Honey For The Mistress Of The Labyrinth
posted by Gone | April 11, 2009
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IcerocketOk, start as I mean to go on. I'm an artist, so here's a recently completed artwork. I'm new here at Evolver and I feel my role here is to visually inspire in any way I can...
This is a large multi-panel artwork I completed about a week ago, called 'Honey For The Mistress Of the Labyrinth', to be exhibited in Massy, France soon. It springs from an epiphany-vision I had when wandering around Minoan ruins in Crete, realising that the kind of visionary culture McKenna talks about in Food of the Gods applied perfectly to Minoan life. Suddenly I started seeing visionary elements everywhere in the archaeology - mushrooms, shifting patterns, entoptic phenomena and so on.
So, here the Mistress Of the Labyrinth takes centre stage, flanked by two images of Glaucos, as honey-drowned mushroom child and sea god, and two images of Asterion/Minos as teacher/grandfather and athlete/grandson. For me, she is archaic challenge to the modern world: she is more than the confident modern woman, or even the spiritual human. There's something in her transfixing eyes that says: I am the sign on the road and I am the All...
It makes sense in my heart anyway. Enjoy
Bruce
Comments
Bruce, This is so beautiful.
— Apr 11, 2009
Bruce,
This is so beautiful. Thanks for feeding us back this tidal current of inspiration. It's amazing how McKenna opened a door of sight on Minoan culture for you. I had an experience of living in Japan and reading Sei Shonagon's The Pillow Book; it was as if every experience burned itself in the retina of my mind. Wow, this piece knows the past and sees into the future. Thanks for posting. If you ever want to collaborate and have poems written for your pieces, let me know.
Peace,
Robin
inspiration
— Apr 11, 2009
your artwork sure inspired me! I will do more looking at it soon, but first... do you know who the goddess is? did you visit the site at Knossos?
I could spend forever scurrying all over the Internet chasing after the connections that my mind is making, but instead I am going to free associate for a moment or two:
Knossos... Gnosis... the brain as labyrinth... follow thread to the center where the world is holding Truth captive... appearances generated by the world to keep truth hidden... offer honey (catch more flies that way) to the goddess at the entrance and penetrate to the core...mindfulness cuts through appearances for glimpses... ayahuasca may be a kind of honey too...but difficult to find... could mean travelling to the Amazon and making your way through the "jungle" to find a shaman...nevermind its getting late... hence my underlying sense of urgency... but lately I realized that it has all already happened... all of it... 2012... the whole schmegeggy... ball of wax...nine yards... only our minds insist on relating to events linearly...makes you wonder about being on a path all together... nonetheless that is how our minds work so lets work with what we've got... which is probably what the greeks were doing when Daedulus projected the brain onto the world in the form of a labyrinth... a stone metaphor... may very well have had a virgin at the gate... yoni... Shiva... my boss... etcetera and so on... world without end...amen!
phew!
Thanks folks
— Apr 11, 2009
Thanks for your kind words, folks. I take the labyrinth not to be a place but to have originally been a spiral dance of the transformative (and probably entheogenic) kind. I also take Daedalus to be a later Greek intrusion on what was originally Her domain. The earliest record we have of the word 'labyrinthos' speaks of a Mistress rather than a master, and there is a strong suggestion that Ariadne ('most pure') was that Mistress. Well, these are all just my musings and communings with the whispers on the wind at Minoan sites. But I think the open plaza at Knossos was where the dance took place.
Yeah, the brain as labyrinth is a fine idea. Follow the winding path of the folds around the whole of human experience... I like the adventure as labyrinth suggestion too, in the comment about Amazon shamans...
Robin - where did you live in Japan? I lived in kyoto a while, and read Sei Shonagon's pillow book too - I know what you mean about it being etched into the retinas - it's such a visual book!
Bruce
www.biroz.net
Oh, I think rudradas already
— Apr 11, 2009
Oh, I think rudradas already wrote a poem for this; ) Strong associative connections. Ahh,... and the brain is the labyrinth. Thanks, that's an incredible connection.
Bruce,
I lived in Osaka in Nippombashi, close to Den Den Town. Kyoto is so lovely. It's wonderful that you lived there. Yeah, reading Shonagon really opened up my senses. Something as simple as a middle-aged woman's violet eyeshadowed, wrinkled lids would sometimes penetrate me to near tears. A lot of osmotic inspiration there.
honey on the brain
— Apr 11, 2009
am I mistaken or do you have honey-colored hair ms. poeting?
I am putting a copy of 'Honey for the Mistress of the Labyrinth' on my blog at SunElephant.org . OK Bruce?...
and by the way, I saw poeting first and I sense that she really prefers older men... much older in my case... so back off!... first time anything I wrote was referred to as poetry... even in jest! ... I blush...
p.s. spiral dance? my boss was well known for circular dancing. still is for that matter....
Go ahead
— Apr 11, 2009
Rudradas, go ahead, but please credit my name and a link to my website :-) Just so people can find me if they want to...
Robin, I used to love Osaka - a fun place to go out!
Bruce
www.biroz.net
excellent.
— Apr 11, 2009
excellent piece.
...tracing the labyrinth reflects the breathing/shifting motion of the world in flux in visionary state (also echoed in the meander--or greek key design, the triskell, and a bunch of other motifs as well). the breath is ariadne's thread, providing life-line while entering the realm of abandoned instinct, and we are soon to enter the month of the bull, taurus. may all travel well.
Breath...
— Apr 12, 2009
The breath as Ariadne's thread! Now that's a really inspiring thought - I have experienced that sensation, but never thought to put such words to it. Thank you!
Bruce
www.biroz.net
