~Aesop, 1480~
A poor man, being very ill and getting worse, promised the gods to sacrifice to them one hundred oxen if they saved him from death. Continue reading
The Cheat (Fable 55)
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Sanzuwu: a Totem
~Han Dynasty, China~
In Chinese legend, the Sanzuwu, or three-legged crow, is not a trickster or bad omen. He and his brothers were responsible for drawing the sun across the sky each day.
Featured Book: The Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs
~Excerpts from The Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs by Richard Alan Miller~
In psychology, ritual is considered the celebration of a myth, which is achieved through a carefully constructed enactment of the myth. Because ritual is the externalization of something internal, myth has a more archetypal than logical structure to it. Rituals reveal values at their most fundamental level. Man expresses in ritual what moves him most. Therefore: The symbol always originates on the inside and is projected outward.
Ex Libris: The Art of Possession
Bookplate of Charles Grave Hudson. Died 1813.
Ex libris, or bookplates, are placards inscribed with the name of a tome’s owner and affixed to the inside of its cover. Ex libris establish some amount of provenance — a clue into the history of a book’s possession. The art decorating bookplates is often heraldic, fantastic, ornate, and gorgeous. This collection is comprised mostly of plates created in Europe during the 17th & 18th centuries.
Gallery of Bones
Foetal Skeleton with Bow and Arrow, 17th century.
E W Robinson (drawing) – The Malay Archipelago, 1869
Holbein d. J.; Danse Macabre. XXXVII. The Pedlar
Willem Van Swanenburg Death and an Arrow About to Strike the Man Down, 1609.
Philip H. Wolfrom (American. Skeleton of a Primate
The Skeleton Re-Animated, Title Page to the Grave, a Poem by Robert Blair.
For a Swarm of Bees
Sitte ge, sīgewīf,
sīgað tō eorðan,
næfre ge wilde
tō wuda fleogan,
beō ge swā gemindige,
mīnes gōdes,
swā bið manna gehwilc,
metes and ēðeles.
Old English. Anglo Saxon metrical charm.
The Crow and the Pitcher: A Fable
~ From Aesop’s Fables, Robinson edition, 1895~
A Crow, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a Pitcher, which he saw at a distance. But when he came up to it, he found the water so low that with all his stooping and straining he was unable to reach it. Thereupon he tried to break the Pitcher; then to overturn it; but his strength was not sufficient to do either. At last, seeing some small pebbles lie near the place, he cast them one by one into the Pitcher; and thus, by degrees, raised the water up to the very brim, and quenched his thirst.”
Santa Muerte Blanca’s Prayer
Santa Muerte de mi corazón,
Niña Blanca,
Ampárame bajo tu manto
Y otórgame tu bendición
Para que el amor y la dicha siempre lleguen
Señora Mía dame tu fuerza
Para que todo lo que me rodea se armonice.
Para que la fortuna y la suerte me sigan siempre.
Que todo lo malo se retire
Que todo lo bueno venga.
Te lo pido por tu poder y fuerza sobre todas las cosas vivas.
Amén.
Alice’s Adventures Under Ground
A hand-written page from Lewis Carrol’s original manuscript copy of what would be Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In 1863, when this page was written, the story was known as Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. Illustrations are by the author himself. From the British Library.
Rat & Raven 