As if the boys had not already "screwed" things up enough all by themselves. Where is Dan Brown when we need him?
NY Times | July 02, 2009
U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny By Laurie Goodstein
The Vatican is quietly conducting two sweeping investigations of American nuns, leaving some fearful that they are the targets of a doctrinal inquisition.
Purchases made through these links support this blog and slog effort. Both Amazon and Abebooks offer new books, but Abebooks offers more extensive access to rare and used books - some listed here might be a bit arcane. Kindly suggest additions.
Abbot, Elizabeth A History of Celibacy
Angier, Natalie Woman: An Intimate Geography
Bettelheim, Bruno Symbolic Wounds, Puberty Rites and the Envious Male Collier Books (1962)
Bishop, Clifford Sex and Spirituality: Ecstacy, Ritual and Taboo
Blackledge, Catherine The Story of V: Opening Pandora's Box
Blank,Joani Femalia
Briffault, Robert “ The Mothers; A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institutions original 3 vols: 1927) Paper abridged edition: The Kessinger Publishing
Brown, Norman Oliver Love's Body
Camphausen, Rufus The Encyclopedia of Sacred Sexuality : From Aphrodisiacs to Yoni Worship and Zap-Lam Yoga
Camphausen, Rufus The Yoni: Sacred Symbol of Female Creative Power
Cattrall and Levinson Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm
Chalker, Rebecca The Clitoral Truth: The Secret World At Your Fingertips
Clare, Daniel Odier Desire: The Tantric Path to Awakening
Corinne, Tee Cunt Coloring Book
Danielou, Alain The Phallus: Sacred Symbol of Male Creative Power
Dijkstra, Bram Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-Siecle Culture
Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism (Vol 1) editor, Beverly Moon Shambhala 1997 ISBN:1570622507 An Encyclopedia of Archetypal Symbolism: The Body (Vol 2)
Fletcher, Alan The Art of Looking Sideways
Fontenrose, Joseph Python: A Study of the Delphic Myth and Its Origin University of California Press 1959 (Reprint 1980 ISBN:0520040910)
Frazer, Sir James George “Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion” Kessinger Publishing Kessinger Publishing
Friedman, David A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis
Giedion, Siegfried, The Eternal Present (2 volumes) Volume I The Beginnings of Art; Volume II The Beginnings of Architecture Pantheon New York 1962
Gimbutas, Marija The Language of the Goddess
Gimbutas, Marija The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe
Graves, Robert The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth
Graves, Robert and Raphael Patai Hebrew Myths
Jaynes, Julian The Origin of Consciouness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Mann, A. T. Sacred Sexuality
Merritt, Natacha Digital Diaries
Miles, Margaret R. Carnal Knowing: Female Nakedness & Religious Meaning in the Christian West
Neret, Gilles Pussycats
Neumann, Erich The Great Mother
Newman, Barbara From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion and Literature (The Middle Ages Series)
University of Pennsylvania Press 1995 ISBN0812215451
Patai, Raphel “Man and Temple” Ktav 1947
Ridley, Matt The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Shlain, Leonard Sex, Time and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution
Shlain, Leonard The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image
Stevens, John The Cosmic Embrace: An Illustrated Guide to Sacred Sex
Squiers, Jennifer Pearson Peek : Photographs from the Kinsey Institute
Thompson, William The Time Falling Bodies Take To Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture
Twain, MarkLetters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings (Perennial Classics)
Vermaseren, Maarten Cybele and Attis
Walker, Barbara G. The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets
Warner, Marina Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary
White, David Gordon Kiss of the Yogini
Wolkstein and Kramer Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth
"In a letter to a friend, Toorop explained that he wanted to bring together the sentiments and ideas of ‘All-nature' in one grand form. The Brides are stylized expressions of the different mysteries in the shape of a human being. In this drawing Toorop, not for the first time, took up the old theme of Good versus Evil, in the form of asceticism versus lust, both in the figure of a woman. The young and naïve Bride, flanked by - in Toorop's words – 'the suffering of the soul which leads to the highest-purest, the mystical love” on the one hand – you can see this also in the bells at the topsides of the drawing, being held by the hands of Christ – and on the other side “the unquenchable thirst for deeply sensual and material longings', symbolized by the Bride who holds a cup which catches the blood that comes from a large urn. The urn is carried by the hands of women whose heads and bodies are being repressed by the Bride's other hand. They represent, in Toorop's meaning, 'the weak to eternal matter doomed world.'"
from a lecture by Francisca van Vloten, in the series related to the exhibition Masterpieces from European Artist Colonies 1830-1930 (Febr. 6 until May 22, 2005), Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta GA, on April 19, 2005
"It is so beautiful outside of color, color, color and sun … One gets intoxicated. The quiet is beyond words here. Your inner beauty keeps you so occupied, and outside the sun is contending with all the autumn colors …"
These words. . .were written by the Dutch artist Jan Toorop (1858-1928) in the autumn of 1908. They were meant for his friend and colleague Kees Spoor in Amsterdam and referred to the small seaside resort of Domburg on the former island of Walcheren, in the Dutch province of Zealand.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto are camping in the desert. They set up their
tent and are soon asleep. Some hours later, The Lone Ranger wakes his
faithful friend. "Tonto, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Tonto replies, "I see millions of stars, Kimosabe."
What does that tell you?" asks The Lone Ranger.
Tonto ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me
there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Theologically, it's
evidence that the great Spirit is all-powerful, and we are all small and insignificant. Chronologically, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What
does it tell you, Kimosabe?"
The Lone Ranger is silent for a moment, then says, "Tonto, you
dumb-ass. Someone has stolen our tent."
from Amazon.com listing- "Marina Abramovic is a pioneer in the use of performance as an art form. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. In her latest work, Balkan Erotic Epic, Abramovic creates new, surprising perspectives on archaic rituals that used erotic powers to influence fate and fortune. These powerful images talk to us about the disavowal of ancient practices, and about something buried deep in our consciousness."
The Balkan Epic- the interview, the book, the movie.
Credits, left to right - Carlo Crivelli, The Vision of the Blessed Gabriele, about 1489, National Gallery, London, followed by detail; El Padre Anónimo, Eterno Pintando a la Virgen de Guadalupe. Siglo XVIII; Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe housed on top of Tepeyac hill, north of Mexico City.
The caption which appears with Carlo Crivelli's detail (center left, above) in the book, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols, by J.C. Cooper, Thames & Hudson, 1978 isbn 0500271259 states "In his Vision of the Blessed Gabriele, Crivelli encloses the Virgin and the Child in an almond-shaped mandorla formed by the two intersecting circles symbolic of each of the holy persons' all-perfection." Cooper continues under the entry 'Mandorla': "The vesica piscis or ichthus, the almond-shaped aureole, the 'mystical almond' which depicts divinity; holiness; the sacred; virginity; the vulva."
From an inquiry to the author, Rufus Camphausen, who also hosts Yoniversum, a vast site on yoni/vulva studies where the following letter and accompanying illustrations were first posted three years ago:
"Dear Professor Camphausen,
"In my research, I have noticed the affinity between the artists' rendering of the various apparitions of female saints and the vulva. Especially the Madonna herself, of which there have been over 3000 accepted appearances during the last 1500 years. With your encyclopaedic overview, has anyone posited such visual similarity? Certainly, there must be a DNA level remembrance at play in the artists' imagination. (I include the art historian's classic "face vase" visualization tool as an additional aid.)"
Respectfully,
Frater Gray Hölme
"Dear Brother Hölme-
"The Madonna images next to your black and white renderings and the Yonis are simply great ... the association does not surprise me - although I've not seen it visualized in that much detail. Personally, I've only made the connection between the vesica pisces shaped "halo" around some 'Mother of God' images and the Yoni. To my knowledge, it has never been visually 'spelled out' quite so convincingly as in the images you have sent ... just lovely! Your drawings make it much more clear than Dan Brown's theory in the Da Vinci Code that the Madonna represents a continuation of the millennia old worship of the Great Goddess - now hidden below layers of obscuration. I would like your permission to use them in our yoniversum pages. However, in order to avoid an Bible Belt equivalent to the Fatwa against you, do think about a nom de plume for yourself as the discoverer of this esoteric wisdom. Frater Matrix perhaps? Once it's ready, I will send the relevant URL to the Vatican."
Regards, R.C. Camphausen
NOTE: The above correspondence led to the accompanying gallery of revealing images which can be accessed by the daring from the menu below comparing illustrations from prayer cards with photographs of vulvas. The limited choices of photographs are from the book Femalia by Joani Blank. The selected photographs are used here with permission of Joani Blank and the photographers, Tee Corinne and Michael A. Rosen, who - naturally - retain their Copyright ©. The center drawings are by Frater Gray Hölme.
Drawing One
Drawing Two
Drawing Three
Drawing Four
Drawing Five
Drawing Six
Drawing Seven
Drawing Eight
"My mother once said the world would never find peace until men fell at their women's feet and asked for forgiveness. This is true all over the world in the jungles of Mexico, in the back streets of Shanghai, in New York cocktail bars, husbands are getting drunk while the women stay home with the babes of their ever darkening future. If these men stop the machine and come home and get on their knees and ask for forgiveness and the women bless them peace will suddenly descend on the earth with a great silence like the inherent silence of the apocalypse."
from "On the Road: The Original Scroll" by Jack Kerouac - the 'legendary' first draft written in 1951 - to be published by Viking NYC on August 16, 2007 - isbn 067006355X - only 56 years too late, but better than Mark Twain's "Letters from Earth" - 60 years after its writing - see earlier blog here.
