Jeff Russell

Yeah, I was gonna say, The Grimms collection seems like a great starting point. Lecouteux's work sounds interesting. I have another book of his about the old lore of Household Gods/Spirits and its very academically-thorough.

Regarding "Mary"; the fact that so many people the world over have had visions and religious experiences of her seems to point to the obvious that she's a real goddess or spirit (daimon), and one that undoubtedly long pre-existed Abrahamic religions. She's obvious more than just a pseudo-historical personage jotted down in tale that didn't exist prior to the 1st century CE. It's probably not too much of a stretch to apply the Interpretatio formula as far as associating her with goddesses from other pantheons. That said, where would she fit as far as associations with Germanic goddesses are concerned? I don't know enough to be able to even begin to answer that myself, but someone someday might figure out a compelling association. It's easier with the classical traditions as there seems to be quite a likeness between Mary and Isis (Frige and Isis do overlap in functions but they seem rather distinct otherwise). My wildest guess with the Germanic divinities would be that "Mary" experiences might be some reflex of the Matrons/Disir spirits. But yeah that's totally a wild guess out of left field. From studying faery lore, my general impression is that unseen entities tend to manifest in forms that are intelligible to the viewer's psyche; they first forge a psychic connection with us and then appear as something that makes sense to us. By that, I think just as there are sundry Jesii, there are also a plethora of Mariae(sp?) spirits/goddesses.

Anyway, I've rambled on too long with my wild theorizing, haha.