Harpies are omnipresent and always on the alert, so we cannot escape them. The key to the solution lies in their name - “kidnappers”, “thieves”. They personified the Cretan deity of death, represented in the Odyssey by the raging wind. In Hindu theogony they become demons of the sky, beautiful like large birds of prey. Constantly changing from century to century, they take on new, unusual guises, flowing one into another in an eternal movement, similar to the turbulence of the sea, where they originated. They are as old as heaven and as old as death. Harpies are the image of the devouring Mother, the cosmic being who swallows and spews in one eternal double movement. Therefore, they are related to the bearded sirens, the snake goddesses who spew out great rivers, the deities of the chthonic depths. If you dream that you eat the liver of a harpy, you will soon die.

Gabriel Wittkop talks about the origins, habits, destinies and metamorphoses of the harpies. Illustrations by the author.