Magic and Sorcery: Shifters

Stories of shape shifters have existed since people have told stories. Anybody can be a shapeshifter - young people, old people, men, women, heroes, villains, spirits - even gods.

The focus on shapeshifting in science fiction and fantasy can, and indeed may, form a topic all of its own for discussion in a future club meeting. However, with its focus on magic and sorcery this month, shapeshifting has to be touched upon in some manner.

Shapeshifting through Magic

From the Greek myth of Circe turning Ulysses' men into swine and the Gorgon Medusa's dread gaze turning those who met her eyes into stone, right up to the modern White Wolf roleplaying games of Werewolf: the Apocalypse and Werewolf: the Forsaken, shapeshifting has traditionally been a supernatural phenomenon; either through a magical effect or through some inherent supernatural ability, characters in fiction have been able to shift from human form into some sort of animal; wolf, rabbit, fish, hen, swan, spider, bear, panther, cat, deer, pig or monster. The variety of shapes shifted into range the gamut of human imagination - there are few species on earth into which a human has not shapeshifted into in some story or myth.

One major theme underpinning shapeshifting is whether or not the transformation is voluntary (via some sort of beneficial spell) or involuntary (via a curse). The Animorphs from the Harry Potter universe are the most modern interpretation of the former; the Circe curse from Greek mythology, revisited in the movie Willow, an example of the latter.

Other examples are:-

Voluntary Transformations

- Zeus' shapeshifting into various forms, such as a swan, a bull and a golden shower (!), always as a stratagem to seduce some poor mortal victim
- Odin's shapeshifting abilities in Norse mythology, as well as Loki's abilities to turn into a mare (who was bred with a stallion and got pregnant!) and a woman, among many different forms
- Also from Norse mythology, Freya possessed a cloak of falcon feathers which enabled her to turn into a falcon; Loki occasionally borrowed it
- Ged, the protagonist of Ursula K leGuin's "A Wizard of Earthsea"

Involuntary Transformations

- The Circe curse (a sorceress' curse that turned people into pigs)
- Petrification (the Gorgon's gaze that turned humans into stone)
- The Beast (from Beauty and The Beast)
- The Seven Swans
- The Frog Prince
- The movie Ladyhawke

Shapeshifting As Part Of The Sorcerer's Grimoire

From turning people into frogs to warping Bottom's head into that of a donkey, shapeshifting has been a part of mythology for centuries, an essential trick in the accomplished sorcerer's, or sorceress', grimoire. A cursory examination of even the smallest collections of books of fictional or mythological magic and sorcery turns up shapeshifting spells, sometimes tied with shamanistic abilities, sometimes on their own.

The topic of shapeshifting, like the mythological hydra, reaches out far beyond its bounds to encompass spirit magic, shamanism, dreaming, sexuality, gender and sex. Since magic and sorcery also cover these exact same themes in many ways, stories of magic and stories of shapeshifting have gone hand in claw for as long as stories have been told.

Shapeshifting As Club Topic

Due to the sheer volume of stories on this theme, in horror, science fiction and fantasy, I propose that Shapeshifting be submitted as one of the topics to be considered for 2013. There are plenty of examples of shapeshifting turning up in fiction: some are magical, some are scientific, covering themes such as genetics, evolution and mutation (and thus touching upon the "Evolution In Action" future club topic).

The topic of shapeshifting in and of itself is a fascinating one, worth looking into in its own right, and it is only inasmuch as shifting and metamorphosis are the product of supernatural effects, specifically magical effects, that this article has considered.