Hathor was the incarnation of dance and sexuality and was given the epithet “Hand of God” (referring to the act of masturbation) and “Lady of the Vulva”. One myth tells that Ra had become so despondent that he refused to speak to anyone. Hathor (who never suffered depression or doubt) danced before him, exposing her private parts, which caused him to laugh out loud and return to good spirits.

As the “lady of the west” and the “lady of the southern sycamore”, she protected and assisted the dead on their final journey. Trees were not commonplace in ancient Egypt, and their shade was welcomed by the living and the dead alike. She was sometimes depicted as handing out water to the deceased from a sycamore tree (a role formerly associated with Amentet, who was often described as the daughter of Hathor), and according to myth, she (or Isis) used the milk from the Sycamore tree to restore sight to Horus who Set had blinded. Because of her role in helping the dead, she often appears on sarcophagi with Nut (the former on top of the lid, the latter under the lid). AncientEgyptOnline

Once again, I take the opportunity to express my friendship with the brilliant Marie Grillot by sharing one of her excellent articles about discovering the magical ostracon image of the Goddess Hathor.

Hathor, The Goddess, is worshipped by the artisans of the “Place of Truth.”

égyptophile

This “figured” ostracon comes from the necropolis of the current village of Deir el-Medineh. In ancient times, this place was called the “Place of Truth” and housed the artisans who worked on the digging and decoration of the eternal residences of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. “The village was a royal institution,” and community members lived there and could be buried there. This is how numerous tombs were discovered in two distinct cemeteries (east and west).

During the excavations of 1923-1924, carried out in the necropolis by Bernard Bruyère, this ostracon was discovered. It was located in TT No. 330, the tomb of Karo, who was a servant of the Place of Truth during the 19th Dynasty.

Before decorating the tombs, the artisan painters – the word artist was apparently not used then – initially practised on shards of limestone or terracotta. These graphic supports – which served as a sort of “rough draft” or preparatory sketch before working “in situ” – are called “ostraca” (singular = ostracon).

This one, 13 cm high and almost 11 cm wide, is covered with a layer of ocher-yellow colour. In its lower part, in the centre, there is an open lotus flower. Very slightly above it, occupying most of the surface, the head of the goddess Hathor flourishes.

While her face usually has round cheeks, here it is clearly triangular, almost stylised, treated in white, while the mouth and nose are sketched in light red lines. The large black eyes are stretched and rise towards the temples; the eyebrows, also black, carefully follow the same curve.

The dark blue hair is covered with a few black lines, signifying the texture of the strands of hair. It is separated in the middle, then passes behind the cow’s ears before very closely following the shape of the face. The hair parts at the neck move outwards before ending in a large curl.

Her head is surmounted by a “kind of abacus”, elegant in shape, treated in shades of red-ochre outlined in black. Above is inscribed a beautiful line of hieroglyphs, spaced and traced in black, the translation of which is “Hathor who reigns over the sky of Thebes”.

Her neck is adorned with a large, colourful “ousekh” type collar, which seems to be made up of black and ocher-red rows.

In the lower-left corner, a man is depicted. While his feet are at the level of the lotus flower, his head barely reaches the level of the hathoric ears. He is in a walking attitude; his body is simply covered in a short loincloth. His black hair reaches above his shoulders. His eye, very stretched, is also black.

Bernard Bruyère and Charles Kuentz consider that: “this tableau would be an ex-voto to the goddess Hathor whose cult in the New Kingdom was very popular in the Theban region”.

Hathor has two faces: the Goddess of love and fertility and the Goddess of the world of the dead. As mistress of the western peak: “she then receives the deceased, who has become her child, into the mystical lap of the tomb-mountain. She helps him to be reborn as, as Isis-Hathor, she watched over Horus in the papyrus swamp of Khemmis.”

We sometimes find her represented (TT13, TT278…) in the scenes of Theban tombs: in her form of a cow, adorned with the menat collar, she emerges “from a thicket of papyrus at the foot of the western mountain of Thebes, looking into the direction of the rising sun. Its papyrus residence in the swamps symbolises the place where the germ of the deceased is reformed.

During the sharing of the excavations carried out in 1927, this ostracon returned to France: it entered the Louvre Museum under the inventory number E 12966.

Marie Grillot

Source:

The face of the goddess Hathor emerging from a lotus flower http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=24103&langue=fr Stone notebooks, Anne Minault-Gout, Hazan
A century of French excavations in Egypt, 1880-1980, Ifao, Louvre museum
The artists of Pharaoh, RMM, 2002 http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/ostraca/ostracafigures

After a gloomy post, let’s enjoy something which proves that humans can also set up something beautiful. We must focus on the bright side of life to thrive and replenish our energy.

My actual plan was to write about my latest trip to Samos, Greece, but I found this “Third Look” in my draft. Therefore, I thought it better to finish this before I stumbled onto the other journey.

First, let’s have a look around the city;

We have also, traditionally, visited some cathedrals or churches, and there’s the famous Norman Palace, a massive complex of many buildings, and we have one of these with many floors. I took some help from Wikipedia to explain the place and completed it with some pictures of mine.😉

The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is called the Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946, it has been the seat of the Sicilian Regional Assembly. The building is the oldest royal residence in Europe and was the private residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Sicily and the imperial seat of Frederick II and Conrad IV. Wikipedia

Some more?!

Alright, I believe that’s enough for this. Although I may resemble the character of Mr. Ernst from Oscar Wilde’s play, I possess a wild and adventurous side that sets me apart!😁🤓 I hope you have a peaceful weekend.🙏🤗💖

Friedrich Nietzsche

It would be great if I could share some positive news or events that I would like to share. However, we face a sorrowful truth when we open our minds and look at what is happening worldwide. Yesterday, I happened to stumble upon The Truman Show while flipping through channels. It’s an older movie from 1998 (you might have seen it already), but I think it’s still relevant in today’s life and our contemporary “Modern Bourgeoisie” world. I believe it is essential, especially now, to observe our surroundings more closely and be aware of the dark side that casts its wings upon our lives. Anyway, I want to share some bitter yet poetic words from Nietzsche that provoke thought.

While reading Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” I came across a section that resonated with the current state of Iran. Zarathustra mourns the loss of youth. It’s no secret that we humans are beings of habit. This fact has been reflected in every major catastrophe in our history. For instance, the war in Ukraine once dominated the headlines, but now another story has taken over as the top news (Israel in the Gaza Strip), pushing the previous one to the sidelines. The Iranian Revolution of #Woman_Life_Freedom was once a hot topic in world news, but it has gradually lost its importance. It’s evident that the interest in any event depends on the observer. As long as people continue to be occupied with their daily lives, their focus can shift, thus preventing the event from becoming monotonous! For me, as a former journalist, every event is significant, and of course, especially those in Iran. In Ukraine, through Russia’s aggression, Ukraine’s folk are suffering, and the Israelites and Palestinians conflict is so old that the judgment thereabout is beyond my ability. What causes me pain is the children suffering in all this turmoil.

I have translated this episode from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra to depict the scene in his version. In the scene where the youths are dying for their wishes, for the minimum aspiration of human rights, so cries my heart, calls for justice!

The image at the top, Milkrain, Pic Title: Oh! My Pieta! PopArtist Yoon. Deviant Art

The Funeral Song

There is the island of graves, the silent one; The graves of my youth are there too. There, I want to carry an evergreen wreath of life.
So, deciding in my heart, I drove across the sea. – Oh, you, my young visions and appearances! Oh, all your looks of love, all your divine moments! How you died so quickly for me! I remember yours today as my dead.

From you, my dearest dead, comes to me a sweet smell, a heart- and tear-loosing one. Verily, it shakes and loosens the heart of the lonely sailor. I’m still the wealthiest and most enviable – I’m the loneliest! For I had you, and you still have me: tell me, who had such rose apples fall from the tree as I did?

I am still your love’s inheritance and soil, blooming in your memory with colourful, wild-growing virtues, O you most beloved!

Oh, we were made to stay close to one another; you behold strange wonders; you did not come to me and my desire like shy birds – no, as a trusted, to the trusted. Yes, made to be faithful, like me and for tender eternities: I must now call you after your unfaithfulness, you divine looks and moments: I have not yet learned any other name.

Truly, you died too quickly for me, you refugees. But you did not flee from me, nor did I flee from you: we are innocent of our unfaithfulness to one another. To kill me, they strangled you, you songbirds of my hopes! Yes, after you, dear ones, malice always shot arrows – to strike my heart!

And she scored! You were always my dearest, my possession and my obsession; that’s why you had to die young and all too early!

The arrow was shot at the most vulnerable thing in my possession: This is what you are waiting for, whose skin is like fluff and, even more so, like a smile that dies at a glance! But I will speak this word to my enemies: What is all the murder of men compared to what you did to me? You have done more evil to me than all human murder; You have taken something irretrievable from me – so I speak to you, my enemies!

You murdered the visions and dearest miracles of my youth! You took my playmates from me, the blessed spirits! To your memory, I lay this wreath and this curse. This curse against you, my enemies! You would make my eternal short, like a piece of clay shattering in the cold night! Barely as a flash of divine eyes, it came to me as just a moment!

So my purity once spoke at a good hour: ‘All beings shall be divine to me. < Then you attacked me with dirty ghosts; ah, where did that good hour now flee! “All days shall be holy to me” – this is what the wisdom of my youth said: verily, the speech of joyful wisdom! But then you enemies stole my nights from me and sold them to sleepless torment: Ah, where did that joyful wisdom now flee? Once, I longed for lucky bird signs: then you brought an owl monster across my path, an unpleasant one. Ah, where did my tender desire flee?

I once vowed to renounce all disgust, and then you turned my near and dear ones into boils. Ah, where did my noblest vow flee? As a blind man, I once walked blessed paths: then you threw filth on the blind man’s path, and now the old blind man’s footpath disgusts him. And when I did my hardest and celebrated the victory of my overcoming, you made those who loved me cry out that I hurt them the most. Indeed, this has always been your doing: you spoiled my best honey and the hard work of my best bees. You always sent the most impudent beggars to my charity. For my pity, you always urged the incurably shameless. So you wound my virtues in their faith.

And I also laid down my most holy thing as a sacrifice: your “piety” quickly added its fatter offerings so that my most holy thing was suffocated in the steam of your fat. And one thing I wanted to dance like I’ve never danced before. I wanted to dance across the sky. Then you persuaded my favourite singer. And now he intoned an eerie, dull tune; oh, he sounded like a dark horn in my ears! Murderous singer, the instrument of malice, most innocent! I was already prepared for the best dance: then you murdered my ecstasy with your sounds! Only in dance do I know how to speak parables of the highest things – and now my highest legend remained unspoken in my limbs!

My highest hope remained unsaid and unredeemed! And all the visions and consolations of my youth died to me! How do I endure now? How did I cope and overcome such wounds? How did my soul rise again from these graves? Yes, there is something in me that is invulnerable, something that cannot be buried, something that can shatter rocks: that is what is called my will. Walks silently and unchanged through the years.

He will walk his course on my feet, my old will; His mind is heartfelt and invulnerable. I am invulnerable at my heel alone. You still live there and are the same as you. Most patient! You still broke through all the graves! The unredeemed part of my youth still lives in you, and as life and youth, you sit here hoping on yellow grave rubble. Yes, you are still the destroyer of all my graves: Hail, my will! And only where there are graves are there resurrections. –

“The monotony and loneliness of a quiet life stimulate the creative mind” A. Einstein.

Loneliness, happiness, happiness in loneliness? It is an exciting issue which caught my eye as I saw this article by Marina Moscha. I never want to say I am an intellectual or to talk about my IQ (I think it is not more than 160!), but I found something very in common with such intelligent people; I find my happiness in my solitude 100% for sure!

Here, I would like to share this article with my intellectual friends, along with my best wishes.💖🙏🦋

Mark Zuckerberg (the 32-year-old creator of Facebook) said in an interview with the New York Times that he considers himself shy and introverted and prefers to hang out only with people like him.

A new study has found that people with high IQs tend to spend less time with close friends and have difficulty socializing.

Evolutionary psychologists from Singapore and London have found that intelligent people struggle to interact socially, even with close friends.

“What makes people happy today?” – How is happiness measured?

Satoshi Kanazawa of the London School of Economics & Political Science and Norman Li of the University of Singapore Administration wanted to answer the question, “What makes people happy today?”

Scholars assume that the way of life of our ancestors, who were hunter-gatherers, is the cornerstone of the perception of today’s happiness.

So, they studied 15,000 people aged 18 to 28 years. The couple found that people living in densely populated areas were more likely to report less satisfaction with their lives than those living in more sparsely populated areas. In other words, the higher the population density, the less happy they said being participants.

The researchers also found that respondents’ more significant interaction with close friends gave them more joy.

So, they applied the concept of “The Savanna Theory of Happiness” to explain their findings. The results, however, surprised them as the correlations for intelligent people were reversed.

“The Swiss psychiatrist and writer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has stated quite rightly: The most beautiful people are those who have known defeat, pain, struggle, and loss and found their way. These individuals have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, kindness, and a deep love interest. In other words, good people were not born good – they chose to be.“

I prefer to be alone!

The team measured people’s intelligence and ingenuity even though they did not reveal the exact levels of their IQ (respondents’ IQ). The two researchers found that the effect of population density on life satisfaction was more than twice as high for people with a lower IQ than for people with a high IQ.

In fact, the most intelligent people were less satisfied with their lives when they were forced to socialize, even with their closest friends.

In other words, intelligent people tend to need more time and isolation. If they spend too much time with friends, they feel less satisfied with their lives.

Carol Graham of the Brookings Institution, an expert on the economics of happiness, explains:

“The findings here show – and not surprisingly – that people with greater intelligence and the ability to use it. They are less likely to spend so much time socializing because they focus on other long-term goals. “

In other words, the most intelligent person might prefer to spend their time evolving their science or knowledge or even taking part in organizations with goals rather than feeling that she/he is wasting their time with socialization. , which not only does not offer them anything since it does not evolve this way but on the contrary, it hinders them as they abuse their “useful” time, which could be much more creative.

The relationship with our prehistoric ancestors

However, Kanazawa and Li’s explanation of the “happiness theory” is as follows:

They begin with the assumption that the human brain evolved to meet the demands of the then-primitive environment in the African savannah, where population density was similar to that of rural Alaska, with less than one person per square kilometre.

Our prehistoric ancestors, who were hunter-gatherers, lived in small groups of 150 people, where to survive and reproduce, they had to have as friendly relations with each other as possible.

Researchers have concluded that intelligent people may be better equipped to cope with the evolutionary changes of modern living in a densely populated area, with less and less impact on overall mood and well-being.

The study, meanwhile, states that it determines happiness in terms of self-reported satisfaction rather than the more objective sense of well-being or happiness through sentences such as: “When was the last time a person laughed?” Or “How many times did he get angry last week, since this definition does not matter to their theory. The Savanna Theory of Happiness is not bound by a specific purpose as it is compatible with any rational conception of happiness, with subjective well-being and life satisfaction.

The study was published in the British Journal of Psychology.

Marina Moscha (Μαρίνα Μόσχα)

The art images are all by Carrie Ann Baade.

source: https://marinamoscha.life /

With thanks to SearchingtheMeaningofLife

This painted Linen, offered to the goddess Hathor by the priest Tjanefer, weaves together a family history with historical memory. The goddess, shown here in her guise as a cow, shelters in a shrine on the deck of a boat moving through a papyrus marsh. Tjanefer faces her, hands raised in reverence, while three generations of his family, including his wife, children, and mother-in-law, carry gifts for the goddess. Below Hathor’s head is a small figure, identified by a hieroglyphic inscription as the deified Nebhepetre Mentuhotep, founder of the centuries-older Middle Kingdom (ca. 2051–2000 BCE). Like Hathor, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep was honoured with his own cult at Deir el-Bahri, and Tjanefer served as a priest in both.

The superb preservation of the textile allows us to see that it was cut from a larger piece of Linen. The artist then stiffened and smoothed its surface with huntite (an intensely white mineral), sketched the scene in red and black, and used different colours to fill the decorative scheme. (Metmuseum)

Let’s read Marie Grillot‘s brilliant description of the fascinating work of this Artisan’s Masterwork.

A piece of Linen from the priest Tjanefer as an offering to Hathor…

égyptophile

This fine piece of Linen, delicately painted, is 54 cm long and 32 cm wide. The irregular contours signify that it was cut, not very meticulously, from a more significant piece. Its upper part and right side are bordered with fringes: perhaps this is the upper right corner of this votive fabric?

The scene represented there, rich in symbolism, is presented in a rectangular “vignette” whose space is harmoniously composed.

It takes place under a floral garland which features a succession of lanceolate lotus petals pointing downwards. As for its lower part, it is delimited by a black line.

On the left, occupying a third of the surface and most of the height, is the goddess Hathor in her cow form. Standing on an elegant green and gold boat with a curved bow and stern, she is sheltered by a canopy of predominantly red mesh with diamond patterns (which recalls, in particular, the mesh covering the goddess Mehet-Ouret in the tomb of Irynefer). The top of this canopy is decorated with a floral garland of the same type as the previous one.

The sacred cow emerges from the marsh, symbolised by a thicket of tall papyrus, wonderfully treated in soft tones of green and blue. Her gold coat is dotted with black patterns, and she wears her characteristic headdress: cow horns enclosing the solar disk. Above the goddess is inscribed in hieroglyphics: “Hathor, mistress of the sky who is at the head of Thebes”. Under his muzzle stands a figure in a walking attitude, left leg advanced. The painted cartouche in front of him identifies him as Pharaoh Nebhepetre (Montuhotep II). His flesh is black because it is his deified representation. We also find him kneeling under the celestial cow, drinking from its udder.

We can only compare this scene to that of the “chapel of the sacred cow of Hathor” discovered on February 7, 1906, in the temple of Tuthmosis III, in Deir el-Bahari, by Edouard Naville for Egypt Exploration Found ( Egyptian Museum in Cairo – JE 38574 – JE 38575). In “Symbols of Egypt”, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt interprets it as follows: “When buried, the mummified deceased unites with the Great Cow. The little breast-fed child represents the fetus of the celestial placenta. Having accomplished the in the lap of the cow during its gestation, the child will be reborn and therefore appears protected by its celestial ‘mother’, emerging like her from the swamps of the beyond, still all black from the fertilising silt”…

Montuhotep II (“Montu is satisfied”) reigned between 2061 and 2010 B.C., and this linen piece is dated to the 19th Dynasty, around 1300 – 1250 BC. It testifies that in Deir el-Bahari, Hathor and the deified pharaoh were jointly honoured. Tjanefer, who dedicated this votive cloth to them, was a priest of both religions. Placed in front of them and at the table of offerings which he dedicates to them, he is accompanied by his family, who stands behind him.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where this piece of Linen is exhibited under the number 2022.332, thus describes the “family procession” which occupies two-thirds of the decor, taking place under ten short columns of hieroglyphs identifying the “participants”: “Tjanefer faces Hathor, hands raised in respect, while three generations of his family, including his wife, children and mother-in-law, carry gifts for the goddess.

The priest and his three sons are treated almost identically. Depicted standing, their heads are shaved, and their slim bodies are simply dressed in a pleated white linen loincloth. The sons wear a blue necklace and hold a bunch of grapes in their right hand and a giant papyrus stem in the other. We will observe that if the first and the third are designated by their names, the second, on the other hand, has remained strangely anonymous, as indicated by his quality of “son” by an ample space left empty in the column.

The three women (two behind Tjanefer and one bringing up the rear) are lovely. Their dark wig, which ends in fine braids, is adorned with a blue floral garland, as is the necklace that adorns their neck. Their white, transparent linen dress reveals their anatomy. They also hold a bunch of grapes in their right hand (one of which has leaves), and on their left, the same papyrus stem as the brothers. The whole thing makes up a charming procession, advancing in descending order of size and nicely punctuated by floral touches…

The Metropolitan Museum highlights the “superb conservation of the textile”. It indicates its creation: “The artist stiffened and smoothed its surface with huntite (an intense white mineral); he sketched the scene in red and black and used different colours to complete the decorative scheme.”

What was the role of the destination of this piece of Linen? If “the whole” from which it was detached had reached us, it would obviously be more accessible to interpret and define it… but this information remains unknown…

Nigel Strudwick (“Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt”) states that: “Many types of votive objects were placed in temples throughout Egypt as gifts expressing devotion to deities, which it was hoped would promote their turn the donor…”

The “probable” provenance indicated for this piece of Linen by the Metropolitan Museum is as follows: “site of the temple of Hathor at Deir el-Bahari”; it then entered the collection of Robert de Rustafjaell in 1906.

The work of Edouard Naville (mentioned above), carried out at the beginning of 1906 in the temple of Tuthmosis III, “rightly” delivered “a certain number of fabrics and other votive textiles (as well as numerous other votive objects) linked to the later cult of ‘Hathor, practised there at least from the New Kingdom onwards’ specifies the British Museum which has acquired several. At the same time, the same year, the London museum acquired, from Reverend Chauncey Murch (then a member of the American Presbyterian Mission of Luxor), a linen tunic with an image of Hathor (EA4307)… He did not exclude the possibility “that it could have been discovered during a contemporary clandestine excavation carried out on the same site”…

This could possibly be the case for this magnificent fragment… whose “eventful” history has continued to be written…

Its “first owner”, Robert de Rustafjaell, specifies the Metropolitan, “presented it at Sotheby’s in London in January 1913, then at the Anderson Galleries in New York in November-December 1915, where G. M. Heckscher acquired it, then by the Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, Long Island in 1959. It was exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art between 1993 and 2005, then transferred and sold at Christie’s in 2012 to Hilary David. It entered the collections of the Metropolitan in 2022, thanks to a donation from Liana Weindling”.

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Painted Linen Depicting the Priest Tjanefer and his family before the Goddess Hathor https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/591133 Gaston Maspero, Essays on Egyptian art, E. Guilmoto Editor, Paris, 1912? https://archive.org/details/ssaissurlartg00maspuoft Georges Foucart, Note from M. Naville on his discoveries at Deir el Bahari (Egypt), Reports of the sessions of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, 50th year, N. 2, 1906. p. 110; https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1906_num_50_2_71782 Statue of the goddess Hathor in the appearance of a cow and chapel http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=15118 http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/record.aspx?id=15654 .textImage# William C. Hayes, The sceptre of Egypt. A background for studying Egyptian antiquities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, c. II, The Hyksos period and the New Kingdom (1675-1080 B.C.), New York, 4th revised edition, 1990 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_Scepter_of_Egypt_Vol_2_The_Hyksos_Period_and_the_New_Kingdom_1675_1080_BC?Tag=&title=&author=&pt=0&tc=%7bAD9356EC-5405-4B7F-8553-AE512ADC84F1%7d &dept=0&fmt=0 Geraldine Pinch, Votive offerings to Hathor, Oxford, 1993 https://www.academia.edu/3645492/_Votive_Practices_with_Geraldine_Pinch_ Fernand Schwarz, The sacred cave, Pharaon magazine, n° 4, http://fernand.schwarz.free.fr/IMG/pdf/Ph4_grotte_sacree_FS.pdf Nigel Strudwick, Masterpieces of Ancient Egypt, London 2006, pp. 208-9
Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Symbols of Egypt, Le Livre de Poche, 2008
Christian Leblanc, Angelo Sesana, The Beautiful West of Thebes, Imentet Neferet, L’Harmattan, 2022
Miniature linen tunic; painted representation of the Hathor cow and Hieroglyphic text https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA43071

I have a feeling that there is no chance…? 🤓

Nice try; I thought I could contribute another post (the older man said!)! Well, I wish you all a wonderful weekend.😂🤗💖

 We have now reached the final part of the analysis of this dream: (1, 2, 3, 4) the matter of the square and everyone walking counterclockwise around as the dreamer is not in the middle but on one side. I picked this dream from his collection of dream analyses with the help of the mandala symbol. (I have shared other interpretations and will continue to do so.)

Here is a short explanation by Dr Jung on Mandalas and their meaning in comparison between the East and the West which he got the chance (as he wrote;) In 1938, I had an opportunity to meet and speak with a lamaistic Rinpoche named Lingdam Gomchen in a Monastery of Bhutia Busty (near Darjeeling) about the Mandala (Khilkor). He explained it as a “dmigs-pa” (pronounced migpa), a mental picture (imago mentalis) which can only be constructed by imagination by a trained lama. No mandala is like the other; they are individually different. Also, the mandalas you see in monasteries and temples have no special meaning since they are only external representations. The true mandala is always an inner image, which is gradually constructed by (active) imagination when a disturbance of mental balance or thought cannot be found and must, therefore, be sought because it is not included in the sacred doctrine.

There are some texts, such as Shri-Chakra-Sambhara-Tantra, which contain instructions for making the “mental image”. The “khilkor” is strictly separated from the “sidpe-korlo”, the wheel of life (Fig. 29), representing the course of human existence according to the Buddhist view. In contrast to the “khilkor”, the wheel of life consists of a ternary system, namely the rooster = lust, the snake = hate or envy, and the pig = ignorance or unconsciousness (avidya). Here, we throw out the dilemma of three and four, which also play a role in Buddhism. We will reencounter this problem as the Dream Series progresses. (From The Serpent Power, hrsg. von Avalon, 1919)

Alchemy and Its Phases—A Road Map for Individuals and Cultures:

These four phases—nigredo, albedo, rubedo, citrinitas—describe the stages of alchemical change not only on the individual level. Jung recognized that “the collective psyche shows the same pattern of change as the psyche of the individual. This being so, collective life would manifest the following:

In the nigredo phase: fires, floods, epidemics and natural disasters, plane crashes and other events that leave hundreds or thousands dead; inflation, in the economic sense of rising prices; the discovery of rot and corruption in the public sphere, in corporations and in government; greed, with the basic motivation being money, with people being “bought” in a variety of ways, and the political system held hostage by the plutocrats or moneyed interests; large segments of the population not understanding what’s going on in the world, experiencing confusion, disorientation, feelings of being “out of the loop,” shut out of public life; sickness of spirit, with many signs of spiritual malaise, e.g. widespread substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, sexual violence; anxiety and irritability, along with a rash of psychosomatic illnesses, a rise in mental illness and more minor forms of madness like “road rage.”

in the albedo phase: confrontations between the sexes; public debates about the role of women in the public sphere; protests and agitation for more equal rights for women and minorities; more push to integrate women and minorities into the mainstream of our collective life

in the rubedo phase: more discussion of unity, the interdependence of all beings (not just human beings), the preciousness of life, a growing reverence for life and Earth, our planet that sustains our life; and the appearance of new attitudes and concerns (e.g. the growing planetary awareness of global warming)

in the citrinitas phase: new ways of being and living that create a world that works for everyone, all beings, not just humans; the rise of a way of living and working that sustains natural systems, that provides spiritual fulfilment and economic justice to all. Visionaries in indigenous cultures hundreds of years ago have provided descriptions of this phase as a time of peace (all sources of conflict are gone), union (all recognize that we are one), life directed by the Creator, with everyone understanding the cosmic plan; everyone being able to communicate with everyone and everything else (i.e. telepathy is the usual way communication occurs); a single currency, with no governments; love and joy being experienced all the time. From Jung’s Prophetic Visions

The third degree of [Alchemical] conjunction is universal: it is the relation or identity of the personal with the supra-personal atman and of the individual Tao with the universal Tao. . . . ~Carl Jung, CW 14, Para 762

Just as some alchemists had to admit that they never succeeded in producing the gold or the Stone, I cannot confess to having solved the riddle of the coniunctio mystery.
On the contrary, I am darkly aware of things lurking in the background of the problem-things too big for our horizons. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 392-396

The image on top: Inner Oracle by Carlos-Quevedo

And now, the final part of the dream analysis:

The Mandala Symbolism (Dream 16) P.4

There are a lot of people there. Everyone walks counterclockwise around the square. The dreamer is not in the middle but on one side. It is said that one wants to reconstruct the gibbon.

If taken seriously, the symbolism of the renewal rites points beyond the merely infantile and archaic to that innate psychological disposition, which is the result and deposit of all ancestral lives back to animality; hence, the ancestral and animal symbolism. These are attempts to abolish the separation of consciousness from the unconscious, which is the actual source of life, and to reunify the individual with the mother soil of the inherited, instinctive disposition. If such renewal rites did not have pronounced effects, they would not only have died out in ancient times, but they would never have come into being at all. Our case proves that even if the conscious mind is miles away from the ancient ideas of the renewal rite, the unconscious tries to bring them closer to the conscious mind in dreams. The autonomy and self-sufficiency of consciousness are properties without which it would not come into being at all. Still, it also means the danger of isolation and desolation by creating an unbearable alienation from instinct by splitting off the unconscious. But lack of instinct is the source of endless trials and tribulations.

Finally, the fact that the dreamer is not in the “centre” but on the side clearly indicates what will happen to his ego: he will no longer be able to claim the central place. Still, he will probably have to go with him to the position of a satellite or at least a planet rotating around the sun. The important place in the middle is apparently intended for the gibbon to be reconstructed. The gibbon is one of the anthropoids and, due to its human kinship, is a suitable symbol to express that part of the psyche that extends into the subhuman. Using the example of the Cynocephalus (baboon; Fig. 54), which was associated with Thoth-Hermes, which was the highest ape known to the Egyptians, we have seen how, thanks to its relationship to God, it is suitable to express that part of the unconscious which exceeds the level of consciousness.

It is unlikely to cause serious offence if one assumes that the human psyche has levels below consciousness. But the fact that there could just as well be floors that lie above consciousness, so to speak, seems to be an assumption that borders on a ‘crimen laesae maiestatis humanae’ (crime of injured human majesty). In my experience, consciousness can only claim a relative middle position and has to tolerate being towered over and surrounded on all sides by the unconscious psyche. It is connected through unconscious contents with physiological conditions on the one hand and archetypal prerequisites on the other. But it is also anticipated forward by intuitions, which in turn are partly conditioned by archetypes and partly by subliminal perceptions that are related to the space-time relativity of the unconscious. I must leave it to the reader to form their own judgment about the possibility of such a hypothesis from careful consideration of this dream series and the problems it raises.

So! That was my effort to explain a bit about Alchemy and its meaning with the help of symbols through Dr. Jung’s words. I hope those interested enjoy the term! Thank you.

Actually, I didn’t even think about making a second contribution. Since yesterday, I’ve been feeling under the weather and have some feeling that I’ve got a case of influenza.😜 I probably have my wife to thank, who was sick all last week! But after watching this movie the day before yesterday, I thought I could write a few lines.

Vita & Virginia is not a brand-new movie; you might have already seen it. It is also not the best made of, but the name of Virginia Woolf was enough for me to take the time to watch, and the fascination of the development of her novel Orlando. The movie’s director, Chanya Button, might have tried to make an artistic film parallel to its creative expression. (for example, lecture reading the letters between Virginia and Vita), and these might bore some audience; for me, it was not. It reminded me of the masterwork by Joshua Logan, Camelot 1967, which my brother Al and I watched those days in Iran; after not even half of the film was over, most of the audience left the cinema!

I love the femininity running through this film (with the fully understanding husband!) and in her Novel, Orlando, Woolf’s discovery of the “man” in Vita Sackville-West.

Feminine consciousness has been operative in some individuals but not in a whole culture. Now, I think we’re starting to get free of the old matriarchy and free of the patriarchy. In other words, we are entering into a conscious relationship with our mother and father complexes. As a planet, we’re moving toward maturity. Marion Woodman

Unfortunately, I must add that the subject of misusing is constantly a shameful term in the man’s world!!

I also added some words from Wikipedia: Have a lovely weekend, thank you, and stay “healthy”!💖🙏🥰

Set in the 1920s, the writers Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf move in different London circles. When they meet, Vita decides Virginia will be her next conquest. They have an affair against the background of each of their open marriages.

Sexual abuse

Woolf stated that she first remembers being molested by Gerald Duckworth when she was six. It has been suggested that this led to a lifetime of sexual fear and resistance to masculine authority. Against a background of over-committed and distant parents, suggestions that this was a dysfunctional family must be evaluated. These include evidence of sexual abuse of the Stephen girls by their older Duckworth half-brothers and by their cousin, James Kenneth Stephen (1859–1892), at least of Stella Duckworth. Laura is also thought to have been abused. The most graphic account is by Louise DeSalvo, but other authors and reviewers have been more cautious. Virginia’s accounts of being continually sexually abused while she lived at 22 Hyde Park Gate have been cited by some critics as a possible cause of her mental health issues. However, there are likely to be several contributing factors. Hermione Lee states, “The evidence is strong enough, yet ambiguous enough, to open the way for conflicting psychobiographical interpretations that draw quite different shapes of Virginia Woolf’s interior life”.

As we know with Osiris, Amun-Ra( Amon, Ammon, Amoun, Amen, Amana) is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods. Amun was the god who created the universe. Ra was the god of the sun and light, travelling across the sky daily in a burning boat. The two gods were combined into one, Amun-Ra, in the time of the New Kingdom, between the 16th and 11th centuries BCE.

Today, I would like to introduce the statue of Karomama, the “divine worshiper of Amun”. Amun had many worshipers; one of them was Karomama 1st. Here is a brilliant report by Marie Grillot (& Marc Charier) about the story of this treasure.

“Statue of Karomama, “divine worshiper of Amun” in Thebes Bronze inlaid with pink gold, silver, electrum – 22nd dynasty Probably coming from Thebes – Acquired by Jean-François Champollion…

Princess Karomama is the granddaughter of Osorkon I, priestess and the divine consort of Amun.

Let’s read the whole story:

The image at the top: Amun-Re; Ammon; Amon; Amun (Cristalinks)

Karomama, Divine Worshiper, Totally and Eternally “Divine”!

égyptophile

In July 1827, the outline of the Franco-Tuscan expedition to Egypt was put on paper. Jean-François Champollion and Ippolito Rosellini and their teams will have the primary missions of visiting the monuments of ancient Egypt and purchasing objects for the royal collections.

Champollion devoted himself with infinite passion to monuments for 17 months, from July 1828 to December 1829. But he was also keen to bring back numerous objects to enrich the Egyptian antiquities division of the Charles X Museum (future Louvre), inaugurated on December 15, 1827, and of which he was appointed curator.

Thus, on December 26, 1829, he wrote to Baron de la Bouillerie: “I have also brought together a collection of selected objects of great interest, among which is a bronze statuette, of exquisite artistry, entirely inlaid in gold, and representing an Egyptian queen of the Bubastide dynasty. It is the most beautiful object of this kind.”

And, in a letter to Rosellini, Champollion explains the acquisition as follows: “This large bronze statuette of the divine worshiper Karomama was part of the collection assembled in Alexandria by Yanni Athanasi, the former collaborator of Salt: I had his beautiful bronze of the queen and a hundred other first-rate pieces for a thousand tari.” Giovanni d’Athanasi was then known and recognized: in 1819, he succeeded Belzoni to the English consul Henry Salt, who appreciated his ability to estimate the quality and value of antiquities and his sense of commerce. Athanasi thus supplied the Salt collections while building a personal collection himself.

This is how the Karomama statue arrived in Paris. It measures 59 cm high and, on the Louvre website, it is presented as follows, under the inventory number N 500: “Walking on a base, barefoot, arms outstretched to shake the sistrums, Karomama is dressed in “a pleated dress close to the body, with ample sleeves. Half-long, the dress is caught in the plumage of the vulture, which slides over the thighs. The short hairstyle fits the face widely. The coiled uraeus emerges from the modius, a small pad on which a crown was originally embedded. A sumptuous goldwork adornment shines on the top of her shoulders and the base of her chest… The inscriptions on the base indicate her identity: “Beloved by Amon-Re, she is his divine spouse, the Divine Adoratrix.”

Today, It is considered one of the most beautiful pieces in the Egyptian Department of Antiquities. She finally overcame this problematic period where, after the admiration aroused upon her arrival, she was placed in a somewhat dark display case, covered with dust and oblivion… to make room for new acquisitions.

In the 1890s, Émile Chassinat (attached to the Department of Egyptian Antiquities) brought her out of her “exile where her happier rivals had relegated her”.

He made an exact analysis entitled “A bronze statuette of Queen Karomama (XXII dynasty)” which appeared in 1897, of which there are some extracts: “Karomama, indeed of mixed blood, Libyan of more or less recent stock, shows a finesse of line, which some will perhaps find dry, which denounces the race and which imitates, so to speak, the classic type of goddesses as the sculptors copied it from generation to generation. Perhaps it has even been embellished here to highlight the queen’s superior essence better… The nose is thin and slightly arched; the widely slit eyes are elongated naturally and not by the artifice of kohol; the mouth is pursed and curled with relatively thin lips, and the accentuated oval of the face changes us from the somewhat tiring banality of the portraits of women that we commonly encounter… She is represented in a conventional pose. Standing, left leg slightly forward, she half extends her arms; the closed fists most probably held two sistrums… The upper chest and part of the arms are hidden by a sizeable five-row necklace where the decorative talent of the damascener is given full display. Each row is made up of different patterns; the last simulates pendants… The electrum, gold and silver combine their colours, a little pale now, with perfect harmony and good taste. Despite the profusion of precious materials, the general impression is excellent; perhaps it was not the same when the work left the hands of the artisan; we cannot affirm it because time has often done things well by attenuating”… “It alone, one could say, of all the bronzes in the Louvre, gives the satisfactory impression of the perfection to which the artists Egyptians had reached all branches of plastics.”

Christiane Ziegler (“Tanis the Gold of the Pharaohs”), who studied the inscriptions on the statue, specifies that this magnificent work: “was erected in order ‘to perpetuate the name of the sovereign in the temple of Amun'”. She adds: “Other passages in the text suggest that this effigy of Karomama was originally placed inside one of the multiple chapels built during the Libyan era in the sacred enclosure of the temples of Karnak.”…

And as Egypt took its time to reveal its secrets, Karomama returned to the news in 2014.

It is on the west bank of Thebes, on the site of the millions-year-old temple of Ramses II, the Ramesseum, where the French Archaeological Mission of West Thebes (MAFTO/CNRS-UMR 8220/LAMS) and the Center d Study and Documentation on Ancient Egypt (CEDAE/CSA) was carrying out their excavation campaign in 2014, when his tomb was discovered, precisely within the enclosure of the small temple of Touy. In this sector, the excavations were then carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Egyptology of the University of Leipzig, whose team was led by Benoît Lurson, with funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

In “Ramses II and the Ramesseum”, published in 2019, Christian Leblanc provides this valuable information: “In the northern sanctuary, originally reserved apparently for Nefertari, the tomb of Karomama, a divine worshiper of Amun under the 22nd dynasty. Undoubtedly, the granddaughter of Osorkon II, this ‘wife of the god’ who had the rank of queen, is well known to us from the beautiful bronze statuette damascened with gold and silver acquired in Egypt by J .-F. Champollion and since preserved in the Louvre, but also by two canopic vases and some chaouabtis formerly purchased in Gournah by R.C. Lepsius during the Prussian scientific expedition. These funerary remains accessible on the local antique market obviously suggested that the tomb had been desecrated, which was confirmed when it was discovered in 2014. Its last looting, which could date back between 1820 and 1844, was almost systematic since the excavation only delivered a few amulets and fragmentary chaouabtis in glazed frit on which could still be read the quality and the name inscribed in a cartouche of its deceased and insignia owner: ‘The Osiris, the divine worshiper of Amon Karoma(ma) -loved-of-Mout justified'”.

In the bowels of western Thebes, the story of Karomama continues to be written… because, as Christian Leblanc says: “This mysterious priestess who had the rank of queen still has a lot to teach us, particularly about her family ties “…

Marie Grillot

Sources:

Jean-François Champollion (Champollion the Younger), Letters written from Egypt and Nubia in 1828 and 1829, Didier & Cie Libraires Editeurs, Paris, 1868 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k103771z/f1.image.r=Il%20est%20donc%20du%20plus%20haut%20interest%20pour%20l’Espagne%20elle-mère.texteImage

Statue of the divine worshiper of Amon Karomama http://cartelfr.louvre.fr/cartelfr/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=17845&langue=fr

Émile Chassinat, A bronze statuette of Queen Karomama (22nd dynasty) (Louvre Museum). In: Monuments and memories of the Eugène Piot Foundation, volume 4, fascicle 1, 1897. pp. 15-26; https://www.persee.fr/doc/piot_1148-6023_1897_num_4_1_1146 Elisabeth Delange, Marie-Emmanuelle Meyohas, Marc Aucouturier The statue of Karomama, a testimony of the skill of Egyptian metallurgists in polychrome bronze statuary, Journal of Cultural Heritage, Volume 6, Issue 2, April-June 2005, Pages 99-113 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1296207405000348

Benoît Lurson, Claude Obsomer et alii, Lost and found: the Tomb of the Divine Adoratrice Karomama (22nd Dynasty)
From the mother of the king to the wife of the god. The first summary of the results of the excavations of the temple of Touy and the tomb of Karomama // Von der Königsmutter zur Gottesgemahlin. Erste Synthese der Ausgrabungsergebnisse des Tempels von Tuja und des Grabes von Karomama, Safran, 2017 https://www.academia.edu/38735032/ From_the_mother_of_the_king_to_the_wife_of_god._First_synthesis_of_the_results_of_the_excavations_of_the_temple_of_Touy_and_of_the_tombe_of_Karomama_Von_der_Königsmutter_zur_Gottesgemahlin._Erste_Synthese_der_Ausgra bungsergebnisse_des_Tempels_von_Tuja_und_des_Grabes_von_Karomama
Christiane Ziegler, Tanis l’or des pharaons, exhibition catalog Paris, National Galleries of the Grand Palais, March 26 – July 20, 1987
Christian Leblanc, Ramses II and the Ramesseum. From the splendour to the decline of a million-year-old temple, L’Harmattan, 2019

In this part (the previous: 1, 2, 3,) Dr. Jung goes intensively into the essence of Geometry and Alchemy. It seemed this topic got his attention so profoundly that he stopped working on his work, Liber Novus.

In The Red Book, Reader’s Edition by Sonu Shamdasani, we read why Jung did stop working on Liber Novus: In his afterword, written in 1959, he wrote:
My acquaintance with alchemy in 1930 took me away from it. The beginning of the end came in 1928 when [Richard] Wilhelm sent me the text of the “Golden Flower”, an alchemical treatise. There, the contents of this book found their way into actuality, and I could no longer continue working on it. To the superficial observer, it will appear like madness. It would also have developed into one had I not been able to absorb the overpowering force of the original experiences. With the help of alchemy, I could finally arrange them into a whole. I always knew that these experiences contained something precious, and therefore, I knew of nothing better than to write them down in a “precious”, that is to say costly, book and to print the images that emerged through reliving it all – as well as I could. I knew how frightfully inadequate this undertaking was, but despite much work and many destructions, I remained faithful to it, even if another / possibility never…

{This appears on p. 190 of the calligraphic volume of Liber Novus. The transcription was abruptly left off in the middle of the sentence on p. 189. This epilogue appears on the next page, in Jung’s normal handwriting. This, in turn, was abruptly left off in the middle of the sentence!}

There is one more completed painting in Liber Novus. In 1928, Jung painted a Mandala of the golden castle (The Red Book, p. 163); after finishing, it struck him that the Mandala had something Chinese about it. Shortly afterwards, he got a letter from Richard Wilhelm with the text of The Secret of The Golden Flower, asking him to write a commentary on it. Jung was struck by it and the timing:

The next gave me an undreamed confirmation of my ideas about the Mandala and the circumambulation of the centre. It was the first event which broke through my isolation. I became aware of an affinity; I could establish ties with someone and something. (Memories, pp. 222-23)

So! Let’s now continue the story.

The Mandala Symbolism (Dream 16) P.4

There are a lot of people there. Everyone walks counterclockwise around the square. The dreamer is not in the middle but on one side. It is said that one wants to reconstruct the gibbon.

Since alchemy, in its philosophical form, has dealt with problems that are very close to those that interest our modern psychology, it is perhaps important to go into the dream motif of the monkey that is to be reconstructed in a square room. In the vast majority of cases, alchemy identifies its transformation substance with the >argentum vitum< or Mercurius. Chemically, this term refers to Mercury, but philosophically, it refers to the ‘spiritus vitae’, even the world soul (Fig. 48). Thus, Mercurius also takes on the meaning of the god of revelation, Hermes.

This is not the place to present this connection in detail. This should happen elsewhere. (The Spirit Mercurius, CW 13). Hermes is linked to the idea of roundness and squareness, as shown in a particular Papyrus V, line 401 of the ‘Papyri Graecae Magicae’. (Ed. by Preisedanz, 1928/31, p. 195). There you will find the name Strongylós και tetrágonos (rounder and square). It is also called tetraglochin (square). It actually has to do with the number four; therefore, there is also a Hermes tetracephalus (four-headed). (See Bruchmann: Epitheta Deorum, quae apud poetas Graecos leguntur, 1893). These attributes were also known in the Middle Ages, such as Cartari’s work shows. (Cartari: Les Images des dieux des anciens, 1581, p. 403). It says there: >Davantage, les figures quarres de Mercure (Fig. 49), qui n’avait seulement que la teste et le membre viril, signifoient que le soleil est le Chef du monde, et qui seme toutes choses, mesmes les quatre costez de la figure quarree, designed ce que signifie la sistre aquatre chordes, qui fut aussi donnee a Mercure, c’est a dire, les quatre parties du monde, ou autrement, les quatre saisons de l’annee ou bien que les deux equinocces, et lesdeux solstices, viennent a`faire les quatre parties de tout le Zodiaque.<

[“Moreover, the square figures of Mercury (Fig. 49), which only had the head and the virile member, signify that the sun is the Head of the world and which shows all things, even the four sides of the figure square, designate what is meant by the “four-chord sistrum”, which was also given to Mercury, that is to say, the four parts of the world, or otherwise, the four seasons of the year or even the two equinoxes, and the two solstices, come to make the four parts of the whole Zodiac.”]

It is easy to understand that such qualities made Mercurius particularly suitable to represent that mysterious transformative substance of alchemy because this is round and square. This whole consists of four parts (four elements). Therefore, both the four-part Gnostic primitive man (Paracelsus as a spiritual phenomenon, CW 13, § 168 and §§ 206 ff.) (Fig. 50) and the Pantocrator Christ are an >imago lapidis< (Cf. Ideas of Redemption in Alchemy, CW 12, §§ 332ff) (Fig. 51).

Insofar as Western alchemy is largely of Egyptian origin, we direct our attention primarily to the Hellenistic Hermes Trismegistos, whose figure, on the one hand, is a godfather to the medieval Mercurius and, on the other hand, is derived from the ancient Egyptian Thoth (Fig. 52). The attribute of Thoth was the dog-monkey, or he was directly represented as a monkey.

Thanks to the countless editions of the Book of the Dead, this view remained in direct view until the latest times. In alchemy, whose existing texts, with a few exceptions, belong to the Christian era, the ancient connection between Thoth-Hermes and the monkey has disappeared. However, it still existed in the Roman Empire. But since Mercurius has much to do with the devil (which will not be discussed in detail here), the monkey (Fig. 53) appears again in the neighbourhood of Mercurius in the Simia Dei. It is part of the nature of the transformative substance that, on the one hand, it is thoroughly cheap, even contemptible, which is expressed through a series of devil allegories, such as the snake, dragon, raven, lion, basilisk and eagle, but on the other hand it is also the valuable, even that Divine itself means. The change leads from the lowest to the highest, from the animal-archaic infantile to the mystical >Homo Maximus<.

Let’s take another break! I want to express my gratitude to all of you for being here with me. I appreciate it!🙏💖🤗

The Image at the top: Ex libris Maria (Combining Opposites) Albin Brunovsky, 1985