May Heggy is an Egyptian designer who is seeking to move contemporary Egyptian jewelry beyond Pharoanic and Islamic designs that have been repeated so routinely that they arguably have become visual cliches. But that doesn't mean she is detached from myth and higher meaning--to the contrary, it permeates her work.

May Heggy believes that jewelry making, like any other form of art, reflects the artist's views, beliefs and tastes. Therefore, being interested in psychology and philosophy, she aims at portraying the dualistic nature of life in my jewelry, since it is a strong characteristic of human nature and the self. She does this by mixing precious and non-precious materials, using contrasting colors, shapes and textures as well as unsymmetric patterns. She likes to work with unusual colors and cuts of semi-precious stones.

For more, check out her website and this engaging overview in the Egypt Daily News. Above: her Infinity necklace. Below: May Heggy.

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This ancient bowl, possibly from the first century C.E., appears to have been used for fortune telling. One suggestive clue is an inscribed reference to "the magician."

No big so far--soothsaying by reading the patterns of oil in water is a familiar ancient practice.

What has scientists and historians excited about this object is the rest of the inscription, seen above--"dia Christou"--"through Christ."

If this a reference to the Christ of the gospels, it's evidence of an admixture of Christianity and white magic dating back to the early years of the Christian church. As one scholar notes, reports of a wonder worker might have spread throughout the region and been incorporated into existing spiritual practices:

Bert Smith, a professor of classical archaeology and art at Oxford University, suggests the engraving might be a dedication, or present, made by a certain "Chrestos" belonging to a possible religious association called Ogoistais.

Klaus Hallof, director of the Institute of Greek inscriptions at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy, added that if Smith's interpretation proves valid, the word "Ogoistais" could then be connected to known religious groups that worshipped early Greek and Egyptian gods and goddesses, such as Hermes, Athena and Isis.

Hallof additionally pointed out that historians working at around, or just after, the time of the bowl, such as Strabon and Pausanias, refer to the god "Osogo" or "Ogoa," so a variation of this might be what's on the bowl. It is even possible that the bowl refers to both Jesus Christ and Osogo.

Fabre concluded, "It should be remembered that in Alexandria, paganism, Judaism and Christianity never evolved in isolation. All of these forms of religion (evolved) magical practices that seduced both the humble members of the population and the most well-off classes."

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More about performer and activist Kirk Read at his personal site & Madison Young:

This is the Thing is Kirk Read's multi media performance which explores his apocalyptic fantasies and sex work. Kirk's performances are always innovative, compelling and keep me captivated from the moment he walks onto stage to the moment he exits. His gentleness and honesty and ability to love and open his self up to the audience with in his stories is truly beautiful. He delves into his history as an evangelist and goes into a story regarding a protest outside of the Sex Workers Art Show. Crowds of press and mobs surrounding the venue in which they were about to perform. Evangelists were singing and lighting candles and Kirk decides to join them in song. It was really touching and beautiful.

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Via Racked, this account of two philosophically significant promotional stunts for Fashion Week:

This morning outside the tents, some fifteen to twenty models in Grecian white dresses were lined up facing the library steps. One had the word "Dolita" printed on her front, leading us to believe this had something to do with the Italian line. Suddenly, they all turned on their heels and walked away, followed by three nearly-naked ladies in bikinis covered in a thick layer of Dead Sea mud. These were representatives of the Israeli skincare line Ahava, which kindly e-mailed us this morning to explain that mud women would be "on display handing out brochures and product samples to fashion show guests and passersby."

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Long before Madonna popularized the red string as the symbol of Kabbalic mysticism, the toy company Transogram marketed ka-bala, a game with at best attenuated roots in Jewish spirituality. Taro cards, The Eye of Zohar and a roulette wheel promised to reveal the future of children with faith in the game's powers, and as you can see, ka-bala had quite the vision of how the role of women would evolve in the decades after 1966:

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From The Circle of Life: Rituals from the Human Family Album, Rasta kids smoke their sacred herb.

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Can a German body-modder reclaim an ancient spiritual symbol from its Nazi appropriators, or does this tattoo Superman & swastika cross the line? The debate ensues in the comments on this BMEZine pic.

Update: Speaking of which . . .

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Above: one of the fashion photos and portraits collected in this excellent post on the theme, "You Can Be A Virgin."

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From Julianna Parr's Time Stamp: A Diary in Postcards

Via Drawn

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Miss Clare sports spiritual symbols from a range of traditions--and a Sacred Carrot!--in this pic from the BMEZine.

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Actress Shirley MacLaine offers a line of "eco-friendly" jewelry based on sacred geometry. Above: Swirl to God, an homage to the spiral:

Generally, the spiral represents a broadening of consciousness, which is the destination arrived after a long journey.

In terms of astrology, mysticism and myth the spiral translates into meanings of spirituality and rebirth.

In terms of spirituality, the spiral symbol represents the path leading from outer consciousness (materialism, external awareness, ego, outward perception) to the inner soul (enlightenment, unseen essence, nirvana, cosmic awareness).

In terms of rebirth or growth, the spiral symbol represents the consciousness of nature beginning from the core or center and thus expanding outwardly. This is the way of all things, as recognized by most mystics.

This is just one of many spiritual products offered on her site, an epitome of commerce as an extension of the self. As Ms. MacLaine can affirm, there's little more rewarding than living long enough to go from outside to mainstream.

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The book of Genesis is not exactly subtle about its sexual content (sensual snake tempts woman, followed by childbirth and hard work), while the Medusa myth provides a complex and repulsive archetype of reductionistic sexual objectification (woman who revels in her stultifying beauty is raped, re-fashioned in the image of snakes that turn men hard).

However, in the modern US of A religion doesn't really talk about such things, so we gotta wear virtual breeches. Hence the partial nude pic, from Jamie Nelson via the Reverse Cowgirl, is below the jump.

Continue reading "Eve, Medusa, Snakes" »

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Swastika Freakshop via BMEZine. Be sure to check out the SF homepage for more, as well as this cri de coeur prompted by burgeoning internet fame:

the spirit of the ritual give me the energy to do what i do...

please read this... Effectively immediately, I am gong to stop doing body modifications. I no longer offer things like implants, scars etc... So please do not request any of this from now on. I need time to concentrate on my tattoo work and on my own life. Body modification IS my life - but not all in my life. And, right now, for me, tattooing is more important than the other stuff. So I will take a one-year break from promoting. I won't upload new pictures and try to take a break from being an internet celebrity. Please respect my decision and don't ask me about anything else than tattooing. When you want a tatu, please contact me via my homepage (www.swastika-freakshop.de).

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Moses, Pan, the Devil--horns call to mind a range of spiritual associations. A compelling extreme body mod from BMENews.

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Via

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Religion is in many ways a story of our relation to collective identity, which can create something higher than ourselves as well as swarms that destroy. Not surprisingly the locust plays a prominent role in ancient religious texts, more in regard to the latter aspect of the mystery than the former, though now that most of us live a life far removed from swarms of locusts devouring our crops the references might seem somewhat oblique.

Pictured above: cicada jewelry, created and sold by teen entrepreneurs Katheryn Maloney and Brady Cullinan. And from a reference by a BoingBoing commenter, be sure to scroll down this fascinating site for a story about Mayan cockroach jewelry:

There once was, I have been told, a Maya princess who fell in love with a man she would never be permitted to marry. So heartbroken was she that she wept night and day over her forbidden love. A shaman, hearing her cries and learning of her misery, transformed her into a glittering beetle, a piece of living jewelry. Her beloved pinned her to his breast. Thus she spent her life, close to the heart of the one she cherished.

Doesn't sound like much of a relationship to me, but perhaps I'm too cynical. In any event, this legend is perpetuated to the present day in Yucatán by the makech (that's Yucatec Mayan, in Spanish, it's maquech).

These large beetles spend most of their lives as larvae; their transformation into adults marks the end of their existence. Once pupated, they stop eating, breed, and die. Yucatecos decorate them with rhinestones and tether them with little gold chain leashes. Pinned to the purchaser's clothing, they spend what remains of their brief existence wandering aimlessly about, sparkling as they move.

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This Good Karma Flag illustrates an informative meditation on the genetic effects of the relaxation response.

The research team looked at long-term practitioners of mind-body exercises, a group of controls, and a third group that they trained in guided relaxation techniques, using 20 minutes each day of practice. The long-term practitioners were a diverse group, including practitioners of ‘Vipassna, mantra, mindfulness or transcendental meditation, breath focus, Kripalu or Kundalini Yoga, and repetitive prayer.’

A large number of genes seemed to be affected, with significant overlaps between the long-term and short-term practitioners. 260 genes were up-regulated and 168 genes were down-regulated in both the group of long-term practitioners and the group given short-term training. As the article reports: ‘they represent GEP changes characteristic of RR practice over at least 8 weeks.’ Some of the gene changes seem to cluster in genes expressed in hematopoietic cells, those linked to blood formation, and in genes linked to stress, oxidative metabolism, and primary metabolism. As the abstract reports: ‘gene ontology and gene set enrichment analyses revealed significant alterations in cellular metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, generation of reactive oxygen species and response to oxidative stress.’

The researchers found that relaxation response was a kind of reversal of the genetic and cellular stress response. As the Discussion of the article suggests, ‘It is becoming increasingly clear that psychosocial stress can manifest as system-wide perturbations of cellular processes, generally increasing oxidative stress and promoting a pro-inflammatory milieu.’ In contrast, their analysis of relaxation response ‘reveals altered gene expression in specific functional groups which suggest a greater capacity to respond to oxidative stress and the associated cellular damage. Genes including COX7B, UQCRB and CASP2 change in opposite direction from that in the stress response.’

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This morning on my walk to work I noticed that the demolition of an office building had exposed a church to public view--and not just any church, but Manhattan's first Roman Catholic parish. Drawn by the sight I decided to do a walk-through. The ornamentation, the altars, the markers commemorating the history of building and craft--the place was a vivid reminder of a visual style in some ways alien to life today, but at the same time its direct antecedent.

The blend of sensory richness and spirituality reminded me of this recent article on the goldsmiths of Iraq. Gold as an expression of transformative identity has a long history there, a tradition evident not just in the Bible but in the diffusion of its iconic values throughout the globe. Which is just one more why the plight of Iraq's goldsmiths is so tragic--it's not just that the invasion led to the pillaging of ancient art; Iraq is losing the very artists whose work help gives life meaning.

Even more disturbing--the role of religious conflict in this spiritual implosion. For more on that check out the whole article; for now, a poignant reminder of one family's lost golden age:

For Walid, goldsmithing is more than a business, it is a family tradition too important to abandon.

His grandfather worked on the golden-domed Kadhimiya shrine, where Imam Musa al Kadhim and his grandson, Muhammad Taqi, revered by Shiite Muslims, are said to be buried.

His father made jewelry for the Iraqi royal family.

A faded photograph hanging above Walid's counter shows his father with the portable wooden box he used to display his wares before he opened a store in 1934 in Baghdad's most famous gold bazaar, which fills the winding alleys leading to the shrine. . . .

The jewelry sold in the Kadhimiya district is especially prized by Iraq's majority Shiites, who consider it to be a blessing from the imams buried there.

Before U.S.-led forces invaded the country in 2003, the shopkeepers say, as many as 3,000 Iranians also visited the shrine every day. After offering a prayer to the imams, the pilgrims would join the bustling throngs to shop for gold.

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Last night's powerful windstorm in New York reminds me of this traveling art and jewelry exhibit featuring hurricane-inspired designs--Storm Cycle: An Artist Responds to Hurricane Katrina, which also has as its companion exhibit The Hurricane Brooch Show. 

"I want them to use jewelry-making as a method of artistic commentary," [artist Thomas Mann] said. "In some cultures, jewelry pieces transcend fashion to a large degree by becoming objects of celebration, honor, reflection or spiritual context."

For 30 years, Mann has been involved in the contemporary American craft movement as an artist, gallery owner and teacher. While his work ranges from hammered sterling hearts on delicate chains to hanging installations full of aesthetic and thematic confrontation, he is best known in the international art community for his jewelry. But a jeweler he is not. He is a sculptor, often working on a scale that just happens to be wearable.

For Storm Cycle, he created 20 brooches that attach to larger panels, each one a glimpse into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "Markings No. 1" pairs found sheet metal with a photo of a handmade warning sign that reads: "U loot / We shoot." Such markings are a major element of the show, as Mann collected images of graffiti made in the desperate hours after the devastation of New Orleans.

"Markings No. 3" is an interpretation of the grids painted on doors by inspection teams charged with searching ruined buildings for bodies. They used symbols to indicate where teams were from, the date and status of the inspection and the number of bodies recovered. Mann said the count started rising when officials realized how many people had died trapped in their attics.

"That's why those markings are so important to people," Mann said, adding that the brooch element of each piece is meant to give its message reach. "They allow you to take the whole story with you."

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"Take a hit of God instead--do you think you can handle the high?" Turns out this mock Christian come-on in the musical Reefer Madness may have hit on a deeper truth about religious ritual. From Science Daily:

Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. An international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses.

"In spite of information stemming from ancient texts, constituents of Bosweilla had not been investigated for psychoactivity," said Raphael Mechoulam, one of the research study's co-authors. "We found that incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behavior. Apparently, most present day worshipers assume that incense burning has only a symbolic meaning."

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Just one of the digital collections available on Public Collectors, via the Groundswell Collective.

Every time Philip von Zweck found a Bible in his hotel room, he nicked it. The one pictured above has my favorite caption: "The first wedding I got to perform as a rev."

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Via Yoga Journal, a fascinating look at the Sanghamitra sex workers collective . . .

In Indian mythology, Sanghamitra is the beautiful and wise daughter of Emperor Asoka, and the solitary motivation for his transformation from ruthless despot to a peaceful disciple of Buddhism. Sanghamitra, the providential name chosen by the women, is predestined to signify extraordinary change in their lives, toward a better, brighter future of hope and well-being.

Maya, the President of Sanghamirta, rose and made a speech welcoming those of us gathered in the room. Each office member stood and placed a beautiful purple scarf around our necks.

And how a Westerner ended up teaching yoga in India:

When I asked them if they'd like to try yoga, they giggled and clapped like little girls—perhaps feeling like they were being naughty or breaking a law. Apparently the practice of yoga doesn't make its way past India's deeply-established tradition of sex and discrimination. Unfortunately, the people who could really benefit from its healing and emancipation properties were denied because of their place in society.

I knew yoga's health benefits might not interest them. And since most of the women are Hindi and devotion is an intrinsic part of their culture, I spoke about how we can use our bodies as an expression of our devotion. I explained how each gesture, including the placement of the hand, the expansion of the lungs, and the turn of the spine, is an offering. I told them that yoga practice is a living ritual and an embodied prayer.

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AVN has the story; Erica Campbell's website explains her decision. Two things are particularly interesting: the sense that her charity work (animal rescue) was not enough, and the social network that emerged as she communicated with the men who paid for her pics. An excerpt below; for a different POV, including an intriguing comparison of working in porn with wearing a head scarf, check out this NOW discussion with Nina Hartley.

Here's Erica Campbell:

I love helping people, I love befriending people, I love animal rescue and rehab. I care a GREAT deal for my friends and family and ALWAYS do whatever I can to care for them and make sure that they are ok. For a long time I THOUGHT that I was doing the right thing.....and doing my personal best......well...I was wrong...dead wrong. . . .

The past few years have been very difficult for me. That is no secret to anyone that knows anything about me. I have been working my tail off to support myself, my farm, my rescues, my family, and the list goes on. No matter how hard I worked.....no matter how many people or creatures I helped I STILL had that void inside of my heart and my soul. Connecting with person after person through my site as REAL FRIENDS. I understood the loneliness of the people that I would talk to...because I myself was so lonely. The more I shot...the deeper my darkness got.....the more I understood the pain of others. My friends and my fan. There is ONE common thread to so many of us online here.....the need to be loved, accepted, cared for, the need to have SOMEONE understand you and connect with you. At the end of so many of these emails was that loneliness. SO many men have asked me what they were doing wrong, how to find a special girl like me for THEM. How to fill that "void" in their hearts...in their souls.

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Today's featured jewelry comes to us thanks to TrendHunters, which also spotted the NipTuck app below. It's the OctopusMe tentacle ring, part of an extensive collection of octo-themed offerings. As OctopusMe explains, "The Octopus is a symbol of Transformation and Regeneration."

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Part of the Sheila Satin Collection on Etsy:

Each piece will arrive boxed/pouched, cleaned from negativity, charged in the sun, with a positive affirmation for you to program yourself!

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Via

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"Is that God up there?" - "Felix Fritzl, 5, sees the moon for the first time since leaving the cellar" where his father/grandfather had kept him sheltered since he was born.

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Jan Daniel Cadinot was a famous director of gay porn. The following post appeared on his blog on April 23rd, the day he died of a heart attack:

Dear friends, critics and others,

If you're reading these words I will have put down my camera, switched off the lights, drawn the curtains and taken my final bow. May all the efforts and work of a whole life, the quest for the moment of pure truth in the sublime communion of two beings under the spell of the undefinable desire for the other, inspire those who inherit my heart.

The human being is made such that it only remembers the good and the beautiful, therefore I leave you with a free mind and a head overflowing with a myriad of young men, sometimes strong and vigorous, sometimes fragile and sensitive. All of them gave me these unforgettable moments of their most tender intimacy, moments that only a few really know but which I made in to images to allow you to admire them over and over again.

Never were success or personal fortune my creed. You offered me gratitude, and I thank you for that because I wanted nothing else. Cadinot salutes you. Remember a kindly fellow, an extreme observer given to rages and contradiction but who listened to others and was full of love.

"An erect phallus is a symbol of life, a cross a symbol of death."

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Back when I was studying for my religion Ph.D., the notion that Americans treated religion like shopping was the stuff of cutting-edge academic books and doctoral dissertations. Now it's just another article in Cosmo.

I am so old.

Next month: What Karl Barth's dialectical yes-and-no says about how far you should go on first dates.

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Pippa Bacca (1975—2008) was an Italian artist who, together with a fellow artist, was hitch-hiking from Milan to the Middle-East to promote WORLD PEACE and trust in other people, while wearing wedding dresses. Arriving in Gebze (TR) on March 31 2008, she went missing, and her sister flew to Turkey to locate her. Her body was discovered in the city on April 11, 2008, and she was formally identified by her sibling, and taken to Istanbul for an autopsy.

More here and at her website, which includes this depiction of Adam and Eve:

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Taking the culture of personal production one level higher, in this spiritual clay sex kit you create your own instructors.

But if the whole clay thing is too earthy for you, Kama3D provides a comprehensive set of virtual Kama Sutra sexual position sculptures for your spiritual edification.

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Via Journalista, this meditation on meaning from graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi hits on a fundamental truth:

We meet in London. She can’t stand Britain because of the smoking ban. She suggests that we talk in her hotel room because at least she will be able to smoke there. She lives for her cigs, and is quite happy to die for them, she says. “For me smoking is like looking at your soul,” she says in a rasping hybrid accent. “There is something extraordinarily poetic about smoking — from the gesture of holding a cigarette, turning it on, smoking it, the taste of it, the smell of it, I love every-thing about smoking.” She has no truck with the kill-joys who want to stop us doing all the things that we enjoy — simply because it might prolong our life. “Anything that has a relationship with pleasure we reject it. Eating, they talk about cholesterol; making love, they talk about Aids; you talk about smoking, they talk about cancer. It’s a very sick society that rejects pleasure.” She’s working herself up into a climax of disgust. “Why should we live like sick people just to give some fresh meat to the ground? I hope my meat is so rotten no worm in the whole universe will want to come and eat it. I want to be rotten to accept the idea of dying. Every day you live you get one day closer to death. If you are never born you will never die. Giving birth is also giving death.” She smiles, having hit on the solution to combating death.

Video: Cartoon penguins and the Statue of Liberty show kids teach kids how cigarettes are synonymous with freedom in an old advertising cartoon for Kool.

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This is a series to watch: Naked City's upcoming survey of religious groups whose mission involves working with sex workers of faith--not to convert them from sex work but to serve them where they are. It's a topic about which I have my own rather unconventional thoughts, and perhaps once I get a couple deadlines out of the way I'll post them here.

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Yesterday I dropped by Barnes & Noble to pick up some books for school. As usual I decided to scan through the science section to see if there were any new must-reads.

And that's when I noticed something interesting.

Used to be it was loaded with a mix of hard science (with, you know, math and stuff) and solid popularizations by science journalists. That's still there--well, at least the popularizations--but there's also something else. Books on quantum spirituality, Eastern religion and science, technology and faith, alchemy . . . all from small religious publishers, such as Shambhala Publications.

B&N isn't known for squandering shelf space, so I imagine that this must be what sells. As for what it means of the future of science in America, we'll have to see.

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Well, technically, at his funeral. This story of a son who paid an erotic dancer to perform before the coffin of his 103 year old father reminds me of the following scene from the end of the life of David as depicted in the Book of Kings:

1.1 Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat.

2 Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat.

3 So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

4 And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

If anyone feels compelled to celebrate a ritual of regeneration at my deathbed or funeral, I would prefer a loop of scenes from Doctor Who.

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Via Defamer and the NY Daily News

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Omphalos is the classical Greek word for "navel." Not coincidentally, the omphalos is also an iconic religious object representing our creation out of chaos--as well as the original name of a modern creationist hypothesis arguing that God created the earth with all the signs of pre-existing age, from geological strata to the belly-button on Adam when God made him from dirt.

Yet pictured above is a genuine miracle: a woman without a belly button. She's evidence of either our imminent posthuman future or a photo-editor getting a bit too enthusiastic with Photoshop's clone tool.

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‘‘My work is a response to all things plastic, black, evil and cheap that don’t give people the chance to explore the power of the body.’’ That tantalizing quote appeared in last Sunday's New York Times feature on Betony Vernon. The article may highlight the "titillating" aspects of Vernon's "erotic ceremonies," but as the writer also notes there's more to the sex than just sex. Her Paradise Found website explains:

"Ritual," "mission," "education," "mystery"--the language of transformation pervades Vernon's work. And it's not just talk: check out the following iconic design, which links the flight of the spirit to bone and flesh:

Besides offering a jewelry line, Paradise Found also doubles as a postmodern mystery faith, with a secret gathering place and rites known only to invited initiates--one more sign that we are living in the midst of a new Renaissance, where art, spirituality and commerce blend into one.

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Via

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Via Postsecret

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Uwe Ommer, "Do It Yourself"

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Congratulations to Mok & Paul at Eyeteeth, which has one of the most informative wedding blog write-ups I've seen, chock full of insight into the religious significance of Thai wedding traditions and a nice image of global spirituality.

Without, thankfully, the traditional Web 1.0 MIDI accompaniment.

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Via

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The church at the Sweden's Icehotel, via AndrewSullivan.com and BLDGBLOG.

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Orpheus went down to Hades in a doomed attempt to rescue his beloved Eurydice. Now we come on down to challenge fate at Plinko. Quoth new Price is Right host Drew Carey in today's New York Times:

"[F]or every single person that makes it onstage, it’s like a Joseph Campbell journey, an everyman plucked from obscurity to attempt a journey, with obstacles placed in their way. And I just want to be a good guy for them, so they can win money. I’m there to help them on their journey."

Of course, the show hasn't always had such a benign view of its mythic significance. When I went there back in the Bob Barker days, Rod Roddy tried to cut off my hand.

Anyway, as the Times article explains, Carey's spiritual reference isn't facetious:

Mr. Carey, 49, said that in the past two years he has undergone a “huge spurt of spiritual growth,” having immersed himself in texts from the Bible to books by Wayne Dyer and Marianne Williamson. The result is a changed attitude about comedy, show business and himself.

“I’ve thought about changing my name, I’ve changed so much,” he said, “If Drew Carey now met Drew Carey from 5 or 10 years ago, I wouldn’t recognize him.”

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It's fair-trade, which means the more Divine Chocolate you eat, the more you help save the world.

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From Jo Longhurst's Twelve Dogs, Twelve Bitches:

My work with the British show Whippet – a dog bred to an ideal standard – focuses particularly on the evolution of the visual image of the Whippet, and the construction of human identity through the shaping of the figure of the dog.

Via It's Nice That

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Drilling for oil in the Great Salt Lake may destroy this piece of conceptual art, "one of the great works of mysticism in the 20th century." Step back and you'll see an a culture clash beyond art versus commerce--while the American norm is toward eternal preservation, the equally sublime Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala is made to be destroyed.

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Just in time from Valentine's Day, Sugah! offers this line of chocolates designed to reflect seven different--and distinctly NSFW--positions from the Kama Sutra. Of course, if you're reading this blog, I'm sure you're only interested in its religious significance:

Tantra is the philosophy of Spirituality, art and science that has eroticism at its core. Like our approach to chocolate, the Tantric approach to life is joyful and sensual.

Chocolate has long been heralded for its aphrodisiacal qualities. Ancient Tantric teachings have long been used to spice up new and old relationships. Take your lovemaking to new heights and treat yourself and your partner to a little something more than some fine chocolate with our tantric tablet collection.

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Sustainability and spirituality--fossil jewelry has it all:

Our trilobite jewelry was created by taking a mold from actual trilobite fossils. Fossils are worn as amulets to promote longevity, for protection, and to increase spiritual energy. Fossils are symbols of time, eternity, evolution, and represent how nothing in nature is wasted.

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Via Bogoff.com, found through Neatorama, which featured the following super-cool Masonic watch from the 1930s and made the spot-on joke I wish I'd thought of first.

Posted by jat at 12:40 AM | Permalink

From a photo series based on children's drawings:

"...The power of a child's imagination is how it delicately refigures memory and real imagery into unreasonable and unexpected expressions and impressions. Children's fantasies spring from flexible interpretations of adult conventions. The challenge of photographically reconstructing these fantasies may reflect Jung's challenge of becoming a father in real life. It is not hard to imagine that he is inspired by the limitless imaginative power of the child playing before his eyes. This makes even more sense in light of Kristeva's comment that the child is the "mythical figure" of the imaginary. The adolescents who play-act for Jung take on the adult forms of their drawn figures, but with adolescent minds, and thus visually realize the fusion of fantasy and reality. These are works that gaze upon the world of adult reason with the pure, unsullied eyes of a child. Balanced between reality and fantasy, the deformed cartoonish world in "Wonderland" sways our values and beliefs."

Via Neatorama

Posted by jat at 08:48 AM | Permalink

One of my favorite Socratic dialogues is the Euthydemus, in which Plato explores the link between words and things. One of the limitations of language highlighted in the wordplay of this text is the way that one word can mean different things.

For instance, take the classical Greek verb "porneuo." In English we translate this most directly as "to prostitute", with its most common usage in the passive voice signifying "to engage in prostitution." Yet if we look at the most ubiquitous English cognate--porn--we find that it is rarely if ever used in reference to people classed as prostitutes, either by law or convention, despite the fact that any number of people depicted in pornography are doing so for money. Indeed, depending on the jurisdiction or observer the person depicted in the image need not be engaged in a sexual act at all; mere exposure of certain body parts may suffice.

Then there are other languages in which the word porn has no reference to sex at all--and that's the story behind the picture above. Design blog Eyeteeth explains:

One of the reasons my wife Mok goes by her nickname is that in the U.S. she's sometimes met with snickers when she says her given name: Julaporn.

But in Thailand, the word "porn" has a very different meaning. It's the name of the king's daughter (and technically, no one else is supposed to use it) and means "silk." Often a part of women's names, "porn" is a formal and somewhat antiquated word for a blessing from God. So the name literally refers to the ceremonial silk one would present to monks at a Buddhist temple: prayer silk, if you will.

For a complete explanation of Julaporn's neon sign, check out the rest of this enlightening post!

Posted by jat at 08:35 PM | Permalink

Although the righteous folks at Miss Toronto Tourism believe that tarot card reading is too "dark arts" for beauty pageants, the Barbie Tarot reveals that it may be a perfect fit.

Posted by jat at 11:53 AM | Permalink

"He was an anarchist and an independent journalist who went to Mexico to document revolution -- and ended up filming his own murder."

Posted by jat at 10:04 PM | Permalink

AM New York has a feature on New York designers exploring the theme of peace. Tanya Farah's work--with words for peace in English, Hebrew and Arabic--wasn't illustrated, but it's something for which I'll be on the lookout. Rosena Sammi, designer of the Kismat collection, has this to say about her work:

"When your thoughts and feelings tend towards purity of mind/body, hope, and bliss," she says, "the effect on your life can be profound."

Who knew?

Posted by jat at 09:53 AM | Permalink