Faeries, Dragons & Witch Blood

In folk believe system of Serbian people exist very interesting myths who tell us how some people gained their unusual powers, intelligence, strength etc. Actually, by people believes almost every Serbian hero through history was dragon man. That is how people have explained their heroic acts, wisdom and powers, if they had some. > The problem is that by witches myths, witches explain origin of their powers and their blood lines in same manner. All people know that but no one wants to say that loudly because that is heresy. !itches can not be in same line with cult heroes. This problem could be even bigger because common name for male witches aka warlocks in Serbia is dragon men. In Serbian mythology we can clearly see that there are at least three different kinds of "ragons. #irst kind would be dragons who are identified as meteors on night sky and they are considered to be a personifications of fire. Second kind are reptile dragons or serpent dragons who are very similar to those who we can find in !estern $urope. %y people believes they can be very dangerous. In most cases they are winged serpents but they have intelligence and they behave similar as dragon&people. Actually they share same capabilities. Third kinds are dragon people and they are kinds who interested us here. 'ne old epic song tells us follow( As many Serbian heroes there is, All have been brought up by faeries, And many have the dragons for fathers) So by myths some of those heroes were *islos 'bilic, +ma, 'gn,eni -uk, .el,a %osn,anin, %anovic Sekula, %anovic Strahin,a, /,utica %ogdan, 0ral,evic *arko) > The 1uestion is how those people had becomes dragon people2 That could happen in three ways. #irst would be that ones mother could sleep with dragon. Second is that ones father could sleep with fairy and third is that fairy has nursed 3give her breast milk4 one when he was a baby. TitaniaCowper > If someone becomes dragon&man because his mother was fairy or fairy has nursed him, we can clearly see that faeries are female dragons5 Actually, in Serbian traditions there are several kinds of faeries. !e have, lets say 6little ones7, fairies from nature, protectors of some springs, lakes, trees and 8reat 'nes about whom we are talking here. %y old myths those 8reat 'nes are daughters of Adam and $ve whom 8od has cursed and they became something like semi women very similar to fallen angels from %ook of $noch. %y some stories they even have animal legs which are hidden by their dresses. They have their 9ueen and her name is :erisavl,a. -ery often people consider that 1ueen of faeries is #orest *other and her nick name is #orest !itch or 8reat !itch. !e can find that in many old incantation by whom people had try to contact her. !e must emphasi;e that those faeries are not some gentle creatures from pagan fairytales but very dangerous ones who have extreme power, magic knowledge, bad temper etc. In many stories we can see how they punish some character ,ust because he has better voice or he has seen them. %eside that they are sexually lustful and they have manner to sleep with young boys, shepherds or warriors. <owever, they do not like to be in marriage and they do not like family life. Actually, by myths the only Serbian 0ing who was in marriage with fairy was -ukasin so all of his children were dragon people. >

"ragons are sexually lustful too. $ven today at the east Serbia people believe that dragons had manner that at night visit beautiful girls. -ery often, by people believes, those girls gave birth and their baby was to be dragon man. !hat nobody tells out loud is that if baby is a boy, people will call him dragon man and if baby is a girl, everybody will call her witch. !hat those girls and boys have in common is that both will have magic powers, knowledge and what is the most important capability to, by their own will, induct trance. !hy2 %ecause they are dragons and faeries children, so they are ,ust a half human. *aybe they look like humans, but their souls and true beings are totally different. =sually people say that only persons with some capabilities can see how they really look like, until they are in their bodies, but everyone can see that as they leave their bodies. In most cases their souls were described as in animal shape or mythic animal shape. #or instance in one old epic song Serbian duke %anovic Sekula lives his body in the shape of dragon with six wings. > #rom historic data we can clearly see that dragons do not chose girls perchance. Those girls are witches or they are from witch families. #or instance, professor Stevan "ord,evic have founded in city archive of town +a,ecar that society accused one young girl that she was sleeping with dragon in village 'sl,an in >?@A. She was a witch and she was famous by fortune telling. /ater in year >?BC there was another accusation and then people accused young daughter of famous male witch 0rsta that she was sleeping with dragon. !e must say that people usually had nothing against dragons and their children but they believed that it was too dangerous if dragon stayed to long in their neighborhood because he could provoke drought. The only reason why dragons stay in one region to long are girls. > The 1uestion is who those dragons are and what is their origin2 !ith regret we must say that Serbian ethnology has failed to give us straight answer to that 1uestion. *ainly there are two theories. %y first dragons are some animals, usually serpents, fishes or sheep that became dragons because they have lived too long. #or instance, if some serpent lives hundred years it will become dragon in one moment, by people believes. Second theory speaks more about mysterious dragons that sleep with women. %y it those dragons represents mythical ancestor or ancestors. .eason why scientists consider that those dragons could be ancestors is that because they are in too many blood lines, especially in those with 6blue blood7. That tells us about why they are so important in people s belief system. <owever, it doesn t say who those ancestors are. > !e have had the opportunity to speak with several authentic witches in rural regions of the country about that sub,ect and found out what their traditions tell us about those dragons. So from several similar stories we have compiled one which we will tell here. > %y witches myths, dragons have fallen all over the %alkan many centuries ago. They have fallen with something which looked like meteors shower. %ecause of that, even today witches and peasants connect dragons with meteors and that is noted in Serbian ethnology as we already see. Some of those dragons have fallen in rivers "anube, Timok and Dek and other in forests and mountains. Those who had fallen in rivers have continued to live in them under the water. They look like male mermaids, they have their middle long, big circle eyes, wide nose and long canine toots. Those who had fallen in forests inhabited big trees, mainly old beeches with holes. <ow they look like is hard to say because some witches claim that they are ,ust big lights and other that they are anthropomorphic serpents with wings and that they become big light only when they start to fly. Those who have fallen in mountains inhabited caves and they look like previous dragons. As we can conclude, all of them are same dragons but after they fall in matter they take different shapes depending of their new habitation.

> It is very difficult to explain how witches percept them. *ost of them claim that those dragons are material but that they are more like material spirits. They are not 6dough7 and 6firmly7 like us. /et s say that they are more etheric. %ecause of that only some people can see them. *ost often those people are witches, shamans or some similar groups which have extraordinary capabilities. <owever, dragons can hide themselves even to those groups if they want to, because they are very powerful. As some of my informants have told me dragons reviled themselves only to the woman with whom they wanted to sleep, people with whom they wanted some other kind of contact or people could see them accidentally. 'ne of my informant explained me that very plasticly and described me that if I perchance cought the woman in the moment when she is sleeping with dragon I could see only her and her legs in the air. > As we can see, after their fall dragons have started to seduce women and sleep with them. That was not hard task for them because they are shape shifters too. So when they want to seduce a woman they take appearance of a handsome man and seduce them. That was how it all stared. Ehildren from these relationships become half human half dragons. !hat is the most important thing, is that by that process those children have inherited some powers and capabilities of their fathers. That means that they have some basic powers, and those powers were different from person to person but all of them would have one ultimate power, and that power was 6different7 souls, because of which they would have capabilities to leave their bodies when ever they wanted. %ecause of that 6power7 all of them are capable to be in contact with hidden world and hidden forces which could be visible to them only when they leave their bodies. That contact provides them additional magic knowledge. "uring their night flyes they can be in contact with faeries, dragons, ancestors etc. > %y witches myths that dragon blood line has managed to preserve itself through centuries. It is not necessary that every family has a woman who is in relationship with dragon at presentF it is enough that family has a long departed dragon man or witch and that family would have dragon blood in their veins even today. Some members of that family could revile themselves as witches or dragons men but not everyone although they all do have dragon blood. =sually that happens when they are young and when they start spontaneously to fall in trance. That is the time when they get their initiations and when they discover hidden world of faeries, dragons and ancestors. > As we can see dragons could be mythic ancestor as ethnologists have sad. <owever, as we can see, those dragons are mythic ancestor only to some people not all. Those people who have dragons as their ancestors will have unusual powers and capabilities. They would be people with witch blood. > *oreover, it is not unusual that dragons are sub,ect of witch cults. About one of these cults we have already talked in one my previous article 3The Eauldron Go>HI, Serbian !itchcraft, p@H&@@4. Shortly told, in east Serbia exists a big tree in witch 6*orning Star73/ucifer4 or "anica is Serbian, lives after his fall. That tree is ob,ect of cult. All local witches respect that tree or better said what is in that tree. They work with "anica, it is their source of knowledge and power but they do not worship it5 !hat is interesting here is that /ucifer is connected with dragons because he is Star that had fallen and he lives in tree as others dragons do. 'ther name for meteors in Serbia is falling stars and all dragons are connected with stars. It is very clear that he is a sub,ect of cult because he is more important then the other. So we can see some hierarchy here among dragons.

> !hen I ask my informants where those dragons have came from, I only got one answer&sky. %ecause they are connected with stars we can conclude that they have come from space. It is important to say that people don t see them as aliens but as very old creatures from ancient times. So who are they2 It is very hard to say. <owever, all what we can conclude from all of this is that this stories are very similar to those from %ook of $noch I. !e know for sure that the %ook of $noch I3it talk about watchers, fallen angels and how they slept with women and their half angelic offspring4 was very important among %alkan 8nostic %ogumils and even more that the %ook of $noch II was found in Serbia in %elgrade. Stories about dragons and witch blood which we have found among Serbian witches are very similar to those from %ook of $noch although they do not talk about fallen angels but dragons. > The 1uestions is if angels and dragons are the same2 It hard to tell but we think that even if these stories are not the same they must have mutual origin. !e know that stories about dragons in this region are older then %ook of $noch so our personal opinion is that angels have taken places of dragons after arrival of Ehristianity and 8nosticism. At the bottom line appearance of fallen angels is very similar to appearance of fallen dragons in the way they behave. It is clear that both of them represent same creatures which have fallen from the sky but that they have different names through different moments in history and through different cultures. !hat is more important is that those stories explain origin of blood lines of those people who have some powers. In Serbian witch stories we can find out why those people have these powers and what these powers are.

Radomir Ristic