The Duchess of Darkness

Esotericism student/Occultist/ Dark Tourist/Curator / Educator / Tomb Raider 292, 874 followers

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Scripture Balance

PHOTOGRAPHER / MephistoArt

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Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, first canticle Inferno. Bartolomeo di Fruosino enlumineur. Florence

14th century

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A skeleton holding a scythe in the style of a harvester. In "De Anatome Corporis Humanis"

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The Archangel Michael weighing souls on a scale in front of a demon trying to tilt it in his favor. Church of St. Peter in Wenhaston, England. 1480

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Judgement Day (detail). Vrancke van der Stockt. Brussels

ca.1549

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Dieric Bouts (c. 1415–1475)

The Fall of the Damned, c. 1470

Oil on panel

Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, France

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Luxuria (Lust)

Detail from The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things (c. 1500) by Hieronymus Bosch (or follower).

This scene illustrates the sin of Lust, captioned "Luxuria". Lovers in a red tent are interrupted by monstrous demons and a lizard-like creature, warning of the hellish punishments awaiting carnal sinners.

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

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I was checking out The Occult Origins of Nosferatu (2024) by Zorse where he explains how the legendy school of Scholomance influenced Nosferatu himself.

Scholomance (Romania) Tradition: Romanian folklore Students: The solomonari (weather magicians) Teacher: The Devil Curriculum: Weather magic, dragon riding, occult sciences. Location: Hidden in the Carpathian Mountains or underground. Sources: Emily Gerard (1885); Sabine Baring-Gould (1865); later popularised by Bram Stoker in Dracula.

Also, did you hear of the The Black School of Wittenberg (Germany)? Perhaps the closest equivalent to Scholomance.

Tradition: German folklore Teacher: The Devil as well Students: Necromancers and magicians. Subjects: Black magic, conjuration, demonology.

The university at Wittenberg became associated with magic largely because of the legends surrounding Johann Georg Faust.

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From the Spanish to the Dutch.

Guerrero consulting a witch. Arnold Houbraken. Netherlands. 1699

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"Hell" (detail). Giovanni Mauro della Rovere known as Fiammenghino (1575-1640) Church of Saint Eusebius, Peglio, Como

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Èmile Bayard. 1870

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Marx Reichlich - The Last Judgment

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Detail from The Last Judgement, Italian Renaissance fresco by Giorgio Vasari

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Das Jüngste Gericht, Matthis Miller

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Rome Church of Saint Mary of Victoria

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The abandoned grandeur of Constanța Casino.

Opened in 1910 on Romania’s Black Sea coast, the Art Nouveau landmark stood empty for decades as its ornate interiors slowly deteriorated.

📸 The Glory of Disrepair