#religious iconology

[nastasya--filippovna]

WHO IS CROWLEY AFTER THE FALL?

so there is a LOT of debate over who Crowley was before The Fall. I have seen a lot of headcanons going around the place saying he was Raphael or Kokabiel or Baraqiel.

I mean this is the Exhibit A for saying that Crowley is Baraqiel. I think NOT.

Because this is a handbook written by demons for demons. The title is literally (if my memory serves me right) a guide to angelic beings that walk the earth. SO Crowley is not That..

Other than the red hair thing, no other physical characteristic matches. This Baraqiel guy sounds like an absolute gremlin. grisly slug, occasionally damp. NOT CROWLEY. I mean she's the most dashing thing around.

NO. #3 It says CROWLEY one line above the name Baraqiel. If Crowley is Baraqiel then why would his demon name appear right under that?????

And I think somewhere Neil Gaiman refuted this theory (I'm not really sure but I think so plz don't come at me with pitchforks if I got it wrong). So.......

But this is all beside the point. What I'm trying to say is that too much has been said about who Crowley was before he fell. There is very little, if not none, that has been said about who he was After.

Some say that he's an insignificant demon or some loser guy in Hell or whatever the equivalent of an angel principality deputy on Earth is.

I BEG TO DIFFER.

He is Important. Just look at the kind of assignments he's given. Original Sin, Major Historical Temptations and Evil Acts, Delivering the Antichrist and bringing about Armageddidn't.

But who is he exactly??????????

So canonically we're never told what Crowley's rank in Hell is. But there are more that enough hints for us to figure that out for ourselves.

But where does one place him when the hierarchy is so complex and varying across different historical and theological sources.

Such as here:

I have been thinking about this and I have two current theories

Crowley is Astaroth

Crowley is The Leviathan

I'll discuss only one in this post. I'll save the other for the next post.

Now book!Omens clearly tells us that Crowley or Crawley is not his real demonic name. For those who haven't read the book this happens when Hastur Lavista and Ligur come to hand over the antichrist to Crowley in the churchyard and as he's about to sign his name as "Crowley" they tell him to sign his real demonic name.

Are you with me?!!!!!

NANNY ASHTORETH!

Why did she use this particular name for her nanny disguise. What if...... what if this IS her real demon name.

A lot of my real life friends are annoyed beyond measure by my constant ranting about etymologies, origin and construction of discourse and epistemology, especially when it comes to presenting my thesis over how all Abrahamic religions and their symbology and iconography is, how do I put it, inspired from pagan religions that they expunged. I mean the concept of angles, the man shaped being with wings that is actually just a ball of fire or eyes or hale discs or sth is a pagan Persian concept.

Back to the matter at hand.

Ashtoreth, Astaroth, Astarte, Ishtar, are all the same name in different dialects and languages. All of these refer to a certain Babylonian goddess. When the People of God probably cleansed off all the infidels they decided to literally demonize their god and name a demon after her. In Milton's Paradise Lost Astaroth is one of the three princes or Grand Dukes of Hell alongside Beelz and Lucifer. If this theory might be true Crowley is a Prince/Grand Duke of Hell.

Now this gets even more interesting. Ashtoreth, Astarte, whatever you may, is a goddess of fertility and is associated with childcare. I mean at this point I just stopped to marvel at the attention to detail that Mr. Gaiman's work hold, the smallest hidden meanings in the storytelling.

Another thing. The Babylonians built these temples called ziggurats to worship Astarte and they looked something like this

and this

they were also known as sky temples.

Because Astaroth was first and foremost the goddess of stars and the Babylonians were stargazers and the temples were constructed as a stairway to heaven to take them closer to the stars and functioned as an observatory at times.

I'm just imagining Crowley turning up in ancient Babylon and with her other-worldly looks, knowledge of the stars and compassion for children they just..... started to worship her.

Before the Christians came and declared them pagans and the rest is history.

Continued in next post for the second theory......

[thedansemacabres]

A Modern Harvested Look Into Dionysos Nykletios

[ID: A mostly green image with a large, vibrant grape left to the left and blurry brown grape trunk in the background to the off-centre. Next to it is a large, close up image of an unripened verdant grape cluster.]

LITTLE DO MOST PEOPLE KNOW THAT MUCH OF THE MODERN GRAPE HARVEST HAPPENS AT NIGHT, as dedicated winemakers wish to ensure the consistency of their crop—lord Helios’ rays are what ripen the fruit, at the mercy of Dionysus’ influence. Other times harvest does during cool days, but the harvesters are still pressed to ensure the safety of the harvest—hot fruit spells problems for the winemakers, and winemakers are what buy the crop to ferment. And when I was there on the cool afternoon, Helio’s light fading from the horizon, I felt Dionysos there with the whisper of Nyktelios. 

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT 

Nykletios (Νυκτελιος “of the night”) is an epithet only directly mentioned perhaps once, kin to Hestios; as such it may be hard to get a direct usage on the meaning of this epithet. Pausanias states:

Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 40. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "After the precinct of Zeus [in Megara] . . . you see a temple of Dionysus Nyktelios (Nocturnal), a sanctuary built to Aphrodite Epistrophia (She who turns men to love), an oracle called that of Nyx (Night)."

Riding the Phallus for Dionysus suggests that this epithet may be connected to a larger mystery cult, that of a veiled Dionysus, with rites perhaps similar to the one Plutarch mentioned. Several of Dionysos’ rites occur within darkness—within Agros, his rites were nocturnal, invoking the terror and awe of Nyx’s darkness. His other mysteries likely involved the night as well. 

Night is also invoked several times with Dionysos, such as in the Bacchae. One example I associate with Nykletios are these lines from Dionysos and Pentheus: 

ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ τὰ δ ̓ ἱερὰ νύκτωρ ἢ μεθ ̓ ἡμέραν τελεῖς;  ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ νύκτωρ τὰ πολλά· σεμνότητ ̓ ἔχει σκότος. Pentheus When you dance these rites, is it at night or during daylight? Dionysus Mainly at night. Shadows confer solemnity.

Even as these rites are no longer practiced, it is almost fitting that modern harvests mostly occur at night—and winemaking during harvest season can easily draw into the dark nights as well, as we work on the grape and yeast’s schedules, not our own. 

A MODERN TAKE ON DIONYSUS NYKLETIOS 

As epithets can have multiple functions, I place Dionysos Nykletios in both the night harvests of vines, comforting frozen hands as we harvest fruit for the best vintage, along with his endemic nocturnal rites. The modern wine world is both alike and like the ancient one—the wine season is still within winter, with the worst moments for a winemaker being the time before Christmas until next March when the wines are finishing. 

If there was a day a hellenic pagan vineyard would exist, I would imagine that a procession would be in store for a religious harvest—though, there would not be any free juices allowed to paint the skin red. When you harvest grapes for wine, you do not want to burst the berries, and I could imagine Dionysos’ laugh when it eventually occurs. 

Dionysus Nykletios, May your hands warm us Under eternally Dark Nyx As the vintage is pressed And made into your Fine wine. 

References 

Csapo, É. (1997). Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual, and Gender-Role De/Construction. Phoenix (Toronto), 51(3/4), 253. https://doi.org/10.2307/1192539

Gilbert Murray, & Ian Johnston. (2015). Euripides Bacchae: A Dual Language Edition. Faenum Publishing Oxford, Ohio.

[fearlesstarker]

robert langdon au

known for a brilliant problem-solving mind and his genius, langdon has an eidetic memory. as professor at harvard university, he teaches religious iconology and the fictional field of symbology.

langdon was a diver at phillips exeter academy in prep school and played water polo at princeton university where he went for college. at the age of seven, langdon fell into a well and was trapped there at night. this led to him developing claustrophobia, which is believed to persist in the following years.

he has a cold calculating look. robert is always secretive and silent, but his lectures put into a trance. he amazes with his charm, and his voice sounds like music.

[beesmygod]

im not a gamer but i love learning about the lore/themes of fromsoft games. tarnished archeologist on yt analyses architecture and connects themes with real world art history, i thought maybe youd find it interesting

im sorry anon, but this guy drives me bonkers but i think its bc he has historian degree brain and i have art degree brain.

what i mean is: there's a statue in old yharnam that depicts a woman and her attendants looking up while tending to a corpse. this one

he interprets this as everyone looking up toward an unknown celestial event unmentioned in canon. his reasoning is that because there are some real life historical examples of art made under similar circumstances (witnessing an eclipse or meteor or something like that), that this must be another example of such a thing. he also very baselessly assumes that the woman depicted in the center is the same woman in every statue and decides she was the center of the church and what he assumes is the "old religion" prior to the founding of the church.

but this completely removes bloodborne from its very specific aesthetic influences and like...established canon. soulsborne dorks (me) love to over think tiny details but the invention of characters based on the frankly bizarre idea that all women are the same is a little much lol.

here's how i interpret this statue:

the statue draws very heavily from roman catholic iconology, like the rest of bloodborne. however, it is a surface level scraping of the spooky imagery from catholic art throughout human history. there is very little ACTUAL connection to catholicism. there is no christ figure, no god, no holy spirit, and no literal madonna.

the woman at the center is a maddona-type figure in her posing, but his analysis forgets that pthumeru AND yharnam were/are matriarchies. maybe there was a king in yharnam once but annalise is/was queen. all the blood saints we meet are women, exclusively. the veneration of women in general should not be that surprising in bloodborne.

it is not depicting a stargazing event because everyone is looking in different directions.

its not even clear if the statues have eyes or if their eyes are even open; i assumed that they were closed in religious rapture

they are indoors lol. like NOW the roof is collapsed but it wasn't when the church was built

this statue is located in the church of the good chalice, which was built to worship the undying holy blood. i think he has it right that this body is being prepared for burial, but it's completely dried out and desiccated. it resembles the corpses in the chalice dungeon coffin-chests and used by the labyrinth madmen to beat you

a similar figure is seen in the statue covering up the entrance that leads you to old yharnam. in fact this might be the exact same one without the broads lol.

i dont know what this is supposed to depict but my best guess is a used up blood saint drained completely dry. but big emphasis on "guess"

[random-imagines-blog]

Imagine being a Christian girl, and having Tate try to change your faith.

“Tate, you need to stop doing this - please,” You pleaded as you turned the crucifix on your bedroom wall from the upside down position, down to what it was supposed to be.

The teenage ghost rolled his eyes. “It’s either upside down, or you’re taking it down. He creeps me out.”

“He creeps you out?” You asked, more than a little surprise. This was the school shooting Tate Langdon after all, the one who constantly fiddled with the religious iconology of your family, teasing you about it relentlessly. But this was something new.

“I feel like he’s always watching me. Watching us. It’s hard enough getting alone time with you, with all the other fuckers around here. Now I gotta deal with those beady little eyes-”

“Tate...” You said, softer than you meant to. Having lived in this house for six months now, you’ve gotten used to a lot of Tate’s behaviors. The same ones that made you appalled and aghast in the first place. You tried to see past all of the gloating and showboating to the message that was underneath and try to find the sweetness. If you didn’t, you’d go mad. Reluctantly, you took the crucifix, the strung up Jesus, off of the wall and held it in your hand. “Maybe just for a little while...”

“Thank fuck for that,” He said, putting his arms around you and lifting you up from the ground into a spin. The wooden cross went flying from your hands, landing on the floor and sliding across from it. It went further than it normally would be able to, going right out the door. Probably for someone else to play with but it went forgotten for the moment as you were swept up inside of Tate. The boy you believed you could convert one day. The boy who was thinking the same about you.

Requested by: Anonymous

[cadaverousdecay]

Hi! I’ve seen some of your supernatural social media posts and started to wonder if you take suggestions or possible prints? If not then just take this as someone saying they very much so enjoy your work, but if you do then I have an idea if you want to use it. Maybe there’s a vampire who was recently turned (idk what that would be for them, but maybe 1 mortal human lifetime?) and they’re still having trouble letting go of religious iconology that surrounded them before they weee undead for whatever reason and they turn to other supernatural creatures online for ways they can let go of or cope with letting go of these comfort items that only hurt them. Anyways, I really like what you do and hope you have a great day! - :D

hi! aww thanks :] i don’t really take suggestions but that’s a cool idea! would love to see someone do something with it! hope you have a good day too anon <33

[pippamidletong]

I want to be an activist, a vogue femme dancer, a housewife, an ancient greek teacher at a Liceo classico in Neaples, a famous fashion designer, a dj, a glottologist, a skincare influencer on tiktok, an ice-skater to competitive level, a phd candidate in Iconology of medieval religious architecture, a Mario mieli scholar, a raver, a socialite in New york, an italian teacher in foreign countries, a secretary or the president of the MiT (Movimento identità Transessuale), the styling assistant of bella hadid’s stylist, a theater/film actress, a cashier in Bologna, the co-founder of a non-alcoholic drinks brand competitor of the bella hadid’s one, a documentary filmmaker, a journalist in Milan who uses a lot facebook, a poet’s best friend, ...

[ghostliest-ghosty-ghost-bastard]

uno reverse card. my saw trap is YOU have to gush about a special interest. your time starts NOW.

-🦇

Aw shit, um um ummm, ok ok, got it, so um, don't judge me but, Religious themes in fiction works. That is it.

I'll specifically talk about Christian themes here because of personal history with it.

I'm a huge fan of like, biblical themes in fictional works because of how widespread the religion is, and because of the vast different sects of the religion, so many people can see things so differently and it's just one source material.

Hundreds of years of people making sermons on ways to think of this and hundreds of years of people over these people and angels and demons, of people writing over these themes of good and evil and the folly of man and the fall of those once holy and how some of them may be beauty corrupted. I love the horrors of the beautiful righteous and the beauty of the fallen corrupt. I love the moral dalemas and free will concepts and the nature of ones own kind and GRAGH. THERES SO MUCH YOU CAN DO WITH TELIGIOUS THEMES AND ICONOLOGY THAT CAN TOUCH SO MANY PEOPLE SO DIFFERENTLY

That's my mini rant. It was this, music, horror concepts, Undertale or Batman or Gorillaz/TØP, so you can decide if you lucked out or not

[ladydihria]

Book: Origin

Author: Dan Brown

"there is only one way Christianity will survive the coming age of science. We must stop rejecting the discoveries of science. We most stop denouncing provable facts. We must become a spiritual partner of science, using our vast experience—millennia of philosophy, personal inquiry, meditation, soul-searching—to help humanity build a moral framework and ensure that the coming technologies will unify, illuminate, and raise us up … rather than destroy us.”

"Your conscience will be your guide. When life is dark, let your heart show you the way.”

Sypnosis:

Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, arrives at the ultramodern Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to attend a major announcement—the unveiling of a discovery that “will change the face of science forever.” The evening’s host is Edmond Kirsch, a forty-year-old billionaire and futurist whose dazzling high-tech inventions and audacious predictions have made him a renowned global figure. Kirsch, who was one of Langdon’s first students at Harvard two decades earlier, is about to reveal an astonishing breakthrough . . . one that will answer two of the fundamental questions of human existence. As the event begins, Langdon and several hundred guests find themselves captivated by an utterly original presentation, which Langdon realizes will be far more controversial than he ever imagined. But the meticulously orchestrated evening suddenly erupts into chaos, and Kirsch’s precious discovery teeters on the brink of being lost forever. Reeling and facing an imminent threat, Langdon is forced into a desperate bid to escape Bilbao. With him is Ambra Vidal, the elegant museum director who worked with Kirsch to stage the provocative event. Together they flee to Barcelona on a perilous quest to locate a cryptic password that will unlock Kirsch’s secret. Navigating the dark corridors of hidden history and extreme religion, Langdon and Vidal must evade a tormented enemy whose all-knowing power seems to emanate from Spain’s Royal Palace itself . . . and who will stop at nothing to silence Edmond Kirsch. On a trail marked by modern art and enigmatic symbols, Langdon and Vidal uncover clues that ultimately bring them face-to-face with Kirsch’s shocking discovery . . . and the breathtaking truth that has long eluded us. Origin is Dan Brown’s most brilliant and entertaining novel to date.

Thoughts:

Robert Langdon style as usual, ahhahahah so far I like the plot naman, predictable lang din masyado yung culprit na nagleleak ng informations. Maybe if he points it out to a real person instead of a computer baka maimpress pa ako, parang gamit na gamit na kasi sa mga thriller movies yung style ng suspect niya eh. Although may mga red herrings but unsatisfying kasi my loopholes din eh na madaling mapansin ng readers. But if you're a fan of books with a touch of histories then I could recommend this to you, you'll probably enjoy it though.

[sakuraswordly]

Let's Analysis

Finding the North Star also mean Our Conquest on The Ocean of Stars

Enkidu: Tools need not the northern wind or the sun

But eventually, Punch and King Gilgamesh knew that couldn't last forever. In the end, he will be alone.

Not different in Sonic X Episode 39 how Sonic felt.

They accept the truth in this world or death or the cycle of rebirth and death. They can't accept the way that should be because they're not in that part and not humans. They're like stars that they will be the same.(#the shining stars who give hope) Even when the light vanishes into the darkness, they remain the same. That's why at first they didn't want to make a relationship with anyone. But they didn't understand why they needed someone by their side to guide them. Many planets still receive the light from those stars that shine so brightly. But because without planets, there would be nothing to see just like the sun and the moon, we wouldn't be able to see each other and the beauty of this earth without light.

Peter: When you need a reason to keep going, I'll remind you. And if you want to be the star in the sky. I can be your "earth"

That's the reason behind why King Gilgamesh never abandoned the earth. And....Sonic, Punch and King Gilgamesh are the stars and they(the stars) need a place for them, Syaoran, Peter and Danny are the earth.

Journal for the History of Astronomy: Source

Some concepts in the history of astronomy have seriously affected the development of science and culture in many regions. The concept of zodiac is one of them. The zodiac as a band of constellations, within which visible motions of the Moon and planets occur, played an important role in the astronomy of ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Greece, and countries of Islam. The ideas associated with the zodiac had not only astronomical but also astrological and religious significance. The history of Mesopotamian zodiac is of particular importance, since it had a direct impact on the formation of ideas about the zodiac in ancient Greece and in Islamic countries, and through them in Europe.

The history of the Mesopotamian zodiac is a long and carefully studied issue.1 It is subdivided into two key problems closely related to each other: (1) the discovery of the band of zodiacal constellations through which the Sun, Moon, and five planets move, and (2) the division of the zodiacal band into 12 equal parts to form the so called uniform zodiac used in mathematical astronomy. Sources related to the history of zodiac are cuneiform texts of various types (not only astronomical), dated mainly from the first millennium BC. This article will investigate just one aspect of the zodiac history—the question of when and how a system of 12 zodiac constellations was developed in Mesopotamia. We also set the task of identifying traces of this system directly in cuneiform sources. Surprisingly, in the existing historical and scientific literature this question has not been studied yet. But when examined in detail on the basis of authentic sources, the answer to this question might appear to be not so simple and not so obvious.

The three main astral symbols represented on the kudurrus: a) crescent; b) sundisk; c) star.

Examples of patterns represented on the kudurrus reliefs: a) linear pattern; b) 'triangular shape' pattern.

As you can see From: The Astral Family in Kassite Kudurrus Reliefs:: Iconographical and Iconological Study of Sîn, Šamaš and Ištar Astral Representations. These three symbols will be important and hint at the future.

P.S. Don't think anything romantic yet!

[manonthomsonstudio4]

Elizabeth Heyert

After researching the madonna-whore complex I wanted to research how this translated into the art world. Upon research I discovered Elizabeth Heyert, a photographer based in New York who explores feminine identity through the juxtaposition of religious iconology and pop culture/hollywood stars. Heyert attempts to expose the impossible standards set by the religious ideal - Mary - and instead present her simply as a women. Although I am not necessarily inspired by the formal and visual elements of Heyert’s works, her experimental photographic collages clearly question what it means to be treated like a women - whether that is with respect or with aggressive lust. As stated by Heyert herself, “my project is not as much about religion as it is about idolatry and the ways society creates myths and false images about women.”

[mdgonebonkers111-blog]

So recently I got a chance to read Origin by Dan Brown. Origin is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. It's totally understandable. When put in competition with other mindbending adventures of Langdon, it doesn't stand a chance . Here are my brief thoughts on Origin -

[orthodoxlifeincolorado]

Fanning the flames of dissent

Fanning the flames of dissent

I ‘found’ Leah Remini’s IG account. I say ‘found’ because it was not lost… I just never before thought to look it up. I love her outspoken response to Scientology. As I was watching her reels, and listening to her talk about Scientology, I started thinking about my days as an Evangelical. There are many similarities; the control, the money, the condemnation, and more. I pray more Evangelicals…

[hermitcraft9]

Now ,im now im no fan of religious ctommy but i willsay.... U people are so boring about it. Like if youre gonna play with religion why Catholicize it so much...have some fun With it. I know the twitch prime iconology on the server is a crossBut a lot of Streamers tend to look at what fanon does and go,I like that Im using That. So....just have some fun. also,Where did the connection of church prime and xd come from. Like obviously im not big on religious tommy so i dont really keep up with it but idk where the relation Comes from. Like is it just because hes the only god You lot think fit...just dont get it

[tighearnmhas]

Good returns

just finished my thesis entitled “Our Lady of the Underground: Iconology of Divine Femininity in Atlantic Europe”, which is about prehistoric Celticity, Celtic religion, and the process of Christian conversion within Celtic social structures

most of all it’s about the place of the Goddess in Celtic cultures, her ultimate suzerainty and her supplication to male figures under patriarchy

If anyone has any questions about Celtic goddesses and their role in Celtic cosmology and religious worship, I’d be happy to discuss and offer my resources that I’ve compiled while writing.

[nikkishares]

Title: Inferno

Author: Dan Brown

Cracked Synopsis: Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of symbology and religious iconology, is recruited by the World Health Organization to help them find a deadly pathogen created by Thanos... I mean by Bertrand Zobrist who believes that he's doing the world a favor by trying to stop overpopulation. Langdon follows the harrowing clues left by Zobrist which were all inspired by Dante's Inferno.

Favorite Excerpt: “Believe me, I know what it’s like to feel all alone … the worst kind of loneliness in the world is the isolation that comes from being misunderstood.”

Review: DISCLAIMER. Might contain spoilers.

Among all Robert Langdon novels, it feels to me like this is different from all the others when it comes to endings. I've noticed that the ‘mission’ wasn't entirely solved because the vector virus wasn't ‘cured’. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it because it feels like the characters, especially Professor Langdon, is still human despite his heroic journeys. He always solves the problems, always stops catastrophic events from happening, but this time, even when he solved the ‘puzzle’, Zobrist outwitted them all.

My reading journey with this book is curious, to be honest. I've had this book since last year and I started reading it in the month of February, but have always delayed finishing it. It's like I never had the motivation to read more than a chapter, but come April, I had this sudden urge to read it and finish it. I mean, April was the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic and of our government's incompetence which makes the reading of this book a bit of a mindboggling journey.

Now that I finished this book, questions such as “Where does my morality stand in this kind of movement?” hangs in the center of my last three remaining brain cells, and I'm afraid I don't like the answer.