Topic Research

Artemis- I've always been a fan of Artemis. I'd say she's probably my favorite Greek Goddess, with the possible exception of Persephone. I'd be interested in doing something along the lines of the story of Artemis and Iphigeneia. The version of the story I'd read before didn't include the part where Artemis intervened and made Iphingeneia  one of her immortal companions, which she apparently did pretty often and I think is a cool aspect of her character.

                                                   

                                                                   (Artemis)

Inanna- I'm not as familiar with Inanna/Ishtar as I am with Artemis, but I like the idea of doing something with such an ancient goddess. I really like the story of her descent into the underworld, because I'm a sucker for underworld myths. To be perfectly honest, I'm almost more intrigued by Asu-shu-namir than Inanna herself, and might focus the story on them rather than her. I mean, how cool is an ancient non-binary deity?

                                                         

                                                                           (Inanna)

Kali- I'm almost reluctant to include Kali since, unlike the other two goddesses I mentioned, she is still widely worshiped by people today. But I just think she's so cool, especially the story of her defeating Raktabija. 

                                                      

                                                                               (Kali)

Topic Brainstorm

Mermaids- I've always loved mermaids. When I was little, The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie. As I got older I became interested in the darker original mermaid legends, as well as related creatures like sirens. I will use The Folklore of the Isle of Man by A. W. Moore as a starting  place for my research.

Fairies- My long time fascination with fairies is similar to my interest in mermaids. They were always pretty and friendly in children's media I liked, and when I was older I liked the less occasionally less than benevolent versions of them in older stories. I really only know anything about the Celtic versions of fairy lore, so it might be interesting to learn about equivalent stories in other cultures. I think the book The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Kneightly will be a good source for this.

                                        
                                            (The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Noel Paton)

Goddesses- I'm really interested in the stories of greek goddesses, especially Persephone and Artemis. I would be interested in learning about the goddesses of other cultures and seeing how they compare to those stories I'm familiar with. I think the List of Deities on Wikipedia will be a good place to start looking for goddess stories I'm interested in learning more about.

Witches- The concept of humans being able to use magic is a cool one for me. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever truly get over not receiving my Hogwarts letter as an eleven year old. I would be interested in learning more traditional stories about witches, although I doubt most of them will be very positive. I will use Edwin Sidney's English Fairy and Other Folk Tales.