Natalja Saint-Germain

I am the spooks 🧛🏻‍♀️🍷
PhD candidate in public law, non-fiction author, multilingual translator, senior lecturer, annoying folklorist, art nerd.

I run #dailyspooklore & #swampsunday (feel free to join me).
Also, I often post about vamps #vampiresweekly

🌉 [bridged](https://fed.brid.gy/bsky/nataljastgermain.bsky.social ) from 🦋 [nataljastgermain.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/nataljastgermain.bsky.social ), follow Bridgy Fed for Bluesky (npub1pqr…2sck) to interact

Web site: https://bsky.app/profile/nataljastgermain.bsky.social

Last Notes

2025-05-26 08:20:00 UTC

Among the Slavs, there exists a belief that the soul of a witch can leave her body while she is asleep, taking on the form of an animal or even a weather event.
Such a soul escapes through a chimney at night, only to return with the first sunrise rays.
#mythologymonday #dailyspooklore #folklore
https://cremini.us-west.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:mte4pf5xkehqcktezej5llaz&cid=bafkreiaf6xddzujc7zjtgwas36gsaflp7wrres5iigrnri3wcglj5cwdem

2025-03-31 06:43:45 UTC

If there's a theatre, there are ghosts!
When a theatre is empty, a ghost light is left on the stage for safety reasons.
But some people believe that the true purpose of it is to allow spirits to perform on stage, thereby preventing them from disturbing the living.
#mythologymonday
#dailyspooklore
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2025-03-03 14:43:50 UTC

One should never spin yarn at night because a kikimora can attack you.
In Slavic lore, they are personifications of poltergeist, but even though kikimory cause a lot of damage, they are just dead girls abandoned by their mothers, who want to be loved.
#dailyspooklore #mythologymonday #folklore
https://cremini.us-west.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atproto.sync.getBlob?did=did:plc:mte4pf5xkehqcktezej5llaz&cid=bafkreieak32tvqf7xrsprmti6zhsvhhde63gghrfkdwyc5lfpo6oy65ije

2025-02-24 03:46:54 UTC

In East Slavic tradition, doors are sacred, so witches and the unholy critters prefer to use windows or chimneys.
For instance, in love incantations, whoever pronounces them, usually mentions that she/he walks out “not of doors”.
#mythologymonday #dailyspooklore #folklore
Image: H. Boswell
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2025-01-27 13:19:54 UTC

In East Slavic traditional beliefs, not only frogs and toads are associated with fertility, but also with women.
Moreover, they symbolize uterus itself, and in the past, that was widely used in folk-magic.
#mythologymonday #swampsunday #folklore #dailyspooklore
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2025-01-20 14:17:50 UTC

In the beliefs of Mesopotamia, Aya and Shamash are married deities.
Aya is the goddess of dawn aka the light bringer, whereas Shamash is the sun god, also strongly associated with the underworld.
Each day they reunite when the twilight falls.
#mythologymonday #folklore
Illustration: Bizarrella
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2025-01-13 13:21:34 UTC

In Zabaykalye, tea often serves as an offering to the spirits.
If you are make tea in the woods, spill some in the fire – that’s the way to share it with the forest lord, who, otherwise, will get offended and treat you accordingly.
#mythologymonday #dontgointothewoods
#dailyspooklore
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2025-01-09 10:03:02 UTC

For those in the back: we don’t need it!
“GeoSpy Pro is an advanced AI platform integrating powerful AI location models for your city or country. Delivering up to meter level accuracy”.
I totally can see it being used by stalkers and criminals.
[#researchingAI&beyond](https://bsky.app/search?q=%23researchingAI%26beyond )
[GeoSpy SuperBolt: Meter level ...](https://superbolt.geospy.ai/ )

2025-01-06 15:09:28 UTC

Coins were widely used in East Slavic folk-magic – put in the basement of a new house to make sure its owners would live in prosperity, left for the dead and unholy in return of a favor, and given to strangers in order to lift a curse or pass them one’s disease.
#mythologymonday #dailyspooklore
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2025-01-06 08:56:13 UTC

In East Slavic lore, witches are capable of stealing stars from the sky and turning them into golden coins.
Usually, such coins are stored in a pot somewhere secret.
#mythologymonday #dailyspooklore #folklore
Image: Nona Limmen
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2024-12-23 08:57:51 UTC

The library of Ivan IV The Terrible is surrounded by myths and legends.
His Liberia, allegedly, was filled with valuable academic and philosophical folios brought from the Byzantine Empire.
Considered either lost or hidden, it’s still sought by archeologists.
#mythologymonday
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2024-12-09 13:26:46 UTC

In East Slavic folklore, a hare is addressed as "Father Hare" and associated with the sun and the world of the dead.
It is said, hares are bound to the Forest Lord (in later folk-tales — to the Devil) and sprits of the woods.
#dailyspooklore #dontgointothewoods
#mythologymonday
Art: Paul Barnes
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