Hiatus

Dear All,

I'm "going off on a 'toot,'" as my dad would say when our old dog would take off around the neighborhood. The Grand Forets will be traveling around our fair nation to go to a wedding, and visit friends along the way.

I found this image of St Cecilia, patron saint of musicians, on Idle Speculations, my favorite Religious Art site. Terry does such a great job.

Whether there is music in your summer or not, enjoy!
Sally

Love Conquers All?

Fair warning: this post is LONG!

So, All, I have finished reading the Twilight Saga. I will say that it would have happened sooner if I'd bought the last book when I first saw it at the Last Word used book shop, here in Philly. Instead I waited 'til I was ready to read it and then had to wait 2-3 weeks or so until another copy arrived. I have to say, though, that the Last Word is definitely the place to get used books. They remember you, and what you want, and are great about continually getting new stuff in.

With that endorsement out of the way, here's what I thought: The Twilight books are not the best-written books ever. If I read the words "perfect," "sculpted," "stone" or "cool" in reference to a vampire again, I think I'll gag.

What I liked best about Twilight was the description of Bella's crush on Edward. It reminded me so much of the crushes I've had, and the way I felt when the object of my affection was near me, or touched me. That electric, inept feeling was so clear. What's NOT so clear is why Bella is in love with Edward, "in LUST" yes, that's obvious. But it was also very easy to understand why the story was so chaste, given the fact that Edward is a vampire. It was refreshing to see feminine desire described, and played out, even if there was a fair amount of repression that had to happen so that nobody died. Edward seems like the logical extension of Anne Rice's character, Louis de Pointe du Lac, from "Interview with a Vampire," as a vampire who feeds only on animals, not humans, to survive. I also think the choice of Rob Pattinson was inspired, even if it means that poor (human) Rob will be hounded to the ends of the earth forever because of it.

Out of the whole series I liked New Moon best, because I loved the character of Jacob. I admire steadfastness as a trait, and Jacob is nothing if not loyal. I think he gets pretty shafted throughout the story, but he's my favorite character.

I thought Eclipse was really just a bridge to the last book. It was nice to see the characters of Edward and Jacob have a rapprochement, but really, it read like a comic book, without pictures of gorgeous vampires and werewolves.

And then there's Breaking Dawn. It's interesting, because here I am, in my late 30's, with children in my life, and if I were writing about vampires, is this also where I would end the story?

SPOILER:
Bella becomes pregnant with Edward's child. It's a very difficult pregnancy - how could it not be, really - and several people consider ending the pregnancy. Bella, however, joins forces with her former nemesis, Rosalie, in order to keep the fetus alive. The delivery is gruesome, and in order to save Bella, Edward must turn her into a vampire with his venom. Bella becomes the vampire she always wanted to be, is married to Edward, and has a half human-half vampire daughter. I thought it was a pretty convenient plot device, but in a "Hollywood ending" way, Jacob "imprints" on Reneesme immediately, and so will always be protective of and present in Reneesme's life, in whatever form that needs to take - caretaker, friend, lover, husband, etc.

My first thought when I finished reading Breaking Dawn was that the idea I was meant to take away from this saga was that "love conquers all." Bella becomes a vampire after many struggles and transforms from a truly awkward human to a truly amazing, powerful vampire - she was klutzy, even for a human, as a human, and has an extreme super power for a vampire, as a vampire. Even though I think Bella was taken in by Edward's (and the rest of the vamps') camouflage (attractive looks, smell, strength, sound, etc.), she never seemed to really analyze what she was doing until Rosalie confronted her. She was mesmerized by Edward, and I thought in a shallow way just wanted to become a vampire so she could be with him forever. She never really seemed to consider the real consequences until it began to affect her physical relationship with him.

Edward "made a deal" with her that he required her to marry him. Once married, she understood the awesomeness of sex, and most especially, sex with Edward. So, she started making deals of her own - more years as a human, more sex, before ending her life (e.g. becoming a vampire). And he agreed, because he never wanted her to become a vampire in the first place. It's interesting to me how her awakenings happen through physical means. And that her human sexuality is what makes her powerful (even though she is completely in the thrall of Edward and his family, and is entirely defenseless if another vamp is nearby). It's when she becomes pregnant that the paradigm shifts again. Everyone is concerned about the "monster" she is carrying. And she starts acting, in my opinion, like many pregnant women - forms an attachment with the fetus, takes care of it as best she can, even if she starts doing weird stuff. [The whole thing about her pregnancy diet is gross, so I won't go there.] Interestingly, that section of the book is told from Jacob's point of view, so, it's not as intimate, but of course, he's upset during her pregnancy because she's in so much pain. There IS an inordinate amount of time in the whole saga when Bella is suffering physically, and it gets a little tiring to read through.

But whether it's a plot device, or it's really the "message" of Twilight, Bella becomes powerful through her child. She would have died because of the baby, but now she's immortal. She can hold her own with Edward now in bed (no limits once she's a vamp). She discovers that she's got a vampire super-power, which she hones quickly in order to save her family. Is this the new "coming of age" story for young women?

I sort of jest. But, seriously, I think it's interesting that the woman who wrote these books has kids and is in her 30's. As you may know, I am struggling with my upcoming (big) birthday. And I'm trying to make sense of my "self" so far. I realize that my youth is gone. And while I am happy with my life, and my family, I sometimes struggle with day-to-day responsibilities and commitments, and I wonder what the future will have in store for me. What I can relate to in Bella's story, is the desire to have "a perfect forever." I wish and hope that my family will be safe and happy and whole forever, and Bella is able to achieve that. She is a strong lover and mother. She becomes MORE sexy with motherhood, and powerful in ways that are hard for even vampires to fathom. It's a nice fantasy for a character who started out so average and normal. What do you all think?? Leave me a comment or two.

There are other critiques to be made, and I have copied some of them below, all from Wikipedia's Breaking Dawn site:

Breaking Dawn has received generally negative reviews. Publishers Weekly stated that the main problem was that "Essentially, everyone gets everything they want, even if their desires necessitate an about-face in characterization or the messy introduction of some back story. Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily--in other words, grandeur is out."[10] In an article by The Associated Press journalist Sara Rose posted on NewsOK.com wrote that fans of the series would love "engaging characters, great humor, a distracting obsession with beauty, focus on the minutiae of emotions", however "casual readers may be disappointed with a lot of build-up and little action."[11] The Independent called the book, "shockingly, tackily, sick-makingly sexist" and said that "Bella Swan lives to serve men and suffer." [12] Entertainment Weekly graded Breaking Dawn with a D, criticizing the birth scene and Bella's "unwavering passion for Edward" and having no other goals.[13] The Washington Post also responded with a negative review, making comments such as, "...Meyer has put a stake through the heart of her own beloved creation," and, "Breaking Dawn has a childbirth sequence that may promote lifelong abstinence in sensitive types."[14] However, an article in The Daily News Tribune, a small town newspaper, Margaret Smith says of Breaking Dawn "You too might fall in love with its suspense and moving sensitivity -- and with the unlikely couple struggling to find light within their world’s heart of darkness."[15]

My horoscope this Week

uh oh:*



PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): (My horoscope for the week of June 24th)

A delicious forbidden fruit will be more available than usual in the coming weeks. You can choose to ignore it, of course. You can pretend it's not even there and instead concentrate on the less forbidden fruits that are tasty enough. Or, on the other hand, you can sidle up closer to the forbidden fruit and engage in some discreet explorations, testing subtly to see whether it's any healthier for your sanity than it used to be. I'm not sure what the best decision is, Pisces, but I do suggest this: Don't just rip off all your defenses, forget all your commitments, and start heedlessly taking big bites out of the forbidden fruit.

Funny: that seems to be the theme underlying the Twilight Saga books. I am almost done with the last one of the series, and while I don't feel ready to comment on the whole "message" yet, there is definitely a subtext about controlling one's physical desires. But it's the quotation from Genesis at the beginning of Twilight that is obviously connecting with my horoscope (above) from Rob Brezsny:

Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.


I've been having a recurring nightmare for the past several years where I wake up an hour or two after I fall asleep and can't determine whether I'm still alive, or dead.

I look around my room, and it seems different. I take stock. I look at everything and it feels out of place, and I feel like there is a voice, or a message, telling me that "this isn't real, it's not your real life, you're on the other side now." And it takes me a good 5 minutes or so to figure out that I'm actually alive.

This nightmare went away for a while, but has been back in full effect recently. I wonder if my Twilight obsession is feeding in to this - the idea of eternal life mixed up with eternal death. It's very unsettling. I've been thinking that this is happening because of my big birthday coming up.... but maybe not. Do you all have any ideas?


* I don't generally put a whole lot of stock in horoscopes. I don't think they predict the future. But I do think that one should take a close look at "coincidences" and see if there is a message from the Divine that I should be listening to. The stained glass is from Chartres Cathedral, in France.

Happy Midsummer!

I hope you and yours have an awesome Midsummer, or St John the Baptist's Day, whichever you call it. I just found out that the Finnish National newspaper (Int'l edition), Helsingin Sanomat, takes the whole month of July off, I guess it's "a slow news time" there, after Midsummer and all. Finland is great!

I guess over the weekend in Rutland, VT(?) there was a Finnish Midsummer festival. I love the "wife-carrying contest".

On Saturday we had our own Midsummer party - a dinner party for some local friends and neighbors. It was potluck and fun! I'm hoping we can make it a tradition. Finnish flag was flying too.

Translating Mary

My dear friend, Mama K has a new blog: Filling the Chalice. It's awesome! [Way to go Mama K!]

Anyways, I can relate to her recent post on "language barrier" in chruch - the spiritual/religious sphere. She and I talk about this a fair amount. But, being raised in the Episcopal church, the liturgical year, and Bible stories are my foundation. So, when people talk using those terms, I "get it". Even though my most "spiritual" (spiritually moving - that brought me back to religion) was during a Wiccan ceremony. That was when I realized that there was a cosmic force that was powerful out there.

But for me to understand and participate in religion, I need to have a community and a structure, I can't create it from scratch (which is how all the Wiccan groups have been that I've been involved in, and it's too hard for me). But, what I love about the Church's liturgical calendar, is that it pretty much follows the Solar calendar* (which is the foundation of Wiccan practice - along with the Lunar calendar, of course).

Anyways, I had an epiphany when I read the Mists of Avalon, and thought about Mary as the continuation of the Goddess in mainstream Chrisitian practice. That she's never gone away. And that is a thought that gives me a lot of comfort.

* I'll write more about this later, but I'm planning a St John the Baptist's Day celebration for our church on June 24th. Stay tuned for more details.

Brandish Your Piece for Jesus

I'll start with this quotation, which I found on Faith & Theology, and was labeled, "a quote for Pentecost":

“It is the Spirit’s work to draw what might otherwise be a cacophonic disunity into symphony. The Spirit worked to transcribe God’s music for playing on the human instrument of Jesus of Nazareth; the Spirit now works to orchestrate that theme for an ensemble of billions.” —Mike Higton, Christian Doctrine, (SCM 2008), 161.

Because I'm not sure how to reconcile the idea that Jesus "packs heat." I found the image (great graphic!) and story at Gawker. This is incredibly disturbing:

"In light of George Tiller being gunned down in a church, this blows the mind: a Louisville pastor wants to expand his flock by encouraging them to brandish firearms while they worship." - Gawker

Here is a potential rebuttal to the Louisville pastor, from Monte Asbury's blog. It's a long quotation, but we need something to counteract the firearm brandishers! Sheesh:

"I’ve been thinking a lot about why we come here.

We need a sense of that – a sense of what we’re here for. Just making a church bigger – that doesn’t do it for me. We’ve been down that road. It isn’t enough to satisfy my hunger.

Why do I come here?

I think I want one thing more than anything else: I want to bring love into my world. I want to bring it to my family. I want to bring it to you. I want to bring it to people on the street. I want to bring it to political decisions. I want to bring it to unloved people. I want to bring it to people on the internet. I want to bring it to the nations of the world.

I want love to change this world. I want it to smother tragedy. I want it to expose selfishness. I want it to change the way my family lives, my workplace operates, my government thinks.

What I want to do here is to re-capture that source of love – and share it in such a way that you do, too – so that love will make everything you touch as you walk through your week just a little different than it was before.

But my world doesn’t get that. It thinks love is a wimpy thing, not the way of heroes. So all week long I talk and visit and write to people who are convinced the Kingdom of God is not enough, and it cannot bring what the world needs. And sometimes their arguments wear me down.

And that’s why I come here. It’s because we’re doing something together. We’re believers that the love of God is stronger than anything that’s wrong in the world. We’re determined to bring it to the places we live and work and vote and write. You’re doing something."

And hopefully, we're doing something for the common good.

Half Way Through....

So, all, I'm half way through the Twilight Saga, and I gotta say, I'm hooked.

I started out a firm supporter of "Team Edward", but at this point, am fully behind "Team Jacob," I don't see how that feeling will "wane", but you never know.....

Dude. It's intense. :)

UPDATE:

Check it out: Adult Swim encapsulates the series for us... funny.

La Pieta OR "Heaven to Hell" by Lachapelle, and more

WOW. Not sure about Courtney Love as Mary, but....

Thanks to religious imagery in culture for the image. Be sure to visit their blog for more fantastic religious art and images. They've been posting some amazing stuff recently - keep up the great work!

I just found this link to the outstanding work of Azerbaijani photographer Rena Effendi today, via Heading East. You've got to check it out. You'll understand the connection when you get there. Fantastic work!

More on Healing in Religious Art

I just found this posting on one of my new favorite blogs, Morbid Anatomy. It's about the chapel at St Roch Cemetery in New Orleans. Go on over to M.A. and check out the whole post! There are more amazing photos, and an historical account of the cemetery itself (reminiscent of Jezebel).

I guess it's more "proof" of the power of faith in healing. This image makes me think of the Basilica of St Anne de Beaupre in Quebec, where the interior of the church is covered with old crutches, donated by the healed pilgrims.

It also reminds me of one of my pal Bob's recent post about creepy religious art imagery, and in particular, the case of St Lucy . I guess this statue is St Lucy....

An Icon of the Empire

I found this icon on Religious Imagery in Culture. Fantastic! I love that the centurion is giving a blessing (and holding a Bible) - do storm troopers READ?!

Other Star Wars-themed religious art has appeared on my blog before. Interesting that both feature artificial-type characters, not so much the human or animal-like variety.

I'm digging this. Thanks RIiC!

Jesus as Healer

I found this image on Boing Boing today. Awesome.

Our church offers unction every Sunday, and I have to say, that at first, I was totally freaked out by the concept. But the more I think about it, and have massages in my non-religious life, I realize that there IS a healing power in touch. And I have heard many sermons about the idea that maybe all the sick people that Jesus cured really just wanted some companionship, and care, and that's what cured them of their ailments.

This reminds me of one of my favorite paintings of Jesus' miracles which I saw in Montreal at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. I have to postcard at home - The Raising of Jairus' Daughter, by Gabriel Max, 1878 - and I found the image on Flickr. So moving. It's strange to see a painting of one of Jesus' miracles and see so little of him. But, it's such an intimate and amazing moment. A miracle.

Vampires for Oxfam!

I think this has to be the best Oxfam ad EVER. Especially given my new obsession [the Twilight movies]. I found this at the Twilight fan blog. Hold onto your hats, people, because this may rival my LotR obsession, which was truly all-consuming for several years there. Hmm. I think it has to do with the eye-candy.

"The hero. The leader. The god"

Just found this on Religious Imagery in Culture, by Alexandre Kosolapov - and I love it! Thanks for posting, elnellis.

I'm Bitten

Those of you who know me, know that I have a massive soft spot for vampire lore, especially when translated to film. But I just saw "Twilight" and am hooked. I will now need to read the series.

I have a lot of ideas about the concept of vampires, but will need to think Twilight through a little more before I talk about them here. I have to say, I agree with the Gawker review [which I can't seem to find right now! ugh] which said, "it was the hottest non-sex of the year." I'd have to agree.

So, people, this is what Netflix is for. More on vampires later....

Finally Found It!

San Clemente & a Mithraic Temple

I'm back, but slow to blog at this point. Feeling a little out of practice.

When I got to the blog this morning, I saw that the highlighted "Sacred Destination" was a Mithraic Temple, that had been built upon by the Basilica di San Clemente in Rome.

Byzantine fresco in the right aisle of the Lower Church, discovered by Fr Joseph Mullooly in 1857, depicting the Madonna and Child. It is believed to have originally been a contemporary portrait of the Empress Theodora painted in the 5th or 6th century, which was transformed into the Virgin and Child in the 8th or 9th century. On either side are two ladies, who were probably originally members of the imperial court but later became Saints Euphemia and Catherine with the crowns of martyrdom. Photo © Paradoxplace.com.

This is one of my favorite types of religious sites - one where a previous tradition has been built over, but still remains. This is one of the things I appreciate about the seasonal liturgy (Liturgical Year) of the Church as it cycles through the Lectionary. The overlays are what fascinate me, and keep me thinking about religion.