Inspiration

Suspended

I am suspended
I refuse to fall
I refuse to glide down to be scattered among many
I refuse to be left to frostbite and dampness
I refuse to decay under a bare naked tree

I am suspended against logic
Held by invisible forces
By simple yet powerful magic...
A gust of wind
A thread of cobweb
Safety lines
That also tie me to their capricious will
Because you should know
There is a price I pay...
NOT to fall

I am suspended
Almost motionless for a second
and then I begin my journey
Swirling up and down
Avoiding fate until being found

Or maybe someone will treasure me
And press me inside an old book
before I dry and wrinkle
Just a perfect fallen leaf,
Preserved but fragile
And suspended in time too
Like a memory of light
An echo of bright green days
Gone long ago
Stuck in these pages
Waiting for you to read my story

And trees will grow new leaves
But they wont be me

So I hope you like it... sometimes there is an overwhelming beauty in simple things... some kind of comforting sadness.
I am preparing a special "haunting" post and it's taking me a long time to make... I've not been that much around but I am working in something special. Stay tuned.

All photos / words © Priscilla Hernandez
Suspended leaf GIF by Hector Corcin Thank you !

Priscilla Hernandez
singer-songwriter & illustrator
http://yidneth.com

I went to see the Moon but I found a thousand fallen suns

Posting today as part of colorchallenge WEDNESDAY YELLOW challenge

All this pictures were taken last Saturday (late July 2018). Me and my partner Héctor Corcín  went on a stroll trying to see the Moon Eclipse that took place last 27th of July. Sadly clouds didn't allow to appreciate the eclipse in its full red moon glory and we only caught it as the Moon grew back to full brightness again, but we found this location and we went the day after to take these pictures featured in this article.

So even if weather boycotted a little bit our sighting of the Blood Moon, at least it worked to find this lovely location. Above, not the best eclipse picture but what we glimpsed :)

Location and filming for forthcoming video

Location is close to an abandoned village called Guendulain (Navarre, Spain). To see the sunflowers spreading and just the ruins emerging from them was rather magical. As we had just found it the day before and I am finishing editing a videoclip of Latvian folk song Līgo (encouraged by fellow steemian friend Linda from Latvia, who encouraged me to learn a song of her country). It is a overall a worship of Summer hymn and I had still a few gaps in the video so location was perfect to shoot some final scenes). I will share that here shortly but meanwhile here. Almost done, I will share it soon.

Enchanted sunflower, thou
Who gazest ever true and tender On the sun’s revolving splendour
Pedro Calderon de la Barca (Poet)

A symbol of strength, endurance and loyalty

They look like thousands of fallen suns blooming in Summer... so yellow and vibrant, a representation of our life giving star. The petals of a sun flower are also known as "rays" for that reason. Unmistakable with their brilliant and vibrant appearance and amazingly large size. There are different varieties of different sizes but some are as large and tall as I am, glorious giant flowers.

As to give a sunflower to your beloved it represents warmth, long life and endurance. Sun flowers remain in full bloom for a long time enduring the hottest days of Summer and tolerating lack of rain and droughts. The upright and strong stem also represent the strength of bonds and loyalty. It is usually given as a gift on the 3rd anniversary of a wedding.

I love a sunflower and I believe in love power
(Tears for Fears, quote from the lyrics of "Sowing the Seeds of Love")

Vitality, hope, renewal... LIGHT

It was worshiped by Incan Empire priestesses who used to wear replicas made of gold in their garments.

In China, Royalty used to eat sunflower seeds in order to have a long life and are related with vitality and luck. In China in fact they are a symbol of *lasting happiness" The symbolism of "yellow" colour that I covered in previous article also apply for this "light bringer". It is easy to think why these flowers are usually associated with "happy" feelings.

They are not only strikingly beautiful but also useful providing and numerous edible sunflower seeds (at least the most common Helianthus annus which we grow for that purpose) and oil for cooking and beauty treatments. Crops and fields of these beauties, also a symbol of "abundance".

Sunflowers also known for their symmetry based on Fibonacci numbers

Above: the disk of a sunflower are made of made up of many little flowers that will become seeds.

Moving into the Light and the Legend of Clytie and Apollo

Sunflowers belong to the family Asteraceae and genus Helianthus (helios=Sun, Anthos=flower) and they move and stretch moving towards the light by phototropism. or heliotropism. Sunflowers are one of several plant species that make optimum use of light by turning to face the sun. It is like a "solar tracking" triggered in fact by phyto-hormones (Auxins) presents in the stems. This happens until the flower is "mature" and the seeds begin to ripen. Then they usually stop growing and droop downwards and stop their movement.

But let's explain it in a more romantic way

Clytie in Green mythology was a water nymph (daughter of Oceanus, the Water god and Tethys) that turned into a flower grieving over here unrequited love for the God of the Sun, Apollo (son of Zeus), and thus she is always facing the sun looking for her love return for her in his Chariot. She fell in love with him but was ignored by Apollo who fell for another Water Nymph (Daphne). Clytie sat on a rock and spent nine days without food or water until she transformed into a flower, and even to this day, she keeps looking at her beloved sun from dawn to sunset. Thus sometimes Sunflowers are used as symbols of "platonic love". At the beginning the Greek legend transformed her into a turnsole (Heliotropium) as in fact all sunflowers (Helianthus) are native from America, but modern retelling and famous Victorian and Prerraphaelite painting used "Sunflowers" to represent the grieving nymph.

Although Clytie's love was not corresponded as Apollo fell in love with Daphne due to an Eros (God of love) arrow, the irony of it is that he was despised by Daphne who wished herself to be transformed into a laurel tree not to be bothered by Apollo unsolicited love. Apollo had an argument with Eros and he was struck by an arrow who made him fall in love with the water nymph but Daphne was hit by a lead arrow who made her despise Apollo as strongly as he loved her. Finally she prayed for help to her father and was transformed into a laurel tree. Apollo was heartbroken and remained faithful and it made laurel leaves "evergreen" because of his love.

Poor Clytie, if it had not been for the interference of love arrows...

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Above my videoclip  Off the Lane was in part filmed in this location, but I've returned to this place COUNTLES times... and here is an article about the place.  I love to bring my friends here when they come to visit. The blog post mix old and recent pictures. :)

Follow me and enter the Ruins of Eugi, one of my favourite places to visit in my area

Located in Quinto Real forest, a lush beech wood in North Western of Navarre (North of Spain). Eugi was the oldest of the two Royal Munition Factories that can be found in the region. I already covered Orbaitzeta in a previoust post but Eugi is smaller in size and a century older. The remains run over Arga River and are dated in the XVI century.

The smithy closed one century after being built when it ran out of materials, which led to the construction of Orbaitzeta

The archs are similar to the ones we find in Orbaitzeta, as the latest was built as a bigger replica after Eugi had exploited the resources around it at the time.
Now the forest is fully recovered and protected... and the whole factory (and its ugly purpose) engulfed by lush vegetation and damp moss. Beneath the archs there are spots where the water covers up to your waist. Cold and hyaline, the whole place is purified. Nature has won this round. The remaining walls and archs are silent witnesses of the flowing of the seasons.

Eugi is really well preserved and ruins can be found two sides of the road... archs, walls, all covered in vines and ivy. Like the remains of old fairytale castles...

Being further from any populated area and having had 100 years more exposed to the elements than its bigger sister Orbaitzeta, Eugi is already one with the forest.

At some spots the structures are so concealed that it's difficult to make the man-made parts out... as it seems to be entwined with growing plants. Especially at this time of the year, where weeds crawl and cover everything in green. In autumn and winter, the whole place is more conspicuous but then veiled permanently by fog and mist. Temperature here is usually cooler, and if we continue up the road we will see Mount Adi crowning the beechwoods.

This is a place I come often. I filmed several scenes of my videoclip and song "Off the Lane" here and being one hour drive from home I come to visit this forest rather often.

Below: A still from when I filmed my videoclip. This photo is much older than the rest included in this article. Sadly this part is now being restored so they have added a fence and it doesn't look like in this picture. The rest of the images are fair recent.

As I have said before I have a fascination for abandoned places, their romantic and almost decadent beauty... how they shift sometimes into something new and beautiful when it's claimed back by Nature.

I love to see the ruins now integrated with the forest... Quinto Real is home of deer and boar and it's frequent to see vultures in the sky. Spain has 80% of vultures in Europe. In autumn is not rare to see the blurry silhouettes of deer or boar cloaked in mist... Those are the "ghosts" that now inhabit the ruins of Eugi.

Here I come often to feel inspired... I compose songs with the rustling sounds of the leaves, the chirping of birds... songs that grow in the filtered green light that is reflected on the water...
Dancing Sparkles

Fairy lights

Above: me composing with my flute under Eugi Ruins (Arga river)

The eeriness of abandoned places

A few weeks ago, me and @hedac visited this eerie and very unusual abandoned park "El Parque de los Desvelados" located in Estella (Lizarra), South West of Navarre, in Spain.

I have always felt a strange attraction for "abandoned" places and its weird energy. I don't think places are haunted by ghosts but by desolation and decay, an imprint of sorrow maybe... I even wrote a song called "Haunted" inspired by this theory. I have a fondness for them... as if I'm a long awaited spectator of the stories they still whisper. Old houses, abandoned villages, old ruins... I can imagine their stories. I love when they are claimed back by Nature and get covered in ivy and moss.

Last month we visited one of these abandoned park, yet it was not an ordinary park...
Located in Estella (Spain) this bizarre place is known as Parque de los Desvelados (o de las calaveras) (translated as "Park of the Sleepless (or the Skulls)).

El Parque de los Desvelados: The Sleepless Park

The word desvelado means "those who don't sleep"... I find the name curious to start with, as the insomniac I am.

There is though another way to interpret it "Those who never rest" and here is when it gets tainted by a melancholic vibe.

As much as I like abandoned places I have to say this is one of the weirdest and creepiest I've ever been to. We had had intentions to visit it for a long time so I wanted to take the chance also to prepare a photo shoot.
The crown I'm wearing was a birthday gift from my friend and illustrator Lisselotte Eriksson, and as she has a fascination for dark fairies (The "Unseelie Court") I thought the place approppiate to surprise her with some photos.

So early March, a few weeks ago, being late for a proper hike in the Wilderness, we found convenient to pay a visit to it as it is rather close to us.

We parked the car in Estella, I put my garments in a rucksack and uphill we went in an area called "San Lorenzo", the path surrounded by orchards and ominous dark pine forests covered in vines. The alarm call of countless Black Birds as we walked by filled our ears. Half an hour later we stumbled upon "Los Desvelados Street" and a few meters away an open fence with a signal that says : This is private property, feel free to enter Please, Respect!

There was only a couple there (weird place for a picnic) as soon as they saw me with my horned piece and dark goth make up they started to talk loudly about Nephilim (The Fallen Ones), bad omens, Demons and religious talk not minding I was listening. They stared at me a few times while they loudly talked about these topics, the moment was too awkward to engage conversation to explain we were there just for a photo shoot.

I was not going for a super dark look, more a "goth" spectral ghostly Unseelie fairy look, or even a "romantic symbolism" of Death as it is the main topic the park is based upon. I love ghostly and spectral tales from the XIX century after all. The place itself does not call for vivid colours. So there I was cloaked in black. Skulls and bright polka dresses wouldn't make a good combination right?

A family with small kids got in the place, they were laughing enthusiastically at the skulls, as if something "funny". Talk about eerie, skulls and children's laughters! One of the youngest pointed at me and said! "Look, mum" A witch! -he squeaked. I smiled back and the older kid with huge specs hid shyly behind his mother. I smiled again and they both giggled nervously. It felt a bit empowering, I must say.

Above: the headpiece was a handmade birthday gift from my friend Liselotte. Neither a Nephilim nor a Witch though.

Above: me beside one of the Skulls so you can appreciate the scale

The 7 massive sculptures of distorted skulls and skeletons made by artist Luis García Vidal transform the landscape into an eerie giant’s boneyard and scattered here and there, almost as junk piles we can also find other odd creepy shrines.
The size of some of the sculptures is jaw dropping, it won't leave you indifferent. They large hollow orbits taring as fathomless wells... The experience is rather haunting.

They look somehow like something out of Edward Gorey's or Tim Burton's illustrations. A hint of macabre even.
The sculptures are distorted and out of proportion, there are also some laying from the floor or looks like being engulfed by it or rotting away.

A memento-mori

All things that live must die

Julio García Vidal was born in Melilla the 24th of December, 1927. As a teenager her moved to Madrid to learn Sculpture and then to Paris where he met his wife that was from Estella. The would spend every winter there working in this strange and curious place. Created between 1971 and the artist’s death in 2009, they are meant to serve as a memento-mori (from Latin "remember you have to die"). The whole park is an Ode to Death and a reminder of the inevitability of it, of the transient Nature of our existence on Earth.

Slowly bushes have taken over and all is succumbing into decay. He spent 38 years working on this park... carefully building and restoring continuously his structures made of twigs and branches of "sumac" (very small trees and shrubs from the genus Rhus) wrapped in chicken wire and covered with gypsum and white paint.

Above: Details of the materials used to build the structures

His brother Alberto, also an artist, died of cancer and very poor. He sculpted the skull above with a plaque that reads that his brother ended up like "human garbage" but accepted Death with courage as if passing away had been some kind of solace for him. I found it extremely sad, maybe even resentful for the words chosen, compelling though.

He also was involved himself in a car crash. You can see ruined cars scattered in the Park. There are signs of his "obsession" incorporating also other objects that had been involved in accidents.

Walking through this desolate place we stumble upon this:

The quote along the crushed baby pram shrine suddenly turns macabre.
"Cuando sea mayor seré futbolista, si el destino quiere". "When I become older I will be a football player if fate allows". A reminder that sometimes life is taken from us way before fulfillment.

The message is clear... in life and death there are things we can't choose, there are things we can't control, there are things that aren't fair... but that's the way things are

A place vanishing into Oblivion

Only a decade after his death Nature starts to claim back the place, the white paint on the schools is wearing out, the wire holding their structures become undone, some of the Sumac taking life again.

All the pictures in this article were taken a few weeks ago, early March 2018. I found online photographs from a few years ago and some of the structures are almost unrecognizable now. They are left to the elements.

Above: some of the skulls are now just a bunch of twined twigs, yet you can infer its former shape

Some years from now from now the whole place will vanish into oblivion. Maybe that is a final lesson that the artist wanted to portray, that his work was "alive" with him, and it would decay back into Nature once he was gone. I think it was the way he intended it so in this he succeeded to leave a final lesson

I think the creator wanted us not only to think about Death but also about Life.

Death is something that we all will have in common, somehow an equalizer. It doesn't matter how rich or famous you are, or the struggles and miseries you've gone through... we are all going to meet the same end eventually.

Overcoming our Fear of Death

First the cradle then the grave... as sure as the souls just flow from Birth to the Death. (lyrics of my song Through the Long way)

I do believe both Life are Death are in balance in Nature... Romantification of Death can be dangerous, though we often find it in old poetry and literature, in tales of cross hearted lovers like Romeo and Juliet...

I accept Death, it´s just a natural process, it is key to keep balance, yet I confess I find the moment of "ceasing" or "disruption of life" is sad. I've seen Death, I've been close to it too, I have experienced loss and mourning, and the only romantic thing about it is that it taught me "love" lasts beyond Death. As long as we remember, the ones that we have loved and lost live in us still.

Thanatophobia (fear of death) is a condition that describes the fear and anxiety in the awareness of our mortality, a fear of "ceasing to exist". The name Thanatophobia takes from the Greek figure of death known as Thanatos.

Or fear of death is a primal instinct, to fear Death is a natural thing... after all that is why we are equipped with our "fight or flee" response to protect our lives. We long to live. Yet being anxious and overwhelmed by that fear is not a good thing. We must not forget the joy in living.

Our ways to manage this fear differ, some seek comfort in religion and somehow overriding Death into an afterlife. I am not exploring this, as I think it´s a beautiful comforting thought yet what lies beyond is unknown...

Sometimes it's so hard to see death as a positive thing. Many of us have experience loss. Death is often a taboo topic, and something difficult to accept no matter how natural it is. The first time I saw a bird dying as a child my heart clenched. It was terrible. How quickly all it was extinguishes, that "something" gone. I have been vegetarian since 8 years old because I cannot bear the thought of anything dying for my sake.

I saw all my pets die while being held and close to my heart... In many ways they taught me to accept it because they were gone embraced in love.

Still both Life and Death are part of Nature, both balance its cycles. Still it is only logical and rational that we must accept that we will all eventually die. Why should we fear something that is so inevitable, and somehow needed?

Like fungi grow on dead trees... Nature teaches us Life just transform... we are all part of an endless cycle...

I remember a chapter of "The Storyteller" 80s TV series "The Soldier and the Death" The fairy tale tells of a Soldier that tricks the Devil playing cards and earns a magic sack in which he finally traps Death inside. But though he successfully kidnaps Death he sees what would happen in the world if no one and nothing could die...
It´s all about "balance". It's about cycles.

The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust! (Nietzche)

I do admit I do fear to die... but somehow I have understood that fear better, that maybe we are afraid to run out of time having not lived to the fullest. So wherever you are at:

Seek happiness, seek for meaning, LIVE fully and wisely...! Cherish and be grateful!

Until then... LIVE :)

Till Death do us part
But until then... LIVE
Seize the Day
"For Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return"

I hope you found it curious, it is not that well-known... if you ever visit the area it is worth a walk by even if only because of its "oddity". In no way and despite its dark Nature I am meaning to be ominous... on the contrary, I hope it has awakened some food for thoughts too.

Above: a final farewell shot taken with my phone

Disclaimer: All the pictures in this post are taken by me or in collaboration with my partner @hedac. All Rights Reserved.