glorious nothing

sparks of words to start a fire
~ Saturday, May 5 ~
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“ When Adam delved and Eve span, Who was then the gentleman? From the beginning all men by nature were created alike, and our bondage or servitude came in by the unjust oppression of naughty men. For if God would have had any bondmen from the beginning, he would have appointed who should be bond, and who free. And therefore I exhort you to consider that now the time is come, appointed to us by God, in which ye may (if ye will) cast off the yoke of bondage, and recover liberty.
— Before Martin Luther King, there was John Ball, an English Lollard priest who took a prominent part in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.  (via mediumaevum)

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“ I escape into sleep. Sleep is what I’ll miss most when I die.
— Anna Kamienska, from “A Nest of Quiet,” trans. Clare Cavanagh (via proustitute)

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“ If desire seizes directly upon its object, contemplation removes its object to a distance, and makes it into a true and inalienable possession by putting it beyond the reach of passion.
— Friedrich von Schiller, Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, trans. Reginald Snell (via proustitute)

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invisiblestories: The voyage of Domingo Gonsales (via yochanah)

invisiblestories:

The voyage of Domingo Gonsales (via yochanah)


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“ In being able to receive the other’s words, to assimilate, repeat, and reproduce them, I become like him: One. A subject of enunciation. Through psychic osmosis/identification. Through love.
—

Julia Kristeva, Tales of Love in The Portable Kristeva, various translators (via proustitute)

this is why i lie with words, and when i can’t assimilate them, feel like i can’t belong. and this is why i wrote thousands of thousands of words to weave a story which was only really one hope, and one idea: pure understanding, pure acceptance.


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mediumaevum: image: Lindorm dragon from the alchemical scrolls of Sir George Ripley, 15th century.  Lindorms were most often encountered in churchyards, where they fed on human corpses, and would sometimes invade churches. General Attributes The dragon’s strength is found in its tail, not in its teeth. Its lashing tail does great harm, and the dragon kills anything it catches in its coils. The dragon is the enemy of the elephant, and hides near paths where elephants walk so that it can catch them with its tail and kill them by suffocation. It is because of the threat of the dragon that elephants give birth in the water. The dragon’s venom is harmless. The dragon has a crest and a small mouth. When the dragon is drawn from its hole into the air, it stirs up the air and makes it shine. Dragons are found in India and Ethiopia. Dragons are afraid of the peridexion tree and stay out of its shadow, which will harm them. Doves roost in the tree to be safe from the dragon. Dragons cannot stand the sweet smell breathed out by the pantherand hide in a hole when the panther roars. Allegory/Moral The Devil is likened to a dragon because he is the worst of all serpents. As the dragon makes the air shine, so the Devil makes himself appear as the angel of light to deceive the foolish. The crest of the dragon represents the Devil crowned with pride. As the dragon’s strength is not in its teeth but in its tail, the Devil, deprived of his strength, deceives with lies. The way in which the dragon attacks elephants represents the way the Devil attacks people, lying in wait along their path to heaven, wrapping them in his coils, and suffocating them with sin. source and more

mediumaevum:

image:

Lindorm dragon from the alchemical scrolls of Sir George Ripley, 15th century. 

Lindorms were most often encountered in churchyards, where they fed on human corpses, and would sometimes invade churches.


General Attributes

The dragon’s strength is found in its tail, not in its teeth. Its lashing tail does great harm, and the dragon kills anything it catches in its coils. The dragon is the enemy of the elephant, and hides near paths where elephants walk so that it can catch them with its tail and kill them by suffocation. It is because of the threat of the dragon that elephants give birth in the water. The dragon’s venom is harmless. The dragon has a crest and a small mouth. When the dragon is drawn from its hole into the air, it stirs up the air and makes it shine. Dragons are found in India and Ethiopia. Dragons are afraid of the peridexion tree and stay out of its shadow, which will harm them. Doves roost in the tree to be safe from the dragon. Dragons cannot stand the sweet smell breathed out by the pantherand hide in a hole when the panther roars.


Allegory/Moral

The Devil is likened to a dragon because he is the worst of all serpents. As the dragon makes the air shine, so the Devil makes himself appear as the angel of light to deceive the foolish. The crest of the dragon represents the Devil crowned with pride. As the dragon’s strength is not in its teeth but in its tail, the Devil, deprived of his strength, deceives with lies. The way in which the dragon attacks elephants represents the way the Devil attacks people, lying in wait along their path to heaven, wrapping them in his coils, and suffocating them with sin.

source and more


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mediumaevum: In medieval times, at least three wedding gifts were exchanged. The bride’s family was responsible for the daughter’s dowry, in effect, purchasing a groom for her. The groom’s family was responsible for providing the couple with a suitable home and income. The third gift would be given to the priest who performed the ceremony, or who blessed the marriage later on. Traditional wedding gifts also included small, valuable pieces of furniture which the groom might offer to the bride the morning after the marriage was consummated. This “morning gift,” or thank-offering was given to compensate the bride for the loss of her virginity. image: Detail of a marginal painting of the marriage of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence: Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum, England (St Albans), 1235-1259, Royal 14 C (source)

mediumaevum:

In medieval times, at least three wedding gifts were exchanged. The bride’s family was responsible for the daughter’s dowry, in effect, purchasing a groom for her. The groom’s family was responsible for providing the couple with a suitable home and income. The third gift would be given to the priest who performed the ceremony, or who blessed the marriage later on.

Traditional wedding gifts also included small, valuable pieces of furniture which the groom might offer to the bride the morning after the marriage was consummated. This “morning gift,” or thank-offering was given to compensate the bride for the loss of her virginity.

image: Detail of a marginal painting of the marriage of Henry III and Eleanor of Provence: Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum, England (St Albans), 1235-1259, Royal 14 C (source)


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TIL: Something blue?

mediumaevum:

White wedding dresses were not in vogue during the Middle Ages—blue was the traditional symbol of purity. Often a band of blue ribbon would be worn by the bride and groom, this is where we get the part of the traditional rhyme where the bride should wear “something blue”. Bridal dresses could have been any color.

(Source: medieval-weddings.net)


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mythologyofblue:

“Hell goes round and round. In shape it is circular, and by nature it is interminable, repetitive, and nearly unbearable.”


-Flann O’Brien, The Third Policeman


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mythologyofblue: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Punjab, India, 1947 A refugee camp for 300,000 people. Refugees exercising in the camp to drive away lethargy and despair, India, Punjab. Kurukshetra.

mythologyofblue:

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Punjab, India, 1947

A refugee camp for 300,000 people. Refugees exercising in the camp to drive away lethargy and despair, India, Punjab. Kurukshetra.


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~ Saturday, April 14 ~
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mythologyofblue: They hung on the walls like the codes of insoluble dreams.-J.G. Ballard [photo: Francesca Woodman] [walls as maps, places]

mythologyofblue:

They hung on the walls like the codes of insoluble dreams.
-J.G. Ballard

[photo: Francesca Woodman]

[walls as maps, places]


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Paulo Nozolino | Penumbra, 1996 (mondonoir)

Paulo Nozolino | Penumbra, 1996

(mondonoir)


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“ I believe in… the incurable desolation of the soul.
— Hjalmar Söderberg (via mythologyofblue)

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~ Thursday, April 5 ~
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“ This must be what I wanted to be doing,
Walking at night between the two deserts,
Singing.
— W. S. Merwin, from “Air” (via proustitute)

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~ Tuesday, April 3 ~
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“ Who has never killed an hour? Not casually or without thought, but carefully: a premeditated murder of minutes. The violence comes from a combination of giving up, not caring, and a resignation that getting past it is all you can hope to accomplish. So you kill the hour. You do not work, you do not read, you do not daydream. If you sleep it is not because you need to sleep. And when at last it is over, there is no evidence: no weapon, no blood, and no body. The only clue might be the shadows beneath your eyes or a terribly thin line near the corner of your mouth indicating something has been suffered, that in the privacy of your life you have lost something and the loss is too empty to share.
—  Mark Z. Danielewski, House of Leaves (via mirroir)

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