19th century stag (damaged with only one antler) a heraldic device found at floor level in the church of Saint John Maddermarket.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Gloria
Gloria, a detail from the Layer Monument, Saint John Maddermarket, Norwich.
Carl Jung makes an apt observation upon the symbolism of the moon in religious iconography.
According to the ancient view, the moon stands on the borderline between the eternal, ethereal things and the ephemeral phenomena of the earthly, sublunar realm. Macrobius says: 'The realm of the perishable begins with the moon and goes downward. Souls coming into this region begin to be subject to the numbering of days and to time... there is no doubt that the moon is the author and contriver of mortal bodies.' Because of her moist nature, the moon is also the cause of decay. The loveliness of the new moon, hymned by the poets and Church Fathers, veils her dark side, which however, could not remain hidden from the fact-finding of the empiricist. The moon, as the star nearest to the earth, partakes of the earth and its sufferings, and her analogy with the Church and the Virgin Mary as mediators has the same meaning. She partakes not only of the earth's sufferings but of its daemonic darkness as well.
CW 14: 173
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Monday, October 04, 2010
Norwich Heraldry
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