fred_jaboobi
First Post
I saw a sci-fi show the other day that mentioned that comsuming the blood of a medusa will make a person immune to that medusa's gaze. Is that part of standard medusa mythology?
Medusa
Grimhelm
First Post
I do not believe so. The only medusa I know about is from the Perseus (or was it Jason?) story, and that never entered into it. Still, there might be other stories I don't know about!
InzeladunMaster
First Post
As Mark already indicated, its not part of the standard lore. The standard lore is that her blood will birth monsters - such as pegasus.
fred_jaboobi
First Post
In D&D
Is there anything mentioned in D&D about medusa blood creating monsters?
Is there anything mentioned in D&D about medusa blood creating monsters?
InzeladunMaster
First Post
Not in the official books, but I think the power has been discussed in various Dragon articles through the years.
In the more well-known version of the myth, Perseus goes out and kills Medusa. Pegasus and Chrysaor sprang from her blood once the head was off. Some versions say she was pregnant from Poseiden when Perseus slew her, others say it was from her blood. Her blood was then used to raise the dead and make Asclepius a great healer. Blood from her right veins heals while blood from her left kills.
According to Ovid, as Perseus flew about with Medusa's head, blood dripped into the seas and hit seaweed, turning the seaweed into coral.
Her blood has power because, mythically, Medusa's blood represents menstruation, a thing which mystifies and terrifies men.
The mythological beheading of Medusa symbolizes the ultimate silencing of female wisdom and expression. It is the act which stops her growth, limits her potential, movement and cultural contributions. She is obliterated and her severed head is flaunted on the Acropolis and other works of art in pride of her and all women's subjugation by violent men. She is broken and her body enslaved. Her spirit, her mind, her spiritual powers are killed. Her once honored forces of female creativity and destruction are halted. Her role as dynamic mediatrix degraded. Her life-giving, death-wielding powers and wild forces of nature are controlled, tamed, and mastered by the male order. The cycles of life and nature are made to conform to his linear perspective.
If you go back into history into Libya (from whom the Greeks borrowed Medusa), Medusa was a chthonic, vaginal goddess of female wisdom. Her blood also had power.
In the more well-known version of the myth, Perseus goes out and kills Medusa. Pegasus and Chrysaor sprang from her blood once the head was off. Some versions say she was pregnant from Poseiden when Perseus slew her, others say it was from her blood. Her blood was then used to raise the dead and make Asclepius a great healer. Blood from her right veins heals while blood from her left kills.
According to Ovid, as Perseus flew about with Medusa's head, blood dripped into the seas and hit seaweed, turning the seaweed into coral.
Her blood has power because, mythically, Medusa's blood represents menstruation, a thing which mystifies and terrifies men.
The mythological beheading of Medusa symbolizes the ultimate silencing of female wisdom and expression. It is the act which stops her growth, limits her potential, movement and cultural contributions. She is obliterated and her severed head is flaunted on the Acropolis and other works of art in pride of her and all women's subjugation by violent men. She is broken and her body enslaved. Her spirit, her mind, her spiritual powers are killed. Her once honored forces of female creativity and destruction are halted. Her role as dynamic mediatrix degraded. Her life-giving, death-wielding powers and wild forces of nature are controlled, tamed, and mastered by the male order. The cycles of life and nature are made to conform to his linear perspective.
If you go back into history into Libya (from whom the Greeks borrowed Medusa), Medusa was a chthonic, vaginal goddess of female wisdom. Her blood also had power.
