Miracles

Mythology is replete with tales of gods and goddesses inflicting transformations upon those mortals below them. The reasons vary: as a punishment it is popular. Sometimes it is a gift, or as a disguise. The Greco-Roman pantheon was the religion when it came to shape-shifting. The Gods and Goddesses of Olympia seemed hardly able to pass a day unless they had transformed someone (often themselves) into an animal. The best example of equine transformation of those days was that of Ocyrhoe, the human daughter of Chiron, the centaur, and the nymph Chariclo. Ocyrhoe was able to foretell the future, and on one occassion reputedly revealed secrets that Zeus would rather not have had revealed at that time. In punishment, he transformed the girl into a mare. The Christian God is not as inclined to such amusements, apparently firmly committed to each being in its proper place. Where the Gods of Olympus practiced chaos, the Christian God prefers rigid order. Perhaps this explains the Christians' aversion to magic. Indeed, while I know of no tale relating transformation into equine form by the Lord Almighty, I do know of the opposite taking place: Saint Macarius once spied a young mare and approached her. Before a stunned audience, he laid his hands on her, and she changed into an old woman. Apparently a witch had transformed the lady, and the holiness of the Saint had allowed him to recognise the woman in the mare. Personally speaking, I think I'd rather be a young mare than an old woman, but it takes all sorts to make a world...

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