BelugaSevruga
-
The Blue Abyss by Richard Hescox
-
“In the 1930′s, Carl Jung became interested in the ancient art of alchemy. While alchemy’s outward agenda was transmuting base metal into gold, Jung thought the alchemists’ work was also a projection of inner workings reflecting a process of maturation and development within the human psyche. Mermaids appear in alchemical texts and engravings as guides leading the alchemist on his way. An engraving in one alchemical text shows two mermaids leading the alchemist. One leads him in the direction of the baby; the other leads him to the city of God. In alchemy, the mermaid is a guide to the nature of the human mind, representing both what is human and what is animal and the necessity of reconciling the two into a coherent and lasting whole. The main difference the alchemists and others is that the alchemists saw, believed in, and followed their mermaids - even when they led in two different directions. One alchemical text contains this motto: “Let nature be your guide; follow her with your art willingly, like a footman, For you will err if she is not your companion on your way.” Jung’s wife, Emma, wrote that as a symbol the mermaid wants to ‘entangle’ us in “real relationships.” She drags a man underwater not always to drown him, but sometimes to bathe him in the waters of life.
Mermaids are symbols - and who knows, maybe actual beings - that have been with us throughout history, reminding us of our relationship to the objective world, the rhythms of nature, the sound of water crashing on a beach, the way light moves across the surface of a wide bay, and the corresponding ripples of feeling they create within us.” ~Theodore Gachot from “Mermaids: Nymphs of the Sea”
The Maiden’s Lament by Émile Vernon (French painter, 1872-1919)
corrected the artist’s name
-
-
-
“Birth of the Pearl’ by Edmund Dulac
-
from “The Little Mermaid” by Itsuko Azuma
-
“We live by waters breaking out of the heart.” ~ Anne Carson, from “Plainwater: Essays and Poetry”
also from “The Little Mermaid” by Itsuko Azuma
-
“Truth” by George William Russell from “Collected Poems”, 1913
The hero first thought it
To him ’twas a deed:
To those who retaught it,
A chain on their speed.The fire that we kindled,
A beacon by night,
When darkness has dwindled
Grows pale in the light.For life has no glory
Stays long in one dwelling,
And time has no story
That’s true twice in telling.And only the teaching
That never was spoken
Is worthy thy reaching,
The fountain unbroken.mermaid art by Kristin Baugh Shiraef ~ see many more here: leaq.com
-
-