Daily Draw: Tarot de Marseille, Francois Chosson 1736 La Force
I went to a conference once where a female academic spoke of the hurt that is literally etched onto our bodies when our knowledge is rejected because of who we are. Outrageous I thought but surely an isolated case? University the apex of the school system so must be the best, people judged on the strength of their arguments right? Wrong.
Female academics are routinely silenced by male academics especially if there is a whiff of feminism about their work. There can be nothing more threatening than challenging how space (aural and physical) is taken up. Intellectually able academics are silenced by the less well qualified (who have gone up the management rather than research route and probably shouldn't be in a university at all).
There are so many ways to silence someone besides outright aggression or rudeness (when did a snigger count as serious academic critique?). You can give them so much teaching, so many students that there is no time to read a book chapter let alone write up an article. Keep them busy all through the summer on invented urgencies so as to isolate them from the wider academic community. Impose research priorities that suit yourself rather than building on people's actual skills and interests. Lend your support to other men regardless of (in spite of) the quality of their work. The list could go on and on.
Daily Draw: The Golden Tarot, The Visconti Sforza Deck, The Magician
Today I have had time to indulge my love of history - magic in the informal sense of the word! Here is what I have learned.
In late antiquity the boundaries between magic and religion were not clearly established. Romans engaged in a plethora of magical practices and these were often integral to or very similar to religious rituals.
They divined the future by examining the entrails of animals, constructed formulas or amulets to attract good fortune, enchanted objects and cooked up potions. They meditated with hidden spiritual forces, made ointments and recited charms to heal, protect or harm other people. These practices were not so different from the sacrifices, ceremonies and prayers offered up to the Gods.
By the fifth century BC the Greek word Mageia was being used to describe the practices of the Zoroastrian priest from Persia who were know as the magoi.
The beliefs and practices attributed to the magoi were thought to be dark and dangerous because they were different to the Greek religion. Over time the word mageia was used pejoratively to refer to the practices of Greek and Roman peasants which deviated from the official religious practice of the Roman Empire.
In Roman times the word mageia (magic) sedimented in the Latin language being used to denote deviant or different practices from the official code. During this time the word came to be used to refer to trickery or deceit.
Loaded with this meaning the word magic was transmitted to the Latin rooted languages in the medieval period. The ancient idea of magic came to be conflated with the Christian concept of superstition.
With the arrival of the monotheistic religions at the end of the Roman era attitudes towards magic were fundamentally changed. Believing only in one true God, Christians came to perceive a whole host of beliefs and practices as false or superstitious. Rituals performed by ancient peoples came to be seen as evil, related to demons thus in need of eradication.
The new religious authorities wanted nothing less than the complete extirpation of allegedly superstitious beliefs. However magic was to occupy a central position in the medieval mindset with magical beliefs shared by medieval people at all levels of society.
Source for today's post: Coursera: Introduction to Medieval Magic
Daily Draw, The Golden Tarot, The Visconti Sforza Deck
This fellow looks so young and cherub like to be real King. For comparison I had a look at the other kings in the deck. All young blond and cherub like, all on the same gold throne. At first sight...for some reason they bring to mind ancient medical theory of the four humors.
Of all the kings HRH Swords head tilted down looks older, sadder, wiser, his eyes are sunken and his face more pinched - perhaps the result of too much emphasis on the life of the mind (melancholic - analytical, quiet, despondent). King Coins is the only one who smiles with his mouth open, a flushed and corpulent bon vivant - his jolly expression contrasts with the vice like grip he has on his coin (sanguine now but threaten his wealth and he could turn choleric).
HRH Cups is the only king who appears in profile. Like the King of Swords he has one foot off the plinth - perhaps the throne is not for him, perhaps he has no desire to 'win'. A peaceful person he offers rather than clings to his chalice (phlegmatic). The only King who looks truly calm and comfortable positioned on the throne is the King of Staves (perhaps all his humours are in balance).
Daily Draw, The Golden Tarot, The Visconti Sforza Deck, Nine of Coins
Material resources - money, property, investments, stocks shares etc. Symbolic resource or power - accumulated prestige and honour exemplified by qualifications, titles, honorary positions, books.
Symbolic power also inherent in certain buildings, works of art etc and can be embodied - gender, height, body size and shape, clothing, gestures, posture, speech.
Are material and symbolic power so different or does one lead to the other and vice versa?
Male domination is so rooted in our collective unconscious that we no longer even see it.
Pierre Bourdieu, 1930-2002
Daily Draw: The Golden Tarot, The Visconti Sforza Deck
Facing left and wearing white gloves (symbol of innocence) the Knave suggests good intentions in the face of malign forces.
Mary Packard writes that according to renaissance symbolism the red stocking and the white stocking indicates a conflict between lust and purity. Or as Stuart Kaplan (US games system version of the Visconti-Sforza) suggests they may just relate to the colours on the armorial shields depicted on the Knight of Swords and Staves and the Ace of Coins.
I'm reminded by this of bad scholarship - believing the first thing you read or that every thing that is written must be true. And of the importance of research and cross-referencing.
I don't know which interpretation is true. Perhaps they both are. At least I am aware there is debate and that makes me doubt my immediate interpretation that innocence is about drop off a cliff.
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
René Descartes, 1596-1650.
Daily Draw: The Golden Tarot, The Visconti Sforza Deck, Three of Cups
In RWS inspired decks this card depicts three women joyful dance. Celebration, Creativity, Community.
First things first. Community - I have neglected my tiny (but lovely) following of fellow bloggers (and women of accomplishment) this week - busy with work and AWOL for a whole week. Sorry :(.
Creativity - lots of exchange with colleagues and students this week which has been hugely productive. Feeling much more excited about work now - not least because we are embedding gender across all management learning materials - speaks to colleagues interests and is better engaging learners - Woohoo. All. Round. Result.
Celebration - through dialogue I learnt about an exhibition Women in Print - which celebrates the work of 22 iconic women (reformers, writers, artists, scientists) who changed Manchester and in some cases changed the course of British history. Follow the link and enjoy :)
Daily Draw, The Golden Tarot: The Visconti-Sforza Deck, The World
Two putti hold up a globe, a symbolic representation of heaven. Within the globe is a shining castle - a metaphor for the new Jerusalem. The putti on the right points to his heart - perhaps indicating that is where the kingdom of heaven is made.
Writing in the twelth century Hildegard of Bingen depicted the return of the soul to heaven using architectural imagery. Humans construct their repentance and restoration as they participate in building the heavenly city.
Hildegard was supervising the construction of Rupertsberg around 1150 and on her preaching tours she witnessed the passion for building in the Rhineland. It seems her personal life may also have influenced her interest in the imagery. In her autobiography Vita Hildegardis she writes that she dug a moat and constructed a wall around her sisters with the words of the scriptures, discipline and good habits in order to fortify them against evil.
Throughout her Expositiones and other works and letters Hildegard repeatedly presents human efforts to achieve salvation using the construction metaphor.
In a letter to Conrad, Bishop of Worms, Hildegard advises that one who follows God's commandments in doing good builds the heavenly Jerusalem whereas one who performs carnal deeds will fall from this edifice. She also says that one who renounces self-will decorates heavenly buildings with pearls, precious stones and the finest gold.
Hildegard also conceives of heaven as constructed from living stones (people). She prays that Guibert of Gembloux continue in service so that he may become deserving of being a living stone in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In a letter to Bishop Gunther of Speyer she teaches that the foundations of the city consist of repentant sinners who have pressed down their sins through penance and form a kind of gravel bed for the city walls.
By contrast the gem image is used to describe the radiant saints dwelling in the heavenly city.
Hildegard never interiorizes the city as other contemporaries do. Constructing heaven does require the labour of the inner self but the imagery is not directed inward. Rather it is seen as an outward process reflecting the virtues' transport of stones up the ladder of salvation.
Source for today's post: Mayne Keinzle, B. (2007) 'Constructing Heaven in Hildegard of Bingen's Expositiones Euangeliorum' In Muessig, C. and Putter, A. (eds.) Envisaging Heaven in the Middle Ages, Oxon: Routledge, pp.34-43
I went to a conference once where a female academic spoke of the hurt that is literally etched onto our bodies when our knowledge is rejected because of who we are. Outrageous I thought but surely an isolated case? University the apex of the school system so must be the best, people judged on the strength of their arguments right? Wrong. 
