View allAll Photos Tagged AFFIRMATIONS!
I knew it was true love from the first moment I saw her. Thank you, Jessy, very much, for letting me have her! So I put her in an outfit inspired by Sensuous Affair Giselle as a tribute to Jessy ;-)
OOAK Agnes repaint by Jessy Ayala
Outfit & Accessories: Integrity
Ce matin-là, cette femme de l'ethnie Surma, prénommée Toulaoli, est venue à notre bivouac pour nous montrer avec fierté le labret d'argile qu'elle a façonné la veille devant nous et qu'elle a fait cuire le soir dans son village.
Ce labret nous a été offert, (peut-être quand même en échange de quelques birs) ; il fait désormais partie de notre cabinet de curiosités.
Le port du labret (ou plateau labial) traditionnellement pratiqué chez les Surma et les Mursi, s'il disparait peu à peu et ne concerne plus guère que les femmes un peu âgées, est cependant encore porté par certaines femmes jeunes.
On trouve beaucoup d'erreurs et d'affirmations fantaisistes (comme cette explication souvent citée qui voudrait que l'enlaidissemnt des femmes portant le labret, les protègent des razzias des esclavagistes) dans les textes qui évoquent le port du labret chez les femmes Mursi et Surma, même dans les ouvrages les plus classiques sur le sujet. De tous les textes que j'ai consulté, celui qui me parait le plus sérieux à ce propos est celui-ci :
journals.openedition.org/imagesrevues/2501
Je m'en suis inspiré pour écrire ce texte.
Après avoir enlevé les incisives inférieures, la lèvre inférieure des jeunes-femmes surma est percée puis étirée progressivement en utilisant des disques de plus en plus grands. Après quelques mois d'étirement, la lèvre est si élastique qu'on peut y introduire le labret sans difficulté
Les contextes cérémoniels sont propices au port du labret, par exemple les danses et autres moments de séduction, ou lorsqu’une épouse sert un repas à son mari et ses hôtes, ou encore lors de la plupart des rituels, seuls moments réunissant plus de personnes que le voisinage immédiat. Les moments où le labret s’impose sont assez bien définis et, dans tous les cas, le port du labret correspond à la présence d'hommes.
Le labret est porté de la maturité sexuelle à la naissance des premiers enfants, c'est-à-dire pendant quelques années seulement. Les femmes le délaisseront ensuite et la lèvre se rétractera
Les femmes surma fabriquent elles-mêmes leurs labret. Elles utilisent une boule de terre argileuse humidifiée qu'elles frappent longuement afin d’en extraire les poches d’air et d’augmenter sa densité. Petit à petit, cette boule est aplatie et un disque apparaît. Une fois que celui-ci atteint le diamètre voulu, les doigts mouillés de la femme qui le fabrique dessinent sur la tranche un sillon large d’une lèvre, le plus lisse et régulier possible. Il est ensuite jeté dans les braises d’un feu et, selon le procédé de cuisson et d’oxydation, deviendra noir, rouge, brun ou blanc.
Quant à la signification du labret, cette étude, après avoir rapelé l'importance primordiale des bovins dans la culture Surma, en donne une interprétaion originale que je vous livre : "Le labret participe à réduire la distance entre forme des visages et forme des faces. Aux femmes, il manque le mufle [ ... ]. Le labret change les proportions du visage féminin qui s’approchent alors de celles du bovin".
I was feeling a bit out of shape this morning (yes, 'round' is a shape, but I'm not talking about that). But my shirt cheered me up no end with its cheerful label =]
Photo Analysis – "Bliss Dance" by ChatGPT
Concept and Intent
This image captures a monumental sculpture with a strong symbolic charge: Bliss Dance represents power, freedom, and feminine confidence.
The hand extended toward the viewer provides an emotional intensity, almost protective or affirming.
The clean background and vibrant sky contribute to a sense of elevation, lightness, and grandeur.
🔧 Technical Aspects
✔️ Focus and Sharpness:
Very well achieved. The sculpture's metal mesh is perfectly defined.
The textures of the material, even from a distance, are clear and sharp.
✔️ Exposure and Light:
Excellent exposure. Natural lighting favors transparency and soft shadows in the mesh.
The light highlights the shapes and gives volume to the sculpture.
✔️ Colors:
The deep blue of the sky creates a dramatic contrast with the light gray metallic tone of the sculpture.
The white nuances of the clouds add dynamism and visual balance.
Composition
Low-angle shot: Conveys grandeur and power. The female figure appears monumental and dominant.
Close framing: The sculpture is partially cropped, but strategically so. The framing reinforces the hand gesture and focuses on the face, inviting an emotional connection.
Rule of thirds: Well applied. The face is located near the upper right third, generating visual tension and elegance.
🎨 Style and aesthetics
Sculptural and minimalist, with no distracting elements. The clean background allows the statue to be the sole center of attention.
The use of the sky as a background reinforces the symbolic contrast between the human (the figure) and the ethereal (the sky).
⭐ Final rating: 9.2 / 10
Strengths:
Very thoughtful composition, excellent use of natural light and background.
Impeccable technique: perfect exposure, focus, contrast, and color.
Conveys emotion, strength, and symbolism.
Only aspect to consider:
If one were looking for a more complete view of the sculpture in its urban context, a wider shot could provide another narrative dimension. But as an artistic portrait, this choice is entirely valid.
Today I checked the Burrard Pier to see how the muralists are progressing with the fifth mural in the Blanketing The City series. When it's complete, this mural will tell the story of the Great Vancouver Fire, and the role that Indigenous first responders played in bringing people to safety across the Burrard Inlet. It is the first of the series to be located on Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh lands. The artists are Chief Janice George, Buddy Joseph, and Angela George, along with designer Debra Sparrow.
Here you see some climbers who are helping the artists realize their vision. I talked to one of them - a sweet guy from Monterrey, Mexico. We had a long and animated conversation in Spanish. I love that I almost always find an opportunity to practice when I'm out and about!
"Blanketing The City" is a public art series and reconciliation process designed by acclaimed Musqueam weaver and graphic designer Debra Sparrow, in collaboration with the Vancouver Mural Festival. Begun in 2018, the series boldly affirms the resurgence and importance of Coast Salish weaving on these lands, and directly combats the ongoing systemic suppression of Indigenous visual culture.
Design Challenge entry: 'Turn up in the affirmative by Su_G' in fabric & napkins (mockups c/o Spoonflower & Roostery)
My entry in Spoonflower's Affirmations Design Challenge.
Line art.
© Su Schaefer 2019
I was listening to Bob Marley’s ‘Stand Up! Stand up for your rights’ while I thought about this contest, and his words may have influenced my take on affirmations.
The quote: “The world is run by those who turn up” is from Tony Windsor, Independent Australian politician (cited in an ABC [national broadcaster] article 10 March 2016) and seems to be a variation of: “The quote the world is run by those who show up is attributed variously to anonymous sources or to an engineering expert, Robert B. Johnson, in a 1999 article in the Journal of Management in Engineering. It succinctly describes what most of us observe in our personal and work lives … that people tend to fall into two groups: those who are disengaged from the world around them or those who are active participants trying to shape the future.” -- Chris Crawford, 2009.
The typeface is 'Chiller' (as rendered by Adobe) & my current favourite.
See ‘Turn Up!... by Su_G’ as fabric @ Spoonflower.
See more 'statement art' designs by Su_G.
[Turn up in the affirmative by Su_G_fabric,napkins_mockup]
La buvette Cachat occupe l'emplacement de l'ancien Hôtel des bains. Elle est propriété de la Société des eaux, fondée par la famille Cachat au xviiie siècle, à la suite de la découverte des vertus de l'eau d'Évian par le marquis Jean-Charles de Laizer (1734-1806) qui affirma que sa consommation lui avait permis de guérir de la gravelle.
L'édifice est construit par l’architecte Albert Hebrard entre 1903 et 1905.
La buvette Cachat à Evian-les-Bains a été édifiée par l'architecte Albert Hebrard entre 1903 et 1905. Après l'inauguration, les touristes et buveurs d'eau découvrent un vaste hall coiffé d'une coupole en bois, le tout dans le style art nouveau avec une ornementation luxuriante.
La buvette Cachat occupe l'emplacement de l'ancien Hôtel des bains. Elle est propriété de la société des eaux, fondée par la famille Cachat au xviiie siècle, suite à la découverte des vertus de l'eau d'Évian par le marquis Jean-Charles de Laizer (1734-1806) qui affirma que sa consommation lui avait permis de guérir de la gravelle.
LA PLUS GRANDE CATHEDRALE PEINTE EN EUROPE : 18 500 m² de fresques et décorations en font la plus grande cathédrale peinte en Europe. Elle se lit comme une Bible illustrée.
À la fin de la première décennie du XVI e siècle, Louis II d’Amboise, évêque d’Albi, recrute pour orner sa cathédrale un atelier de peintres italiens venus de l’Émilie. Ils travaillent de 1509 à 1513 et font de Sainte-Cécile la plus grande église peinte de la chrétienté latine, y déployant le programme pictural le plus ample et le plus précoce réalisé en France à la Renaissance.
Pour leur part, les voûtes couvrent environ 1900 mètres carrés. Elles se présentent comme une ouverture sur le Ciel divin, le Paradis, les félicités mystiques de l’Église triomphante. Elles composent également un miroir de la doctrine catholique, un catéchisme en images, qui inscrit le temps sur fond d’éternité.
Elles évoquent « ce que l’oeil n’a pas vu, ce que l’oreille n’a pas entendu, […] tout ce que Dieu a préparé pour ceux qui L’aiment » (Saint Paul, I Corinthiens, 2, 9). La veine légère et colorée du Quattrocento a permis aux peintres d’exprimer par des signes concrets les fulgurances situées au-delà du sensible. Ils ont figuré le Royaume céleste non comme un lieu corporel de délices et de beauté, mais comme un état plus spirituel que matériel, l’union glorieuse de Dieu et des élus. Une foule d’anges musiciens fait entendre les hymnes éclatantes dont retentit le Ciel.
Un long cortège d’élus, patriarches, prophètes et saints rappelle les étapes de l’histoire du salut à travers l’Ancienne et la Nouvelle Alliance. Quatre grandes scènes figurées montrent que cette histoire converge vers le Second avènement du Christ, à la fin des temps, par la médiation de l’Église et de ses pasteurs. Des détails précisent les voies de l’élection : l’enseignement des clercs, la pratique des vertus et des sacrements, l’accomplissement des cérémonies liturgiques.
Une certaine fantaisie intervient dans ce programme, sans nuire à sa cohérence. Les artistes émiliens se sont délectés à varier les attitudes des personnages et les architectures, n’hésitant pas à emprunter un certain nombre d’éléments au répertoire du grotesque. Cette jubilation créatrice s’accorde magnifiquement avec le thème qu’ils avaient à traiter ; le flamboiement des ors, les grands aplats d’azur et la polyphonie des couleurs abolissent les frontières entre la terre et le Ciel, révélant la Jérusalem céleste, exaltant la fonction médiatrice de la cathédrale et du service divin qui s’y trouve célébré chaque jour. On peut affirmer que l’adéquation parfaite entre le projet et sa réalisation constitue l’ensemble des voûtes de la cathédrale Sainte-Cécile en chef-d’œuvre absolu de la peinture monumentale.
Louis II d'Amboise a confié l'ornementation du plafond de Sainte Cécile à des peintres italiens originaires de Modène et de Bologne. Ceux-ci ont entrepris ce chantier entre 1509 et 1512. Les fresques de la voûte (1509-1512), riches en couleurs et aux dimensions exceptionnelles (97m de long sur 28 m de large), forment l'ensemble de la peinture renaissance italienne le plus vaste et le plus ancien de France.
Ce bleu profond qui tapisse les voûtes au dessus du chœur est ce fameux "bleu de France" qu'on dit aussi "bleu-roi". Contrairement à ce qui a longtemps été mentionné dans les guides touristiques, ce bleu ne provient pas du pastel (plante tinctoriale donnant une couleur bleue cultivée dans la région à la même époque). En effet, le bleu de pastel n'était exploité que pour la teinture, car on ne savait pas en extraire les pigments et les utiliser sous forme de peinture.
Les voûtes de la cathédrale sont conçues comme un ciel immense et bleu, sur lequel se développe un décor de rinceaux, d'arabesques, de candélabres, cadre de scènes au contenu pastoral.
Depuis le thème d'Adam et Eve, jusqu'à l'Annonciation, sont représentés tous les personnages importants de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament, dans une ordonnance qui culmine avec le Christ en majesté. Deux travées mettent en image Sainte-Cécile, patronne du lieu.
Les couleurs sont certainement des produits chers. L'azurite, pigment bleu issu d'un composé de carbonate de cuivre, vient de Chessy. La malachite, pigment vert, est plus rare. L'éloignement des gisements renchérit la couleur, sans compter les feuilles d'or utilisées.
Le travail des fresques, se fait en peignant un enduit frais. (fresco signifie frais en italien) Le chantier devait être organisé pour que le mortier soit gâché, monté sur les échafaudages et enduit sur les murs avant que les artistes ne commencent leur travail de précision
#17 - Kim Klassen 's BEYOND LAYERS COURSE - 13/52: "You are already amazing: Beyond Affirmation Brushes and I AM texture"
Brush: Kim Klassen's Beyond Affirmation Brush
Textures: I AM & Now
“Through a transformation of energy, a new understanding may appear. It is like a new birth which must be cared for as if it were a child” (Pogson, 1994).
One of many bronze sculptures on the Taliesin West property all by Crista.
I will be your Father, and you will be my Sons, and Daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
--2 Corinthians 6: 18
R.I.P. George (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008).
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and author who won four Grammy Awards for his comedy albums.
Carlin was especially noted for his political and black humor and his observations on language, psychology, and religion along with many taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5-4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's right to regulate Carlin's act on the public airwaves.
Carlin's most recent stand-up routines focused on the flaws in modern-day America. He often took on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture.
He placed second on the Comedy Central cable television network list of the 10 greatest stand-up comedians, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three - decade Johnny Carson era, and was also the first person to host Saturday Night Live.
Early life and career -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
George Denis Patrick Carlin was born in New York City, the son of Mary (née Bearey), a secretary, and Patrick Carlin, a national advertising manager for the New York Sun. Carlin was of Irish descent and was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.
Carlin grew up on West 121st Street, in a neighborhood of Manhattan which he later said, in a stand-up routine, he and his friends called "White Harlem", because that sounded a lot tougher than its real name of Morningside Heights. He was raised by his mother, who left his father when Carlin was two years old. At age 14 Carlin dropped out of Cardinal Hayes High School and later joined the United States Air Force, training as a radar technician. He was stationed at Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, Louisiana.
During this time he began working as a disc jockey on KJOE, a radio station based in the nearby city of Shreveport. He did not complete his Air Force enlistment. Labeled an "unproductive airman" by his superiors, Carlin was discharged on July 29, 1957. In 1959, Carlin and Jack Burns began as a comedy team when both were working for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth, Texas. After successful performances at Fort Worth's beat coffeehouse, The Cellar, Burns and Carlin headed for California in February 1960 and stayed together for two years as a team before moving on to individual pursuits.
1960s
In the 1960s, Carlin began appearing on television variety shows, notably The Ed Sullivan Show. His most famous routines were:
* The Indian Sergeant ("You wit' the beads... get outta line")
* Stupid disc jockeys ("Wonderful WINO...") — "The Beatles' latest record, when played backwards at slow speed, says 'Dummy! You're playing it backwards at slow speed!'"
* Al Sleet, the "hippie-dippie weatherman" — "Tonight's forecast: Dark. Continued dark throughout most of the evening, with some widely-scattered light towards morning."
* Jon Carson — the "world never known, and never to be known"
Variations on the first three of these routines appear on Carlin's 1967 debut album, Take Offs and Put Ons, recorded live in 1966 at The Roostertail in Detroit, Michigan.
During this period, Carlin became more popular as a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson era, becoming one of Carson's most frequent substitutes during the host's three-decade reign. Carlin was also cast on Away We Go, a 1967 comedy show.
Carlin was present at Lenny Bruce's arrest for obscenity. According to legend the police began attempting to detain members of the audience for questioning, and asked Carlin for his identification. Telling the police he did not believe in government issued IDs, he was arrested and taken to jail with Bruce in the same vehicle.
Eventually, Carlin changed both his routines and his appearance. He lost some TV bookings by dressing strangely for a comedian of the time, wearing faded jeans and sporting a beard and earrings at a time when clean-cut, well-dressed comedians were in vogue. Using his own persona as a springboard for his new comedy, he was presented by Ed Sullivan in a performance of "The Hair Piece," and quickly regained his popularity as the public caught on to his sense of style.
In this period he also perfected what is perhaps his best-known routine, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television", recorded on Class Clown. Carlin was arrested on July 21, 1972 at Milwaukee's Summerfest and charged with violating obscenity laws after performing this routine.[28] The case, which prompted Carlin to refer to the words for a time as, "The Milwaukee Seven", was dismissed in December of that year; the judge declared the language indecent, stating that the language was indecent but cited free speech, as well as the lack of any disturbance. In 1973, a man complained to the FCC that his son had heard a later, similar routine, "Filthy Words", from Occupation: Foole, broadcast one afternoon over WBAI, a Pacifica Foundation FM radio station in New York City. Pacifica received a citation from the FCC, which sought to fine Pacifica for allegedly violating FCC regulations which prohibited broadcasting "obscene" material. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC action, by a vote of 5 to 4, ruling that the routine was "indecent but not obscene" and the FCC had authority to prohibit such broadcasts during hours when children were likely to be among the audience. F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978). The court documents contain a complete transcript of the routine.
The controversy only increased Carlin's fame (or notoriety). Carlin eventually expanded the dirty-words theme with a seemingly interminable end to a performance (ending with his voice fading out in one HBO version and accompanying the credits in the Carlin at Carnegie special for the 1982-83 season) and a set of 49 web pages organized by subject and embracing his "Incomplete List Of Impolite Words".
Carlin was the first-ever host of NBC's Saturday Night Live, debuting on October 11, 1975. (He also hosted SNL on November 10, 1984, where he actually appeared in sketches. The first time he hosted, he only appeared to perform stand-up and introduce the guest acts.) The following season, 1976-77, Carlin also appeared regularly on CBS Television's Tony Orlando & Dawn variety series.
Carlin unexpectedly stopped performing regularly in 1976, when his career appeared to be at its height. For the next five years, he rarely appeared to perform stand-up, although it was at this time he began doing specials for HBO as part of its On Location series. His first two HBO specials aired in 1977 and 1978. It was later revealed that Carlin had suffered the first of his three non-fatal heart attacks during this layoff period.
1980s and 1990s ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
In 1981, Carlin returned to the stage, releasing A Place For My Stuff, and he returned to HBO and New York City with the Carlin at Carnegie TV special, videotaped at Carnegie Hall and airing during the 1982-83 season. Carlin continued doing HBO specials every year or every other year over the following decade-and-a-half. All of Carlin's albums from this time forward are the HBO specials.
Carlin's acting career was primed with a major supporting role in the 1987 comedy hit Outrageous Fortune, starring Bette Midler and Shelley Long; it was his first notable screen role after a handful of previous guest roles on television series. Playing drifter Frank Madras, the role poked fun at the lingering effect of the 1960s psychedelic counterculture. In 1989, he gained popularity with a new generation of teens when he was cast as Rufus, the time-traveling mentor of the titular characters in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and reprised his role in the film sequel Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey as well as the first season of the cartoon series. In 1991, he provided the narrative voice for the American version of the children's show Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, a role he continued until 1998. He played "Mr. Conductor" on the PBS children's show Shining Time Station which featured Thomas from 1991 to 1993 as well as Shining Time Station TV specials in 1995 and Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales in 1996. Also in 1991, Carlin had a major supporting role in the movie The Prince of Tides along with Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand.
Carlin began a weekly Fox Broadcasting sitcom, The George Carlin Show, in 1993, playing New York City cab driver "George O'Grady". He quickly included a variation of the "Seven Words" in the plot. The show ran 27 episodes through December 1995.
In 1997, his first hardcover book, Brain Droppings, was published, and sold over 750,000 copies as of 2001. Carlin was honored at the 1997 Aspen Comedy Festival with a retrospective George Carlin: 40 Years of Comedy hosted by Jon Stewart.
In 1999, Carlin played a supporting role as a satirically marketing-oriented Roman Catholic cardinal in filmmaker Kevin Smith's movie Dogma. He worked with Smith again with a cameo appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and later played an atypically serious role in Jersey Girl, as the blue collar dad of Ben Affleck's character.
2000's --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
In 2001, Carlin was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Annual American Comedy Awards.
In December 2003, California U.S. Representative Doug Ose introduced a bill (H.R. 3687) to outlaw the broadcast of Carlin's seven "dirty words", including "compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms)". (The bill omits "tits", but includes "ass" and "asshole", which were not part of Carlin's original routine.)
The following year, Carlin was fired from his headlining position at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas after an altercation with his audience. After a poorly received set filled with dark references to suicide bombings and beheadings, Carlin stated that he couldn't wait to get out of "this fucking hotel" and Las Vegas in general, claiming he wanted to go back East "where the real people are". He continued to insult his audience, stating:
"People who go to Las Vegas, you've got to question their fucking intellect to start with. Traveling hundreds and thousands of miles to essentially give your money to a large corporation is kind of fucking moronic. That's what I'm always getting here is these kind of fucking people with very limited intellects."
An audience member shouted back that Carlin should "stop degrading us", at which point Carlin responded "Thank you very much, whatever that was. I hope it was positive; if not, well blow me." He was immediately fired by MGM Grand and soon after announced he would enter rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.
For years, Carlin had performed regularly as a headliner in Las Vegas. He began a tour through the first half of 2006, and had a new HBO Special on November 5, 2005 entitled Life is Worth Losing, which was shown live from the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Topics covered included suicide, natural disasters (and the impulse to see them escalate in severity), cannibalism, genocide, human sacrifice, threats to civil liberties in America, and how an argument can be made that humans are inferior to animals.
On February 1, 2006, Carlin mentioned to the crowd, during his Life is Worth Losing set at the Tachi Palace Casino in Lemoore, California, that he had been discharged from the hospital only six weeks previously for "heart failure" and "pneumonia", citing the appearance as his "first show back".
Carlin provided the voice of Fillmore, a character in the Disney / Pixar animated feature Cars, which opened in theaters on June 9, 2006. The character Fillmore is a VW Microbus with a psychedelic paint job, whose front license plate reads "51237" — Carlin's birthday.
Carlin's last HBO stand-up special, It's Bad for Ya, aired live on March 1, 2008 in Santa Rosa, CA at the Wells Fargo Center For The Arts. Many of the themes that appeared in this HBO special included "American Bullshit", "Rights", "Death", "Old Age", and "Child Rearing". Carlin had been working the new material for this HBO special for several months prior in concerts all over the country.
On June 18, 2008, four days before his death, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC announced that Carlin would be the 2008 honoree of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to be awarded in November of that year.
Personal life ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
In 1961, Carlin married Brenda Hosbrook (born June 12, 1939, died May 11, 1997), whom he had met while touring the previous year, in her parents' living room in Dayton, Ohio. The couple had a daughter, Kelly, in 1963. In 1971, George and Brenda renewed their wedding vows in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brenda died of liver cancer a day before Carlin's 60th birthday, in 1997.
Carlin later married Sally Wade on June 24, 1998, and the marriage lasted until his death - two days before their tenth anniversary.
In December 2004, Carlin announced that he would be voluntarily entering a drug rehabilitation facility to receive treatment for his dependency on alcohol and painkillers.
Carlin did not vote and often criticized elections as an illusion of choice. He said he last voted for George McGovern, who ran for President in 1972 against Richard Nixon.
Religion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Although raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Carlin often denounced the idea of God in interviews and performances, most notably with his "Invisible Man in the Sky" and "There Is No God" routines. In mockery, he invented the parody religion Frisbeetarianism for a newspaper contest. He defined it as the belief that when a person dies "his soul gets flung onto a roof, and just stays there", and cannot be retrieved.
Carlin also joked that he worshipped the Sun, because he could actually see it, but prayed to Joe Pesci (a good friend of his in real life) because "he's a good actor", and "looks like a guy who can get things done!"
Carlin also introduced the "Two Commandments", a revised "pocket-sized" list of the Ten Commandments in his HBO special Complaints and Grievances, ending with the additional commandment of "Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself."
Themes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Carlin's themes have been known for causing considerable controversy in the American media. His most usual topic was (in his words) humanity's "bullshit", which might include murder, genocide, war, rape, corruption, religion and other aspects of human civilization. His delivery frequently treated these subjects in a misanthropic and nihilistic fashion, such as in his statement during the Life is Worth Losing show: "I look at it this way... For centuries now, man has done everything he can to destroy, defile, and interfere with nature: clear-cutting forests, strip-mining mountains, poisoning the atmosphere, over-fishing the oceans, polluting the rivers and lakes, destroying wetlands and aquifers... so when nature strikes back, and smacks him on the head and kicks him in the nuts, I enjoy that. I have absolutely no sympathy for human beings whatsoever. None. And no matter what kind of problem humans are facing, whether it's natural or man-made, I always hope it gets worse."
Language, from the obscene to the innocuous, had always been a focus of Carlin's work. Euphemisms that seek to distort and lie, and generally the use of pompous, presumptuous and downright silly language are often the target of Carlin's works.
Carlin also gave special attention to prominent topics in American Culture and Western Culture, such as: obsession with fame and celebrity, consumerism, Christianity, political alienation, corporate control, hypocrisy, child raising, fast food diet, news stations, self-help publications, patriotism, sexual taboos, certain uses of technology and surveillance, and pro-life, among many others.
Carlin openly communicated in his shows and in his interviews that his purpose for existence was entertainment, that he was "here for the show". He professed a hearty schadenfreude in watching the rich spectrum of humanity slowly self-destruct, in his estimation, of its own design; saying, "When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front-row seat." He acknowledged that this is a very selfish thing, especially since he included large human catastrophes as entertainment.
In a late-1990s interview with radio talk show host Art Bell, he remarked about his view of human life: "I think we're already 'circling the drain' as a species, and I'd love to see the circles get a little faster and a little shorter."
In the same interview, he recounted his experience of a California earthquake in the early-1970s as: "...an amusement park ride. Really, I mean it's such a wonderful thing to realize that you have absolutely no control... and to see the dresser move across the bedroom floor unassisted... is just exciting." Later he summarized: "I really think there's great human drama in destruction and nature unleashed and I don't get enough of it."
A routine in Carlin's 1999 HBO special You Are All Diseased focusing on airport security leads up to the statement: "Take a fucking chance! Put a little fun in your life! ... most Americans are soft and frightened and unimaginative and they don't realize there's such a thing as dangerous fun, and they certainly don't recognize a good show when they see one."
Carlin had always included politics as part of his material (along with the wordplay and sex jokes), but by the mid-1980s had become a strident social critic, in both his HBO specials and the book compilations of his material. His HBO viewers got an especially sharp taste of this in his take on the Ronald Reagan administration during the 1988 special What Am I Doing In New Jersey? broadcast live from the Park Theatre in Union City, New Jersey.
Death ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
On June 22, 2008, Carlin was admitted to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California after complaining of chest pain. He died later that day at 5:55 p.m. PDT of heart failure at the age of 71.
*************************************************************************************************
Comics Remember George Carlin: George Carlin Inspired a Generation of Comedians with His Groundbreaking Humor
By CLOE SHASHA
June 23, 2008
George Carlin gave more to his fellow comedians, actors and writers than a good laugh.
Responding to news of Carlin's death from heart failure at the age of 71, fellow funny men and women spoke about his groundbreaking humor, his brilliant mind, his big heart, and the effect he had on them and their profession.
"If there was ever a comedian who was a voice of their generation it was George Carlin," comedian and "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno told ABCNEWS.com. "Before George, comedians aspired to put on nice suits and perform in Las Vegas. George rebelled against that life. His comedy took on privilege and elitism, even railing against the game of golf. He never lost that fire. May he continue to inspire young people never to accept the status quo."
"George Carlin was a hugely influential force in stand-up comedy, actor Ben Stiller told ABCNEWS.com. "He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining. He was one of the greats and he will be missed."
Comedian Mike Myers, currently starring in "The Love Guru," told ABCNEWS.com: "George Carlin is one of the greatest comedians that ever lived. His irreverence, bravery, and the fact that he was his own man, has served as an inspiration to me and he will be sorely missed."
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel concisely expressed his esteem for Carlin. "Free speech never had a better or funnier friend than George Carlin," he told ABCNEWS.com.
Jack Burns, who performed in a comedy duo with Carlin, called Carlin a genius.
"I will miss him dearly," Burns told the Associated Press. "We were working in Chicago, and we went to see Lenny (Bruce), and we were both blown away. It was an epiphany for George. The comedy we were doing at the time wasn't exactly groundbreaking, and George knew then that he wanted to go in a different direction."
Whoopi Goldberg, co-host of "The View," paid tribute to Carlin on Monday's show.
"George Carlin was one of the first guys to inspire me that you could actually talk about stuff you knew," Goldberg said. "Him and Rich [Pryor], for me, two of the greats are gone, and I wanted to acknowledge that they're gone."
"The View" co-host Joy Behar also said she was affected by Carlin's death. "I just feel terrible when a comedian dies," Behar said. "Especially George Carlin, a wonderful comedian -- a trailblazer and an extremely brave comedian."
"The last of the great comics has left us, only to join the great comedy club in the sky," Rain Pryor, Richard Pryor's daughter, told ABCNEWS.com. "I will miss you, Mr. Carlin, as the world missed my father. Give Dad a hug for me!"
"Carlin was brilliant," Richard Pryor's writer Paul Mooney told ABCNEWS.com. "The world has lost a genius; the world has lost a mensch."
Caroline Hirsch, a comedian on Broadway who produced the show "Caroline's Comedy Hour" and started Caroline's Comedy Club in New York for rising comedians, commented on Carlin's success.
"He was so prolific," she told ABCNEWS.com. "He had so many stand-up specials, was just smart, brilliant and really a social commentator of the time. I remember in the 60s -- I mean, that's how I really got hooked on comedy -- he was a major factor in that. And it felt so good to meet this legend years later."
"George Carlin was The Beatles of stand-up comedy," Bill Hader, an actor ("Superbad") and comedian on "Saturday Night Live," told ABCNEWS.com. "His influence can be felt in every stand-up comedian today. His jokes were the first act I ever learned. I would spend recess performing it for all my friends."
Judd Apatow, a director of comedies, such as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," recalled his childhood days following Carlin's comedy. "Nobody was funnier than George Carlin," Apatow told ABCNEWS.com. "I spent half my childhood in my room listening to his records, experiencing pure joy. And he was as kind as he was funny."
"He was one of the big ones," celebrity comedian Joan Rivers told ABCNEWS.com. "He was fearless in his comedy."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carlin's `7 words you can't say on TV': Overheard?
By FRAZIER MOORE.
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 30 years after George Carlin pronounced "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television," some of those words have lost their sting.
Some of those words still aren't welcome on the public airwaves (or, for that matter, in print) and they are still being debated in the courts.
But you can hear those words voiced in everyday discourse more than ever.
Carlin, who died Sunday at age 71, observed in his routine: "We have thoughts, but thoughts are fluid. Then we assign a word to a thought and we're stuck with that word for that thought — so be careful with words."
Good advice.
Carlin's seven words, he would caution ironically, "are the ones that'll infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war."
Or course, times — and wars — have changed. At least one of Carlin's words (a rude term for urine) wouldn't raise an eyebrow on much of broadcast TV now.
Meanwhile, none of them is alien to premium cable. For many viewers, hearing those Words You Can't Say On Television being said on television helps make pay cable worth paying for.
Those words were heard on television in 1977, on Carlin's first HBO comedy special.
They fall into predictable categories: bodily waste; sexual acts (both socially acceptable and frowned upon); and female body parts.
"When he used those words he wasn't just trying to shock," said Richard Zoglin, who wrote about Carlin in his recent book, "Comedy at the Edge: How Standup in the 1970s Changed America."
"He was trying to make a statement that's familiar today, but wasn't so familiar back then: 'Why do we have this irrational fear of words?'"
Of this Magnificent Seven, only one, which refers to the female anatomy, retains the power to jolt nearly anyone within earshot. On an HBO sitcom a couple of years ago, the angry husband used this word to insult his wife. It nearly wrecked their marriage. More tellingly, the studio audience emitted an audible gasp.
Premium cable, and even basic cable, have far more freedom with content than broadcast programming, which is carried on public airwaves by stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission.
For broadcast, The Words are actually words the FCC says can't be heard before 10 p.m. — when the "safe harbor" for young viewers applies. But exactly what those words are, and under what circumstances they may be permissible, is currently unclear.
"The networks are being careful, because even in this kind of flux, you don't want to push too far," said T. Barton Carter, Boston University professor of communications and law. "Vagueness and inconsistencies in regulation can have a chilling effect on broadcasters."
The picture is further muddied by the fact that 80 to 90 percent of viewers get all their programming (from broadcast stations as well as cable networks) through their cable or satellite subscription, Carter added. Different indecency standards apply to channels whose difference is often undetectable to the audience.
The uncertain regulatory climate led to PBS distributing two versions of the Ken Burns documentary series "The War" last fall. Stations could choose the original version, or opt for a sanitized version of World War II, one that was free of any Words You'd Be Safer Not Saying On Television.
The FCC changed its policy on indecency following a January 2003 broadcast of the Golden Globes awards show by NBC when U2 lead singer Bono uttered the phrase "f------ brilliant." The FCC said the "f-word" in any context "inherently has a sexual connotation" and can trigger enforcement." That case has yet to be resolved.
Recently the U.S Supreme Court has entered a legal fight over curse words aired by Fox in 2002 and 2003 on the live broadcasts of "The Billboard Music Awards." Cher used the phrase, "F--- 'em." And Nicole Richie said, "Have you ever tried to get cow s--- out of a Prada purse? It's not so f------ simple."
Scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court this fall, the case would decide whether the government can ban "fleeting expletives," one-time uses of familiar but profane words.
Dropping an "f-bomb" on a broadcast won't automatically blast open the floodgates, said Tim Winter, president of Parents Television Council, but he warned, "It's a slow accumulation. First it's once every several months. Then it becomes once a month. Then it becomes once a night."
"That's our concern for some of the words that are at issue here," said Winter, who's also an avowed George Carlin fan: "It's unfortunate that a brilliant comedian like George Carlin is a poster child for the lawsuits that are out there."
NEW! CHAI. Valentine. Available at CHAI Mainstore now. $75L packs this Weeknd only for ShoppeBlk Weekend Sale.
This is part of my Affirmations Board in my FOCUS section. A selection of fave quotes and phrases written on post-its attached to a transparent flyleaf.
Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.
"Roy T. Bennett",
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.
.
#bangalore #bangalore_insta #sobangalore #bengaluru #streetphotographyindia #vidhanasoudha #nightclicks #Light #heartofcity #creation #creative #inspiration #inspirational #inspirational_attitude #inspirational_life #inspirational_quotes #inspire #inspiring #life #lifeandliving #life_lessons #life_quotes #living #optimism #optimistic #positive #positive_affirmation #positive_life #positive_thinking #worry
Olafur Eliasson refuse d'indiquer la hauteur de la grue d'où tombe la cascade dans le Grand Canal. "Sa hauteur est parfaite", s'est-il contenté d'affirmer lors d'une conférence de presse, en révélant que l'oeuvre a été conçue pour être exactement dans l'axe du soleil couchant lors du soltice d'été. Selon lui, André Le Notre, le créateur du parc de Versailles, avait imaginé une fontaine monumentale, mais elle n'avait pu être réalisée.
"Je ne vais pas vous révéler la hauteur de la cascade parce qu'on doit laisser le public se faire sa propre idée", a-t-il assuré. Il veut "sortir d'un monde où tout se réduit aux statistiques" et "résister à l'idée selon laquelle nous devons toujours quantifier l'inquantifiable".
Sometimes you need a lil reminder.
Full Blog: dasminejam.blogspot.com/2020/09/unicorn-affirmations.html
I don't agree with graffiti in general, and especially out of context but the sentiment is spot on. Much better than any motivational poster. And if you have neither you can at least be polite and honest.
And yes I do see the irony in taking a photo of someone's else work when it makes this statement but this is more about showcasing the uncredited graffiti and its viewpoint.
Thank you for any and all views, faves, invites to groups, comments and constructive critique. I’m not keen on: invitations to post 1 award 3; copy and paste comments (you know who you are); or links to your work. If you like my images there is a good chance I will like yours and I tend to reciprocate views as a matter of courtesy and personal interest. All my images are my own original work, under my copyright, with all rights reserved. This means asking the owner's permission, and obtaining it, before using the image for ANY purpose.
Hundreds of people and vehicles created an hours-long traffic jam on State Street into the Chicago Loop from 26th Street near the South Loop. It was an inspiring event with a diverse group of people including a large showing of Caucasians who peacefully affirmed that black lives matter in a system that disproportionately harms the latter.
Chicago Car Caravan - Justice 4 George Floyd, Illinois, USA
This vintage photo depicts the Panting Wolf Post Dedicated at the last potlatch held on Japonski Island near Sitka on December 23, 1904. The hosts of the potlatch, the Kaagwaantaan clan, affirmed their social status by dedicating five monumental wooden carvings. The Panting Wolf house post was raised up by pulleys and attached to the front of Jacob Yarkon's (Xeitxutch) World house.
=======================================================
Potlatches
Potlatches are among the most distinctive cultural expressions of the Native American peoples of the Northwest Pacific Coasts of the United States and Canada.
Practiced by communities as far north as the Ingalik of Central Alaska and as far south as the Makah of Washington State, they are perhaps best known among the Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Nootka, Salish, and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples.
Potlatches are extravagant feasts where goods are given away or sometimes destroyed to enhance social prestige. The basic principle underlying the potlatch is reciprocity and balance as the host clan regales the clans from the opposite moiety with songs, dances, speeches, food, and gifts. Traditionally, they take place in very specific cultural contexts such as a memorial for a deceased relative, the rebuilding of a clan house, or the dedication of a totem pole.
Today, potlatches are also held for other reasons such as marking important anniversaries, graduations, and personal accomplishments. Among the Tlingit, however, the memorial potlatch (koo.éex’) remains the principal one.
As Sergei Kan points out, they are not just about representing the social order; they also constitute key cultural values and principles of honor and mutual support. By hosting elaborate potlatches, individuals and clans maintain and gain status and recogni-tion within the community. The potlatch is thus a complex and multi-layered communication system where participants express their relationships among themselves, with their ancestors, and with their future generations.
Although there is variation across communities, memorial potlatches are structured according to a standard protocol. They generally begin with the hosts welcoming the guests, and they quickly move into the mourning period where the hosts sing mourning songs.
To alleviate their hosts’ grief, the guest clans immediately respond by singing songs, holding up their clan at.óow, and making consolation speeches. The potlatch then shifts to a more celebra-tory and joyous mood with dancing, the distribution of individual “fire dishes” of food for the ancestors,and the serving of a traditional meal.
At this time, the hosts distribute food and small gifts and recognize individual guests with gifts of fruit baskets. Throughout this period the guests and family members give small amounts of money to members of the host clan with whom they have a special relationship. The hosts gather this money and announce each gift, and they then give new clan names to newborn children and individuals being adopted.
Near the end of the potlatch, the hosts publicly recognize everyone who helped and supported them in their time of grief with a gift of money and sometimes a special gift such as a blanket. After all the money and gifts have been distributed, the guests generally perform a closing dance to thank the hosts.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Tlingit people experienced profound social changes. U.S. citizenship, social justice, and Christianity were topics of popular debate. Some clan chiefs and housemasters became convinced that the time had come for their people to abandon their old traditions and customs.
In Sitka, the territorial capital of Alaska, 80 Christian Indians, many of them Presbyterians, formed an organization called the “New Covenant League” that eventually became the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood. The league was committed to ending such customs as plural marriages, inter-clan indemnity claims, uncle-nephew inheritance laws, and potlatching.
In 1902, several members approached Governor John G. Brady, a former Presbyterian missionary, and requested that he issue a proclamation that would “command all natives to changed and that if they did not they should be punished.”
Like other missionaries and government officials, Governor Brady considered the potlatch a practice that perpetuated prejudice, superstition, clan rivalry, and retarded progress.
He was committed to breaking up the offensive clan system and replacing it with the independent family unit, but he was not eager to impose legal sanctions.
Therefore, in a dramatic gesture, Brady decided to endorse one “last potlatch” at Sitka where Tlingit people from across southeast Alaska could gather and discuss their future. He appealed to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, to secure the necessary funds with the justification that the event would “result in a lasting good to the people them-selves and would save the United States many thou-sands of dollars in the way of criminal prosecution.”
One of the most prominent members of the New Covenant League was James Jackson (Anaaxoots), the head of the Kaagwaantaan clan. Other likely members were Augustus Bean (K’alyaan Eesh), Paddy Parker (Yaanaxnahoo), and Jacob Yarkon (Xeitxut’ch)—all high-ranking members of the Sitka Kaagwaantaan clan and part of the new vanguard of wealthy, educated Tlingit, who had been Brady’s allies and had served on the Indian Police Force.
Obligated to host a major potlatch, but not wanting to jeopardize their good relations with Brady, they endorsed his last potlatch idea and agreed to serve as hosts.
The “last potlatch” was held on December 23, 1904, and lasted four weeks. It officially began with the grand arrival at Japonski Island (just south of Sitka) of the Raven side guests in traditional dugout canoes flying American flags.
The Raven clans included the Deisheetaan of Angoon, the T’akdeintaan of Huna, and the Gaanaxteidí of Klukwan. The potlatch consisted of consecutive days of alternating feasts and dancing.
The Kaagwaantaan clan hosts honored their guests with great quantities of food. According to the Daily Alaskan (Dec. 29, 1904),“Every morning and afternoon there is a great feast and only one article is served …. At the feasts the man or woman who can eat the most is regarded as the special hero of the occasion and he receives an extra allowance of the good things it is within the power of the hosts to bestow.”
The Kaagwaantaan clan hosts affirmed their social status by dedicating five monumental wooden carvings. They dedicated the Multiplying Wolf screen and two house posts carved by Silver Jim (Kichxook) and installed them in James Jackson’s Wolf house. They installed two other Wolf posts carved by Rudolf Walton in Augustus Bean’s Eagle house. The Panting Wolf house post was raised up by pulleys and attached to the front of Jacob Yarkon’s World house.
They publicly validated all these objects with proper Tlingit protocol. For example, the Daily Alaskan (Jan. 13, 1905) reported that Chilkoot Jack received $270 in cash, 100 blankets, 10 large boxes of provi-sions, and 7 coal oil cans filled with candlefish oil.
Governor Brady had hoped that his “last potlatch” would help end clan factionalism and further his assimilationist agenda. Ironically, it seems to have had the opposite effect.
The Daily Alaskan (Dec. 29, 1904) observed that “one of the results of the potlatch has been to create enthusiasm among those Indians who still profess faith in the beliefs, superstitions, traditions and customs of the natives, as opposed to those who have forsaken them for the Christian faith.”
Many of the traditionalists used the potlatch to educate the younger generation: “the old Indians who never took kindly to the white man’s religion are happy, and they are using the opportunity to impress upon the younger members of the tribe what they regard as the necessity of maintaining their old customs and traditions.”
Although they were sympathetic to some of Brady’s goals, it is clear that the Kaagwaantaan clan leaders did not support the end of potlatching.
According to anthropologist Sergei Kan, unpublished records in Sitka’s Presbyterian archives indicate, for instance, that James Jackson continued to practice “the old customs” after 1904.
Indeed, the Tlingit people never fully abandoned potlatching. Many communities continued the practice in secret or masked it by combining it with American holidays and social events. These covert strategies seem to have placated Governor Brady since potlatching was never outlawed, as it was in Canada. Today memorial potlatching is enjoying a strong resurgence, and the CCTHITA maintains a calendar of these events.
www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-centennial-potlatch/
(Notes from University of Pennsylvania, Expedition Magazine Vol 47 No 2 Summer 2005)
This turned out to be one of the most joyous, life affirming places that we've visited on our travels. The sparkling, late summer sunshine, the arresting modern architecture set amid so much history, the superb collection of early 20th century paintings on the 5th floor, and the throng of tourists and Parisians enjoying themselves on a Saturday combined to make this a most memorable afternoon.
"Centre Georges Pompidou commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou; also known as the Pompidou Centre in English) is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais. The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers. In the spring, miniature carnivals are installed temporarily into the place in front with a wide variety of attractions: bands, caricature and sketch artists, tables set up for evening dining, and even skateboarding competitions.
The nearby Stravinsky Fountain (also called the Fontaine des automates), on Place Stravinsky, features sixteen whimsical moving and water-spraying sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle, which represent themes and works by composer Igor Stravinsky. The black-painted mechanical sculptures are by Tinguely, the colored works by de Saint-Phalle. The fountain opened in 1983.
It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
The sculpture, Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is twenty-five feet high, was placed in 2012 in front of the Centre Pompidou.
The Centre was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano; British architect Richard Rogers; and Italian architect Gianfranco Franchini, assisted by Ove Arup & Partners.The project was awarded to this team in an architectural design competition, whose results were announced in 1971. It was the first time in France that international architects were allowed to participate. World-renowned architects Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Prouvé and Philip Johnson made up the jury which would select one design out of the 681 entries.
National Geographic described the reaction to the design as "love at second sight." An article in Le Figaro declared "Paris has its own monster, just like the one in Loch Ness." But two decades later, while reporting on Rogers' winning the Pritzker Prize in 2007, The New York Times noted that the design of the Centre "turned the architecture world upside down" and that "Mr. Rogers earned a reputation as a high-tech iconoclast with the completion of the 1977 Pompidou Centre, with its exposed skeleton of brightly coloured tubes for mechanical systems. The Pritzker jury said the Pompidou "revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city.".
Initially, all of the functional structural elements of the building were colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety (e.g., fire extinguishers) are red."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou
...
This turned out to be one of the most joyous, life affirming places that we've visited on our travels. The sparkling, late summer sunshine, the arresting modern architecture set amid so much history, the superb collection of early 20th century paintings on the 5th floor, and the throng of tourists and Parisians enjoying themselves on a Saturday combined to make this a most memorable afternoon.
"Centre Georges Pompidou commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou; also known as the Pompidou Centre in English) is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais. The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers. In the spring, miniature carnivals are installed temporarily into the place in front with a wide variety of attractions: bands, caricature and sketch artists, tables set up for evening dining, and even skateboarding competitions.
The nearby Stravinsky Fountain (also called the Fontaine des automates), on Place Stravinsky, features sixteen whimsical moving and water-spraying sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle, which represent themes and works by composer Igor Stravinsky. The black-painted mechanical sculptures are by Tinguely, the colored works by de Saint-Phalle. The fountain opened in 1983.
It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
The sculpture, Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is twenty-five feet high, was placed in 2012 in front of the Centre Pompidou.
The Centre was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano; British architect Richard Rogers; and Italian architect Gianfranco Franchini, assisted by Ove Arup & Partners.The project was awarded to this team in an architectural design competition, whose results were announced in 1971. It was the first time in France that international architects were allowed to participate. World-renowned architects Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Prouvé and Philip Johnson made up the jury which would select one design out of the 681 entries.
National Geographic described the reaction to the design as "love at second sight." An article in Le Figaro declared "Paris has its own monster, just like the one in Loch Ness." But two decades later, while reporting on Rogers' winning the Pritzker Prize in 2007, The New York Times noted that the design of the Centre "turned the architecture world upside down" and that "Mr. Rogers earned a reputation as a high-tech iconoclast with the completion of the 1977 Pompidou Centre, with its exposed skeleton of brightly coloured tubes for mechanical systems. The Pritzker jury said the Pompidou "revolutionized museums, transforming what had once been elite monuments into popular places of social and cultural exchange, woven into the heart of the city.".
Initially, all of the functional structural elements of the building were colour-coded: green pipes are plumbing, blue ducts are for climate control, electrical wires are encased in yellow, and circulation elements and devices for safety (e.g., fire extinguishers) are red."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou
...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7xE4kgPjoo
Et ce vent, l’affreuse Tania l’avait aussi ressenti. Dans son repaire, pour parer à toute éventuelle rébellion, elle avait préparé le piège qu’elle destinait au roi vampire, cette statue si belle qu’elle le tenterait et le mettrait sous emprise de la voleuse d’âmes. Elle ne savait pas qu’elle-même, par ses stratégies maléfiques, participait à sa façon à réunir précisément, ceux qu’elle voulait séparer. Pour parfaire le sortilège, elle avait ligoté une guitare qu’elle avait choisie pour incarner la magie musicale de Jakob, qu’elle voulait aussi réduire en esclavage.
- Deux précautions valent mieux qu’une, s’était-elle dit en attachant le cordage très serré sur l’instrument. S’il défaisait le maléfice de la statue, il resterait lié à moi par le contrôle musical que je garderai bientôt sur lui. Jusqu’à ce que, faute de revoir sa belle, il se résigne à m’appartenir à tout jamais.
Puis elle avait consulté les cartes pour savoir où en était le roi depuis qu’elle avait quitté le banquet. Et le vit dormant sur son lit, la bouche barbouillée de ce qu’elle prit pour du sang, mais qui n’était autre que le jus de la grenade qu’il avait dévorée.
- Que voilà une bonne nouvelle ! Au moins, s’il ne mange ni ne boit en compagnie, il ne se laisse pas mourir de faim chez lui. Et endormi comme il est, il ne se rendra même pas compte de ma présence si je viens déposer la statue dans sa chambre. Allons...où est le sort d’invisibilité ? Aaaaaah le voilà dit-elle, en recopiant le mantra sur un morceau de papier qu’elle glissa dans son décolleté.
Puis elle entoura la statue d’un tissu de soie identique à sa cape. Et prononçant la formule de téléportation, elle souhaita être dans la chambre du monarque. Elle devait ensuite prononcer le mantra d’invisibilité pour ne pas être repérée par Bartoloméo. Et déposer aussi silencieusement que possible la statue dans la pièce. Cette dernière n’était pas très haute, pouvait tenir sur un meuble, mais une fois le sortilège démarré, la statue pouvait grandir et égaler en taille sa victime.
Placée face au lit sur le marbre d’une commode, le vampire ne pourrait la manquer à son réveil. Et alors, Tania pourrait le posséder entièrement et régner enfin sur le royaume des ombres, comme elle l’avait toujours désiré. Elle chuchota à la statue :
- Ariane, n’oublie pas ! Tu t’appelles Ariane et tu dois me rapporter l’âme et la ferveur de Roméo, prince vampire et roi des ombres.
La statue ouvrit les yeux et contempla sa maîtresse avant d’incliner légèrement la tête. Puis reprit son immobilité rigide ordinaire. Satisfaite, Tania s’éclipsa non sans un dernier regard à Jakob, toujours endormi sur son lit. Bientôt il serait à elle, tout à elle et Marie ne pourrait que constater la trahison de son mari.
- Après tout, ricana la voleuse d’âmes, la comtesse n’a-t-elle pas rejeté son époux en refusant d’être reine des ombres ? Elle m’a en quelque sorte laissé carte blanche pour le soumettre à mes désirs.
Alors ne nous refusons aucun maléfice pour le contraindre.
De retour chez elle, la voleuse d’âmes considéra un tableau avec attention, représentant une jeune fille en robe blanche dans un cadre d’or. Cette toile lui avait été offerte il y a bien longtemps par Bartoloméo. A l’époque où ils étaient ensemble. Elle sourit ironiquement, car le visage de la jeune fille ressemblait à la fois Anne et à Marie Smiroff. Quand il le lui avait offert ce tableau, Bartoloméo lui avait dit :
- J’aimerais croire qu’il s’agisse de toi un jour. Car cette jeune fille provoquera la chute des mondes que nous connaissons par sa pureté et son innocence. Et je sais que si ce n’est pas toi, tu devras l’aider à accomplir la prophétie. Peu importe comment…
Tania avait considéré son amant avec agressivité :
- C’est la femme que tu aimes réellement, n’est-ce pas ? Serait-elle ma rivale ? Veux-tu piquer ma jalousie ?
Bartoloméo avait haussé les épaules :
- Crois ce que tu veux. En réalité, je ne sais pas qui elle est exactement. Je l’ai peinte à l’inspiration, pour t’aider à comprendre quelque chose que je ressens profondément, comme une certitude. Et pour m’aider aussi à croire en un avenir moins sombre et plus réjouissant que sous la férule de Lucifer. Si je te l’offre, c’est parce que j’aimerais croire encore en un avenir commun, mais sous des auspices plus doux.
- Tu n’es pas heureux ?
- Perdre des âmes en les séduisant et en les manipulant devrait me rendre heureux ?
Tania soupira :
- Toujours ces mêmes façons de me répondre : une question par rapport à ma question.
- Mais Tania...comment peux-tu envisager le bonheur à faire du mal ?
- Je ne l’envisage pas, je le fais. Et cela me comble. Je ne comprends pas que tu n’y prennes pas plaisir. N’es-tu pas satisfait du confort et des récompenses que nous octroie Lucifer en contrepartie ?
- Si...d’une certaine façon. Le luxe, nos ébats, la réussite de nos entreprises me plaisent. Mais mon âme n’y trouve pas son compte.
- Confie-la moi et je te promets que tu n’auras plus ce genre de tourment, répondit la jeune femme avec gourmandise.
- Jamais ! Mon corps si tu veux, mais jamais mon âme. De toute façon, elle est promise à Lucifer, pas à toi. Nous ne sommes que des créatures à son service. Nous n’avons pas à revendiquer l’autre pour notre seul plaisir.
- Tu dis cela parce que tu n’as pas d’ambition !
- Détrompe-toi, ma chère ! J’en ai beaucoup plus que tu ne le penses. Mais mes objectifs ne sont pas la destruction, plutôt quelque chose de constructif, en rapport avec mes visions.
- Ta médiumnité : elle n’arrête pas de nous montrer un labyrinthe rempli de chausse-trapes.
- Oui...et en son centre, un faune qui hurle en lisant un livre. Et ce faune, je sais que c’est moi. Mon propre désespoir d’être piégé dans un rôle où je me sens prisonnier et donc malheureux. Il me faut quelqu’un pour me libérer de l’enfermement où me tient Lucifer. Ou quelque chose qui m’aide à trouver le courage de partir.
- La jeune fille à la robe blanche serait alors la clé pour te sortir de ta prison ?
- Peut-être…
- Eh bien, si cette fille devait un jour entrer dans ta vie et m’éloigner de toi, je l’envoûterai, je m’arrangerai pour que jamais tu ne puisses me remplacer par elle.
Bartoloméo avait souri laconiquement.
- Tu réussiras peut-être dans cette vie avec l’aide de Lucifer, mais si tu agis contre elle, tu finiras par me perdre définitivement.
Tania l’avait fixé avec effronterie :
- Qui ne tente rien n’a rien, dit-on. Et je te veux...corps et âme. Peu m’importe les risques que j’encours. Une rivale est une rivale. Je ne laisserai aucune femme, aucune fille se mettre entre nous. Tu es à moi, entends-tu ? Lucifer nous a nommés partenaires et nous sommes amants depuis lors. Il est hors de question qu’une autre femme te vole à moi.
Le jeune homme avait alors ri :
- Attends quelques vies...ce ne sera plus vraiment moi...plus vraiment toi…mais le jeu se rejouera entre nous comme il se joue dans cette vie...avant de dissoudre tout ce que nous connaissons jusqu’à présent.
- Mais comment peux-tu être aussi affirmatif?
- Je ne sais pas...La seule chose que je vois c’est la victoire de la jeune fille du tableau. Et ma délivrance définitive.
Tania soupira. Ce souvenir désagréable en forme de promesse et d’intimidation, qui revenait comme une espèce de retour de bâton, au moment où elle s’apprêtait à vampiriser à sa manière le roi des ombres, fit s’allumer son regard :
- Roméo est sans doute le nouveau Bartoloméo. Ce qui explique pourquoi je l’ai identifié durant le banquet et pourquoi la maison de Bartoloméo, pourtant abandonnée depuis des lustres, sert à présent de demeure au nouveau roi des ombres. Mais s’il croit que je le laisserai accomplir la prophétie et m’échapper, il se trompe lourdement.
A présent que j’ai verrouillé la fuite de ma proie, allons donc faire de même auprès de celle qui a succédé à Anne. Lucifer m’a toujours dit qu’elle était la plus coriace des deux. Et qu’elle avait réussi à le tromper pour retrouver et libérer son amant. Si je n’ avais pas donné la formule de pétrification au diable, jamais nous n’en serions venus à bout.
- Mais Lucifer et toi n’avez pas vraiment gagné pour autant, Tania. Puisque nos coeurs continuent de battre sous la pierre, murmura une voix suave à son oreille. Alors ne compte pas gagner contre Marie. De toute façon, elle est protégée par les forces de l’anneau, ainsi que par Anne et moi…Si tu tentes de t’attaquer à elle...elle saura se défendre, tout autant que Roméo.
- Eh bien c’est ce que nous verrons, murmura la voleuse d’âmes en saisissant le tableau peint par son ancien partenaire. Je vais casser les fils qui relient Marie et Roméo, en tisser d’autres entre lui et moi.
- Une autre tapisserie ?
- Oui, dont elle sera absente, cette fois !
- Mais tu es déjà dans les tapisseries qu’elle consulte. Tu fais partie du jeu…et c’est elle plus que toi qui mène la danse. Tu n’es qu’une marionnette, ma chère...mais tu ne peux le percevoir puisque tu n’as pas l’intelligence du coeur.
Folle de colère, Tania fit un signe étrange de la main comme pour attirer quelque chose issu du tableau : un fil blanc apparut à la surface de la peinture, petite flèche sur laquelle la voleuse d’âmes tira violemment. Aussitôt, le tissu de la robe de la jeune fille se mit à tressauter tout autant que la toile et la peinture couchée dessus, à mesure que Tania embobinait le fil qu’elle tirait. Ce dernier était fait non seulement de coton blanc, mais aussi de flammes brûlantes qui tentaient de se rejoindre les unes les autres désespérément, provoquant un réveil douloureux et un affolement chez la jeune fille.
- Jakob, Jakob...mais que se passe-t-il ? Pourquoi est-ce que ta présence ne semble plus aussi forte à mes côtés ? Pourquoi est-ce que j’ai si mal ? Pourquoi est-ce que je sens des forces maléfiques tenter de nous séparer ?
- Marie...mais je t’aime...non, je ne t’aime pas...tu n’es rien...Tania est tout ce que tu ne seras jamais. Je vais couper le lien qui m’enchaîne à toi et je charge Tania de le faire avec sa propre magie.
- Quoi???Mais...ce n’est pas possible ! Ce n’est pas toi qui me dis ça !
- Je suis un vampire et je suis le roi des ombres. Je décide ce qui est bon ou pas pour moi. Alors je te chasse ! Retourne à ton monde, renonce à moi, renonce à nous et à l’anneau de feu...sinon, prends garde !
- Noooooon...je refuse d’abandonner ! Ce que tu m’envoies est une illusion, un sortilège que la femme étrange qui te suit mobilise pour nous perdre et pour essayer de s’emparer de toi ! Je t’en prie, Jakob...réveille-toi ! Elle ne fait qu’essayer de te tromper pour mieux te posséder.
Tania considéra la jeune fille du tableau à présent complètement dénudée, décoiffée et parcourue de fils enflammés.
- Tu es décidément très douée, Marie Smiroff, pour percer la vérité derrière le masque des choses. C’est pourquoi tu dois payer le prix de cette connexion insensée.
Et saisissant une paire de ciseaux tranchants, elle finit de mettre en pièces la toile, faisant hurler la jeune fille de douleur sous les lames acérés des ciseaux, laissant la peinture s’entasser dessus comme autant de crottes d’oiseaux visqueuses, sanguinolentes et malodorantes. Puis Tania souffla dessus en projetant ces fragments enflammés et noircis en direction de la tour du château de Kalamine où ils atterrirent directement sur la couverture qui enveloppait la jeune comtesse.
L’odeur nauséabonde conjuguée à un malaise immense, réveilla la dormeuse. Non pas la jeune fille fictive du tableau, mais la vraie Marie se dressa d’un bond, affolée, cherchant du secours sans en trouver aucun, et se heurtant au silence de l’antichambre, que seul le tictac d’une petite pendule venait troubler.
Puis elle contempla les crottes, écoeurée. Repoussa la couverture souillée et frissonna. Il faisait soudainement froid dans l’antichambre. Très froid. Le feu s’était éteint et pas seulement dans l’âtre. Il semblait s’être volatilisé dans son coeur sans qu’elle comprenne comment ni pourquoi. Elle était seule. Confrontée à un rejet immense de Jakob à son égard, relayé par un maléfice de la voleuse d’âmes plus sombre encore. Et qui la déstabilisait complètement dans sa quête alchimique, la rendant presque ridicule et inutile.
Marie qui avait déjà peur de la voleuse d’âmes, conçut plus de crainte encore vis à vis de Tania. Et tout aussitôt, se sentit misérable et indigne de celui qu’elle aimait. Car elle était bien incapable de pareils agissements. Et elle sentait bien que ce qui attachait Jakob à cette femme était la magie qu’elle-même ne possédait pas. Et pourtant...Jakob l’avait aimée sans le subterfuge d’aucune magie...Mais au final, il avait choisi la magie la plus sombre plutôt que leur amour. Et Marie devait accepter sans doute cette réalité, si cruelle soit-elle. Une larme, puis deux, puis trois étaient tombées à terre sans qu’elle songea à les essuyer. Et une vague de désespoir aussi noir que les déjections de la couverture l’envahit.
Comment l’aperçu de la chambre nuptiale et de Jakob l’y attendant, pouvait-il se terminer par un cauchemar aussi affreux qui en plus, s’incarnait maintenant dans l’anti-chambre alchimique ?
Ce n’était pas possible. Quelque chose en elle refusait d’abdiquer face à cette violence qui lui était faite ; et ce quelque chose était cet amour immense qu’elle éprouvait pour Jakob, qui résistait à cette tentative d’anéantissement, avec un entêtement qui n’avait d’égal que sa colère. Non, décidément, elle ne laisserait pas la voleuse d’âmes lui prendre son mari ni l’amour qu’ils partageaient. Et elle l’affronterait si elle voulait pouvoir accéder à la promesse que lui avait donné le perroquet.
Alors vivement, Marie rassembla quelques bûches, un peu de papier et prit des allumettes pour ranimer le feu dans la petite cheminée. Puis elle chercha du regard de quoi se vêtir car elle s’était découverte en chemise, sous la couverture. Alors qu’elle était persuadée être habillée quand elle s’était endormie dans le fauteuil.
- Où est ma robe rouge, demanda-t-elle tout haut ? Où sont mes effets ?
Mais rien ni personne ne lui répondit. La robe rouge d’initiation avait disparu. Un instant, la jeune fille pensa que la voleuse d’âmes la lui avait volée mais finit par apercevoir une manche de la robe dépasser d’un coffre en bois qu’elle ouvrit. Erminie l’avait peut-être dévêtue avant qu’elle ne s’endorme pour ne pas froisser cette tenue d’apparat. Marie trouva dans le coffre une tenue plus simple, blanche, exactement comme la tenue que portait la jeune fille du tableau qu’elle avait aperçue dans son rêve.
- Ca par exemple...mais comment est-ce possible ? Dit elle en saisissant le vêtement et en l’enfilant à la hâte. Pourquoi ce cauchemar soudain ? Que veut dire ce tableau ? Est-ce moi qui suis représentée dessus? Et si c’est moi, comment cette horrible femme l’avait-elle en sa possession ?
Tant de questions se bousculaient dans sa tête sans trouver de réponses, que Marie en venait à se demander à quoi servait le parcours alchimique si l’issue est aussi désespérante.
- Une chose est sûre :je ne veux pas que la connexion s’arrête. Et Jakob non plus, j’en suis persuadée ! Seulement, on dirait que notre lien a été comme momentanément brouillé. J’entends et ressens toujours son affection mais... une bonne partie de ce qui m’arrive comme message semble tordu et malfaisant. Pourquoi, alors que j’essaie d’avancer au plan alchimique, m’arrive-t-il une telle épreuve ? Qu’ai-je fait pour que notre lien se retrouve à moitié coupé? Et pourquoi vouloir me salir avec ces crottes ensanglantées ? Suis-je si indigne de Jakob que je doive subir une telle humiliation ?
En même temps, qu’elle s’habillait et se faisait ces réflexions, elle aperçut une sorte de balle rouge clair sous le fauteuil qui lui servait de lit.
- Mais qu’est-ce que c’est encore que ça ? Par quel miracle cette...Oh mon Dieu mais c’est...une grenade !
Instinctivement elle rosit en repensant à la vision qu’elle avait eue de Jakob dans la chambre ornée du même fruit. Elle ramassa la grenade et la posa sur sa joue. Immédiatement, elle se sentit irradiée par une lumière douce qui l’entourait comme les bras d’un amant. Avec une tendresse toute suave qui la fit soupirer. Jakob lui manquait tellement...Mais si elle commençait à s’attendrir ainsi, elle n’aurait plus aucun courage pour changer la situation. Et il était hors de question que les maléfices dont elle était prisonnière aient le dessus sur leur amour. Alors elle rouvrit les yeux et contempla la couverture souillée.
- Il faut que je la nettoie…dit-elle tout haut en posant la grenade sur une table. Et nous verrons ensuite à régler son compte à cette odieuse personne !
Elle attrapa la courtepointe, la traîna jusqu’à l’âtre, puis saisit la balayette de cheminée pour brosser les crottes mais celles-ci une fois tombées, se reformaient sur la couverture comme si désormais, elles y étaient attachées. Loin de se laisser décourager, Marie attrapa un morceau de savon, de l’eau, une brosse et se mit à frotter avec énergie la couverture en murmurant :
- ...la magie appartient à l’âme qui agit. Et les maléfices, je sais les nettoyer. Que le mauvais sort soit renvoyé à son initiatrice. Et que la lumière repousse les ombres ! Anneau de feu, toi qui peux tout, aide moi !
Aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait, l’anneau à son doigt irradia la couverture en déclenchant un vent puissant qui emporta et nettoya les souillures définitivement. Et renvoya de façon décuplée, le maléfice à celle qui l’avait lancé. Tania qui tenait la pelote de fil dût la lâcher sous la puissance du vent sorcier qui s’était déclenché. La pelote qu’elle tenait pourtant serrée, tomba. Puis vivement se déroula et partit dans tous les sens au sol, avant de ligoter solidement les chevilles de la voleuse d’âmes, aussi entravée qu’elle avait tenté d’entraver Jakob et sa guitare. Et Tania en fut aussi désarçonnée que la jeune fille qu’elle avait tenté d’intimider.
- Par tous les diables, mais qu’est-ce que...Noooooon...cette enfant ne peut pas disposer de pouvoirs...c’est matériellement impossible ! Nous l’aurions su depuis longtemps, Lucifer, Oswald et moi !
A nouveau, la voix suave lui répondit :
- Ces pouvoirs ont été dissimulés avant même sa naissance. Héloïse était consciente de la magie liée à sa fille dès le début de sa grossesse. Mais pour lui éviter de souffrir et d’être manipulée un jour par les forces du mal à cause de cette magie, la comtesse et son mari ont utilisé une incantation puissante pour que Marie ignore ses capacités, tant que l’union alchimique ne serait pas réalisée.
Ses dons, lorsqu’ils se manifestent, s’ils ne sont plus en sommeil, sont involontaires, liés aux circonstances et aux violences que les forces du mal lui font subir. Marie n’a donc pas encore conscience des pouvoirs puissants dont elle dispose. Et elle a besoin de l’anneau de feu pour les activer. Mais le jour où elle n’aura plus besoin de lui pour déployer sa puissance, Tania, c’est toi qui auras peur d’elle. Et tu auras raison de la craindre, car alors, elle te vaincra, comme elle vient de vaincre tes maléfices sur elle.
Et je vais te révéler une chose supplémentaire, ma chère : ce que tu viens de tenter contre Marie et contre l’union d’âmes qu’elle vit déjà avec Roméo, a déclenché chez elle une prise de conscience de ses propres pouvoirs.
Jusque là, elle fuyait tout ce qui était lié à la magie, comme si la magie incarnait seulement les pouvoirs maléfiques d’Oswald et des forces du mal. Mais grâce au parcours alchimique et à tes attaques, elle comprendra vite qu’elle peut opposer à la magie des ombres, une magie lumineuse faite d’amour, de compréhension et de lumière. Bien plus puissante que celle que tu déploies pour nuire et capturer les âmes.
- Non, tu mens, Bartoloméo...tu veux seulement me tromper.
- C’est toi qui te mens et te fais souffrir inutilement, Tania ! Et je ne t’ai pas trompée jadis, en te préférant Anne. J’ai même tenté de t’expliquer les choses plus doucement, avec toute l’affection que j’avais encore pour toi :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2yBAX9DGo4
Depuis cette conversation, de nombreuses vies se sont passées. Et aujourd’hui, tu n’as plus les moyens de m’enfermer ni de contraindre qui que ce soit à t’obéir. Au risque de te punir toi-même. Roméo te l’avait précisé au banquet du couronnement. Mais tu n’as pas écouté ce qu’il t’a dit. Parce que tu te penses supérieure à lui. Mais lui sait aussi des choses que tu ignores. Qui peuvent entraver durablement tes pouvoirs, quoi que tu en penses.
- C’est ridicule !protesta la gitane blonde, en cherchant à défaire les liens qui la retenaient prisonnière sans y parvenir.
Ce qui fit rire Bartoloméo qui conclut ainsi son exposé :
- Tu peux évidemment tenter de continuer d’imposer ta magie noire, mais tu verras bientôt que la magie d’amour vrai, la compassion, la recherche du bien commun et non des intérêts privés, dépasse en puissance tout ce que tu peux user de maléfices pour soumettre tes proies comme tes adversaires.
Ce sera une double révélation. Pour toi autant que pour Marie. Et elle a déjà commencé cette magie d’amour...lorsque tu as voulu mobiliser ta magie noire pour dominer tant le roi des ombres que l’ épouse dont il est séparé. Crois-moi ou pas, Tania : la magie lumineuse gagnera toujours...tant que tu nourriras la tienne de violence, de méchanceté et de manipulation.
La voleuse d’âmes sourit. Et en même temps qu’elle réussissait enfin à briser les fils qui la retenaient prisonnière, elle répliqua avec ironie :
- Mon pauvre Bartoloméo, tu crois vraiment que ta tentative de déstabilisation va me décourager de posséder Roméo ? Qui me dit que la magie qui vient de se manifester contre ma personne est l’oeuvre de Marie ? Nul autre que toi. Or, ce qui m’apparaît le plus vraisemblable au regard de ce que je sais depuis toutes ces années passées ensemble, c’est que cette magie vient de toi, dans le seul but de me faire peur, de me faire renoncer.
Aussi, je me dois de te rappeler une chose, mon amour : tu m’appartiens. Tout ce que nous avons fait ensemble pour Lucifer par le passé, nous lie l’un à l’autre. Peu importe qu’Anne ait finalement eu le dessus en te ralliant à l’amour pur et aux forces de l’anneau de feu, puisque de toute façon Lucifer a fait en sorte de vous faire payer votre traîtrise comme vous le méritiez tous deux, par le châtiment de pétrification que je lui ai donné. Et le jeune homme qui t’incarne à présent dans la matière, fait déjà partie du royaume des ombres, de mon monde où régnait Lucifer, Osmond et Oswald jusque là. Mieux, Roméo est devenu roi de ce pays qui est le mien. Alors il peut prétendre être amoureux d’une autre, à l’opposé de ma noirceur. En réalité, il est déjà plus présent physiquement de moi qu’il ne le sera jamais de la petite comtesse jardinière. Charnellement, je lui suis plus accessible ; et le désir qu’il tente de contrôler me le prouve suffisamment. Alors, n’imagine pas qu’il me quittera comme toi tu l’as fait en rencontrant Anne. Car tu oublies une chose, mon cher ! Je peux changer d’apparence...Je peux...illusionner Roméo en lui faisant croire que je suis Marie, tout en conservant mes pouvoirs. Et avec quelques maléfices, aidée par le corbeau que je lui ai offert en cadeau, je pourrai tout à fait achever la possession que j’ai commencé avec toi.
- Tu n’oserais pas…répondit la voix brusquement altérée et inquiète de Bartoloméo.
Pour toute réponse, la voleuse d’âmes passa une main devant son visage ; et de blonde, devint brune. Sans pouvoir ressembler à Marie ni à Anne tant la cruauté comme la méchanceté se lisaient sur son visage, elle pouvait ainsi se donner une apparence plus directement offensive.
Et détournant le vent sorcier dont elle avait été victime, elle emporta le fantôme dans le désert qui jouxtait le château des vampires. Puis mobilisa sa magie la plus noire pour le soumettre à nouveau.
Elle convoqua corbeaux et nuées, vents et montagnes, poussière et ténèbres pour réchauffer la passion qui l’unissait à son ancien amant.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS088Opj9o0
Mais Bartoloméo qui n’était pas dupe, repoussa l’emprise d’un geste, libérant un immense chien noir pour créer l’illusion nécessaire pour tromper son ex-compagne.
Satisfaite, la voleuse d’âmes s’en revint au logis, tenant en laisse ce qu’elle croyait être son ancien amant, à qui elle promettait sa délivrance dès lors qu’elle aurait soumis Roméo via la statue qu’elle avait placée dans sa chambre.
Sans se douter un instant qu’elle venait ainsi de révéler ses noirs projets au fantôme, caché dans l’ombre d’un pin, la voleuse d’âmes flatta le dogue noir avant de récupérer la pelote de fil, seul vestige du tableau que Bartoloméo lui avait offert :
- Pour la peine que tu m’as coûtée, je devrais te la faire manger, dit-elle avec malice. Tu n’aurais ainsi plus de voix pour appeler au secours. Mais tu serais encore capable de lui trouver le goût de la liberté. Et puis j’ai besoin du fil pour le donner à Ariane...pour guider Roméo là où je veux qu’il vienne : ici.
In Part 2, I discussed how the Serpent was used as a symbol for not only initiation into the mysteries and immortality but also a symbol for sexuality, generation, death and rebirth due to the creature’s ability to shed its skin of the old to reveal a shiny new skin underneath. The mythologized Serpent, of course, does appear in almost every culture around the world over. Genesis 3 relays how the Serpent offers knowledge in the form of a fruit grown from the Tree of Knowledge (the “Good ” and “Evil” part may have have been added later as a gloss.) Like the Serpent, the Tree of Knowledge is sometimes considered to be a phallic symbol. This Fruit along with the Tree also were used to signify the result or effect of some cause, having both a positive and a negative effect and origin.
The Two Trees.
The Tree of Knowledge and digesting the forbidden fruit in Genesis according to Jewish tradition represented the primeval mixture or intermingling of good and evil, light and darkness in an almost Manichean fashion. Eating the fruit forbidden set off a chain reaction where humanity developed a “yeitzer hara” or “evil inclination.” Unlike the earlier Hebrews, who blamed themselves for their woes, the Jewish Rabbis believed God had implanted in the ‘heart’, the Hebrew place of the unconscious of each individual, at his birth or conception. The yezer was not hereditary. It was intrinsically good and the source of creative energy, but had a strong potential for evil through appetite or greed. Only strict observance of the Law could keep the strong, irrational passions it engendered under control. To the commentators in the five centuries before Christ, Adam’s death was due to his own “sinful actions”, and not to the Augustine-authored “original sin nature” or “ancestral sin” inherent in the DNA in the race of man because of the disobedience of the primal parents. The Zohar claims that Adam and Eve lost their immortality by ingesting the fruit which is ironically enough compared to the occult:
Hear what saith scripture when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree by which death entered into their souls or lower nature, ‘And when they heard the voice of the Lord of the Alhim walking in the garden’ (Gen. iii-8), or, as it ought to be rendered, had walked (mithhalech). Note further that whilst Adam had not fallen, he was a recipient of divine wisdom (hochma) and heavenly light and derived his continuous existence from the Tree of Life to which he had free access, but as soon as he allowed himself to be seduced and deluded with the desire of occult knowledge, he lost everything, heavenly light and life through the disjunction of his higher and lower self, and, the loss of that harmony that should always exist between them, in short, he then first knew what evil was and what it entailed, and, therefore, it is written, ‘Thou art not a God that approveth wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee’ (Is. v-5); or, in other words, he who implicitly and blindly follows the dictates of his lower nature or self shall not come near the Tree of Life.
According to the Babylonian Talmud, Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden for just twelve hours before being unceremoniously thrown out. This is half a day in Paradise. That snake sure was a fast worker! Yahweh gave Adam and Eve the tour round Eden, told them what they could or couldn’t do and had no sooner turned his back than they were disobeying him and he had to expel them and sentence them, and the whole human race to come, to hell-fire for all eternity. Is that not the biggest (pardon this author’s french) fuck up of all time? It takes a spectacular degree of incompetence to screw things up that badly, so quickly. And yet the source who engineered this monumental disaster is supposed to be the Creator of the Universe, all-knowing and all-powerful, incapable of error! It is any wonder why the Gnostics called the creator god of Genesis as a dark and brutal god who was also given names such as: Samael (Blind One) and Saklas (idiot-retard)?
The Catholic Church Father Irenaeus mentions in Adv. Hear. 1, 29, 3, that the Barbelognostics revered the classic Qabalistic symbol of the “Tree, which itself they call Knowledge (gnosis).” This Tree is generated by two more primordial entities or “Aeons” called “Man” and “Knowledge.” It is hard to know just what his source for this passage may have been, for the kabbalistic symbol of the Tree does not figure in any of the surviving versions of the Apocryphon of John. There is, however, a passage in the Church Father Origen’s description in Contra Celsum of the diagrams of the cosmos envisaged by the Ophites:
And everywhere there, the Tree of Life, and the resurrection of flesh from the Tree …
This passage suggests that the form of the Tree had been imposed on the whole diagram. The Church Father Origen also gives a number of “ten circles”, the traditional number of the emanations or “sefiroth” associated with the cosmic spheres in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life – though roughly only seven of them can have planetary names. This image of the spiritual powers circling in the heavenly spheres, which the Jewish scholar, Gershom Scholem has suggested entered Jewish esoteric teaching from Hellenistic-Egyptian traditions in the centuries before Christianity (or at least Christian gnosticism) arose bears also upon the enigma of the seven-headed form of Iao in the fourth sphere (as discussed in the Apocryphon of John), that of the Sun.
This idea of the Archons situated upon the astral “aerial toll houses” of Eastern Orthodoxy (and of course Gnosticism, especially in the First Apocalypse of James) does indeed seem to originate in ancient Egypt where the the Book of the Dead lists protective spells learned by initiates to guard against the dangerous “judges” during the post-mortem journey of the soul. Speculation in Christian and in Gnostic circles concerning the order of the celestial hierarchy hinged upon a few passages in the Pauline literature, which seem to imply, however, different sequences as Colassians 1:16 states:
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
The names of the authorities are as follows, featured and listed in the Ophite doctrine, refuted by Celsus in Contra Celsum:
Michael – lion, Souriel – bull, Raphael – serpent, Gabriel – eagle, Thauthabaoth – bear, Erathaoth – dog, Taphabaoth/Onoel – ass.
The sequence was composed using the figures of four biblical Cherubim, to whom three new personages were added. The animal forms are derived from the biblical story of the famous vision of Ezekiel as is the iconography of the four evangelists. Ezekiel had seen four monstrous beings in the shape of winged men with four faces: of a man, a lion, a bull and an eagle, on each of the four sides. Jerome connects this tetramorph with the Four Evangelists, being Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
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In the Trimorphic Protennoia, the Archons claim that they also were derived from a tree:
For as for our tree from which we grew, a fruit of ignorance is what it has; and also its leaves, it is death that dwells in them, and darkness dwells under the shadow of its boughs. And it was in deceit and lust that we harvested it, this (tree) through which ignorant Chaos became for us a dwelling place.
As mentioned in Part 1, the Gospel of John 15, 1-2 equates Christ with the vines and fruit of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, which also sounds vaguely Dionysian. Dionysus was also called the surname Dendritês, the god of the tree, which has the same import as Dasyllius, the giver of foliage.
The Gospel of Truth also equates the cross to the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden:
He was nailed to a tree (and) he became fruit of the knowledge of the Father. It did not, however, cause destruction because it was eaten, but to those who ate it, it (cause) to become glad in the discovery, and he discovered them in himself, and they discovered him in themselves.
The Gospel of Philip also makes the connection between the Tree of Life, the resurrection via the chrism (anointing) and Jesus Christ, explicit:
Philip the apostle said, “Joseph the carpenter planted a garden because he needed wood for his trade. It was he who made the cross from the trees which he planted. His own offspring hung on that which he planted. His offspring was Jesus, and the planting was the cross.” But the Tree of Life is in the middle of the Garden. However, it is from the olive tree that we got the chrism, and from the chrism, the resurrection.
Elsewhere in the Gospel of Philip, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is identified with the flesh and the Law (the lower natures as opposed to the pnuematic one). Using a riff from the Epistle to the Romans 7:7-11, the author says:
“It has the power to give knowledge of good and evil. It neither removed him from evil, nor did it set him in the good. Instead it created death for those who ate of it. For when it said, ‘Eat this. Do not eat that.’ it became the beginning of death.”
The pseudepigraphic Jewish-apocalypse Book of Enoch 31:4, describes this tree of knowledge in the midst of the “Garden of Righteousness”:
It was like a species of the Tamarind tree, bearing fruit which resembled grapes extremely fine; and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance. I exclaimed, How beautiful is this tree, and how delightful is its appearance!
Irenaeus’ pupil, Hippolytus would write in Against All Heresies (VI, 27) on how the Valentinians compared the Logos to the fruit of the Tree of Life:
This (one) is styled among them Joint Fruit of the Pleroma. These (matters), then, took place within the Pleroma in this way. And the Joint Fruit of the Pleroma was projected, (that is,) Jesus,— for this is his name—the great High Priest. Sophia, however, who was outside the Pleroma in search of Christ, who had given her form, and of the Holy Spirit, became involved in great terror that she would perish, if he should separate from her, who had given her form and consistency.
He also writes that the Father projected a warrior Aeon as a defense mechanism to protect the Aeonic realm of the Pleroma from the shapeless void created by the fallen Sophia, who is often shaped in a Cross:
Now this (Aeon) is styled Horos, because he separates from the Pleroma the Hysterema that is outside. And (he is called) Metocheus, because he shares also in the Hysterema. And (he is denominated) Staurus, because he is fixed inflexibly and inexorably, so that nothing of the Hysterema can come near the Aeons who are within the Pleroma.
This description also matches with Irenaeus’ account (Against Heresies 1.3.5) on how the Valentinian Christians viewed the hidden, metaphysical meaning and nature of the Cross:
“They show, further, that that Horos of theirs, whom they call by a variety of names, has two faculties,-the one of supporting, and the other of separating; and in so far as he supports and sustains, he is Stauros, while in so far as he divides and separates, he is Horos. They then represent the Saviour as having indicated this twofold faculty: first, the sustaining power, when He said, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross (Stauros), and follow after me, cannot be my disciple; ” and again, “Taking up the cross follow me; ” but the separating power when He said, “I came not to send peace, but a word.” They also maintain that John indicated the same thing when he said, “The fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge the floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable.” By this declaration He set forth the faculty of Horos. For that fan they explain to be the cross (Stauros), which consumes, no doubt, all material objects, as fire does chaff, but it purifies all them that are saved, as a fan does wheat. Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul himself made mention of this cross in the following words: “The doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.” And again: “God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world.”
In the above paragraph, Horos or Stauros (the cross of John) is the limit (X) of Plato’s Timaeus. Simon Magus taught this same exact thing as we will see below. The cross symbolizes the separation of powers and realms. It represents the apokatastasis, the Stoic conflagration, the baptism by fire. Paul the Apostle speaks of this fire that purifies and tries men’s works in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. To be crucified to the world is to bear the symbol of the cross which is a flat-out denial of YHWH and the Elohim archons’ creation. It is to spit in the face of the Greek gods of fate like Socrates. It is hemlock to the flesh and to the spirit it is immortality.
It is the Cross of Christ, which in the Gnostic interpretation separates God from the manifest world, the uncreated, transcendent World of Forms from the Creator and the created realm, constituting a Separate and Hidden God. This limit in essence separates the “wheat from the tares”. At the same time, it also serves as a bridge between the saved sparks of light into the realm above. The extremely esoteric Sethian text, Allogenes, mentions a power or aeon by the name of “Kalyptos”, which can mean either “hidden” or “that which covers,” which may derive from the conception of the veil parting the higher from the lower realm. This power derives from the Aeon of Barbelo, which is also a state of being in which a spiritual power descends into matter. The position of Kalyptos comes very close to that of the Valentinian Horos, Stauros or Limit that separates the highest deity Bythos (Depth or Abyss) from the other Aeons that derive from him. This limit also functions though a second barrier between the “hysterema” of the material cosmos and the realm of the Aeons. Sophia also functions as a veil in On the Origin of the World.
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All of these concepts are also reflected in Origen’s Contra Celsum (6, 33) in which he states that that on the diameter of one of the circles a sword of fire was depicted, the same one that had driven Adam and Eve from the earthly Paradise. This flaming sword guarded the Tree of knowledge (gnosis) and of life (zoe). If the sword was above the black line of Tartarus, then the tree of knowledge and of life has to be the series of circles starting from Gnosis and Sophia and leading through the circle of Life to the Father. This could be similar to the Kabbalistic number of 777 being the sum the paths that the Lightening Path of Creation travels down through the Tree of Life. It is through this channel that the Luciferian motif of bringing the light of heaven to the World of Action becomes apparent.
In Contra Celsum, Origen reports Celsus’ comments on the Christians (the Ophite-Sethian Gnostics in reality), who called their baptismal rite “seal” (recalling the Five Seals of the Sethians); the person who placed the seal was called “father”; the one who received it was called “son” and “young man”, answering: “I am anointed with the white chrism of the tree of life”. Celsus further down describes the Christian belief of “tree of life” being both synonymous with Christ and the resurrection in 6:34:
And in all their writings (is mention made) of the ‘tree of life’ (τό της ζωης ξύλον), and a resurrection of the flesh by means of the ‘tree’ (από ξύλου), because, I imagine, their teacher was nailed to a cross (σταυρω ένηλώθη), and was a carpenter by craft (τέκτων τήν τεχνην)…
Celsus connects a so-called “tree of life,” and a resurrection by means of the “tree,” to Jesus’ execution: that he was nailed to an execution pole and his trade being carpenter, joiner. The relevant point Celsus is making here is that Jesus was suspended on some kind of pole, and secured to it with nails. Clearly, the parallels between the Ophite diagram and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with the circles shown to have numerical values, are there.
The Trimorphic Protennoia and the hermetic Discourse on Eighth and Ninth in the Nag Hammadi library pre-suppose numerical values for the manifestations of God, as does the system of Valentinus as described by his enemy, Irenaeus, which envisioned the theoretical attainment of 10 divine Aeons. He also develops a system consisting of about thirty Aeons, which would suggest that he had taken the simpler Ophite system and expanded it until it was almost uncontrollable. Even more interesting is in the Sethian text, Melchizedek, it portrays Adam and Eve defeating the guardians of the Tree of Life with their own weapon!
For when they ate of the tree of knowledge, they trampled the Cherubim and the Seraphim with the flaming sword.
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The Sephirothic Tree by Robert Fludd
The Qabalah or Kabbalah itself has many similarities with Gnosticism in their closely related teachings of the hidden God and hypostatization of God’s attributes. The Sephirot (or Enumerations, which also means “book” in Hebrew) are the ten emanations of God (or infinite light: Ein Sof Aur) into the universe. These emanations manifest not only in the physical part of the universe, but also in the metaphysical one. Kabbalah distinguish four different worlds or planes: Atziluth, or World of Emanations, where the Divine Archetypes live; Beri’ah or World of Creations, where Highest Ranking Angels are; Yetzirah or World of Formations is the astral world; and Asiyah or World of Actions, is the physical plane and “low astral” plane. Each of these worlds are progressively grosser and denser (one can see the strong Kabbalistic influence on Neo-Platonic thought here as well), but the ten Sephiroth manifest in all of them.
The Kabbalah is rooted in the Merkavah and Assyrian traditions, and the Kabbalah defines Sefirot is also based on the great visions described by Ezekiel. The Sephiroth constitutes the “Tree of Life”, and is aligned in three columns, each headed by a Supernal. The names of the Sephirot are: Kether (Crown), Chochman (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), Chesed (Mercy), Gevurah (Severity), Tiphareth (Redeemer), Netzach (Victory), Hod (Majesty), Yesod (Foundation), Malkhuth (Kingdom). Some clear Christian and Gnostic associations on the Tree of Life is down the middle path, with Keter relating to the Father, which emanates into Tipharet relating to the Holy Ghost, and Christ as the Solar Logos and Savior, which emanates to Yesod, relating to the Son. This being the path by which God emanates into Malkut, the physical world
The Manichean Psalm CCXX illustrates the theme of matter receiving the spiritual Light rather well by using Tree imagery:
They rose, that they belong to Matter, the children of Error, desiring to uproot thy unshakable tree and plant it in their land. Matter and her sons divided me up amongst them, they burnt me in their fire, they gave me a bitter likeness.” … “I am the sweet water that is beneath the sons of Matter.
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Alchemical image of the Divine Sophia as a Tree of Learning and source of the Elixir of Life.
In Jewish Wisdom literature, it was Khokhmah who personified the female Divine. She is understood as an emanation of God, yet she resonates with the Hebrew Goddess who is otherwise assailed in the Old Testament, by Jehovah especially Asherah, the Queen of Heaven. Proverbs 3:18 calls up an image of Khokhmah that originates in the oldest core of Jewish culture: “She is a Tree of Life to all who lay hold of her.” In the same book, Khokhmah sings, “The one who finds me, finds life.” A similar aretalogy can be found in the Sethian text, Thunder-Perfect Mind. The creation story of the 2nd, Century Gnostic, Valentinus of Alexandria, the greatest of Sophia’s devotees, describes the origin and essence of the matter composing this world as emotionally and psychically consubstantial with Sophia as indicated by Irenaeus in Against Heresies, 5, 4:
This mother they also call Ogdoad, Sophia, Terra (Gaia), Jerusalem (cf. Gal. 4:26), Holy Spirit, and, with a masculine reference, Lord. Their mother dwells in that place which is above the heavens, that is, in the intermediate abode; the Demiurge in the heavenly place, that is, in the hebdomad; but the Cosmocrator in this our world. The corporeal elements of the world, again, sprang, as we before remarked, from bewilderment and perplexity, as from a more ignoble source. Thus the earth arose from her state of stupor; water from the agitation caused by her fear; air from the consolidation of her grief; while fire, producing death and corruption, was inherent in all these elements, even as they teach that ignorance also lay concealed in these three passions.
Furthermore, she knows:
the beginning and end and middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons, the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars, the nature of animals and the tempers of wild animals, the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings, the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots… (Wisdom 7:15-22)
The imagery of the tree is also included in Simon Magus’s cosmology, as reported by Hippolytus of Rome, is a powerful model that describing some rare concepts that Simononians in the early third century work described in the Philosophumena, as the “Great Declaration” or “Great Announcement”. Simon very much describes a tree of fire that consumes itself. This is a third century Simonian document, positing that the root of all existence is infinite, and abides in man, who serves as its dwelling-house. The Logos or the Word is projected down by the luciferian Lightening Flash through the Aeons and into the manifest world and man. From the original root, the hidden principle, spring three pairs of manifestations of: Mind and Thought, Voice and Name, Reasoning and Reflection.
The Father is, moreover, “He that hath stood” in relation to premundane existence; “He that standeth” in relation to present being; and “He that shall stand” in relation to the final consummation. Man is simply the realization of “boundless power,” the ultimate end of the cosmic process in which the godhead attains self-consciousness. This infinite power works in all of the aeons as a compound name: He who stands, has stood, and will stand; a term alluded to in the Clementine Homilies and Recognition’s which say, that Simon Magus considered himself as the “Standing One” along with the “that power of God which is called Great”.
The Simonian author employs very Stoic language in describing what is hidden and revealed in the divine Fire, the original Boundless Power that is the stuff that the original Ineffable God is made of—the equivalent of the Qabalistic Ein Sof or Kether—the Crown. In this above entry (linked above) by Hippolytus, he refers to Simon’s theology of the “fruit from the Tree” as being the quintessential product of the human incarnation. The tripartite division of spirit, psyche and matter are simply manifest expressions of the original Stoic-like Divine Fire. This concealed fruit or “Hidden Power” which is another term that he used, requires a key in the conscious process of imagining or beholding a power to form mental images.
The Simonian author interestingly uses the term “imagining” as a reference of becoming divinized or be initiated into the mysteries. But this can only be manifested “if its imagining has been perfected and it takes the shape of itself.” Later, the text mentions a “storehouse” which is a room, located adjacent to a royal chamber within a palace where the gold, jewels and other wealth are stored. Here, the Simonian author is referring to the treasure-house and the storehouse, both concepts that are found within the Pistis Sophia that refer to a location within the “House of Many Mansions” of John 14:2.
Simon Magus also appealed to Matthew 12:33, as Hippolytus writes in Refutations of All Heresies VI, 11:
If, however, a tree continues alone, not producing fruit fully formed, it is utterly destroyed. For somewhere near, he says, is the axe (which is laid) at the roots of the tree. Every tree, he says, which does not produce good fruit, is hewn down and cast into fire.
This, of course, was also Marcion’s (and much later in Mani’s theological two principle system) main scriptural justification for his radical dualism in Christ’s maxim that a good tree does not bear evil fruit, nor does an evil tree bear bad fruit. So if we also interpret that in terms of origins, then the evil god could not possibly have originated from the good god, because good things do not produce evil things, and vice versa. The Gospel of Thomas says something very similar:
(45) Jesus said, “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good man brings forth good from his storehouse; an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things.”
The fact is Simon had a similar doctrine that condemned false religion and predicted a final dissolution of the cosmos, presumably dissolved in fire, so that Simon’s elect can be redeemed, viz. the Great Announcement; Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 6:14; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.23.3.
These words from Simon and John resonate with a key saying of Jesus in Matthew 7:17-20,
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
This was a key saying used by the Gnostics and Marcionites. Could it be that this metaphor originated from John the Baptist, from whom Simon also learned this same metaphor?
Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, that you have Abraham for your father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Cf. John 8:39, 44; 1:17-18)
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In the text On the Origin of the World, it states that the tree of life and the tree of gnosis are situated “to the north of Paradise” and is identified as Epinoia. The Greek name Epinoia carries the meaning of “understanding” or “thought” or “purpose”. She is sent to dwell within Adam, her role being to give him consciousness of his divine origins and the way to return to the Pleroma. The author of On the Origin of the World makes a positive evaluation of the Garden of Eden:
And the tree of eternal life is as it appeared by God’s will, to the north of Paradise, so that it might make eternal the souls of the pure, who shall come forth from the modelled forms of poverty at the consummation of the age. Now the color of the tree of life is like the sun. And its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like those of the cypress. Its fruit is like a bunch of grapes when it is white. Its height goes as far as heaven. And next to it (is) the tree of knowledge (gnosis), having the strength of God. Its glory is like the moon when fully radiant. And its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like fig leaves. Its fruit is like a good appetizing date. And this tree is to the north of Paradise, so that it might arouse the souls from the torpor of the demons, in order that they might approach the tree of life and eat of its fruit, and so condemn the authorities and their angels.
This depiction is in stark contrast with how the the Apocryphon of John depicts Eden as more of a zoo-like prison of the authorities:
And the archons took him and placed him in paradise. And they said to him, ‘Eat, that is at leisure,’ for their luxury is bitter and their beauty is depraved. And their luxury is deception and their trees are godlessness and their fruit is deadly poison and their promise is death. And the tree of their life they had placed in the midst of paradise.
The Apocalypse of Moses is primarily an account about Adam’s death, its cause and cure. Seth is procured along with Adam’s many other children which leads Adam to recount briefly the story of the temptation, the fall, and the the first parents’ punishment in chapters 7-8. Adam’s narrative explains the reason for his present plight. Adam then subsequently sends his wife Eve and son Seth to paradise in search of the oil of mercy that will bring him relief. (9:3) On the way to the garden, Seth is attacked by a beast (in chapters 10-12) which seems to be evidence that God’s curse in Genesis 3:15 is in effect. Adam’s request to be saved is subsequently denied.
(The oil of Mercy) will not be yours now, but at the ends of the times. Then will arise all flesh from Adam to the great day …. , and then all the joy of paradise will be given to them. … (13:2-4)
Adam knows he is going to die and later on in Chapters 22-29, God appears in paradise on his chariot while accompanied by his angels. His throne is fixed, and he indicts and sentences his creatures from the consequences of the fall being spelled out in detail in chapters 24-26. Adam seeks the oil of mercy but God commands the angels to get on with the expulsion (27:4-28:1). Again Adam pleads, this time for access to the Tree of Life (28:2). God’s response to Adam’s plea is met with a reproof:
You shall not take from it now … if you keep yourself from all evil, as one about to die, when again the resurrection comes to pass, I shall raise you up. And then there shall be given to you from the tree of life. (28:3-4)
Another time, Adam pleads with God for herbs from Eden to offer incense and seeds to grow food. God is kind enough to grant this request before Adam and Eve are kicked out from the garden in Chapter 29. The text concludes on a solemn yet promising note which expands on Genesis 3:19:
I told you that you are dust, and to dust you will return. Again I promise you the resurrection. I shall raise you up to the last day, in the resurrection, with every man who is of your seed. (41:2-3)
In the concluding portion of the book, it describes Eve’s death and her burial by Seth, who is commanded to bury in this fashion everyone who dies until the day of the resurrection. These ideas are also reflected in the apocryphal the Book of the Cave of Treasures, where the dying Adam assembles his sons, including Seth for a request to embalm him with myrrh, cassia and balsam and to leave his body in the Cave of Treasures, situated at a side of a high mountain but below paradise.
Seth himself was also considered to be the archetypal father and savior of the Gnostics, resulting from the Jewish exegesis and combination of various biblical themes: (1) that of “the sons of God” in Gen 6:4 (LXX), (2) that of Seth as “another seed” appointed by God in place of the slain Abel in Gen 4:25, who (3) was fathered by Adam as a son in his own likeness and image according to Gen 5:3.
These themes, in combination with Gen 1:26, concerning the god “Man” created in the image and likeness of God, implied the divine nature of Seth, the “planter” of the heavenly seed (Gen 4:25). Seth would recover from “the great aeons” the glory that had left Adam and Eve at their Fall, caused by the Ialdabaoth. Seth would preserve his seed against the repeated attempts of Ialdabaoth to steal it by keeping it separate from the lustful seed of Cain which came from the Archons. At the end of time, Seth (or Sophia in On the Origin of the World) would destroy Ialdabaoth and his followers in a Revelations-styled apocalypse and reinstate his seed, the part of mankind untainted by lust, into its original glory. The strongest instant that we see Seth as a Gnostic Savior is in the Apocalypse of Adam, where Adam tells his son Seth:
And the glory in our hearts left us, me and your mother Eve, along with the first knowledge that breathed within us.
Later, Adam called his son “by the name of that man who is the seed of the great generation as a planter of the righteous seed”, recalling 1 Corinthians 15: 35-49 by Paul the Apostle, who compared the resurrection to a seed. Paul states that when a plant sprouts forth from the seed, and the remnants of the seed whither away. The plant came from the seed, but the plant isn’t the seed, and the seed isn’t the plant. They’re two distinct things, and the plant doesn’t come to life until the seed dies. So what Paul is saying is that spirit is deposited as a seed in the body, and it remains a seed until the body dies and decomposes. Then the spirit sprouts forth from the body, and the body is transmuted into a spiritual body, which also recalls the Parable of the Sower in Matthew, Mark and Thomas. It isn’t reanimation of a corpse at all as Catholic Church Fathers such as Irenaeus and especially Tertullian, have maintained (Against Heresies, 5.12.1, De Resurrectione Carnis). Paul’s theology concerning the spiritual resurrection isn’t so far removed from the ideas expressed in the Great Announcement:
…the manifested side corresponds to the trunk, limbs, leaves, and encasing bark. All these members of the tree are set ablaze from the all-consuming flame of the fire and destroyed. But as for the fruit of the tree, if it’s for is perfect and it assumes the true shape, it is gathered into the storehouse, not thrown into the fire.
Here, the vegetation and tree motifs are evident. Returning to the Gnostics—is it from Seth’s descendants who would possess the Gnosis. The Apocryphon of John suggests that Sophia prepared a place for the souls in heaven, where Jesus, the incarnation of the aeon Christ would disclose the true knowledge of how to return to their true home in with the Spirit (in Pleroma), where they would ascend past the rulers (archons) and their astral spheres and be healed of all deficiency and become holy and faultless. To gain these higher realms, one must ascend above the Seven Heavens of Chaos into the Aeons as stated in the Gospel of the Egyptians:
Then there came forth from the great aeons four hundred ethereal angels, accompanied by the great Aerosiel and the great Selmechel, to guard the great, incorruptible race, its fruit, and the great men of the great Seth, from the time and the moment of Truth and Justice, until the consummation of the aeon and its archons, those whom the great judges have condemned to death.
The Apocryphon of John spells it out in a more concise manner:
And he placed seven kings – each corresponding to the firmaments of heaven – over the seven heavens, and five over the depth of the abyss, that they may reign. And he shared his fire with them, but he did not send forth from the power of the light which he had taken from his mother, for he is ignorant darkness.
Origen, despite being one of the Church Fathers (and theological enemies of the Gnostics), he actually had a doctrine very much influenced by Platonism (but stood firmly against groups like the Valentinians and Marcionites). Origen also did not accept the historicity of the Bible nor did he interpret it literally. One example of this can be taken from De Prinicipiis, 4.1.16, where he discusses the Genesis creation myth more as an allegory:
No one, I think, can doubt that the statement that God walked in the afternoon in paradise, and that Adam lay hid under a tree is related figuratively in Scripture, that some mystical meaning may be indicated by it.” And “those who are not altogether blind can collect countless instances of a similar kind recorded as having occurred, but which did not literally take place? Nay, the Gospels themselves are filled with the same kind of narratives; for example, the devil leading Jesus up into a high mountain, in order to show him from thence the kingdoms of the whole world, and the glory of them.
Likewise, the Valentinians viewed scripture as allegorical on three different levels that corresponded to the three natures. The earlier Gnostics viewed the Old Testament as a symbolic record of the struggle between Yaldabaoth-Jehovah and Sophia as testified in Irenaeus’ account in Against Heresies, VII, 3:
They maintain, moreover, that those souls which possess the seed of Achamoth are superior to the rest, and are more dearly loved by the Demiurge than others, while he knows not the true cause thereof, but imagines that they are what they are through his favour towards them. Wherefore, also, they say he distributed them to prophets, priests, and kings; and they declare that many things were spoken (7) by this seed through the prophets, inasmuch as it was endowed with a transcendently lofty nature. Themother also, they say, spake much about things above, and that both through him and through the souls which were formed by him. Then, again, they divide the prophecies [into different classes], maintaining that one portion was uttered by the mother, a second by her seed, and a third by the Demiurge. In like manner, they hold that Jesus uttered some things under the influence of the Saviour, others under that of the mother, and others still under that of the Demiurge, as we shall show further on in our work.
As we can see, the Tree was an important universal symbol for not only the Gnostics, Simonians, Valentinians, etc, but to groups like the Jewish-Kabbalists, alchemists and many occult groups throughout the ages. The Tree is highly associative with the idea of the descent and crucifixion (and eventual ascent and resurrection) of spirit into and from matter as seen in Sophia-Achamoth’s fall from the celestial world and into the prima materia which parallels the Genesis account of the fall of Eve, the “mother of the living”. In Plato’s Timaeus, do we find the account of the Fall of Atlantis, (as strange as it might sound) which could be read as symbolic of the Divine tragedy and catastrophe so predominant in Gnostic cosmology and theology.
In Part 4, we will investigate a possible Gnostic exegesis of the Atlantis myth and other Greek tales, the Gnostic science of human physiology and the mind relating to Genesis, where and how exactly Orthodox theology developed from and ultimately became victorious as a common religious Christian doctrine, along with some concluding final thoughts on this series.
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