Flora

Inner Flowering.

Serpent of the Eye

Here are some symbolic images of the serpents eye.














Firstly we have the Kundalini rising as the 'third eye' from Eastern mythology. The Life Force that powers through the energy centres of the body.

The pineal gland which is located at the position of the Third Eye contains cells that are identical to the retina in the human eye. The Third Eye is literally Inner Seeing.

Then from Ancient Egypt is the Serpent Goddess Wadjet, pictured also in the 'third eye position'. In the symbolic emblem of the Eye of Horus we also see Wadjet, influencing the sight of the Sacred Eye.










Beside this picture of the Snake Goddess of Knossos we have a piece of William Blake's Temptation of Eve. Standing beside the Tree of Good & Evil, sometimes represented as the Tree of Life, also symbolically represented as the Kundalini in other traditions. Here Eve and the First Woman is being seduced by the Eyes of the Serpent.


The Art of Seduction, is it good or evil?

Does the Serpent in the Eye, create?

Vision

The beauty I see, is it real or imagined?

Mens Ads through the Ages

1950s -Marboro Man - every womans heart throb every man's dream

























1970's - Calvin Klein's mens underwear begins, youthful, boy-man introduced



2000s -Beckham in his glory - maybe morning glory, maybe sock.

Another Mirror Story

Echo & Narcissus

Echo was a water nymph who loved to talk.

One Day Zeus convinced Echo to lie to Hera about his whereabouts. When Hera discovered the betrayal she cursed Echo that she would never speak openly again and would only repeat the last few words of another.

When Echo met Narcissus she fell in love with his charm and beauty, she followed him and spied on him, driven by a desire to speak lovingly and tenderly with him. Narcissus who was a handsome youth had many admirers and was known for leading hearts astray.

Echo's passion for Narcissus grew with fervour and flame but when she came close enough to speak to him, she could only ever repeat his last few words. She desired to hold him in a close embrace, but Narcissus pushed Echo away. No one nymph could ever match his desire for flattery.

Echo retreated to a cave. Where she grieved the pain of his rejection in solitude and loneliness, until her body withered away.

All the nymphs Naricissus mocked and teased were spurned and a curse was placed upon him, that when he came upon his own reflection he would desire no other than himself.

It was by a calm flat spring that Narcissus discovered his own reflection, he became mesmerised by the image gazing back at him. He was unable to move, and there he remained staring into his own eyes, driven with the torment of longing. He too demised into sorrow. Until there was nothing left of his body.

By the spring where he lay a flower blossomed, the white petalled Narcissus and out in the valley, if ever a traveller was to call, from her isolated and hidden cave, echo would respond.





This blog is dedicated to the Narcissus I once met.

Dancing with Lady Death

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Fairest of them All?


Mirrors fascinate me.


If I look at this image of the skeleton in the mirror it reminds me of how critical women can be of their own reflection. It is true that what you see is heavily influenced by your perception. Are you beautiful or ugly?


I was wondering if women have trouble dancing with Lady Death, or Skeleton Woman. The ugly wench inside.

Images of the feminine in advertising are perfect. It's all about the ideal of the 'all year round blemish free, fresh scented and youthful', who is otherwise known as Aprhodite, Venus, Hathor or the Lady of the Heavens. Blissful Beauty.

This is not real. Real women are beautiful and ugly.

The Goddess of Life & Death looks at both these sides to the feminine. The fresh growth of spring and the dark of winter. The skeleton woman is a character of death and dying. She is like a cold winter's night. Maybe she stinks, maybe she sounds like a gaggling hag, maybe she is rotting and maggots eat her flesh.

But death is a reality. Perfect gardens of eden or the paradise of the eternal & youthful springs of Loreal and Chanel, are not. Even if you are worth it.

If you look in the mirror and see skeleton woman looking back at you, dont run away, dont cake 3 layers of foundation over the top of her, try not to cover her in 15 squirts of Gwen Stefani's perfume. Be kind to her. For if you dance with Lady Death, you will know that springtime is just around the corner.

The truth is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Jane was a little overdressed for their first date

I saw this on a greeting card the other day. Its funny.

It made me think about the dating world. Just how do women show up to the first date?

It seems to me that there is a 'liberated' sista who is just like the girls from Sex in the City who shows up composed and in control on the first date. "Im a modern woman, Ive got a career, Ive got money and Ive got freedom'. But as dates go on, and hormones swirl and flow through her body, lurking just below the surface is the Victorian mumma. Fully clothed in her white gown and flowing lace.

The polarity of 'Im a liberated woman', 'Marry me and have children', 'Im a liberated woman', 'Marry me and have children' is the strategy of the modern Art of Seduction. No wonder it doesnt feel that successful.

There has to be a more holistic way to show up on a date.

The Frog Prince

The tale of the Frog Prince is best known for the version by the Brothers Grimm (academic linguists who studied folklore and retold the tales as was fit for the time).

The gist of the story is a princess who meets a frog at a pond, who eventually kisses him and he turns into a handsome prince.

Most folk tales have traces of ancient magic in them in one form or another. The frog was symbolic of fertility & birth, because of the breeding times of frogs in the ponds and the rains that came at the turn of season.

The frog was symbolically used by the wise women as a love spell to promote fertility.



"Do not be afraid of me my fair lady."

Princess Tower

Who I ask, locked the Princess in the Tower?


I think Freud said it was rather phallic really.

Chivalry is not dead 2

"And the prince climbed to the top of the tower to rescue the beautiful princess..."

Tower Castle 100

This tower castle is available at your local toy store. It comes with a raising drawbridge, several balcanies, lovehearts, rival queens & princesses, the starring princess and of course the charming prince and his detachable ladder that reaches to the top of the tower.

Its every little girl's dream.

Allow her to imagine just how her prince will come to save her!

If you so wish you can buy the Fairy Garden 101 which comes separately but will compliment the castle with its winding labrynth, fairy stone circles, rambling garden and magical pathways.

It is recommended by the distributor - it most likely will save her.




Chivalry is not dead.



















I will leave this blog with this last image.

Eostre Hare

Im pretty excited about this blog entry. I have had a fascination with the hare since I was a little girl. My aunt had a book that was German and the purpose of the book was for the reader to find the 'Hidden Hare' on every page as it depicted the story of the seasons.

It is only recently that I have discovered the story of the Hare, and its historical tie to the Mother Goddess of Ancient European lore.

In the image above we see the Northern European Goddess of Spring, Eostre. Her symbols were the hare/rabbit, egg, bird & flower, representing the fertility of spring.

The name Eostre also derives from the word East, the direction of dawn, and is related to estrogen, the hormone that controls a female's sexual development and menstrual cycle.

It is said that the word Easter comes from the ancient folklore of the celebrations of Eostre, the coming of Spring, rebirth and fertility of the new.

Happy Easter.

Chivalry is not dead

She is a Lady in Waiting.
Ever so patiently, for her Knight in Shining Armour.
Posing her helplessness so that he will save her.

Her batting eyelids and coy tilt of the head speak her intentions. Her Knight must prove his worth for her. Slay her enemies, demons and dragons to protect her. These tasks he bravely achieves to win her love.

She has perfected the art of seduction, one glaze and glimmer at a time.

This is a dance. A chivalrous dance.

Women who changed the world pt 2

"We dont know how it sprang to life, no one explanation is entirely satisfactory, certainly not the theory that it was the work of 'leaders'. It began all over the country, in silent lonely places. It was a spiritual movement and had fire, not form... It released vast stores of unconscious energy... it was not premeditated or controllable - it happened.'

Lady Constance Lytton 1925

Suffrogettes

WSPU - Women's Social & Political Union

The last couple of days my focus has been on the Suffrogettes. Ive been fascinated by the story of these ladies and what they achieved. I guess my knowledge of them was pretty sketchy and so Ive been reading up a bit and finding out more.

In this blog entry I wanted to focus on the leader of the WSPU (formed 1905), Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst. I like the fact that she is documented as a Mrs, she was afterall a lady, and most of all her party were upperclass ladies.

They were a political group that rallied together after deciding the restrictions and injustices they had seen on women's lives (particularly in the working class) had to change. They focused on winning Votes for Women in parliament, because they believed that this would provide the greatest impetus for change.

By 1907 there were 47 branches of the WSPU and these ladies were getting a bit rowdy. As I said in the last blog entry they were becoming militant (I guess influenced the by the war at the time), entertaining themselves with vandalism and rebellious acts of protest such as hunger strikes in prison. As they gained more power the resistance to their message grew stronger.

Here are several pictures of Emmeline Pankhurst being arrested.

In this picture below is an example of an arrest and imprisonment of Gertrude Bentley for 'chalking the pavement'.

She had written 'WSPU - Mass Meeting at Market Square 7.30 tonight'

Women who changed the world pt 1

Ive been reading about the suffrogettes in Great Britain. I have to say I was moved by the story of Emily Davison, and so I decided to put on the Bloom blog.

Emily Davison was an active member of the militant Suffrogettes (WSPU - Women's Social & Political Union), who sacrificed her life in 1913 for the 'Votes for Women' cause.

By 1913 the WSPU had moved into some extreme protesting - chaining themselves to political buildings & monuments, being imprisoned, going on hunger strikes, setting buildings on fire, smashing windows and even recorded as having bombs as part of their artiliary.

In the picture below you can see Emily Davison the day she died. She threw herself in front of the Kings horse at the Derby Day race in 1913 and was trampled to death. I find it hard to believe that this 'soldier' for womens rights, gave up her life in her fight for our 'freedom'.


In the second picture is the funeral procession that followed her death in the streets of London.

Kylie on Motherhood

I was getting off the train the other day when I saw this headline:

Kylie: Motherhood is not for me.

"Pop princess Kylie Minogue has admitted she may never have children.
Minogue, who is 40 next month, said that although she dreams of having a family she sometimes believes it is "not the right path" for her.

She told the German edition of Vogue: "I never had the feeling I was made for a conventional marriage with a house in the suburbs."Media interest in 'supermothers', who are simultaneously on stage and bringing up children, is understandable. But for many that is too much of a good thing.

"There are also artists such as Debbie Harry or Dolly Parton who have managed to have an unbelievable career without a family."

I guess the celebrity post-feminists are all on display, everyone peering into their personal lives, looking for dirt. And here is a woman of fame, playing out Persephone, the eternal maiden and Aphrodite, goddess of love.

Kylie's story has become a myth of this post feminist era, where her search for motherhood vs career whilst dating the unavailable rogue has been in the tabloids for years on end. And never so highlighted as when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, an illness that has crept up and become a growing concern for our age.

Persephone: the eternal maiden

evolution of an image

Power & Seduction
Today Ive chosen to look at three different sex icons from history. For some reason these three women have always been linked for me.
The first one is Mata Hari, an exotic dancer from France who was executed for espionage in the early 1900's. I remember reading once that she learnt the 'belly dance' from her grandmother, but I dont know if that was true. It was however the usual way that bellydancers founded their art.

I guess what has always fascinated me the most about sex icons like Mata Hari is their connections with high powered men. The art of seduction comes with it the social status of a high society woman. But seduction is a dangerous game to play.


The serpent from the Garden of Eden, seduced Eve with the temptations of glory, but revealed Death.


Marilyn Monroe is as Jung states 'the Eternal Maiden', will a man ever love me? was the question of this sex kitten. Marilyn, unfortunately was a victim. It was the very end of her, 'No man ever did know her'. The Art of Seduction is a fickle thing. It can hypnotise people into idolising an image but the pure forms of everyday compassionate connection & relationship stay out of reach.
Marilyn was the eternal maiden never the mother.
Marilyn, like Mata Hari was also associated with high powered men and knew the secrets of their politic games. Leading to a dark downward spiral.

And finally we have Madonna, and as I wrote yesterday this high powered seductrous is always on top. She was not the manipulated woman of Hari and she was not the victim Monroe. She has never let anyone beat her. She has taken the Art of Seduction, like a bull by the horns.

When I look at these three images of seduction I am wondering what comes next. What will the strip tease of the Goddess be like in the next wave?

Mads - Always On Top

I guess when Like a Virgin came out I didnt realise that I was a willing subject to subconscious media messages. I had the Madonna leather wrist bands and the Madonna lace to tie up my hair.

Ive read that Madonna was inspired by Elvis the Pelvis and lets face it, she has sure done a good job at some pelvis action of her own.

Madonna has balls. There is no doubt about it she has used her sexuality to always keep her on top. She has climbed and climbed all the way up and stayed there. She is a creative artist and a kick arse business woman.

And the irony is that all the world likes to expose her weakness, her inner little Catholic girl crying out for her mum, her real mum - madonna snr, who died when she was only 5. Leaving her to try and win the affections of her preaching papa.

Im wondering is there a co-incidence that Madonna came into this world, with an inner desire to be on top, 'to own New York' the commercial centre of the world, and be a figure head admist the growing politics of our post feminist world?

She certainly has taken the 'inner masculine' models of success to the extreme. A single minded aggressive, nothing will stand in my way obsession for fame. And never, ever laying down for anyone. Always on top.

Like the Virgin, for the very first time.

Salome

The Dance of the Seven Veils is most famous from the tale in the bible, known as Salome's dance.

After dancing for Herod Salome asked for St John the Baptist's head (as requested by her mother) and he was executed.

Salome was seen as an evil seductress.

The Dance of the Seven Veils goes back far further in history. In Sumeria the temple ziggurats followed the sacred number 7, based on the number of planets that were visible to the early astrologers/astronomers. The Goddess Ishtar was associated with the number 7 and each veil from the priestess dance was a Gateway to her Mysteries.



Here is the Sumerian temple of Ur.


This illustration below was created by Andrea Beardsley for Oscar Wilde's play, Salome.


The ancient art of bellydance is not just about seduction. Its not just about wiggling your boody for some booty. Its an art of storytelling. Where the core heart to the story is about 'creation' or 'procreation' wink wink, it interweaves amongst an expression of identity.

Im curious about this dance of seduction. Just how does someone dance this ancient art form, woman or man, for good. And not evil. To feel confident in oneself without making their audience, their victim.