#darkness and light

[violetmoondaughter]

Many are the faces of the Hellenic God Dionysus, but the duality of his nature is sometimes connected with two specific plants associated to the god. Dionysus relates to many plants such as Fig, Oak, Pine, Vine and Ivy, these two are specifically connected with two opposite faces of the god. 

Grapevine starts its annual growth cycle in spring with bud break. During spring and summer, the plant grows and after flowering the vine sets the fruits that are usually harvested in early autumn. Following the first frost the leaves begin to fall as the vine starts to enter its winter dormancy period. The following spring, the cycle begins again. Following the same annual cycle Dionysus is seen as a god that is reborn every spring, bringing during the hot season prosperity and abundance before disappearing in winter. Grapevine grows thanks to the hot weather and humidity and so it represents the warm fertilizing humidity power of the god. Grape is used to create wine which is the drink sacred to Dionysus because of its ability to release mental faculties.  

Ivy on the other hand, blossoms in the autumn when the vines are harvested and bears fruit in the spring. As an evergreen plant, ivy needs cold weather and humidity to grow and flower.  Ivy vines crawl as snakes and in the myth, ivy appeared soon after the birth of Dionysus to shelter the child from the flames that burned the mother's body. To its freshness was attributed the virtue of dispelling the ardor of wine, so Dionysus was believed to have commanded his worshippers to crown themselves with it. Ivy, in contrast to the vine that bore fruit bearing vitality and exaltation, produced a poison that sterilized and had medicinal virtues that were refreshingly depurative and narcotic. The plant is also connected with thunder and lightning and was believed to have the power to protect from lightning and cure sore throat and cough. 

Thus these two plants sacred to Dionysus are contrasted with each other in an eloquent contrast: the vine, drunk with light, is a child of heat and returns the rays of the sun by warming, with its libation, bodies and souls, while the ivy shows itself to be cold in nature; indeed the sterility and uselessness of its first sprouts recall night and death. 

Their affinity is rooted in the very essence of the dual-figured god, whose nature is expressed from the earth by means of them: light and darkness, warmth and coldness, intoxication of life and breath of death that withers everything; the multiplicity of the Dionysian aspects struggling with each other and yet conjoined with each other is manifested here in vegetal form, stands in struggle with itself and prodigiously transitions from one form into the other. 

Dionysus rules over all moist and hot creatures whose symbol would also be wine, as a hot and moist substance. In wine, heat is made ardor drink of fire that overwhelms everything, that ignites the soul and the body. But the moist heat is contrasted with the moist cold that as a Dionysian element, is manifested in ivy, a plant that greens even in winter when the Dionysian festivals take place.

[adventuresofalgy]

Fed up with the prospect of endless Scotch mist and rain under perpetually dismal skies, and the thought of even shorter, darker days to come, Algy had listened to the warbling of the robin and resolved to set out on a brave new adventure, in search of the light and warmth and jollity which he had once heard could be found somewhere deep in the heart of the darkness, even in the dreariest northern winter…

However, there was just one wee technical problem… Algy hadn't the slightest idea where to look, or which direction to take.

But as a fluffy bird is not easily discouraged once he has set his mind on a definite course of action, Algy didn't pause to worry about that; he simply spun himself round and round and round again, recalling his eerie encounter with the bat on the night of Halloween, and then set off in the direction he faced once the spinning in his head and body had finally stopped.

At first he made good distance, flying at some speed low over the ground, but despite keeping an eye open for any kind of clue which might help him in his quest, Algy saw nothing unusual at all, and when the night started closing in around him, Algy paused to rest in the crook of a battered old multi-trunk tree, having collided rather painfully with the branches in the encroaching darkness and bumped his forehead, as even the bravest will at times:

We grow accustomed to the Dark - When light is put away - As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp To witness her Goodbye - A Moment - We uncertain step For newness of the night - Then - fit our Vision to the Dark - And meet the Road - erect - And so of larger - Darknesses - Those Evenings of the Brain - When not a Moon disclose a sign - Or Star - come out - within - The Bravest - grope a little - And sometimes hit a Tree Directly in the Forehead - But as they learn to see - Either the Darkness alters - Or something in the sight Adjusts itself to Midnight - And Life steps almost straight.

[Algy is thinking of the poem We grow accustomed to the Dark by the 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson.]

[frostbyte744]

First bloom

[darkcrowprincess]

Blue equals darkness and Yellow equals light. Giving yin and yang vibes for byler right there. The blue meaning the wheelers/creels connections to Mikes family darkness. Will being associated with lights, lighting, sunshine. Will is yellow meaning love and hope.

Mike is literally always being cast in shadows while Will is in light. Darkness protects light, light protects darkness.

[vxmpire-vxlle]

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

The Gathering

[academic-vampire]

“I see the darkness where you see the light.”

-Tom Odell, song: “Black Friday”

[soulinkpoetry]

On fire from within…

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[my-jokes-are-my-armour]

Happy Ruin day everyone ❤️

I just wanted to celebrate Scarlet Scarlet and the Blue Furious Boy in their dichotomy and complementarity.

They make me escape with cracked and wrinkled emotions bursting out in notes and voices, with blurred lines between reality and fantasy contained and unleashed by words.

Sources : Joey CV photo and Madeleine photo from on IMDB. Contains freepik resources. Edit with Gimp and Gridart

[violetmoondaughter]

In neopaganism the horned god is seen with two different faces representing the duality of nature and the changing of seasonal cycle. The theory of these two aspects of the god was debated by Sir James George Frazer in The Golden Bough and by Robert Graves in The White Goddess.  

According to these theories old religions were fertility cults that revolved around the worship and periodic sacrifice of a sacred king. Frazer based his thesis on the pre-Roman priest-king Rex Nemorensis who was ritually murdered by his successor. The king was the incarnation of a dying and reviving god, a solar deity who underwent a mystic marriage to a goddess of the Earth. He died at the harvest and was reincarnated in the spring. This legend of rebirth is central to almost all of the world's mythologies. Some examples of this archetypical figure are the gods Dionysus, Osiris, Tammuz, Dumuzi, Adonis, Janus, Attis. 

 The two aspects of this figure take the names of Holly and Oak king. 

The Holly King is seen as an old version of the green man, ruler of winter, death and darkness. He starts his kingdom at summer solstice when, after the longest day, ruled by his opposite king the oak king, the days start to get darker and shorter entering in the dark half of the year. The holly king is so called referring to the plant that is fruitful during the winter season.  The holly king is also referred to as a black knight and is also connected with the dark aspects of many pagan gods. 

Counterpart of the Holly King is the Oak King that is usually seen as a young green man, ruler of summer, life and light. He starts his kingdom at the winter solstice, when after the darkest night a new light is reborn, signing the beginning of the light half of the year. The oak king is called over the name of the plant that is fruitful during the hot season. Opposite to the Holly King, the Oak King, relates to the light aspect of many pagan gods and its sometimes referred to as a white knight. 

According to the theory these two kings may be seen as two brothers fighting for the throne or as a father and son passing the kingdom to each other in a perpetual cycle of death and rebirth. This cycle of life and death represents the seasonal cycle of death and rebirth of the sunlight and vegetative world.

[adventuresofalgy]

Algy set out early the next day, hoping to make some kind of discovery which would show him the way to a land of light and warmth in the midst of the winter darkness.

With his hopes held as high as his head, he flew and flew and flew through the dense Scotch mist, but still he could see nothing out of the ordinary, and as the day grew ever dimmer, Algy became more and more tired…

By the late afternoon he was quite exhausted, so he fluttered down slowly to the ground and landed on a patch of long grass, which though inevitably wet was at least nice and soft, and reasonably comfortable, providing one was accustomed to the soggy sensation of damp tail feathers…

But no sooner had Algy settled down to rest than a fly started buzzing round his head and crawling across his face. Round and round it went, then returned to bother him some more. It just would not stop, despite Algy's attempts to politely discourage it.

After a while, Algy realised that the fly was attempting to communicate with him, so he listened as carefully as he could, and tried to understand what all the buzzing might mean. With some effort he managed to work out that it was apparently quoting a short and rather mysterious rhyme by one of his favourite poets…

Although surprised, Algy was glad to discover that the insect kingdom was properly educated, but unfortunately it left him none the wiser with regard to his journey, and eventually he decided that the fly must simply be intent on annoying him…

Some things that fly there be— Birds—Hours—the Bumblebee— Of these no Elegy. Some things that stay there be— Grief—Hills—Eternity— Nor this behooveth me. There are that resting, rise. Can I expound the skies? How still the Riddle lies!

[The fly is quoting the poem Some things that fly there be by the 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson.]

[mississippimemoir]

In a captivating scene where light meets shadow, an angel gazes into the still water, only to find the reflection of a demon mimicking her every move. This powerful juxtaposition symbolizes the eternal struggle between good and evil, beauty and darkness. The serene water surface acts as a mirror, revealing not only our outer selves but also the inner conflicts we face. What do you see when you look deeper?

[darkcrowprincess]

Hanbrough being yin and yang:

Bill and Mike being yin and yang. But Bill is the darkness out in daylight(meaning the world) and Mike is the light trapped in Derry darkness. Bill who makes stories from horror and evil. And Mike who is so kind and compassionate despite everything bad and horrible this town has done to him. Bill wants to help, but he knows bitterness, his soul has beem craked and traumatized by darkness of his brothers death. But Mike, even with trauma always seems to be like a bright sunflower always believing in good.

[amethystina]

Darkness and Light

Fandom/Pairing: The Devil Judge - Gahan

Length: A collection of shorter ficlets, more will be added as I write them

Rating/Warnings: Ratings and warnings will be stated in the author's notes of each chapter

Summary: This is a collection of shorter Gahan ficlets, unrelated to my other fics unless stated otherwise.

Each chapter is a separate story of varying lengths.

Enjoy, my darlings! 💜

GO HERE TO READ

[awehaven]

Draft.

©Robin Fifield 2023.

[serenityquest]