The Heart Nebula & the Flaming Heart of Venus

The Heart Nebula (detail) - Photo credit: 2022, Ernie-Jacobs. Geometry: 2024, DS.

 "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)."

- Via this NASA archive page: In the heart of the heart nebula. Basically, the Heart Nebula - in the constellation Cassiopeia, 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 Soul Nebula... and an interesting star, φ Cassiopeiae.

Inset right is a cardioid animation, created by Atomic Shoelace, and sourced from the Wiki entry for Heart Symbol. I've never seen this before, but, looking at it now, it appears that the cardioid and the pentagonal golden spiral have something in common.

(continued after the jump-break...)

Half a Heart. Geometry: 2024, DS.

"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."

- Via the article, Hearts in Hand, regarding heart symbolism.

  Inset left, is an engraving by Dutch artist Philip Galle from 1528 found, once again, in the Rijks Museum. This image is one of a series by the artist portraying the planets and their representative god or goddess.

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.

I've seen at least 5 engravings from this period - by 5 different artists - featuring Venus holding what is, essentially, a Christian symbol: the sacred heart. 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.

"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.

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...

In troubadour poetry, birds are figures that sing in their language without being comprehensible beyond the general sense that they are singing about love."

- 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 troubadour 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.

Inset right (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 "Monogrammist IB," 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 been a tarot card... for Love?

As we can see in my semi-colorized version (inset left), she also comes fully equipped with a pentagonal golden spiral.

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.

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!

(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 cosmic one... or delve into love's mysteries.)

"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."

- Via the Book of the Lover and the Beloved (Llibre d’amic e amat)(.pdf) by Ramon Llull.