Strigae: Strix is a Latin word that meaning "screech owl" but may also indicate "witch."
- It comes from the Greek word for "to scream."
- The term may be connected to the word goes, which means "howler."
- Owls are linked with birth, death, and major female goddesses like Athena and Lilith, thus it may have originally signified practitioners of Women's Mysteries.
- The term was then used by the Romans to refer to a particular kind of shape-shifting magical practitioner.
- The strix reflects the ancient Roman culture's dread of both magical activity and feminine authority.
- The Late Latin term strigae is defined by the Latin grammarian Fastus as "the designation given to women who perform magic."
- Strix is usually a woman. By day, they are humans, but at night, they change into birds, soaring through the skies eager for human flesh and blood, particularly that of infants.
- Strigae, like succubuse, are attracted to sex and human energy, or life force.
- Women removed their clothing and smeared unguents over their bodies, allowing them to shape-shift into owl form and fly out into the night to do mischief, according to tradition.
- The strigae, which swooped about at night producing ear-piercing screeches, are mentioned often in Roman literature from the first two decades of the Common Era.
- Women's heads and breasts were filled with toxic milk, and they possessed wings and produced eggs.
- In Lucius Apuleius' second-century Latin book The Golden Assault, a strix occurs
- After consuming a potion and soaking in an anise-bay laurel potion, Pamphile the strix reverts to her original shape.
- It's unclear if the strix was meant to be regarded seriously from the start.
- Would visitors from the future, who had no background, understand the fact that contemporary monster movies were only for entertainment?
- The strix is reminiscent of legendary spirits such as Lilith and Lamia.
- Were the strigae the first followers of these spirits?
- This isn't just conjecture; there may have been a spiritual link: late Roman sources depict Diana as a strigae leader, but this could have been an effort to discredit Diana.
- The sirens and harpies, spirits with female heads and bird bodies, may also be linked to the strix.
- During the European witch hunts, the idea of the night-flying, shape-shifting, sexually hungry, baby-killing witch reappeared with a fury.
WOMEN'S MYSTERIES: Midwifery, Spinning;
DIVINE WITCH: Diana, Lilith; Goes, Lamia.
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