From Modern to Ancient

These cabinets 😍

Butterfly Dance Terra Chapman 2023

What a disgrace they are, those who take from their ancestors' sacred soil and enjoy the fruits and blessings it produces without being willing to bleed and die for it. To hell with those ingrates and cowards who conceal their impotence under the guise of pacifism, passing on judgment and thinking themselves better men for lacking the virtues of wrath and violence when faced with malevolence. Living only for their little selves, they are worse than thieves, as they take from their nourishing Mother without giving anything back.

“The cultivation of passionate love began in Europe as a reaction to Christianity (and in particular its doctrine of marriage) by people whose spirit, whether naturally or by inheritance, was still pagan,” ―Denis de Rougemont, Love in the Western World Notes: During the medieval period, the tradition of amor courtois emerged as a response to the domination of salvationist religion throughout Europe. This concept of romantic love defied ecclesiastical doctrines, positioning the knight as reliant on his lady to dignify his exploits. This movement effectively revived the ancient practices of Goddess worship and contributed more to the humanisation of Western society than any sermons from priests. The devotion to personal love, illustrated by legendary characters like Tristan and Isolde, offered a powerful alternative to the prevailing religious orthodoxy. Image: Tristan and Isolde (extract) by John William Waterhouse

Cleopatra VII with her baby, Ptolemy XV Caesarion, the son of Julius Caesar, on a coin from Cyprus, dated c. 47 BC, on display at the British Museum

"'Heroes' refers also to souls separated from bodies, whose conduct has been good, except that these are located in a lower position than the demons. Pythagoras held the heroes in esteem also, and we honor them by believing them to be eternally existent, and by believing that they requite with evil or good whoever does harm or good to them. For them there are prescribed exaltation, incense and sacrifice on the twenty-fifth day of January." Proclus(?), Commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses 94b

«Простота – наивысшая точка соприкосновения жизни и искусства. Тот, кто презрительно относится к простоте, вызывает только жалость – ибо тем самым он признает свое поражение. Если человек боится простоты, значит, он далек от зрелости.» — Юкио Мисимаф Venus with a Shell James Pradier Swiss c. 1844