BOOK OF SECRETS

A very old bible of the Ethiopian Christian church, carefully inscribed on parchment in the sacred language 'Geez'.

Secrecy by Margaret Atwood

Secrecy flows through you,
a different kind of blood.
It's as if you've eaten it 
like a bad candy,
taken it into your mouth,
let it melt sweetly on your tongue,
then allowed it to slide down your throat
like the reverse of uttering,
a word dissolved
into its glottals and sibilants,
a slow intake of breath --

And now it's in you, secrecy.
Ancient and vicious, luscious
as dark velvet.
It blooms in you,
a poppy made of ink.

You can think of nothing else.
Once you have it, you want more.
What power it give's you!
Power of knowing without being known,
power of the stone door,
power of the iron veil,
power of the crushed fingers,
power of the drowned bones
crying out from the bottom of the well.

 Secrecy by Irini Gonou. See more of Irini's beautiful work here.

"Tracce di un dio distratto" by Maria La. Read more about this piece , here.

Sharmon  Davidson shares details from Book of Secrets, a work in progress. Read more on Sharmon's blog, here.

"My inspiration for the piece came as I was thinking about secrets and how they are so hard to keep; no matter how well hidden we may think they are, or how well-guarded we believe them to be, there is always a bit showing here and there around the edges. I was thinking of esoteric knowledge, such as magical grimoire (spell book), and how these two ideas are related" - Sharmon Davidson

Book of Shadows, a movie prop from Practical Magic.

Saruman's Book by Daniel Reeve (Movie prop in Lord of the Rings)

A Book for Devotion: BL M S Egerton. It is believed that the pages have been partially erased  by kissing.

 Medieval Limp Cloth binding. Photo: Istvan Borbas, National Library of Sweden. See more beautiful images on Flickr, here

Batak, Indonesia (wood, fibrous leaves and string) Late 18th - 19th Century

This is one of the oldest and largest Batak wichelboeken (magic book) known. The text is written on tree bark that is folded concertina fashion. See here

 Batak Book of Wizards, Indonesia. See more here

 The Batak people of Indonesia recorded information on genealogy, religion, devination, and magic on long strips of bark, some as long as thirty feet, which were folded accordion-style and bound between wooden covers. See more here.

"All the secrets of the world are contained in books. Read at your own risk." - Lemony Snicket

 Commentary on Averroes' Middle Commentaries on the Isagoge of Porphyry, the Categories and De Interpretatione of Aristotle

If you've read the comments you will be as curious as I am about Priya Sebastian's illustrations for the poem Secrecy by Margaret Atwood. See Priya's blog post, here.

Secrecy, Verse 1 by Priya Sebastian.

 Secrecy Verse 1, Verse 2, Verse 3 by Priya Sebastian. See more of Priya's beautiful illustrations at her website, here  and see her blog, here.

SPIRIT OF PLACE

Prayer, monotype with mixed media on paper by Sharmon Davidson

There are some places I feel such a deep connection to that on first arriving I become slightly breathless and have to take a few minutes to adjust to the power of the place..... if that makes sense. Some are places I've never been to before but from the first moment I am drawn to it.

Photo taken at Kosi Bay last October

I experienced this during my first trip to Kosi Bay last year. From the time my feet touched the sand and I began to walk along the broad expanse of beach for mile upon mile, I was overwhelmed by a sense of belonging... of connecting.

Bosley Cloud by Dean Entwistle

I felt similar emotions in some parts of Britain.

Yorkshire Dales, mixed media on canvas by Wendy Asprey

There are other places that I have known all my life that feel almost sacred and yet they also feel like home.

Guardians of Sacred Places by Bridgette Guerzon Mills

The Drakensberg is the place where I feel most at home, most happy and most alive. All my senses seem sharpened when I'm there and I am overawed by the beauty of mountains, forests and streams.

Photo taken on our last trip to Champagne Castle, Drakensberg. (KwaZulu Natal)

Sharmon Davidson's work creates in me the feeling of connection to a place.... sensing the history ..... of people gone before .... of stories ....of lives lived.

Waiting for the storm, mixed media/watercolour on paper by Sharmon Davidson

"The images are formed from the vocabulary of symbols that I've developed as I sought to express the theme that lies at the foundation of it all: a deep belief in the unity and connectedness of everything in the universe". - Sharmon Davidson

The Speed of Darkness, mixed media/watercolor on paper by Sharmon Davidson

"Ancient peoples believed that places had souls. The soul of a place could be found in the genius loci, the guardian spirit whose personality summed up the special characteristics of the location. A proper relationship to the genius loci was necessary in order for a person to dwell there responsibly. In return, the genius loci would nurture and protect the people of the place.

Even in the modern world the basic truth of this ancient relationship still holds: Places that are accorded the respect we have traditionally given to souls are better places as a result. And the people who live there have a better life, too, because places that long have been loved and taken care of can take care of those who dwell in them". - Elizabeth Vander Scaaf

Song of Solitude by Monique Janssen-Belitz

"Since I moved to New Mexico in the summer of 2007, I have been captivated by the enormous depth of the land and its vistas, the seemingly never-ending horizon, as well as by traces of ancient history still visible on the surface patina. The land of New Mexico speaks of enormous spiritual power, palpable in the steep rise of the bare mountains, the wide valley of the Rio Grande and the patterns scribbled over the desert by shrubs, grasses and human incursions. Ancient beliefs and rituals mingle in connection with the land and weather, affecting even the most transient of visitors." - Monique Janssen-Belitz

Lost Connections, mixed media on paper on stretched canvas by Monique Jansse-Belitz