A mix of Maori, Eastern and Celtic Pagan mysticism.
The Greek goddess Athena had as her sacred animal familiar the owl, also known as the Athene Noctua in Latin. The Romans, fond as they were of stealing from the Greek pantheon, renamed Athena to Minerva. Athena and her owl are considered to be symbols of wisdom, in both cultures. Silver tetradrachm coin at the…
Continue reading ➞ Ancient word of the day: Athene Noctua or Athena’s Owl
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This surfy, ultra chill and slightly magical island was more amazing than we imagined.
This feel-good documentary is set in Reykjavík, Iceland on corner of Ásvallagata and Blómvallagata streets. Where there is a little unassuming grocery store called simply Kjötborg or Corner Shop. Two brothers own and run the local shop, which they inherited from their parents. This is the last bastion of stores like this, as many others…
In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.David Foster Wallace Dusk at Okahu Bay Copyright © Content Catnip 2018 www.contentcatnip.com I love this quote from David Foster Wallace. In…
Norwegian waffles with brown cheese, jam and yoghurt. I died and went to breakfast heaven. The homely mid-century furniture in Fuglen, Asakusa On a recent trip to Japan I noticed that the Japanese love to pay homage to different cultures, their foods and aesthetics. This is really great and impressive because they have such a…
Continue reading ➞ Nordic and Japanese Design Fusion: Fuglen in Asakusa, Tokyo
“One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul.” Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Women Who Run with the Wolves.
“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you…
Guido Zimmermann is a German graffiti artist who recently created Cuckoo Blocks, a remix on the traditional Germanic wooden cookoo clock of olden times. Forget about cutesy animals and people popping out of a wooden clock on the hour, this remake of a cuckoo clock takes inspiration from Brutalist architecture of tower blocks build in the…
Continue reading ➞ Would you buy this kooky modernist cuckoo clock?
Thanks Tish for your wonderful reminder the other day of the legendary writer Clarissa Pinkola-Estes. In case you don't know of her, Clarissa wrote the book Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of The Wild Woman Archetype, This book calls upon the eternal feminine qualities in each of us and asks us…
In case you have been living under a rock, Robohands is a UK jazz musician whose real name is Andy Baxter. His debut album Green which came out in mid-2018 is superb. With almost zero effort to promote the album, Robohands has grown in underground popularity getting over a million views on his album and…
Here's a short media consumption list, from the worst and least nutritious to the most nurturing. Rule of thumb don't eat anything that will give you cancer. Vice - The exhaust fan of a Chinese restaurant. Buzzfeed - A soggy bagel brandished by a drunk guy who wants to fight you. Instagram - A litre…
There's something comforting yet eerie, hypnotic yet sexual about neon signs. They garishly proclaim sales on items, announce a lonely diner on a dark stretch of road, and tout the nefarious activities inside of peep shows and brothels. Neon signs have always fascinated me. They seem to emanate a metaphysical glow as though there is a…
Tash Sultana is the real deal. A genuinely talented and unique Melbourne multi-instrumentalist who made a name for herself the old fashioned way, by busking on the streets of Melbourne (Bourke St mall and Degraves St) and making homemade videos to YouTube. These simple and raw B&W videos of Tash subsequently went viral and gained…
Tā moko represents a person's mana (status or power) in society. This is best highlighted by the time when the chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi with their mokos in 1840. The Moko Kauae is a chin tattoo traditional reserved for Māori women with mana (high status and power). Traditionally, female healers (tohunga) had a close relationship…
Continue reading ➞ Mana Wahine: The Female Moko in Māori Culture
“Entire townships and villages appear to have been airlifted from their historical and geographical foundations in England, France, Greece, the United States, and Canada and spot-welded to the margins of Chinese cities,” according to Bianca Bosker, author of Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China. Tianducheng: A Fake Parisian Wonder Originally conceived as an homage…
Continue reading ➞ Eerie and Glorious Fake Cities Left Empty in China
Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal… — H.P. Lovecraft, The Tomb (1917) During the Belle Époque, or the Beautiful Age, men and women of science and rationality sought comfort from new spheres of influence in technology, art and spirituality. Suddenly no ideas were out of bounds…
Continue reading ➞ Strange Victorian Journeys Into the Fourth Dimension
Odilon Redon's art is the kind of mystical haze of colour and composition that you would find in the corner of your consciousness as you emerge from sleep. I love his art because of this reason, it hints at hidden worlds of emotion and depth that are located deep within us all. Odilon Redon…
Continue reading ➞ Dreamy Art of Sublime Fantasy: Odilon Reddon
In this mind-bending short film, US designer John Edmark, a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, uses 3D printing, the mathematics of the golden ratio and photography tricks to create moving symmetry - a bloom. [The] animation effect is achieved by progressive rotations of the golden ratio, phi (ϕ). This is the same golden ratio…
Continue reading ➞ Short film: 3D printed blooms and the golden ratio
Dolphins are mystical beings full of intelligence, compassion and consciousness. For the Maori people they are known as taniwha. They are considered tapu (sacred) and possessing a powerful mauri (lifeforce). What are Taniwha? Taniwha (pron. tan-ee-far) are mysterious creatures that dwell in the sea, rivers, lakes or in caves. They have a reptilian, fish-like or…
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