Dogs

Today we had a dog trainer come to the house to help us out with the newest member of the family, Fuzz (yep that's his name). Fuzz came to us a foster dog but he soon won over our hearts and we're keeping the little rascal.

Just look at that face, how could you not fall in love.

Because I was all filled up on good dog vibes I decided to focus today's blog on the magical creatures themselves. Dogs certainly do have a prominent place in magic, mythology and folklore around the world. They are almost always connected to the underworld, and can travel between or guard the gates of multiple worlds (probably why they like many other animals can see ghosts). They are considered both lunar and solar creatures, which is all part of this interdimensional duality thing they've got going. They've been the companions of gods and goddesses, witches and demons. Not to mention dog backwards is god which is totally cool.

Cerberus by William Blake.
Perhaps the most famous mythological dog,the three headed Cerberus is the guardian of the Underworld. He was tricked by a few heroes and captured by Herakles but all in all he did a good job keeping the living out of the underworld.

The Norse god Odin flanked by his dogs Geri and Freki who along with his ravens served as his messengers and advisors. By Ludwig Pietsch, 1865.

Hecate with her attribute the black dog by Patricia Ariel.
Hecate was frequently associate with dogs (they were even sacrificed to her but I don't like to think of that). She was the goddess/guardian of the crossroads and held the key to the underworld, so you can already see the connection. She was also the goddess of magic and perhaps this is part of the reason why dogs became associated with witchcraft.

Anubis Waits by jigga133 aka Jason Reeves.
The Egyptian Jackal headed god was associated with mummification and the journey into the afterlife.

Source

The Celtic Cwn Annwfn were a pack of red eared white bodied dogs that hunted throughout the land of mortals as well as the Otherworld.

The Goddess Hel and the dog Gramr by Johannes Gehrts, 1889.
Hel is the goddess of the Underworld and as Cerberus guards the Greek Underworld so does Gramr guard the Norse/Teutonic Underworld.

Diana and her Hunting Dogs beside a Kill by Jan Fyt.
Diana the Roman Goddess of the hunt  and her Greek counterpart Artemis, were frequently portrayed with their canine companions.

T'ien Kou by kizzesama.
A Chinese celestial dog of both creation and destruction, death and life. Again we see the duality of the dog, they permeate the world's mythologies, and are connected the most fascinating mysteries of life.


To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking reading, writing and all kinds of daydreamy things.

Out on a Limb

So I've decided to add an irregular Saturday post to my blogging schedule.
As the title suggest I'm really going out on a limb with this one because (drum roll please) it's going to feature my own art, or works in progress.

 Lately I've been playing around with watercolour and inks, this is my work station. In truth it's the coffee table in front of the TV, my study (artfully appropriated from my brothers old room after he moved out) is carpeted and watercolour, any paint, is a bad idea unless I want my father in hysterics (hhmmm).

Last night I painted these little peacocks. It was really quite fun, It's make a big blob (by big I mean 5mm diameter)  and then blow it up, making the head and neck, the bottom of the streak, where the blob originated was the body and from there I'd alter it's shape and paint out the tail, adding green so that it bled through. I really like them and might add them to greeting cards for my etsy shop.

The other thing I'm working on at the moment is what I hope will be a fabulous fanciful portrait of one of my brothers many dogs, Suga.

These pics are a bit blurry so please forgive. Isn't she just the cutest thing. She's vicious too and precious so in this portrait she is royalty, draped in a lush cloak and sitting upon a throne (throne to be added later).

I hope you enjoyed my plunge, and we'll see if I keep this up.


To keep up to date with the words and pictures I'm sharing now head on over to my new website, www.sarahfallon.net.  I'm talking reading, writing and all kinds of daydreamy things.