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Underground > Temple >

Magic Rabbits

grant

16:06 / 03.11.03

What's in a rabbit?

Over here at the Donnie Darko Annotations wiki, there's a page set up for the magic(k)al symbolism of rabbits. With only one thing on it, a link to an urban legend I just discovered today.

There are Easter bunnies and Brer Rabbit. There's gotta be a lot more.

What kind of associations do rabbits have for you?

cusm

16:29 / 03.11.03

Pop culture has my brain today. All I can think of is Alice in Wonderland, Pink Floyd, and The Maxx.

But otherwise, I believe the general traits are fertility, gentleness, and speed.

Chiropteran

16:32 / 03.11.03

From what I've read (many years ago), rabbits/hares were considered in medieval Europe (and later) to be one of the forms often taken by "witches" when out and about on mischief (blighting crops and drying up cows and the like). I'll see if I can turn up any decent sources for this - it's relevant to a current writing project of mine, anyway.

There's also the "rabbit's foot" talisman - anyone know anything about the origins of that one?

~L

Tamayyurt

16:39 / 03.11.03

For Native Americans as well as in Africa The Hare was a trickster spirit/god. Of which Bugs Bunny is the modern day avatar.

In Europe rabbits were associated with fertility, Springtime, and the moon. Easter bunny is the modern day avatar.

In China there was even a rabbit God of homosexuality. (Um, doesn't Bugs also dress in drag often and kiss Elmer Fud full on the lips?)

Rabbits feet are good luck.

And stage magicians use Rabbits because of there natural tendency to keep quiet and still in dark tight spaces.

Tamayyurt

16:52 / 03.11.03

Wu Tien Bao was the Chinese Gay Rabbit God. I found this Myth:

One day, Wu was caught peeping at the official's ass through a toilet wall. After several rounds of beating with bamboo stakes, he confessed that he was attracted to the official. When the official knew the reason, he was so angry that he ordered more punishment and Wu died under heavy torture.

After Wu's death, he told his friend in a dream that "even though it was improper to peep at a man, it was done only because of love and should not have been punished with death. Now the court officials in the nether world have assigned me as Rabbit God to safeguard loving affairs between men, and you should build a temple for me."

The friend built the temple. When there were quarrels between gay couples or when someone suffered for gay love, they went to this temple to worship the Rabbit God, Wu Tien Bao, and they were usually aided by the Rabbit God in their quests.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

20:36 / 03.11.03

Then there's the Mayan Rabbit Scribe, who I came across a couple of years back when I was looking for a deity to bless a narrative hypersigil. Very little is known about him, but here's a couple of sites.

http://www.ancientmexico.com/content/gods/rabbitscribe.html

http://www.ancientscripts.com/rabbit.html

Colonel Kadmon

21:14 / 03.11.03

Don't forget Harvey - "He's a pooka," some kind of wise trickster god of, I believe, Irish origin.

The best European example of a trickster god as rabbit has to be the tales of Brer Rabbit, some of which were collected by (shudder) Enid Blyton. These include Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby, which will ring a bell in the mind of anyone who has read The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

angelvanilla

04:13 / 04.11.03

Top hats.

trouser the trouserian

04:35 / 04.11.03

There's a rabbit trickster god (& stories about him) in Watership Down (book or film).

_Boboss

06:54 / 04.11.03

Don't forget The Fetch, yr english qaballa man, that's a pookah-puck style derivation of keltic rabbit forms too. sorry mate.

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