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I can't say how often I've driven Messenger Road, a potholed passage which never really goes where I'm going. It's a bridge between things, like so much of my life seems to be. It's a metaphor in my mind for a kind of prophecy, the sort you say and then go about trying to make come true. Things to share and the drive to share them, I've got more of that than most. I was once accused of being a "wannabe profit", and though the typo is accurate in the sense that I could use the money, the term "prophet" doesn't really fit me. There is no targeted truth in what I'm writing, no big vision or dream to relate. I'm not planning on predicting the future, only trying to do that old tribal thing. Campfire tales and cave paintings, so we can look back on our lives and back at our faces, and see something that keeping our thoughts to ourselves couldn't show.
November 20, 2022
Paradise, Nova Scotia
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I felt like I could understand this guy.
I'm having an Icelandic-Horse themed week with my photography, and this guy is a prime specimen of what it means to be an horse of Iceland, in my opinion. Long and luxurious mane, sturdy body, longer hair all around... and friendly! We were struck by how happy the horses were to come up to the fence and hang out with us whenever we came by to visit #horsesoficeland #icelandichorses
“Urban art is a style of art that relates to cities and city life. In that way urban art combines street art and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or thematizing urban live style.
The notion of 'Urban Art' developed from street art that is primarily concerned with graffiti culture. Urban art represents a broader cross section of artists that as well as covering traditional street artists also covers artists using more traditional media but with a subject matter that deals with contemporary urban culture and political issues.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_art
“Wild Flowers are not weeds"
Street Art is the modern, urban wildflowers
What's the difference between Graffiti Tagging and Street Art?
1. Street Art is constructive, Graffiti Tagging is destructive.
2. Street Art adorns the urban landscape, Graffiti Tagging scars it and accelerates urban decay.
3. Street Art stretches your mind, Graffiti Tagging is a slap in your face.
4. Street Art is about the audience, Graffiti Tagging is about the tagger.
5. Street Art says "Have you thought about this?", Graffiti Tagging says "I tag, therefore I exist".
6. Street Art was done with a smile, Graffiti Tagging was done with a scowl.
7. Street Art takes skill, Graffiti Tagging takes balls.
8. We mourn losing Street Art and celebrate losing Graffiti Tagging.
Good Street Art is great, good Graffiti Tagging is gone!
”http://www.graffitiactionhero.org/graffiti-tag-vs-street-art.html
Additional interesting sites
www.osnatfineart.com/urban-art.jsp
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art
Graffiti_27 LR
It was dark and wet as I made my way to a patch of Betony, Stachys officinalis, in the pretty Hortus Botanicus. Perhaps, I thought, it would help bewitch the weather into something more sunny... Traditionally Betony was thought to ward off evil spirits as even Desiderius Erasmus relates - who died yesterday in 1536 - a humanist not given to superstition.
Regardless the glum morning, Early Bumblebees (see inset) were out in full force foraging rather placidly on the pretty purple flowers. Then there was a spot of sunlight and it took all of three minutes for Anthidium manicatum, the European Wool Carder Bees, to disturb the peace, as it were, with their seemingly erratic collection. A bit of shadow and they were gone again; then back when the Sun came out. Back and forth, back and forth. A bit like Yours Truly who'd flee into the Greenhouse when another torrent of rain descended, and return to Betony when it lifted...
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The town of Poppi was near to our Tuscany accommodation so it was an obvious place to explore on our first day. It consisted of a newer lower town and and upper old town, highlight of which was this great little castle. If you do happen to visit it's well worth the climb to the top of the tower for the views over the town and surrounding countryside.
Click here to see more of my photos from Tuscany : www.flickr.com/photos/darrellg/albums/72157714689304067
From Wikipedia, "Poppi Castle (Italian: Castello di Poppi, or the Castello dei Conti Guidi) is a medieval castle in Poppi, Tuscany, Italy, formerly the property of the noble family of the Conti Guidi.
The Guidi family owns most of the castles in DeCourcey Country. First written mention of the castle at Poppi is in 1169, when it belonged to the Abbey of San Fidele de Strumi, but documentation from the 1190s shows that by this time, it had passed to the Conti Guidi. For the next 350 years the Guidi family would have, largely unchallenged, control of the Casentino. Other castles on the Casentino hills including Romena and Porciano were also ruled by the Guidi counts.
Although the early documentation of the castle relates to the end of the twelfth century, the construction of the foundations would suggest a fortification had been on the site even earlier. In the second half of the thirteenth century the first parts of the castle, as seen today, were built, with the tower and the keep to the left.
The architect is said to be Arnolfo di Cambio, who used Poppi as a 'prototype' for the Palazzo Vecchio, which he also designed. The two buildings certainly do look similar, and originally the tower of Poppi would have been taller, with machicolations (projecting parapets with 'murder holes' for dropping various missiles on the enemy beneath) that would have made the appearance even more similar."
© D.Godliman
Lothian Buses Gemini 3 Facelift bodied Volvo B5LH number 554 (SA15 VUE) ‘Estiland’ is seen here at OT, under a certain sign that relates to its number plate
Taken on Wednesday the 17th of December 2025.
This is a photo I’ve been wanting to get for SO many years, 554 (SA15 VUE) ‘Estiland’ under the big ‘vue’ sign at OT, corresponding wi the registration plate very nicely. The original photo needed some editing work to be presentable, but I went a bit over the top wi the saturation and such, because I can.
Thanks to ZZ9 for motivating me to try and actually finallly go and get this shot!
I posted a photo of this bus to flickr shortly after its 5th birthday, talking about how weird it seemed that it was already five years old, the new hybrids on the 34 were a highlight of 2015, and they seemed fairly new and exciting for a while after. Well now it’s over a decade old somehow, but spending its days mainly on the 34 and 35, just where it’s most at home.
So I unofficially named this bus ‘Estiland’ originally, mistakenly thinking it was Estonian for Estonia (no, that’s Eesti), but the name stuck and It’s now played a part of enough of my life that I have a fondness for it, even slightly more than some others in its batch.
In November this year, ZZ9 nicknamed this ‘Lothian’s Cinema Bus’ in relation to the number plate, as we see here quite clearly. I intend to add ZZ9’s name to the unofficial names doc, what better name could there be for this? However, ‘Estiland’ is also staying, that’s what it’s always been to me. It’s by far not the first bus wi two names, even though I usually try and avoid multiple names, there’s no reason why we can’t have some! An example currently in the fleet is XLB number 1066, which I nicknamed ‘Frances’, and Callum Colville nicknamed ‘Battle of Hastings’, due to the fleet number corresponding to the date of that battle.
This batch (551-570) may be unremarkable, but they seem to still be doing just as well as ever, usually winding their slow way through the city from the foot of the Pentlands in Currie to the sea at OT. If anyone wants to have a go at which of this batch of B5LHs have which seatback colours then go ahead, it’s not intuitive!
Vehicle Information
Operator: Lothian Buses
Service: 34 Leith Harbour and Newhaven Ocean Terminal Ocean Drive – Currie Riccarton Hariot-Watt University The Avenue (Trip NovWedAL23925725)
Vehicle type: Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini 3 Facelift bodied Volvo B5LH
Vehicle engine: Euro 6 Diesel-Electric Hybrid
Vehicle fleet number: 554
Vehicle registration: SA15 VUE
Vehicle name: Estiland
Vehicle depot: Longstone (LS)
Vehicle livery: Lothian Buses Madder and White Fleet of the Future (FOTF) non-ADL Double Deck 2020 version
Vehicle destination screen: white Hanover LED screen
Vehicle destination display: Heriot-Watt 34 / via Research Park
Vehicle Chassis: Vo B5LH YV3T1U22XFA172380
Vehicle Body: Wt AM087
Vehicle Seating: H49/25F
Operating area: City of Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian
Registration prefix area: Glesga
Year of manufacture: 2015
Date of first registration: 14.07.2015 (Day T42198)
Original operator: Lothian Buses
Original fleet number: 554
Original registration: SA15 VUE
Age of vehicle: 10 years, 5 months and 3 days (total 3809 days)
Photo location: Ocean Drive, Ocean Terminal, Leith Harbour and Newhaven, Lìte, City of Edinburgh
Taken on: Wednesday the 17th of December 2025 (17.12.2025)
Taken on Day U3639
References
Bus Lists on the Web (2025) SA15VUE. Available at: www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk/ (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)
Bustimes.org (2025) Lothian Buses - Vehicles – 554 (SA15 VUE). Available at: bustimes.org/vehicles/loth-554?date=2025-12-17 (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)
GOV.UK (2025) Check MOT History – SA15 VUE. Available at: www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/results?registration=SA15VUE... (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)
Scottish Community Councils (2025) Find a Community Council. Available at: www.communitycouncils.scot/community-council-finder (Accessed 17.12.2025, Day U3641)
St Albans Cathedral, in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
Saint Alban is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr and saint. The most elaborate version of his story, Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, relates that he lived in Verulamium, sometime during the 3rd or 4th century, when Christians were suffering persecution. Alban met a Christian priest fleeing from his persecutors and sheltered him in his house, where he became so impressed with the priest's piety that he converted to Christianity.
When the authorities searched Alban's house, he put on the priest's cloak and presented himself in place of his guest. He was sentenced to endure the punishments that were to be inflicted upon the priest, unless he renounced Christianity. Alban refused and was taken for execution. In later legends, his head rolled downhill after execution and a well sprang up where it stopped.
Little is known of the early churches built over Alban’s grave. The Shrine of St Alban was the reason for the Abbey’s foundation and the town that grew up around it, and it is said that King Offa of Mercia founded a monastery here in 793.
After the Norman invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror appointed Paul of Caen as the first Norman abbot of St Albans and commissioned a new church. Paul started his great rebuilding of the Abbey with the Tower, which still stands today. This Norman church was built from bricks and tiles saved from the ruins of Roman Verulamium.
In 1213 St Albans Abbey was the meeting place for a group of churchmen and nobles. Their discussions led to Magna Carta which was reluctantly sealed by the king at Runnymede in 1215.
The medieval Abbey was famous as a place of learning. The monks who lived here produced high-quality manuscripts in a workshop called the scriptorium. These included bibles and books on science, music, and classics.
St Albans Abbey was closed in December 1539 and most of the buildings were destroyed. The shrines of St Alban and St Amphibalus were demolished, and Alban’s relics disappeared.
In 1553, the people of St Albans bought the church for their own use. However, the upkeep was expensive and by 1832, the Abbey was in a sorry state.
Wealthy Victorian benefactors paid for the building to be repaired. This included remodelling the West End, removing medieval features, and replacing the statues in the High Altar Screen.
In 1877 what had previously been a local parish church became a cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of St Albans.
Information Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Albans
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Alban
www.stalbanscathedral.org/the-history-of-st-albans-cathedral
The 1890 Empress Flour Mill on Queen Street is category C industrial heritage building, which means that its removal is a permitted activity. There are two plaques on the front of the building, one relating to the 118 year old structure and the other to the 1921 grain silos. With a height of 35 metres the category B listed heritage silos are the town's most prominent landmark. They're still in use and will not be demolished.
I truly relate to these trees personally, having managed a 4 acre organic pear farm for 7 years. The etched shapes of these trees take me back to the arches of Gothic
Mezhyhirya Residence Museum, Kiev, Ukraine.
The Mezhyhirya residence was built in the Soviet period on the site of a monastery that had stood there since the 14th century before being destroyed by the Bolsheviks. The Soviet regime, under which Ukraine lived for 70 years, tried to provide for all its leaders’ needs. Top communists were rewarded with a package that included a house in the country – a so-called ‘dacha’. Mezhyhirya, which was at the disposal of the leader of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, fell into this category.
After Ukrainian independence the building was used to accommodate foreign delegations, but when in 2002 Viktor Yanukovych was appointed Prime Minister and moved to Kiev from industrial Donetsk he decided he would like to live at Mezhyhiriya. Initially he rented it, but the Orange Revolution brought a fall in his living standards – a terrible thing for Post-Soviet Man. The new government, headed by president Yushchenko and PM Tymoshenko, evicted him from his home.
But a year later, after the fall of the Orange dream team, Yanukovych returned to the post of Prime Minister and secured the right to Move back into Mezhyhiriya, which was still government property. And another year later, in 2007, when he left his post, he took the house with him.
In Yanukovych’s final weeks as Prime Minister, his government illegally privatised Mezhyhiriya. No money was paid to the state for its sale; instead, a couple of semi- derelict buildings in Kiev were handed over in return (they have continued to fall down ever since).
Mezhyhiriya, meanwhile, was acquired, without any competitive tendering process, by a Donetsk company called ‘MedInvestTraid’, which immediately resold it and a few years later filed for bankruptcy. Was someone covering their tracks?
In 2009, after an unsuccessful bid to create a political alliance with Viktor Yanukovych, Yulia Tymoshenko tried to return Mezhyhiriya to state ownership, but nothing came of it. MPs from Yanukovych’s party removed all the documents relating to the sale from the government departments involved. Yanukovych lived in it from 2002 to 21 February 2014, when he abandoned the estate during the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution.
For video, please visit youtu.be/mr-rWbtde3I
The title of this relates to an article I read some time ago by Ken Rockwell, www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm, in which he explains what is "Good Bokeh", I found it interesting because I happen to be one of those people that think the word good when describing a medium such as photography is subjective and even sometimes what is generally "bad" can be "good" every now and again, if you know what I mean. He even has a chart showing what "poor", "neutral" and "good" bokeh looks like, and I am proud to say I have achieved what I think he describes as "neutral" or "poor" bokeh. Yeah for me!!! :-)))
In truth, I don't disagree with him in looking at this image there is something a little too harsh in the blobs of light here. It certainly is not the "smooth and silky" kind of bokeh. But you know after drinking a few of those glasses of what is in the foreground, nothing was in focus, and that is clearly seen in this image (as nothing in the shot is clearly in focus), so I call the shot a success!! :-))))
Here is a link to the entire story (which is a great read, seriously), www.kenrockwell.com/tech/bokeh.htm, and an excerpt is below.
"Bokeh describes the appearance, or "feel," of out-of-focus areas. Bokeh is not how far something is out-of-focus, bokeh is the character of whatever blur is there.
Unfortunately good bokeh doesn't happen automatically in lens design. Perfect lenses render out-of-focus points of light as circles with sharp edges. Ideal bokeh would render each of these points as blurs, not hard-edged circles."
So I guess I have a good lens and a "neutral" or perhaps "poor" bokeh shot to show for it! All of this is posted in good spirits, hope it reads that way! Cheers!!! :-))
HBW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
Les Invalides contains museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée (the military museum of the Army of France), the Musée des Plans-Reliefs and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the Dôme des Invalides, a large church, the tallest in Paris at a height of 350 feet. It houses tombs of some of France's war heroes, most notably Napoleon. The architect of Les Invalides was Libéral Bruant. By the time the enlarged project was completed in 1676, the river front measured 643 feet, and the complex had 15 courtyards, the largest being the cour d'honneur ("court of honor") for military parades. Jules Hardouin-Mansart assisted the aged Bruant, and the chapel for veterans was finished in 1679. This chapel was known as Église Saint-Louis des Invalides, and daily attendance of the veterans in the church services was required. Shortly after the veterans' chapel was completed, Louis XIV commissioned Mansart to construct a separate private royal chapel referred to as the Église du Dôme. The domed chapel was finished in 1708. The building retained its primary function of a retirement home and hospital for military veterans until the early 20th century. In 1872 the musée d'artillerie (Artillery Museum) was located within the building to be joined by the musée historique des armées (Historical Museum of the Armies) in 1896. The two institutions were merged to form the present Musée de l'Armée in 1905. At the same time, the veterans in residence were dispersed to smaller centers outside Paris, as the building became too large for its original purpose. The modern complex includes facilities about a hundred elderly or incapacitated former soldiers, including one gentleman sitting outside in full World War II army dress.
Bucolic - relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.
DMC-G80M - ISO200 - 1/500sec - Olympus m.zuiko 25mmF1.8 @ f/5.6
Various trees of life are recounted in folklore, culture and fiction, often relating to immortality or fertility. They had their origin in religious symbolism.
Ancient Iran
In pre-Islamic Persian mythology, the Gaokerena world tree is a large, sacred Haoma tree which bears all seeds. Ahriman (Ahreman, Angremainyu) created a frog to invade the tree and destroy it, aiming to prevent all trees from growing on the earth. As a reaction, God (Ahura Mazda) created two kar fish staring at the frog to guard the tree. The two fishes are always staring at the frog and stay ready to react to it. Because Ahriman is responsible for all evil including death, while Ahura Mazda is responsible for all good (including life) the concept of world tree in Persian Mythology is very closely related to the concept of Tree of Life.The sacred plant haoma and the drink made from it. The preparation of the drink from the plant by pounding and the drinking of it are central features of Zoroastrian ritual. Haoma is also personified as a divinity. It bestows essential vital qualities—health, fertility, husbands for maidens, even immortality. The source of the earthly haoma plant is a shining white tree that grows on a paradisiacal mountain. Sprigs of this white haoma were brought to earth by divine birds.Haoma is the Avestan form of the Sanskrit soma. The near identity of the two in ritual significance is considered by scholars to point to a salient feature of an Indo-Iranian religion antedating Zoroastrianism.
Another related issue in ancient mythology of Iran is the myth of Mashyа and Mashyane, two trees who were the ancestors of all living beings. This myth can be considered as a prototype for the creation myth where living beings are created by Gods (who have a human form).
Ancient Egypt
Worshipping Osiris, Isis, and Horus
To the Ancient Egyptians, the Tree of Life represented the hierarchical chain of events that brought every thing into existence. The spheres of the Tree of Life demonstrate the order, process, and method of creation.In Egyptian mythology, in the Ennead system of Heliopolis, the first couple, apart from Shu and Tefnut (moisture and dryness) are Geb and Nuit (earth and sky), are Isis and Osiris. They were said to have emerged from the acacia tree of Iusaaset, which the Egyptians considered the tree of life, referring to it as the "tree in which life and death are enclosed." Some acacia trees contain DMT, a psychedelic drug associated with spiritual experiences. The drug is not orally bio-available, however and there is no evidence the Egyptians had techniques for extracting or otherwise harnessing the drug. A much later myth relates how Set and 72 conspirators killed Osiris, putting him in a coffin, and throwing it into the Nile, the coffin becoming embedded in the base of a tamarisk tree.The Egyptians' Holy Sycamore also stood on the threshold of life and death, connecting the two worlds.
Assyria
Assyrian tree of life, from Nimrud panels.The Assyrian Tree of Life was represented by a series of nodes and criss-crossing lines. It was apparently an important religious symbol, often attended to in Assyrian palace reliefs by human or eagle-headed winged genies, or the King, and blessed or fertilized with bucket and cone. Assyriologists have not reached consensus as to the meaning of this symbol. The name "Tree of Life" has been attributed to it by modern scholarship; it is not used in the Assyrian sources. In fact, no textual evidence pertaining to the symbol is known to exist.
Baha'i Faith
The concept of the tree of life appears in the writings of the Baha'i Faith, where it can refer to the Manifestation of God, a great teacher who appears to humanity from age to age. An example of this can be found in the Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh:["Have ye forgotten that true and radiant morn, when in those hallowed and blessed surroundings ye were all gathered in My presence beneath the shade of the tree of life, which is planted in the all-glorious paradise? Awestruck ye listened as I gave utterance to these three most holy words: O friends! Prefer not your will to Mine, never desire that which I have not desired for you, and approach Me not with lifeless hearts, defiled with worldly desires and cravings. Would ye but sanctify your souls, ye would at this present hour recall that place and those surroundings, and the truth of My utterance should be made evident unto all of you."Also, in the Tablet of Ahmad [1], of Bahá'u'lláh:"Verily He is the Tree of Life, that bringeth forth the fruits of God, the Exalted, the Powerful, the Great".Bahá'u'lláh refers to his male descendents as branches (Aghsán) and calls women leaves.
A distinction has been made between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The latter represents the physical world with its opposites, such as good and evil and light and dark. In a different context from the one above, the tree of life represents the spiritual realm, where this duality does not exist.
Buddhism
The Bo tree, also called Bodhi tree, according to Buddhist tradition, is the pipal (Ficus religiosa) under which the Buddha sat when he attained Enlightenment (Bodhi) at Bodh Gaya (near Gaya, west-central Bihar state, India). A living pipal at Anuradhapura, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), is said to have grown from a cutting from the Bo tree sent to that city by King Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE.According to Tibetan tradition when Buddha went to the holy Lake Manasorovar along with 500 monks, he took with him the energy of Prayaga Raj. Upon his arrival, he installed the energy of Prayaga Raj near Lake Manasorovar, at a place now known as Prayang. Then he planted the seed of this eternal banyan tree next to Mt. Kailash on a mountain known as the "Palace of Medicine Buddha".
China
In Chinese mythology, a carving of a Tree of Life depicts a phoenix and a dragon; the dragon often represents immortality. A Taoist story tells of a tree that produces a peach every three thousand years. The one who eats the fruit receives immortality.An archaeological discovery in the 1990s was of a sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui in Sichuan, China. Dating from about 1200 BCE, it contained three bronze trees, one of them 4 meters high. At the base was a dragon, and fruit hanging from the lower branches. At the top is a strange bird-like (phoenix) creature with claws. Also found in Sichuan, from the late Han dynasty (c 25 – 220 CE), is another tree of life. The ceramic base is guarded by a horned beast with wings. The leaves of the tree are coins and people. At the apex is a bird with coins and the Sun.
Christianity
In Catholic Christianity, the Tree of Life represents the immaculate state of humanity free from corruption and Original Sin before the Fall. Pope Benedict XVI has said that "the Cross is the true tree of life." Saint Bonaventure taught that the medicinal fruit of the Tree of Life is Christ himself. Saint Albert the Great taught that the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, is the Fruit of the Tree of Life.[18] Augustine of Hippo said that the tree of life is Christ: "All these things stood for something other than what they were, but all the same they were themselves bodily realities. And when the narrator mentioned them he was not employing figurative language, but giving an explicit account of things which had a forward reference that was figurative. So then the tree of life also was Christ... and indeed God did not wish the man to live in Paradise without the mysteries of spiritual things being presented to him in bodily form. So then in the other trees he was provided with nourishment, in this one with a sacrament... He is rightly called whatever came before him in order to signify him."[19]
The tree first appeared in Genesis 2:9 and 3:22-24 as the source of eternal life in the Garden of Eden, from which access is revoked when man is driven from the garden. It then reappears in the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, and most predominantly in the last chapter of that book (Chapter 22) as a part of the new garden of paradise. Access is then no longer forbidden, for those who "wash their robes" (or as the textual variant in the King James Version has it, "they that do his commandments") "have right to the tree of life" (v.14). A similar statement appears in Rev 2:7, where the tree of life is promised as a reward to those who overcome. Revelation 22 begins with a reference to the "pure river of water of life" which proceeds "out of the throne of God". The river seems to feed two trees of life, one "on either side of the river" which "bear twelve manner of fruits" "and the leaves of the tree were for healing of the nations" (v.1-2).[20] Or this may indicate that the tree of life is a vine that grows on both sides of the river, as John 15:1 would hint at.
In Eastern Christianity the tree of life is the love of God.The tree of life appears in the Book of Mormon in a revelation to Lehi (see 1 Nephi 8:10). It is symbolic of the love of God (see 1 Nephi 11:21-23). Its fruit is described as "most precious and most desirable above all other fruits," which "is the greatest of all the gifts of God" (see 1 Nephi 15:36). In another scriptural book, salvation is called "the greatest of all the gifts of God" (see Doctrine and Covenants 6:13). In the same book eternal life is also called the "greatest of all the gifts of God" (see Doctrine and Covenants 14:7). Because of these references, the tree of life and its fruit is sometimes understood to be symbolic of salvation and post-mortal existence in the presence of God and his love.
Europe
11th century Tree of Life sculpture at an ancient Swedish church
In Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique (Paris, 1737), Antoine-Joseph Pernety, a famous alchemist, identified the Tree of Life with the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone.
In Eden in the East (1998), Stephen Oppenheimer suggests that a tree-worshipping culture arose in Indonesia and was diffused by the so-called "Younger Dryas" event of c. 8000 BCE, when the sea level rose. This culture reached China (Szechuan), then India and the Middle East. Finally the Finno-Ugaritic strand of this diffusion spread through Russia to Finland where the Norse myth of Yggdrasil took root.
Georgia
The Borjgali (Georgian: ბორჯღალი) is an ancient Georgian Tree of Life symbol.
Germanic paganism and Norse mythology[
In Germanic paganism, trees played (and, in the form of reconstructive Heathenry and Germanic Neopaganism, continue to play) a prominent role, appearing in various aspects of surviving texts and possibly in the name of gods.
The tree of life appears in Norse religion as Yggdrasil, the world tree, a massive tree (sometimes considered a yew or ash tree) with extensive lore surrounding it. Perhaps related to Yggdrasil, accounts have survived of Germanic Tribes' honouring sacred trees within their societies. Examples include Thor's Oak, sacred groves, the Sacred tree at Uppsala, and the wooden Irminsul pillar. In Norse Mythology, the apples from Iðunn's ash box provide immortality for the gods.
Hinduism
The Eternal Banyan Tree (Akshaya Vata) is located on the bank of the Yamuna inside the courtyard of Allahabad Fort near the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganga Rivers in Allahabad. The eternal and divine nature of this tree has been documented at length in the scriptures.[citation needed]
During the cyclic destruction of creation when the whole earth was enveloped by waters, akshaya vata remained unaffected. It is on the leaves of this tree that Lord Krishna rested in the form of a baby when land was no longer visible. And it is here that the immortal sage, Markandeya, received the cosmic vision of the Lord. It is under this tree that Buddha meditates eternally. Legend also has it that the Bodi tree at Gaya is a manifestation of this tree.
Islam
Carpet Tree of Life
Main article: Quranic tree of life
See also: Sidrat al-Muntaha
The "Tree of Immortality" (Arabic: شجرة الخلود) is the tree of life motif as it appears in the Quran. It is also alluded to in hadiths and tafsir. Unlike the biblical account, the Quran mentions only one tree in Eden, also called the tree of immortality, which Allah specifically forbade to Adam and Eve. Satan, disguised as a serpent, repeatedly told Adam to eat from the tree, and eventually both Adam and Eve did so, thus disobeying Allah.] The hadiths also speak about other trees in heaven.
According to the Ahmadiyya movement, Quranic reference to the tree is symbolic; eating of the forbidden tree signifies that Adam disobeyed God.[
Jewish sources
Main articles: Etz Chaim and Biblical tree of life
Etz Chaim, Hebrew for "tree of life," is a common term used in Judaism. The expression, found in the Book of Proverbs, is figuratively applied to the Torah itself. Etz Chaim is also a common name for yeshivas and synagogues as well as for works of Rabbinic literature. It is also used to describe each of the wooden poles to which the parchment of a Sefer Torah is attached.The tree of life is mentioned in the Book of Genesis; it is distinct from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Remaining in the garden, however, was the tree of life. To prevent their access to this tree in the future, Cherubim with a flaming sword were placed at the east of the garden. (Genesis 3:22-24)
In the Book of Proverbs, the tree of life is associated with wisdom: "[Wisdom] is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy [is every one] that retaineth her." (Proverbs 3:13-18) In 15:4 the tree of life is associated with calmness: "A soothing tongue is a tree of life; but perverseness therein is a wound to the spirit."
The Book of Enoch, generally considered non-canonical, states that in the time of the great judgment God will give all those whose names are in the Book of Life fruit to eat from the Tree of Life.
Kathara grid
The esoteric bio-spiritual healing system of kathara which is presented on Earth by the official Speaker of the Guardian Alliance – E’Asha Ashayana,explains in detail the function of the code of the kathara grid] as the natural tree of life. Kathara reveals the anatomy of Creation, core structure, the blueprints & interconnectedness of all matter forms and in the center is the replication of the kathara grid everywhere.The kathara grid consists of 12 kathara centers and the relationships between them represent the true meaning of the phrase "As above, so below" and the correspondence between microcosmos and macrocosmos.
Kabbalah. Judaic Kabbalah Tree of Life 10 Sephirot, through which the Ein Sof unknowable Divine manifests Creation. The configuration relates to manJewish mysticism depicts the Tree of Life in the form of ten interconnected nodes, as the central symbol of the Kabbalah. It comprises the ten Sephirot powers in the Divine realm. The panentheistic and anthropomorphic emphasis of this emanationist theology interpreted the Torah, Jewish observance, and the purpose of Creation as the symbolic esoteric drama of unification in the Sephirot, restoring harmony to Creation. From the time of the Renaissance onwards, Jewish Kabbalah became incorporated as an important tradition in non-Jewish Western culture, first through its adoption by Christian Cabala, and continuing in Western esotericism occult Hermetic Qabalah. These adapted the Judaic Kabbalah Tree of Life syncretically by associating it with other religious traditions, esoteric theologies, and magical practices.
Mesoamerican
The concept of world trees is a prevalent motif in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cosmologies and iconography. World trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which represented also the fourfold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world.Depictions of world trees, both in their directional and central aspects, are found in the art and mythological traditions of cultures such as the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of Mesoamerican chronology. Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as or represented by a ceiba tree, and is known variously as a wacah chan or yax imix che, depending on the Mayan language.[32] The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright caiman, whose skin evokes the tree's spiny trunk.Directional world trees are also associated with the four Yearbearers in Mesoamerican calendars, and the directional colors and deities. Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the Dresden, Borgia and Fejérváry-Mayer codices.[31] It is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept.World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water (sometimes atop a "water-monster," symbolic of the underworld). The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.
Middle East
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a similar quest for immortality. In Mesopotamian mythology, Etana searches for a 'plant of birth' to provide him with a son. This has a solid provenance of antiquity, being found in cylinder seals from Akkad (2390–2249 BCE).The Book of One Thousand and One Nights has a story, 'The Tale of Buluqiya', in which the hero searches for immortality and finds a paradise with jewel-encrusted trees. Nearby is a Fountain of Youth guarded by Al-Khidr. Unable to defeat the guard, Buluqiya has to return empty-handed.
North American
In a myth passed down among the Iroquois, The World on the Turtle's Back, explains the origin of the land in which a tree of life is described. According to the myth, it is found in the heavens, where the first humans lived, until a pregnant woman fell and landed in an endless sea. Saved by a giant turtle from drowning, she formed the world on its back by planting bark taken from the tree.The tree of life motif is present in the traditional Ojibway cosmology and traditions. It is sometimes described as Grandmother Cedar, or Nookomis Giizhig in Anishinaabemowin.In the book Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota (Sioux) wičháša wakȟáŋ (medicine man and holy man), describes his vision in which after dancing around a dying tree that has never bloomed he is transported to the other world (spirit world) where he meets wise elders, 12 men and 12 women. The elders tell Black Elk that they will bring him to meet "Our Father, the two-legged chief" and bring him to the center of a hoop where he sees the tree in full leaf and bloom and the "chief" standing against the tree. Coming out of his trance he hopes to see that the earthly tree has bloomed, but it is dead
Serer religion
In Serer religion, the tree of life as a religious concept forms the basis of Serer cosmogony. Trees were the first things created on Earth by the supreme being Roog (or Koox among the Cangin). In the competing versions of the Serer creation myth, the Somb (Prosopis africana) and the Saas tree (acacia albida) are both viewed as trees of life. However, the prevailing view is that, the Somb was the first tree on Earth and the progenitor of plant life. The Somb was also used in the Serer tumuli and burial chambers, many of which had survived for more than a thousand years.Thus, Somb is not only the Tree of Life in Serer society, but the symbol of immortality
Urartian Tree of Life
In ancient Urartu, the Tree of Life was a religious symbol and was drawn on walls of fortresses and carved on the armor of warriors. The branches of the tree were equally divided on the right and left sides of the stem, with each branch having one leaf, and one leaf on the apex of the tree. Servants stood on each side of the tree with one of their hands up as if they are taking care of the tree.
Turkic .The Tree of Life, as seen as in flag of Chuvashia, a Turkic state in the Russian FederationThe Tree of Life design on 0,05 Turkish lira (5 kuruş).
The World Tree or Tree of Life is a central symbol in Turkic mythology.[citation needed] It is a common motif in carpets.
It is also used as the main design of a common Turkish lira sub-unit 5 kuruş since 2009.
The name Rotherfield is recorded from the 8th century and is likely to relate to the area and to predate any nucleated settlement. The Old English form of feld – means ‘open country of the cattle’. In the Weald,Since 1741, the Catts has been at the heart of the community. But did you know it is rumoured to pre-date that as a drinking house, apparently it was formerly a Tavern known as the Swan, so a tipple may have been enjoyed here since around 1635.
This relates to the previous photo I posted. The following night I dressed up in a velvet body shirt and black leather mini skirt and went out to a large Disco! I did have fun even though I was nervous with the big crowd.
I often relate odd shots I take to memories of my younger days. One of the first trips my wife and I did overseas was to the USA where we visited Disneyland and LA before heading north to San Francisco where some of my Mum's family lived and still live.
I remember being on one of those iconic Disney rides that always seemed to be more well known than they are today, perhaps Small World or the Pirates of the Caribbean. These rides were and still are world class and for innocents like us, they were just fantastic. Anyway, we had this family in the car behind us on whatever ride we were on, staring in awe while one of the young sons in that family just kept on with his mantra "It's fake Daddy!". Grrr, I mean! I wonder what he would say today in the brave new electronic and digital world. Forty years on, he would have his own kids by now, perhaps adults themselves.
Every time I look at this, now damaged concrete sculpture in Humpybong Creek at Redcliffe in SE Queensland, I can't help recalling that kid's words. I just wonder if the two Cormorants drying their feathers were thinking that also in the warm sun?
I can relate to Frankenstein's monster..there are times when I feel like I've been piecemealed together, my body is a mess. My feet are a size and half different from one another, My left arm is contorted from injury, my spine does not properly align... it goes on and on. But the villagers haven't gathered yet so I'm doing pretty good! LOL
Overview
Great Minds is a dynamic monument that praises the birth of ideas and relates to all creative people. Light work appears in the form of two monumental brains in dialogue, performing active, luminous brainstorming – the unavoidable phase of each creative process – and figuratively using light to emphasize births of unique ideas and sparkling activities of all great minds. Great Minds was first presented in 2021 at Nobel Week Lights in Stockholm, Sweden with the support of GVA, Control Dept and Rebel Light. About Aleksandra Stratimirovic
Aleksandra Stratimirovic graduated in Applied Arts and Design at the University of Arts in Belgrade. She completed her studies in specialized lighting design at the University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Konstfack and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Stratimirovic has broad knowledge and understanding of light and lighting technologies, and she is also the author of temporary and permanent light-art installations for numerous public places in Sweden and abroad. Her works include “Transmission” for the World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station, Sweden, “You Are The Dream” in Gothenburg, “Northern Lights” Jardin du Palais Royal, Paris and participation in the Amsterdam Light Festival. She has received numerous awards and recognitions. Her light works are exhibited worldwide, most recently at the NOOR Riyadh Festival, the National Museum in Stockholm and the Skopje Light Art District.
Partnership Festival: Nobel Week Lights
Nobel Week Lights is initiated and produced by Annika Levin, Alexandra Manson and Lara Szabo Greisman from Troika. The initiative collaborates with the Nobel Prize Museum with support from the City of Stockholm, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the Swedish Space Agency, and many other partners and lighting companies. Inspired by Nobel Prize-awarded discoveries and laureates, stunning artworks light up the darkness of the streets of Stockholm each year during the Nobel Week.
About Fjord Studio
Fjord Studio is a creative studio dedicated to bringing the magic of light art into people’s lives. Fjord Studio curates and produces light art projects for cultural events, urban spaces, architecture and stage. Based in Oslo, the studio works globally and produces the best in light art. The studio collaborates with renowned Norwegian and international light artists and new talents, experienced technical teams and international partners. With projections on buildings, intimate installations, site-specific light sculptures and immersive video art, the studio’s work is a broad exploration of light art. Together with their artists and customers, the studio works towards a shared vision to create meaningful, inspiring and memorable experiences of light and art. Fjord Studio has been developed by artist and curator Anastasia Isachsen and producer Frank Isachsen, the team behind the light art festival Fjord Oslo. Since 2020, their work has expanded to conceptualize, produce and communicate various types of temporary and permanent projects at the intersection of art and technology – in Norway and internationally. Ongoing projects include the annual light art festival Fjord Oslo, the new light art initiative Fjord Geiranger in Geiranger and Nordic Lights – a collaborative project with Harbourfront Centre and light art festivals in Denmark, Sweden and Finland, in addition to several smaller projects. Source: harbourfrontcentre.com/event/great-minds/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUASOK8U5cg&feature=relate
When The Saints Come Marchin ' In ...
Louis Armstrong
The hibiscus is playing to the tune
Mean trumpet player
Indeed .
OH MY GOD WHERE DO I BEGIN ASDFGHJKL-
*breathes*
Okay, excuse me, this is going to be a ramble as per usual as I have a ton of things I want to talk about both relating and not relating to this lovely little lady right here but i'll space it out over my next few posts so as to not melt your brain staring at one monumental textwall.
OKAY SO. PETRA. OMG. HNNNG. I CAN'T-
So for those of you who keep up with the recent roller-coaster that is my doll journey you'll know that i've talked about shelling my character Petra as a doll for literally years and finally I found the perfect opportunity to go for it and get her with the release of Fairyland Momo. It was kind of up in the air in the beginning whether or not i'd be able to grab Momo while I could but thankfully everything worked out and I was able to get her. Of course, the main reason why I wanted to do so was because I thought the bunny body would be the absolute perfect way of portraying her character in doll form that I previously didn't think would have been possible. For a long time I had resigned myself to just getting her on a regular human body because I didn't think something like this would be possible but OF COURSE, just like with Euclid's perfectly amazing seahorse tail Fairyland is able to read my mind and just know exactly what types of fantasy parts I've wanted for my characters and exactly how to execute them. I'll get into why that is in a bit where I copy/pasta a novel about some of Petra's character but for now let me just say that I LOVE IT SO MUCH and my gosh I am so glad that I was able to get it for her. I know that you can't see her bunny legs in this picture but they actually aren't what I wanted to focus on the most for now. I'll show them off and ramble on about her character/backstory in the future once she is more put together but for now I mainly just want to focus on one thing in particular; THAT SHE IS A MINIFEE ANTE.
Yeah so if you've been keeping up with me for a while you may remember that I had stated numerous times that my plan for Petra was for her to be a Minifee Mio but, well, this happened. Its funny, the moment I first saw Minifee Mio I immediately said "that is Petra" with so much certainty that for the longest time I honestly couldn't imagine her as anything else. Minifee Ante on the other hand was always a sculpt that I was deeply enamored with since I first laid eyes on it but for whatever reason I couldn't see it as anything other than a boy but I didn't have any male characters from my main stories that would suit it and over time it became this ultimate grail for me that I thought i'd never own because I just didn't have the character for it. Well as I mentioned i've been wanting to shell Petra as a doll for years now and at some point I got to looking more and more at Ante as a possible alternative to Mio for Petra. There are things that are more canonically accurate about Mio for Petra, namely the size/shape of her eyes, but the more time went by the more I started to go back and forth between which one was really "right" for her. Eventually I decided upon Mio almost entirely because I knew from her promo photos that she looks great with little angry eyebrows as silly as that sounds, but I think her faceup really was what completely sold me on Mio for her despite being very different than what I would want for Petra. But Ante just kept creeping back into my thoughts especially once I had actually committed to ordering Momo for her bunny body, I just couldn't shake the idea that Ante really has just the perfect little bunny face and captures the cute juvenile look of Petra while still having this air of seriousness. Admittedly Mio gives the same feeling to me but I don't think the sculpt screams "bunny" in the same way that Ante does.
Anyway, I was still debating what I should choose until the very end but eventually my final decision to go with Ante for her came about from being completely unable to find a tan Mio head. xD I'm a believer in fate and that things present themselves the way they do for a reason and being completely unable to get a hold of a Mio head I interpreted as the universe's way of telling me that it just wasn't meant to be. Just when I started to get kind of depressed over it just so happened to come across a pair of tan OE and SP Ante heads and again my mind was flooded with the idea that Ante was in fact the right choice for her.
In thinking about it more heavily I came to realize that while Mio's giant eyes are more canonically accurate, I have to remember that what works in my silly animu drawings don't always translate or work as well as dolls. Faustus and Euclid are incredibly important to Petra and of course i'm insanely picky when it comes to how my really specific character dolls look together so I realized that Mio's giant eyes would probably look way too different and not mesh well with Faustus and Euclid's smaller, more sultry eyes. I learned early on that when translating my characters as dolls its impossible to get them to look EXACTLY like them because of basic stylistic differences and instead to mainly focusing on choosing a sculpt that best captures the "essence" of that character. Like, for example, Euclid's canonical nose looks absolutely nothing like Minifee Luka's nose, but everything else about that sculpt so perfectly evokes Euclid for me that I hardly even notice or think about it, you know? The same is true for me with Petra and Minifee Ante. There are a few characteristics of this sculpt that aren't exactly true of Petra canonically but it still so perfectly captures the FEEL of her character and in a way that also compliments the other important characters in her story. Also the idea of her having a sleeping head really piqued my interest as I've never owned one and they've always interested me but never really had a great excuse to justify getting one, but in thinking about it more, Petra is a character who typically appears outwardly very cold, emotionless and unyielding but a very important part of her character is her journey through very deep emotional and artistic turmoil and I LOVE the idea of using her sleeping head to show a deeply agonized, mournful and ultimately vulnerable side of her that while rarely seen by others is the perfect way of articulating the vital contrasting dynamic of her character.
So yes, in thinking about her in relation to my other dolls and the way that I wanted to portray her character as a doll it became so clear to me that Ante was the right way to go so I took the plunge and went for it and...
;O; I love it.
It was a really strange surreal feeling to own an Ante after having it in my head for so long that i'd never justify being able to own one but it also thoroughly baffled me in a way that I honestly haven't had happen before. Like, my first impression of the sculpt was that this is somehow simultaneously the most bizarre and unrealistic looking sculpt but also gave me the greatest "feeling" of realness and like the sculpt had an air of "life" to it more than any other sculpt i've come across. Idk its hard to explain and probably makes no sense but yeah, it was a strange mix of "wtf am I looking at" and "omg you feel like a real person to me". I've never had that experience before so I was really taken aback by it. It was honestly so confusing that even though I was super busy and shouldn't have been doing so I immediately had to do a suuuuuper quick faceup on her to attempt and sort out my feelings about this sculpt. Seriously, this faceup is legit terrible as it was just an experiment done in a few hours and I feel kind of embarrassed even posting it but ...somehow I still really like it? Like i'll DEFINITELY be making changes when I get the chance to do it properly but I really wanted to test out a few ideas with her eyes specifically since they are extremely important to portraying her character and it actually kind of works. Still needs a lot of fiddling but like I said, this sculpt just captures the "essence" of Petra even with a rushed and imperfect faceup. This sculpt may thoroughly confuse me, but nevertheless it captures Petra bizarrely even better than I could have anticipated. I even really love the way she looks with Faustus and Euclid so far too! She is sooooo far off from being "complete" right now, but still I am loving everything about her~
xD Ack, yeah sorry I figured i'd ramble about this for ages sorry but its crazy how this ended up becoming a thing but i'm really glad that it did and am so ridiculously excited to FINALLY have Petra as a doll and work on her in the future as she going to be a fun, unique and challenging project that i'm positive you guys are going to really love~
I've had so many things on my plate and have kind of been in the midst of both a creative and life-based chaos for a while now but i'm doing my best to sort things out as I can and when things get too crazy take a bit of time for myself and focus a little on my dolls. Over the last month or so I was making a few things for Petra here here and there like the outfit she is wearing and her bunny ears (which you can't really see either but asdfghjkl they aren't finished/painted yet so-) and when she arrived I took a little time to make her wig and do this really quick faceup just to get a feel for her as this sculpt as it baffled me so much initially. Its not much and I still have to mod her ears, finish her bunny ears and tail, do a new faceup, mod her body, make her unicorn horn, make her hammer, get proper eyes asdfghjkl SO MANY THINGS but i'm just really glad to have her home and share what little progress I've made on her~
I'll share with and talk more about some of the individual things i've made for her here later on as well as more about her character but here is just a little hello to her for now. Ah, seriously SO excited to share her with everyone more once she really starts coming together ;w;
Anyway, I'm going to talk more about my Feeple60 Cygne, IbbI, here soonish and probably some more overall updates for me in the hobby soon as well.
xD Thanks so much for putting up with my nonsensical tornado of a doll journey as always *hugs*
.....
ALSO OMG MY SIO2 RAGDOLL FINALLY SHIPPED ASDFGHJKL
....
but his tracking says he's been stuck back in China for an entire week and i'm starting to get worried. Like, he was shipped EMS so he should have been here by now but he apparently hasn't even left China yet... like I get the whole holiday rush and everything but.... ;______;
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Petra (girl) is a Fairyland Minifee Ante on a Fairyline bunny body in Tan skin. Faceup, wig, ears, dress, apron and most props by me.
brown relates to decay, growth and aging.
this was an amazing panorama but my computer crashed twice today and corrupted everything (y), i i started from scratch.
fantastic.
When I cry, I secretly hope that you will run all the way to mah doorstep in the rain, wipe mah tear, kiss me on the forehead and stay w/ me through the night...
P.s: It's Romantic rite ;)) keke
The chapel features, on its three walls, frescoed scenes relating to the Universal Flood, the Entrance of the Animals into the Ark, the End of the Flood and Noah's Drunkenness. The compositions are characterised by outdoor visions marked by the presence of human figures and animals, both depicted on a small scale. The painter's attention seems to be focused on the description of the variety of animals and birds, without, however, failing to dwell on the more intensely dramatic scenes, such as the cases of those who drown, going as far as the cold analysis of the corpses strewn on the ground after the Flood. The stories of the Flood are linked to the fresco of the Baptism of Christ that faces them in the cloistered church, as a foreshadowing of that moment of salvation, according to what St Peter makes clear in the First Epistle (3:20-21): "God in his longsuffering waited in the days of Noah for the ark to be built, in which eight people in all found escape from the water, a figure, this one, of the Baptism that now saves us".
Historical-critical information: In these frescoes, Aurelio Luini displays an unprecedented propensity for storytelling and narration for its own sake, which results in a smug amusement directed above all at the descriptive rendering of the various animal species, rendered with an almost lenticular meticulousness. As the son of Bernardino Luini, who was active for many years in San Maurizio, Aurelio showed undisputed talent for painting, which led him to collaborate with his older brother Giovan Pietro from 1555 onwards. Here, as in other cases, Aurelio exhibits the peculiar characteristics of his painting, sustained by an exuberant expressive emphasis that is fully in line with contemporary 'Mannerism'. The naturalistic taste manifested in the frescoes of the Noah's Ark chapel also reflects the interest that Aurelio, a member of the Accademia della Val di Blenio (run by Giovan Paolo Lomazzo), had always shown in Leonardo's research.
Adapting a popular song from the 1970s I often find myself singing 'sometimes I want to be a woman' I do also sing the actual line 'sometimes it's hard to be a woman' too as I can relate to both sentiments. I frequently segue into the chorus line of 'stand by your man' unconsciously then a sudden awareness of what I just sang brings me to a halt! Realisation I'm not a woman crashes in and I feel a mix of regret, sadness and fear yet at the same time I feel contentment, delight and real joy.
My relationship with my transvestism is something that fascinates me greatly and is something I really enjoy analysing and on rare occasions get to discuss, I am completely fascinated by my transgender feelings. I do often question my motives as being a transvestite brings with it a lot of emotions and satisfaction, indeed a sense of fulfilment yet it also carries for me doubt and guilt and confusion.
One of the things that causes me fear is the sheer joy I experience when I dress up as a woman, I absolutely love it and find part of me willing to assume the persona of a female with great eagerness. I really want it and to completely cross the gender line and no longer be a man. That part of me is something I feel I fight and suppress as I have fears of what it may set free. The big fear is it may well destroy my actual life with my wife, family, colleagues and work.
For me to appear, or more accurately attempt to appear as a woman is a heady powerful emotional desire that I will openly admit I am drawn to. I simply adore dressing up as a woman and trying to pass myself off as a female. Surely this is not what a man should be doing? Well, that's what society may tell us yet I live as a man and love to be a woman.
There are for me undoubted thrills that accompany the initial cross-dressing such as I may on occasion become sexually aroused by the act of transforming myself into the opposite gender. There is of course the thrill of performance and creating an illusion, in fact the act of attempting female impersonation (albeit not on stage or for theatrical entertainment) gives me a real buzz despite the fact it I only ever cross-dress in private.
I am keen to pass as a woman and to act the role convincingly. As I love female impersonation and acting I constantly challenge myself to try and become the woman I am appearing as and not let any of the man be evident. As a consequence I try to think myself into believing I am female. To try and feel and act more realistically female I create back stories for my female alter-ego and really try to become her as I find the challenge something that is incredibly adventurous.
Sometimes I almost pass out with fear when I act like I find men attractive or talk about my (imaginary) ex husband and boyfriends. The man in me is repelled by this yet the woman I am attempting to portray feels at home. I do try to get over my male fears as I do dream of one day passing convincingly in every way as a woman. I kind of believe if I want to appear realistically to be female then I need to become female in my thinking and interaction.
I have found, despite my male fears, I do feel more like a female by thinking of the camera as my boyfriend and trying to act a bit flirty. Somehow it adds an extra element of femininity to the vibe and hopefully to the photos.
I rationalise this by telling myself I am supposed to be a woman when I have gone to all of the effort to become Helene so I need to switch over into being her. My body is shaved, my genitals are tucked, I have false breasts, my face is painted in make-up, I'm wearing a wig with a female hair style and I'm wearing knickers and bra and a dress and high heels with painted nails...I am trying to look like a woman so I really should try and make the whole ensemble come together and try and fulfil those efforts in a way that makes the illusion feel convincing and real to those who see her. I want my alter-ego to pass as a woman in every way, it's an ambition I harbour as a transvestite.
My vanity, indeed I'm sure more my ego, would love to one day experience being taken out for dinner as Helene by a man. As a transvestite trying to pass as a woman that surely has to be rewarding? To be wined and dined and treated as a lady and spend the evening as a woman being admired by men is the ultimate in passing. It has nothing to do with sex, it is all to do with an inner dream of being able to pass convincingly as a female.
I feel more at ease talking abut such scenarios now as I know my own sexuality and I know I would have enjoyed working as a female impersonator and acting as a convincing looking transvestite in films when I was younger. I enjoy those films when a woman is revealed to be a man and every body is surprised as they never saw it coming. The same with female impersonation, I am in awe of men who look, sound and can behave like women yet the audience know that she is in fact a man performing as a woman. I have been ridiculed, indeed at times humiliated in the past for expressing these personal views and ambitions but as I get older I now think why not be honest about my own motivations and issues related to why I engage in transvestism.
In this photo from early June I was totally getting into being a woman and would happily have posed with a man on my arm to sell the illusion I was female. I enjoyed wearing this outfit and if I am honest felt very much at home appearing like this. The intensity of the moment was quite something to cope with, I wanted nothing more than to remain female forever. However, about four hours after this photo was taken I returned to being a man and was quite happy to do so. I think the knowledge I desire to dress up and look female and act as if I am female is something I get a buzz from. The fact I rarely get to cross-dress is probably what I find attractive about being a transvestite. If I was a woman full time I would not likely get the rewards I have emotionally and physically that I get from the occasional cross-dressing experiences. Yet, I feel there is a part of me that wishes I was female.
To be a cross-dresser is quite a mixed bag of emotions and motivations, nothing is that clear cut and I confess I rather like this often confusing exciting and worrying mix that goes on within me. I am addicted to it, I really am.
Tradition relates that a castle was first constructed on this site by Rhodri the Great, but there are no remains from this period. Dinefwr later became the chief seat of Rhodri's grandson Hywel Dda, first ruler of Deheubarth and later king of most of Wales. Rhys ap Gruffydd, ruler of Deheubarth from 1155 to 1197, is thought to have rebuilt the castle. Giraldus Cambrensis tells a story about a plan by King Henry II of England to assault the castle during a campaign against Rhys. One of Henry's most trusted followers was sent on reconnaissance, guided by a local Welsh cleric, who was asked to lead him to the castle by the easiest route, but instead took the most difficult route he could find, ending the performance by stopping to eat grass with the explanation that this was the diet of the local people in times of hardship. The planned attack was duly abandoned.
Rhys ap Gruffydd also built the spectacular castle at Carreg Cennen, about four miles away to the south. It is not visible from Dynefwr, but Dryslwyn Castle can just be seen on a hill blocking the Tywi valley to the south-west. Rhys also founded two religious houses during this period. Talley Abbey was the first Premonstratensian abbey in Wales, while Llanllyr was a Cistercian nunnery, only the second nunnery to be founded in Wales and the first to prosper.
On Rhys ap Gruffydd's death the castle passed to his son Rhys Gryg, and the earliest parts of the present castle are thought to derive from this period. Llywelyn the Great of Gwynedd was now extending his influence to this area, and Rhys, finding himself unable to resist, dismantled the castle. Llywelyn however had it restored and held it until his death in 1240. In 1255 Llywelyn the Last gave Dinefwr to Rhys Fychan, then later gave it to Maredudd ap Rhys before later returning it to Rhys Fychan. Maredydd now allied himself to King Edward I of England, and helped Edward capture Dinefwr in 1277. Maredudd had apparently been promised Dinefwr in return for his help, but Edward did not keep his promise and had Maredudd executed in 1291.
doesn't relate, I just really love this song. My aunt got me an iTunes gift card for my birthday and I went ahead and bought a bunch of songs that had been sitting in my shopping cart for a while. Including Fleet Foxes, by Fleet Foxes, which is amazing.
I think I'm joining a music club if Dialecticals doesn't whip itself back into shape.
Speaking of school, I shouldn't be online right now. I have to take six tests in three days, and not complain to anyone about it, because after all, I did take an eight day vacation. BACK TO WORK.
I'm addicted to film. Every image comes out so much more epheral than I could ever expect from digital.
Canon AE-1 | Kodak Gold | ISO 200
I've never been able to relate to many people. I've always been the outcast child. I don't follow the rules. That's kind of how I do everything. Through my music, I've found a place in the world where I'm accepted, so I'm happy. "Neon Hitch"
Shirt - [AK] - Andrew Shirt Black
shorts - PBM Mens [Saggin' Shorts] Camo
bracelet - Izzie's - 2 Say It With A Bracelet (Loved)
watch - = REBELLION = "MAGNUS" CUFF WATCH
Shirt - [AK] - Andrew Shirt Black) I got this shirt just as a quick outfit change the other day, I half expected it to be bad, not a slight on [AK] but I've not had great success with shirts lately, I have to dig and dig to find ones I like. This one however surprised me, or I wouldn't be doing a post on it. The texture is subtle, and well done, the shadows are fantastic, not over done, just perfect. The only thing I have an issue with is fitting the shirt over jeans, most of my jeans poke through at the waist area.. However I needed a good shirt with the shorts I have on here, and this fits the bill. So if you want a Deep DEEP V, go pick this up!
Shorts - PBM Mens [Saggin' Shorts] Camo) - Okay so I'm kind of a snob when it comes to pants/jeans/shorts, I admit that freely. I will trash a pair of jeans if the texture is not perfect. So when I looked at PBM, I grabbed the demo and like [AK] shirt I expected these to also be shit. I couldn't have been more wrong, PBM Keep up the good work guys! Love these, they fit perfectly and look great!
The Bracelet and watch I'll do together, you can't really see them well in the photo, but both are very well textured, and both resizable! if you are in need of some accessories give Rebellion and Izzie's a shot! (special thanks to Hope for the bracelet! <3)
Blog Link - normalattireblog.wordpress.com/
Aircraft movements relating to the end of the State Visit to the UK by the President of the United States, bringing Trump back from Chequers prior to boarding Air Force One.
The formation consisted of three US Army Chinook helicopters, US Marine Corps VH-3 Sea King (Marine One) and the National Police Air Service H-145 helicopter.
Air Force One and two C-32 jets departed Stansted.
Photos taken off Belmer Road, Stansted Airport.
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
WHAT DOES DOG DAY AFTERNOON RELATE TO
"the dog days of summer." Dog days are not about or connected to the loveable canines which many of us enjoy. Dog days are actually referring to the star "Sirius", also known as the dog star, found in the constellation of Canis Major, deriving its name from the Greek word '"seirios", which means "scorching".
The star sirius is most visible in our hemisphere during the summer months as the brightest star in the heavens (not Polaris, the northern star).
So, "dog day afternoon" actually means nothing more than a hot summer afternoon.
LIVERPOOL CITY CENTRE HOT SUMMERS DAY
Rear 3/4 view of MOBIPeople Explorer 330.70 - the 330 I believe relates to its height in centimetres, the 70 to its capacity in 3+2 seating.
Commentary.
As its name suggests this village refers to a real forest, namely Ashdown Forest, an upland heathland in East Sussex.
Along with places like the New Forest, Great Windsor Park and Richmond Park it was one of many areas used by medieval Royals and landed gentry as a hunting ground, particularly for deer, wild boar and game birds.
Several other local villages have names linking to their forested/heathland hinterland.
These include Chelwood Gate, Hartfield (“hart” relating to a male deer or stag), Ashurst Wood (“hurst” referring to a woodland clearing), Withyham ( “withy”) referring to willow trees) and Coleman’s Hatch (“hatch” referring to a woodland gate) because “forests” or hunting grounds were often fenced off with six-foot fences to prevent deer from eating farm produce and sapling trees.
As for Forest Row itself, it is a village south-east of East Grinstead where the modern A.22 turns from south-east to south towards Eastbourne.
In this image Holy Trinity Church is on the left.
Just right of centre is the colourful and elaborate frontage of the Village Hall.
A turning to the right of this image connects to Ashdown Forest and Hartfield.
For me and countless others, these two places will always be the land of Winnie the Pooh.
A.A. Milne, the writer of Pooh stories, lived at Cotchford Farm, near Hartfield, with his son Christopher Robin from 1925 to 1956 when Milne died.
Thousands of people every year visit the “real” sites of the inspired fictitious locations including:
Pooh Sticks Bridge, Galleons Lap, The Enchanted Place and (Five) Hundred Acre Wood and many others.
I have visited these places myself and found them so “real” that I half expected Tigger to bounce from behind a tree at any moment.
Such is the power of the well written word!
Uses: Anything relating to finance and money.
Free Creative Commons Finance Images... I created these images in my studio and have made them all available for personal or commercial use. Hope you like them and find them useful.
To see more of our CC by 2.0 finance images click here... see profile for attribution.
the myth retelling Typhon's murder and dismemberment of his brother Osiris.. For alchemists, the myth of Isis and Osiris was a myth of the alchemical process. One of this myths relates him vanquishing Typhon, the dragon of ignorance ...
Set (Seth, Setekh, Sut, Sutekh, Suty) was one of ancient Egypt’s earliest gods, a god of chaos, confusion, storms, wind, the desert and foreign lands. In the Osiris legends, he was a contender to the throne of Osiris and rival to Horus, but a companion to the sun god Ra. Originally worshiped and seen as an ambivalent being, during the Third Intermediate Period the people vilified him and turned him into a god of evil.
Depicted as a man with the head of a ‘Sut animal’ (or a ‘Typhonian animal’ because of the Greek identification with Typhon), or as a full ‘Set animal’ the god is unrecognizable as any one particular animal today. He was also identified with other animals, such as the hippopotamus, the pig and the donkey, which were often abhorred by the Egyptians. These animals were sacred to him. Set’s followers took the form of these animals, as well as crocodiles, scorpions, turtles and other ‘evil’ or dangerous creatures. Some fish were sacred to Set, too – the Nile carp, the Oxyrynchus or the Phagrus fish – because they were thought to have eaten the phallus of Osiris after Set chopped him to pieces.
The ‘Set animal’ has long, squared ears and a long, down-turned snout, a canine-like body with an erect forked tail. He may have been a composite animal that was part aardvark (the aardvark that the ancient Egyptians would have seen was the nocturnal Orycteropus aethiopicus which was between 1.2-1.8 meters long and almost 1 meter tall, and was generally a reddish color because of the thin hair, allowing the skin to show through), part canine (perhaps the salawa, a desert dwelling creature) or even a camel or an okapi. The sign for his name, from the Middle Kingdom hieratic onwards, tended to replace the sign for ‘donkey’ and ‘giraffe’, so he was possibly linked to the giraffe, as well.
He was also believed to have white skin and red hair, with the Egyptians comparing his hair to the pelt of a donkey. Due to his association with red, red animals and even people with red hair were thought to be his followers. These animals were sometimes sacrificed, while the link between Set and red-heads – usually foreigners – gave him godhood over foreign lands. With the relationship to foreign peoples, Set was also a god of overseas trade of oils, wood and metals from over the sea and through desert routes. He was given lordship over western Asia because of this.
As Set was a god of the desert and probably symbolized the destructive heat of the afternoon sun, and thus was thought to be infertile. The hieroglyph for Set was used in words such as ‘turmoil’, ‘confusion’, ‘illness’, ‘storm’ and ‘rage’. Strange events such as eclipses, thunderstorms and earthquakes were all attributed to him.
Horus has seized Set, he has put him beneath you so that he can lift you up. He will groan beneath you as an earthquake…
– Pyramid Texts, Spell 356
He was also thought to have rather odd sexual habits, another reason why the Egyptian believed that abnormalities were linked to Set. In a land where fatherhood makes the man, Set’s lack of children, related to the tale where Horus tore off his testicles (while Set tore out Horus’ eye) would have been one reason why he was looked down on. His favorite – some say only – food was the lettuce (which secreted a white, milky substance that the Egyptians linked to semen and was sacred to the fertility god Min), but even with this aphrodisiac, he was still thought to have been infertile.His bisexuality (he was married and given concubines to appease him, yet he also assaulted Horus sexually starting with the come-on line “How lovely your backside is!”) and his pursuit of Isis were reasons why Set could never have been a ruler of Egypt instead of Osiris, despite originally being a lord of Upper Egypt.When Set saw Isis there, he transformed himself into a bull to be able to pursue her, but she made herself unrecognizable by taking the form of a bitch with a knife on her tail. Then she began to run away from him and Set was unable to catch up with her. Then he ejaculated on the ground, and she said, “It’s disgusting to have ejaculated, you bull!” But his sperm grew in the desert and became the plants called bedded-kau.
– Jumilhac PapyrusIn the Old and Middle Kingdoms there are depictions of these two gods together either leading the prisoners of the pharaoh or binding the plants of Upper and Lower Egypt together (as does the twin Hapi gods) to symbolize the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. He was regarded as an equal to the hawk god. This was Horus the Elder, a god of the day sky while Set was seen as a god of the night sky. When these two gods were linked, the two were said to be Horus-Set, a man with two heads – one of the hawk of Horus, the other of the Set animal.“Homage to thee, O divine Ladder! Homage to thee O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O divine Ladder! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Horus, whereby Osiris came forth into heaven.”
– Pyramid Texts, Pepi I
In the Pyramid Texts he was believed to be a friend to the dead, and he helped Osiris ascend to heaven on a ladder. On one of Seti I’s reliefs, it shows Set and Horus offering the symbol of life to the pharaoh, with Set saying “I establish the crown upon thy head, even like the Disk on the head of Amen-Ra, and I will give thee all life, strength and health.” Thothmose III had a scene showing Set teaching him the use of the bow, while Horus taught him yet another weapon.
As for his role as a friend of the dead, it was believed that “Horus purifies and Set strengthens, and Set purifies and Horus strengthens” the deceased while the backbone of the deceased becomes the backbone of Set and Set has “joined together my neck and my back strongly, and they are even as they were in the time that is past; may nothing happen to break them apart.”Ramesses II, as did his father Seti I, both had red hair and so aligned themselves with the god of chaos. Both were famous warrior pharaohs, using Set’s violent nature to help with their war efforts. In Ramesses II’s campaign against the Hittites, he split his army into four divisions and named them after four gods. One was for Amen, one for Ra, one for Ptah and one for Set. But it was the pharaoh himself who won the battle:Thereupon the forces of the Foe from Khatti surrounded the followers of his majesty who were by his side. When his majesty caught sight of them he rose quickly, enraged at them like his father Mont. Taking up weapons and donning his armor he was like Set in the moment of his power. He mounted ‘Victory-in-Thebes,’ his great horse, and started out quickly alone by himself. His majesty was mighty, his heart stout. one could not stand before him.All his ground was ablaze with fire; he burned all the countries with his blast. His eyes were savage as he beheld them; his power flared like fire against them. He heeded not the foreign multitude; he regarded them as chaff. His majesty charged into the force of the Foe from Khatti and the many countries with him. His majesty was like Seth, great-of-strength, like Sekhmet in the moment of her rage. His majesty slew the entire force of the Foe from Khatti, together with his great chiefs and all his brothers, as well as all the chiefs of all the countries that had come with him, their infantry and their charioteers falling on their faces one upon the other. His majesty slaughtered them in their places; they sprawled before his horses; and his majesty was alone, none other with him.It is likely that the cult of Horus overtook the cult of Set in ancient times, and started to remove his positive sides to give the god Horus more status. The two gods, Horus the Elder and Horus the son of Osiris and Isis were confused, so Set changed from being an equal to his brother, Horus the Elder, to the enemy of Isis’s son. It was only after the Hyksos took Set as their main god, after the Egyptians god rid of the foreigners, he stopped symbolizing Lower Egypt and his name was erased and his statues destroyed.
Set has been worshiped since predynastic times. The first representation of Set that has been found was on a carved ivory comb, an Amratian artifact. He was also shown on the Scorpion macehead. He was worshiped and placated through Egyptian history until the Third Intermediate Period where he was seen as an evil and undesirable force. From this time on, some of his statues were re-carved to become the statues of other gods, and it was said that he had actually been defeated by the god Horus.In the original tale of the fight between Set and Horus, the Egyptians believed that the two would continue their battle until the end of time itself, when chaos overran ma’at and the waters of Nun would swallow up the world. It was only when Set was vilified that this changed, and the Egyptians began to believe that Horus won the battle, defeating Set as a version of good triumphing over evil.
In the tale of Osiris, Set was the third of the five children of Nut, thought to have been born in the Nubt (Naqada) area. Instead of being born in the normal manner, as his siblings were born, he tore himself violently from his mother’s womb.
You whom the pregnant goddess brought forth when you clove the night in twain -You are invested with the form of Set, who broke out in violence.Jealous of his older brother Osiris – either because of the birth of his sister-wife’s son, Anubis, or because of Osiris’ rulership of Egypt – Set made a plan to murder his childless brother and take the throne. He made a great feast, supposedly in honor of Osiris, and with 72 accomplices ready, he tricked Osiris into laying down in a coffer – whoever fitted into the richly ornamented chest would win it – and considering that he’d measured it to fit his brother exactly, Osiris fit perfectly… and Set’s accomplices nailed down the lid and threw it into the Nile.When Isis found out about this, she went on a search through the world to find her husband. Bringing him back, Set happened on the coffer, and tore it open and cut up his brother’s corpse, spreading body parts through the land of Egypt. Isis and Set’s wife Nephthys (who had left him to join her sister) went on a quest to restore Osiris. They succeeded enough so that Isis conceived Osiris’ son and eventually bore the child Horus in the Delta region where he grew up.
By this time Horus had reached manhood … Horus thereupon did battle with Set, the victory falling now to one, now to the other … Horus and Set, it is said, still do battle with one another, yet victory has fallen to neither.Yet Set was thought to be a follower of Ra. It was he who defended the Solar Barque each night as it traveled through the underworld, the only Egyptian deity who could kill the serpent Apep – Ra’s most dangerous enemy – each night as it threatened to swallow the Barque.Then Set, the strong one, the son of Nut, said “As for me, I am Set, the strongest of the Divine Company. Every day I slay the enemy of Ra when I stand at the helm of the Barque of Millions of Years, which no other god dare do.”Even here, though, Set was thought to be a braggart, taunting Ra and threatening that if he wasn’t treated well, that he would bring storms and thunder against the sun god. At this point in The Book of the Dead, Ra drives Set away from the Barque for his insolence, and proceeds on course without the god of storms.Other than Nephthys, Set had other wives/concubines. He was believed to live in the northern sky by the constellation of the Great Bear. To the Egyptians, the north symbolized darkness, cold and death. It was there that his wife Taweret, the hippo goddess of childbirth, was believed to keep him chained. He seemed to have bad luck with women – as with Nephthys, Taweret followed Osiris.At one part in the tale of Set’s argument with Horus over rulership, the company of the gods asked the goddess Neith, rather than Ra – who sided with Set – who should be given the throne of Osiris. Her reply was this:“Give the office of Osiris to his son Horus! Do not go on committing these great wrongs, which are not in place, or I will get angry and the sky will topple to the ground. But also tell the Lord of All, the Bull who lives in Heliopolis, to double Set’s property. Give him Anat and Astarte, your two daughters, and put Horus in the place of his father.”– Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, RT Rundle ClarkSo he was given the two foreign goddesses Anat and Astarte, both war goddesses from the Syria-Palestine area and daughters of Ra. The two were often interchangeable, yet they had their own distinct cults. Anat and Taweret, though they were fertility goddesses, never bore Set any children.Despite his wicked side, Set was still a god of Egypt, and worshiped – and feared – as such. His image changed through time, due to politics, yet he was still a powerful god, the only one who could slay Ra’s worst enemy. To the Egyptians he was the god who ‘ate’ the moon each month – the black boar who swallowed its light – and the god who created earthquakes and heavy, thunderous rain storms. He was a friend of the dead, helping them to ascend to heaven on his ladder, and the crowner of pharaohs and leader of warriors.Despite his bad reputation, he was still a divine being – an equal of Horus, no less – who could be invoked by his followers or warded off by those who were afraid of him. Yet without chaos and confusion there would be no order; without the heavy, thunderous storms there would be no good weather; without the desert and foreign lands there would be no Egypt. Set was a counterbalance to the ‘good’ side of the Egyptian universe, helping to keep everything in balance.
www.crystalwind.ca/mystical-magical/pantheons-and-myths/e...
Typhon (/ˈtaɪfɒn, -fən/; Greek: Τυφῶν, Tuphōn [typʰɔ̂ːn]), also Typhoeus (/taɪˈfiːəs/; Τυφωεύς, Tuphōeus), Typhaon (Τυφάων, Tuphaōn) or Typhos (Τυφώς, Tuphōs), was a monstrous giant and the most deadly being of Greek mythology. Typhon was the last son of Gaia, and was fathered by Tartarus. Typhon and his mate Echidna were the progenitors of many famous monsters.Typhon was the son of Gaia (Earth) and Tartarus: "when Zeus had driven the Titans from heaven, huge Earth bore her youngest child Typhoeus of the love of Tartarus, by the aid of golden Aphrodite".[1] The mythographer Apollodorus (1st or 2nd century AD) adds that Gaia bore Typhon in anger at the gods for their destruction of her offspring the Giants.Numerous other sources mention Typhon as being the offspring of Gaia, or simply "earth-born", with no mention of Tartarus.However, according to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (6th century BC), Typhon was the child of Hera alone. Hera, angry at Zeus for having given birth to Athena by himself, prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground and became pregnant. Hera gave the infant Typhon to the serpent Python to raise, and Typhon grew up to become a great bane to mortals.
Depiction by Wenceslas Hollar
Several sources locate Typhon's birth and dwelling place in Cilicia, and in particular the region in the vicinity of the ancient Cilician coastal city of Corycus (modern Kızkalesi, Turkey). The poet Pindar (c. 470 BC) calls Typhon '"Cilician",and says that Typhon was born in Cilicia and nurtured in "the famous Cilician cave",[7] an apparent allusion to the Corycian cave.[8] In Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, Typhon is called the "dweller of the Cilician caves",[9] and both Apollodorus and the poet Nonnus (4th or 5th century AD) have Typhon born in Cilicia.The b scholia to Iliad 2.783, preserving a possible Orphic tradition, has Typhon born in Cilicia, as the offspring of Cronus. Gaia, angry at the destruction of the Giants, slanders Zeus to Hera. So Hera goes to Zeus' father Cronus (whom Zeus had overthrown) and Cronus gives Hera two eggs smeared with his own semen, telling her to bury them, and that from them would be born one who would overthrow Zeus. Hera, angry at Zeus, buries the eggs in Cilicia "under Arimon", but when Typhon is born, Hera, now reconciled with Zeus, informs him.
According to Hesiod, Typhon was "terrible, outrageous and lawless", and on his shoulders were one hundred snake heads, that emitted fire and every kind of noise:
Strength was with his hands in all that he did and the feet of the strong god were untiring. From his shoulders grew a hundred heads of a snake, a fearful dragon, with dark, flickering tongues, and from under the brows of his eyes in his marvellous heads flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps, wonderful to hear; and again, at another, he would hiss, so that the high mountains re-echoed.The Homeric Hymn to Apollo describes Typhon as "fell" and "cruel", and neither like gods nor men. Three of Pindar's poems have Typhon as hundred-headed (as in Hesiod),while apparently a fourth gives him only fifty heads, but a hundred heads for Typhon became standard. A Chalcidian hydria (c. 540–530 BC), depicts Typhon as a winged humanoid from the waist up, with two snake tails below. Aeschylus calls Typhon "fire-breathing". For Nicander (2nd century BC), Typhon was a monster of enormous strength, and strange appearance, with many heads, hands, and wings, and with huge snake coils coming from his thighs.
Apollodorus describes Typhon as a huge winged monster, whose head "brushed the stars", human in form above the waist, with snake coils below, and fire flashing from his eyes:
In size and strength he surpassed all the offspring of Earth. As far as the thighs he was of human shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains, and his head often brushed the stars. One of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and from them projected a hundred dragons' heads. From the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and emitted a loud hissing. His body was all winged: unkempt hair streamed on the wind from his head and cheeks; and fire flashed from his eyes.
The most elaborate description of Typhon is found in Nonnus's Dionysiaca. Nonnus makes numerous references to Typhon's sepentine nature, giving him a "tangled army of snakes", snaky feet, and hair.According to Nonnus, Typhon was a "poison-spitting viper",whose "every hair belched viper-poison",and Typhon "spat out showers of poison from his throat; the mountain torrents were swollen, as the monster showered fountains from the viperish bristles of his high head",and "the water-snakes of the monster's viperish feet crawl into the caverns underground, spitting poison!".
Following Hesiod and others, Nonnus gives Typhon many heads (though untotaled), but in addition to snake heads,Nonnus also gives Typhon many other animal heads, including leopards, lions, bulls, boars, bears, cattle, wolves, and dogs, which combine to make 'the cries of all wild beasts together',and a "babel of screaming sounds".Nonnus also gives Typhon "legions of arms innumerable", and where Nicander had only said that Typhon had "many" hands, and Ovid had given Typhon a hundred hands, Nonnus gives Typhon two hundred.According to Hesiod's Theogony, Typhon "was joined in love" to Echidna, a monstrous half-woman and half-snake, who bore Typhon "fierce offspring". First, according to Hesiod, there was Orthrus, the two-headed dog who guarded the Cattle of Geryon, second Cerberus,[36] the multiheaded dog who guarded the gates of Hades, and third the Lernaean Hydra,[37] the many-headed serpent who, when one of its heads was cut off, grew two more. The Theogony next mentions an ambiguous "she", which might refer to Echidna, as the mother of the Chimera (a fire-breathing beast that was part lion, part goat, and had a snake-headed tail) with Typhon then being the father.
While mentioning Cerberus and "other monsters" as being the offspring of Echidna and Typhon, the mythographer Acusilaus (6th century BC) adds the Caucasian Eagle that ate the liver of Prometheus,[39] the mythographer Pherecydes of Leros (5th century BC), also names Prometheus' eagle,[40] and adds Ladon (though Pherecydes does not use this name), the dragon that guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides (according to Hesiod, the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys).[41] while the lyric poet Lasus of Hermione (6th century BC), adds the Sphinx.Later authors mostly retain these offspring of Typhon by Echidna, while adding others. Apollodorus, in addition to naming as their offspring Orthrus, the Chimera (citing Hesiod as his source) the Caucasian Eagle, Ladon, and the Sphinx, also adds the Nemean lion (no mother is given), and the Crommyonian Sow, killed by the hero Theseus (unmentioned by Hesiod).Hyginus (1st century BC),[44] in his list of offspring of Typhon (all by Echidna), retains from the above: Cerberus, the Chimera, the Sphinx, the Hydra and Ladon, and adds "Gorgon" (by which Hyginus means the mother of Medusa, whereas Hesiod's three Gorgons, of which Medusa was one, were the daughters of Ceto and Phorcys), the Colchian Dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and Scylla.The Harpies, in Hesiod the daughters of Thaumas and the Oceanid Electra, in one source, are said to be the daughters of Typhon.The sea serpents which attacked the Trojan priest Laocoön, during the Trojan War, were perhaps supposed to be the progeny of Typhon and Echidna.According to Hesiod, the defeated Typhon is the source of destructive storm winds.Battle with Zeus
Typhon challenged Zeus for rule of the cosmos.The earliest mention of Typhon, and his only occurrence in Homer, is a passing reference in the Iliad to Zeus striking the ground around where Typhon lies defeated.Hesiod's Theogony gives us the first account of their battle. According to Hesiod, without the quick action of Zeus, Typhon would have "come to reign over mortals and immortals".In the Theogony Zeus and Typhon meet in cataclysmic conflict:[Zeus] thundered hard and mightily: and the earth around resounded terribly and the wide heaven above, and the sea and Ocean's streams and the nether parts of the earth. Great Olympus reeled beneath the divine feet of the king as he arose and earth groaned thereat. And through the two of them heat took hold on the dark-blue sea, through the thunder and lightning, and through the fire from the monster, and the scorching winds and blazing thunderbolt. The whole earth seethed, and sky and sea: and the long waves raged along the beaches round and about at the rush of the deathless gods: and there arose an endless shaking. Hades trembled where he rules over the dead below, and the Titans under Tartarus who live with Cronos, because of the unending clamor and the fearful strife.Zeus with his thunderbolt easily overcomes Typhon,who is thrown down to earth in a fiery crash:So when Zeus had raised up his might and seized his arms, thunder and lightning and lurid thunderbolt, he leaped from Olympus and struck him, and burned all the marvellous heads of the monster about him. But when Zeus had conquered him and lashed him with strokes, Typhoeus was hurled down, a maimed wreck, so that the huge earth groaned. And flame shot forth from the thunderstricken lord in the dim rugged glens of the mount, when he was smitten. A great part of huge earth was scorched by the terrible vapor and melted as tin melts when heated by men's art in channelled crucibles; or as iron, which is hardest of all things, is shortened by glowing fire in mountain glens and melts in the divine earth through the strength of Hephaestus. Even so, then, the earth melted in the glow of the blazing fire.Defeated, Typhon is cast into Tartarus by an angry Zeus.Epimenides (7th or 6th century BC) seeminly knew a different version of the story, in which Typhon enters Zeus' palace while Zeus is asleep, but Zeus awakes and kills Typhon with a thunderbolt.[58] Pindar calls Typhon the "enemy of the gods",[59] apparently knew of a tradition which had the gods transform into animals and flee to Egypt, says that Typhon was defeated by Zeus' thunderbolt,has Typhon being held prisoner by Zeus under Etna,and in Tartarus stretched out under ground between Mount Etna and Cumae. However, the historian Herodotus (5th century BC), equating Typhon with the Egyptian god Set, reports that Typhon was supposed to be buried instead under Lake Serbonis in Egypt, near the Egyptian Mount Kasios, (modern Ra Kouroun).According to Pherecydes of Leros, during his battle with Zeus, Typhon first flees to the Caucasus, which begins to burn, then to the volcanic island of Pithecussae (modern Ischia), off the coast of Cumae, where he is buried under the island.Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC), like Pherecydes, presents a multi-stage battle, with Typhon being struck by Zeus' thunderbolt on mount Caucasus, before fleeing to the mountains and plain of Nysa, and ending up, as in Herodotus, buried under Lake Serbonis.Like Pindar, Nicander has all the gods but Zeus and Athena, transform into animal forms and flee to Egypt: Apollo became a hawk, Hermes an ibis, Ares a fish, Artemis a cat, Dionysus a goat, Heracles a fawn, Hephaestus an ox, and Leto a mouse.[The geographer Strabo (c. 20 AD) gives several locations which were associated with the battle. According to Strabo, Typhon was said to have cut the serpentine channel of the Orontes River, which flowed beneath the Syrian Mount Kasios (modern Jebel Aqra), while fleeing from Zeus,[68] and some placed the battle at Catacecaumene ("Burnt Land"),[69] a volcanic plain, on the upper Gediz River, between the ancient kingdoms of Lydia, Mysia and Phrygia, near Mount Tmolus (modern Bozdağ) and Sardis the ancient capital of Lydia.No early source gives any reason for the conflict, but Apollodorus' account[71] seemingly implies that Typhon had been produced by Gaia to avenge the destruction, by Zeus and the other gods, of the Giants, a previous generation of offspring of Gaia. According to Apollodorus "Zeus pelted Typhon at a distance with thunderbolts, and at close quarters struck him down with an adamantine sickle" Wounded, Typhon fled to the Syrian Mount Kasios, where Zeus "grappled" with him. But Typhon, twining his snaky coils around Zeus, was able to wrest away the sickle and cut the sinews from Zeus' hands and feet. Typhon carried the disabled Zeus across the sea to the Corycian cave in Cilicia where he set the she-serpent Delphyne to guard over Zeus and his severed sinews, which Typhon had hidden in a bear skin. But Hermes and Aegipan (possibly another name for Pan)[73] stole the sinews and gave them back to Zeus. His strength restored, Zeus chased Typhon to mount Nysa, where the Moirai tricked Typhon into eating "ephemeral fruits" which weakened him. Typhon then fled to Thrace, where he threw mountains at Zeus, which were turned back on him by Zeus' thunderbolts, and the mountain where Typhon stood, being drenched with Typhon's blood, became known as Mount Haemus (Bloody Mountain). Typhon then fled to Sicily, where Zeus threw Mount Etna on top of Typhon burying him, and so finally defeated him.Oppian (2nd century AD) says that Pan helped Zeus in the battle by tricking Typhon to come out from his lair, and into the open, by the "promise of a banquet of fish", thus enabling Zeus to defeat Typhon with his thunderbolts.The longest and most involved account of the battle appears in Nonnus's Dionysiaca.Zeus hides his thunderbolts in a cave, so that he might seduce the maiden Plouto, and so produce Tantalus. But smoke rising from the thunderbolts, enables Typhon, under the guidance of Gaia, to locate Zeus's weapons, steal them, and hide them in another cave.[76] Immediately Typhon extends "his clambering hands into the upper air" and begins a long and concerted attack upon the heavens.Then "leaving the air" he turns his attack upon the seas. Finally Typhon attempts to wield Zeus' thunderbolts, but they "felt the hands of a novice, and all their manly blaze was unmanned."Now Zeus' sinews had somehow – Nonnus does not say how or when — fallen to the ground during their battle, and Typhon had taken them also. But Zeus devises a plan with Cadmus and Pan to beguile Typhon.Cadmus, desguised as a shepherd, enchants Typhon by playing the panpipes, and Typhon entrusting the thuderbolts to Gaia, sets out to find the source of the music he hears.[82] Finding Cadmus, he challenges him to a contest, offering Cadmus any goddess as wife, excepting Hera whom Typhon has reserved for himself.Cadmus then tells Typhon that, if he liked the "little tune" of his pipes, then he would love the music of his lyre – if only it could be strung with Zeus' sinews. So Typhon retrieves the sinews and gives them to Cadmus, who hides them in another cave, and again begins to play his bewiching pipes, so that "Typhoeus yielded his whole soul to Cadmos for the melody to charm".With Typhon distracted, Zeus takes back his thunderbolts. Cadmus stops playing, and Typhon, released from his spell, rushes back to his cave to discover the thunderbolts gone. Incensed Typhon unleashes devastation upon the world: animals are devoured, (Typhon's many animal heads each eat animals of its own kind), rivers turned to dust, seas made dry land, and the land "laid waist".The day ends with Typhon yet unchallenged, and while the other gods "moved about the cloudless Nile", Zeus waits through the night for the coming dawn.[87] Victory "reproaches" Zeus, urging him to "stand up as champion of your own children!"Dawn comes and Typhon roars out a challenge to Zeus.And a catyclismic battle for "the sceptre and throne of Zeus" is joined. Typhon piles up mountains as battlements and with his "legions of arms innumerable", showers volley after volley of trees and rocks at Zeus, but all are destroyed, or blown aside, or dodged, or thrown back at Typhon. Typhon throws torrents of water at Zeus' thunderbolts to quench them, but Zeus is able to cut off some of Typhon's hands with "frozen volleys of air as by a knife", and hurling thunderbolts is able to burn more of typhon's "endless hands", and cut off some of his "countless heads". Typhon is attacked by the four winds, and "frozen volleys of jagged hailstones." Gaia tries to aid her burnt and frozen son.Finally Typhon falls, and Zeus shouts out a long stream of mocking taunts, telling Typhon that he is to be buried under Sicily's hills, with a cenotaph over him which will read "This is the barrow of Typhoeus, son of Earth, who once lashed the sky with stones, and the fire of heaven burnt him up".
Burial under Etna and Ischia]
Most accounts have the defeated Typhon buried under either Mount Etna in Sicily, or the volcanic island of Ischia, the largest of the Phlegraean Islands off the coast of Naples, with Typhon being the cause of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.Though Hesiod has Typhon simply cast into Tartarus by Zeus, some have read a reference to Mount Etna in Hesiod's description of Typhon's fall:And flame shot forth from the thunderstricken lord in the dim rugged glens of the mount when he was smitten. A great part of huge earth was scorched by the terrible vapor and melted as tin melts when heated by men's art in channelled crucibles; or as iron, which is hardest of all things, is shortened by glowing fire in mountain glens and melts in the divine earth through the strength of Hephaestus. Even so, then, the earth melted in the glow of the blazing fire.The first certain references to Typhon buried under Etna, as well as being the cause of its eruptions, occur in Pindar:Son of Cronus, you who hold Aetna, the wind-swept weight on terrible hundred-headed Typhon,and: among them is he who lies in dread Tartarus, that enemy of the gods, Typhon with his hundred heads. Once the famous Cilician cave nurtured him, but now the sea-girt cliffs above Cumae, and Sicily too, lie heavy on his shaggy chest. And the pillar of the sky holds him down, snow-covered Aetna, year-round nurse of bitter frost, from whose inmost caves belch forth the purest streams of unapproachable fire. In the daytime her rivers roll out a fiery flood of smoke, while in the darkness of night the crimson flame hurls rocks down to the deep plain of the sea with a crashing roar. That monster shoots up the most terrible jets of fire; it is a marvellous wonder to see, and a marvel even to hear about when men are present. Such a creature is bound beneath the dark and leafy heights of Aetna and beneath the plain, and his bed scratches and goads the whole length of his back stretched out against it.Thus Pindar has Typhon in Tartarus, and buried under not just Etna, but under a vast volcanic region stretching from Sicily to Cumae (in the vicinity of modern Naples), a region which presumably also included Mount Vesuvius, as well as Ischia.Many subsequent accounts mention either Etnaor Ischia. In Prometheus Bound, Typhon is imprisoned underneath Etna, while above him Hephaestus "hammers the molten ore", and in his rage, the "charred" Typhon causes "rivers of fire" to pour forth. Ovid has Typhon buried under all of Sicily, with his left and right hands under Pelorus and Pachynus, his feet under Lilybaeus, and his head under Etna; where he "vomits flames from his ferocious mouth". And Valerius Flaccus has Typhon's head under Etna, and all of Sicily shaken when Typhon "struggles". Lycophron has both Typhon and Giants buried under the island of Ischia. Virgil, Silius Italicus and Claudian, all calling the island "Inarime", have Typhon buried there. Strabo, calling Ischia "Pithecussae", reports the "myth" that Typhon lay buried there, and that when he "turns his body the flames and the waters, and sometimes even small islands containing boiling water, spout forth."Others said to be buried under Etna were the Giant Enceladus, the volcano's eruptions being the breath of Enceladus, and its tremors caused by the Giant rolling over from side to side beneath the mountain,and the Hundred-hander Briareus."Couch of Typhoeus" Homer describes a place he calls the "couch [or bed] of Typhoeus", which he locates in the land of the Arimoi (εἰν Ἀρίμοις), where Zeus lashes the land about Typhoeus with his thunderbolts. Presumably this is the same land where, according to Hesiod, Typhon's mate Echida keeps guard "in Arima" (εἰν Ἀρίμοισιν).But neither Homer nor Hesiod say anything more about where these Arimoi or this Arima might be. The question of whether an historical place was meant, and its possible location, has been, since ancient times, the subject of speculation and debate.Strabo discusses the question in some detail.[everal locales, Cilicia, Syria, Lydia, and the island of Ischia, all places associated with Typhon, are given by Strabo as possible locations for Homer's "Arimoi".
Pindar has his Cilician Typhon slain by Zeus "among the Arimoi",[106] and the historian Callisthenes (4th century BC), located the Arimoi and the Arima mountains in Cilicia, near the Calycadnus river, the Corycian cave and the Sarpedon promomtory.[107] The b scholia to Iliad 2.783, mentioned above, says Typhon was born in Cilicia "under Arimon",[108] and Nonnus mentions Typhon's "bloodstained cave of Arima" in Cilicia.Just across the Gulf of Issus from Corycus, in ancient Syria, was Mount Kasios (modern Jebel Aqra) and the Orontes River, sites associated with Typhon's battle with Zeus,[110] and according to Strabo, the historian Posidonius (c. 2nd century BC) identified the Arimoi with the Aramaeans of Syria.[Alternatively, according to Strabo, some placed the Arimoi at Catacecaumene,[112] while Xanthus of Lydia (5th century BC) added that "a certain Arimus" ruled there.Strabo also tells us that for "some" Homer's "couch of Typhon" was located "in a wooded place, in the fertile land of Hyde", with Hyde being another name for Sardis (or its acropolis), and that Demetrius of Scepsis (2nd century BC) thought that the Arimoi were most plausibly located "in the Catacecaumene country in Mysia".[114] The 3rd-century BC poet Lycophron placed the lair of Typhons' mate Echidna in this region.[115]
Another place, mentioned by Strabo, as being associated with Arima, is the island of Ischia, where according to Pherecydes of Leros, Typhon had fled, and in the area where Pindar and others had said Typhon was buried. The connection to Arima, comes from the island's Greek name Pithecussae, which derives from the Greek word for monkey, and according to Strabo, residents of the island said that "arimoi" was also the Etruscan word for monkeys.[116]
Etymology and origins Typhon's name has a number of variants.[117] The earliest forms of Typhoeus and Typhaon, occur prior to the 5th century BC. Homer uses Typhoeus, Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo use both Typhoeus and Typhaon. The later forms Typhos and Typhon occur from the 5th century BC onwards, with Typhon becoming the standard form by the end of that century. Though several possible derivations of the name Typhon have been suggested, the derivation remains uncertain.[118] Consistent with Hesiod's making storm winds Typhon's offspring, some have supposed that Typhon was originally a wind-god, and ancient sources associated him with the Greek words tuphon, tuphos meaning "whirlwind".Other theories include derivation from a Greek root meaning "smoke" (consistent with Typhon's identification with volcanoes),from an Indo European root meaning "abyss" (making Typhon a "Serpent of the Deep"),and from Sapõn the Phoenician name for the Ugaritic god Baal's holy mountain Jebel Aqra (the classical Mount Kasios) associated with the epithet Baʿal Zaphon.
As noted by Herodotus, Typhon was traditionally identified with the Egyptian Set, who was also known to the Greeks as Typhon. As early as pre-dynastic Egypt, Set's mascot or emblem was the Set animal; the Greeks and later classicists referred to this unidentified aardvark-like creature as the Typhonic beast. In the Orphic tradition, just as Set is responsible for the murder of Osiris, Typhon leads the Titans when they attack and kill Dionysus, who also became identified with the earlier Osiris.Mythologist Joseph Campbell also makes parallels to the slaying of Leviathan by YHWH, about which YHWH boasts to Job.[123] Ogden calls the Typhon myth "the only Graeco-Roman drakōn-slaying myth that can seriously be argued to exhibit the influence of Near Eastern antecedents", connecting it in particular with Baʿal Zaphon's slaying of Yammu and Lotan, as well as with the Hittite myth of Illuyankas.From its first reappearance, this latter myth has been seen as a prototype of the battle of Zeus and Typhon.Walter Burkert and Calvert Watkins each note the close agreements.Comparisons can also be drawn with the Mesopotamian monster Tiamat and her slaying by Babylonian chief god Marduk. The similarities between the Greek myth and its earlier Mesopotamian counterpart do not seem to be merely accidental. A number of west Semitic (Ras Shamra) and Hittite sources appear to corroborate the theory of a genetic relationship between the two myths.In works of culture. Dante Alighieri's Inferno mentions him amongst the Biblical and mythological giants frozen onto the rings outside of Hell's Circle of Treachery. Dante and Virgil threatened to go to Tityos and Typhon unless Antaeus lowers them into the Circle of Treachery. Typhon (as Typhoeus) appears in Gustav Klimt's 1902 Beethoven Frieze as one of "the Hostile Forces".
Typhon is a recurring character in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, where he is a friend and ally to Hercules, and a calming influence on Echidna and their children. Typhon appears in the 2007 video game, God of War II where the main character Kratos tries to enlist his aid. The Titan refuses and Kratos blinds Typhon and takes his magical bow, Typhon's Bane.Swedish symphonic metal band Therion dedicated a song to Typhon in their year 2004 album Lemuria.
Chinese visual artist and political activist Ai Weiwei visited the Greek island of Lesvos in 2015, to witness the influx of refugees in Europe. Deciding to create a documentary on the topic, he and his family and film team travelled to over 40 refugee camps in 23 countries in one year. The resulting photographing series, consisting of 17000 photographs exhibited here at the FOMU in Antwerp, attempt to depict the scale and impact of the global refugee crisis.