#the inscription above the painting is the same as the title of the painting

[tolkienillustrations]

Eärendil and Elwing sail to the uttermost West by Alan Lee

#LOTR #Silmarillion #Earendil #Elwing #Vingilot #Belegaer #Alan Lee #this is one of the murals from the set of Rivendell #the inscription above the painting is the same as the title of the painting #I wish I could find a higher resolution version of this :(

[vivelareine]

This painting had been previously uploaded by me under the description "Marie Antoinette embracing Madame Elisabeth." However, some more research has revealed an unclear identification.

In 1960, the painting was part of a Paris Musee Galliera exhibition under the title "The Interrupted Music Lesson," attributed to Jean-Frédéric Schall. You can see a set-aside instrument with music books in the background. It is unclear whether or not this title was attributed to the painting when it was made or if it is the title given to the painting by the owner, museum or exhibition organizers.

In 2015, Osenat auctioned the painting, giving it the title “The embrace,” and attributing it only “in the style” of Schall. There is no indication where the title “The embrace” came from or why they didn’t use the 1960 title.

To make things more confusing, there is a black chalk drawing by Alexandre Moitte in the musée des Beaux-Arts de Lille which is labeled by the museum “Marie Antoinette and Madame Elisabeth kissing”:

However, the two women in the chalk drawing look quite different compared to the women in the painting.

While I can see some of Marie Antoinette in the woman on the right in the painting version (though it reminds me more of 19th century Marie Antoinette rococo revival genre paintings than contemporary Marie Antoinette depictions) the women in the chalk drawing look different than the women in the painting, and neither women in the drawing look particularly like Elisabeth or Marie Antoinette. There is unfortunately no provenance or explanation as to why the museum has given the drawing the “Elisabeth and Marie Antoinette” designation, either.

Which came first? The drawing, or the painting? Did Moitte view the (attributed) Schall painting and take his own inspiration? Or perhaps the painting is by Moitte or was done after Moitte’s work.

To make things even more confusing, there is an engraving attributed to Moitte of two women in the collection of the Minneapolis Museum of Art:

The MIA description claims that these are the same women as the chalk drawing, but I'm not sure how this was determined.

This engraving is inscribed: "Paired from their earliest childhood, they were always friends and remained so for life." Above them is the inscription Mors et via (life and death).

There is a MA monogram on the bottom center of the oval. However, neither women in the engraving has a strong resemblance to Marie Antoinette or Elisabeth, and ‘MA’ naturally does not always mean Marie Antoinette, queen of france.

Additionally, Marie Antoinette and Elisabeth didn't know each other from earliest childhood. The MIA website suggests that perhaps it was Marie Antoinette and one of her favorites, but the only friends she knew from childhood were from outside France, and it would be strange to depict them as adult women embracing--if, indeed, the women in the side-portrait drawing are the same as the 'embrace' drawing.

Moitte did do at least one portrait drawing of Louis-Charles, so he (like many artists) was no stranger to depicting the royal family. But I don’t know that there is an actual reason why the black chalk drawing, which does not resemble either woman’s facial features, was given the “Elisabeth and Marie Antoinette” designation in the first place. I can’t seem to find one.

It’s also unclear whether or not the women in the second double portrait with flower garlands are actually the same women in the drawing or painting.

More research is obviously needed, but since I saw the painting inaccurately called “Marie Antoinette and Polignac” today, I decided to do a deeper dive into it.

#marie antoinette #history #art history #18th century

[shoppncarticles]

The Super-Ancient Pokemon

So now we come to the generation’s super iconic mascot legendaries, the icons for Pokemon Sapphire, Ruby, and Emerald versions. Titled as the Super-Ancient Pokemon, these are titanic beasts treated like deities, capable of bringing catastrophic weather events if provoked, or clearing them just as easily.

Kyogre is the first of them, and as someone who first played Pokemon Sapphire AND has an unhealthy obsession with the ocean, is my favorite almost by default. This gigantic orca whale-like titan is Pokemon’s ruler of the seas, almost a biblical leviathan in that regard. It can bring torrential downfalls just by its presence alone and can expand the seas when it’s deemed necessary.

Kyogre does a really good job just appearing as a deity of the seas, thanks to its gargantuan size, huge bony-tipped fins, and bright red runic markings. They don’t feel artificial, but do help Kyogre feel like something divine and worshiped. The color palette as a whole is what really gets me, I love that deep blue and red-white accent mix. What a splendid design Kyogre has.

Kyogre would also get a ‘Primal Reversion,’ which is effectively a Mega Evolution in all but name. Apparently, this is how Kyogre originally looked in its oldest form, but regressed into the more uniform design seen above. It certainly looks like a souped-up, power enhanced Kyogre, given the flow of glowing energy seen in its veins now, but something about it feels just a bit off to me. Maybe it’s the lack of red in its new color palette. Yellow-orange just doesn’t do quite the same job in my eyes.

Score: 5/5

Still, a wonderful ocean god and my favorite of all mascot legendaries - due entirely to nostalgia bias.

Kyogre’s counterpart, Groudon, ain’t half bad though. While its design is riddled with a plentiful amount of runic inscriptions, it does at least have a pretty minimal color scheme to keep the whole thing from looking too busy. It could definitely do with less of them, though.

While Groudon is the red to Kyogre’s blue, and brings intense droughts to counter Kyogre’s downpours, it’s actually a pure Ground type hellbent on expanding dry land and expunging the seas of the world. As far as big, brutish lizards go, Groudon’s alright, and if you’re a fan of volcanic environments hopefully it does as much for you as Kyogre does for me.

Primal Groudon definitely has a leg up on Primal Kyogre though, in terms of sheer design differences. Groudon turns into a Ground/Fire type, and its various cracks and cleavages now flow with magma, including around its eye and mouth, and all its spikes and underbelly have turned a charred black, which is quite cool. To add insult to injury, its new powered-up ability Desolate Land prevents any Water-type attacks from working at all, negating its strongest weakness to boot. Sorry about that, Kyogre.

Score: 4/5

Being at thematic odds with each other, it is warned through ancient writings to never let the two interact with each other, lest the destruction brought about by their endless conflicting rampages bring an end to the world as everyone knows it. Luckily, there exists a third member to quarrel their fighting.

Rayquaza is the mediator between Kyogre and Groudon, the sky to their sea and land. What’s more, Rayquaza’s special ability Air Lock negates the effect of any weather currently in effect, further strengthening this theme it's got going on. 

Rayquaza is quite the cool monster, especially for a standard Dragon/Flying type. Its lack of wings only makes it feel more ultra-powerful and ethereal since it apparently bends the laws of physics to fly through the upper ozone freely. The jade green of its body is a strong color to counter Kyogre and Groudon as well, in addition to the various yellow and red accents detailing its body. As with the rest of these Pokemon, those markings do a nice job accentuating the ancient, all-powerful nature of these beasts in my mind. They feel like sacred paintings and illustrations brought to life.

Rayquaza got a normal Mega Evolution compared to the other two’s Primal forms, and it’s certainly the busiest of the three. I’ve seen Mega Rayquaza enough that its design really doesn’t bother me all to much, but I definitely think dropping those orange trails of energy would do it a lot of favors. Otherwise, just extending Rayquaza a bit and giving it mandible-like fins around its face aren’t bad changes and do make it feel slightly more imposing than it already was. The thicker head is the best part I think, and seems to blend more smoothly into the rest of the design.

Mega Rayquaza is also infamous for being the first Pokemon in history banned from all competitive formats, even the Legendary-restricted Ubers tier. Not only does Mega Rayquaza have absolutely astronomical stats, already being a total of 100 points higher than normal Rayquaza, but it also can Mega evolve without the unique item necessary for other Pokemon to achieve their Mega forms, allowing it to carry whatever other power-boosting item it chooses. In addition to that, it also possesses a new ability, Delta Stream, which negates all weaknesses it suffers from its Flying typing, just for good measure.

Mega Rayquaza is an absolute joke in terms of game balancing, which just serves to reemphasize how utterly oppressive this godlike monster is, and how thankful the Pokemon world ought to be that it’s concerned with keeping peace and stability above all else.

Score: 5/5

About as cool and badass as they come, but Kyogre still wins out for me.

[Gen 3 Archive]

#pokemon #pokemon review #kyogre #primal kyogre #groudon #primal groudon #rayquaza #mega rayquaza

[egypttouring]

"Scene cut in raised relief showing King Horemheb [the last ruler of the 18th Dynasty, reigned circa 1323-1295 BCE] offering wine to Hathor as goddess of the west. The king is identified by the two cartouches placed above his head, while his action is spelled out in the vertical column of hieroglyphs in front of his figure: 'giving wine to the lady of the two lands', a title that here refers to Hathor. These hieroglyphs all face to the right in the same direction as the king's figure. The rest of the hieroglyphs in the scene face left and refer to Hathor. At the top of the scene the goddess says: 'I have come that I may be your protection.' In front of her figure the inscription runs: 'I have given to you the throne of Osiris for ever.' Behind her is the standard text: 'All life is behind her like Ra', which incorporates the ankh-sign that the goddess holds in her rear hand. Hathor wears on her head a tall falcon emblem used as a hieroglyph to write the word for 'west', showing that she is present in her aspect of the goddess of the necropolis, which lies on the west bank at Thebes, where the sun sets. In this form Hathor receives the dead and helps them make the difficult transition from this world to the next..." ― Robins, Gay, The Art of Ancient Egypt, British Museum Press, London, England, 2000. A painted plaster on limestone scene from the tomb of Horemheb (KV57) in the Valley of the Kings. Photo: Gay Robins https://www.instagram.com/p/CpunOgFsQms/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[felassan]

The Origins of the Halla

[theory]. cut for length, Tevinter Nights spoilers and because it’s not very pleasant

(pls note I hope this theory isn’t true and neither do I want it to be true. it’s speculation only and the idea of it is horrid and not okay in any way)

Those halla certainly are proud and beautiful. It's as though they realize how special they are.

Tevinter Nights, with the new information it contained on Ghilan’nain and what she once used to get up to, brought this stuff back to the forefront. it’s possible that the halla did not have.. nice beginnings as a species. it’s possible that the first halla were elves Ghilan’nain changed and experimented upon. some of the bases for this notion are as follows:

first, she’s literally called in surviving Dalish lore “the Mother of the Halla”. the title obviously carries with it the idea of a force which created, a progenitor. she’s also sometimes called “the first halla” and “mother of them all”. it’s a mythos-style ‘mother’ title, ofc, not necessarily meaning that Ghilan’nain literally gave birth herself to all original halla, and in Dalish lore it seems more like she’s the patron of halla or similar (our phrase ‘Mother Earth’ is similarly symbolic, for example.) still, from a different angle coupled with some other bits and pieces, it can begin to take on a sort of ominous feel. a Creator, indeed... 

we know from the Temple of Mythal inscription that Ghilan’nain created many beasts and monsters, including earth-bound creatures. among them were the halla. she clearly did create them, it’s just a question of what that creation involved, and if it was similar in nature to the things we read about in TN and the Trespasser lab notes. we also know that the hallas’ origins go way back to the ancient times - as far as Arlathan, per WoT. they’re not a recent addition to the Dalish. it’s not the case that elves of Halamshiral bred them into existence.

the way Dalish elves view halla and their relationship with them: the Dalish stress that halla are companions, not simple pets. they’re not akin to human horses. Dalish elves see them as noble entities. in one Codex a halla-tender states “they are our brothers and sisters”. this is more of a symbolic descriptor, reflecting the clear reverence/appreciation and kinship Dalish feel for halla. this makes complete sense in a normal light due to how important halla are for Dalish clans - halla help clans navigate, they pull the aravels (homes and storage space), they’re sources of dairy (food), wool (clothing, temperature regulation), leather (armor etc) and horn (tools, weaponry, decoration, potentially a lucrative item to trade or sell), possibly also a source of meat, possibly they might still be used sometimes as mounts, and spiritually in the Dalish faith halla lead elves who have passed away to the afterlife. the reverence also makes sense for Dalish culture as we know it. still, again, from a different angle “brothers and sisters” in combination with other stuff can feel a bit more.. ominous, a bit more literal. the Dalish don’t remember everything and unfortunately got some things ‘wrong’ (this isn’t a criticism of the Dalish, it is not their fault and their culture/belief system of today is valid in its own right). it’s possible that the original thing feeding into the idea that halla are siblings to elves was forgotten/lost.

the nature of halla: noble creatures, as the Dalish are described as noble wanderers (Duncan in DAO). graceful, as in-universe humans sometimes see elves as being. fierce and proud, like the Dalish are noted to be (“[a halla] would sooner fight to the death than demean herself” - compare with such things as “never again shall we submit”). according to tales they’re resistant to human yokes, as the Dalish are. halla are preternaturally intelligent - they only listen to their Dalish tenders, and Dalish elves ask them to accompany them rather than force them. it sounds more like how someone would interface with a literal colleague rather than with an animal companion. which makes sense in a normal light, given their innate intelligence and the respect Dalish elves hold for them. it’s possibly also the case that their intelligence is not the result of anything dark, that it’s natural to the species or is the result of some magic being involved in the breeding of them (the mabari were magically bred by the Formari and as such are also very intelligent, as an example of such a thing). however, it’s possible though that the human or near-human (for lack of a better term) intelligence of halla is because they originally were elves.

the Dalish lore that Andruil turned Ghilan’nain into a halla/the first halla. possibly unfortunately misremembered, since the ToM inscription says that Ghilan’nain created the halla. it’s entirely possible that a mix of both codexes is the truth, or that the Dalish version is figurative. it’s just that it’s interesting that what Dalish elves remember about the first halla involves an elf (Ghilan’nain was once a normal elf) being turned into a halla by a god.. if Ghilan’nain made the halla by transforming elves into them, that could be the grain of truth which is the origin of this piece of Dalish lore.

the halla were the most beloved by Ghilan’nain of all her creations. she loved them above all the rest, such that she couldn’t destroy them prior to her apotheosis. in the Dalish faith no other animal has a god of its own. is that because they were once elves? is it because they were her most successful experiment/signature ‘creation’? they’re closely associated with her, in the lab notes she uses a halla-head symbol as her sigil on a stamp, and in Hormok the striations on the columns are halla horns that repeat over and over. it kinda feels a bit like.. not literally, but what it calls to mind is that if Ghilan’nain was a science/tech company, the halla would be its logo/signature product. 

the Trespasser lab notes and Tevinter Nights: speaking of these things. in the bas-reliefs, armies of halla pulled prison-ships with barred windows to Ghilan’nain’s lab. prison-ships with barred windows are used to transport sentient prisoners, not non-sentient livestock animals. the repeating paintings show a queen figure looking mad/cruel as she makes physical changes to the figure which represents one of her people or supplicants. the magic pool can clearly affect humanoids of human-style sentience (it changed Jovis). and as for the wording in the notes (quote from a previous post I made):

About the weird wording: supplies brought in from the same stock (remember prison-ship aravels drawn by halla being taken to the lab mountains); bindings, weaving, meshing, grafts (like different parts of different beasts being stitched together); the aim to improve coordination and sharpen the heart (the new darkspawn are more clever than the old ones); explaining the process to the “stock” as a courtesy (yoo that is straight up telling a sentient being what you’re doing to it. You don’t explain shit to mixing acids in a beaker in a school lab or whatever or to your science fair volcano, those things are inert/non-sentient and cannot understand you); and the lesser animals thing (i.e. the ones she was working on at the time in these notes were higher, complex forms of life). These are probably some of her research notes.

some of Ghilan’nain’s experiments clearly involved sentient beings. the Evanuris institutionalized a system of slavery using vallaslin as brands. that’s not in question. the only question is whether or not her creation of the halla involved this predilection of hers for using sentient beings. I want to say No to the halla question, because it’s kinda like fridge horror/nightmare fuel/And I Must Scream, and I want the Dalish to have only nice things, but I digress

What happened to Warden Friedl: the way in which Friedl was mutilated and died in TN has an eerie similarity to the Dalish story of how Ghilan’nain became the first halla. in the Dalish story, Ghilan’nain was bound, blinded and left for dead in a forest. she then prayed to the gods for help. Andruil then sent hares to chew through the ropes, and turned her into a white deer. Friedl was found by Jovis and Lesha in the woods, raving and ghostly white. her eyes were gone, clawed out. they are forced to tie her to the litter, where she mutters a litany over and over (interesting word choice - a litany is obviously a form of prayer). in the morning they find her with her ropes chewed through.

The elven paintings from the ToM

(I think these pulls from the game were by Tumblr user pantymink, but I don’t know what their current url is. if you do know, please let me know so I can edit this)

obviously we begin with the statement that halla are clearly deer-like.

These deer-like creatures look sad (down-turned ears, even a tear-like pattern on one). the red backdrop is ominous/bloody. the designs on their faces look like vallaslin. it could be two creatures, one standing behind the other, or a single creature with 2 heads. (see the monstrous halla description below [multiples of body parts] and remember Ghilan’nain’s grafting and splicing).

the lines on this deer-like creature remind me of full-body vallaslin. it has too many legs and different horns to the horns of modern halla (see the description below about monstrous variants of halla that are different, wrong, insectile, with longer horns, and a harder more rounded look). it’s yellow, golden halla are a thing.

inside this deer-like creature is a line of downtrodden elven slaves (they have vallaslin), in a line like they’re being forced to go somewhere or are having to go somewhere they don’t want to go. it’s potentially both a symbolic - like ‘inside halla are elven spirits’ - and literal depiction - Ghilan’nain’s creations sometimes involved the literal physical meshing and grafting of parts of different creatures and people, using their bodies to make something new. in a way it reminds me of when Orsino used blood magic and the bodies of his dead compatriots to transform into a mashup abomination. and you might also squint at this image and see blood (the red) being drawn out of the slaves.

inside this last deer-like creature, which again has the too-many legs and subsequent insectile theme, are what to me look like a schematic or plan (which makes sense.. if you’re putting together furniture irl, you sometimes follow a schematic. to craft things in-universe in DAI, you find schematics. in a school science lab, you follow experiment instructions. if you were grafting and splicing different parts of things together, you might have drawn up plans or a schematic beforehand). it also looks like a star chart (which is interesting considering that the horse constellation Equinor may really have been a halla in relation to Ghilan’nain but its ascribed animal species was supplanted over time by humanity). if it’s a copy of schematics Ghilan’nain made on paper, maybe that’s supposed to be blood spattered on it (red).

(This last one isn’t from the ToM.) The deer on the far fight looks to be most delicate and refined and modern “halla-like” of the three, and looks to be ‘emerging’ from the previous iterations. the middle deer has a strange elongated body. the uppermost deer is blood-red, and the red paint is stylized in such a way that it looks like blood dripping from the deer’s underside.

Some additional thoughts -

The horribleness of this wouldn’t be out of character for an Evanuris based on the revelations about them in the ToM and Trespasser. or at least a latter-days Evanruis, if you believe they did not start out like that and instead became corrupted over time by power and possibly also by the Blight or red lyrium or some whack force.

The first halla may have originally looked quite different to modern halla. The Hormok bas-reliefs of halla were “different, wrong [...] too many horns [...] harder, more rounded look than was normal [...] almost insectile [...] the horns themselves were longer and ridged. Organic, somehow”. insectile might imply several things, but multiple legs is one possibility. If halla were spliced together in awful experiments on elves, or in experiments on elves that also involved other animals, the first ‘specimens’ or ‘batches’ (I hate this phrasing) may not have resembled the halla we know today. they might have been more akin to the bas-relief description or to the new Hormok darkspawn (darkspawn with animal parts) or the other creatures that were found in the pool room (like the halla-varterral hybrid thing). the halla-varterral thing was especially notable because varterrals are spider-like (insectile), ridged and look wrong.. yknow (also consider that the pool made an insectile thing from Jovis, the centipede monster). was the monstrousness of the first halla intentional on Ghilan’nain’s part? was it because the first batches weren’t successes? hard to say. at any rate, she may have then refined them, or made different varieties that looked closer to modern halla in appearance. alternatively, a long long time has passed between then and now. it’s possible that the way halla look naturally evolved over time or that elves selectively bred them (genetics is weird in Thedas and magic can clearly influence breeding of animals). wolves look a lot different to toy dogs in our world.

maybe the least-frightening reading of this stuff is that Ghilan’nain sacrificed or drew blood from elf slaves to power her experiments or increase her magic for her experiments. that’s still awful but slightly (only slightly) less nightmare-inducing than the other possibility.

anyways.. :|

#dragon age #bioware #video games #mj meta #thanku to the discord who helped synthetize this stuff #pls dont be true though #tevinter nights #tevinter nights spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler #spoilers #spoiler

[n-jadaddy]

Wadjet

Erik x Goddess!Reader

Enjoy <3  

edited: 8/7/21

“Now N’jadaka, I am trusting you will be on your best behavior.” T’Challa said while   Fixing his cuffs and adjusting his suit. “We are going to visit a very important person and I’d rather not make a bad impression, it’s been years since they’ve been to a meeting with the other tribe leaders and I don’t wan-“

“Alright damn! I get it. Talking to me like you my mama and shit. I know how to behave” Erik said, looking up from straightening out his own suit. “And why are we out here dressed like undercover penguins anyway, this suit tight as hell,” he continued while adjusting the crotch area of his dress pants. Both men were extremely well dressed, T’Challa wearing a black suit with platinum accents and Erik wearing a similar one with gold accents. “I told you N’Jadaka, we are going to visit the head of the , we are trying to convince her to come to the tribal meetings more often. On their land formal dress is the norm around royalty, our attire is a sign of respect.” T’Challa explained while placing the silver necklace to activate his suit around his neck. “Alright, alright. If it ain’t no smoke, won’t be no smoke” Erik did the same with his gold necklace, tucking his father’s chain into his black dress shirt. T’Challa and Erik head out toward the Royal Talon Fighter, Okoye and Ayo following closely behind them. 

“Where to, my King,” Okoye asked, prepared to put the location into the ship's navigation system. 

“Lower Egypt, the Delta region” T’Challa answered, “The ship will not get any closer than that, we will have to walk the rest of the way” he began to adjust himself in his seat next to Erik. 

“And why is that? You didn’t tell me about no walkin’ I ain’t got on the shoes for that!” Erik said with a scowl on his face. 

“Vibranium does not work there, the ship will cease to function, so will our kimoyo beads, and even our suits will not activate. The palace is built from a type of material that counteracts the power of Vibranium. Which is the other reason why we are visiting- to find out what it is and bring it back to Shuri. That's why you are here.”

“You tryna do that and gain the trust of the leader to come to the meetings too.” Erik smacked his teeth, “sounds like a snake move” T’Challa laughed wholeheartedly. 

“Oh, trust me N’Jadaka, the only snake present will be her”

 After two hours of travel, the talon fighter powered down and everyone had to walk the rest of the way, shoes in hand. The walk was overall peaceful, the sun not beating down on them too much but it was hot enough to see heat waves. However, there were many complaints from Erik. “why the fuck is it this hot?!” “where the fuck is this place?!!” Many of his questions went ignored by Dora and T’Challa. 

“Medjay ahead, we have arrived,” Okoye announced. The outside of the palace was enormous, it was a traditional pyramid, seemingly, nothing special. Once they reached the entrance, they were greeted by it’s guards.

They were Statuesque, standing strong and confident welcoming their new visitors. Their heads were covered with solid gold masks the shape of dogs with black script embedded into the edges, emerald colored fabric adorned their waist secured by a solid gold belt. The only detail setting them apart from Anubis was the green reflective chest plates adorned across their chest, also gold with inscriptions. Both guards held weapons, spears,  very similar to the Dora but with a green gem centered between the blade and the bar. 

“Good Evening, King T’Challa” they said in unison, “It is very good to see you again,” said the one to the left. “Yes, it has been a while” continued the one to the right. “We hope you enjoy your visit” with that, they bow and turn then slam their spears against the sandstone beneath them. The hieroglyphs on the borders of the entrance began to glow a foreign bright green. Their panther suits shone a faint gleam, the same green color, along with their kimoyo beads,  then the floor started to rumble and shake. The entrance had opened, “You may enter” the Medjay said. 

“Thank you so much ladies,” T’Challa says with a smile as Erik and Dora enter the palace. They let out an unprofessional school girl giggle as the doors close “no problem”. The group walked the dark corridor, the only light sources being the torches aligned the walls that illuminated the hieroglyphs engraved into the walls. 

“Is it me, or was that weird as hell?” Erik looked back to the doors then at T’Challa while putting his shoes on. 

“They were just nervous, it is very uncommon for them to have male visitors,” T’Challa answered, “up ahead, the throne room” 

Erik was not talking about the Medjay, he meant the strange reaction the Vibranium had when they entered the hallway. Everything about this place seemed ‘off’ to him, and the sudden urge to cough didn't make it any better. ‘Why was the air so thick in here?’ Erik resisted and held his composure and decided to take a different approach.

“No men, huh? That’s why they are so unprofessional. They need some order around here!” his voice was harsh and forceful, purposely saying it out loud enough to echo through the corridor. 

His statement caused Dora and T’Challa to look at him in shock at his disrespect, of course, Erik didn’t mean it. He was just testing the waters, T’Challa needed information and he would get it for him. 

“N’Jadaka! I told you before we left to be respectful” T’Challa gritted through his teeth and said an angry mother would do to her child.

“What? They disrespected me first! Greeting you at the door like I don’t exist. I’m somebody too!” He said even louder as they walked into the throne room. It was enormous, solid gold plating on every inch of the walls, fragments of the same strange green jewels scattered within the plating. In the middle of the room, a large throne. Unlike the surrounding area, it was a solid black with larger stones embedded into the arms of the empty chair. 

“And look at this! You were pressed about us being late, shawty ain’t even here!” Erik raised and dropped his arms dramatically. The Medjay guarding the room turn in unison to look at him, and slam their spears against the floor, speckles of gold float in the air around them but more concentrated around the throne.

“Disrespect?”

A mysterious honeyed voice bounced off the walls in the room causing Erik to look around in shock.

“Who said that?” Erik turned and continued to look around the room, he turned to T’Challa. He mouthed “kneel” then bent on one knee, crossing his right arm across his chest. The Dora did the same. Erik did not listen. 

The gold follicles morphed into a woman, over  6ft tall with beautiful dark skin and a curvaceous body. Her hair was held up in a green head wrap and her body draped with expensive fabrics and jewels, the top of her eyelids painted over in gold. Her arms and chest were exposed, allowing the hieroglyphic tattoos to be seen. Erik was mesmerized by her beauty, he's never seen a woman as beautiful as her before, but he kept his reaction at bay.

“My apologies, they are only children. They are not familiar with you or know of your title, N’Jadaka son of N’Jobu. It was my fault I should have informed them, hopefully, you can forgive me.”  The woman said genuinely looking into Erik’s eyes, he was transfixed on hers; they were the same green as the gems with inhuman slits in them. Snake eyes. 

“It’s aight,”  he said just above a whisper but enough for her to hear, they both stared into each other’s eyes “You look just like your father” Erik was taken back, he scrunched his eyebrows and opened his mouth to speak only to be interrupted by T’Challa.

“Goddess Wadjet, so nice to see you again” T’Challa and the goddess hug each other with smiles on their faces. 

“Oh quit the formalities T’Challa calls me Y/N” She smiled “Okoye, Ayo looking as beautiful as ever” She embraced them both.

“Now, I am sure you all are tired have a seat so we can discuss” 

T’Challa and Y/N reminisce and laugh together while Erik looks over the room and tries to make sense of everything, you weren't just some queen and this wasn't just someplace, T’Challa was serious when he said you were important.

  He burned holes in the side of your face gaining your attention. You turned towards him and grinned, “It is  rude to stare, perhaps taking a picture would last longer” the room burst in a fit of giggles from everyone but Erik, just a small smirk from him. He couldn't get over how stunning you were, the way your lips moved when you spoke every word clearly. 

Everything about you put him in a trance, he felt a familiar twitch in his pants and adjusted himself in his seat, looking away from you and towards the wall. Face retorting back into a frown he needed to focus.

“Now that you’ve buttered me up, tell me what you want from me.” Your entire demeanor changed, you sat back on your throne and folded your legs. Kings onl visit you when they need something, like your efforts weren't already enough.

“Well, I was thinking. Since you play such an important part in keeping Wakanda safe I want you to come to the meetings with the tribal leaders, we even got M’Baku to come to them more often, we are just missing you” T’Challa looked at you with pleading eyes. You knew this was coming, ruler after ruler begged you to come out of the safety of your home, you were never interested. You were the protector of Kings, and you'd rather do it from a distance. However, T’Challa was different from his father, and if M’Baku attended a meeting then you had to see what else had changed since T’Challa became king. 

“Fine. 30 years of refusal is enough, I might as well attend” T’Challa nodded his head clasping his hands together and Erik looked in surprise ‘that was easy’ he thought, he thought she’d put up more of a fight.

Although your agreement to T’Challa’s proposal excited him, you noticed that he didn’t seem content with only that. “You don't seem satisfied, what more do you want?” They always want more. His eyebrows furrowed, he thought about it then opened his mouth to speak..

“Wel-” T’challa started but was interrupted by Erik.

“We want to know what your palace is built out of, what's all this flashy green shit that fucks with the Vibranium” Erik said bluntly. Eyeing you then jumping out of his seat, he took two long strides toward you. The Medjay crossed their spears in front of you to prevent him from getting any closer. You raise your hand to dismiss them. Allowing Erik to come forward, you stood before him looking down at him. “Asim, Aziza. Please escort T’Challa and Dora Milaje to the guest rooms, it is getting rather dark. I'd rather them not travel home tonight.” You said not breaking eye contact.

“Yes Goddess” Asim and Aziza swiftly lead everyone out of the throne room, T’Challa looks back to Erik and nods before leaving.

Oh yes, you thought, finally, the two of you are alone. You’d have been thinking of Erik the same way he’d been thinking of you. You’d been watching over him for years and seeing what a gorgeous man he's grown into made you clench your thighs. Strong and demanding. Just the way you liked them Being gifted with the power to be feared and respected by all men made you desire just the opposite, and here he was in all his glory.

“I see your attitude still tends to get the best of you. You could have asked me nicely and I would have been much obliged to tell you.” You start to circle him, watching the way his lip twitched in an upward scowl, exposing the gold on his teeth, he growled out a harsh, insincere ‘Please’. You roll your snake-like eyes playfully, satisfied with the response. For now, at least. 

Placing your decorated hands into Eriks, you show him the rings that covered your fingers, some silver some gold. They all commonly held the shiny green stone in the center, the smallest of the rings resting above your knuckle on your pinky finger, hardly hanging on.

“This is Malachite, The stone of transformation” Erik’s hands remained still as he tried to resist the urge to stroke the back of your soft hands with his thumbs. His eyes trailed from your hands to your face, he was able to admire your beauty from up close. Noticing the small unique details of your appearance, like the faint gleam of your fangs as you continued to speak.

  “The Malkata was built over it during Pharaoh’s rule. He did nothing to preserve it so when he perished I took control of the production and distribution of the gem. Just as Vibranium thrives in wakanda, Malachite thrives here in Malkata.” You rub your hand across his gold necklace, the Vibranium starting to vibrate and glow. Erik was taken back at his suit's reaction, snapping out of his trance, becoming defensive.

“That ain’t it, yo creepy-ass doing something else with the Malachite, Vibranium is the strongest material on this planet how can some ordinary gemstone enable it.” he asked, tilting his head. 

You chuckle and step away. “The answer is simple.” You thought for a moment, comically taping your index finger on your defined cheek. “It’s none of your business” placing your hands on your hips. Erik stepped closer putting his arms around your waist pulling you tighter against his pelvic area.  Whispering into your ear he says “Anything that messes with my family and my country is my business, so why don’t you be a good girl and tell me what's up, and maybe I'll give you a little something in return. His hands traveled lower cupping the under area of your ass.” you scoffed and pushed him away. Were you aroused? Of course, you were it's been centuries since you’ve had sex, but there was no way in hell you were going to share the secrets of your country for your own selfish needs. 

Your patience was running thin. 

“I am no whore” you turned to walk away. Not now at least.   “Aye where you go-” he grabs your hand turning you around. You stare back up at him with a paralyzing look, sealing his lips. He couldn't speak even if he tried only murmurs and grunts coming from him. His body had gone stiff too.

“N’Jadaka, I am sure you are no fool. You grab me like that again and I will not hesitate to rip your arms right out of the sockets and beat you with them” As of that moment Erik did not feel threatened ‘you could beat this dick’ he thought. Your anger and frustration were so sexy to him he didn't even care that you could kill him at any moment. You could smell his arousal and stepped away, ‘What a strange man’ you thought. Raising our hand, you released Erik from paralysis.

 “You may see yourself out” walking away you turn one last time to Erik “And tell T’Challa I will not be attending the next meeting, I'm busy.” 

Erik carefully watched you leave the room. Once he was sure you were gone, he dropped his act and smirked, slipping his hands into his pockets fiddling with the tiny ring he had taken from your hands. He had done his part, now needed to figure out how he was going to tell T’challa he fucked up the first part of the deal. 

#erik killmonger #erik killmonger x reader #black panther #n'jadaka x reader #black panther x reader

[rcc-redmarley]

All about Shabtis

Post by Jen Turner

Many museum collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts possess a range of shabti figures, and these objects often feature in museum displays of Egyptian funerary equipment. But what did these objects represent and how did they function? There are over 50 examples of shabti figures in the Eton Myers Collection of Egyptology, which vary in size, material, style and inscription. In this blog post, we will use a selection of shabtis from the Collection to answer some commonly asked questions.

Egyptian 

Three shabtis, (from left to right: 1) ECM 375 2) ECM 383 and 3) ECM 1605), Research and Cultural Collections 

What does the word ‘shabti’ mean?

The word shabti derives from ancient Egyptian terminology, though its meaning is often debated. Ancient terms such as šbd, referring to a ‘stick’ or ‘staff’, šbty, connected with the verb ‘to replace’, and finally wšbty, translated as ‘answerer’, have all been considered. The latter two phrases seem particularly important as they relate to the function of the figurine.

What did a shabti figure do?

A shabti is a funerary figurine that was intended to either represent the deceased tomb owner or act as a substitute that would perform manual labour and other actions on their behalf in the afterlife. Figures could be male (Figures 1 and 2) or female (Figure 3) and typically range in size and material such as stone, clay or wood. The earliest shabti figures date to the Middle Kingdom, though they became increasingly popular and mass produced throughout the New Kingdom. By the mid to late New Kingdom some of the wealthiest tombs contained 401 individual shabtis; this meant that there were 365 workers for each day, and 36 ‘overseers’, depicted as figures bearing whips to discipline any slacking shabtis, to ensure the work was carried out!

Figures 1-3 depicted here were made with faience, a particularly appealing material to both the ancient Egyptians and our collector, Major William Joseph Myers. The colour of these beautifully glazed objects, as illustrated by these examples, can range from a dark purple or bright cobalt blue through to a pale blue-green.

Shabtis were often represented in mummified form (Figures 1 and 3) though could also be depicted wearing daily dress (Figure 2). Each shabti has also been painted to add details of intricate wigs, facial features, and the agricultural tools being carried for performing manual tasks, such as baskets hung over the shoulder, mattocks and hoes. The shabti of Nebmehyt (Figure 1) is not only unusual for its contrasting colours, but the inlaid rather than painted eyes – this tells us that the owner was particularly wealthy to be able to afford this. The shabti of Henuttawy (Figure 3) is important as her wrists are adorned with bracelets and she has a uraeus (a sacred serpent on a headdress) on her forehead – also indicating that she is an important lady!

What are shabtis inscribed with?

Egyptian

The shabti of Horwedja, ECM 1705, Research and Cultural Collections

Within the Eton Myers Collection, we have a range of uninscribed shabtis, and some which provide the name and title of the owner; Nebmehyt (Figure 1) for instance is described as ‘governor of the oasis’, suggesting a person of high status. The shabti of Henuttawy also features her name enclosed by a cartouche, a solely royal symbol. Unlike many of the objects within the Eton Myers Collection, we also have a recorded provenance for this shabti from a royal cache of tombs in Thebes – therefore Henuttawy is actually a queen, and one of our most high-status figures from the Collection.

We also have numerous shabtis inscribed with a formulaic ‘spell’ that was intended to ensure that the figure would be activated in the next life to perform the required manual tasks. This shabti of Horwedja (above, ECM 1705) includes a variation of this spell in which the shabti is summoned ‘to act in order to cultivate the fields’, amongst other duties. We can also connect this figure to a much larger collection held at Manchester Museum, where they have over 40 shabti figures of the same Horwedja!

Shabtis were therefore important items to have in your tomb, but also fascinating items for us to be able to study.

Do you have more questions about shabti figures? Are you interested in finding out more about the Eton Myers Collection? To find out more, please email [email protected].  

#research and cultural collections #museums #Eton Myers #eton myers collection #shabti #shabti figures #Ancient Egypt #Egypt #Manchester Musuem #Uob culture #Eton College #Liverpool World Museum #Petrie Museum #Objects in Focus

[imjustthemechanic]

Natalie Jones and the Golden Ship

Part 1/? - A Meeting at the Palace Part 2/? - Curry Talk Part 3/? - Princess Sitamun Part 4/? - Not At Rest Part 5/? - Dead Men Tell no Tales Part 6/? - Sitamun Rises Again

The mummy reappears, but under circumstances that raise more questions and answer absolutely none - and our heroes already had no answers.

Sir Stephen wasn’t the only one who’d had a particularly nasty shock.  Natasha may not have seen the first man disappear, but she’d definitely seen Allen’s reaction to it, and had noticed how he refused to take the gas mask off the one who looked like Barnes for fear it would happen again.  So in the afternoon, while Sam and Clint went to an arcade and Sharon took Sir Stephen to the Louvre to try to distract him, Natasha took a cup of coffee up to their room for Allen.

He had been gazing mindlessly out the window at the boats on the canal. She set the cup down on the sill and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.  It was still something she had to decide to do and then make herself, feeling more like part of an undercover identity than something she would do naturally.

“I know Sir Steve’s upset,” she said.  “How are you?”

 Allen shrugged.  “It’s like he said.  I just keep seeing it.  I wonder if I’ll do that when I die.”

That thought hadn’t occurred to Natasha, and it was a bit of a shock. Allen wasn’t quite a real person, he was something she’d constructed by accident.  He felt like flesh and blood.  He ate and slept and remembered an entire lifetime that had never happened.  He hadn’t vanished when they’d shut the Grail down, so it didn’t seem likely that he would just disintegrate when he died – but when Barnes had touched her hand, Nat hadn’t noticed anything odd about him, either.  Was there any way to know?

Maybe there was.  “The blood on the cloth vanished when the rest of him did,” she said.  “You bleed and it hangs around – I’ve seen it.”

At that, Allen actually managed a small smile.  “That kind of helps, actually.”

Nat patted his shoulder.  “I think we need to do some research,” she told him.  “Want to find a library?”

“Research on the mummy?” he asked.

“No,” said Nat.  “On true crime.  I want to know if anything like this ever happened before, and if so, what was the motive behind it.”

Just a couple of blocks to the southeast was the Bibliothèque Crimée, which seemed appropriate enough.  It was a modern building with blue and white tiled walls and a rainbow-painted railing at the sidewalk.  Nat settled down with her laptop at one of the pale wooden tables, and connected to the library wi-fi to read up on art heists.

Over the course of the afternoon they dug up news stories about art thefts in France, the UK, and the Americas – and not one of them was anything like what had happened to the mummy.  Art thieves took small things, easily transported and hidden, and ones that were not too famous unless they were planning to ask for a ransom.  The sarcophagus of Sitamun was the exact opposite of that: huge, unwieldy, and instantly recognizable.

“What are you thinking?” Allen asked.

“I’m thinking it had to be a heist for hire,” said Nat, resting her chin on her hands as she scrolled through an article in French about the theft.  “Somebody out there wanted it specifically, saw the opportunity, and hired Barnes and his brother, or whoever they were, to get it. The question is, what do they want it for?  The sarcophagus valuable, but they can’t sell it or show it off for fear of being reported.”

“Maybe it’s a very complicated murder attempt,” Allen suggested.  “Maybe they’re going to give it to somebody they secretly hate and see if the curse works.”

Nat chuckled.  “Now there’s a plot for a heist movie!” she said.

“Or maybe it’s something in this.”  Allen poked the newspaper photograph of the sarcophagus, indicating the inscriptions. “Maybe there’s some special magic or something in there?  They want to learn how the curse works and use it themselves?”

Natasha hadn’t thought of that.  “Somebody’s gotta have a translation,” she said.  A google search was unable to find it, so they emailed the curator of antiquities at the Victoria and Albert Museum to ask.

Much later, when they were back at the hotel, Natasha’s phone dinged to tell her the reply had arrived.  The contents, however, were disappointing.  All that was written on the sarcophagus was the usual list of Princess Sitamun’s titles, her relationships to various other members of the royal family, and some standard blessings for the afterlife.  There was no hint of a curse, or of anything unexpected at all.  Nat finished reading it for the second time, then set her phone on the bottom bunk next to her and flopped back onto the mattress.

“No good?” Allen guessed.

“Nothing,” said Natasha.  “What the hell did anybody want with that mummy badly enough to pull such a dramatic stunt?”

“Maybe just the thrill of the chase,” said Allen.

“It’s almost looking that way,” groaned Nat.  “The thing about Barnes is still bothering me, too.  There are hundreds of guys named Jim Barnes in the United States, so it’s not like I can track down just one of them easily.  I looked through the Times website and they’ve got two guys by that name on their staff, but neither is a reporter and neither is in Europe right now.”

“So we know he was an imposter, and practically nothing else,” said Allen.  “That’s a shame.”

“Don’t start,” Nat warned him.

“Start what?” he asked innocently.

“Teasing me about almost making a date,” said Nat, propping herself up on her elbow to look at him.  “I’m still mad that he tricked me.  I don’t want to hear about it, or about grandchildren, or any of that stuff.  You’re not allowed to be that kind of father.  Understand?”

Allen looked startled, but he nodded meekly.  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said.

It was very early in the morning on their third day in Paris when Nat was awakened by her mobile phone ringing.  She opened her eyes when the tone began to play, then buried her face in the pillow and groaned softly.

The jingle played a second time, and from the bunk above she heard Allen ask in a sleepy voice, “you gonna get that, Ginger Snap?”

“Yeah,” she grumbled, and reached to pick it up off the table at the end of the bunk.  Nat had a very short list of people she would be willing to answer the phone for at this hour, but the caller turned out to be one of them – it was Fury.  She swore under her breath, then pressed the button and put the phone to her ear.

“I hope it’s a reasonable hour where you are,” she said.

“No, because I’m still in England,” he replied, “but I figured you guys needed to know as soon as possible – they found the mummy.”

Nat was suddenly wide awake.  “They did? Where?”

From the bunk by the window she heard Clint mutter something, followed by, “what kind of stupid time is it?”

“I’m not allowed to tell you outright because they don’t want sightseers gathering,” said Fury, “but since it was stolen by disappearing guys with the same face and all, I asked the Gendarmerie to let you take a look at it.  They’re sending a car, so you’d better get dressed.”

“We don’t know what was going on with those men,” Nat protested, although she was already getting out of bed.

“Nobody else does either,” said Fury, “but you’ve dealt with stuff like this before.”

“No, we haven’t!” said Nat.  The Grail had been completely different.

She wasn’t going to pass the opportunity up, though, so after hanging up she reached up to give Allen a shake, then crossed the room to wake Sir Stephen.

“Everybody up,” she ordered.

“Why?” asked Clint.

“They found the mummy,” said Nat.

“So?” he asked, from the top window bunk.  “It’s not like she’s getting any deader.”

Fortunately everybody else was a little more enthusiastic.  They dragged Clint out of bed with the promise of espresso, and there was just enough time for everybody to wash their faces and throw on some deodorant before the Gendarmerie cars pulled up outside the hostel. The French police looked just as annoyed at having to get up before dawn as the CAAP, and nobody spoke much as they drove out into the countryside for what felt like hours.

In fact, it was hours – by the time they arrived, the sun was coming up.  They pulled over to the side of the country road, just above a steep slope down into a wooded valley.  Through the trees, Nat could just barely see yellow crime scene tape.

“There,” one of the cops said, pointing.  He had a heavy accent and somehow managed to imply that this was at least a third of his English.

They had to be very careful climbing down the hill.  It had been raining overnight, and the autumn grass and fallen leaves were slippery and treacherous.  Clint would have fallen on his face and slid the whole way if Nat hadn’t been in time to grab him, and a moment later she had to pass him on to Sir Stephen so that she could take Allen’s hand before he lost his footing on the slick ground.  There were several scrapes and bruises before they finally came to the tape, and ducked under it.

From the top of the hill, the yellow tape had been visible through a break in the trees.  Now that they were up close, Nat could see that it was literally a break: branches had been smashed by something heavy crashing into them.  The fallen thing had rolled down the hill, hit the trees, and then shattered on a boulder in the middle of the small stream at the bottom.

It was the sarcophagus of Princess Sitamun.

“Oh, no!” Natasha exclaimed.  She hurried forward the last few steps, climbed over a broken tree trunk, and pushed aside a white-suited forensics specialist who tried to stop her.

She had hoped for a moment that it was some trick of light and shadow that made the sarcophagus look broken, but it wasn’t.  The lid had snapped in two and was lying in the gravel on the shoreline, while the body was broken into three large pieces and countless tiny ones, leaning on the boulder and strewn across the shallow stream bed.  In the middle of it all, half-in and half-out of the water, was the mummy itself, broken in pieces and twisted almost beyond recognition as a human body.  Nobody would be getting any DNA, or anything else, out of it now.

“Madame!” the specialist said.  “You must not touch!”

“Non, pas vraiment,” Nat agreed, drawing her hand back.  “Je m’excuse.”  The stream had probably already washed a lot of evidence away and her poking around wouldn’t help.  The police had to figure out who had done this terrible thing to such a treasure and punish them for it… but whoever it was, she thought, when she found the guilty parties Natasha would break their necks herself!  The spy in her had been angry yesterday.  Today, the archaeologist was livid.

She must have looked it, too, because as she rejoined the others back at the tape, they all moved away from her – except for Allen, who put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her.

“So somebody took the mummy and the sarcophagus,” he said, “and then just threw it away?  That doesn’t make any sense.”

“No,” Natasha agreed.  “None of this makes sense.”  They had to have missed something important… but what?

#fanfic #steve rogers #natasha romanov #sharon carter #sam wilson #clint barton

[apcoapune]

India Architecture Before Common Era ( BCE ): The Bhaja Caves

Introduction

India has the most amazing ancient rock-cut architecture and cultural heritage at more than 1500 historical sites. One of the fine portrayals of stone carved architecture is found at the Bhaje or Bhaja caves that date back to the 2nd century BCE. An example of the Buddhist architecture in the initial stages that is deemed to be sculptured by the Hinayana sect is represented by these caves. Constructed on a trade route from the Arabian sea to the Deccan plateau in ancient times it is an assemblage of 22 caves that comprises 14 rock-cut stupas, a magnificent chaityagraha, and many viharas. Meditation and residence of Buddhist monks were the main motive that is still fulfilled today as the caves still support the Buddhist monks that are taking education.

Location

Standing in the Indrayani river valley in the Deccan plateau the Bhaja caves are located at Lonavala around 3 km from Malavali station on the Mumbai Pune road in Maharashtra state. The west facing caves stand tall at 120 meters above the Bhaja village in a green verdant surrounding.

The Bhaja Chaitya Griha

The Bhaja Chaitya Griha is the most distinguished chaitya that is said to be one of the first ancient chaityas that are still in preserved condition as per the Archeological Survey of India and the biggest of all the Bhaja caves.This chaitya griha has a rectangular hall of 18 meters long, 8.50 meters wide, and 6.5 meters in height with an arched horseshoe shaped ceiling that is supported by the Burmese teak wood rib beams. The arched gateway has a horseshoe shaped chaitya window carved above it while a number of small chaitya windows sit on the fencing motifs on both sides.

On the inside there are 27 octagonal pillars that are without a capital in a somewhat leaning position mimicking the wooden pillars that were used to bear the load of the ceiling in the ancient times due to its inclination. But here they are carved as decorative artifacts after the realisation in the later period that upright pillars can also do the same.

The walls of the chaitya griha have the classic Mauryan glossy finish with in all 8 inscriptions that bear the name of some donors and reliefs that express Indian mythological tales along with Buddha images. It is here in the inscriptions that we find mention of the existence of these caves to be of 2200 years old.

The main stone carved stupa in the centre has a hermika i.e. fence like structure on the top with a hole on top to hold a wooden umbrella. From the outside one can notice that the whole verandah structure resembles a high rise building with verandas and windows with notable reliefs.

The 14 stupas

There are in all 14 stupas out of which 9 stupas are carved out of the smaller cave while 5 stand inside. Built in memory of worshipped monks some bear their name inscriptions with their specific titles holding the remains of the monks that stayed in the viharas till their death. They form a magnificent space structure one can roam in between to admire their beauty.

Sculptures

Deemed to have been painted in vibrant colours before enclosing in plaster, the sculptures here present excellent art pieces like that of the famous ‘ dancing couple ‘ in the last cave that is at the south. Interestingly the symbolic representation or important life incidents of Buddha are found throughout in the form of images of lotus, elephant or throne. However after 4 th century AD the paintings of Buddha became part of the caves.Demons driven over by chariots of royal women on wooden relief can be seen on the verandahs. Carving of a woman playing tabla with another one dancing discards the previous assumption that the musical instrument is of a foreign origin.

One astonishing fact is that the Bhaja caves have shady insides but the windows here are carved in such a unique way that the everyday setting sun rays enter the cave to illuminate the god and goddesses stature. Such and many other works of significant archeological structures are present here and so it can be definitely said that the uphill climb of 180 to 230 steps to reach the Bhaja caves has the potential to please your eyes with the wonderful Buddhist art and architecture of ancient India.

[okimargarvez]

LIKE EASTER

Original title: Like Easter.

Prompt: Easter holydays, Italy, Holy Week.

Warnings: reflections on my catholic faith.

Genre: comedy, family, romantic, friendship.

Characters: Penelope Garcia, Luke Alvez, (JJ, Spencer), O.C.

Pairing: Garvez.

Note: oneshot.

Legend: 💏😘❗🎈.

Song mentioned: none.

Easter holidays and Luke have a problem to solve: his grandmother waits for him in Rome for the Holy Week and wants that he’s accompanied by a girlfriend; Penelope, on the other hand, feels cast aside as the “painted eggs” festivity.

Like Easter- Masterlist

MY OTHER GARVEZ STORIES

Part 9

Friday night. Day spent doing tourist, but enough distracted. Too lost one in the eyes of other, one on the lips of other, to notice the monuments. They behave like teen-agers. Each phrase, each pretext is good to stay closer, to search the physical contact with the other. The mouth.

Day of fasting. No problem. Who is hungry, when the stomach is full of butterflies? She never understood this way of saying. However, the result is the same. The only thing she needs is him. They kiss, but even talk, a lot. About what they were before, about their past. Luke tells her some episodes of his period with the task-force. He explains the difficult living in war-zones. She feels the necessity to verify, like S. Thomas who put his finger in the holes of Jesus’s body, for feeling in her turn, with her hands, his wounds. She listens him explain his first days in the BAU, like profiler in training, and his lack of understanding why the computer technician, of whom, like it or not, he heard so much about, why she treated so coldly only him.  She listens him while he tells her that he gets the right conclusions, but however he had still thinking about her. That he had realized the situation was graved, when he found her in the field, on Bradenton, and, without time to recover, Reid was detained in police custody, he had saw her so fragile, for the first time she hadn’t the force to make fun of him. The final straw was seeing her crying openly.

And after this talk, Luke had patiently listened her saying her version. And above all, they realized to feel the same doubts and fears. They no need any more (if they ever had) to show themselves like a couple.

 Each time that she feels wavering, she turns towards him, looking at him and some courage revives her. It’s the time.

Nothing that she had even seen in her life, equals one spectacle like this. The city seems to have drifted out of historical fantasy videogame. All of those monuments, those works created by man, so many time ago. Yet, only this could be enough to shocked her, left breathless, despite she had seen this already during the week. But this time there is something more: the night. A night that seems to come from medieval times, from that period when darkness was something very different to what is in the present-day: because with the possibility to make rise the sun in every moment, we lost that emptiness, that ancestral fear. And then, the people: so many, more than during a concert, at most comparable with Woodstock. So many people, that for a while she feels lost, she is scared to losing herself. She turns to make sure that Luke is still there, and he seems to understand what crosses her mind. He takes her hand and squeezes it strongly.

And suddenly, the murmur dies away and then, a man dressed in white starts to speak. The Pope seems extremely human, one of many. He speaks in Italian and she doesn’t understand, or almost. Luckily, most is written in the book she keeps with one hand. Penelope glances at the woman closer to her. She smiles, with tears in her eyes. He it’s from the end of the world. Very close to the place that her family it’s from.

A chorus starts to sing. Even this is scenography sign that contributes to make her feel like they were in another century. Use of Latin. That language so… inexplicable.

-1st Station. Jesus is condemned to death.- just when the chorus is silenced, a female voice starts to speak, very coached. Then, that of another man seems to find a correspondence with the liturgical books that are read. Penelope realizes that she is keep her breath just when Luke’s grandmother coughs, bringing her out from this kind of trance. It’s a weird thing: she doesn’t comprehend what she hears, just the tone and to understand she must strive to follow it on the book. Yet, even if she can’t understand, something penetrates in her.

-2nd Station: Jesus is denied by Peter.- again, that chant so weird, those voices that seem to come from another dimension. After other explanations, read by persuasive voice that transport her in that universe and, simultaneously backwards in time: and not 1000 years ago, but much closer, just few years ago; after this, everyone around her say the prayer, even Luke and Rosa, is she the only one that didn’t know it? Yet, she recognizes the rhythm and inside, she knows what it’s about. Patern noster. But she doesn’t know these words, she learns it in Italian, but this is… Latin. And she feels in difficulty. For the umpteenth time. Yes, the words are printed there, before her eyes, but she doesn’t have that accent, and… if she would wrong, if someone would notice it?

-3rd Station: Jesus and Pilatus.- reading that part of the Gospel, she remembers what she had feel the first time that she found herself before this: indignation. But finally a way to say had found sense. Wash their hands like Pontius Pilates. It was a horrible thing. Almost as bad as commit a crime. She is deeply agree with who, since the beginning of time, has said that the real problem aren’t the ones who hurt, but those do nothing for stop it, that show themselves indifferent, like this had nothing to do with them.

-4th Station: Jesus king of Glory.- the idea of crown of thorns is so… tragic. No one can imagine what kind of pain He would feel. The soldiers’ mockery, those ignorant, symbol of the whole humanity for which Him had wanted to die, He was willing to sacrifice Himself totally. Everything had re-emerged in Penelope’ memory now. She is used it with different words, but the meaning is the same. Is universal. And this latter is the correct translate of Catholicism.

-5th Station: Jesus carries His cross.- the Cross. That symbol is turned as much absolute, because no only Christians use to say or to consider a pain, a serious suffering, like a Cross. Because in the end, even those who professes themselves atheist or agnostic, that one having fun mocking religion, sending their invectives more towards church leaders, rather than towards Jesus. Because He, like Buddha and Gandhi, was been first of all a good man, a model that transcends geographic, social and human borders.

-6th Station: Jesus and Simon of Cyrene.- one part of Via Crucis that ever puts her on the spot. Because it would’ve been better if this Simon had been happy to take Jesus’ Cross. And instead he behaves like any other man, and after all, even Peter had denies His Lord, on three occasions! And he’s become the first Pope of the World, the rock on which the Church itself was build. But this Simon doesn’t want to be put in the middle of these things, that don’t concern him. He doesn’t want to risk his security of humanity for something far more potentially upper, but uncertain.

-7th Station: Jesus and the Daughters of Jerusalem.- this time the tone of the woman who is reading is more high, or rather more serious, less artificial, more active, and following almost simultaneous translation, the blonde agrees. There is almost bitter irony in her voice. And how she can’t think about all feminicide that are committed each day in the world? Then, with the work that they do… for the first time since the rite started, she look at Luke, who never had problem with Italian and so he follows the procession, without the use of book.

-8th Station: Jesus clothes are taken away.- in his hand there is a light of a lantern, like those of everyone. The other hand is ever held in hers. He not letting go her hand a second. Occasionally some fingers seem to brush her palm, sweetly. But this doesn’t take her mind off things that words, and mood is giving her. Another, one more humiliation. Ever those ignorant soldiers, it got to the point that they playing dice His clothes.

-9th Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross.- she feels angst flowing in her heart, hearing and reading these words. It’s inconceivable. Yet, even in the period when she was convinced that she no longer believes in Him, or that she wanted to feel Him far away, even in those moments she couldn’t help but be impressed, each time she heard someone talk about these things. Rossi was believer. Spencer knew by heart the Bible, but he didn’t believe, like any good scientist. Emily was always showed wary, if not worse, whit everyone those who was wearing white collar. Derek, instead, had an open conflict toward the Church, for what he had suffer; yet, he was in that kind of building, when she was shot in the chest.

-10th Station: Jesus mocked on the cross.- infamy, again and mocking. To the point of wrote an inscription and put it on the top of the Cross. INRI. And then, that thieve, the one “bad”, how dare he find the courage to ask Him why He not came down from the cross and saved them too? How dare that thing claim this? She always was indignant about it. Not just the first time that she had heard it by the priest at the moment, but every other time. And even now, that sentiment re-emerged in her. Like it was stayed away for so long, while she was away. Lost, like the sheep in the parable of the Good Shepherd.  

-11th Station: Jesus and His mother.- a tragic moment. Another one. She can’t imagine the pain that woman went through, that ordinary woman and yet, so special, superior to anyone else. Symbol of universal suffering. Pure and yet human, mother first of all: how can someone forget the episode when she and Joseph were worried because little Jesus was disappeared? The one which more suffer, because she cannot claim anything, because she was chosen for a work even bigger than her. The immensity of that thing crushes Penelope, which feels faint for a while. But the hand of the man that led her to be here right now is still held in hers, so he notices her faint and he becomes worried, but she nods that everything is ok.

-12th Station: Jesus dies on the cross.- He is dead. He is really gone. It’s not a thing that human mind can seriously understand. Until that moment everyone didn’t believe that it could happened. Both ones that didn’t believe in Him, which consider Him like an impostor, and those that, instead, like apostles, had seen that light and had understood there was something more. Both categories expected something different. And instead, no. He is dead and in Penelope’ soul there is an ancestral pain, like anyone with a heart.  

-13th Station: The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross.- she doesn’t conscious now about what happening. She can’t even follow the words and what is saw. Rosa’ eyes are watery, too, but she seems grave and respectable, like whoever are not ready to cry during a funeral of a person they loved with any inch of their soul. Luke instead seems rapt, focused. She tries to follow again what is happening. It’s almost over.

-14th Station: Jesus in the tomb and the women.- almost there and it’s all over. And just in two days He‘ll be resurrected. But until that moment we can live in hope or in angst, in the pain of people who felt betrayed from His words. And then, those women found empty tomb. And the angel which is there with the difficult task of explaining them that He isn’t there, as He had announced. And everyone had saw (or pretended) to believe it with every inch of their body, and instead wasn’t so: the example of Peter proves it. Faith, yes, but humanity and humanity pushing us to make mistake.

After the classic phrases, to which also she answers, without any hesitation, with -Amen.-, the man dressed in white speaks again. She has to ask Luke to explain what he’s saying. But she doesn’t need someone to clarify the tone and the way he says those things: so much suffered, almost consumed, desperate. Certainly not an aseptic and distant voice. And there a such silent, no one covers in any way those unknow words.

With other brief ritual phrases and the benediction, the celebration is end. It seems incredible. It seems they are come from a millennium trip, and instead it’s been two hours. Not only not she got bored, but she is… shocked, in a good way. It wasn’t that spectacular like she expected, hearing Luke talking about it. Maybe, the Palm Sunday was more scenic, for the presence of liturgical drama. The chorus starts to sing and, although they can proceed to exit, nobody moves, and an ovation starts, like a shower of rain. Only after Pope gets into a car and starts another journey, people begin slowly to leave.

They head towards the parking, where they had left Rosa’ car. The older walks intentionally faster, to give them the chance to stay one more moment alone. Maybe they think that she didn’t notice, instead she knows the way they had look into each other’s eyes first, and the way they look now. It’s so clear that something is changed between them, and if she knows her nephew as she thinks… what he wanted her to think is came true. Good, because if he ever let himself to miss out a girl like Penelope, she would make him regret it for a life. -So?- she turns toward him. -What did you think?- he stops before her. But the blonde hasn’t the right words to describe what she feels. So, she answers him with a hug. Then they have to walk faster, because his grandmother is now a spot just about visible.

TAGS: @theshamelessmanatee @itsdawnashlie @talesoffairies @janiedreams88 @kiki-krakatoa @yessenia993 @teyamarra @c00lhandsluke  @gcchic @arses21434 @orangesickle @entireoranges @jarmin @kathy5654 @martinab26 @thisonekid @thenibblets @perfectly-penelope @ambrosiaswhispers @maziikeen92 @lovelukealvez @reidskitty13 @jenf42 @gracieeelizabeth27 @silviajajaja @smalliemichelle99 @charchampagne14 @ichooseno  @ megs2219 @rkt3357 @franklintrixie @thinitta @chewwy123 @skisun @maba84 @saisnarry @myhollyhanna23 @thenorthernlytes

Note: it was so difficult to try to translate this part. I do not know how it came out and probably Penelope is OOC, because her thoughts are mine. The next will contain much more garvez and less religious reflections (a little).

#garvez #penelope garcia #luke alvez #penelope x luke #luke x penelope #alvez x garcia #garcia x alvez #criminal minds #cm #holy week #easter

[mst3kproject]

803: The Mole People

I hate this movie all out of proportion for how bad it is.  I mean, yeah, it sucks, but looking at it as objectively as possible, I'm not sure it merits the volcanic rage it inspires.  Maybe I just really, really despise John Agar.  Or maybe it's the racism, or how it fails to tell us anything about the title creatures, or the shitty ending in which 'happily ever after' is snatched away at the last moment from the character who most deserved it.

Okay, maybe The Mole People really is totally loathsome.  Let's examine this.

A bunch of archaeologists climb a mountain to get a look at the ruins of a Sumerian city at the top.  Once there, they fall through some ice and end up in a giant cave under the mountain, where the rest of the city is.  This part, however, is still inhabited, both by creepy-looking albino Sumerians and by their slaves, the titular mole people – also by one cute blonde, because our white hero needs a white love interest.  The surface-dwellers are treated as honoured guests because the Sumerian king believes they are emissaries of Ishtar.  His high priest, however, thinks otherwise, and has plans to sacrifice them to the goddess as soon as he can prove they are mere mortals!  At the end they find their way back to the surface just as the Mole People slaves rise in revolt.  The last Sumerian survivor, the blonde, is pointlessly crushed by a column, leaving us with a movie that accomplished nothing but the destruction of an entire civilization.

Ishtar is an Akkadian goddess – the Sumerian name for her was Inanna, but at least this movie gets closer to her actual homeland than Blood Feast did.  Or maybe it doesn't, because all the wall paintings and hieroglyphs on the 'Sumerian' sets are Egyptian.  The smurf hats worn by the soldiers are Phrygian.  The Sumerians were the people with the long square beards and the bird-headed gods, but I guess nobody on the production design team bothered to go to the Met.  Who cares, right?  The Sumerians are all dead, they can't complain.  Hell, even when current cultures do complain about how they're misrepresented, Hollywood doesn't give a shit.

I have discussed elsewhere my deep, visceral revulsion of John Agar, so I won't go into that again.  Instead, I'll start by saying that The Mole People's main feature is how uninvolving it is.  It feels something like Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell, in that I think they had a checklist: for a Journey to the Centre of the Earth movie, you need a scientist hero, a love interest, a lost civilization, and some monsters.  The writers put a bit more thought into how all these parts fit into a whole than the ones on Deathstalker did, but we still don't get the idea that anybody was really passionate about wanting to tell this particular story.

There are terrible movies in which you can still tell everybody was into it, and the viewer is carried along with them. Teenagers from Outer Space is like this, as is Reptilicus. Everyone involved was enthusiastic about the project and really wanted to make this particular film, and some of that shines through even if the result is not exactly everything they dreamed of.  The Mole People is... not like that.  It feels like the cast and crew just turned up, did as they were told, and collected their cheques with no more enthusiasm than if they were working a shift at Wal-Mart, and as a result the movie itself does the same thing.  It plods methodically through its running time and then it goes home.

The only place where we really get the idea that somebody was trying was in the worldbuilding.  Like in Alien from LA, someone made an attempt to think through how this underground city might work, and whoever it was actually did a decent job.  The humans eat mushrooms and goat cheese, and wear cloth woven from goat wool. The goats presumably also eat mushrooms, and the mushrooms grow in the humans' and goats' shit.  The population must be strictly maintained at a certain size or there will not be enough food to go around – I doubt the writers thought very hard about the fact that it's women who are killed when a cull is necessary, but that, too, actually makes a certain amount of sense, since fewer women means less chance of unplanned pregnancies.  The water comes from an underground river and the air comes down the tunnel behind the Doors of Ishtar.  The mole people mine for building materials.  The writers even gave a nod to the idea of a language barrier – the Sumerians do not speak English, but John Agar's character speaks their language because he has studied it.

It all actually seems fairly complete and sustainable as long as you don't think too hard about the laws of thermodynamics – the only real question is where the heck the actual damned Mole People came from.

Are they humans mutated by a long existence underground, Morlocks to the Sumerians' Eloi?  Are Mole People just a thing that exists and we never met them before now, despite the fact that we dig mines and they could clearly find their way to the surface if they chose to?  The monsters of Pellucidar are supposed to be kilometres down in the centre of the Earth, but the Sumerian city is only at most a couple of hundred metres deep.  In fact, being in a mountain it's probably well above sea level!  If Mole People were digging around down there, we should have been aware of them long ago.  Are they an isolated species, confined to this one mountain?  If so, why?  Are they even 'people' at all?  They make no attempt to communicate with the humans beyond the most basic ideas of hunger and fear, and display little behaviour to suggest that they are anything but animals until right at the end, when they apparently organize a rebellion.

I don't know if anybody else finds this as weird as I do.  Maybe most people just accept that obviously there are going to be monsters in a Centre of the Earth movie.  The thing is, everything else in the film was somehow set up.  We know how the Sumerians got where they are, from the inscription on the oil lamp – the scientists set out to find a Sumerian city, and they find one, it's just a lot more inhabited than they expected it to be.  The way the underground city works makes reasonable sense, and yet there are Mole People, apparently just because.  No inscription mentioning Beasts of the Earth or anything like that.  The only hint we get that there will be Mole People in this movie is the fact that its title is The Mole People.  Maybe the writers figured that was enough. Maybe it is.  All I know is that if this movie were  called The Underground City or The Eye of Ishtar or something, the Mole People would be completely out of nowhere.

The Mole People appear to also eat mushrooms and goat cheese.  What did they used to eat before the humans moved in?

The other totally random thing in this movie is the blonde, Adad.  She serves absolutely no purpose in the story other than to kiss John Agar.  The movie tells us she's a throwback – millennia of living underground have led to these people losing most of their skin pigment, but Adad is 'marked by darkness' (this is called melanism and occurs in nature with things like black leopards).  Cynthia Patrick is clearly not Middle-Eastern, but then, neither are any of the other actors playing the Sumerians.  Even so, she still doesn't fit in as part of their world.  For one thing, there's her clothing and hairstyle, which are pure Fifties Pin-Up Girl rather than matching what the other Sumerian women wear.  For another, despite the fact that Adad's distinguishing trait is supposed to be 'darkness', she's the only blue-eyed blonde!  All the other Sumerian women have dark hair and brown eyes!

Adad would have made far more sense if she'd been presented as the child of the last surface-dwellers who found their way down there, with the fate of her parents to illustrate that the Sumerians mean their threats.  As a bonus, this would also have avoided the percieved need for the movie's utterly asshole ending, in which she escapes the underground world only to have a rock fall on her.  According to Wikipedia, the studio felt they could not possibly let her have a happy ending with one of the scientists, because that might be seen as supporting inter-racial relationships. Heaven knows we can't encourage nice girls to marry John Agar!

This ending is, first of all, completely contrary to everything the movie has set us up to expect, both for the relationship and for Adad herself.  As the only Sumerian with skin pigment and a person whom we know to have been mistreated, returning to the surface world feels like it ought to be her personal destiny.  Killing her off in such a sudden and meaningless fashion feels like a giant middle finger to both her and anybody in the audience who bothered to pay attention.  Not to mention it gives the impression that having the only survivor be the one who looks most like a normal white person just wasn't racist enough for the filmmakers – at the last moment they decided she still wasn't white enough, and offed her!

Adad's death also leaves the main characters having learned basically nothing.  Even with the city itself destroyed by the cave-in, taking with Adad with them would have allowed them to continue studying the civilization they'd discovered, from the point of view of somebody who'd lived in it and properly understood it.  With her dead, her entire culture is gone without a trace, leaving only the vague memories of a couple of foreigners who never saw this world as anything but a threat.  Seems about right, really, for somebody's first contact with white Europeans.

Yeah, fuck this movie.

#mst3k #reviews #the mole people #oh shit it's john agar #50s

[arsgogues-blog]

Works of my students

Techniques that I have come up with and deployed for the students. This is something that I have shared during the course with our tutor in the Reflective Journal. Thought all of you will have something similar to share.

1. I give the students a topic to work upon. e.g. Landscape, Figurative Drawing, Memory Drawing etc. The students can come up with an idea and has to think of a caption/title for their work that describes the drawing in a small phrase/sentence.

2. I have also given them a common topic e.g. Landscape at Night. Everyone works on the same idea and I feed them with the elements that they can incorporate within their drawing having a common colour scheme. Examples of student's work attached.

3. Create a 8x10 matrix and draw few key elements randomly in some of the boxes leaving out few boxes in between which the students are asked to fill. Topic - Lighthouse. I also provide a list of key element names that can be included into the work. This kind of an exercise keeps the students extremely engaged and they are most eager to complete the activity with speed. Examples of student's work attached.

4. Students are instructed to visit specific artist's work and taking those ideas create something of their own in similar lines. Examples of student's work influenced bu Henri Matisse attached earlier.

5. For the senior groups of 8th and 9th grades, topics on 'identity of oneself' worked wonders. They came up with excellent Doodles reflecting their own mind. Examples of student's Doodling attached here.

Effectiveness:

1. Individual abilities and strength comes out of the student's work.

2. Most of the students develop imaginative ability. They also put together things that they come across in their daily life through TV shows and Internet for the topic being practiced. Many of them cross the boundaries, ends up presenting superlative works beyond their age group.

3. Their imagination has no bounds and all 30 students in the class come up with different outcome. This is displayed to everyone in the class. The ideas of all are shared across the group.

4. To understand specific styles and periodic expressions of different artists.

5. Development of expression in a different medium.

Other that the above, given below are few methods that I have applied to develop my learner's skills.

1. Newspaper drawing - the news paper becomes the surface and the inscription tool is normally a black/brown sketch/gel pen. The directive is to prepare sketches made using the white spaces between the printed words and pictures in the newspaper using the newsprint as the elements of the drawing.

2. Composing mixed media art with whatever is available within the surroundings. These can broken bangles, tampered lamp shades, pebbles, marbles, paper cuttings, threads etc.

3. Observing folk art, cave paintings, tribal art, tribal masks and representing those styles in the student's work.

4. Asking the students to imagine a 'scape' e.g. how the ocean will look like from top of a cliff.

Over and above sketching and painting on a regular basis will help them the most in developing their skill and imagination.

#palash #worksofmystudents #doodling #matisse #lighthouse #landscapeatnight #techniquesdeployed #learnerskilldevelopment

[didanawisgi]

Tau = Tula as Great Mother and much much moreAuthor: Joyeuse ()Date: April 21, 2005 03:00AMjust found that in my notes in checking something else as usual, lol. "DEFINITIONS: TAU The Greek alphabet. Esoteric Meaning: Ta, where; bottom, valley, abyss, etc. A T-square is an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for “Tau” which means “sacred gate” or “sacred opening”. Multiple Taus form a temple: for example “Stonehenge”. The Triple Tau is the symbol for the Temple of Jerusalem. Around the neck of Sirius, the “King of the Seven Stars” is the double tau, the “pi” symbol. From the tau hieroglyph in the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, it is clear that “Tau” means “holy or sacred gate or “holy or sacred opening”. The five- pointed star also denotes the word “sacred”. TAU CROSS The tau cross was shaped in the form of a “T” and is an ancient symbol of eternal life. The Druids venerated and made a tree sacred by etching into its bark a tau cross. Among Christians it is hailed as the “Cross of Saint Anthony”, since the saint was allegedly martyred on such a cross. The tau cross is also utilized in Freemasonry as one on its sacred symbols. TAU AS A PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN SYMBOL That which is now called the Christian cross was originally no Christian emblem at all, but was the Mystic Tau of the Chaldeans and the Egyptians—the true original form of the letter T, the initial of the name of Tammuz. It is the same as ancient Chaldee and is found on their coins. The Mystic Tau was marked in baptism on the foreheads of those initiated in the Mystery Schools. The Catholic priests make the sign of the cross on the foreheads of infants at baptism and it was used as a most sacred symbol. To identify Tammuz with the sun, it was joined with a circle of the sun; sometimes it was inserted in the circle. Whether the Maltese cross, which the Roman Bishops append to their names as a symbol of their Episcopal dignity, is the letter T, may be doubtful; but there seems no reason to doubt that the Maltese cross is an express symbol of the sun; for Lanyard found it as a sacred symbol in Nineveh in such a connection that it led him to identify it with the sun. The mystic Tau, as a symbol of great divinity, was called the sign of life. It was used as an amulet over the heart. It marked the official garments of the priests of Rome. It was borne by kings in their hands as a token of their dignity and divinely conferred authority. The Vestal virgins of Pagan Rome wore it suspended from their necklaces, as the nuns do now. The Egyptians did the same, as did many of the barbarous nations. It was worshipped in Mexico for ages before Roman Catholic missionaries set foot there. They were large stone crosses erected to the “gods of the rains”. The cross was the symbol of Bacchus, the Babylonian god, for he was represented with a headband of crosses. The cross of the Manicheans with leaves and flowers and fruit is called the divine tree, the tree of the gods, the tree of knowledge, and life. So the TAU was used by many ancient peoples and is still in use today as a sacred symbol. THE ANSATED CROSS, ANKH, OR TAU The ankh is an Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph signifying “life” a cross surmounted by a loop and known in Latin as a crux ansata (ansate, or handle-shaped cross). It is found in ancient tomb inscriptions, including those of the king Tutankhamen, and gods and pharaohs are often depicted holding it. The ankh forms part of hieroglyphs for such concepts as health and happiness. The form of the symbol suggests perhaps a sandal strap as its original meaning though it has been seen as representing a magical knot. It has been extensively used as the symbol of the Coptic Christian Church. One of the most widely recognized symbols sacred to the ancient Egyptians and often used as an amulet, this symbol is basically the T or Tau cross supporting a circular shape. It combines two symbols, the tau cross-‘life’, and the circle-‘eternity’, thus together ‘immortality’, and it is also the male and female symbols of the two principal Egyptian deities ‘Osirus’ and ‘Isis’. Thus we have the union of heaven and earth. THE TAU The Tau ‘T’ is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet and in ancient times it was regarded as the symbol of life, and the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, theta, was considered the symbol of death. Many say that these two symbols created today’s + and minus – symbols. The Tau is a very old form of the cross and is also known as St. Anthony’s Cross. The Hebrew form of the word Tau is pronounced ‘tov’ which means marking, etching or scrawl. In Pagan times a warrior returning honorably from battle would attach a T to his name. An ancient Roman Arch Lecture reveals that those acquitted of a crime or returning from battle could also use a T as a sign. In other words, The Tau cross was put on men to distinguish those who lamented sin or were brave in battle. In imitation of this, in the 26th degree of the Scottish Rite, a tau is put on the candidate’s forehead after the candidate has been purified with water to distinguish himself before proceeding. THE TRIPLE TAU It has been said that three taus come together to form the Triple Tau. Others say the Triple Tau is originally the coming together of a T and an H, forming Templum Hierosolyma, or the Temple of Jersusalem. Christians interpreted the symbol as “Holiness supporting Trinity”. Royal Arch Freemasonry records dating from 1767 show this symbol. In addition to meaning Templum Hierosolyma (The Temple of Jerusalem), it also is said to mean Calvis as Thesaurum- “ A key to the Treasure” –and Theca ubi respretiosa- “A place where the precious thing is concealed.” THE TAU-A FRANCISCAN CROSS The first recorded biblical reference to the TAU is from Ezekiel 9:4, “Go through the city of Jerusalem and put a TAU on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” The TAU is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet and looks very much like the letter T. At the Fourth Lateran Council, on November 11, 1215, Pope Innocent III made reference to the TAU and quoted the above verse in reference to the profaning of the Holy Places by the Saracens. St. Francis was present and he heard these words of Pope Innocent III when he said, “The TAU has exactly the same form as the Cross on which our Lord was crucified on Calvary, and only those will be marked with this sign and will obtain mercy who have mortified their flesh and conformed their life to that to the Crucified savior. From Then on, the TAU became Francis’ own coat of arms. Francis used the TAU in his writings, painted in on the walls and doors of the places he stayed, and used it as his only signature on his writings. TULA: THE GREAT MOTHER William Henry wrote the following about TULA, The Center of the Milky Way Galaxy. TAU is an anagram within the word itself. “No matter where the word Tula appeared it represented the Great Mother. Her lore dominated the thinking of the ancients who believed our souls came from Tula and our mission on earth was to learn to return to Tula. Simultaneously, we were to turn the Earth, herself, into a Tula. Jesus called this the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It is this awareness of the original concepts of Tula, including those of Jesus that we are now being asked to absorb. The Apocalyptic-minded believe we are being asked to learn the teachings that will place us in attunement or resonance with Tula in preparation for our return home. According to Greek myths, this heart of Tula beats and vibrations spread throughout the Galaxy. This Central Sun, TULA, is a fountain of healing energy, healing ‘waters’ or ‘living waters’. It is even considered to be the Holy Grail itself.” In the Egyptian Ceremony, “The Weighing of the Heart”, the scale used to weigh the heart is the SACRED TAU and the soul’s eternal destination was determined at this ceremony. The Tau represents balance in this ancient ritual. The TAU symbol also has a number of other meanings in physics, for example, the tau particle, the tau neutrino, and as a symbol for torque, etc. " complete article titled : The Sacred and Mysterious Tau (Missouri Mystery Mound) I skipped the parts specifically on the Missouri Mystery Mound you can read on the source link below if interested. [www.100megsfree4.com]

#Tau #Tau cross #Triple Tau Cross #Lost Keys of Freemasonry #Freemasonry #egyptology #Ancient Egypt #egyptian mythology #Greek #Greek Mythology #graham hancock

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Irish Horror Writers, Robert Jordan, E. C. Comics

Indie Fiction (Jon Mollison): Given that indy comics are shouting into the gale-force winds of multi-billion dollar marketing campaigns.  It’s hard to get noticed, and every little of help that I can offer my fellow creatives is time well spent.  These reviews aren’t just the writings of a fan, they are recommendations to help you choose the best works to fill your time.

    Fiction (Matthew Hoskin): I was reminded of this poster recently, reading my Oxford World’s Classics edition of Ludovico Ariosto’s Italian Renaissance epic, Orlando Furioso. The cover depicts Ruggiero rescuing Angelica, mounted on a winged steed (bird? hippogriff? I don’t know yet), lancing a dragon from atop his mount. Angelica is nude.  This led me to start thinking about Howard and Ariosto. Now, I’m not saying that Robert E. Howard ever read Ariosto (or Boiardo’s Orlando innamorato).

  Gaming (Kraken Originals): Four more Mythical Mystics are ready to be released into the wild. Mermaid, SaberWolf, Unicorn, and Yeti will be available for sale at 6pm PDT on 10-24-19. The different ink options give each set a very unique and different look from their counterparts, and with our Naked sets the outcomes are endless! Don’t miss out on completing your collection with these 12 or 14 piece sets.

Currently there are no Naked Fairy sets available, but the other four sets are available in all ink options. 12pc Set is $19.95 and the 14pc set is $24.95, a $3 savings from buying the 30mm and 15mm alone.

  Fiction (Goodman Games): So even when Joe Goodman suggested doing some Appendix N Archaeology articles, I had not thought of the Bard of Baltimore until he suggested revisiting Poe. And in retrospect, decades from those dreaded reading assignments, I can think back, remember stories like The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Telltale Heart and realize that he was, more than Hawthorne or Stoker, the father of modern horror fiction. Before Poe, there were horror stories and novels like Varney the Vampire or Geoffrey Lewis’ The Monk, but the majority were more morality stories than anything else or ended, Scooby-Doo-style, with the villains unmasked as mere charlatans.

  Gaming (Nerd Stash): Destiny plays a major role in Call of Cthulhu as well. Your choices have a lasting impact on the world and Pierce and will make all the difference in the final moments of the game. Choose to betray a character’s trust and they may not assist you in a key point of the game. While helping them with something will earn you a reward later on that may get you to a different area or give you a new piece of lore. I’m a huge fan of pen and paper roleplaying games and Call of Cthulhu plays out exactly like one. That’s excellent seeing as it is based on the same mechanics as the RPG of the same name.

D&D (Skulls in the Stars): UK4: When a Star Falls (1984), by Graeme Morris.  We start today with another of the UK-produced modules, which tend to have a very different flavor and welcome quirkiness when compared to their US counterparts. The fact that this module is written by Graeme Morris is a good sign: Morris was an author or co-author of many excellent modules from the TSR UK office, including Beyond the Crystal Cave, which I’ve written about before!

  FIction (Cleveland.com): But it wasn’t “Star Wars” or Atari that made the biggest impression on the Cleveland author growing up. Thanks to his father, Bruening grew up reading the pulp fiction of the pre-World War II era, the noirs and adventure tales and Westerns and aviation tales that kept earlier generations rapt. “My father was born in 1929, six months before the stock market crash, his childhood was defined by the Great Depression and then war,” says Bruening. “He read all of the adventure classics, Kipling, Dumas, Edgar Rice Burroughs, cowboy stories. He was really enamored of that whole type of entertainment.

  H. P. Lovecraft (DMR Books): Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett—better known as Lord Dunsany—passed beyond the Fields We Know on this date in 1957. H.P. Lovecraft, was, without a doubt, one of the foremost Dunsany fans to ever walk the earth. Below is the poem he wrote in tribute to that titan of fantasy literature. As far as I can ascertain, HPL’s ode to Dunsany was written in 1919. Lovecraft would precede his idol to the grave by two decades.

“To Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Eighteenth Baron Dunsany”

  Fiction (From Dundee’s Desk): Back in the 1992 – 94 time period, under the pen name Adam Rutledge, James Reasoner wrote a six-volume series of books for Bantam entitled THE PATRIOTS. As the over-arcing title suggests, these stories are set during the Revolutionary War years when young America rose up and won independence from England.

  Fiction (Don Herron): Far be it for me to sit on my beanbag when you guys are having all the fun with the Siege of Malta. This inscription is from The Knights of St. John (1932), a novel by Paul L. Anderson which — while I haven’t read it — undoubtedly deals with the siege. Just check out the Dedication. Anderson of course is well-known for his stories of prehistoric man which appeared in issues of Argosy during the early 1920s. These stories were obviously enjoyed by Robert E. Howard, and influenced him when he wrote tales such as “Spear and Fang.”

  Culture Wars (Brian Niemeier): Merely mentioning a Disney/Marvel property, even to negatively contrast it with a superior indie work, just gives the Devil Mouse brand social proof as the one to beat.

Refusing to feed the beast doesn’t suffice by itself, though. We also need positive messaging that promotes superior alternatives. Freeing Gen Y fanboys from the nostalgia trap has also proven more of a challenge than even I anticipated. Studying methods professionals use to combat addiction and deprogram cultists may be in order.

  Horror (Ireland XO): The people of Ireland have a reputation for their skill as storytellers with the nation producing some of the most lauded novelists, playwrights, and poets that the world has ever known. The genre of horror is no different, as three of the great early authors in the field had either immediate or very close connections with Ireland.

Horror (Digital Bibliophilia): There is a point while I was reading The Spirit by Thomas Page that I had flashbacks to the fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I won’t spoil anything, but if you read the novel, or have already read the novel, it might happen to you too. I read the re-print version by Valancourt Books, which has come about via the enormous success of their coffee table reference book Paperbacks From Hell by Grady Hendrix with contributions from Will Errickson.

  Comic Books (Goodman Games): In fact, it’s also fairly easy to see how Gary Gygax, the main co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons (and an entire gaming industry) would fess up to being influenced by the art and storytelling found within the comic books of his formative years. But they are not just any old comic books that he mentions; Gary took the time to single out the creative output of one particular company among the veritable sea of comic books being printed at the time. Yes dear readers, the creeping tendrils of Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, and Vault of Horror have been christened part of the root system beneath the mighty sequoia that is Dungeons and Dragons.

Westerns (Brandywine Books): The scene above, (involving lost luggage) near the beginning of Owen Wister’s novel, The Virginian, seems to me to foreshadow a major theme of the novel. This is a panorama painted on a canvas a thousand miles wide. The landscape itself is a character in it. It’s a slow book, episodic and discursive, but that’s because everyplace is a long way from everyplace else, and travel takes time.

Robert Jordan (Every Day Should be Tuesday): Decades ago James Oliver Rigney Jr. wrote a book.  That book allowed him to break into the publishing industry.  He sold it several times.  It established his working relationship with Harriet McDougal, who would become his wife.  It led to his first published book, The Fallon’s Blood (as Reagan O’Neal).  It led to a gig writing (eventually seven) Conan pastiches for Tor, this time as Robert Jordan, the pseudonym he would make famous.  It also heavily foreshadows themes and elements from The Wheel of Time, his landmark work of epic fantasy.  It was not, however, published before his death.

Pulp Magazines (Mystery File): Have you ever received a book in the mail and immediately stopped what you were reading, stopped whatever you were doing and sat down and read the book? This is what happened when I received Queen of the Pulps. I had seen Laurie Powers work and do research on it for several years and finally here it is! She must of gotten sick and tired of me nagging her about the book and asking for progress reports.

Writing Philosophy (Rawle Nyanzi): The post — and the novel it reviews — asserts that good and evil are real, and that with great struggle, good can overcome evil. The novel in particular asserts that the Christian God is the source of this good, and that through Him, all things are possible. On the other hand, the tweet decries those who find the Joker film to be too nihilistic. Its writer asserts that the movie did well because heroism is dead. According to him, no one wants heroes anymore because society is corrupt and collapsing, with nothing to look forward to.

Sensor Sweep: Irish Horror Writers, Robert Jordan, E. C. Comics published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/