The Birth of Venus.

The Birth of Venus is a painting created by Sandro Botticelli in the year 1486. It shows the Roman Goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the sea shore. The painting is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

The Birth of Venus is one of Botticelli's most famous works. It shows the Roman Goddess Venus, the goddess of love, arriving on the island of Cypress. This is a very large painting where Venus is almost life size. The oranges in the background refer to the fact that this painting was commissioned by the Medici family, one of Botticelli's greatest supporters.

On the left of the picture, is the wind god Zephyr and his wife Chloris, known as Flora, goddess of flowers and blooms. Botticelli expertly showed Zephyr and Chloris each blowing to help Venus reach the shore.

On the right is Hora the goddess of summer welcoming Venus. In the background are orange groves running along the coastline. These trees are budding, not yet blooming, showing that the land is ready to burst into bloom to celebrate the arrival of Venus.

Botticelli knew the history of the violent story of Venus' birth. Saturn, following his mother's direction, cut off the genitals and threw them into the sea. The sea foam produced Venus, the goddess of love. Love triumphed over brutality. When Venus arose out of the sea, a rosebush blossomed on land. Thus the rose became a symbol for Venus and can be seen blowing in the wind. Venus, herself, symbolizes virtue, beauty and chastity. She has a serene look on her face as she enters her new land.

Blessings,
Dusio

Best.Italian.Ever.

No, the post isn't about me! It's about Leonardo Da Vinci! The Renaissance Man. One of the most famous artists in history. One of us. The man even has his own code! If you haven't heard of The Da Vinci code, just stop reading this now and go enjoy the delicious conspiracy theories. Even better, go get yourself a copy of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the book it's based on. Conspiracies abound about this man. We don't know much about his personal life, only the writings he has left behind for us.

He was a neo-platonist, a vegetarian, and he wrote about finding a cave and being afraid of what was inside, but overcome by curiosity to discover what was in there. Sounds like one of my earlier posts on Parmenides or Empedocles! So what is this cave? Where is Vinci? Is it a literal cave? Was it a metaphor for initiation? I think it was both. Vinci is a small town in the hills of Tuscany. There could easily have been a literal cave near his home.

One of The Loyal Horde posted a link on facebook today about one of the many theories behind the Mona Lisa. I'm a conspiracy theory fan (it goes well with my being a syncretist- I like to world to fit together neatly!) so this just floated my boat. Here is an excerpt from the article she posted:

“The Mona Lisa's landscape is not a fantasy, but a precise survey map of Rome and its vicinity. The survey cleverly defines the two extremes of religion, marking the center of Christianity on the right side, and the center of paganism on the left. The dome of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican is one end of the survey, and the site of the cult practices of the goddess Diana at Lake Nemi is the other. A line between the two endpoints, 29.5 km apart, intersects the Tempietto of Bramante,” says Lund.

The Tempietto of Bramante is at the top of Janiculum Hill, the ancient, pre-roman cult center of Janus. It was officially annexed as part of Rome in the mid 600s BCE. What is it called in Italian? il Gianicolo. Sound like San Gennaro? Not a coincidence!

The author, Scott Lund, discusses the theory that The Mona Lisa is also Anima Sol (an anagram) which refers to Janus, and the "missing" columns of the painting which frame the rest as an arch, another symbol of Janus. I agree with the author that the Mona Lisa wasn't a commissioned painting for a rich noble- it took 16 years to complete! And she's wearing no jewelry. Seriously, you're rich and this is you photo shoot and you don't bling it up? Riiight. ;)

He has other interesting theories about the placement of the basilica, the tempietto, and Lake Nemi and how they line up. I'm not surprised. It makes perfect sense that Capitoline Hill, a male center of worship and Lake Nemi, a female centered area of worship have, directly in the center, Janus looking in either direction, both male and female. He gets into wormhole theories, which are still a bit beyond the scope of my practice (the most I'll think about ancient alients as deities is when I watch the movie Stargate!) but the article, and site, are worth exploring if only for the questions they raise.

  

Grand Mercury

 

 

I drove by here while taking a trip to NYC. It's Grand Central Station. And there's Mercury overseeing it all: Commerce! Travel! Communication! All in the heart of New York City! Flanking him are Minerva and Hercules. Behind him is the eagle of Zeus. I love how commanding he is in this portrayal. In many cases you see him standing around, or preparing to take off. Often he is depicted as a youth- so young, in fact, that it's hard to take him seriously as cunning. He looks incredibly innocent, nothing reflecting the experience beneath the surface. Perhaps that's the best deception of all?

In this portrayal, he is commanding. His cape is in motion, He is in motion. Minerva is reading over her scrolls, Hercules is ready to wield his hammer, and the eagle has his back. Don't forget the cornucopias on either side of the clock and the sheaf of wheat! What especially moves me is his face. Apologies for gushing tonight. Total crush lol

There are so many places around the country where we can still find Our Gods, and our ways, that it's a happy surprise, like a gift you didn't expect. I didn't expect that crossroad yesterday and I didn't expect to see Mercury that day, even though I knew He was there. Magic is all around us, we just have to shift our own perspective to appreciate it. 

Full

My head is full tonight. I had a wonderful experience earlier this evening and am still high on the energy. I feel like this waning moon is helping to release that which does not serve. It's been a clarifying moon and I hope to be ready to take things to the next step when She is waxing once again.
I feel like a bit of the pretty tonight, so I'm going to post a bit of poetry by an Italian (ok so he's only half Italian, but I like him so just go with it...), Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Astarte Syriaca
MYSTERY: lo! betwixt the sun and moon
Astarte of the Syrians: Venus Queen
Ere Aphrodite was. In silver sheen
Her twofold girdle clasps the infinite boon
Of bliss whereof the heaven and earth commune:
And from her neck's inclining flower-stem lean
Love-freighted lips and absolute eyes that wean
The pulse of hearts to the spheres' dominant tune.
Torch-bearing, her sweet ministers compel
All thrones of light beyond the sky and sea
The witnesses of Beauty's face to be:
That face, of Love's all-penetrative spell
Amulet, talisman, and oracle,—
Betwixt the sun and moon a mystery.


Fior Di Maggio
Oh! May sits crowned with hawthorn-flower,
And is Love's month, they say;
And Love's the fruit that is ripened best
By ladies' eyes in May

Proserpina
AFAR away the light that brings cold cheer
Unto this wall,—one instant and no more
Admitted at my distant palace-door.
Afar the flowers of Enna from this drear
Dire fruit, which, tasted once, must thrall me here.
Afar those skies from this Tartarean grey
That chills me: and afar, how far away,
The nights that shall be from the days that were.
Afar from mine own self I seem, and wing
Strange ways in thought, and listen for a sign:
And still some heart unto some soul doth pine,
(Whose sounds mine inner sense is fain to bring,
Continually together murmuring,)—
“Woe's me for thee, unhappy Proserpina!”   

Sonnet XX: Gracious Moonlight
Even as the moon grows queenlier in mid-space
When the sky darkens, and her cloud-rapt car
Thrills with intenser radiance from afar,—
So lambent, lady, beams thy sovereign grace
When the drear soul desires thee. Of that face
What shall be said,—which, like a governing star,
Gathers and garners from all things that are
Their silent penetrative loveliness?
O'er water-daisies and wild waifs of Spring,
There where the iris rears its gold-crowned sheaf
With flowering rush and sceptred arrow-leaf,
So have I marked Queen Dian, in bright ring
Of cloud above and wave below, take wing
And chase night's gloom, as thou the spirit's grief                                                              


Venus Verticordia

She hath the apple in her hand for thee,
Yet almost in her heart would hold it back;
She muses, with her eyes upon the track
Of that which in thy spirit they can see.
Haply, "Behold, he is at peace," saith she;
"Alas! the apple for his lips, - the dart
That follows its brief sweetness to his heart, -
The wandering of his feet perpetually!"

A little space her glance is still and coy,
But if she give the fruit that works her spell,
Those eyes shall flame as for her Phrygian boy.
Then shall her bird's strained throat the woe foretell,
And her far seas moan as a single shell,
And through her dark grove strike the light of Troy

Swoon.

I would absolutely love it if the readers out here would post their favorite poems. No need for it to be specifically Pagan, or Italian, I'm of a mood tonight and want to enchanted with words!

Artastic

Tonight I can't stop pouring over JW Waterhouse paintings. He's my favorite artist ever, not just my favorite Pre-Raphaelite. His subjects include Psyche, Echo and Narcissus, Circe, Apollo and Daphne, Adonis, Hylas, Medea, La Belle Dame sans Merci, Nymphs and Orpheus, Ariadne, Boreas, Zephyrus, Ophelia, Pandora, Odysseus, Penelope... I adore every painting he created. I'm a literalist. I melt over paintings that look like they could be photographs. The subject matter, from Greco-Roman to Shakespearean, well, that's a double bonus. Here are my favorites, likely for obvious reasons:

The Sorceress.
How often have I sat at my table, magic books open, with a half spilled potion spilled across my papers? Well, not often, but it could certainly happen. Makes me wonder why she's so distracted. Guess you can't dry over spilled philtre.

This one is called The Household Gods, or,
Offerings to the Gods
It's a Lare Shrine! The girls in the painting look positively bored as they make what seem like daily offerings. It would be my favorite but the bored expression ruins it for me. Goes to show that religion isn't fun if it's forced, no matter which one it is.

The Magic Circle is certainly a favorite. I have a reproduction of this one in my home. This is a link to the picture. You can zoom in on a lot of the detail. While many other paintings play on themes of deities and subjects Pagans love , it's all rather ambiguous. Not this one. This is straight up, unabashed Witchcraft. I adore what she is wearing, the flowers, the sickle, the jewelry, the snake around her neck, the cave and the people inside of it, watching her... The circle is being cast and the smoke is taking shape. The circle itself is glowing. Notice the crows and frog gathered outside the circle that has been drawn, not daring to cross it, recognizing it as a boundary.The crow on the left looks like it's perched on a half buried skull. I want that dress. The detail on it is incredible. The only thing I don't like is the bleak landscape. All of his pictures are so rich in color that in comparison, I just want more of his greens, reds and blues, while at the same time I know they would be out of place here.

When you have some time, check out jwwaterhouse.com. When we have even more time, let's make a pilgrimage the The Tate in London and see the real thing ;)