View allAll Photos Tagged TRANSMUTATION
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
=====
More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
Photo shot with Photo shot with Nikon D600 + AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED
=====
If you are interested in purchasing this image, please visit Getty Images page at:
=
Occasionally a human will stumble into the elemental realm and undergo a transformation of form into that of one of nature’s spirits. This is especially true of humans who fall into the previously mentioned Fairy Circle.
The fairies will transmute the physical body of humans into one of their own, making it difficult to readjust when returning to the anthropoid realm. When this occurs, the human will undergo a deep and profound inner change.
Such a change occurs because the energy used in entering the elemental kingdom is “rewired” to a more transcendental frequency of the plant or mineral realms. The vibration of a human’s subtle body will become compatible with the beings it encounters in this domain.
---- 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.
At the altar, offerings for the God & Goddess who will be the guardian of spirits include tea, rice wine, pickle, types of grains ( ie. glutenous rice, forbidden rice), nuts and fresh fruits.
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** Origin and facts 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:
=====
If you are interested in purchasing this image, please visit Getty Images page at:
=====
Joe
Castaic
Fall 2009
***Please do not use or download picture without my permission! Thanks! (Contact me for questions)
Caught some action behind the stage, a couple was helping each other to prepare for the performance.
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
=====
More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
Coming to the close of the pics from "Radical Horizons" at Chatsworth House, this is "Transmutation", by Arturo Gonzales and Maru Izaguirre. As with all the other works on display, it was previously featured at the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada Desert, USA.
What the hell happened?
This WAS #1 on EXPLORE for Sept 6, 2005 (see below).... But, recently it just disappeared off the face of the explore page.... What the hell happened? Not even on the page... #1 to nothin'..... What the hell happened?
I'm uploading again a second time, because I'm proud of it, and love to share it with you, and I'm a little wounded... hurts so bad. Could someone have called it "offensive"? What the hell happened?
The ancient stories tell of a young warrior named Belloveso, who after defeating the Etruscan tribes, around the sixth century BC would have stopped in the great plain in a land called insubria and built their home. This place was not chosen by chance, but the legend tells of a totemic animal (specifically a wild boar) with the back partially covered with hair, a magical sign interpreted as a divine signal.
From there, the legend wants to attribute to the term mediolanum the meaning of medio-lanae or sow semilanuta (in medio lanae) that became the symbol of Gallic Milan until the fourth century.
According to another legend, instead, the term mediolanum should derive from terra di mezzo, meaning land halfway between the Olona and Seveso rivers.
It has been pointed out that Milan rises on the line of the fountains (that is, where the waters surface for the degradation of the plain towards the Po), so it could be born on a tongue of land that gave on a swamp, in a place therefore well defensible.
Admired for its beauty and magnificence, the Duomo of Milan is one of the most famous Gothic cathedrals in the world, but also among those in which history and mystery are mixed. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Nascente is a true concentration of legends and mysteries. An ancient legend tells how just below the Cathedral is kept a precious treasure hidden in medieval times by the Knights Templar. Among the esoteric symbols contained within the cathedral, there is one worthy of note: through a special hole in the vault of the cathedral penetrates the sunlight that generates a sundial that would indicate the two solstices in summer and winter, as well as the position of the sun throughout the year. One more curiosity: where today stands Piazza Duomo, 2000 years ago it is said there was a Celtic temple, a forest of oaks inhabited by druids. Starting from the basement, this imposing monument reveals these two aspects in its entirety: in fact, under the churchyard of Santa Maria Nascente, the real name of the Lombard cathedral, there are the remains of the Basilica of Santa Tecla dating back to the fourth century AD, built in turn on the ruins of a temple dedicated to Minerva. From the basement, which can be visited with a guide, you enter the cathedral, where you can see numerous esoteric symbols, including the brass sundial that runs longitudinally throughout the church and the entire church on which are affixed the 12 symbols of the zodiac.
Esoteric symbols in the Duomo of Milan
The Sundial dates back to 1786 and is the work of the astronomers of Brera. The light that illuminates the strip and enters from the hole of the dome indicates the two solstices in summer and winter and the position of the Sun during the year. In addition, the brass strip ends up on the wall, perpendicular to the floor, in correspondence with the sign of Capricorn. Some scholars claim that light illuminates darkness and heralds the coming of Christ. Esoteric symbols cover the cathedral, both inside and outside, and each of them has its own meaning. A curious belief warns the newlyweds who want to be immortalized outside the cathedral: in fact, the ghost of Carlina could be lurking. Legend has it that Carlina, promised to marry Renzino, threw herself from the spires of the Duomo to atone for a betrayal.
As we know there were some very specific canons for the construction of very special buildings such as cathedrals.
The Duomo of Milan is located in a place of very powerful "energy node" of positive magic.
The construction of this building seems to have seen the application of what were the knowledge of constructive and semiological secrets also by the eastern populations, who came into contact with ours during the period of the Crusades.
Even the soaring spires would be functional not only for the elevation of the soul of faith towards the divine, but also for the regulation of the telluric movements even imperceptible to the human being, coming from the center of the earth.
In the Middle Ages this kind of knowledge was not open to the knowledge of all and was transmitted in a mostly occult and esoteric character.
The privilege of knowledge was granted only after long years of apprenticeship with the Masters who then passed on their knowledge and their techniques.
This knowledge was not only of a static nature, such as giving stability to the vaults and the best way of sculpting marble, but also the meaning of each symbol and its position or alignment with others.
The Cathedral Factory has seen the alternation of many Italian and foreign Masters, each of them has left in the cathedral his own knowledge, what better crucible of knowledge a construction site so large and with such a "delicate" task?
According to tradition, the Duomo of Milan is nothing more than an immense alchemical treatise representing the metamorphosis of the change from animal to man of the human being.
Among its symbols, among its hermetic frills, it seems that the mystery of transmutation is hidden.
Which for a cathedral is a very powerful symbolism, also for the Catholic faith that sees the transmutation of the human being in something much more similar to the divine as the purpose of existence: the soul in its celebration.
Personal Thoughts from August 07, 1976
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Energy is one.
Individuals are parts of that one.
Individuals through a source such as Love
(or other emotion or virtue) are one.
Thoughts are a source of energy.
Energy is neither created or destroyed.
Thoughts are neither created or destroyed.
Individuals are tuned-in to thoughts.
We do not think; we experience thought.
Our level of development is how we use
these thoughts to experience other
thoughts.
We are actually experiencing energies.
Our level of development is how we can
tune-in to these energies.
Our true purpose is to think and develop;
think and develop; become the source of energy.
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======================================================
................. From the Sayings of Buddha ...............
The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest qualities is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So this is Princess, one of the five fearless young orphans of G-Force "DEDICATED! INSEPARABLE! INVINCIBLE!" who are vigilantly "PROTECTING EARTH'S ENTIRE GALAXY!"...Welcome to 1978 and BATTLE OF THE PLANETS. Imagine if you will that her awesome motorcycle is upgraded now to a speeder bike which like G-Force's ship, the Fiery Phoenix ("TRANSMUTE!") has the ability to become a super-powered vehicle of flaming energy in times of dire trouble.
Damn those trans oranges are tough to build with and photograph. My entry for the CMF category for this year's LSB contest. About 14x7x8 studs.
Battle Of The Planets intro sequence: www.youtube.com/watch?v=acOnskcyrtA
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.
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
=====
More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
Photo shot with Photo shot with Nikon D600 + AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED
=====
"A painless lesson is one without any meaning, one who does not sacrifice anything cannot achieve anything." said Estelle Romillet in the dark undergrounds of Hogwarts. Learning one of the fundamental rules of Alchemy.
The Alchemy was something hard, the central quest of alchemy may be more complex, and less materialistic, than it first appears (cf Pottermore).
But for Estelle, the Alchemy can be materialistic, use objects and transmute them, in order to exceed the limits of the human being.
The newest generation of young and crazy alchemists is here. She creates unstable useful - or useless and dangerous - objects for the others students. Nicolas Flamel is her model. She wants become famous like him.
Goggles down, books in the hand, fab watch in the other hand, not so crazy right ? Right ? Um...
@Mischief Managed
Click here for my Facebook
SOOC
Hi everyone!
Today no much to say, rest day at home, trying to get my right knee working normal, I can walk again so, tomorrow I will back at the office and well, some things are going to change...
Have a great night you all!
---- 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.
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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.
Did Egyptian mythology inspire Tinguely's patrons? The various deities are said to have been created by the sweat of the original Creator Principle. The tears of his eyes would have been used to create humans. Man would be this work in black (he was first created with the black earth of the Nile (Al Kemya which became Alchime) of the Creator who weeps because of his behaviour. He is what makes the divine weep. He is gifted with treachery and can never share the clear divine vision; everything he sees, thinks and does is imperfect. In a way, this is the notion of the fall, a principle of inversion that explains the light with its bearer: Lucifer. The stream of water coming out of the eyes is sometimes crossed by sunlight during the movement of the head and could symbolise this inner light? The black head of the primordial men ADAM KADMON was created with the black earth which is called Kemya, to have given rise to the word Al Kemya. Alkemia became known as alchemy in Europe and particularly here in Basel. Perhaps tears are like light, coming out of the eyes with the sun like a principle of the creative gaze, the eye that sees everything, even the invisible? Is Basel a city of alchemy? We would have to remember Paracelsus and a secret language to try and understand the tears of joy shed by the spectator moved by the OPERA... in Italian and the work in English; here THE BLACK WORK. Would medieval alchemy refer to ancient Egypt to describe the phenomena: The tears of Isis in the black stone of the origins are joyful because they express the rebirth in movement of the head that says YES to this new birth. The tears of Isis regenerate the dead body of the pediment and reveal its living strength. Perhaps Tinguely had the freedom to create for clients who knew enough about alchemy? Paracelsus and Jung are not necessarily far away...The Carnival Fountain (also: Tinguely Fountain or Carnaval) is a fountain created by the artist Jean Tinguely and is located on the theatre square in the Swiss city of Basel. Why CARNIVAL? in French Char Naval!!! Like CARNAVAL??? Look at the waters plays!!!!!! Carnival is liked with DEVIL 😈 and Occultism, occult your eyesight It was built between 1975 and 1977 on the site of the stage of the old, demolished city theatre and was a gift from the 50-year-old Migros trading cooperative to the city of Basel. It is a new landmark for Basel, but is not a listed building[.
Black-Work, archetypal situation at the beginning of the Work.Black crows are symbols of the initial Black Phase (the Nigredo) of alchemy, during which the subject of transformation is purified by breaking it. Where the stage of the old municipal theatre once stood, Jean Tinguely placed playful machine sculptures in a water basin in 1977, giving Basel a new landmark: the Swiss artist had a shallow fountain basin filled with black asphalt in order to place water-spouting figures powered by low voltage electricity. These ten iron eminences are in constant motion and in dialogue with each other, just like the mimes, actors and dancers who once performed in this very spot.
The sculpture is like a visual guide to the operations of alchemy, we will use an alchemical mandala actually used by the alchemists in trying to understand the relationships between the processes of transformation.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasnachts-Brunnen
This is how man is born of the Creator, who cries because of his behaviour. He is what makes the divine weep. He has a gift for betrayal and can never share the clear divine vision; everything he sees, thinks and does is imperfect....The initiatory path offers an escape from this state of affairs, thanks to the tears of the Widow, which open the door to Mastery. She sheds tears of silver, lunar rays, from which the brothers can draw the raw material they need to make gold. In correspondence with the moon, she changes the nature of the stone, fertilising it with her tears and introducing divine gold into its heart. This gold is the Mastery of those who live in the unity of Wisdom, the Initiates who have passed into the Eternal East. The Principle of Creation, for its part, is neither gold nor silver, but it gives both when it thinks of itself, through its feminine aspect, white, silver, and its masculine aspect, gold. In fact, these two metals do not have sexual characteristics and they also include their complement within them. Silver, the queen of peace, has within it the fixed male nature, and gold is all silver, although animated by masculine fire. Tears are emanations of the light of the Principle and are associated with the creative gaze. They are both of the nature of fertilising water and of fire. On the one hand, they are tongues of fire, symbols of the transmission of the Spirit received by the Master when he rose from the dead. But the alchemists also called them dew or water of life. It is the principal Water, both terrestrial and celestial, mercurial water, the primordial material of the alchemical work. Egyptian mythology perhaps suggests that the deities were made by the sweat of the "Creative Principle". HUMANS are said to have come from the tears of his eyes. MAN is pronounced "rmt" and tears "rmyt"; man as an emanation of the Creator weeping over his behaviour. He makes the divine weep because he is gifted with treachery and will never share the divine's clear vision.
never share the clear divine vision; everything he sees, thinks and does is imperfect. The tears fall like the fall of Paradise or that of Lucifer, the bearer of light.
The “Azoth” (shown above) is a meditative emblem that appeared in several different forms during the late Middle Ages. The version we are using is based on an illustration first published in 1659 in the Azoth of the Philosophers by the legendary German alchemist Basil Valentine. The word “Azoth” in the title is one of the more arcane names for the First Matter. The “A” and “Z” in the word relate to “alpha” and “omega,” the letters at the beginning and end of the Greek alphabet. Thus the word is meant to convey the idea of the absolutely complete and full meaning of the First Matter and its transformations. In this sense, the Azoth represents not just the chaotic First Matter at the beginning of the Work but also its perfected essence (the Philosopher’s Stone) at the conclusion of the Work.At the center of this striking drawing is the face of a bearded alchemist at the beginning of the Work. Like looking into a mirror, this is where the adept fixes his or her attention to begin meditation at the center of the mandala. The downward-pointing triangle superimposed over the face of the alchemist represents Water in its highest sense as divine grace or the gift of life pouring down from Above. Therefore, within the triangle we see the face of God, and the drawing clearly implies that the face of God and the face of the alchemist are the same. Of course, this idea was considered blasphemy to the medieval Church, which explains why this drawing was circulated secretly in so many different forms during the Middle Ages. It was not until the Renaissance, when the idea of the divine nature of man, that the drawing was first published.The schematized body of the alchemist is shown in perfect balance with the Four Elements as depicted by his arms and legs. His feet protrude from behind the central emblem, and one is on Earth and the other in Water, indicating he is grounded in the real world. In his right hand is a torch of Fire and in his left hand a feather symbolizing Air. Although he is firmly planted in the world of matter, the alchemist has easy access to the powers of spirit.The alchemist also stands balanced between the masculine and feminine powers in the background. He is really the offspring of the marriage between Sol, the archetypal Sun King seated on a lion on a hill to his right, and Luna, the archetypal Moon Queen seated on a great fish to his left. “Its father is the Sun,” says the Emerald Tablet, “its mother the Moon.”
The jovial, extroverted Sun King holds a scepter and a shield indicating his authority and strength over the rational, visible world, but the fiery dragon of the rejected contents of his unconscious waits in a cave beneath him ready to attack should he grow too arrogant. This dragon is created by the fiery nature of consciousness any time we forcibly reject part of the contents of our psyche and relegate it to the shadows. We have given this undesirable part life energy in the very act of rejection. The fact that light casts shadows is inherent in masculine consciousness, and it becomes a source of demons that plague us throughout our lives.
The jovial, extroverted Sun King holds a scepter and a shield indicating his authority and strength over the rational, visible world, but the fiery dragon of the rejected contents of his unconscious waits in a cave beneath him ready to attack should he grow too arrogant. This dragon is created by the fiery nature of consciousness any time we forcibly reject part of the contents of our psyche and relegate it to the shadows. We have given this undesirable part life energy in the very act of rejection. The fact that light casts shadows is inherent in masculine consciousness, and it becomes a source of demons that plague us throughout our lives. The melancholy, introverted Moon Queen holds the reins to a great fish, symbolizing her control of those same hidden forces that threaten the King, and behind her is a chaff of wheat, which stands for her connection to fertility and growth. The bow and arrow she cradles in her left arm symbolize the wounds of the heart and body she accepts as part of her existence, for feminine consciousness accepts the world as it is, with all its pain and suffering.In simplest terms, the King and Queen represent the raw materials of our experience – thoughts and feelings – with which the alchemist works. The King symbolizes the power of thought and planning, which are characteristics of spirit. The Queen stands for the influence of feelings and emotions, which are ultimately the chaotic First Matter of the soul. The much heralded marriage of the King and Queen produces a state of consciousness best described as a feeling intellect, which can be raised and purified to produce a state of perfect intuition, that Egyptian alchemists referred to as “Intelligence of the Heart.” This special kind of intelligence or way of knowing is at work in the alchemist, for he is born of the sacred marriage of masculine and feminine consciousness.Between legs of the alchemist dangles the Cubic Stone, which is labeled Corpus (meaning “body”). The five stars surrounding it indicate that the body also contains the hidden Fifth Element, the invisible Quintessence whose “inherent strength is perfected if it is turned into Earth” in the words of the Emerald Tablet.Where the head of the alchemist should be, there is a strange winged caricature. This represents the Ascended Essence, the essence of the soul raised to the highest level in the body. This image evolved through the decades with this drawing, and at one time or another was shown as a golden ball, a helmet, a heart, and finally as a depiction of the pineal gland (a light-sensitive, pinecone-shaped organ at the center of the brain). Touching the wings of the Ascended Essence are a salamander engulfed in flames on the left side of the drawing and a standing bird on the right. Below the salamander is the inscription Anima (Soul); below the bird is the inscription Spiritus (Spirit). The salamander, as a symbol of soul, is attracted to the blazing heat of the Sun, while the bird of spirit is attracted to the coolness of the Moon. This is a visualization of the fundamental bipolar energies that drive the alchemy of transformation. This is similar in meaning to the Tai Chi symbol representing the interplay of the feminine yin and masculine yang energies. In this process, one thing takes on the characteristics of the other as it becomes its opposite. This is the relationship between Mercury and Sulfur in alchemy, and explains why Mercury is sometimes associated with soul and other times associated with spirit. The same is true of Sulfur. The alchemists believed that within this interplay could be found the source of the life force. Carl Jung called this overall process of one thing changing its opposite by the unfortunately unwieldy name of “inandromedria.” Spiritus, Anima, and Corpus (Spirit, Soul, and Body) form a large inverted triangle that stands behind the central emblem of the alchemist. Together they symbolize the Three Essentials behind anything, the celestial archetypes that the alchemists termed Sulfur, Mercury, and Salt.
azothalchemy.org/azoth_ritual.htm
The alchemist also stands balanced between the masculine and feminine powers in the background. He is really the offspring of the marriage between Sol, the archetypal Sun King seated on a lion on a hill to his right, and Luna, the archetypal Moon Queen seated on a great fish to his left. “Its father is the Sun,” says the Emerald Tablet, “its mother the Moon.”
the image or representative of the Great Works of the wise men: the Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, and the Universal Medicine.
Other hieroglyphics seen in connection with Isis are no less curious than those already described, but it is impossible to enumerate all, for many symbols were used interchangeably by the Egyptian Hermetists. The goddess often wore upon her head a hat made of cypress branches, to signify mourning for her dead husband and also for the physical death which she caused every creature to undergo in order to receive a new life in posterity or a periodic resurrection. The head of Isis is sometimes ornamented with a crown of gold or a garland of olive leaves, as conspicuous marks of her sovereignty as queen of the world and mistress of the entire universe. The crown of gold signifies also the aurific unctuosity or sulphurous fatness of the solar and vital fires which she dispenses to every individual by a continual circulation of the elements, this circulation being symbolized by the musical rattle which she carries in her hand. This sistrum is also the yonic symbol of purity.
A serpent interwoven among the olive leaves on her head, devouring its own tail, denotes that the aurific unctuosity was soiled with the venom of terrestrial corruption which surrounded it and must be mortified and purified by seven planetary circulations or purifications called flying eagles (alchemical terminology) in order to make it medicinal for the restoration of health. (Here the emanations from the sun are recognized as a medicine for the healing of human ills.) The seven planetary circulations are represented by the circumambulations of the Masonic lodge; by the marching of the Jewish priests seven times around the walls of Jericho, and of the Mohammedan priests seven times around the Kabba at Mecca. From the crown of gold project three horns of plenty, signifying the abundance of the gifts of Nature proceeding from one root having its origin in the heavens (head of Isis).
In this figure the pagan naturalists represent all the vital powers of the three kingdoms and families of sublunary nature-mineral, plant, and animal (man considered as an animal). At one of her ears was the moon and at the other the sun, to indicate that these two were the agent and patient, or father and mother principles of all natural objects; and that Isis, or Nature, makes use of these two luminaries to communicate her powers to the whole empire of animals, vegetables, and minerals. On the back of her neck were the characters of the planets and the signs of the zodiac which assisted the planets in their functions. This signified that the heavenly influences directed the destinies of the principles and sperms of all things, because they were the governors of all sublunary bodies, which they transformed into little worlds made in the image of the greater universe.
Isis holds in her right hand a small sailing ship with the spindle of a spinning wheel for its mast. From the top of the mast projects a water jug, its handle shaped like a serpent swelled with venom. This indicates that Isis steers the bark of life, full of troubles and miseries, on the stormy ocean of Time. The spindle symbolizes the fact that she spins and cuts the thread of Life. These emblems further signify that Isis abounds in humidity, by means of which she nourishes all natural bodies, preserving them from the heat of the sun by humidifying them with nutritious moisture from the atmosphere. Moisture supports vegetation, but this subtle humidity (life ether) is always more or less infected by some venom proceeding from corruption or decay. It must be purified by being brought into contact with the invisible cleansing fire of Nature. This fire digests, perfects, and revitalizes this substance, in order that the humidity may become a universal medicine to heal and renew all the bodies in Nature.
The serpent throws off its skin annually and is thereby renewed (symbolic of the resurrection of the spiritual life from the material nature). This renewal of the earth takes place every spring, when the vivifying spirit of the sun returns to the countries of the Northern Hemisphere,
The symbolic Virgin carries in her left hand a sistrum and a cymbal, or square frame of metal, which when struck gives the key-note of Nature (Fa); sometimes also an olive branch, to indicate the harmony she preserves among natural things with her regenerating power. By the processes of death and corruption she gives life to a number of creatures of diverse forms through periods of perpetual change. The cymbal is made square instead of the usual triangular shape in order to symbolize that all things are transmuted and regenerated according to the harmony of the four elements.
Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom believed that if a physician could establish harmony among the elements of earth, fire, air, and water, and unite them into a stone (the Philosopher's Stone) symbolized by the six-pointed star or two interlaced triangles, he would possess the means of healing all disease. Dr. Bacstrom further stated that there was no doubt in his mind that the universal, omnipresent fire (spirit) of Nature: "does all and is all in all." By attraction, repulsion, motion, heat, sublimation, evaporation, exsiccation, inspissation, coagulation, and fixation, the Universal Fire (Spirit) manipulates matter, and manifests throughout creation. Any individual who can understand these principles and adapt them to the three departments of Nature becomes a true philosopher.
From the right breast of Isis protruded a bunch of grapes and from, the left an ear of corn or a sheaf of wheat, golden in color. These indicate that Nature is the source of nutrition for plant, animal, and human life, nourishing all things from herself. The golden color in the wheat (corn) indicates that in the sunlight or spiritual gold is concealed the first sperm of all life.
On the girdle surrounding the upper part of the body of the statue appear a number of mysterious emblems. The girdle is joined together in front by four golden plates (the elements), placed in the form of a square. This signified that Isis, or Nature, the first matter (alchemical terminology), was the essence- of the four elements (life, light, heat, and force), which quintessence generated all things. Numerous stars are represented on this girdle, thereby indicating their influence in darkness as well as the influence of the sun in light. Isis is the Virgin immortalized in the constellation of Virgo, where the World Mother is placed with the serpent under her feet and a crown. of stars on her head. In her arms she carries a sheaf of grain and sometimes the young Sun God.
The statue of Isis was placed on a pedestal of dark stone ornamented with rams' heads. Her feet trod upon a number of venomous reptiles. This indicates that Nature has power to free from acidity or saltness all corrosives and to overcome all impurities from terrestrial corruption adhering to bodies. The rams' heads indicate that the most auspicious time for the generation of life is during the period when the sun passes through the sign of Aries. The serpents under her feet indicate that Nature is inclined to preserve life and to heal disease by expelling impurities and corruption.
In this sense the axioms known to the ancient philosophers are verified; namely:
Nature contains Nature,
Nature rejoices in her own nature,
Nature surmounts Nature;
Nature cannot be amended but in her own nature.
[paragraph continues] Therefore, in contemplating the statue of Isis, we must not lose sight of the occult sense of its allegories; otherwise, the Virgin remains an inexplicable enigma.
From a golden ring on her left arm a line descends, to the end of which is suspended a deep box filled with flaming coals and incense. Isis, or Nature personified, carries with her the sacred fire, religiously preserved and kept burning in. a special temple by the vestal virgins. This fire is the genuine, immortal flame of Nature--ethereal, essential, the author of life. The inconsumable oil; the balsam of life, so much praised by the wise and so often referred to in the Scriptures, is frequently symbolized as the fuel of this immortal flame.
From the right arm of the figure also descends a thread, to the end of which is fastened a pair of scales, to denote the exactitude of Nature in her weights and measures. Isis is often represented as the symbol of justice, because Nature is eternally consistent.
THOTH, THE DOG-HEADED.
Click to enlarge
THOTH, THE DOG-HEADED.
From Lenoir's La Franche-Maconnerie.
Aroueris, or Thoth, one of the five immortals, protected the infant Horus from the wrath of Typhon after the murder of Osiris. He also revised the ancient Egyptian calendar by increasing the year from 360 days to 365. Thoth Hermes was called "The Dog-Headed" because of his faithfulness and integrity. He is shown crowned with a solar nimbus, carrying in one hand the Crux Ansata, the symbol of eternal life, and in the other a serpent-wound staff symbolic of his dignity as counselor of the gods.
THE EGYPTIAN MADONNA.
Click to enlarge
THE EGYPTIAN MADONNA.
From Lenoir's La Franche-Maconnerie.
Isis is shown with her son Horus in her arms. She is crowned with the lunar orb, ornamented with the horns of rams or bulls. Orus, or Horus as he is more generally known, was the son of Isis and Osiris. He was the god of time, hours, days, and this narrow span of life recognized as mortal existence. In all probability, the four sons of Horus represent the four kingdoms of Nature. It was Horus who finally avenged the murder of his father, Osiris, by slaying Typhon, the spirit of Evil.
p. 48
The World Virgin is sometimes shown standing between two great pillars--the Jachin and Boaz of Freemasonry--symbolizing the fact that Nature attains productivity by means of polarity. As wisdom personified, Isis stands between the pillars of opposites, demonstrating that understanding is always found at the point of equilibrium and that truth is often crucified between the two thieves of apparent contradiction.
The sheen of gold in her dark hair indicates that while she is lunar, her power is due to the sun's rays, from which she secures her ruddy complexion. As the moon is robed in the reflected light of the sun, so Isis, like the virgin of Revelation, is clothed in the glory of solar luminosity. Apuleius states that while he was sleeping he beheld the venerable goddess Isis rising out of the ocean. The ancients realized that the primary forms of life first came out of water, and modem science concurs in this view. H. G. Wells, in his Outline of History, describing primitive life on the earth, states: "But though the ocean and intertidal water already swarmed with life, the land above the high-tide line was still, so far as we can guess, a stony wilderness without a trace of life." In the next chapter he adds: "Wherever the shore-line ran there was life, and that life went on in and by and with water as its home, its medium, and its fundamental necessity." The ancients believed that the universal sperm proceeded from warm vapor, humid but fiery. The veiled Isis, whose very coverings represent vapor, is symbolic of this humidity, which is the carrier or vehicle for the sperm life of the sun, represented by a child in her arms. Because the sun, moon, and stars in setting appear to sink into the sea and also because the water receives their rays into itself, the sea was believed to be the breeding ground for the sperm of living things. This sperm is generated from the combination of the influences of the celestial bodies; hence Isis is sometimes represented as pregnant.
Frequently the statue of Isis was accompanied by the figure of a large black and white ox. The ox represents either Osiris as Taurus, the bull of the zodiac, or Apis, an animal sacred to Osiris because of its peculiar markings and colorings. Among the Egyptians, the bull was a beast of burden. Hence the presence of the animal was a reminder of the labors patiently performed by Nature that all creatures may have life and health. Harpocrates, the God of Silence, holding his fingers to his mouth, often accompanies the statue of Isis. He warns all to keep the secrets of the wise from those unfit to know them.
The Druids of Britain and Gaul had a deep knowledge concerning the mysteries of Isis and worshiped her under the symbol of the moon. Godfrey Higgins considers it a mistake to regard Isis as synonymous with the moon. The moon was chosen for Isis because of its dominion over water. The Druids considered the sun to be the father and the moon the mother of all things. By means of these symbols they worshiped Universal Nature.
The figure of Isis is sometimes used to represent the occult and magical arts, such as necromancy, invocation, sorcery, and thaumaturgy. In one of the myths concerning her, Isis is said to have conjured the invincible God of Eternities, Ra, to tell her his secret and sacred name, which he did. This name is equivalent to the Lost Word of Masonry. By means of this Word, a magician can demand obedience from the invisible and superior deities. The priests of Isis became adepts in the use of the unseen forces of Nature. They understood hypnotism, mesmerism, and similar practices long before the modem world dreamed of their existence.
Plutarch describes the requisites of a follower of Isis in this manner: "For as 'tis not the length of the beard, or the coarseness of the habit which makes a philosopher, so neither will those frequent shavings, or the mere wearing [of] a linen vestment constitute a votary of Isis; but he alone is a true servant or follower of this Goddess, who after he has heard, and been made acquainted in a proper manner with the history of the actions of these Gods, searches into the hidden truths which he concealed under them, and examines the whole by the dictates of reason and philosophy."
During the Middle Ages the troubadours of Central Europe preserved in song the legends of this Egyptian goddess. They composed sonnets to the most beautiful woman in all the world. Though few ever discovered her identity, she was Sophia, the Virgin of Wisdom, whom all the philosophers of the world have wooed. Isis represents the mystery of motherhood, which the ancients recognized as the most apparent proof of Nature's omniscient wisdom and God's overshadowing power. To the modern seeker she is the epitome of the Great Unknown, and only those who unveil her will be able to solve the mysteries of life, death, generation, and regeneration.
MUMMIFICATION OF THE EGYPTIAN DEAD
Servius, commenting on Virgil's Æneid, observes that "the wise Egyptians took care to embalm their bodies, and deposit them in catacombs, in order that the soul might be preserved for a long time in connection with the body, and might not soon be alienated; while the Romans, with an opposite design, committed the remains of their dead to the funeral pile, intending that the vital spark might immediately be restored to the general element, or return to its pristine nature." (From Prichard's An Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology.)
No complete records are available which give the secret doctrine of the Egyptians concerning the relationship existing between the spirit, or consciousness, and the body which it inhabited. It is reasonably certain, however, that Pythagoras, who had been initiated in the Egyptian temples, when he promulgated the doctrine of metempsychosis, restated, in part at least, the teachings of the Egyptian initiates. The popular supposition that the Egyptians mummified their dead in order to preserve the form for a physical resurrection is untenable in the light of modern knowledge regarding their philosophy of death. In the fourth book of On Abstinence from Animal Food, Porphyry describes an Egyptian custom of purifying the dead by removing the contents of the abdominal cavity, which they placed in a separate chest. He then reproduces the following oration which had been translated out of the Egyptian tongue by Euphantus: "O sovereign Sun, and all ye Gods who impart life to men, receive me, and deliver me to the eternal Gods as a cohabitant. For I have always piously worshipped those divinities which were pointed out to me by my parents as long as I lived in this age, and have likewise always honored those who procreated my body. And, with respect to other men, I have never slain any one, nor defrauded any one of what he deposited with me, nor have I committed any other atrocious deed. If, therefore, during my life I have acted erroneously, by eating or drinking things which it is unlawful to cat or drink, I have not erred through myself, but through these" (pointing to the chest which contained the viscera). The removal of the organs identified as the seat of the appetites was considered equivalent to the purification of the body from their evil influences.
So literally did the early Christians interpret their Scriptures that they preserved the bodies of their dead by pickling them in salt water, so that on the day of resurrection the spirit of the dead might reenter a complete and perfectly preserved body. Believing that the incisions necessary to the embalming process and the removal of the internal organs would prevent the return of the spirit to its body, the Christians buried their dead without resorting to the more elaborate mummification methods employed by the Egyptian morticians.
In his work on Egyptian Magic, S.S.D.D. hazards the following speculation concerning the esoteric purposes behind the practice of mummification. "There is every reason to suppose," he says, "that only those who had received some grade of initiation were mummified; for it is certain that, in the eyes of the Egyptians, mummification effectually prevented reincarnation. Reincarnation was necessary to imperfect souls, to those who had failed to pass the tests of initiation; but for those who had the Will and the capacity to enter the Secret Adytum, there was seldom necessity for that liberation of the soul which is said to be effected by the destruction of the body. The body of the Initiate was therefore preserved after death as a species of Talisman or material basis for the manifestation of the Soul upon earth."
During the period of its inception mummification was limited to the Pharaoh and such other persons of royal rank as presumably partook of the attributes of the great Osiris, the divine, mummified King of the Egyptian Underworld.
OSIRIS, KING OF THE UNDERWORLD.
Click to enlarge
OSIRIS, KING OF THE UNDERWORLD.
Osiris is often represented with the lower par, of his body enclosed in a mummy case or wrapped about with funeral bandages. Man's spirit consists of three distinct parts, only one of which incarnates in physical form. The human body was considered to be a tomb or sepulcher of this incarnating spirit. Therefore Osiris, a symbol of the incarnating ego, was represented with the lower half of his body mummified to indicate that he was the living spirit of man enclosed within the material form symbolized by the mummy case.
There is a romance between the active principle of God and the passive principle of Nature. From the union of these two principles is produced the rational creation. Man is a composite creature. From his Father (the active principle) he inherits his Divine Spirit, the fire of aspiration--that immortal part of himself which rises triumphant from the broken clay of mortality: that part which remains after the natural organisms have disintegrated or have been regenerated. From his Mother (the passive principle) he inherits his body--that part over which the laws of Nature have control: his humanity, his mortal personality, his appetites, his feelings, and his emotions. The Egyptians also believed that Osiris was the river Nile and that Isis (his sister-wife) was the contiguous land, which, when inundated by the river, bore fruit and harvest. The murky water of the Nile were believed to account for the blackness of Osiris, who was generally symbolized as being of ebony hue.
I did this painting to be auctioned at a progeria-research fundraiser to be held in November... Since I've hardly said anything about progeria, I thought I might do so now. I'm not gonna waste my time trying to explain what it is, you can check out this link for those details: www.progeriaproject.com/Progeria/whatis.htm
(Please be mind-full that they don't mention everything, some mentioned, may or may not be, depending on degree)
I am aware that I might be the oldest person with this "condition" alive on this planet at the moment & if so, I really don't care to know, or be labeled as such.
I'm not really in contact with medical research or the foundation. It has been my choice not to be. This "condition" is so rare that it just draws way too much attention.
I am too focused on living my life as it is, to constantly draw my energy or focus towards my physical "state". Just like any other human being, I don't like to be reduced to a condition or a statistic & I sure as hell won't end up on one of the photos to be paraded on websites to inspire pity & shit... wrong guy.
I am internally & eternally greatful that my parents raised me with the opportunity to live my life without any media exposure. As what is life other than that; a gift to be who you will to be?...
I knew that I would inevitably be in the media one day, but it was my strict focus & condition, that it would be when I am ready, because of my strive in my work. I am grateful to have done that. (Google me)
Obviously, I knew that my condition would also be focused on, but then atleast as a byproduct. The idea to use it as a crouch has never appealed to me however, because I am aware of the Heremtic laws/principles, I do practice transmutation.
(I will use energy "against" me, "for" me)
The reason I decided to be a part of this, is that my perspective changed/broadened when I met a friend who's daughter was diagnosed. I realized that, being in the position that I am, that I might be able to contribute in ways others can't... hopefully it does in the way I intended. My philosophy & way of living, however, is my personal choice & I don't dictate a damn thing to anyone.
People go through all kinds of hell & while I won't put myself first on the list of life's ills, my life certainly isn't easier because of it.
Living in a society that wasn't build or designed (in any sense) for you.
(Ever felt alone, even when with others?... or like you're on the margin or not understood?... You probably ain't seen shit yet.)
It isn't easier to achieve the same things as you. I do not have to master any less fear or stress, balance any less emotion, & I do not have less questions to which I seek answers.
I do require; health, wealth & love to be happy, just like you. ...& just like you, I have to learn to find it within, knowing that I was created complete & exactly how I should be.
It is not easier to find a person with who you dream of sharing your life's experiences, thoughts & visions with. Having love escaping me for so long... & so, not easier (after you have) when you lose it for no apparent reason & have to respect it & move on.
It is not easy to walk with me. Little comfort, protective fat, calluses form where bone presses through the skin to protect feet, but do little to ease pain... even more so, when you cutt it out after a while because it becomes unbearable to step on, especially when it gets cold... & it does get cold. While I love to go out, stares & evading glances can be unexplainably wearying some days, no matter how long I have known it. The amount of anger & frustration I have to keep in check (mainly from not having the freedom to do as I like) & I can't just lash out either because, whether I choose to accept it or not, I am a representative for the next person who will go through this. These are just the tips of the iceberg. I have experienced some sick things in my life, that people don't seem to understand, & even more things that I never speak about to anyone... alot of planets that I need to keep in proper order & allignment in their orbit. It is easier to die for your dreams than to live for them.
As there is correspondance between opposite poles in all creation, (I am rrreally not this serious all of the time) I won't label this degree a curse, & I have yet to master life to such a degree that I would call it a blessing. I would just say that, all difficult conditions & obstacles contains essentials, required specifically for our individual growth, & we are essentially spirit, & the self; essentially soul/solar/sun, therefore it is that which must learn/grow; systematically vibrate higher, reverting back to it's essence prior to it's countless (seeming) separations.
While my will remains unbreakable, & I've found the answers to most of the questions I've ever sought, I feel kinda empty at the moment... all there is, is just the fight.
I'm not amazed easily & would love to be proven wrong when I say that I feel like eye have seen it all... I just live for the fight, to get my work out there... & I'll bleed to be able to go global with it, because in this country, the odds are against me like... it always seems to be, in every other aspect of my life.
I don't seek compliments either, I have fallen & when I have, all that I battle, jumped on top of me, so that eye couldn't always maintain my perspective so clearly. But I've never ran to illusions or chased effects for comfort. I'm interested only in causes, & I have reached a point from which I cannot return. I have experienced & learned, to keep learning & I am growing, according to unvariable laws, changing causes & I will remain humble as such. Struggle & power are the same under the law of polarity, different only in degree, but it is the will that determines which & I find peace within, knowing that I will soon, once again, kiss the crystal sky...
I am part of ALL & ALL is part of me, I am a microcosm of the macrocosm, different only in degree.
My heart is a self beating drum & it's roll brings thunder to the storm that projects my energy into form.
I inhale love & exhale my truth, interpretating with every breath, I move.
The eye of in-sight I will demonstrate light, by displaying darkness.
Reflected off the blade from my katana, refracting off my merkaba,
As on high, so below... ->September 2008.
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.
---- 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.
---- 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.
Go to the Book with image in the Internet Archive
Title: United States Naval Medical Bulletin Vol. 8, Nos. 1-4, 1914
Creator: U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
Publisher:
Sponsor:
Contributor:
Date: 1914
Language: eng
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Table of Contents</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preface v</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Special articles:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The application of psychiatry to certain military problems, by W. A.
White, M. D 1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Schistosomiasis on the Yangtze River, with report of cases, by R. H.
Laning, assistant surgeon, United States Navy 16</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A brief discussion of matters pertaining to health and sanitation,
observed on the summer practice cruise of 1913 for midshipmen of the third
class, by J. L. Neilson, surgeon, United States Navy 36</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Technique of neosalvarsan administration, and a brief outline of the
treatment for syphilis used at the United States Naval Hospital, Norfolk, Va., by
W. Chambers, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 45</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Some notes on the disposal of wastes, by A. Farenholt, surgeon, United States
Navy 47</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The medical department on expeditionary duty, by R. E. Hoyt, surgeon, United
States Navy 51</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A new brigade medical outfit, by T. W. Richards, surgeon, United States
Navy 62</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Early diagnosis of cerebrospinal meningitis; report of 10 cases, by G.
F. Cottle, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 65</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Comments on mistakes made with the Nomenclature, 1913, Abstract of patients
(Form F), and the Statistical report (Form K), by C. E. Alexander, pharmacist,
United States Navy 70</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Classification of the United States Navy Nomenclature, 1913, by C. E. Alexander,
pharmacist, United States Navy 75</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">On the methods employed for the detection and determination of
disturbances in the sense of equilibrium of flyers. Translated by H. G. Beyer,
medical director, United States Navy, retired 87</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">United States Naval Medical School laboratories:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Additions to the pathological collection 107</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Additions to the helminthological collection 107</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested devices:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A portable air sampling apparatus for use aboard ship, by E. W. Brown, passed
assistant surgeon, United States Navy 109</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A new design for a sanitary pail 111</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Clinical notes:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of paresis, with apparent remission, following neosalvarsan, by R.
F. Sheehan, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 113</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Case reports from Guam, by E. O. J. Eytinge, passed assistant surgeon, United
States Navy 116</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Stab wound of ascending colon; suture; recovery, by H. C. Curl,
surgeon, United States Navy 123</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Perforation of a duodenal ulcer, by H. F. Strine, surgeon, United
States Navy 124</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Two cases of bone surgery, by R. Spear, surgeon, United States Navy 125</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Editorial comment: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brig. Gen. George II. Torney, Surgeon General United States Army 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical ethics in the Navy 127</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical officers in civil practice 128</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Progress in medical sciences:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —Some anatomic and physiologic principles concerning
pyloric ulcer. By H. C. Curl. Low-priced clinical thermometers; a warning. By.
L. W. Johnson. The value of X-ray examinations in the</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">diagnosis of ulcer of the stomach and duodenum. The primary cause of
rheumatoid arthritis. Strychnine in heart failure. On the treatment of
leukaemia with benzol. By A. W. Dunbar and G. B. Crow 131</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. — Surgical aspects of furuncles and carbuncles. Iodine
idiosyncrasy. By L. W. Johnson. Rectus transplantation for deficiency of
internal oblique muscle in certain cases of inguinal hernia. The technic of
nephro- pyelo- and ureterolithotomy. Recurrence of inguinal hernia. By H. C.
Curl and R. A. Warner 138</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Ozone: Its bactericidal, physiologic and
deodorizing action. The alleged purification of air by the ozone machine. By E.
W. Brown. The prevention of dental caries. Gun-running operations in the
Persian Gulf in 1909 and 1910. The croton bug (Ectobia germanica) as a factor
in bacterial dissemination. Fumigation of vessels for the destruction of rats.
Improved moist chamber for mosquito breeding. The necessity for international
reforms in the sanitation of crew spaces on</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">merchant vessels. By C. N. Fiske and R. C. Ransdell 143</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —The transmissibility of the lepra bacillus by the
bite of the bedbug. By L. W. Johnson. A note on a case of loa loa. Cases of
syphilitic pyrexia simulating tropical fevers. Verruga peruviana, oroya fever
and uta. Ankylostomiasis in Nyasaland. Experimental entamoebic dysentery. By E.
R. Stitt ... 148</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. —The relation of the spleen
to the blood destruction and regeneration and to hemolytic jaundice: 6, The
blood picture at various periods after splenectomy. The presence of tubercle
bacilli in the feces. By A. B. Clifford and G. F. Clark 157</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy. —Detection of bile pigments in urine. Value of the
guaiacum test for bloodstains. New reagent for the detection of traces of
blood. Estimation of urea. Estimation of uric acid in urine. By E. W. Brown and
O. G. Ruge 158</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Probable deleterious effect of salvarsan
on the eye. Effect of salvarsan on the eye. Fate of patients with
parenchymatous keratitis due to hereditary lues. Trachoma, prevalence of, in
the United States. The exploratory needle puncture of the maxillary antrum in
100 tuberculous individuals. Auterobic organisms associated with acute
rhinitis. Toxicity of human tonsils. By E. J. Grow and G. B. Trible 160</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Miscellaneous. —Yearbook of the medical association of
Frankfurt-am-Main. By R. C. Ransdell 163</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Reports and letters:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Notes on the Clinical Congress of Surgeons. By G. F. Cottle, passed
assistant surgeon, United States Navy 167</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 2</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preface v</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Special articles:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of the fourteenth annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society,
by J. R. Phelps, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy. 171</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Typhoid perforation; five operations with three recoveries, by G. G.
Holladay, assistant surgeon, Medic al Reserve Corps, United States Navy 238</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A satisfactory method for easily obtaining material from syphilitic
lesions, by E. R. Stitt, medical inspector, United States Navy 242</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">An epidemic of measles and mumps in Guam, by C. P. Kindleberger, surgeon,
United States Navy 243</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The feeble-minded from a military standpoint, by A. R. Schier, acting assistant
surgeon, United States Navy 247</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Towne-Lambert elimination treatment of drug addictions, by W. M. Kerr,
passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 258</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medical experiences in the Amazonian Tropics, by C. C. Ammerman, assistant
surgeon, Medical Reserve Corps, United States Navy 270</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">United States Naval Medical School laboratories:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Additions to the pathological collection 281</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Additions to the helminthologieal collection 281</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested devices:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">An easy method for obtaining blood cultures and for preparing blood
agar, by E. R. Stitt, medical inspector, and G. F. Clark, passed assistant surgeon,
United States Navy 283</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Humidity regulating device on a modern battleship, by R. C. Ransdell, passed
assistant surgeon, United States Navy 284</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Clinical notes:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Lateral sinus thrombosis, report of case, by G. F. Cottle, passed
assistant surgeon. United States Navy 287</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Twenty-two cases of poisoning by the seeds of Jatropha curcai, by J. A.
Randall, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 290</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Shellac bolus in the stomach in fatal case of poisoning by weed
alcohol, by H. F. Hull and O. J. Mink, passed assistant surgeons, United States
Navy 291</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of pneumonia complicated by gangrenous endocarditis, by G. B. Crow,
passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 292</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Progress in medical sciences:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —On progressive paralysis in the imperial navy during
the years 1901-1911. By H. G. Beyer. An etiological study of Hodgkin's disease.
The etiology and vaccine treatment of Hodgkin's dis</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">ease. Coryncbacterium hodgkini in lymphatic leukemia and Hodgkin's disease.
Autointoxication and subinfection. Studies of syphilis. The treatment of the
pneumonias. Whooping cough: Etiolcgy, diagnosis, and vaccine treatment. A new
and logical treatment for alcoholism. Intraspinous injection of salvarsanized
serum in the treatment of syphilis of the nervous system, including tabes and
paresis. On the infective nature of certain cases of splenomegaly and Banti's
disease. The etiology and vaccine treatment of Hodgkin's disease. Cultural
results in Hodgkin's disease. By A. W. Dunbar and G. B. Crow 295</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery- Interesting cases of gunshot injury treated at Hankow during
the revolution of 1911 and 1912 in China. The fool's paradise stage in
appendicitis. By L. W. Johnson. The present status of bismuth paste treatment
of suppurative sinuses and empyema. The inguinal route operation for femoral
hernia; with supplementary note on Cooper's ligament. By R. Spear and R. A.
Warner 307</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. — A contribution to the chemistry of
ventilation. The use of ozone in ventilation. By E. \V. Brown. Pulmonary
tuberculosis in the royal navy, with special reference to its detection and
prevention. An investigation into the keeping properties of condensed milks at
the temperature of tropical climates. By C. N. Fiske and R. C. Ransdell 313</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. —Seven days fever of the Indian ports. By L. W.
Johnson. Intestinal schistosomiasis in the Sudan. Disease carriers in our army
in India. Origin and present status of the emetin treatment of amebic
dysentery. The culture of leishmania from the finger blood of a case of Indian
kala-azar. By E. R. Stitt 315</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. —The isolation of
typhoid bacilli from feces by means of brilliant green in fluid medium. By C.
N. Fiske. An efficient and convenient stain for use in the eeneral examination
of blood films. By 0. B. Crow. A contribution to the epidemiology of
poliomyelitis. A contribution to the pathology of epidemic poliomyelitis. A
note on the etiology of epidemic<span>
</span>oliomyelitis. Transmutations within the streptococcus-pneumococcus
group. The etiology of acute rheumatism, articular and muscular. By A. B.
Clifford and G. F. Clark 320</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy.— Centrifugal method for estimating albumin in
urine. Detection of albumin in urine. New indican reaction A report on the
chemistry, technology, and pharmacology of and the legislation pertaining to
methyl alcohol. By E. W. Brown and O. O. Ruge. . 325</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —The use of local anesthesia in
exenteration of the orbit. Salvarsan in<span>
</span>ophthalmic practice. The effect of salvarsan on the eye. Total blindness
from the toxic action of wood alcohol, with recovery of vision under negative
galvanism. Furunculosis of the external auditory canal; the use of alcohol as a
valuable aid in treatment. Local treatment of Vincent's angina with salvarsan.
Perforated ear drum may be responsible for sudden death in water. The indications
for operating in acute mastoiditis. Turbinotomy. Why is nasal catarrh so
prevalent in the United States? By E. J. Grow and G. B. Trible 330</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Miscellaneous. — The organization and work of the hospital ship Re d’
Italia. ByG. B. Trible 333</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Reports and letters:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Correspondence concerning the article "Some aspects of the
prophylaxis of typhoid fever by injection of killed cultures," by Surg. C.
S. Butler, United States Navy, which appeared in the Bulletin, October, 1913
339</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Malaria on the U. S. S. Tacoma from February, 1913, to February, 1914.
by I. S. K. Reeves, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 344</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Extracts from annual sanitary reports for 1913 345</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preface vii</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Special articles:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Economy and waste in naval hospitals, by E. M. Shipp, surgeon, and P.
J. Waldner, chief pharmacist, United States Navy 357</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The new method of physical training in the United States Navy, by J. A.
Murphy, surgeon, United States Navy 368</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A study of the etiology of gangosa in Guam, by C. P. Kindleberger,
surgeon, United States Navy 381</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Unreliability of Wassermann tests using unheated serum, by E. R. Stitt,
medical inspector, and G. F. Clark, passed assistant surgeon, United States
Navy 410</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Laboratory note on antigens, by G. F. Clark, pasted assistant surgeon,
United States Navy 411</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Prevention of mouth infection, by Joseph Head, M. D., D. D. S 411</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Medical Department at general quarters and preparations for battle,
by A. Farenholt, surgeon, United States Navy 421</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A bacteriological index for dirt in milk, by J. J. Kinyoun, assistant
surgeon, Medical Reserve Corps, United States Navy 435</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Brief description of proposed plan of a fleet hospital ship, based upon
the type auxiliary hull, by E. M. Blackwell, surgeon, United States Navy.. 442</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The diagnostic value of the cutaneous tuberculin test in recruiting, by
E. M. Brown, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy, retired 448</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">United States Naval Medical School laboratories:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Additions to the pathological collection 453</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Suggested devices:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A sanitary mess table for hospitals, by F. M. Bogan, surgeon, United
States Navy 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A suggested improvement of the Navy scuttle butt, by E. M. Blackwell,
surgeon, United States Navy 455</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Clinical notes:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Malaria cured by neosalvarsan, by F. M. Bogan, surgeon, United States
Navy 457</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of rupture of the bladder with fracture of the pelvis, by H. F.
Strine, surgeon, and M. E. Higgins, passed assistant surgeon, United States
Navy. 458</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Clinical observations on the use of succinimid of mercury, by T. W.
Reed, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 459</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Points in the post-mortem ligation of the lingual artery, by O. J.
Mink, passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 462</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Notes on the wounded at Vera Cruz, by H. F. Strine, surgeon, and M. E.
Higgins, passed assistant surgeon. United States Navy 464</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Case reports from the Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, N. H., by F. M.
Bogan, surgeon, United States Navy 469</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Progress in medical sciences:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —The mouth in the etiology and symptomatology of
general systemic disturbances. Statistique m£dicale de la marine, 1909. By L.
W. Johnson. Antityphoid inoculation. Vaccines from the standpoint of the
physician. The treatment of sciatica. Chronic gastric ulcer and its relation to
gastric carcinoma. The nonprotein nitrogenous constituents of the blood in
chronic vascular nephritis<span>
</span>(arteriosclero-iis) as influenced by the level of protein metabolism.
The influence of diet on hepatic necrosis and toxicity of chloroform. The
rational treatment of tetanus. The comparative value of cardiac remedies. By A.
W. Dunbar and G. B. Crow </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Psychiatry. —Abderhalden's method. Precis de psychiatric Constitutional
immorality. Nine years' experience with manic-depressive insanity. The pupil
and its reflexes in insanity. By R. F. Sheehan.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. —On the occurrence of traumatic dislocations (luxationen) in
the Imperial German Navy during the last 20 years. By H. G. Beyer. The wounding
effects of the Turkish sharp-pointed bullet. By T. W. Richards. Intestinal
obstruction: formation and absorption of toxin. By G. B. Crow </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. —Relation of oysters to the transmission of
infectious diseases. The proper diet in the Tropics, with some pertinent remarks
on the use of alcohol. By E. W. Brown. Report of committee</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">upon period of isolation and exclusion from school in cases of
communicable disease. Resultats d'une enquete relative a la morbidity venerienne
dans la division navale d'Extreme-Orient et aux moyens susceptibles de la
restreindre. Ship's hygiene in the middle of the seventeenth century- Progress in
ship's hygiene during the nineteenth century. The origin of some of the
streptococci found in milk. On the further perfecting of mosquito spraying. By
C. N. Fiske and R. C. Ransdell</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. — Le transport, colloidal de medicaments dans le cholera.
By T. W. Richards. Cholera in the Turkish Army. A supposed case of yellow fever
in Jamaica. By L. W. Johnson. Note on a new geographic locality for balantidiosis.
Brief note on Toxoplasma pyroqenes. Note on certain protozoalike bodies in a
case of protracted fever with splenomegaly. The emetine and other treatment of
amebic dysentery and hepatitis, including liver abscess. A study of epidemic dysentery
in the Fiji Islands. By E. R. Stitt</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. — The best method of staining
Treponema pallidum. By C. N. Fiske. Bacteriological methods of meat analysis.
By R. C. Ransdell. Primary tissue lesions in the heart produced by Spirochete
pallida. Ten tests by which a physician may determine when p patient is cured
of gonorrhea. Diagnostic value of percutaneous tuberculin test (Moro). Some
causes of failure of vaccine therapy. A method of increasing the accuracy and
delicacy of the Wassermann reaction: By A. B. Clifford and G. F. Clark</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Chemistry and pharmacy. —Quantitative test of pancreatic function. A comparison
of various preservatives of urine. A clinical method for the rapid estimation
of the quantity of dextrose in urine. By E. W. Brown and O. G. Ruge</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. —Intraocular pressure. Strauma as an
important factor in diseases of the eye. Carbonic cauterization "in the
treatment of granular ophthalmia. Ocular and other complications of syphilis treated
by salvarsan. Some notes on hay fever. A radiographic study of the mastoid. Ear
complications during typhoid fever. Su di un caso di piccola sanguisuga
cavallina nel bronco destro e su 7 casi di grosse sanguisughe cavalline in
laringe in trachea e rino-faringe. By E. J. Grow and G. B. Trible</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Reports and letters: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">American medico-psychological association, by R. F. Sheehan, passed assistant
surgeon, United States Navy 517</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Report of 11 cases of asphyxiation from coal gas, by L. C. Whiteside,
passed assistant surgeon, United States Navy 522</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Extracts from annual sanitary reports for 1913 — United States Naval
Academy, Annapolis, Md., by A. M. D. McCormick, medical director, United States
Navy 523</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. Arkansas, by W. B. Grove, surgeon, United States Navy 524 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Marine barracks, Camp Elliott, Canal Zone, Panama, by B. H. Dorsey, passed
assistant surgeon, United States Navy 525</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. Cincinnati, by J. B. Mears, passed assistant surgeon. United States
Navy 526</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. Florida, by M. S. Elliott, surgeon, United States Navy 527</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Naval training station, Great Lakes, Ill., by J. S. Taylor, surgeon, United
States Navy 527</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Naval station, Guam, by C. P. Kindleberger, surgeon, United States Navy
528</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Naval Hospital, Las Animas, Colo., by G. H. Barber, medical inspector, United
States Navy 532</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. Nebraska, by E. H. H. Old, passed assistant surgeon, United States
Navy 533</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. North Dakota, by J. C. Pryor, surgeon, United States Navy. .
534</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Navy yard, Olongapo, P. L, by J. S. Woodward, passed assistant surgeon,
United States Navy 536</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. San Francisco, by T. W. Reed, passed assistant surgeon, United
States Navy 537</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. Saratoga, by H. R. Hermesch, assistant surgeon, United States Navy
538</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. Scorpion, by E. P. Huff, passed assistant surgeon, United States
Navy 538</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">U. S. S. West Virginia, by O. J. Mink, passed assistant surgeon, United
States Navy 539</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Number 4</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Preface V</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Special articles:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Some prevailing ideas regarding the treatment of tuberculosis, by
Passed Asst. Surg. G. B. Crow 541</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The Training School for the Hospital Corps of the Navy, by Surg. F. E. McCullough
and Passed Asst. Surg. J. B. Kaufman 555</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Khaki dye for white uniforms, by Passed Asst. Surg. W. E. Eaton 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Some facts and some fancies regarding the unity of yaws and syphilis,
by Surg. C. S. Butler 561</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Quinine prophylaxis of malaria, by Passed Asst. Surg. L. W. McGuire 571</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">The nervous system and naval warfare, translated by Surg. T. W.
Richards. 576</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Measles, by Surg. G. F. Freeman 586</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Smallpox and vaccination, by Passed Asst. Surg. T. W. Raison 589</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Rabies; methods of diagnosis and immunization, by Passed Asst. Surg. F.
X. Koltes 597</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Syphilis aboard ship, by Passed Asst. Surg. G. F. Cottle 605</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Systematic recording and treatment of syphilis, by Surg. A. M.
Fauntleroy and Passed Asst. Surg. E. H. H. Old 620</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Organization and station bills of the U. S. naval hospital ship Solace,
by Surg. W. M. Garton 624</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">United States Naval Medical School laboratories:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Additions to the pathological collection 647</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Additions to the helminthological collection 647</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Clinical notes:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Succinimid of mercury in pyorrhea alveolaris, by Acting Asst. Dental Surg.
P. G. White 649</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of pityriasis rosea, by Surg. R. E. Ledbetter 651</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Emetin in the treatment of amebic abscess of the liver, by Surg. H. F. Strine
and Passed Asst. Surg. L. Sheldon, jr 653 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Salvarsan in a case of amebic dysentery, by Passed Asst. Surg. O. J.
Mink. . 653</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Laceration of the subclavian artery and complete severing of brachial plexus,
by Surg. H. C. Curl and Passed Asst. Surg. C. B. Camerer 654</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Malarial infection complicating splenectomy, by Surg. H. F. Strine 655</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of gastric hemorrhage; operative interference impossible, by
Passed Arst. Surg. G. E. Robertson 656</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Operation for strangulated hernia, by Passed Asst. Surg. W. S. Pugh 657</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">A case of bronchiectasis with hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy,
by Passed Asst. Surg. L. C. Whiteside 658</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Editorial comment:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Systematic recording and treatment of syphilis 665</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Progress in medical sciences: <span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">General medicine. —A note of three cases of enteric fever inoculated
during the incubation period. By T. W. Richards. The modern treatment of
chancroids. The treatment of burns. By W. E. Eaton. Experiments on the curative
value of the intraspinal administration of tetanus antitoxin. Hexamethylenamin.
<span> </span>Hexamethylenamin as an internal
antiseptic in other fluids of the body than urine. Lumbar puncture as a special
procedure for controlling headache in the course of infectious diseases.
Cardiospasm. Acromion auscultation; a new and delicate test in the early
diagnosis of incipient pulmonary tuberculosis.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Diabetes mellitus and its differentiation from alimentary glycosuria.
The complement fixation test in typhoid fever; its comparison with the
agglutination test and blood culture method. By C. B. Crow.. 671</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Mental and nervous diseases. —A voice sign in chorea. By G. B. Crow.
Wassermann reaction and its application to neurology. Epilepsy: a theory of
causation founded upon the clinical manifestations and the therapeutic and
pathological data. Salvarsanized serum (Swift-Ellis treatment) in syphilitic diseases
of the central nervous system. Mental manifestations in tumors of the brain.
Some of the broader issues of the psycho-analytic n movement. Mental disease
and defect in United States troops. By R. Sheehan 6S1</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Surgery. — Infiltration anesthesia. War surgery. Tenoplasty; tendon transplantation;
tendon substitution; neuroplasty. Carcinoma of the male breast. Visceral
pleureotomy for chronic empyema. By A. M. Fauntleroy and E. H. H. Old 6S8</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Hygiene and sanitation. — Further experiences with the Berkefold filter
in the purifying of lead-contaminated water. By T. W. Richards. Experiments in
the destruction of fly larvae in horse manure. By A. B. Clifford. Investigation
relative to the life cycle, brooding, and tome practical moans of reducing the
multiplication of flies in camp. By W. E. Eaton, Humidity and heat stroke;
further observations on an<span> </span>analysis of
50 cases. By C. N. Fiske 693</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Tropical medicine. — The treatment of aneylostoma anemia. Latent dysentery
or dysentery carriers. Naphthalone for the destruction of mosquitoes. Emetin in
amebic dysentery. By E. R. Stitt 704</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Pathology, bacteriology, and animal parasitology. —Meningitis by
injection of pyogenic microbes in the peripheral nerves. The growth of pathogenic
intestinal bacteria in bread. Present status of the complement fixation test in
the diagnosis of gonorrheal infections. Practical application of the luetin
test. By A. B. Clifford and G. F. Clark 707</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Eye, ear, nose, and throat. — Misting of eyeglasses. By E. L. Sleeth.
The treatment of ocular syphilis by salvarsan and neo salvarsan. The moving
picture and the eye. Treatment of various forms of ocular syphilis with
salvarsan. Rapid, painless, and bloodless method for removing the inferior
turbinate. Hemorrhage from the superior petrosal sinus. The frequency of
laryngeal tuberculosis in Massachusetts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Intrinsic cancer of larynx. Treatment of hematoma of the auricle. By E.
J. Grow and G. B. Trible 709</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Reports and letters:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Care of wounded at Mazatlan and at Villa Union, by Medical Inspector S.
G. Evans 713</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal;">Medico-military reports of the occupation of Vera Cruz 715</p>
If you have questions concerning reproductions, please contact the Contributing Library.
Note: The colors, contrast and appearance of these illustrations are unlikely to be true to life. They are derived from scanned images that have been enhanced for machine interpretation and have been altered from their originals.
Read/Download from the Internet Archive
Caught some action behind the stage, a couple was helping each other to prepare for the performance.
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
=====
More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:
Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival
More Chinese Temples images here:
=====
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)."
prototype number 2
trying to create an environment that supports the transmutation process for news. I will watch what happens...
newspaper, nylon thread, teabags, glue
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:
=====
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:
=====
"Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), dated between 650 and 830 AD.
Arabic translation A new translation bypassing the Latin has just been published by Nineveh Shadrach from the original Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana.[1. It contains an accurate commentary that can't be doubted. 2. It states: What is the above is from the below and the below is from the above. The work of wonders is from one. 3. And all things sprang from this essence through a single projection. How marvelous is its work! It is the principle [sic] part of the world and its custodian. 4. Its father is the sun and its mother is the moon. Thus the wind bore it within it and the earth nourished it. 5. Father of talismans and keeper of wonders. 6. Perfect in power that reveals the lights.
7. It is a fire that became our earth. Separate the earth from the fire and you shall adhere more to that which is subtle than that which is coarse, through care and wisdom.
8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven. It extracts the lights from the heights and descends to the earth containing the power of the above and the below for it is with the light of the lights. Therefore the darkness flees from it. 9. The greatest power overcomes everything that is subtle and it penetrates all that is coarse. 10. The formation of the microcosm is in accordance with the formation of the macrocosm. 11. The scholars made this their path. 12. This is why Thrice Hermes was exalted with wisdom. 13. This is his last book that he hid in the catacomb. Newton's translation A 17th century depiction of the Tablet by Heinrich Khunrath, 1606One translation, by Isaac Newton, found among his alchemical papers as reported by B. J. Dobbs[2] in modern spelling:1. Tis true without lying, certain most true. 2. That which is below is like that which is above that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing. 3. And as all things have been arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation. 4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, 5. the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse. 6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. 7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth. 7a. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry. 8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven again it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior. 9. By this means ye shall have the glory of the whole world thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. 10. Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing. 11a. So was the world created. 12. From this are and do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (Or process) is here in this.
13. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. 14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and endedBeato translation Another translation from Aurelium Occultae Philosophorum by Georgio Beato:1) This is true and remote from all cover of falsehood.2) Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Through this the marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected. 3) Also, as all things are made from one, by the consideration of one, so all things were made from this one, by conjunction. 4) The father of it is the sun, the mother the moon. 5) The wind bore it in the womb. Its nurse is the earth, the mother of all perfection. 6) Its power is perfected. 7) If it is turned into earth, 7) Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle and thin from the crude and coarse, prudently, with modesty and wisdom. 8) This ascends from the earth into the sky and again descends from the sky to the earth, and receives the power and efficacy of things above and of things below.
9) By this means you will acquire the glory of the whole world, and so you will drive away all shadows and blindness. 10) For this by its fortitude snatches the palm from all other fortitude and power. For it is able to penetrate and subdue everything subtle and everything crude and hard. 11) By this means the world was founded 12) And hence the marvelous cojunctions of it and admirable effects, since this is the way by which these marvels may be brought about. 13) And because of this they have called me Hermes Tristmegistus sinceI have the three parts of the wisdom and Philosophy of the whole universe. 14) My speech is finished which I have spoken concerning the solar work.
Latin textOriginal edition of the Latin text. (Chrysogonus Polydorus, Nuremberg 1541): Verum, sine mendacio, certum et verissimum: Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius. Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re, adaptatione. Pater eius est Sol. Mater eius est Luna. Portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo. Nutrix eius terra est. Pater omnis telesmi[3] totius mundi est hic. Virtus eius integra est si versa fuerit in terram. Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suaviter, magno cum ingenio. Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum. Sic habebis Gloriam totius mundi. Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas. Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit. Sic mundus creatus est. Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est hic. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi. Completum est quod dixi de operatione Solis.Contemporary rendering of Latin text1. True, without error, certain and most true 2. That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing. 3. And as all things were from [the] one, by [means of] the meditation of [the] one, thus all things of the daughter from [the] one, by [means of] adaptation. 4. Its father is the sun, its mother[,]the moon, the wind carried it in its belly, its nurse is the earth. 5. The father of all the initiates of the whole world is here. 6. Its power is integrating if it be turned into earth. 7. Separate the earth from the fire, the fine from the dense, delicately, by [means of/to] the great [together] with capacity. 8. It ascends by [means of] earth into heaven and again it descends into the earth, and retakes the power of the superior[s] and of the inferior[s]. 9. Thus[,] you have the glory of the whole world.
10. Therefore[,] may it drive-out by [means of] you of all the obscurity. 11. This is the whole of the strength of the strong force, because it overcomes all fine things, and penetrates all the complete.12. Thus[,] the world has been created. 13. Hence they were wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner. 14. Therefore[,] I am Hermes the Thrice Great, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. 15. What I have said concerning the operation of the Sun has been completed. Textual history
The oldest documentable source for the text is the Kitab Sirr al-Asrar, a compendium of advice for rulers in Arabic which purports to be a letter from Aristotle to Alexander the Great. This work was translated into Latin as Secretum Secretorum (The Secret of Secrets) by Johannes "Hispalensis" or Hispaniensis (John of Seville) ca. 1140 and by Philip of Tripoli c. 1243.
In the 14th century, the alchemist Ortolanus wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes," which was influential on the subsequent development of alchemy. Many manuscripts of this copy of the Emerald Tablet and the commentary of Ortolanus survive, dating at least as far back as the 15th century.
The Tablet has also been found appended to manuscripts of the Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of Foundation) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan, and the Kitab Sirr al-Khaliqa wa San`at al-Tabi`a ("Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), dated between 650 and 830 AD.
Influence: In its several Western recensions, the Tablet became a mainstay of medieval and Renaissance alchemy. Commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Aleister Crowley, Albertus Magnus, and Isaac Newton.
C.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing The Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.
Because of its longstanding popularity, the Emerald Tablet is the only piece of non-Greek Hermetica to attract widespread attention in the West. The reason that the Emerald Tablet was so valuable is because it contained the instructions for the goals of alchemists. It hinted at the recipe for alchemical gold, as well as how to set one's level of consciousness to a new degree.
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Secretum Secretorum - or Kitab Sirr al-Asrar is a medieval treatise also known as Secret of Secrets, or The Book of the Secret of Secrets, or in Arabic Kitab sirr al-asrar, or the Book of the science of government: on the good ordering of statecraft. It is a mid-12th century Latin translation of a 10th century Arabic encyclopedic treatise on a wide range of topics including statecraft, ethics, physiognomy, astrology, alchemy, magic, and medicine. It was influential in Europe during the High Middle Ages.
Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana
Aurelium Occultae Philosophorum by Georgio Beato
Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of Foundation) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan
Kitab Sirr al-Khaliqa wa San`at al-Tabi`a ("Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), dated between 650 and 830 AD.Bernard Trevisan
The Seven Sermons to the Dead - C.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing The Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.
Translation from the original Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana
Key Names: Albertus Magnus Aleister Crowley Alexander the Great Apollonius of Tyana
Aristotle ChrysogonusPolydorus - Nuremberg 1541 C.G. Jung Georgio Beato Hermes Trismegistus - "Hermes the Thrice-Great" Isaac Newton Jabir ibn Hayyan John of Seville - Johannes "Hispalensis" or Hispaniensis ca. 1140 Michael Maier Ortolanus - alchemist, wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes Philip of Tripoli - c. 1243 Roger Bacon. Trithemius References: Translation from the original Arabic of Book of Causes attributed to Apollonius of Tyana "Newton's Commentary on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus" in Merkel, I. and Debus, A. G., Hermeticism and the Renaissance. Folger, Washington 1988. Sometimes written Thelesmi. This indicates a Greek origin. The Latin word "Tela" (ae,fem.) roughly means "loom" or "incomplete cloth". The true meaning of the word is somewhat obscure.Holmyard, E.J. "The Emerald Table" Nature, No. 2814, Vol. 112, October 6 1923, pp 525–6.Holmyard, E.J. Alchemy, Pelican, Harmondsworth, 1957. pp95–8.Needham, J. Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5, part 4: Spagyrical discovery and invention: Apparatus, Theories and gifts. CUP, 1980. Ruska, Julius. Die Alchimie ar-Razi's. n.p., 1935.Ruska, Julius. Quelques problemes de literature alchimiste. n.p., 1931.Stapleton, H.E., Lewis, G.L, Sherwood Taylor, F. "The sayings of Hermes quoted in the Ma Al-Waraqi of Ibn Umail. " Ambix, vol. 3, 1949, pp 69–90. M.Robinson. "The History and Myths surrounding Johannes Hispalensis," in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies vol. 80, no. 4, October 2003, pp. 443–470, abstract.An Interpretation of The Emerald Tablet by William Hoper drawing on Jung's Synchronicity and Plato's Theory of FormsSir Isaac Newton's translation of The Emerald Tablet with analysis and contemporary commentaryLetterpress edition of the Emerald Tablet offered by a US publisherThe Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus Ed. Vladimir Antonov.Comments on the 13 sentences of Tabula Smaragdina and Introductions to Alchemy (hermetic thinking) by Béla Hamvas.Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet"
The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table, or Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic piece of Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation. It was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art and its Hermetic tradition. The original source of the Emerald Tablet is unknown. Although Hermes Trismegistus is the author named in the text, its first known appearance is in a book written in Arabic between the sixth and eighth centuries. The text was first translated into Latin in the twelfth century. Numerous translations, interpretations and commentaries followed. The layers of meaning in the Emerald Tablet have been associated with the creation of the philosopher's stone, laboratory experimentation, phase transition, the alchemical magnum opus, the ancient, classical, element system, and the correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm.In its several Western recensions, the Tablet became a mainstay of medieval and Renaissance alchemy. Commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Aleister Crowley, Albertus Magnus, and Isaac Newton. The concise text was a popular summary of alchemical principles, wherein the secrets of the philosopher's stone were thought to have been described.The fourteenth century alchemist Ortolanus (or Hortulanus) wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes," which was influential on the subsequent development of alchemy. Many manuscripts of this copy of the Emerald Tablet and the commentary of Ortolanus survive, dating at least as far back as the fifteenth century. Ortolanus, like Albertus Magnus before him saw the tablet as a cryptic recipe that described laboratory processes using decknamen (or code words). This was the dominant view held by Europeans until the fifteenth century.By the early sixteenth century, the writings of Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516) marked a shift away from a laboratory interpretation of the Emerald tablet, to a literal approach. Trithemius equated Hermes' one thing with the monad of pythagorean philosophy and the anima mundi. This interpretation of the Hermetic text was adopted by alchemists such as John Dee, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Gerhard Dorn.C.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.[citation needed] Historians of science, Eric John Holmyard (1891-1959) and Julius Ruska (1867-1949) also studied the tablet in the twentieth century. Because of its longstanding popularity, the Emerald Tablet is the only piece of non-Greek Hermetica to attract widespread attention in the West.Heinrich Khunrath The Emerald Tablet .http://www.thelivingmoon.com/44cosmic_wisdom/02files/Heinrich_Khunrath_Emerald_Tablet.html
The figure from the fifteenth century is described as living from 1406-1490. He was born into a noble family in Padua and spent his entire life spending his family fortune in search of the Philosopher's stone.He began his career as an alchemist at the age of fourteen. He had his family's permission, as they also desired to increase their wealth. He first worked with a monk of Cîteaux named Gotfridus Leurier. They attempted for eight years to fashion the Philosopher's stone out of hen eggshells and egg yolk purified in horse manure.He is believed to have been influential on the work of Gilles de Rais in the 1430s.He then worked with minerals and natural salts using distillation and crystallization methods borrowed from Jābir ibn Hayyān and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. When these failed he turned to vegetable and animal material, finally using human blood and urine. He gradually sold his wealth to buy secrets and hints towards the stone, most often from swindlers. He traveled all over the known world, including the Baltics, Germany, Spain, France, Vienna, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus, to find hints left by past alchemists. His health had been deteriorating, most likely from the fumes he had created with his alchemy. He retired to the Island of Rhodes, still working on the Philosopher's stone until his death in 1490.Bernard Trevisan AlchemistC.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing The Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.
Una de las muchas deidades que aparecen por los cielos de Guatemala. / One of the many deities that appear through the skies of Guatemala.
Qui pleure là, sinon le vent simple,à cette heure
Seule, avec diamants extrêmes ?
Who cries there, other than the simple wind, at the present time
Only, with extreme diamonds ?
Paul Valéry
in La Jeune Parque
根據鄉例, 拜拜時 - 神明燒香3根, 阿瓢燒香1根
According to the local customs, one is to light 3 sticks of joss incense when praying to Gods, while the spiritual world requires just 1 stick of joss incense.
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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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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.
I haven't yet written the accompanying story for this one, as bits of it are still swishing unformed round my head, and I've not quite figured out the story yet... but it's going to be another in my series of re-tellings of world folktales / mythologies.
I've been reading old Celtic tales of selkies recently - seal-creatures who shed their skins briefly in order to live as humans on land. Sometimes taking spouses and bearing children, they always inevitably return to the siren call of the sea and the salt waves - and revert to their original form. Or in some tellings they are drowned souls who are permitted a brief time back on land, but cursed to spend the rest of existence in seal form.
One recurring tale tells of a man who is so besotted (or perhaps obsessed) with a radiant selkie that he claims her for his bride and steals her skin, smuggling it away to a secret spot in their home, so she is captured in a domestic world, but remains ever-longing for the sea. The selkie finally makes her escape when she uncovers her seal-skin from its hiding place, and leaves him forever for the world beneath the waves.
In this picture, I wanted to try and capture the moment of release - when she plunges into the water, her seal skin rippling and transforming around her, stretching and transmuting as she greets her own kind again.
And the husband watches quietly from above, as the waters settle, and the shawl that briefly wrapped round her gusts and billows in the breeze.
Whatever variation of the tale I ends up telling (and there'll be at least one other illustration to accompany it), this one will be for my Taid (Grandad). He grew up beside the Welsh waters and adored the sea and its endless restless roar, rush and sigh - and passed that same instinctive love onto his granddaughter.
He's been much in my thoughts recently, and some part of him was gently haunting the corners of my mind as I drew this.
(Drawn while immersed in (appropriately enough) Nick Cave's Mermaids ~ www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDFyd_no17o and Of Monsters and Men's Black Water ~ www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEaaazkAynE)
Fashion details at Around the Grid
All the poets I've ever read
say lovers, old or new, must meet
in fields of green grass or new-mown hay
places blowing with wildflowers
and warm with sunshine
But you don't find places like that everywhere and when
You can't meet your lover in a field of poppies and daisies
when you're in Michigan in the winter
Two may plight their troth 'neath an arch of roses
but never in December northlands
Still, the heart recks not the time nor place
for a lover's reunion
The skies may be grey as a ghost's eyes,
the wind howling from the heights,
flurries blowing in the breeze
instead of peony blossoms —
but when he calls,
wherever he is,
whenever he is,
you will come
You need not even touch him;
just see him
and naught else matters to you
The freezing blast becomes
balmy breezes of May
The seabirds' croaks transmuted
to the song of bluebirds
And a world of snow and brown grasses
refashions itself in your heart’s eye
to the greenest of gardens
all for the sake of one person
You rush to meet him —
or he comes to you
for it doesn't really matter —
and you wouldn't trade where you are
for the warmest resort
in Spain or Italy
All you want is the touch of his hand
the caress of his arms
the brush of his warm lips against yours —
and the promise of later
when even this shall pale
before bright moments in the dark
and the quiet
and the solitude of two
What do time or place mean
to the union of hearts?
To those in love and separated
a second apart is an eternity
and Eden a barren desert
To those rejoined
a day is too little
and the emptiest desert a paradise
When you find the one who’s the Other You
cling to the time together
glory in the places you can share your lives
and glorify God in gratitude
for the happiness showered on you both
Harper Ganesvoort, 2016
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
=====
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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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.
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
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
=====
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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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
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.
---- 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
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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.
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.
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.
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.