tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40988872404719532382024-03-19T02:46:43.425-06:00Once upon a transdimensional day...
(Formerly Trans-D Digital Art, a blog investigating - & creating - artistic anomalies since 2011.)
Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.comBlogger271125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-87448269544553437252024-03-17T20:19:00.008-06:002024-03-18T13:38:04.258-06:00The Paisley Pattern & the Golden Meme (Revised 3/18/24)<div class="separator"><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih24GTifbrDTjhjz78zNjB4nz4kzwKds8IqnFJFdnWj_1UYUoTEaPcYlS0NRDN68SRPfL362hXHMuVbZp5H5pLejAUGYxk1LZKdFGh4Zb4zfEeFNyd_KM-LPKse2U4iVbCT4uSDtUETopTT8JGZNZtO0h2YNrm9SYICT67ARB3PNkwzuzQQ3cXkuzPizZd/s589/new%20paisley%202b%20lg%20SS.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="588" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih24GTifbrDTjhjz78zNjB4nz4kzwKds8IqnFJFdnWj_1UYUoTEaPcYlS0NRDN68SRPfL362hXHMuVbZp5H5pLejAUGYxk1LZKdFGh4Zb4zfEeFNyd_KM-LPKse2U4iVbCT4uSDtUETopTT8JGZNZtO0h2YNrm9SYICT67ARB3PNkwzuzQQ3cXkuzPizZd/w399-h400/new%20paisley%202b%20lg%20SS.png" width="399" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phi shells served up on a modern paisley fabric (sourced <a href="https://www.zazzle.com/vintage+paisley+fabric" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />Geometry: 2024, DS.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"<b>meme</b> - </i>n.<i> a unit of practice or belief through which a society or culture evolves and that passes from one generation (or even one person) to the next. In this sense, the term — coined in 1976 by British biologist Richard Dawkins (1941– ) and derived from the Greek word for “imitation”— is a kind of metaphorical parallel to the term gene."</i></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_WzSTwKFqe2CUHfVvX_SIdZmKfwV2wKmYPAzj5-INgjTu0gveIU2ZpZstH2nSGRAeyvXRdbppNvYOtwLkL2Muw2UjUbJbBaKsQAZ5eLHlD_3QuWY0PD3SPUEUGOt7CSbTykDX8ChBkpODwbqGFkcnRhWNGbhGueg_2xaaRnVtBsDE0vn0LvEuK0cMsS4/s597/dujardin%20SS%202.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="481" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf_WzSTwKFqe2CUHfVvX_SIdZmKfwV2wKmYPAzj5-INgjTu0gveIU2ZpZstH2nSGRAeyvXRdbppNvYOtwLkL2Muw2UjUbJbBaKsQAZ5eLHlD_3QuWY0PD3SPUEUGOt7CSbTykDX8ChBkpODwbqGFkcnRhWNGbhGueg_2xaaRnVtBsDE0vn0LvEuK0cMsS4/s320/dujardin%20SS%202.png" width="258" /></a></div>- An interesting definition of "meme" found in the online American Psychological Association's <a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/meme" target="_blank">Dictionary</a>. As a "metaphorical" gene, in lieu of its lack of actual physicality, we can expect a meme to operate in a manner similar to the gene: subconsciously and/or subliminally. Unlike the gene, it is transferred from one mind to the other... often in the form of a symbol, although not necessarily a visual symbol.<p></p><p>The images posted above, and <i>inset right,</i> and <i>inset left and right</i> below are the result of a new 2-dimensional toy I developed last year and introduced in <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-universe-in-phi-shell.html">The Universe in a Phi Shell</a></i>: phi shells. I can't remember what inspired me to make phi spirals into phi shells, but it was probably pretty elementary. However, once I saw the effect the shells produced on some images, I was astounded. In so many cases the phi shell was like an envelope - die-cut to fit a golden spiral - or a custom-made template... with maybe a little wiggle room.</p><div><span style="text-align: center;">Sometimes, working with a phi shell leads to repositioning the original spiral. </span><i>Inset right</i> is a prime example: <i style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20475525" target="_blank">Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles</a></i><span style="text-align: center;"> by 17th century Dutch painter (and </span>Bentvueghel<span style="text-align: center;">), Karel Dujardin. <i>(See the <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/08/in-shadows-of-golden-age-bentvueghels_14.html" target="_blank">post</a> for the former spirals.)</i> </span><span style="text-align: center;">As concise as this spiral appears, it could be larger and better... but, As we see time and time again, some portion of the necessary image area is missing. </span><span style="text-align: center;">What sold me on the orientation of this spiral, however, is the way the boy's right arm - holding the bubble pipe - falls so neatly into the small triangle. It's as if the boy is drawing the spiral in the air.</span></div><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5EhlIS-8uPTncuYLAzCNgx367EZAGrraH36TDbmIcKmpskIXZeaFmMBjozxKCtTe51ZtWMyIi8niUpcGe-L8Vi4PBWs8URdIib_G_gHNDRMZpB3QZOqHfmj-SRIOyq7kiOIvenAhJHSSQxZdXs8lp_HeFhyphenhyphenWH3NWuMc_v5mpBaH9_7uhNTnGjO8YhQhF/s625/van%20aelst%20new%20fini.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="496" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5EhlIS-8uPTncuYLAzCNgx367EZAGrraH36TDbmIcKmpskIXZeaFmMBjozxKCtTe51ZtWMyIi8niUpcGe-L8Vi4PBWs8URdIib_G_gHNDRMZpB3QZOqHfmj-SRIOyq7kiOIvenAhJHSSQxZdXs8lp_HeFhyphenhyphenWH3NWuMc_v5mpBaH9_7uhNTnGjO8YhQhF/w254-h320/van%20aelst%20new%20fini.png" width="254" /></a></i></div><i>"Proponents theorize that memes are a viral phenomenon that may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution. Memes do this through the processes of variation, mutation, competition, and inheritance, each of which influences a meme's reproductive success. Memes spread through the behavior that they generate in their hosts. Memes that propagate less prolifically may become extinct, while others may survive, spread, and (for better or for worse) mutate. Memes that replicate most effectively enjoy more success, and some may replicate effectively even when they prove to be detrimental to the welfare of their hosts."</i><p></p>- A cautionary quote from the Wiki entry for "meme," and one that might make a certain amount of sense to those acquainted with what I've come to refer to as the "Golden Meme." I could even go so far as to says this might be reflected in my own experience... including the<i> "detrimental to their hosts"</i> bit, but, I try not to entertain fantastical innuendos that accelerate my level of paranoia.<div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitvwBWvyW9Q_QYSxe1Q_fzRSuZ86z7CDhYcSp9SBW_imP9J-PW5sBqeEWK64dwfausCPuduBMzRHK837x4M7VHwXHfLRSHLOrEnG5fI3iolhOkiqk-Wtqm5lC2mOE5Vj2CTanpOpcGmF9XjpJV-CQQhVEPbQOiTJJPa-R64YTiUaWRx28Iq-qrPGDmwlw/s686/gentilichi%20new%20SS.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="686" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitvwBWvyW9Q_QYSxe1Q_fzRSuZ86z7CDhYcSp9SBW_imP9J-PW5sBqeEWK64dwfausCPuduBMzRHK837x4M7VHwXHfLRSHLOrEnG5fI3iolhOkiqk-Wtqm5lC2mOE5Vj2CTanpOpcGmF9XjpJV-CQQhVEPbQOiTJJPa-R64YTiUaWRx28Iq-qrPGDmwlw/s320/gentilichi%20new%20SS.png" width="320" /></a></div>"When Pacioli (the Renaissance mathematician) wrote in his <i>Divina Proportione</i>: '..<i> just like God cannot be properly defined, nor can be understood through words, likewise this proportion of ours cannot ever be designated through intelligible numbers, nor can it be expressed through any rational quantity, but always remains occult and secret, and is called irrational by the mathematicians'</i>... he seemed to be equating the golden ratio with a variety of magical formula. That is, through his recognition and understanding of "this proportion of ours" he was attempting a marriage between several disciplines: science, art and mysticism. And, this wasn't unusual for the early Western scientists, many who dabbled in astrology, numerology and alchemy side by side with astronomy, mathematics, botany... and the arts. The scientific field was wide open - the hard lines were still blurred...</div><div><br /></div><div>The "new scientists" were seeking enlightenment, autonomy, discovery, truth. And, it was into this slowly reawakening world that the pentagonal spiral made its appearance... and not necessarily for the first time. Similar to the sign of the pentagram - by which the followers of Pythagoras "knew each other" - perhaps, the "sign" of the pentagonal spiral enabled the Baroque artists to identify like-minded artists... kindred spirits in a world in which freedom did not, yet, ring."</div><div><br /></div><div>"Keep in mind that the spiral was also present in Baroque ornamentation... and possibly somewhere in Baroque music, too. So, were the artists, artisans, and musicians completely aware of its proportions and using it as a measure of perfection and beauty? Or, was the proliferation of golden spirals (at that time) an almost paranormal thing... or a variety of<i> <b>subliminal meme</b></i>... an unconsciously recognized icon which was possibly a symbolic presentiment on the part of an artistic community who were, without noticing it, heralding an evolutionary phase of a whole society?"</div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5h20OXLRvJYxiB19AxqLGdGp_nbcAXEoHJ1qZEAPwUW7gtmMKxGa2g7VaKx0MINPNHp-ZQam7RHWTew2Hs62gxHDltu3mTcebzVpLTLbRsWasCRxLIYj06duWCl2gTOKLVk6TbzAyC3opxOEgm3WKNQr_mjc5Jf0lO3P9p1VxEXLuH5BWoKHusqm-Vpd/s762/baroque%20flourish%20X%203%20SS.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="762" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix5h20OXLRvJYxiB19AxqLGdGp_nbcAXEoHJ1qZEAPwUW7gtmMKxGa2g7VaKx0MINPNHp-ZQam7RHWTew2Hs62gxHDltu3mTcebzVpLTLbRsWasCRxLIYj06duWCl2gTOKLVk6TbzAyC3opxOEgm3WKNQr_mjc5Jf0lO3P9p1VxEXLuH5BWoKHusqm-Vpd/w400-h234/baroque%20flourish%20X%203%20SS.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Baroque flourish (w/ phi shells). G-DS-2024.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>- Two quotes via my blogpost: <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-gentileschi-spirals-and-series.html" target="_blank">The Gentilischi Spirals and a Series Afterword</a></i>. One painting appearing in that post is the image reposted (<i>inset right)</i> above the flourish: Orazio Gentileschi's <i>Young Woman with a Violin.</i> It's phi shell is looser than the original spiral I gave it, and resting on her lap like a humongous sea shell gives the image a somewhat comical appeal... but the spiral and triangle intercepts the young woman's bow perfectly.</div><div><br /></div><div>The flower painting, <i>inset left,</i> above her, however, was the work of Dutch Baroque artist, Willem Van Aelst and can be found in <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/09/in-shadows-of-golden-age-bentvueghels.html">Part III</a> of the Bentvueghel series, where we become acquainted with the curious appearance of the garden snail in flower paintings. And, really, if the Dutch flower painters used the snail as a clue indicating that a larger spiral was deliberately embedded in their paintings, well, all I can say is, what a brilliant idea! </div><div><br /></div><div>Directly above is a portion of a Baroque ornament recently found (now decorated with phi shells). Not all Baroque flourishes were as golden as this one, but, considering the quantity of spirals appearing on furniture, architecture and textiles, the golden meme was alive and well.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>For the past few years, I've spent a lot of quality time pondering the meaning of the appearance of the pentagonal golden ratio in works of art, artifacts and in architecture. I can't say for sure why this is so anymore, but, once upon a time, there seemed to be a point. I had a plan. Nowadays, I have to ask myself, why in the world would anyone actually sit down and spend a great deal of quality time blogging about obscure topics to an evaporating audience while everything in the surrounding area (the world, that is) seems to be either rapidly going down the tubes, or up in flames?<br /><br />And, this isn't the first time I've asked myself this question!<br /><br />On the other hand, blogging about obscure topics to an evaporating audience - in view of the tubes and flames - presently encourages my survival. Perhaps, blogging is kind of a therapy after all. Or, perhaps, in an absurd world, doing nonsensical things in response to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon">Armageddon</a> is appropriate.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeg-ljSsaArUUbRj23T2UrZ06roe5gG50vxCcGB4Ea89bfH9dMoxV2sFdoZx2GpmlU91tedjK11NZxBW_ho7djKyUmzo5wuYYA1zJA3OiYNke2dRnTLpSu9twBOK9TZtGka219XK8ZwJN8o8e92EwOX_LJF51Qhe_bE8P03Uj5NJ8W5LiXkJL87Fwae7T/s538/worm%20shell%20SS.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="538" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeg-ljSsaArUUbRj23T2UrZ06roe5gG50vxCcGB4Ea89bfH9dMoxV2sFdoZx2GpmlU91tedjK11NZxBW_ho7djKyUmzo5wuYYA1zJA3OiYNke2dRnTLpSu9twBOK9TZtGka219XK8ZwJN8o8e92EwOX_LJF51Qhe_bE8P03Uj5NJ8W5LiXkJL87Fwae7T/s320/worm%20shell%20SS.png" width="320" /></a></div>And, it is in this state of mind I will reveal my latest pentagonal phi epiphany... which just happens to regard a description I've used previously: <i>subliminal meme. </i>The kind of meme that just might slip into an image while the artist was totally unaware of it, as it did in 2012, when I created <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2012/10/remembering-mac-ii-metamorphosis.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Metamorphosis Interrupted</a>, reposted (<i>inset left),</i> with a phi shell that fits the unfortunate worm like a chrysalis! (See: <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-virtual-can-of-worms.html" target="_blank">A Virtual Can of Worms</a></i>.) <br /><br />Generally speaking, the unconsciously produced spirals in the images referred to in the <i>Worms</i> post were not all that strong. However, the worm's proportions in <i>Metamorphosis</i> is very close to perfect. But, while I was aware that I was being very finicky about the shape of the worm's body while creating it, in reality, at the time of its creation, I had never even heard of the pentagonal golden spiral!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So, is this an indication of phi "on the brain"? Are our brains somehow wired to its aesthetic or does it go deeper than that? Is this why the ratio was referred to as "divine" - in that it is embedded so deeply in our consciousness we assume it is an outer force? Or, when we find it in organic life, is it merely the imprinted diagram of actual physical forces science is already aware of?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Or, taking into consideration the nature of a meme, can you actually "catch it" like the common cold?*</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1lEjjxv3l5tA5V3uQa2eq2gAV79XZjISa4R9zzvep26QlmmgOl99xtQO7JAhf69gxViRaAA-7lwxfe2WYfaufrBUZhVITz4GjkpB3lOoT-aJhxawvblDkxEnZrRFMSmV01bggaamgtdLiTfSlPHeqHKXstKvuPT51F_emyqUgWobY_-J6nNAgc_majMF/s527/brain%20image%20SS.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="527" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1lEjjxv3l5tA5V3uQa2eq2gAV79XZjISa4R9zzvep26QlmmgOl99xtQO7JAhf69gxViRaAA-7lwxfe2WYfaufrBUZhVITz4GjkpB3lOoT-aJhxawvblDkxEnZrRFMSmV01bggaamgtdLiTfSlPHeqHKXstKvuPT51F_emyqUgWobY_-J6nNAgc_majMF/s320/brain%20image%20SS.png" width="320" /></a></div>Speaking of brains, I was delighted to find an image of one that seamlessly fits into a phi shell (inset right). Of course, humans tend to have rounded skulls, so it should come as no total surprise. But, then again, the image is an illustration and not an MRI, so, this is an artistic interpretation (and a very nice one) by <a href="https://fineartamerica.com/featured/x-ray-cross-section-of-human-brain-hank-grebe.html">Hank Grebe</a>.</div><br />I didn't notice this till I was adding my geometry "stamp" to the image, but what lies at (a very important) 3-cornered junction of the spiral nearest to the coil - technically, the apex of the smallest golden triangle (and its spiral) - is that notorious pine-cone-shaped brain element, the mysterious <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/23334-pineal-gland">pineal gland</a> or "third eye." Oddly enough, it is depicted here as another tiny golden triangle (click for enlargement.)</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>(Continued below the jump...)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFkXgU-CCpSbCbx9O8VD85tQ_atG55y2wEI7AFqBS1TsRTS7wfMj557P92Bs4OgUVE7zflheQc5jTkgDQ9H-K5n2vCGVfns2rmzIR0ef0zT1zOd8dkCICw9jFbCj2zxjIghxMsMUrpBaRkrQz-5TsHyAleIuJCFva7zuYwjz7F84FEY8bDCXSdWIOtg6i/s533/nautilus%20paisley%20SS.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="533" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFkXgU-CCpSbCbx9O8VD85tQ_atG55y2wEI7AFqBS1TsRTS7wfMj557P92Bs4OgUVE7zflheQc5jTkgDQ9H-K5n2vCGVfns2rmzIR0ef0zT1zOd8dkCICw9jFbCj2zxjIghxMsMUrpBaRkrQz-5TsHyAleIuJCFva7zuYwjz7F84FEY8bDCXSdWIOtg6i/w320-h290/nautilus%20paisley%20SS.png" width="320" /></a></div>So, in this post I'd like to formally introduce the possibility of a golden meme. The emphasis is on pentagonal phi, which seems to have had a much longer shelf-life and, possibly, a larger mythological footprint than its rectangular counterpart. But this meme, if it exists, is merely an offshoot of a larger, all-pervasive, pentagonal meme, which encompasses the entire spectrum of phenomena (and noumena) related to the geometrical reality of the number 5: the pentagon, the pentagram, the dodecahedron and, of course, the pentagonal spiral mechanism, with its iconic triangles, and dedicated circular elements and functions.</div><p></p>In some ways the phi spiral appears to be a natural manifestation, not so much in a strictly mathematical sense - absolute precision is not required for functionality in the natural world - but, as an iconic shape related to growth... especially in the plant kingdom. But, its shape and proportions can also be found in the human body... and - as we've seen in previous posts - floating around in deep space.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoIO14olSWLKs-l6BO7loUNRGAXsTp_-xmPAybN-ZWNNc7i816LoZ4sL1v2g9ZL7bTEzg17xTs1G8TGhpNrgAVyGiQ0sp3n7zdOlU7UMMFjiNsG5EZc04pmZ3QiYvNzMhg5-KykxaJV0K17qIw2GU0-X4MNtNvJeyKfjLMzFIAhTCtNE7kruh9ot4RSb51/s599/rose%20nautilus.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="599" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoIO14olSWLKs-l6BO7loUNRGAXsTp_-xmPAybN-ZWNNc7i816LoZ4sL1v2g9ZL7bTEzg17xTs1G8TGhpNrgAVyGiQ0sp3n7zdOlU7UMMFjiNsG5EZc04pmZ3QiYvNzMhg5-KykxaJV0K17qIw2GU0-X4MNtNvJeyKfjLMzFIAhTCtNE7kruh9ot4RSb51/w200-h187/rose%20nautilus.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div>The example shown above, <i>inset left</i>, and, collectively,<i> inset right</i> is - I <u>think</u> - a successful combination of both natural and human-enhanced elegance. The shell is referred to as a Rose Conch, but it is, as we might guess, a nautilus. I think I read somewhere that it's been stripped of its outer shell by artisans to reveal the arrangement of it's inner chambers. But, I seemed to have lost my original links and currently can find no clear descriptions of this item on the internet at all; so, I may be wrong. I'm not even sure it's an authentic sea shell and not entirely manufactured. But, it sure looks good inside a mint-green phi shell!</div><div><br /></div><div>For photos and some information, see <a href="https://classysculptures.com/product/rose-nautilus-fossil-conch-shell-collection/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU85-VLJXrRbg4M3gNzRQPuaO0XoTw0dvZUT8oDuSIFVStJPT0_vUPEfP_2pZlTPnMF6a_TN95WQYatWLHx3I0mOOePH45LiPE4C1_Shp2PqkHBYRGopnohYg-Y1y3S91MLd8jYnCD1gMn13LEj0s4ISNCigRocma6gEOR7XSIJpiWgIga-kaHc2cRCL9q/s604/dodecahedron%20dial%203.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="497" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU85-VLJXrRbg4M3gNzRQPuaO0XoTw0dvZUT8oDuSIFVStJPT0_vUPEfP_2pZlTPnMF6a_TN95WQYatWLHx3I0mOOePH45LiPE4C1_Shp2PqkHBYRGopnohYg-Y1y3S91MLd8jYnCD1gMn13LEj0s4ISNCigRocma6gEOR7XSIJpiWgIga-kaHc2cRCL9q/s320/dodecahedron%20dial%203.png" width="263" /></a></div><div>But, while geometrical precision in nature is rare and viewed as miraculous, geometric precision in art is a kind of ritual magic, and whether the phi spiral is designed consciously or unconsciously, arises organically or inorganically, reproduces digitally or with burnt sticks, it leaves a distinct stamp, an iconic impression in the mind and psyche. Moreover, when we consider the numerous pentagonal emergences - from antiquity to the present day - there's undeniably a strong element of mythos throughout, although little is recorded and much of it lost in time or otherwise obscured. The dodecahedron is another pentagonal artifact and another category of the golden meme, and the general mystery - and numerous theories - surrounding the <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2020/09/an-ancient-artifact-to-conjure-with.html">Roman-Gallo dodecahedrons</a> (<i>inset left</i>) is a prime example of the sort of meme we're dealing with. Essentially, it fulfills Dawkin's definition of a meme:<i> a unit of practice or belief through which a society or culture evolves and that passes from one generation (or even one person) to the next</i>, with one difference: its presence and meaning are very often hidden, occulted... or lost in time.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>The pentagram, for instance, is often used as a power symbol translating seamlessly into military and/or nationalistic applications, religious and/or esoteric applications, and as cornerstones for various creative applications. It is also our favorite depiction of a celestial star and a go-to symbol for commerce and branding. The spiral, on the other hand, is often used by artisans - as it is in decorative flourishes. Your next piece of jewelry may display a golden spiral, and you'd probably be none the wiser. While we may notice its attractive tear-drop or egg-like perimeters, few will detect its mathematical significance... the ratio Pacioli referred to as "divine."</div></div><div><br />So, the ways and means in which the golden meme infiltrates our consciousness are as many and diverse as it's pentagonal artifacts. The golden spiral, however, its most celebrated artifact, can be found (and/or embedded) in some surprising places; in this case: a very antiquated textile design and "iconic motif": the humble <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_(design)" target="_blank">paisley</a>!<br /><div><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;">The Paisley Pattern and the Golden Meme</span></div><div><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_G7eh0lGpV477piWRVNpTgfkuS0F4QlcNw2ZVBlLsoT3_Ali1LSh2cDMlM427PdOOlemv8y4Ldmxy5W4A5lV9eD568HGLLARci_hqZf5jg6-04N8O3-HiHpD8rf3nSYfthTZAEmLTXYoXJiIbkzKE3g4oitcGoPGENt7j5XMWtFCpE4HaaoAq5E4aFC7P/s523/purple%20paisley%20new%20Ss%20G%202a.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="523" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_G7eh0lGpV477piWRVNpTgfkuS0F4QlcNw2ZVBlLsoT3_Ali1LSh2cDMlM427PdOOlemv8y4Ldmxy5W4A5lV9eD568HGLLARci_hqZf5jg6-04N8O3-HiHpD8rf3nSYfthTZAEmLTXYoXJiIbkzKE3g4oitcGoPGENt7j5XMWtFCpE4HaaoAq5E4aFC7P/w400-h388/purple%20paisley%20new%20Ss%20G%202a.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green phi shell on a vintage 60s, color-modified paisley pattern<br />found on Amazon.com and <a href="https://www.zazzle.com/trippy_hippy_retro_paisley_fabric-256438940688084491" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />Geometry: 2024, DS.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div></div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9mabaClxzC1R4LZCSIvG9Mq-ilH88gGoq3b3rZErWFbNuGX2s2d7yfXjGTI0CCCA7Kdf4drakuVuGDK5C4M40Hq5MuRYQ1zP_1fmf2fHXK3YtFSdlIokEe1fWhCv50TMUpoBcgiYHLi6PhoG6f9LaWFgsJdAnNXOkor_QG6MKJNZIOS6Jsp1-clsq4Xuj/s571/paisley%20vintage.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="439" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9mabaClxzC1R4LZCSIvG9Mq-ilH88gGoq3b3rZErWFbNuGX2s2d7yfXjGTI0CCCA7Kdf4drakuVuGDK5C4M40Hq5MuRYQ1zP_1fmf2fHXK3YtFSdlIokEe1fWhCv50TMUpoBcgiYHLi6PhoG6f9LaWFgsJdAnNXOkor_QG6MKJNZIOS6Jsp1-clsq4Xuj/s320/paisley%20vintage.png" width="246" /></a></div><div><i>"From its ancient Persian and Indian origins with its hidden messages and mysterious symbolism, the iconic motif has had quite a journey. The paisley pattern has travelled the silk routes from East to West, adorned the bandanas of cowboys and bikers, been adopted by the 19th Century boho set, been popularized by The Beatles, ushered in the hippy era and become an emblem of rock ‘n’ roll swagger and swank. And the Scottish city of Paisley, whose textiles history is intertwined with the famous print, is now bidding to be UK City of Culture for 2021.</i></div></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>So what is behind paisley’s incredible longevity? Its symbolic power has probably played a part. The original Persian droplet-like motif – the boteh or buta – is thought to have been a representation of a floral spray combined with a cypress tree, a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity. The seed-like shape is also thought to represent fertility, has connections with Hinduism, and also bears an intriguing resemblance to the famous yin-yang symbol. It is still a hugely popular motif in Iran and South and Central Asian countries and is woven using silver and gold threads on to silks and fine wools for weddings and other celebrations.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>The rich symbolism and rebellious aura that surround paisley have kept it alive, it seems. But perhaps the real secret to the print’s immortality is how it combines conformity with unruliness, how it blends its rich historicism with a powerful adaptability, and how it is open to endless and unexpected re-invigoration and re-interpretation."</i></div><div><br /></div>- A selection from the excellent 2017 BBC article: <i><a href=" https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20151021-paisley-behind-rocks-favourite-fashion" target="_blank">Paisley: The story of a classic bohemian print</a></i> by Lindsay Baker. The early paisley pattern, shown <i>inset right</i> above, was sourced <a href=" https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O721720/design-for-a-paisley-shawl-textile-design-george-hait%C3%A9/design-for-a-paisley-shawl-textile-design-george-hait%C3%A9/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1tZImt2Y0dZeRbDkAtfxTzv13TCyS_oK62jkEBvJ3dj1Pfm3PgdsJJct1iVnwt8AeVIXHqR8S75Lj7ENTEXlg939Ft73UBJtwrhrtbOZSE-GVJMtPcQYT5L8IMOiZLXsDabzGOGwzKEzoRZhPd2VxrHCKEG4gYUjHiOWsgLhUigGYT30ajj36E9VekT8/s897/old%20paisley%201.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="616" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1tZImt2Y0dZeRbDkAtfxTzv13TCyS_oK62jkEBvJ3dj1Pfm3PgdsJJct1iVnwt8AeVIXHqR8S75Lj7ENTEXlg939Ft73UBJtwrhrtbOZSE-GVJMtPcQYT5L8IMOiZLXsDabzGOGwzKEzoRZhPd2VxrHCKEG4gYUjHiOWsgLhUigGYT30ajj36E9VekT8/w222-h320/old%20paisley%201.jpg" width="222" /></a><i>"Ancient Babylon in present day Iraq is claimed to be one place of origin of the paisley form, possibly dating back to 1700BCE. Another opinion, expressed by Sam Willis in the 2016 BBC TV series The Silk Road, is that the symbol originated from the city of Yazd in Iran. In Yazd originates the weaving of the traditional fabric called a termeh, a cloth made of silk and wool which often included the paisley (boteh) form. Another common theory is that it originated in Persia 200-650 AD during the rule of the Sassanians who created an empire who's armies kept the Romans at bay for centuries.<br /><br />...One of the nicknames for paisley shapes since the 18th century, especially by American quilt makers, was “Persian pickles”.<br /><br />The symbol can be best described as a similar shape to a curving teardrop or a kidney. The symbol was called boteh (the Persian word for shrub or cluster of leaves) which is visually a combination of a spray of floral elements and a cypress tree. Centuries later the shape was called Buta almond or bud. The but a shape is the national symbol of Azerbaijan to this day, it symbolizes fire and is most commonly seen on their bright intricate woven carpets and rugs."</i></p><p>- Via the <a href="https://www.paisleypower.com/history-of-paisley" target="_blank">history page</a> of an excellent paisley website created by paisley artist, <a href="https://www.paisleypower.com/" target="_blank">Patrick Moriarty</a>. Here's a bit of additional information that might interest us found at this source (my emphasis): <i>"The paisley pattern designs used for the shawls continued to be used as examples of <b>technical visual perfection</b>. Detailed hand-drawn colour plans on paper from 1840's and 1850's were used as visual aids to assist the teaching of design students on a variety of courses at Glasgow School of Art from 1920's to late 1940's."</i> In other words, a meme can be taught. In this case, consciously, a paisley meme... while, at the same time, unconsciously - and very possibly- a phi meme. </p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2efMMC3EZNFEBnvlBUuqURtbr32GFEY3QgVffpB-cjaethRJ_BYSHCYVY5hQP3c1rulp1lhFNks3FHp45LEbHtANNKNnJaBzlRq63g6kfa1G2Y8jIjkh76Esgu8_duKU9_D3-FEyZXxKesv7OQmz45r4629xOKfz1w_LzndrJf5qWBxPXDyIY5-lVgMh/s712/william%20morris%20rug.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="462" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2efMMC3EZNFEBnvlBUuqURtbr32GFEY3QgVffpB-cjaethRJ_BYSHCYVY5hQP3c1rulp1lhFNks3FHp45LEbHtANNKNnJaBzlRq63g6kfa1G2Y8jIjkh76Esgu8_duKU9_D3-FEyZXxKesv7OQmz45r4629xOKfz1w_LzndrJf5qWBxPXDyIY5-lVgMh/w208-h320/william%20morris%20rug.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div><i>"The design travelled to Europe in the eighteenth century and its spiritual connotations instantly charmed those on the continent. Imitations proliferated in the town of Paisley, Scotland, resulting in the </i><i>pattern’s contemporary moniker. The design was adopted by William Morris, becoming an integral part of the Arts and Crafts movement, and evolved from those bohemian roots into the Eastern-obsessed countercultural aesthetic of the 1960s."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Via another excellent article:<a href=" https://elephant.art/tracing-the-evolution-of-woodblock-printing-from-colonial-india-to-the-scottish-town-of-paisley-30072021/" target="_blank"> <i>Prints and the Evolution: The Story of Paisley, From Ancient to Modern</i></a> by Anoushka Khandwala. The image <i>inset right </i>of a William Morris rug was also sourced there.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Evolution" is often a term used in paisley descriptions and it's an apt one. It is also apt in any discussion of the appearance of phi in art.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're looking for sheer beauty in a paisley pattern, see the first image presented on the page: the <i>Chandar</i> (or Moon Shawl) from Kashmir, circa 1825.</div><div><br /></div><span><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3YB8u1Mshss2foz8eV0OcssMK3Bjij8WVYTq1Uc4seXDTwf-TiztkO7u_gwyXWrKTi4pDsGvJWrjo3VCgg4v2qIrI31bO0kEySHq5XISy5ucmrAQBqznb6DgL8kWwk3PmySaIzwW7TBI1DFZ0-_NTCWn4dWBXjWih8jDCsJ1W6Lofbcv5AN6wohZMMQmw/s642/syrian%20aphrodite%20S1.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="642" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3YB8u1Mshss2foz8eV0OcssMK3Bjij8WVYTq1Uc4seXDTwf-TiztkO7u_gwyXWrKTi4pDsGvJWrjo3VCgg4v2qIrI31bO0kEySHq5XISy5ucmrAQBqznb6DgL8kWwk3PmySaIzwW7TBI1DFZ0-_NTCWn4dWBXjWih8jDCsJ1W6Lofbcv5AN6wohZMMQmw/s320/syrian%20aphrodite%20S1.png" width="320" /></a></div>While the paisley meme and the golden meme are not identical, I think there's an argument that they are related and possibly co-conspirators! They have much in common: a long history, a mythos and a geometrical similarity. While not every paisley pattern reflects phi, one might say every paisley pattern does intimate it. The seed is sown. Coincidentally, the paisley pattern is sometimes interpreted as a seed... a mango seed... or some other representation of a <a href="https://mediaindia.eu/culture/motifs-on-indian-textiles/" target="_blank">mango plant</a>. It is also referred to as a fertility symbol... and a symbol related to the ancient <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroastrianism" target="_blank">Zoroastrian</a> religion which existed in the Iranian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avestan_period" target="_blank">Avestan</a> period.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvGvRTcnyUe8ojjARyMhkkGr0EfCgkJTr0glW-AXfFvJWFkIHowegO9pYFfcwPHgpTnOVnzcCfV4zTqCAzvPK-7h23t1RcXFBNGUi6AtxS3AFcrftAGbdHucI2MwqsD6ZBsJMt1tZfVJeML_RamEa8cikOZXlVharMHgS45xtTiyVuxM03fd-L1D9FAfx3/s593/milan%20window%20new%202.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="417" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvGvRTcnyUe8ojjARyMhkkGr0EfCgkJTr0glW-AXfFvJWFkIHowegO9pYFfcwPHgpTnOVnzcCfV4zTqCAzvPK-7h23t1RcXFBNGUi6AtxS3AFcrftAGbdHucI2MwqsD6ZBsJMt1tZfVJeML_RamEa8cikOZXlVharMHgS45xtTiyVuxM03fd-L1D9FAfx3/s320/milan%20window%20new%202.png" width="225" /></a></div>So, the paisley pattern has a long history. Once again, as in the case of pentagonal phi, a somewhat mysterious history - especially for western minds. Importantly, it's time frame also reflects phi's origins, especially those related to the goddess <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite" target="_blank">Aphrodite</a>, who is often said to have evolved from ancient Near Eastern goddesses, Ishtar and Inanna. Note the phi spiral evident in the <a href="https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e4-603d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99" target="_blank">Syrian Aphrodite</a> image<i> inset left</i>, above. I believe its an old engraving of a statue. Coincidence?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Or, perhaps we might glance at a cathedral window. Now, one finds pentagonal artifacts in cathedral windows every now and then. However, the window <i>inset right</i> featuring a five-fold paisley "rose," with a line of 3 phi triangles beneath it, was quite an exciting find for me. It is a feature found on Milan's great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Cathedral" target="_blank">cathedral</a>. While the cathedral was not completed until 1965, and the window may not be of great age, it's image is iconic and profound for a spiral hunter! What a beautiful window! Then again, if one wants to see an ancient paisley, here's a colorful example sourced from Patrick Moriarty's site posted directly below: an Iron Age Celtic vessel which also has a Wiki <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffordshire_Moorlands_Pan" target="_blank">entry</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3157kW31uM6gl3xSKTUoKen8oR4pqatEbDOLPwOAeK2rk2oxyrToUpyLys9HfJCVd1b7PngvQFseLzmybFJj8cJrGrLDWKTvH_C1nm7VQjAN71sVSC7v2wnDhB1cWUvmj4M2EF6Nevcsd6IblaYfPAbBLwjEhmkF_zHyzGOChPJKuqaxwYZ3lRl9ZbYls/s592/roman%20gallic%20bowl%203.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="592" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3157kW31uM6gl3xSKTUoKen8oR4pqatEbDOLPwOAeK2rk2oxyrToUpyLys9HfJCVd1b7PngvQFseLzmybFJj8cJrGrLDWKTvH_C1nm7VQjAN71sVSC7v2wnDhB1cWUvmj4M2EF6Nevcsd6IblaYfPAbBLwjEhmkF_zHyzGOChPJKuqaxwYZ3lRl9ZbYls/w400-h180/roman%20gallic%20bowl%203.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The roundels featured on this ancient item, are created with a<br /> combination of spiraling paisley-shapes and lunes!</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyRjh6lJmbo1op6ypOf18x8C0DjxnsD5oz7MDxUOlMtJppqm2mZ_42FZ2sL51gCKGxmtA5qr3XfmVHXjOQW01cPVewIjnKQCLM-h3yXnm3v-yafK6prFOq3ks95S14Z-kdSk1ToPP1tX5D81jnTiHYkM0xgTUYE9Ld38i7_oY3un3SPZWBDSgD3xPOwRP/s570/paisley%20Bowie.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKyRjh6lJmbo1op6ypOf18x8C0DjxnsD5oz7MDxUOlMtJppqm2mZ_42FZ2sL51gCKGxmtA5qr3XfmVHXjOQW01cPVewIjnKQCLM-h3yXnm3v-yafK6prFOq3ks95S14Z-kdSk1ToPP1tX5D81jnTiHYkM0xgTUYE9Ld38i7_oY3un3SPZWBDSgD3xPOwRP/w133-h200/paisley%20Bowie.png" /></a>Anyway, the paisley has made a number of varied appearances over the centuries... and we can say it has, indeed, evolved. One of its key appearances was in 19th century Scotland, where it acquired its name. Visit the town of <a href="https://paisley.is/stories-from-renfrewshire/paisley-pattern/">Paisley</a>. Also, see this 2019 Guardian article: <i><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/15/paisley-from-paisley-enjoys-a-resurgence-with-help-from-hermes" target="_blank">‘Paisley from Paisley’ enjoys resurgence with help from Hermès</a>.</i><br /><br />Another key paisley appearance was made world-wide in the 1960's, when influential musicians - the Beatles, Stones and Bowie (inset left) - established it as a <a href="https://ponytailjournal.com/womens-wear/the-counterculture-power-of-paisley" target="_blank">counter-cultural</a> and psychedelic symbol. There have been, in fact, a number of musicians from later periods - <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-paisley-prince_b_9760158" target="_blank">Prince</a>! - who also contributed to the paisley meme. For more fun and photographs, try <a href="https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/psychedelic-fashion-vintage-photos/" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href=" https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2011/sep/26/paisley-london-fashion-week" target="_blank">here</a>, or <a href="https://suzyquilts.com/history-of-paisley/">here</a>. Also see: the <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/paisley-underground-guide" target="_blank">Paisley Underground</a> bands.</div><div><br /><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcUgRwhkE2xsZKyPDJZuDpsdwpM_Pwal_DcKHQnL63VrB83E4fIdOayiZCNU6AxN1hElDWc32Bu8gzDcRyEQKKfKcaZbqZk1SSFkUmaqIqG2VHtbxfRbQLh1lO2ufjkPECbA1TRWPoevjaTIlgNeQLcGVSd67GjNJJKupycpBexhrJ12_P1xaW9yhyphenhyphenghSW/s598/new%20paisley%203.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcUgRwhkE2xsZKyPDJZuDpsdwpM_Pwal_DcKHQnL63VrB83E4fIdOayiZCNU6AxN1hElDWc32Bu8gzDcRyEQKKfKcaZbqZk1SSFkUmaqIqG2VHtbxfRbQLh1lO2ufjkPECbA1TRWPoevjaTIlgNeQLcGVSd67GjNJJKupycpBexhrJ12_P1xaW9yhyphenhyphenghSW/w293-h320/new%20paisley%203.png" width="293" /></a></div>And that's about it from me this time around. I started this post late last year, and then somehow lost the thread when Venus/Aphrodite entered the phi frame. Now, Venus/Aphrodite rules a major golden meme mystery, while the paisley's exact relationship to phi has yet to be determined. But, it certainly is an entertaining and entertaining offshoot of the phi journey. Importantly, if you want to spread a meme, textile design is the way to go!</div><div><br /></div><div>But, before I sign off, I'd like to take the time to thank all the paisley historians and paisley artists out there who, unwittingly, made this article possible. Thank you, you're all fabulous!</div><div><br /></div><div>And, while it has just become technically the day after: a belated Happy Saint Paddy's Day!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>(For more information regarding the remarkable paisley, see <a href="https://www.cyruscrafts.com/blog/information/paisley-boteh-jegheh-design-everything-about-paisley-pattern-" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href=" http://www.kashmircompany.com/blog/kashmir-paisley-shawl-and-her-enduring-contribution-to-the-paisley-shawl/" target="_blank">here</a>.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZC5S3NCzVfTdfqQwOJczNtZyMPZten4WSzughzZ2vfMRQdV0weIqJAAgwNY7vvJnRLL1HlVLIbWhzlOXMa50VyIqvUJHb_-F18rytP2k13_9YJROUr_ImD0Q_13OhpQR32Drv7oJeJgGYz_yfYDwwoxuawa-0I-osYUVq7lAns_GW97Zvvp6kuBh39MJ/s513/double%20phi.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="513" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZC5S3NCzVfTdfqQwOJczNtZyMPZten4WSzughzZ2vfMRQdV0weIqJAAgwNY7vvJnRLL1HlVLIbWhzlOXMa50VyIqvUJHb_-F18rytP2k13_9YJROUr_ImD0Q_13OhpQR32Drv7oJeJgGYz_yfYDwwoxuawa-0I-osYUVq7lAns_GW97Zvvp6kuBh39MJ/s320/double%20phi.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another exotic border pattern on a handbag from India.<br />I've done a search for this double-phi shaped symbol but can't locate or identify it.<br />G-DS-24.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif2hqoi7CRcsDc2WoBI-WC-8yfLDnlO14ugEx0W-fg9cCFijmiid7pBmJ6Nfh92uoqTf8za03lpCxGEXIEpanecBbXAIcLJVnA1pUNQqSezVqgEKKDuNaTPGS3FGGWNb1Rr4vhGbOgnG3n9BNyu_1EwkeYDZNWusO4eRgUzv009LVCAVe5jWfvZotYHUVP/s589/new%20paisley%202b%20lg%20SS%202.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="588" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif2hqoi7CRcsDc2WoBI-WC-8yfLDnlO14ugEx0W-fg9cCFijmiid7pBmJ6Nfh92uoqTf8za03lpCxGEXIEpanecBbXAIcLJVnA1pUNQqSezVqgEKKDuNaTPGS3FGGWNb1Rr4vhGbOgnG3n9BNyu_1EwkeYDZNWusO4eRgUzv009LVCAVe5jWfvZotYHUVP/s320/new%20paisley%202b%20lg%20SS%202.png" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How some memes reproduce. G-DS-2024.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div>_______________________________________________</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PVPH_umGE6TrT9nlQEX26MB-Px-ugMuf73uEgRgKPgDsFqlHsgtko5ZNAQw_R18vKvjZ6XO7nW5tzQWzAbj1z0t3DUIvq3ZMAjqrxGTbLhgg2N1nFzu596-8rajcTVDtjf8eaaonbEq9SHTUBhd0FB4Szn8WPaLA7UpLj3-uTGpkp3-e0qSHKiMibbW4/s720/dodson%20spiral%201.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="720" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PVPH_umGE6TrT9nlQEX26MB-Px-ugMuf73uEgRgKPgDsFqlHsgtko5ZNAQw_R18vKvjZ6XO7nW5tzQWzAbj1z0t3DUIvq3ZMAjqrxGTbLhgg2N1nFzu596-8rajcTVDtjf8eaaonbEq9SHTUBhd0FB4Szn8WPaLA7UpLj3-uTGpkp3-e0qSHKiMibbW4/s320/dodson%20spiral%201.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://artshaman.blogspot.com/2023/11/high-wire.html" target="_blank">High-Wire</a></i>, 2023, BD Dodson. Geometry: 2024, DS. <br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>* Re: catching the meme "like a common cold." Regarding the golden meme, I am here to report that I may seen some evidence of this in the work of my friend (and yours), BG Dodson. It took awhile before I was able to test for a spiral in his monoprint <i>High Wire - </i>although the phi triangle was evident -<i> </i>but, once the spiral was verified I arrived at a new conundrum. How could I casually mention his spiral to him before he actually mentions it to me? Did he design it deliberately, or is this spiral one of those happy (unconscious) accidents? I had to know.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, I immediately emailed him an image and waited for his reply.</div><div><br /></div><div>He never knew what hit him!</div><div><br /></div><div>Now, as you might be aware of, BG is a consistent visitor to this blog, and has witnessed my own personal phi journey develop from day 1. If anyone was ripe for a benignly infectious phi meme, it would be Bob! But, he never even suspected the spiral existed in this image till I pointed it out to him! He didn't even notice his silhouetted figure seamlessly fits into a golden triangle - all points lead to phi!! Nor did he realize that the circle he placed in the background was in a perfect relationship to his triangulated figure to enable the spiral to emerge.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, if you're an artist who may have experienced this phenomenon after visiting this blog - study those images from your recent past for signs of potential spirals - and, unless you've deliberately embedded the spirals, in the interests of science, set them aside or let me know... for the record. I may be doing kind of survey in the near (or far) future!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-14294502999617884582024-03-04T23:12:00.010-07:002024-03-06T15:53:19.136-07:00The Universe in a Phi Shell<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUckMIuPT8hqlHUD9S9l_h8QpAby98fuTLA8coowQvetQBUKO3HUSflWnWDjc4oiG_JaHXJO89yvLDUNjci59ACNnxlL_AXwC06-uyNbFz6RDTz48oV3aFz36snJPa_gNhdHNcghnoocTq2HPGBC0K4SdQrQ_Ek3mh-e3Ih0JJbHd5A8IuDaVk53-pi2n0/s615/spiral%20galaxy%20SS%201.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="611" height="511" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUckMIuPT8hqlHUD9S9l_h8QpAby98fuTLA8coowQvetQBUKO3HUSflWnWDjc4oiG_JaHXJO89yvLDUNjci59ACNnxlL_AXwC06-uyNbFz6RDTz48oV3aFz36snJPa_gNhdHNcghnoocTq2HPGBC0K4SdQrQ_Ek3mh-e3Ih0JJbHd5A8IuDaVk53-pi2n0/w508-h511/spiral%20galaxy%20SS%201.png" width="508" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">M74, or the<i> Phantom</i> galaxy... embellished with a phi shell. (G-DS-2024).</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><i>'The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."</i><br /><br />- H. P. Lovecraft, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_of_Cthulhu"><i>The Call of Cthulhu</i></a>, 1926.<br /><br /><p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3WJg5LVSlyhhy9M7uj0yQhacS9d2skDcoJFjyw-3kKauYJpDgkqeTp7GJvyGYug0EreVhndCdXQZJKutnVaU84nuZI8dtycrTrNLYcM1AmgGwLycVBtGeMJyuNpcUFJ_NlDxRtc2n7MGiRu3OMGrdKw75BwdcbhqJAY7xNSH9n0VuilfQQNpfp-K2AHWu/s615/spiral%20galaxy%20SS%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="611" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3WJg5LVSlyhhy9M7uj0yQhacS9d2skDcoJFjyw-3kKauYJpDgkqeTp7GJvyGYug0EreVhndCdXQZJKutnVaU84nuZI8dtycrTrNLYcM1AmgGwLycVBtGeMJyuNpcUFJ_NlDxRtc2n7MGiRu3OMGrdKw75BwdcbhqJAY7xNSH9n0VuilfQQNpfp-K2AHWu/s320/spiral%20galaxy%20SS%202.png" width="318" /></a></p><i>"Messier 74, also called NGC 628, is a stunning example of a "grand-design" spiral galaxy that is viewed by Earth observers nearly face-on. Its perfectly symmetrical spiral arms emanate from the central nucleus and are dotted with clusters of young blue stars and glowing pink regions of ionized hydrogen (hydrogen atoms that have lost their electrons). These regions of star formation show an excess of light at ultraviolet wavelengths. Tracing along the spiral arms are winding dust lanes that also begin very near the galaxy's nucleus and follow along the length of the spiral arms.</i><p></p><p><i>M74 is located roughly 32 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pisces, the Fish... In its entirety, it is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars, making it slightly smaller than our Milky Way."</i></p><p>- Via this Hubble page, we are introduced to the M74 galaxy discovered by the French astronomer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_M%C3%A9chain" target="_blank">Pierre Méchain</a> in 1780. It is a kind of go-to <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_galaxy" target="_blank">spiral galaxy</a> for those seeking spiral perfection. Of course, for the golden (pentagonal) spiral hunter, gazing at it's sinuous, twisting, mollusk-like proportions is sheer bliss... as, if there were a God and It had a face, this would be it. (God the <a href="https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Oorn_(Mad_Moon_of_Dreams)" target="_blank">mollusk</a>! The Mollusk god. So, burn me at the stake. See if I care.)</p><i>"Messier 74 (also known as NGC 628 and Phantom Galaxy) is a large spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation Pisces. It is about 32 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a grand design spiral galaxy. The galaxy's low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe. Its relatively large angular (that is, apparent) size and the galaxy's face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves. It is estimated that M74 hosts about 100 billion stars."</i><p></p><p>- This quote was sourced from the Wiki entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_74" target="_blank">M 74</a>, along with the galaxy image used in this post (<i>inset left</i>). That the Phantom is considered an "archetypal example" of a "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_design_spiral_galaxy" target="_blank">grand design spiral galaxy</a>" is kind of interesting... in light of the fact that it is composed of 2 near-perfect pentagonal golden spirals. (And, when discussing massive deep-space objects, "close" is about as good as it gets.)</p><p><i>"This Hubble Space Telescope photo of Messier 74 reminds us that spiral galaxies are some of the most beautiful and photogenic residents of the universe. Nearly 70 percent of the galaxies closest to the Milky Way are spirals. New research finds that spiral arms are self-perpetuating, persistent, and surprisingly long lived."</i></p><p><i>"</i><i>How the spiral arms form continues to puzzle scientists. One theory suggests the galaxy arms could be the result of density waves traveling through the outer disk. Encounters between galaxies could cause such waves as the mass of the smaller galaxy could affect the structure of the larger galaxy as the two combine."</i></p><p>- Two quotes from this Space.com <a href="https://www.space.com/22382-spiral-galaxy.html" target="_blank">article</a>... reminding us of how little is known - and how much there is to know - about our cosmos.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">***</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpA_yeiWNsBOkSAGvWJ0tTB5avNlCaWNN6HavpQBMo-63aiCzJUhyphenhyphenK70w_LHik3yXW2D4o5TU4SOmAJwa7bYSSZktnmctVtPrIwAxiDXgP0S1zJNvNEkEhyUHqauq1qGceeDGSJ3ca9tGJ39eWRyQ3Yphgo02BnS_55G_yVRDO0kIpYxp-ejE4hh4Q0sc/s615/spiral%20galaxy.png" style="clear: right; float: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="611" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpA_yeiWNsBOkSAGvWJ0tTB5avNlCaWNN6HavpQBMo-63aiCzJUhyphenhyphenK70w_LHik3yXW2D4o5TU4SOmAJwa7bYSSZktnmctVtPrIwAxiDXgP0S1zJNvNEkEhyUHqauq1qGceeDGSJ3ca9tGJ39eWRyQ3Yphgo02BnS_55G_yVRDO0kIpYxp-ejE4hh4Q0sc/s320/spiral%20galaxy.png" width="318" /></a></div>I'm a busy woman these days, and I hate it. All it amounts to is more stress. But, tell that to an artist's muse. Time perplexes muses. They simply don't get it.<br /><br />So, I currently have five posts sitting on the back burner, an unfinished digital image - my first formal digital image since my 2022 car accident - a ceramic project that MUST go into production this month, and a number of tedious life issues to deal with... and deal with, and deal with. But, then, last night I came across this photograph (<i>inset right</i>) of M74, the Phantom galaxy and, within minutes, I found myself absorbed in playing with my latest graphic toy, a phi shell (rhymes with seashell)... trying to decide which color to use from my ever-growing palette. In the end, only the white shell did the Phantom any justice, and even this had to be almost transparent... to endow it with that certain marine life appeal which, for whatever reason, seemed appropriate.<br /><br />Anyway, I decided to post 2 images to the blog for the (freakish) enjoyment of those who, like myself, delight in this sort of thing. (Yes, in case you haven't noticed it, we constitute a minority.) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh, and incidentally, the "phi shell" - my attempt to give the common mathematical diagram a little extra-dimensional pizazz - will be appearing quite often in the coming days. I confess; I'm hooked on phi shells now, and there's no help for it!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Adieu, till next time... :-)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><b>Via the ESA: a multi-observatory <a href=" https://esawebb.org/images/potm2208c/" target="_blank">view</a> of the Phantom.</b></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-43236237178873700972024-02-11T16:12:00.020-07:002024-03-06T14:46:00.629-07:00The Heart Nebula & the Flaming Heart of Venus<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5sw3O6bN6884Zu9IjBXPu54F5JwDUGS_5GVzu_4dyenemj2rh9rTroK2o6iN9qizk9GAWAjtcq5TDMipzghE-oRdAoy-Vm-p4mYcchafeEsXrzDCCPsfW0FZHCVvj13aI80-V2CARRYx6oC3hwcNZFbKIFxZ6PF076V2pnkbAjyfT19qoeXwYO5UrzRG/s759/heart%20nebula%20S%201a.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="759" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5sw3O6bN6884Zu9IjBXPu54F5JwDUGS_5GVzu_4dyenemj2rh9rTroK2o6iN9qizk9GAWAjtcq5TDMipzghE-oRdAoy-Vm-p4mYcchafeEsXrzDCCPsfW0FZHCVvj13aI80-V2CARRYx6oC3hwcNZFbKIFxZ6PF076V2pnkbAjyfT19qoeXwYO5UrzRG/w640-h392/heart%20nebula%20S%201a.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Heart Nebula (detail) - Photo credit: 2022, <a href="https://skyandtelescope.org/online-gallery/the-heart-nebula-ic-1805-2/">Ernie-Jacobs</a>. Geometry: 2024, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p><i> "What's that inside the Heart Nebula? First, the large emission nebula dubbed IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart. It's shape perhaps fitting of the Valentine's Day, this heart glows brightly in red light emitted by its most prominent element: hydrogen. The red glow and the larger shape are all created by a small group of stars near the nebula's center. In the heart of the Heart Nebula are young stars from the open star cluster Melotte 15 that are eroding away several picturesque dust pillars with their energetic light and winds. The open cluster of stars contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, many dim stars only a fraction of the mass of our Sun, and an absent microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago. The Heart Nebula is located about 7,500 light years away toward the constellation of the mythological Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia)."</i></p><p></p><p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cardiod_animation.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" title="AtomicShoelace, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons"><img alt="Cardiod animation" height="192" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Cardiod_animation.gif" width="200" /></a></p><i>- </i>Via this NASA archive page: <i><a href=" https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180214.html" target="_blank">In the heart of the heart nebula</a></i>. Basically, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Nebula" target="_blank">Heart Nebula</a> - in the constellation <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiopeia_(constellation)" target="_blank">Cassiopeia</a>, composed of 5 major stars - seems to be an artifact created by gases from the birth processes of new stars, but, well, nothing I've read simplifies it to that degree, so it's merely my guess. In any case, it's very impressive looking... like looking into the innards of an exploded star (nova) or a bubbling cosmic cauldron. Also, see its companion: the <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heart_and_soul.jpg" target="_blank">Soul Nebula</a>... and an interesting star, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Cassiopeiae" target="_blank">φ Cassiopeiae</a>.<p></p><p><i>Inset right</i> is a <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cardiod_animation.gif" target="_blank">cardioid animation</a>, created by <i>Atomic Shoelace</i>, and sourced from the Wiki entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_symbol" target="_blank">Heart Symbol</a>. I've never seen this before, but, looking at it now, it appears that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardioid" target="_blank">cardioid</a> and the pentagonal golden spiral have something in common.</p><p><i>(continued after the jump-break...)</i></p><span></span><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzTE2MhyphenhyphenGmLx5Ks_k6O8glSxN79K3CSqQAjTRRBqX4I3No_dn9gRbAdGX5NgxIBAGGpmaIfeDWrsiKMQZ0y1JdhOYCzq46TxJlMXPgUpaNz_CjSXRC_O6-zCaDPLh-lPNNuuXH4JWjKIgX7rCXoB-FUXHnVLyHNrSFU3GQvLWImOccerlhi_q3AbNYEA5S/s759/heart%20nebula%20S%202b.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="759" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzTE2MhyphenhyphenGmLx5Ks_k6O8glSxN79K3CSqQAjTRRBqX4I3No_dn9gRbAdGX5NgxIBAGGpmaIfeDWrsiKMQZ0y1JdhOYCzq46TxJlMXPgUpaNz_CjSXRC_O6-zCaDPLh-lPNNuuXH4JWjKIgX7rCXoB-FUXHnVLyHNrSFU3GQvLWImOccerlhi_q3AbNYEA5S/w640-h392/heart%20nebula%20S%202b.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Half a Heart. Geometry: 2024, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXN8hYPpN-uVxijVOH7L52JrW5enRji2q6G4xhxbyvSP0AJ2j31Ky3VttAnwuBsZIoJqmDmNd14Ogbf_84ZSeypwIeEKV7OU4HsdrlWqltYa72KzTB6LrvqShRzQqqdIbj2V17LigbFiRO-Z48ZwIkvvZhN186M9CdWeyPng-nVIFGptx65XjXzONI_m1w/s653/venus%20engraving%20S%20gold%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="414" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXN8hYPpN-uVxijVOH7L52JrW5enRji2q6G4xhxbyvSP0AJ2j31Ky3VttAnwuBsZIoJqmDmNd14Ogbf_84ZSeypwIeEKV7OU4HsdrlWqltYa72KzTB6LrvqShRzQqqdIbj2V17LigbFiRO-Z48ZwIkvvZhN186M9CdWeyPng-nVIFGptx65XjXzONI_m1w/w254-h400/venus%20engraving%20S%20gold%202.png" width="254" /></a></div><i>"Universally in the world of symbol, the heart is also recognized as a container. In Egyptian lore, a vase represented a heart. This representation accords with the principles of alchemy in which a vessel is the container and locus of the transformation of the leaden ego into the gold of the higher Self. The Grail myth is about the quest for a spiritual center and refuge. The Holy Grail in western legend is an alchemical vessel/container in which personal and universal transformation take place. In the Grail stories, the human heart is a container symbolizing the heart of Christ whose life/blood grants nourishment to the soul. Indeed, the heart is like an inverted triangle which stands for the Grail. Shakti, the Hindu female principle of life, is symbolized by just such an inverted triangle as are the primeval waters from which, in Hebrew and Mesopotamian lore, all life is said to have emerged. The inverted triangle is a feminine symbol. In the opposite direction, the triangle is a masculine symbol. These two directions are joined in the star of David."</i><p></p><p>- Via the article, <i><a href=" https://streetsofsalem.com/2014/02/13/hearts-in-hand/" target="_blank">Hearts in Hand</a></i>, regarding heart symbolism.</p><p> <i>Inset left</i>, is an engraving by Dutch artist <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Galle" target="_blank">Philip Galle</a> from 1528 found, once again, in the <a href=" https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/my/collections/1788724--beliusenko/venus/objecten#/RP-P-2013-1-56,16" target="_blank">Rijks Museum</a>. This image is one of a series by the artist portraying the planets and their representative god or goddess.</p><p>In this image, Venus - and, what is Valentine's Day without the Goddess of Love? - is portrayed with her conch shell in one hand and a flaming heart in the other. Her doves, of course, are never far away.</p><p>I've seen at least 5 engravings from this period - by 5 different artists - featuring Venus holding what is, essentially, a Christian symbol: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart" target="_blank">sacred heart</a>. While this symbol was known in the Middle Ages as a Christian symbol it wasn't popularized until the late 1600s. So, I find this odd. Where did this symbol really come from? Odder still, is that in all five images we have, what appears to be, a fairly discernable pentagonal golden spiral.</p><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbzKt4bQ4F59fDhxDy_ljIrwWDDm184KmjHcmdD8ssVe0xkDl9e7UJ7TDP4J7yjynzscV-nt_kU_WGNNBOtaQgDqOcniG3UsM7S4ZZ6dEuwvHMlR9B_j3b1Z5-QW5CnqY-wgAdoa_iBOyXZyRovR6_KaZa0TlCs6yAzEJ5F57NBAAQMMdtkp9ci2ZKe0PH/s618/venus%20monogram%20%20new.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="378" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbzKt4bQ4F59fDhxDy_ljIrwWDDm184KmjHcmdD8ssVe0xkDl9e7UJ7TDP4J7yjynzscV-nt_kU_WGNNBOtaQgDqOcniG3UsM7S4ZZ6dEuwvHMlR9B_j3b1Z5-QW5CnqY-wgAdoa_iBOyXZyRovR6_KaZa0TlCs6yAzEJ5F57NBAAQMMdtkp9ci2ZKe0PH/w245-h400/venus%20monogram%20%20new.png" width="245" /></a></div>"Some scholars believe that the old gods and goddesses of Pagan Europe were revived in the Courtly love movement... (the troubadours) praising pleasure and the mystical secrets of love wherever they went.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>As seditious figures, like the Fool, they were mistrusted by the established church whose fear of women was based on the need to eradicate thousands of years of Goddess worship. The elimination and suppression of feminine deities was a central motif of the Christian church's development; only mystics and pagans kept alive the idea of the divine feminine. This same thing may seen within Judaism and Islam, where the spiritual power of the divine feminine was only acknowledged freely within the mystical cults (the Jewish cabala and Islamic Sufi movement). Since the tarot presents all aspects of the goddesses - figures who teach the fool and guide him through his initiation - it is not surprising it was condemned at the time of its creation...</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>In troubadour poetry, birds are figures that sing in their language without being comprehensible beyond the general sense that they are singing about love."</i></div><br /><div>- This quote was found in an older file of mine, and the link to it is no longer operational, but, I included it here because I suspect that Venus and her "enflamed" heart may have found its source in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubadour" target="_blank">troubadour</a> traditions (also, see here). While the troubadours' fame may have diminished by the 16th century, their influence may have lingered, especially for artists, poets, and musicians.</div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyuBGy0S9O8iHPR7sM9ZSRwc7mdMq4tav5nl6-xToIvzfmLQ7Vv3qjlt8Dwt6yhavsQ_64wqNBXu-HgYs5_sl2g3EopiK6mVOIDd_DXCThlVQJqXs5AY966EMrGWLwZJkan2XRaD9a0CNjgE-FzR0cUt9ZKFTwH-suTduSguVCPLPcbPRnnHHSDbLON_g7/s624/venus%20monogram%20new%20S%201.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="378" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyuBGy0S9O8iHPR7sM9ZSRwc7mdMq4tav5nl6-xToIvzfmLQ7Vv3qjlt8Dwt6yhavsQ_64wqNBXu-HgYs5_sl2g3EopiK6mVOIDd_DXCThlVQJqXs5AY966EMrGWLwZJkan2XRaD9a0CNjgE-FzR0cUt9ZKFTwH-suTduSguVCPLPcbPRnnHHSDbLON_g7/w242-h400/venus%20monogram%20new%20S%201.png" width="242" /></a></div><i>Inset right</i> (above) is an engraving which almost looks like a tarot card, but is - like the first Venus engraving - from a series of planetary allegories. These, however, were created by a German artist, known only as "<a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-H-1054" target="_blank">Monogrammist IB</a>," in 1528. His Venus is the astrological planet, featuring the symbols of the zodiac signs she rules - Libra (the Scales) and Taurus (the Bull). This Venus is also somewhat stranger than we might imagine, however. She is fully dressed, for one, and carries an immense arrow over her shoulder. This may have been the object which pierced the flaming heart she carries before her like a lantern. Meanwhile, the figure of the goddess herself is dreamlike, enchanted... is she sleep-walking or is she a ghost? Or, is she enacting or reenacting some ritual that must be accomplished on a regular basis... and in a timely manner? As I said, this image not only resembles a tarot card but it should've <u>been</u> a tarot card... for Love?<p></p><p style="text-align: left;">As we can see in my semi-colorized version <i>(inset left)</i>, she also comes fully equipped with a pentagonal golden spiral.</p><p style="text-align: left;">As for the burning heart (and the arrow)... well, we'll just assume they symbolized love (and/or passion) both inside and outside of Christian religious traditions... and let it go at that.</p>Meanwhile, V-day is here, the day is warm and bright, and the doves are calling. It could always be worse. And, with a chocolate heart in hand, I wish you a tolerably good V-Day!<br /><p style="text-align: left;">(But, if you can't manage the pop Valentine's-Day-greeting-card kind of day this year - and who can? - create your own exquisitely <a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html" target="_blank">cosmic</a> one... or delve into <a href=" https://genius.com/Julee-cruise-mysteries-of-love-lyrics" target="_blank">love's mysteries</a>.)</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>"The lover followed the paths of his beloved absorbed in thought. He tripped and fell among the thorns, and it seemed to him that they were flowers and that he lay on a bed of love."</i></p><p style="text-align: left;">- Via the <a href="http://public-library.uk/ebooks/58/28.pdf" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Book of the Lover and the Beloved (Llibre d’amic e amat)</a>(.pdf) by <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Llull" target="_blank">Ramon Llull</a>.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-40723970306688929612024-01-10T23:51:00.022-07:002024-02-16T14:50:14.548-07:00A Belated Christmas Spiral: The Annunciation by "Juan de Flandes" (Revised 1/19/24)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePoUS2zqA5_iLj7O1_ieuI-vG3-dOED7w4-zCQHsbXXHpZocRrdhNdL72GtjFaSnnh9rYcfA1DeJK3a3_h-PNOTgSGLgiWfGWouGs2x8RQDwAxjw34J-RxHv4KGFOdgM8cRhabr4zRu1Sb3ufO6yAkLBPgAwPRpJf4urp0d2YejTXzk_tE0P8mi7UFXU5/s560/dutch%20mary%20redo%20S%202.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="397" height="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePoUS2zqA5_iLj7O1_ieuI-vG3-dOED7w4-zCQHsbXXHpZocRrdhNdL72GtjFaSnnh9rYcfA1DeJK3a3_h-PNOTgSGLgiWfGWouGs2x8RQDwAxjw34J-RxHv4KGFOdgM8cRhabr4zRu1Sb3ufO6yAkLBPgAwPRpJf4urp0d2YejTXzk_tE0P8mi7UFXU5/w397-h560/dutch%20mary%20redo%20S%202.png" width="397" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href=" https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2018/02/Juan-de-Flandes.html" target="_blank">The Annunciation</a></i>, 1508, Juan de Flandes. Geometry: 2024, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div><i>"Juan de Flandes ("John of Flanders") was a Flemish painter active in Spain from 1496 to 1519. His actual name is unknown, although an inscription Juan Astrat on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Straat". Jan Sallaert, who became a master in Ghent in 1480, has also been suggested. He worked in the Early Netherlandish style.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>He may have been born around 1460 somewhere in Flanders, Flandes in Spanish, which encompassed modern Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and bordering regions of France. He evidently trained in his home country, most likely in Ghent, as his work shows similarities to that of Joos van Wassenhove, Hugo van der Goes and other Ghent artists. He is only documented after he became an artist at the court of Queen Isabella I of Castile, where he is first mentioned in the accounts in October 1496. He is described as "court painter" by 1498 and continued in the queen's service until her death in 1504..."</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Via Wiki's entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_de_Flandes" target="_blank">Juan de Flandes</a>.</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_dGj9bRP0NwvsaEvS5tWoycEoGRLZyDuJJs4IIwRKmeNx9012VJdtcxkViRpYhgbQNjlr9DeeRf-709jn7SpcbT7q0H0jJPCdw-moZAm368Rap4y7VkWQ-Bwr7S8PAG7cjQSTdfknft4YlwXLCoT54i00J2A9kxVnTGisyMCbuU9I01BmROp3zB0UkJ-/s560/dutch%20mary%20redo%20S%204.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="397" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_dGj9bRP0NwvsaEvS5tWoycEoGRLZyDuJJs4IIwRKmeNx9012VJdtcxkViRpYhgbQNjlr9DeeRf-709jn7SpcbT7q0H0jJPCdw-moZAm368Rap4y7VkWQ-Bwr7S8PAG7cjQSTdfknft4YlwXLCoT54i00J2A9kxVnTGisyMCbuU9I01BmROp3zB0UkJ-/s320/dutch%20mary%20redo%20S%204.png" width="227" /></a></div>"In a list of 23 February 1505, thirty-two of them, including the Last Supper, were acquired by Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands and sister of Isabella’s son-in-law (in whose collection they were seen by Albrecht Dürer). Dürer noted in his diary: ‘And on Friday Lady Margaret showed me all her beautiful things, and among them I saw about forty small pictures in oils, the like of which for cleanness and excellence I have never seen’."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Although not applicable to The Annunciation, the quote was sourced from this <a href=" https://www.vads.ac.uk/digital/collection/NIRP/id/33435/" target="_blank">page</a> in which a full account of Juan de Flandes' mysterious collection of small paintings is given.</div><br /><div><b>(Update:1/19/2024)</b> I'm adding a new spiral to the mix <i>(inset left)</i>. While not the "magic act" posted above it still has 2 things going for it: it terminates on the "holy spirit," and it begins to form a pentagram over Mary.<strike> There's a third thing. Gabriel conjures up an important golden relationship with his wand. What is it?</strike></div><div><strike><br /></strike></div><div>(<b>Correction</b>: Gabriel conjures up (at least) 3 golden relationships with his wand. What are they?)</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_NjIQ7U7CIyqx95L6fa6QuOE5REshnut5aBMVWlA4NZQTxzm7pHhmrq5shtdpgFkiGpa7Kv1ZSg88lkRk7zMnAgGxSpNxYLyN5J5LkvdSOV5KSKe4d9NYT3JU8-xsAtt9IludHC2bxtNCFUJARKrJejn1Sw7fIZ0tmQVNyvYqJSsnO9zgz_WKiTAw7X5/s560/dutch%20mary%20redo%202.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="397" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm_NjIQ7U7CIyqx95L6fa6QuOE5REshnut5aBMVWlA4NZQTxzm7pHhmrq5shtdpgFkiGpa7Kv1ZSg88lkRk7zMnAgGxSpNxYLyN5J5LkvdSOV5KSKe4d9NYT3JU8-xsAtt9IludHC2bxtNCFUJARKrJejn1Sw7fIZ0tmQVNyvYqJSsnO9zgz_WKiTAw7X5/w284-h400/dutch%20mary%20redo%202.png" width="284" /></a></div>I had a different post in mind for the first post of the year, but, as it happened I had the image (above) on file as a possible Christmas alternative, but, it needed research and I didn't have the time for it last year.</div><div><br /></div><div>As it was, the trail grew cold fairly early on in my search for information, and there doesn't seem to be any clear cyberspace description of who the artist actually was, although we do know he was fairly successful, especially in Spain. (See: <i><a href=" https://jhna.org/articles/juan-de-flandes-and-his-financial-success-in-castile/" target="_blank">Juan de Flandes and His Financial Success in Castile</a>.)</i></div><div><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div>But, Juan de Flandes' <i>Annunciation</i> is possibly one of the most unique of all the many paintings in that genre produced in the late Renaissance, another being Botticelli's <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2021/12/botticelli-spiral.htm" target="_blank">Cestello Annunciation</a> </i>(1489), the first spiral painting I documented on this blog... and, still, to this day, one of the best spiral paintings.</div><div><br /></div><div>The spiral in this somewhat odder <i>Annunciation</i> painted by the Flemish painter, however, has one special feature. It's spiral presents us with a little conjuring effect, a magic act. (Why, it even has a dove!)</div><div><br /></div><div>I've inset the unembellished original so you can witness it for yourself. Click on the image, and when the "slideshow" pops up, click on the spiral version. Jockey back and forth. Do you see it?</div><div><br /></div><div>Abracadabra! the angel performs a magic-trick with his staff... as if it was (an overly long) wand. <i>(Presto! Mary is now with child.)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>(Now, there's a mixed metaphor...)</div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi89KyNQgr8_vSVBrpnAHZUqra4tsDz4iRnomlCJTPN6zcFjxbH9idCvY15TVdbxgPNH0ra9zZq6BU13rYPebZ5cJnTk7vuzU3Id2R0ig0f-QxpRP1dNAO94l1qT4vHk_9z7Dljqnxh-qtgOJTlAA2PEoGPi93Y-9DE8VgUK26ZtffbSidYfEbpgcUcV8JN/s506/dutch%20mary%20detail%202.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="457" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi89KyNQgr8_vSVBrpnAHZUqra4tsDz4iRnomlCJTPN6zcFjxbH9idCvY15TVdbxgPNH0ra9zZq6BU13rYPebZ5cJnTk7vuzU3Id2R0ig0f-QxpRP1dNAO94l1qT4vHk_9z7Dljqnxh-qtgOJTlAA2PEoGPi93Y-9DE8VgUK26ZtffbSidYfEbpgcUcV8JN/s320/dutch%20mary%20detail%202.jpg" width="289" /></a></div>It is, however, the presence of the angel's staff - held at an almost-golden angle - which enables one to "see" the golden triangle.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I were to venture a guess, I would say that this was an example of the geometry Albrecht Dürer saw so many years ago - in 1521 - when he praised the artist's "precision." Although this image was unlikely among the group of "small paintings" (of Juan de Flandes') Dürer actually saw - it is much larger than the "21.3 x 16.7 cm" given in the Wiki entry - by looking over more of the artist's <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artist/juan-de-flandes" target="_blank">work</a>, his use of geometrical precision is evident.</div><div><br /></div><div>And, so is his eye for detail. The book in Mary's hands, for instance (<i>inset left</i>), was probably a real manuscript, both illuminated and gilded, (and, judging by it's condition, created during Juan de Flandes' lifetime).</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWZOLsQuL1ae6lk8cpL-FVtGeWDxxS5y6FNbW4OeAtqA7mLd9_FeMUcZeeLoZWvUQvIzlWViuVPhsKmVIdtpKn2nw2Uy99mTDwCGgXO60u-4IGDeDXxRF0mSvyIcMNkhyphenhyphenAvnx7bLIy3Ya9xeA8Yugu0-Lzx5uh_APl2ogAO85l5pEGVbVZhdBjOhyphenhyphenr6Au6/s571/dutch%20mary%20detail.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="471" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWZOLsQuL1ae6lk8cpL-FVtGeWDxxS5y6FNbW4OeAtqA7mLd9_FeMUcZeeLoZWvUQvIzlWViuVPhsKmVIdtpKn2nw2Uy99mTDwCGgXO60u-4IGDeDXxRF0mSvyIcMNkhyphenhyphenAvnx7bLIy3Ya9xeA8Yugu0-Lzx5uh_APl2ogAO85l5pEGVbVZhdBjOhyphenhyphenr6Au6/w165-h200/dutch%20mary%20detail.jpg" width="165" /></a></div>Actually, the setting and Mary herself are more contemporary with the 1500s than they are with Biblical times, and, once again, considering the presence of the book, Mary was a very well-to-do woman indeed.</div><div><br /></div><div>But, there's a little high strangeness present in Mary's costume. For one thing, the very red underdress she's wearing is unusual for a virgin. As it happens, the red underdress is often believed to be symbolic of Mary Magdalene. </div><div><br /></div><div>But, weirder still is the odd pendant hanging from her cloak's closure; it almost resembles some unique kind of crucifix!</div><div><br /></div>Think about it.<div><br /></div><div>In the last analysis, it's just another piece of a larger puzzle.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtNyDBOQ-qucjzOzdw_T85wCAfvsI7nUQdlVTzFVbJW6uOMSMQpTWTNnUD-uEKCyD7NFSUQlzvOde1HxQE09wjiRtl68Cr_0PKUIoC3koe0tlg6jQqI6dIqMHzWsmxDEUrOpsk1E2Jwmj2X4ovdgLZ7_7nbQ2aNUDdqf2Ntao4M5Op0eC1oYhRF4Gqja5g/s621/venus%20and%20cupid%201500.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtNyDBOQ-qucjzOzdw_T85wCAfvsI7nUQdlVTzFVbJW6uOMSMQpTWTNnUD-uEKCyD7NFSUQlzvOde1HxQE09wjiRtl68Cr_0PKUIoC3koe0tlg6jQqI6dIqMHzWsmxDEUrOpsk1E2Jwmj2X4ovdgLZ7_7nbQ2aNUDdqf2Ntao4M5Op0eC1oYhRF4Gqja5g/w255-h320/venus%20and%20cupid%201500.png" width="255" /></a></div>Ultimately, what most amazed me while writing this post is the realization that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandro_Botticelli" target="_blank">Botticelli</a> (1445-1510) and <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer" target="_blank">Dürer</a> (1471-1528) and Juan de Flandes (who died in 1519) were making art around the same general time period... another turn-of-the-century, in fact... but a far cry from the one I've been discussing recently.</div><div><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div>At the beginning of the 16th century there were a number of very dark realities to deal with. While the Black Death initially circulated around Europe in the 1300s, the 1500s experienced a renewed and refurbished strain of that disease. Moreover, the Enlightenment - which wouldn't formally begin until the next century - was born beneath the shadows of two of mankind's least-enlightened creations: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Inquisition">Inquisitions</a> (the Spanish Inquisition began in 1478; the Roman in 1542), and the <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt">European witch-hunts</a> which began in 1450 and lasted for 2 centuries. In any case, the 15th and 16th century artist had to walk a mighty fine line in terms of imagery. Innovation and, certainly, any deviation regarding subject matter might result in cries of heresy... or worse. Biblical imagery, on the other hand, was fairly safe... until you factor in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation" target="_blank">Reformation</a> and various religious wars!</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div><br /></div></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFzkhPanDrn5rI_z6SD4MEQ_j9LOwfApI6VZNLof4X3HSZXmShd6TBGkPTCP0_nxxd-xY4ZIYyHgl5mhjgZtxmdL-Qku55DtzBziqCjIIxc_GQ6UcmhaCD_nLDQFX9nCseTTMoir561foykxtF2k4lx5xFiuSLOm9Jpjb3HVr_oFOFKOvPThdjk4wa0Ir/s621/venus%20and%20cupid%201500%20S.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwFzkhPanDrn5rI_z6SD4MEQ_j9LOwfApI6VZNLof4X3HSZXmShd6TBGkPTCP0_nxxd-xY4ZIYyHgl5mhjgZtxmdL-Qku55DtzBziqCjIIxc_GQ6UcmhaCD_nLDQFX9nCseTTMoir561foykxtF2k4lx5xFiuSLOm9Jpjb3HVr_oFOFKOvPThdjk4wa0Ir/s320/venus%20and%20cupid%201500%20S.png" width="255" /></a></div><b>(1/12/24)</b> Then again - and this a common occurrence on this blog - just after I published this post, new information arrived tailored to confound me! And, really, I should've known that while the (alleged) Christian "Feds" (and/or the Papal Predators) were busy cooking "heretics," enlightened artists were trying to save the world... with beauty and knowledge (and my hat-tip to <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/12/five-spirals-for-december-5-song-of.html" target="_blank">Roerich</a>). And, (seemingly) they got away with it! Moreover, a few of them were championing beauty and knowledge in a very unique way.</div><div><br /></div><div>You'll note the absolutely gorgeous image of Venus and Cupid just added above, <i>inset right</i>. This <i>Venus and Cupid</i> was painted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battista_Dossi" target="_blank">Battista Dossi</a> in 1540 and currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art. It was found <a href="https://picryl.com/topics/16th+century+paintings+of+venus+aphrodite" target="_blank">here</a> along with <u>48</u> more images of Venus/Aphrodite painted in the 15 and 16th centuries!</div><div><br /></div><div>At a quick glance, not all of the paintings on the page are spiral paintings, but Dossi's seems to be, so, I'm including the spiral image here (<i>inset left</i>). Note the dark cloak swirling around Venus/Aphrodite's head and shoulders. Note, too, the fabric's relationship to the spiral. Similar artistic arrangements involving Venus have been with us for over a thousand years.</div><div><br /></div><div>Stay tuned for the next 4 or 5 (predominately image) posts, when and where I will attempt to illuminate this phenomenon. For now, I will leave you with this... an unusual engraving of Venus/Aphrodite attributed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherubino_Alberti" target="_blank">Cherubino Alberti</a> (1563 - 1615) found on the <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/my/collections/1788724--beliusenko/venus/objecten#/RP-P-OB-34." target="_blank">Rijks Museum</a> website.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qymKCSFZFKntS_Ne7k_TuzfsSmlcFRvmKLCq9z8DyGrYUePFxM0Lp588VQU92uyXzMFOoqbUnqdWbdeOYHNqlZNBuehtilpdyApifhyphenhyphenYWg8ge-eQ5wH83Pmq1SD3JP7UTsHOiDlHa5StRspvZT3H0NdFkP_9DATnCzuxvn8srMC57ZsnzWniO5hhbLUv/s661/venus%20alberti%20S2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="460" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qymKCSFZFKntS_Ne7k_TuzfsSmlcFRvmKLCq9z8DyGrYUePFxM0Lp588VQU92uyXzMFOoqbUnqdWbdeOYHNqlZNBuehtilpdyApifhyphenhyphenYWg8ge-eQ5wH83Pmq1SD3JP7UTsHOiDlHa5StRspvZT3H0NdFkP_9DATnCzuxvn8srMC57ZsnzWniO5hhbLUv/w279-h400/venus%20alberti%20S2.png" width="279" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pentagonal golden spiral and the pentagram.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-78577479984751447442023-12-31T01:43:00.022-07:002024-01-31T18:33:34.627-07:00Five Spirals for December - #5 Song of the Morning by Nicholas Roerich<p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzb_x4INRijFVtNLE2hbqFzmZNBwz89nASy3tA1o30SPXndtNyOdLTD10037qjbkQPEP5Kh7QnHJ5GTCxRZH50L-s6ZV1dla3FIWgb8WWFI7CU37-_V7FPFun86TcINW2BK2kLEoUnNipzKGJwiQsQx95CTGAh-X-KQd3F1ptoMCMs5RsdKii4zKKT24h/s747/roerich%20painting%20redo%20S.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="530" height="682" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzb_x4INRijFVtNLE2hbqFzmZNBwz89nASy3tA1o30SPXndtNyOdLTD10037qjbkQPEP5Kh7QnHJ5GTCxRZH50L-s6ZV1dla3FIWgb8WWFI7CU37-_V7FPFun86TcINW2BK2kLEoUnNipzKGJwiQsQx95CTGAh-X-KQd3F1ptoMCMs5RsdKii4zKKT24h/w484-h682/roerich%20painting%20redo%20S.png" width="484" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://pixelsmerch.com/featured/song-of-the-morning-nicholas-roerich.html" target="_blank">Song of the Morning</a></i>, 1920, Nicholas Roerich. <a href=" https://whichmuseum.com/museum/nicholas-roerich-museum-new-york-9397" target="_blank">Nicholas Roerich Museum</a>, NY.<br />Geometry: 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"The Awareness of beauty will save the world."</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">- Nicholas Roerich</div><div><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbh23ycT3b_8DsoIJjccGB08tAEc2LsM0ZBG694tF-Fk93P9RSrfeBPvqcIxNWPqE9vq00Oz8hO951Go78684A1f7JqqL834HAoiPBtPXUL8zo5qMDdg8ivSy2PxSwBb3KaSNfmlOFwbOzLjNa-Ab3SwNMeyhLEEtEIxcD8L-OiBmg6d2tLHvY_1GTXHD/s753/roerich%20painting%20redo.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="528" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbh23ycT3b_8DsoIJjccGB08tAEc2LsM0ZBG694tF-Fk93P9RSrfeBPvqcIxNWPqE9vq00Oz8hO951Go78684A1f7JqqL834HAoiPBtPXUL8zo5qMDdg8ivSy2PxSwBb3KaSNfmlOFwbOzLjNa-Ab3SwNMeyhLEEtEIxcD8L-OiBmg6d2tLHvY_1GTXHD/w237-h339/roerich%20painting%20redo.png" width="237" /></a></div>"The pursuit of refinement and beauty was sacred for Roerich. He believed that although earthly temples and artifacts may perish, the thought that brings them into existence does not die but is part of an eternal stream of consciousness—man’s aspirations nourished by his directed will and by the energy of thought. Finally, he believed that peace on Earth was a prerequisite to planetary survival and the continuing process of spiritual evolution, and he exhorted his fellow man to help achieve that peace by uniting in the common language of Beauty and Knowledge.</i><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>...Nicholas Roerich died in Kullu on December 13, 1947. His body was cremated and its ashes buried on a slope facing the mountains he loved and portrayed in many of his nearly seven thousand works.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>As he wrote: 'Let us be united—you will ask in what way? You will agree with me: in the easiest way, to create a common and sincere language. Perhaps in Beauty and Knowledge.'"</i></div><div><br /></div><div> - All quoted text above was sourced from <a href=" https://www.roerich.org" target="_blank">Roerich.org</a>. - the first (and most comprehensive) port of call for all things Roerich. But, the story of <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_symbolism" target="_blank">Russian Symbolist</a> painter, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Roerich" target="_blank">Nicholas Roerich</a> and his wife <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Roerich" target="_blank">Helena</a> is unusually extensive. The couple's Neo-Theosophical spiritualism was particularly influential in the States in the earlier half of the 20th century; so influential that there is actually a term for it: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roerichism" target="_blank">Roerichism</a>. It is hard to believe that the Roerichs somehow faded into obscurity in America during the latter half of the century but they did.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>(Note: Nicholas Roerich was first introduced on this blog in the <a href=" https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2020/08/once-possessed-madness-of-vaslav.html" target="_blank">Nijinsky post</a>.)</i></div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"In December 1923, Roerich and his family arrived in Darjeeling, India in search of a mythical kingdom called “Shambhala”. Not to be found on any map, the Roerichs travelled across 25,000 kilometres of uncharted road to find the Kingdom that the Buddhists, Hindus, Tibetans and local healers so firmly believed in.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>According to legend, with the spread of materialism, humanity would deteriorate and the people of Earth would unite under an Evil leader. This leader would attack the Kingdom of Shambhala with terrible weapons and that’s when he would be defeated, ushering in a new Golden Era of peace and harmony. "</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Via the fascinating article:<i><a href=" https://www.theheritagelab.in/himalayas-paintings-roerich/" target="_blank"> Explore the Himalayas : Paintings by Nicholas Roerich</a></i>. Regarding the legend of the "evil world leader"... well, if prophetic, the question might be: which one?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_e8ZoOKQry3DOwLuKJKRl_MTHxfNlcYSjzuowv_ZU4Pe0lBt1lCYkIQ3us9xRluQyBywPx4fzaBT61ziDaettcdjwJVpB2X7ohUDI84WGFK6vVkGAQxAAIsdj5QgUyI_-KXBEngA6tTbeAiI4VOcmRZ_IA5LzCKObLgwZLTrbMJeYR_3Um31RN6jpNDp0/s820/roerich%20mountain.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="820" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_e8ZoOKQry3DOwLuKJKRl_MTHxfNlcYSjzuowv_ZU4Pe0lBt1lCYkIQ3us9xRluQyBywPx4fzaBT61ziDaettcdjwJVpB2X7ohUDI84WGFK6vVkGAQxAAIsdj5QgUyI_-KXBEngA6tTbeAiI4VOcmRZ_IA5LzCKObLgwZLTrbMJeYR_3Um31RN6jpNDp0/w400-h240/roerich%20mountain.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.abuildingroam.com/2021/04/the-hypnotic-mountainscapes-of-nicholas.html" target="_blank">The Hunt</a></i>, 1937, Nicholas Roerich.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><i>"Through the desolate summits swept raging intermittent gusts of the terrible antarctic wind; whose cadences sometimes held vague suggestions of a wild and half-sentient musical piping, with notes extending over a wide range, and which for some subconscious mnemonic reason seemed to me disquieting and even dimly terrible. Something about the scene reminded me of the strange and disturbing Asian paintings of Nicholas Roerich, and of the still stranger and more disturbing descriptions of the evilly fabled plateau of Leng which occur in the dreaded Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- A paragraph from <a href=" https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mm.aspx" target="_blank"><i>At the Mountains of Madness</i></a> by H.P. Lovecraft. Interestingly, Lovecraft references Roerich's "strange" paintings of the Himalayans several times during the tale. The painting above might be an example of what Lovecraft had in mind.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7J2OtIguL4kQgMzf5uiFb56oXdiBDji9JzqTt5PQbIqn-YDbvXhJKTJEg70JxNLafODFs3EW6dFNYcfKA0s-cllYbYIRudo4s_PJv1z4_JBkqUBQKzHhhtAVBqFLS52EkjCOUcXl52_dAwEKJvWUAICnqJIsjNVUtiC0v6hhGxMY_QsheyIumPfwj7hY/s598/mother%20of%20the%20world.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="399" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7J2OtIguL4kQgMzf5uiFb56oXdiBDji9JzqTt5PQbIqn-YDbvXhJKTJEg70JxNLafODFs3EW6dFNYcfKA0s-cllYbYIRudo4s_PJv1z4_JBkqUBQKzHhhtAVBqFLS52EkjCOUcXl52_dAwEKJvWUAICnqJIsjNVUtiC0v6hhGxMY_QsheyIumPfwj7hY/w268-h400/mother%20of%20the%20world.png" width="268" /></a></div><i>"Through his spiritual journeys into the Himalayas, Roerich also developed a deep sense of the role that the feminine principle had in the evolvement of humanity. Several of his paintings depict this importance, particularly, The Mother of the World. The Letters of Helena Roerich, written by his wife, explains the importance of this work: “The ‘Mother of the World’ is at the head of the Great Hierarchy of Light of our planet. Read in the Cryptograms of the East the narrative about the Mother of the World, and accept it as the highest reality.”</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Helena Roerich further explains the inspiration for the painting, 'The star of the Mother of the World is the planet Venus. In 1924 this planet for a short time came unusually near to the Earth. Its rays were poured on Earth, and this created many new powerful and sacred combinations which will yield great results. Many feminine movements were kindled by these powerful rays.'"</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Via this Theosophical article: <i><a href="https://theosophyart.org/2017/11/21/nicholas-roerich-the-treasures-within/" target="_blank">Nicholas Roerich: The Treasures Within</a></i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Roerich was very close to his wife Helena. One might say they enjoyed a soul-mate relationship. Both were feminists and it was their belief in the World Mother that brought them into conflict with the Russian Orthodox Church (see: <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophiology" target="_blank">Sophiology</a>) . <i>Inset left </i>is one version of the <i><a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/nicholas-roerich/mother-of-the-world-1937" target="_blank">Mother of the World</a></i> painted by Roerich in 1937.* The reference to Venus as the Mother's Star is interesting, and in the course of this post we will meet another reference.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>There's something very special about the woman in Roerich's <i>Song of the Morning</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>To begin with, she's extremely beautiful. She's a brown woman... possibly Mongolian... with a fruit-of-the-earth, nuts and berries kind of beauty... but, she has another outstanding feature...</div><div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><div>...she's a tall woman... perhaps, very tall., perhaps, even tree-like. You can tell by her physical relationship to the antelope she's dancing with. I believe the antelope actually represents a female member of an Eastern Indian species: the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbuck" target="_blank">Blackbuck</a> antelope (also <a href="https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9447482" target="_blank">here</a>). Odd that Roerich should choose a female member of that species; her coloring is rather bland. The male of the species is a bold black and white... almost as black as an object appearing in the top of the painting... and one you could not see in the detail I first provided... but one you can see <i>inset left</i> below. But, more about this later.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTmfaNn5CB0rdiOIn22u4MnUAIGMIez8sMQS0eqIeutW0HQOwMn7B-z1clIEWsvnQC60DS_0bTMBssTbdzzrBDdUiUpGohibMzGPcCiGaK3ISIYIpBHvnEWMOKh7H0cVbTJXLLhLTITwkAoaUa07Mno7hkD7GJUrHfMrxyWmdfL2OBkCxGxElX_yAwkPu/s675/roerich%20full.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="351" height="485" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuTmfaNn5CB0rdiOIn22u4MnUAIGMIez8sMQS0eqIeutW0HQOwMn7B-z1clIEWsvnQC60DS_0bTMBssTbdzzrBDdUiUpGohibMzGPcCiGaK3ISIYIpBHvnEWMOKh7H0cVbTJXLLhLTITwkAoaUa07Mno7hkD7GJUrHfMrxyWmdfL2OBkCxGxElX_yAwkPu/w253-h485/roerich%20full.png" width="253" /></a></div>In any case, the male - as far as coloring goes - would have really popped out of the background. The one Roerich chose doesn't. But, he was a good artist, so, why did he choose the dun-colored female and give it horns? Apparently, there are some female Blackbuck who, in reality, do have horns... which, when you think about it, is a little weird. Why do some female blackbucks grow horns while other females do not? But, that's not our present concern. We must assume that, as a Symbolist, Roerche had something else in mind.</div><div><br /></div><div>Regardless, the important thing is that the tall, beautiful woman in the painting is not merely a woman who has managed to tame or domesticate an antelope. The woman is a Goddess - possibly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia" target="_blank">Gaia</a> - and she and her companion are dancing at the top of the world. And, you can tell it's the top of the world. The morning light in the sky is of a kind travelers can find no where else on this planet.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Goddess, and we will assume she is that, wears a red gown and swirls a green/ochre-colored, translucent scarf or shawl above her head. Hers is an ancient gesture. The colors are not garish, but subdued... authentic colors of the earth. She wears jewelry, but, once again, the beads, the bracelets are not ostentatious: they belong to her... she does not belong to them.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was something about the angle in which she held the scarf above her head that clued me in about the golden triangle. The triangle is echoed in the position of her arms. The spiral which she and the antelope create is almost self-evident.** At a rapid glance, the dancers recall the formation of a musical notation - the G or Treble cleft. And this might not be an accident. Roerich did not refer to the painting as a "Song" for no reason. Not that it's as much of a song we "hear" but what we sense as some variety of music. The sort of music implied by Lovecraft in the quote posted:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKZY9ZCwn0mOdQg_IXGfN8eMN4S_jMRb9yz36J3skIos-vyuJ-7TC7moyzl_wcorwiVIYT5IWMAZ75UoS2P_15ipTFWGuGhz9xj28chT_jNttkNlFDIWE2vH4ws9C1I_cV9gvYW5ifYKKwYzf1bwKyrleBJf8xDDKU9wx3HE11IjFJv523NcP7SgWnrlT/s512/treble%20clef%204.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="276" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlKZY9ZCwn0mOdQg_IXGfN8eMN4S_jMRb9yz36J3skIos-vyuJ-7TC7moyzl_wcorwiVIYT5IWMAZ75UoS2P_15ipTFWGuGhz9xj28chT_jNttkNlFDIWE2vH4ws9C1I_cV9gvYW5ifYKKwYzf1bwKyrleBJf8xDDKU9wx3HE11IjFJv523NcP7SgWnrlT/w108-h200/treble%20clef%204.png" width="108" /></a></div><div><i>"Through the desolate summits swept raging intermittent gusts of the terrible antarctic wind; whose cadences sometimes held vague suggestions of a wild and half-sentient musical piping, with notes extending over a wide range, and which for some subconscious mnemonic reason seemed to me disquieting and even dimly terrible."</i></div><br />However, the music we subliminally hear is not remotely terrible. It is the song of the morning... and, somewhere there is a morning star although invisible. This is what the spiral tells us. This is what Roerich knew. And, while he didn't necessarily design this painting with a golden spiral in mind, the spiral still managed to slip in unawares. Perhaps, it was the physically inaudible, intangible "half-sentient musical piping" in the background that allowed this seemingly mathematical "notation" to emerge.</div><div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn39Wr2sGFYzTZ50T236nOjPXsaldQJO3tU0WSJR4PSYgLq-Ak_QGHCbkaqv_Wm4QpKI0Wadxo91BKiK-of6IIryIwj1LlBCe8-mIEpdhdVyjqtOm7CjiofeZrs2JTr0Tw4g83t1WJ5CEJk1acSVuQkCLFJb4GSnaaw6xtf6mczomVH9FQY3rAlvjq6EVr/s544/peacock.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="544" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn39Wr2sGFYzTZ50T236nOjPXsaldQJO3tU0WSJR4PSYgLq-Ak_QGHCbkaqv_Wm4QpKI0Wadxo91BKiK-of6IIryIwj1LlBCe8-mIEpdhdVyjqtOm7CjiofeZrs2JTr0Tw4g83t1WJ5CEJk1acSVuQkCLFJb4GSnaaw6xtf6mczomVH9FQY3rAlvjq6EVr/w320-h264/peacock.png" width="320" /></a></div><div>And, now, we'll turn to that ominously black object perched on the roof ledge of the goddess's massive pink palace. It appears to be the silhouette of a peacock - its tail folded and out of the frame - turned away from the scene below. Now, if it were an actual peacock (<i>inset right</i>) it'd make a prettier picture... but, I'm thinking that this wasn't the painter's intention. Once again, Roerich was a Symbolist. He was also a hermetic Theosophist, so, he would have had knowledge of alchemy and its many symbols. The peacock turned away is - in this vignette - part of the past. It is black... symbolizing an earlier stage of the Great Work. The scene that we enjoy is the end result - the harmonious whole - of the alchemical accomplishment <i>cauda pavonis</i>, <a href=" https://www.ic7zi.com/esoteric/the-peacocks-tail-stage-and-the-philosophers-stone/" target="_blank">here</a> described (and where the wonderful peacock image was found):</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYqYJh1EAQ97X1EGF55BuN5m-Z0ZI3Ck9BiGATXicYXZqjHUVCWFhSNlCMaq6i5NZP-QF8uwbIgE0iMEkaXY32ul6yYVe5kgF7keVdRAFBodqsVgXu8cUpuRiVQ-iKI-LdMNnp2P0XE2ETxWVzZP-GhB4eqNAHEH_Tp5R0-37mbvbRtDkRYiSIf0g2olli/s761/peacock%20alchemy.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="761" data-original-width="499" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYqYJh1EAQ97X1EGF55BuN5m-Z0ZI3Ck9BiGATXicYXZqjHUVCWFhSNlCMaq6i5NZP-QF8uwbIgE0iMEkaXY32ul6yYVe5kgF7keVdRAFBodqsVgXu8cUpuRiVQ-iKI-LdMNnp2P0XE2ETxWVzZP-GhB4eqNAHEH_Tp5R0-37mbvbRtDkRYiSIf0g2olli/w263-h400/peacock%20alchemy.png" width="263" /></a></div><i>"...in many alchemical texts, the peacock’s tail stage, or “cauda pavonis,” appears as a stage where a multitude of colors appear, much like the iridescent tail of a peacock. This stage is emblematic of chaos, diversity, and the blossoming of potential. It’s the period where the material being worked upon breaks down, revealing its constituent parts in a dazzling display. This breakdown is essential because it paves the way for the unification that follows."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>We also have this information (found in the lovely article, <i><a href="https://symbolreader.net/2014/12/20/peacocks-cry-of-souls-splendour/" target="_blank">Peacock’s Cry of Soul’s Splendour</a>,</i> where the image<i> inset left, </i>and the video below was found):</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Interestingly, as can be read on an excellent website dedicated to constellations, the words “peacock” and “paean,” i.e. ‘a hymn, a song joy and triumph’ are related... The cry of the peacock in the poem becomes a true “mystical call,“ a voice from beyond addressing directly our incorruptible essence – the Soul – and beckoning us to cross the threshold of awakening."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Inset left</i> is a plate from the alchemical text <i>The Splendor Solis</i> by Salomon Trismosin. (Also identified as <i>Splendor solis oder Sonnenglanz</i>, 1531–32, and attributed to Jörg Breu the Elder, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. See <a href=" https://brewminate.com/illuminating-alchemys-colorful-peacock-stage/" target="_blank">here</a>.) This is Plate #16 entitled: <i>Venus, the Peacock’s Tail</i>. And, we can see Venus (with Cupid), flying overhead in her dove-drawn chariot. Meanwhile, a number of happy humans are engaging in benign pursuits... some cultural such as music, dancing, or reading poetry... some feasting or practicing the romantic art of seduction. Life is, for them, a perpetual picnic in the sweet spring air.</div><div><br /></div><div>As it should be for all of us.</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Happy New Year!</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gGNETioPRkk?si=4td6WWbszz-wWj1g" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">_______________________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp8QA7EY1YRoGGdbvyOPWkRhNuf2S6g7AxKef0QoKIVq6loYewMDW7xQlXK21V0p__noaEHr1SkeVhUMhT6C0CLaNQVmW7weU2Z3z5dffXljKDfHUzipTJR4IAXrs7zQRajohnjeW7u9TzZgaTc_DNIFnWlEhRsApIRzAbneKOx8XuAQ5NplbPLyquZ0u6/s598/mother%20of%20the%20world%20S.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="399" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp8QA7EY1YRoGGdbvyOPWkRhNuf2S6g7AxKef0QoKIVq6loYewMDW7xQlXK21V0p__noaEHr1SkeVhUMhT6C0CLaNQVmW7weU2Z3z5dffXljKDfHUzipTJR4IAXrs7zQRajohnjeW7u9TzZgaTc_DNIFnWlEhRsApIRzAbneKOx8XuAQ5NplbPLyquZ0u6/s320/mother%20of%20the%20world%20S.png" width="214" /></a></div>* Note on the spiral in <i>Song of the Morning</i>: The spiral in this image is particularly mesmerizing. There's a better version... slightly larger; it's dimensions lie somewhere slightly outside of the frame. Perhaps the right side of the painting had more image area at one time. If so, I wish it were still there. I don't know about you, but I'd love to see more of Roerich's enchanted world.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>(Update, 1/5/24)</b> That being said, I have looked at many of Roerich's paintings online - most of which feature rolling landscapes - and I've come upon only two spiral paintings: <i>Song of the Morning</i> (featured) and <i>Mother of the World</i> (shown earlier).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm including the latter with it's spiral here <i>(inset right)</i>. Interestingly, the full golden triangle in the image continues till it reaches the bottom of the painting intercepting the two small human figures, one of whom carries a small chest, and another which reads from a large book.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For a similar use of the triangle see: <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/03/carlo-crivelli-and-queen-of-heaven.html" target="_blank">Carlo Crivelli and the "Queen of Heaven."</a></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>“Above Them is She Who veiled Her Face, She Who wove the Web of the far-off Worlds, She the Envoy of the Unutterable, the Ruler of the Intangible, the Bestower of the Unrepeatable.</i></div><div><i>By Thy Command is the Ocean silenced and the Whirlwinds trace the Invisible Signs.</i></div><div><i>And She Who Veiled Her Face shall stand Alone in Vigil, amid the Splendor of Her Signs.</i></div><div><i>And none shall mount the Summit. None shall witness the Effulgence of the Dodecahedron, the Sign of Her Power.”</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- A very interesting hymn to the <i>Mother of the World</i> found on this Roerich Museum <a href="https://peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=820" target="_blank">page</a>. I believe this is the first time I've found any reference to an entity whose "power" is represented by the <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2020/09/an-ancient-artifact-to-conjure-with.html" target="_blank">dodecahedron</a>... and that this entity is a She is very exciting to me. The Phi in Aphrodite unfolds...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQmazbmtZeO-6ELup5Nt7TRgItLUh76S0oNJv8WzYtKLNccaknLWjs2xcCKoAlBeNPfkSVCzWMNgNvoFseYGn7lBrXlgfgIimQhTb08eakNwkdhDVffq-YENZ9jmApR-o4zFDgMVSHIooPh_Zvo_Lnu_Um7CVitswqsAmrm3l6PV5cF_WHgHKXvcxrQHe/s478/aphrodite%20metal%20swan%20new%20vehicle%20blue%201b.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="478" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQmazbmtZeO-6ELup5Nt7TRgItLUh76S0oNJv8WzYtKLNccaknLWjs2xcCKoAlBeNPfkSVCzWMNgNvoFseYGn7lBrXlgfgIimQhTb08eakNwkdhDVffq-YENZ9jmApR-o4zFDgMVSHIooPh_Zvo_Lnu_Um7CVitswqsAmrm3l6PV5cF_WHgHKXvcxrQHe/s320/aphrodite%20metal%20swan%20new%20vehicle%20blue%201b.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Venus has a new ride... and she's coming your way soon!<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-42170749463684568992023-12-25T13:22:00.018-07:002024-01-17T19:46:14.740-07:00Five Spirals for December - #4 The Vision of St. Cecelia by Orazio Gentileschi<div class="separator"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEill7xEGd1OUHS8hYyBFUXGH01by5vFzLmwbC8j8kBkCD1JvqzjA6vR7FesOGPfw0UrOZCH8pdmXq8tHFuO_XKOtGxsgg9FtdBbCrmShE8aoetAv4A3Dvmk1xcIrjXHe0pTYPl4-E90J7TaeYbPzxCoZRxNmoh9A6iJ90JKi4s5pNpN65k1l9JnyTbdZbvm/s642/orazio%20new%20S1a.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="388" height="697" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEill7xEGd1OUHS8hYyBFUXGH01by5vFzLmwbC8j8kBkCD1JvqzjA6vR7FesOGPfw0UrOZCH8pdmXq8tHFuO_XKOtGxsgg9FtdBbCrmShE8aoetAv4A3Dvmk1xcIrjXHe0pTYPl4-E90J7TaeYbPzxCoZRxNmoh9A6iJ90JKi4s5pNpN65k1l9JnyTbdZbvm/w421-h697/orazio%20new%20S1a.png" width="421" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orazio_Gentileschi_-_Sts_Cecilia,_Valerianus_and_Tiburtius_-_WGA8575.jpg" target="_blank">The Vision of St. Cecelia</a></i><span style="text-align: right;">, Orazio Gentileschi (1620). Geometry: 2023, DS.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJlGNg8Q86wTWhBTV3VSyARcAYv4YzwCf7dxraVAe7qx0jcZ3Y5vZnzj3FRIgcXsj_YSZnbnMFsoPyP7MktKL3smqDON5tTJnLbQiLo9K_C03sKx-gz1fMeKv9YmIPto4VmNjph0HXAqGsdPlRXjD_lVOR3XLcWJqKj91EGsTnFeeJI0NFQqTwwFplyWY/s642/orazio%20new%20S1b.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="388" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJlGNg8Q86wTWhBTV3VSyARcAYv4YzwCf7dxraVAe7qx0jcZ3Y5vZnzj3FRIgcXsj_YSZnbnMFsoPyP7MktKL3smqDON5tTJnLbQiLo9K_C03sKx-gz1fMeKv9YmIPto4VmNjph0HXAqGsdPlRXjD_lVOR3XLcWJqKj91EGsTnFeeJI0NFQqTwwFplyWY/w193-h320/orazio%20new%20S1b.png" width="193" /></a></p>In ways, this post is an addendum to my previous (2022) Gentileschi <a href=" https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-gentileschi-spirals-and-series.html" target="_blank">post</a> where the image above was first introduced. At the time, I had just had an automobile accident and my computer was stolen from the trunk of my destroyed vehicle. So, I wasn't able to overlay a spiral.<p></p><p style="text-align: left;">But, I have that capability back again, and, once tested, <i>The Vision of St. Cecelia</i> proved to be as golden as I suspected; and, actually, a little bit more! Orazio's spiral accomplishes what every good spiral ought to; it behaves like a clockwork.</p><p style="text-align: left;">As you can see from the images above, <i>inset left</i>, and inset below - and to see them best, click on any one of them for a sort of slide show - regardless of the spiral's size or orientation, its basic relationship to the image is not changed; it's proportions are, instead, systematically measured.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The spiral's activity in relationship to the painting, in this case, is determined by the apex (or acute tip) of the triangle and its direction in relation to the angel. The smallest spiral - and the most basic - informs us of the general focus of the design, which, as we might suspect, begins with the angel - Cecilia's "vision" - but inevitably terminates on the body St. Cecilia.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGrIDwxCmeUX28UJYpQvOJSbVZzh3O2Ss3rEesBFpPb0Z5i-wWWjc9FEsoIt0wSN8K4xUcZDQCdHG0Slo_f4O1NjM_xE_sKYXYPSNXhoBYXi_VDPg3Ww2wWsOqbI3zI7ELRjfcCrXTANeRZagmLD8meCPuiAAJLVYplYOp16H3g-rBeQzAd_laTLtuvmZ/s642/orazio%20new%20S2.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGrIDwxCmeUX28UJYpQvOJSbVZzh3O2Ss3rEesBFpPb0Z5i-wWWjc9FEsoIt0wSN8K4xUcZDQCdHG0Slo_f4O1NjM_xE_sKYXYPSNXhoBYXi_VDPg3Ww2wWsOqbI3zI7ELRjfcCrXTANeRZagmLD8meCPuiAAJLVYplYOp16H3g-rBeQzAd_laTLtuvmZ/w194-h320/orazio%20new%20S2.png" /></a></p><p style="text-align: left;">But, Orazio has gone one step further. His spiral can be rotated (clockwise) and he shows precisely where it ought to go. First, the apex is turned from the angel's waist - its robes tied up in what appears to be an enormous bow - to the end of the white fabric. Note that the triangle's side is now facing Cecilia's pipe organ (<i>inset right</i>). Note also that, after every shift, the spiral still terminates on some portion of Cecilia and/or her clothing. How well this works, of course, relies on the size of triangle - the further the spiral has to turn will require a larger spiral.</p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">Lastly, we carry the spiral to the furthest notch: indicated by the end the palm branch held in the angel's hand. The spiral is now enlarged (see below) and the triangle's side is up against the pipes of the organ... a perfect alignment. Is this significant? Well, yes, because, as it happens, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Cecilia" target="_blank">Saint Cecilia</a> is the Patron Saint of Musicians and Music. So, the spiral has made a cryptogram.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Of course, it might help to know Saint Cecilia's official story. But, I'll have to be brief, because I can't quite get it myself.</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuiCIhXB9VAW9rDqrsg8syd_6HzkyLRdwgeILRlNcuuxvU0ZCXr_NYB6Noh5PGKctP-swDAZN8YNXA64Ttgn7TegYMApoymGSEHoYzbA9pwoXvZ7pWtpR3YXA6Z0HMrpUdICh-gSNzbmsqPkRz7Xl4JhC5ds9o5nb3x4b8vn09dHJVfgoPP4FFU6nrINZg/s642/orazio%20new%20S2b.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="388" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuiCIhXB9VAW9rDqrsg8syd_6HzkyLRdwgeILRlNcuuxvU0ZCXr_NYB6Noh5PGKctP-swDAZN8YNXA64Ttgn7TegYMApoymGSEHoYzbA9pwoXvZ7pWtpR3YXA6Z0HMrpUdICh-gSNzbmsqPkRz7Xl4JhC5ds9o5nb3x4b8vn09dHJVfgoPP4FFU6nrINZg/s320/orazio%20new%20S2b.png" width="193" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">In Orazio's painting, the man in red facing Cecilia is most likely her formerly pagan husband, Valerian (who converted to Christianity), and the man in the doorway is her brother-in-law. All that's missing from the frame is the Roman soldier who was eventually martyred along with the rest of them. (although I haven't the faintest idea why). In any case, she and her husband must've never consummated their marriage before their untimely deaths as Cecilia died a virgin. She also "sang in her heart to the Lord"... and, along with martyrdom and her virginity is how she became a saint.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">BTW, the 2 small wreaths of flowers - in the angel's hand and behind Cecelia, on the pipe organ - are chaplets of roses and lilies.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Another image that appeared in the first Gentileschi post in which I also found a spiral is the painting of Mary Magdalene, created by Orazio's daughter, Artemisia... an artist rediscovered, perhaps, fifty years ago or less. And they are still discovering her! (Image is below the jump.)</p><p style="text-align: left;">Anyway, Artemisia has finally come into her own in the modern world, and, if you have little prior knowledge of her, I suggest you read this older Green Women <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2015/08/in-company-of-green-women-renaissance.html" target="_blank">post</a>...</p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0A7tUH6wY1q07fciisfW_umEL70Duh6cg9LNJKu_k4_P3uSQ4m1wp2IsLLmUY_F6fbgrgzefm38sIDRMag4fUFBrQvRNOxxE7OFWJfKfvOgQbeCHR4L-hH2L5v_yR0N_Y9A-PNvqdXRFLTAwA8SKnW5O7GdwiCATX81URjbnyUISQudlkugxKhFCYRo2q/s637/gentileschi%20magdelene%20S.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="458" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0A7tUH6wY1q07fciisfW_umEL70Duh6cg9LNJKu_k4_P3uSQ4m1wp2IsLLmUY_F6fbgrgzefm38sIDRMag4fUFBrQvRNOxxE7OFWJfKfvOgQbeCHR4L-hH2L5v_yR0N_Y9A-PNvqdXRFLTAwA8SKnW5O7GdwiCATX81URjbnyUISQudlkugxKhFCYRo2q/w460-h640/gentileschi%20magdelene%20S.png" width="460" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3415_Mar%C3%ADa_Magdalena_como_melancol%C3%ADa.jpg" target="_blank">Maria Maddalena come la Malinconia</a></i> (Mary Magdalene as the Melancholy)<br /> - 1625, Artemisia Gentileschi. Geometry: 20123, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, of course, it was only after I created the digital image (above) that I learned my source .jpg may have been a forgery (see this <a href=" https://www.apollo-magazine.com/artemisia-gentileschi-rediscovered-magdalene/" target="_blank">article</a> from an online art magazine)! So it goes; it was a good forgery and the most important elements are identical... that is, except for the position of the metal ointment jar, which, in the genuine painting touches the spiral. Oh, and the pearl earring (allegedly) only exists in the fake.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXihPX1OhHTIKHJhFTAIoW0t3QohObzjd6U_essk_xavE_HQRIsbYhL_OzIrDRx75HEqlzQwBw7efb6BO55Wo-VXIo16xsF5aspgIUaHlvEuYQFybCO0PGN2zvtAA_pBGGPGwTbtHmpBOij-59PxF3kgD8NokkKhyphenhyphenscftSm2uePu51dtPT9W3izOxqnsX1/s647/artemesia.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXihPX1OhHTIKHJhFTAIoW0t3QohObzjd6U_essk_xavE_HQRIsbYhL_OzIrDRx75HEqlzQwBw7efb6BO55Wo-VXIo16xsF5aspgIUaHlvEuYQFybCO0PGN2zvtAA_pBGGPGwTbtHmpBOij-59PxF3kgD8NokkKhyphenhyphenscftSm2uePu51dtPT9W3izOxqnsX1/s320/artemesia.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Regardless, one is informed by the figure's extremely long, bent neck - don't try this at home or you'll need a chiropractor - that a spiral may be present. Extreme physical contortions are often the first clue.* All in all, it's an unusual portrayal of the Magdalene... and this time around she almost looks battered as well as blue. <i>(Note: is that bruising on her exposed shoulder and arm or just peculiar shadows?)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, the bottom line in reference to both Gentileschis is that the spirals I've posted on this blog are the only spirals I've found in the paintings I've managed to find online. So, despite the fact they were both followers of Caravaggio they didn't use the spiral as extensively as the Bentvueghels did, although we do know that Artemisia had contact with the Dutch painters.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Inset right</i> is a painting by Artemisia I've never seen before: <i><a href=" https://www.britannica.com/biography/Artemisia-Gentileschi" target="_blank">Portrait of a Lady</a></i>. No, it has no golden spiral... it's just a lovely portrait. Think of it as a belated Christmas gift (as I am so late finishing this post) and I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I'll be back again at year's end with spiral #5.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">_____________________________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* Speaking of extreme human poses in spiral paintings, nothing I've seen quite beats the collection in the painting featured below: <i><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlo_Saraceni_-_The_Martyrdom_of_St_Cecilia_-_WGA20831.jpg" target="_blank">The Martyrdom of St Cecilia</a> </i>by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Saraceni" target="_blank">Carlo Saraceni</a> (c. 1610). As with most artwork in those days, canvases were often cropped for image, thereby throwing the golden baby out with the bathwater.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqT9_Oa773REa-SjrKMYkBhwoO3P7ZPDVSOa-YP50On4S60UDwa76gueCALqxw41K_JXPT0HPTQkMAyHaba9-2VdUFoJKkOPDiug5rwzavO2AJigYF8KNtlzWO3kfNlpRFOCqNSKX4EVMLFUsHCGz6y-vPVo8zr44IifUeuDAo4b4qsL2UTY9AcqB5Yuct/s642/Carlo%20Saraceni%20St%20Cecilia%20S.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="483" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqT9_Oa773REa-SjrKMYkBhwoO3P7ZPDVSOa-YP50On4S60UDwa76gueCALqxw41K_JXPT0HPTQkMAyHaba9-2VdUFoJKkOPDiug5rwzavO2AJigYF8KNtlzWO3kfNlpRFOCqNSKX4EVMLFUsHCGz6y-vPVo8zr44IifUeuDAo4b4qsL2UTY9AcqB5Yuct/w301-h400/Carlo%20Saraceni%20St%20Cecilia%20S.png" width="301" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And for some last minute elegance, I've called upon Lisa Gerard again - our Patron Christmas Angel - posting one of a series of videos created for her 2022 collaborative album with Marcello De Francisci:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUvetP6BpPc" target="_blank">Exaudia</a>. Enjoy.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0E3qomiCuxw?si=pAyaN9hmV6xw6AHt" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /> <div style="text-align: center;">Next up: <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/12/five-spirals-for-december-5-song-of.html" target="_blank">Five Spirals for December - #5 Song of the Morning by Nicholas Roerich</a></i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-83364083710735565122023-12-23T13:59:00.021-07:002024-01-17T19:47:43.012-07:00Five Spirals for December - #3 One Winter's Night... by Erté<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7EmLCrJsv_ZWx3__O0w2x-hNDCIRGE9VeVIXJ0381gMBwoPM59dOAFW4pFe5EepvhYojF-RqNrhpviQLoVl7b1HcJz3cGahJhvDoi1KBmYYQZmnhz7bqd1R5Qtfp-wutbvmgWlf2Dda165rfaixQye2z3DwRl8EdTJRwjmCfxl00UqUUzsxvkdZGDJGx/s737/erte%20S.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="495" height="709" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7EmLCrJsv_ZWx3__O0w2x-hNDCIRGE9VeVIXJ0381gMBwoPM59dOAFW4pFe5EepvhYojF-RqNrhpviQLoVl7b1HcJz3cGahJhvDoi1KBmYYQZmnhz7bqd1R5Qtfp-wutbvmgWlf2Dda165rfaixQye2z3DwRl8EdTJRwjmCfxl00UqUUzsxvkdZGDJGx/w476-h709/erte%20S.png" width="476" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/398523969/winter-chic-original-vintage-erte-art" target="_blank">Winter</a></i> (1 of 4 from a seasonal suite), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ert%C3%A9">Erté</a>. Geometry: DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>One Winter's Night</b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiy6qgLffNczLk5dO4FkaZYLmw62iLn8YiXvELV1jPXL19BROC7mvAWsK3QwT_ajbgnzso3r6FjqsEzpgqpBnKGDH_KQgBfQOy-6gj0J_oITh-cwFVtv3pCmqBbL_JGDiNA8Fav32eDi_C8eqmDTrH1J8NoEgs0rD_Ds7OaUzLHsR1ZhvikKyNN8xh42s/s301/erte%20new%20detail.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="301" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaiy6qgLffNczLk5dO4FkaZYLmw62iLn8YiXvELV1jPXL19BROC7mvAWsK3QwT_ajbgnzso3r6FjqsEzpgqpBnKGDH_KQgBfQOy-6gj0J_oITh-cwFVtv3pCmqBbL_JGDiNA8Fav32eDi_C8eqmDTrH1J8NoEgs0rD_Ds7OaUzLHsR1ZhvikKyNN8xh42s/s1600/erte%20new%20detail.png" width="301" /></a></div><i>As I walked along my favorite path through the trees that night, a path almost entirely obscured by drifts of snow, I stopped once to look at the crescent moon - for it was huge in the sky - when I saw something very curious on the slope below me. Leaning against an old tree and enveloped in its shadows was the form of a woman - sans clothing - lying in the snow, her white face faintly glowing against its trunk. Uneasily, I began to walk towards her. It was then that I realized she was never a living woman at all. She was made of snow; a snow-woman!</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div><div><i>Of course, upon this realization, it also came to me that someone must have created her. My first thought was that some juveniles had vandalized my property. Who else but a teenaged boy would build a naked woman out of snow? And, then I thought my would-be Picasso must know quite a bit about human anatomy; the snow-woman was fashioned far too well. But who? There are no young people in the neighborhood... certainly no vagrant artists. I chose this part of the country for it's solitude.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9H_OfKjuCVQBj8-4_8ecD9BDTkQSq8xUJ8-aeouyUZ-y0VdKGUVvQeU_BOj6H_uNgtew8wZiNxJY3pw4lusCS5PeGSqMyZZo-IcdnBf-SxrrU5RZ4SIVpYieh4nmWETdF38qHKow9FtKym6a1cfm5vPIrGo4vBnYpu5TtsBkBpx_vLPxtM4DebFhIj7Pj/s500/Helebore%20new.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="498" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9H_OfKjuCVQBj8-4_8ecD9BDTkQSq8xUJ8-aeouyUZ-y0VdKGUVvQeU_BOj6H_uNgtew8wZiNxJY3pw4lusCS5PeGSqMyZZo-IcdnBf-SxrrU5RZ4SIVpYieh4nmWETdF38qHKow9FtKym6a1cfm5vPIrGo4vBnYpu5TtsBkBpx_vLPxtM4DebFhIj7Pj/w199-h200/Helebore%20new.png" width="199" /></a></div><i>But, the story gets stranger... because scraping against her frozen torso was a tree branch. At least, it appeared to be a tree branch animated by the wind, but it behaved like a hand; a hand with twigs for fingers. I can still remember this dark branch hand moving like an enormous insect shadow against the snow. It was as if the tree itself was perfecting the snow woman's form; a form it had created! Shivering, I turned and would have half-ran home... but then I saw the flower. A Christmas rose. They grew here and there across the countryside. It was if it had risen of its own accord up through the snow-woman's lap. But, I could see, even from my distance, that its stem had been carefully poked into the snow furrow where her inner thighs met. A joke? An enigmatic prank?</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Or, was it art... created by the wind with cooperation from the falling snow... and a tree, who even as I produced this thought, seemed to rearrange it's branches, flinging snow in my direction? Now shaking from the bitter cold, I decided to continue my musings in the shelter of my living room. I'll write it all down... and then, hopefully, forget it.</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- I figured, this image needed a narrative, so, I wrote it. <i>Inset right </i>is a <a href="https://www.plantdelights.com/products/helleborus-hybridus-french-kiss" target="_blank">photo</a> of a "Christmas Rose," that is, the hellbore plant (helleborus niger) featured in Erté's image. A very interesting winter <a href="http://www.enchantedgardensdesign.com/blog/2015/2/5/hellebores-stars-of-the-winter-garden" target="_blank">plant</a>!*</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the image, is it just me, or does that stump of a tree limb hovering over the snow-woman's shoulder kind of appear like a faceless head wearing a white wig? Moreover, doesn't the shape of the sky inside the spiraling tree look like the silhouette of a man's narrow head with the tree trunk extending from the area of his nose? In any case, <span style="text-align: center;">Erté's snow-woman sure beats the standard snowman. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTlrXk8fQTmctSQYJGkBRGbgKTv3py8ShSVzzooUkwBcmYmdYastWxJPcgEpku6OfHof05vDAfbOgpYqlRBBun9KnZ70f3ed_1N3VF4lzuRzyyLhSIuUG13SGbSYl8cM9t9OPElouebIP-4bB8lKpbfLb4qLElzvjQISaiao1T1LTct8nPXwRk-BHDGLk/s400/erte%20photo%201.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="293" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrTlrXk8fQTmctSQYJGkBRGbgKTv3py8ShSVzzooUkwBcmYmdYastWxJPcgEpku6OfHof05vDAfbOgpYqlRBBun9KnZ70f3ed_1N3VF4lzuRzyyLhSIuUG13SGbSYl8cM9t9OPElouebIP-4bB8lKpbfLb4qLElzvjQISaiao1T1LTct8nPXwRk-BHDGLk/s320/erte%20photo%201.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><i>"If you lived through the '70s and '80s, you saw an incredible revival of a still-living artist whose control over his meticulously rendered images never wavered. He worked up until the last two weeks of his life at 97. He was fond of the publicity he had from his revival, and made many appearances in his celery and lavender-colored suits with scarves and hats adding extra glamour.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Of his hallucinatory and decadent imagination he said, "I'm in a different world, a dream world that invites oblivion. People take drugs to achieve such freedom from their daily cares. I've never taken drugs. I've never needed them."</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>- Via the 2013 Advocate article: <i><a href=" https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/people/2013/08/06/22-russians-who-we-wont-let-vladimir-putin-forget-were-gay" target="_blank">22 Russians Who We Won't Let Vladimir Putin Forget Were LGBT</a>.</i></div><div><br /><div style="font-style: italic;">"This book's biographical text is fine enough and is peppered with interesting stories from Erté's career, including an amusing one from 1913 in which he showed up at a Paris dress rehearsal party as an anonymous lady in a red dress, leading the newspapers the next day to speculate as to who the mysterious lady was. In another, he threw one of the leading actresses of the silent cinema, Lillian Gish, out of his studio when she criticized his choice of fabric for one of her costumes, leading to his dismissal. In a tragic story, Erté's business partner and lover of 25 years, Prince Ouroussoff, died from a freak infection contracted from a mere prick of a rose thorn. The death coincided with a decline in Erté's career and fortunes until the 1950s' art deco revival."</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmUxOU7HxaF6dJJlyPUO79vglIZYQbpyvSmODtgmrTR-q2b75pNKh_4Rg9QRrz-mRyc4plF17Uke9O5ZSlmm6CQPxlq3-l2_zP8mw06d0TqZNY_Q79vrDfsPONfuzhdKzwU72715tkjaRScxZAMaRs99UNlztcJ5c93eJ5805-xql6vvQYWma5gXPcGkeW/s549/erte%20at%2090.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmUxOU7HxaF6dJJlyPUO79vglIZYQbpyvSmODtgmrTR-q2b75pNKh_4Rg9QRrz-mRyc4plF17Uke9O5ZSlmm6CQPxlq3-l2_zP8mw06d0TqZNY_Q79vrDfsPONfuzhdKzwU72715tkjaRScxZAMaRs99UNlztcJ5c93eJ5805-xql6vvQYWma5gXPcGkeW/w146-h200/erte%20at%2090.png" width="146" /></a></div></div><div>- Via this Goodreads <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1670681266" target="_blank">review</a> of a 2014 publication of <span style="text-align: center;">Erté's graphic work. The bit about Prince Ouroussoff and the rose sounds like another strange fairytale!</span> <i>Inset left</i> (above) is a photo of <span style="text-align: center;">Erté</span> in his 20s.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><i>"Not only do I do what I want to do, but I do my work in my own way and never have been influenced by another artist. The sole influences on my art, through the course of my entire career, were the Persian and Indian Miniatures and Greek vases I saw in my childhood at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad). I think that these influences have stayed with me to this day, although they were assimilated long ago."</i></span></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div></div><div>- Excerpt from: <i><a href="https://www.biblio.com/9780297781707" target="_blank">Ert</a></i><span style="text-align: center;"><i>é</i></span><i><a href="https://www.biblio.com/9780297781707" target="_blank"> at Ninety: The Complete Graphics</a></i>. <i>Inset right</i> is the cover graphic. Somewhere in that image... is gold!**<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>***</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">Born in the Russian Empire around the turn of the 19th/20th century, Romain Petrovich de Tirtoff was in line to follow his father into the Russian navy. But, then, in a marvelous coup, he moved to Paris in 1910, made art, fell in love with a Prince, and became <span style="text-align: center;">Erté.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">And, what an amazing body of art he produced, developing a distinctive style which combined the clean lines and geometrical elegance of Art Deco with the erotic, organic spirals of Art Nouveau.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Now, about those spirals...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><a name='more'></a></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNp4f5DvgBKkwGHRbKVd74XMYnIyGdfz8a0sQYylJZrqi13AOI0ILW1jQVBUHUkHMFLr2Cocd7yMxZbcnHcRUJ1qnYe5iWk37OUszQTMuNRud8N7oaTO11Tnksz4w8n2ebgi8VMyaaL17Ji9gtxb4hCBwPSl7Ec_yy1Twq91JDFpIp-MAJNe6K_xOLl_Y/s605/erte%20queen%20of%20the%20night.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="605" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNp4f5DvgBKkwGHRbKVd74XMYnIyGdfz8a0sQYylJZrqi13AOI0ILW1jQVBUHUkHMFLr2Cocd7yMxZbcnHcRUJ1qnYe5iWk37OUszQTMuNRud8N7oaTO11Tnksz4w8n2ebgi8VMyaaL17Ji9gtxb4hCBwPSl7Ec_yy1Twq91JDFpIp-MAJNe6K_xOLl_Y/s16000/erte%20queen%20of%20the%20night.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Queen of the Night, </i>Erté</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">Well, like Mucha, Erté utilized numerous arabesques in his designs, so, it stands to reason that few of them might accidentally conform to that certain proportion; all it takes is the repetition of a specific part of a circle. But, the image of Erté's that most impressed me as a genuinely golden design is the one below... coincidentally, one of his (several) designs for the goddess Aphrodite. (For another, here's a <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artwork/erte-aphrodite-2" target="_blank">sculpture</a> of Aphrodite with her hand mirror.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-GnaYAH0a89CLIGdLaEYWA2SOu5SFuo-HXs2HMlt_b4xmraI3PYPWVnm9NlcuVf4SPuHcFC-NrQncFv-xw10nLmjlHZsgZ1UiZ_WhKjp9Dk0cEaE-_PCfc1bbVW7U28UK3Km8g0PfzmwMpcd399B_U_DUeGHed7ZRfNQ_u4VFJ_5cYfQSWWC102uJVjr/s644/erte%20aphrodite.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8-GnaYAH0a89CLIGdLaEYWA2SOu5SFuo-HXs2HMlt_b4xmraI3PYPWVnm9NlcuVf4SPuHcFC-NrQncFv-xw10nLmjlHZsgZ1UiZ_WhKjp9Dk0cEaE-_PCfc1bbVW7U28UK3Km8g0PfzmwMpcd399B_U_DUeGHed7ZRfNQ_u4VFJ_5cYfQSWWC102uJVjr/s16000/erte%20aphrodite.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">And, here is Aphrodite - in her early 20th century incarnation - with her famous doves, all attached to silk cords which have been gathered together on ornate, bejeweled sleeves she wears on both arms.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Now, let's look at her spiral (below).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsoRGuKK4lYDTi0azICE32wLsQMucmql60sEajhtI5IxtMDOXEl54ULl3TARAmvgSfJ1iO0nBvU5Minv1wQGmGNgaOdknwq-tvkWTMy-uBRyWcYilW9ahs8B9VoxtQBaA3c8QvUYU6fftGsTECW-SSEQUzPiBTKwRR6X71eIlxrhmNmpbBRmLzsqAIdXu/s664/erte%20aphrodite%203.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicsoRGuKK4lYDTi0azICE32wLsQMucmql60sEajhtI5IxtMDOXEl54ULl3TARAmvgSfJ1iO0nBvU5Minv1wQGmGNgaOdknwq-tvkWTMy-uBRyWcYilW9ahs8B9VoxtQBaA3c8QvUYU6fftGsTECW-SSEQUzPiBTKwRR6X71eIlxrhmNmpbBRmLzsqAIdXu/s16000/erte%20aphrodite%203.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://totallyhistory.com/erte-paintings/" target="_blank">Aphrodite</a></i> by Erté. Geometry: 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Note the way her arm falls into the smallest golden triangle and how the spiral terminates around the black jewel on her armband. Oh yeah, and then there's the way the spiral goes between the eyes of the dove on the right. A happy accident?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Anyway, that's all I have for Erté right now, and, as I intend to put spiral #4 up for Christmas, my time is running out. Suffice to say, the man lived from the turn of one century till the turning of the next, passing away in April of 1990... so, he must've been doing something right!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">For more Erté, try <a href="https://www.artnet.com/artists/ert%C3%A9/" target="_blank">Artnet</a>, this Met <a href="https://store.metmuseum.org/blog/art-deco-style-timeless-jewelry-designs-by-erte" target="_blank">page</a>, or this <i>France Today</i><a href="https://francetoday.com/culture/france_in_america/erte-history-art-deco-paris/" target="_blank"> article</a>!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>_______________________________________</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggi_ojNWVS_36dU0xIR549HZGpn9ZIJBclPNOOAPHWmXEN5Q2riMVq0WQ7Y3NaYEhuAhM-FsJaXfPlDhqdk3j0XHOpDXBoAQBASeablqb7AHUaGETynV8iQTr3V_UyS86Isr35layXJxpOswFBnHfVyNzwlrRPJLYUVNtYAp4bFos7x7z0WLbQq3PiyQBE/s655/hellbore.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="655" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggi_ojNWVS_36dU0xIR549HZGpn9ZIJBclPNOOAPHWmXEN5Q2riMVq0WQ7Y3NaYEhuAhM-FsJaXfPlDhqdk3j0XHOpDXBoAQBASeablqb7AHUaGETynV8iQTr3V_UyS86Isr35layXJxpOswFBnHfVyNzwlrRPJLYUVNtYAp4bFos7x7z0WLbQq3PiyQBE/w200-h198/hellbore.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><i>* "As one of the classical witchcraft herbs of medieval lore, Helleborus has associations with necromancy, the Dark Goddess, raising and banishing spirits, and appeasing spiritual forces when they have been disturbed. It can be found mentioned in medieval grimoires attributed to Hermes Trimegistus and Cornelius Agrippa, who places it under Martial and Saturnian rulership. It also has a connection to elemental water, and its subterranean qualities, when it acts as a portal to the otherworld, sub-conscious, and lower realms."</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Via this Patheos <a href=" https://www.patheos.com/blogs/poisonersapothecary/2018/06/11/the-court-of-helleborus-a-collection-of-hellebore-lore/" target="_blank">article</a>. I believe I've also read somewhere in the past that the wild plant, apart from being poisonous, has narcotic properties, and was used as a witch's ingredient in "flying" potions.</div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">**<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2uotrsSOB41g4FeQqTr32MD7Oomt5cBxSHcer1l9s0X3QaO8vq9Wjyl4RVfgzA5hSA0oInJfOo6O0wmWw9pxtBW3d5LTFDhTwhyU1s9IfnWawXkX2XLXmtFNY0YcF6Thc_RX_8edWRrUi3fCM23ERQRfFv86wI3hmzC4HaFUAgoOK9dR7xjpfXDAnAcT/s549/erte%20at%2090%20S1.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2uotrsSOB41g4FeQqTr32MD7Oomt5cBxSHcer1l9s0X3QaO8vq9Wjyl4RVfgzA5hSA0oInJfOo6O0wmWw9pxtBW3d5LTFDhTwhyU1s9IfnWawXkX2XLXmtFNY0YcF6Thc_RX_8edWRrUi3fCM23ERQRfFv86wI3hmzC4HaFUAgoOK9dR7xjpfXDAnAcT/w146-h200/erte%20at%2090%20S1.png" width="146" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6aInhrfScTEowRQWVrxyUD4zX41yag3W-aujzoD2-y34FhC8_ypuQhyphenhyphengFF-cv7KLMT0ou77hV7CvvT59dAVCyLtIpc4ZzQG3tteo0Jnqm4WOynt9Rd4dkIR8GWp_aRiekiAN2CcxSKl8cr86Uyf-g-_4qawHd-ZuHmmivOw9IAUUv6DAykuC0CeYXCdv/s549/erte%20at%2090%20S3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje6aInhrfScTEowRQWVrxyUD4zX41yag3W-aujzoD2-y34FhC8_ypuQhyphenhyphengFF-cv7KLMT0ou77hV7CvvT59dAVCyLtIpc4ZzQG3tteo0Jnqm4WOynt9Rd4dkIR8GWp_aRiekiAN2CcxSKl8cr86Uyf-g-_4qawHd-ZuHmmivOw9IAUUv6DAykuC0CeYXCdv/w146-h200/erte%20at%2090%20S3.png" width="146" /></a></div><div> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Next up:<a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/12/five-spirals-for-december-4-vision-of.html" target="_blank"><i> Five Spirals for December - #4 The Vision of St. Cecelia by Orazio Gentileschi</i></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-67687652074966928322023-12-18T14:20:00.015-07:002024-01-17T19:49:03.038-07:00Five Spirals for December - #2 "Princenza Hyacinta" by Alphonse Mucha (Updated 1/8/2024; Rodin)<p style="text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Rk-zobQlnvznMJfJqGkgJ4rQcIwX1O7T16FMhxuuwaVwLsnzO9_vlFx6NjLV3gKXVS_FRWZkTcxzoC0sfbzmtTpNS4DJrHXtSl3E8BBrHUgOHyshBHUKri2J7PdEFacipTnvOsp5tmGp8TQN2FDtGSJsSvGe8OI0wFZUYfdbUCcYAgfAhmschaLCC0GE/s694/mucha%20princess%20S%201.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="477" height="669" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Rk-zobQlnvznMJfJqGkgJ4rQcIwX1O7T16FMhxuuwaVwLsnzO9_vlFx6NjLV3gKXVS_FRWZkTcxzoC0sfbzmtTpNS4DJrHXtSl3E8BBrHUgOHyshBHUKri2J7PdEFacipTnvOsp5tmGp8TQN2FDtGSJsSvGe8OI0wFZUYfdbUCcYAgfAhmschaLCC0GE/w460-h669/mucha%20princess%20S%201.png" width="460" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://arthive.com/fr/alphonsemucha/works/363015~The_poster_for_the_balletpantomime_Princess_Hyacinth" target="_blank">Princezna Hyacinta (Princess Hyacinth)</a></i>, 1911, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha" target="_blank">Alphonse Mucha</a>.<br />Geometry: 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBtOp9hjVzoc8vUwvgaDmsFbn9QlN6aC5_pS0zz0vNC-IKxV49hgvBLxI61tBzY2KQXwDuRRqiInFbsMxbDeXTXdxw_HKtuxUedk3m5L7A9-S5wNVg3gVGAgClI7ene4o2YN463vgTFND5LgZJRBVzrKgaJE8cSKmW5h30v4EM-brCEZWLyvROgozI9EcP/s694/mucha%20princess%20S%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="477" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBtOp9hjVzoc8vUwvgaDmsFbn9QlN6aC5_pS0zz0vNC-IKxV49hgvBLxI61tBzY2KQXwDuRRqiInFbsMxbDeXTXdxw_HKtuxUedk3m5L7A9-S5wNVg3gVGAgClI7ene4o2YN463vgTFND5LgZJRBVzrKgaJE8cSKmW5h30v4EM-brCEZWLyvROgozI9EcP/s320/mucha%20princess%20S%202.png" width="220" /></a></div>"One of Mucha's best Czech posters, printed by the firm of V. Neubert in the Smichov quarter of Prague, was for Princezna Hyacinta, a fairy-tale ballet and pantomime with music by Oskar Nedbal and libretto by Ladislav Novák. The portrait of the popular actress Andula Sedlácková as the princess dominates the poster. The plot develops as a dream of a village blacksmith who falls asleep after digging for a buried treasure. In his dreams he becomes lord of a castle, and his daughter Hanicka becomes the Princess Hyacinth. Of her three suitors, one is a sorcerer who abducts her to his underground palace, but she is rescued by a poor knight who looks like her real-life lover. Mucha used the motif of the hyacinth throughout the entire design, from embroideries to silver jewelry, and for an elaborate circle sparkling against the mossy green background. The portrait of the actress is seen against a sky full of stars and encircled with images from the dream: the blacksmith's tools, a gold crown, hearts speared by arrows of love, the sorcerer's alchemical vessels, and his strange monsters." </i><div><br /></div><div>- Via this poster auction <a href="https://auctions.posterauctions.com/lots/view/1-29UG3W/princezna-hyacinta-1911" target="_blank">page</a>, Princess Hyacinth is a perfect example of Czech artist, Alphonse Mucha's elegant use of a grand circle in the background of many of his designs. While not all of his designs featuring circles also feature golden spirals, his adorable princess features two, and very nice ones! They're almost mirroring each other, except for the difference in orientation. (See above and <i>inset left</i>.)</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRUkCOGORxIomFf9jYhiCBKY_WBY8ggE0Nz_peA3OxSQ95H1r_lAJ2-LOJXS-YmE3-zzIFcMRpag3KjgmVUDpIrZq4evj8Jaohqy6SHlAlepS0l4UQHY18vTt5_W_eqhxnqJ-wV8S7cTkBIh9j-1ylcAlMaLjGUEKXt1C2jAx7N-Ytrs3hENDDufWZMd7/s603/mucha%20bernhardt.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="393" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxRUkCOGORxIomFf9jYhiCBKY_WBY8ggE0Nz_peA3OxSQ95H1r_lAJ2-LOJXS-YmE3-zzIFcMRpag3KjgmVUDpIrZq4evj8Jaohqy6SHlAlepS0l4UQHY18vTt5_W_eqhxnqJ-wV8S7cTkBIh9j-1ylcAlMaLjGUEKXt1C2jAx7N-Ytrs3hENDDufWZMd7/s320/mucha%20bernhardt.png" width="209" /></a></div>"Mucha arrived in Paris in 1887. He was in the fortunate position of being supported by a wealthy patron and he was to enjoy this support for a further three years. With the withdrawal of the Count's support, however, leaner times loomed. Mucha learnt to survive on a diet of lentils and beans and began to eke out a living by providing illustrations for a variety of magazines and books. Once started, he was soon able to establish himself as a successful and reliable illustrator. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>But it was on St Stephen's Day (December 26th) in 1894 that fate singled Mucha out once again. He was doing a favour for a friend, correcting proofs at Lemercier's printing works, when Sarah Bernhardt, the star of the Parisian stage, called de Brunhoff, the printer's agent, with an immediate demand for a new poster for her production of Gismonda. All the regular Lemercier artists were on holiday, so de Brunhoff turned to Mucha in desperation. A demand from 'la divine Sarah' could not be ignored."</i></div></div><br /><div>- Via this biographical <a href="http://www.muchafoundation.org/en/gallery/mucha-at-a-glance-46" target="_blank">page</a> on the comprehensive Mucha Foundation <a href="http://www.muchafoundation.org/en" target="_blank">website</a>, we discover a bit of the serendipity that seemed to be an important element of his career as an artist. He often seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Coming to the attention of Sarah Bernhardt, the most celebrated stage actress in Paris during the Fin de Siècle (and a force to be reckoned with), was just the opportunity he needed to showcase his talents. His posters for Sarah, such as the one <i>inset right</i> above<i>, </i>were so popular that his work became much in demand. As for Sarah, she had artistic skills of her own (see this <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2018/12/qualifying-feminism-empowerment-and.html" target="_blank">post</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDpMM_V4LixkZMcXgVBwFcdTvaaMim2M4FmPh9doiBWB6UHhbayGObZhnEg0Ph3nC_4HmF8BddWzah2hWPwrnuWSbn6tp29EnYS9QpIyZoIN-y6UvA1BjWa7_-a6Z97jmtcQd5D7Hwq26C1fLBXUjAcax-U7w_CxZUjoYZ_aa9ReI8iFpBN4kazcPV6qn/s448/mucha%20and%20rodin.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="448" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDpMM_V4LixkZMcXgVBwFcdTvaaMim2M4FmPh9doiBWB6UHhbayGObZhnEg0Ph3nC_4HmF8BddWzah2hWPwrnuWSbn6tp29EnYS9QpIyZoIN-y6UvA1BjWa7_-a6Z97jmtcQd5D7Hwq26C1fLBXUjAcax-U7w_CxZUjoYZ_aa9ReI8iFpBN4kazcPV6qn/w200-h193/mucha%20and%20rodin.png" width="200" /></a></div><i>"We had rooms next to one another, so we lay on our beds with the doors open. Rodin must have been considerably disturbed because after a while he suggested we should walk around the rooms a bit. I got up and we took a little stroll in our nightshirts, but soon Rodin began to be rather worried because there was a gathering noise outside. Suddenly he grabbed my sleeve. From the street there came a mighty roar like an explosion: “Vive Rodin! Vive la France!” No chance of a rest now, Rodin rushed away from the window and from that moment avoided it like the plague, giving it a wide berth."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Via this Mucha Foundation <a href=" http://www.muchafoundation.org/en/about/auguste-rodin-1840-1917" target="_blank">page</a>, we have Mucha's description of an amusing moment in time spent with his friend, French sculptor, Auguste Rodin, during Rodin's visit to Prague in May of 1902. <i>Inset left</i> is a photo of the two comrades looking rather dandy - Rodin is on the left - sourced from the <a href="https://arthive.com/fr/publications/4335~Love_story_in_pictures_Alphonse_Mucha_and_Marie_Chytilov" target="_blank">Arthive</a>. Then again, and we know this from prior experience, one would have a hard time finding a popular artist at the turn of the century who did <u>not</u> know Rodin; that cat got around!*</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdJM5i20xpdvclMj8btneKVHEPbmBDcVeEo482UFuiY9h065Pbj_P3xiyT2LTk7kR_xsP7sGZiWBW9jdNLlKkXx7Rg1XBJQwVDMzXJSlXUrIcN6YHWgLBJgT7MG5NZlh8XexwdJz3GTrs5aYhRfw1NtMuPJc0EYh975cgdVeIBTdmlR_-wRRXpkV52VXg/s572/jaroslava.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="476" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdJM5i20xpdvclMj8btneKVHEPbmBDcVeEo482UFuiY9h065Pbj_P3xiyT2LTk7kR_xsP7sGZiWBW9jdNLlKkXx7Rg1XBJQwVDMzXJSlXUrIcN6YHWgLBJgT7MG5NZlh8XexwdJz3GTrs5aYhRfw1NtMuPJc0EYh975cgdVeIBTdmlR_-wRRXpkV52VXg/s320/jaroslava.png" width="266" /></a></div><div>While I've found Italian Golden connections, French Golden connections, Dutch Golden connections and, finally, the Greek omphalos from which it was spawned, fate left my best discovery till last: Alphonse Mucha, our first Slavic Golden connection... and a true Master of the form. Seriously, his spirals are so spot-on, they are almost diagrams of the golden ratio mechanism itself. Look and learn... and the first thing you will absorb is the usefulness of one strategically placed grand circle in your design; it's relationship to the golden triangle being the golden key to the "divine proportion."</div><div><div><br /></div><div>I say no more, but if you are a collector of Mucha's work, you have more gold in your collection than you probably realized; you have some of the most excellent examples of the golden ratio utilized in artwork.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>And Mucha was very prolific and his talents were many. He was a graphic artist and an illustrator producing numerous advertising posters, political posters, decorative panels, book and magazine illustrations. He was a serious Symbolist painter - <i>inset right</i> is said to be his portrait of his daughter, the artist <a href=" https://alchetron.com/Jaroslava-Muchov%C3%A1" target="_blank">Jaroslava Muchová</a>. He was also a mural painter. But, that's not all...</div><div><br /></div><div><i>(More below the jump...)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxNJjK4Vf4QS66u_HWP3EqOKfoDMUejq2CQ8iyqCbNFlMeWyaBgkwbNnCcSieYaAVRaG-jZKkBpq0ceT9-g85iiUyw731jge72-ijW_NLfpoXc9rmGLWOmAVtpdvMJJTNF3C71jInFDy0wd34dhLZE4akbPpAgrYpSF0RlfRsOhbOgL9QGa1o01J0-ffM8/s701/mucha%20railroad%20poster%20S.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="481" height="644" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxNJjK4Vf4QS66u_HWP3EqOKfoDMUejq2CQ8iyqCbNFlMeWyaBgkwbNnCcSieYaAVRaG-jZKkBpq0ceT9-g85iiUyw731jge72-ijW_NLfpoXc9rmGLWOmAVtpdvMJJTNF3C71jInFDy0wd34dhLZE4akbPpAgrYpSF0RlfRsOhbOgL9QGa1o01J0-ffM8/w442-h644/mucha%20railroad%20poster%20S.png" width="442" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfons_Mucha_-_Monaco_Monte_Carlo.jpg" target="_blank">Railroad poster advertising travel to Monaco and Monte-Carlo</a>, 1897, Alphonse Mucha.<br />Geometry: 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPHYzx0dgPSu0t5QPSWCP6W8YCosP_c6KtNGbeKc_JbShUKWBo_3DF5nFuQY8ctYL-Pc09w8WQC-hyy9q8ag2sKGd6p_TmrrgGdtR2aUj6LAgSt2lAqC4VhzmMCXFot60J710YHPpcES_fvmZw3XLasrweMemXG5YbXZL5_V_JOPmzIZNjm0khsUdrc9J/s597/mucha%20cascade%20pendant.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPHYzx0dgPSu0t5QPSWCP6W8YCosP_c6KtNGbeKc_JbShUKWBo_3DF5nFuQY8ctYL-Pc09w8WQC-hyy9q8ag2sKGd6p_TmrrgGdtR2aUj6LAgSt2lAqC4VhzmMCXFot60J710YHPpcES_fvmZw3XLasrweMemXG5YbXZL5_V_JOPmzIZNjm0khsUdrc9J/s320/mucha%20cascade%20pendant.png" width="170" /></a></div>Mucha was also an artisan, interior designer... and author! From his Wiki entry we have:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"Mucha's many interests included jewelry. His 1902 book, </i>Documents Decoratifs<i>, contained plates of elaborate designs for brooches and other pieces, with swirling arabesques and vegetal forms, with incrustations of enamel and colored stones. In 1899 he collaborated with the jeweler Georges Fouquet to make a bracelet for Sarah Bernhardt in the form of a serpent, made of gold and enamel, similar to the costume jewelry Bernhardt wore in Medea. According to Jiri Mucha, this bracelet was created to conceal Bernhardt's arthritic wrist. The spiraling design of the snake is a nod to Mucha's swirling Art Nouveau painting style. The Cascade pendant designed for Fouquet by Mucha (1900) is in the form of a waterfall, composed of gold, enamel, opals, tiny diamonds, paillons, and a barocco or misshapen pearl. After the 1900 Exposition, Fouquet decided to open a new shop at 6 Rue Royale, across the street from the restaurant Maxim's. He asked Mucha to design the interior."</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>His lovely pendant, the Cascade, is shown <i>inset left</i> and his interior for Fouquet's jewelry shop is below; both images were sourced from Mucha's Wiki page.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOP97CWNg4F7jx1QwcHy-H8fGyQhmq4trxBzbLrIQBOT5t_m9-kHYubF5NrRbQtLJId4lbDddETcrRkZxhC4F_ioxD9geuWfwRXUAFrt1-54aOxWMMopQWXi7XVkXWh86RfjjHrtjnDjyo7nfVPdobALgjkRXRMADX8XtcRpMfdXo9muiTkTrWeLjVche/s758/fouquet.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="758" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOP97CWNg4F7jx1QwcHy-H8fGyQhmq4trxBzbLrIQBOT5t_m9-kHYubF5NrRbQtLJId4lbDddETcrRkZxhC4F_ioxD9geuWfwRXUAFrt1-54aOxWMMopQWXi7XVkXWh86RfjjHrtjnDjyo7nfVPdobALgjkRXRMADX8XtcRpMfdXo9muiTkTrWeLjVche/w400-h299/fouquet.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Oh, before I forget, he was also an amateur photographer, a musician, a teacher, and a member of the Parisian masonic lodge, Grand Orient de France.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dsrj1aAo-qf0pSazhg3_SXH-Adqwbd_UgasBPL0G2O1v89WKvYzBUU24VuSjoABO8SP3Hka4FPOsnbY6BDbR0O5uziYcX2EeMrAymcqFHPbg5ScimbIJvyrsMTP-dtt6697ZYAk05bNKB3q2r9FfcPicst3xXLDNgBbvMeFsHtur-tX53N8QrH7UuGki/s577/mucha%20sp.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="577" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-dsrj1aAo-qf0pSazhg3_SXH-Adqwbd_UgasBPL0G2O1v89WKvYzBUU24VuSjoABO8SP3Hka4FPOsnbY6BDbR0O5uziYcX2EeMrAymcqFHPbg5ScimbIJvyrsMTP-dtt6697ZYAk05bNKB3q2r9FfcPicst3xXLDNgBbvMeFsHtur-tX53N8QrH7UuGki/s320/mucha%20sp.png" width="320" /></a></div><div>But, possibly one concern of the most importance to him was his Czech ancestry, Czech nationalism, and the <a href=" https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CP%5CA%5CPan6Slavism.htm" target="_blank">Pan-Slavic</a> political movement, which was a noble (but doomed) effort to unite the many varied Slavic nationalities all "under one roof," so to speak. Ideally, it's intent was not limited to establishing a true solidarity amongst the Slavic "tribes" but to rejuvenate European culture, which - although not necessarily intentionally - tended to overlook or misidentify Slavic contributions.</div><div><br /></div><div>To this end, Mucha undertook his largest project: <i>The Slav Epic.</i></div><div><br /></div><div><i>"This was a series of 20 monumental paintings narrating the history of the Slavs since their mythic origin. It was not a commission, this was a personal project. He worked on it for 18 years, from 1910 to 1928. This poster marks the first exhibition of the entire work. The multifaceted figure is Svantovit, the pagan Czech god of destiny... Moreover, Mucha used his daughter as a model for the woman in the front."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>The quote and the image below were sourced from the Daily Art magazine article: <i><a href=" https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/alphonse-muchas-pan-slavic-posters/" target="_blank">Alphonse Mucha's Pan-Slavic posters</a></i>. <i>Inset left</i> (above) is a self-portrait of (and by) Mucha. (Got to love the irony in his expression.!)</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxigNOQqlg1prU3QoO-JKbs786I5ncexK2ntYNt1cOS0Ge3HIHRj6nTvbLg2-EycbycAk3iOVq49MUQmm2KqLdxMgnWD4-9nOv0zld56uQNAvvsG4BRxPHk2KAhvYmLjlaz4lwNZfR9lQQfDJGyNpelLK63IeXAoiYT0ZgwnCBjVPSno6toGD7CfeonF3/s710/mucha%20slavic%20S.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYxigNOQqlg1prU3QoO-JKbs786I5ncexK2ntYNt1cOS0Ge3HIHRj6nTvbLg2-EycbycAk3iOVq49MUQmm2KqLdxMgnWD4-9nOv0zld56uQNAvvsG4BRxPHk2KAhvYmLjlaz4lwNZfR9lQQfDJGyNpelLK63IeXAoiYT0ZgwnCBjVPSno6toGD7CfeonF3/s16000/mucha%20slavic%20S.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster for the <i>Slav Epic </i>exhibition, 1926, Alphonse Mucha.<br />Geometry: 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>I think of all the golden spirals I've documented on the blog, the one above is one of the best. Not only does the figure slump into the triangle, but look at the way the tendrils of smoke climb up and conform to it's dimensions with, finally, one tendril flying out of the spiral's termination! If Mucha did not deliberately embed this spiral, then the unconscious mind is far more brilliant (and devious) than we generally give it credit for!</div><div><br /></div><div>Which brings us to the last spiral image presented here: <i>The Dance,</i> one of four images - and the best - representing the arts Mucha executed in 1898. Not only is the dancing figure perfectly contained within the triangle, but the spiral itself is supported on a large, ornate (crescent-shaped) lune. Note how carefully the spiral terminates around the curve of the woman's hand.. at the same time facing - and touching - the spirals of her hair! Coincidence?</div><div><br /></div><div>One last "coincidence": note that Mucha's spirals always involve beautiful women. I believe these women, every one, are his Venuses.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih3QkOtnIt9vwYeiTeqZ8_0aqY6BQDlFwYiwEG-XvJItjZylZwcOch3IzEMvroR1Er9XwOYMZ930NHl52MILyspCThgJZ7JY1CGqc5GQ_3KBpXXzqs79oZsd4Olm27rtFXPnFiGbrfXuIeey9zgO97gMWqGy9YNji_HVL7kfHapmvFop0vQfCTn06jauH3/s605/mucha%20danse%20S.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="390" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih3QkOtnIt9vwYeiTeqZ8_0aqY6BQDlFwYiwEG-XvJItjZylZwcOch3IzEMvroR1Er9XwOYMZ930NHl52MILyspCThgJZ7JY1CGqc5GQ_3KBpXXzqs79oZsd4Olm27rtFXPnFiGbrfXuIeey9zgO97gMWqGy9YNji_HVL7kfHapmvFop0vQfCTn06jauH3/w258-h400/mucha%20danse%20S.png" width="258" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Dance</i> - 1898, Alphonse Mucha.<br />Geometry: 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Tragically, Mucha, our Master of Spirals, died of pneumonia in 1939, his health shattered when Hitler's Gestapo marched into Prague and claimed it for the Reich. Mucha, a Czech nationalist and, worse still, a Freemason, was arrested and interrogated for several days... for an artist, a fatal proposition. A month after he died, WWII was declared, the saving grace being that, at least, he missed it!<div><br /></div><div>For more Mucha, see this Widewalls <a href="https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/alphonse-mucha-art" target="_blank">page</a>; <i><a href="https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/13-beautiful-posters-alphonse-mucha-must-know/" target="_blank">13 posters by Alphonse Mucha You Must Know</a>;</i> <i><a href=" https://www.tresbohemes.com/2019/10/behind-his-paintings-the-drawings-of-alphonse-mucha/" target="_blank">Behind his paintings, the Drawings of Alphonse Mucha,</a></i> and this <a href=" https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/alphonse-mucha-art" target="_blank">video</a>.<br /><div><br /></div><div>__________________________________________</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikk-g3ZIMyD6qIt9ekbn1FVywHbHPA93rq5ef7K-WQzCzyxaQ2WVfQEza8IgwGR6cD0SZI5YIs3oGEjIuvP5UCsc78bb4Rzg0BbvyBy371rj_vjxjFS55sJE7rtceGgfhq8jFuLzHKEWHlFsOo3ddJNMKaNJoOCBEv4onvSTL_p4ppCLXz2pAqmGXnYUVE/s650/rodin%20venus%20and%20putti%20S.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="464" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikk-g3ZIMyD6qIt9ekbn1FVywHbHPA93rq5ef7K-WQzCzyxaQ2WVfQEza8IgwGR6cD0SZI5YIs3oGEjIuvP5UCsc78bb4Rzg0BbvyBy371rj_vjxjFS55sJE7rtceGgfhq8jFuLzHKEWHlFsOo3ddJNMKaNJoOCBEv4onvSTL_p4ppCLXz2pAqmGXnYUVE/w285-h400/rodin%20venus%20and%20putti%20S.png" width="285" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/my/collections/1788724--beliusenko/venus/objecten#/RP-P-OB-47.303,221" target="_blank">Naakte vrouw of Venus omcirkeld door putti</a> (Naked woman or Venus encircled by Putti),<br /></i>Auguste Rodin, 1882 - 1888. Geometry: 2024, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>* <b>(Updated 1/8/2024)</b> The spirals are flying fast and furiously these days; I honestly don't know what I'll find or be posting next.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5F-8b2e3lCpgoZWTEEmPJmqidRNdYUTqiRUVP6SNrJJAhgRnxjkqN_fDgJDTGE1jUuwet2c5Uvz8dfTqAQGC4Qjq_zXoZ-1Z0j8hIhPxgKkU_rD_dEdE5qRKV7HF9hYA7ieG1JwrTag6NcyA6zOoRiIKznBssZ_023M79rx75J90D_JRGvxH7utorzEum/s892/rodin%20detail.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="892" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5F-8b2e3lCpgoZWTEEmPJmqidRNdYUTqiRUVP6SNrJJAhgRnxjkqN_fDgJDTGE1jUuwet2c5Uvz8dfTqAQGC4Qjq_zXoZ-1Z0j8hIhPxgKkU_rD_dEdE5qRKV7HF9hYA7ieG1JwrTag6NcyA6zOoRiIKznBssZ_023M79rx75J90D_JRGvxH7utorzEum/w400-h281/rodin%20detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>For instance, just found at the website sponsored by the wonderful <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en" target="_blank">Rijks Museum</a> in Amsterdam, we have this unusual print by Auguste Rodin (above) - <i>Naked Woman or Venus encircled by Putti</i> (also found <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Naakte_vrouw_of_Venus_omcirkeld_door_putti_Lente_Le_printemps,_RP-P-OB-47.303.jpg)" target="_blank">here</a>)<i>. </i> At first, upon it's discovery, I was thrilled. Rodin knew about the pentagonal golden spiral and it's enigmatic connection with Venus/Aphrodite! And, judging by the unique form of the spiral used - one whose import I've only recently recognized - he had given it some careful contemplation.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then I took a closer look... and upon reassessing the print's title, well, I'm not sure what Rodin had in mind when he created this image. Oh, the presence of the spiral (and its iconic triangle) is a no brainer - yes, it's plainly there - but if you look closely at the Venus figure and those nasty little putti, you might be forgiven if you decided this image was actually the work of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Munch" target="_blank">Edvard Munch</a>. <i>Inset right</i> is a detail. Click and wonder.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rodin was in the midst of his affair with Camille Claudel when he executed this print. It's not clear whether or not he had yet met Alphonse Mucha. One possible explanation for the peculiar dark cast to this image, however, is that Rodin had also begun illustrating Baudelaire's <i>Les Fleur du mal</i> (see Rodin's timeline in this <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2018/10/baudelaire-rodin-crouching-woman.html" target="_blank">post</a>). Perhaps, he was just getting into the spirit of things.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Next up: <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/12/five-spirals-for-december-3-one-winters.html" target="_blank"><i>One Winter's Night...</i> by Erté</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div><br /></div></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-80061248730322911792023-12-14T23:22:00.004-07:002024-03-03T22:28:02.860-07:00Five Spirals for December - #1 "Night Flight" by Michael Parkes<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha830yS-D-HkgeZQoV5ppXTGzLz9KgG9j-EfhtJ1Tvg5EiUBku54AtRZZU__zCeJ82Yb0AYm7wsZ0cGBb85ZJSpgAc5VsXYG5Oixf3BsEO7wqrWMPR6BOPqgFadLbgSMnXkrqDdWyGktUv8RpDgBw2Q3PpMUs2qN8jHzspBSi2VgFgyKgxIL_AjsyRKEo-/s597/swan%20goddess%20to%20go.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="421" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha830yS-D-HkgeZQoV5ppXTGzLz9KgG9j-EfhtJ1Tvg5EiUBku54AtRZZU__zCeJ82Yb0AYm7wsZ0cGBb85ZJSpgAc5VsXYG5Oixf3BsEO7wqrWMPR6BOPqgFadLbgSMnXkrqDdWyGktUv8RpDgBw2Q3PpMUs2qN8jHzspBSi2VgFgyKgxIL_AjsyRKEo-/s16000/swan%20goddess%20to%20go.png" /></a></div><div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.imaginaryrealism.com/shop/sculpture/" target="_blank">Night Flight</a></i>, 2015, <a href="https://www.theworldofmichaelparkes.com/artists/michael-parkes/bronze-sculptures/" target="_blank">Michael Parkes</a>. (Geometry: 2023, DS, 2023.)</div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>Well, it's that festive time of the year again... that is, the year's end. December is a holiday month celebrated by cultures world-wide. So, in lieu of presenting new material in the form of the long (dense) blog post I initially had in mind, I decided to present 5 superb spirals recently found in the course of my spiral journey. Think of them as golden greeting cards. In ways they are historical pieces; for the most part (sacred) geometric artifacts discovered, like Gustav Moreau's <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/11/gustave-moreaus-golden-venus.html" target="_blank"><i>Venus</i></a>, in art from the turn of the 19th century. Speaking of historical, the <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2021/12/botticelli-spiral.html" target="_blank">first</a> spiral I ever posted was on Christmas, 2021.</div><div><br /></div><div>Above is the first Spiral for this year's holiday season. The image first appeared on this blog in a "swan people" <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-starman-swan-people-part-ii.html" target="_blank">post</a>. At the time, it's sculptor was not known to me and the link to the image has since been lost, but when I recently viewed that post again, the spiral in the image leapt out at me and I just had to formally locate it. For some reason, I had always imagined it as a work of a 19th century European artist, but, no, <i>Night Flight</i> is the work of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Parkes" target="_blank">Michael Parkes</a>, stylistically, a contemporary American Symbolist and Surrealist... although both artistic movements and styles are often (presently) referred to as <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-magical-realism-in-art/" target="_blank">magical realism</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI-p2o9xjOloXEORbj2RvA2cZcOMSri27Y8x8m4T177nx85eeHcvQcoKGQ08IQq3Fmgxq4U5dnB4P7fYwsr4OMH8ouAFqWNl7OpU6i6EUIRWTSA-RGag3aOejmLJRbd5w9UEfMxEdcIbDcjRC3kowIojnOSsBQv2GAdYlDUK7mSFiPYmhHyGx9Ab4dk5tT/s578/swan%20goddess%20redo%201.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="380" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI-p2o9xjOloXEORbj2RvA2cZcOMSri27Y8x8m4T177nx85eeHcvQcoKGQ08IQq3Fmgxq4U5dnB4P7fYwsr4OMH8ouAFqWNl7OpU6i6EUIRWTSA-RGag3aOejmLJRbd5w9UEfMxEdcIbDcjRC3kowIojnOSsBQv2GAdYlDUK7mSFiPYmhHyGx9Ab4dk5tT/s320/swan%20goddess%20redo%201.png" width="210" /></a></div><div>(The spiral <i>inset left</i> is another possibility. I've begun to see these different orientations of the same basic spiral as, not so much artifacts of the main spiral, but, rather, the indication of a superior spiral - that is, one in which rotation of the triangle does not change the spiral's overall character.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I generally refrain from analyzing the work of living artists, but, in this case... well, it's such a beautiful example of golden art, I felt compelled to share it.* In spite of the fact that <i>Night Flight</i> is in three dimensions and not two, I have recently found that the spiral can still be "mapped" on an object... and, as it happens, the corresponding points between the spiral mechanism and Parke's sculpture are so elegant, I'm getting the urge to put lights on them! Maybe I will; it's the holiday.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>(Note: although one can't be sure, it seems that the spiral in the image is terminating around the figure's hand which is obscured by the swan's wing in the image shown. See this Pinterest alternate <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/114982596713168414/" target="_blank">view</a>.)</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>The reality regarding this holiday season, however, is that I would be blind, indeed, if I overlooked the fact that millions of people might not be celebrating any holiday at all this month. My sincere condolences go out to them for their losses... up to and including the illusionary loss of their true spirits. My sincerest wish is that these spirits are found again after this particular ugly period in history has passed, the toxins have cleared, and all of us can live in peace and dignity again... if not for the first time in history. Blessed be.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>December is also the birth month of (some of) those unusual people born under the astrological sign of the Sea Goat, Capricorn; those who should be proud of both of their symbolic heritage and the other movers and shakers born under that sign. Oddly enough, <i>Night Flight </i>has origins that resonate for those Capricorns born on the cusp the year. From the article linked to previously:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"Night Flight from Michael Parkes started life as a painting and was later also realized as a bronze sculpture. The subject is a part of a fairy tale that Michael used to tell his daughter about the world of the swan kingdom. In pursuit of the Unknowable, the swan princess is encouraged by the swans to fly. Until ultimately, like Castaneda’s leaping from the cliff, she will learn to shift from matter into spirit and back again as we all must do eventually."</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>(More below the jump.)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRZzphfbTIkdlVeGigz6DPxx_fKvTrHd6F0aAULQbM_BbVqlfQ93C3vCyOQLi2cOixRHICkeYfwvzkm2YasggNrD6tl7B4Gn6tnR1o9S4T-zRgdbHR3q_XhtBcQA9CRxUz9zGCvJgguz53tbD5HuhyphenhyphennWhxg-doEgoeiGrM_7oQGM8qjuOjXtvLQ4Ej7Bp/s597/swan%20goddess%20to%20go%202.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="421" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRZzphfbTIkdlVeGigz6DPxx_fKvTrHd6F0aAULQbM_BbVqlfQ93C3vCyOQLi2cOixRHICkeYfwvzkm2YasggNrD6tl7B4Gn6tnR1o9S4T-zRgdbHR3q_XhtBcQA9CRxUz9zGCvJgguz53tbD5HuhyphenhyphennWhxg-doEgoeiGrM_7oQGM8qjuOjXtvLQ4Ej7Bp/s320/swan%20goddess%20to%20go%202.png" width="226" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>*(Important note: All images with spirals and, either the watermark I used in the past, or the initials I presently use, do not indicate my ownership of the original images or rights of any variety at all. The "G" in my present "stamp" stands for geometry. It signifies that I drew the spiral. Geometry is not "owned" and, in itself, cannot be copyrighted. These images are not being sold, and this blog is not monetized in any capacity. My purposes in initializing my speculative spirals is for-the-record only... specifically, my records, and the understanding of those who visit this blog.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Lastly, in no way should readers misinterpret my "discovery" of a spiral with an implication of the artist's original methods or intentions. On the other hand, while the presence of higher math in an artistic creation might be off-putting or seem calculating to some, </i><i>the presence of the golden spiral has always indicated perfection... "golden" or "divine" proportions in form.)</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Next up: <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/12/five-spirals-for-december-2-princenza.html" target="_blank">December Spiral #2 - <i>Princezna Hyacinta</i> (Princess Hyacinth) by Alphonse Mucha</a>.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-15894036268397548832023-11-30T15:41:00.025-07:002023-12-03T19:22:36.468-07:00Venus in Furs - Aphrodite on Wheels<p style="text-align: center;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lp19hLAuOVE?si=LkaD9lY0ktE9Rm1-" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><div><div><i>"You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last</i></div><div><i>But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast</i></div><div><i>Yonder stands your orphan with his gun</i></div><div><i>Crying like a fire in the sun</i></div><div><i>Look out the saints are comin' through</i></div><div><i>And it's all over now, baby blue</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense</i></div><div><i>Take what you have gathered from coincidence</i></div><div><i>The empty-handed painter from your streets</i></div><div><i>Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets</i></div><div><i>This sky, too, is folding under you</i></div><div><i>And it's all over now, baby blue</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home</i></div><div><i>All your reindeer armies, are all going home</i></div><div><i>The lover who just walked out your door</i></div><div><i>Has taken all his blankets from the floor</i></div><div><i>The carpet, too, is moving under you</i></div><div><i>And it's all over now, baby blue</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you</i></div><div><i>Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you</i></div><div><i>The vagabond who's rapping at your door</i></div><div><i>Is standing in the clothes that you once wore</i></div><div><i>Strike another match, go start anew</i></div><div><i>And it's all over now, baby blue"</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Lyrics from <i><a href="https://www.lyrics.com/lyric-lf/269764/Bob+Dylan/It%27s+All+Over+Now%2C+Baby+Blue" target="_blank">It's all Over Now, Baby Blue</a>,</i> 1965, Bob Dylan - (vintage live <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcWaHBOFkUw" target="_blank">performance</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Never apologize, never explain – didn’t we always say that? Well, I haven’t and I don’t."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Marianne Faithfull, found <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/marianne-faithfull-quotes" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div>December 1st, 2023</div><div><br /></div><div>Interestingly enough, yesterday, while not quite meaning to, I (innocently) stumbled into a witches brew of related occurrences which emerged almost simultaneously. And, it all began when a song began playing in my head the very minute I got out of bed. It was an old Bob Dylan tune sung by a woman... possibly a Joan Baez <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uynVLB_GBmQ" target="_blank">cover</a>. In fact, the song was playing for hours in my mental background... all the while I was discovering some of the most amazing spirals I had ever seen in ancient works of art. So, there's that synchronicity.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iviRJrvISO-cRrz-71DDFAUTdGqO8ucmJeuBsgkue6TB912DEii0adOIKCpG8UODVnkB5X2BlDTIktTgiwEGGWivRb9AtS1GJQpId51A0oc4UEHf9xBfegBWVlsxL8i2P17aeS9VvQ74DnM-B4K1zWMMbi6NdZa3hI9GuL4zBm9D-h-y7dNz04XuDBh_/s412/Marianne%202.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="412" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0iviRJrvISO-cRrz-71DDFAUTdGqO8ucmJeuBsgkue6TB912DEii0adOIKCpG8UODVnkB5X2BlDTIktTgiwEGGWivRb9AtS1GJQpId51A0oc4UEHf9xBfegBWVlsxL8i2P17aeS9VvQ74DnM-B4K1zWMMbi6NdZa3hI9GuL4zBm9D-h-y7dNz04XuDBh_/w200-h173/Marianne%202.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Then again, if you've read this blog before, you know my policy regarding tunes that come unbidden into ones head... one must find them, explore them, and (inevitably) post them. Which is how Faithfull's cover of this song came to appear here, tucked inside this brilliant video. And, really, the juxtaposition of the older, wiser, matured Marianne Faithfull's voice with her youthful, Venus-like (immortalized) self is perfection. The younger Venus is sweet, fresh-faced and visually flawless; the older Venus who sings Dylan's wistful song is still beautiful, but now has balls (she has dearly paid for). Although the younger goddess charms us, we ultimately put our trust in the older, unapologetic Venus. <i>Inset left</i> is one cover photo for what was her first mismanaged attempt at a comeback <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Kid_Blues" target="_blank">album</a> - featuring <i>Baby Blue...</i> - finally released in 1985. </div><div><br /></div><div>As it happens, <i>It's All Over Now, Baby Blue</i> is considered Bob Dylan's <u>Symbolist</u> offering... which is interesting, as Symbolist has come up in a recent post. It is also a song which has been covered by many people. (Note: excellent cover by <a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LviBwdfLn2Q" target="_blank">Van Morrison and Them</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>I also learned and relearned some curious things about <a href="http://www.mariannefaithfull.org.uk/" target="_blank">Ms. Faithfull</a>... the film-clips featured in the video, for instance, were from a vaguely erotic 1960's French/British film (with surrealist overtones) she once starred in - <i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_on_a_Motorcycle" target="_blank">Girl on a Motorcycle</a> / La Motocyclette</i> - along with that (gorgeous) French actor, <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Delon" target="_blank">Alain Delon</a> (who plays her extramarital lover). (Spoiler alert!: Apparently, our motorcycle girl dies en route to meet her illicit lover; i.e., a stereotypical bad ending for a "bad" girl... that is, "dark Venus" through misogynistic eyes,)</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNsXmdsjADDaDC1hgndG4w_A9G1fdLRfUBwtNqwLtTzYMrbwwYNbxTF8a4YsoQ4qa86yU_KJ4KpTNv5yjbyqs9ylIW0TR7VCF5ZW64qSvnntgGlOY6qo0q9PJbQmV0era8qlf2K63EZVEFxMsbJS43mxwDAQBswaxAb27O2zt1GBUrjXYCizSMCM53Dyl/s534/faithful.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="354" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfNsXmdsjADDaDC1hgndG4w_A9G1fdLRfUBwtNqwLtTzYMrbwwYNbxTF8a4YsoQ4qa86yU_KJ4KpTNv5yjbyqs9ylIW0TR7VCF5ZW64qSvnntgGlOY6qo0q9PJbQmV0era8qlf2K63EZVEFxMsbJS43mxwDAQBswaxAb27O2zt1GBUrjXYCizSMCM53Dyl/s320/faithful.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div>Speaking of "dark Venus," <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Faithfull" target="_blank">Marianne Faithfull</a> has another connection, a family connection, with one of the darkest fictional Venuses of all time: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_in_Furs" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Venus in Furs</a> (also <a href="https://artinfiction.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/leopold-von-sacher-masoch-venus-in-furs-1870/" target="_blank">here</a>). Her great, great uncle, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_von_Sacher-Masoch" target="_blank">Leopold von Sacher-Masoch</a> (re: origin of the word <i>masochism) </i>actually wrote the book! I do remember this from reading her 1994 autobiography - possibly one of the best <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Faithfull-Autobiography-Marianne/dp/0815410468" target="_blank">autobiographies</a> I've read. What I didn't remember about <i>Venus in Furs</i>, however, is that it was later illustrated by <a href="https://mmgart.com/art/venus-in-furs-the-torso-by-salvador-dali" target="_blank">Salvador Dali</a>, an artist I'm featuring in an upcoming Venus-related post!</div><div><br /></div><div>(Oh yeah, and there's one more thing: Marianne, like <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2021/08/because-night-tribute-to-one-hell-of.html" target="_blank">Patti Smith</a>, and myself, was also born late in December.) (And, now, for a moment of a silence.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In any case, it occurred to me today that if a reincarnated Sandro Botticelli was alive (and painting) in the mid-20th century, it might have been Marianne Faithfull's likeness we would see, wavering around on her massive scallop-shell in the <i>Birth of Venus</i>. Of course, if Botticelli were alive in the mid-twentieth century, he probably wouldn't have bothered with the shell. He might have, instead, clothed her in black leather and set her on a motorcycle.</div><div><br /></div><div>And, in an earlier incarnation? How about a large bird? (See below.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Stay tuned.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWdDxVFGldGWcdA8WDuOp386PoDuLUg8HdgbKMGAL0H4dpM-S_50Iq40CGiQPsSIzwN9udcVKJB25RsELbosFfmp1U5G-XKaP6zhLdP2NRf_73EmzG2vl_iRYLxhkfOPeHHW214dINNYvdB9OCpl7jIj9jMuF-0pEqm9diPofYrctk9xVADTU4qDH42lVv/s658/aphrodite%20metal%20swan%20fini%202.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="658" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWdDxVFGldGWcdA8WDuOp386PoDuLUg8HdgbKMGAL0H4dpM-S_50Iq40CGiQPsSIzwN9udcVKJB25RsELbosFfmp1U5G-XKaP6zhLdP2NRf_73EmzG2vl_iRYLxhkfOPeHHW214dINNYvdB9OCpl7jIj9jMuF-0pEqm9diPofYrctk9xVADTU4qDH42lVv/w200-h158/aphrodite%20metal%20swan%20fini%202.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103TZG" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Venus on the move</a> - riding the goose who laid the golden egg<i> - </i>circa 400 BC.<br />G - DS - 2023</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><i>(</i>December 3 note<i>: There was a time when Venus Aphrodite was neither nude, nubile or blonde. She rode, fully clothed, upon a swan - or upon a golden goose - and she carried a staff... or, with both hands swirled a (sometimes red) chiton in the air above her head. Once, and possibly only once, she balanced a golden plant in her palm... held before her like a sword balanced on its hilt. This happened somewhere near the very beginning...)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-73583035559436704512023-11-21T01:10:00.006-07:002024-01-17T19:50:45.890-07:00Gustave Moreau's Golden Venus<div class="separator"><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqx80o9RNH0eSvMNmpE-QKM_4G-8wMpss8TX7g7Z7Z1RGfvSoq0-Hosx7b8UirwoCm8A8SmmP-eG9mEXes5OT3be2vWOqXQC1yqJg-irqHz0zpJKK5-BU9M_R9LCSQHL6qQ77oKsI55WpkQl96e-25d-nSWX3HsQIhVGrHSD7CSv3q9ZnjU0JnpjeVwFqu/s779/moreau%20venus%20test%204.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="779" height="598" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqx80o9RNH0eSvMNmpE-QKM_4G-8wMpss8TX7g7Z7Z1RGfvSoq0-Hosx7b8UirwoCm8A8SmmP-eG9mEXes5OT3be2vWOqXQC1yqJg-irqHz0zpJKK5-BU9M_R9LCSQHL6qQ77oKsI55WpkQl96e-25d-nSWX3HsQIhVGrHSD7CSv3q9ZnjU0JnpjeVwFqu/w640-h598/moreau%20venus%20test%204.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Moreau_-_Venus_Rising_from_the_Sea_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" target="_blank">Venus sortant de l'Onde </a></i>(Venus rising from the waves) - detail - 1866, Gustave Moreau.<br />Geometry, 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><i>“It is the language of God! One day the eloquence of this silent art will be appreciated. I have lavished all my care and endeavour on this eloquence, whose character, nature and spiritual power have never been satisfactorily defined. The evocation of thought through line, arabesque and technique: this is my aim.”</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqO68FLDbrGcyMyJcyE4jsF57mXYV9k9ycCQuq-hGFG6KTftoYjd04KOc_L9h8WGeIfQFTFx0Lm_TNG54O4J4ZpZo_tjq9FjkyPN9gGj91Dr7vQ0ZivBUIXq7clV5uRG1nK267SENYjXE0l1lcZNBbRSi86dtM-dKlLHRWW7ymTo_EgZOpnOGD_gsibyt/s632/arabesque%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="425" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqO68FLDbrGcyMyJcyE4jsF57mXYV9k9ycCQuq-hGFG6KTftoYjd04KOc_L9h8WGeIfQFTFx0Lm_TNG54O4J4ZpZo_tjq9FjkyPN9gGj91Dr7vQ0ZivBUIXq7clV5uRG1nK267SENYjXE0l1lcZNBbRSi86dtM-dKlLHRWW7ymTo_EgZOpnOGD_gsibyt/s320/arabesque%202.png" width="215" /></a></div>- A quote from Gustave Moreau (1826-1898), one of the most important, and most regarded of the French Symbolist painters, found on this Musée National Gustave Moreau <a href="https://musee-moreau.fr/en/art-gustave-moreau" target="_blank">page</a>.<p></p><p>Taken at face value, we can assume Moreau is referring to art, specifically painting, as the "<i>language of God</i>" and "<i>this eloquence.</i>" The remainder of the quote, however, seems to indicate a somewhat different context. He uses the word "<i>arabesque</i>," for instance, which loosely interpreted would indicate an ornamental, decorative design pattern, predominately Islamic, but, during Moreau's time - especially in the art world - arabesque was a popular term in which spiral flourishes were often key elements. They were not always "golden," - the spirals in the ancient Roman arabesque panel <i>inset left</i> are not golden spirals - but spirals were, nevertheless implied by the term.</p><p>Interestingly, in the Wiki entry for <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabesque" target="_blank">arabesque</a>, however, there is this (ambiguous) line: </p><p><i>"...proposed connections between the arabesque and Arabic knowledge of geometry remains a subject of debate; not all art historians are persuaded that such knowledge had reached, or was needed by, those creating arabesque designs, although in certain cases there is evidence that such a connection did exist."</i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEqeX78Nz1KJ0lMd6d5dP_maQgmatHVSIYjj7-zG6IhAJfJEbHnYR5a1miZrAlrv_oOtWs_O5U1K3dvYrLhHlQKhyphenhyphenE2T6eqhGYqYK4W9dNL-W95CC4tEtkZ3w-QKszDr8nOJowZQ1dZzlvKhFSEDwW8Q9ytauAH76R4RsgnoF9vR7Rsa23S8kL4K7HhAR/s732/venus%20mirror.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="551" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMEqeX78Nz1KJ0lMd6d5dP_maQgmatHVSIYjj7-zG6IhAJfJEbHnYR5a1miZrAlrv_oOtWs_O5U1K3dvYrLhHlQKhyphenhyphenE2T6eqhGYqYK4W9dNL-W95CC4tEtkZ3w-QKszDr8nOJowZQ1dZzlvKhFSEDwW8Q9ytauAH76R4RsgnoF9vR7Rsa23S8kL4K7HhAR/w242-h320/venus%20mirror.png" width="242" /></a></div>Well, Arabic geometry aside, in Moreau's time arabesques were (literally) all over the place. In two words: <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau" target="_blank">art nouveau</a></i>... a decorative style based on the "sinuous curves" and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiplash_(decorative_art)" target="_blank"><i>whiplash lines</i></a> often found in nature. Art Nouveau was nothing if not sexy! It was blatantly erotic, "hidden in plain sight," transforming mundane objects into opulent, undulating feasts for the eyes - and the libido.<div><br /></div><div><i>Inset right</i> is a French turn of the century interpretation of a <a href="https://art.thewalters.org/detail/17020/caryatid-mirror-with-aphrodite/" target="_blank">Venus mirror</a> - artist unknown - in this case a hand mirror.* Its gorgeous entirety can be found <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F%C3%A9lix_bracquemond_%28dis.%29,_auguste_rodin_%28rilievi%29,_alexandre_riquet_%28smalti%29_e_falize_fr%C3%A8res_%28orefici%29,_specchio_in_oro,_smalto_e_avorio,_1900-02_ca.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><p></p><p><i>"Fin de Siècle is an umbrella term embracing symbolism, decadence and all related phenomena (e.g. art nouveau) which reached a peak in 1890s. Although almost synonymous with other terms such as the Eighteen-Nineties, the Mauve Decade, the Yellow Decade and the Naughty Nineties, the fin de siècle however expresses an apocalyptic sense of the end of a phase of civilization. The real end of this era came not in 1900 but with First World War 1914."</i></p>- Via the Tate Museum online <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/fin-de-siecle">Fin de Siècle</a> section. Interestingly, as we saw in the Renaissance and the Baroque period, certain kinds of "sinuous lines," flourishes and patterns seem to emerge and reemerge for artists and artisans during pivotal points in human history. And we'll see this again.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23FvVj-B1lQ2N_ckpfO44E8BLYIVUrzcZ_MdfDaZ-Oi8SmLyVb6wa4x-QIgUW7LGd0t6rh7tuxi8PGPkNM4fbWGGqh3h7GbZw6QZno5dFGB9lgB-MDLQUpufv2D-QgvUWxvNlx5cf8uSKx-f5kudL1l6JrVzzv1_K92OjTwgOHFj4dH4WaYLzP5jMk6qZ/s636/moreau's%20staircase.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="472" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23FvVj-B1lQ2N_ckpfO44E8BLYIVUrzcZ_MdfDaZ-Oi8SmLyVb6wa4x-QIgUW7LGd0t6rh7tuxi8PGPkNM4fbWGGqh3h7GbZw6QZno5dFGB9lgB-MDLQUpufv2D-QgvUWxvNlx5cf8uSKx-f5kudL1l6JrVzzv1_K92OjTwgOHFj4dH4WaYLzP5jMk6qZ/w148-h200/moreau's%20staircase.png" width="148" /></a></div><div><i>"My discovery of the Gustave Moreau Museum in Paris when I was sixteen years old shaped my likes and loves for the rest of my life. It was there, in certain women's faces and figures, that I had the revelation of beauty and love."</i></div><div><br />- Written by André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, in 1961, several years after an important exhibition of symbolist drawings in Paris took place; an exhibition he, in fact, sponsored. He wasn't merely a champion of Moreau's oeuvre, however, he felt that Moreau was genuinely a proto-surrealist... and, possibly, a kindred spirit.</div><div><br /></div><div>While, throughout the modern, war-torn world, Moreau and the symbolist artists had fallen into obscurity, it wasn't long after Breton's exhibit that the rest of the art world caught on. For a fuller description, read Wiki's entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Moreau">Gustave Moreau</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhewr9MQfvbnb4qAvTrBGYdoCQy5pUoU5rBIbdPepciaKy_ZN3VUb8eptZ-iKN5vaKjwO8ZRkYt4Qeo-rtsB5EPDofBx3FMo6r4PZDxdVq6uiqKjJX-CBGagXMWgGoiQJted3o9V69fUIz1UjaHqif4CwW0-3hT8c7hPhPZqncUa-cqVQLDbcwBReaEmw4_/s600/venus%20lamp%202.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="600" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhewr9MQfvbnb4qAvTrBGYdoCQy5pUoU5rBIbdPepciaKy_ZN3VUb8eptZ-iKN5vaKjwO8ZRkYt4Qeo-rtsB5EPDofBx3FMo6r4PZDxdVq6uiqKjJX-CBGagXMWgGoiQJted3o9V69fUIz1UjaHqif4CwW0-3hT8c7hPhPZqncUa-cqVQLDbcwBReaEmw4_/w320-h221/venus%20lamp%202.png" width="320" /></a></div>Inset left (above) is the beautiful <a href="http://www.simplysaratravel.com/home/inside-the-muse-gustave-moreau">spiral staircase</a> in the <a href="https://musee-moreau.fr/en/art-gustave-moreau">Musée National Gustave Moreau</a> (cited by Breton in the quote). I believe it may be a period piece original to Gustave Moreau's home in which the museum in Paris continues to be housed. For a beautiful group of interior photos, including his studios, see the Film France location pages starting <a href="https://locations.filmfrance.net/location/musee-gustave-moreau-first-studio">here</a>. It's a charming place and, like André Breton who "haunted" it while still alive, well, I'd haunt it, too. (Imagine walking down that spiral staircase - a metaphysical experience!)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div>For another art nouveau, Venus-related <i> </i>treat (<i>inset right)</i>, feast your eyes on this Italian, late 19th century marble and alabaster lamp found <a href="https://www.carters.com.au/index.cfm/item/1143676-an-italian-venus-in-shell-marble-and-alabaster-lamp-late-19th-ea/" target="_blank">here</a>. While one is tempted to see this piece (and it's potential spiral) as kitschy, tongue-in-cheek, and more profane than sacred, I think the sculptor's intentions were good, and his lamp is a tribute to Venus. But, why Venus? In most readings - including astrological - Venus symbolizes harmony, love, sensuality, natural beauty and, ultimately and essentially, <u>all</u> of the arts. She represents the true patron... and the spiritual matron.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p style="text-align: left;">This is actually my third attempt at creating this post. Mysterious, digital mishaps destroyed the previous two. Well, let's hope "three's the charm"... because I'm superstitious, and most likely will take it as a sign that this post should <u>not</u> - for whatever cosmic reason - be published at all.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The Golden Meme is a rascally thing. Just when I thought I would refrain from spiral hunting in regards to more contemporary artwork, numerous contemporary artworks with spirals appeared! Just like that. While I realize I am not obligated to reveal my findings - and there are arguments for not revealing them at all - well, here I am. And, I am here for one reason: Venus. Because, Venus, in all her many aspects is a deeply pentagonal expression, and it is often through her that this enigmatic "golden" tradition (which I've been glued to for the past few years) was enabled, via some artists, to perpetuate itself for (at least) several hundred years. My only hope is for this tradition to continue in the spirit and with the reverence intended by its originators.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Botticelli was one of the artists involved... and one of the earliest in the more modern leg of our journey, which most likely began in the Italian Renaissance. As it was, many young artists in the following centuries made pilgrimages to Italy, which is one way the Golden Meme - the pentagonal art tradition - survived and multiplied through time and space. This is my theory, anyway.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Gustave Moreau was also one of these artists... </p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>(continued after the jump)</i></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOX-qI4LzAPBFkRoKt6wyKt7y3wbPfykoWhlBbsqRUup24iMY0bTXFBZ-FjmaPQGzlQJAIUMF6qOovQ7YXRoQjDeg1jgOrkL8pDDbWF52lwKcehjJx7_p1XbavixM47gQVJ4ZBK6QnaFjFJijceWTDCkRcPqhIeZ0zK85twpdQ4Zjfk8_0whDf7QvmoOi/s779/moreau%20venus%20test%202.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="779" height="598" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCOX-qI4LzAPBFkRoKt6wyKt7y3wbPfykoWhlBbsqRUup24iMY0bTXFBZ-FjmaPQGzlQJAIUMF6qOovQ7YXRoQjDeg1jgOrkL8pDDbWF52lwKcehjJx7_p1XbavixM47gQVJ4ZBK6QnaFjFJijceWTDCkRcPqhIeZ0zK85twpdQ4Zjfk8_0whDf7QvmoOi/w640-h598/moreau%20venus%20test%202.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Moreau_-_Venus_Rising_from_the_Sea_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg" target="_blank">Venus sortant de l'Onde </a></i>(Venus rising from the waves) - detail - 1866, Gustave Moreau.<br />Geometry, 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_g6zmZX5VXmqY93ORPfATpzk2X67dAVAPw6Is0L9YH8MrU_8HyB6G92NmD1tbRlr3T0XuqGHtMIA9Bk-OAeIE0bqStH5kShfQ6G8oZCtZlwkiyLcAtUSx4MXCItnjU-g7oSpzDJ6op4lLmT2NZ2In_oBRXs8J3ZsIpKV8dbHNyttTG0L_BmYbiEjp8D4/s584/moreau%20venus%20detail%202.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="420" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY_g6zmZX5VXmqY93ORPfATpzk2X67dAVAPw6Is0L9YH8MrU_8HyB6G92NmD1tbRlr3T0XuqGHtMIA9Bk-OAeIE0bqStH5kShfQ6G8oZCtZlwkiyLcAtUSx4MXCItnjU-g7oSpzDJ6op4lLmT2NZ2In_oBRXs8J3ZsIpKV8dbHNyttTG0L_BmYbiEjp8D4/s320/moreau%20venus%20detail%202.png" width="230" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">...but, should we be surprised? He was, after all, a symbolist drawn to mystical subject matter. He was also a religious man, and we cannot (and dare not) overlook the sacred and/or "divine" aspect of this ratio. Lastly, he, too, made a two-year pilgrimage to Italy where and when he discovered Botticelli's <i>Birth of Venus (</i>recently posted about <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/10/pentagonal-venus-phi-in-aphrodite.html" target="_blank">here</a>). He made a watercolor sketch of Botticelli's (now infamous) Venus which can be found on this Wikimedia <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Moreau-Naissance_de_Venus-Inv._13622.jpg" target="_blank">page</a>.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">And, it appears as if he enriched the tradition with several, marvelous Golden Venuses of his own... the most beautiful and ambitious being the magnificent Venus above, flanked by her devotees: a mermaid with a large pearl in an oyster shell and a male counterpart (holding a large conch shell and a red coral). The image above, by the way, diagrams the second possible placement of the spiral; my first is the spiral introducing this post, which places the side of the triangle on the vertical. Both possible spirals are impressively tight and both seem to emphasize the pearl in the oyster shell held aloft by the mermaid (<i>inset left</i>) - an offering to Venus - although the visionary goddess herself gazes off into a mysterious distance.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOuClAVSPgpeU9VdqCsf52lyH1_moY4oankN4Js1KkMwIQ1YxJksXZIE3yt7-mlMiIsqJLUfITQTMQskPa-_mtXtj74dn2biP7zukaRjUfYjAEbJJwW0mkhFI2wS6eBr4JUN4IkKtktNedMUDOxt26GIhSfcJBzEEenGL3B7WgCrDJql8U1v_q25__H2c/s558/moreau%20venus%20detail.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="422" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOuClAVSPgpeU9VdqCsf52lyH1_moY4oankN4Js1KkMwIQ1YxJksXZIE3yt7-mlMiIsqJLUfITQTMQskPa-_mtXtj74dn2biP7zukaRjUfYjAEbJJwW0mkhFI2wS6eBr4JUN4IkKtktNedMUDOxt26GIhSfcJBzEEenGL3B7WgCrDJql8U1v_q25__H2c/s320/moreau%20venus%20detail.png" width="242" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">And, what an unusual Venus she is! Notice the set of her strong jaw and her noble brow. She may be female, blonde, undressed & defenseless, but she is no bit of fluff. She is regal, almost Athena-like, wearing a star-like crown similar to the Statue of Liberty (detail, <i>inset right</i>).</div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">But, then we come to the truly surrealistic elements - and evidence that Breton was correct: Moreau <u>was</u> a proto-surrealist. Note the glittering gold volumes of her hair cascading from both her hands and arms like tinsel on a Christmas tree. And, what <u>is</u> that large object hovering over her left shoulder; that white, metallic, stone (or fabric creation) which resembles nothing I can identify? As a matter of fact, if this object (or objects) is/are identifiable to you, please drop me a line in the comment section!</p><p style="text-align: left;">I do notice that the anomaly seems to rest on a large (iron?) crescent-shaped object that extends over her right shoulder. And, yet, it almost appears to be a mysterious <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-language-of-birds-part-i-automatism.html" target="_blank">automatism</a> - a surrealist device of the utmost importance (posted about previously.) Additionally, there are a few more unusual elements in this painting, but I think it's necessary to see the original in person before addressing them. (Note: is that a tiny five-pointed star lying near the center of her throat, or just a jagged shadow?)</p><p style="text-align: left;">Lastly, we come to Moreau's other Venuses. I can find full images of only 2 online, but, I know there's another in his museum collection, and there may be more. The first I'd like to bring to your attention is the larger one below. The placement of its spiral, we've seen but once before, although used somewhat differently.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p style="text-align: center;">STOP!!!</p><div style="text-align: center;">MYSTERIOUS DIGITAL DISASTER #3 HAS JUST OCCURED!!!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">I DO NOT JEST!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">3 IS <u>NOT</u> THE CHARM!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sorry, the newest weird glitch in Blogger has destroyed my post again - literally turning it inside out! And, while I was able to repair the disaster this time, I am left with no other option than to discontinue the post. Fate (or, the ghost of Moreau) has decreed: this post cannot continue as planned. Meaning, I cannot present Moreau's other Venuses.</div><p style="text-align: left;">And, so, (sadly) I won't. I just hope what remains is somewhat illuminating (for those who would be illuminated) and that this sort of blogging nightmare never happens again!</p><p style="text-align: left;">And, to those for whom this applies (certainly not Tom, the dead turkey): Happy Thanksgiving!</p><p style="text-align: left;">________________________________________________</p><p style="text-align: left;">* Incidentally, here's a bit of interesting trivia. The universal symbol for the female of the species, or the Feminine (an inverted <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-tale-of-two-symmetries-lovers.html" target="_blank">globus cruciger</a>...</i> that is, a circle mounted on a cross) is also the planetary symbol for Venus. It symbolizes the goddess's hand mirror. The symbol for the planet Mars - the goddess Venus's lover - is the universal symbol for the male of the species, or the Masculine. It is an arrow or a spear mounted on a circle; I'm assuming it symbolized Mars' weapon of choice...</p><p style="text-align: left;">Well, okay, it's all a very antiquated and stereotypical spin on gender issues. But, I do like the idea of Venus's hand-mirror; mirrors - "gateways to the realm of inversion" - are rich in symbolism. See: <i><a href="https://www.ibsafoundation.org/en/blog/mirror-as-symbol-and-metaphor-in-art" target="_blank">The mirror as a symbol and metaphor in art and modern society</a>, <a href=" https://steamedstudio.co.uk/mirrors/the-symbolism-of-mirrors/" target="_blank">The Symbolism of Mirrors</a></i>, or, the <a href="https://symbolsage.com/mirror-symbolism-meaning/" target="_blank">Symbol Sage</a>, where the poem<i> The Mirror</i> by Sylvia Plath - excerpted below - can be found.</p><div><i>"I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.</i></div><div><i>Whatever I see I swallow immediately</i></div><div><i>Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.</i></div><div><i>I am not cruel, only truthful..."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- From <i>The Mirror</i>, 1961, Sylvia Plath.</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn0Bqr6sb1dvjt0nkUbaaOI0zntrmx4nIV3Ntz8pHF4EzaOijuJ9Lr8ydIWI4PwLK5-Np2utGoChHFKbL_cPpjYFguD11MJK3HtGVgb_wS-3IuxBE2q2Cf-N8r88MTTc_sopyKt8LItAS4ArYCH0RoSniitbn0PWl_QOcQIbG9L1ctka5pyWyZL2_AKD0/s197/venus%20mars%203.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="184" data-original-width="197" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxn0Bqr6sb1dvjt0nkUbaaOI0zntrmx4nIV3Ntz8pHF4EzaOijuJ9Lr8ydIWI4PwLK5-Np2utGoChHFKbL_cPpjYFguD11MJK3HtGVgb_wS-3IuxBE2q2Cf-N8r88MTTc_sopyKt8LItAS4ArYCH0RoSniitbn0PWl_QOcQIbG9L1ctka5pyWyZL2_AKD0/w147-h137/venus%20mars%203.png" width="147" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2023, DS<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><br />Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-53976604111152725592023-10-31T01:44:00.014-06:002023-11-12T16:36:59.583-07:00It's Halloween...<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5iRgEZsHLScY2Uoxp6zpgNcy2fPF-AmGhDKBAlivacMz8cNkYKDbTWMTJ0XY5kJv3mFiWKljTn99QH0RqGx-b44nq8qzK-oamFyW2frMqy29rZxLeECjphjt6ph2ZzZHd_PZOF5gPjiJPFcdab1Xd6hhybuWuIYdhJgW5YCR316v4v5gIjgryw9mo7asM/s648/artifact%20spiral%202.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="468" height="525" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5iRgEZsHLScY2Uoxp6zpgNcy2fPF-AmGhDKBAlivacMz8cNkYKDbTWMTJ0XY5kJv3mFiWKljTn99QH0RqGx-b44nq8qzK-oamFyW2frMqy29rZxLeECjphjt6ph2ZzZHd_PZOF5gPjiJPFcdab1Xd6hhybuWuIYdhJgW5YCR316v4v5gIjgryw9mo7asM/w379-h525/artifact%20spiral%202.png" width="379" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/250951" target="_blank">Marble akroterion</a> (Greece, 350-325 BC). Source: The Met. G: DS, 2023.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">(the veil of time between this world and the next</div><div style="text-align: center;">is evaporating)</div><p style="text-align: center;">... connect with a spirit.</p><p style="text-align: center;">______________________________________________________________</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG67aFzVLeOPXpoKfTt3BEDPAftAkpIbags201Uj9FnqScLeq7EHTFxAQ6PbZFewtYOrcBz0M486aQ3kdmejSoq5z8sFpMhaRDW970iWSC04FmjMDVVClOn9CQrtdNnBplC-uH9-wn6ZZRLekkdFhRVuGDsc_Sm8jcfdSmXjC8KuPZAaDE2a1BJ1ylah1C/s703/ka%20doors%203.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="703" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG67aFzVLeOPXpoKfTt3BEDPAftAkpIbags201Uj9FnqScLeq7EHTFxAQ6PbZFewtYOrcBz0M486aQ3kdmejSoq5z8sFpMhaRDW970iWSC04FmjMDVVClOn9CQrtdNnBplC-uH9-wn6ZZRLekkdFhRVuGDsc_Sm8jcfdSmXjC8KuPZAaDE2a1BJ1ylah1C/w429-h235/ka%20doors%203.png" width="429" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three ancient Egyptian "ka" or "false" doors sourced from this <a href="https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/the-false-doors-of-the-egyptian-tombs-a-threshold-between-the-worlds-of-the-living-and-the-dead" target="_blank">page</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><i>"The term ‘false door’ is itself something of a misnomer, as, from the Egyptian’s perspective, these features were fully functional portals by which the spirit of the deceased might leave or enter the inner tomb to receive the offerings presented to them."</i></p><p>- Via the article: <i><a href="https://egyptianwisdomcenter.org/false-doors-the-physical-metaphysical-threshold-2/" target="_blank">False Doors - The Physical Metaphysical Threshold</a></i>.</p><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPZ15u0q6ox3F4oILB-vLB2mzwO5REo14HBkHtJ4z7ZHfErruvqhVneQbi0Dh35PoocjHOzTO0ogWTM7CNxe1XQOd3IYn2ur4tz2qF9yOfIEzep9l1-xkCnMsTRESQWHDJhjJtQRmVWsPhG1zCRGMDCsQaYxxGTw1v9MGwHojsgtZXn9-oWkRvCn0Ete_/s587/artifact%20golden%20triangle.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="444" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRPZ15u0q6ox3F4oILB-vLB2mzwO5REo14HBkHtJ4z7ZHfErruvqhVneQbi0Dh35PoocjHOzTO0ogWTM7CNxe1XQOd3IYn2ur4tz2qF9yOfIEzep9l1-xkCnMsTRESQWHDJhjJtQRmVWsPhG1zCRGMDCsQaYxxGTw1v9MGwHojsgtZXn9-oWkRvCn0Ete_/w303-h400/artifact%20golden%20triangle.png" width="303" /></a></div>I must say that the strange sculptural piece found at the beginning of this post is possibly the weirdest artifact I've ever seen. It's described as an akroterion which, in general, is merely an architectural detail. But, something about it brought the idea of an Egyptian "false door" to my mind... especially when I saw the first golden triangle (<i>inset right</i>).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There's another, similar one at the Met - found on this <a href=" https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/247985" target="_blank">page</a> - which happened to be found in a graveyard. It seems as if it was created by the same artist, and I wonder if the one I posted was found in a graveyard, too. Both have little knobs towards the top carved into 5-petaled roses, and extravagant, swirling leaves which are said to represent palm trees. The Egyptian Ka doors also featured cornices which are said to represent palm trees.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>The Egyptian "false doors" were not actual doors, in the usual sense, as they were carved in stone - solid, seamless and physically impenetrable. These doors had a different purpose - through them one communicated with those "on the other side"; that is, deceased loved ones. One left offerings. The dead were also able to enter the physical world again through the Ka doors. Interestingly they were all designed along the lines of a similar geometry - similar to the golden rectangle but seemingly featuring a different ratio altogether.</div><div><br /></div><div>My hypothesis? The akroterion featured here served a similar purpose to the Ka doors. It is smaller, of course... a smaller sort of door... kind of like a laptop version of the psychic internet... the little rose promising encryption. </div><div><br /></div><div>Happy Haunting!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOpwPafiC0zsZgWHmwoKGjX6GLTTbZw_WmAV_sILIU8vFvBD3-Nen8jyfiFYXsFotoJ3Er1JJswvHyr4bJdm-dHbOiG4eVC_jrXj22r3Yz87K9bkXfts7u9t7fgub1TJbQHJp5215OtpmVcXPvCKwwXZjVTY0cFfpCho_FNEVfeuFg5vfQzulNJpoui8s/s540/cat%20lanterns%202.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="540" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOpwPafiC0zsZgWHmwoKGjX6GLTTbZw_WmAV_sILIU8vFvBD3-Nen8jyfiFYXsFotoJ3Er1JJswvHyr4bJdm-dHbOiG4eVC_jrXj22r3Yz87K9bkXfts7u9t7fgub1TJbQHJp5215OtpmVcXPvCKwwXZjVTY0cFfpCho_FNEVfeuFg5vfQzulNJpoui8s/w200-h159/cat%20lanterns%202.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://artshaman.blogspot.com/2023/10/happy-halloween.html" target="_blank">Cat-O-Lanterns</a> </i>- ceramic - 2023, BG Dodson.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-82636174636377631402023-10-25T17:30:00.023-06:002024-01-17T19:52:07.345-07:00Pentagonal Venus: the φ (phi) in Αφροδίτη (Aphrodite)<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizKfaPrc0-eKtDgO5A9ol2B4ZRQ46IPpbYONlyprNYnQ-ZpmpY_27TOLiOddI4d695TR33Np1hnN-VHaDctKp88BIClt2A4mVzsHe7bvyWjTQDgVmSXStNWyQnlAC7wPiXE9dbXltrYaOEu_Ltn2JdV21KOQ-1V8RXRJ4Br4E4pJPKRUndH8NKZVqNdJ7n/s603/Botticelli%20Venus%20spiral%201b.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="461" height="599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizKfaPrc0-eKtDgO5A9ol2B4ZRQ46IPpbYONlyprNYnQ-ZpmpY_27TOLiOddI4d695TR33Np1hnN-VHaDctKp88BIClt2A4mVzsHe7bvyWjTQDgVmSXStNWyQnlAC7wPiXE9dbXltrYaOEu_Ltn2JdV21KOQ-1V8RXRJ4Br4E4pJPKRUndH8NKZVqNdJ7n/w458-h599/Botticelli%20Venus%20spiral%201b.png" width="458" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;">A detail of Sandro Botticelli's</span><span style="text-align: start;"> </span><i style="text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/birth-of-venus" target="_blank">Birth of Venus</a></i><span style="text-align: start;"> </span><span style="text-align: start;">(1485), the </span><a href="https://www.uffizi.it/en" style="text-align: start;" target="_blank">Uffizi</a><span style="text-align: start;">. Geometry (G): 2023, DS.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i>"For Plato – and so for the members of the Florentine Platonic Academy – Venus had two aspects: she was an earthly goddess who aroused humans to physical love or she was a heavenly goddess who inspired intellectual love in them. Plato further argued that contemplation of physical beauty allowed the mind to better understand spiritual beauty. So, looking at Venus, the most beautiful of goddesses, might at first raise a physical response in viewers which then lifted their minds towards the godly. A Neoplatonic reading of Botticelli's Birth of Venus suggests that 15th-century viewers would have looked at the painting and felt their minds lifted to the realm of divine love."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Via the Wiki entry for Botticelli's <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus" target="_blank">Birth of Venus</a>.</i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvLmp5TAEMHOedjlBAQXD4S4bhENFttlET-_dDNSbTEgju6TmPnGNy2CfdBEnGLXK_CO00XDonRRUO6LmgMDOTF_lZ-YMPgtWJl5ozsydVZeyZpx-gSFQS5xx64A82QRILJzATHZWbZ_ZM8djIuP-7W6-ZqobIsanlsB98ydriiVm20YiDahrdW3OhBWm/s550/head%20of%20venus%202.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="463" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvLmp5TAEMHOedjlBAQXD4S4bhENFttlET-_dDNSbTEgju6TmPnGNy2CfdBEnGLXK_CO00XDonRRUO6LmgMDOTF_lZ-YMPgtWJl5ozsydVZeyZpx-gSFQS5xx64A82QRILJzATHZWbZ_ZM8djIuP-7W6-ZqobIsanlsB98ydriiVm20YiDahrdW3OhBWm/s320/head%20of%20venus%202.jpg" width="269" /></a></div><div><i>"The patron who commissioned the Botticelli painting for his country villa was a member of the rich and powerful family of the Medici. Either he himself, or one of his learned friends, probably explained to the painter what was known of the way the ancients had represented Venus rising from the sea. To these scholars the story of her birth was the symbol of mystery through which the divine message of beauty came into the world. One can imagine that the painter set to work reverently to represent this myth in a worthy manner. The action of the picture is quickly understood. Venus has emerged from the sea on a shell which is driven to the shore by flying wind-gods amidst a shower of roses.</i></div><div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>...Botticelli's Venus is so beautiful that we do not notice the unnatural length of her neck, the steep fall of her shoulders and the queer way her left arm is hinged to the body. Or, rather, we should say that these liberties which Botticelli took with nature in order to achieve a graceful outline add to the beauty and harmony of the design because they enhance the impression of an infinitely tender and delicate being, wafted to our shores as a gift from Heaven.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i> ...Gold is used throughout the painting, accentuating its role as a precious object and echoing the divine status of Venus. Each dark green leaf has a gold spine and outline, and the tree trunks are highlighted with short diagonal lines of gold."</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Excerpts from an 1996 online <a href="/The_Birth_of_Venus http://www.sai.msu.su/wm/paint/auth/botticelli/venus/" target="_blank">article</a> regarding Botticelli's <i>Birth of Venus</i>. The article also mentions that the centers of all the roses flying in the sky are also gilded. The head of Venus (<i>inset right</i>, above) is found in the Wiki article. Yes, there's real gold in her hair and skin, too.</div><div><br /></div><div>Her lovely face is almost a necessary detail to include with the full image because, in the reduced full mages online, her sweet, pensive expression is wholly lost. Botticelli's Venus is an unusual depiction of the goddess. Obviously, she's a young woman, but she is strangely wistful and somehow genderless. If you took away the volumes of strawberry blonde hair and the plucked eyebrows, she could easily be a young man or boy. <i>(I also discuss her <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2017/04/for-angels-302-passions-of-ang" target="_blank">here</a>.</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> ***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As it turned out (pun intended), the first golden spiral painting I posted on this blog - and what became, more or less, an introduction to the <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-golden-series-contents-thus-far.html" target="_blank">Phi series</a> - was Sandro Botticelli's <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2021/12/botticelli-spiral.html" target="_blank">Cestello Annunciation</a></i>. At the time, although completely in awe of his two "nested" golden spirals, I was not yet sure what to make of them. Were they simply artifacts of an overall algorithmic spiral design or were they intentional?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oddly enough, at that time, after doing a quick analysis of a number of Botticelli's paintings, I came to the conclusion that it was impossible to know for certain of the Italian painter's knowledge of the golden ratio; he used a lot spirals of varying descriptions! Although I gave his iconic <i>Venus </i>several glances, I didn't detect the spiral I was looking for... possibly being distracted by that pair of overly large, winged Winds (one of whom may be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyrus" target="_blank">Zephyrus</a>) hovering in (what appears to be) the foreground (<i>left</i>).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlO42iq4wdkH39utco54daViuB7iBjtvcOitxnEfekcayVmgtloamEPGcuPkJsRUQAWFLvEttSq3rhRldOZ_QyeKJDG4bZ11MFGCc1MQIiZO6TY9NVUaKggtk67zXWYIo8IsbMyzft-Y-oCYcq2zqc7HTiECo2SiUwoxvEnXIkBF7GdUID1BmWt4SniQh/s1014/Botticelli%20Venus%20spiral%201c.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="1014" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizlO42iq4wdkH39utco54daViuB7iBjtvcOitxnEfekcayVmgtloamEPGcuPkJsRUQAWFLvEttSq3rhRldOZ_QyeKJDG4bZ11MFGCc1MQIiZO6TY9NVUaKggtk67zXWYIo8IsbMyzft-Y-oCYcq2zqc7HTiECo2SiUwoxvEnXIkBF7GdUID1BmWt4SniQh/w640-h382/Botticelli%20Venus%20spiral%201c.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And, then - just this past week - I happened to note the strangely triangular shape of Venus's upper body in the image... specifically accented by her abnormally sloping shoulder. This shoulder, incidentally, has been noted by critics in the past and is considered a (enigmatic) flaw.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, could there be another explanation, I wondered?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">And, <u>then</u>, I found the golden triangle... and it's accompanying pentagonal artifact: the golden spiral... a beautiful spiral, indeed! But, it's optimum placement entailed one teensy, weensy tweak: the triangle needed to be rotated (to the left) by 1 degree. Such a small matter, one might surmise; the slightest skew... and, yet, it's influence lends to the overall preternatural ambience, tension (and, imbalance) of the image. Without it, Venus would not mystify us... her scallop shell "boat" would not sail so seamlessly into our dreams...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicemXq-M5vQyZ7h2U1ySfjDB4Qx-zD16-4nNnV3qK9T83W6s9gje1sEKgLg-q8hz14dyFu4vW5URT45O0-fQNsFlCrxFvzd8zLNTIaQmaOsbxgIkf7KBuLRTa_Zw2nZZTqM6mFunTIUQ_sMoGp6rYw9i12qXBnsJSNkluE_R8KB0kA8oY3z5jaMEbqi3m8/s1014/Botticelli's%20Venus%20lg%20S.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="1014" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicemXq-M5vQyZ7h2U1ySfjDB4Qx-zD16-4nNnV3qK9T83W6s9gje1sEKgLg-q8hz14dyFu4vW5URT45O0-fQNsFlCrxFvzd8zLNTIaQmaOsbxgIkf7KBuLRTa_Zw2nZZTqM6mFunTIUQ_sMoGp6rYw9i12qXBnsJSNkluE_R8KB0kA8oY3z5jaMEbqi3m8/w611-h382/Botticelli's%20Venus%20lg%20S.png" width="611" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(Continued... October 27th.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, not necessarily. As it happened, I was a little unhappy with my first discovery, realizing that Venus should be entirely housed within the triangle, instead of the shorter triangle I initially gave her. So, I came up with the larger triangle (above) last night, and found it was unnecessary to rotate the triangle at all. Instead, it was more necessary to locate the larger triangle (and spiral) I intuited was present. See below.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdZCfWnkYP7Y6cXVN7N6GSUESu-99AGXZS3xUdrxH3aH9svymLCFFLQ3f1tXVWC3LZtTGZCcSSb7eRH3nmNG20f4hoRpBvrcpX2nERmjnwlFqZ2hIsJWVrOoMGVZQIN63N5JlDVKERU5_ySQVvZjx0paJygP4CVJFctWVS0uCI9ULXr-lvRgGDLjnfEwA/s811/Botticelli's%20Venus%20large%20spiral%20sm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="811" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdZCfWnkYP7Y6cXVN7N6GSUESu-99AGXZS3xUdrxH3aH9svymLCFFLQ3f1tXVWC3LZtTGZCcSSb7eRH3nmNG20f4hoRpBvrcpX2nERmjnwlFqZ2hIsJWVrOoMGVZQIN63N5JlDVKERU5_ySQVvZjx0paJygP4CVJFctWVS0uCI9ULXr-lvRgGDLjnfEwA/w613-h379/Botticelli's%20Venus%20large%20spiral%20sm.png" width="613" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As is evident, however, the present dimensions of the canvas do not entirely support the spiral. But, we've seen this before and my opinion is the same. I stand by these spirals more than I do the dimensions of canvases painted during a period known for severe cropping.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In any case, there's no denying the movement the spiral brings to a painting. And, once again, the strange postures of Botticelli's characters (all of them, but, especially Venus) are explained... in the same way Mary's posture (and Gabriel's) were explained by the golden spiral in the <i>Cestello Annunciation</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSnxDecVGxl0y2wiA2Tfh-ea5LZji9Frb_fAl7mdOxF3ZKYz8YbJyOuRwOi88XNznfp0IFxaLp5DeMn_bQUWz1r_0XU0Utzits1LbCzv9FfgEAqJlE056UGYgPZxxVHlCti7ZQkYm4m2qRuHvwlDS9yoTLPAsIORXnWLeqJJoJd0luSZ944ZEt02mKks3/s648/cosmic%20venus.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="484" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSnxDecVGxl0y2wiA2Tfh-ea5LZji9Frb_fAl7mdOxF3ZKYz8YbJyOuRwOi88XNznfp0IFxaLp5DeMn_bQUWz1r_0XU0Utzits1LbCzv9FfgEAqJlE056UGYgPZxxVHlCti7ZQkYm4m2qRuHvwlDS9yoTLPAsIORXnWLeqJJoJd0luSZ944ZEt02mKks3/w309-h414/cosmic%20venus.jpg" width="309" /></a></div>But, all in all, Botticelli envisioned an unusually chaste, Madonna-like Venus. And, this isn't unusual; Aphrodite and the Christian figure of Mary share a certain mythology. Unlike the Madonna, however, and even within her invisible triangle, Venus Aphrodite is a more fragile entity... too vulnerable for this world. At the same time, she is singular. She is a monad - a true divinity - she belongs to no one... and, therefore, everyone. She is an icon for love, but she has never really resided on the physical plane. She <u>is</u> gold. But, especially in the eyes of medieval artists and those who came after, this gold is, was, and always will be, hermetic, discrete, and <i>sub rosa</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As it stands, this post is, more or less an introduction to a cycle of phi-related material and its unusual relationship to Venus Aphrodite, the unhyphenated name of what seems to be an almost pentagonal construct. I can supply a lot of diverse evidence for this, and will in a few up-coming posts (when and if possible). But, for now, I'd like to leave you with this: a surprising - or, rather, <u>not</u> surprising - image by a Dutch artist. It is an etching from the 1500-1600s and is a depiction of Venus and Cupid (and & dove) in the heavens <i>(inset left)</i>. It was found along with a number of similar Dutch Venus etchings at the wonderful <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/" target="_blank">Rijks Museum</a> site, my new favorite place!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Below are the GTSs I found. No, the artist didn't use all three spirals; only one was needed. The others are the inevitable artifacts which are generated in a GTS design. Click on to enlarge.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoNnW6YYKDLVB4MDeRZzBf2n_RjW84T9YuKpOTWRXfDFA7WYu8KJuEkZOIDFBKbtTiXbWYg06DePmoF4ILHt1vPdnNSqEVYXHyYtSREXDgqC61Rr9RqV6X-3KNusDYpZcatz6IGzuAVVjw9cjA562W-moDMp1G6VXVpJ_REgvxwzORTozOyiJnBqmeMOY/s1479/cosmic%20venus%20S1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="655" data-original-width="1479" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoNnW6YYKDLVB4MDeRZzBf2n_RjW84T9YuKpOTWRXfDFA7WYu8KJuEkZOIDFBKbtTiXbWYg06DePmoF4ILHt1vPdnNSqEVYXHyYtSREXDgqC61Rr9RqV6X-3KNusDYpZcatz6IGzuAVVjw9cjA562W-moDMp1G6VXVpJ_REgvxwzORTozOyiJnBqmeMOY/w640-h284/cosmic%20venus%20S1.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source: <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">Rijks Museum</a>. Geometry: DS 2023.</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Note that the first GTS uses an upright golden triangle, while the "mirrored" spiral set uses triangles which have been skewed by 5 degrees. In a sense, "skewing" the spiral in a work of art is something akin to "squaring a number" in a computational way, but, with a difference. Five is the magic number here, and its movement - which is perpetually kinetic - is dynamical in a work of art... and 5-fold symmetries are tools for acceleration, amplification and articulation in design.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile, this article is being added to the Golden Series link page where you will find a few others in the new Venus Aphrodite section waiting for publication.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Once again, while the witching season is still with us... and while I'm not sure I can be here Tuesday, have a great holiday!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-76752460885722152192023-10-01T23:35:00.005-06:002023-12-27T22:55:23.305-07:00The Season of the Witch (Revised 12/27/23)<p style="text-align: center;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5oIEhkHPMao?si=axqq6GjnRkwWglRt" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"When I look out my window</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Many sights to see</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>And when I look in my window</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>So many different people to be</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>That it's strange, so strange</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>You've got to pick up every stitch</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>You've got to pick up every stitch</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>You've got to pick up every stitch</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Must be the season of the witch"</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">- Excerpt from <i><a href="https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/donovan/season-of-the-witch" target="_blank">Season of the Witch</a></i>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donovan" target="_blank">Donovan</a> Leitch, 1966</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>As we all know, the witching season commenced yesterday, the first day of October and will continue throughout the month until, at least, the second week of November. It was actually a day of epiphanies for me, and fairly positive. But, all the while a song was playing in the background of my mental arena, an old Donovan (<a href="https://donovan.ie/" target="_blank">website</a>) tune: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oIEhkHPMao" target="_blank">The Season of the Witch</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Naturally, I eventually turned to YouTube... finding the great video ( above) by <a href="https://www.lanadelrey.com/" target="_blank">Lana Del Ray</a> animated with a... <a href="https://www.bettyboop.com/" target="_blank">Betty Boop</a> cartoon? Surprise, it was an absolutely brilliant match! Sadly, the owner took it down. I decided to stick with the Donovan's original.</div><div><br /></div><div>Also included: a great vintage live cover by British performer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Driscoll" target="_blank">Julie Driscoll</a>, too, who now performs under the name of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AalA0z9_NLc" target="_blank">Julie Tippets</a>.</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uLDNNqDhp8w?si=v4FtqIIVfottpXA7" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><br /></div><div>Oh, and one more thing, I'd like to announce that Trans-D now has a new friend #12; a much nicer number than 11 (the number of chaos). Thanks, Julia and welcome!</div><div><br /></div><div>Meanwhile, just in case I can't make it to the table on the actual witching day, the 31st, may you and yours have a wonderfully weird witching season!</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">PS Joan Jett <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezKhyQ2EEWQ" target="_blank">rocks</a> it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-46346993132058615422023-09-18T15:16:00.008-06:002023-09-18T23:44:05.954-06:00For the Birds: "Coco," Martha, Chér Ami, GI Joe, Irish Paddy & all the unsung others...<div><br p="" style="text-align: center;" /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFgJu1XSSK0iWy21yAhycf7Dj9ex7knOgLjP8zafXfQAIrhdyfrzqtyqZuEVR5hsrjDM6K3T_EUc3cq91lbUg3qjMiAaAiB64lmexOR4m-ZWign-5kEfEJiufYC4etaMQmGru8TzMNpt6i8kcv53U2hYmeiYHCrULB0S1vYUu6bdPUnDPbahM81cOdgWq/s703/passenger%20pigeon%20redo.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="703" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrFgJu1XSSK0iWy21yAhycf7Dj9ex7knOgLjP8zafXfQAIrhdyfrzqtyqZuEVR5hsrjDM6K3T_EUc3cq91lbUg3qjMiAaAiB64lmexOR4m-ZWign-5kEfEJiufYC4etaMQmGru8TzMNpt6i8kcv53U2hYmeiYHCrULB0S1vYUu6bdPUnDPbahM81cOdgWq/w606-h426/passenger%20pigeon%20redo.png" width="606" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pigeons Passing By</i> (detail) - Thomas Bennet. A beautiful rendering of passenger pigeons in the wild.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>"In 1760 an extraordinary Occurrence happened about the Centre of the Wachovia Tract, on a Creek to this day called the Pidgeon Branch, which has the Appearance of an Improbability, yet actually happened, to the great Amazement of the Beholders, viz. an incredible Number of wild Pidgeons assembled there every Night for a Month together, in a small District, perching manyfold upon one another, so as by their Weight to break down the largest Limbs of Oaks, bending the Tops of others to the Ground … The Noise was so terrible that a Man speaking to his next Neighbor could not be heard without bawling loud, and Waggonloads of Pidgeons killed with Sticks were carried off."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Both the vintage quote and Bennet's image were found in the essay <i><a href="https://www.ourstate.com/pigeons-passing-by/" target="_blank">Pigeons Passing By</a> </i>written by T. Edward Nickens, describing what was purportedly a common occurrence across parts of North America in the 18th and 19th centuries: clouds of nomad passenger pigeons settling upon tree branches which broke beneath the weight of their great numbers. In some respects, it may have been this "<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/14/876002404/locusts-are-a-plague-of-biblical-scope-in-2020-why-and-what-are-they-exactly" target="_blank">plague of locusts</a>"-like behavior which sealed their fate... especially when they sometimes settled on a farmer's crops.</div><div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQf90zrvjBCMotKQnlo9l4hc2U_XJ06emY0FOoYUDRQhqptD66vYdbiSjsR8yhGKwD6KrpUTTQk7V5MB_A6s4H4Pqnk2efdVoOeD1JhSpxuPOXnyeLDmnmr8LOSpe05tKUr2MXAmy-UqKbQVX8qD4oPH_BUPEDnzeKAVy3SCMPU0pv0GPvwfJkq5tgDmQj/s461/juvenile%20passenger%20pigeon.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="319" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQf90zrvjBCMotKQnlo9l4hc2U_XJ06emY0FOoYUDRQhqptD66vYdbiSjsR8yhGKwD6KrpUTTQk7V5MB_A6s4H4Pqnk2efdVoOeD1JhSpxuPOXnyeLDmnmr8LOSpe05tKUr2MXAmy-UqKbQVX8qD4oPH_BUPEDnzeKAVy3SCMPU0pv0GPvwfJkq5tgDmQj/w276-h400/juvenile%20passenger%20pigeon.png" width="276" /></a></div>"...And then, within a few decades, it all came crashing down. One of the planet's most successful birds went from billions to one, dwindling down to a final survivor named Martha who lived her entire life in captivity. She was found dead in her cage at the Cincinnati Zoo around 1 p.m. on Sept. 1, 1914, completing one of the fastest and most dramatic extinctions ever witnessed by humans.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>...People used all kinds of maniacal tactics to kill pigeons, including burning down nest trees, baiting the birds with alcohol-soaked grain, trapping them in huge nets and even luring them with captive pigeons on small perches — the origin of the term "stool pigeon."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>'There were 600 to 3,000 professional hunters who did nothing but chase the birds all year long,' Greenberg says. 'The people hunting them knew they were decreasing, but instead of saying 'let's hold off,' they hunted them more intensely. Toward the end, they just started raiding all the nests. They wanted to get every last bird, squeeze every last penny out of them before they were gone.'</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>For anyone who had seen torrents of passenger pigeons in the 1860s and 1870s, it was hard to believe they were nearly extinct in the 1890s. After the final holdouts in Michigan vanished, many people assumed the birds moved farther west, maybe to Arizona or Puget Sound. Henry Ford even suggested the entire species had made a break for Asia. Eventually, though, denial gave way to grim acceptance. The last-known wild passenger pigeon was shot April 3, 1902, in Laurel, Indiana."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Quoted text is from the article: <i><a href="https://www.treehugger.com/years-later-the-passenger-pigeon-still-haunts-us-4867161" target="_blank">100 Years Later, the Passenger Pigeon Still Haunts Us</a>,</i> recounting the sad tale of the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the wild North American bird which, in ways, resembled American wild doves (see painting above) more than the standard pigeon. <i>Inset right</i> is a vintage photograph of a juvenile of the species found <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/File:Passenger_pigeon_young.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EA6gjEoaRCLSLTxy936y8I56c8GKA3NMB1IY8awDprpQzw6_NJezBH6FCScU1kVbnBR4V6iKLba_4HJ07cN8C9cao1Nglqo64IficjZrXEOOJfAFqV4b_p8FK9cMAaHj94Y8x5FwqY7yScW5UNEpVr9NZ2Js_4xRc50dXv25LSmZqoafmU0NS05nFjr1/s766/pigeon%20mutants.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="766" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5EA6gjEoaRCLSLTxy936y8I56c8GKA3NMB1IY8awDprpQzw6_NJezBH6FCScU1kVbnBR4V6iKLba_4HJ07cN8C9cao1Nglqo64IficjZrXEOOJfAFqV4b_p8FK9cMAaHj94Y8x5FwqY7yScW5UNEpVr9NZ2Js_4xRc50dXv25LSmZqoafmU0NS05nFjr1/w400-h279/pigeon%20mutants.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illustration from Emil Schachtzabel’s <i>Pigeon Prachtwerk</i> (1906).</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"This year marks the centenary of the death of the last Passenger Pigeon, the most numerous bird ever known, but one that did not survive the colonization of North America. I am willing to mourn that last captive voyager, a miracle of evolution, a postcard for extreme biodiversity, a bird more appreciated now than it ever was in life, except as a meal.</i></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsV8ZE3ka6jBga28gTmGOwbbKnyv_eEV5ZtBWs7U6iEA63xfbjwBOjHUZfzkuQLlGlLOnIuP3NKLpg25w0pLZMIXvgS4JzaN411nL1YR3cSuc5BJ-3kZZMdOvrIKYgL9hrA_KlWS-XvgZUPi0iBPPGUU6nTk4W8NOSZUXtUefOyVCGPzypmiZAADaNJkbI/s513/anton.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsV8ZE3ka6jBga28gTmGOwbbKnyv_eEV5ZtBWs7U6iEA63xfbjwBOjHUZfzkuQLlGlLOnIuP3NKLpg25w0pLZMIXvgS4JzaN411nL1YR3cSuc5BJ-3kZZMdOvrIKYgL9hrA_KlWS-XvgZUPi0iBPPGUU6nTk4W8NOSZUXtUefOyVCGPzypmiZAADaNJkbI/w130-h200/anton.png" width="130" /></a></div><div><i>Many people, at least in cities where Rock Pigeons are common, think of them as “flying rats"... Perhaps the critics have forgotten a guy called Charles Darwin, who, despite his social position as a member of the country gentry, was interested enough to attend pigeon shows, buy birds, and bore dinner guests such as Charles Lyell with his obsessive table talk about them."</i></div><br /><div>- Via this marvelous page <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/a-tale-of-three-superdoves-the-dodo-the-rock-pigeon-and-the-passenger-pigeon/#" target="_blank"><i>Unnatural Selection: Emil Schachtzabel’s Pigeon Prachtwerk (1906)</i></a>, which reminds us that it was through Darwin's "obsessive" study of domesticated pigeons that he developed his ideas of "unnatural selection" regarding the evolution of a species. One pigeon fancier who was inspired by Darwin's theories was Emil Schachtzabel, who published <i>Pigeon Prachtwerk</i> in 1906 featuring numerous examples of exotic breeds illustrated by the German artist and critic, Anton Schöner (1866–1930) <i>inset left</i>. Directly above and below are two amazing illustrations from the book; many more can be found in the article.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXJmYOGZFNiK-SkZ69VuYgSZmy66yOEd_fnkm-ZP-N7f7E0TITy822d3AwPWvS4EcwPZIokbG4gQm3oNNgp3HZkE5v7efcgN7lWP7X8wkZI3huVqos0y3EYiv0qzb6LSl24pZTbS3s01dwBeLQKV2bKseC3zRTnYcxrVQnh4SAk4GdVrconv0IvlXNajn/s761/pigeon%20mutant%202.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="761" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTXJmYOGZFNiK-SkZ69VuYgSZmy66yOEd_fnkm-ZP-N7f7E0TITy822d3AwPWvS4EcwPZIokbG4gQm3oNNgp3HZkE5v7efcgN7lWP7X8wkZI3huVqos0y3EYiv0qzb6LSl24pZTbS3s01dwBeLQKV2bKseC3zRTnYcxrVQnh4SAk4GdVrconv0IvlXNajn/w400-h280/pigeon%20mutant%202.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another strange breed of pigeons via the <i>Pigeon Prachtwerk </i>collection.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><i>(Continued after the jump)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div><i>"Recently, Martha has become the unlikely heroine of a new debate that seems to come out of a science fiction novel. A handful of naturalists and molecular biologists believe that we could one day undo what happened by re-engineering the bird’s genome from preserved specimens and a closely related extant species, the band-tailed pigeon. De-extinction has been proposed as a way of bringing back a number of vanished species, including the woolly mammoth. But it’s the passenger pigeon that is currently getting the most attention.</i></div><div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Some conservationists worry that this approach, ironically enough, could undermine efforts to maintain endangered or threatened species. Where’s the urgency to save a condor if one could simply recreate the species later? Other scientists argue that it will never be possible to restore an extinct species whose habitat has been permanently lost."</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>-</i> Via the Smithsonian article: <i><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/100-years-after-death-martha-last-passenger-pigeon-still-resonates-180952445/" target="_blank">100 Years After Her Death, Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon, Still Resonates</a></i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Apart from the loss of habitat, there is another negative factor effecting this proposed "miracle"... without parents or other knowledgeable members of its species to inform it, how will the hybrid know what creature it is supposed to be? How will it replicate its language? How will it learn its history? How will it perform the number of necessary pigeon tasks required to ensure its own survival? Is all of this information enfolded in a gene?</div><div><br /></div><div>Incidentally, the band-tailed pigeon scientists plan to use for the de-extinction of the passenger pigeon seems as if it might be in trouble, too. See the 2015 article: <i><a href="https://www.valleycenter.com/articles/desperately-seeking-band-tailed-pigeons/" target="_blank">Desperately Seeking Band-tailed Pigeons</a></i>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIif38N2d3mcVFFYi1clfvVnkbohyY3wZQlcA3GZKb5QoHxF5OB9SfalHTjXySJewHvhJ5bld3QTVAZrCZCWRuWsZXu3t7ZDH58sBwKEV_q6a0GmmFsTc3rhik6HDY21wdS1ldI3jDEauP-j6uB4lS_zsAVRstA_ShOTvam3P5HoYIE0VVN2OVQgeAz0_t/s673/hellenic%20dove%20ceramic%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="673" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIif38N2d3mcVFFYi1clfvVnkbohyY3wZQlcA3GZKb5QoHxF5OB9SfalHTjXySJewHvhJ5bld3QTVAZrCZCWRuWsZXu3t7ZDH58sBwKEV_q6a0GmmFsTc3rhik6HDY21wdS1ldI3jDEauP-j6uB4lS_zsAVRstA_ShOTvam3P5HoYIE0VVN2OVQgeAz0_t/w400-h288/hellenic%20dove%20ceramic%20(2).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Hellenistic terracotta dove (circa 400-300 BC) found on this <a href="https://baidun.com/terrecotta-pigeon/" target="_blank">page</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>After <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/07/coco-is-dead-language-of-bird.html" target="_blank">"Coco is Dead" - the Language of a Bird</a></i>, I wanted to write another post regarding doves and pigeons (and animal intelligence in general), but it seemed as if I'd never have enough time. But, as it happened, a supportive friend recently sent me a link regarding Martha, the last passenger pigeon, who died in captivity in 1914 (but was eulogized extensively on the internet in 2014, 100 years after her demise)... and, well, a follow-up post - although not the one planned - became a necessity. (Thanks, <a href="https://www.lcdouglass.com/" target="_blank">LC</a>!)</div><div><br /></div><div>Because, of course, this was information that should've been included in the original Coco story - essentially, it was the bottom line of my entire argument - but, at the time, I was still under the impression was that the abrupt decline of the passenger pigeon was a natural occurrence. This was not so. Their extinction was very much a result of it's barbaric devastation by humans... the bulk of which was most likely "justified" by the <a href=" https://thebackyardprovider.com/2018/01/12/why-raise-squabs-the-delectable-bird/" target="_blank">tastiness of its flesh</a>.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnfxy3hVDNOH5RHZ5eOnbUYoiV8NrB-HJDE3dme1Nmp-y0CzfRjmXBj8lCL_BbO3ob2dSvpQhJI6k2jaXMgMFeOhcjG7mknqb8rBhUJIobtgPXbhjbFuzKsdu6XRvLmX-vc1GBnfmIil5yl-Ij7ynQuzokdS_pYxLtNaJY2mEKbe_7abfqeozxWsKvChF/s616/egyptian%20DC.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="426" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpnfxy3hVDNOH5RHZ5eOnbUYoiV8NrB-HJDE3dme1Nmp-y0CzfRjmXBj8lCL_BbO3ob2dSvpQhJI6k2jaXMgMFeOhcjG7mknqb8rBhUJIobtgPXbhjbFuzKsdu6XRvLmX-vc1GBnfmIil5yl-Ij7ynQuzokdS_pYxLtNaJY2mEKbe_7abfqeozxWsKvChF/w276-h400/egyptian%20DC.png" width="276" /></a></div></div><div>In reality, domesticated pigeons (and/or doves) have been eaten by humans for thousands of years. The birds were raised in dovecotes or pigeonniers - glorified (& romanticized) chicken coops - which became status symbols for the wealthier households, but also provided real nourishment (eggs and meat) for the householders plus the feathers for pillows and droppings for fertilizing crops. In return, the birds were fed, sheltered and cared for. It was a beneficial arrangement for both man and avian... unlike the carnage incurred when 19th century humans preyed upon the wild North American passenger pigeon until, one day, they simply - and overwhelmingly - disappeared. And, this, after Native Americans had peacefully coexisted with the wild birds for 1500 years.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"There were no laws restricting the number of pigeons killed or the way they were taken. Because the birds were communal in habit, they were easily netted by using baited traps and decoys. The birds were shot at the nesting sites, young squabs were knocked out of nests with long sticks, and pots of burning sulphur were placed under the roosting trees so the fumes would daze the birds and they would fall to the ground. Hundreds of thousands of passenger pigeons were killed for private consumption and for sale on the market, where they often sold for as little as fifty cents a dozen.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>One of the last large nestings of passenger pigeons occurred at Petoskey, Michigan, in 1878. Here 50,000 birds per day were killed and this rate continued for nearly five months. When the adult birds that survived this massacre attempted second nestings at new sites, they were soon located by the professional hunters and killed before they had a chance to raise any young." - </i>Via this <a href=" http://harris23.msu.domains/event/1878-passenger-pigeons-wiped-out-near-petoskey/" target="_blank">article</a>.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Inset right</i> above is an ancient Egyptian dovecote found <a href="https://apps.lib.umich.edu/files/collections/papyrus/tools/publications/dovecotes.html" target="_blank">here</a>... and, below, is an ancient Israeli dovecote sourced from this <a href="https://www.israel21c.org/secrets-of-a-lost-village-of-ancient-israel-come-to-light/" target="_blank">page</a>. Note the unique equilateral triangular shaped-holes in the latter.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzubYT7KxSzrJGYCNVCFIkXYzpDkAnyzNZxHzP4_ssNufbXWkgCJh-zNYL1petI0-b14dO0XDg4MUYa-kOLkYDbkIa5SOBfpcLUGfzZJuHXeBjve5rMx3ZK-g3f22Jruc-2qF29ANJlwd4Sq83RKQ1FPrJsp0cjMzLbMPzrAtopNbm8d2XhFrh4Kvkm7o3/s733/israeli%20DC.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="733" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzubYT7KxSzrJGYCNVCFIkXYzpDkAnyzNZxHzP4_ssNufbXWkgCJh-zNYL1petI0-b14dO0XDg4MUYa-kOLkYDbkIa5SOBfpcLUGfzZJuHXeBjve5rMx3ZK-g3f22Jruc-2qF29ANJlwd4Sq83RKQ1FPrJsp0cjMzLbMPzrAtopNbm8d2XhFrh4Kvkm7o3/w400-h269/israeli%20DC.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><span style="text-align: center;">In regards to domesticated pigeons and the exotic breeds, it is currently believed that all of them originated from <i>Columba Livia, </i>the common pigeon or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_dove" target="_blank">rock dove</a>, and while most people tend to view the common pigeon as, well, common and somewhat undesirable, the reality is that this "lowly" breed can boast a list of World War (I and II) heroes in the form of messengers: the carrier pigeon.</span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Since at least ancient Egypt, domesticated pigeons have served as a messengers. Their enviable speed and pristine sense of direction made them an important communication strategy well into the 20th century. Even when telegrams and eventually phone lines criss-crossed the continent, pigeons were often more reliable. During World War I, homing pigeons were used to discreetly deliver messages across enemy lines. One bird, Chér Ami, famously delivered a life-saving note to Army headquarters, despite being shot through the breast and blinded on her flight across the battlefield. She was awarded a French military honor, the Croix de Guerre, and her one-legged body (</i><i>Chér Ami</i><i>’s right limb was also lost in her fated journey) sits taxiderimed in the Smithsonian Museum of American History."</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Sourced from this <a href="https://www.popsci.com/eat-pigeons-squab/" target="_blank">page</a>, we are introduced to a true avian heroine, a pigeon who - in spite of a wound to the chest, a loss of an eye and a leg while crossing enemy lines, delivered her message in time to save her human comrades. Incidentally, found in the same article is this:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i>"And physicist and futurist Nikola Tesla sought solace in his avian neighbors. One night in 1922, his favorite pigeon flew into his window looking distressed and eventually died. He reportedly said, 'I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me.'”</i></div><div><br /></div></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">!!! Oddly enough - or not so oddly - I can sympathize with Tesla. (For more Tesla tidbits on Trans-D, see <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2015/06/in-memory-of-beautiful-mind.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span></div><div><i>"In the 1st World War a portable pigeon home was created in order to accompany the soldiers to the front. This enabled them to send messages almost instantly. It is known that the French espionage service used carrier pigeons to send messages to and from their agents behind the lines.</i></div><div><span style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>One of the most famous carrier pigeons of the 1st World War was “</i><i>Chér</i><i> Ami” that saved around 200 American soldiers. Despite injuries inflicted by the German army, this little pigeon managed to get its message to the Allies in time to save the soldiers and the pigeon quickly became a symbol of heroism...</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>There was also an extensive use of pigeons in World War 2, and decorations for valor were awarded to 32 of them, including two famous pigeons – GI Joe and the Irish Paddy."</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>- So, there you have it: more evidence that humans and doves (or pigeons) share a very unusual bond. It seems as if the birds will go to any length to prove their worthiness to humans, up to and including self-sacrifice. </div><div><br /></div><div>But, there's more. Believe it or not, pigeons have been trained during the digital age to sort through image data for the detection of breast cancer! From this National Library of Medicine page we have:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"The birds proved to have a remarkable ability to distinguish benign from malignant human breast histopathology after training with differential food reinforcement; even more importantly, the pigeons were able to generalize what they had learned when confronted with novel image sets. The birds’ histological accuracy, like that of humans, was modestly affected by the presence or absence of color as well as by degrees of image compression, but these impacts could be ameliorated with further training."</i></div><div><br /></div></div></span></div><div><div>Ah well, if it isn't <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5mpwNgyoms" target="_blank">AI</a> taking over human employment it's our avian friends. My guess is that the birds are using a form of pattern recognition - my specialty - but, once again, it all seems rather amazing... and somehow very satisfying to know that science (not to mention the military) has discovered the capabilities of these creatures.... although I intuit that both they and members of their wilder relatives have far more to offer us... certainly more than just a dining experience... and, maybe, even a lesson in humility.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfp1OMzFkQhQMMCEA-XrM8ECw1Y4D74Tc1UHjILU5JbLjQKggB4S5sJcObDUahYMEqTW-YjDR9GUZIocrT9sR5vRs9tWyFeXZLZcAkFXguqUlI6icmlh9-apKeAypu6PsgkJU3h6-3nOnKiWPtESoy3j984j4u4rLf8TL4SrU0YbstslCziGwV4izy4rNt/s654/memorial.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="654" data-original-width="550" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfp1OMzFkQhQMMCEA-XrM8ECw1Y4D74Tc1UHjILU5JbLjQKggB4S5sJcObDUahYMEqTW-YjDR9GUZIocrT9sR5vRs9tWyFeXZLZcAkFXguqUlI6icmlh9-apKeAypu6PsgkJU3h6-3nOnKiWPtESoy3j984j4u4rLf8TL4SrU0YbstslCziGwV4izy4rNt/w336-h400/memorial.png" width="336" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A memorial plaque found <a href="https://marinewestecology.wordpress.com/2014/12/28/martha-and-george-a-tragic-couple/" target="_blank">here</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>"In the beech groves of Umstead, the winter woods seem to be waiting: Soon enough, these trees will nearly quiver with tanagers and warblers and sparrows and thrushes. But the pigeons will never return. Within the lifetime of a single human, the passenger pigeon vanished. Gone are the feathered rivers in the sky, the thunderous roosts with their crackling timber. In their place is a deep-felt void, and a sadness that stalks me on these late-winter hikes. I’ll never see a passenger pigeon. And I hope to never know that day when the world must bid another bird adieu." </i>- <a href="https://www.ourstate.com/pigeons-passing-by/" target="_blank">T. Edward Nickens</a><i>.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrkrNJs68ncZyWH8IavHa0GWv28_XGBajI54IW9EdMQb-KePNBlb2iaISPENZx_tRzRQvyOw4QpsdFe97p4YQcgAowCkXTpSeT1fD-EoVlmX74AzVSfy6LaicmmIvrq8dgLGnFt6QYe2rV6ElMrpTeZAN9LePwaoWATi9dqI5nvyDhz_gpT5OHv0Y_rHt/s765/passenger%20pigeons%20mural.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="765" height="413" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFrkrNJs68ncZyWH8IavHa0GWv28_XGBajI54IW9EdMQb-KePNBlb2iaISPENZx_tRzRQvyOw4QpsdFe97p4YQcgAowCkXTpSeT1fD-EoVlmX74AzVSfy6LaicmmIvrq8dgLGnFt6QYe2rV6ElMrpTeZAN9LePwaoWATi9dqI5nvyDhz_gpT5OHv0Y_rHt/w578-h413/passenger%20pigeons%20mural.jpg" width="578" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.artworkscincinnati.org/john-a-ruthvens-story-resonated-with-the-young-artists-of-artworks/" target="_blank">Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon</a></i> - a full-color mural in Cincinnati, Ohio, of a painting by <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/10/12/john-ruthven-artist-and-philanthropist-dead-95/662982002/" target="_blank">John A. Ruthven</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-47514112181297552392023-08-27T23:49:00.037-06:002023-10-29T17:36:16.727-06:00Venus in the Dovecote (Part II): The Ancient Sanctuary<div class="separator"><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3b2gS2TObK5Qlq7t68I6F8N35xiHkneEU5R0H19p4GZTkry8qhMJpbVSFrs8Rv7z_3I8SkfolQzkJqSQ-smbEUnN-jtObz1ndhAcGTabEe53V9wkUR48Li441inmBu3LIININLP7awxjpIeQr72TsXBt-QWEq7zVaL7qOKyeAyV4OzZgaonFlCuZfGCyl/s751/sanctuary%203%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="751" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3b2gS2TObK5Qlq7t68I6F8N35xiHkneEU5R0H19p4GZTkry8qhMJpbVSFrs8Rv7z_3I8SkfolQzkJqSQ-smbEUnN-jtObz1ndhAcGTabEe53V9wkUR48Li441inmBu3LIININLP7awxjpIeQr72TsXBt-QWEq7zVaL7qOKyeAyV4OzZgaonFlCuZfGCyl/w619-h385/sanctuary%203%20(2).jpg" width="619" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ruins of the great <a href="https://vici.org/vici/22754/" target="_blank">Sanctuary of Aphrodite</a> in Paphos, Cyprus.</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKS87MESfha6-TPbsr8CAHP3Hi22RsZhE4xA8RYTe2Uy9u4MVTWkh6Ze1PjkpMbYVvyL-Auz2l5e_43szZd-bo_u37p-t1dFtvT_Z-C1sZWREC_3cjk66JTrMRsn6Jc5Im74ZH7o0Wy_ihW6oIg3yrPY93Wz49Zh9FZi9OCnaihi5rDE_h8W-twUlJmAj/s865/aphrodite%20from%20the%20sea.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="865" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKS87MESfha6-TPbsr8CAHP3Hi22RsZhE4xA8RYTe2Uy9u4MVTWkh6Ze1PjkpMbYVvyL-Auz2l5e_43szZd-bo_u37p-t1dFtvT_Z-C1sZWREC_3cjk66JTrMRsn6Jc5Im74ZH7o0Wy_ihW6oIg3yrPY93Wz49Zh9FZi9OCnaihi5rDE_h8W-twUlJmAj/w301-h194/aphrodite%20from%20the%20sea.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><br style="font-size: medium;" /></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>"The Sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia was a sanctuary in ancient Paphos on Cyprus dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite. Located where the legendary birth of Aphrodite took place, it has been referred to as the main sanctuary of Aphrodite, and was a place of pilgrimages in the ancient world for centuries."</i></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"Before it was proved by archaeology it was understood that the cult of Aphrodite had been established before the time of Homer (c. 700 BC), as the grove and altar of Aphrodite at Paphos are mentioned in the Odyssey..."</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"The sanctuary was closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire in the 4th-century, and had at that time been in function for thousands of years since the Late Bronze age."</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Several quotes from the Wiki entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctuary_of_Aphrodite_Paphia">The Sanctuary of Aphrodite Paphia</a>. The image (centered above the quote) is a scene of <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovisi_Throne" target="_blank">Aphrodite's birth</a> carved in high relief in marble (460 BC).</div><br /><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBsiR9KHeC--Tt8AH7m_NXt3yO95VJ_GWcsht1nOyLJ4stLBnP6abQKqOUO3rHT2FxjK0yTqoxqAbr2p_az5J23YyTagSmDpXy74vs15Jb7EtjQ8KY7yeusCl8iAugM38IWHBB8nXibPGd8qKScN8gvWtMyCBIRAfZAJvImqHLx8p7_f4r7_LiAmNzRu1/s581/venus%20stone%20(2).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBsiR9KHeC--Tt8AH7m_NXt3yO95VJ_GWcsht1nOyLJ4stLBnP6abQKqOUO3rHT2FxjK0yTqoxqAbr2p_az5J23YyTagSmDpXy74vs15Jb7EtjQ8KY7yeusCl8iAugM38IWHBB8nXibPGd8qKScN8gvWtMyCBIRAfZAJvImqHLx8p7_f4r7_LiAmNzRu1/w193-h320/venus%20stone%20(2).jpg" width="193" /></a></div>"The systematic excavation of the much dilapidated remains of this sanctuary (1973-1979, 1992-1997, 2007-2008) enabled us to reconstruct the main outlines of its history. The continuity of cult in the sanctuary has been definitely established for more than 1500 years, from the Late Bronze Age (c.1200 BC) to the end of the 4th century AD. Furthermore, there are good reasons to believe that the worship of a fertility goddess on the site reaches back into the chalcolithic period: the Paphian sanctuary thus represents the longest cult tradition known so far in Cyprus. Peculiar to Paphos was the aniconic worship of Aphrodite: she was represented by a conical stone as symbol of fertility, depicted on many Roman coins."</i><br /><br />- Via this University of Zurich <a href="https://www.hist.uzh.ch/de/fachbereiche/altegeschichte/assoziierteforschende/vonwartburg/forschungsprojekte/paphos/projects/aphrodite-at-paphos.html">page</a>. <i>Inset right</i> is the conical stone - a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baetylus" target="_blank">baetylus</a> of andesite - a sacred rock which represented Aphrodite and was imbued with her spirit. Although it looks blue-black in photos it is supposedly a dark green color. This photo was found in the Wiki entry linked to above. Whether or not this conical stone actually represented "fertility," is, however, open to debate.</div><div><br /></div><div>My personal feeling is that the rock was meant to tether the goddess to a specific place on earth in the same way the magnificent Christian cathedrals were meant to tether the Christian god to a specific location. The pagans realized that no substance was more eternal than a rock - it would outlast both they and much of what they created. I think that many Christian churches possessed a "rock," as well; although not as obvious.*</div><div><br />In any case, Aphrodite's sanctuary was active for over 1500 years. Putting this in perspective, about 500 years longer than the existence of Christianity, thus far... and, realizing that in some places, worship of Venus Aphrodite never really ceased... well!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuh4hEp5CMrn6HB9lfxBpJxxIVwGMIxjUtckB8LIrLgnULMAZRgTcHMdtmYjQsppWiE8zOJ6tK2mHdwmBLUqJIRF5hjQhxTRJ7TtoZSHN8ixCuedKhnHFpUBbrntk-KJLHi1EEIpPuVd2JYT8ftVDPIWhSKpWArqRoTE_zjNpvFk0Oe5PWGjLu-erAkwEa/s656/galaetia%20venus%20lg%20(2).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="502" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuh4hEp5CMrn6HB9lfxBpJxxIVwGMIxjUtckB8LIrLgnULMAZRgTcHMdtmYjQsppWiE8zOJ6tK2mHdwmBLUqJIRF5hjQhxTRJ7TtoZSHN8ixCuedKhnHFpUBbrntk-KJLHi1EEIpPuVd2JYT8ftVDPIWhSKpWArqRoTE_zjNpvFk0Oe5PWGjLu-erAkwEa/w306-h400/galaetia%20venus%20lg%20(2).jpg" width="306" /></a></div><div><i>"Another myth associated with Cyprus and, in particular, with Paphos, is the myth of Pygmalion and his love for the beautiful Galatea. Pygmalion created a female statue of ivory; the statue was so perfect that the creator fell in love with it. Aphrodite took pity on the lovers, and breathed life into the magnificent statue.</i></div><div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>The couple had a son, named Paphos, who became the founder of the homonymous town, which he built in gratitude for his birth. He is also credited with the creation and the first temple in honor of the goddess of love."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- From one of the most comprehensive discussions of Venus Aphrodite on the web (via <i><a href=" https://earthstoriez.com/cyprus-myth-and-cult-of-aphrodite-on-cyprus" target="_blank">Earth Storiez</a></i>), we have mention of the goddess and Pygmalion. I had forgotten about the role of the goddess in the story, but, that's the beauty of Aphrodite: she seems to nourish love and creativity across the board, in all its permutations. In the case of Pygmalion, she brought a statue to life for an artist who fell in love with his creation. <i>Inset left</i> is <a href="https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites" target="_blank">Pre-Raphaelite</a>, Edward Burne-Jones' romantic vision of Aphrodite animating the ivory statue. Note the doves and roses which accompany her.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRyFBwaSNpFtZlVdwmRymUJiCI-vMWqvKuD57ep_pp3XjyTZT8w9-KWxOTHMueqw3wdNjEZkEbPncs6D7jgKcTS5Bte-iEi8-1Evc19iNTsiASsx74idCzqWLDMGR22q3FM4sBTXILhAFsk-j7cpLbynd_WQ-vczv45tB-5Ovlecg357Z-aN0nAoGWED2j/s802/clay%20dolls%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="802" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRyFBwaSNpFtZlVdwmRymUJiCI-vMWqvKuD57ep_pp3XjyTZT8w9-KWxOTHMueqw3wdNjEZkEbPncs6D7jgKcTS5Bte-iEi8-1Evc19iNTsiASsx74idCzqWLDMGR22q3FM4sBTXILhAFsk-j7cpLbynd_WQ-vczv45tB-5Ovlecg357Z-aN0nAoGWED2j/w453-h334/clay%20dolls%20(2).jpg" width="453" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Artifacts from Cyprus - 1450–1200 BC - in the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/241098" target="_blank">Metropolitan Museum</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Welcome to the ancient world! Above, is an image of the emissaries for our journey to this place in time; 5 weird little Barbie Dolls, if you will... or maybe souvenir fetishes given (or sold) at a pagan sanctuary on major holidays. Regarding the two with rings in their "ears," these might also double as rattles or noise-makers... some hand-held percussion instruments pilgrims (or children) might use in processions or celebrations.</div><div><br /></div><div>They're said to represent bird-women... and, certainly the large one in the center - a little over 8" (20cm) in height - has a protrusion on her face that might be a beak... and the figure seems to be holding a bird-like object; perhaps a fledgling. Interestingly, this figure also has very large eyes... similar to the older <a href="https://sumerianlanguage.tumblr.com/post/164610134122/the-female-sumerian-statue-found-at-the-abu-temple" target="_blank">Sumerian statues</a>... which may indicate that, while this particular statue may have symbolized a goddess as a mother, it may also have represented a fetish imbued with the her spirit.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not so bird-like is the smaller sculpture on the far left which looks like it might possess a ram's head, and the largest one on the far right which appears (to me) as if it has the face of a lamb. As for the two flanking the central bird-woman, however, well, I don't know, but I bet kids would love them. (I would!)</div><div><br /></div><div>(Continued after the jump...)</div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfeh1WhffjZlarx8luJ3XYcs9up34Ih3qo8Tntpc2TahBrSRheMx492Z5AvcWiPDUDdsFOe0iNCPD0RK6WwOLDyJPL-UWUXOQTIocR_SiTBgdSmyGymELcOzPP0X2TFFutkwcQMX7CmlCZiq7HLVpDFLnG3b5HsHTgDEVAjh62p1iQCchAI5cnqIgkG9lm/s1029/Paphos%20(3).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="1029" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfeh1WhffjZlarx8luJ3XYcs9up34Ih3qo8Tntpc2TahBrSRheMx492Z5AvcWiPDUDdsFOe0iNCPD0RK6WwOLDyJPL-UWUXOQTIocR_SiTBgdSmyGymELcOzPP0X2TFFutkwcQMX7CmlCZiq7HLVpDFLnG3b5HsHTgDEVAjh62p1iQCchAI5cnqIgkG9lm/w463-h243/Paphos%20(3).jpg" width="463" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another shot of Aphrodite's Sanctuary.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>But, most of this is merely my speculation, and, while the figures were found in Cyprus, I don't know that they were found at the actual location of Aphrodite's sanctuary... and, I've also seen the bird woman once referred to as Astarte in my cyber-travels. But, if the statues do represent birds (especially doves) and sheep, this might be relevant to this discussion. They may have been symbolic offerings...in lieu of blood sacrifices involving doves - which may have been sacrificed at Aphrodite's temples - as well as lambs, whose entrails were "read" for prophecies.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte" target="_blank">Astarte</a>, she was a Syrian goddess who had much in common with Venus Aphrodite and is generally considered her equivalent, especially in Paphos. Importantly, she was also associated with the planet Venus. Of her, the Roman author, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus" target="_blank">Gaius Julius Hyginus</a>, wrote:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>“Into the Euphrates River an egg of wonderful size is said to have fallen, which the fish rolled to the bank. Doves sat on it, and when it was heated, it hatched out Venus, who was later called the Syrian goddess.</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbvj4mQtFuYdbs1ScdVUu3VQfQ9Xvaak-T97uQcSnG7g88CsyL6OVsgl0V6P4Y_zFtHfzkkJdFgXTVkNknTxcGhhvWjXl65zKu4prNhJX3rjVjLM8OzwTVYyAdJAQ1E1vyUAOKzyanhNqdhFaYVohsFVVYI9b4MurBlZh7JpV7f0Cbob_3kE0WEKB8EWh/s875/sanctuary%202%20lg%20(3).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="875" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjbvj4mQtFuYdbs1ScdVUu3VQfQ9Xvaak-T97uQcSnG7g88CsyL6OVsgl0V6P4Y_zFtHfzkkJdFgXTVkNknTxcGhhvWjXl65zKu4prNhJX3rjVjLM8OzwTVYyAdJAQ1E1vyUAOKzyanhNqdhFaYVohsFVVYI9b4MurBlZh7JpV7f0Cbob_3kE0WEKB8EWh/w426-h278/sanctuary%202%20lg%20(3).jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A third shot of Aphrodite's Sanctuary.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn9gWTWQTtiqz3WqFRg083IGB1-MlcqdIf9j5E9u_yAqLcCOGz8V7_nKVKt1eq7O416MQu0zL9-djURpRv8F5FdV8vR-Gwg6kQ6FgurMVkjrRcByeCnxaklJRHzfhktYjO_wmLUXDwkE5dTV3vKfx3rEcYXPYkiyeKRbhp_DHLNsaXf062-8hVJ5k0h5I_/s642/beach%20rose.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="496" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn9gWTWQTtiqz3WqFRg083IGB1-MlcqdIf9j5E9u_yAqLcCOGz8V7_nKVKt1eq7O416MQu0zL9-djURpRv8F5FdV8vR-Gwg6kQ6FgurMVkjrRcByeCnxaklJRHzfhktYjO_wmLUXDwkE5dTV3vKfx3rEcYXPYkiyeKRbhp_DHLNsaXf062-8hVJ5k0h5I_/w154-h200/beach%20rose.jpg" width="154" /></a></div>The trope of a god or goddess being born from an egg is not a new thing on this blog; we saw it with the primeval Eros - often referred to as Aphrodite's (and Hermes') son.</div><div><br /></div>However, in this quote from the mysterious Greek poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonnus">Nonnus</a> (who may have been a woman), we have this:<br /><br /><i>"Beroe first received Kypris; and above the neighboring roads, the meadows of themselves put out plants of grass and flowers on all sides; in the sandy bay the beach became ruddy with clumps of roses.<br /><br />There, as soon as she was seen on the neighboring harborage, she brought forth wild Eros (Love)... without a nurse, and [Eros] beat on the closed womb of his unwedded mother; then a hot one even before birth, he shook his light wings and with a tumbling push opened the gates of birth.</i>"</div><div><br /></div><div>In other words, Aphrodite was pregnant at birth... with Eros. Talk about virgin births. Incidentally, "Beroe" is a Phoenician city. So, Nonnus may be referring to Astarte... ? In any case, did you know there's a theory that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Phoenician_discovery_of_the_Americas" target="_blank">Phoenicians</a> were the first to reach North America?</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Inset left</i> is the humble wild beach rose which is common in coastal regions here in the States - I used to love them back on the east coast -<i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_rugosa" target="_blank">Rosa Rugosa</a></i>. They have a heavenly fragrance... fit for a goddess.</div><div>________________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* Another possibility is that Aphrodite's dark, conical baetylus rock may be a prototype of the Black Madonna statues which are found all over Europe and, specifically in France. See this Interfaith Mary <a href="https://www.interfaithmary.net/black-madonna-introduction#pagan" target="_blank">Introduction</a>. Note: This site contains a multitude of Black Madonna examples.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div>________________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pJT5MF9hagvtAusWshqK3NywBlWaizzDLHTqmeO38auczdWqZHm2Ja-VP9i9yKpH8_RQ0X8d7cD0Ov2stjt0-UKm4n_N23Cl9ADLXZe_72WUNK8lHARtliDmDRMm-RKjo5_ledHNauqXdY-5naDsouvKPCUWp36oMs8qS4TrttCwkmpBoY4uYKoj_XAV/s696/geometric%20mosaic%20(3).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="696" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3pJT5MF9hagvtAusWshqK3NywBlWaizzDLHTqmeO38auczdWqZHm2Ja-VP9i9yKpH8_RQ0X8d7cD0Ov2stjt0-UKm4n_N23Cl9ADLXZe_72WUNK8lHARtliDmDRMm-RKjo5_ledHNauqXdY-5naDsouvKPCUWp36oMs8qS4TrttCwkmpBoY4uYKoj_XAV/w424-h305/geometric%20mosaic%20(3).jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of a geometrically-patterned mosaic floor (still intact) at the sanctuary.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7H3LNNxEh3of8ccxG7IVpoJkuiN0lmr2fjYuUb9WdmcppxMvuEqdw_O3zrwGthDL5vioiAKQ5Rc9BcpaU_KrEcpjRFf2s8OZbPJUBTxyDo2fT-3AdKikxUTvRW9tTZ22dfXs7hTjO8vqRDKtzRWHDmVSPfKu5KiiZqB5US0QLZM7Nk8LDlNU7L2HdEIP/s512/sanctuary%20ring.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="435" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7H3LNNxEh3of8ccxG7IVpoJkuiN0lmr2fjYuUb9WdmcppxMvuEqdw_O3zrwGthDL5vioiAKQ5Rc9BcpaU_KrEcpjRFf2s8OZbPJUBTxyDo2fT-3AdKikxUTvRW9tTZ22dfXs7hTjO8vqRDKtzRWHDmVSPfKu5KiiZqB5US0QLZM7Nk8LDlNU7L2HdEIP/w207-h245/sanctuary%20ring.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>Now, I suppose I should try and give you some idea of the sort of events that took place at Aphrodite's sanctuary, but, this is one case where I believe you truly had to be there to know. Suffice to say, her festival days were probably more like rock festivals than one might imagine, with pilgrims venturing from miles around to meet and greet, eat exotic foods, make music, join in dances and processions, have their fortunes read... and buy souvenirs; all within a fragrant atmosphere of burning incense, and within the context of peace, love, sex... and, worship.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Inset left</i>, is an example of goods that may have been for sale for the wealthier participants: a Roman, <a href="https://colorsandstones.eu/2020/10/24/aphrodite-from-paphos/" target="_blank">gold ring</a> with an emblem of the sanctuary, which is also found frequently on coins and rings from this period. The triangular (conical) shape in the center - representing Aphrodite - is the baetylus stone shown earlier in the post.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGpYn_U88l0rO8bSzYO-s_GL54AoWrZvO0JRO2doUTfNVALEIpxbaoJZpwReQ1I-lcZTIkHdor-mzttxuBQPeS5uOzDdxM9FdvN3DXSQuFKOV_LJaS4KqO8kUJ3S4OsPH_b1kZzYygv-Vw5u6AY33Q4ebhWybMFqJT2WaTwh91EuKtgEWhfSpUkoNYDtW/s564/sanct%20ring%20tri.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="422" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKGpYn_U88l0rO8bSzYO-s_GL54AoWrZvO0JRO2doUTfNVALEIpxbaoJZpwReQ1I-lcZTIkHdor-mzttxuBQPeS5uOzDdxM9FdvN3DXSQuFKOV_LJaS4KqO8kUJ3S4OsPH_b1kZzYygv-Vw5u6AY33Q4ebhWybMFqJT2WaTwh91EuKtgEWhfSpUkoNYDtW/w149-h200/sanct%20ring%20tri.png" width="149" /></a></div>Sometimes versions of this design also feature 2 doves sitting on top or underneath the structure. However, readers of this blog and fans of the phi series will recognize something immediately.</div><div><br /></div><div>While not all the sanctuary emblems have central cones as "golden" as this one... well, whoever fashioned this ring - and, if you remember from the <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2020/09/an-ancient-artifact-to-conjure-with.html" target="_blank">Roman dodecahedron</a> post, architects and artisans were probably not unfamiliar with the pentagonal golden triangle (<i>inset left</i>). In this case, while not a perfect match - made more unreliable by the graphics program I am forced to use - it's too close to dismiss. Coincidence?</div><div><br /></div><div>Coincidental or not, the pentagram, which we learned long ago was a symbol connected with the planetary cycles of Venus, her rose, and the arrangement of seeds in apples and pomegranates (her favored fruit) - and, its golden spiral is found in certain shells, another Venus <a href=" https://www.shellhouse-talks.com/post/aphrodite-and-venus-sex-and-the-shell" target="_blank">symbol</a> - it is also referred to in this emblem of her sanctuary.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgOSZpuD2E8o_Ls7dKDnvJkVVMyjZk8VMj-0hPuTmdzBHRg1ypGjouDX7SmF0TIBfRNkQuX2hDStnEzFahP6Cfv9L9UNhoOoSKEmKbYzH6wJTPpgv6S7CGPJ12geENumtDvQZCu-e5utWRtm783SXGqWoqbCdtOgTB-rvao9PSp1m4QCefIwOBpF70k8N/s598/venus%20phases%20(2).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="598" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgOSZpuD2E8o_Ls7dKDnvJkVVMyjZk8VMj-0hPuTmdzBHRg1ypGjouDX7SmF0TIBfRNkQuX2hDStnEzFahP6Cfv9L9UNhoOoSKEmKbYzH6wJTPpgv6S7CGPJ12geENumtDvQZCu-e5utWRtm783SXGqWoqbCdtOgTB-rvao9PSp1m4QCefIwOBpF70k8N/w289-h288/venus%20phases%20(2).jpg" width="289" /></a></div>The upshot being that Venus, in the form of the baetylus which represented her, is given the dimensions of a pentagonal golden triangle.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the top of the carved ring is what appears to be a crescent moon (<i>click on image to enlarge</i>). But, this is unusual. Venus Aphrodite is not a lunar goddess. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene" target="_blank">Selene</a> was the goddess of the moon; Luna was her Roman counterpart. So, why the moon?</div><div><br /></div>As it so happens, Venus, the planet, does display phases very similar to the moon (<i>inset right:</i> the phases of Venus), but this (allegedly) was not known until the 17th century with <a href="https://stargazingmumbai.in/venus-and-phases/">Galileo's observations</a>... which, in turn, would eventually prove that the sun was the center of the solar system and not the earth.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">_____________________________</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmL7fU64yGUJEtBDjps-8pAeEzzStdXEju0R0guH_NftWfU31I38pOwOXfkMzH7gMc5jvuFRuMA3l8Lb-84T9bw75-yEMnd0tdtT7GDhVKQV6MwXmm27J3FD5rZCNT3MxeR0eq0HUOJf0O0lIn7NaNOiZlchc6KAWdEQK6R0_7F_-blTKTXpg0K53c8qj3/s882/sanctuary%20church.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="882" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmL7fU64yGUJEtBDjps-8pAeEzzStdXEju0R0guH_NftWfU31I38pOwOXfkMzH7gMc5jvuFRuMA3l8Lb-84T9bw75-yEMnd0tdtT7GDhVKQV6MwXmm27J3FD5rZCNT3MxeR0eq0HUOJf0O0lIn7NaNOiZlchc6KAWdEQK6R0_7F_-blTKTXpg0K53c8qj3/w560-h348/sanctuary%20church.jpg" width="560" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ix-andromeda.com/en/pafos/panagia-katholike-kouklia.html" target="_blank">Panagia Katholiki</a>, 12th/16th century Franco-Byzantine church next door to Aphrodite's Sanctuary.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkeI39HW1wg0i4FCBqktfxXNh75g7JrTGyRy9XCp_9EUu4Vpvu8uG-1Gem8YxohlHQmskKc-DJpQf3HrUbZFFsPmmkgL2Psl5v_BPt0fZSPArreHEESqJ93vaIlvbIxIxULdeRy6tmLyiJpusrNb28l824_FCC0z2EuP0mYsP_LH6YFJiTZr66iEZhN3x/s632/medieval%20venus.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="450" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkeI39HW1wg0i4FCBqktfxXNh75g7JrTGyRy9XCp_9EUu4Vpvu8uG-1Gem8YxohlHQmskKc-DJpQf3HrUbZFFsPmmkgL2Psl5v_BPt0fZSPArreHEESqJ93vaIlvbIxIxULdeRy6tmLyiJpusrNb28l824_FCC0z2EuP0mYsP_LH6YFJiTZr66iEZhN3x/w299-h420/medieval%20venus.jpg" width="299" /></a></div>"The adoration for the Goddess lasted about 1600 years. It did not even stop when in the 12th century, a Christian Church dedicated to Our Lady was built on the ruins of the Goddess’ Temple. Worshippers called it the “church of Panagia Aphroditissas” (Our Lady Aphrodite) until recently. This changed later on and it was called 'Panagia Chrysopolitissa' or 'Panagia Katholiki.'</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><div>The construction is a mix of different styles, since during the 8 centuries of its existence it was transformed and extended various times. It is built of stone coming from the ruins of the adjacent Temple of Aphrodite, and on sliced columns there are Roman inscriptions."</div><div><br /></div></i></div><div>- Found <a href=" https://www.ix-andromeda.com/en/pafos/panagia-katholike-kouklia.html" target="_blank">here</a>; this is the most information I could find about the church (in one place), but it tells us all we need to know: it was originally built with the stones from the ruined temple of Aphrodite and was referred to by native worshippers as the church of "Our Lady Aphrodite." Old pagan habits die hard...</div><div><br /></div><div>But, while the presence of a medieval church within the general area of Aphrodite's Sanctuary is something one might not expect, it might be worth noting that during the Middle Ages, Venus Aphrodite had a mild resurgence of popularity. From the Wiki entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite" target="_blank">Aphrodite</a>:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"Early Christians frequently adapted pagan iconography to suit Christian purposes... Throughout the Middle Ages, villages and communities across Europe still maintained folk tales and traditions about Aphrodite/Venus and travelers reported a wide variety of stories. Numerous Roman mosaics of Venus survived in Britain, preserving memory of the pagan past... in the late fifth century AD, Fulgentius of Ruspe encountered mosaics of Aphrodite and reinterpreted her as a symbol of the sin of Lust... He also argued that she was associated with doves and conchs because these are symbols of copulation, and that she was associated with roses because "as the rose gives pleasure, but is swept away by the swift movement of the seasons, so lust is pleasant for a moment, but is swept away forever."</i></div><div><i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWYCoRLeObSPuYMx8jALisWPMoDiRLG4sC0mSfHo4OzHahb3prfGdwznCKYqbC4_pRj9AHS2TGGo8mNtaKUtlg3FUI6sbtATClbWatfVUHQHxpVOGsVYJGLdgEjAa3RGHi3KDA6eKJbdcqmIT20DCnCFu2LfkcTCQpShLO1Yhv5CQ_1xFYpeQOc3u-959K/s587/aphrodite%20of%20satala.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="514" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWYCoRLeObSPuYMx8jALisWPMoDiRLG4sC0mSfHo4OzHahb3prfGdwznCKYqbC4_pRj9AHS2TGGo8mNtaKUtlg3FUI6sbtATClbWatfVUHQHxpVOGsVYJGLdgEjAa3RGHi3KDA6eKJbdcqmIT20DCnCFu2LfkcTCQpShLO1Yhv5CQ_1xFYpeQOc3u-959K/w168-h192/aphrodite%20of%20satala.png" width="168" /></a></div></i></div></div><div>Funny how kill-joys always manage to have the last word. So, in the eyes of Fulgentius, Aphrodite was merely another word for lust, and her son Eros was a "demon of fornication." Meanwhile, contrary to Fulgentius's view, in the 15th century manuscript illumination (<i>inset left</i>, above) we see "Venus, sitting on a rainbow, with her devotees offering her their hearts." In the patriarchal views of men like Fulgentius, we can assume that women, in general, had little value beyond serving as objects of male "lust"... not intuiting - or, totally dismissing - that women turned to Aphrodite for reasons beyond copulation with men. Note that Venus has a lapful of blood-red roses. <i>Inset left</i> is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satala_Aphrodite" target="_blank">Aphrodite of Satala</a> (modern-day Turkey).</div><div> </div><div>And, then we have the mythical <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venusberg_(mythology)" target="_blank">Venusberg</a>, a virtual underworld ruled by Venus, created in a ballad about the virtual poet/knight <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannh%C3%A4user" target="_blank">Tannhäuser</a>, who spent a year of bliss there. Sadly, he developed a guilty conscience and went running to Pope Urban for absolution. <i>"Urban replies that forgiveness is impossible, as much as it would be for his papal staff to blossom. Three days after Tannhäuser's departure, Urban's staff bloomed with flowers; messengers are sent to retrieve the knight, but he has already returned to Venusberg, never to be seen again."</i></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITD-GP2beeMMClcUiX1bl3eqQ-G8XiYhTZSff4yO_bMN5ffJHmiVgmMndFMteuxGyteg6a4_G7gsTab0QrjPVqlt7kGWI9Ezry0NkPEYVZFDnTwUARN-4_l9p3xgmrIwUPKNoVcvmuHSoq2MqsXVrswXIvB_Sz1ivw6z3DY0ebgHIRJJcy-tncU8dqTou/s617/templar%20cote%20(4).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="431" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhITD-GP2beeMMClcUiX1bl3eqQ-G8XiYhTZSff4yO_bMN5ffJHmiVgmMndFMteuxGyteg6a4_G7gsTab0QrjPVqlt7kGWI9Ezry0NkPEYVZFDnTwUARN-4_l9p3xgmrIwUPKNoVcvmuHSoq2MqsXVrswXIvB_Sz1ivw6z3DY0ebgHIRJJcy-tncU8dqTou/w290-h414/templar%20cote%20(4).jpg" width="290" /></a></div>But, there's more historical high strangeness involving Cyprus in the 12th century.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"In 1185 Isaac Komnenos, a member of the Byzantine imperial family, took over Cyprus and declared it independent of the Empire. In 1191, during the Third Crusade, <b>Richard I of England</b> captured the island from Isaac. He used it as a major supply base that was relatively safe from the Saracens. A year later Richard sold the island to the <b>Knights Templar</b>, who, following a bloody revolt, in turn sold it to <b>Guy of Lusignan</b>. His brother and successor Aimery was recognized as King of Cyprus by <b>Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor</b>."</i></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Now, that was quite a mouthful for one short paragraph found buried in Wiki's entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus" target="_blank">Cyprus</a>... starring Richard the Lionheart, the Knights Templar, the <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lusignan" target="_blank">House of Lusignan</a> (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melusine" target="_blank">Melusine</a>) and the Holy Roman Emperor, all in 3 sentences. For a fuller, more accurate description of this interesting tale see Wiki's entry for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Cyprus" target="_blank">Kingdom of Cyprus</a>.* <i>Inset left</i> is a Knight's Templar <a href=" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Garway_Dovecote" target="_blank">dovecote</a> found in <a href="http://www.greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/garway.html" target="_blank">Garway</a>; near one of the six Templar churches in England.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"We will begin our short journey where historians say it all began. In Palaepaphos (Old Paphos, today the village of Kouklia), about 20 kilometers from the New one. Centuries before the new era, it was the pan-Hellenistic center of the cult of Aphrodite. That said, when an ancient Hellene felt like paying his or her respects to the goddess in the right place, Cyprus was the destination to buy a ticket to. Unfortunately, today almost nothing remains of the great cult center, most of it is hidden in the medieval mansion of the Lusignans.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKtV2eTCMAVNIHE4LF_F-Wj22XVrrZx2_yCnLYRCXQK7I7aVuUqYZbLLPVYq8iwsGycTQJMh5mspx4WrQZg6bnqAq49y8EhRiC88v4dZbZ-T72uIUc2sS5z-Gvnjhl0UXXpb5_qfeV6TvD5sB_wtvXc0AZgrKQ84j9YHhQpUaorDqHvWik0JqjQJMfZb_6/s782/sophia%20nicosia.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="782" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKtV2eTCMAVNIHE4LF_F-Wj22XVrrZx2_yCnLYRCXQK7I7aVuUqYZbLLPVYq8iwsGycTQJMh5mspx4WrQZg6bnqAq49y8EhRiC88v4dZbZ-T72uIUc2sS5z-Gvnjhl0UXXpb5_qfeV6TvD5sB_wtvXc0AZgrKQ84j9YHhQpUaorDqHvWik0JqjQJMfZb_6/s320/sophia%20nicosia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i>The name is probably familiar to you at least from the movie “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Heaven_(film)" target="_blank">Kingdom of Heaven</a>”, where one such Lusignan became the reason for the taking of Jerusalem from the Crusaders. However, I had no idea that the entire island of Cyprus was in their possession for almost four centuries, from the beginning of the 12th to the end of the 15th. There is not much connection to Aphrodite here, except that their mansion in Kouklia is neatly located right in the cult center of the goddess and today the archaeological museum is huddled inside. You can find more interesting things inside than outside. Including a strange sarcophagus decorated with bearded naked men and their goats."</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>- Via Manya the Tourist's delightful <a href="https://manyathetourist.com/2022/07/01/paphos/" target="_blank">page</a>. The Lusignan Manor House mentioned became <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_del_Provveditore" target="_blank">Palazzo del Provveditore</a>.</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Inset left </i>is one portion of the original gothic structure - the <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selimiye_Mosque,_Nicosia" target="_blank">Cathedral of Saint Sophia</a> - possibly a Templar stronghold... and the location of their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trials_of_the_Knights_Templar#Trials_in_Cyprus" target="_blank">trials for heresy</a> - until it was converted into a mosque after Nicosia fell to the Ottomans. If you click on the image you will note a large rose in the upper portion and a very obvious Green Man in the lower left.</div><div><br /></div><div>Another building associated with the Lusignans: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrenia_Castle" target="_blank">Kyrenia Castle</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">________________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaI3CT5e62kaSkKFRf2KpSOFdUze2a_ABMmsePvi48V5jBSzMd8n4E8Vq1Q5w-HvUB-7lKG0Q6K53i6oPmksdWGAz2CRuimgQZV8BNGvuOXW-YdXW220hOVgHq0NQJY9G8FpTXomRrosQs7Tzh9MIx3pgBXTOmoUbROh0EUmueLTJALlmqw8bKPxaBfQnY/s543/dd%20new%20pilaster%201.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="381" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaI3CT5e62kaSkKFRf2KpSOFdUze2a_ABMmsePvi48V5jBSzMd8n4E8Vq1Q5w-HvUB-7lKG0Q6K53i6oPmksdWGAz2CRuimgQZV8BNGvuOXW-YdXW220hOVgHq0NQJY9G8FpTXomRrosQs7Tzh9MIx3pgBXTOmoUbROh0EUmueLTJALlmqw8bKPxaBfQnY/w281-h400/dd%20new%20pilaster%201.jpg" width="281" /></a></div>* I'll provide a short-cut to the necessary Wiki information here. After the Knights Templar buy Cyprus from Richard the Lionheart...</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"Their severity of rule in Cyprus quickly incurred the hatred of the native population. On Easter Day in 1192, the Cypriots attempted a massacre of their Templar rulers; however, due to prior knowledge of the attack and limited numbers of troops, the Knights had taken refuge in their stronghold at Nicosia. A siege ensued and the Templars, realizing their dire circumstances and their besiegers' reluctance to bargain, sallied out into the streets at dawn one morning, taking the Cypriots completely by surprise. The subsequent slaughter was merciless and widespread and though Templar rule was restored following the event, the military order was reluctant to continue rule and allegedly begged King Richard to take Cyprus back. King Richard took them up on the offer and the Templars returned to Syria, retaining but a few holdings on the island."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Is it just me, or is there something missing from this narrative? The presence of the Knights Templar on what can only be considered a sacred island, and the "subsequent" merciless slaughter of the Cypriots - the natives of the island - is really a rather ugly picture. We might also question what really "incurred" the initial hostility on the part of the Cypriots. All things considered, why were the Templars anxious to purchase property that Richard clearly didn't want to begin with?</div><div><br /></div><div>But, there's more. After the Templars "sallied into the streets," slaughtering the offending Cypriots and, thereby, regaining control of the island, why then did the Templars "beg" Richard to take the island back? While I can't quite put my finger on it, something seems wrong with the picture... as if it was a cartoon and not actual history. Meanwhile, after they returned to Syria, the Templars continued to "retain but a few holdings on the island." But, why... and where?</div><div><br /></div><div>Note: <i>Inset righ</i>t (above) is a carving (5th to 6th century) - presently in the Louvre - featuring an angel, a throne with an (unidentified) cross, and a downward dove.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>__________________________________</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEstQxF-jpdTvQrG9azHRwsGW02FlxCZRYRpIPzIzq6sm03thqO0cMVqZrCHBJGBlwTRiHPQIrfHbXoC7WkPsCjgCxChMgAiY_GGaWEhSDxwfQzcnHrDmARafXgSkFs0j0PhDJ0T0p9yCZdU7VUOplCY5as5i4D7QW1ZSxStpjRS0tI8LuIbXSZX8k1Z1b/s823/sanctuary%20dovecote.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="823" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEstQxF-jpdTvQrG9azHRwsGW02FlxCZRYRpIPzIzq6sm03thqO0cMVqZrCHBJGBlwTRiHPQIrfHbXoC7WkPsCjgCxChMgAiY_GGaWEhSDxwfQzcnHrDmARafXgSkFs0j0PhDJ0T0p9yCZdU7VUOplCY5as5i4D7QW1ZSxStpjRS0tI8LuIbXSZX8k1Z1b/w474-h257/sanctuary%20dovecote.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More ruins from Aphrodite's Sanctuary. Note the enigmatic square hollows.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-MZhckiBga4YvEIhpf2clNfEBkHgnWIey65297Kzh4IzTaUwDhc0AWpDfHb9VBUrlV434weCZ4I6rIcC-7WtP7QKgwB6uYNliQDGfr1Jbv1vW9XIy129ujKWOkawwxa2aLkwmDiunAQb9KaVsXKrZYnNcT60iaCZ6iHjTUozqBSh96C17Q7By4dXOUYb/s452/dovecote%20ceramic%20(3).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="452" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-MZhckiBga4YvEIhpf2clNfEBkHgnWIey65297Kzh4IzTaUwDhc0AWpDfHb9VBUrlV434weCZ4I6rIcC-7WtP7QKgwB6uYNliQDGfr1Jbv1vW9XIy129ujKWOkawwxa2aLkwmDiunAQb9KaVsXKrZYnNcT60iaCZ6iHjTUozqBSh96C17Q7By4dXOUYb/w284-h282/dovecote%20ceramic%20(3).jpg" width="284" /></a></div>There's an odd sequence of events that took place for me - on a personal level - while blogging for the past few hot, summery months. It began with the dove story I eventually reflected upon <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/07/coco-is-dead-language-of-bird.html" target="_blank">here</a>, but, it's hidden message was a buried in a creative cycle initiated by my poem, <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-masters-house-and-tower-card.html" target="_blank">The Master's House</a></i>. It was a necessary feminist journey I failed to recognize although, considering the circumstances which inspired it, it should've been clear to me.<br /><br /><i>Inset right</i> is a small <a href=" https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-and-practice/the-enduring-symbolism-of-doves/">ceramic dovecote</a> from Cyprus, featuring what is described as the figure of Aphrodite peering from its open door. (I swear I did not find this till I was researching this post!)<br /><br />Basically, I was pulling my psyche out of a potentially injurious situation; one that involved some heavy, patriarchal oppression* coupled with the absurdities posed by fate. On a fundamental level, this oppression began to lift when I mentally pulled down the Master's House. By the time I reached the visionary experience of Venus in the Dovecote (found <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/08/venus-in-dovecote.html">here</a>), however, I was already regaining my "central force" and during my subsequent (imaginary) wanderings through Aphrodite's paradise - before it was rendered into unintelligible fragments by the various "horsemen" who defiled it - I noticed an internal sea-change.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Every woman - and, possibly, some men - should possess an inner Aphrodite's Sanctuary. It's just you. the ocean, sweet fragrances... and silence.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">____________________________________</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">* Venus Aphrodite is not a matriarchal goddess, however. While she is a mother, and has maternal instincts, she is not wholly described by them. She is a Lover... not merely as a sexual entity, but in her engagement with the world. In some myths, she is both motherless, and essentially fatherless; born from the ocean sexually mature and fully autonomous. She has a number of other interesting aspects, however, loosely attached to her by her eventual integration with Inanna, Ishtar and Astarte - all three of which are associated with the planet Venus. (Note: Ishtar was also associated with the Black Madonna, as well as the Phrygian goddess, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybele" target="_blank">Cybele</a>)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">For an interesting Aphrodite source, apart from the ones already mentioned, see: <i><a href=" https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/dark-side-of-venus-goddess-represents-more-than-nudity-romance-and-sex-20191115-p53b0h.html" target="_blank">The Darker Side of Venus</a></i>...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">For Sanctuary descriptions and photos, see: <a href="https://www.fergusmurraysculpture.com/cyprus/historical-sites-10-pages/iii-sanctuary-of-aphrodite/" target="_blank">Fergus Murray's</a> pages, <a href=" https://alwayscarryon.com/2017/09/11/kouklia-cyprus/" target="_blank">Always Carry On</a>, and <a href="http://www.michaelwatts.ca/Cyprus/Palaepaphos.htm" target="_blank">Michael Watt's</a> Cyprus pages.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;">(To be continued in a second supplementary which explores the geometry of the dove symbol in art:</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i>Venus in the Dovecote - Supplementary (b) - The Venus Star and the Downward Dove</i></div><div style="text-align: center;">- the link will become active when the post is published.)</div><br /></div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-701049152459627882023-08-15T17:50:00.020-06:002023-09-03T18:00:45.944-06:00Venus in the Dovecote (Part I)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrleeMDXcK0C6saD2A0diAQckY0Zq4alDEePK8BlPuj4u-q13ZdzysdOklX7yp1EoXicsKunf5eG0TdXAKQ_r_CLHL4hbw1qRUlOnYyVrmQM2jSAe2gkEs6qFu-T8Rn8_-D5kpMq0-qs7CoSTymt74YY2OhBOTZLgRveGPTitGL1QkFjFNV8-3IN08wC6/s691/dovecote%20B%20(3).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="564" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRrleeMDXcK0C6saD2A0diAQckY0Zq4alDEePK8BlPuj4u-q13ZdzysdOklX7yp1EoXicsKunf5eG0TdXAKQ_r_CLHL4hbw1qRUlOnYyVrmQM2jSAe2gkEs6qFu-T8Rn8_-D5kpMq0-qs7CoSTymt74YY2OhBOTZLgRveGPTitGL1QkFjFNV8-3IN08wC6/w326-h400/dovecote%20B%20(3).jpg" width="326" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dovecote" target="_blank">Dovecote</a> at Nymans Gardens, West Sussex, England.</div><i>(All images on this page have been altered for design continuity.)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Poems to Venus</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">written by Sappho, Lucretius, Empedocles, Arthur Rimbaud, Aleister Crowley,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Marina Tsvetaeva, and myself</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“Golden Aphrodite Kypria, who stirs up sweet passion in the gods</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>and subdues the tribes of mortal men . . ." - </i>Homeric Hymn 5 to Aphrodite</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div>______________________________________</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">From<b> Hymn to Aphrodite</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">by Sappho</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0Wi-e_8Cdea9EeGT_xt9MBMRFxwbv0QcX0xVn127SbA-VSrw-h3wYo4m2WS0RKh6ESlMEf_QNkwWbQH_vLpYzwa9pbFBd_vspO4wziG4cLakZnZ0s5NPperufsd0TDjGANdHgTt7ae48ajKDKYL7r_gf__Yn8BQsHTmifeasWkLnMv3_cZJaNeV1GA8C/s619/venus%20and%20doves%20(4).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="377" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv0Wi-e_8Cdea9EeGT_xt9MBMRFxwbv0QcX0xVn127SbA-VSrw-h3wYo4m2WS0RKh6ESlMEf_QNkwWbQH_vLpYzwa9pbFBd_vspO4wziG4cLakZnZ0s5NPperufsd0TDjGANdHgTt7ae48ajKDKYL7r_gf__Yn8BQsHTmifeasWkLnMv3_cZJaNeV1GA8C/w253-h416/venus%20and%20doves%20(4).jpg" width="253" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;">"Aphrodite, subtle of soul and deathless,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Daughter of God, weaver of wiles, I pray thee</div><div style="text-align: center;">Neither with care, dread Mistress, nor with anguish,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Slay thou my spirit!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">But in pity hasten, come now if ever</div><div style="text-align: center;">From afar of old when my voice implored thee,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Thou hast deigned to listen, leaving the golden</div><div style="text-align: center;">House of thy father</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">With thy chariot yoked; and with doves that drew thee,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Fair and fleet around the dark earth from heaven,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Dipping vibrant wings down the azure distance,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Through the mid-ether;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Very swift they came; and thou, gracious Vision,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Leaned with face that smiled in immortal beauty,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Leaned to me and asked, What misfortune threatened?</div><div style="text-align: center;">Why I had called thee?"</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>- Excerpt from the <i><a href=" https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/pos/pos08.htm" target="_blank">Hymn to Venus</a>,</i> the only complete poem which has come down to us from the ancient Greek female poet, <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sappho" target="_blank">Sappho</a> (630-570 BC). Via the same source we have another poem by Sappho (below) in its entirety, found on this <a href="https://sacred-texts.com/cla/pos/pos11.htm" target="_blank">page</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Although she was most often considered a lesbian icon in contemporary times - and, eventually a feminist icon - allegedly <i>"she killed herself by leaping from the Leucadian cliffs due to her unrequited love for the ferryman Phaon."</i></div><div><br /></div></div><div>The image (<i>inset left</i>) is a detail from an early Victorian confection by American illustrator, Walter Crane: <i><a href=" https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/gallery-the-birth-of-aphrodite/" target="_blank">The Renaissance of Venus</a></i> (1840).</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">______________________________________</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Aphrodite's Doves</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">by Sappho</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3xcGqQbKoyI_QpD89PzPaCCUPTwRP9S8gyuk1BTOgANwFUgmUJWqtRZWfcGVmJ2ThKgSM2uf8rWTbsDgj8VAx0C7qgxmxqJmjvWa15HYOr_1I6l4NTSBvRwKZ4wjmBIFbl9_BJIYOFe26HEuIFEpX_q2ttaEagPiuVKY38VavsYCm7Red9RvLytDSwNx/s589/Venus%20doves%20(2).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="462" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ3xcGqQbKoyI_QpD89PzPaCCUPTwRP9S8gyuk1BTOgANwFUgmUJWqtRZWfcGVmJ2ThKgSM2uf8rWTbsDgj8VAx0C7qgxmxqJmjvWa15HYOr_1I6l4NTSBvRwKZ4wjmBIFbl9_BJIYOFe26HEuIFEpX_q2ttaEagPiuVKY38VavsYCm7Red9RvLytDSwNx/w322-h410/Venus%20doves%20(2).jpg" width="322" /></a></div>"When the drifting gray of the vesper shadow</div></div><div>Dimmed their upward path through the midmost azure,</div><div>And the length of night overtook them distant</div><div>Far from Olympus;</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div>Far away from splendor and joy of Paphos,</div><div>From the voice and smile of their peerless Mistress,</div><div>Back to whom their truant wings were in rapture</div><div>Speeding belated;</div><div><br /></div><div>Chilled at heart and grieving they drooped their pinions,</div><div>Circled slowly, dipping in flight toward Lesbos,</div><div>Down through dusk that darkened on Mitylene's</div><div>Columns of marble;</div><div><br /></div><div>Down through glory wan of the fading sunset,</div><div>Veering ever toward the abode of Sappho,</div><div>Toward my home, the fane of the glad devoted</div><div>Slave of the Goddess;</div><div><br /></div><div>Soon they gained the tile of my roof and rested,</div><div>Slipped their heads beneath their wings while I watched them</div><div>Sink to sleep and dreams, in the warm and drowsy</div><div>Night of midsummer."</div></div><div><br /></div><div>- The image <i>inset right</i> is a detail from François Boucher's <i><a href="https://www.artsy.net/artwork/francois-boucher-venus-on-the-waves" target="_blank">Venus on the Waves</a></i>, 1769.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Note: Paphos, Cyprus, is traditionally the birthplace of Venus Aphrodite.)</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">_______________________________________</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div> From Lucretius: <b>On the Nature of Things</b></div><div>(De rerum natura)</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fw2itqesOnhWtWuW_3mirMvLMWkH6WL_qaB-qrZBz1g1_6ZW2ZeucmrzljcHZe-S96WXn4a1UTd2O5L_7qSc4q3nXaKCcxm7z2w7SRN0RIP5ng5nW0fNmL4PCYcuZZXaLuZJPm9c3qG69ttH9JaE70NIbt4ACyqesu4uZQXNv2o4fuGSn5TmjRZAXJCz/s527/louvre%20new%20(4).png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="254" height="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1fw2itqesOnhWtWuW_3mirMvLMWkH6WL_qaB-qrZBz1g1_6ZW2ZeucmrzljcHZe-S96WXn4a1UTd2O5L_7qSc4q3nXaKCcxm7z2w7SRN0RIP5ng5nW0fNmL4PCYcuZZXaLuZJPm9c3qG69ttH9JaE70NIbt4ACyqesu4uZQXNv2o4fuGSn5TmjRZAXJCz/w200-h415/louvre%20new%20(4).png" width="200" /></a></div>"Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,</div><div>Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars</div><div>Makest to teem the many-voyaged main</div><div>And fruitful lands - for all of living things</div><div>Through thee alone are evermore conceived,</div><div>Through thee are risen to visit the great sun -</div><div>Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,</div><div>Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,</div><div>For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers,</div><div>For thee waters of the unvexed deep</div><div>Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky</div><div>Glow with diffused radiance for thee!</div><div><br /></div><div>...And since 'tis thou alone</div><div>Guidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught</div><div>Is risen to reach the shining shores of light,</div><div>Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born,</div><div>Thee do I crave co-partner in that verse</div><div>Which I presume on Nature to compose..."</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- A fragment of <span style="text-align: center;"><a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_rerum_natura" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">De rerum natura</a> by Roman poet and philosopher, Lucretius (</span><span style="text-align: center;">99 – 55 BC). In it, we are informed that Venus Aphrodite was not merely a goddess, but, as in the case of her son, Eros, she was a primeval cosmic force. She was also Lucretius's chosen muse for his verse about "nature." Was his praise merely made in an attempt to court her?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>From the Wiki entry we find that scholars tend to minimize the importance of Aphrodite's presence in the poem, finding the references to her as both goddess and Creatrix inconsistent and baffling. However, we are introduced to an obscure philosopher named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empedocles" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">Empedocles</a>,* purportedly a Pythagorean: <i>"The choice to address Venus may have been due to Empedocles's belief that Aphrodite represents 'the great creative force in the cosmos.'"</i><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">Incidentally, the quoted verses were taken from the William Ellery Leonard translation. For another translation, try </span><a href=" https://www.crtpesaro.it/Materiali/Latino/On%20the%20Nature%20of%20Things,%20Book%201.php" style="text-align: center;" target="_blank">Lamberto Bozzi's</a><span style="text-align: center;">, (2019). </span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div>_______________________________________</div><div><br /></div><div>(More poems after the jump...)</div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div>_______________________________________</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">From <b>Sun and Flesh (</b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleil_et_chair" target="_blank">Soleil et chair</a><b>)</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">By Arthur Rimbaud</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirz3djvRgejUvKQIJ7kkk3JcK4uX9Cvczo0ondPV-R2tJS7U29KHMHMAOQD1eaMZc5fylQfpXEBmdA6PGBhvhNcJEhzZt8OKPUD31pPk_NlzPUgv_G9qtyWKhNYFikWErnHv0r3hjBSkZ1y4WwmgC1HsdXEUzHn3qfp50gABMscMUzb6e36caJPLJi7sRk/s639/venus%20swan%202%20(4).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="373" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirz3djvRgejUvKQIJ7kkk3JcK4uX9Cvczo0ondPV-R2tJS7U29KHMHMAOQD1eaMZc5fylQfpXEBmdA6PGBhvhNcJEhzZt8OKPUD31pPk_NlzPUgv_G9qtyWKhNYFikWErnHv0r3hjBSkZ1y4WwmgC1HsdXEUzHn3qfp50gABMscMUzb6e36caJPLJi7sRk/w299-h512/venus%20swan%202%20(4).jpg" width="299" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div>" O Venus, O Goddess!</div><div>I long for the days of antique youth,</div><div>Of lascivious satyrs, and animal fauns,</div><div>Gods who bit, mad with love, the bark of the boughs,</div><div>And among water-lilies kissed the Nymph with fair hair!</div><div>I long for the time when the sap of the world,</div><div>River water, the rose-coloured blood of green trees</div><div>Put into the veins of Pan a whole universe!"</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;">"I believe! I believe in you! divine mother,</div></div><div style="text-align: center;">Sea-born Aphrodite! - Oh! the path is bitter</div><div style="text-align: center;">Since the other God harnessed us to his cross;</div><div style="text-align: center;">Flesh, Marble, Flower, Venus, in you I believe!</div><div style="text-align: center;">- yes, Man is sad and ugly, sad under the vast sky.</div><div style="text-align: center;">He possesses clothes, because he is no longer chaste,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Because he has defiled his proud, godlike head</div><div style="text-align: center;">And because he has bent, like an idol in the furnace,</div><div style="text-align: center;">His Olympian form towards base slaveries!</div><div style="text-align: center;">Yes, even after death, in the form of pale skeletons</div><div style="text-align: center;">He wishes to live and insult the original beauty!</div><div style="text-align: center;">- And the Idol in whom you placed such maidenhood,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Woman, in whom you rendered our clay divine,</div><div style="text-align: center;">So that Man might bring light into his poor soul</div><div style="text-align: center;">And slowly ascend, in unbounded love,</div><div style="text-align: center;">From the earthly prison to the beauty of day..."</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">- <i>Soleil et Chair</i> was written in 1870, by French symbolist poet, Arthur Rimbaud, when he was 15 years of age. For the most part, the poet</span><i style="text-align: left;"> </i><span style="text-align: left;">mourns the loss of humanity's primal and instinctive connection to the natural world, harkening back to the old gods, the pagan gods of the ancient world. Both English and French versions can be found </span><a href=" https://www.mag4.net/Rimbaud/poesies/Sun.html" style="text-align: left;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="text-align: left;">.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The beautiful image (<i>inset right</i>) is a detail of an extraordinary work by contemporary </span>Chilean artist, <a href="https://www.artsy.net/artist/guillermo-lorca" target="_blank">Guillermo Lorca</a>: <i>The Birth of Venus</i>, 2022.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">_______________________________________</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNvkCTIokKnQiiQjxuLi0OczHOS16WpPTxnwQ9d59V5C_6aeeRPkIp8l18NEL8yRWzcZ6IzsGFBwTqz8vLHRxp8c8q-hSIENIMH2bxry0AHHXg3rLi3N4v5gndDbByZDT2F-gFUZYzuYZoONKqGXGV2f5ljuYB082wO6iJWsG_6z-2zMYEVkKPvuZyx43/s649/statue%205b.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="649" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNvkCTIokKnQiiQjxuLi0OczHOS16WpPTxnwQ9d59V5C_6aeeRPkIp8l18NEL8yRWzcZ6IzsGFBwTqz8vLHRxp8c8q-hSIENIMH2bxry0AHHXg3rLi3N4v5gndDbByZDT2F-gFUZYzuYZoONKqGXGV2f5ljuYB082wO6iJWsG_6z-2zMYEVkKPvuZyx43/w400-h289/statue%205b.png" width="400" /></a></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">From <b>The Hermaphrodite’s Dream</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">by<b> </b>Aleister Crowley</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">"So, Hermes, thou art wed,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So, Aphrodite, mine,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In one sweet spirit shed</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In one ambrosial bed,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In one fair frame divine.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Like clouds in rain, like seas</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Exultant as they roll,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We mix in ecstasies,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And, as breeze melts in breeze,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Thy soul becomes my soul.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I come to thee with tears,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Nameless immortal dove;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Forget the fleet-foot years</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">In the incarnate spheres</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Of our mysterious Love.”</div><div><br /></div></div>- Written in 1898 by the notorious mad genius and self-proclaimed magician, Aleister Crowley, known for his bisexual proclivity, this poem is seemingly an ode to Hermaphroditus, the son (and, eventually, also the daughter) of Hermes and Aphrodite. If one detects some alchemical references here, know that they most likely exist! For the full text to the poem, a related poem by Swinburne, and notes regarding Aphrodite and gender fluidity, see John Kruse's excellent <a href="https://johnkruseblog.wordpress.com/2021/10/31/choose-of-two-loves-aphrodite-hermaphrodite/" target="_blank">post</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The photographic detail of the lovely statue of Aphrodite which introduces this section can be found <a href="https://www.worldbook.com/behind-the-headlines/Mythic-Monday-Amorous-Aphrodite" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">_______________________________________</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div> From <b>Praise to Aphrodite</b></div><div>by Marina Tsvetaeva</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tUM1D0R8L_nL5LCMvKzmQ49HINrZ5HZgQXVRNNvwuixNU_VCOYfvo-PfK8IGoFkI_QooaoklaBqXMLJ93QkTOxMUIPFsZfHnOk01RGHkw1RuOYZjuo5lQxZbGBCRoHezCIVRoO_hAKUxsyl82scymO13It-vtCnrYblslBTREQCirNYex22sBVofzmnu/s601/aphrodite%203%20(5).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="381" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3tUM1D0R8L_nL5LCMvKzmQ49HINrZ5HZgQXVRNNvwuixNU_VCOYfvo-PfK8IGoFkI_QooaoklaBqXMLJ93QkTOxMUIPFsZfHnOk01RGHkw1RuOYZjuo5lQxZbGBCRoHezCIVRoO_hAKUxsyl82scymO13It-vtCnrYblslBTREQCirNYex22sBVofzmnu/w249-h393/aphrodite%203%20(5).jpg" width="249" /></a></div>"How many white doves, how many blue-grey ones</div><div>Eat from the hand?</div><div>Whole kingdoms coo</div><div>Around your lips, Baseness!</div><div><br /></div><div>The golden goblet of deadly sweat</div><div>Will never run dry.</div><div>The crested leader clings</div><div>Like a little white dove.</div><div><br /></div><div>Every cloud in evil times</div><div>Is curved like a breast.</div><div>Your face is in every innocent flower,</div><div>She-Devil!</div><div><br /></div><div>Perishable foam, sea salt…</div><div>In reproach and in torment—</div><div>For how long do we obey you,</div><div>Armless stone?"</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Written in 1921 and translated from the Russian by <a href="https://coppice-gate.com/poetry/328/tsvetaeva-praise-to-aphrodite" target="_blank">John Cobley</a>, Tsvetaeva's poem was inspired by the <a href="https://mythopedia.com/topics/aphrodite" target="_blank">Venus de Milo</a> statue in the Louvre. Seemingly, her disdain for Venus is a reflection of her political views.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The wonderful image (<i>inset right</i> and cropped for subject) is the work of contemporary Hungarian artist/photographer, <a href="https://theadroitjournal.org/issue-eleven-flora-borsi/#" target="_blank">Flora Borsi</a>. Maybe it's just me, but I detect numerous references to the Goddess of Love in this <a href="https://lanouegallery.com/artist/Flora_Borsi/works/" target="_blank">collection</a> of her iconic images... all masterfully conceived.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div>_______________________________________</div><div><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zFXYvvUvpQl4ojLAlpG_srNyvc9VjwzoYTxpHLTehtJorl3Kf1n_aKTnVIfSGZ5KTUeMaZV-tCb4KGihFPLPWjokKf6CZWX98WygXcJEPLto9CyW7eM3m3M3jMEcRh_pG0PBZDFbXfQ3SYr2dh4sg-_PWF-LlbPYey53HFKLaga_mpiMZzaiZaM68q-G/s692/dovecote%20interior%20detail.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="692" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7zFXYvvUvpQl4ojLAlpG_srNyvc9VjwzoYTxpHLTehtJorl3Kf1n_aKTnVIfSGZ5KTUeMaZV-tCb4KGihFPLPWjokKf6CZWX98WygXcJEPLto9CyW7eM3m3M3jMEcRh_pG0PBZDFbXfQ3SYr2dh4sg-_PWF-LlbPYey53HFKLaga_mpiMZzaiZaM68q-G/w461-h306/dovecote%20interior%20detail.png" width="461" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dovecote, <a href="https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/statement-dovecotes-part-2-16th-c-pigeon-house-at-athelhampton-house-dorset/" target="_blank">Athelhampton House</a>, Dorset (interior)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Venus in the Dovecote</b></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMhFWK3CtUE2qUCVtcuBY0pOvWPY8D1n_CexIPT3vMZ0ObjcAvM7LMj-Nl_kav2lPcuer1yUU0lesSo6ufAleNF7E5LOuCmOhJeaUiQxXehVaHTmICS7JODHH2bdddANYXzHnhEsp7vGQ8a09jhQwj-S-B6JJ926TX5Xj-X6qJuf9nsGdIWv8q7ydz3et/s664/dovecote%20(4).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="497" height="495" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMhFWK3CtUE2qUCVtcuBY0pOvWPY8D1n_CexIPT3vMZ0ObjcAvM7LMj-Nl_kav2lPcuer1yUU0lesSo6ufAleNF7E5LOuCmOhJeaUiQxXehVaHTmICS7JODHH2bdddANYXzHnhEsp7vGQ8a09jhQwj-S-B6JJ926TX5Xj-X6qJuf9nsGdIWv8q7ydz3et/w370-h495/dovecote%20(4).jpg" width="370" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">16th century "doo'cot" at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elcho_Castle" target="_blank">Elcho Castle</a>, Scotland</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">There's a glow in the dovecote;</div></div><div style="text-align: center;">the goddess has arrived.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Venus, the luminous,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Venus, the moon-white...</div><div style="text-align: center;">has descended tonight.</div><div style="text-align: center;">She moves languidly, nakedly,</div></div><div style="text-align: center;">with the unconscious finesse</div><div style="text-align: center;">of an open rose,</div><div style="text-align: center;">or a smooth-skinned beech</div><div style="text-align: center;">caressed by invisible winds.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">(She has come to meet her messengers,</div><div style="text-align: center;">her spirit animals,</div><div style="text-align: center;">her guides.)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">She curls up on the floor</div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">amid drifts of fallen feathers;</div><div style="text-align: center;">tokens from those</div><div style="text-align: center;">huddled high up in the rafters...</div><div style="text-align: center;">Her darlings.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Some fluttering down,</div><div style="text-align: center;">nestling their soft ovals of flesh</div><div style="text-align: center;">between her breasts, her thighs</div><div style="text-align: center;">or settling within the triangles</div><div style="text-align: center;">of her folded limbs.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">Together, they rest and dream.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Hearts thrumming, coo-cooing...</div><div style="text-align: center;">an unassuming communion,</div><div style="text-align: center;">no less divine</div><div style="text-align: center;">than all symmetries combined.</div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">II</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYosdfbdMXfluhYA2fT-mVE2oT3o8mqMwblzaOazwu05L8N4hN58TwYD2N6GlnGJGJ8B0G1g9ICQe65wIfvnHdwTPhyklaJ74_n8Z6x8U-lG2Zcxf3NpuH5QeZX7L2XEKYxw7lsL0SI6w8ivF8ua1jkRMFZikFLK7thvpJ5nZOpFHXn644lWfbQtwc0pFQ/s600/new%20dovecote%20(2).jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="528" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYosdfbdMXfluhYA2fT-mVE2oT3o8mqMwblzaOazwu05L8N4hN58TwYD2N6GlnGJGJ8B0G1g9ICQe65wIfvnHdwTPhyklaJ74_n8Z6x8U-lG2Zcxf3NpuH5QeZX7L2XEKYxw7lsL0SI6w8ivF8ua1jkRMFZikFLK7thvpJ5nZOpFHXn644lWfbQtwc0pFQ/w383-h433/new%20dovecote%20(2).jpg" width="383" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dovecote, <a href="https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/statement-dovecotes-part-2-16th-c-pigeon-house-at-athelhampton-house-dorset/" target="_blank">Athelhampton House</a>, Dorset</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;">But, Love's work is never done...</div><div style="text-align: center;">It is her flame</div><div style="text-align: center;">which guides men to the dawn.</div><div style="text-align: center;">It is her unrelenting passion</div><div style="text-align: center;">which spurs them on.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">She flashes a captivating smile</div><div style="text-align: center;">and, then, dipping her fingers</div><div style="text-align: center;">into the nearest warm crevice</div><div style="text-align: center;">plucks up one,</div><div style="text-align: center;">perfectly-formed egg.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">("A pearl fit for an empress," she says.</div><div style="text-align: center;">"But, the hidden gold...</div><div style="text-align: center;">is mine.")</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Venus leans from the dovecote.</div><div style="text-align: center;">A fine lacing of branches </div><div style="text-align: center;">has been drawn</div><div style="text-align: center;">along the border.</div><div style="text-align: center;">The cavernous sky awaits her.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">And, from the open doorway,</div><div style="text-align: center;">she bids her fond farewells</div><div style="text-align: center;">and, then, ascends...</div><div style="text-align: center;">as she has always done...</div><div style="text-align: center;">for millenniums.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">- Dia Sobin, August 14, 2023.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">- <i>"When Venus is at its brightest, it becomes visible just minutes after the Sun goes down. This is when Venus is seen as the Evening Star.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>When Venus is on the other side of the Sun, it leads the Sun as it travels across the sky. Venus will rise in the morning a few hours before the Sun. Then as the Sun rises, the sky brightens and Venus fades away in the daytime sky. This is Venus the Morning Star." - </i>Via this astronomy <a href="https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/news-display.cfm?News_ID=1038" target="_blank">page</a>.</div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>In the long past, of course, the identity of the Morning Star was mistakenly attributed to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer" target="_blank">Lucifer</a>, a minor god and son of the dawn goddess Aurora; we know now that the planet Venus was both the Morning and Evening Star all along. Yes, it was this oversight on the part of some ancient astronomers that the twisted mythology of "Lucifer" and "Lucifer's Fall" came into prominence... effectively misleading some western minds till this very day.</div><div><br /></div><div>Had this been otherwise, a Venus mythology might, instead, include the concept of resurrection and renewal... i.e., "Venus has Risen."</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For more information about dovecotes, here are some excellent sources: John McCann's <a href="http://www.mccannhistoricbuildings.co.uk/truthaboutdovecotes/index.htm" target="_blank"><i>The Truth about Dovecotes</i></a>, and <i><a href="http://www.pigeoncote.com/dovecote/dovecote.html" target="_blank">The Pidgeon Cote</a>,</i> and two great articles about the French Pigeonnier, found <a href=" https://www.afrenchcollection.com/french-pigeonnier/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/07/11/the-french-castles-fit-for-a-pigeon-literally/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">_______________________________________</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* From the few fragments which remain of Empedocles' work... below are two examples sourced <a href="https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028975923/cu31924028975923_djvu.txt" target="_blank">here</a>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49qGZmnrvmI3KIkLLSv7BwiWY3M11mJ8-VfnGaR3uXCctsnnycgjjkmiKmqOoA3KRZsW3_IPV8KOL9NTJpasE18u7ge9k8Pasm6k-CGvZwa8npivhRVxuK4uOgNCRoMO33d9HW-TN0ogPhuPZ9RjO3BzCaAS39bdAWxfd5n1r14TLztZmGYpLS8Bq6gQO/s643/kypris%20queen%202%20(2).png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="439" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49qGZmnrvmI3KIkLLSv7BwiWY3M11mJ8-VfnGaR3uXCctsnnycgjjkmiKmqOoA3KRZsW3_IPV8KOL9NTJpasE18u7ge9k8Pasm6k-CGvZwa8npivhRVxuK4uOgNCRoMO33d9HW-TN0ogPhuPZ9RjO3BzCaAS39bdAWxfd5n1r14TLztZmGYpLS8Bq6gQO/w362-h528/kypris%20queen%202%20(2).png" width="362" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Kypris Queen.</td></tr></tbody></table><i>"Just so the Fire primeval once lay hid </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>In the round pupil of the eye, enclosed </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>In films and gauzy veils, which through and through </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Were pierced with pores divinely fashioned. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>And thus kept off the watery deeps around, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Whilst Fire burst outward, as more fine and thin. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>From which by Aphrodite, the divine, </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The untiring eyes were formed. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Thus Aphrodite wrought with bolts of love. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>One vision of two eyes is born."</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>________</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-style: italic;">"Nor unto them </div><div style="font-style: italic;">Was any Ares god, nor Kydoimos, </div><div style="font-style: italic;">Nor Zeus, the king of gods, nor Kronos, nor </div><div style="font-style: italic;">Poseidon then, but only Kypris queen . . . </div><div style="font-style: italic;">Whom they with holy gifts were wont to appease. </div><div style="font-style: italic;">With painted images of living things. </div><div style="font-style: italic;">With costly unguents of rich fragrancy. </div><div style="font-style: italic;">With gentle sacrifice of taintless myrrh, </div><div style="font-style: italic;">With redolent fumes of frankincense, of old </div><div style="font-style: italic;">Pouring libations out upon the ground </div><div style="font-style: italic;">Of yellow honey; not then with unmixed blood </div><div style="font-style: italic;">Of many bulls was ever an altar stained; </div><div style="font-style: italic;">But among men 'twas sacrilege most vile </div><div style="font-style: italic;">To reave of life and eat the goodly limbs."</div><div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the first stanza, it seems Aphrodite, with her "bolts of love," has created eyesight as we know it: "one vision of two eyes."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The "Kypris queen" in the second verse was another allusion to Venus Aphrodite, who, in one narrative of her birth, was the daughter of the god Ouranus... or, more specifically, the foam created from his severed genitals. We must assume that this was a Virgin Birth in reverse, that is, sans mother or egg... unless the ocean itself was her mother. In any case, Venus was born in the ocean and eventually washed up on the shore of <a href="https://visitworldheritage.com/en/eu/birthplace-of-aphrodite/d4a87816-4a22-44d0-adbd-695bf3ad7d52" target="_blank">Cyprus</a>, which is considered the place of her birth. Kypros or <a href=" https://topostext.org/people/168" target="_blank">Kypris</a> are the classical spellings.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In this description, Empedocles seems to be describing sacrificial rites for Aphrodite in which bloodshed was taboo and eating the "goodly limbs" of bulls was sacrilege... in itself, a Pythagorean (vegetarian) principle.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div>_______________________________________</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1fpT5BY_CaPQ70g8g2Lugqmh-jTiD_fAmsnICNTX4o2V9krSzdI9G-lTCMcHntc4lE_oqc2UvU1J4so5OMhkyPCroxAfC4qz48zwP8mnxKfOJrG9tshNf8eAlNfWSMwHT2TYODjRZOOjaLmFGeteSHjpQJ9K3Yq1DF_JEKv6SVZsVKe0e3OjYMm9QQ3g/s822/cyprus%20dove.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="822" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1fpT5BY_CaPQ70g8g2Lugqmh-jTiD_fAmsnICNTX4o2V9krSzdI9G-lTCMcHntc4lE_oqc2UvU1J4so5OMhkyPCroxAfC4qz48zwP8mnxKfOJrG9tshNf8eAlNfWSMwHT2TYODjRZOOjaLmFGeteSHjpQJ9K3Yq1DF_JEKv6SVZsVKe0e3OjYMm9QQ3g/w200-h128/cyprus%20dove.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/242382" target="_blank">Limestone Dove</a></i>, Cyprus, 600-480 BC</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>(8/16/23 Update: I've come across some interesting related material which will necessitate a supplementary post or two. When it's complete, the link below will become active.)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/08/venus-in-dovecote-part-ii-supplementary.html" target="_blank">Venus in the Dovecote (Part II): Supplementary (a) - The Ancient Sanctuary</a></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-1241377711884578762023-07-26T13:19:00.027-06:002023-10-29T17:37:10.563-06:00Vale, Sinéad!<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QRbKXACBaoc?si=pzjIJWMXXw9SyauR" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sorry, but I had to switch videos again! Just found: Sinéad & Roger Waters in a live performance of Water's "<i>Mother</i>" in Berlin. Note: this song is addictive. (I posted Water's newer, solo version <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2020/05/roger-waters-2020.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It's odd, but I was a little snarky - okay, very snarky and I apologize - about Water's bad mother relationship at the time, but I notice I can sympathize with Sinéad's... Ah well, none of us aren't guilty of some sexism, right?)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile, here's the missing video: <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-dAlYrioGA" target="_blank">My Lagan Love</a></i>. Former previous tune: <i><a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EwUehRrC5c" target="_blank">Moorlough Shore</a></i>. Also, remember this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XhDGkg8SpQ" target="_blank">collaboration</a>?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This just found... on the lovely blog, <i>Sophia's Mirror</i>: <i><a href=" https://sophiasmirror.blogspot.com/2023/07/caoin-na-sidhe-keen-of-sidhe-tribute.html" target="_blank">Caoin na Sídhe - Keen of the Sídhe - A Tribute</a></i>. Also, while there, read Emma's <a href=" https://sophiasmirror.blogspot.com/2013/06/invocation.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Invocation</a>, from which the quote below was taken.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"We pray for all women who are suffering for their beliefs,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>or because of the beliefs of others.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>We pray for all women who are suffering for their ideals,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>or for their dreams unable to be realized,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>or for no other reason than that they are female.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>We commend all these women to your grace, Blessed Shekinah,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>may they find solace in the shadow of your shining wings."</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"At the age of 15, her shoplifting and truancy led to her being placed for eighteen months in a Magdalene asylum called the Grianán Training Centre run by the Order of Our Lady of Charity. In some ways, she thrived there, especially in the development of her writing and music, but she also chafed under the imposed conformity. Unruly students there were sometimes sent to sleep in the adjoining nursing home, an experience of which she later commented, 'I have never - and probably will never - experience such panic and terror and agony over anything."</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">-Via the Wiki entry for <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin%C3%A9ad_O%27Connor" target="_blank">Sinéad O'Connor</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I wasn't able to sleep at all last night. And, after I finally dealt with the morning routines and entered cyberspace I was immediately confronted with the news that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66318626" target="_blank">Sinéad O'Connor has died</a>...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div><a href="https://www.sineadoconnor.com/" target="_blank">Sinéad O'Connor</a> was an artist's artist. Her intensity and her breathy voice with its dazzling range was sheer poetry and, for many of us, the first of its kind to emerge in the (late 20th Century) rock & roll world. Her technique gave international exposure to a lilting Celtic style - as in the video above featuring the traditional song, <i><a href="https://genius.com/Sinead-oconnor-the-moorlough-shore-lyrics" target="_blank">Moorlough Shore</a> </i>- which would eventually become influential across many musical genres. Her popular hit "Nothing Compares 2 U" (originally written and performed by <a href="https://princelyrics.co.uk/song/Prince-nothing-compares-2-u-song-lyrics/" target="_blank">Prince</a>) became solid gold in the music industry. <i>(See the early live version below... impassioned to the degree of an alchemical combustion. Suggestion: watch it in full screen mode.)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G4yRUO5IR8o" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I think she was a little scary to (even) me in those days. I sensed a sensitive woman whose calling in life, coupled with her spontaneous and quirky outspokenness, might bring her undeserved tragedy one day. And it did... the world, being what it was in those days... and, to some degree, still is. From the Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/26/sinead-oconnor-dies-aged-56" target="_blank">article</a>:</div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>"She became just as well known for her shaved head and outspoken views. Ripping up a picture of the pope created a huge backlash – there were death threats and radio boycotts. Frank Sinatra wished to “kick her ass”.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Many considered that O’Connor was vindicated by subsequent revelations about Vatican cover-ups of sex abuse scandals."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>I think, like many an anguished artist, O'Connor had "the sight," but as in the lives of many artists around the world and across most periods of history, their vision is often confused with madness and cannot be tolerated within the context of the societal status quo then current.</div><div><br /></div><div>Farewell, daughter of <a href="https://www.herstory.ie/who-was-brigid" target="_blank">Brigid</a>. <i>Slán abhaile</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hp3wP1xX3iUDYWoEReBY-JQn3pxg1f9FY7UU_ukoIv5FRJGwUVY7Dr1nRPyS9YZVZrJLQGctGswnLbwz1Tv7RLCPYvvqBlq70es0juGEgUcySODy-RYB1PD5DQ918TOPRnv_cqQP5bMTff-wl44-1FPMR1aoHYWfguY0JZ3WB5_PSyzClQ7an1Lvcvdc/s369/s&s%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="345" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hp3wP1xX3iUDYWoEReBY-JQn3pxg1f9FY7UU_ukoIv5FRJGwUVY7Dr1nRPyS9YZVZrJLQGctGswnLbwz1Tv7RLCPYvvqBlq70es0juGEgUcySODy-RYB1PD5DQ918TOPRnv_cqQP5bMTff-wl44-1FPMR1aoHYWfguY0JZ3WB5_PSyzClQ7an1Lvcvdc/w187-h200/s&s%20(2).jpg" width="187" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/09/sinead-oconnor-criticises-irish-authorities-after-death-of-son-shane" target="_blank">Sinéad & her son, Shawn</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><i>"But 56 is way, way too young to die. The millions who love you have been dreading this for, oh, three decades, even though you had a life force strong enough to power 50 lifetimes. I hovered for updates when you went missing in 2016; I read your aching, awful posts grieving your son Shane who died by suicide last year, only 17, the worst thing of all."</i></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">- From Michelle Griffin's touching tribute: "<i><a href="We needed you, Sinead, the crazy-brave anti-Barbie" target="_blank">We needed you, Sinead, the crazy-brave anti-Barbie</a></i>."</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>(If the <a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHJJCCMEo2w" target="_blank">singing bird</a> has flown away, we've no one but ourselves to blame.)</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-81125542681971441522023-07-18T15:36:00.057-06:002023-11-22T23:34:27.364-07:00"Coco is Dead" - The Language of a Bird<p p="" style="text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WE2MlkxanRw_8-4oGsJCopsd0m6m-poAYIey21zfOK6Z_055n3z7kd5Gbdh2rP6M0Zjtx-BSymGB6SJtVZ2SHBMUNlFI1ZXqgwOSOa5nQ8UphPGaxos4JW5TqA7GUcCfcT4nsmXRPgrO-JRLezez4HPJPWrbtKtLFQ4d8QQ_1S-NuSZWRPm3t9aQ1QQD/s808/dove%205%20(4).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="808" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8WE2MlkxanRw_8-4oGsJCopsd0m6m-poAYIey21zfOK6Z_055n3z7kd5Gbdh2rP6M0Zjtx-BSymGB6SJtVZ2SHBMUNlFI1ZXqgwOSOa5nQ8UphPGaxos4JW5TqA7GUcCfcT4nsmXRPgrO-JRLezez4HPJPWrbtKtLFQ4d8QQ_1S-NuSZWRPm3t9aQ1QQD/w640-h442/dove%205%20(4).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A <a href="https://blog.nature.org/2014/02/18/eurasian-collared-dove-bird-count/" target="_blank">Eurasian collared dove</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><br /></div><div>"That all my life I have listened to the calls</div><div>of mourning doves, have heard them hidden far back</div><div>under the eaves, or perched among sycamore branches—</div><div>their five still notes sometimes lost in the wind—</div><div>and not known how to answer: this I confess,</div><div>lying here now, on a summer morning, in a dark room</div><div>no less lit by the sound of their soft calling..."</div><div><br /></div><div>- From the poem<i> Mourning Doves</i> by American poet, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Carter_(poet)" target="_blank">Jared Carter</a>,</div><div>found along with the quote which follows (below), on this <i>Mythic Living</i> <a href=" https://mythicliving.wordpress.com/tag/rain-dove/" target="_blank">page</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>"The mourning dove of North America is, as its name suggests, sometimes connected to the notion of the soul’s passing from this life to the next. Thus, the appearance of the bird has been associated with visitation from the “other side”. This is not a new metaphor, nor is it only North American. It is usually understood to be a reassuring representation that life goes on, albeit separated from the still-living."</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinD3400mLv6-P-dbbVEE-NyWe37IF-H1Ia3AUWfZRD8c37m7Fj6I8OhFK0R-CWBhjU440UVx_6ZH8RzEVd9fz85bNjVVc_OZ8vcbwzAVJvezThUWympj1u9KNJY2VSQvlAInOKSSFzWoNBiKhJ75PQnsRRDqAtEgOBBXGY60rhhfWXTd2nPvgAXUxyi5Z2/s677/watcher%20(2).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="492" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinD3400mLv6-P-dbbVEE-NyWe37IF-H1Ia3AUWfZRD8c37m7Fj6I8OhFK0R-CWBhjU440UVx_6ZH8RzEVd9fz85bNjVVc_OZ8vcbwzAVJvezThUWympj1u9KNJY2VSQvlAInOKSSFzWoNBiKhJ75PQnsRRDqAtEgOBBXGY60rhhfWXTd2nPvgAXUxyi5Z2/w291-h400/watcher%20(2).jpg" width="291" /></a></div><i>(If there's one thing I've learned about Camus during the course of our dance is that the man is infectious. He makes a writer want - actually need - to write. So, to all of you who write - not necessarily to make a living, but because you need to bring some kind of order and meaning to your life - when blocked, read Camus. There's something to be said for a writer who - without saying so - encourages you to just open up and spit it out.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>That being said, I think I can safely report: I've come back to this blog for a bit, and my heart seems to be in it. So, that's good. As to why I suddenly need to blog so much - and I do not really consciously know - well, it's a slightly unsettling question... which need not be addressed presently. We'll just run with it.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Today's story is about a bird. A bird who can, potentially, talk. A bird who is hunted... perhaps haunted. A familiar bird to many humans as it has emigrated to numerous locations across the globe. It is a refugee, and, this is why it is, perhaps, more unbound than other species of birds. It might also be more intelligent than some of them... it has, after all, learned to adapt to many different countries and has seen many nationalities and races of people. It has heard snatches of human conversation in many diverse languages - gathering them into its memory banks - by, what we can assume to be, a brain's osmotic processes - as it sat quietly, sometimes invisibly, on its high perch overlooking its adopted land.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>But, I wasn't aware of any of that when this story first began... a true story, regardless of my interpretation.</i></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Above</i>,<i> </i>inset right,<i> the Watcher, a dove parked outside my bedroom window... as it often is every day.)</i></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The star(s)s of my story - the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_collared_dove" target="_blank">Eurasian collared dove</a>, is related to the <a href=" https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/overview#">mourning dove</a>, unique birds when you think about it. On the eastern coast of the US the mourning dove (<i>inset left & inset right </i>below<i>) </i>is such a common sight and its song is so instantly identifiable, one never fully grasps it's oddness. It is considered a songbird but it's song is short, wistful and slightly melancholy, often described as "a lament". Think: graveyards, willow trees and grey gardens... (Listen to it <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/815803" target="_blank">here</a>.)</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf0tqK6JGpfXfvFquATQLW_TegLNzBwiy5hOf0qRa14vb7oFvh2z4p4CJU6zZuOJKoTvcibalBQSOjW_KRxanNMgynb3c1DYWNMhFAiN56ztqaC3GpT0NFmLs5mjq7zsfNZF6Dx4wmATuUP2kgODexefmU6dgQ08LY-gwQyxqNawsMd-2BGGBMW41KfSNZ/s585/dove%203.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="512" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf0tqK6JGpfXfvFquATQLW_TegLNzBwiy5hOf0qRa14vb7oFvh2z4p4CJU6zZuOJKoTvcibalBQSOjW_KRxanNMgynb3c1DYWNMhFAiN56ztqaC3GpT0NFmLs5mjq7zsfNZF6Dx4wmATuUP2kgODexefmU6dgQ08LY-gwQyxqNawsMd-2BGGBMW41KfSNZ/s320/dove%203.jpg" width="280" /></a></div>But, NM is a different sort of place. It is not near the ocean - the land is trapped... and its ghosts know it. The birds, however, do not. Many of them migrate. Even seagulls, ocean birds who will find no large bodies of water here, fly into NM's dry interior. There is, no doubt, a scientific explanation for this, but, I'd rather imagine the seagulls can sense the ancient oceans which once flowed here thousands of years ago, and are following deeply embedded biological markers in the landscape and atmosphere.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then again, there is something about birds which demands we endow them with magical powers... whether they possess them or not. However, we must consider: their bodies are flying vehicles. Can't touch that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, the story begins in a vague sort of way... that is I began hearing some mysterious bird every morning when I woke up. It had a strange vocalization; not a song really. In an eerie way, it seemed to be saying something. Now, I could go into the general setting in which I live, but, for the sake of economy, I'll skip all that. The fact is, that I heard a bird calling outside of my window every day... and sometimes on the launchpad (my dedicated smoking room). And, it's "song" began to bother me. Abrasive, the bird's vocalizations were not patterns of musical notes. They uncannily resembled human speech, but I couldn't make it out.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, one day, it suddenly came to me that I <u>could</u> understand what the bird seemed to be saying. I cannot identify what had changed enabling this to happen. It just did. In fact, it seemed obvious; in it's weird, hollow, bird-voice - which seemed to originate somewhere in its belly - it seemed to be repeating the same phrase over and over again:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;"> "Coco is dead."</span></i></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vU2I0XU2gkTLfFm-HUUQ0fIwGEHYTfdbX0_UOViAYE9NG0N-o3_wFGljnGIUBycqIRSiHIImMx9L8JW4aKPwImS6ZcHR1NvXRDnucrYVmhnwC5ZVeU6sJNCiPqj8bv2g0z_bWV1oypGLmyatUgFp2euk1Gb7ysss5ULKb75fvcs_fETttj40Ou1L_kfR/s576/mourning%20dove.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="576" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3vU2I0XU2gkTLfFm-HUUQ0fIwGEHYTfdbX0_UOViAYE9NG0N-o3_wFGljnGIUBycqIRSiHIImMx9L8JW4aKPwImS6ZcHR1NvXRDnucrYVmhnwC5ZVeU6sJNCiPqj8bv2g0z_bWV1oypGLmyatUgFp2euk1Gb7ysss5ULKb75fvcs_fETttj40Ou1L_kfR/w400-h274/mourning%20dove.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div>During this same period I had a weird bird encounter. What looked like a mourning dove flew onto the fence surrounding the launchpad (see: <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/06/dancing-with-ghost-of-albert-camus.html" target="_blank">Dancing with the Ghost</a></i>...). It startled me because it came quite close to my face, peering at me with one large dark eye. Then it lifted off and flew away. For anyone familiar with mourning doves, this was unusual; they're timid birds. But, I noticed the band around its neck, and wondered if it might be a slightly different variety of dove, maybe an exclusively southwestern variety. At this stage of the game, I didn't know.</div></div><div><br /><div>Meanwhile, my bird with its grave announcement had somewhat changed its message. In fact, it was changing its message every other day. I now alternately heard: "Coco is dead," "Coco escaped," "Coco has escaped," and one day, "Coco is ALIVE! Sometimes different names replaced "Coco." There were three different names but I wrote down (and remember) only 2 of them: Yahghol and Jockarelle. (I've spelled them the way they sounded and would be pronounced - in English - with the accent on the first syllable.) I think it was at this point that I finally took my experience more seriously. I was beginning to imagine I was listening to an official avian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_crier" target="_blank">town crier</a>...</div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAtj-HZqa2mQOOoPy9gN76rD3MoQtzW468AngTz8a8RnX4c4xq2paOJyOSBJZyebYpB-de_QrWXX8vPtDIBNHW--XVttaoYhUlVRHIvalFNDVu2CaOstMBZ335ZT2fhOUcuQe65OvVvb1tfujB4Ur0pO1LmMgiFin9LY3RLA0_rZL2ydrpIQFGUPbpW6z/s791/eurasian%20collared%20doves.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="791" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTAtj-HZqa2mQOOoPy9gN76rD3MoQtzW468AngTz8a8RnX4c4xq2paOJyOSBJZyebYpB-de_QrWXX8vPtDIBNHW--XVttaoYhUlVRHIvalFNDVu2CaOstMBZ335ZT2fhOUcuQe65OvVvb1tfujB4Ur0pO1LmMgiFin9LY3RLA0_rZL2ydrpIQFGUPbpW6z/w640-h450/eurasian%20collared%20doves.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So, I did the research. I discovered my "town crier" was a Eurasian collared dove like the pair above. And, I found something more. In the Wiki entry for <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_dove" target="_blank">mourning dove</a>, it is stated:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>"It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>and a popular gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to <b>70 million</b> in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and meat."</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Not to mention what I found on this <a href=" https://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/hunting-seasons-open-doves-grouse-squirrels-band-tailed-pigeons/" target="_blank">page</a>: </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>"HUNTING SEASONS OPEN FOR DOVES, GROUSE, SQUIRRELS,</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>BAND-TAILED PIGEONS;</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>PELLET GUNS APPROVED FOR COLLARED DOVES, GROUSE, SQUIRRELS</i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div></div><div><i>Beginning this year, .177 caliber or larger pellet guns are among the legal sporting arms for Eurasian collared doves, dusky grouse and squirrels. The State Game Commission approved the change Aug. 28 to give hunters more opportunities to bag those species, partly due to the ongoing shortage of .22-caliber ammunition."</i></div><div><br /></div></div>And I'm afraid the Eurasian collared dove fares even worse; in some states it's considered an <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/invasives/id-report/birds/eurasian-collared-dove" target="_blank">invasive species</a>.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>But the story - which, at that point in time, I was already beginning to write in my mind... Disneyland, here I come - still had a ways to go before it became fit for Family Entertainment.</div><div><br /></div><div>And, as my fingers plodded across the keyboard, I found more fodder for a really riveting screenplay involving tragic, discriminated-against, refugee birds slaughtered in the millions... but (in my story) discovered by a child who (magically) overhears them conversing, and, after rousing some scientists to begin studying their unique vocalizations, initiates a moratorium on the systematic murder of their species, and effectively enlightens the world. At which point a rainbow comes out, doves are flying in peace-sign formation, and flowers are nodding their heads in agreement.</div><div><br /></div><div>That story.*</div><div><br /></div><div>But, there was only one problem with my imaginary screenplay. Everything after the "child's" discovery was sheer fantasy and likely to remain so.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcS6juoM1RGZub0xbrfcIewQ1lqRwWkBixX4MHbYwT-cFo5F1-m6mVeyvVMkqwYeVTOaZH5aHDzLl_FFD52Y3afkHU7ysph55V2mj2Pxx6tp8gALJNZDjP7kmPGPf_f8Sgng944ba6KiQfjuBULmHUn9GpAkc3CszqeuA5VnqZq87DN9_XvFSF4x0e7Qx/s897/mourn%20dove.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="897" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbcS6juoM1RGZub0xbrfcIewQ1lqRwWkBixX4MHbYwT-cFo5F1-m6mVeyvVMkqwYeVTOaZH5aHDzLl_FFD52Y3afkHU7ysph55V2mj2Pxx6tp8gALJNZDjP7kmPGPf_f8Sgng944ba6KiQfjuBULmHUn9GpAkc3CszqeuA5VnqZq87DN9_XvFSF4x0e7Qx/w640-h344/mourn%20dove.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mourning dove and (possibly) its dead companion. 2021, James Yule. (Found <a href="https://cowboystatedaily.com/2021/06/08/image-of-dove-appearing-to-grieve-over-death-of-mate-in-wyoming-goes-viral/" target="_blank">here</a>, along<br />with the quote below.)</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"From across the road, Yule could see now that one of the birds was dead. Likely, struck by a car within the last 15 minutes. The live bird was nudging the dead one with its beak, as if trying to render it conscious or push its body over off the road. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Passing vehicles stirred the bird who skirted off to safety before promptly returning with its eyes fixed on its dead mate. Yule watched as it rustled its feathers and seemed to jump on the dead bird’s body before lowering its head to nudge it again.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>“It was like he was trying to shake an unconscious person to wake them up,” Yule said. “It was as if he had no idea what was happening. No conception of death.”</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>- Regarding the sad photo directly above, without knowing the particulars, we can at least assume that the mourning dove above is acknowledging the death of a member of its species. I also think it's safe to assume that all animals recognize death, although their actual understanding of death may differ from ours. Apparently, the photograph went viral, most people interpreting it as a tragic love story. What disturbed me the most, however, was that there were others who <i>"debated whether or not the mourning dove had the capacity for feeling." </i>I figure they were probably hunters in denial.</div><div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDN2KBxFOgvZfaHOQA5veQ7K6lph3hADFrGOCNsGV2719t9XbMw63Vf0jLrcQbSeGpfS1lfQ6IbYhLE4BuazPXVdFnZJ31o0MCiAl8OnAbV2bEPf4ULspmWfgb6Cf-H1onkvVOZIj8Ob9rRVLhaLq7M9h2sq7y8LBN9nPkNFqRGOz9hBr2sQxDS3p_jisB/s654/dove%20decoy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="654" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDN2KBxFOgvZfaHOQA5veQ7K6lph3hADFrGOCNsGV2719t9XbMw63Vf0jLrcQbSeGpfS1lfQ6IbYhLE4BuazPXVdFnZJ31o0MCiAl8OnAbV2bEPf4ULspmWfgb6Cf-H1onkvVOZIj8Ob9rRVLhaLq7M9h2sq7y8LBN9nPkNFqRGOz9hBr2sQxDS3p_jisB/s320/dove%20decoy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mourning dove <a href=" https://banded.com/products/hunter-series-morning-doves-2-pack?variant=42361637109931" target="_blank">decoy</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">(7/20/23)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigoKidWRdPqFsF9L8MxVUOX_r-3WrUawPaaCCBFIpxq7-CMnYlPsz0b29KCAK48H4ElZDLGbky55d6egB_uGnoDlNf8QTaBXrzywGPXJjz7EsALUUrtKjMiwtkl5JxZOmdi-07AUiVZsDd386or302g3ACCATH4fH5H58zlL7v3i5iFK_yv0YeQfNymFo3/s576/dove%202%20(5).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="576" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigoKidWRdPqFsF9L8MxVUOX_r-3WrUawPaaCCBFIpxq7-CMnYlPsz0b29KCAK48H4ElZDLGbky55d6egB_uGnoDlNf8QTaBXrzywGPXJjz7EsALUUrtKjMiwtkl5JxZOmdi-07AUiVZsDd386or302g3ACCATH4fH5H58zlL7v3i5iFK_yv0YeQfNymFo3/w400-h391/dove%202%20(5).jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Sorry for the delay, but I've been trying get a few audio files embedded in this blog post so you, the reader, will have some idea of what I'm talking about. I've recorded some of my own files in video format - via my cell-phone - but these are not excellent examples. Especially as digital recordings can't seem to replicate all pertinent information (re: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonality" target="_blank">tonality</a>). All bird song seems to lose something in the recording... but, this is especially true in the case of the Eurasian Collared dove. Perhaps, we're not discussing music as much as speech. I can't say.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(Image, <i>inset right</i>, was sourced <a href="https://www.ndow.org/species/eurasian-collared-dove/#" target="_blank">here</a>.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, you can make your own judgement by listening to some of the hundreds of recordings (from a number of countries) starting <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/species/Streptopelia-decaocto?pg=1" target="_blank">here</a> on the Xeno-Canto website (there are numerous pages). I may attempt to embed a few, but, thus far, I note the samplings sound better on the site. Here's one <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/745871" target="_blank">file</a> - courtesy of Belgian birdwatcher, Alain Malengreau, and another <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/786892" target="_blank">file</a> by his fellow Belgian, Valentijn Hermans - which sound close to what I've been hearing, but, this bird's vocalization is difficult to record for a number of reasons. One reason is that there are several acoustical oddities and/or artifacts involved... some odd variables in the bird's voice pattern which enables the listener to hear several differing, almost "encrypted" sounds. But, I'll try to describe this later.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For now, you will be listening specifically for the repeated phrase which sounds like: <i>"Coco is dead." </i>The bird does have at least 2 other vocalizations as well, but these aren't the ones referred to in this post. Interestingly, while at the Xeno-Canto - a marvelous site - you will find the "Coco" phrase does not sound exactly the same across the world... nor even in the same country. In any case, listen to the very end of each file. Try to compare them by "emotional" content as well. Does the bird sound very sad, or anxiously urgent?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">At the same time, "Coco is dead," is a phrase in English. So, this fact may lead us to the conclusion that this article is total nonsense! But, I am committed ** to finishing this article, so I will persevere.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I would also like to include a few more file links in this section. For instance, we have a longer <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/811631" target="_blank">file</a> from Paul Driver in the UK. In my ears, the bird sounds frantic. Here's a <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/802331" target="_blank">file</a> from the Netherlands, uploaded by Susanne Kuijpers. The bird sounds like its on its last gasp. Olivier Swift from France has this <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/801232" target="_blank">file</a> (very clear). And, finally, from Alladin in Romania we have this <a href="https://xeno-canto.org/719859" target="_blank">file</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i>"The generic name is from the Ancient Greek streptos meaning "collar" and peleia meaning "dove"; the specific epithet is Greek for "eighteen". The number comes from a Greek myth. A maid who worked hard for little money was unhappy that she was only paid 18 coins a year and begged the gods to let the world know how little she was rewarded by her mistress. Thereupon Zeus created this dove that has called out "Deca-octo" ever since..."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>"The song is a goo-GOO-goo. The Eurasian collared dove also makes a harsh loud screeching call lasting about two seconds, particularly in flight just before landing. A rough way to describe the screeching sound is a hah-hah."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Via 2 quotes from the Wiki entry for Eurasian collared dove. I have seen several interpretations of this bird's vocalizations. None of them seem to resemble what I'm hearing. Nor the "a cooing “woop-WOOO!-woop” found <a href="https://ebird.org/species/eucdov" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjug4_KhtcEOJDINFQ0k3-1c-_5g_G0oFQ2KuZ7HB1Opf9TAf7biDGRe3094ymIDjTKIYD0SD6X_iHx-g_wjutb_xTDEdzvjLtKiKmTiKjQeLJk76gcHSgp8n_dJtXutAhErgCsytSciGXLeMMT2L7dJF_E1LiPBLF8uktNz2y0EVxXtEqya-IsOsR1RM6l/s582/collared%20dove.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="582" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjug4_KhtcEOJDINFQ0k3-1c-_5g_G0oFQ2KuZ7HB1Opf9TAf7biDGRe3094ymIDjTKIYD0SD6X_iHx-g_wjutb_xTDEdzvjLtKiKmTiKjQeLJk76gcHSgp8n_dJtXutAhErgCsytSciGXLeMMT2L7dJF_E1LiPBLF8uktNz2y0EVxXtEqya-IsOsR1RM6l/w400-h289/collared%20dove.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eurasian Collared dove found <a href="https://www.lovetoknow.com/life/grief-loss/mourning-dove-symbolism-exploring-its-peace-power" target="_blank">here</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7/21/23</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>This just found... from the same Wiki entry:</div><div><br /></div><div><div><i>"In 1974, fewer than 50 Eurasian collared doves escaped captivity in Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas. From the Bahamas, the species spread to Florida, and is now found in nearly every state in the U.S., as well as in Mexico... As of 2012, few negative impacts have been demonstrated in Florida, where the species is most prolific. However, the species is known as an aggressive competitor and there is concern that as populations continue to grow, native birds will be out-competed by the invaders. One study, however, found that Eurasian collared doves are not more aggressive or competitive than native mourning doves, despite similar dietary preferences."</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>"While the spread of disease to native species has not been recorded in a study, Eurasian collared doves are known carriers of the parasite Trichomonas gallinae and pigeon paramyxovirus type 1. Both Trichomonas gallinae and pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 can spread to native birds via commingling at feeders and by consumption of doves by predators."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Two more quotes from the Wiki entry. Apparently, the species in the US originated from the Bahamas and seem, for the most part harmless. However, being known carriers of any viral or parasitic disease does not work in their favor. Moreover, if we include them amongst the game birds, we can only hope no one is actually eating the creatures. In any case, far from the Disney script I originally envisioned, this could be the fodder for another grisly Pandemic tale.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div>On the other hand, we have the sweeter story below about a collared dove named Trigger who was adopted by a human family as a fledgling. And, from it, we can deduce that collared doves are responsive to humans, are playful, are quite intelligent... and have a dove's homing instinct.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, the bird it quite silent in the video. As it's mother died when it was young, I wonder if it will learn its own language... or if it will eventually pick up a few human words.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N9F1zQVpg9k" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div>While I realize it is unlikely the collared doves are actually saying words in English, their vocalizations do bear some study... and not merely for their resemblance to human speech, but because of their unusual nature. What I haven't mentioned previously about the variations I also heard is that, very often, depending upon when and how you hear the "Coco is dead" line, it can also be heard in the ways I mentioned earlier - and I discovered this in my own audio files - that is, sometimes the same call sounds like "Coco escaped" or "Coco has escaped" (note the extra syllable) and sometimes the name Coco can be interpreted as the longer name, Jockanelle, or some other name. I've also heard "Coco is alive!" which should be a separate set of sounds altogether. How is this possible? (See new video in the following section.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Language of the Birds, indeed.</div><div> </div><div>Lastly, there is the matter of any dove, generally a <a href="http://www.songbirdprotection.com/about-mourning-doves.html" target="_blank">songbird</a>, degraded into a game-bird - i.e., target practice - at least here in America. Regardless how of you look at it - via the information presented - it seems like a bad, if not barbaric idea.</div><div><br /></div><div>And there's more, but, in the interests of economy, I'm afraid I will have to continue Coco's story in another post... one in which wildlife, in general, can be addressed. Because, while we can hear what it sounds like the bird is saying - which, you must admit is in keeping with its reputation and the folklore surrounding doves in general, and mourning doves in particular - the reality is the bird is speaking in its own alien language... in very complex way.</div><div><br /></div><div>That being said, I notice the Watcher has been missing the past couple of days. Maybe my job - whatever it is - is done.</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: left;">7/22/23</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Watcher was back this morning. I finally heard it make a sound, and by this sound, I know it's a mourning dove. I think it sits nearby because I go outdoors more than the other tenants in the building and... well, it's curious.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile, I've since received some comments from my friend BG Dodson, that indicate my interpretation of collared dove's lingo is not necessarily the only interpretation possible. However, I did find a video which might clarify why it is that some birds can talk (posted below). (Surprise - birds have both a larynx and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrinx_(bird_anatomy)" target="_blank">syrinx</a>!)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dBGw7uXc0eo" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>I've also found a whole slew of talking parrot and cockatoo videos for those who, like me, enjoy this sort of thing: First up, a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vczPUBTJMUg" target="_blank">cockatoo story</a> about a bird who calls all women "Barbara." Following this, we have an African grey named <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewptevBIqNk" target="_blank">Petra</a> and another named <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tccIcKQ71Zs" target="_blank">Gizmo</a>. Here's another parrot story about a therapeutic parrot named <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcI2xpe--DI" target="_blank">Vandal</a>, and lastly, a BBC <a href=" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozgcKw4Myv" target="_blank">video</a> about 2 other genius birds.</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">Enjoy!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">(PS Before I forget... Note to BG: here's the first of a charming series of videos about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d3dOam9Hg4" target="_blank">Fable</a>, the talking Raven.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Afterword</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">7/23/23</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Today, I finally saw at least one of the neighborhood "town criers" for the first time. Previously, I've only heard its call. Apparently, he's been perched at the top of a tall tree overlooking the launchpad. Today's call: "Coco had escape." (sic) I then listened to all of my video/audio files and they all sounded similarly (but, with the "ed" added), except for one which <u>did</u> sound like (the expected) "Coco is dead." In any case, I've decided my files are totally lacking in quality and I'm not going to even attempt to upload them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, that's not why I'm writing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPqW3BFQ1RzvUAOip7DVZIMzObGc1vlqUdB4aZMVBhMOLu8cIsbhqXFuLLdaV2MQnZa8h_xGAjUd-TmiJN74ybGj-UXLPGdCYo-SBh534ws9pY_0HokAKVuIuj4fEN70nuulNQ-9hjUb_yKoBb1Dj6lCzgO7isimKNQlaYE9p_O6GSB5ud3-Xc2TzuTLq/s346/hybrid%202.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="346" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPqW3BFQ1RzvUAOip7DVZIMzObGc1vlqUdB4aZMVBhMOLu8cIsbhqXFuLLdaV2MQnZa8h_xGAjUd-TmiJN74ybGj-UXLPGdCYo-SBh534ws9pY_0HokAKVuIuj4fEN70nuulNQ-9hjUb_yKoBb1Dj6lCzgO7isimKNQlaYE9p_O6GSB5ud3-Xc2TzuTLq/w200-h176/hybrid%202.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The Watcher was out there again today, too, and I have learned it is a female mourning dove. I discovered this because the somewhat larger and greyer collared dove (which I'm assuming is male) - with its familiar squawk - flew up to her, bowed several times... and then mounted her! An avian interracial love story... who knew?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'd heard of the possible existence of collared/mourning dove <a href="https://birds.outdoornebraska.gov/eurasian-collared-dove-x-mourning-dove-hybrid/" target="_blank">hybrids</a> (not to be confused with this African <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_collared_dove" target="_blank">dove</a>) They may be more common than is currently known... which is why the two varieties of doves are often confused.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As a matter of fact, the bird who visited me on the patio - who may be my Watcher as well - had a band around her neck and (reddish eyes), but her rosier coloring, slenderness, and longer beak was that of a mourning dove.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Addendum</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9jp9NOdZdHzrq7RrhNZw_68lIoZmFuUaet4oBGiwOvuaaeMAVdtySqmsZHdVXGgyoKrzqt-gZLt-RH7R7e0zyMbi4rWnlbP4c__9JdUsJ_zW4VhunmfMfhZhPG4yrKUuTB9z1bf-gZGQUuu6zJyFsLo8iXo25NmGgkAHzSUkR9zJPkC1QmGj8Z9EJf82/s733/watcher%203%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="552" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9jp9NOdZdHzrq7RrhNZw_68lIoZmFuUaet4oBGiwOvuaaeMAVdtySqmsZHdVXGgyoKrzqt-gZLt-RH7R7e0zyMbi4rWnlbP4c__9JdUsJ_zW4VhunmfMfhZhPG4yrKUuTB9z1bf-gZGQUuu6zJyFsLo8iXo25NmGgkAHzSUkR9zJPkC1QmGj8Z9EJf82/s320/watcher%203%20(2).jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7/26/23</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As of today, there appears to be a new Watcher positioned in front of my bedroom window (from where the photographic image above was taken).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm afraid Watcher #1, a female mourning dove introduced at the beginning of the post, was supplanted from her customary perch by the male collared dove who seduced her (re: the Afterword)!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'll try not to read anything into this... but, I must say, his presence is somehow more compelling.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>(Note: after 2 weeks of 100+ degree temperatures, it is presently raining.)</i> :-)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">________________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* Alternate ending: the doves are spiraling off into the sunset to the strains of Michael Blake's <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-power-of-love.html" target="_blank">Phi</a> tune.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">** This bird will haunt me till I do.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><i>"It is always easy to be logical. It is almost impossible to be logical to the bitter end."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Albert Camus, from <i><a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/11/07/camus-myth-of-sisyphus-suicide/" target="_blank">The Myth of Sisyphus</a></i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>There is a supplementary dove post which follows this one:</div><div><i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/09/for-birds-coco-martha-cher-ami-gi-joe.html" target="_blank">For the Birds: "Coco," Martha, Chér Ami, GI Joe, Irish Paddy & all the unsung others...</a></i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-17538404182435745372023-07-16T15:28:00.485-06:002023-07-17T16:31:46.846-06:00"Looking into a Mirror Sideways" (Revised 7/17/23)<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXrfDHKuBp7_T0ywFomXWsiK6MJeEU4Zk_M_gc4cEEjFVLQgTYRj9VPo8aeh8X_g_Dc-Zak2Tn529Bn_9CucgAdWs0MGQ8qK_XO-_HkFwlwHgFo1j7zIqd3RwftBY1fuka3vMBXd25XLv4bCXcK3KGt5O3DCoLKLhDvJ8Q51xHYl09fR5duo9hIwLFJ48/s648/anderson%2075%20(4).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="648" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXrfDHKuBp7_T0ywFomXWsiK6MJeEU4Zk_M_gc4cEEjFVLQgTYRj9VPo8aeh8X_g_Dc-Zak2Tn529Bn_9CucgAdWs0MGQ8qK_XO-_HkFwlwHgFo1j7zIqd3RwftBY1fuka3vMBXd25XLv4bCXcK3KGt5O3DCoLKLhDvJ8Q51xHYl09fR5duo9hIwLFJ48/w600-h450/anderson%2075%20(4).jpg" width="600" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laurie Anderson, Absent in the Present: <i><a href="https://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/laurie-anderson/" target="_blank">Looking into a Mirror Sideways</a></i>, 1975 © Laurie Anderson</td></tr></tbody></table></div><p><b><br /></b></p><p><i>(I know it seems like I'm on a roll this week... and maybe I am... and maybe I'm not. This is my second attempt to put up this post. So, while it occurs to me that I may be slowly</i><i> retrieving more of my voice after (its) long absence, it is equally as possible that I'm deluding myself...</i></p><p><i>Or, trying to communicate with a mirror bisecting my face.)</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>***</i></p><b>Laurie Anderson</b>: <i>"I think Donald Trump changed my relationship to reality more than virtual reality did. The second people started chanting “Lock her up,” my sense of reality shifted in a major way. I wish I had more distance and I wish I could just see, “This is really an insane person trying to get attention.” He’s very, very good at what he does. Sometimes I’m kind of lured into his world, even though I recognize it as one of attention-seeking and deeply, deeply disconnected from reality. I still get fooled by it. So, I try not to see it as a disintegrating phase, the last phase of our system. But I would have to say I’m more influenced by his vocabulary of fake news than I am by any art concept of what’s real and what’s not real, or what’s virtual and what’s not virtual, because those things I understand. I understand that art isn’t real, already. But I thought that the real world was real. Silly me, you know?"</i><p>- From a 2018 interview with Laurie Anderson found on this MIT <a href="https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/telling-stories-in-virtual-reality-in-conversation-with-laurie-anderson-2018/" target="_blank">page</a>. Keep in mind, 2018 was a deep-shit pandemic year... illusions/delusions/fear were rife in those days... and, quite possibly, still are.</p>(<b>Correction</b>: the Pandemic - as we know it - wasn't in full swing until 2020. "Illusions/delusions/fear" <u>were</u> "rife" in 2018, but the doo-doo had yet to hit the fan. It merely nourished invasive weeds...) (re: the original green-blooded cast from <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Shop_of_Horrors_(film)" target="_blank">A Little Shop of Horrors</a></i>.)<p><i>“Nothing, nothing mattered, and I knew why. So did he. Throughout the whole absurd life I'd lived, a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future, across years that were still to come, and as it passed, this wind leveled whatever was offered to me at the time, in years no more real than the ones I was living. What did other people's deaths or a mother's love matter to me; what did his God or the lives people choose or the fate they think they elect matter to me when we're all elected by the same fate, me and billions of privileged people like him who also called themselves my brothers? Couldn't he see, couldn't he see that? Everybody was privileged. There were only privileged people. The others would all be condemned one day. And he would be condemned, too.”</i></p><p><i>-</i> Albert Camus, from <i>The Stranger</i>.</p><p><i>“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.”</i></p><p>- Albert Camus.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p>This is, yet, another Addendum to the Camus post. It seems he and I continue to dance in the multiverse of the Absurd.<p>As it was, I just happened upon another artistic contribution by American artist & musician <a href="https://laurieanderson.com/" target="_blank">Laurie Anderson</a>; one which seemed to reflect my ongoing Absurdist theme.</p><p>Regarding her 1975 photo (above), at a rapid glance, the little girl in the mirror looks like a googly-eyed monster... or the product of a very bad (chemical) trip. In reality, she's no more than a playful little kid who has learned a new trick, an illusion involving a mirror. She wasn't really a monster. But she surely loved appearing like one.</p><p>The illusion she created, however, is the central theme of this post. That is, when things start getting scary, wonky, weird, or a little out-or-sync we might ask ourselves: is this just some trick with mirrors?</p><p>Take loose cannon (and Republican pawn), Donald Trump, for instance... quite a lot of distortion there. Quite a lot of mirror tricks all the way around. One "sideways" mirror trick makes America appear like a divided nation. A similar mirror trick makes thieves look like clowns. Another mirror trick allows the most marginalized and ineffectual people to appear gargantuan and menacing. It's amazing what can be accomplished with a few strategically placed mirrors.</p><p>What's more amazing is that anyone is sane... </p><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"So, I try not to see it as a disintegrating phase, the last phase of our system."</i></div></i><p>Laurie Anderson may have been envisioning the future with that line... the pandemic and beyond. (See this related <a href="https://nautil.us/could-an-industrial-civilization-have-predated-humans-on-earth-352964/" target="_blank">thought experiment</a>.) However, "the last phase of our system" is (most likely) farther away than it appears in our present mirror. But, maybe I'm not looking in the right <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rear-view-mirror-caption.jpg" target="_blank">mirror</a>.</p><p>Then again, maybe it's time that you and I dragged ourselves away from mirrors altogether... giving both ourselves & the mirrors a much-needed break (pun intended).</p><p><a href="https://araqinta.blogspot.com/2023/07/laurie-anderson-and-hsin-chien-huang-to.html" target="_blank">To the Moon</a>, perhaps?</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-47691419387846555942023-07-14T14:56:00.021-06:002023-07-21T00:13:56.102-06:00 Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGPl8K8da4AOxxa0k5Ax4QPTEdUCMiJl456KNzSt6GSX6Djyvy-15aJMzgiF0OrfP0hD0w96TSn7Zc90Tu5ugRyxrdzpKa4no5K3FBpeWFEHPlxIz-hQHt43tfKjTBjlzJr-aVhFtxPSPfjNeo-xwYUkiTWe6CtbDl1qIyBxfV0Qf-FVSlLIRG6AW8aj0f/s848/marianne%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="848" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGPl8K8da4AOxxa0k5Ax4QPTEdUCMiJl456KNzSt6GSX6Djyvy-15aJMzgiF0OrfP0hD0w96TSn7Zc90Tu5ugRyxrdzpKa4no5K3FBpeWFEHPlxIz-hQHt43tfKjTBjlzJr-aVhFtxPSPfjNeo-xwYUkiTWe6CtbDl1qIyBxfV0Qf-FVSlLIRG6AW8aj0f/w640-h440/marianne%20(2).jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Statue of <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne" target="_blank">Marianne</a> in the post office of the French Assemblée Nationale.<br /><br /><i>"Marianne is usually depicted as a beautiful young maiden and often leans on a fasces (a symbol of authority). She traditionally wears a red Phrygian cap (also named Liberty cap) ornate with a tricolour cockade (symbol of Freedom). The Phrygian cap refers to the pileus, the cap worn by emancipated slaves of Ancient Rome. In the 19th century, the Phrygian cap was thought to be too revolutionary and Marianne was sometimes crowned with a laurel wreath."</i><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQtxvOlsvy_b1lusIK-rl_rzvKNj6AjJhTWQLayTetVek34KXb_JXgZsHqF4OC59YK_ews6j1EqlZ0BkckbkXKFKEmjA-aOFhaR3-s-rrpM-UTCui-VSwMI6p0-NL6L5lFXzrd9tQ4rXvw38YOxadYPlQnLNhJlItLAfOXTXtWt0RzGqHTipBzDagkcMCg/s395/mariannne%20coin.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="390" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQtxvOlsvy_b1lusIK-rl_rzvKNj6AjJhTWQLayTetVek34KXb_JXgZsHqF4OC59YK_ews6j1EqlZ0BkckbkXKFKEmjA-aOFhaR3-s-rrpM-UTCui-VSwMI6p0-NL6L5lFXzrd9tQ4rXvw38YOxadYPlQnLNhJlItLAfOXTXtWt0RzGqHTipBzDagkcMCg/w198-h200/mariannne%20coin.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><i>"The king came to Paris, leaving the queen in consternation for his return... the king's carriage was in the center, on each side of it the States general, in two ranks, afoot, at their head the Marquis de la Fayette as commander in chief, on horseback, and Bourgeois guards before and behind.</i><p></p><i>About 60,000 citizens of all forms and colours, armed with the muskets of the Bastille and Invalids as far as they would go, the rest with pistols, swords, pikes, pruning hooks, scythes &c. lined all the streets thro' which the procession passed, and, with the crowds of people in the streets, doors and windows, saluted them every where with cries of 'vive la nation.' But not a single 'vive Ie roy' was heard."</i><br /><br />- A <a href=" http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/frenchrevolution.htm">first-hand account</a> of the French Revolution written by Thomas Jefferson, American minister to France, in 1789.<div><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Hm21G4sDrsQu_AlvfbaTEf4RW6RiL4TSfKoMhREBqeEa8-C_xwl7xpVk7Td2LkeFxygJgKDV_8iPWJnJdA5cKwmB6cUBC96lvTRptwGhHhCBthJT__g_DQSaHgBw9gnhoaa8x18nO8jo_anw5DB2gio-_HHnbFDUpFmx5-PYmpIfrTS53rbwa5gs-R5Y/s522/bastille%203%20(3).jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="442" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Hm21G4sDrsQu_AlvfbaTEf4RW6RiL4TSfKoMhREBqeEa8-C_xwl7xpVk7Td2LkeFxygJgKDV_8iPWJnJdA5cKwmB6cUBC96lvTRptwGhHhCBthJT__g_DQSaHgBw9gnhoaa8x18nO8jo_anw5DB2gio-_HHnbFDUpFmx5-PYmpIfrTS53rbwa5gs-R5Y/s320/bastille%203%20(3).jpg" width="271" /></a></div><i>"Marianne has been the national personification of the French Republic since the French Revolution, as a personification of liberty, equality, fraternity and reason, as well as a portrayal of the Goddess of Liberty... As a national icon Marianne represents opposition to monarchy and the championship of freedom and democracy against all forms of oppression...</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Historian Maurice Agulhon, who in several works set out on a detailed investigation to discover the origins of Marianne, suggests that it is the traditions and mentality of the French that led to the use of a woman to represent the Republic. A feminine allegory was also a manner to symbolize the breaking with the old monarchy headed by kings and promote modern republican ideology.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>After a turbulent first decade in the 1870s, by the 1880s the republic was accepted by most people in France and as such, the French state did not need history to justify itself, using Marianne as the unifying symbol of the republic. The only historical event that was regularly honored in France was Bastille Day, as the storming of the Bastille in 1789 was the revolutionary occurrence that appealed to most of the French, and the rest of the events of the revolution were not officially honored in order to keep the memory of the revolution as harmonious as possible. It was the strategy of the republican leaders to use symbols and the memory of history in such a way to create as wide a national consensus as possible in favor of the republic, which was why Marianne became such a prominent symbol of the republic.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Several other quotes taken from the Wiki entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne" target="_blank">Marianne</a> where the coin image (<i>inset right</i>) was found. The colorful image (<i>inset left) </i>above - an early French Republic Marianne was found <a href="https://librairiejumentverte.com/fr/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNs3iPMtgQnlubgImxKwPx97MA8h_faGitO0x9tJjT-UxTKWEUJ64w1kZX2vV0brZM72iu6pBADakJ7OtqL9pWsAzmPVBE6f_FLaAcjhf6SlhbtxRaNjQMDPRnsS4xPM5ZJ2GlFrZ3cIJDXqFOip0oIWtJtpeAxHmhqNJ1w3OVWFrhavb9AJKAqvUIzwV/s563/bastille%205.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="563" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNs3iPMtgQnlubgImxKwPx97MA8h_faGitO0x9tJjT-UxTKWEUJ64w1kZX2vV0brZM72iu6pBADakJ7OtqL9pWsAzmPVBE6f_FLaAcjhf6SlhbtxRaNjQMDPRnsS4xPM5ZJ2GlFrZ3cIJDXqFOip0oIWtJtpeAxHmhqNJ1w3OVWFrhavb9AJKAqvUIzwV/w320-h234/bastille%205.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div><div><i>"Thousands of protesters stormed the streets of the French capital over the weekend, leaving torched cars, smashed windows and looted stores in their wake. Police said that 133 people were injured, including 23 police officers. Anger at rising fuel prices and France’s high cost of living has exacerbated fury at French president Emmanuel Macron, seen as a wealthy and aloof figure, oblivious to the struggles of ordinary citizens.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>One of the most striking images of the destruction shows a smashed statue of Marianne inside the Arc de Triomphe. The icon of Marianne emerged during the French Revolution of 1789 as a personification of the values of liberty, equality and fraternity and in later years came to represent France itself. She appears on stamps and in popular culture, and most town halls across France hold statues dedicated to her, often remodeled on contemporary French female celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve."</i></div></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>-</i> Excerpt from a 2018 article from <a href="https://time.com/5469052/france-paris-protests-marianne-statue/" target="_blank">TIME</a> magazine. Regarding the statue, not all portrayals of Marianne were demurely feminine. The Marianne smashed by the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_protests" target="_blank">Gilet Jaunes</a></i> (Yellow Vests) was a detail of <i><a href="https://lubovangeloublog.wordpress.com/2018/06/11/annotations-4/" target="_blank">La Marseillaise, The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792</a></i> sculpted by Francois Rude. It portrayed Marianne as a warrior - the winged goddess of Liberté rallying the French revolutionary forces onward. The image shown (<i>inset right</i>) is actually a <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artwork/87593/Robert-Longo-Untitled-Statue-of-Marianne-Paris-France-December-1-2018" target="_blank">charcoal drawing</a> of the desecrated sculpture by American artist (and punk-rock musician) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Longo" target="_blank">Robert Longo</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>While I can understand the fervor, chaos, anger and dissatisfaction present in demonstrations of the political kind, I will never understand a resort to meaningless, pointless destruction... especially of historical artwork. Of course, certain acts of anti-art might be works of art in themselves... the "art" of ugliness, human decay, failure.</div><div><br /></div><div>Art is not and never will be the enemy.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>(Later note: Art cannot and never will be entirely destroyed. In this case, Marianne was transformed from a vengeful goddess into a distressed, 21st century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyborg" target="_blank">Cyborg</a>. BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140924-the-greatest-myths-about-cyborgs" target="_blank">article</a>.)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><br /><div>Despite being an American of Eastern European ancestry, I've always felt a certain amount of French nationalism... and I don't think I'm alone in this. Perhaps, it's Paris... which I tend to think of as the epicenter of the world's art and culture. Or, perhaps, it's the fact that both the States and France have "independence" days that fall in July. Then again, there's the Statue of Liberty which, while a strong American symbol, was made in France and was a gift from France... and is very possibly a close relative of Marianne.</div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0A9RnzXVje36phchq18CvGclXsxJSn0jJjC6sXFfwABHv48tC67wTTUIeoofUI0frjNyrCf8OH0BxF7JYsiJbhl3VtrE_7O5PF-6_YcFR9OgIeh8bT0sOy9GfEf6mdNwaDy9bfBOzLkN03b5Y8WzvWJjNsgb4BY5HF-u9pBEBigS2BP5qWeaZHRQVbovf/s562/jb2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="310" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0A9RnzXVje36phchq18CvGclXsxJSn0jJjC6sXFfwABHv48tC67wTTUIeoofUI0frjNyrCf8OH0BxF7JYsiJbhl3VtrE_7O5PF-6_YcFR9OgIeh8bT0sOy9GfEf6mdNwaDy9bfBOzLkN03b5Y8WzvWJjNsgb4BY5HF-u9pBEBigS2BP5qWeaZHRQVbovf/w221-h400/jb2.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>When I think of America's gift to France, however, I think of singer, dancer, activist, (and member of the French Resistance) Josephine Baker (<i>inset left</i>)... although, in reality, it was actually Josephine who gifted <u>herself</u> to France (found <a href=" https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/siren-resistance-artistry-and-espionage-josephine-baker" target="_blank">here</a>.):</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“France made me what I am. I will be grateful forever. The people of Paris have given me everything… I am ready, captain, to give them my life. You can use me as you wish.”</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">"Baker became a French citizen in 1937, when she married industrialist Jean Lion... During World War II, she served as a member of the French Resistance, transmitting secret information to Allied Forces and hiding refugees in her Paris home. These efforts earned her the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor -two of France’s highest military honors...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><br /></div><div>Over the course of her career, Baker emerged as a vocal advocate for equality, refusing to perform in front of segregated audiences in the Jim Crow–era South and touring the United States to promote the civil rights movement. At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, Baker was the sole female speaker to deliver an address alongside Martin Luther King..."</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"I have walked into the palaces of kings and queens and into the houses of presidents,” said Baker in her speech. “… But I could not walk into a hotel in America and get a cup of coffee...</i><i>”</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“I am not a young woman now, friends. There is not too much fire burning inside me,” she said, “[but] before it goes out, I want you to use what is left to light the fire in you.”</i></div></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div><div>"Baker’s career “skyrocketed” in France, in part because she had access to more opportunities abroad than she did in the segregated American South, notes NMAAHC.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>'Josephine Baker embodies the [French] Republic of possibilities,” </i>Kupferman tells the Times.<i> 'How could a woman who came from a discriminated and very poor background achieve her destiny and become a world star? That was possible in France at a time when it was not in the United States.'”</i></div><div><br /></div></div><div>- Several quotes which were found in the (2021) Smithsonian article: <i><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/josephine-baker-will-be-reinterred-pantheon-frances-highest-honor-180978506/" target="_blank">Performer Josephine Baker to Be First Black Woman Buried at Paris’ Panthéon</a></i>. Apparently, there are 72 men buried at the <a href="https://www.paris-pantheon.fr/en" target="_blank">Panthéon</a> (amongst them, Victor Hugo and Voltaire) but only 5 women... and Josephine is the first woman of color. Also see: French writer Laurent Kupferman's <a href=" https://www.change.org/p/monsieur-le-pr%C3%A9sident-de-la-r%C3%A9publique-fran%C3%A7aise-jos%C3%A9phine-baker-au-panth%C3%A9on?redirect=false" target="_blank"><i>Osez Joséphine Baker au Panthéon!</i></a></div><div><br /></div><div> And, this is amongst a number of Josephine's "firsts." From the <a href=" https://www.theafricareport.com/123673/josephine-baker-finally-inducted-into-frances-pantheon/" target="_blank">African Report</a> we have:</div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BoefFo2mAmuIbJYsG9hNpOrUyehhxdRpJVRXMS1LkCqkgn2PVKslU35IIJiOoGJc7N6uZfgh2kmRzPZkcy3JOA5t-xYohUk1BVVN7thSFuGWosnhCml1opZeWWYkwN0rIaIY-UFtMfsbBvSD1Jg9Wyi_t2Jzc5iilkZWqb9KJxnIf2RxP6kHgRE3j8e2/s540/jb%203.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="540" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8BoefFo2mAmuIbJYsG9hNpOrUyehhxdRpJVRXMS1LkCqkgn2PVKslU35IIJiOoGJc7N6uZfgh2kmRzPZkcy3JOA5t-xYohUk1BVVN7thSFuGWosnhCml1opZeWWYkwN0rIaIY-UFtMfsbBvSD1Jg9Wyi_t2Jzc5iilkZWqb9KJxnIf2RxP6kHgRE3j8e2/w200-h177/jb%203.jpg" width="200" /></a><i>"No one had ever seen a black woman adopt a white child before. Nor had anyone seen a black woman raise 12 children at a castle to become ‘soldiers of love’. Le Monde reported that Baker was 'the mother of a family of all colours' and described her as 'an anti-racial activist.' The children were 'brought up as brothers', although each 'maintained their country’s language, dress, customs and religions.'”</i></p><div style="text-align: left;">Which brings me to my bottom line (and well, you should've guessed that I'd have one).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the light of the fact that statues of Marianne have been "remodeled" with the likenesses of celebrities like Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve, it only stands to reason that the first black Marianne should be... Josephine Baker!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>(It was a long time coming!)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Vive Marianne!</span></b></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href=" https://www.google.com/doodles/bastille-day-2023"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">Vive le 14 Juillet!</span></i></b></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;">Pre-existing statues of Josephine Baker:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://childsgallery.com/work/josephine-baker/" target="_blank">Richmond Barthé's bronze bust, circa1951</a></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://www.soulofamerica.com/international/paris/josephine-bakers-paris/" target="_blank">Memorial statue, sculptor unknown</a></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-70725708295211928882023-07-12T15:11:00.012-06:002023-08-06T16:15:06.688-06:00The Master's House and The Tower Card (Revised: July 13, 2023)<p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJflK8Fpjt_XMr3xutVBr6MyK0V9GzPnU8AnaZPK6iTr1uDHbhdSwjTkIUINcy2VMady0Lr7BE7dDnJXUITvgig6v0d52DhqygBrKi5w5RaW4149JvcpxDjiQahHOZ0tNDyo8vm3qGXzKICIG4k2QwObmT3eqejtBO8RcGwOEW-LVrEZjlmod0dRSl9c4h/s683/4%20horsemen.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="683" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJflK8Fpjt_XMr3xutVBr6MyK0V9GzPnU8AnaZPK6iTr1uDHbhdSwjTkIUINcy2VMady0Lr7BE7dDnJXUITvgig6v0d52DhqygBrKi5w5RaW4149JvcpxDjiQahHOZ0tNDyo8vm3qGXzKICIG4k2QwObmT3eqejtBO8RcGwOEW-LVrEZjlmod0dRSl9c4h/w421-h315/4%20horsemen.jpg" width="421" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b><b>The Master's House</b></b></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;">(In memory of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audre_Lorde" target="_blank">A. Lorde</a>)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">The Master's house is in disrepair;</p><p style="text-align: center;">the seals have been broken.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Rats are in the walls.</p><p style="text-align: center;">Pigeons shit on the front stoop.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">There's a hole in the roof</p><p style="text-align: center;">bats fly through...</p><p style="text-align: center;">Windows with glass teeth</p><p style="text-align: center;">where weeds wind through.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Echoes of screams</p><p style="text-align: center;">in the living room.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">Grey ash fills the corners;</p><p style="text-align: center;"> all four:</p><p style="text-align: center;">riders on horseback,</p><p style="text-align: center;">all dead.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;">- 2023, DS </p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;">- My poem owes a nod to Audre Lorde's 1984 essay:<i><a href="https://collectiveliberation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Lorde_The_Masters_Tools.pdf" target="_blank"> The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House</a></i>. Another line from that article:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>"Only within a patriarchal structure is maternity the only social power open to women."</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">- Image:<i> </i><a href=" https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/fougeron-the-four-horsemen-of-the-apocalypse-t07707" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Les Quatre Chevaliers de l'Apocalypse</a> - ink on paper -<i> </i>1937, <span style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-andre-fougeron-1198809.html" target="_blank">André Fougeron</a><i>.</i> Tate Museum, UK.</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“Empires and churches are born under the sun of death.”</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">- A line from Albert Camus', <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Albert-Camus/dp/0679720227" target="_blank">The Fall</a></i>.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><i><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjhXQ0-FBBqz3aX6e05KeF-Xr7mi4FYVb3sBVNwFAjaK3NYwB00OmIWW5jcO53_BV-6sBHmXUVUgPNFTy_VP9AsJmpPSuQ0nupxAZE6kfPZDSyykXKgHLKyVBOezi3UovQlvE7nUp26goI8C9xfDVFl-UELtovZ9DPt3AwEPOxoWMr67vLuRoFq2Vj4z9/s586/tower.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="302" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjhXQ0-FBBqz3aX6e05KeF-Xr7mi4FYVb3sBVNwFAjaK3NYwB00OmIWW5jcO53_BV-6sBHmXUVUgPNFTy_VP9AsJmpPSuQ0nupxAZE6kfPZDSyykXKgHLKyVBOezi3UovQlvE7nUp26goI8C9xfDVFl-UELtovZ9DPt3AwEPOxoWMr67vLuRoFq2Vj4z9/w235-h457/tower.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><i>"Whereas the Death card is usually the card people are terrified of, out of all of the cards in the deck, The Tower is the one you really need to brace yourself for. The Tower Tarot card represents chaos and destruction. It is the Major Arcana card of sudden upheaval and unexpected change. This change usually is scary, life changing and often unavoidable. A negative Tower event can be akin to a bomb going off in your life. You don’t know how you will survive but somehow you will and later you will realize that while it was a tremendously difficult thing to go through and you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy, it has made you into the person you are. One positive aspect of The Tower is that the destruction it brings is usually directed at something that was built on a false beliefs and foundations or unrealistic goals and dreams. Also on the bright side, the destruction The Tower brings is always followed by renewal and creation."</i></div></i><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Excerpt from a tarot page found <a href="https://www.thetarotguide.com/the-tower" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><i>"So what does it mean to call the tower card "The Foundation of Beauty?" Simply put, those possessing true inner beauty will reach the crown, Kether, and their spiritual goals. Here is the realm of creative fantasy, a place of refuge from the harsh "realities" of the earth sphere. Through the Tower, the seeker casts aside false ideas and thoughts about herself or her world. The seeker will discover her true path, the path leading to emotional and spiritual fulfillment. However, like the pictures on the Tower card, the way to the path can be violent and chaotic. Reed likens the experience of the Tower card to having the top of your head lifted and a lightning bolt striking through your brain and down to your toes. It is a searing light that burns into your deepest heart and shows you the imperfections there. It shows how much you have to learn, and by comparison, how little you have learned. It goes through your feet and makes a hole in the ground that you very much want to crawl into."</i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: left;"><br /></div>- Excerpt from this Llewellyn "Tower" <a href=" https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/700?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyI-7naL9_wIVcC6tBh0ZAw_iEAMYASAAEgJmHvD_BwE" target="_blank">page</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This post is, more or less, an addendum to my previous post: <i><a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2023/06/dancing-with-ghost-of-albert-camus.html" target="_blank">Dancing with the Ghost of Albert Camus</a> </i>wherein I describe my own "Tower moment" using the image above (<i>inset right</i>).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It is one of the earliest "Tower" cards - from <a href="https://tarot-history.com/" target="_blank">The Tarot of Marseille</a> deck - but, as we can see, it's actual name is "La Maison Dieu" or God House, which was, in the Middle Ages a hospital-monastery intended to accommodate pilgrims. (See this tarot forum <a href=" https://www.cultoftarotforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2424" target="_blank">page</a>.) Perhaps the original symbolism of the card was, likewise, somewhat different.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Needless to say, there are towers... and, then, there are towers... and there are masters... and, then, there are masters.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-27617789544779499932023-07-07T11:45:00.011-06:002023-08-25T11:46:05.230-06:00Dancing With the Ghost of Albert Camus<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP63gaqy5j3BQtJCAAFPINKxHpT6XWJXUc3-LroOKtRgiG5d6fgM6CT-CvqTqKW_NfVJHJB-bXG2in54GyN_mQt5w7Mz3R83BfR3-xDkrQiOUaljmwHKst6VIqFJzjYlz1usv_FOV2gV2LoVhi6PyzWcsI8VcOFujmnXoIC3I2QrQ4Z9Jp74G739lwQQ/s886/web%20dance%202023.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="886" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP63gaqy5j3BQtJCAAFPINKxHpT6XWJXUc3-LroOKtRgiG5d6fgM6CT-CvqTqKW_NfVJHJB-bXG2in54GyN_mQt5w7Mz3R83BfR3-xDkrQiOUaljmwHKst6VIqFJzjYlz1usv_FOV2gV2LoVhi6PyzWcsI8VcOFujmnXoIC3I2QrQ4Z9Jp74G739lwQQ/w640-h448/web%20dance%202023.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dancing with Ghosts - </i>cell phone photo - 2023, DS.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><br /></div><div><i>“At that time, I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowing overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it.”</i></div><div>- Albert Camus, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stranger_(Camus_novel)" target="_blank"><i>The Stranger</i></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i><div>(I am being inundated with politics these days... and politics is not my place. My place is culture. My place is my artist's meditative Zone... where politics with its conflict, chaos, ignorance, violence, tyranny, & lies are, in general, not welcome.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately, politics are as inescapable as the current heat wave this summer.</div><div><br /></div><div><i> I am now staying in Albuquerque. It appears to be a strangely unpopulated place... or, rather, a thinly populated ghost town. There are rarely people on the streets unless they're homeless. And, yet, there are lines and lines of cars on its dusty roads... passing through? I don't know. I'm still a stranger in New Mexico... a refugee although I've lived here for 8 years. There are places in the world in which you can never be anything but a stranger, but, there are people who can never be anything but strangers, too.</i></div></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div><i>On the other hand, 3 nights ago, the 4th of July (Independence Day), I couldn't get to any official pyrotechnic events, but the locals put on their own unofficial fireworks display - the People's Display - with some fairly sophisticated rockets... which lasted for hours. I watched from a window over the patio as they shot up across the horizon... and I felt quite patriotic; a feeling I rarely have...especially these days... that is, unless disgust and anger are symptoms of patriotism. Maybe, in a sense they are. It means you care. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSoVbTXe07kx30Ud7OycMkoLh7piUoeYYTkcHx7Jx1ZoaCimarnDFjWj5Re3H680ksQmXrZZrE4bsLWUqYBvWWFugRbEiicwy93bgUsG7p2WKL6vGtE2OR-ZXe0i7bCs2FJxR-lw2WtuHAok4F9TzDXrhUSx0xfKk8RSYpvmg2_MD_xRce3jhrR8nEeI_/s439/grasshopper.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="318" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSoVbTXe07kx30Ud7OycMkoLh7piUoeYYTkcHx7Jx1ZoaCimarnDFjWj5Re3H680ksQmXrZZrE4bsLWUqYBvWWFugRbEiicwy93bgUsG7p2WKL6vGtE2OR-ZXe0i7bCs2FJxR-lw2WtuHAok4F9TzDXrhUSx0xfKk8RSYpvmg2_MD_xRce3jhrR8nEeI_/w145-h200/grasshopper.jpg" width="145" /></a></div><i>My current "backyard" - which really isn't mine - consists of a small fenced-in patio with very little green to be seen... but, upon closer inspection, enough green to support a small colony of grasshoppers! It's these little bits of natural life </i><i>which anchor me to the corporeal world. Like the juvenile grasshopper - inset left - they bring me joy and, unlike everything else clamoring for my time and effort, they're refreshingly tangible and real. And, if you pay attention to them, they'll reward you in many ways. For instance, you can learn things. I learned that grasshoppers grow in a similar way to caterpillars. That is, they shed their skins to become much larger creatures... which somehow were illogically enfolded inside their former selves; a magic trick more interesting, more satisfying than you might imagine.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>(7/24/23 Note: After a number of moults, the <a href="https://animalhype.com/insects/do-grasshoppers-fly/" target="_blank">grasshopper</a> became large, brown... and developed wings. While not as attractive as a butterfly it, too, transforms into a flying creature.)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>In the photo, posted above, I am standing in the center of the patio on what is fondly referred to as the "launch pad." I appear to be dancing with myself. In reality I'm dancing with ghosts. Perhaps, I, too, have become a ghost...</i><i> unconsciously haunting my own past...)</i></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBZj6yqr0XIUyUbiWYBIgabPhmjJpBfkPQHKmKrExWF1dMHR3di2ZDi5mjWRnVCvFdRV_yU6ad96YxyzAX2v-CGry5P2jFf2ZrIy5tDV81l0eFXmi9ts8yxK2FCmVpDDUDUA_ofi2z01LnmqJ1lev8sTQ7ssRMj88JeE-WHb3C7VCH5T7RQ2rv82QsJmG/s607/treehouse%20new%20(2).png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="280" height="531" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBZj6yqr0XIUyUbiWYBIgabPhmjJpBfkPQHKmKrExWF1dMHR3di2ZDi5mjWRnVCvFdRV_yU6ad96YxyzAX2v-CGry5P2jFf2ZrIy5tDV81l0eFXmi9ts8yxK2FCmVpDDUDUA_ofi2z01LnmqJ1lev8sTQ7ssRMj88JeE-WHb3C7VCH5T7RQ2rv82QsJmG/w245-h531/treehouse%20new%20(2).png" width="245" /></a></div>In this (brief) dream I am in the house of my childhood... but, it is not not exactly the place I lived, for it has changed. Or, I should say, it has changed again. The first time it changed - in a long ago dream - a hidden room was revealed... positioned between my old bedroom and what was (in reality) a fairly unusual hallway featuring an array of closets, recesses, drawers and other enclosures. It was a phantom room but, in my sleeping mind, seemed both valid and logical.</div><div><br /></div><div>I dreamt about this phantom room several times over the years. Its dimensions became an actual memory, as if it had always existed... somehow tucked away... enfolded in the recesses of a closet or at the bottom of a cluttered drawer.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the latest dream, however, a screened-in porch had been added to the second floor of the family house... in the front and, once again, where my bedroom was once located. It was accessed indoors from a newly created hallway... call it an Escher hallway, because it's position in the corporeal house was not (logically) possible. It was a phantom hallway... with another phantom construction nearby: the previously-mentioned "hidden room." I vaguely remember passing what may have been its potential doorway as I walked down the phantom hallway towards the phantom porch.</div><div><br div="" />Now, the actual house was surrounded by tall trees: silver beech along the back, two enormous red maples in the front and a wall of massive pines. In the dream, they still existed. But, through the floor-to-ceiling screened apertures which composed the new porch, the trees were now fully visible, as if viewed from a treehouse.</div><div><br /></div><div>The dream ended just as I entered the bright doorway and stepped into the screened enclosure. This, too, had a door, with stairs leading down to the ground below... a feature I may have consciously added in the process of waking up.</div><div><br /></div><div>- From a note file created in May of this year. The addition of the porch was a fine dream-construction; an economical plan to let the outdoors in while also providing a third door - the house had two already - from which to escape. When I awoke from the dream, I felt refreshed. Perhaps, it was a metaphor for a new unconscious development and it felt like a positive one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which, is to say, it represented no part of my present-day physical reality but, rather, a vacation from it.</div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKiDgZLWK4OqADi1cXy7bLZsOQREx_ur0AMsgoTmBz4T8m3mfjBJ_2LhI1XxeFV3rvZJq4NTa7B-aIhyym9LCaH5uld4vsOvj83N-0v2-P7lwlX7DVh71p18G-4VXlxCrX-1Hu-zMfjs5SuTHG2MBkZRvyivdYm45pmVJKFMpske6D32J9mKNisgqE7g/s483/camus%20R.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="370" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKiDgZLWK4OqADi1cXy7bLZsOQREx_ur0AMsgoTmBz4T8m3mfjBJ_2LhI1XxeFV3rvZJq4NTa7B-aIhyym9LCaH5uld4vsOvj83N-0v2-P7lwlX7DVh71p18G-4VXlxCrX-1Hu-zMfjs5SuTHG2MBkZRvyivdYm45pmVJKFMpske6D32J9mKNisgqE7g/w153-h200/camus%20R.png" width="153" /></a></div><i><div><i>“Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy from sadness. Go out for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a romantic walk in the park, spring at its most spectacular moment, flowers and smells and outstanding poetical imagery smoothly transferring you into another world. It doesn’t have to be a walk during which you’ll have multiple life epiphanies and discover meanings no other brain ever managed to encounter. Do not be afraid of spending quality time by yourself. Find meaning or don’t find meaning but 'steal' some time and give it freely and exclusively to your own self. Opt for privacy and solitude. That doesn’t make you antisocial or cause you to reject the rest of the world. But you need to breathe. And you need to be.”</i></div></i><p></p><p>- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus" target="_blank">Albert Camus</a> (1913-1960), <i>Notebooks 1951-1959</i>. Camus was a French-Algerian writer, journalist, playwright, and philosopher and is most often considered an Absurdist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957.</p><p>My first introduction to Camus was in my art school days. I read <i>The Stranger</i> and it depressed me. Maybe I glimpsed my own future. Recently I read an online article regarding absurdist philosophy and in it I rediscovered Camus. I spent that night reading pages and pages of his quotes which exhilarated me; astoundingly, I could relate to just about everything he said. Via the Wiki entry for <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism" target="_blank">Absurdism</a>:</p><p><i>"Absurdists, following Camus' formulation, hesitantly allow the possibility for some meaning or value in life, but are neither as certain as existentialists are about the value of one's own constructed meaning nor as nihilists are about the total inability to create meaning. </i><i>Absurdists following Camus also devalue or outright reject free will, encouraging merely that the individual live defiantly and authentically in spite of the psychological tension of the Absurd."</i><br /></p><p>The odd thing is, while I feel sympathetic towards Absurdism, my personal experience would require something a bit beyond it... Uber-Absurdism? I'm not sure.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"The modern mind is in complete disarray. Knowledge has stretched itself to the point</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>where neither the world nor our intelligence can find any foot-hold.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>It is a fact that we are suffering from nihilism." - </i>Albert Camus</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">***</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom,</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>the press will never be anything but bad.” </i>- Albert Camus</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p style="font-weight: bold;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">"Illinois Worker Finds 3 Severed Heads at His Desk After Job Complaints.</span></b></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;">"At first I was confused," Dale Wheatley tells PEOPLE. "My boss walked by, and I asked him why the heads were at my desk. He said, 'I don't know, Dale, there's a lot of strange things going on.'"</span></i></p><p>- Via this <a href="https://people.com/illinois-worker-3-severed-heads-desk-complaints-7510360" target="_blank">page</a>. The headline - a classic example of Absurdism - prompted me to finish this post. That is, I had about 4 posts lying around in draft mode for months, but - as mentioned previously - a huge writer's block to overcome. Apparently, several severed heads can do wonders.</p><p style="text-align: center;">*</p><p style="font-weight: bold;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">"Two-year-old boy accidentally shoots and kills his pregnant mother with gun left on nightstand"</span></b></i></p><p>- In between numerous articles featuring the exploits of former president Donald Trump (who continues to torment us) and, on slow news days, nude photos of has-been actresses past their prime, we find tragic, invasive (but sensational) stories like the <a href="https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/two-old-boy-accidentally-shoots-162327466.html" target="_blank">headline</a> above. Before the internet, this story would never appear as a headline in a national or international news venue. And, prior to the 21st century, news like this was unlikely to occur... which brings us to...</p><p style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">*</p><p style="font-weight: bold;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">"Missouri Republicans Vote to Affirm Toddlers’ Rights to Carry Firearms in the Streets"</span></b></i></p><p>- Found <a href="https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217636441" target="_blank">here</a>. (Also, see <a href=" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/09/missouri-gop-children-guns-open-carry/" target="_blank">here</a>.) Can't make these absurdities up. My proposed editorial cartoon might feature Missouri lawmakers locked in a room with a group of teething, tantrum-throwing toddlers with guns. I think we can visualize the outcome. (Note: needs a caption.) (Maybe: one lawmaker asks another: "Uh, those are toy guns, right?")</p><p style="text-align: center;">*</p><p style="font-weight: bold;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Boy's lemonade stand reported to Department of Labor</i></span></b></p><p>- Found <a href=" https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/heartbreaking-alabama-moms-attempt-teach-204538343.html" target="_blank">here</a>. This sad (absurd) story is more elaborate than it appears in the headline above (found on the main news page). But, it's still in keeping with the headlines here. Welcome to the cuckoo's nest... or, perhaps, more to the point...</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;"><b>Welcome to WTF World!</b></i></p><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"I don't care who's at the door, just tell them we don't want any!"</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>- </i>Via my mom, Anne... a wonderful woman always fondly remembered.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"All the cruelty of our civilization can be measured by this one axiom:</i></div></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><i>happy nations have no history.”</i>- Albert Camus<br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpEtwZYtzdyknw9Hiw4PMR6e-CxktAtdC3kbfU5gpg8MMSrUNe57wYrADL4V6hQb2XIIUseu5kA33eVpnjYDMkEQIXJrNCpxcgyI23t4IN3CaCO_eQ8vLpY_QhM6Qd6JRS4uKEAsLJhjZrj8dL5xZhxEr4Fz5SP2yOPaSVvguFLe-DiKtMLH01l43YfGU/s536/camu%20%20narrow.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="163" height="567" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpEtwZYtzdyknw9Hiw4PMR6e-CxktAtdC3kbfU5gpg8MMSrUNe57wYrADL4V6hQb2XIIUseu5kA33eVpnjYDMkEQIXJrNCpxcgyI23t4IN3CaCO_eQ8vLpY_QhM6Qd6JRS4uKEAsLJhjZrj8dL5xZhxEr4Fz5SP2yOPaSVvguFLe-DiKtMLH01l43YfGU/w172-h567/camu%20%20narrow.jpg" width="172" /></a></div>Constraint. It isn't a pleasant word; it means constriction, limitation, being forced to modify ones natural inclinations. Via the Cambridge Dictionary: "Something that controls what you do by keeping you within particular limits."<p></p><p>However, sometimes constraint is a good thing. For instance, ideally, the laws of a country are designed to protect its citizens from various forms of criminal intent, i.e., prevent us from robbing and/or killing each other. So, as I live in a country in which a new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mass_shootings_in_the_United_States_in_2023" target="_blank">mass-murder</a> occurs every day, it seems obvious that certain constraints have not been effectively enforced. Less obvious, perhaps, is that - in a world gone mad - the constraints are not enforceable.</p><p>In fairness, it seems as if we, the People, - or, more accurately, I, the person - have been catapulted into an alternate reality - let's call it WTF World - wherein the same, basic question is asked (at least) 20 times a day (or more): WTF?! (Variations: Why, Who, Where, When and - my personal favorite - Whatever the F*k.)</p><p>Now, there are a number of contributing factors to our present surrealistic malaise (& we seem to have a new one every few years): 1) the governing body has developed gangrene in several limbs, 2) its citizens continue to battle with mass-psychosis, 3) the international playing field is devoted to parades of "official" madmen waving flags, followed by a flamboyant team of AI-generated cartoon zombies tossing hand grenades into the audience, 4) the warped physics of time and space generally associated with alternate realities... and, finally, 5) Somebody forgot to let the dogs out.</p><p>(We are also in post-pandemic mode... but, there's little point in opening that bottomless can of worms.)</p><p>- Via another text file from May, 2023.</p><p>Once again, we must consult Albert Camus (<i>inset left</i>). Below are four more quotes. (Note: all Camus quotes contained within this post can be found on pages starting <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/957894.Albert_Camus" target="_blank">here</a> or <a href=" https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/albert-camus-quotes" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“Thus the disease, which apparently had forced on us the solidarity of a beleaguered town, disrupted at the same time long-established communities and sent men out to live, as individuals, in relative isolation.”</i> - Via Albert Camus' <i>The Plague.</i></p><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement.”</i></div><div><div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">"For in the presence of God there is less a problem of freedom than a problem of evil. You know the alternative: either we are not free and God the all-powerful is responsible for evil. Or we are free and responsible but God is not all powerful. All the scholastic subtleties have neither added anything to nor subtracted anything from the acuteness of this paradox.”</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div><div>- Via<i> </i>Camus' <i><a href="https://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/Albert_Camus_The_Myth_of_Sisyphus_Complete_Text_.pdf" target="_blank">The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays</a>.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>“The need to be right - the sign of a vulgar mind.”</i></div></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">***</div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-style: italic;">"Every time I hear a political speech or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounded human. It is always the same words telling the same lies. And the fact that men accept this, that the people’s anger has not destroyed these hollow clowns, strikes me as proof that men attribute no importance to the way they are governed; that they gamble – yes, gamble – with a whole part of their life and their so called 'vital interests.” </i>- Albert Camus</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><i>“If absolute truth belongs to anyone in this world, it certainly does not belong to the man or party that claims to possess it.”</i> - </span>Albert Camus</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><i>“And I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don't want any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive.”</i></div><div>- Albert Camus, <i><a href="https://astrofella.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/resistance-rebellion-and-death-albert-ca" target="_blank">Resistance, Rebellion and Death: Essays</a></i></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHAbJfxjz2XkGTYi6IPGW0CAAwzeKTRP8PFyUC6O2JEHvHQnkmI7RzOIFZAfdafo-sU9s8zDNtx3wxIFpGpTcYck-gwSNz5ZjNMx9cj45ujjZ7jnH94xTBE72P306VteO6q2VyB0yNwj8jNE4x-NJqFcdvNF0TRcKV9p4aJ7JmI6Q9SL06FiQvARYETQ/s545/trumpty%20dump%5Bty.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="545" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHAbJfxjz2XkGTYi6IPGW0CAAwzeKTRP8PFyUC6O2JEHvHQnkmI7RzOIFZAfdafo-sU9s8zDNtx3wxIFpGpTcYck-gwSNz5ZjNMx9cj45ujjZ7jnH94xTBE72P306VteO6q2VyB0yNwj8jNE4x-NJqFcdvNF0TRcKV9p4aJ7JmI6Q9SL06FiQvARYETQ/w200-h156/trumpty%20dump%5Bty.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Need anything more be said? Actually, yes. And that's the bad news. I would be lax in my feminist duties if I let this contagion blow by. It carries with it the stench of both sexism and racism... and once again, we are led to this dance by the same source: the man wearing the carmen red face (<i>inset left)</i>... A man who has been a thorn in the public eye (a deliberately mixed metaphor) since 2015, tormenting the intelligent world with his gluttonous need for grandeur. His is an expensive ego - everyone must pay... and pay.... and pay... especially women.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In this section I will be calling on a few people who are not Camus, but, this is not to say that Albert Camus is irrelevant here. He lived through WWI and WWII and fought for the French Resistance - this was a hell that that few of us can recall but (I think) we can say for sure that tyrants were unlikely to appear on Camus' dance card. Moreover, he was a working-class French Algerian - eventually what was described as <i>Pied-Noir</i> (or black-foot) - that is, both a citizen and refugee in either France or Algeria.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Camus loved women. Not so much as a womanizer... but as a Lover. And, yet, his variety of infidelity would be a difficult proposition for many women to deal with; it almost drove his second wife, pianist and mathematician, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francine_Faure" target="_blank">Francine Faure</a>, who birthed their twin daughters, to suicide. But, no human's history deserves a rapid analysis; certainly not by myself on this blog. Suffice to say, Camus had his own existentialist dilemmas; I will not burden his memory with mine.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhja2Si_xZ53eK42EKu85QVEsd3sayRMI_ftrReWK8V42q5hJ2eunYeMeMawDovryMIm8ceDoOHpX2TyRhoIA7p0KQ0D-AEsPcxAhZf_E2TxCYQEAJQSXtZYc1O8UN6OeNtUQbnQfxS8GM8gwEvPzn18glNjwOPoveK9EAbausiibiLGH3PKy7xh7S9244n/s960/trumps-doing-time.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="741" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhja2Si_xZ53eK42EKu85QVEsd3sayRMI_ftrReWK8V42q5hJ2eunYeMeMawDovryMIm8ceDoOHpX2TyRhoIA7p0KQ0D-AEsPcxAhZf_E2TxCYQEAJQSXtZYc1O8UN6OeNtUQbnQfxS8GM8gwEvPzn18glNjwOPoveK9EAbausiibiLGH3PKy7xh7S9244n/w246-h320/trumps-doing-time.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>So, I'll make it short. I live in a country which enables one politician (possibly a criminal, and potentially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dangerous_Case_of_Donald_Trump" target="_blank">deranged</a>) to appoint multiple members to it's ruling body - the Supreme Court and other federal courts - specifically those individuals who reflect his (said politician's) racist and sexist biases. In a democracy this seems impossible. Ah, but, if only it ended there... or, preferably, here (see editorial image <i>inset right). (Once again, thanks, Flea!)</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>"</i><i>The total number of Trump </i><i>Article III judgeship</i><i> nominees to be confirmed by the United States Senate was</i> <span style="font-style: italic;"><b>234</b></span><i>, including three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 174 judges for the United States district courts, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade..."</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>- </i>Via the Wiki entry: <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_judges_appointed_by_Donald_Trump" target="_blank">List of federal judges appointed by Donald Trump</a>. </i>Emphasis, mine.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But we can't say we weren't warned. From September, 2020, we have the statement former Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, made shortly before her death: <i>"My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed."</i> (See: <a href="https://trans-ddigitalart.blogspot.com/2020/09/vale-notorious-rbg.html" target="_blank">Vale, Notorious RBG</a>.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGOi2HtTAk8g90WD5J6z_-Z_sYmFooIIdQQ5My-VcDM1-PQokS9T_ZBw_-5GGWdKTb0BsKg7lVKORC_k1QEO0zjcgPSknaV7LessrIR1QMKZYaBXmvfpu8Rhko9KlhDtwQuFMBCncq3pZLXyBP6dRyYahYWODKY4i3ctdt6UXMbBuLroWkCd02XCJ7G8Eu/s415/baby%20bump.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="414" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGOi2HtTAk8g90WD5J6z_-Z_sYmFooIIdQQ5My-VcDM1-PQokS9T_ZBw_-5GGWdKTb0BsKg7lVKORC_k1QEO0zjcgPSknaV7LessrIR1QMKZYaBXmvfpu8Rhko9KlhDtwQuFMBCncq3pZLXyBP6dRyYahYWODKY4i3ctdt6UXMbBuLroWkCd02XCJ7G8Eu/w199-h200/baby%20bump.png" width="199" /></a></div><i>"May 6, 2023. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which states that equal rights under the law cannot be denied on account of sex, has been in a perpetual state of limbo for 100 years. Originally written by suffragists Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman and first introduced into Congress in 1923, last week in the US Senate, there were not even enough votes to pass a resolution to lift the 1982 deadline for full ratification by the states for its adoption into the US Constitution.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div><i>...All of these realities only sharpen the need to ask: Why are we fighting for inclusion into systems and institutions that were built upon our oppression? Why have we limited the scope of our political vision and ethics to equality, as men have defined it?'</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Why are women waiting for men — who are the majority of our politicians, justices and judges — to benevolently bestow equality unto us?</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">- Via a CNN article by Marcie Bianco: <i><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/06/opinions/equal-rights-amendment-equality-impossible-bianco/index.html" target="_blank">Freedom means accepting that achieving equality is impossible</a>. Inset left</i> is a plastic baby bump with the handwritten words: "Not Yet a Human'. It was carried in protest of the recent rescinding of Roe v. Wade, but it doubles as a reference to the <b>over-90 year</b> failure of the ERA to pass.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i>"</i>The Conservative Case for Trump<i> is a 2016 book written by Phyllis Schlafly, with Ed Martin and Brett M. Decker, arguing that American conservatives should vote for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. It was published the day after Schlafly's death, four months after Trump secured the Republican Party nomination in May and two months before he won the general election."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- An interesting tidbit via Wiki regarding feminist/womanist enemy, <a href=" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Schlafly" target="_blank">Phyllis Schlafly</a>, who, almost single-handedly, prevented the initial passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, and, is indirectly responsible for much of the absurdism discussed in this section. Also see this <a href=" https://www.history.com/news/equal-rights-amendment-fail-phyllis-schlafly" target="_blank">article</a>.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>“Today’s decision, which is the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation, along with other decisions that have been announced recently, were only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court,” Mr. Trump said.</i><br /><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>- </i>Via this NY Times <a href=" https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/us/politics/abortion-ruling-trump.html" target="_blank">article</a>. "Win for Life"? Whose life? Oh, that's right, embryonic life. In the article Trump is energetically boasting (to his Evangelical followers) about his packing of the Supreme Court (during his presidency) thereby overturning <a href=" https://advocatechannel.com/afghanistan-women-say-were-alive-but-not-living" target="_blank">Roe v. Wade</a>, a Republican goal for many years.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Apparently, however, Mr. Trump is also somewhat concerned that his victory over a woman's right to make decisions involving her own anatomy might cause a few problems for his re-election. Concerned? Women are currently in the majority in this country... and embryos can't vote.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><i><b> “Today, the Supreme Court not only reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues—attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans.”</b></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>- </i>Former-president<i> </i>Barak Obama's <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/06/barack-obama-supreme-court-roe-wade-1235051409/" target="_blank">response</a> (above) was made the day after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. I think, of everything I've read, his is the only comment that really nailed it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Read my abortion rap in the footnotes.*</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div><i>“'The court system has become so independent of American public opinion and desires – and certainly our understanding of the constitution – that it risks damaging democracy in a significant way,' said Caroline Fredrickson, a law professor at Georgetown University."</i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>- Via the Guardian article: <i><a href=" https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jul/01/us-supreme-court-rulings-what-does-it-mean-affirmative-action-lgbtq-student-debt" target="_blank">A conservative overhaul of public life: what the supreme court’s term means for the US</a></i>. During the course of writing this post, Trump's new and "improved" Court has recently just passed bills ending Affirmative Action, enforcing student debt, and allowing for more discrimination against the LGBTQ community. Now, if the Court could just come up with some legislation aimed at harming the rich and powerful - the only minority with any clout - we might finally be rid of this contagion. .</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Only in WTF World, ladies and gentlemen.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">***</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyejQP4OiDW9_pvRT0yz0wihYY6-81KBRj4uehHUA0QKBnu9806RXcE1aApXGTj0JlB1xvEwMAeT6uUdg2vkJYwUK4gqujjc0otO4xz8ik39lVlNQfbXIuoPiYgNnfOajilvYykf0UEH_WJ-DPX2yrMP53zwV_HO3TuB574oS7TNUVRAYJrJ9pR8ufCSX/s563/camus%20(3).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="448" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoyejQP4OiDW9_pvRT0yz0wihYY6-81KBRj4uehHUA0QKBnu9806RXcE1aApXGTj0JlB1xvEwMAeT6uUdg2vkJYwUK4gqujjc0otO4xz8ik39lVlNQfbXIuoPiYgNnfOajilvYykf0UEH_WJ-DPX2yrMP53zwV_HO3TuB574oS7TNUVRAYJrJ9pR8ufCSX/w159-h200/camus%20(3).jpg" width="159" /></a><i>“Get scared. It will do you good. Smoke a bit, stare blankly at some ceilings, beat your head against some walls, refuse to see some people, paint and write. Get scared some more. Allow your little mind to do nothing but function. Stay inside, go out - I don’t care what you’ll do; but stay scared as hell. You will never be able to experience everything. So, please, do poetical justice to your soul and simply experience yourself.”<br /><br />"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”</i><br /><br />- 2 more quotes by Albert Camus (<i>inset right</i>); the latter from the essay <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/albert-camus-the-rebel">The Rebel</a>.</div><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“If the world were clear, art would not exist.”</i> - Albert Camus</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“One plays at being immortal and after a few weeks one doesn't even know whether or not one can hang on till the next day.”</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">- Albert Camus, from <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_(Camus_novel)" target="_blank">The Fall</a>.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”</i> - Albert Camus</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?” - </i>Albert Camus</p><div><br /></div>Kismet is a "magic" we cannot devise nor improvise. It is "fate." Some say there is no fate. They imagine that humans operate by free will alone. What they can't seem to grasp is that "will" is not at all free... not for the weak, nor for kings and queens... and never for the impoverished.<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Kismet, however, should not be confused with the Absurd. Observe...</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtXYybUtuG3JF2VRoiybeKya_sQJpZfUe4Ue9lL2u364Urgc-eTg55soG3ul57R-YGO5HPdnFwHCXbd9jR0yIV6TY2noWrkSs5mLbgy84j3ctsn5qV9W477ntpH-gkQs1bhYfIqHVkzNCSc2HIj5vakuWKGnDD_PYlKphoad9MHFIR9aeO8fY51cwdDuM/s586/tower.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="302" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTtXYybUtuG3JF2VRoiybeKya_sQJpZfUe4Ue9lL2u364Urgc-eTg55soG3ul57R-YGO5HPdnFwHCXbd9jR0yIV6TY2noWrkSs5mLbgy84j3ctsn5qV9W477ntpH-gkQs1bhYfIqHVkzNCSc2HIj5vakuWKGnDD_PYlKphoad9MHFIR9aeO8fY51cwdDuM/w206-h400/tower.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>It was 7am and I had yet to get my morning coffee. My singular goal was a Speedway just around the bend and down he hill. I was in my car - that is, the vehicle which doubled as my home - when, suddenly I was faced by a blazingly (& blinding) bright, white light. I could see nothing else but a few cars in a line behind me in the rear-view mirror... (but, this may have been only in my mind).<p></p><p>I drove into the sun. There is no other way of putting it. Later, I learned I had also driven through a streetlight pole.</p><p>None of this was the fault of my will as much as it was the fault of my timing. The deadly bright morning sun may have been avoided had I factored in my position in relationship to it and the time of day.</p><p>Ultimately, the car was lost to me. (Herein lies my tribute to a stellar vehicle sorely missed). The history of 10 or more years of my life - and work - was also lost (stolen) shortly thereafter... when my desktop was taken from the trunk of my car (and not by myself).</p><p>All that remained was my corporeal self and, of my work, the clay rose-pentacle - apparently as resilient as myself - and a few digital images on a thumb-drive.</p><p>Kismet, free will, karma... or just plain stupidity? Or, worse still, could this negative life-changing event have occurred merely due to the lack of caffeine? I will never know.</p><p>If there need be an argument for Absurdism, then my life events can be counted amongst its parables. Perhaps, Camus felt the same way, too.**</p><div style="text-align: center;"><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>“She was waiting, but she didn't know for what. She was aware only of her solitude, and of th</i><i>e penetrating cold, and of a greater weight in the region of her heart." -</i><span> Albert Camus</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>"You lie with me on the park bench, with stars and strange lights circling overhead.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>This is the side of the coin upon which,</i><i> when flipped,</i></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>I might grasp your newly revealed hand...</i><i> and we might </i><i>dance (invisibly)."</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: center;">- Via an untitled poem, 2023, DS.</div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="font-style: italic;"><br /></div></div></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i>“If I had to write a book on morality, it would have a hundred pages and ninety-nine would be blank. On the last page I should write: "I recognize only one duty, and that is to love.”</i></p><p style="text-align: center;">- Albert Camus, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Notebooks-1935-1942-1-Albert-Camus/dp/1566638720" target="_blank">Notebooks 1935-1942</a>.</i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></p><p style="text-align: left;">_________________________________________</p><p style="text-align: left;">*<i>"Health professionals say that maternal mortality has skyrocketed in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned, a new survey from KFF found, a sign of how harmful abortion bans are.</i></p><div><i><b>United States already has the worst maternal mortality rate among developed nations, and health experts have long warned that abortion restrictions would only cause it to rise.</b> A study released in November by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder found that if abortion is banned nationwide, maternal mortality will rise 24 percent. Maternal mortality among Black people will shoot up 39 percent."</i></div><div><br /></div><div>- Found <a href=" https://newrepublic.com/post/173817/obgyns-say-people-dying-since-dobbs-overturned-right-abortion" target="_blank">here</a>. While my original rant is below, I decided today (July 9) that this quote is necessary here. It is, in fact, the bottom line of the whole argument. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hard to believe that in 2023 <b>women are still dying in childbirth</b> in this country! While one may question the actual number - the statistics are vague here - the implication is the same. Things can go very wrong at any stage of a woman's pregnancy... and economically challenged women who cannot afford continuous monitoring are most at risk.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, what is the anti-choice response to this? One can only conclude that the far-right believes that poor women's lives are more dispensable than the unborn.</div><div><br /></div><div>From a text file written last month: <b style="font-size: large; font-style: italic; text-align: center;">Who owns the uterus?</b></div><div><b style="font-size: large; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></b></div><div>The right of women to determine their own pregnancies - as opposed to the State usurping that right - hinges upon one irrefutable fact: the viability of the fetus depends wholly upon a human uterus in most stages of its development. Fact 2: The human uterus is an anatomical element found only in the female members of the human species and is a significant aspect of her personal, physiological existence and experience. Throughout history, it has been the individual woman's responsibility to maintain the health and well-being of her uterus and, as such, it was her right and responsibility to remove any foreign bodies, debris, diseased cells, <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/news-archive/press-releases/pr9938.html">pseudo-parasitic growths</a> and tumors which might threaten her life and, inevitably, the welfare of her family members.</div><div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDgd7vU7drPRj3FEmludwDesX40nlOHutDvuGezkHXvru-p24N8_hfU0sanFZfUE4Sv10GfiLesfcTYXehu29x7b6EQJiqgLXfrCaNa9szLJsNsLNGeVorraCnU9O-Ytp9a-UZnYgQtabMdeKlGNxWfbPGS0-wNcS5m4tqhjkXGMFk2OMxtNBK6qpW6I4/s605/early%20fetus.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="605" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSDgd7vU7drPRj3FEmludwDesX40nlOHutDvuGezkHXvru-p24N8_hfU0sanFZfUE4Sv10GfiLesfcTYXehu29x7b6EQJiqgLXfrCaNa9szLJsNsLNGeVorraCnU9O-Ytp9a-UZnYgQtabMdeKlGNxWfbPGS0-wNcS5m4tqhjkXGMFk2OMxtNBK6qpW6I4/w200-h198/early%20fetus.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Abortion is not about "killing babies." "Babies" apply only to infants who have been born (and/or qualify as tax deductions). The figure to your <i>left</i> illustrates the earliest stages of the human fetus. I note that there is nothing specifically human about this life-form. I also note that it rarely appears in anti-choice disinformation campaigns. Generally, the lurid photos of bloody, late-term fetuses are referred to instead... a tabloid tactic for tabloid minds to conjure with.</div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">If we're discussing reality, however, and some of us try to, women have been aborting fetuses from the moment they figured out how. For poorer women, older women and the infirm (both then and now) it was often a necessity. Regardless of the male's role in conception, the burden of carrying, birthing and sustaining an "extra mouth" was generally considered a "woman's problem" and, quite often, a fatal proposition. Only in fairly recent times has the autonomy over ones personal biology and well-being become a political issue. (See: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_abortion" target="_blank">History of Abortion)</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Presently, some states in the USA have effectively decided a woman does not own her own uterus. We, then, might assume that the said states do... and will provide for them throughout their child-bearing years, and provide for the spawn till its adulthood. We might also assume that women (and men, who are inadvertently - and often unwittingly- responsible for the whole mess) are currently viewed as little more than tax-paying livestock.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But, there are two more silent assumptions being made: 1) the unborn fetus consciously "desires"... and, 2) it desires to be born under all circumstances, regardless of its fate...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">...as if we could possibly know.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>“You have so much inside you, and the noblest happiness of all. Don’t just wait for a man to come along. That’s the mistake so many women make. Find your happiness in yourself.”</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">- Albert Camus, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Happy_Death" target="_blank">A Happy Death</a>.</i></div></div></div><div><br style="text-align: center;" /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">** Sadly, Camus' life ended in a car accident a few days after the New Year's holiday in January, 1960. He was 46. Along with his body they found an unpublished handwritten manuscript for <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15694.The_First_Man" target="_blank"><i>The First Man</i></a>, an autobiographical novel eventually transcribed and published in 1994 by his daughter, Catherine.</div></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>“I come at last to death and to the attitude we have toward it. On this point everything has been said and it is only proper to avoid pathos. Yet one will never be sufficiently surprised that everyone lives as if no one "knew." This is because in reality there is no experience of death. Properly speaking, nothing has been experienced but what has been lived and made conscious. Here, it is barely possible to speak of the experience of others' deaths. It is a substitute, an illusion, and it never quite convinces us. That melancholy convention cannot be persuasive.”</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Albert Camus<i>, The Myth of Sisyphus</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p style="font-weight: bold;"></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-89490728237075032722023-06-21T17:57:00.010-06:002023-07-21T16:27:10.301-06:00Summer Solstice (Litha) 2023<p style="text-align: center;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFCGdvGD4q0qzkS5E_HyR_10rPpvSFqXXv8PHsu6HfgBEqPUdRBZvOxAs4SfOoCtfVz7xNkAyRPMHuuWE2q6Jnk7GAb3c_l7v6ZiTtwTKYN10L9-7uJMIczIM1rKuxneFB43X8WynOOLc1euOvbQ8FpMEslF4-7_pIaSSpykaaBrOBZnnIHki9apWaIG0/s751/rose%20pentacle%20box.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="751" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFCGdvGD4q0qzkS5E_HyR_10rPpvSFqXXv8PHsu6HfgBEqPUdRBZvOxAs4SfOoCtfVz7xNkAyRPMHuuWE2q6Jnk7GAb3c_l7v6ZiTtwTKYN10L9-7uJMIczIM1rKuxneFB43X8WynOOLc1euOvbQ8FpMEslF4-7_pIaSSpykaaBrOBZnnIHki9apWaIG0/w400-h300/rose%20pentacle%20box.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rose Pentacle</i> - clay body in progress - 2023, DS.<br />The photo at the bottom of the post was taken<br />during a slightly earlier stage of its development.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">(Glenys Livingstone of PaGaian Cosmology writes:)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>“As it says in the tradition, this is the time of the rose, blossom and thorn, fragrance and blood. The story of Old tells that on this day Goddess and God embrace, in a love so complete, that all dissolves, into the single Song of ecstasy that moves the worlds. Our bliss, fully matured, given over, feeds the Universe and turns the wheel. We join the Beloved and Lover in the Great Give-Away</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i>of our Creativity, our Fullness of Being.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">(Áine Órga of HeartStory.org writes:)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <i>“I often conceive of life as being a wild and dangerous dance. It starts slow, speeds over time, careening wildly, until it gradually slows from exhaustion, and finally dies. This pattern is visible in human and animal life, but also in the changing seasons on Earth, and throughout Cosmos as stars and planets are born, collide, and die...</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i> “The Summer Solstice is the peak of the dance. It is that time in your time, that moment on Earth, those millennia in the life of a star, when performance and creativity are at their most prolific. It is the time when dreams are manifested, art created, offspring born.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><i> “Beyond it is the inevitable spiral back down. But right now is the time to dance.”</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- Both of the lucid quotes above can be found on this <i>Naturalistic Paganism</i> <a href=" https://naturalisticpaganism.org/june-solstice/" target="_blank">page</a> regarding the Summer Solstice (or <i>Litha</i>)... which takes place today. Other articles of interest on the same theme are on the following pages: <a href="https://heartofenglandforest.org/news/celebrations-and-mysticism-summer-solstice" target="_blank">Heart of England Forest</a>... <a href=" https://wemoon.ws/blogs/pagan-holiday-traditions/summer-solstice" target="_blank">We Moon</a>... <a href="https://expatexplore.com/blog/europe-celebrates-summer-solstice/" target="_blank">Ex Pat Explore</a>... <a href=" https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/27/dawn-of-the-new-pagans-everybodys-welcome-as-long-as-you-keep-your-clothes-on" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">***</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>(Blog note: As of later today, Trans-D Digital Art can only be accessed from https://. The USA link is embedded in the egg/stone logo in the first side-bar image to your right. This was necessary as I've noted inexplicable fluctuations in traffic and traffic sources in the past few months which lead me to conclude that all is not as it should be in Blogger Land. Well, at least in my miniscule portion of it.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>I'm sure everyone realizes (or should) that blogging has been a precarious venture since its very early days. But, as the entire "information highway" has become a virtual mine-field, well, it is in ones interests to tread very carefully. Case in point: whom, after all, am I addressing? I've no idea. It's this lack, among others, that has given me such a writer's block, that Trans-D has become more of a YouTube channel than a meaningful conversation. I am very sorry for this.*</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>In the event that this is or is not the last post on Trans-D depends upon a number of factors. One factor is the inevitability (and necessity) of creating a future venue - a website - that will explore the object disclosed above: the Rose Pentacle (or, Rose Pentagram) and its related artwork. Superstition informs me, however, that discretion on my part is the wisest course of action. That being said, I've posted some excerpts from my note files below to establish a starting point... a preview.)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>* </i><span style="text-align: center;"><i>This block emerged around the time of the Hygeia post... my first unfinished post. A lingering <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io6TppJdCag" target="_blank">sense of doubt</a> paralyzed me for months thereafter... that is, until this day.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">***</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The Rose and the Pentagram conjoined within a circle is a code formation describing a collection of emotional and physical states that can never be entirely (logically) explained. At the same time, its geometry requires that it must continuously refer to itself and describe its own anatomy... and, in doing so, intimate truths it can never fully disclose; truths which are implicate in its geometry but, of which we cannot wholly decipher.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Allegedly, there can be no perpetual motion... but the conundrum is that the properties inherent in 5 expresses just that possibility. 5 is a dynamo... not merely as a "number" but as an implicate expression of a living force. Within its domain, living structures are set in motion. Expression, motion: emotion. The dynamo does not stop expressing itself at any given point in time or space.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If we are alive, we are alive in the expression of five... and that's the good news.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">***</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What force is Love? Better, yet, what force is Emotion? Perhaps, we first have to define "force." Obviously we are not discussing the well-known physical forces... and, yet, it is the force of emotion which essentially drives the physical world.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One might say that emotion is a force in the realm of consciousness... but what is consciousness? We tend to place intellect at the top of the hierarchy, but, as it works out, emotion and intellect are ultimately (and intimately) connected. Nothing is so emotionally gratifying to many people as a good idea. The "good idea" is, of course, a creative act... and the creative act inevitably defines us, pools our resources, moves us. It unites the fields of consciousness and, by rote, effects the physical world as well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So, emotion moves us. Emotion is consciousness in motion, but, unlike motion in the physical world, it is diffuse, organic, independent of direction... and often hidden. We are not always privy to its manipulative properties. We are not always consciously aware of what we refer to as "our consciousness." Memories influence us, but they are not always consciously remembered... nor, when remembered, accurate. We seem to have some kind of internal threshold protecting us - limiting us - from certain elements of knowledge and, most importantly, self-knowledge. At some point, we seem to reach the perpetually existent border of the "unknown." We may know many things but, inevitably, we cannot know all things... and, apparently, nothing before its time. Reason fails us. The door is hidden, the key misplaced - we don't know where "to turn."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hence, the inevitable creation of a symbol... and our reliance on kismet... or magic.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3IazpVVlNsYAztF1VsA-sh-RgzNGpE9ROV8n6UC2XQmm_XBDokNYWPNL1Fr7ZSzWH9ickaG_QB2LXqrVOgfdy1UJvXGo6ISWncr43MJNqWXPsPwMOtDqHMFtctjf-npa2BbGSDjNZBDM3Q62JPhqhox59JA03jr68Y_1ZoUfiXEcM2QqHEoKB7FBukvj/s473/RP%20clay%2023.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="473" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK3IazpVVlNsYAztF1VsA-sh-RgzNGpE9ROV8n6UC2XQmm_XBDokNYWPNL1Fr7ZSzWH9ickaG_QB2LXqrVOgfdy1UJvXGo6ISWncr43MJNqWXPsPwMOtDqHMFtctjf-npa2BbGSDjNZBDM3Q62JPhqhox59JA03jr68Y_1ZoUfiXEcM2QqHEoKB7FBukvj/w200-h186/RP%20clay%2023.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">At their very cores, the rose and the pentagram are interchangeable; they operate as one force:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I love, therefore, I am.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098887240471953238.post-31050281440007887142023-06-20T15:40:00.006-06:002023-06-23T19:50:50.135-06:00The Golden Smokey Robinson<p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XG-dGaL4Img" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><br /></div><div><i>"William Robinson Jr. was born to an African-American father and a mother of African-American and French descent in a poor family in the North End area of Detroit, Michigan. Robinson's ancestry is also part Nigerian, Scandinavian, Portuguese, and Cherokee. His uncle Claude gave him the nickname "Smokey Joe" when he was a child. In 2012, Robinson explained:</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>'My Uncle Claude was my favorite uncle, he was also my godfather. He and I were really, really close. He used to take me to see cowboy movies all the time when I was a little boy because I loved cowboy movies. He got a cowboy name for me, which was Smokey Joe. So from the time I was three years old if people asked me what my name was I didn't tell them my name was William, I told them my name was Smokey Joe. That's what everyone called me until I was about 12 and then I dropped the Joe part. I've heard that story about him giving it to me because I'm a light skinned black man but that's not true.'"</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>- Via the Wiki entry for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokey_Robinson" target="_blank">Smokey Robinson</a>. (<i>Above</i>) is Smokey Robinson and the Miracles performing one of their greatest hits (circa 1962) <i><a href="https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/smokeyrobinsonthemiracles/youvereallygotaholdonme.html" target="_blank">You Really got a Hold on Me</a></i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Smokey Robinson was golden, is golden and forever will be golden (from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EczP-hQCJCw" target="_blank">2018</a>)!</div><div><br /></div><div>(A belated happy & healthy <a href="https://twitter.com/smokeyrobinson/status/1670871289811329024?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" target="_blank">Juneteenth</a> to one and all.)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i>Later note: Those 4 amazing boys from Liverpool didn't do too badly with this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ve_Really_Got_a_Hold_on_Me" target="_blank">tune</a> either... and they wasted no time in snagging it! Smokey's hit went to the top of the charts in 1962... the Beatles covered it in 1963. And, to their credit, they covered it authentically (the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUXtUmHPAOk" target="_blank">BBC recording</a>). (Hopefully, this was to Smokey's financial advantage.)</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Dia Sobin (Araqinta)http://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com2