A is for Apotropaic

        My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns, my immanent collection of short stories, poems, and art inspired by fairy tales, myths, and folklore – coming out on April 20!  All through the month I’ll be sharing excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, as well as some reflections on the power of the traditional stories that inspired me.

        Apotropaic is a fabulous word that means “having the power to avert evil or prevent bad luck.”  Ancient Greeks used the image of the gorgon head of Medusa as an apotropaic symbol, and it’s always struck me as a little bit funny to use a monster for protection from other monsters or bad things.  (The ancient Greeks weren’t the only ones to do this, however.  Allow me to remind you of the apotropaic Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu, mentioned here during the 2022 A to Z.)  But let’s get back to Medusa.  Do you need a refresher on the story?  You can read about it here.

        Perhaps the first question we should be asking is why Medusa is considered such a horrible monster anyway?  According to later myths, Medusa was raped by Neptune in Minerva’s temple, and Minerva turned her into a monster in vengeance for the desecration – because of course it was always the woman who was punished.  There’s certainly plenty of fodder for re-tellings in that scenario!  But I haven’t even touched on that because the part of Medusa’s myth I was particularly interested in was her apotropaic function, and indeed the etymology of the name Medusa in Ancient Greek is “guardian, protectress.”  In other words, her protective function came long before the myths that explained the origins of her snaky hair and petrifying visage.  In my book Beyond Pomegranate & Thorns I have a poem called “Medusa Sings to Her Snakes” which includes the lines

     Sway together in your strength,

     Shining like tarnished bronze:

     Protection in your coils, and healing

     In your kiss.  Fearsome we may be,

     But beautiful.  We’ll frighten evil

     With our sweet-fanged smiles, and

     Strangle horror in our fierce embrace.

        As for my rubber block print of Medusa, I was inspired by Pre-Raphaelite paintings of melodramatic women, but really I wanted to show her interacting with the snakes of her hair.  After all, with snakes all over her head, she can never be lonely!  (If you want to know the rest of what she sings to her snakes, you’ll just have to get the book when it comes out.)

        Why am I reimagining classical myths anyway?  If you want to read more about the whole category of Greek and Roman myths as inspiration in my book, by all means go read this prior post on Giving Classical Mythology a Kick.

        The moral of Medusa’s myth appears to be that if you chop off someone’s head they’ll protect you, but I don’t advocate that approach to life.

        Also, you shouldn’t judge a monster by its appearance.  Nor indeed, should you even look at it without protective eyewear!

        Would you trust a monster to protect you from monsters?

[Picture: Apotropaic, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2025 (Image from NydamPrints.com).]