Siddhis.  As much as I wish that there really were an X-gene, & more importantly, that I had such a mutation, & most importantly that Doctor Charles Xavier & his merry mutant men were real, & that I could maybe make out with Wolverine & Jean Grey (BTW, my choice power would be ominlinguism, second being tele-empathy), I know that it’s not the case.  & now I’ve been given a Super Powers for Dummies handbook, so to speak,  through the Yoga Sutras & I think it is ridiculous.  & lovely.  But so ridiculous.  Then again, who knows what sort of magic I (or anyone for that matter) would be capable of if I lived as a woodland ascetic.

As promised in our teacher-training workshop on Samadhi Pada, I will now correlate certain siddhis listed by Patanjali + Hindu/Tantric Buddhist texts with comic book heroes.

• Knowledge of past & future (precognition) – Destiny
• Knowing the minds of others (telepathy) – Professor X (Marvel Comics, X-Men #1, September 1963)
• Invisibility – Sue Storm, a.k.a. Invisible Girl (Marvel Comics, Fantastic Four #1, November 1961)
• Super strength – Bruce Banner a.k.a. The Hulk (Marvel Comics, The Incredible Hulk #1, May 1962)
• Visions of Siddhas – Caliban (Marvel Comics, Uncanny X-Men #!48, August 1981)
• Psychic hearing, touch, vision, taste, & smell
• Entering & controlling the bodies of others – Nocturne (Marvel Comics, X-Men: Millennial Visions, August 2000)
• Ability to float or walk on water – Jesus Christ SUPERSTAR.
• Ability to glow or radiate light around body – Alex Summers a.k.a. Havok (Marvel Comics, Uncanny X-Men #54, March 1969)
• Super hearing (echolocation) – Murdoch a.k.a. Daredevil (Marvel Comics, Daredevil #1, April 1964)
• Ability to fly – Kitty Pryde a.k.a. Shadowcat (Marvel Comics, Uncanny X-Men #129, January 1980)
• Mastery over the elements (earth, water, fire, air, space)
  • Geokinesis – Petra (Marvel Comics, X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1, 2006)
  • Hydro/Cryokinesis – Bobby Drake a.k.a Iceman (Marvel Comics, X-Men vol. 1 #1, September 1963)
  • Pyrokinesis – Johnny Storm a.k.a. The Human Torch (Marvel Comics, Fantastic Four #1, 1961) & Saint-John Allerdyce a.k.a. Pyro (Marvel Comics, Uncanny X-Men #141, January 1981)
  • Air Manipulation – Red Tornado (DC Comics, Justice League of America #64, August 1968)
  • Space Manipulation – I’ll get back to you on that one.
  • Making body atomically small, indestructible, perfect – Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym (Marvel Comics, Tales to Astonish #27, January 1962)

I’m so surprised that there isn’t a yogi X-Men character.  Just sayin’.

Unrelated – reading about Yakshagana & Hanuman Iangurs (& animal worship in general).