Iconography
Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist who developed idiosyncratic magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self. His artistic work is characterized by skilled draughtsmanship exhibiting a mastery of the use of the line, and often employs monstrous or fantastic magical and sexual imagery. (Wikipedia)
Uploaded by 23narchy on 2010-11-04.
Olvera Street, Los Angeles, 10.29.10
A single shot I recorded of the procession on Olvera Street on 10/29/10.
Tibetan Buddha statue made of brass (15th century). Photograph and a neutron radiogram. The radiogram reveals wooden objects and dried flowers hidden inside the statue. Neutrons easily pass through metals and reveal substances containing hydrogen. (Paul Scherrer Institut)
From The First Angelinos: The Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles by William McCawley (Malki Museum Press, 1996):
Other important observations made by the Spanish in 1602 describe Gabrielino religious practices. Near Isthmus Cove on Santa Catalina the Spaniards o0bserved "a place of worship or temple where the natives perform the sacrifices and adorations." According to Father Antonio it
was a large flat patio and in one part of it, where they had what we would call an altar, there was a great circle all surrounded with feathers of various colors and shapes, which must come from the birds they sacrifice. Inside the circle there was a figure like a devil painted in various colors, in the way the Indians of New Spain are accustomed to paint them. At the sides of this were the sun and the moon. When the soldiers reached this place, inside the circle there were two large crows larger than ordinary ones, which flew away when they saw strangers, and alighted on some nearby rocks. One of the soldiers, seeing their size, aimed at them with his harquebus [matchlock rifle], and discharging it, killed them both. When the Indians saw this they began to weep and display great emotion. In my opinion, the Devil talked to them through these crows, because all the men and women held them in great respect and fear.
Kryžių Kalnas ("the Hill of Crosses") is a site of pilgrimage about just north of the city of Šiauliai, in northern Lithuania. The exact origins are unknown, but it is considered that the first crosses were placed on the former Jurgaičiai or Domantai hill fort after the 1831 Uprising. Over the centuries, not only crosses, but giant crucifixes, carvings of Lithuanian patriots, statues of the Virgin Mary and thousands of tiny effigies and rosaries have been brought here by Catholic pilgrims. The number of crosses is unknown, but estimates put it at about 55,000 in 1990 and 100,000 in 2006.
I found this tiny image in a Santería shop in Chicago, and I have always felt a connection to it — possibly due the dreams I had as a child. I believe I paid $1 for it.
Wikipedia says that:
The Niño de las Suertes is has a strong following due to its association with Santa Muerte. While the image was created in the 19th century, its popular veneration is a recent phenomenon. The image was found by two evangelists in the rubble of the Hacienda of San Juan de Dios in Tlalpan. It was handed over to Archbishop Francisco Lizana y Beaumont. As a number of monasteries wanted to claim it, the archbishop decided to make the decision by lottery. It is said that this image favored theConvent of San Bernardo due to the vow of poverty by its nuns. This was confirmed by doing the drawing three times. In the 19th century, due to tensions between the Mexican government and the Church, the image was moved to Tacubaya when the convent was secularized.
As for Tacubaya, the current home of the image, Wikipedia states:
Located only ten minutes away from the Mexican president’s residence of Los Pinos, La Ciudad Pérdida (The Lost City) of Tacubaya are small shacks made of cardboard, wood and other found items that line the narrow streets in a part of the neighborhood, on Becerra, Mártires de Tacubaya, Heroes de la Intervencion and 11 de Abril streets, surrounding a complete block. The neighborhood was always poor, first inhabited about 100 years ago when small houses of adobe with wood roofs were built, forming the narrow streets that are found here. The area is filled with garbage and the smell of urine and stagnant water from drains that no longer work. Drug use entered this area in the 1980s, first with marihuana, then with cocaine. Eventually, the area became a drug distribution center. Neighbors say that most of the people in the lost city are transvestites, drug addicts, thieves as well as entire families, of which there are an estimated hundred. Residence of both the shacks and the permanent buildings say that they have been promised solutions to their problems, but nothing is done.
