Underneath it all

Becoming a Werewolf by Avestra (Ieva Skrebele)

In Latvian mythology werewolves are very different than in the European myths. Here they are the good guys. They were even called god’s dogs (Latvian pagan god’s, not Christian one’s) because they did good jobs and in some way worked for god. Though with time during Middle Ages werewolf myths changed under the influence of the Christian church, and with centuries people here slowly started seeing werewolves as evil. And becoming a werewolf also here is very different than in Europe. First of all being a werewolf wasn’t a curse and it had no relation with the full moon. And you couldn’t become one when being bitten by another werewolf. In myths, most people who were werewolves decided to become such from their own free will. Though it was also possible to become one unwillingly when an old werewolf who didn’t want to run as a wolf anymore could give his wolf’s skin to you without you knowing it. Usually this werewolf did so by getting you to drink a bewitched beer. Only after you had gotten the wolf’s skin you realized what had happened and had no other choice but to run as a wolf every now and then. And one of the ways how one could willingly become a wolf (the one shown in this picture) was to creep under a tree root that appears from the ground and then grows back in it. And to shift back into a person you had to creep under the same root only the opposite direction. Though there were lots of other ways as well. Of course you could choose in which moment you wanted to turn into a wolf and when to turn back into human. And most of the time werewolves were living with their families and other people who had no idea that every now and then they turned into wolves. And Latvian werewolves looked like real wolves. They weren’t half wolf - half human creatures as shown in these modern day “anthro” drawings. Though there were some differences from real wolves. When these people turned into wolves they were slightly larger than real wolves and their hind legs were longer than their front legs. And they also had human eyes. P.S. If your clothes (which usually were hidden somewhere in the forest) were found by some people and touched while you were a wolf, you couldn’t shift back into human form anymore. Then you were forced to keep on living as a wolf for the rest of your life. Although you weren’t completely doomed. There still was one way how you could turn back into human after all. That happened if someone willingly gave you (while in wolf’s form) a piece of bread.