The fascination with this magic land will never end as we stunningly observe the greatness of these backdrops, scenes, and facades.

Although many issues remain for us obscure and unsolved puzzles, there are at least places to witness these unique arts and relish them.

Here we read a supreme Marie Grillot‘s report on the arrival of the Golden Pharaoh in Paris, France. 

The image on top: Ramses-the-great, Luxor Tempel, via The Economic Times News

The exhibition “Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs” has arrived in France.

via égyptophile

After Houston and San Francisco, the “Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs” exhibition arrived in France. It was inaugurated on Thursday, April 6, at La Villette, in the presence of Ahmed Issa, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities; Mostafa Waziri, Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities; by Alaa Youssef, Ambassador of Egypt to France and Zahi >the Opportu< Hawass, internationally renowned Egyptologist. Dominique Farout, curator of the exhibition and Bénédicte Lhoyer, scientific advisor, presented this exceptional event passionately…

In fact, 180 artefacts lent by Egypt through its Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities are exhibited in a museography, as aesthetic as it is neat, produced by the World Heritage Exhibition. “Sumptuous decorations surround the artefacts against a backdrop of a personalized musical score. They are accompanied by unique multimedia presentations of the Battle of Kadesh and a virtual mummification”, specifies its general manager John Norman.

From a colossal 2.30 m head of Ramses II (CG 643) from Memphis to the golden amulet of the “Two Mistresses” (JE 85815), which was sewn to the shroud of Psusennes I, from the jewels of the princesses of Dahshur dating from the XIIth dynasty to the ornaments of the Tanite pharaohs of the XXIth dynasty; from the coffin of Sennedjem (JE 27303), craftsman of the Place de Vérité to that of Ramses II (CG 61020); from an ostracon of Ramses IV (CG 25124) to a 108-gram gold earring (CG 52323) found in Abydos, on a mummy that had turned to dust…

So many marvels are revealed throughout a didactic journey, rich in every sense of the term… and where Ramses II, although he is not the one and only centre of interest, occupies a prominent place. …

In the hall stands a reconstruction of his rock temple of Abu Simbel (Lower Nubia). With unique architecture, its façade stands out with four colossi 20 m high: two represent him as king, the other two as his divine nature: Sun of the Princes and Prince of the Two Lands…

Everything celebrates the greatness of this sovereign, the third Pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty who reigned over the Double Country for 66 years… A prolific builder, a fine military and political strategist, and an experienced diplomat, he also could ally himself – or rather impose himself – to the priests of Amun. He contributes to his own “legend” by illustrating the glorious facts of his reign on the walls of his temples…

The upper part of a statue of Ramesses Il – Gray granite – New Kingdom – 19th Dynasty
reign of Ramses II – 1290-1224 BC. AD – from Tanis – Egyptian Museum in Cairo – CG 616

This Pharaoh also venerates his father, Séthy I, and his mother, Queen Touy, presented here by her seated statue in black granite (JE 37084). He will have many concubines and eleven wives… “The most beautiful of all” will be Nefertari, for whom he will build a temple very close to his in Abu Simbel, as well as a luxurious residence of eternity in the Valley of the Queens (QV 66 ), where the most talented artists will make the perfection of its beauty eternal…

He will have a hundred children… His successor will be his thirteenth son, Merenptah, presented by a magnificent bust (JE 31414 – CG 607) discovered in 1896 in his temple in western Thebes by William Matthew Flinders Petrie.

The upper part of a statue of Merenptah broken at the waist – grey granite painted in red, yellow and blue
19th dynasty – the reign of Merenptah – 1237 – 1226 BC
from the second court of his million-year-old temple of West Thebes
discovered by William Matthew Flinders Petrie in 1896 – Cairo Museum – JE 31414 – CG 607

Ramses II died at almost 90; he was buried in his “dwelling of eternity” dug in the main wadi of the Valley of the Kings. KV 7, like many tombs in this necropolis, will be looted… Around 1080 BC. BC, the high priests of Amun will shelter the royal mummies. His will first be transferred to the tomb of his father, Séthy I (KV 17).

Four years later, it will be moved, then deposited, with about forty royal remains and their funerary material, in the tomb of Princess Inhâpi. Located south of Deir el-Bahari, this “Cachette des mummies Royales” (DB 320) was discovered in 1871 by the Gournawis, the Abd el-Rassoul brothers, then in 1881 by the Antiquities Department then headed by the Frenchman Gaston Maspero… Ramses II rested in a cedar wood coffin (JE 26214 – CG 61020), which was not originally his…

Forty-seven years ago, for the exhibition “Ramses the Great”, organized from May 15 to October 15, 1976, at the Grand Palais by Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Egypt had agreed to lend the lid of this coffin. At the same time, on September 26, 1976, the royal mummy resting in the anthropoid tank of this same coffin, placed in a “‘sarcophagus’ of special plexiglass, impervious to ultraviolet rays, and wedged in sterilized polystyrene cushions”, arrived in France. , welcomed like a head of state… She stayed there until May 10, 1977, to be treated by the most outstanding specialists of the time. As a token of the friendship and respect binding our two countries, the Egyptian Government has granted exceptional authorization for the lid of the coffin and its tank to return to Paris for this exhibition… It is in a magnificent space, reproducing a room of the tomb of Séthy I (where let us recall, the mummy had transited), that this set is very respectfully displayed.

As for the tomb of this great Pharaoh, it was severely damaged by the seeping waters. The 25 years of excavations carried out by the French mission of Christian Leblanc have delivered important information, and among them, the certainty that his sarcophagus was made of alabaster like that of Seti I.

The “Ramesside dynasty” lasted until Ramses XI, whose reign ended in total anarchy, which gave rise to the “Third Intermediate Period”. Two “entities” henceforth govern the Double Country: the High Priests of Amun, in the South, in Thebes, whereas, in the Delta, in Tanis, the “tanite” kings settle. This line is founded by Smendès, to whom Amenemnisout will briefly succeed, then Psusennes I, who will reign for 47 years. He will then establish the royal necropolis within the temple’s precincts of Amun. Pierre Montet excavated this site in 1929 and, ten years later, discovered several royal tombs: Osorkon, Psousennes I and II, Amenemopé, Sheshonq, etc.

The face of Pharaoh Amenemopé – gold leaf – surviving upper part of his gilded wooden coffin
21st dynasty – from the Royal Necropolis of Tanis – NRT III – Tomb of Amenemopé
discovered by Pierre Montet, April 16, 1940 – Egyptian Museum of Cairo – JE 86059

The “treasures of Tanis” are very widely present at this exhibition: sarcophagi, golden masks, jewels, and sacred and profane dishes… They testify to the richness of the funerary art of this “Thebes of the North”… We will not miss not to be surprised that such discoveries did not have such an important impact as that granted, in 1922, to Tutankhamun… But they took place during the Second World War, and the context was not the most conducive to arousing the ‘interest…

By its stone, gold and silver artefacts, by the history with which they are steeped (from the Middle Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period), by its reconstructions, by “the immersive virtual reality experience in the temples of ‘Abou Simbel and the tomb of Queen Nefertari”, through the “all public” workshops it offers, this exhibition is not to be missed under any circumstances!

Marie Grillot

The filmed report made during this visit by Pascal Pelletier and Daniel Lefebvre:

This summer will be a full dating one with lots of birthdays and anniversaries invitations, and a big project for having a new kitchen (the old one is already 25 years old!) I am afraid!!😜 Also no time for any long travel. I must just remember that.😅

So! Let’s Torniamo ai Camarades! As I wrote in the first “Look,” the weather had nothing left to enjoy. Therefore, we got a car and kept travelling all over the island. Regina, my adorable wife, has already picked the places that could be worth seeing.

For example, the Temple of Concordia in the Valle dei Templi in Agrigento on the south coast of Sicily, and the old Greek structures.

And to reach the beautiful sights at the heights.

We drove about five hundred Km, I suppose, and of course, I took the responsibility of driving the car on such curving streets.
We rented the car for three days; on the first two days, we drove around the northern and some parts in the south, and on the last day, we went towards Etna.

However, we didn’t get there! Not because of too long distance drive, it was not allowed to get there by own car. We had to reserve places to be brought up there. Therefore, we took a shorter mountain, about 1400 metres high, and drove up and down to enjoy a bit of winter vacation 😁and to the village nearby to buy the famous Pistachio!

As I must hurry to get to a retirement anniversary of a Spanish amigo to say welcome to the club, I finish here this one. May your time be full of peace and happiness. I look for sharing another part in the next, someday. 🙏💖🌹😎

With this part, we reach the end of Dr Jung’s short description of his topic; the Collective Unconscious. (Here are again the latter parts: P1, P2, P3, P4.)

In this, he brings with an example, a very interesting paradigm in the form of an old paranoiac man who sees more than what people might see. In my opinion, Dr Jung tries to tell us that if we look deeper into our Weltanschauung, we can see more, or in other words, we will remember what we’ve forgotten!

In any case, our “personal” bygone life patterns and previous history immensely influence our current lives. If we remember these, we might solve the puzzle of our existence. Here we read this gripping example by Master Jung:

4- An Example

I choose as an example a practical case that, although already published, I will use again because its brevity makes it particularly suitable for illustration. Furthermore, I can add a few remarks that were omitted in the earlier publication (Symbol of Change, CW 5, §§ 149 ff. and § 223, and The Structure of the Soul, CW8, § 317.).

About 1906, I encountered a curious phantasy of a paranoiac who had been incarcerated for many years. The patient had suffered from incurable schizophrenia since his youth. He had attended elementary schools and worked as a clerk in an office. He was endowed with no special gifts, and I myself knew nothing of mythology or archaeology at the time; so the situation was in no way suspicious. One day I found him standing by the window, bobbing his head and squinting at the sun. He asked me to do the same and promised I would see something very interesting. When I asked him what he saw, he was surprised that I couldn’t see myself and said, ‘You see the sun penis – if I move my head from side to side, it moves too, and that’s the origin of the wind.’ Of course, I didn’t quite grasp the strange idea, but I wrote it down in a note. About four years later, during my mythological studies, I discovered a book by Albrecht Dieterich, the well-known philologist, which shed light on that fantasy. This work, published in 1910, deals with a Greek papyrus in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Dieterich’d believed to have discovered a Mithraic liturgy in part of the text. It comes from the Alexandrian mystic school and agrees in meaning with the ‘Corpus Hermeticum’. In Dieterich’s text, we read the following instructions:

Breathe of the rays, drawing in three times as strong as you can, and you will see yourself lifted up and striding on high so that you think you are in the midst of the air region… the way of the visible Gods will appear through the sun, the God my father; similarly will be visible also the so-called tube, the origin of the ministering wind. For you will see from the disc of the sun like a tube hanging down: in the regions to the west infinitely as an east wind; if the destiny to the regions of the east has the other, you will similarly see the rotation (movement) of the vision to the regions of that one. << Dieterich Eine Mithrasliturgie, 1910, p.6f.>> (As Jung found out later, the 1910 edition is actually the second edition. The book appeared in 1903. The patient had been hospitalized a few years before 1903.)

The text shows the author’s intention to enable the reader himself to experience the version that the author had or at least believes in. The reader is to be introduced to the author’s inner experience or, more likely, to one of those mystical communities that exist to which Philo Ludaeus (or Judaeus) bears witness as a contemporary. Because the fire and sun god invoked here is a figure for which historical parallels can be demonstrated, for example, in close connection with the figure of Christ in Revelation. It is, therefore, a collective conception, as are the ritual acts described, such as imitating animal sounds and so on. This version is thus embedded in a religious context of a clearly ecstatic nature and describes a kind of initiation into the mystical experience of the deity.

Our patient was about ten years older than me. He was megalomaniacal, namely, God and Christ in one. His attitude towards me was benevolent – he liked me as the only person who showed any interest in his fanciful ideas. His delusions were predominantly religious in nature, and when he asked me to squint at the sun like him and rock my head from side to side, he seemed intent on letting me share in his vision. He played the role of the mystical sage, and I was his student. He was even the sun god himself, creating the wind by bobbing his head.

The ritual transformation into divinity is attested by Apuleius in the Isis mysteries in the form of a solar apotheosis. The meaning of the ministering wind is, in all likelihood, that of the procreative spirit (pneuma is wind) that emanates from the sun god into the soul and fertilizes it. The combination of sun and wind occurs frequently in ancient symbolism.

It is now necessary to prove that the two individual cases are not just coincidental coincidences. We must therefore show that the notion of a wind tube associated with God or the sun has a collective existence independent of either of these statements or, to put it another way, that it occurs at other times and places as well. Certain medieval paintings depict the Annunciation with a tubular device reaching from the throne of God to the womb of Mary. Either the dove or the Christ child descends into it. The dove signifies the pollinator, the holy spirit wind.

It is now entirely out of the question that the patient could have had any knowledge of a papyrus published four years later, and it is highly unlikely that his vision would have anything to do with the strange medieval depiction of the Annunciation, even if by some inconceivable accident he ever saw a reproduction of such a painting. The patient had been declared insane in his early twenties. He had never travelled. Such a picture does not hang in any public art gallery in his hometown of Zurich.

I mention this case not to prove the vision of an archetype but to show you the procedure of investigation in the simplest possible form. If we only had such cases, our surveys would be relatively easy, but presenting evidence is actually more complicated. First of all, certain symbols must be isolated clearly enough to be recognizable as all typical phenomena and not just as accidental matter. This is done by examining a set of dreams, say a few hundred, for typical characters and observing their development within the series. With this method, it is possible to detect certain continuities and deviations in one and the same figure. You can choose any character whose behaviour in the dream or dreams gives the impression of being an archetype. If the material at one’s disposal is well observed and plentiful enough, interesting facts about the change that the type has undergone can be ascertained. Not only the type itself but also its variants can be clarified by evidence from comparable mythological material. I described this method of investigation in a paper published in 1935 (Fundamentals for Practical Psychotherapy, CW 16; cf. also Psychology and Alchemy, Part 2, CW 12) and also presented the necessary case material.

Now at the end, I hope I have conveyed this important and essential topic to you with these five sections. I believe that it will help us to find out more about ourselves. I appreciate your interest.🙏💖

To simplify the issue, here is a worth-watching video.😊

The painting at the top by Ciro Marchetti

Source:

On “The concept” of the collective unconscious (1936): Lecture 1936 in the Abernethian Society at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, under the title “The Concept of the Collective Unconscious < published in the journal of that hospital, XLIV, London 1936/37, p .46-49 and 64-66. The first edition of the German translation in Collected Works (CW), Volume 9/1, pp. 55-66.

I don’t know about you, but I have spent most of my life thinking about our existence on this planet, the differences between us, humans and nature. What and who drives us, and to where? I wonder if we will ever know. When I read the story of our archaeological, religious, or mythological history, someone in my head tells me we are totally on the wrong path and forgetting something significant! This puzzle is undoubtedly not easy to solve. We might try to find the goal with the help of our dreams and imagination, even from our childhood.

Here, Dr Jung, with the topic: Archetype, nods us a wink toward thinking thereabout:

My thesis, then, is as follows: In addition to our immediate consciousness, which is of a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empirical psyche (even if we tack on the personal unconscious as an appendix), there exists a second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is identical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not develop individually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to specific psychic contents. ~Carl Jung, CW 9i, Para 90. (With thanks to Lewis Lafontaine)

So! We have a heritage from our past (comprised of “pre-existence; Archetype), which gives definite form to certain psychic contents; also, the key is the Archetype. Let’s continue reading Dr Jung’s explanation.

3. The Proof Method

We must now turn to the question of how to prove the existence of archetypes. Since archetypes are meant to produce certain mental forms, we must explain where and how to get hold of the material that illustrates those forms. The primary source lies in dreams, which have the advantage of being independent, spontaneous productions of the unconscious psyche and are, therefore, purely natural products unaffected by any conscious intention. By questioning the individual, one can ascertain what motives appear in the dreams, thanks to him. Of course, among those unknown to him, we must exclude all motifs that may be known to him, such as – to return to the Leonardo case – the vulture symbol. We are not sure whether Leonardo obtained this symbol from Horapollo. However, this would have been easily conceivable even for an educated man of his time since the artist was characterised by considerable humanistic knowledge, especially at that time. Therefore, although the bird motif is an archetype par excellence, its occurrence in Leonardo’s imagination would prove nothing, so we have to look for motives that simply could not be known to the dreamer and yet functionally behave in his dream as we know from the functioning of the archetypes from historical sources.

Another source of the necessary material is the so-called “active imagination.” By this, I mean the series of fantasies that deliberate concentration brings into being. I have found that the intensity and frequency of dreams are increased by the presence of intangible and unconscious fantasies, and that when these fantasies are brought into consciousness, the dreams change their character, becoming weaker and less frequent. From this, I have concluded that dreams often contain fantasies which tend toward consciousness. Dream sources are often repressed instincts that have a natural tendency to influence the conscious mind. In cases of this kind, we ask the patient to look at each and every fragment of his fantasy that seems important to him in terms of its so-called context, that is, the related associative material in which it is embedded, until he understands it. It is not a question of free association, as Freud recommended for the purpose of dream analysis, but of working on the fantasy by observing further fantasy material as is naturally ascribed to the fragment.

This is not the place to go into technical explanations of the method. Suffice it to say that the series of fantasies brought to light facilitates the unconscious and represents material rich in archetypal forms. Of course, this method may only be used in specific, carefully selected cases. It is not entirely harmless since it can take the patient too far from reality. A warning against thoughtless use is undoubtedly in place.

Finally and last but not least, the delusions of the mentally ill, the fantasies in trance states and the dreams from early childhood (from the third to the fifth year of life) are available as exciting sources of archetypal material. Any amount of such material is available, but it is not worth it if one fails to track down compelling historical bulwarks. It is not enough, of course, to relate a dream about a snake to the mythical occurrence of the snake; for who could guarantee that the functional meaning of the serpent in the dream is the same as in its mythological framework? Therefore, to draw a valid parallel, it is necessary to know the functional meaning of an individual symbol and then to find out whether the supposedly parallel mythological symbol belongs to the same kind of circumstances and consequently has the same useful meaning. Establishing such facts is not only a matter of lengthy and laborious research but also an ungrateful object of demonstration. Since the symbols should not be taken out of context, one has to present an exhaustive personal as well as a symbol-scientific presentation, which is practically an impossibility in the context of a single lecture. I’ve tried repeatedly, risking putting half my audience to sleep.

To be continued… (Part 5=: An Example) 🤗🙏💖

The image at the top: CREATRIX by Martina Hoffmann, 2019, oil on canvas,

Source:

On “The concept” of the collective unconscious (1936): Lecture 1936 in the Abernethian Society at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, under the title “The Concept of the Collective Unconscious < published in the journal of that hospital, XLIV, London 1936/37, p .46-49 and 64-66. The first edition of the German translation in Collected Works (CW), Volume 9/1, pp. 55-66.

It seems that this never-ending story (working class heroes) had already begun since the existence of human civilisation. Challenging-Class is not a new thing and does not only belong to our time. It is indeed interesting to know that it was, even in ancient Egyptian, an important issue.

Here we read an excellent reportage by two brilliant Egyptologists and adorable friends of mine: Marie Grillot & Marc Chartier 🙏💖

The Image at the top: Metmuseum, Craftsmen, Tomb of Nebamun and Ipuky.
New Kingdom

When the Pharaoh’s Workers Go on Strike

via; égyptophile & Égypte-actualités

Deir el-Medina, in the year 29 of the reign of Ramses III (circa 1150 BC). The “press” of the time, namely a few ostraca, but above all, a papyrus currently kept in the Egyptian Museum in Turin (Italy), under the “pen” of the scribe Amennakht, reports totally unprecedented social unrest in the ranks workers specialized in the construction of the tombs of the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.

The discomfort this working class feels is due to the delays brought by the officials of the Royal Treasury to pay them. Indeed, in regular times, the living conditions and remuneration of these workers responsible for the construction and decoration of the monuments and funerary temples of the pharaohs are rather enviable; their food rations (loaves of bread, bags of cereals, measures of beer…) being fixed according to their qualification and their responsibilities. But suddenly, the social process seizes up because supplies are slow to be delivered, and the little that arrives is of poor quality. A collective decision is therefore taken: the work stoppage, as a sign of protest. The first “strike” in history was born!

Artisans at work depicted on the walls of the tomb of Vizier Rekhmire – TT 100 – Theban Necropolis – 18th Dynasty

Addressing whom it may concern, the workers express their demands thus: “We have come here driven by hunger and thirst; there are no clothes, no fat, no fish, no vegetables. Write about this to Pharaoh, our good lord; write to the vizier, our chief, so that we are given something to live on”.

Ostracon representing a stonemason – Limestone – Ramesside period – 1200-1153 BC
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge – E.GA.4324a.1943 (museum photo)

As it is still possible to see today in such a context, in all latitudes, this social discontent which manifests itself on the banks of the Nile is grafted onto a much more general malaise: “The political and economic situation of Egypt at the turn of the 12th century BC, Professor Nelson Pierrotti notes, was very unstable. The young King Ramses III had to stem further invasion attempts by a large coalition led by the ‘Sea Peoples’ and contain two Libyan invasion attempts in year 12 of his reign; the Pharaoh left to protect his Syrian possessions. The country will know a new era of prosperity at the end of this warlike period. But, little by little, economic problems call into question the prosperity of the Valley. In the modern sense of the term, that there was an economic crisis may explain part of the events. Pharaoh must replace his viziers. The administration no longer works well. But Ramses makes himself responsible for the situation. A plot to assassinate him, plotted by Tiyi, second royal wife, is even discovered. This idea of decadence has led Egyptologists to see in the episode of the conspiracy, the inevitable culmination of the long reign of Ramses III” (egyptos.net).

A clarification: when the author writes that “the administration no longer works well”, let us understand that corruption has appeared among civil servants, a symptom of a “disintegration” of Egyptian society, the immediate effect of which is a weakening of the country’s economy.

The ingredients of a strike in the most modern sense of the term are making their first appearance: picketing, confrontations with the forces of order, occupation of premises – key buildings of the central administration, even temples – to “claim salary arrears”, as Professor Christian Leblanc points out; foot-to-foot negotiations, if necessary accompanied by “violent altercations”, to win the case.

Limestone ostracon: register of absence from work in the year 40 of Ramses II.
Only 2 out of 40 workers have never failed. Among the motives, services rendered to others (leader, scribe, colleague)
figure prominently. We also find “participation in a drinking party” or “his wife has her period”… (Osirisnet.net)
19th Dynasty – British Museum – EA5634

“Obviously, writes Christian Leblanc, the prosperity of the kingdom which had been that of the time of the great king [Ramses II] had vanished, and in Thebes, on the left bank, the population came to react to the harsh consequences of this economic collapse. To the ambient austerity, imposed and difficult to bear, it responded with strikes and seditions… And so it was that one fine day in the second month of winter 1150 BC, the artisans of Deir -Medineh, destitute and hungry, showed their anger and shouted their grievances at the south gate of the Ramesseum. They demanded fish, vegetables, bread, oil and clothing… in short, as many foodstuffs and products as the surrounding memorials were used to distribute, at regular intervals and as a salary, to those who worked on the construction sites and the domains of the Crown. Although confronted by the police and other officials of the temple, the unfortunate protesters obtained, this time, satisfaction. Still, they were not reassured about the coming payments “(The Memory of Thebes, the Harmattan, 2015).

From promises and momentary satisfactions to new disappointments, the first strike in history lasted several weeks, with new twists over the next two years, despite the change of main interlocutor, Ta, having been invested with the duties of vizier of Upper and Lower Egypt. “We will not leave, the demonstrators tell the necropolis officials. Tell your superiors, when they are with their companions, that we have not only broken down the walls because of hunger, but we have to make an accusation important to formulate because crimes are committed in this place of the Pharaoh.”

“The strikes cease as soon as the payments, even small ones, resume, and they begin again as soon as the delays accumulate again. They recur episodically until around the middle of the reign of Ramses IX” (Dominique Valbelle).

Statuette of the architect Khâ – wood – 18th Dynasty from his tomb (TT 8) at Deir el-Medina
discovered on February 15, 1906, by Ernesto Schiaparelli – Egyptian Museum of Turin – S. 8335

“You have to know how to end a strike”: this modern slogan is no doubt also valid for the events that marked the last years of Ramses III. We do not find any indications relating to the end of this first strike in history. But, in the same global context of what are called “social demands,”: “This is the first strike to our knowledge, writes François Daumas, whose history has preserved the memory. The embezzlements have emptied the attics of the state, and we can no longer pay the humble workers. They revolt, refuse to work and remain in their barracks but derive only meagre profits. The administrative balance is distorted. Corruption reigns. And it is significant to note that it was during this period that the looting in the necropolis began. Religious ideas no longer have a hold on minds when stomachs are tormented by hunger.” (“La civilization de l’Egypte pharaonique”, Arthaud, 1971)

Marc Chartier & Marie Grillot

Sources:

Il “papiro dello sciopero” di Torino – The strike papyrus – from Deir el-Medina – Thebes
Museo Egizio in Turin – inventory number Cat.1880 (acquired in 1824 by the Bernardino Drovetti Collection) https://collezionepapiri.museoegizio.it/it-IT/search/?action=s&description=&inventoryNumber=Cat.1880+

Christian Leblanc, The memory of Thebes, L’Harmattan, 2015
Christian Leblanc, The Strikes of Year 29 of the Reign of Ramses III and the South Gate of the Ramesseum, in Memnonia XXII, 2011
Thierry Benderitter, The tombs of Deir el-Medina, osirisnet https://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/artisans/tombes_deir_el_medineh/tombes_deir_el_medineh_01.htm Nelson Pierrotti, The first strike in history, 12th century, 1166 BC. AD, 2019 http://www.egyptos.net/egyptos/histoire/la-premiere-greve-connue-de-l-histoire.php Food strikes in Ancient Egypt – The Turin Strike Papyrus, and Other Records https://dianabuja.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/food-strikes-in-ancient-egypt-the-turin-strike-papyrus-etc/ Jenny Cromwell, The First Recorded Strike in History, 2022 https://papyrus-stories.com/2022/03/15/the-first-recorded-strike-in-history/

I don’t know if you have as same jargon as we have in Persian: “I feel like a wooden stick with both shitted ends!” Of course, the polite form of it is with both golden ends; anyway, my confusion is enormous.
I don’t want to moan again; I just want to let you know that I’m going to visit friends today (alone!) because tomorrow, we have planned to go to Hamburg to see Roger Waters’ concert.I like him as I have always liked Pink Floyd and his way of making music and also his way of thinking. He was almost banned from giving concerts in Germany because he criticized the Israeli government and its handling of Palestine! But democracy and freedom of justice have declined it, giving him the freedom to perform his show.Although I don’t want to get involved in this conflict (in my opinion, both sides have to give in) to ban an artist because they have problems with their past, and their conscience is ridiculous! There is no limit to free speech.Anyway, let’s rock & roll…🤟🖖🥰💖The Image at the top: Oszagh Picture on Canvas – The American Dream by Salvador Dali.

The collective unconscious, as we understand it today, was never a matter of “Psychology”, for before the Christian Church existed, there were antique mysteries, and these reach back into the grey mists of Neolithic prehistory. Carl Jung, CW 9i, para 21. (from Carl Jung Depth Psychology, The Image by Craig Nelson)

Leonardo da Vinci, as we know him as a riddle of all time, painted this tableau like his other works and let us puzzle! Indeed, he is a topic for psychoanalysis, and Freud couldn’t stay immune: in his book; A Childhood Memory Of Leonardo da Vinci, he talks about the motherhood or feminine feeling of Leonardo and examples of his painting with the interpretation of a hidden bird (vulture) in Maria’s garment. Although, it seems that Freud made a mistake, as we read here in this article: (You can also read the whole of Freud’s book)

I put a similar image as the last post, but it is not the same; I will explain! (the first part plz, here)

FREUD’S MOMENTOUS TRANSLATION ERROR
Of high importance for Freud’s argumentation is the vulture, which he regards as a mythical symbol of mother love. He cites a childhood memory of Leonardo, but he mistranslates it. The Italian word “nibbio” does not mean vulture, as Freud mistakenly assumes, but means a kite, a bird of prey.

Furthermore, Freud recognises the vulture as a conundrum in a painting by Leonardo. It is an achievement of Freud at all, that conundrums are accepted in a scientific context and, furthermore, even understood as a window into the soul of the artists. Encouraged not least by this, one of Freud’s admirers, the surrealist painter Salvator Dalí, made offensive use of it within the framework of the method of “critical paranoia” that he himself had devised!

Whatever the bird might be or Freud’s assumption about Leonardo’s sexual orientation, it doesn’t matter to Jung. His main point is to analyse if Leonardo wanted to show any dual maternity in this painting. He goes deeper into the meaning of this figure (vulture or kite) with the old interpretation as Greek Pneuma: Wind and Spirit (Geist)

Now let’s keep reading about his analysis.;

2; The psychological meaning of the collective unconscious. (b)

But it is completely out of the question that all people who believe in dual descent actually always had two mothers, or conversely that the few who share Leonardo’s fate would have infected the rest of humanity with their complex. The fact is that one cannot help but assume that the universal occurrence of the fantasy of double birth, and simultaneously with it the fantasy of the two mothers, corresponds to a pervasive human need, which is reflected in this theme. Now, if Leonardo da Vinci really portrayed his two mothers in Saint Anne and Mary – which I doubt – he was merely expressing what untold millions of people before and after him believed. Likewise, the vulture symbol discussed by Freud in that paper only makes this view more plausible. He rightly cites Horapollo’s>Hieroglyphica< as the source of the symbol (Horus Apollo: Selecta hieroglyphica, sive… 1597; cf. Freud: Einekinderinnerung des Leonardo da Vinci, 1910, p. 24 ff.), a book published in was very common at the time. In it, one reads that vultures are only female and symbolically mean the mother; they are conceived by the wind (Greek: pneuma). This word pneuma, mainly under the influence of Christianity, took on the meaning of ‘spirit’. Even in the Pentecostal account, pneuma still has the dual meaning of wind and spirit.

In my opinion, Virgo, conceived by the pneuma, that is, like a vulture. In addition, according to Horapollo, the vulture is also the symbol of Athena, who sprung directly from the forehead of the highest god, was a virgin, and apparently only knew spiritual motherhood. All of this points clearly to Mary and the motif of rebirth.

There is not a shred of evidence that Leonardo could have meant anything else with this picture. If it is correct to assume that he identifies himself with the Christ Child, he is, in all likelihood depicting the double mythical motherhood, but in no case his own personal story. And what about all the other artists who have depicted the same motif? Indeed they didn’t all have two mothers?

Transferring Leonardo’s case to the realm of neuroses, let us assume that the patient has a mother complex and that he suffers from the delusion that the cause of his neurosis is that he really did have two mothers. The personal interpretation would have to admit that he was right, yet, in reality, it would be completely wrong. Then basically, the cause of his neurosis would be the reawakening of the archetype of the double mother, completely independent of whether he had one or two mothers; for, as we have seen, this archetype functions individually and historically without any connection with the relatively rare occurrence of double motherhood.

It is, of course, tempting to assume such a simple and personal cause, but the hypothesis is not only imprecise but thoroughly wrong. To be sure, it is difficult to understand how a double-mother motif—unknown to a physician trained only in medicine—could have had such a determining power that it had the effect of a traumatic state. But when we consider the enormous powers hidden in the mythic realm of humans, the causal significance of the archetypes seems less fantastic. In fact, there are numerous neuroses which indicate disturbances which are to be derived directly from the fact that the patient’s psychic life is devoid of the cooperation of these driving forces. Nevertheless, purely personal psychology, by reduction to personal causes, tries its best to deny the existence of archetypal motives and even seeks to destroy them in personal analysis. I think this is quite a dangerous undertaking. The nature of the involved forces can be better assessed today than twenty years ago. Aren’t we witnessing how a whole, great nation is reviving an archaic symbol, even archaic forms of religion – and how this new emotion affects the individual in a revolutionary and transformative way? The man of the past is alive in us to the degree that we could not have dreamed of before the war, and ultimately what is the fate of great peoples but the summation of the psychic changes of individuals?

Insofar as neurosis is actually only a private matter, namely has its roots solely in personal causes, archetypes play no role at all. But when it is a matter of general incompatibility or some other harmful condition causing neurosis in a relatively large number of individuals, we must assume the presence of archetypes. Since neuroses are, in most cases, not just private affairs but social phenomena, we must also assume the existence of archetypes in most cases: The sort of archetype appropriate to the situation is revived, and as a result, those explosive, and, therefore so dangerous, drivers latent in the archetype spring into action, often with unpredictable results. Yes, there is no evil to which people under the rule of an archetype cannot fall. If, thirty years ago, someone had dared to predict that psychological developments would point in the direction of a resurgence of medieval persecution of the Jews, that Europe would again tremble before the Roman bands of lictors and the marching legions, that the Roman salute could be reintroduced as it was two thousand years ago, and that instead of the Christian cross, an archaic Swastika would bait millions of wars to death—this man would have been denounced as a mystical fool. And today? As startling as it may seem, all this madness is a dreadful reality. Private lives, private motives and causes, and private neuroses have become almost fictional in today’s world. The man of the past, who lived in a world of archaic representations collectives, has risen back to a very visible and painfully real life, not just in a few unbalanced individuals, but in tens of millions.

There are as many archetypes as there are typical situations in life. Endless repetition has imprinted these experiences on the psychic constitution, not in the form of images filled with content, but at first, almost only as forms without content, representing merely the possibility of a certain type of perception and action. When something happens in life that corresponds to an archetype, this is activated, and a compulsion arises, which, like an instinctive reaction, prevails against reason and will or provokes a conflict that becomes pathological, i.e. neurotic grows.

Next part: The proof method 🤗💖

The image at the top: Anna Selbdritt, Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1502-1519, Musée du Louvre – Paris

Source:

On “The concept” of the collective unconscious (1936): Lecture 1936 in the Abernethian Society at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, under the title “The Concept of the Collective Unconscious < published in the journal of that hospital, XLIV, London 1936/37, p .46-49 and 64-66. The first edition of the German translation in Collected Works (CW), Volume 9/1, pp. 55-66.

I see and know as I want to write part 2 of my latest post, I still have some “serial” posts waiting to continue writing, but I believe this one is important enough to continue first! Therefore, let’s keep up this one to find out our own inner past, which I count on. And as Jung himself mentioned: the second is a presentation of its importance for psychology.

To be honest, I would like to ask Dr Jung if he believes in reincarnation, as I think in the permanent exams which we must get through! For me, there is a solid relationship to our past; if we only remember, it could free us from this lockdown of our understanding. Anyway, let’s go on.; (As we read, there are some ads in the human soul which separate us from animals, apart of instinct.)

2; The psychological meaning of the collective unconscious. (a)

Our medical psychology, which grew out of professional practice, emphasizes the personal nature of the psyche. I mean primarily the views of Freud and Adler. It is a psychology of the person, and its etiological or causal factors are considered almost entirely personal in nature. After all, even this psychology is based on certain general biological factors, such as the sexual instinct or the urge to assert oneself, and by no means merely on personal idiosyncrasies. It is compelled to do so insofar as it claims to be an explanatory science. Neither of these views disputes the instincts that animals and humans share nor their impact on personal psychology. Instincts, however, are non-personal, widespread and hereditary factors of a motivating character, which are often so remote from the fringes of consciousness that modern psychotherapy is faced with the task of helping the patient to become aware of them.

Therefore, the collective unconscious hypothesis is about as daring as the assumption that instincts exist. It is fair to say that human activity is, to a large extent, influenced by instincts apart from the rational motivations of the conscious mind. Now, suppose it is asserted that innate and universal principles of form influence our imagination, perception, and thinking equally. In that case, it seems that a normally functioning understanding can discover just as much or just as little mysticism in this idea as in the instinct theory. Although this accusation of mysticism has often been levelled against my view, I must once again emphasize that the notion of the collective unconscious is neither a speculative nor a philosophical but an empirical matter. The question simply is; do such universal forms exist, or do they not? If there is, then there is an area of the psyche that can be called the collective unconscious. Diagnosing the collective unconscious is not always an easy task. It is not enough to emphasize the often apparent archetypal nature of unconscious products, for these can just as easily be inferred from acquisitions through language and upbringing. Cryptomnesia should also be ruled out, which in some cases is nearly impossible. Despite all these difficulties, enough individual cases remain that show, beyond a reasonable doubt, autochthonously resurrected mythological motifs. If such an unconscious exists at all, psychological explanations must take cognizance of it and subject certain supposedly personal etiologies to more severe criticism.

What I mean can perhaps be explained with a concrete example. You have probably read Freud’s discussion of a particular painting by Leonardo da Vinci (Freud: A Childhood Memoir of Leonardo da Vinci. 1910): Saint Anne with Mary and the Christ Child. Freud explains the remarkable picture in terms of the fact that Leonardo himself had two mothers. This causality is personal. We do not wish to dwell on the fact that such images are anything but unique, nor on the slight disagreement that Saint Anne is the grandmother of Christ, but emphasize that there is a non-personal motive intertwined with the apparently personal psychology, which we know well from elsewhere. It is the motif of the two mothers, an archetype that can be found in many variants in the fields of mythology and religion and forms the basis of numerous representations of collectives. I might mention, for example, the motif of dual parentage, that is, human and divine parentage, as in Heracles, who, unwittingly adopted by Hera, attained immortality. What is a myth in Greece is even a ritual in Egypt. There the pharaoh is by nature both human and divine. In the birth chambers of the Egyptian temples, the pharaoh’s second divine conception and birth are depicted on the walls – he was “twice-born”. This is an idea that is the basis of all reincarnation mysteries, including that of Christianity. Christ himself was born twice; through baptism, he was born of water in the Jordan and again of the Spirit.

The idea of a second birth is temporally and spatially widespread. In the early days of medicine, it appears as a magical remedy; in many religions, it is the mystical experience; it forms the central idea of medieval natural philosophy and, last but not least, the infantile fantasy of many small and “grown” children who believe that their parents are not their real, but only adoptive parents to whom they were handed over. Benvenuto Cellini, for example, also had this idea, as he reports in his autobiography. (Cellini: Life of the B’C’, translated and edited by Goethe, 1803)

To be continue… 🙏💖

Source:

On “The concept” of the collective unconscious (1936): Lecture 1936 in the Abernethian Society at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, under the title “The Concept of the Collective Unconscious < published in the journal of that hospital, XLIV, London 1936/37, p .46-49 and 64-66. The first edition of the German translation in Collected Works (CW), Volume 9/1, pp. 55-66.

The image at the top: from Pixabay

This time, let’s go back to the Empire time, the time of Napoleon. There we find a discovery of a peculiar kind. An astounding form of the Zodiac!

Jean-Baptiste Prosper Jollois, a French civil engineer, was born on January 4, 1776. He was in the very first class of the new Ecole Polytechnique, founded in 1794 to train engineers…

Jollois was one of what is traditionally said to have been 151 savants – there may have been as many as 167 – who were picked to form a Commission of Arts and Sciences to go by ship to an unknown destination and there to investigate the geography, natural history, and modern culture of this country yet to be announced. He was assigned to accompany Pierre-Simon Girard, chief engineer, as he made his way to upper (southern) Egypt, following in the wake of military forces pursuing the mamelukes. The job of the young engineers was to survey the Nile and the irrigation systems in use. But when they reached a location near Dendera, everything changed, at least for Jollois. There he met the artist Vivant Denon, who had accompanied the first military invasion into upper Egypt and had discovered not only the ruins of a temple at Dendera but a carved stone zodiac hidden in a small room on the top of the temple.

Source: Linda Hall Library

The Picture at the top: modern-papyrus-depicting-the-Dendera-zodiac-or-denderah-zodiac-an-Egyptian-bas-relief-from-the-ceiling-of-the-pronaos-or-portico-of-a-chapel-dedicated-to-Osiris-in-the-Hathor-temple-at-Dendera-contain

Aside from the sad events of the Napoleon invasion, this was indeed a fascinating discovery. Here is a brilliant story by Marie Grillot. 🙏💖

Jean-Baptiste Jollois – the Egyptian campaign with an “X.”

via égyptophile

Jean-Baptiste Prosper Jollois was one of the scholars of the French expeditionary force who left Toulon on May 19, 1798 (30 Floréal, Year VI) for Egypt.
He is only 23 years old, with a great desire to travel and discover other horizons, combined with an “ardent desire” to acquire education, experience and the “intimate conviction that this trip will be useful”.

Endowed with great intelligence, an insatiable curiosity and a well-made mind, he is one of the forty polytechnicians (students, former students and teachers) who participate in the incredible adventure of these “scholars”. It was in Egypt that he obtained his civil engineering diploma.

The Commission of Scientists first settled in Rosette. Jollois takes numerous surveys and drawings of the town and surrounding area. Then the scholars go to Cairo, where everything is ready to welcome them, including the new Institute, created on August 22, 1798.

In March 1799, Jollois was one of the scholars who left with the Desaix Division for Upper Egypt. There is, in particular, his great friend de Villiers du Terrage, Dubois-Aymé, Duchanoy, Descotils, Rozière, Dupuy… Their mission is to collect information on trade, agriculture, and irrigation and raise the profile of the Nile. But they must also carry out a scientific study of the monuments and vestiges of antiquity.

They are often amazed by what they discover: “… We arrived at Denderah, ancient Tentyris, famous for the magnificent temple of Hathor, whose portico still remains with its eight columns, brilliant with colours that time does has not been erased, and surmounted by their strange capitals, formed by the heads of women with heifer’s ears….”

Desaix points out to them “a circular zodiac with, in its middle, hieroglyphic figures and representations of Egyptian divinities”. With Villiers du Terrage, they make drawings on which Castex will base himself to make his marble copy. “The lively interest which Messrs. Jollois and de Villiers had aroused in such a precious monument had prompted them to look for others of the same kind. It is, therefore, to M. Jollois and his collaborator that the world scholar is indebted for the knowledge of these Egyptian planispheres whose historical importance is sufficiently felt through the discussions and research they have brought about. They will write a memoir on ancient astronomical bas-reliefs and the Egyptians’ knowledge of most constellations.

In Thebes, still inseparable, “not hesitating to break their leader’s orders and to run into danger, they set off without escort, multiply the readings, tirelessly measure temples and hypogea”. We owe them a rich and beautiful “General Description of Thebes, containing a detailed exposition of the present state of its ruins, followed by critical research on the history and extent of this first capital of Egypt”. We distinguish in particular that of the “Ozymandias Tomb designated by some travellers under the name of Palace of Memnon, or Memnonium” (the Ramasseum).

They even acted as Egyptologists when they discovered, in August 1799, in the Valley of the Monkeys, the tomb of Amenophis III (WV23).

They go up the Nile as far as Philae, and then, in November, they return to Cairo. Jollois was then transferred to the Delta to inspect the hydraulic works.

Upon his return to France, he was appointed secretary of the “Description of Egypt”. He enriches it with several drawings and memoirs.

His career as a Ponts et Chaussées engineer continued in the Vosges and the Seine department, but in each of his posts, his passion for archaeology led him to carry out research… We can also think that his attraction for antiquities has never been contradicted, nor altered since we find him as president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of France.

He died on June 24, 1842, and was buried in Paris, in the 12th division of the Montmartre cemetery.

Marie Grillot

sources:
Scholars in Egypt, Museum of Natural History, Nathan 1998 http://www.sabix.org/bulletin/b1/1.html

http://books.google.fr/books?id=anU5AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA93&dq=jollois+jomard&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=n6qlU_OjIIjDO4fxgfgF&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=jollois%20jomard&f=false

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Prosper_Jollois http://books.google.fr/books?id=R6pNAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA33&dq=Jean-Baptiste+Jollois&hl=fr&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Jean-Baptiste%20Jollois&f=false

http://books.google.fr/books?id=2Y1CAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA161&lpg=PA161&dq=jean+baptiste+prosper+jollois&source=bl&ots=8MxcAnQhey&sig=XhXvXIOG2HZv7AAOvTGb3D0Rru4&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=WlabU7LcJcvB0gXc-oGwBg&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=jean%20baptiste%20prosper%20jollois&f=false

http://books.google.fr/books?id=ZI9CAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=jean+baptiste+prosper+jollois&source=bl&ots=tb2iZ08rA9&sig=bbxR_nApwNT6Hc1pQC3J7RRsd6M&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=OVibU9OUEubX0QXhw4C4AQ&ved=0CB8Q6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=jean%20baptiste%20prosper%20jollois&f=false

http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n2003-53093/ http://data.bnf.fr/12736337/jean-baptiste-prosper_jollois/

Or, A Short Trip Towards the Former Godfather State!

I am joking, sorry! No intention of offending anyone. Just traditionally, I want to present some pictures from my latest kidnapping! As I mentioned some weeks ago, we took a trip to spend a week in Sicily for the holidays.
In fact, we have travelled to the south to warm our old (for me definitely) bones, but it was much worse than shivering at home. Well, bad luck! Some kilometres to the right side, it was about 30 degrees in Spain, and we had not more than 14 degrees. The weather was wet, cold, and mostly cloudy.

But what does one do in this case? It’s only to make the best of it; rent a car and run all over the island. It went well so far in the car, but when we got back to our apartment, it was chilly, and as you might know, there was no heating system in our establishment, only the air conditioner. Bei the way, we hadn’t tick cloths with us; WTF?

Anyway, every day, very early in the morning, I tried to catch the sun rising, if I could ever see the clear sky, and could warm my body and take some pics.

Sometimes it was dark, and sometimes it was clear… well!🙄😁

Naturally, my focus was mainly on getting the finest and most beautiful moments of the scenes to take in my camera, or better to say, my Phone. Here are some of them;

Also, in front of our apartment at the beach, there was a nice play of lights in the evening, but sitting outside at that moment was too chilly; therefore, we watched it from behind the window.

I will come back for more pictures to share. Thank you, all you lovely friends.🙏💖