The Heathen Sanctuary

Not Dead Yet

2009-02-26T18:22:00.002-05:00

I've been abnormally busy and now I'm moving to another neighborhood. I'll catch up when things settle down.

Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion

2009-02-04T11:49:00.001-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Temple of Apollo, Corinth

2009-02-04T11:45:00.000-05:00

Sanctuary of Isis, Dion, Greece

2009-02-04T11:42:00.000-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Cauria-Stantari, Corsica

2009-01-31T09:52:00.000-05:00

Photo by Dr. Michel Royon

Wood County Courthouse, Bowling Green, Ohio

2009-01-26T20:40:00.003-05:00

Temple of Apollo, Delphi

2009-01-22T17:33:00.000-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Greenman, Luckau, Brandenburg

2009-01-22T17:26:00.000-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Castle Campbell Greenman, Stirling, Scotland

2009-01-22T17:21:00.002-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Ardgroom, County Cork, Ireland

2009-01-22T17:17:00.000-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Ninestones of Altarnun, Bodmin Moor

2009-01-22T17:14:00.001-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Beardown Man, Dartmoor

2009-01-22T17:04:00.000-05:00

Fjaras, Sweden

2009-01-22T17:01:00.000-05:00

(Photo Credit)

Auglish, County Derry, Northern Ireland

2009-01-22T16:50:00.001-05:00

(Photo Credit)

The Vienna Dioscurides

2009-01-17T08:10:00.005-05:00

Believe it or not, these botanical illustrations were painted in c515 CE. The manuscript, at the Austrian National Library, was made for Anicia Juliana, a daughter of the Western Roman Emperor Olybrius. It consists of 491 vellum folios, showing more than 400 pictures, mostly illustrating the De Materia Medica of Dioscurides. The one above shows a pimpernel.
We'll all pretend we don't know what this one is.
Rather ill looking violets.
Not sure what this one represents.
Anicia Juliana. HERE'S an outline of her story.
The manuscript includes a treatise on birds by someone called Dionysius. The pictures are just as amazing as the plants.

January

2009-01-16T17:04:00.000-05:00

By Simon Bening

2009-01-16T16:21:00.002-05:00

I have a feeling I'll be saying quite a bit, as time goes by. Today, though, I'm just not in the mood to babble. I'm sure you'll come to be thankful for days like that.
I've just decided to add archaeology to the mix of topics. Too many interesting things out there. Haven't been bored in decades.

Lesson Number One, Kids!

2009-01-16T11:30:00.001-05:00

Nature isn't warm and fuzzy.

2009-01-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

FYI

2009-01-16T09:08:00.001-05:00

I'm a compulsive photographer, so you'll be seeing plenty of my own pictures, both good and not so good.

2009-01-16T09:05:00.000-05:00

Droumbeag, Ireland

2009-01-14T14:03:00.000-05:00

(Photo Credit)

January

2009-01-14T14:00:00.001-05:00

From the Breviarium Grimani

Why?

2009-01-14T13:36:00.000-05:00

Well, why not? I've been blogging for years, why shouldn't I make a cyber-sanctuary to rest and recuperate? I've earned a bit of peace, which I certainly don't find elsewhere in my online rambling.
You see, I tend to visit three radically different sorts of blogs. First, there are Catholic blogs, since I love and respect the beauty, art, and pageantry of the church. To be perfectly honest, I'm steering clear of most of them at the moment, since they seem more concerned with raising Torquemada's ghost than smelling the incense and hearing the bells.
Then there are the atheist blogs. I like them because they're willing to point out the bullshit and call it by name. Unfortunately, they often descend into a strident, adolescent tantrum tone that sounds like a mirror image of the Inquisition.
Finally, we have the Wiccan and Neo-Pagan blogs. I like them because they show the impossibility of putting God/Goddess/Plural of both into a box. The problem is that they sometimes get a bit too airy-faerie and artsy-fartsy.
Matthew Arnold said "in us clash contending forces" and I'm living proof of that. Athens and the Vatican, Stonehenge and Down House, Chartres and a quiet glade. They're all part of me and all contribute to my very eclectic muddle of beliefs. Perhaps that's why I need this blog, as a way of making them all line up in a semi-coherent system. Won't be easy, but it just might be a hell of a lot of fun.
So sit down, pour some tea and listen to me ramble. There's a caveat, though. If you want me to fully subscribe to one part of the mix and ditch the rest, don't let the door hit you on the way out. That's the sort of crap that's driven me to this hermitage and I want none of it.

From the Tacuina Sanitatis, 14th Century

2009-01-14T13:34:00.000-05:00

A Fresh Start

2009-01-12T16:58:00.000-05:00

WTF, Chuck! Why not?