‘Eternal Light’
…there is a light that shines always…
Eternal Light
Tag: Symbols
Eight Pointed Star III
‘Eight Pointed Star III’
Dark Crest
‘Dark Crest’
Eight Pointed Star
‘Eight Pointed Star’
…variously, a symbol of life, fertility, hope, balance and harmony…
Press Any Key
‘Press Any Key’
…no, really, that is the message spelt out in the keyboard jumble…
(Art courtesy of my friend Dean Thompson)
Masonic Lodge Window
‘Masonic Lodge Window’
… note the freemasonry symbol of the angled square in the upper part of the window…
Laden Ship
‘Laden Ship’
Sceptre
‘Sceptre’
You rule!
Crest & Flowers
‘Crest & Flowers’
Red Neon Cross
‘Red Neon Cross’
Blue Neon Cross
‘Blue Neon Cross’
Typo
‘Typo’
Two Shields
‘Two Shields’
…symbols of protection…
Symbols Of The South Pacific
‘Symbols Of The South Pacific’
A Fijian masi (or tapa) cloth detail.
Mesmerising geometric symbols, telling tales from islands in the Pacific.
Repetition of pattern and bold signifiers, in traditional form, but somehow modernist.
Art that, in the way of all good art, is redolent of its origins but transcends place and time.
Fleurs-de-Lys: Patron Saints & Guardian Angels
‘Fleurs-de-Lys: Patron Saints & Guardian Angels’
What if you were caught up in something that threatened your very being? And didn’t have the means or motivation to conquer it by yourself?
A fellow blogger (very talented!),whom I only know by her blog name, Beadberry, told of her escape from New Orleans ahead of Hurricane Katrina. See the previous post Five Iron Fleurs-de-Lys
The fleurs-de-lys motifs reminded her of symbols of the French-influenced Crescent City (the Saints football team amongst other things )and, in turn, those memories of fleeing the town before catastrophe struck. Someone she knew had pushed her into getting the hell out of there.
I too had a narrow escape from tragedy a couple of years ago, avoiding death only because someone passing by raised the alarm for emergency assistance as I lay prone on a sidewalk.
I still don’t know who that person was, but I consider him or her as a guardian angel.
There really are saints and angels, human, or otherwise maybe, who look out for us, I reckon. You don’t easily forget a brush with tragedy or death; you count yourself lucky for those who actually gave a shit about you in those times.
And symbols bring those memories back home to us, just when we might forget.
Listen To The Lion
‘ Listen To The Lion’
Lions, of course, are symbols of courage and bravery.
Courage features in the second part of The Serenity Prayer:
“Courage to change the things I can”
I think about that which I can change at the start of the day. Whether I act depends largely on whether I have the guts to do so.
Some leonine musical inspiration comes from Irish singer-songwriter in one of his more extended songs:
” I shall search my very soul
for the lion
inside of me”
(Mr. Morrison really rips loose with the vocal chords on this number; the repetition too, as he hits full trance and utters the phrase “listen to the lion” over and over again at one point in the song. It makes for one of his more challenging listens, but that’s possibly the point. I still marvel that Van, well into his musical work by then, was still only 26 or so when this track was recorded – it sounds like someone with way more time and miles under the belt).
Cross The Sky
Deconscecrated Church, Glenfield NZ.
The simplicity of the circled cross, a stark symbol against the deep blue sky.
The symmetry of the angled white timber work under the eaves.
Two gleaming halves, mirror images.
They drew me in, these minor miracles, when I visited the building yesterday.
The former church has lost its sacred status to fulfill other uses today, but its uncomplicated appearance still has a striking purity about it…
Two Catalan Flags
In the interest of balance ,and because I said I would ( see the previous post Two Spanish Flags ),here is the Catalan flag.
Well, two of them to be precise. Perfectly balanced then…
The flags fly in Barcelona as a political statement in an age old pursuit of freedom from Spanish governance and of an independent Catalunya.
Very interesting to observe firsthand (and get caught up in at times) the recent separatist unrest there.
But, regardless of politics, the Catalan flag wins over its national rival in terms of simplicity and sheer drawability.
Both however, are the bold and vibrant designs and symbols of proud peoples.
Two Spanish Flags
Continuing with the previous post’s theme, here are two Spanish flags draped from apartments next to where we stayed in Barcelona recently.
This is of course a political statement in a city that is the hotbed of Catalunya’s separatist movement.
I’ll get to the Catalans next.
My main concern however is for Spanish kids – all children have to draw their nations’s flag at some point – the crest on the flag is off-centre and is a piece of rather complicated heraldry.
Good luck sketching that one, el nino…
A Fine Ensign
The ensign of The Royal Akarana Yacht Club furls in the breeze at Auckland’s Okahu Bay on a fine Sunday afternoon.
Simply, ensigns are naval flags.
I do enjoy a good flag, and especially the value they have to groupings of peoples as symbols and signifiers of their commonality.
Elsewhere on this blog I have discussed how symbols boil down to the essence of what is important to someone and lay that out in simple, readily understandable terms to others.
“This is who I am”; “this is what we are”.
This one ticks a few boxes with its triangular, sail-like shape and crown composed of sails and boats.
On the day I took this picture, there was practice for some international regatta, and I saw young Irish and Italian sailors at work . I could first tell where they were from by their flags!
Footnote: Akarana is a Maori transliteration of Auckland, using the phonetics of that language to spell out the English word. There are no “l” or “d” sounds in Maori, so the closest Maori sounds are used. Also, Maori words resolve in vowels.
Ebb Then Flood 