While many characteristics may apply to the spirits of the Underworld, or Marsh Layer, we will examine their most obvious traits.

1. They will appear to be long in bone and tooth, unforgiving in eye and will not cease to inspire fear in mortal flesh-filled creatures due to their serpentine and often reptilian motor attitudes.

2. They will be found in the Marsh or Detrius layer of the Underworld, which may or may not neccessarily correspond to the taxonomically recognized inhabitants of the physical marsh and swamp areas of the amalgamation of organic forms known as our 'Earth.'

Please become familiar here with the various appearances of the marsh and its location within Hades:

River Styx flows though Hades, the Underworld, in a manner dividing the Upper and Lower echelons of Hell; with four other rivers it converges upon the Great Marsh. Styx is sometimes referred to as the Marsh Itself, in which case we may say that the Styx Marsh separates the Lower and Upper circles of Hades.

A river is thus important in several ways: It serves as a divisor between Male and Female energies; it separates what is Real from what is Unreal; and it separates Action from Dream, or action unrealized. The first distinction is most important and also most organic; it is the vital river running between the fleshes of the mortal Man and Woman. The river that separates them also attracts them in desire; it is the eternal separator/attractor which holds the sexes forever in torment for the other but unable to achieve unity.

The second distinction is the separation between Real and Unreal. Each side looks and is in all respects the same as the other; yet one is promulgated as 'real,' the other as false, or created by the mind. Thus, we see that each side of the river is a mirror of the other, each promising to be the real side. When the mind viewing the sides is no longer able to distinguish one from the other, both disappear and return to the River.

The final distinction is the distinction of Sharp Regret. On one side are the things which are done: the glorious triumphs, the accomplishments, that which has been brought into apparent reality. On the other side are the Regrets: the disappointments, the ugliness, the fears and loneliness. The Regret side is shaped by bulldozers, which slowly prowl its rolling, darkened hillsides, ploughing disappointment into new shapes. The Action side is filled with things that have come to be, and those things stand still like portraits. They are three dimensional, staid monuments of children and relatives, homes and offices, occasionally towering triumphs of career or knowledge. They have the attitude of very lifelike waxes, or mummies; they are not quite alive, but they display themselves in total, superficial detail, mute and unchanging. The River flows though these things also, the Canyon of Challenges Met and Left Behind. It cares not for either side.

Finally, the rivers end in the Great Marsh of the Underworld, which is a marsh with no bottom and no substance. It is the purifier of all waters, being as they all run to and from it. Gods and Goddesses pull strings of energy from the Marsh, which they wrap around themselves as they stand to towering heights. It is simple to sink into the marsh with one's feet, and be pulled deeper and deeper into the muck.

The Marsh of Hades is the home of several of our animal-spirit Brothers and Sisters which will be discussed in greater detail somewhere in your mind.

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