Spires of Masochistic Beauty
- An artistic declamation by Michael Riddick
Philosophical Foundations
Darkness as an objective form of pulchritude beckons the attention of the
querent to pay heed to Her fulfilling archetype. What is it that draws the
eye to the dark aesthetic of a pale and cold female lurking in the absent
shadows of an empty corridor? What is it about her obsidian eyes and
flowing black hair that stirs the watcher in awe and dismay? And what of
her practices, her potions, her spells, her blood, and her masochism? What
do all of these attributes point to within the human urge to stare and wonder?
It is Her essence which summons the curious eye towards her, as she points
beyond unto the spirit realm of the dark. She is a mythic idol acting as a
device for spiritual transcendence. To witness the spectacle of Her being,
one begins to recognize the infinite in the finite as she becomes the
sacrament of the church and a visible sign pointing to an invisible beyond
of spiritual melancholy. She becomes a system of collaboration between the
here and now and that which subtly belies us.
This particular female aesthetic shall be the focal point of virtue. Her
being virtuous solely in her right as a mythic image. It is Her
representation of archetypes that shall mount Her as a goddess, not the
simple virtue of her appearance (by subjective discernment alone). By this
very testimony we propose that She exists in virtue beyond the common eye of
the spectator. She is not virtue by whim of perfection, but by Her power as
an image that stirs something latent within the human predicament.
Having established the nature of Her aesthetic (via the inclusion of
specified archetypes within our tracts and compositions) it should then be
necessary to formulate an atmosphere and framework through which such mythic
images can be organized and further enhanced. Thus, the specified choice of
a Romanesque cathedral falls perfectly into place as one such abode of
archetypal constituency. It is the cathedral that was the center of a town
and village which drew the adherents of worship to its corridors, thus
opening a realm to all those who serve and submit. The towering spires of
Romanesque architecture could be viewed from miles away, allowing its temple
structure to make its claim to divinity and all-encompassing stature. The
cathedral would stand upon the highest ground and pierce the clouds with its
towers, thus making its presence known to that which existed above and
beyond. The vast Romanesque architecture of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries displayed a rich atmosphere for worship and meditation. Such
cathedrals, churches, monasteries, and castles consisted of beautifully
ornate portals, apses, chapels, and ambulatories, hence emanating an
environment unlike any other. Prior to the Gothic era, the Romanesque
cathedrals donned a darker atmosphere with thicker and smaller stained glass
windows which permitted far less light to enter than their later
counterparts. The masochistic altar tales of damnation were rampant in the
Romanesque age prior to the re-shaping of the church through St. Francis of
Assise, and thus the age of Romanesque carried with it a far more torturous
atmosphere than the later Gothic age. Towns were still villages and cities
had not yet been spawned, and the Romanesque work (in its later days)
permitted the initial arrival of chivalry and the worship of the female
(most inherently obvious in the Cult of Mary in the Catholic tradition).
Herein, the most grandeur architectural form shall be fused with the most
grandeur mythic female aesthetic in dual conglomeration, such that metaphors
may be drawn betwixt the image of the maiden and that of the cathedral
itself (which may further permit the drawing of analogies that may point to
some essential pattern in objectivity).
Abstract Conceptualizations:
(tracts on the metaphorical unison between the dark feminine archetype and
the construct of the Romanesque cathedral)
"Dim Shadows, joyless and insidious"
The church/cathedral is a place of worship, thus with our unison of the
female aesthetic within this framework, we have automatically implied that
Her virtue is divine and should be recognized, submitted to, and worshiped.
When you enter the space of a cathedral, you enter the realm of God. She
has become likened unto a Goddess (not only by Her mythic image) but by the
very fact that She now has become the cathedral itself. Both the virtue of
the female essence and that of the cathedral are figures of amazing
construction.
"Charnel Column"
Death is the foundation of the cathedral with the crypt as its underground
support. For it is the crypt that exists as the only open space beneath the
cathedral itself, and thus it becomes the only quarter for living life to
attend beneath the soil of the earth. The apses of the cathedral dance
above the catacomb ceiling supporting all that which rests above.
"Penitence"
Cathedrals opened up the opportunity to submit and suffer (through the
icon of Jesus). It is here that the stage is set for a brutal play of
masochism and its beauty through pain and delight in the freedom of
submission. Here the female image may be likened unto Christ and what that
implies. She shall reconcile the meek through Her blood and punish the
sinful with Her cold power and queenship.
"The Mass(ochism)"
A common theme of mythic image is that of female menstruation. Such an
archetype is one of great power and reverence. Here it shall be
metaphorically merged with the ancient Catholic practice of discarding the
remains of communion following the Holy Mass. Such remains of communal wine
(blood) were poured into the earth (below the church grounds) for
sanctification and to allow Christ's blood to remain pure in such a
condition. The leftovers of laity here represent the removal of waste from
the female and her once potential offspring.
"Keystones of Dark Divinity"
The natural and symmetrical form of the pure female is congruent with that
of the Romanesque cathedral whose round arches permitted the vaulting of
equal space (unlike the later Gothic cathedrals whose pointed arches
permitted irregular vaulting space and symmetry). In Romanesque
architecture space was minimal and thus it reflected an atmosphere of being
closed within, much akin to a vacant expression upon the female form. The
keystone of an arch was the final piece laid into the puzzle of masonry, and
which furthermore held the entirety of the form together.
...each window of arduous stained glass shall speak its own tale...
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