Obsequiae - Autumnal Pyre
favourite
Transylvania, Romania
“For centuries, the small villages in Transylvania have preserved their hay meadows, raised cattle and operated self-sustainable farms. The agrarian fairytale that is extinct in Western Europe still exists here in bucolic scenes, where young boys learn to cut and rake hay by hand, where all village women are proficient in weaving, and all men can build a house from scratch - with thousands of hard-split wooden shingles on the rooftop. In this old world, defined by traditional belief systems and respect for the environment, one does not trample a meadow of high grass before mowing it, the cows and horses find their way home along the muddy village tracks and the rivers’ water is busy with the milling, washing and alcohol making.“
- Rena Effendi
My take on sin-eater’s conjoined Maiden & Crone concept
Candlemass in 1987, Nightfall-era.
Silver Earring, Medieval Art
Purchase, 1898 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Medium: Silver
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Enigma Variations / Pomp and Circumstance Marches
St. Michael
1978
telescopic contact lens developed by UC San Diego
“The Hungarian shaman traveled on horseback, which he usually purchased as a frail, rundown ol’ nag, and which very often died en route home. Then he would shove the horse into water and scrub it until he revived it to life, then fed it with burning embers, and afterward the horse would take him anywhere and would fly like a thought.”
“Certain shaman-belief people believed likewise, that the ‘shaman ladder’ or 'shaman tree’ must be acceded by the shaman candidate (or designate). They would tie a rope around his waist, and when he completed his prayers, they would jerk him down from the tree. If he fell to the ground with good fortune, then the spirits would accept him, but if he was injured, he was unable to become a shaman.”
“The shaman’s most important apparatus was the single-bottom drum with rattle, which served several purposes. For example, he cured diseases with it, he foretold the future with it, and it 'tied and bound’ with his help. With the drum he was able to summon spirits, and it could also transport the shaman.”
“The owl is the shaman’s bird, one must not harm it. The other important apparatus of the shaman was his headdress, with antler horns and feathers (goose, rooster,but more often owl, because it was the shaman’s bird). The horns (antler horns, perhaps the horns of a bovine) were often used to decorate the headdress.”