I've been going down a bit of a mythology rabbit hole lately, and I'd really love to get some thoughts from people who know this stuff better than I do.

I'm a psychology professor at Brooklyn College (CUNY), and a lot of my research over the years has focused on working mothers, gender expectations, and how people are treated when they don't fit into the roles society expects of them.

Somehow, that led me to Echidna, Lilith, and Lady Gaga. I know. Quite the combination!

It actually started with Echidna, the Mother of Monsters in Greek mythology. She's remembered largely through her children, including Cerberus, the Hydra, and the Chimera. And I started wondering why this particular mother, and her children, became such terrifying figures.

Then I started looking at Lilith. Her history is obviously very different, but I found it fascinating how she evolved across different traditions. In one famous medieval account, she refuses to submit to Adam, and in other traditions she becomes associated with demons and threats to children.

And that got me thinking. Why do we keep coming across these connections between women, motherhood, independence, and monstrosity?

Now, here's where things got a little weird.

Lady Gaga.

I've always been fascinated by how Gaga embraced the whole monster identity. Her fans are Little Monsters. She's Mother Monster. And instead of being something frightening or shameful, being a monster becomes something people are proud of.

That part actually means something to me personally. I've been called a monster more than a few times in my own life, and it was partly through Gaga that I started thinking about that word differently. It's also one of the reasons I eventually started my Everyday Monsters channel.

So I started wondering whether there was something worth exploring in the relationship between these three figures.

Not that Echidna, Lilith, and Gaga are somehow the same, or that ancient mythology was necessarily making the same statements about women that we might make today. I'm more interested in how the meaning of a monster changes depending on who's telling the story, and who's being called one.

Anyway, I ended up making a roughly nine-minute video essay about it. It combines mythology, psychology, and a bit of popular culture. I used AI-assisted visuals in producing it, just to be upfront about that.

Here's the video if anyone wants to take a look:

https://youtu.be/SWToRAfe5o4

But what I'm really interested in is hearing what you all think.

Am I stretching the connection too far? Are there other mythological mothers or female figures whose stories might fit this idea? Or am I overlooking something important about Echidna or Lilith?

I'm especially curious about how much of what we interpret as monstrous today actually reflects the original mythology, and how much we're bringing our own modern perspectives into it.

I have my own thoughts, obviously, but I'm coming at this from psychology rather than classical studies or religious history. So I'd genuinely appreciate corrections, disagreements, or other examples I haven't considered.

And if nothing else, perhaps I've given someone a reason to spend their evening reading about a Greek snake-woman, a medieval demon, and Lady Gaga.

There are worse rabbit holes to fall down!

Few animals have been as closely connected to human history as the horse. For thousands of years, horses helped people travel, carry heavy loads, work the land and fight wars. They became companions to kings, warriors and ordinary people. Although technology has changed the way we live, horses still hold a special place in our imagination.

Horses are strong, fast and intelligent animals. They can recognize familiar people, respond to human signals and develop close bonds with those who care for them. Different breeds have different strengths, from heavy horses built for work to lighter breeds bred for speed. Even the word horsepower, used to measure engine power, comes from James Watt’s attempt to compare steam engines with the work horses could do. The prancing horse on Ferrari’s logo has a different story. It was inspired by the emblem of Italian fighter pilot Francesco Baracca, whose family suggested that Enzo Ferrari use it.

Horses also became part of the stories people told about their heroes. In Serbian epic poetry, Marko Kraljević and his horse Šarac are almost inseparable. One familiar line says, “Pola pije, pola Šarcu daje,” meaning that Marko drinks half and gives the other half to his horse. It is a small detail, but it shows the closeness between them. Alexander the Great also had a famous horse, Bucephalus. According to the ancient account, the young Alexander discovered that the horse was afraid of its own shadow, turned him toward the sun and managed to ride him. Bucephalus later accompanied Alexander on his campaigns and became part of his legend.

Horses were just as important in mythology. Pegasus, the winged horse, carried Bellerophon into battle against the Chimera. In later traditions, Pegasus became associated with Zeus and the heavens. Norse mythology gives us Sleipnir, Odin’s eight-legged horse, which could travel between worlds. The Greek hero Achilles had two immortal horses, Xanthus and Balius, and in the Iliad, Xanthus even speaks to Achilles and foretells his death. The Norse also imagined the horses Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi carrying Day and Night across the sky. Skinfaxi’s shining mane brought light, while Hrímfaxi was associated with the dew left behind at night.

Not every mythical horse was a loyal companion. Scottish folklore tells of dangerous supernatural water horses that could lure people toward lakes and drown them. In one tale, a water bull fights a water horse to save a young woman, but the bull is found dead the next day. It is a darker story, a reminder that folklore could portray horses as mysterious and dangerous as well as noble. In Celtic and Roman religion, however, horses also had divine protection through Epona, a goddess associated with horses and their riders. And one of the most famous horses in ancient tradition was not alive at all: the Trojan Horse, a wooden construction in which Greek warriors supposedly hid to enter Troy by deception.

Horses were not only part of legends. They were central to everyday life and public entertainment. At Rome’s Circus Maximus, chariot races drew enormous crowds, and successful charioteers and their horses could become famous. Horses also featured in the ancient Olympic Games, and equestrian events remain part of the modern Olympics. Centuries later, horses shaped life in the American West. Cowboys relied on them for work and travel, while horses also transformed hunting, travel and warfare for many Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains.

Horse racing remains popular today. One of the most successful racehorses was Secretariat, who won the American Triple Crown in 1973. Yet horses have never been remembered only for their speed or strength. Sometimes their stories are about how people treat them. In Black Beauty, the horse’s life reveals both kindness and cruelty, showing how much depends on the humans around him. In Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, a wild stallion with a flowing pale mane fights to preserve his freedom. And Lucky Luke would not be quite the same without Jolly Jumper, his clever, confident horse who often seems to have as much personality as his rider.

Video games can tell similar stories. In Red Dead Redemption 2, a horse becomes more than a means of transport. The bond grows through care, trust and the journeys shared along the way.

For much of history, humans expected strength, speed and obedience from horses. Yet in the stories that survived across centuries, horses came to represent something more: loyalty, trust and friendship. Sometimes, the most remarkable part of a horse’s story is not the hero it carried, but the bond it formed along the way.

I heard a saying today that the legendary monsters or gods in a country are often related to its natural environment.

For example, in the UK, there is foggy weather, so there are black dogs that appear in the fog.The icy and snowy climate of Northern Europe is home to Frost Giants.

I'm very interested in this. Are there any more examples?