#I'm reading The Oak King the Holly King and the Unicorn

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*Sees an oak tree* Whoa nice reference to the pre-Christian European vegetation deity who symbolizes spring and summer and the fertility of the natural world and who is ritually sacrificed to ensure his vitality never fades or else the cycle might be broken

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The author keeps citing the most crazy-making quotes from Ad de Vries like "[the mirror] is the door through which the soul frees itself by passing" and "the gift of the apple of immortality automatically includes death"

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I love when art historians get mean about poor restorations

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Check out this funky little guy

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I'm tempted to buy my own copy of this book so I can like cross reference a bunch of random shit when I finally sit down to read as much of the Arthurian cycle as I possibly can

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"...art is not insulated from the continuum of history. One era has a strong conscious or unconscious impact on all successive eras.... Clearly, historical periods interact with one another to create a mythology that is suitable to a particular age, but that is inevitably a rich mixture of many far-flung influences."

Thinking about the quote "History cannot basically modify the structure of an archaic symbolism. History constantly adds new meanings, but they do not destroy the structure of the symbol" and the constant re-appropriation of various gods and symbols and ceremonies going back to before recorded history

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"In whatever religious framework it appears, the function of water is shown to be the same; it disintegrates, abolishes forms, 'washes away sins' - at once purifying and giving new life."

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I know I keep making fun of myself for reading this book, but if you're interested in non-Christian/pre-Christian European folklore, the evolution of religions/cultural practices, and/or European art from the pre-Renaissance (including Arthuriana), I really do recommend The Oak King, the Holly King, and the Unicorn: The Myths and Symbolism of the Unicorn Tapestries by John Williamson

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"The pheasant became associated with Narcissus because for centuries this bird was caught by placing a mirror in a cage." Sure why not

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Do NOT fuck with holly trees or else

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"We may expect little more than an effusive aethestic pleasure from the arts of different time and different cultures unless we attain some comprehension of the icons which underline the society that produced them." This is why I have to know everything about the whole world right now or I will die

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"The religious fever that transfixed those converts embracing Christianity did not obliterate their pre-Christian reverence for symbols." I love the implication that people were like "hmm, Christianity 🤔 yeah, I'll get behind that, but the iconography could use some sprucing up first"

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Love when there's a footnote in a nonfiction book that's like "So-and-so will insist that their theory is correct, but no one else believes them and actually someone else in this field pretty soundly disproved it in their own book"

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More medieval wisdom: If your stepmom tries to poison you, eat an orange