Mother of All Living

The covenant of the Hebrews , was unique from the world in the way it related to women. Christ  uses that relationship as an allegory for the governance of their religion: He is the bridegroom, The church is the bride. He speaks of making covenants as "knowing," the biblical word for intimacy. This Covenant, physically marked by circumcision, obviously centered in the intimate relationship between man and woman.   Men were considered  adults only after they had entered marriage and taken on the asociated responsabilities. The marriage ceremony was not complete until the couple had proven consummation and the essential part of the covenant had occurred. Woman's marital rights were  protected by laws unknown by the surrounding nations,  and lineage was passed through the woman.

The Egyptians shared this biological common sense- It is not power, but the queen, choosing who ascended to the throne. Of course she chose her favorite- her husband, her son. (Contrast that with our western power centric tradition- Is the domineering king ever sure that HIS son inherits his throne?)

ISIS' (whoose glyph is "throne") alludes to this unavoidable truth, illustrated here, her quality being drawn above her head as a throne, the same throne on which Osiris sits.*   *(OK this isn't quite the picture I was looking for. Which reluctantly brings us to the next point.) Fine,  I'll admit it, there are two women here. That is because these two Divine feminine qualities are so similar they eventually became the same goddess, Isis on the left, Hathor on the right, she also wearing her glyph as a crown- "the womb of Horus" drawn as a box within the shrine (bigger box), again very similar to the throne on which Osiris Sits. Isis is the mother who puts her son on the throne, Hathor the mother who creates and nurtures life, both are the same  life giver and nurturer, wife and mother, ultimately the same divine quality, Mother of all living. This ideal, the Mother of all living, is expressed in the hypocephalus heiroglyphically as a drawing of the Bovine Nurturer, Hathor . Mother,  the binding core of all relationships, our physical and first acquaintance with divinity-- A quality which esixted in woman before she left the garden,  a quality defined when Adam first laid eyes upon her.

Interesting that the Mother of All living should be the central essential element of all hypocephalus, The artifact of resurrection and glorification of a justified being.

Interesting, especially in the context of a religion whose central covenant is defined by man's fidelity to the woman.

Yackety Yack,  This is the technique I'm playing with right now.  Love how the throne turned out,  but I'm not sure where to take the details.

"The Man Behind the Curtain" Club

My favorite quote of all time*  comes from David Laffel  in the part of his book titled, "Attitudes that can hold you back."

He says,  "I want to say a word about the attitude of intense admiration that many students have for 'artists,' an emotion that merely serves to separate the two and further delay progress.  Such students tend to revere the great painters in museums as "gods" and "geniuses."  They feel small in comparison and think they can never be as good.

"Their admiration keeps them from actually seeing the work of these men, these painters who were just people trying to solve problems. 
"You can be just as good as one of the artists.  It depends on how much work you are willing to put into your art, how much  frustration you are willing to bear.
"Talent is the willingness to figure it out.  It's not a mystical or metaphysical thing.  It's the ability to relinquish all your assumptions and conceits in order to learn."
 
     My favorite moment in studying art comes after studying an artist so hard your brain is bleeding and then you finally have the epiphany where you see that they are NOT GODS!  They are working with techniques of illusion just like everyone else, to create something beautiful.   The question then becomes,  'are you willing to join the club?"
     It can be jarring at first, and I find it interesting to watch how people respond when faced with this discovery. Do we admit the physical realities driving the art universe?  Or do we discount the few moments we see beyond the curtain as accidents or  exceptions,  and go on searching for the gods of art, determined to continue as students, rather than join the "seers."

Obviously painting is not the ideal that everyone pursues. And yet I think it true enough to assume all of us have some kind of "majic" that we are pursuing, hindered by the belief that we can never be "that good." Or that the answers lie outside of ourselves.