Inspired by Florence Farr.

One comes to you
And takes strange gain away:
Trophies fished up; some curious suggestion;
Fact that leads nowhere; and a tale or two
Pregnant with mandrakes...

Fembot Close-Ups

The Guts Loom - for weaving enthusiasts.

On Good-Friday that event happened in Caithness that a man whose name was Daurrud went out. He saw folk riding twelve together to a bower, and there they were all lost to his sight. He went to that bower and looked in through a window slit that was in it, and saw that there were women inside, and they had set up a loom. Men's heads were the weights, but men's entrails were the warp and weft, a sword was the shuttle, and the reels were arrows.
They sang these songs, and he learnt them by heart:

THE WOOF OF WAR.

"See! warp is stretched
For warriors' fall,
Lo! weft in loom
'Tis wet with blood;
Now fight foreboding,
'Neath friends' swift fingers,
Our grey woof waxeth
With war's alarms,
Our warp bloodred,
Our weft corseblue.

"This woof is y-woven
With entrails of men,
This warp is hardweighted
With heads of the slain,
Spears blood-besprinkled
For spindles we use,
Our loom ironbound,
And arrows our reels;
With swords for our shuttles
This war-woof we work;
So weave we, weird sisters,
Our warwinning woof.

"Now Warwinner walketh
To weave in her turn,
Now Swordswinger steppeth,
Now Swiftstroke, now Storm;
When they speed the shuttle
How spearheads shall flash!
Shields crash, and helmgnawer (3)
On harness bite hard!

"Wind we, wind swiftly
Our warwinning woof
Woof erst for king youthful
Foredoomed as his own,
Forth now we will ride,
Then through the ranks rushing
Be busy where friends
Blows blithe give and take.

"Wind we, wind swiftly
Our warwinning woof,
After that let us steadfastly
Stand by the brave king;
Then men shall mark mournful
Their shields red with gore,
How Swordstroke and Spearthrust
Stood stout by the prince.

"Wind we, wind swiftly
Our warwinning woof.
When sword-bearing rovers
To banners rush on,
Mind, maidens, we spare not
One life in the fray!
We corse-choosing sisters
Have charge of the slain.

"Now new-coming nations
That island shall rule,
Who on outlying headlands
Abode ere the fight;
I say that King mighty
To death now is done,
Now low before spearpoint
That Earl bows his head.

"Soon over all Ersemen
Sharp sorrow shall fall,
That woe to those warriors
Shall wane nevermore;
Our woof now is woven.
Now battlefield waste,
O'er land and o'er water
War tidings shall leap.

"Now surely 'tis gruesome
To gaze all around.
When bloodred through heaven
Drives cloudrack o'er head;
Air soon shall be deep hued
With dying men's blood
When this our spaedom
Comes speedy to pass.

"So cheerily chant we
Charms for the young king,
Come maidens lift loudly
His warwinning lay;
Let him who now listens
Learn well with his ears
And gladden brave swordsmen
With bursts of war's song.

"Now mount we our horses,
Now bare we our brands,
Now haste we hard, maidens,
Hence far, far, away."

Then they plucked down the Woof and tore it asunder, and each kept what she had hold of.

Now Daurrud goes away from the Slit, and home; but they got on their steeds and rode six to the south, and the other six to the north.

Two fave collage divination decks

Top - Ishtar - from The Secret Dakini Oracle. Botton - The Magician - from Tarot Universal Dali.

I Love Collage Tarot

Ever since I saw Nik Douglas and Penny Slinger's "Secret Dakini Oracle Deck" I've had a penchant for divination cards (and anything else) done in collage. I really love Dada and Surrealist collage. Years ago my friends, The Ladies Benevolent Friendly Society, and I used to sit around making collage Tarot trumps on Friday nights, but these ones pictured here are from a later period, although still quite a few years ago from now. My pal Bill reminded me about Salvador Dali's collage Tarot, and I recalled that I actually own it - thanks for Louise's brother who got it in Spain - so now have dusted it off and am about to look over them again. Then of course there's the very glam "Voyager" Tarot that are also collage, very slick - I don't own them, but used to sort of gaze at them when I worked at Nigel Cooper's Tarot shop in St Kilda, "Mythical Moon". Bloody hell, today has been such a day of remembering stuff...

Fembots

These are my fembots. I made them for an exhibition we had in 2006, or maybe it was 2005... Anyway, I like dolls, I like collage, so these are collage dolls. They are made out of images of meat and machinery, and some other things like jewels, and Barbie dolls.

The Sign of the Witch

My freind, David Waldron, has a new book out. See below:

The Sign of the Witch: Modernity and the Pagan Revival

The witch is a uniquely powerful image in Western society. It is a symbol alternately vilified, ridiculed and idealised by differing sectors of society and is a powerful symbol in Western mythology. This book traces the evolution of the modern representations of Witchcraft and Paganism from the popular imaginings of witchcraft in 16th-century England to their contemporary manifestations amongst neo-Pagan and Wiccan religious movements in America, Australia and Great Britain today. Tracing how this symbol is continually constructed and reconstructed by the neo-Pagan movement is indicative of broader social, political and cultural issues arising out of the interaction of Romantic and Enlightenment epistemes in Western society.

Central to this process is the locating of representations of witchcraft within the twin discourses of romanticism and enlightenment modernity. Beginning with the aftermath of the English witch hunting craze of the 17th century, the book examines how the witch transformed from a symbol of ridicule during the enlightenment to an idealised symbol of romantic rebellion which led to its systemic adoption by romantic religious and political movements. Along the path it examines the development of the neo-Pagan movement from 19th-century Romantic pagan revivals, to Gardner’s Wiccan movement, the sixties counter culture, the rise of eco-feminist neo-Paganism and the contemporary phenomena of “teen witches” and pop commercialization.

IO Pan!

I've always found this Pan image very interesting, it's very honest and to be expected in one way, rather confronting in another... I believe it is from the Naples Museum's 'erotic section' and comes from Pompeii.

Greco-Roman Witchcraft workshop notes

Australian Wiccan Conference 2007
Greco-Roman Witchcraft workshop notes

By Caroline Tully.

Part 1. Witch Sketches

No writings by witches themselves survive, dependant on literary depictions by male authors.
Greek Circe and Medea are the archetypal ancient Greek witches. They are both very ancient and developed in the early epics.

No early account of Medea survives but there is the Hellenistic “Argonautica” or story of Jason and the Argonauts by Apollonius of Rhodes – this may have derived from an older story.
Circe features prominently in Homer’s Odyssey (700 BCE) and hence is the first witch in Western literature.

Circe and Medea are not mortals, but solar goddesses. Circe is a daughter of the sun, Helios, and Medea is his granddaughter, daughter of Circe’s brother Aeetes. Later witches – like Simaetha – are mortal.

Both Circe and Medea have echoes of the predatory dawn Goddess, Eos, and of Aphrodite. Both are edge dwellers, Circe on the island of Aeaea and Medea at distant Colchis. Both are dangerous to men – beautiful but deadly.

Circe is depicted naked on vases – an ancient example of ritual nudity, or we should probably say magical nudity.

Circe, famous in Homer’s Odyssey for changing men into pigs – of course Circe does eventually send Odysseus to the Underworld, and pigs in Greek religion were sacred to Earth and Underworld deities.

Circe is also surrounded by wild animals – Potnia Theron, or Mistress of Animals. This quality while shared by Artemis is also shared by goddesses like Cybele, and by Aphrodite in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite.

Female witches are always associated with plant drugs and the fine line between magic-medicine-and poison.

Roman While Greek witches were beautiful but deadly, Roman witches like Canidia, Sagana and Erichtho are depicted as horrible, ugly and old – and dangerous to men. They are mortal, but look like Furies, with matted hair entwined with snakes.

Roman witches are still involved in love magic, but are depicted by the poets such as Horace, Lucan and Apuleius as figures of ridicule and disgust.

They are still edge dwellers, but now in cemeteries, or foreign countries like Thessaly in northern Greece. Compare Shakespeare’s witches on the blasted heath.

The usual deity of Greco-Roman witchcraft is Hekate, but in Lucan’s depiction of Erichtho the deity becomes Seth-Typhon – a prototype of the Devil.

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Part 2. Two Spells and Analysis

Spell 1. Simaetha’s erotic magic to recover the errant Delphis.

A literary depiction of a Greek Witch (Pharmakeutria) by a poet called Theocritus. It appears in his Idyll 2, and dates to the 270s BCE – the Hellenistic period. This spell is a Philtrokatadesmos [pl. Philtrokatadesmoi] = Literally a binding love spell. Philtron [pl. Philtra] = A magic spell that creates philia (affection) and Katadesmos [pl. Katadesmoi] = A binding spell, usually inscribed on a lead tablet and buried underground or deposited in an underground body of water like a well or spring. The reason I’m looking at this spell is because it is quite different from what modern practitioners – like us - may be used to both in regards to ingredients and also ethics. The spell also uses a particular magical tool – a wheel called the Iunx, a disk pierced by two holes, threaded with leather or string and whirled back and forth.

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We begin with Simaetha instructing her slave girl Thestylis…

Where did I put my bay leaves? Fetch them Thestylis. Where are my love potions? Garland the bowl with crimson sheep’s wool, so that I may bind my dear man, who is unkind to me. The miserable man has not even visited me for eleven days, nor does he know whether I am alive or dead. Nor has he knocked at my door, the hateful one. Eros and Aphrodite have gone off, taking his flighty mind with them. I’ll go to Timagetus’s wrestling gym tomorrow to see him, and I’ll reproach him for his treatment of me. But now I will bind him with sacrifices. Moon, shine brightly. For I shall sing gently to you, goddess, and to chthonic Hecate, at whom even the dogs tremble as she comes across the tombs of the dead and the black blood. Welcome, frightful Hecate, and accompany me to the completion of my task. Render these drugs no less powerful than those of Circe, Medea and blonde Perimede.

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

First, barley-grains disintegrate in the fire. But sprinkle them on Thestylis. Poor woman, have you lost your mind? Sprinkle them, and while you do it say this: “I sprinkle the bones of Delphis.”

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

Delphis has caused me pain. I burn this bay leaf against Delphis. And as this bay leaf is set alight, crackles loudly in the flames, and quickly blazes up, leaving no ash for us to see, so may Delphis too shrivel his flesh in the flames.

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

Now I will sacrifice the bran. You, Artemis, could move even the admant in Hades and anything else difficult to shift. Thestylis, the dogs howl in the city. The goddess is at the crossroads. Sound the bronze as quickly as possible.

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

See, the sea is silent, silent the breezes. But the pain within my breast is not silent. I am ablaze over him who has made me a wretched, wicked, despicable nonvirgin, instead of a wife.

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

As I melt this wax doll with the help of the goddess, so may Delphis of Myndos at once be melted by love. And by the power of Aphrodite this bronze rhombos whirls around, so may he whirl round at my door.

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

Three times I libate, and three times, lady, I make this utterance. Whether a woman lies beside him or a man, may he forget the person as utterly as they say Theseus forgot fair-tressed Ariadne on Dia.

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

Hippomanes is a plant from Arcadia. All the swift mares and foals rave on the hills for it. May I see Delphis in this condition, and may he come to this house like a madman from his shining wrestling gym.

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

Delphis lost this bit of cloth from his cloak. I pluck it apart and cast it into the fierce fire. Oh, grievous Eros, why have you drunk all the black blood from my skin, sticking to me like some leech of the marsh?

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

I will powder a lizard and take him an evil drink tomorrow. Thestylis, take now these herbs and knead them above his threshold while it is still night, and say the while, in a mutter, “I knead the bones of Delphis.”

Iunx, draw this man to my house.

------------------------

Spell Components

Although highly evocative, this portrait of a Greek witch at work is probably not entirely accurate. An actual ritual would most likely have had less components, whereas this depiction appears to weave several different love magic procedures together.

Firstly, the crimson sheep’s wool is apotropaic.

The archetypal Great Witches of Greek myth – Circe and Medea – are mentioned by Simaetha. Also Perimede, a variant of Medea. It would have been thought that the mentioning of them would help empower the spell, would associate the practitioner with these powerful sorceresses, and hence their power.

The bay leaf is apotropaic, also represents Delphis himself being burned up.

The sounding of the bronze, a gong, is also apotropaic – it was intended to deter ghosts and demons (who fear bronze and iron) who might be accompanying Hekate up from the Underworld.

Iunx / rhombos. The iunx was a wheel on a string that spun back and forth as you pulled and loosened the string. It was a tool for love magic. It may have originally derived from a bird called a Wryneck that was thought to be incredibly sexually lascivious and which could turn its head round in what looked like a circle – this was interpreted to be a sexual frenzy, but it was probably in fact intended to be a hostile display. Some authors think that the iunx consisted of this bird being tied to a wheel and tortured in place of the target of the spell, but it probably was not. It is more likely that the iunx was simply this wheel, alone. We’re not entirely sure how the iunx worked symbolically. It moved in two directions, not one, so it would not have been a case necessarily of the symbolism we might be familiar with such as a deosil movement attracting the spell’s target, because it also moved widdershins. It may have been intended to simply disorient and confuse the target. The Greeks looked on the state of “being in love” as being out of control.

Much of Simaetha’s magic is of a simple sympathetic nature - Delphis is to be consumed with a fiery passion for her, just as the barley, the bay leaf, the bran, wax and cloak fragment are burned or melted. The burning and melting is precisely the effect of the love Delphis himself had claimed to experience for Simaetha, and of Simaetha’s own love for Delphis. She is turning the tables on him, projecting her burning desire back on to him. (We’ll see this in the next spell).

The wax involved was probably moulded into poppet – or “Voodoo” doll.

Simaetha uses both erotic-attraction magic to bring Delphis back, and erotic-separation magic to make him forget any potential rival. She combines two projects: philia magic to retain the affection of her existing partner; and eros magic, the magic of sexual seduction. Some modern writers on ancient magic would say that philia magic was women’s magic and eros magic was men’s magic, however courtesans were known to use erotic magic, so this categorization is not stable.

Regarding the separation magic, in the stanza beginning “three times I libate” she uses an exhaustive-dichotomies phrase which we also see on curse tablets, “whether man or woman”. This was when you were not able to be precise, you tried to cover all bases.

The mention of Theseus and Ariadne is a historiola, a paradigmatic mini-narrative corresponding to the situation at hand. The mention of a mythical precedent was thought to effect in a like manner, your own spell. Common in healing spells from Egypt.

Hippomanes. A favourite love potion ingredient. Hippomanes means “horse-madness”. We don’t really know what it was, but there are four possibilities: 1. A herb – coltsfoot(?); 2. A growth on the forehead of the newborn foal; 3. A discharge secreted by the mare; 4. Stallion’s semen.

The fragment of Delphis’ clothing acts like a lock of his hair, or any other object that had been in close contact with him, would - as an Object Link. In Greek the Object Link was called the “Ousia” = “stuff” or “essence”. The burning of the cloth is also pars pro toto or “a part for the whole” magic. The operation effected on part of Delphis is magically transferred to the whole.

The kneading of the herbs to the accompanying statement that the bones of Delphis are being kneaded sounds violent, however it should not be taken literally. It seems that the symbolism used in Greek magic was more extreme than the results were expected to be. For example, in spells where a lead figurine’s head was turned right around and their legs bent upwards, the aim of the spell was simply to bind the target, not kill them. A figurine put in a coffin and dedicated to underworld deities wasn’t necessarily meant to die, but to be incapacitated in an activity. Did the Greeks think that spells had to be extreme in order to work at all? Simaetha is not trying to kill Delphis, just make him really uncomfortable. It should probably be assumed that the discomfort would stop when he returned to her.

The beloved’s threshold – thresholds in general - are significant places for the deposition of magical material directed at whoever lives in the house.

Delphis is to be attacked again with a love potion the next day containing powdered lizards - ever-popular magical ingredients. Here the proximity between love potions and poisons is evident.

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So, there are several angles from which to investigate this spell. One of which is to compare it to modern Witchcraft theory and practice of love spells. Some say you shouldn’t even do love spells, but the ancient Greeks had no qualms about it. We can see that the tools, ingredients, methods and ethics different from what modern practitioner may be used to. Even the deity involved – Hekate – is not one we might associate with love magic. Comments?

Spell 2. A Lover’s Binding Spell. (3-4th century CE)

The text of this love spell from Egypt was written in Greek on a lead sheet and placed in a vase with a female figurine pierced with needles. It is both a binding spell and an agoge spell. Agoge designates an erotic spell that burns or tortures the victim (usually female) and thereby drives her out of her home and to the practitioner (usually male). In this spell the victim is Ptolemais, the practitioner is Sarapammon and the main deity is Antinous – a ghost, one of the untimely dead called aoroi. Antinous was the young lover of the Emperor Hadrian and drowned in the Nile. Other chthonic deities are mentioned as well as voces magicae, words that appear as nonsensical, but which designate names of powerful supernatural forces..

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I entrust this binding spell to you chthonic gods, Pluto and Kore Persephone Ereschigal and Adonis also called Barbaritha and Hermes chthonian Thoth Phokensepseu Erektathou Misonktaik and Anoubis the powerful Pseriphtha, who holds the keys to Hades, and to you chthonic divine demons, the boys and girls prematurely dead, the young men and women, year after year, month after month, day after day, hour after hour, night after night; I conjure all the demons in this place to assist this demon Antinous. Rouse yourself for me and go to each place, to each neighborhood, to each house and bind Ptolemais whom Aias bore, the daughter of Horigenes, so that she should not be fucked, buggered, or should not give any pleasure to another man, except to me alone, Sarapammon, whom Area bore; and do not let her eat or drink nor resist nor go out nor find sleep except with me Sarapammon, whom Area bore. I conjure you, Antinous spirit of the dead, in the name of the Terrible and Fearsome, the name at whose sound the earth opens up, the name at whose sound the demons tremble in fear, the name at whose sound rivers and rocks burst asunder. I conjure you, Antinous spirit of the dead, by Barbaratham Cheloumbra Barouch Adonai and by Abrasax and by Iao Pakeptoth Pakebraoth Sabarbaphaei and by Marmararaouoth and by Marmarachtha Mamazagar. Do not disregard me, Antinous spirit of the dead, but rouse yourself for me and go to each neighborhood, to each house and bring me Ptolemais, whom Aias bore, the daughter of Horigenes; prevent her from eating, from drinking, until she comes to me, Sarapammon, whom Area bore, and do not allow her to accept the advances of any man other than me alone Sarapammon. Drag her by the hair, by the guts, until she does not reject me, Sarapammon, whom Area bore, and I have her, Ptolemais, whom Aias bore, the daughter of Horigenes, subject to me for the entire extent of my life, loving me, desiring me, telling me what she thinks. If you do this, I will release you.

-----------------------------------------

Interpretations.

In ancient Greece, intense desire was seen as a diseased state that was difficult to treat. Some interpreters of this particular spell have suggested it was intended to function as ‘therapy’ for the practitioner, who is obviously stricken with eros for Ptolemais. The theory being that through the performance of a psychodrama involving the creation and manipulation of an image - such as the bound and pierced female Louvre figurine - the practitioner would rid himself of the intensely disturbing feelings of desire he is experiencing. By mimicking motions that are masterful and dominant rather than weak and stricken by eros, he projects his feeling of helplessness and love-sickness onto his target. This results in a “table-turning” effect whereby the practitioner now assumes calm and masterful control and imagines the victim in the state of torment that he was previously in.

However, this assumes that the practitioner was not concerned with actual results – in this case the woman literally coming to him – merely in feeling better. I don’t think this is a satisfactory explanation. The ‘therapy’ interpretation of this spell assumes that the practitioner would be satisfied with simply acting out the ritual - that performing the ritual would be as good, emotionally, as having the real thing. This implies that the practitioner did not believe in magic as an effective tool to achieve material results, but as a form of psychotherapy where the goal is a change in one’s inner state. This is a case of projecting modern sensibilities onto the past.

What is more likely is that this spell was intended to achieve what its stated purpose was – to bring Ptolemais to Sarapammon. Instead of merely trying to exorcise his feelings of hopeless desire, the imagery of bondage and humiliation, signified that the practitioner did indeed want complete domination over the woman. Just as there is no cure for eros other than the beloved themselves, so is this state is now projected onto the victim - the torments will stop when she comes to the agent who is now in the masterful position of curative beloved.

Again, although the imagery looks violent, it was not intended to kill the target of the spell, but to make her extremely uncomfortable.

---------------------------

Empuron – In-the-fire spell, a type of agoge that burns herbs or ousia to force the victim out.

Sumplegma (pl. Sumplegmata) – An effigy of a couple entwined in erotic embrace.

Eros – love, desire.
Himeros – desire.
Pothos – painful longing.
Peitho – goddess of persuasion.
--------------------------------

Further Reading: "Magic, Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook" By Daniel Ogden. (Oxford University Press. 2002).

Scrying

According to Mary Greer's book "Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses", members of the Order of the Golden Dawn - when they were trying to fill in the gaps of a ritual comprised mostly of historically-attested components - would scry to find the missing parts of the rite. I'm very interested in this and in anyone else who attempts contact with 'ancient ones' in order to obtain their advice on creating rituals.

The Great Rite

Went to the Gnostic Mass last night, played the role of the Deacon. All the congregation were new people. I thought it went well, generally, despite a teeny bit of unsureness on the part of people unused to the exact procedure. But that's ok. Regarding this photo: similar but different is the Wiccan 'Great Rite' - same meaning as the OTO Mass ie/ Tantric Sex, 0 = 2, going beyond sexual dualism, becoming the Great Hermaphrodite, piercing the veil....

Dealing with the Dead

Well, I'm back from the Australian Wiccan Conference. Next thing I'm going to is this:

Dealing with the Dead. History, Medicine, Ethics & Law

THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2007, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Every day, in the past and present, people work with human remains – in medical schools, hospitals, research laboratories and morgues. Yet public attention is only captured by this work when a scandal erupts, usually about unethical or unlawful use of human remains, such as when they are used without consent, sold for profit, or displayed in controversial ways. This symposium draws together medical scientists, historians, legal scholars, anthropologists and museum practitioners to examine the use and abuse of human remains. In light of recent controversies, papers will deal with the ethical use of the dead in medical science, the collection of tissues and organs for therapeutic and research purposes, the donation of bodies for human dissection, attitudes to hospital post-mortem examinations, and displays of human remains.

Gorgoneia

Come on, who doesn't feel like this some of the time? Or most of the time?... All the time? I know I feel like this at least about once a month. Screaming with snaky hair and a gaze that can turn living things to stone, yep, that pretty much sums up how I feel before my period.

Yeah, I'm a Simpson.

You can "Simpson-ize" yourself at this Simpsons-Burger-King movie promotional website called Simpsonizeme - as in Simpson-ize me. You'll have to Google it because I just can't work out how to make things turn into Html on this bloggy here thingamajiggy. No wonder people have secretaries....

Aphrodite Ourania

In Hesiod's "Theogony" (c. 700 BCE) which tells the stories of the origins of the Greek gods, Aphrodite is said to be born from the testicles of the sky god, Ouranos, and the sea. This archaic terracotta from the sanctury of Hera Limenaia at Perachora has been interpreted as an image of Aphrodite emerging out of the scrotum of Ouranos. Fascinating, no? Do you think it is a scrotum? Seems feasible to me, although we can't prove it.

Here's Aphrodite's birth myth from "Theogony" lines 188-206. (Setting the scene: Kronos has just castrated his father, Ouranos, with a sickle and thrown the testicles/genitals away. The blood from the wound fell on Earth and generated the Erinyes/Furies, the Giants and the Ash-tree Nymphs) while...

“The genitals, cut off with admant
And thrown from land into the stormy sea,
‘Were carried for a long time on the waves.
White foam surrounded the immortal flesh,
And in it grew a girl. At first it touched
On holy Cythera, from there it came
To Cyprus, circled by the waves. And there
The goddess came forth, lovely, much revered,
And grass grew up beneath her delicate feet.
Her name is Aphrodite among men
And gods, because she grew up in the foam,
And Cytherea, for she reached that land,
And Cyprogenes from the stormy place
Where she was born, and Philommedes from
The genitals, by which she was conceived.
Eros is her companion; fair Desire
Followed her from the first, both at her birth
And when she joined the company of the gods.
From the beginning, both among gods and men,
She had this honour and received this power:
Fond murmuring of girls, and smiles, and tricks,
And sweet delight, and friendliness and charm.”

Breasts or testicles - or eggs?

Artemis of Ephesus has been interpreted as being "many-breasted" and there are a lot of later statues that do interpret these globules as "breasts". However some people think she may have been adorned with many scrotal sacs from sacrifical animals. Or many eggs. I personally think that the original statue was probably adorned with seasonal offerings which most likely included token parts of sacrificial animals as well as seeds, fruits and flowers.

Post-Minoan Minoanism

You know you can get these Minoan Snake Goddess figurines now. Check out the Snake Goddess Votary without her head here - you can see how she was restored (scroll down for that). Also, here's an example of Minoan costume in the opening ceremony for the Athens Olympic games.

Minoan Style Costume

I'm writing an essay on Minoan style costume and how I believe that they *did not* wear corsets - many people believe they did. It started off with an interest in the exposed-breast aspect of the Minoan-style women's garments, and then lead into an interest in the whole costume. I must say however, that although I tried to "out-Minoan" the Minoans with a focus on prominent breasts, this lady from Thera really beats me, even with my three breasts!

Mighty Aphrodite

Children, the Kyprian is not the Kyprian alone, but she is called by many names. She is Hades, she is immortal life, she is raving madness, she is unmixed desire, she is lamentation; in her is all activity, all tranquility, all that leads to violence. For she sinks into the vitals of all that have life; who is not greedy for that goddess? She enters into the swimming race of fishes, she is within the four legged brood upon dry-land, and her wing ranges among birds… among beasts, among mortals, among the race of gods above. Which among the gods does she not wrestle and throw three times? If I may speak out – and I may speak out – to tell the truth, she rules over the heart of Zeus, without spear, without iron. All the plans of mortals and of gods are cut short by the Kyprian.

~Fragment attributed to Sophocles.

Snake Goddess, Fake Goddess

Now you know this gorgeous ivory thing (directly above) is a fake, don't you? Yep, it is. Read all about it in Kenneth Lapatin's book "Mysteries of the Snake Goddess" (DeCapo Press, 2002). It is based on the larger faience "Snake Handler/Goddess" (at top) from the Temple repositories excavated by Arthur Evans at Knossos. Evans thought that one of his workmen must have snaffled this exceptionally fabulous chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statuette out of the site before he'd seen it, but in fact it is a clever forgery mixing exotic imported materials with the shape of the bare-breasted faience version - a highly desirable combination, if it was authentic. The faience Snake Goddesses (above and below in the previous post) are also not entirely authentic. Both are restored, particularly the smaller one, below. So what you see isn't necessarily what the Minoans saw. It is even questionable whether the smaller one *is* holding snakes, as one "snake" had a head added to it and the other was entirely added. In addition, no snakes have candy-cane stripes. One author suggested the smaller figure held twine, rather than snakes, which reminds me of Ariadne's thread.

At Work on the Past

Well, my "Long Service Leave" isn't restful or anything like that. I'm doing two quite difficult university subjects - 'Homeric Hymns and the Epic Cycle' in which I'm currently focussing on Aphrodite, and 'Current Issues in Aegean Archaeology' for which I am absolutely cramming in information on the Minoans and Mycenaeans to my brain. I really like reading... but this really has a lot of it. That's fine, its just a matter of actually getting the time to do it all. The archaeology subject is actually harder than the literature subject, but for both I have to produce fantastic essays, so its all hard really. But hey, I wanted to be mentally stimulated, and I am. I'm focussing on the faience "Snake Goddess" for my Minoan essay - perhaps that seems like a cliche, but there are lots of interesting things one can investigate regarding her. Plus we also have to do two more essays at the end of semester. Plus I've gotta tidy up my Wiccan Conference Presentations. So much to do, I'm glad I don't actually have to go to work as well. I'm really quite exhausted!

Laughter

You'd think, being on Long Service Leave, that I could come up with a better smiley face than the one in the photo below, wouldn't you? - The one where I am completely devoid of a smile. I mean I do feel very smiley about being a leisurely student. (It's not going to be leisurely though, I'm quite sure). I don't have any laughing-face photos of myself, but here's a very pretty laughing skull. Or is its mouth just lolling open? Those Mexicans sure know how to make death decorative.

The Romance of the Classics

Well I'm now starting to focus my "Sauron's gaze" intensely on my two uni subjects. I went and got the reader for the Homeric Hymns subject today, looks really interesting. Major focus on the four long Homeric Hymns: to Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite and Demeter, and a little bit on Dionysus. Then onto the Epic Cycle: the fragments of Troy stories - what happened before and after the Iliad. I don't know much about them, so that'll be interesting I suspect. Plus it's all an excuse to get jiggy again with Greek myth and ritual.

I'm on long service leave!

Hooray, after ten years of slogging it out as a professional craftsperson I've finally earned my long service leave! My craft is difficult, hence I need a real break to rest my body and refresh my mind. During my LSL I will be starting my Post Graduate Diploma in Classics and Archaeology at Melbourne Uni. I have to do five subjects and one 12,000 word thesis. I'm starting off with two subjects: Current Issues in Aegean Archaeology and The Epic Cycle and Homeric Hymns. Should be great. My major interests are gender and religion, often in combination, and I can explore both these areas within these subjects. Oh, I'll also be sitting in on the Roman Religion subject in preparation for taking it next year. I start next week. Wooo. (Yes, I am a nerd who loves study!)

A well-adjusted child.

Here are two pictures of my son Jasper. The first is him as a baby, having his first flying lesson. He's pretty good at it now. The second is him as a 7-year old school boy. This one was taken by the artist Polixena Papapetrou who is well known for her large photos of her own children in various guises. As you can see Jasper is completely normal - like mother like son.

Twins, Separated at Birth?

Scoop! These twins were separated at birth!

Catweazle and Gerald Gardner;

Christopher Lee and Alex Sanders;

Caroline Tully and Liam Cyfrin.

It's a fact.

The Australian Wiccan Conference 2007

So... Who is going to the 2007 Wiccan Conference then? I am. I've decided to un-hermit myself and go and meet up with all the people I haven't seen for yonks. I'm also going to present two workshops - one on Ancient Greek Love Magick which will include a section on Aphrodite, and the other which I will co-present with Tim Hartridge, is on The Star Goddess: Past and Present.

Look into my eyes....

I have put this swirly image here solely to hypnotise you. Read this blog... read this blog... read this blog...