chiildoflibra

[chiildoflibra]

The ego says, ‘I shouldn’t have to suffer,’ and that thought makes you suffer so much more. It is a distortion of the truth, which is always paradoxical. The truth is that you need to say yes to suffering before you can transcend it.

Eckhart Tolle

[chiildoflibra]

do you know how the acropolis of athens came to be the way it is now? they stored gunpowder in it, treated it much like any other space big enough for storage, until it exploded time and time again, leaving it a mere shell.

now they realize its worth.

what i am is that acropolis, and all that you have is the same apologetic effort of the modern greeks.

it was well loved once, but no one uses that as salve.

— from my journal, 23. june. ‘24.

[chiildoflibra]

[chiildoflibra]

[chiildoflibra]

[ vestal virgin with wreath of ivy, carl friedrich deckler. ]

— oil on canvas, 1870.

this painting portrays one of the six vestal virgins, a very important pillar in ancient roman society.

the vestal virgins were six virgins chosen with utmost care to be priestesses of the goddess vesta, the roman equivalent of hestia, goddess of family and the hearth. in her temple, their duties included the careful tending to the hearth, the sacred fire on which the entirety of the roman empire depended.

six girls, aged six to ten, were chosen amongst many in the setting of a public lot drawing. afterwards, they’re taken to the roman forum by the temple of vesta to swear an oath of 30 years of chastity, compensated by many rights and privileges the other women of the era did not have. they spent those 30 years tending to the sacred fire in the hearth - lit in march and maintained all the way to the following year. if the fire was put out or any irregularities were to occur, it was a sign of grave sin, usually the unchastity of one of the virgins, or perhaps an assault on one of them, and the whole empire was at risk.

due to their most sacred role, they were held in the highest levels of respect, given many a privilege like owing an estate or testifying in court, and any offense on them was nearly unthinkable. a sight of a vestal virgin on the way of a man led to execution was almost a certain sign of his freedom, if proven coincidental. and in the case that a virgin is found unchaste, willingly, that is, her execution was by bricking and starvation, as the bloodshed of those virgins was not allowed.

this tradition survived for a thousand years, surviving even the fluctuations of the roman empire, and even has some influence on christianity after the fall.

more on my side blog.

[chiildoflibra]

[ leda and the swan, heinrich hofmann. ]

— oil on canvas, 1886.

the painting portrays a scene in greek mythology in which zeus takes the form of an injured swan to gain the affection of leda, a mortal woman who captured his attention.

the oblivious leda finds the swan and nurses it back into health. in the meantime, a bound forms between them, just as the god had intended. the swan continues to be leda’s pet, until in a fateful day, it reveals itself to be the king of gods and shares the couch of leda. on that self same night, leda lies with her husband, to later be pregnant with the twins castor and pollux, better known as the dioscuri, or the twins of gemini.

the painting portrays the moments before their union, in which the swan comes to leda not as pet, but as a lover.

more on my side blog.

[chiildoflibra]

[ the vision of endymion, sir edward john poynter. ]

— oil on canvas, 1902.

the painting is based around the greek myth of the young shepherd endymion (portrayed sleeping in the bottom of the painting) who fell in love with the goddess artemis (also known as diana, selene, goddess of the moon).

he wished for eternal sleep so that his lover goddess would visit him in his dreams, the eternal sleep is symbolized in the work as the red poppies on the sides of the painting. he sleeps, and the goddess descends in her drapery flowing about her, which adds the erotic nature to the dream-like state of the goddess.

more on my side blog.

[chiildoflibra]

song of the day. haven’t posted one of those in a while.

[chiildoflibra]

when the water is only the right temperature after you get out of the shower.

this is not about showers.

[chiildoflibra]

I need to scream for 2 hours and break something and rip all my hair out and then scream again, but other than that I'm doing so well!!!

[chiildoflibra]

born to be insane, forced to be nonchalant

[chiildoflibra]

@lovesdaya

[chiildoflibra]

i wrote some poetry of some sort about how one can love people with one’s mind, and/or one’s heart. i wonder if anyone is interested in reading.

[chiildoflibra]

song of the day. haven’t posted yesterday, for whatever reason.

[chiildoflibra]

Women moaning

Women moaning

Women moaning

Women moaning

Women moaning

Women moaning

Women moaning

[chiildoflibra]

THE FEMALE BODY IS ART.

[chiildoflibra]

hate getting attached cause mfs be so temporary and my ass be out here tryna make shit last a lifetime