#marian imagery

[cinematic-phosphenes]

Alicent + Holy Mother Imagery

[catholic-saint-tournament]

You should at least include the specific version of Mary that shows her pregnant, Nuestra Señora de la Expectación. I tried to find how you guys call her in english but apparently she's a bigger deal in latinoamérica

This makes me think I should make a separate tournament just for the apparitions or renditions of Mary!!! SHOULD I DO IT.

[afanofmanyhats]

One of my favorite things about Tolkien's writing is that he has a very specific, recurring trope. For lack of a better term, I'm dubbing this the Tolkien Wife-Guy.

This is mainly obvious in the Silmarillion, but Tolkien loves to write couples where the man is a notable individual- nobility, commits a great deed, or both- but the wife is at least equally notable, if not more beloved or powerful. Manwe is the king of the Valar and Eru's main representative in Arda? Everyone loves Varda more, and Melkor fears her more than his own brother. Elu Thingol is the king of the Silvan Elves? His wife is Melian, whose Girdle is the magic that keeps Morgoth's forces at bay. Beren is a chief among the Edain, who befriends animals and survives one of the most nightmarish places in Beleriand? His wife is Luthien.

Even in Lord of the Rings we see this occur, though the couples are on more even footing. Tom Bombadil is... Tom Bombadil, but Goldberry is the River-daughter, and Tom adores her above everything else, and the hobbits are completely taken in with her when she's their host. Similarly, while Celeborn is a mighty lord among Elves, Galadriel is one of the only Noldor in Middle-earth who saw the Two Trees, and her hair inspired Feanor to make the Silmarils, not to mention her own accomplishments in the war against Morgoth. Aragorn is the king of Gondor and Arnor, but Arwen is the Evenstar of the Elves, the descendant of three(?) different royal Elven lines. And Faramir becomes the Steward of Gondor and is one of the noblest men alive, but Eowyn killed the Witch-king, so you know. She got the grander moment for the saga.

But with (most) of these couples, we never get the impression that the man views his wife as Less-Than, or as a junior partner. Thingol is the main exception to this in how he dismisses Melian's counsel, and that's made out to be his foolishness within the text. Otherwise, Manwe treats Varda as his co-ruler, Beren never tries to downplay Luthien's achievements, and I'm pretty sure most of Tom Bombadil's dialogue is about how gorgeous Goldberry is. It's really sweet.

All of these examples really testify to how much Tolkien loved his wife. People rightly point to Beren and Luthien as the prime example of that, but I think you can find it in these other couples too. Even though Edith is mainly known to history as Mrs. Tolkien, it's evident to me that Jirt saw her as a whole person worthy of admiration outside of being his wife.

[fillejondrette]

protesters and counter-protesters at the National Men's March to Abolish Abortion and Rally for Parenthood (what a mouthful) in Boston today (11/4/23)

[the-silent-hashira]

sorry i havent been online, its only been a queue for a few days, ive just been dying

[beguilingcorpse]

I honestly never read TLT as being a Catholic book series. It has some Christian imagery but as a practicing Jew I saw a lot of myself reflected in Gideon specifically - but I see what you mean about the sword being like a cross, about the sin and the guilt. I propose a new argument: Harrow is the Catholic in this series and Gideon is the one being like "stop being such a Catholic"

that’s interesting!! obviously there’s confirmation bias at play but to me a lot of elements of the series read very specifically as catholic - i.e., references to the sacraments (baptism = pool scene, eucharist = consuming flesh for lyctorhood, etc), notions of hell and the afterlife, and especially wake as the virgin mary (and other references to marian devotion). but i don’t think that catholicism is the only “right answer” to the series and you’re 100% real in saying that gideon is absolutely opposed to all of that lol

[justjudethoughts]

Here's Catholic Anthony Lockwood for your Sunday. Special attention paid to including Marian imagery, since that's prevalent in canon.

[onefleshonepod]

ID: A digital collage of "The High Priestess” tarot card as the Body from the Locked Tomb series. The card depicts the Body as a ghostly figure with both arms raised, dressed in a diaphanous blue-white robe, standing on a large crescent. In her left hand is a sword. In her right hand is a scroll. She is crowned with the headdress of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, a red sun disc with cow horns. At the top is another representation of the Body reaching out of a river, from Mermaids by Arthur Rackham. In the background is the Bird and Pomegranate pattern by William Morris. Behind that, providing the abstract landscape, is Avignon by Ralph Hotere, an influential Māori artist. The image of the Body is from Allegory with a Woman by Luděk Marold. The left side of the card shows the upright meaning of The High Priestess and reads, “Inner Voice | Unconscious | Intuition | Mystery | Spiritual Insight in all caps. The right side of the card shows the reversed reading and reads “Repressed Feelings | Secrets | Hidden Motives | Cognitive Dissonance” in all caps. The base of the card reads "The High Priestess | The Body” in a retro 1970s-style font.

My goal with these tarot cards was to choose characters who embody the meanings of the cards when you think of them, to make the cards intuitive to grasp for Locked Tomb fans who might not be very familiar with tarot. Discussion below:

The Body haunting Harrow is quite literally an inner voice and a representation of Harrow’s subconscious. She’s the perfect figure for the High Priestess card. It’s hard to represent spiritual insight better than with. well. um. a spirit who is a religious figure who also provides insights. The nature of the Body is also one of the central mysteries of Harrow the Ninth.

Regarding the reversed meanings, the Body is also emblematic of Harrow’s secret which is hidden even from herself. My personal interpretation (along with many others') is that Harrow sublimated her forgotten and repressed feelings for Gideon onto the Body throughout Harrow the Ninth.

With my visual interpretation of this card, I tried to preserve or nod to some elements of the Rider-Waite-Smith High Priestess card. As a disclaimer, the hodge-podge orientalist imagery of the RWS deck is a shameful product of its time, but the illustrations are iconic and well known, so I wanted to acknowledge them. I also wanted to use images which evoked the dark wet ghost imagery of pre-Nona art and fanon of the Body.

The RWS High Priestess, and mine, presides over two pillars, representing the balance between them. The RWS pillars can be seen as multiple different dualities (such as good and evil), but are often called are the Pillar of Establishment and the Pillar of Strength. I interpreted the left side (with the scroll) as Harrow’s path of completing the process of Lyctorhood and becoming a fully functional tool of the empire. The right side, where the Body is holding a sword, represents Wake, Gideon, and the path of heresy. Just as the High Priestess’ role is to mediate between the two extremes, the Body’s role seems to be to help Harrow on her own chosen path.

The crescent moon at the Body’s feet, in the same place as in the RWS card, is seen also in many depictions of the Virgin Mary. This is meaningful because (as has been more thoroughly discussed elsewhere) the Ninth House’s worship of the Body and the way this is viewed as heretical and idolatrous by the other Houses can be seen as a parallel to Catholics’ veneration of Mary. I tried to continue the Marian imagery from the RWS card with a subtle blue tint to the figure’s robes.

The pomegranates in the background, also a detail preserved from the RWS card, are a symbol of — well, what aren’t they a symbol of. Many things that resonate in the Locked Tomb series. Death, eternal life, Hell, being torn between two realities… I used the William Morris pomegranates because I love his prints.

Finally, the RWS High Priestess wears the headdress of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, which I kept specifically because the cow horns are perfect: the Body being the Earth and wearing the symbol of John’s first transgression against the Earth while also trying to save it. Hathor’s domain was to help souls transition to the afterlife, and she was often depicted as a cow.

[uwmspeccoll]

Spotlight: Clinton Balmer

Last fall we showcased some historiated initials from Minstrel Weather by American writer, journalist, and conservationist Marian Storm (1892-1975), published by Harper and Brothers in 1920. Today we present some of the illustrations from this volume by British artist Clinton Balmer (1879–1967). The book is a series of nature essays describing the outdoors in various seasons throughout the year. The first twelve sections each describe a month of the year followed by five additional chapters using imagery and metaphor drawn from mythology, folklore, and poetry. American writer Christopher Morley described the book in his 1921 collection of Modern Essays as "a series of open-air vignettes which circle the zodiac with the attentive eye of a naturalist and the enchanted ardor of the poet."

This was the first of Marian Storm's published books. Unfortunately, as we said in our previous post:

We could not find much information on Balmer except for the fact that he was a painter, and although British, spent a good portion of his career in the New York area. He also seems to have been an early drawing instructor for the American artist Alexander Calder.

His style, however, seems to have been influenced by both Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau. We hold three other books illustrated by Clinton Balmer, some with original wood engravings. We'll be highlighting some of these in future Spotlights.

View some of our other Spotlights.

[catholic-saint-tournament]

Hi, I think I already submitted him yesterday, but I was suffering from low quality internet connection and I'm not sure it even got sent. I'd like to nominate Servant of God Joseph Müller for the Beatified bracket! He's neat, also a joke is an excellent thing to be executed for, if you have to be executed.

and Our Lady of Częstochowa for the Marian Apparitions! It was meant to be for this part of the tournament, but of course I forgot to specify like the idiot I can be sometimes:)

Yup yup got sent! I just added them to the list! If you want to see it click here.

Ooh v cool for Our Lady of Częstochowa! I haven't set up a list for icons yet but I've got an apparitions list on the last tab of the google doc for nominations. Tbd, gotta get my art on for icons.

[ohwormwood]

✧ welcome, traveller. what is it you seek? ✧

⟣✧⟢

art tag: #oh wormwood

COMMISSIONS STATUS: OPEN (3 SLOTS)

⟣✧⟢

hello! this is artemisia speaking (artemis or ari for short)! nice to meet you!

⟣✧⟢

current fandoms: in stars and time, witch hat atelier, the legend of zelda, dungeon meshi

⟣✧⟢

✧ here are the basics... ✧

artemisia ✧ artemis ✧ ari

she/her/they/them ✧ nonbinary ✧ demisexual/sapphic

20 ✧ libra ✧ INFJ-T ✧ adhd

arts major ✧ illustration certificate ✧ gender/sexuality studies minor

⟣✧⟢

here is some stuff about me and what i do!

⟣✧⟢

✧ inside my brain... ✧

✧ my special interests lie in crows/corvids/birds, symbology, spirituality/religion, creative writing, worldbuilding, and gender/sexuality studies ✧ i dabble in a lot of art mediums, but mainly specialize in illustration, digital art, watercolor, printmaking, and writing ✧ when i'm not drawing i play rpgs, write stories, kick ass at boxing, listen to music, garden, or research random topics of interest ✧ i have a pet leopard gecko, her name is circe and i love her very much

⟣✧⟢

✧ about my art...✧

i primarily work in digital illustration and sketches, but I like to do larger pieces with watercolor, ink, acrylics, or linocut printing.

i post a lot of fanart currently, but my primary goal is to eventually make the majority of my content about my original characters/stories/worldbuilding and life experiences.

i take a lot of my stylistic inspiration from the golden age of illustration, art nouveau, vintage storybook illustration, tattoo art, contemporary comic styles, woodblock printing, botanical/zoological illustrations, and abrahamic/biblical iconography.

most of my work outside of my fanart includes imagery derived from nature, birds (specifically crows), spiritualism, religious iconography, and fantasy.

my favorite thing to draw are birds and celestial beings!

⟣✧⟢

✧ current interests...✧

✧ current fandoms: In Stars and Time, The Legend of Zelda, Witch Hat Atelier, Dungeon Meshi ✧ currently playing: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask ✧ currently listening to: Winter by Yabadum, Blurt by Mega Mango, FIRE4FUN by Jhariah ✧ favorite food: mangos... ✧ favorite drink: strawberry-mango tea with mango popping boba, mango chunks, and lychee ✧ favorite season: autumn ✧ favorite plant: wormwood (duh) ✧ favorite color: olive green ✧ favorite animal: crows

⟣✧⟢

✧ top 3's...✧

✧ top 3 games: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Deltarune, Little Nightmares ✧ top 3 music artists: The Crane Wives, Mother Mother, Eve ✧ top 3 visual artists: Lauren Marx, Marian Wawrzeniecki, monsterSOVKA ✧ top 3 comics/graphic novels: Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden, Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama, Nimona by N.D. Stevenson ✧ top 3 books: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand ✧ top 3 movies: Kiki’s Delivery Service, Nope, Romeo + Juliet (1996)

⟣✧⟢

thanks for reading! i usually post at least once a week, on thursdays, so keep an eye out for more content in the future!

[gravehags]

You made that post about the virgin Mary a little while ago and I was going to respond supporting your notion of "thats my mom" but my brain took over and it ended up turning into a whole essay in my brain. To save you the time I've summed up my feelings with this meme.

i love this so much like it’s so interesting to see how people who were raised in catholicism (and even those who weren’t - like me) rejecting chrisitianity except for mary. mary is just another face of isis or gaia or any other pre-christian mother goddess and i love how much she resonates with people!! listen i will always fuck with mary and marian imagery heavily. love that woman.

[youryurigoddess]

Aziraphale and Crowley’s elevator photo shoot is inspired respectively by Mary and Jesus

Just leaving this here in case it wasn’t that obvious for someone non-affiliated with the Catholic Church. Aziraphale’s pose is based on the most popular variant of Madonna Immaculata statue from 1830 Marian apparitions in Paris, France. Crowley’s — well, he’s crucified Jesus.

You know the second one and its meaning (absolution of sins and promise of eternal life after the Second Coming and the Last Judgement), right? The first one is all about shedding graces, interceding for sinners and protection from evil by Mary, who’s been bodily taken to Heaven. Just like a certain angel.

So there’s obviously a lot to unpack here in the context of the possible S3 Second Coming scenarios, but in terms of religious imagery alone it’s worth to notice how the Pietà seems like a logical consequence of adding these two elements together:

And I don’t know about you all, but I’m excited at the thought of potential angst as much as the possible tomfoolery.

[jerichoes]

Käärijä Tarot // The High Priestess The High Priestess is standing between the pillars of Boaz and Jachin. She wears a crown similar to the Egyptian goddess Hathor and is depicted with the Marian imagery of a blue mantle and the moon at her feet.

[richmond-rex]

Quite apart from its political implications as an identifying emblem for the Tudors, the rose was an important and pervasive Marian and Christological symbol that was used throughout the Middle Ages. Although in a religious context its significance was multi-layered and thus sometimes convoluted, basically the rose was used to refer either to specific qualities of the Virgin or to the Virgin herself and to the Passion of Christ. It is especially relevant, therefore, with regard to the derivation and rationale of the Tudor device of the rose, that both the Virgin and the Passion of Christ were central to Henry VII's personal devotions, as his will clearly indicates and the imagery of his chapel demonstrates. Thus, unquestionably, beyond its dynastic use, the rose would have had significance for him personally in its capacity as both a Marian and Christological symbol.

— Virginia K. Henderson, Retrieving the "Crown in the Hawthorn Bush": The Origins of The Badges of Henry VII | Traditions and transformations in late medieval England

[margindoodles2407]

Have you heard this song? It feels like one you’d love… there’s a lot of sea imagery ehehe

AUAGHYEUIFHRUYDH MY FRIEND I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH YOU DON'T UNDERSTANDDDDDD

YOU ARE SO RIGHT I LOVE IT VERY MUCH