The first layer we encounter in the unconscious is what Jung called the shadow, usually those parts of ourselves we don’t like, don’t know, or don’t want to know. The shadow can be repressed within us, like a cancer, or projected outward onto others as qualities we dislike most in a person or group. The negative shadow can present us with a shortcoming to be overcome. The positive can show us a meaningful part of ourselves that we should recognise and live out.
~Carl Jung, Wounded Healer of the Soul, Claire Dunne
Honestly, I hadn’t intended to post today, but lately I feel like a stranger in the visual world, whether among Iranians and their struggles for freedom or here, among friends. This isn’t because of feelings of abandonment or being unwelcome; it’s simply due to the constant activity by you and others, which I observe every day, and I can’t keep up! Certainly, I’m referring to those who post every hour, and I wonder how they manage their real lives. I’d love to hear some tips on that.😉 Anyway, while feeling like a stranger, I was inspired to find a beautiful poem by Bella Grim (even though I am not particularly poetic!), and I thought I would share it with you, along with a masterful song by Leonard Cohen. I hope you will enjoy it.
Feeling like a Stranger
By Bella Grim
When I’m me. I’m right here. It’s quiet, unless I do something about it. It’s boring, unless I fill the air. It’s humiliating if I let it be. It’s complicated. Unless I solve the problem
When they see Non believe It’s loud unless I share But they frown around
It’s me. Just me to do something about Just a little way above
It’s fun when I’m me It’s like flying in the sea It’s freeing if I want it It’s exciting if I let it be.
Hello everyone! Today, I want to share some thoughts that have been on my mind for a while about our world—a chaotic place—and explore the reasons behind it.
Many ideas and thoughts were swirling in my mind, and since I am not sufficiently professional to keep them all there, I hesitated to write this. However, after reading an article by The Borderline Crisis, a highly recommended blog, it encouraged me to share my thoughts.
As we watch and ponder, the world and its inhabitants hurriedly head towards an abyss filled with wars and violence, driven by an unknown purpose. The wealthy continue to grow richer, while the poor become increasingly poorer. Every compassionate person wonders about the cause and reason. That was also my question, and I realised it all comes down to money. Or, more accurately, it can be best described as capitalism. Hold on!!! Please don’t walk away; I am not a communist and have no intention of promoting such ideas. I fully agree with Bertrand Russell, who stated:
“I dislike Communism because it is undemocratic and Capitalism because it favours exploitation.“ — Bertrand Russell, Unarmed Victory (1963), p. 14
Thus, concerns regarding communism and its foundational principles have diminished, while capitalism continues to gain greater influence. Why is that? Essentially, communism has shot itself in the foot by taking on a form of dictatorship, which has contributed to its decline throughout history. On the other hand, after World War II, capitalism managed to contain communism by offering people equity capital through the conventional bourgeois approach, thereby generating a fear of communism.
They created opportunities for the lower class by enabling partial instalment payments, allowing them to own possessions, and helping to dispel the notions that deprived them of their belongings. They might be burdened with their mortgage for life, but they have some possessions, such as their own house, car, TV, washing machine, etc. This approach gained popularity worldwide, including in Europe and even in Iran before the 1979 revolution. We adopted an American-style lifestyle, characterised by luxury and instalment-based spending!
This approach has been cleverly devised to encourage pride in possessions and stimulate a desire for more. I see it as a fundamental aspect of capitalism, as it drives competition among neighbours, cities, or nations to increase their assets. Consequently, people become fixated on winning more and acquiring larger and better possessions.
I call it Greed! This trait isn’t found in nature but only among humans. I noticed it wasn’t present in the communist world, as I observed when interacting with my East German customers, whom I took to visit doctors during my daily work. They all expressed satisfaction with their lives in the former GDR. One of them, a tiny older woman, told me she lived peacefully with her neighbours, free of stress, feeling a genuine sense of community and helpfulness among friends and comrades. Even one of the younger people I met at a disco one evening, who recently escaped to the West, told me that everything wasn’t too bad there. She mentioned that travelling abroad was somewhat challenging due to restrictions, but she was eager to experience and connect with different cultures.
Nevertheless, the actual outcome of reunifying East and West Germany has shown how capitalism can significantly disrupt the peaceful life of a population, exposing them to the allure and splendour of Western society, yet leaving them in a state of longing. You may be aware that after the USSR’s withdrawal from East Germany, Western investors closed all remaining factories and manufacturing facilities. This was done to conceal from the capitalist world that factories in the communist system were still operational and that life was proceeding normally there. By the way, the education system has failed under the communist dictatorship, as shown by how individuals in East Germany can swiftly adopt fascist tendencies from a corrupt communist system.
Yes! Capitalism seeks to make you see and believe only in its world and nothing else. Accordingly, the modern bourgeoisie wields enormous power to keep people conservative and instils in them a fear of losing their possessions.
Capitalism is like a worm lurking in every part of our lives, often unnoticed. This allows it to operate while we concentrate on our own concerns, such as increasing profits! Even within the art world, artists are rarely solely focused on creating their work without also considering its sale and marketing. The traditional model, where an artist creates and a manager handles everything else, is outdated. I don’t mean to suggest that all managers are honest, but it does help artists who need a quiet life to focus on their art. You are all artists, aiming to display your work here. However, if you look around, you might realise that this way of life has consumed your thoughts so completely that you no longer feel longing or curiosity about the world’s happenings. You have been completely absorbed in your own concerns related to your personal domain.
On the other hand, the craving for increased luxury and comfort remains constant. Capitalism knows no limits and is frequently used by millionaires to display wealth, which can lead middle-class individuals to develop an excessive obsession. Since not everyone can achieve millionaire status, this seemingly out-of-reach desire often results in anger, frustration, dissatisfaction, and sometimes depression. This may lead to feelings of impatience, envy, increased sensitivity, and an abrupt loss of patience. You might have observed that people in the streets shout at each other over trivial matters, drive aggressively, and honk their horns frequently. I believe this behaviour stems from capitalism.
Here is an excellent explanation of capitalism I came across, not on X but somewhere else I can’t recall.
The key question is: what steps should we take? I believe our initial move should be to build a society rooted in accessible, high-quality education and robust, free healthcare, as many societal problems originate from these sectors. Following that, we need to develop a proper social democratic system—one that Rosa Luxemburg aimed to reinforce in the early 20th century, not the shallow versions currently promoted by some political parties.
I’m not discussing a proletariat dictatorship; a free society is the most important of all. I referenced Rosa Luxemburg to demonstrate my commitment to freedom, as Luxemburg followed a similar path:
She celebrated the Russian Revolution, but in a posthumously published manuscript, she sharply criticised the authoritarian policies of the Bolsheviks, advocating for democratic freedoms and famously stating, “Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.”
She has been revered by many on the left as a martyr for the revolution. At the same time, her theories, particularly her emphasis on spontaneity and democracy, were strongly criticised by the Leninist and Stalinist traditions of orthodox communism.
In a genuine social democracy, we can devalue prices and quantities, thereby promoting a more quality-oriented lifestyle. In the capitalist world, we observe every day that prices are steadily rising, and I wonder why!
We don’t require a luxurious, speedy car or a mansion to live; these are just materials that our souls don’t need. If we carefully reflect on our lives, we will surely identify moments of genuine relaxation. I think those times are when we need fewer things and find happiness with less. Lao-Tzu offered some insightful thoughts on living with less:
“One who is content is rich.”
“He who accumulates much treasure has much to lose.”
“The greatest gift is contentment.”
Here is an excellent explanation I took from my esteemed teacher and friend, Jean Raffa, from her recent article, concerning the essence of our existence.:
Our culture profits from our yearning by promising surface solutions like money, power, safety, appearance, possessions, and sex. These things satisfy your instincts for the short term. But beneath the world’scacophonous clamour, the yearning remains. Who, amidst the hubbub, can hear the quiet voices of those who would direct you to the inner world? It’s hard to believe anything there could fulfil your needs. Harder still to pull yourself away from outer demands you’re trying desperately to fulfil. You have no time. And even if you did, how would you begin? You don’t know the way. Who would guide you? It’s too humiliating to ask for help. “I was not looking for my dreams to interpret life, but rather for my life to interpret my dreams.” ~Susan Sontag
And finally, who could articulate it more eloquently than Carl Jung:
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
~Carl Jung, Letters Volume I, Page 33.
Image credit at the top; snugsomeone (Maciej) | DeviantArt
Ancient Egyptian history is undeniably captivating, and exploring it with a hint of femininity makes it even more alluring.
By Myrtle Florence Broome (Self Portrait). Original publication: unknown immediate source- Wiki. Fair use!
Myrtle Florence Broome (22 February 1888 – 27 January 1978) was a British Egyptologist and artist renowned for her illustrated collaboration with Amice Calverley on the Temple of Seti I at Abydos, as well as her paintings that captured the essence of Egyptian village life during the 1920s and 1930s. She was born on 22 February 1888 in Muswell Hill, London, to Eleanor Slater and Washington Herbert Broome. Broome studied art at a school in Bushey founded by Sir Hubert von Herkomer. From 1911 to 1913, she attended University College London, where she earned a Certificate in Egyptology under the guidance of Sir Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray.
I was pleasantly surprised to come across this old post from the égyptophile site, and am excited to share this beautiful story about two women and their love for ancient Egyptian magic with you.
Therefore, I included the slogan of the Iranian women’s and men’s revolution, #WomanLifeFreedom, in this post, as it symbolises not only the struggle for freedom in Iran but also resonates worldwide.
Florence Broome, Egyptologist and Painter London, February 22, 1888 – Bushey, January 27, 1978 – Self-portrait on the right and, on the left, a copy of her extraordinary work at Abydos: “King Sethos receives life and dominion from the goddess Saosis” (detail)
Along with Nina de Garis Davies, Marcelle Baud, and Amice Calverley, Myrtle Florence Broome is undoubtedly one of the most gifted copyists to have worked in Egypt during the first half of the 20th century.
Myrtle was born in London’s Muswell Hill neighbourhood on February 22, 1888, into a family of music book publishers. However, it was in Bushey, Hertfordshire, that she spent much of her life, and it was there that she studied at the Beaux-Arts, developing her talents for drawing and painting.
In 1911, she joined University College London, where she studied Egyptology under the guidance of two eminent professors, Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray, who would become the first female Egyptologists.
During the two years of classes taught by Margaret Murray, what she ironically called “the gang” was formed: it included Myrtle Broome, Guy and Winfried Brunton, Reginald (Rex) Engelbach, and Georginan Aitken, all of whom went on to have distinguished careers in Egyptology (Rex would become curator of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities).
Margaret Murray’s influence on Myrtle was undoubtedly significant, and it seems likely that she encouraged her to develop and exploit her artistic talents professionally.
Myrtle Florence Broome (left) and Amice Calverley posing in front of their “copies”
In 1927, Myrtle was at the Qau el-Kebir site, where she conducted epigraphic surveys of Middle Kingdom tombs and copied their scenes.
In 1929, she was recruited by the Egypt Exploration Society and joined Amice Calverley at Abydos. This marked the beginning of a fruitful, beautiful, and enriching collaboration that would culminate in a deep and lasting friendship.
They will spend eight seasons together, eight excellent seasons in the temple and the Osereion. The task is complex, and the concentration is extreme because recording the scenes requires very particular attention, with no room left for personal interpretation. All this in rather “primitive” working conditions, sometimes perched on ladders more than 10 m above the ground and in often oppressive heat! The Abydos team is very quickly enriched by a Canadian Egyptologist and an Austrian photographer who also do excellent work, while good humour reigns.
James Henry Breasted was at a loss for words to praise their talent and admitted that it seemed impossible to find more expert and brilliant women.
The result was published in four volumes edited between 1933 and 1958 by the Egypt Exploration Society of London and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, with the financial support of John D. Rockefeller Jr. A remarkable work, of unparalleled quality, and—but?—so beautiful that it remained, in a way, almost confidential for fear of damaging the plates!
Myrtle Florence Broome’s house during her work at Abydos
The time spent in Abydos was undoubtedly one of the happiest periods of Myrtle’s life. In the small, low-rise house she lived in—and which we can see in one of her paintings—she had: “a housekeeper whom she nicknamed Nannie and a villager, called Sadiq, who served as her advisor, bodyguard, and personal assistant. Life was frugal, however, and Myrtle took great care not to exceed their allotted budget.”
Accompanied by Sadiq, Amice, and Myrtle, they took several short trips in Amice’s car to the Red Sea, Kharga, and Dakhla. Myrtle’s paintings vividly depict the desert’s colours, with shades of pink, brown, and subtle hints of golden beige.
Amice Calverley on a painting by Myrtle Florence Broome, created during one of their many “expeditions” to Egypt (c) Bushey Museum and Art Gallery; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
We feel that she loved these landscapes infinitely, that she was imbued with their colours and their light. One of her paintings is particularly touching and gives a beautiful idea of what their escapades must have been like: we see Amice sitting on a mat, near her car, taking notes in the middle of the desert! We must put ourselves in context: these two women were adventurers and pioneers!
Myrtle Florence Broome, “The Pharaoh Seti I worshipping the god Osiris from the Temple of Seti I at Abydos”
Their joint mission to Abydos ended due to World War II, but they remained close until Amice’s death in April 1959.
During these seasons away from home, Myrtle wrote many letters to her family; they constitute a beautiful testimony to her life, her perspective on things, and her way of sharing them. Some of her correspondence has been deposited at the Griffith Institute in Oxford.
Myrtle Florence Broome and her dogs at Abydos
From Egypt, she brought back not only paintings, but also photographs from which one can only realise that, in addition to her immense talents and her incredible intelligence, she was also a charming woman. Her very successful self-portrait confirms this, showing us a regular face with a certain nobility in its bearing and an expressive, frank gaze. Of her love life, we know little except for a barely sketched romance with a policeman, which she immediately renounced, convinced that “in any case, it could not have worked.”
Upon her return to England in 1937, she apparently devoted herself entirely to her parents, and especially to her ailing father…
Myrtle “passed away” on January 27, 1978… And suppose you still want to know more about this artist. In that case, you can consult her archives on the Griffith Institute website or refer to the book, published in November 2020 by AUC Press: “An Artist in Abydos: The Life and Letters of Myrtle Broome” by Lee Young, with a preface by Peter Lacovara.
Sources : M.L. Bierbrier, editor, “Who Was Who in Egyptology”, third revised edition, London, 1995. Calverley, Amice Mary (1896-1959)” “Obituary notice: Myrtle Florence Broome (1887-1978)”, by John Ruffle “The Temple of King Sethos I at Abydos copied by Amice M. Calverley, with the Assistance of Myrtle F. Broome and edited by Alan H. Gardiner”, London: The Egypt Exploration Society; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1933-58, Vols. 1-4 “The Life of Margaret Alice Murray: A Woman’s Work in Archaeology”, Kathleen L. Sheppard “Amice Calverley”, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 45 (1959),85-87, Janet Leveson-Gower
What fascinates me about Jung is his commitment to self-exploration and his use of analysis to discover his Self through the interpretation of dreams. He dedicated his life to this pursuit with genuine honesty and sincerity. Today, I present another section of The Red Book, Liber Novus, by Carl Jung, from Sonu Shamdasani’s Reader’s Edition.🙏
The following month, on a train journey to Schaffhausen, Jung experienced a waking vision of Europe being devastated by a catastrophic flood, which was repeated two weeks later, on the same journey. Commenting on this experience in 1925, he remarked: “I could be taken as Switzerland fenced in by mountains and the submergence of the world could be the debris of my former relationships.” This led him to the following diagnosis of his condition: “I thought to myself, ‘If this means anything, it means that I am hopelessly off.’ ” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, pp. 47-48). After this experience, Jung feared that he would go mad. (Barbara Hannah recalls that “Jung used to say in later years that his tormenting doubts as to his own sanity should have been allayed by the amount of success he was having at the same time in the outer world, especially in America” [C. G. Jung: His Life and Work. A Biographical Memoir/ New York: Perigree, 1976/, p. 109]. ) He recalled that he first thought that the images of the vision indicated a revolution, but as he could not imagine this, he concluded that he was “menaced with a psychosis.” (Memories, p. 200). After this, he had a similar vision:
In the following winter, I was standing at the window one night and looked North. I saw a blood-red glow, like the flicker of the sea seen from afar, stretched from East to West across the northern horizon. And at that time, someone asked me what I thought about global events in the near future. I said that I had no thoughts, but saw blood, rivers of blood (Draft, p. 8).
In the year directly preceding the outbreak of war, apocalyptic imagery was widespread in European arts and literature. For example, in 1912, Wassily Kandinsky wrote of a coming universal catastrophe. From 1912 to 1914. Ludwig Meidner painted a series of works known as the Apocalyptic Landscapes, featuring scenes of destroyed cities, corpses, and turmoil (Gerda Bauer and Ines Wagemann, Ludwig Meidner: Zeichner, Maler, Literat 1884-1966 / Stuttgart: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1991). Prophecy was in the air! In 1899, the renowned American medium Leonora Piper predicted that in the coming century, a terrible war would erupt in various parts of the world, purging the world and revealing the truths of spiritualism. In 1918, Arthur Conan Doyle, the spiritualist and author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, viewed this as prophetic (A. C. Doyle, The New Revelation and the Vital Message / London: Psychic Press, 1918, p. 9).
In Jung’s account of the fantasy on the train in Liber Novus, the inner voice said that what the fantasy depicted would become completely real. Initially, he interpreted this subjectively and prospectively, that is, as depicting the imminent destruction of his world. His reaction to this experience was to undertake a psychological self-investigation. In this epoch, self-experimentation was used in medicine and psychology. Introspection had been one of the main tools of psychological research.
Jung came to realise that Transformations and Symbols of the Libido “could be taken as myself and that an analysis of it leads inevitably into an analysis of my own unconscious processes” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 28). He had projected his material onto that of Miss Frank Miller, whom he had never met. Up to this point, Jung had been an active thinker and had been averse to fantasy: “as a form of thinking I held it to be altogether impure, a sort of incestuous intercorse, thoroughly immoral from an intellectual viewpoint” (Ibid.). He now turned to analyse his fantasies, carefully noting everything. He had to overcome considerable resistance in doing this: “Permitting fantasy in myself had the same effect as would be produced on a man if he came into his workshop and found all the tools flying about doing things independently of his will” (Ibid.). In studying his fantasies, Jung realised that he was examining the myth-creating function of the mind (MP, p. 23).
Jung picked up the brown notebook, which he had set aside in 1902, and began writing in it (The subsequent notebooks are black, hence Jung referred to them as the Black Books). He noted his inner states in metaphors, such as being in a desert with an unbearably hot sun (that is, consciousness). In the 1925 seminar, he recalled that it occurred to him that he could write down his reflections in a sequence. He was “writing autobiographical material, but not as an autobiography” (Introduction to Jungian Psychology, p. 48). From the time of the Platonic dialogues onward, the dialogical CE, St. Augustine wrote his Soliloquies, which presented an extended dialogue between himself and “Reason,” who instructed him. They commenced with the following lines:
When I had been pondering many different things to myself for a long time, and had for many days been seeking my own Self and what my own good was, and what evil was to be avoided, there suddenly spoke to me – what was it? I myself or someone else, inside or outside me? (This is the very thing I would love to know but don’t.) [St. Augustine, Soliloquies and Immorality of the Soul, ed. and tr. Gerald Watson (Warminster: Aris & Phillips, 1990), p. 23. Watson notes that Augustine “had been through a period of intense strain, close to nervous breakdown, and the Soliloquies are a form of therapy, an effort to cure himself by talking, or rather writing” /p. v/).]
While Jung was writing in Black Book 2:
I said to myself, “What is this I’m doing? This certainly is not science. What is it?” Then a voice said to me, “That is art!” This made the strangest sort of impression upon me, because it was not in any sense my impression that what I was writing was art. Then I came to this: “Perhaps my unconscious is forming a personality that is not I, but which is insisting on coming through to expression.” I don’t know why exactly, but I knew to a certainty that the voice that had said my writing was art had come from a woman … Well, I said very emphatically to this voice that what I was doing was not art, and I felt a great resistance grow up in me. No voice came through, however, and I kept on writing. This time, I caught her and said, “No, it is not”, and I felt as though an argument would ensue. {Ibid., p. 42. In Jung’s account, it appears that his dialogue took place in the autumn of 1913, although this is not certain, as the dialogue itself does not occur in the Black Book, and no other manuscript has yet come to light. If this dating is followed, and in the absence of the other material, it would appear that the material of the voice is referring to the November entries in Black Book 2, and not the subsequent text of Liber Novus or the paintings.}
To be continued!💖
The image on top: Pang Torsuwan -WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING!
One hundred fifty years ago, in Küsnacht, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, a boy was born on this very day. As a child, he was extraordinary and later became an exceptional man who uncovered the hidden psyche in humans, guiding us toward a better understanding of ourselves and our shadow sides.
I’m already on my way from one trip to another, but as you might guess, I couldn’t miss this day to celebrate the birthday of such an excellent teacher. I have written extensively about him and his insights. Therefore, I will share a few quotes from his wisdom. May we learn more from him and truly embrace his knowledge in our hearts.
This will be a brief post, possibly the last for three weeks, as I will be busy with my two Devil Kids (my grandchildren) on a trip. My absence may be noticeable. Nonetheless, I wish to share this poem by Pablo Neruda, not only with you but also with all freedom fighters and advocates for liberty worldwide, especially those in the forlorn nation of Iran.
Enjoy your time in between and make the most of it! 🤗🤙
Between dying and not dying I chose the guitar. and in this challenging profession My heart has no rest, because where they least expect me I will arrive with my luggage. To harvest the first wine In the autumn huts.
I will come in if they close the door, And if they accept me, I’ll leave, I am not one of the seafarers. Those are lost in the frosts: I am comfortable like the wind, I, with the most yellowed leaves with the funds that have fallen from the eyes of the statues And if I rest somewhere It will be in the heart of the fire. In everything that vibrates and creaks and then travels without a destination.
In the passage of the verses You will have found your name, I’m very sorry, It wasn’t about anything else But for much more, Why are you or aren’t you And this is happening all over the world, No one understands everything, And when the amounts are added up We were all fake-rich: Now we are newly poor.
It’s been around two weeks since my brother’s anniversary, and I am late this year. Was it the recent incidents in the Middle East, or exhaustion from continuously writing about death? I’m not sure. Yet, it wasn’t the forgetfulness; I still feel his presence, and it gives me strength.
I titled this post ‘Changing the Level…’ because it reflects Al’s interpretation of death. I also agree with him that since no Persephone has returned from Hades to describe it, we have the free will to accept our assumptions about the afterlife as we imagine them.
Let’s stop discussing death and speculating about the afterlife. This time, I want to share with you a story about him and his relationship with our father, especially his actual name, which he truly disliked. It’s pretty common for fathers and sons with similar genetic material to struggle to get along.
As I mentioned in my article a few weeks ago, our father was a devout Muslim with a strong emphasis on the mystical aspects of the faith. He loved the Arabic language, which he always regarded as one of the most perfect languages in the world. As a result, he gave us Arabic names. I was fortunate to have a name associated with an enchanting fairy tale. Unfortunately, Al’s name, inherited from our grandfather, is a genuine Arabic name: Abulhasan! (I also refer to a promise I made to a respected friend of mine, Resa.)
Things deteriorated further when he tried to abbreviate our names for calling. He knew that shortening Abulhassan to Abul sounded awful, so he picked two sounds he thought suited us: ‘Ala’ for me and ‘Aali’ for Al, both meaning “the best of all.” I was still lucky in this instance, but ‘Aali’ is technically an adjective meaning excellent—more appropriate as a source or descriptor than a proper name. This mistake led to trouble for Al; at school, he was fooled, teased, and bullied.
He carried this burdensome heritage throughout his life. After we escaped to the West, he became quite desperate about how friends called him. Most called him Ali, a plain, simple Arabic name, but close and smart friends called him McAllister, after the English footballer from Liverpool, his ever-beloved team. As a result, his name was shortened to McAll, then to All, or Al! I do believe choosing names is a crucial decision for parents, and honestly, as Persians, we were not particularly enthusiastic about Arabic names.
In any case, he could have had greater success in life, especially as an author, if circumstances had been different, and I understand this well. We were neither of us fortunate! Still, he endured for 57 years, and I, with my worn-out body and suffering soul, seek to join him.
I dedicate this song to you, Al, because you introduced me to Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost; thank you!
The naos of Kasa in the Turin Egyptian Museum is renowned for its elegance and uniqueness. It acts as a portable chapel for Anukis and the Elephantine triad gods—Khnum and Satis—who govern the Nile flood. The inscription: “Adoring Anukis, lady of Sehel, kissing the ground for Satis, lady of Elephantine. May she grant you life, strength, ability, favour, love, and a beautiful tomb after old age, along with a burial in the district of the chosen in the great West of Thebes—the district of the just—for the servant on the Seat of Truth, Kasa, justified.
A votive naos is a small, portable shrine made of wood or stone in ancient Egyptian religion, housing statues of gods. These miniature temples were placed at sacred sites, such as temples and tombs, for votive offerings—objects dedicated to gods as prayers or expressions of gratitude.
Votive naos of Kasa – painted wood – 19th dynasty – 1292 – 1190 BC BC – from Deir el-Medineh Egyptian Museum of Turin – Cat. 2446 (by acquisition from the Drovetti Collection in 1822) – museum photo
Dating from the 19th Dynasty (1292 – 1190 BC) and coming from Deir el-Medineh, the charming “naos of Kasa” is 33.5 cm high, 18 cm wide and 33 cm deep. Made of stuccoed and painted wood, its façade takes the form of a temple with a portico with two columns. Inscribed with hieroglyphs, their “hathoric” capital offers a charming face of the goddess with large eyes surrounded by kohol and an imposing black wig. On her head is an abacus serving partly as a support for a coved cornice decorated with a series of vertical blue-green, blue-red bands. The “body” of the chapel is rectangular in shape: its lower part rests on a sledge while the upper part also takes the form of a coved cornice with painted bands.
The front reveals a charming double door painted in red ochre with black frames. The door is closed by two round black knobs located in the upper third. Above each knob is a “frame” containing four columns of hieroglyphs. The interior consists of two compartments of unequal height.
Votive naos of Kasa – painted wood – 19th dynasty – 1292 – 1190 BC BC – from Deir el-Medineh Egyptian Museum of Turin – Cat. 2446 (by acquisition from the Drovetti Collection in 1822) – museum photo
Both sides and the back of the chapel are covered with scenes painted in several registers. The majority of them are dedicated to the “Triad of the First Cataract,” or “Elephantine Triad,” associating the god Khnum with the goddesses Satis and Anuket (Anoukis). The latter is generally presented as “the daughter of the divine couple” or “the wife of the god.” In “Ancient Egypt and its Gods”, Jean-Pierre Corteggiani specifies that one of her titles is: “Mistress of To-Seti, that is to say of Nubia; she is sometimes called the Nubian, although there is no proof that she is really from this region, one of her functions is to guard the southern border of Egypt”… And he adds “If it is up to Satis, assimilated to Sothis, to make the beneficial flow rise, it falls to Anoukis the equally essential task of making it decrease and thus to allow, after the flood recedes, seeds to germinate and vegetation to grow on the land freed by the waters”.
Anouket’s primary attribute, which makes her immediately identifiable, is her tall and generous headdress made of ostrich feathers… As for Satis, she wears the white crown adorned with two antelope or gazelle horns…
Votive naos of Kasa – painted wood – 19th dynasty – 1292 – 1190 BC BC – from Deir el-Medineh Egyptian Museum of Turin – Cat. 2446 (by acquisition from the Drovetti Collection in 1822) – museum photo
On this chapel is inscribed this powerful prayer: “Worship Anouket, mistress of Sehel, kiss the earth of Satis, mistress of Elephantine. May she grant life, strength, skill, favour, love, and a beautiful burial after old age and burial in the district of the praised in the great West of Thebes, the district of the righteous, to the servant of the Place of Truth, Kasa, justified.”
The back of the naos reveals Kasa, kneeling, arms raised in worship, a prevalent iconography in Deir el-Medineh… “The texts inscribed on this small chapel also cite the name of the god Amun, ‘the beloved god who listens to prayers, who helps the orphan, who saves from shipwreck'” specifies Marcella Trapani, in the “Catalogue of the Museo Egizio”. And she adds: “In all likelihood, this naos was originally placed in Kasa’s house”…
Votive naos of Kasa – painted wood – 19th dynasty – 1292 – 1190 BC BC – from Deir el-Medineh Egyptian Museum of Turin – Cat. 2446 (by acquisition from the Drovetti Collection in 1822) – museum photo
The question, of course, arises as to what it contained. In the study she devotes to it in BIFAO 72, Dominique Valbelle offers this analysis: “The original contents of this naos are also mysterious. The interior, as we have seen, is divided into two unequal compartments by a small shelf. There is therefore very little space left above to house a statuette or some other ‘ex voto’…”
Was Kasa originally from the First Cataract region? In any case, he was a member of the royal institution of “Set Maât her imenty Ouaset” (“the Place of Truth to the west of Thebes”, present-day Deir el-Medineh). Founded at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty under the reign of Thutmose I, this “corporation” brought together architects, scribes, painters, sculptors, quarrymen, etc., responsible for digging and decorating the eternal dwellings of the Valley of the Kings, the Valley of the Queens, and even more distant necropolises. They lived as a family in this “fortified” village, composed of stone houses with palm-leaf roofs, places of worship, and a hillside necropolis. “The fact that we often refer to them as ‘workers’ sometimes tends to give credence to the misconception that the community of the village of Deir el-Medineh was at the lowest level of Egyptian society. In fact, these men were artisans, most of them highly skilled and distinguished for their expertise,” explains Pierre Grandet in “The Artists of Pharaoh, Deir el-Medineh and the Valley of the Kings”…
Votive naos of Kasa – painted wood – 19th dynasty – 1292 – 1190 BC BC – from Deir el-Medineh Egyptian Museum of Turin – Cat. 2446 (by acquisition from the Drovetti Collection in 1822) – museum photo
From its creation to its decline at the end of the Ramesside period, this “microcosm” left a wealth of evidence of considerable importance… It is expressed at various levels: daily life, society, architecture, art, writing, or even in the “intimacy” of the “repertoire” of their eternal homes and in the funerary trousseaux rich in lessons that they contained…
This naos, which is an exceptional piece, arrived at the Egyptian Museum in Turin in 1822, through the acquisition of the Drovetti Collection: it was registered under the inventory number Cat. 2446. In the work cited above, Marcella Trapani indicates that it came from tomb no. 10 of Deir el-Medineh, which “Porter & Moss” actually attributes to “Penbuy and Kasa” and dates from the reign of Ramses II…
Votive naos of Kasa https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/it-IT/material/Cat_2446/?description=Naos+votivo+di+Kasa&inventoryNumber=&title=&cgt=&yearFrom=&yearTo=&materials=&provenance=&acquisition=&epoch=&dynasty=&pharaoh= Bertha Porter, Rosalind L. B. Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, And Paintings – I. The Theban Necropolis Part 1. Private Tombs, Second edition revised and augmented – Griffith Institute Ashmolean Museum Oxford, 1960, pp.19-21 http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/topbib/pdf/pm1-1.pdf Ernest Scamuzzi, Egyptian art at the Turin Museum, Hachette, 1966 Dominique Valbelle, The Naos of Kasa at the Turin Museum, Bulletin of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology 72, 1972, pp. 179-194 The Egyptian Museum, Turin, Federico Garolla Editore, 1988 Isabelle Franco, Dictionary of Egyptian Mythology, Pygmalion, 1999 Guillemette Andreu, The Pharaoh’s Artists, Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings, exhibition catalogue, Turnhout, RMN, Brepols, 2002 Guillemette Andreu, Florence Gombert, Deir el-Medina: The Pharaoh’s Craftsmen, RMN, Hazan, 2002 Eleni Vassilika, Art Treasures from the Egyptian Museum, Allemandi & Co, 2006 Jean-Pierre Corteggiani, Ancient Egypt and its Gods, Fayard, 2007 Egyptian Museum Guide, Franco Cosimo Panini Editions, 2015 Hanane Gaber, Laure Bazin Rizzo, Frédéric Servajean, At work we know the artisan… of Pharaoh! – A century of French research in Deir el-Medina (1917-2017), 2018, Silvana Editoriale Guillemette Andreu, Dominique Valbelle, Guide to Deir el-Medina. A village of artists, Cairo, French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, IFAO Cairo, 2022
“Living with these things all the time, I can see how there are certain universal patterns for these manifestations. A shaman among the Navajo or in the Congo will say things that sound remarkably similar to those of Nicholas Cusanus, Thomas Aquinas, or C. G. Jung, leading one to realise that these ranges of experiences are common to the human race. There are some people who close themselves away from them, some people who open themselves to them …” -Joseph Campbell “Living Myths: A Conversation with Joseph Campbell,” Parabola, Volume I, Issue 2, Spring 1976, p. 70
In this tumultuous world, where corrupt leaders continue to pursue their plans for the “New World Order,” the most prudent approach is to allow our strained minds to be guided by the wisdom of eminent thinkers and to find solace in uniting our bewildered souls.
Surreal Abstract Painting (“Dadaism in nature” or “Psychedelic Surrealism”. )
My anger has subsided somewhat since last week, given how my words might have been taken. Nevertheless, I’m completely drained and fed up! Especially after that so-called ceasefire, which is like leaving an injured monster in a room with inocent people and locking the door!
These days, death has become the norm. We can see that the lives (of others, of course!) are not so important, but as we all know, the grim reaper is lurking, waiting for us all, regardless of our wealth or status, around the world. So, it’s essential to remember this.
That’s why I turn to myth, as an addendum to my recent post, and death!
Carl Gustav Jung around 1960 in his house in Zurich. (Photo RUE DES ARCHIVES)
Here are some words by Carl Jung:
For example, I do not know for what reason the universe has come into being, and I shall never know. Therefore, I must drop this question as a scientific or intellectual problem. But if an idea about it is offered to me—in dreams or in mythic traditions—I ought to take note of it. …They (The foreknowledge) may be in accord with reality, and then again they may not. I have, however, learned that the views I have been able to form based on such hints from the unconscious have been most rewarding. Naturally, I am not going to write a book of revelations about them, but I will acknowledge that I have a “myth” that encourages me to look deeper into this whole realm. “Myths are the earliest form of science.” When I speak of things after death, I am speaking out of inner prompting and can go no farther than to tell you dreams and myths related to this subject.Naturally, one can contend from the start that myths and dreams concerning the continuity of life after death are merely compensating fantasies inherent in our natures—all life desires eternity. The only argument I can adduce in answer to this is the myth itself.
lampmagician 
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