#the three mothers

[tenderwulf]

Mater Suspiriorum

In his book Suspiria De Profundis, Thomas De Quincey talks about the three Ladies of Sorrow. The second one is Mater Suspiriorum, Our Lady Of Sighs.

«The second sister is called Mater Suspiriorum , Our Lady of Sighs. She never scales the clouds, nor walks abroad upon the winds. She wears no diadem. And her eyes, if they were ever seen, would be neither sweet nor subtle; no man could read their story; they would be found filled with perishing dreams, and with wrecks of forgotten delirium. But she raises not her eyes; her head, on which sits a dilapidated turban, droops forever, forever fastens on the dust. She weeps not. She groans not. But she sighs inaudibly at intervals. (...) She also carries a key; but she needs it little.»

[suspiria76]

INFERNO

Italy

1980

Directed by Dario Argento

[scatterbrain33]

Prayers of The Three Mothers

(Mother of Sighs)

Dark Queen,

She who carries the sighs of the hopeless,

We gather as one in reverence.

We call on thee within in the endless darkness,

To release us from the mortal coil once our time has come,

so our sorrows may finally lift and melt away in the sun.

In life and in death,

We await your embrace.

Mother Suspiriorum

(Mother of Tears)

Weep for us,

Sorrowful mother.

Weep for the restless sleepers,

For your sisters who’s skins were blackened by burning flame,

Weep for those suffering from the cruelties of this world.

Let your cries fill the night sky,

And may your tears wash away the sorrows and doubts in our hearts.

Weep for us,

Mother Lachrymarum

(Mother of Darkness)

Defier of God,

Maiden of Lunacies,

Through your darkness, the true wicked ones are revealed,

Where those who are oppressed find sanctuary,

Mother of Outcasts,

Whatever path we may walk,

We return and rejoice in your shadows as we bless your name,

Mother Tenebrarum

(Combined Prayer)

Fear,

Darkness,

Sorrow,

Grant us mercy in this unforgiving world,

Nourish our souls with your tears in this blessed hour,

And breathe new life into us in which we are reborn.

Unholy Mothers,

Guide us with your hands and teach us to draw empathy from cruelty,

Kindness from hatred,

To embrace the shadows but never let them consume us.

Mater Tenebrarum

Mater Lachrymarum

Mater Suspiriorum

Hail the Three Mothers!

(Artwork not mine)

[esqueletosgays]

MOTHER OF TEARS (2007)

La terza madre

Director: Dario Argento Cinematography: Frederic Fasano

[xbirdiex]

Suspiria - 1977 - Dario Argento

Suspiria - 2018 - Luca Guadagnino

[witchesinstuff]

Mater Tenebrarum

Veronica Lazar, Inferno (1980)

[radiofreealbemut]

[broughtabooktothedance]

Truly fascinating book that links the lives of Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little, and the impact each had on their sons, communities, and all of us.

[walsstino]

The Three Mothers

((A/N: thank you, @cactus-in-a-teacup, for listening to me few days ago as I hyped about Walsstino. You made me want to write something again.))

The world was first a dark void, from which First Mother and First Father came. She was force of creation, and he of destruction, and they couldn't exist without each other. Their violent dance created the planet, but they were tired. So they split into four entities each.

Mother split into Mothers of Sky, Stone, Sea and Flame, and Father split in their destructive equivalents. And the Mothers began creating, and the Fathers countered their efforts.

Years passed, decades, centuries even. The Mothers were growing more tired by the day, and agreed to create beings with a special spark that would take up their fights.

Mother of Sky was first, and she made the harpies. The Father of Sky fought them with storms and thunder, and hurricanes, but the Harpies prevailed.

Father of Flame grinned and whispered a word to Father of Sky, and from their will an enormous bird of prey took flight and hunted the harpies where they flew. To survive, harpies made their nests in the cliffs where Windmaster could not find them.

Mother of Stone saw how it was and created the Treefolk, to hide in the trees and spread the roots deep so birds above couldn't pick them. And for a while, it was good, for Father of Stone sent them earthquakes and droughts and landslides, but Treefolk prevailed.

Father of Flame grinned and whispered a word to Father of Stone, and from their will a being as large as the mountain grew from the ground with fire and rumble, and its fiery blood burned the treefolk and their forests. To survive, Treefolk cast their seed and hurried it growth, made it feed upon the blood that killed their ancestors.

Mother of Sea saw how it was and thought long. And she created mermaids, smart and fast and fiesty, with tails to navigate the seas and feet to run upon the shores, and voices so lovely they could enchant the birds. And the Father of Sea cast many calamities their way, whirpools and currents, and sharks and eels, and waves that could level a mountain, but mermaids prevailed.

Father of Flame grinned and whispered a word to Father of Sea, and from their will swam out a beast of tentacles and storms, and its roar poured terror into the mermaids. But the learned and adapted and were fast and avoided the great beast so well, the Fathers growled for the first time.

Mother of Flame saw it all and thought for a long time. Father of Flame was angry and was sure to unleash a monster unlike any other upon her children. So she cut her skin and used her flesh to create humans. She filled them with rage and swiftness and the fires of her soul, and breathed her last breath to make them able to create.

The Father of Flame saw this and was angry, and he burned the very earth they walked upon, but humans took the fire and tamed it, to cook their meats and warm them in cold nights. So the Father of Flame called upon the other Fathers to join their strengths. And the humans took the elements and tamed them. The stone became tools and farms. And water was lead to feed the farms, and humans build boats to sail upon the seas, and they used wind to push their boats from one island to another.

And Father of Flame grew angrier still.

He took the beasts from other Fathers and made them one, made them a Dragon. From the Windmaster, the Dragon got wings and claws and swiftness in the air. From Volcano, the Dragon got the scales harder than any stone and the fire in its veins and breath. And from the Kraken, the Dragon got wit and appetite and desire to hunt. And the Dragon hunted the humans, burned their crops and tore down their walls and the humans seemed done for.

But humans had the Flame in their soul and they thought and they created and built weapons and traps and took Dragon down, and cut through its scales with blades sharper than any claw. And they took its heart and used its beat to find Father of Flame. For centuries humans waged a war against him, and eventually won, and threw his body into the skies, where it still circles the world, bringing light and warmth.

And other Fathers saw this and they were angry, and they turned their great beasts at humans. And each beast humans defeated and used its heart to find the Fathers. And with each Father they waged a war, until ultimately humans won.

Father of Sea was sliced and chopped and cast across the sea, his bones jutting from the seas as stones.

Father of Sky had his lungs removed and sent to the four sides of the world, where his breath still causes the winds.

Father of Stone the humans buried in the ocean, his head and shoulders peeking above the sea and humans settled his body and named it Walsstino.

But Mothers saw this and were afraid. For what beings are those who can defeat the Fathers? And how can they be certain one day the humans wouldn't turn on them? So they struck a deal with humans, that they would make the world adapt under human hands as long as humans agreed not to hunt the mermaids, the harpies and the treefolk. And humans asked if they would care for the Flame of human souls until they would be ready to be reborn, and the three Mothers agreed. And the deal was made.

Mother of Sea would care for sailors and fishermen and any other who died in or above the sea, and the living she gifted with plentiful fish.

Mother of Sky took the diseased, after their bodies were burned into ash and the ashes thrown into winds, and the living she gifted with fresh water that rained from the skies.

And Mother of Stone took all others, as long as their body was buried with a seed, and the living she gifted with berries and fruits and herbs.

And though the Mothers are temperamental, they do hold on to their promise and humans hold on to theirs.

Or so say the Walsses.

[maimoncat]

Happy Halloween, everyone. To celebrate this night of scares, I’m posting this “Suspiria” fanart here. I really love using these pens

[wellconstructedsentences]

She would risk standing up to her husband, whom even she had to address as ‘Mr. Baldwin,' to ensure that Jimmy could follow his passion. She'd been kept from her own by her circumstances, and she would not let the same thing happen to her son.

The Three Mothers by Anna Malaika Tubbs

[tenderwulf]

Mater Lachrymarum

In his book Suspiria De Profundis, Thomas De Quincey talks about the three Ladies of Sorrow. The first one is Mater Lachrymarum, Our Lady Of Tears.

«Her eyes are sweet and subtle, wild and sleepy, by turns; oftentimes rising to the clouds, oftentimes challenging the heavens. She wears a diadem round her head. (...) This sister, the elder, it is that carries keys more than papal at her girdle, which open every cottage and every palace. (...) By the power of her keys it is that Our Lady of Tears glides a ghostly intruder into the chambers of sleepless men, sleepless women, sleepless children, from Ganges to the Nile, from Nile to Mississippi.»

[adarkrainbow]

I was watching a review/presentation of the Three Mothers trilogy I mean duology because of course there never was any third movie... And they pointed out something I had not realized before.

A way the two movies oppose/parallel each other, which also fits with the fairytales they are inspired by. Because if you didn't know, one of the ideas for these movies was to use fairytale motifs and subtext, with Suspiria being inspired by (and referencing) Snow-White, while Inferno was more loosely influenced by Hansel and Gretel.

The analysis was that Suspiria was a "coming of age" story - Suzy ends up victorious, and leaves the school having defeated the witches, having survived, she is laughing, she is happy, she embraces the pouring rain and the storm, she isn't the scared "little girl" she was when arriving in Germany, she leaves as a hero and a strong woman.

Meanwhile Inferno is a story about the protagonists being lured to their doom: it is about facing and confronting death (quite literaly), it is about being lured into a trap and barely escaping out of it... Which is why the ending is much more ominous and much less satisfying. Marc is not satisfied, happy or victorious when he leaves the building: he is wounded, he is scared, he is baffled and confused, and he has nothing to laugh at - unlike Suzy in the first movie.

Mater Tenebrarum from Inferno (1980)

[sakuralovespossums]

I wanna read a fanfic trilogy that’s a sorta crossover between Chainsaw Man and Suspiria where the four horsemen take the place of the three mothers and secretly rule over the earth and are located in different areas of the world.

The trilogy would be split into four fics, where each one centers around a different protagonist coming across one of the sisters and defeating her, similar to how Argento’s trilogy consisted of three movies centering around each of the three mothers.

The first fic is about Makima, the mother of control/conquest. The second is on Yoru, the mother of war. Third is Fami, the mother of famine, and the final being Death, the mother of…..well….death.

That and if you’ve ever watched Suspiria, it’s whole eerie fever dream vibe just really fits with Makima lol

[3liza]

hot autistic adult women are always saying they're doing fine really and everyone is nice to them and they just need to figure out a few little things and then everything will be perfect

[maikamaki]

HEY!!

look what i made.