Rickman was a gifted actor and story-teller. My go-to video for 2020 is his. https://youtu.be/eob7V_WtAVg?t=276
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Did I just get Rickmanrolled?
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Her rye bread obviously had the right sort of mold.
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Or her migraine auras & fortification visions were really out there (though needless to say, this theory has detractors).
Now I want a Cthulhu-mythos novel with Hildegard as the protagonist, battling the Angels / Great Old Ones with herbalism and polyphonic composition. Make it so!
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Bloody brilliant idea!
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So, a military drone? 
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Tha’s 'ow 'ergot visions.
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I made this half-human half-eagle angel to please you
But I get the feeling that you don’t like it
What’s with all the screaming?
You like humans, you like eagles
Maybe you don’t like angels so much
Maybe I used too many eyeballs
Isn’t it enough to know that I ruined a human making a gift for you?
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Great pun, mate XD
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Today I finished putting together issue 14 of my weirdo 'zine. This issue is all about Saint Anthony’s Fire in medieval Europe, later determined to be ergotism on a grand scale (40,000 dead in France in the 900s in one outbreak of Claviceps purpurea). Craaaazy times.
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I like the Yazidis.
Edited to add:
I obviously also like
Here’s an interesting Egyptian goddess who provided protection for future and present mothers, and children:
Taweret - very pregnant hippo/lady with pendulous breasts, and elements of the crocodile and lioness. What couldn’t she protect you from? Every contingency’s covered by the very dangerous, fiercely protective mother animals who are combined in her. She’s even almost invariably shown with sa hieroglyphs: protection. Pregnant women should always be given gifts of Taweret statuettes [and high quality cooling leg/foot gel].
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And Taueret is mostly a hippo. Unlike say, Ammit, who is more equally split between hippo, lion, and crocodile… though both are basically the classic approach when describing a previously unknown animal - compare bits of it to familiar creatures, even if it doesn’t quite resemble them.
I’m also fond of the various religions that have figures that could be described as “lots and lots of arms - and heads.” And the Mexica, all of their stuff. “He’s a snake, but with feathers.” “She’s a butterfly but made of obsidian. Oh, and also a bit of a skeleton.” and “She was a normal lady, but now she’s pretty much all snakes.”
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We can easily identify the ET aliens among us. Merely count bodily protrusions. If they don’t match known hominids, beware.
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I’ve had this adorable (?!!) image of Ammit on my hard drive for years:
Chillin’ by a lake of fire. I love the vast feather of Ma’at behind her behind - it’s akin to, “I am Ma’at, the goddess of truth, justice, and the very order of the Universe, and I approve this message from Ammit.”
It’s amazing how some Egyptian ideas and names persist/ed. Many linguists see the Egyptian Moon god Aah/Iah as he source of the names Jehovah, Jah, and Allah - who was himself originally a grumpy AF, oppressive pagan Moon god. The god Amun/Amon/Amen is still invoked while closing many modern prayers. The brutally murdered Osiris predates those other savior gods who rose from the dead. Statues of Isis and baby Horus are obviously the source of similar Christian images of Mary and her baby son. Many Christian ideas of hell were lifted from Egypt, including Ammit’s oh so cozy lake of fire.
Central and South American world views/philosophies/mythologies are indeed a trip. The art is also fascinating, and well worth the work required to understand even some of it. The Maya even had the idea of zero, long before the concept migrated to N Europe.
It’s interesting that feathered serpents “lived” in both Egypt and Central America.
Somewhere, within the last year or so, I saw an online image of an Egyptian artist’s attempt at painting a four-winged humanoid angel. I think it was one of those great Nina de Garis Davies copies. The orig image is heavily damaged - bet it freaked TF outta any Christians who saw it - but it’s rather easier to grasp when looking at the de Garis Davies copy. Her paintings are magnificent.
The Buddhist and Hindu deities shown with a multitude of arms and legs and faces! are mindblowing. Their compassion can reach all beings in every Universe, and perceive their sufferings and joy. The goddess Tara is frequently depicted with a third eye, and often she also has eyes in the palms of her hands & on the soles of her feet. She is that perceptive regarding the needs of all beings. There are images of her with vast numbers of arms and legs, too.
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Crepey, creepy AF orange skin’s another dead giveaway.
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Hence the Cyrillic letter ꙮ (Multiocular O), used only to describe the many eyes of seraphim.
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People are bizarre.
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I suppose if you haven’t actually seen one yourself it’s hard to know what they should look like in a painting. (This also explains why sometimes a halo is depicted a glow behind a saint’s head, and sometimes it’s a little circle floating above their heads. “You said it was a circle of light! That’s what I painted!”)
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Has it protected your hard drive from failure?
Re persistence of pagan ideas in Christianity, I assume you’re familiar with this:
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