Le pot aux roses

I was unable to find any evidence to support this idea.  Here follows one of Virginia's made up facts.  This is a good one, and really should be true.

I looked up the origin of the phrase, "le pot aux roses," - a French saying which means a secret, but literally translates as 'the pot of roses.'  The dictionaries that I looked at did not give me the meaning that I think it has.  So, this is embarrassing, but I think that the pot of roses signifies a woman's yoni, you-know-what, private parts, genitals.  Ok, I said it.  That was difficult.  And embarrassing.

Do you know how many hours I've spent trying to figure out old European symbols?  I've been trying to understand apotropaic magic for months.  Apotropaic means banishing, but it extends to attracting also. So these symbols are all about banishing the misfortunes and attracting the good things in life.  There are a lot of fertility symbols - I've been looking at art that contains baskets of flowers, or vases of flowers.  Cornocupia must be the English equivalent to the "pot aux roses.."

[Easily confused with "the pink post" - a lovely sound-alike in French.  I'm saving this for a future blog about holorimes and Mondagreens.]

I find nothing in print to support the claim that le pot aux roses represents female genitals.  But after looking at an enormous amount of florid Victorian art, and tracing the history of cornocupia, baskets and vases as fertility symbols, well, this idea is inescapable.  Kind of obvious...

Edit:   Here is a page from Wikipedia that seems to support what I'm saying.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_rosa    It's a history of the Rose as a symbol of secrets.

Abundance

I picked up some free books from the dump.  There was a book of ironwork patterns with history about iron fences in the age of Queen Victoria.  It's lovely as a book of art, but I can see how it might have been taking up too much space.  So I'm adding to the clutter in my place.

I found the same themes in Victorian iron as in all the other decorative arts from that time.  But no explanation why.  Seems to me that the author of the iron work book has no idea why.  I did not go check the library, but seems to me that not many people know.

I think I am the only person in a 100 miles round here who knows the answer to the question, "Why are there flowers and leaves in Victorian art?"  Well, the answer is they symbolize abundance.  I'm guessing that's true for Baroque art, and Rococco, too.  Abundance -with lots of symbols that people once understood at a glance.

The more leaves, flowers, and fruit you have, the more wealthy and powerful you are.  So, that would explain all those florid interiors of European palaces.  All those curlicues, and ancanthus leaves...

I admit that I'm still only guessing.  But I think that pagan belief was ambient all over Europe, much more than historians today recognize.  I'm finding pre-Christian ideas all over the place, hidden in plain sight in the decorative arts.

Why am I doing this?  I'm not a pagan.  I do like the traditions, the calendar, the sense of connecting to women's spirituality.  No, I'm focused on this because it connects with pre-history.  I want to know what happened before written history began.

Fireweed tea

A quick glance at Pinterest.com seems to show that Fireweed is used as tea in Russia.  Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium was difficult to find on Wikipedia until I stumble upon the new name, Chamerion angustifolium.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamerion_angustifolium

Wow, it says that yes, fireweed leaves are used for tea in Russia..  Fireweed leaves are fermented just like ordinary tea, Camillia sinensis.  Cool!  I know where I can find a patch of fireweed.  I can't wait to try this!  Hooray!

Why does the dragon have St. Margaret's cloak in his mouth?

I noticed a detail in several pictures of Saint Margaret of Antioch.  I lost count, but there are lots of pictures of her dragon with St. Margaret's cloak in his mouth.

Most pictures show her wearing a blue cloak, with one or two showing a red cloak.  Suppose St. Margaret's cloak represents the sky?  I have this sense that we could figure out the old meaning of dragons if we kept on with theses guesses.  Dragon as simargyl?  Medieval dragons often seem to have tails that end in a flourish of leaves and flowers, possibly representing abundance.

But there are also lots of wicked dragons.  I remember one called "the laidly worm..." -that means ugly worm...  I keep on wondering if the dragon is somehow related to old fortune telling beliefs.  Sometimes the sky bring you plenty, other time only destruction.

I'm picturing an ancient tradition of women shamen, who may have used dangerous plants like the poppy.  Well, this is not a scholarly blog.  I'm just making notes about some ideas that branch out from the book, The Dancing Goddesses, by E. W. Barber.  Her book is about folk dance, but it hints at a completely new understanding of pagans.

Papaver

Papaver is the Latin name for poppy.  What if the name means 'father's worm'?  Papa, father + ver! worm...  I really don't know anything about this.  Here I just write down my day-dreams.

What if the opium poppy was called 'father's worm' or maybe 'mother's worm' long ago?  What if the dragon (also called worm) represents the ill effects of opium.  That gives you Saint Margaret as a shamanic healer using opium.  And that would also give you a new interpretation of Saint George and the dragon.

Saint George is linked to Jarilo, Slavic God of wine, similar to Dionysius.  What if the picture of St. George and the dragon is a picture of alcohol defeating opium?  Hmm...  I keep wondering why Saint Margaret does get angry when George kills her pet reptile.  Silly me.

But in the Slavic mythology, I think Jarilo is the son of Mokosh.  Suppose Margaret is a Christian version of Mokosh.  Then you have her son killing the animal she rode to get around to the three worlds.

I am no expert on dragons.  I just wondered why the dragon needs wings.  So, the dragon has 3 ways to travel: slithering, walking, and flying.  My guess is that it's for visiting the underworld, the land of the living, and the heavens.

I would appreciate comments on this mess of ideas.  If you have something useful to add about dragons, please leave a comment.

Little house on chicken legs

I figured out why Baba Yaga's house has chicken legs.  Ok, I'm guessing.  I sure wish I could find someone who speaks Russian.  There must be somebody who studies folklore who would know the answers on this.

I was skimming a book about household spirits that I found in the library.  It says that there was a Russian tradition that a black rooster must be laid under the entrance when a bath house is built.  Well, that idea seemed to shout at me.  Wow, oh wow, I think there is a message in the story of Baba Yaga, and the messag would have been fairly obvious long ago.

The bath house is where the women gather to spin linen.  They make linen thread in a damp room.  The spinning is associated with magic, and the place where the women wash their hair may be associated with fertility.  Anyway, the bath house is the center of the women's community, and together the women can make decisions the men don't like.

In one fairy tale, the prince rides up to the bath house (Baba Yaga's house) and he commands the house to turn around saying,
     "Little house, why do you face the forest?  Turn and stand as of old.  Turn and face me."

Of course, the prince was on his horse in the road.  So, the bath house can either face the road or the forest.  Hmm.  The road to the outside world -or- the forest of our own land, our inner world??

But the main thing I wanted to say is that the chicken legs on Baba Yaga's house are about apotropaic magic.  The rooster sacrificed during the construction of the bath house keeps everyone in the village safe.  And in the old days, the fact that Baba Yaga's house has chicken legs suggests to me the separate lives of men and women.  Maybe the women decided that the bath house shall face the forest.  And the men decided that it should face the road.  I think the story says that the women sometimes had decision making power in the village.  I'm seeing a portrait of an old agricultural way of life that was not all about patriarchy, and not even all about hierarchy.  Just what I wanted to see.  I hope that I can find supporting evidence!  Hope I am not making it up.

if you are so smart, why aren't you happy?

New book, "If You Are So Smart, Why Aren't You Happy?"  - I was reading the review in the Atlantic Monthly.  It's very interesting.  But the author assumes that humans lived in a state of want and fear until the rise of civilization.  What nonsense!  I know that before the invention of agriculture, humans lived comfortably for more than 200,000 years.  I believe that the Stone Age was the time of luxury.

So, with that idea in mind, I sense that the author is an economist who is waking up, slowly.  That's all I have to say about it.  Anyway I recommend the article, it's great.

In other news, I stepped on a bees' nest.  I received only one sting.  I'm proud of myself for walking away calmly, and not killing the pollinators.  The sting itches a bit, just enough distraction to keep me from writing a longer opinion on that article.