, and are naked demon-women with backwards feet that pray on the lost and innocent. They inhabit the mountainous regions of the Dominican Republic. 

The Ciguapa have the dark brown or blue skin and are thought to be very beautiful, especially if you don’t mind backwards feet. So if you’re not the footsie-playing type, this is  the perfect succubus for you! Ciguapas also have an abnormal amount of glossy hair that covers their otherwise naked bodies. 

On a beautiful night when the moon is high, the Ciguapa lure men into the forests, (which can be confusing, as their tracks are very misleading) have intercourse with their lucky victims, and eat them (much like spiders and the beloved praying mantis). One can hear the Ciguapa whine on a very dark night, normally after nailing/eating some unfortunate fella. 

So: today we have learned that if you choose to follow foot prints (possibly backward ones) leading into a forested mountain in the Dominican, you may be in for a game of footsie with a Ciguapa. And the Ciguapa always win at footsie.