Chartres Labyrinth Tours

19/08/2024

Very very true.

19/08/2024

It’s a rare blue super moon tonight.

17/08/2024

Just came across this, so very very beautiful.

09/08/2024

I love prehistoric cave art.

WHAT WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT CAVE ART - Part Two: Evidence suggests that some, maybe most, cave art was made by women. The ever-present handprints near many of the paintings turn out to be mostly those of women (generally, on women the ring and index fingers are similar lengths, whereas for men, the ring finger is longer - works about 70% of the time). So, that increases the odds that the nearby paintings of horses and bison were made by women as well.
In her fascinating book, The First Signs, Von Petzinger demonstrates that there are 32 symbols that are used repeatedly in caves all over the world. The similarities of the symbols, from Europe to Australia to the Americas, are striking. But what was the use? Bacon et al, (2023) made a good case that groups of lines or dots on many of the animal paintings (pictured) indicate the number of lunar months from the start of spring until they give birth or pass through the area. Inasmuch as this is valuable hunting info, the symbols are considered the first ever proto writing.
What's NOT in cave art is also instructive. Curtis's The Cave Painters mentions fish, insects, rodents, reptiles, birds, bats and hyenas as being rare or absent in the paintings, although all were common, close associates of the humans. It's clear the prehistoric artists portrayed animals that their people highly valued or which had a special place in their culture. Also not shown are landscape elements: trees, flowers, rivers, lakes or caves. There are few images, if any, of stars, the moon, or sun, which I find very puzzling. Human figures are rare in European paleo art, but they comprise most of the figures in ancient Australian art (BTW, more than 100,000 significant rock art sites have been identified in Australia)!
This paleo art can be immensely moving, even to people of our age jaded by constant visual bombardment. Everyone in my group visiting Lascaux - people from all walks of life - came out of that cave just stunned. Viewed by flickering torchlight, the images would have had an enormous emotional impact on our early human ancestors.

09/08/2024

Yep Yep TGIF ha!

28/07/2024

This is incredible, and so lovely at the same time.

The fascinating Nebra sky disc.

This bronze artifact was found buried in the Ziegelroda Forest near Nebra in Germany, and is attributed to the Early Bronze Age Unetice culture (Ziegelroda Forest contains approximately 1000 barrows).

The disc is a foot in diameter, with a blue-green patina and inlaid with gold symbols. Interestingly, a recent analysis found that the gold used in the first development phase was from the River Carnon in southern Cornwall in England. The tin present in the bronze was also of Cornish origin.

The symbols on the disc are interpreted as the Sun or full moon, a lunar crescent, and stars (including a cluster of seven stars representing the Pleiades, aka Seven Sisters). Two golden arcs that were along the sides (they are now missing) are thought to mark the angle between the solstices.

While much older earthworks and megalithic astronomical complexes such as Stonehenge have already been used to mark the solstices, the Nebra sky disc presents this knowledge in the form of a portable object. (Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebra_sky_disc)

Photo is by Frank Vincentz

28/07/2024

I’m a big fan of gargoyles. I always wondered what they did after work.

Photo was taken by Jose Manuel Barrero at Saint Sernin of Toulouse. Caption is by Becky O’Rourke.

25/07/2024

My friend, Tree McKenna Cinque, just posted this. Dare I say, it is very enlightening. One thing you must do, if you can, is experience the incredible beauty of Chartres Cathedral.

An exquisite, poetic look at Chartres Cathedral in France and how its builders and artists utilized light and space to enhance healing. Nine minute film by ...

22/07/2024

Today, July 22, is the Feast Day of St Mary Magdalene. To celebrate I’ve put together some postcards of the art she is portrayed in at the Musee Cluny in Paris. But I’m missing one, a painting of her reading a book. Either way, she is well represented in Paris’ Medieval Art Museum.

20/07/2024

A beautiful rendition of Hildegard of Bingen’s music, using Tibetan bowls and other unusual instruments.

Présentation du spectacle "Hildegarde de Bingen : le Mariage du Ciel et de la Terre". sites : www.naturalchant.com et myspace.com/catherinebraslavsky pour pl...

18/07/2024

https://youtu.be/fJ6emHEBAeo?si=4HF_iS86nki_Fv0V

Deep in the forests of Mexico, millions of monarch butterflies spend their winter sheltered from the cold. Once spring arrives, it is time for them to awaken...

17/07/2024

13/07/2024

Works for me.

13/07/2024

“Faërie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons; it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.” —JRR Tolkien

Photo is by Enrico Fossati