In the spirit of Spookstober, a lot o mythical creatures and beasts from folklore around the world come to light! One of the majestic ones that dwell among us in human form, but is often heard howling at full moons, is the werewolf!
It has come to that part of the year when the days get darker, the weather gets colder and the end of the natural cycle is coming upon us. October, being the bare start of it, had earned itself an epithet of being aerie and spooky.
At the bare end of the month of October, we have one of the witches’ and pagans’ favorite holidays. Samhain! In modern times, referred to as Halloween or Hallow’s Eve! It’s essentially a celebration of saying a temporary farewell to the God, who starts to wrap up in darkness to be reborn as the Goddess on Yule.
Origins of the Werewolf
The Werewolf is a widespread concept in folklore originating from Europe, where it exists in many shapes. A werewolf is essentially a human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or a hybrid wolflike creature.
They shift either purposely, are affected by a curse, or by getting bitten by another werewolf. The transformations usually occur on the night of the full moon.
During the Middle Ages, trials for werewolves were parallel to those of witches. These persecutions began in the 1400s in what is now Switzerland.
With colonialism, werewolves also spread into the New World and are a part of the modern folklore there as well.
As pagans, werewolves to us aren’t just folklore, they are also a part of our wide culture and ancestry. Traces of them and creatures similar can be found in all pagan religions, especially European ones, so a widespread phenomenon as that isn’t just fiction or folklore.
Photo by Sami Jms
Werewolves in Norse Mythology
Norse Mythology is one of the best-kept histories, and in it, we can find a lot of stories about wolves. Odin, the Allfather, is often accompanied by Geri and Freki, his two wolves.
Angbroda, the first wife of Loki, bore Fenrir, the wolf of Ragnarok. Skoll and Hati are also the two wolves that chase around the sun and the moon.
So, with that being said, we can see that the wolves played a significant role in Norse culture. But what about werewolves? They were mentioned in it as well, in some of the Sagas and Norse Mythology!
The Saga of the Volsung
In the saga of Volsungs, we can find a particular story of a father and son who find two men in a deep sleep with wolf pelts. Tempted, the father and the son steal the wolf pelts from the two men and put them on.
Their stolen goods turned out to be magical, turning them into wolves for ten days. They went on a killing spree, losing their minds. The father ended it with an attack on his son, causing a mortal wound.
With the help of a raven that was sympathetic, the son’s wounds managed to heal and when the pelts came off on the tenth day, they burned them.
This is one of the first mentions of werewolves in Norse mythology, where we can obviously see the main characteristic of shapeshifting changing two men into two wolves.
Ulfhednar Berserker Warriors
In the Old Norse corpus, berserkers were fierce warriors who fought in a trance-like fury. They were mostly associated with bears and wore bear pelts and harvested the energy of that animal for their fury - but there was a special type of berserkers called the Ulfhednar.
The frenzy warriors, Ulfhendars, wore wolf pelts. They are mentioned in the sagas of Harald Fairhair, the first Norwegian king, who had an elite guard consisting of these warriors.
They wore pelts of wolfs they slew in battle, gaining the shapeshift aspect of being a wolf-human hybrid, a werewolf!
Ulfhednar by artist KaOokami
Werewolves In Irish Mythology
According to Irish mythology, Samhain was a time when the doorways to the otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and souls of the dead to come into our world. Beltane, being the festival of the living, turned Samhain, the other part, into the festival of the dead.
Amongst many stories revolving around Samhain and Halloween, with the doors to the otherworld being opened, among the creatures that come out we can find werewolves as well.
Acallam tells us how three female werewolves emerge every Samhain from the cave of Cruachan, where one of the otherworld portals are. They kill livestock and terrify the populace with their chilling howls.
Cas Corach, one of the heroes from Irish mythology, comes and plays his harp. The music eases the aggressive nature of the three werewolves and turns them into their human form. After they are sure that the werewolves are human, a band Fianna of warriors led by Ceilte slays them with spears.
Rodnovery Werewolves
It wouldn’t be an article from me if I didn’t reflect on my own culture!
Among South Slavs and Kashubs, northern Polish tribe, there was a belief that if a child was born with hair, a birthmark, or a caul on their head, they were supposed to possess shape-shifting abilities.
They were able to shapeshift into any animal they wish, but it’s commonly believed that they preferred to turn into a wolf - becoming a werewolf!
Serbian vukodlaks (wolfhairs) traditionally had the habit of congregating annually in the winter months, they would strip their wolf skins, hang them on trees, and be human for the winter. They were loners and didn’t want competition amongst other werewolves, so they often used the opportunity to find vukodlak pelts and burn them, so that the others may never return to the skin they came from.
Be a werewolf for Halloween!
Modern Werewolves
In modern times, werewolves became characters in novels, movies, and such. Most modern fiction describes them as vulnerable to silver weapons and immensely resistant to injuries.
They first appear in Germany in the 19th century, with the Beast of Gevaundan, an 18th-century werewolf creature was shot by silver bullets. This introduces novelists to the concept and they have been retelling the story onwards.
One of the most famous werewolves from modern fiction is none other than Professor Remus Lupin, from J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter. We can see the connection in the stories of how Lupin became a werewolf and the folklore beliefs on how one turns to be one.
Lupin was attacked as a four-year-old kid by a werewolf called Fenrir Greyback, as a revenge act against Lyallm his father, leaving him afflicted for life.
In the movie adaptation of the books, in the third installment called Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Azkaban, we witness Remus Lupins’ transformation and his berserk and thirst for blood, and deadly werewolf howls.
They are a good depiction and adaptation of how werewolves are perceived in folklore around the world mixed with modern times.
Want to dig in deeper?
Take Away
Blessed be Samhain and the Halloween, upcoming spooky holidays! But we should always be careful, the full moon of October will be the Hunter’s Moon, on the 20th of the month in 2021.
If you find yourselves wandering the nights, basking in the moonlight, be vigilant! Werewolves will be on the hunt, so all and any howls and growls should be taken seriously!
Author, Marko, is a young pagan from Southeastern Europe, specializing his pagan path in his Native Faith called Rodnovery and dwelling into Wiccan solitary practices. Years of research and practice, from a very young age when curiosity blooms, gave Marko a good level of expertise on the topic of the Rodnovery religion.