La Tour Couronnante

This card follows immediately after The Devil in all Tarot decks that harbour it.  Often considered an ill omen, it references the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, in which God destroys a tower built by mankind engineered to reach Heaven. Yet, here, albeit in ruins, still rises the tower, crowning the land like the crumbling teeth of some ancient menace. The rubble: an enduring instinct, the root of all evil, the Fall, the quest for absolute knowledge. And perhaps amongst the wreckage of that forbidden feat, a scavenger may find some dusty secret.

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Ray Ban glasses wish you all a Happy New year! The price of a time-limited event is only $24.99.

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In the Australian forests no leaves fall...

The very animal life of these frowning hills is either grotesque or ghostly. Great grey kangaroos hop noiselessly over the coarse grass. Flights of white cockatoos stream out shrieking like evil souls. The sun suddenly sinks, the mopokes burst out into horrible peals of semi-human laughter. The natives aver that, when night comes, from out the bottomless depths of some lagoon the Bunyip rises, and, in form like a monstrous sea-calf, drags his loathsome length out from the ooze. From a corner of the silent forest rises a dismal chant, and around a fire dance natives painted like skeletons [...] The soul, placed before the frightful grandeur of these barren hills,drinks in their sentiment of defiant ferocity, and is steeped in bitterness.

--From Marcus Clarke in Preface to Poems of the Late Lindsay Gordon, 1880. 

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The Destruction of Sennacherib

By Lord Byron

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

  Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,That host with their banners at sunset were seen:Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

  For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

  And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

  And there lay the rider distorted and pale,With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

  And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

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Hototogisu nakitsuru kata wo nagamureba tada ariake no tsuki zo nokoreru

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The actor Ichikawa Kodanji IV playing the role of Taira no Tomomori in the drama "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura", which was staged in the 7th lunar month of 1856 at theIchimuraza (print made by Utagawa Toyokuni III)

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There in the womb

we are fitted for works of darkness, all the while deprived of light; and there in the womb we are taught cruelty, by being fed with blood, and may be damned, though we be never born. 

http://www.thewords.com/articles/duel.htm

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The Bird Catchers Eunice Cheung Wai Man The Mother of Nature Ink, colour and embroidery on silk 138 x 83 cm, 2014

Rooted in Chinese art history since Warring States Period, Gongbi huaniao is a long-established genre which refers to the fine portraying of strange creatures and rare flowers. Due to the flaunting of wealth by the noble in ancient palace, the traditional Gongbi huaniao possesses a prime focus on the realistic representation of mythical and legendary organisms and plantations. It is therefore characterized by the oriental realism and indispensable details which requires high-level of concentration and skills of sketching, line-drawing and colouring. This skilled art is often paid as a tribute to the emperor. In lieu of depicting precious and auspicious creatures that are only found in the palace, Eunice Cheung extended the fine traditions to commonly seen animals and wildlife. In her 2012 debut solo exhibition, Eunice personificated various animals to perform human mundane, ranging from bathing to shopping, whereas in her latest series, birds are given more emotional roles, being either the fierce and aggressive predators or the victimized preys running in fear. The theme of The Bird Catchers sets on the hunting of birds due to predator's fascination for the beauties and freedom represented by these flying friends. The human hunting for birds and birds hunting for their own kinds are embodied as a metaphor for Eunice to criticize the selfish and unlimited desire and greed.

Royal painters like HuangQuan spent hours to study the appearance, the ratio of animals and the spirit of each species so as to present the vivid life of different creatures on the planet. Likewise, in aid with her meticulously drawn details and generous palette, Eunice Cheung dedicated her genuine observations of birds into her paintings. What differentiates her art practice from ancient royal painters is the seamless blend of surrealistic connotations into her seemingly poetic paintings. Similar to Magritte'sReady-Made Bouquet , the peaceful and calmed composition of Eunice's works is filled with an indistinct sense of uncertainty. In The Mother of Nature , the exquisite back portrait of the figure remains still yet also alienates audience by the unveiled, mystical face. The elegancy and the prominent aura of the lady are constituted by the delicate lace dress, the neatly tied hair and also the richly decorative hat. Each detail reinforces the fact that she is a classy fine lady who is out of reach. In the pairing work, Dreamer in Wonderland , facial expression of the lady is revealed but the distant and lonely gaze is as unwelcoming as its sister work. The stand-alone, cold and indifferent lady is contrasted by the warm-coloured, united tropical birds. The expressive contrast of the detached and the rejoiced casts a spot light on the main figure of this exhibition.

In spite of being the symbols of treasure and freedom, tons and millions of birds are hunted, kept, raised or killed for fashion just for the pleasure of human. The fliting and freedom of birds are sacrificed for the sense of ownership of mankind. The fluffy and fruity-coloured feathers are torn and re-arranged as ornaments for the decoration of hand-held fan and gigantic flamboyant hats. Amid the production of these fashionable items that last only for a season and for the feast of eyes, inhumane hunting activities continue to threaten the lives of birds. The major scrutiny here is not only to unveil the evilness of exploiting animals but the underlying irony of ownership. Human beings seem to have captured and caged birds, yet their most precious qualities, the freedom of flying in the blue sky, is never under arrest. Each feather on the hat is a piece of evidence of past flying in the breeze and fliting across shadows and sunshine. Yet the torn and glued feathers on hat are no longer part of the flying movement but a fossil-like history of the vanished freedom. Long for the free soul and body, human as hunters are sarcastically taking away freedom from other kinds. The ironic human decision, the uncontrolled behaviour driven by desire and the sacrifice of the Nature are what truly Eunice decides to address. Her profound and solemn concerns for the wildlife, the intricate observation towards humanity, together with the surrealistic beauty and fine techniques, compose one of shiniest gems in contemporary art.

Cindy Lim  Dec 2014

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Awaken them; they are knobs of sound

that seem to melt and crumple up

like some jellyfish of tropical seas,

torn from sleep with a hand lined by prophecies.

listen hard; their male, gaunt world sprawls the page

like rows of tree trunks reeking in the smoke

of ages, the branches glazed and dead;

as though longing to make up with the sky,

but having lost touch with themselves

were unable to find themselves, hold meaning.

--from "Sanskrit" by Jayanta Mahapatra

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Photo credits to Virginia Hung

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Une Saison en Enfer: Mauvais Sang

'To whom shall I hire myself out? What beast should I adore? What holy image is attacked? What hearts shall I break? What lies should I uphold? In what blood tread?'

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Opening credits from Coven.

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Yet, no matter how deeply I go drown into myself, my God is dark, and like a webbing made of a hundred roots that drink in silence.

Rainer Maria Rilke 

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Often when I imagine you your wholeness cascades into many shapes. You run like a herd of luminous deer and I am dark, I am forest.

Lukas and Rilke 

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No el poema de tu ausencia, sólo un dibujo, una grieta en un muro, algo en el viento, un sabor amargo.

Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972)

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Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892): 100 Aspects of the Moon #25, "Gravemarker Moon" - The famous poetess Ono no Komachi meditates on the arrogance and heartlessness she displayed to her suitors as a young beauty; 1886, third month.