Pythia's Page

We all know how a character in a film can linger in our imagination more than the real people we know. So it is with Manon in the movie “Manon des Sources” (Manon of the Spring). We behold in her more than a beautiful young woman. As a goatherd she is Aphrodite. Most of us did not know that the goat is sacred to the goddess of love. But that is the archetype; and that, perhaps, is why goats are evil and sheep are good. The sheep obey the Good Shepherd. The…

Terry Heckler, a Starbucks employee, is supposed to have found the original twin-tailed mermaid in a 16th century Norse woodcut from an “old marine book”. The first Starbucks logo reproduced this image without changing it in any noticeable way; later versions of the logo are progressively less sensual. With her noticeable breasts and belly and provocatively split tail this mermaid or one similar to it appeared in two medieval Italian churches, in Otronto and…

In the painting below Vishnu reclines upon Ananta, the serpent of many heads, while Lakshmi massages his feet. This is a favorite scene for Hindu artists. They tend to portray it in the same manner, as if through a child’s eyes. Children accept whatever they see. It might take a child’s naiveté to fully enter into the charm of this scene. Otherwise it can seem very strange.

I had an idea about Vishnu’s feet. Why are…

I never learned how to use Photoshop and created these art pieces on Presentation, which is part of the free WPS office suite. Presentation is almost identical to the more popular PowerPoint. Most people who are comfortable with computers can quickly teach themselves the handful of basic skills needed to do the kind of work I have done here.

The first piece is called "Ishtar Mourning for Tammuz". The goddess of the…