Monday 15 March 2010

Through a Looking Glass 4



photo by Carol - to see all her work, go here.

A couple of month’s ago i asked some folk who had been dropping into my blog to write a guest post.

I gave them the theme « Mirror » and i asked each of them to apply their Personal Mirror (whatever that meant to them) to any one of my posts, or part thereof.

These are the results.

The Mirror Series, Part Three. CAROL

I first met Carol in a theatre in Cologne where she was living at the time; we had both been watching my wife - it is the only way we get to talk to her these days.

Carol is now in Bristol at the art school having decided to get a Masters after having brought up two beautiful daughters.

She is also an experienced traveller, has been all over the place and, despite being from somewhere else, has met more people in my local village than i have, and among them she remains an exotic legend.

Here's another of her photos.

Remember - go see all her work, it's good!

check out her web site too!








Mirror Post/Carol


A Mirror to Coincidence (Or as Leonardo Da Vinci was rather fond of saying - Ecnedicnioc ot Rorrim A)



These posts should come with a health warning....My curiosity tickled I clicked on the links and was swiftly lured in to Frodeln’s detailed and obsessively informative Youtube contribution on the Great Shakespeare Puzzle. See:



>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv7qJHE0TlU&fmt=18


>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsNT0L9bt5o&fmt=18


What a fascinating analysis of the structure of Psalm 46 in The King James Bible. I love the stuff about Aristotelian cosmology and artists imitating the divine process of creation in their work. Riddles, secret writing, and the use of symbols were greatly used during the Renaissance and before, so the fact that there appears to be a riddle in psalm 46 is intriguing but not shocking.



But why does it have to point to a new and entirely different identity of William Shakespeare? What is wrong with the identity he already has? Is Frodeln suggesting some kind of divine identity? To find out more I clicked on to Frodeln’s website but disappointingly all that I found there was a message basically saying : Busy, Back soon.



....According to Wikipedia (excuse the source but I just love the instant gratification) the translation was done by 47 scholars all members of the Church of England. (No Papist plot there then.)



The King James Bible was translated between 1604 and 1611 at the height of William Shakespeare’s success and 12 years before he died in 1616. So it is entirely possible that Will was involved in the translation in some way, even if only by playing around with the words of psalm 46 after a few drinks down the pub with a couple of his scholar mates.



Further “internet investigation” reveals a mountain of comment on the subject including the pragmatic assertion by Gabriel Roth :



The connection between Shakespeare and Psalm 46 is well known, and 
should not be regarded as some secret insertion by William. There was an 
article about it in "The Times" of London about 40 years ago. 
 It stated that the insertion of Shakespeare's name was a tribute to him, 
and a 46th birthday present, by some of the translators, who knew his 
work and might have known him personally. Eight scholars, based in 
Cambridge, worked on the Psalms.



So, why are we always so eager to believe in Divine Intervention?


Consider the story of Mrs Duyser’s discovery of the image of the Virgin Mary burned into her toast in 1994.


"I went to take a bite out of it, and then I saw this lady looking back at me," she said, according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
"I hollered for him," she said, gesturing to her husband, Greg. "It scared me at first."
She says she has done nothing to preserve the sandwich except keeping it in a plastic box, but "it doesn't fall apart or crumble or anything".


Needless to say she sold it on eBay for $28,000! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4034787.stm


Coincidentally, it just so happens that 2 years ago, when my dad emigrated to Australia, (at the ripe old age of 87) he ceremoniously gave me a huge old and largely moth eaten family bible. And when I say huge, it’s about the size and weight of a box of six bottles of wine and I think dates back to the 18th century. This has been the cause of a subsequent family rift between my brother and myself because he wants me to post it to him. And reluctantly in the fullness of time I will (even though it will probably be pounced on by the Australian customs officials since it is lamentably full of bugs) but I really want to photograph it before I do so. In my impulsive and chaotic move from Cologne to Bristol, I boxed it up and left it in my old attic in Lily’s care.

I am now dying to inspect it to see what version of the bible it is and whether it is signed by Will I am himself.





LINKS

Carol mirrored >Shaking Spears at Coincidence.

Everything you need to know about this Mirror series

Part One of The Mirror Series here

Part Two of The Mirror Series here

>Part Three of The Mirror Series here

6 comments:

Anne said...

You can get rid of those bugs, you know, it's not too difficult. I used to work in museums and saw what professional paper restorers can do. I'd get in touch with one. – Mother Mary doesn't come to me nearly often enough, but I've got a Buddha in my cappuccino foam this morning

carol said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
carol said...

You may already know all this stuff but I've only just realised how strongly the debate about Shakespeare's identity rages. One of the main contenders for his identity is Sir Francis Bacon, who according to Dr. Raymond Bernard in his book entitled THE GREAT SECRET OF COUNT SAINT GERMAIN, not only authored the complete Plays attributed to Shakespeare, was the secret son of Queen Elizabeth 1 and Robert Dudley, heir to the throne of England and was also infact the immortal Count of St. Germain, who as you might remember crops up as a figure in Umberto Ecco's Foucault's pendulum.

To contextualise Dr Raymond Bernard, his other classic best selling titles include FLYING SAUCERS FROM THE EARTH'S INTERIOR and THE HOLLOW EARTH, and CONSTIPATION.....

Thanks for the advice Anne.
..I'm hoping that Jesus won't try and send a message to me today, and that if he does, he chooses something more inspiring than an old grease encrusted frying pan.

16 March 2010 10:12

popps said...

Carol - i asked you this before and you ignored me (fair enough) but i'd love to know what the photos are "of".
I know - if i have to ask i'll never know - but go on, give us a clue, especially the first one.

carol said...

Well now you're asking but I might go on a bit. The first one is called Look and is part of a series of "experiments" I'm working on about visual perception and how we look.
Basically this is looking through a lens or rather 3 lens. Your eye, the camera and this lens. You can see more examples on my flickr page. They are a bit strange on their own but I think start to get interesting when printed in a strip.
The second is called ghOst and is a reflection in the Gehry building on the harbour in Dusseldorf. A reflection of what you may ask....

popps said...

Ok, i'm game... a reflection of what?
Your dress?
a plant?
Some one's envy?