S4125 BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE LITTLE NIGHT KNIFE SAYA OTONASHI SWORD 3 OPTIONS 44.7"

Guqin play, Xin you tai xuan, 心游太玄. Taoism Music.  (via: youtube - plainvanillalife)  

The Wudang Mountains consist of a small mountain range in the northwestern part of Hubei, China, just south of Shiyan. They are home to a famous complex of Taoist temples and monasteries associated with the god Xuan Wu.

Shen Qin HERE

Shen Qin HERE

Mountain, 2015

Shen Qin HERE

Shen Qin HERE

Master and Disciple

Shen Qin HERE

Shen Qin HERE

Air Routes of the World  - Day and Night, 2001

Langlands and Bell (Ben Langlands born 1955 and Nikki Bell born 1959)

Frist image - Day:   mutualart 

Second Image - Night:  1stdibs.com

© Langlands and Bell

Description via Victoria and Albert Museum:  “Langlands and Bell work with a variety of media to explore the systems of communication that codify our world. This print diptych is based on the global network of international airline routes. Similar to star constellations in the sky, they offer an alternative map of the world where air travel defines the important locations.” (victoria and albert museum)

Sting feat. Cheb Mami - Desert Rose Live 

Dress rehearsal at Stings home in Tuscany, 2001

:)  Sting, Cheb Mami, the band and dancer.    The progression.   :)    

Vestal Virgins 

Raffaele Monti  (1818–1881)

From Wiki:  “In ancient Rome, the Vestals or Vestal Virgins (Latin: Vestālēs, singular Vestālis [wɛsˈtaː.lɪs]) were priestesses of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. The College of the Vestals and its well-being were regarded as fundamental to the continuance and security of Rome. They cultivated the sacred fire that was not allowed to go out. The Vestals were freed of the usual social obligations to marry and bear children, and took a vow of chastity in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were off-limits to the male colleges of priests.

Selection

To obtain entry into the order, a girl had to be free of physical and mental defects, have two living parents and be a daughter of a free-born resident of Rome. From at least the mid-Republican era, the pontifex maximus chose Vestals between their sixth and tenth year, by lot from a group of twenty high-born candidates at a gathering of their families and other Roman citizens. Originally, the girl had to be of patrician birth, but membership was opened to plebeians as it became difficult to find patricians willing to commit their daughters to 30 years as a Vestal, and then ultimately even from the daughters of freedmen for the same reason.

The choosing ceremony was known as a captio (capture). Once a girl was chosen to be a Vestal, the pontifex pointed to her and led her away from her parents with the words, “I take you, Amata, to be a Vestal priestess, who will carry out sacred rites which it is the law for a Vestal priestess to perform on behalf of the Roman people, on the same terms as her who was a Vestal ‘on the best terms’” (thus, with all the entitlements of a Vestal). As soon as she entered the atrium of Vesta’s temple, she was under the goddess’s service and protection….

Tasks

House of the Vestals and Temple of Vesta from the Palatine

Their tasks included the maintenance of the fire sacred to Vesta, the goddess of the hearth and home, collecting water from a sacred spring, preparation of food used in rituals and caring for sacred objects in the temple’s sanctuary.  By maintaining Vesta’s sacred fire, from which anyone could receive fire for household use, they functioned as “surrogate housekeepers”, in a religious sense, for all of Rome. Their sacred fire was treated, in Imperial times, as the emperor’s household fire.

The Vestals were put in charge of keeping safe the wills and testaments of various people such as Caesar and Mark Antony. In addition, the Vestals also guarded some sacred objects, including the Palladium, and made a special kind of flour called mola salsa which was sprinkled on all public offerings to a god.

Privileges

The dignities accorded to the Vestals were significant.

• in an era when religion was rich in pageantry, the presence of the College of Vestal Virgins was required in numerous public ceremonies and wherever they went, they were transported in a carpentum, a covered two-wheeled carriage, preceded by a lictor, and had the right-of-way;
• at public games and performances they had a reserved place of honour;
• unlike most Roman women, they were not subject to the patria potestas and so were free to own property, make a will, and vote;
• they gave evidence without the customary oath, their word being trusted without question;
• they were, on account of their incorruptible character, entrusted with important wills and state documents, like public treaties;
• their person was sacrosanct: death was the penalty for injuring their person and they had escorts to protect them from assault;
• they could free condemned prisoners and slaves by touching them – if a person who was sentenced to death saw a Vestal on his way to the execution, he was automatically pardoned.
• they participated in throwing the ritual straw figures called Argei into the Tiber on May 15.

Punishment

Allowing the sacred fire of Vesta to die out was a serious dereliction of duty. It suggested that the goddess had withdrawn her protection from the city. Vestals guilty of this offense were punished by a scourging or beating, which was carried out “in the dark and through a curtain to preserve their modesty”

The chastity of the Vestals was considered to have a direct bearing on the health of the Roman state. When they entered the collegium, they left behind the authority of their fathers and became daughters of the state. Any sexual relationship with a citizen was therefore considered to be incestum and an act of treason. The punishment for violating the oath of celibacy was to be buried alive in the Campus Sceleratus or “Evil Field” (an underground chamber near the Colline Gate) with a few days of food and water. Ancient tradition required that an unchaste Vestal be buried alive within the city, that being the only way to kill her without spilling her blood, which was forbidden. However, this practice contradicted the Roman law that no person might be buried within the city. To solve this problem, the Romans buried the offending priestess with a nominal quantity of food and other provisions, not to prolong her punishment, but so that the Vestal would not technically be buried in the city, but instead descend into a “habitable room”. Moreover, she would die willingly.^{[citation needed]} The actual manner of the procession to Campus Scleretatus has been described like this:

When condemned by the college of pontifices, she was stripped of her vittae and other badges of office, was scourged, was attired like a corpse, placed in a close litter, and borne through the forum attended by her weeping kindred, with all the ceremonies of a real funeral, to a rising ground called the Campus Sceleratus just within the city walls, close to the Colline gate. There a small vault underground had been previously prepared, containing a couch, a lamp, and a table with a little food. The pontifex maximus, having lifted up his hands to heaven and uttered a secret prayer, opened the litter, led forth the culprit, and placing her on the steps of the ladder which gave access to the subterranean cell, delivered her over to the common executioner and his assistants, who conducted her down, drew up the ladder, and having filled the pit with earth until the surface was level with the surrounding ground, left her to perish deprived of all the tributes of respect usually paid to the spirits of the departed….” via: wikipedia

:-/ 

Igor Mitoraj

Photographer: Giovanni Ricci Novara

Angeli - 2014-15 Angeli exhibition at Piazza dei Miracoli (via: artslimited)

Igor Mitoraj

Photographer: Giovanni Ricci Novara

Angeli - 2014-15 Angeli exhibition at Piazza dei Miracoli (via: artslimited)

Igor Mitoraj

Photographer: Giovanni Ricci Novara

Angeli - 2014-15 Angeli exhibition at Piazza dei Miracoli (via: artslimited)