Pre Raphaelite Art Appreciation

 Any fans of Pre-Raphaelite art out there? I really love this old art of the Victorian and early Edwardian era, The colours and subject matter are so romantic and speak to my soul. I have pictures hanging up in my home office and Tarot bags on the theme too. Modern art doesn't speak to me the same way as this art. I visualise an artist studio with plenty sunlight streaming through the windows and a leafy green garden with lush green trees near the window for inspiration. Leadlight glass panes on the windows and a leadlight lamp in the room somewhere. To me these things go together with the era, and I love leadlight windows and lighting.  

I would prefer botanical art in modern paintings or something nature based. But this Pre-Raphaelite art has such a strong pull for me. I do feel a strong pull towards the mythical and whimsical elements of the art of this genre as it moved into the early 20th century. This style of painting is evocative in its beauty, elegance and the mystical  all wrapped in one package. 

 Midsummer's Eve by Robert Hughes and John William Waterhouse's famous Lady of Shallot painting,  are sitting above my computer as I type this. So feminine and a sense of a magical time in art where romance meets esoteric mysticism in a big way. Modern art cannot possibly evoke the same wonder in me like the Pre Raphaelite art does, no disrespect intended here, it’s just my personal preference in art. 

           

                                                                     Midsummer's Eve by Robert Hughes

                                                            The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse

                                               The Accolade by Edmund Blair Leighton 

Ophelia by J W Waterhouse

The vibrant colours of the John Everett Millais version of Ophelia  

The Ophelia paintings come in various versions by different artists.

All of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings are  beautiful, deeply evocative and esoteric, though loved by many for their sheer beauty alone. To me it is a visual mystical poetry of times gone by, by both the artists and the era. The times they depict and  how they make me feel from a modern times standpoint is hard to put in words. These artists were most definitely very privileged individuals not just in talent but from backgrounds that could afford to provide the artists with the means to create these wonders. 

 

The esoteric wisdom that each artist possesses is not unlike those on a metaphysical path that are immersed in the symbolism of the Tarot. But the sheer beauty that an artist creates on canvas is unsurpassed for beauty, wisdom and human experience that most of humanity never gets a chance to experience on a deep personal level. However, they can get a brief glimpse into this amazing transcendental world  by studying the beautiful artworks in a gallery, a book, poster or just on good old Google. 

The more one looks at the images the deeper they speak to the subconscious mind in subtle ways which I feel are beneficial to humans on a spiritual level, not just beautiful art for the sake of it. 

I hope these pictures may spark an interest in someone that is seeing them for the first time. 

There are hundreds of images on Google images if you just type in " Pre Raphaelite art". From there click on the images and read about the individual artists. I do hope that there is someone with a curiosity for this beautiful art that becomes passionate about this genre and benefits from this simple little post. 

Warm and fuzzy hugs,

Alex

 

Has the mystery identity of the Cerne Abbas Giant been solved? Academics claim Dorset's 180ft chalk figure may depict Hercules - after centuries of debate over the landmark

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12916121/academics-reveal-hercules-inspired-cerne-abbas-giant.html

The first thing that comes into my mind is an astrological point of reference. Just by clicking on the news article and seeing the picture. Having been reading metaphysical and mythological literature for 20 years I am very aware of the night sky and the mythological links.

To suggest Oliver Cromwell is utterly ridiculous how the hell can a mythology figure so ancient be connected to Cromwell of the 1600’s?  This is astrological and one needs to study the night sky map to see this and look at the names for each planet, constellation, star, asteroid, moons etc. The ancient scholars studied the night sky thousands of years ago and we are only now discovering how accurate they were thousands of years ago without modern technology to assist them. It was pure mathematics and observation of the night skies. Those astronomers were also astrologers too. These sciences were only separated due to the Catholic Church in modern human history, the 17th century in fact. Astrology is and always will be a science no matter what the Vatican says and does!

Human origins are said to be related to Orion, Sirius, the Dog Star; and the Dogon people of Africa know this from their mythology. The Dog Star or Sirius being very important in human history, mythology and astrology. And regardless of where on this planet you live, the night sky for astronomy and astrology has markers on the ground, such as Newgrange in Ireland, Stonehenge in England, the Giza pyramids aligned to the belt of Orion and Sirius. 

If you have a basic Planisphere (a double sided plastic disc showing both Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere), astrological software or astronomy software you can see the night sky mapped with the diagram of all the mythological creatures and the entire zodiac.  I have this software and I also put a link on my blog to download the Stellarium astronomy map of the night sky for anyone that’s interested. Astronomy is a good hobby to learn without doing the professional astronomer thing. 

There are many places around the world where the ancient people have mapped out the night sky and used it for astronomy as well as astrology for thousands of years. We nowadays have the luxury of technology that is incredibly precise down to seconds in the movement and the planets. These ancient people did it without technology, smart cookies huh. However astrology can warn us of events and how to deal with them as they arise. Hence the use of horary astrology that is favoured by world leaders since astrology was invented. 

https://www.hows.org.uk/personal/hillfigs/mirror/giants2.htm 

The David Chandler Company, Planisphere easily purchased online. 

Happy reading and perhaps you may want to investigate this phenomenon yourself and get a real buzz out of it. It’s informative and very useful to navigate through life with this knowledge. 

The hairy men of Australian mythology and the little people

https://www.cdu.edu.au/launchpad/research-impact/finding-elusive-little-people

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-05/the-story-of-arthur-marrin-and-the-hairy-man/7693462

An interesting post came up on Facebook and I thought that it was a very interesting subject. I didn’t know that there was such a thing as little people in Australian mythology or hairy men. The hairy men are not the same as the infamous Yowie though. The little people spoken of are like elemental beings but rather smelly. I wonder why they smelled so bad, perhaps something dietary and lack of hygiene.