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Some more fun inside this amazing art installation at Bombay Beach.
Photos and light painting by Katrina Brown. A little bit of post-processing by me.
An art installation by Jeff Frost, it's a tribute to two local artists that took their lives in 2021. The color palette is composed of their favorite colors.
Seen on the altar are Teochew traditional food offerings includes: 壽桃山 (Sweet Buns Mountain) , 大福桃 (Prosperous Peach) & 糖塔 ( Sugar Pagoda )
These offerings are made by the famous Teochew bakery in Hong Kong 和記隆, whom since 1969 has been the main supplier for baked offerings during this important festival.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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Part of Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man
Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man at Chatsworth was a large-scale exhibition in the publicly accessible 1000-acre park surrounding Chatsworth House, which saw a number of monumental sculptures from Burning Man, held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, on display in the UK for the first time from 9 April to 1 October 2022.
This ambitious sculpture exhibition was designed to celebrate a shared culture of making and collaboration. Burning Man is a unique event that usually takes place annually in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA, and Chatsworth worked with the Burning Man team and artists to bring its distinctive culture of possibility and creativity to the Derbyshire landscape.
Peak District National Park
I dedicate this piece to my friend AB Images 2009, whose kindness is a source of inspiration to so many people - me included. Thank you for being on the planet, my friend.
Created for the WPC Competition Week #144 - Girl with dove.
Many thanks to Monkeywing for providing the original image. Thanks also to Oddsock for the white dove SNIP.
Chaoscope dove, mine.
Brushes www.obsidiandawn.com
On the first day of the festival, a special daytime Matinee Chinese Opera was held.
Not only does this podium provides entertainment for the visitors, it is believed the spiritual buddies enjoy it even more so. In fact, the front row is often vacant out and reserved for the spirits.
yes.. it was a hot and humid day!!
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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Photo shot with Photo shot with Nikon D600 + + AF-S NIikkor 50mm f/1.8G
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---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----
---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----
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Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.
Ezio Famà.
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questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.
Ezio Famà.
What is the Mother flame? The Mother flame (Kundalini) has been described as coiled energy, white fire or light located at the base-of-the-spine chakra. This white light has to be awakened and raised through each of the chakras. Chakras are spiritual centers of light and energy located along the spinal column that are "gateways" to the "spiritual self."
Raising the Mother flame brings healing and as we heal, we magnetize the light of the Father and experience the divine interchange of energy that occurs between the Father (masculine polarity) and the Mother (feminine polarity). We start to integrate the two polarities.”Energy always follows consciousness…" Because of the purifying action of the Mother flame, care has to be taken in how it is raised. The safest way is through prayer and devotion. The goal is to reunite the light of the Mother with the light of the Father in the heart chakra. When this happens, we give birth to the Christ consciousness. The Divine Mother is our great teacher and guru. As the Mother flame rises, we begin to see the things we need to do and work on. Memories will surface and some will be painful. Healing our psychology is a fundamental step on the spiritual path and it is important to take hold of the hand of the Mother during this time as she gives us the inner guidance and strength to press onward. The blessings we receive from the Mother are endless. One of her primary attributes is to awaken us. As the Mother light rises, our consciousness begins to undergo a profound change. We become illumined. The wisdom of the Mother teaches us better ways of doing things. She helps us to fine-tune our communication skills and to improve our interactions with people. She teaches us to build healthy relationships and to open our eyes to see the needs of others. From her we learn to be more responsible and efficient. She brings harmony and order. All of this is the result of the Mother's energy flowing through us.
What is the ascension? Simply put, the ascension is a spiritual ritual whereby we "victoriously" return to God after passing our spiritual tests and meeting certain requirements. Author Annice Booth says:
Through the flame of the ascension, we become one with our own Higher Self and then with God the Father, our own I AM Presence… The ascended masters say we "ascend daily" and every good work, deed and thought aligns us closer to our Higher Self. Raising the Mother flame must be accompanied by spiritual devotion. If this is not done, the rising flame will activate all kinds of inordinate desires instead of the God qualities and virtues we are seeking.
The Mother flame and the ascension flame are one and the same. The ascension flame is the consciousness of the Mother and the Mother is the white light of the ascension flame. As we raise the Mother flame we begin to weave our spiritual garment of light called the seamless garment. Our seamless garment is woven by our thoughts and feelings and the threads represent our,consciousness. We have to replace our old garment with a new one. If we are prone towards being selfish, then we have to start giving to others. If we are filled with self-hate, then we must replace this with self-love. As we pass our initiations and start to heal we begin to add virtues to our garment of light. Sages and saints are often described as having one or more special virtues. Perhaps it is grace, honor or integrity. Some are called truth bearers and others are praised for being noble and just. Virtues are one of the gifts that come from the Mother. As we weave them into our seamless garment we can truthfully say we are walking the path of Beauty, the path of the Divine Mother and the ascension.
Whether male or female, we each have a masculine and feminine side. Everything in the spiritual and material world dances in a rhythmic flow of male and female energy. The Chinese call this yin (feminine) and yang (masculine). Wholeness requires the balancing of our masculine and feminine sides. The Mother shows us the way to do this. Our feminine side is nurturing, creative, intuitive, sensitive, comforting, caring and patient. She is the healer as well as the teacher. Our masculine side is associated more so with the "law" and as being analytical. He is power, strength, protection and discipline. When we are out of balance we feel chaotic and lack harmony. We are out of sync with the universe and our energy is scattered. We become uncaring and insensitive, abusive, aggressive or passive, indecisive and weak-willed. We become spiritually bankrupt. The Mother (Teacher-Guru) provides the nurturing, guidance and wisdom we need to successfully balance our polarities. One of the ways she does this is by explaining the laws of Father. Sometimes she is required to become the disciplinarian dispensing the discipline that is necessary for balancing to occur. Her overall desire is to liberate and restore us to wholeness. The soul of both man and woman is feminine and Spirit is the masculine side. We have to raise the feminine ray to magnetize the masculine. Until we do this, we will not manifest the fullness of our wholeness.
When we are in deep prayer and communion with God we enter into our inner altar and our "heart of hearts." This sacred place is called the secret chamber of the heart. Mystics speak of seeing a blazing flame, a divine spark within the secret chamber. This spark is also called the threefold flame or the Holy Christ flame and represents the sacred Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It has three rays or plumes coming forth from it. The blue ray represents the Father (Power), the yellow ray represents the Son (Wisdom), and the pink ray represents the Holy Spirit (Love). There is a white sphere of the Trinity located at the base of the threefold flame that is a "veritable fount of the Mother Flame." The Ascended Masters have taught us to be sensitive to these plumes and to take notice when one or more are out of balance. Are you throwing your power around? Then the blue plume is out of alignment. If you are not exercising your God given wisdom to the fullest, then the yellow plume needs improvement and if you feel hardness of heart or are unable to give love then it is the pink plume that needs healing. Ideally, all three plumes should be equal in height. A balanced threefold flame is one of the requirements for the ascension.
The Aquarian Age is also the age of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit "conveys the essence of God" throughout our being. This is done through the seven rays. Many of the world religions talk about the seven levels of being or the seven heavens that connect us to the spiritual world. The seven rays come forth from the white light of the Holy Spirit. Each ray contains an aspect of the Christ consciousness and certain healing qualities. Most of us have heard about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Basically these are: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues. The Holy Spirit is very mystical and the action of the Holy Spirit manifests in a variety of ways. Mystics say our prayers and thoughts flow in the Holy Spirit. The dove is one of the more well known symbols used to represent the Holy Spirit. The flame of the Holy Spirit is a joyous flame, the soundless sound. It is the music of the spheres, the gentle rain, the foam that moves with the crest of the wave and mingles with the sand. The flame of the Holy Spirit is the fresh, cool air that comes from the mountains at eventide. The flame of the Holy Spirit is the love that burns within your heart when you meet a kindred soul along life's way and when you see the beauty of a child or a devotee kneeling in prayer. It is flame of Christ-illumination that fires the mind – that sparks creative thought and gives will to the imagination. The Holy Spirit is the presence of the Father adorned by the love of the Mother nourishing Life in the newborn child. Known also as the Holy Ghost, Holy Comforter or Heavenly Comforter, the Holy Spirit can be gentle or mighty depending on the occasion and to encounter the Holy Spirit is not only purifying but also a spiritually transforming experience. According to the Ascended Masters, when we unlock the energy of the Mother it opens the door for the Holy Spirit to release the flow of light through us. The Mother helps us to pass our initiations and teaches us not only how to cultivate the gifts of the Holy Spirit but also how to be a just steward of these gifts.
Mystics and seers have always known about the violet flame. The violet flame is the seventh-ray aspect of the Holy Spirit and contains the God qualities of mercy, forgiveness and compassion. It is called the flame of transmutation and freedom as it can transmute the cause, effect, record and memory of negative karma. Karma is energy-consciousness. It is every action, thought, feeling, word, and deed. It is the "law of cause and effect" or the "law of the circle." Whatever we say or do comes full circle. We've all heard the expression, "You reap what you sow." This is karma. Everything we send out into the universe returns back to us. Karma can be good or bad. The Mother teaches us to transmute and balance our karma so that we can return back to Spirit. We are entering into a new Age, the Aquarian Age. Ages,last,approximately 2,150 years and each new cycle begins under one of the seven rays of the Holy Spirit. Each age has a sponsor. Saint Germain is the Chohan (Lord) of the Seventh Ray. He, along with his twin flame Portia (Goddess of Justice), are the hierarchs for the age of Aquarius. Portia is also known as the Mother of Aquarius. On May 1, 1954, Saint Germain and Portia were crowned as directors for the coming cycle of the seventh ray. Freedom and justice are the yin and the yang of the seventh ray of Aquarius, and together with mercy, they provide the foundation for all other attributes of God to be outpictured in this seventh dispensation. Saint Germain, whose name means "holy brother" is the seventh angel prophesied in the Book of Revelation. His gift to the earth and to all mankind is the spiritual fire of the violet flame. The violet flame is called the flame of freedom because of its alchemical ability to transmute karma. As the Chohan of the Seventh Ray, Saint Germain focuses the flame of freedom to the earth. The violet flame is the flame of the Aquarian Age.
www.sacredwind.com/divinemother.php
We can invoke the violet flame through prayer and mantra. One very simple mantra taught by the Summit Lighthouse † is:
I AM a being a violet fire!
I AM the purity God desires!
The healing benefits that come from giving the violet flame are as vast as the stars in the cosmos. The violet flame can melt hardness of heart, balance old karma and free us from the baggage we've carried around not only in this lifetime but also from past lifetimes. It can transmute negative thoughts and painful memories as well as heal old hurts and wounds.
The transforming power of the Mother will be more effective if we use it in conjunction with the violet flame. It is recommended that we give at least fifteen minutes of the violet flame each day.
Avenue du Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, ouest
"Building IV, est emblématique des principaux champs de tension qui irriguent l’œuvre d’Antony Gormley. Sa force naît de l’oscillation entre une forme qui évoque ces corps futuristes décomposés sur ordinateur, et une pose qui rappelle cette grande tradition sculpturale de la forme en éveil. En effet, dans cette figure d’un homme s’éveillant à sa condition d’homme, les genoux encore en flexion, le visage tourné vers le haut, Gormley se réclame d’une tradition qui court des esclaves du tombeau de Jules II de Michel-Ange au jeune homme de l’Âge de bronze de Rodin. Tradition que l’on retrouve chez un autre grand artiste d’aujourd’hui, dont l’œuvre est également informée par l’histoire de l’art, Bill Viola, qui dans The Crossing montre la naissance d’un homme hors de l’eau.
Cet homme numérique s’élevant vers sa condition d’humain, ce corps métallique disloqué en une multitude de blocs (ou de pixels) semble vouloir finalement renvoyer au spectateur sa propre image, le réfléchir. Comme l’a écrit Gormley : » My proposition is that we are part of a world constructed from the earth, in which everything is interchangeable. My hope is that the old formula of a ‘subject who looks’ at an object which is ‘looked at’ can be transmuted into us looking at ourselves. The place of my body is offered as yours and the space and actions of your body are reflected in the works, what they are made of and how they are made. Nothing is revealed that is not already there – including you. » (extrait du catalogue de l’exposition Still Moving : Works 1975-1996, à Tokyo, in Antony Gormley, Phaidon, p.152)."
Symbolic of the rose as the symbol of a quest, of the goal to reach.
The rose in the coat of arms on the left carries the quintessence, like a fifth element of the subtle world. The Gernsbach rose consists of two crowns with five petals and three concentric rows of five petals each containing five leaves. Its geometry is perfect, composed of five times five elements. This rose is a pentagram, a regular figure with five sides, which only the famous golden number generates. Such is the emblem of quintessence, on the scale of the world as on the scale of man.
On a world scale she is the Logos, God, light of Life. This Logos is the first person of the Trinity of Christians. Random Synchronicity… Anyway the other option I take thus picture and i noticed that for whatever reason I had showed petals on the blason each one lined up perfectly together in a pentagram with a blue circle inside of the flower. The rose is the official flower of the Alchemy Guild and fresh roses are present at all church meetings. The placement, color, and state of bloom of the roses carry subtle messages for Guild members on the nature of the meeting and how to conduct themselves. There are no posted announcements of the subject matter of meetings or printed rules of behavior. Only the silent message of the rose guides members on a heart-to-heart basis.
To understand the archetypal signature of the rose, it is necessary to suspend one’s intellectual and cultural connections to it and simply be open to the “presence” of the rose. This popular flower has a complicated symbology with paradoxical meanings. It is at once a symbol of both purity and passion, both heavenly perfection and earthly desire; both virginity and fertility; both death and life. The rose is the flower of the goddesses Isis and Venus but also the blood of Osiris, Adonis, and Christ.
Originally a symbol of joy, the rose later indicated secrecy and silence but is now usually associated in the common mind with romantic love. But the rose is much more meaningful, much older and more deeply embedded in the human unconscious than most people believe. Rose fossils 35 million year old have been found in Europe, and petrified rose wreaths have been unearthed from the oldest Egyptian tombs. At Guild meetings, the symbology of the rose is associated with the color (or combinations of colors) of its petals. The numerological elements of the rose are also present in Guild documents and meetings. In general, the rose represents the number five. This is because the wild rose has five petals, and the total petals on roses are in multiples of five. Geometrically, the rose corresponds with the pentagram and pentagon. Five represents the Fifth Element, the life force, the heart or essence of something. In an absolute sense, the rose has represented the expanding awareness of life through the development of the senses. Six-petaled varieties indicate balance and love; seven-petaled varieties indicate transformative passion; and rare eight-petaled roses indicate regeneration, a new cycle, or a higher level of space and time.
The rose is one of the fundamental symbols of alchemy and became the philosophical basis of Rosicrucian alchemy. It was so important to alchemists that there are many texts called “Rosarium” (Rosary), and all these texts deal with the relationship between the archetypal King and Queen. We have noted the Rosarium of Jaros Griemiller, an original member of the Guild. Another important Rosarium was prepared by alchemist Arnold de Villanova, who also interacted with Guild members.
In alchemy, the rose is primarily a symbol of the operation of Conjunction, the Mystical Marriage of opposites. It represents the regeneration of separated essences and their resurrection on a new level. In the Practice of Psychotherapy, Carl Jung discussed the archetypal underpinnings of love between people in terms of the rose: “The wholeness which is a combination of ‘I and you’ is part of a transcendent unity whose nature can only be grasped in symbols like the rose or the coniunctio (Conjunction).”
In alchemy the red rose is regarded as a masculine, active, expansive principle of solar spirit (Sulfur), where the white rose represents the feminine, receptive, contractive principle of lunar soul (Salt). The combination of white and red roses (spirit and soul) symbolizes the birth of the Philosopher’s Child (Mercury). During the operation of Conjunction, the relationship of the masculine red rose to the feminine white rose is the same relationship depicted in alchemical images of the Red King and the White Queen or the Red Sun and White Moon. White roses were linked to the White Phase of the Work (albedo) and the White Stone of Multiplication, while the red rose was associated with the Red Phase and the Red Stone of Projection.
The single golden (or gilded) rose is a symbol completion of the Great Work or of some consummate achievement in personal or laboratory alchemy. The Popes used to bless a Golden Rose on the fourth Sunday in Lent, as a symbol of their spiritual power and the certainty of resurrection and immortality. In alchemical terms, the golden rose means a successful marriage of opposites to produce the Golden Child, the perfected essence of both King and Queen.
Because Mary is the Christian model of union with God, the rose and the rosary became symbols of the union between god and mankind. Scenes of Mary in a rose garden or under a rose arbor or before a tapestry of roses reinforces this idea. Mary holds a rose and not a scepter in the art of the Middle Ages, which means her power comes from divine love. The rose garden in alchemical drawings is a symbol of sacred space. It could mean a meditation chamber or tabernacle, an altar, a sacred place in nature, or paradise itself. In all these instances, the rose garden is the mystical bridal chamber, the place of the mystic marriage.
The rose has obvious connections with sexual energy in alchemy. The “rose colored blood of the alchemical redeemer” or the “warm red tincture” were references to healing effects of purified (alchemically distilled or sublimated) sexual energy. For instance, the Renaissance alchemist Gerhardt Dorn calls rose-colored blood a vegetabile naturae whereas ordinary blood was a vegetabile materiae. In other words, rose-colored blood carries the natural essence or soul, while ordinary blood simply functions on the physical level to supply oxygen to cells, etc. That is the meaning of the alchemical phrase, “The soul of the Stone is in its blood,” or as Carl Jung put it: “The rose red color is related to the aqua permanens and the soul, which are extracted from the prima materia.” The sword and knife, symbols of the Separation operation, carry such power in alchemy partly because of their ability to draw blood.
In spiritual alchemy, the single red rose represents the mystic center of a person, his or her heart of hearts – one’s true nature. It also represents the process of purification to reveal one’s essence or the inner “pearl beyond price.” Sufi spiritual alchemist Rumi described this idea when he wrote: "In the driest whitest stretch of pain's infinite desert, I lost my sanity and found this rose." As a symbol of the Mystical Marriage on a personal level, the red rose represents a special kind of love in which one “melts away” into the beauty of another, and the old identity is surrendered for that of the beloved or a higher identity within oneself. In this sense, the rose is a symbol of complete surrender and permanent transmutation.
Alchemist Daniel Maier discusses the symbolism of the rose in his Septimana Philosophica: “The rose is the first, most beautiful and perfect of flowers. It is guarded because it is a virgin, and the guard is thorns. The Gardens of Philosophy are planted with many roses, both red and white, which colors are in correspondence with gold and silver. The center of the rose is green and is emblematical of the Green Lion [First Matter]. Even as a natural rose is a pleasure to the senses and life of man, on account of its sweetness and salubrity, so is the Philosophical Rose exhilarating to the heart and a giver of strength to the brain. Just as the natural rose turns to the sun and is refreshed by rain, so is the Philosophical Matter prepared in blood, grown in light, and in and by these made perfect."
Because of its association with the workings of the heart, the rose in alchemy has come to symbolize secrets of the heart or things that cannot be spoken or an oath of silence in general. In the folded structure of the rose, the flower seems to be concealing a secret inner core. “Mystery glows in the rose bed and the secret is hidden in the rose,” wrote the twelfth-century Persian alchemist Farid ud-din Attar.
www.azothalchemy.org/rose_symbol.htm
To the rose at the entrance answers the runic letter EIHWAZ
right next door, in pairs. In this entrance the alchemist's apprenticeship will allow him to transmute the raw material of the porchstones into a sacred substance, through the mystery of the house rebuilt by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1886, as is inscribed on the porch . It should be noted that the House of the Heads of Colmar was restored in 1906 by the same Kaiser, as well as the Town Hall of Freiburg in Brisgau and many identical Houses were built on the Alsatian bank of the Rhine, one finds a very beautiful one on the Gutenberg square in Strasbourg. The subject is so exciting that it deserves perhaps more interest?
I added this copy to clearly identify the runic letter Eihwas, the runes remained a long time of Norwegian origin but it seems that they come to us from India like Sanskrit, they are a little the crucible of the Germans. Eihwaz is the thirteenth rune of Elder Futhark. The rune itself has the world pillar. In this case it symbolizes the yew tree, Yggdrasil, and/or the tree of the life and death. The unique geometrical shape of this rune symbolizes the union of the two universes. Its two pointed ends also refer to life and death.
The Yew is the European tree which has the greatest life span. It also happens to be a tree that is green throughout the entire year. However, it is absolutely lethal. Its connection to death is also seen in its prevalence in graveyards in England. In this way Eihwaz speaks to the baguette of yew, the enchantment wand with two limits, one of life and other one of death. This two-fold component gives the typical sense to this rune called likewise “unfortunate thirteen” from its thirteenth position in the Futhark or ” Death’s rune “. It is death and change, life, and the initiatory death (initiation of Odin). The hidden meaning of this rune is a reminder that death brings about the possibility of rebirth, but not necessarily the promise of it. It is clear that Eihwaz symbolizes two inversions, and can be present during upheavals and changes. After Jera’s cycles, Eihwaz continues the communication of the polarization of things to achieve another level of understanding. Therefore, the Eihwaz rune reveals another way to understand another reality with new observations. The rune communicates that the concept of death as another reality. This rune was known as Eoh, its pronunciation is "Y" or the alternatively "E" or also "Ei" in words like "Einherjar". Most of the concepts associated with Eihwaz relate to trees. The rune is said to symbolise variously the apple tree, the poplar and the yew. The latter identification seems to be the most potent, because it was from the yew that bows were made. The yew is often found in vicinity of graveyards, so it becomes a symbol of the past growing into the future. It is probably also connected with Yggdrasil, the "world tree", the backbone of the universe. Eihwaz is another rune associated with horses, too, especially the mighty Sleipnir, The eight-legged steed of Odin. The herb bryony is the vegetable symbol of the rune. The appearance of Eihwaz in a reading idicates progress. Even if your life seems to be moving at a snail's pace, a new situation will soon manifest itself and events will speed up so much that you may find it difficult to keep track of everything. You'll need to pay close attention to happenings around you to keep up.
adaptability and a readiness to make speedy decision will be vital if you are to make the most of this positive rune. Eihwaz is closely associated with hunting skills, so you must act as though you were an archer of old: wait until your target is in your sights and then, when the moment is right, strike out for it. Don't worry that you may miss your moment, or, indeed, miss the target: you have the acumen and shrewdness to choose the correct time and to act boldly when the accasion arises.
Eihwas shows that bravery has every indication of success.
This rune encourages you to gather your courage and take a risk. Its message is one of ''nothing ventured, nothing gained '', and now is the time to take action. Eihwaz is thus considered to be a lucky rune for gamblers and those who live by their wits. Its appearance in a reading may show the positive influence of a strong-willed person, especially a woman.
Another good aspect of Eihwaz is that , under its influence, expected problems will not arise. The rune also indicates long-term benefits, even if you have ti put up with an uncomfortable or stressful situation for a short while, eihwaz is said to be a beneficial indicator for students and is also held to dispel storms and to calm tempestuous emotions.
Eihwaz has no inverted meaning. “The axis or process of spiritual becoming.” Upper and lower worlds meeting in Midgard (earth). Rune of the mysteries of life and death.
. “The yew is a tree with rough bark,
hard and fast in the earth, supported by its roots,
a guardian of flame and a joy upon an estate.”
Traditional meaning: Yew tree
Old Norse rune poem: yr meaning Yew.
Yew is the winter-greenest of woods;
burning it is wont to singe.
Translated by Pollington, Rudiments of Runelore
Eihwaz is sometimes likened to the Death card in tarot; it is a rune of transformation and testing, stripping away that which is worn out, diseased or weak so that strong new growth may occur. It is the rune of the Yew tree, a symbol of age, endurance, death, and eternal life. The Yew tree is an evergreen, in the depths of winter it lives on, reminding us of the tenacity of life and the will to survive.
In the Old English rune poem Eihwaz is referred to as ‘fire’s keeper’, arousing much speculation concerning the way in which it burns and whether it might have been used to gather up and store hot embers. I wonder whether the fire referred to might also be the fire of life, the Yew tree reminding us that life will come again, even in the coldest and darkest of times. The Yew tree is often found at grave yards and, rather than seeing it as a sign of death, we might view it as symbolising eternal life, guarding and keeping the ancestral spirits resting in the ground. In the northern tradition a part of the soul is believed to remain at the place of death or burial, available for the living to commune with.
The Eihwaz rune is also associated with the spinal column, the core self, and the eternal part of the soul. The rune is linked to the yew bow through the Old Icelandic rune poem, the weapon of choice for the God Ullr and the giantess Skadi who ‘becomes’ a goddess through her marriage to the benevolent sea God Njord. Despite the benefits of this match with Njord, Skadi cannot bear the warm, sloshy sea and eventually returns to her hall within the cold, grey mountains where she is said to spend her time with her lover Ullr, speeding joyfully across the glittering snow on swift skis, enjoying the hunt together. Skadi’s strength of personality left the Gods themselves quaking in their boots (hence the marriage to Njord which was designed to appease her), she represents the core self which must find expression, no matter what the cost.
Present significance: Most of the association for Eihwaz come through the lore of the Yew tree and its link t othe great World Tree Yggdrasil. As the yew it represents transformation, eternal life, inner change and endurance. As the World Tree it is the Axis Mundi, the central column which joins and unites the worlds, the pillar of creation and the manifestation of the present moment.
Key terms: Transformation, death, endurance, eternal life, protection, hunting
Pronunciation: eye-wahz
Number: 13
Gods: Skadi is known for her great strength and her love of the winter season and mountainous regions where her home is located. Skadi’s lover is the hunter god Ullr who bears the yew bow. Odin is associated with Eihwaz throught he World Tree, Yggdrasil, which means ‘Odin’s steed’ – referring to the nine-night vigil he undertook hanging upon the tree to discover the runes.
Colour: Black, dark green, dark blue
Elements: Eihwaz, as the symbol of the World Tree, is commonly thought to contain all of the elements within it; however, the rune poem specifically refers to it as ‘fire’s keeper’ and so, perhaps, fire is of particulary importance to this rune.
Eihwaz begins the second half of the 24 rune Futhark and represents the vertical axis, whereas Jera represents the horizontal. It is also indicative of the verticality and energy of the human spine. The spine (the pelvic region not included) has 24 vertebrae, which I do not believe is a coincidence in the case of the elder futhark.
The spine is the channel for one of the most powerful energy flows in the human psyche, which Yoga has termed Kundalini ‘fire’. It is the flow of megin energy up from the root hvel (chakra) to the crown hvel in the mind, bringing cosmic consciousness. Attempting to awaken Kundalini fire too early in your training can cause serious harm.
The needle of the yew is poisonous, containing a toxin that affects the central nervous system. The vapors from the toxin can become concentrated in close proximity to the tree. As a conifer/’evergreen’, it is associated with immortality, and the mysteries of life and death. Death is understood as the Great Initiation into the mysteries of life. To die before you die is to discover what in life is truly important. In psychology, this often happens as a result of near-death experiences.
The fear of physical death is one of the great inhibitors of humankind’s potential for total freedom of mind and spirit. Eihwaz gives you the power to recall your past lives, in short fragments or in more complete segments, and as a result confirm your death in this life as only one stage of a greater journey. Invoke Eihwaz as you conduct a meditation or dream exercise for the purpose of discovering past life patterns in the present. The answers lay not in memory, but in the clues of your here and now.
Eihwaz can be invoked for communication with the underworld and the dead. It is wisest to remain within your own ancestral stream when doing this, as your ancestors have reason to respond to your inner call. There should be sufficient reason to invoke such dark workings, but it is not an ‘evil’ exercise.
Matcha the starweaver is trying very hard to transmute something. A few goodies I've be dying to blog from {LOVE}. The Arcane circle, the large circle on the floor, the book piles and the book of exodus. The arcane circles is animated with two poses, one for the caster/summoner and another for a sacrifice. The book of exodus is a held item that looks hella cool while standing on the arcane circle. And the book piles are just too cute. Perfect prop for this scene or any scene involing magic or even a book worm character.
A shout out to Tanoshi as well! The chained crystal was an Tanoshi release awhile back. It fitted this scene too well. I boosted the glow effect a bit more since the overall lighting was so dark. And last but not least a new release that is too precious. The Queen's pearls! You can barely see it on me but they are friggen cute little crowns. Easy to edit the fit and lots of colors to play with.
THE INTERSTELLAR PASSAGE
You're probably wondering how he can go back and forth between these two worlds as well?
Good question.
If I had to compare to simplify the thing: it's a bit similar to the Stargate, a kind of cosmic airlock between two worlds, invisible, imperceptible.
I do not really realize when it happens.
Sometimes an animal follows me without I realize it.
And when this happens, it happens then one of the most amazing things that we are the possibility of seeing in its life: the Zorgonaut transmutation, or how a Zorg animal arriving on your planet is undergoing mutagenic combination in another animal, its DNA is combined by the interstellar passage in else that would be your equivalent of an imaginary animal. For Zorgonauts there's no doubt that these are the animals that have combined Zorg via the passage. Today your lack of imagination makes you believe that mermaids, griffins dragons centaurs minotaurs etc ... are merely fabrications, and you bring to believe in evolution according to Darwin.
So my last visit and my last return through the "door", a Cobrafe followed me and the passage was born a GIRABRA
LE PASSAGE INTERSIDERAL
Vous vous demandez certainement comment peut il aller et venir entre ces 2 mondes ainsi ?
Bonne question.
Si je devais comparer pour vous simplifier la chose : c’est un peu comparable à la porte des étoiles, une sorte de sas cosmique entre les 2 univers, invisible, imperceptible.
Je ne me rends vraiment pas compte quand cela se produit.
Quelques fois un animal me suit sans que je ne m’en rende compte.
Et quand cela se produit il se passe alors une des choses les plus incroyables que l’on est la possibilité de voir dans sa vie : la transmutation Zorgonautienne, ou comment un animal de Zorg en arrivant sur votre planète se voit subir une combinaison mutagène en un autre animal, son ADN se combine de par le passage intersidéral en autre chose qui serait pour vous l’équivalent d’un animal imaginaire. Pour les Zorgonautes cela ne fait aucun doute que ce sont des animaux de Zorg qui se sont combinés en empruntant le passage . Aujourd hui votre manque d’imagination vous fait croire que les sirènes, les dragons les griffons les centaures les minotaures etc… ne sont qu’ affabulations , et vous a amenez à croire en l’ évolution selon Darwin.
Ainsi ma dernière visite et mon dernier retour par « la porte », un Cobrafe m’a suivi et le passage a vu naître un GIRABRA
Today is my birthday so I want to show my personal project which I worked from time to time just for fun. This is work in process and will be developed much more.
70cm tall, Ladoll Premix mixed with Darwi Roc.
Magister of Transformations (Transmutations)
All photo by Alexey Geets
Obviously the centre of all attention is the Center Stage made of bamboo structure with aluminium zinc roof.
Not only does this podium provides entertainment for the visitors, it is believed the spiritual buddies enjoy it even more so. In fact, the front row is often vacant out and reserved for the spirits.
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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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O that the rain would come – the rain in big battalions –
Or thunder flush the hedge a more clairvoyant green
Or wind walk in and whip us and strip us or booming
Harvest moon transmute this muted scene.
But all is flat, matt, mute, unlivened, unexpectant,
And none but insects dare to sing or pirouette;
That Man is a dancer is an anachronism –
Who has forgotten his steps or hardly learnt them yet.
Yet one or two we have known who had the gusto
Of wind or water-spout, and one or two
Who carry an emerald lamp behind their faces
And – during thunder-storms – the light comes shining through.
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth is home to the 12th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and has been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatsworth_House
Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man at Chatsworth
A large-scale exhibition of 12 monumental sculptures located in the park surrounding Chatsworth.
Burning Man is a unique event that usually takes place annually in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA.
This year the events team at Chatsworth has worked with the Burning Man team to bring its distinctive culture of possibility and creativity from the Black Rock Desert to the Derbyshire landscape.
www.chatsworth.org/events/burning-man
9
Transmutation
by Arturo Gonzalez and Maru Izaguirre
This gloriously colourful winged sabre-toothed-tiger stands proud on its stand forcing visitors to look up to take it all in.
The installation aims to raise the question, does extinct mean forever, an artistic comment on the possibility of cloning an extinct species.
Transmutation invites viewers to question whether it is ethical to play at being gods and whether the return of extinct species, such as the sabre-toothed tiger, will give rise to new beings created by man.
The sculpture is decorated with traditional Mexican patterns in acrylic and fluorescent paint.
Synchronicity was in a great way for this picture between couple sun ☀️ and moonlight 🌙 , throned son, cristal light’s heals all the soul under nymphs...( thanks to Nymphaea by Claude Monet ) Cristal healing and echoes of consciousness.
Liberation of darkness is possible way with your pineal glands and you can compare them with a crystal light and follow the guidance through your dream.Other significant work for linking the throne to nymphaea could be a Jungian interpretation for Alchemist (following old Egyptian science)
It’s amazing how crystal light is a healing process for testing your body to sitting on a throne.However, it has only recently become clear that apomorphine can be utilized, with excellent results, to treat erectile dysfunction. It is a centrally acting, selective D1/D2 dopamine agonist, and activation of dopaminergic receptors in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus initiates a cascade of events, ultimately resulting in smooth muscle relaxation and vasodilatation within the corpora cavernosa, leading to penile erection. Crystal river and albedo was whiteness day for a throne of consciousness enlightenment
This discovery provides a likely explanation for the appearance of Nymphaea in the Luxor frescoes and in erotic cartoons ... The fact that temple drawings only depict use by the higher castes, such as priests and royalty, suggests that the masses did not benefit from this discovery. The Nymphaea story serves as a further illustration of how the effects of substances of plant origin were known even though the discoverers lacked the technology to explain them. The water lily was also used for other medicinal purposes, according to Lise Manniche in An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, including liver disease, poultices for the head, constipation and as an enema (1989, p. 134). She also notes that it was used in a magical spell to cause a "hated woman"'s hair to fall out. In Greco-Roman times, it was thought of as a cooling herb, and was thus used to bring down a fever.
Original article: www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/egypt_wate...
© Caroline Seawright
The source is one: male and female are united. In alchemical images we see a throne from which streams of water flow into one flashback to primordial life’s hermaphrodite.
The Syrian love goddess who the Egyptians married off to Min, was depicted as a naked woman who stood on the back of a lion, carrying snakes and water lily buds. The buds are likely linked with her role as a goddess of sexuality and fertility. Votive offerings to Hathor included bowls with water lily motifs, again alluding to fertility, the renewal of life and rebirth. (A water bowl was also the hieroglyph for a woman, which A.H. Gardiner in Egyptian Grammar believes to represent the vagina, linking the fertility sign of the water lily in the bowl to female fertility in this case.) The Egyptian idea of sexuality was identified with creation. Being a flower of creation, the flower became linked to human fertility and sexuality. The images of women holding the flower may be hinting at her ability to bear children or that she was sexually desirable, and images of men holding the flower may hint at their potency. It could also be a way to ensure that the person painted would be fertile - and sexy - in the afterlife.
Contemporary reference to the role of water lilies and mandrakes (Nymphaea and Mandragora, respectively) in ancient Egyptian healing ... suggest the possible importance of these plants as adjuncts to shamanistic healing in dynastic Egypt. Although the usual interpretation of the water lily and the mandrake has been that of a part of ritual mourning ... it is argued that the dynastic Egyptians had developed a form of shamanistic trance induced by these two plants and used it in medicine as well as healing rituals. Analysis of the ritual and sacred iconography of dynastic Egypt, as seen on stelae, in magical papyri, and on vessels, indicates that these people possessed a profound knowledge of plant lore and altered states of consciousness. The abundant data indicate that the shamanistic priest, who was highly placed in the stratified society, guided the souls of the living and dead, provided for the transmutation of souls into other bodies and the personification of plants as possessed by human spirits, as well as performing other shamanistic activities. test was carried out to see if there were any narcotic effects of the blue water lily. There were no known psychotropic substance found in the flower itself. In The Mystery of the Cocaine Mummies Rosalie David ('Keeper of Egyptology, Manchester Museum') says that "we see many scenes of individuals holding a cup and dropping a water lily flower into the cup which contained wine". The assertion by Dr Andrew Sherratt, based on these depictions, is that he believes that when the flower was infused with wine, that the chemical content might change and become the ancient Egyptian party drug or a shamanistic aid. The lilies were flown from Cairo to England, and nineteen of them opened after the sun came out. The flowers were soaked in the wine, and after a few days, two volunteers - who claimed to know nothing about ancient Egypt - drank the lily-wine:Unfortunately the test was not up to scientific standards - there was no control group (where another set of volunteers would drink wine not infused with the lily, but told that it had been) - so it is rather difficult to know how much of the effects on the two were just from the alcohol and if any were from the lily infusion itself.The blue water lily was possibly also a symbol of sexuality - Dr Liz Williamson says that the flower "has a sort of Viagra effect". Women were wooed with the blue water lily. In certain erotic scenes from the Turin Papyrus, women are shown wearing very little apart from the white lily as a headdress.The blue water lily was possibly also a symbol of sexuality - Dr Liz Williamson says that the flower "has a sort of Viagra effect". Women were wooed with the blue water lily. In certain erotic scenes from the Turin Papyrus, women are shown wearing very little apart from the white lily as a headdress.
The blue water lily was possibly also a symbol of sexuality - Dr Liz Williamson says that the flower "has a sort of Viagra effect". Women were wooed with the blue water lily. In certain erotic scenes from the Turin Papyrus, women are shown wearing very little apart from the white lily as a headdress.
More recently, it has been discovered that this plant could have been used by the ancient Egyptians to help with erectile dysfunction. This would help explain why the plant was so intimately connected with sex and sexuality:
Nymphaea caerulea (blue lotus) and N. ampla, which has a white flower but a similar alkaloid content, grow along lakes and rivers, thrive in wet soil, and bloom in the spring. They belong to the water-lily family ... The isolation of the psychoactive apomorphine from Nymphaea species has offered chemical support to speculation that Nymphaea species may have been employed as hallucinogens in both the Old and the New World. The use of N. caerulea and of N. lotos in rites and rituals is depicted in the frescoes within the tombs, and in very early papyrus scrolls. The most important of these was the scroll of Ani (Book of the Dead). Nymphaea is mentioned and represented in several chapters of the book, always tied to magical-religious rites.
The water lily was also used for other medicinal purposes, according to Lise Manniche in An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, including liver disease, poultices for the head, constipation and as an enema (1989, p. 134). She also notes that it was used in a magical spell to cause a "hated woman"'s hair to fall out. In Greco-Roman times, it was thought of as a cooling herb, and was thus used to bring down a fever.The flower wasn't just used at parties, but it was used at funerals. As with many symbols of fertility, the blue water lily was also symbolic of rebirth after death. Tutankhamen's innermost gold coffin had blue water lily petals scattered over it along with a few other floral tributes. The Egyptians looked forward to their souls coming to life "like a water lily reopening", thinking that the deceased died as the water lily closed awaiting opening with the morning sun. The Book of the Dead has a spell to allow the deceased to transform into one of these flowers:
The goddess Qedeshet, standing on a lion, holding water lilies and a snake, the Syrian love goddess who the Egyptians married off to Min, was depicted as a naked woman who stood on the back of a lion, carrying snakes and water lily buds. The buds are likely linked with her role as a goddess of sexuality and fertility. Votive offerings to Hathor included bowls with water lily motifs, again alluding to fertility, the renewal of life and rebirth. (A water bowl was also the hieroglyph for a woman, which A.H. Gardiner in Egyptian Grammar believes to represent the vagina, linking the fertility sign of the water lily in the bowl to female fertility in this case.) The Egyptian idea of sexuality was identified with creation. Being a flower of creation, the flower became linked to human fertility and sexuality. The images of women holding the flower may be hinting at her ability to bear children or that she was sexually desirable, and images of men holding the flower may hint at their potency. It could also be a way to ensure that the person painted would be fertile - and sexy - in the afterlife.As we mentioned above, Aphrodite/Venus as the morning star is a central image for the albedo phase of the Great Work. Aphrodite was born from the foam that arose when the genitals of Uranus (cut of by Chronos, out of hate and jealousy) fell into the sea. The cutting of the genitals represents repressed and tormented love. The sea, symbol of the soul, however will bring forth the love goddess. Liberation will happen when we become conscious again of the contents of the soul. As Aphrodite is born from the sea, she is the guide through the fearful world of the unconscious (the sea, or the underworld). The alchemist descends into these depths to find the ‘prima materia’, also called the ‘green lion’. The color green refers to the primal life forces. Venus also has the green color. An important characteristic of Aphrodite is that she helps us in our human shortcomings. She gives ideals and dreams to fulfill. But she also gives frightening images in order to make man aware of his lower nature. "By her beauty Venus attracts the imperfect metals and gives rise to desire, and pushes them to perfection and ripeness." (Basilius Valentinus, 1679) Liberation can only happen by becoming conscious of the lower nature and how we transmute it.
In Jungian psychology Venus/Aphrodite is the archetype of the anima (in alchemy also the ‘soror’ or ‘wife’ of the alchemist). The anima is the collective image of the woman in a man. It is an image especially tainted by his first contact with his mother. The anima represents all the female tendencies in the psyche of a man, such as feelings, emotions, moods, intuition, receptivity for the irrational, personal love and a feeling for nature. She is the bearer for the spiritual. Depending on the development of the man she can also be the seductress who lures him away to love, hopelessness, demise, and even destruction.
Other alchemical images for albedo are baptism and the white dove, both derived from Christianity. Baptism symbolizes the purification of both body and soul by ‘living water’. ‘Living water’ was regarded as the creative force of the divine. It allowed the soul to be received into the community of the holy spirit. Thus baptism allows the purified soul to bring forth the resurrection of Christ in oneself. This is the ‘hieros gamos’, the ‘sacred marriage’ between the soul and Christ. Christ here represent our own inner divine essence.
There are many other symbols in alchemy for the second phase, or albedo: the white swan, the rose, the white queen, and so on. As lead is the metal of nigredo, silver is the metal of albedo, transmuted from lead. As silver is the metal of the moon, the moon was also a symbol for albedo. Alchemists also talk about the white stone or white tincture. They all means basically the same thing, although one has to understand them in the context in which they were written.
The union of Hermes and Aphrodite. The moon is above the retort, indicating this is the stage of Albedo. The sun above is the next stage of Rubedo. At the same time sun and moon are again the opposites to be united. Aphrodite has two torches. One pointing down, representing the lower passions to be transmuted. The upside down torch is the purified energies. Aphrodite is standing on a tetrahedron, the perfect three dimensional body, as all corners are equally distant from each other, resulting in a lack of tension.
Albedo, symbolized by Aurora, by the dawn, the morning star (Venus-Aphrodite), and by the sun rising up from the Philosopher's Sea.
Albedo is also represented by Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn. Her brother is Helios, the Sun. With a play of words aurora was connected with aurea hora, ‘the hour of gold’. It is a supreme state of conscious. Pernety (1758): "When the Artist (=Alchemist) sees the perfect whiteness, the Philosophers say that one has to destroy the books, because they have become superfluous."
Albedo is also symbolized by the morning star Venus/Aphrodite. Venus has a special place in the Great Work. In ancient times Lucifer was identified with the planet Venus. Originally Lucifer has a very positive meaning. In the Bible we find 2Petrus 1:19 "…till the day arrives and the morning star rises in your hearts". In Revelation 12:16 Christ says: "I am the shining morning star". Here Christ identifies himself with the Lucifer! We find the same in mystic literature. In ancient times Lucifer was a positive light being. It was just one man who changed all that: when a certain Hieronymous read a phrase from Jesaja 14:12 (Jesaja talking to a sinful king of Babylon): " How did you fall from heaven, you morning star, you son of the dawn; how did you fall to earth, conqueror of people". Hieronymous used this phrase to identify Lucifer with the dragon thrown out of heaven by Michael. By the interpretation of this one man, Lucifer was tuned from a shining light being into the darkest devilish being in the world.
We find Lucifer in alchemy associated with impure metals polluted by rough sulfur. It means that the light being Lucifer in ourselves is polluted by what the alchemists call ‘superfluities’, ‘dross’, caused by man himself.
Mercury and Lucifer are one and the same. One talks about Mercury when he is pure, it is the white sulphur, the fire in heaven. As ‘spiritus’ he gives life. As ‘spiritus sapiens’ he teaches the alchemist the Great Work. Lucifer is the impure Mercury. Lucifer is the morning star fallen from (the golden) heaven. He descended into the earth and is now present in all humans. Lucifer is Mercury mixed with impure elements. He dissolved ‘in sulfur and salt’, ‘is wrapped with strings’, ‘darkened with black mud’. Keep in mind we are always talking about our consciousness. Lucifer represents our everyday consciousness, all the (psychological and other) complexes have clouded our pure consciousness, Mercury.
The light of Mercury that appears to us as Lucifer, because of the distortion caused by the impurities, gives the impression of what the alchemists called ‘red sulfur’. The red sulfur of Lucifer, as traditional devil, is actually an illusion. It does not exist by itself because it is only an image, a distorted image of Mercury. We ourselves caused the impurities, the blackness that veils our true light being.
Red sulfur is the same as what is called Maya in eastern philosophies. Maya is the world of illusions, or the veil that prevents us from seeing and experiencing true reality, where the eternal light is. By the impurities of Maya, man has become ignorant. He has forgotten his origin and thinks he is in a world which in actuality is an illusion.Albedo - Whiteness
Je ne craignais pas de mourir
mais de mourir sans etre illumine.
(I was not afraid to die,
but to die without having been enlightened)
Comte de Saint-Germain, La Tres Sainte Trinisophie
The herald of the light
is the morning star.
This way man and woman approach
the dawn of knowledge,
because in it is the germ of life,
being a blessing of the eternal.
Haji Ibrahim of Kerbala
Lucifer, Lucifer stretch your tail,
and lead me away, full speed through the narrow passage,
the valley of the death,
to the brilliant light, the palace of the gods.
Isanatha Muni
Being deep in nigredo, a white light appears. We have arrived at the second stage of the Great Work: albedo, or whiteness. The alchemist has discovered within himself the source from which his life comes forth. The fountain of life from which the water of life flows forth giving eternal youth.
The source is one: male and female are united. In alchemical images we see a fountain from which two streams of water flow into one basin. Albedo is the discovery of the hermaphroditic nature of man. In the spiritual sense each man is a hermaphrodite. We can also see this in the first embryonic phase of the fetus. There is no sex until a certain number of weeks after conception. When man descended into the physical world his body entered a world of duality. On the bodily level this is expressed by the sexes. But his spirit is still androgen, it contains duality in unity. Its unity is not bound to space, time or matter. Duality is an expression of unity in our physical world. It is temporal and will eventually cease to exist. When male and female are united again, one will experience his true self. Conscious and unconscious are totally united.
Albedo happens when the Sun rises at midnight. It is a symbolic expression for the rising of the light at the depth of darkness. It is the birth of Christ in the middle of the winter. In the depth of a psychological crises, a positive change happens.
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect" of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.
He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.
As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss".
Burns Night, in effect a second national day, is celebrated on Burns's birthday, 25 January, with Burns suppers around the world, and is more widely observed in Scotland than the official national day, St. Andrew's Day. The first Burns supper in The Mother Club in Greenock was held on what was thought to be his birthday on 29 January 1802; in 1803 it was discovered from the Ayr parish records that the correct date was 25 January 1759.
The format of Burns suppers has changed little since. The basic format starts with a general welcome and announcements, followed with the Selkirk Grace. After the grace comes the piping and cutting of the haggis, when Burns's famous "Address to a Haggis" is read and the haggis is cut open. The event usually allows for people to start eating just after the haggis is presented. At the end of the meal, a series of toasts, often including a 'Toast to the Lassies', and replies are made. This is when the toast to "the immortal memory", an overview of Burns's life and work, is given. The event usually concludes with the singing of "Auld Lang Syne".
Amelia Robertson Hill (15 January 1821 – 5 July 1904), birth record Emmilia McDermaid Paton, was a prominent Scottish artist and sculptor throughout the 19th century and one of the few with public commissions. Her most noteworthy works are the statue of David Livingstone in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh and statue of Robert Burns in Dumfries. She was the main female contributor to the statues on the Scott Monument, contributing three figures.
Life
Hill was born in Wooer's Alley, Dunfermline, the daughter of Catherine McDiarmid (d. 1853) and Joseph Neil Paton (1797–1874), a damask designer. Her sister Jemima, born on 11 November 1823. Her brothers were artists Joseph Noel Paton (1821–1901) and Waller Hugh Paton (1828–1895). She appears to have trained as a sculptor under William Brodie in Edinburgh.
In 1862 she married the pioneer photographer David Octavius Hill. She was his second wife. They lived in Edinburgh. His role as secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy played a part in this. In 1861 they moved to George Square, and in 1863 to Calton Stairs. In 1868 they set up home at Rock House, on the south-west corner of Calton Hill near the southern entrance steps to the hill. Although they are famously connected with this address they lived here only two years. He died in 1870 and Amelia moved out of the house, to Newington Lodge. She placed a bronze bust of his likeness, sculpted by her own hands, on his grave.
The 1891 census describes Hill as "sculptor, retired" but she exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy until 1902, aged 82. She died at her house, Newington Lodge, 38 Mayfield Terrace on 5 July 1904 aged 83. She was buried next to her husband in Dean Cemetery, beneath her own sculpture of 34 years earlier.
Bicentenary
A walking tour of her Edinburgh works was instigated as 'The Amelia Tour' in her bicentenary year, 2021.
Principal works
Bust of John Fergus MP, Kirkcaldy Town Hall (1861)
Marble bust of Mary Louise, Countess of Elgin, Lord Elgin Hotel, Ottawa (1863)
Marble busts of Rev. Robert Smith Candlish in his role as principal of New College, one of the leaders of the Scottish Disruption, held by the University of Edinburgh (1864 and 1865)
Marble bust of Rev. Horatius Bonar, hymn-writer (1865)
James Wemyss of Wemyss MP, Fife County Hall (1866)
Marble bust of Thomas Carlyle, National Trust of Scotland collection (1866)
Marble bust of David Livingstone (1866)
Bust of Edward Cazalet (1866)
Bust of her husband, David Octavius Hill (1867)
Marble bust of Sir George Harvey (1867)
Marble bust of David Brewster, scientist (1867)
Three stone figures for the Scott Monument on Princes Street, Edinburgh (1870) (Magnus Troil and Minna Troil of The Pirate (novel) and Richard the Lionheart)
Pet Marjorie, the child author (1870)
Marble bust of her brother, Joseph Noel Paton, Scottish National Portrait Gallery (1872)
Bust of Sir James Young Simpson (1872)
Painting, "Ludlow Castle, evening" (1873)
Very prominent statue to David Livingstone on Princes Street in Edinburgh (1875) erected by public subscription.
Memorial to Regent Murray in Linlithgow, marking the place of his assassination (1876)
Figures of "Painting" and "Poetry" flanking the shoulders of the ornate entrance to the Albert Buildings, 22–30 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh (1877)
Statue of Robert Burns, Church Place, Dumfries (1881)
Bust of Percy Bysshe Shelley, exhibited RSA (1882)
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, 25 miles (40 km) from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the historic county of Dumfriesshire.
Before becoming King of Scots, Robert the Bruce killed his rival the Red Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in the town in 1306. The Young Pretender had his headquarters here towards the end of 1745. In the Second World War, the Norwegian Army in exile in Britain largely consisted of a brigade in Dumfries.
Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South. This is also the name of the town's football club. People from Dumfries are known colloquially in Scots language as Doonhamers.
History
Early history
No positive information has been obtained of the era and circumstances in which the town of Dumfries was founded.
Some writers hold that Dumfries flourished as a place of distinction during the Roman occupation of North Great Britain. The Selgovae inhabited Nithsdale at the time and may have raised some military works of a defensive nature on or near the site of Dumfries; and it is more than probable that a castle of some kind formed the nucleus of the town. This is inferred from the etymology of the name, which, according to one theory, is resolvable into two Gaelic terms signifying a castle or fort in the copse or brushwood. Dumfries was once within the borders of the Kingdom of Northumbria. The district around Dumfries was for several centuries ruled over and deemed of much importance by the invading Romans. Many traces of Roman presence in Dumfriesshire are still to be found; coins, weapons, sepulchral remains, military earthworks, and roads being among the relics left by their lengthened sojourn in this part of Scotland. The Caledonian tribes in the south of Scotland were invested with the same rights by an edict of Antoninus Pius. The Romanized natives received freedom (the burrows, cairns, and remains of stone temples still to be seen in the district tell of a time when Druidism was the prevailing religion) as well as civilisation from their conquerors. Late in the fourth century, the Romans bade farewell to the country.
According to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words which mean the Friars' Hill; those who favour this idea allege that St. Ninian, by planting a religious house near the head of what is now the Friars' Vennel, at the close of the fourth century, became the virtual founder of the Burgh; however Ninian, so far as is known, did not originate any monastic establishments anywhere and was simply a missionary. In the list of British towns given by the ancient historian Nennius, the name Caer Peris occurs, which some modern antiquarians suppose to have been transmuted, by a change of dialect, into Dumfries.
Twelve of King Arthur's battles were recorded by Nennius in Historia Brittonum. The Battle of Tribruit (the tenth battle), has been suggested as having possibly been near Dumfries or near the mouth of the river Avon near Bo'ness.
After the Roman departure the area around Dumfries had various forms of visit by Picts, Anglo-Saxons, Scots and Norse culminating in a decisive victory for Gregory, King of Scots at what is now Lochmaben over the native Britons in 890.
Medieval period
When, in 1069, Malcolm Canmore and William the Conqueror held a conference regarding the claims of Edgar Ætheling to the English Crown, they met at Abernithi – a term which in the old British tongue means a port at the mouth of the Nith. It has been argued, the town thus characterised must have been Dumfries; and therefore it must have existed as a port in the Kingdom of Strathclyde, if not in the Roman days. However, against this argument is that the town is situated eight to nine miles (14 km) distant from the sea, although the River Nith is tidal and navigable all the way into the town itself.
Although at the time 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream and on the opposite bank of the Nith from Dumfries, Lincluden Abbey was founded circa 1160. The abbey ruins are on the site of the bailey of the very early Lincluden Castle, as are those of the later Lincluden Tower. This religious house was used for various purposes, until its abandonment around 1700. Lincluden Abbey and its grounds are now within the Dumfries urban conurbation boundary. William the Lion granted the charter to raise Dumfries to the rank of a royal burgh in 1186. Dumfries was very much on the frontier during its first 50 years as a burgh and it grew rapidly as a market town and port.
Alexander III visited Dumfries in 1264 to plan an expedition against the Isle of Man, previously Scots but for 180 years subjected by the crown of Norway. Identified with the conquest of Man, Dumfries shared in the well-being of Scotland for the next 22 years until Alexander's accidental death brought an Augustan era in the town's history to an abrupt finish.
A royal castle, which no longer exists, was built in the 13th century on the site of the present Castledykes Park. In the latter part of the century William Wallace chased a fleeing English force southward through the Nith valley. The English fugitives met the gates of Dumfries Castle that remained firmly closed in their presence. With a body of the town's people joining Wallace and his fellow pursuers when they arrived, the fleeing English met their end at Cockpool on the Solway Coast. After resting at Caerlaverock Castle a few miles away from the bloodletting, Wallace again passed through Dumfries the day after as he returned north to Sanquhar Castle.
During the invasion of 1300, Edward I of England lodged for a few days in June with the Minorite Friars of the Vennel, before he laid siege to Caerlaverock Castle at the head of the then greatest invasion force to attack Scotland. After Caerlaverock eventually succumbed, Edward passed through Dumfries again as he crossed the Nith to take his invasion into Galloway. With the Scottish nobility having requested Vatican support for their cause, Edward on his return to Caerlaverock was presented with a missive directed to him by Pope Boniface VIII. Edward held court in Dumfries at which he grudgingly agreed to an armistice. On 30 October, the truce solicited by Pope Boniface was signed by Edward at Dumfries. Letters from Edward, dated at Dumfries, were sent to his subordinates throughout Scotland, ordering them to give effect to the treaty. The peace was to last until Whitsunday in the following year.
Before becoming King of Scots, Robert the Bruce stabbed his rival the Red Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in the town on 10 February 1306. Bruce's uncertainty about the fatality of the stabbing caused one of his followers, Roger de Kirkpatrick, to utter the famous, "I mak siccar" ("I make sure") and finish the Comyn off. Bruce was subsequently excommunicated as a result, less for the murder than for its location in a church. Regardless, for Bruce the die was cast at the moment in Greyfriars and so began his campaign by force for the independence of Scotland. Swords were drawn by supporters of both sides, the burial ground of the monastery becoming the theatre of battle. Bruce and his party then attacked Dumfries Castle. The English garrison surrendered and for the third time in the day Bruce and his supporters were victorious. He was crowned King of Scots barely seven weeks after. Bruce later triumphed at the Battle of Bannockburn and led Scotland to independence.
Once Edward received word of the revolution that had started in Dumfries, he again raised an army and invaded Scotland. Dumfries was again subjected to the control of Bruce's enemies. Sir Christopher Seton (Bruce's brother in law) had been captured at Loch Doon and was hurried to Dumfries to be tried for treason in general and more specifically for being present at Comyn's killing. Still in 1306 and along with two companions, Seton was condemned and executed by hanging and then beheading at the site of what is now St Mary's Church.
In 1659 ten women were accused of diverse acts of witchcraft by Dumfries Kirk Session although the Kirk Session minutes itself records nine witches. The Justiciary Court found them guilty of the several articles of witchcraft and on 13 April between 2 pm and 4 pm they were taken to the Whitesands, strangled at stakes and their bodies burnt to ashes.
Eighteenth century
The Midsteeple in the centre of the High Street was completed in 1707. Opposite the fountain in the High Street, adjacent to the present Marks & Spencer, was the Commercial and later the County Hotel. Although the latter was demolished in 1984–85, the original facade of the building was retained and incorporated into new retail premises. The building now houses a Waterstones Bookshop. Room No. 6 of the hotel was known as Bonnie Prince Charlie's Room and appropriately carpeted in the Royal Stewart tartan. The timber panelling of "Prince Charlie's room" was largely reinstated and painted complete with the oil painted landscapes by Robert Norie (1720–1766) in the overmantels at either end of the room and can still be seen as the upstairs showroom of the book shop. The Young Pretender had his headquarters here during a 3-day sojourn in Dumfries towards the end of 1745. £2,000 was demanded by the Prince, together with 1,000 pairs of brogues for his kilted Jacobite rebel army, which was camping in a field not one hundred yards distant. A rumour that the Duke of Cumberland was approaching, made Bonnie Prince Charlie decide to leave with his army, with only £1,000 and 255 pairs of shoes having been handed over.
Robert Burns moved to Dumfriesshire in 1788 and Dumfries itself in 1791, living there until his death on 21 July 1796. Today's Greyfriars Church overlooks the location of a statue of Burns, which was designed by Amelia Robertson Hill, sculpted in Carrara, Italy in 1882, and was unveiled by future Prime Minister, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery on 6 April 1882. Today, it features on the 2007 series of £5 notes issued by the Bank of Scotland, alongside the Brig o' Doon.
After working with Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, inventor William Symington intended to carry out a trial in order to show than an engine would work on a boat without the boat catching fire. The trial finally took place on Dalswinton Loch near Dumfries on 14 October 1788. The experiment demonstrated that a steam engine would work on a boat. Symington went on to become the builder of the first practical steamboat.
20th century and beyond
The first official intimation that RAF Dumfries was to be built was made in late 1938. The site chosen had accommodated light aircraft since about 1914. Work progressed quickly, and on 17 June 1940, the 18 Maintenance Unit was opened at Dumfries. The role of the base during the war also encompassed training. RAF Dumfries had a moment of danger on 25 March 1943, when a German Dornier Do 217 aircraft shot up the airfield beacon, but crashed shortly afterwards. The pilot, Oberleutnant Martin Piscke was later interred in Troqueer Cemetery in Dumfries town, with full military honours. On the night of 3/4 August 1943 a Vickers Wellington bomber with engine problems diverted to but crashed 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) short of the Dumfries runway.
During the Second World War, the bulk of the Norwegian Army during their years in exile in Britain consisted of a brigade in Dumfries. When the army High Command took over, there were 70 officers and about 760 privates in the camp. The camp was established in June 1940 and named Norwegian Reception Camp, consisting of some 500 men and women, mainly foreign-Norwegian who had volunteered for war duty in Norway during the Nazi occupation in early 1940. Through the summer the number was built up to around 1,500 under the command of General Carl Gustav Fleischer. Within a few miles of Dumfries are the villages of Tinwald, Torthorwald and Mouswald all of which were settled by Vikings.
Dumfries has experienced two Boxing Day earthquakes. These were in 1979 (measuring 4.7 ML centred near Longtown) and 2006 (centred in the Dumfries locality measuring 3.6 ML ). There were no serious consequences of either. There was also an earthquake on 16 February 1984 and a further earthquake on 7 June 2010.
Like the rest of Dumfries and Galloway, of Scotland's three major geographical areas Dumfries lies in the Southern Uplands.
The river Nith runs through Dumfries toward the Solway Firth in a southwards direction splitting the town into East and West. At low tide, the sea recedes to such an extent on the shallow sloping sands of the Solway that the length of the Nith is extended by 13 km to 113.8 km (70.7 mi). This makes the Nith Scotland's seventh longest river. There are several bridges across the river within the town. In between the Devorgilla (also known as 'The Old Bridge') and the suspension bridge is a weir colloquially known as 'The Caul'. In wetter months of the year the Nith can flood the surrounding streets. The Whitesands has flooded on average once a year since 1827.
Dumfries has numerous suburbs including Summerhill, Summerville, Troqueer, Georgetown, Cresswell, Larchfield, Calside, Lochside, Lincluden, Newbridge Drive, Sandside, Heathhall, Locharbriggs, Noblehill and Marchmount. Maxwelltown to the west of the river Nith, was formerly a burgh in its own right within Kirkcudbrightshire until its incorporation into Dumfries in 1929; Summerhill, Troqueer, Lochside, Lincluden, Sandside are among other suburbs located on the Maxwelltown side of the river. Palmerston Park, home to the town's senior football team Queen of the South, is on Terregles Street, also on the Maxwelltown side of the river.
Queensberry Square and High Street are the central focal points of the town and this area hosts many of the historical, social and commercial enterprises and events of Dumfries. During the 1990s, these areas enjoyed various aesthetic recognitions from organisations including Britain in Bloom.
Dumfries got its nickname 'Queen of the South' from David Dunbar, a local poet, who in 1857 stood in the general election. In one of his addresses he called Dumfries "Queen of the South" and this became synonymous with the town.
The term doonhamer comes from the way that natives of Dumfries over the years have referred to the area when working away from home. The town is often referred to as doon hame in the Scots language (down home). The term doonhamer followed, to describe those that originate from Dumfries.
The Doonhamers is also the nickname of Queen of the South who represent Dumfries and the surrounding area in the Scottish Football League.
The crest of Dumfries contains the words, "A Lore Burne". In the history of Dumfries close to the town was the marsh through which ran the Loreburn whose name became the rallying cry of the town in times of attack – A Lore Burne (meaning 'to the muddy stream').
In 2017 Dumfries was ranked the happiest place in Scotland by Rightmove.
Located on top of a small hill, Dumfries Museum is centred on the 18th-century windmill which stands above the town. Included are fossil footprints left by prehistoric reptiles, the wildlife of the Solway marshes, tools and weapons of the earliest peoples of the region and stone carvings of Scotland's first Christians. On the top floor of the museum is a camera obscura.
Based in the control tower near Tinwald Downs, the aviation museum has an extensive indoor display of memorabilia, much of which has come via various recovery activities. During the second world war, aerial navigation was taught at Dumfries also at Wigtown and nearby Annan was a fighter training unit. RAF Dumfries doubled as an important maintenance unit and aircraft storage unit. The museum is run by the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group and is the only private aviation museum in Scotland. The restored control tower of the former World War II airfield is now a listed building. The museum is run by volunteers and houses a large and ever expanding aircraft collection, aero engines and a display of artefacts and personal histories relating to aviation, past and present. It is also home to the Loch Doon Spitfire. Both civil aviation and military aviation are represented.
The Theatre Royal, Dumfries was built in 1792 and is the oldest working theatre in Scotland.
The theatre is owned by the Guild of Players who bought it in 1959, thereby saving it from demolition, and is run on a voluntary basis by the members of the Guild of Players. It is funded entirely by Guild membership subscriptions, and by box office receipts. It does not currently receive any grant aid towards running costs.
In recent years the theatre has been re-roofed and the outside refurbished. It is the venue for the Guild of Players' own productions and for performances from visiting companies. These include: Scottish Opera, TAG, the Borderline and 7:84.
The Robert Burns Centre is an art house cinema in Dumfries. The Odeon Cinema, which showed more mainstream movies, closed its doors in mid-2018 due to the local council refusing to allow Odeon to relocate, forcing them to close.
The Loreburn Hall (sometimes known colloquially as The Drill Hall) has hosted concerts by performers such as Black Sabbath, Big Country, The Proclaimers and Scottish Opera. The hall has hosted sporting events such as wrestling. The new DG One sport, fitness and entertainment centre became the principal indoor event venue in Dumfries in 2007, but in October 2014, it closed due to major defects being discovered in the building. However, the refurbished building reopened to the public in the summer of 2019. The Theatre Royal has also reopened following renovation work.
With a collection of over 400 Scottish paintings, Gracefield Arts Centre hosts a changing programme of exhibitions featuring regional, national and international artists and craft-makers.
Dumfries Art Trail brings together artists, makers, galleries and craft shops with venues accessible all year round.
There are a number of festivals which take place throughout the year, mostly based on traditional values.
Guid Nychburris (Middle Scots, meaning Good Neighbours) is the main festival of the year, a ceremony which is largely based on the theme of a positive community spirit.
The ceremony on Guid Nychburris Day, follows a route and sequence of events laid down in the mists of time. Formal proceedings start at 7.30 am with the gathering of up to 250 horses waiting for the courier to arrive and announce that the Pursuivant is on his way, and at 8.00 am leave the Midsteeple and ride out to meet the Pursuivant. They then proceed to Ride the Marches and Stob and Nog (mark the boundary with posts and flags) before returning to the Midsteeple at 12.15 pm to meet the Provost and then the Charter is proclaimed to the towns people of Dumfries. This is then followed by the crowning of the Queen of the South.
Since 2013, Dumfries has seen the annual Nithraid, a small boat race up the Nith from Carsethorn, celebrating the town's historical relationship with the river.
The region is also home to a number of thriving music festivals such as the Eden Festival (at St Ann's near Moffat), Youthbeatz (Scotland's largest free youth music festival), the Moniaive Folk Festival, Thornhill Music Festival, Big Burns Supper Festival and previously Electric Fields at Drumlanrig Castle.
Queen of the South represent Dumfries and the surrounding area in the third level of the country's professional football system, the Scottish League One. Palmerston Park on Terregles Street is the home ground of the team. This is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith. They reached the 2008 Scottish Cup Final, losing 3–2 to Rangers.
Dumfries City VFC are a virtual football club from the town.
Dumfries Saints Rugby Club is one of Scotland's oldest rugby clubs having been admitted to the Scottish Rugby Union in 1876–77 as "Dumfries Rangers".
Dumfries is also home to a number of golf courses:
The Crichton Golf Club
The Dumfries and County Golf Club
The Dumfries and Galloway Golf Club
Of those listed, only the Dumfries and Galloway Golf Club is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith. This course is also bisected into 2 halves of 9 holes each by the town's Castle Douglas Road. The club house and holes 1 to 7 and 17 and 18 are on the side nearest to Summerhill, Dumfries. Holes 8 to 16 are on the side nearest to Janefield.
The opening stage of the 2011 Tour of Britain started in Peebles and finished 105.8 miles (170.3 km) later in Dumfries. The stage was won by sprint specialist and reigning Tour de France green jersey champion, Mark Cavendish, with his teammate lead out man, Mark Renshaw finishing second. Cavendish had been scheduled to be racing in the 2011 Vuelta a España. However Cavendish was one a number of riders to withdraw having suffered in the searing Spanish heat. This allowed Cavendish to be a late addition to the Tour of Britain line up in his preparation for what was to be a successful bid two weeks later in the 2011 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race. Cavendish in a smiling post race TV interview in Dumfries described the wet and windy race conditions through the Southern Scottish stage as 'horrible'.
DG One complex includes a national event-sized competition swimming pool.
The David Keswick Athletic Centre is the principal facility in Dumfries for athletics.
Dumfries is home to Nithsdale Amateur Rowing Club. The rowers share their clubhouse with Dumfries Sub-Aqua Club.
The town is also home to Solway Sharks ice hockey team. The team are current Northern Premier League winners. The team's home rink is Dumfries Ice Bowl. Dumfries Ice bowl is also recognised as Scotland's only centre of ice hockey excellence, and trials for the Scottish Jr national team are carried out at this venu.
Dumfries Ice Bowl is also home to two synchronised skating teams, Solway Stars and Solway Eclipse. In addition, Dumfries Ice Bowl is also home to several curling teams, competitions and leagues. Junior curling teams from Dumfries, consisting of curlers under the age of 21, regularly compete in the Dutch Junior Open based in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 a Dumfries-based team have been the winners of the competition's Hogline Trophy.
Dumfries hosts three outdoor bowls clubs:
Dumfries Bowling Club
Marchmount Bowling Club
Maxwelltown Bowling Club
Dumfries hosts cycling organisations and cycling holidays
The most significant of the parks in Dumfries are all within walking distance of the town centre:-
Dock Park – located on the East bank of the Nith just to the South of St Michael's Bridge
Castledykes Park – as the name suggests on the site of a former castle
Mill Green (also known as deer park, although the deer formerly accommodated there have since been relocated) – on the West bank of the Nith opposite Whitesands
There are many buildings in Dumfries made from sandstone of the local Locharbriggs quarry.
The quarry is situated off the A701 on the north of Dumfries at Locharbriggs close to the nearby aggregates quarry. This dimension stone quarry is a large quarry. Quarry working at Locharbriggs dates from the 18th century, and the quarry has been worked continuously since 1890.
There are good reserves of stone that can be extracted at several locations. On average the stone is available at depths of 1m on bed although some larger blocks are obtainable. The average length of a block is 1.5m but 2.6m blocks can be obtained.
Locharbriggs is from the New Red Sandstone of the Permian age. It is a medium-grained stone ranging in colour from dull red to pink. It is the sandstone used in the Queen Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland, the Manchester Central Convention Complex and the base of the Statue of Liberty.
Mary's foot among Christians, can at any time by the false light (the temptations of this world) bite it "mortally" to keep it in the entropic cyclicity of the times. He is mortal, literally and figuratively, by an Achilles' heel that expresses his fatal weakness despite a great general strength, which can lead him to his loss. This is what the creeping serpent - the Luciferic energy - reminds us, which in the absence of being firmly contained by the sacred feminine. Transmutation is about making the form disappear or changing its nature. Alchemy is not a science, it is a Great Art, its phenomena are inexplicable for our intellect.
"If we turn to the light, there is no more shadow." All initiatory quests consist in letting the light in, not seeking it. While the chemist works on shadows (matter), the alchemist works on the obstacles that prevent light from passing through and create shadows. The alchemist's goal is therefore to transmute matter into light by removing its shadows (and if a body is able to no longer resist true light, then it no longer has any weight...!)
The alchemist who only polishes his mirror to become transparent to himself. It will thus avoid the weight of light that
would prevent out of body experience, very useful to its transcendence. It is this alignment (the inner straightness) that is symbolized by this image of the half-disappeared virgin. A process of individuation will free the individuality of the collective psyche through a deliberate act of no longer stopping the light, thus the absence of shadow allows this transmutation into the fifth dimension.. Brandemarked as the irrefutable sacred text by its more or less faithful followers, Biblical Genesis (1:3) says: "Let there be Light! And the Light was...". We can logically deduce from this that if the Light was, it is not eternal, and if it is not eternal, it was created... Also, if it was created, it was not created by the Light! By who, then? This Luciferic lesson tells us that we cannot understand Genesis, because human beings think with thoughts that come from elsewhere, instead of creating thoughts that come from the energy of Intelligence, the One who gives Light, and the devotees assimilate to God, the Creator Father, who detached a small part of His Holy Light from His divine Sphere! Only the clarity of our mind adjusted to the universal Spirit indicates the path of our evolution.
The word Light is a danger, because it forces us to have a certain notion of luminosity. And as soon as we have any notion of luminosity, we tend to be attracted by our ego-mental source of emotions, the manifestation of the soul aspiring to be liberated, to be attracted by this luminosity! That is why when we die, we are drawn to luminosity, that is, the Astral vitiated by our unclarified civilizational memories... A human being who dies must never go to the Light, source of illusions revealing his inflammatory neuroses and psychoses!
The word Light "simply" makes the human being understand that there is an Absolute Energy in the Cosmos. By radiation, It creates the atomic burst, which is the Light. In other words, Light is always an illusion projected into the Cosmos by the radiation of the Original Absolute Energy. Light is a creation, not an absolute, never to be conceived or considered as the Absolute, Which Is. In What Is, there is no Light, only clarity, Clarity. And as we know it in our transitional state, it is not very luminous... If the clarity is too luminous to our limited mystical mind, we must be careful, because we can very easily be attracted by it. And that's what happens in the Death World *!
The immortals, when they change the Plan for having successfully transmuted the material body, when they leave their material body, they do not go into the Light. They are themselves Light! Being themselves Light, they approach the more perfected Lights with which they have a vibratory relationship, and it is They who lead them to be on the planes that suit them. It is necessary to be unconscious, human and spiritual to be limited to it, to be attracted by the Light! It is one of the greatest dangers of esotericism, that of religious groups or sects, New Age, and secret societies, Freemasonry in the first place. Because in esotericism, we talk about the Light all the time, to be attracted by the Light for its wonderful promises. The day when human beings understand that Light is a creation of Universal Energy, they no longer have to go to the Light. He is the bearer of Light! Lumen Dei, the light proceeding from the unmanifest Godhead, the other is Lumen Naturae, the light hidden in matter and the forces of nature. While the Divine Light may be discerned and appreciated in revelation and in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Light of Nature needs to be released through alchemy before it can become fully operative. God redeems humanity, but nature needs to be redeemed by human alchemists, who are able to induce the process of transformation which alone is capable of liberating the light imprisoned in physical creation.The cosmos, according to Paracelsus, contains the divine light or life, but this holy essence is enmeshed in a mechanical trap, presided over by a kind of demiurge, named by Paracelsus Hylaster (from hyle, "matter," and astrum, "star"). The cosmic spider-god has spun a web within which the light, like an insect, is caught, until the alchemical process bursts the web. The web is none other than the consensus reality composed of the four elements of earth, water, fire and air, within which all creatures exist. The first operation of alchemy therefore addresses itself to the breaking up (torturing, bleeding, dismembering) of this confining structure and reducing it to a condition of creative chaos (massa confusa, prima materia). From this, in the process of transformation, the true, creative binaries emerge and begin their interaction designed to bring about the coniunctio or alchemical union. In this ultimate union, says Jung, the previously confined light is redeemed and brought to the point of its ultimate and redemptive fulfillment.
Through this work of manipulating energies by aiming to repair his inner structure, the alchemist is placed before the symbols and dreamlike processes of his inner world, this archetypal reality of the dream mixing the unconscious with the conscious. By proceeding in this way, it operates in 4th reality density, where the physical laws specific to 3-D no longer apply. It is the key to opening the doors of space-time for the purpose of exiting the Entropic Matrix, the opening of the third eye - that of the heart
Soul have both descended independently of one another into the depths of man's collective psyche and have there come upon realities which look so alike because thy are equally anchored in truth. Time and again he pointed out the affinities and contrasts between alchemical figures and those of Christianity, demonstrating a sort of mirror-like analogy not only between the stone of the philosophers and the image of Christ, but between alchemy and Christianity themselves.Alchemy, stands in a compensatory relationship to mainstream Christianity, rather like a dream does to the conscious attitudes of the dreamer. The Stone of alchemy is in many respects the stone rejected by the builders of Christian culture, demanding recognition and reincorporation into the building itself. . While these statements ostensibly refer to the material universe and to nature, those glassed Virgin perceives in them a model or paradigm for the material and natural aspect of human nature as well. Under the guise of liberating the light confined in matter, the alchemists were endeavoring to redeem the spirit or psychic energy locked up in the body and psyche (the "natural man" of St. Paul) and thus make this energy available for the greater tasks of the spirit or spiritual man. To better understand the Mysteries, it is necessary to consider the High as the nests of this fact represent the Forces and the old Races that are and have been more powerful in Us. Our Body is also a micro-universe. The planets are gaseous and chtonians, and are to be connected with the Earth and with the various forms of terrestrial humanities that we have known and our different cerebral, anatomical and physiological abilities past and present. As with the ones represent the Matter spirit, their composition and the speed of the electrons around it. is far from the nucleus and emits photon light, accelerates its speed and changes its orbit as the sapphire of a reading head jumps from one furrow to another. every other cell of the Spirit. The quantum leap occurs when an electron, which is an electron, would cross USA in one second twice and could therefore do so much faster; which would change our reality and our physical appearance. Virgin Saturne? Look at his right Index, his way of standing and his belly.
Avenue du Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, ouest
"Building IV, est emblématique des principaux champs de tension qui irriguent l’œuvre d’Antony Gormley. Sa force naît de l’oscillation entre une forme qui évoque ces corps futuristes décomposés sur ordinateur, et une pose qui rappelle cette grande tradition sculpturale de la forme en éveil. En effet, dans cette figure d’un homme s’éveillant à sa condition d’homme, les genoux encore en flexion, le visage tourné vers le haut, Gormley se réclame d’une tradition qui court des esclaves du tombeau de Jules II de Michel-Ange au jeune homme de l’Âge de bronze de Rodin. Tradition que l’on retrouve chez un autre grand artiste d’aujourd’hui, dont l’œuvre est également informée par l’histoire de l’art, Bill Viola, qui dans The Crossing montre la naissance d’un homme hors de l’eau.
Cet homme numérique s’élevant vers sa condition d’humain, ce corps métallique disloqué en une multitude de blocs (ou de pixels) semble vouloir finalement renvoyer au spectateur sa propre image, le réfléchir. Comme l’a écrit Gormley : » My proposition is that we are part of a world constructed from the earth, in which everything is interchangeable. My hope is that the old formula of a ‘subject who looks’ at an object which is ‘looked at’ can be transmuted into us looking at ourselves. The place of my body is offered as yours and the space and actions of your body are reflected in the works, what they are made of and how they are made. Nothing is revealed that is not already there – including you. » (extrait du catalogue de l’exposition Still Moving : Works 1975-1996, à Tokyo, in Antony Gormley, Phaidon, p.152)."
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What happened three days ago is a very bad story, a 63-year-old man shot two women in the face, one 48 years old, the other 49 years old, and then took his own life, all of which happened in a town in the province of Catania, one of them allegedly had an extramarital affair with the killer: in 2022 120 women were killed, 97 of them were killed in the family or emotional sphere, of these 57 died for hand of the partner or former partner. This tragic and sad incipit linked to the ever-present drama of feminicides, to introduce the photographic story that I made in the town of Savoca (Messina - Sicily) on 08/13/2022, of a very particular representation that was held last time in August 2018; is a narration that pits Evil (a devil armed with a long grappling hook) against Good (Saint Lucia, who holds a silver palm leaf in her hands), the Evil-Devil tries to seduce-distract Saint Lucia with own grappling hook, instead Saint Lucia remains impassive in front of her flattery: violence against women in this very suggestive representation finds distant and deep roots, Saint Lucia actually represents those women who in medieval times had to suffer the abuses perpetrated by the Baron of Savoca nicknamed "Barone Altadonna", which making use of the law "ius primae noctis" (from the Latin "right of the first night"), referred to the "right" according to which a feudal lord could rape a newly married woman on her wedding night. Therefore, this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a report of the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The living re-enactment of the history of St. Lucia takes place on two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some moments of Saturday, the day during which the celebration does not take place in its full beauty, it is the day during which "the silver palm" is delivered "from the Lucia of the previous edition" to the "Lucia of the current edition", it is the day during which the last details are tested, above all the "impassivity of the little girl who impersonates Saint Lucia", lovingly called "the Lucia".. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened.
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E' una bruttissima storia quanto accaduto tre giorni fa, un uomo di 63 anni, ha ucciso a colpi di pistola in pieno volto due donne, una di 48 anni, l'altra di 49 anni, per poi togliersi la vita, il tutto accaduto in una cittadina in provincia di Catania, una di loro avrebbe avuto una relazione extraconiugale con l'assassino: nel 2022 sono state 120 le donne uccise, 97 di loro sono state uccise in ambito familiare o affettivo, di queste 57 hanno trovato la morte per mano del partner o ex partner. Questo tragico e triste incipit legato al sempre attuale dramma dei femminicidi, per introdurre il racconto fotografico che ho realizzato nella cittadina di Savoca (Messina - Sicilia) il 13/08/2022, di una particolarissima rappresentazione che si era tenuta l'ultima volta nell'agosto del 2018; è una narrazione che vede contrapposto il Male (un diavolo armato di un lungo rampino), al Bene (Santa Lucia, che stringe tra le mani una foglia di palma d'argento), il Male-Diavolo tenta di sedurre-distrarre Santa Lucia col proprio rampino, invece Santa Lucia resta impassibile davanti le sue lusinghe: la violenza sulle donne in questa rappresentazione molto suggestiva, trova radici lontane e profonde, Santa Lucia in realtà rappresenta quelle donne che in epoca medioevale dovevano subire gli abusi perpetrati dal Barone di Savoca soprannominato "Barone Altadonna", che avvalendosi della legge "ius primae noctis" (dal latino "diritto della prima notte"), si riferiva al “diritto” secondo cui un signore feudale poteva violentare una donna appena sposata durante la sua prima notte di nozze. Quindi questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da tutti coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report della rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di Santa Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata del sabato, giorno durante il quale la festa non si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza, è il giorno durante il quale “la palma d’argento” viene consegnata “dalla Lucia della edizione precedente” alla “Lucia dell’attuale edizione”, è il giorno durante il quale si testano gli ultimi dettagli, soprattutto si mette alla prova “l’impassibilità della bambina che impersona Santa Lucia”, chiamata amorevolmente “la Lucia”. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza. La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamato dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei stringe devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza.
Louis Pauwels et Jacques Bergier - Le Matin des magiciens
Édition universitaire par Yvone Lenard
Harper & Row, 1967
Cover Photo: Tapestry "Le Ciel" by Jean Lurçat. Courtesy Administration Générale du Mobilier National, Paris
In a generalized and wide ranging overview of the occult or paranormal, the book presents a collection of "raw material for speculation of the most outlandish order", discussing conspiracy theories, ancient prophecies, alchemical transmutation, a giant race that once ruled the Earth, and the Nazca Lines. It also includes speculations such as German occultism and supernatural phenomena conspiracy theory that the Vril Society and the Thule Society were the philosophical precursors to the Nazi Party.
Chatsworth House
Chatsworth is home to the 12th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and has been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatsworth_House
Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man at Chatsworth
A large-scale exhibition of 12 monumental sculptures located in the park surrounding Chatsworth.
Burning Man is a unique event that usually takes place annually in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA.
This year the events team at Chatsworth has worked with the Burning Man team to bring its distinctive culture of possibility and creativity from the Black Rock Desert to the Derbyshire landscape.
www.chatsworth.org/events/burning-man
9
Transmutation
by Arturo Gonzalez and Maru Izaguirre
This gloriously colourful winged sabre-toothed-tiger stands proud on its stand forcing visitors to look up to take it all in.
The installation aims to raise the question, does extinct mean forever, an artistic comment on the possibility of cloning an extinct species.
Transmutation invites viewers to question whether it is ethical to play at being gods and whether the return of extinct species, such as the sabre-toothed tiger, will give rise to new beings created by man.
The sculpture is decorated with traditional Mexican patterns in acrylic and fluorescent paint.
---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----
---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----
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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.
Ezio Famà.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.
Ezio Famà.
It is believed that spirits often feed themselves thru inhaling from joss sticks.
======
It's the Luner 7th month, which means it's the scariest month in the whole year according to Chinese believes.
As a child I was always warned to be extra cautious: avoid going out at night, never answer when I heard anyone call my name from behind, don't whistle and no mention the word "ghosts" are among the rules during the Ghost Month.
This year I decide to pay a visit to one of the remaining Ghost Month ( which is called "Yu Lan Festival" in the formal term ) to document some of its believes.
So here's the beginning of my first documentation of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
=====
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
理事們給神明的掌聲，同時也是給自己默默付出的鼓勵
Committee members clapping after praying ceremony, it's an applause for the Gods as well as gratitude towards their own efforts.
=====
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----
---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----
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Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.
Ezio Famà.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.
Ezio Famà.
Please read my profile for more information about my craft.
This 145 carat handcrafted Jasper pendant is created swirling and shaping gun metal copper wire by hand, adding goldsand chips and wooden beads to enhance the natural beauty and shape of the stone. This stone has many earthy colors such as gray, beige, rust, green and cream. Perfect for you down-to-earth ladies.
It measures 2" across and 3" top to tip including the bail.
The bail is designed to be large enough to accommodate your favorite chain, choker or cord. Black leather cord necklace included.
All purchases are nicely packaged in a gift box.
Jasper's healing effects:
Jasper is the stone of selflessness; it is the mother of all stones bringing about Love of all mankind. Red jasper assists in transmuting pain, especially menstrual pain. To draw away focus from pain, back to the centre. For emotional, mental and physical pain, it is a grounding and healing stone. Jasper makes its effects known slowly and gradually, just like nature. It's considered an emotionally calming stone, and can be an excellent stone for either those who are hypersensitive to crystalline energy and find it difficult to work with, or for those who like change to be a gradual, unfolding process.
Chakras: All
Astrological sign: Virgo, Libra, Scorpio
exhibition view
Altering News/ Nachrichten verändern
27.4. - 6.5.2018
Dachauer Wassertrum
Sa/So 11 - 18 Uhr
"Harmonic Artworks are unique energetic instruments crafted with the precise application of ancient Egyptian design principle. Jadene Mayla combines art and science to embed this technology within vibrationally harmonic sculptural instruments that successfully transmute electromagnetic fields (EMFs) into healing energies. Her work opens a portal to co-creative communication with the Devic realm of Nature, by which human beings can come into contact with the positive influence of ancient element forces."
Tara in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements.
Within Tibetan Buddhism, Tārā is regarded as a Bodhisattva of compassion and action. She is the female aspect of Avalokiteśvara. Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in saṃsāra.
The most widely known forms of Tārā are:
Green Tārā, (Syamatara) known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
White Tārā, (Sitatara) also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
Red Tārā, (Kurukulla) of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things
Black Tārā, associated with power
Yellow Tārā, (Bhrikuti) associated with wealth and prosperity
Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Buddhism)
Temple of the Five Pagodas
Temple of the Five Pagodas , also known as the "Precious Pagoda of the Buddhist Relics of the Diamond Throne" , is a Buddhist temple in the city of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia in north-west China. It is located in the older part of the city in the vicinity of Qingcheng Park.
Construction of the temple began in 1727 and was completed in 1732. The distinctive five pagodas surmount contains a temple with 1563 images of Buddha carved into its walls each differing slightly to the other. Inside is a rare Mongolian cosmological map carved into a large stone which illustrates the zodiac and positions of numerous stars.
During the event, many believers pay respect to the Gods, their ancestors and pray for well being. While some passed this tradition to the younger generations, it is a rare scene to have younger people attending the praying events.
=====
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
=====
Follow my rediscovery of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
For my past visits to the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
VIDEO: (Coming soon!)
••• SCRIPT/LYRICS: •••
MOLEMAN'S EPIC RAP BATTLES!!!!!!
GARNET…
…VS…
…FIRESTORM!!!
BEGIN!
Firestorm:
We could think about what gimmicks convolute our history:
Mixups with Russians, nature-forces and Yoruba witchery,
And we could think of crises wrought on our identity…
Yes, surely…
…But today, let's only think of flaming enemies with fury!
Hey, here comes a question most alarming; not to be dismissed,
And one whose comprehension won't take an atomic physicist:
Why let a contest measure merger-might to choose from we and you
When the answer is plainer than combining two plus freaking two?!
Don't get too cocky, Ronald; let's see this done as it ought to be:
Transmute lit lyrics from raw beats, and lecture blockheads properly!
It's gonna be a far cry from your Brightest Day; I'm going dark,
With aims to end this in a Flash just like my debut story arc!
Complete transparency, now; tip: skip on a kicked-in butt tonight.
Called on and dared to speak out? Quit, not even picking up the mic!
You see your worth as apt for some Gem-world princess, or even goddess,
Yet I wouldn't appraise your value at one-half Nicki Minaj's!
It's a lock, and un-jail-breakable, at that: you're getting blasted;
Your cut's unfit for this face-off, falling flat in every facet.
Why, it's evident: our foe lacks proper grasp of her position,
Just as suits the fruit of reckless, raw romance at first collision!
Molecules are being rewritten, spelling death for sucker golems;
Souring your Sugar sweetness!
That reminds me of a poem… how's it go?
A Ruby's red, and a Sapphire's colored blue;
When they're together, all the better to set fire onto you!
Garnet:
It seems your touted tangibility-tweaking tricks are getting screwy:
Though plainly made with fazing aims, your statements phase directly through me!
Fisticuffs raised to the max, I'll put it heavy-handedly:
This space-borne stone immortal's here to Vandalize you Savagely!
Don't think the balanced bond behind a harmonizing master humbled
By the body-bunking counterpart of Simon and Garfunkel;
You're the one Nuclear waste it's best to keep left in the ashcan:
That brute in Supes' ill-fated Quest for Peace was less a hack, man!
Your own saw Lanterns, Squads, the Reds and A-bombs quell your mission;
That's as jacked up as your black successor's break on television!
You'd do well to fission: squishies risk affliction, sticking to that kind of nexus;
It's as if you're mixing in black clouds in morning-time for breakfast.
Hawking off your power-set as something there's no reproducing?
Your old flame Lorraine objects, and check that shared New 52 scene!
Take me on? You're tripping; I could go all Summer Day,
Mad-laughing as you're curse-slapped, your collapse one stone's throw-down away!
Firestorm:
I'd hardly call that verse a gem, but do see you're impassioned;
Now, brace for an opposite, unequal nuclear reaction!
I'd advise you set about disarming; keep at trying to battle,
And you'll only fall apart, so turn around, three-eyes: skedaddle!
Put a bubble on your gushing pride, and hear just what I'm made of:
Nobel Prize-commemorated brains and brawn prime for the playoffs…
Oh, and right: the atoms' might, infused not in a tiny me,
But through a union whose inducement gets them splitting violently!
The irony…
These elements comprising me like father, son and holy ghost,
Your cotton candy composition couldn't come remotely close;
These bogglers are built to leave your flipping mind
As broken as that gay love metaphor between two different kinds!
Pursuing this is straight-up suicidal; heed some good advice:
Lest you be undone swiftly as a Slipknot, fleeing would be wise!
Hmm… knots, you say?
Tying yours sure garnered fandom's queerness-touting cheers.
What an accomplishment; it merely took damn-near six thousand years!
Our souls, conjoining, form an epic entelechy, knowing which,
Forgo all hopefulness of cloning this, as shown amiss with Soviets,
You cloying, kitschy clod! As for the riffs you spit haphazardly,
Those bare-bones bars have less meat than the prick who nicked your anthem, G!
Ours? Fine-tuned to the quantum level; spliced into arrangements
Set to shake your union to the brink of thrice-induced estrangement,
And don't count on pulling back together, damaged faith restored,
'Cause just the two of us are stronger than your whole volcanic Megazord!
Garnet:
Yeah, I'd imagine you'd know all about that, Orange Ranger,
But your floating mentor-head ought to have warned you to the danger;
What if I told you you'll be blindsided, both blacking-out in quick turn,
When I yank you from the Matrix like my name was Laurence Fishburne?
Known to wreck hard-headed haters, your hot one'll prove no different,
As part-timing casuals get taught the sum of true commitment!
Wanna see a giant of a power couple? I'm your girl; espouse its meaning:
Steady-rocking since mankind, they say, was still fresh out of Eden!
Plus, your Time Squad of a secret team can bite me;
Your whole future's at an end, and naught will tweak it, even slightly!
I mean, blimey: screw false pretense for some cackling magician bull;
That mind-entrapping weeks-long bender? Flatly unforgivable!
I'm dropping bombs; the biggest Ron, his mommy or his pops have seen,
For overkill to match the namesake of a poor man's Constantine:
Destabilizing deconstruction, it'll make them draw a blank.
I'd call your deal a nature-crime; rechristen Raymond: "Ronnie Frank"!
Firestorm:
You say your bodyguard-love schtick will never come to dissolution,
Like a pair of mutant, midget technicolor Whitney Houstons!
Think we'll have a problem here?
Now, that's bananas! We'll be home by daylight,
NASA asked that she's seen, fee-free, to her own, one-way flight!
Girl, your jointly self-absorbed felicity's an utter joke;
Make threats of dropping bombs, and watch your dignity go up in smoke!
You're unprepared for prime time, Gemmy! How can you expect to win this
When your origin got upstaged by a Robot Chicken Christmas?
From N.Y.C. streets to Justice Leagues, we've made ourselves a name;
You've kept ones shared with countless drones, all bred and trained to be the same!
I live up to and past the heights of my Star-Spangled heritage;
You aren't worth your own weight at the ideal price per carat, bitch:
You're meritless! You call those palette-swapped foam Hulk props on you gauntlets?
Come at me with them, and catch a flaming knuckle through the faceplate!
Your lame cheeto P.S.A. coach couldn't top this all-new hotness,
So if you can't stand the heat, beam back on up into your safe space.
See all notions that it's nearly so severely hard to beat her
Shattered like the trust invested in her dear, departed leader!
You perceive self-value more-than-constituting both your parts' sum,
But the math says otherwise; check any jewelry broker's charts, hon!
Half of you served in a royal court as its official seer;
You've gone some kind of third-eye-blind, though, if this isn't crystal-clear:
You don't look awesome, and it's time you went to bed!
Now close the deal!
I'll let your godson know that what you did today was choke, for real!
Garnet:
Oh, you'll find no exhaustion here; I'm far from prone to break a sweat:
When I wipe the floor with phony-hot shits, it's liable to wind up painted red!
It's viable to say I've wholly got this: child's play, though only for Garnet;
Joining in on it? You're gonna get rolled and left cold, all your folks going: "Oh no, they are dead."
Try on a total toxin-taste: raw space-rock rhymes, created ground-up,
Like your Ogaden oasis, the fate of which I wouldn't take it you're too proud of.
A tenth-level belter, I rep rebel melders:
Test against my mettle? Best inject some Nth; augment your cells, or get to shelter!
It's a song of ice and fire; when you're packing just the latter,
Your whole rhythm-ride's implosion-bound, and plasma's gonna splatter.
As for your nuclear family values? I'm beyond such rigid norms,
With Multiplex strengths, all rolled up inside one monolithic form!
Ever-flowering, love letter-showered, empowering, towering gay-romantic titan,
Shade thrown my way's, with a hand-flick, reflected, and BAM: it's the source who sees dishonor.
Dominant during debates, dissent-drainingly as any achromatic tyrant,
Try shouting this down, and watch me unshakenly pluck out your core; ensure you'll be a goner!
………
(*SOLO ROUND!*)
………
Martin Stein:
How's Stein's schooling session's starting something Sapph's supposed to handle?
Kindergarten rooms have brought her whole proud pairing to a standstill!
Singlehandedly one-upping that accursed menagerie,
Observe: in verse, a worse-disturbing blasphemy!
Your present-perspicacity has faltered from foresight-fixation; your taste in soulmates shows, for starters:
Even Jason never sunk to such low standards with his partners!
When this atomic architect takes to the floor,
The only overhyped-up ship that's headed for a wreck is yours!
Sapphire:
I see a glorified Jiminy Cricket with a nonexistent sex life.
He will find less clemency afforded here than with his ex-wife!
You've not met a Crystal cold to you as this; you'd better hide:
No psycho on any of infinite Earths could hope to sway me to your side.
Your Doomsday Clock is ticking; precognition needn't spell what's gonna happen,
When the baddest blue boss bombshells 'bout you break since Doc Manhattan's!
This alleged Legend won't see tomorrow: it's apparent you'll be slaughtered;
Deploring the oracle was a mistake just as aberrant as your daughter!
Martin Stein:
Hey, h- …Oh, why should I fall back onto dumb distraction-tunes,
When you're as prone to cause your own strikeout, all while we shoot the moon?
Cut with the C.R.A.P.; let this theory of mine be self-fulfilled: you'll cease to diss me,
Lest I cut your lifeline like your Greek ancestors three from Disney!
Sapphire:
If that Titanic travesty of trite trash-talk's all you've got,
Then it's no inner-fascist speaking when I say you should be shot!
Though I'd have warned you, that would be to squander breath for me; I know this:
You'd be heedless even with a quarter-century of notice!
Ruby:
Hit the streets, relapsed to homelessness: you'll want to keep anonymous;
A fuming-to-the-brim stone's bent on bringing your Apokalips!
The CW can have Ms. Kane informed on termination:
There was no room for her once this Ruby rose to the occasion!
Ronnie Raymond:
It was plain why you would be a cowboy: shit got polarizing.
Now, take one more comic page to heart: ride into the horizon;
No horsebacking, though! Try force-propelled ascension through the sky;
Yo, when you get to space's vacuum, tell your brethren I said "Hi",
And like the Happy of those five red dwarves reneged on standing with you,
Just back down from whence you've stepped up. Better yet, abandon ship, too!
Gangster-rapping worthily of some Dakotaversal bang-baby,
Watch this meta-S.T.A.R. extinguish your eternal flame, baby!
Ruby:
Funny you'd mention horizons: the events that I discern
Are painting you abyss-inbound, and past the point of no return!
Your jerkhole gripes and talking smack? I wouldn't fly to such judgments, were I to be you;
Full-circled like a Tokamak, your lapped back attacks will bite you something entirely new!
Ronnie Raymond:
A tempered temper lends to endless energy attained to blow through;
Rage has got you burning out, and that's my okay to K.O. you,
So let's leave the hero business to myself and the professor,
Making sure they'll see the written notice of your surrend
er!
Ruby:
Have you turned your own brains to jelly?! You're intoxicated; face it:
Flying off the rails, you'll plummet to rock bottom, getting wasted!
I'm out to bring hurt beyond mere heartbreak, and thus, your wounds yet need more salting,
Like your record's blackest mark, which Rusch won't soon let be forgotten!
Sapphire: That was rotten, alright; biting to look back upon as Sodom's burning.
White light this night, too, will end your torment, though with no returning!
Ruby: Or, in more straightforward wording: DIE. You must be nuts,
'Cause if the wedding stage didn't clue you in…
R+S: Today belongs to us!
Martin Stein:
I'll gladly rain on your reunion, jerks; it's time to face the truth:
You're plainly out of it as any circus sideshow saber-tooth!
Ronnie Raymond: If the professor is the passenger beside my pilot, punks,
That puts you as the ones blindfolded, bound and gagged inside our trunk!
Firestorm: You've walked Earth since prehistory?
Well, let's address the elephant…
A flung-back Furby's apt to outpace your epochal relevance!
You'll soon return to purpose-lacking, playing parent off the table,
Once our 'verses clash, and Steven takes an arrow in the navel!
Ruby:
Dude; leukemia is one thing, but those bars of your creation?
Sapphire: Cancerous beyond the help of your most cosmic incarnation!
R+S: Striking with a shadow's subtle grace, yet shining steel's lethality,
You may think it's Injustice, but we're winning by fatality! (Frosty!)
(*♪, ♪-♪-♪, ♪-♪*)
Garnet: You're getting throttled,
Harder than you dropped the ball with Brainiac's whole ship of bottles!
Take a moment to think, now, of just how very wrong you were, disputing me:
A clear-cut polymerized paragon; let no-con-fusion be.
?????????:
The trigger word's been stated! Now, my trap is activated;
Thus, the trump card's played in my fair maiden's name, so sayeth I!
The coming game's experience? You bums should take to fearing it,
Because it's time to D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DIE!
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon:
I'm the overkill O.G. of owning old O.C.G. scenes; don't test me:
M.C. B.E.U.D. on the track? Best bet that it's your Death-T!
I inflict direct attacks; take life points down to zero, no doubt,
For this joke of a Gem-Knight and Elemental HERO dropout!
I drop right on in, without a brutal cost; sans Cyber-Stein:
Bring triple threats, converging onto Ruby, Ron, Sapphire and Stein!
You're all exhausted; left defenseless as a goblin-force one-shotter:
Losing hands dealt to you all played-out, and now I strike like Yata
Garasu, to lock you pussy Fusionists in strangleholds!
You'd never bend my will in shining armor forged of rarest gold.
In terms of targets fixed upon you, you'll have no chance to Scapegoat it:
One fell burst-stream's zapping your whole sheepish quartet of components!
Weighing you against me, the Millennium Scales will tip so hard,
You'll catapult, with robo-turtles wishing they could flick as far.
You're standing on the edge; ensuing shock is sure to wreck your balance,
Come the baddest dragon's dark discharge from his Zorc Necrophallus!
Need I spell it out? Your destiny is FINAL; undisputed!
As for changing fate, moreover, that's my job, with gods tributed!
Crushing you, why would I spring some virus? That ain't worth my time,
When all your values at their highest couldn't match a third of mine!
The legend that began it all: oft-mimicked, never replicated.
My pot runneth over; it's not necessary to explain it!
You'll beg for some shadow penalty, such twistedness you'll face;
For those who come in behind Blue-Eyes, a Limp Bizkit's what they taste!
Firestorm:
Self-special-summoning into our double-duel? Screw that whole deal;
If I had wanted a royale, I'd just be playing Battlefield!
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon: Don't drag this out with dialogue, delaying; I haven't got all day,
And when this card is heartless to you, how can you so much as pray?
Garnet: Well, I'd say you've let your defenses down, and I ain't talking misprints:
Your effect on me's, put simply as your text box, nonexistent!
Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon:
It's the rapper-kingdom finals, whelp; that isn't gonna fly:
Those one-star-studded gauntlets plainly tell that you're unqualified!
I've got you insects flipping out, but doing so won't serve to bite me,
For your lot's too basic!
Lusterless!
Dull!
…Let alone worthy to ride me,
While I shine on ever brightly, even scaled down for the big screen;
Steal the thunder of Gate-Guards: my lyrics' layout's labyrinthine!
This collective looks combustion-bound, face flared up; in a frenzy,
But I've felled far more infernal red-eyed monsters full of envy.
Cards here stacked against you steeper still than Reshef of Destruction,
White light's sealing your demise, so though you guessed correct on one thing,
Know my arsenal's evolved to make for new alternatives;
With chaos rituals to maximize the pain, I'll burn you, bitch!
Watch me send this three-eyed sucker straight to the grave; negate a compensating deck search:
End malformed mashups' miseries, like the doggy saying "Edward"!
Garnet:
Oh, you can banish that shit; try, instead, Fullmetal Jacket,
'Cause I have to ask it: what is your mammoth malfunction, maggot?!
Firestorm: I have had it with these Muto-fighting dragons, coalesced as one,
But for us coming back from this hijacking, hopes look next to none…
Our best's yet unexhausted…
Garnet: The sole option left to take here…
Firestorm: …Should we all agree we want it.
Garnet: …Would be nuclear in nature.
Firestorm: Are you thinking what I am?
Garnet: I don't think that's how fusion works.
Firestorm: Well, screw the rules; we have fan fiction logic!
Garnet: Let's just do this, jerk…
………
Garnetstorm:
Know your last-minute winning plays; details: I take no pleasure in this
As I bust loose from our tightest spot and get direct to business,
No less vocal for it, mind you, while I counter-steal the show,
And finish what your master started, with one down, and three to go!
These blows will knock you sideways, keeping up the damage all the same,
With meteoric impacts fit to fuel your blackest rival's flames!
I'm breaking your sustaining chains; those of my components' restraint, too:
But four pieces here need come together to obliterate you!
Brightly-blazing stone conglomerate, far from some shadow puppet:
Mega-mixture; this vanilla triple-dipper can go shove it!
If you're triple-A, call me the alphabet's whole backmost leg;
No Toonish trickery required, I'll deflect attacks all day!
My fighting spirit's too intense to stay; my presence here is fleeting,
But the Last Turn is upon us, and you're set for searing beating!
Wanna end this with a draw? I'll go Berserker, then: get violent,
And remake Destroy All Monsters; stomp out this tri-headed tyrant.
WHO WON?
WHO'S NEXT?
I DECIDE!
MOLE…
…MAN'S…
HA!
…EPIC RAP BATTLES!!!!!!!
Tara in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements.
Within Tibetan Buddhism, Tārā is regarded as a Bodhisattva of compassion and action. She is the female aspect of Avalokiteśvara. Tārā is also known as a saviouress, as a heavenly deity who hears the cries of beings experiencing misery in saṃsāra.
The most widely known forms of Tārā are:
Green Tārā, (Syamatara) known as the Buddha of enlightened activity
White Tārā, (Sitatara) also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
Red Tārā, (Kurukulla) of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things
Black Tārā, associated with power
Yellow Tārā, (Bhrikuti) associated with wealth and prosperity
Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_(Buddhism)
Temple of the Five Pagodas
Temple of the Five Pagodas , also known as the "Precious Pagoda of the Buddhist Relics of the Diamond Throne" , is a Buddhist temple in the city of Hohhot in Inner Mongolia in north-west China. It is located in the older part of the city in the vicinity of Qingcheng Park.
Construction of the temple began in 1727 and was completed in 1732. The distinctive five pagodas surmount contains a temple with 1563 images of Buddha carved into its walls each differing slightly to the other. Inside is a rare Mongolian cosmological map carved into a large stone which illustrates the zodiac and positions of numerous stars.
Last week - with the warmest temperatures about 20 °C ever in October - we have been to Rügen with the whole family.
We all have had great fun at the beach.
A few days more and Hugo would have completely transmuted in a retrieving seal...
---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----
---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----
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Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.
It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.
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questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.
Obviously the centre of all attention is the Center Stage made of bamboo structure with aluminium zinc roof.
Not only does this podium provides entertainment for the visitors, it is believed the spiritual buddies enjoy it even more so. In fact, the front row is often vacant out and reserved for the spirits.
=====
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).
In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.
Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors
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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
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Photo shot with Photo shot with Olympus E-PL2
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---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----
---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----
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Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.
Ezio Famà.
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questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.
Ezio Famà.
newspaper, thread and wire.
from the series "transmuting news" which looks for the optimum surrounding for newspaper to evolve
---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----
---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.
In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.
The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.
Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.
Ezio Famà.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.
Ezio Famà.