Check out these interesting stories of women and caves in lore from all over the world. For more great stories, check out our Pinterest page!
#ewls #womencavers #speleology
Black Annis
Stories of Black Annis, also referred to as Cat Anna and Black Agnes, is an old blue-faced woman with one eye who has scared children for hundreds of years as the bogeywoman of Leicester. She is believed to occupy a cave located on the face of Dane Hills. Legend states that she used her cave to hide from the sun, which is believed could turn her to stone. Her cave led to a tunnel that ran all the way to Leicester Castle where she is alleged to linger in the form of a ghost. In the woods she preys on children and brings them back at her cave to drink their blood and eat their flesh. Then, she hangs their skins to dry on the branches of the oak tree outside the cave entrance until she could sew the dried skins together to use as clothes and decorate the interior of her cave. 1 2
Rán
Rán in Norse mythology is is a sea goddess, mother of nine daughters who are waves, and the wife of Ægir, the sea giant god. Rán and her family lived in an undersea cave lined with gold. Rán had that net she used to catch men who sailed the sea and fish. The sailor's large coffers of gold were an offering to the goddess when they drowned. Those who die at sea do not go to either Valhalla nor Niflheim. Instead, they end up in Rán's bed, or the bed of one (or more) of her nine daughters.
The net was invented/made for Rán by Loki to help her catch fish, which is ironic given the trouble the net causes him later when she lent back to him to help him capture the Dwarf Andvari and force him to give cursed gold to Fafnir. Later Loki crashes a party of the gods disguised as a salmon and Rán's net is used to catch him. Then Loki locked in a cave and punished with venom. 1 2
Lady of Orda Cave
Orda Cave underneath the western Ural Mountains is one of the longest underwater caves and the largest underwater gypsum cave in the world. A local myth tells of the "Lady of the Orda Cave" who is said to live in the caves. In 2011 Natalie Avseenko, a former free diving champion, created this image in Ordynskaya Cave. There was dark and cold, around +5C, and no chance to get to the surface and took a breath with a roof above her all the time. 1 2
Circe
This daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid is a Greek goddess of magic. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs. She was skilled in the magic of metamorphosis, the power of illusion, and the dark art of necromancy. Through the use of magical potions and a wand or a staff, she transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals. Circe lived in a cave situated beyond the Forest of Nysa on a mountain near the City of Atlantis. Inside the cave she kept a pet dragon, which she kept in a pool in the centre of it. Some say she was exiled to the solitary island of Aeaea by her subjects and her father for ending the life of her husband, the prince of Colchis. In Homer's Odyssey Circe worked at a huge loom. She invited Odysseus' crew to enjoy a feast that was laced with one of her magical potions that turned them all into swine. 1 2 3
Calypso
Calypso was a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on a cave on the island of Ogygia. Calypso is remembered most for her role in Homer's Odyssey, in which she keeps the fabled Greek hero Odysseus on her island for seven years with the goal to make him her immortal husband. Calypso enchants Odysseus with her singing as she strolls to and from across her weaving loom, with a golden shuttle. 1 2
Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto
Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto is the goddess of dawn, mirth and revelry in the Shinto religion of Japan, and the wife of fellow-god Sarutahiko Ōkami. Amaterasu's brother, the storm god Susano'o, had vandalized her rice fields, threw a flayed horse at her loom, and brutally killed one of her maidens due to a quarrel between them. In turn, Amaterasu became furious with him and retreated into the Heavenly Rock Cave, Amano-Iwato. The world, without the illumination of the sun, became dark and the gods could not lure Amaterasu out of her hiding place. Amaterasu heard something outside the cave and opened the cave to see wht it was. She saw her glorious reflection in a mirror (which Uzume had placed on a tree) and slowly emerged from her hiding spot. At that moment, the god Ame-no-Tajikarawo-no-mikoto dashed forth and closed the cave behind her so that she could no longer retreat. She agreed to rejoin the devine and light was restored to the earth. The goddess is still worshiped today as The Great Persuader and The Heavenly Alarming Female. 1
The Old Woman of the Cave
According to Sioux legend that an old woman and a dog that have been living in a cave near Hot Springs, Arkansas for many generations that never grow any older. The old woman spends her days weaving a rug using pine needles that she has collected in the nearby pine forest and yet the rug never gets any bigger. The dog watches his mistress weave through narrow slits in his eyes as he appears to just nap in the corner. Occasionally the old woman puts the rug down and leaves it while she goes to stir the pot of soup that she has cooking on a fire at the mouth of the cave. The minute the old woman leaves, the dog grabs the rug and shakes it as hard as he can until part of the rug unravels. The old woman returns after stirring the pot of soup. She picks up the rug and patiently begins to restore the damage. Legend is that the rug ever be completed or the world would end. 1
The Cave of the Storm Nymphs
This famous painting depicts the moment from Homer’s Odyssey when three alluring sirens successfully lure Odysseus’ vessel into their fatal trap. As the ship breaks apart, the seductive figures writhe in a state of triumphant ecstasy. This version of the scene was painted in 1902 as a study for a larger canvas, now in the private collection of Andrew Lloyd Weber. 1
Lady of the Lake
Lady of the Lake is the titular name of the ruler of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. She has many names including Nimue, Viviane, Vivien, Elaine, Ninianne, Nivian, Nyneve, and Evienne. Lady to have been the Celtic Water-Goddess Coventina (presumably identified by the Romans with their Mnemosyne). She was the foster-mother of Sir Lancelot in T. H. White's 1958 novel The Once and Future King. She raised him beneath the murky waters of her Lake in a cave where she has once trapped Merlin, but Merlin does not convey it as negative, and even refers to it as a holiday. Merlin had met the Lady at the Fountain of Barenton (Brittany) and fallen so deeply in love with her that he agreed to teach her all his mystical powers. The lady became Merlin's scribe, who recorded his prophecies, as well as his lover. Unfortunately however, over the years, the Lady became so powerful that her magical skills outshone even her teacher and she imprisoned him in Glass Tower (or similar dungeon). To some extent she stepped into Merlin's role at King Arthur's side. 1 2
Brünnhilde
Brünnhilde, also spelled Brynhildr, Brunhild, Brynhild, is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Germanic mythology. She may have been inspired by the Visigothic princess Brunhilda of Austrasia. Odin condemned her to live the life of a mortal woman, and imprisoned her in a remote castle cave behind a wall of shields on top of mount Hindarfjall, where she sleeps in a ring of flames until Sigurðr Sigmundson rescues and marries her. In Icelandic and German mythology, Brunhilde was a strong and beautiful princess who was cruelly deceived by her lover. Her story is told in the Edda poems of Iceland and the Nibelungenlied, a German epic of the 1200s. 1 2 3 4
#ewls #womencavers #speleology
Black Annis
Stories of Black Annis, also referred to as Cat Anna and Black Agnes, is an old blue-faced woman with one eye who has scared children for hundreds of years as the bogeywoman of Leicester. She is believed to occupy a cave located on the face of Dane Hills. Legend states that she used her cave to hide from the sun, which is believed could turn her to stone. Her cave led to a tunnel that ran all the way to Leicester Castle where she is alleged to linger in the form of a ghost. In the woods she preys on children and brings them back at her cave to drink their blood and eat their flesh. Then, she hangs their skins to dry on the branches of the oak tree outside the cave entrance until she could sew the dried skins together to use as clothes and decorate the interior of her cave. 1 2
Rán in Norse mythology is is a sea goddess, mother of nine daughters who are waves, and the wife of Ægir, the sea giant god. Rán and her family lived in an undersea cave lined with gold. Rán had that net she used to catch men who sailed the sea and fish. The sailor's large coffers of gold were an offering to the goddess when they drowned. Those who die at sea do not go to either Valhalla nor Niflheim. Instead, they end up in Rán's bed, or the bed of one (or more) of her nine daughters.
The net was invented/made for Rán by Loki to help her catch fish, which is ironic given the trouble the net causes him later when she lent back to him to help him capture the Dwarf Andvari and force him to give cursed gold to Fafnir. Later Loki crashes a party of the gods disguised as a salmon and Rán's net is used to catch him. Then Loki locked in a cave and punished with venom. 1 2
Orda Cave underneath the western Ural Mountains is one of the longest underwater caves and the largest underwater gypsum cave in the world. A local myth tells of the "Lady of the Orda Cave" who is said to live in the caves. In 2011 Natalie Avseenko, a former free diving champion, created this image in Ordynskaya Cave. There was dark and cold, around +5C, and no chance to get to the surface and took a breath with a roof above her all the time. 1 2
CirceThis daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid is a Greek goddess of magic. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs. She was skilled in the magic of metamorphosis, the power of illusion, and the dark art of necromancy. Through the use of magical potions and a wand or a staff, she transformed her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals. Circe lived in a cave situated beyond the Forest of Nysa on a mountain near the City of Atlantis. Inside the cave she kept a pet dragon, which she kept in a pool in the centre of it. Some say she was exiled to the solitary island of Aeaea by her subjects and her father for ending the life of her husband, the prince of Colchis. In Homer's Odyssey Circe worked at a huge loom. She invited Odysseus' crew to enjoy a feast that was laced with one of her magical potions that turned them all into swine. 1 2 3
Calypso
Calypso was a nymph in Greek mythology, who lived on a cave on the island of Ogygia. Calypso is remembered most for her role in Homer's Odyssey, in which she keeps the fabled Greek hero Odysseus on her island for seven years with the goal to make him her immortal husband. Calypso enchants Odysseus with her singing as she strolls to and from across her weaving loom, with a golden shuttle. 1 2
Ame-no-Uzume-no-mikoto is the goddess of dawn, mirth and revelry in the Shinto religion of Japan, and the wife of fellow-god Sarutahiko Ōkami. Amaterasu's brother, the storm god Susano'o, had vandalized her rice fields, threw a flayed horse at her loom, and brutally killed one of her maidens due to a quarrel between them. In turn, Amaterasu became furious with him and retreated into the Heavenly Rock Cave, Amano-Iwato. The world, without the illumination of the sun, became dark and the gods could not lure Amaterasu out of her hiding place. Amaterasu heard something outside the cave and opened the cave to see wht it was. She saw her glorious reflection in a mirror (which Uzume had placed on a tree) and slowly emerged from her hiding spot. At that moment, the god Ame-no-Tajikarawo-no-mikoto dashed forth and closed the cave behind her so that she could no longer retreat. She agreed to rejoin the devine and light was restored to the earth. The goddess is still worshiped today as The Great Persuader and The Heavenly Alarming Female. 1
According to Sioux legend that an old woman and a dog that have been living in a cave near Hot Springs, Arkansas for many generations that never grow any older. The old woman spends her days weaving a rug using pine needles that she has collected in the nearby pine forest and yet the rug never gets any bigger. The dog watches his mistress weave through narrow slits in his eyes as he appears to just nap in the corner. Occasionally the old woman puts the rug down and leaves it while she goes to stir the pot of soup that she has cooking on a fire at the mouth of the cave. The minute the old woman leaves, the dog grabs the rug and shakes it as hard as he can until part of the rug unravels. The old woman returns after stirring the pot of soup. She picks up the rug and patiently begins to restore the damage. Legend is that the rug ever be completed or the world would end. 1
This famous painting depicts the moment from Homer’s Odyssey when three alluring sirens successfully lure Odysseus’ vessel into their fatal trap. As the ship breaks apart, the seductive figures writhe in a state of triumphant ecstasy. This version of the scene was painted in 1902 as a study for a larger canvas, now in the private collection of Andrew Lloyd Weber. 1
Lady of the Lake is the titular name of the ruler of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. She has many names including Nimue, Viviane, Vivien, Elaine, Ninianne, Nivian, Nyneve, and Evienne. Lady to have been the Celtic Water-Goddess Coventina (presumably identified by the Romans with their Mnemosyne). She was the foster-mother of Sir Lancelot in T. H. White's 1958 novel The Once and Future King. She raised him beneath the murky waters of her Lake in a cave where she has once trapped Merlin, but Merlin does not convey it as negative, and even refers to it as a holiday. Merlin had met the Lady at the Fountain of Barenton (Brittany) and fallen so deeply in love with her that he agreed to teach her all his mystical powers. The lady became Merlin's scribe, who recorded his prophecies, as well as his lover. Unfortunately however, over the years, the Lady became so powerful that her magical skills outshone even her teacher and she imprisoned him in Glass Tower (or similar dungeon). To some extent she stepped into Merlin's role at King Arthur's side. 1 2
Brünnhilde, also spelled Brynhildr, Brunhild, Brynhild, is a shieldmaiden and a valkyrie in Germanic mythology. She may have been inspired by the Visigothic princess Brunhilda of Austrasia. Odin condemned her to live the life of a mortal woman, and imprisoned her in a remote castle cave behind a wall of shields on top of mount Hindarfjall, where she sleeps in a ring of flames until Sigurðr Sigmundson rescues and marries her. In Icelandic and German mythology, Brunhilde was a strong and beautiful princess who was cruelly deceived by her lover. Her story is told in the Edda poems of Iceland and the Nibelungenlied, a German epic of the 1200s. 1 2 3 4
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