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| Bernard Picart,1731 photo credit: wiki |
IN REMARKABLE DEATH
None can look upon the face of god and live
~ Dante, Paradiso, canto twenty-one
In a temerity bequeathed her
you inherit corn spirit.
Let her wisdom precede you―Go!
Find your father.
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notes
1. For depictions of Semele in mythology and in art see Mythography which notes the following: 1.The name, “Semele” is not native to Greek language. 2. Although “there is some controversy about the precise origin of this legendary figure, one thing about Semele is certain - her story….quite popular in Greek myth.” It is a tale of remarkable death.
2. For Semele/Stimula see http://www.mythologydictionary.com/semele-mythology.html for a scant synopsis of the myth. See also Ovid, “Fasti” trans. Anne Wiseman p. 118 for the ‘stimulae’ (Stimula) version of the myth.
3. Dante uses the myth to warn against temerity when approaching the sacred. See notes for canto twenty-one p 459 of Anthony Esolen’s “Paradise” translation. But also, Dante understands one must approach.
4. To experience the historical soul of indigenous peoples now telling their own narratives about a time of great upheaval that causes the archetypal activism of this feminine principle in the form of images of Selu, the corn maiden or first woman/mother of Cherokee polis to erupt in the visions and dreams of 19thC Cherokee people, visit http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/564
5. Handel’s “Semele”
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