IT is related by Ovid that Lykaon, king of Arkadia, once invited Zeus to dinner, and served up for him a dish of human flesh, in order to test the god's omniscience. But the trick miserably failed, and the impious monarch received the punishment which his crime had merited. He was transformed into a wolf, that he might henceforth feed upon the viands with which he had dared to pollute the table of the king of Olympos. From that time forth, according to Pliny, a noble Arkadian was each year, on the festival of Zeus Lykaios, led to the margin of a certain lake. Hanging his clothes upon a tree, he then plunged into the water and became a wolf. For the space of nine years he roamed about the adjacent woods, and then, if he had not tasted human flesh during all this time, he was allowed to swim back to the place where his clothes were hanging, put them on, and return to his natural form. It is further related of a certain Demainetos, that, having once been present at a human sacrifice to Zeus Lykaios, he ate of the flesh, and was transformed into a wolf for a term of ten years.
A werewolf was a person who had the power of transforming himself into a wolf, being endowed, while in the lupine state, with the intelligence of a man, the ferocity of a wolf, and the irresistible strength of a demon. The ancients believed in the existence of such persons; but in the Middle Ages the metamorphosis was supposed to be a phenomenon of daily occurrence, and even at the present day, in secluded portions of Europe, the superstition is still cherished by peasants. The belief, moreover, is supported by a vast amount of evidence, which can neither be argued nor pooh-poohed into insignificance
A common element of the traditional legends that differ a bit from our modern understanding is the physical appearance of the werewolf. In modern folklore, a werewolf generally transforms into a half-man, half-wolf beast during a full moon. This creature is usually extremely monstrous looking and is very distinguishable from a common wolf. But, in traditional legends, werewolves looked like other wolves. The only physical trait that separated them was their human eyes and moon phases were rarely mentioned.
In many of the old legends, werewolves with known to be in a contract with satan , and would shift once they donned a belt made from human skin satan had gifted them with. Other legends state that werewolves cannot harm humans, and shift back to human form after 12 days. Yet another says that you can transform yourself into a werewolf with a strap cut from the back of a man who has been hanged.
Werewolves are hardly that.
They are thought to be shapeshifters and to posess a distinct gift of inhabiting the body of thier totem animal. Once you allow yourself to get into the mind and spirit of your totem animal, you share the body. It is a very intense training , and you may never achieve it. But many of them say they do........
