MP3 of this new version free for patrons at http://patreon.com/yidneth

You know that there are places you’d better not roam alone in. You can feel that weird sensation that alerts you. What if the ghost in a haunted place is the place itself? Cross the fence and enter into the desolate feelings of an abandoned house. Places are not haunted by ghosts but by desolation.

I have not been much around these last few weeks because I was working on this music video. It took a lot of work and I battled with my old computer, but finally it is here, and right for Samhain/Halloween, though It stays as an official video for my original song Haunted remixed with new cello, vocals, and instruments and with a video filmed throughout this year.

Haunted is in fact one of my favourite songs of mine, but with its weird chord progressions and dark tone it was never one of my popular ones... still it's often on my performing set lists because It is one of the poems I'm more proud of and the whole theme works as a metaphor of desolation and abandonment. It's the house itself singing, not a ghost. Yidneth the female character of my story that usually appears in the different CDs sometimes dreams she is a ghost... and she wanders surrounded by moths... She is sometimes afraid to fall sleep and become a ghost.

The vocals have several layers, one is my pure voice untreated, the other two me singing with vocal fry as a creaking door and another layer whispering, so it feels I'm dubbing over the abode's voice.

The House would work itself as a big "Underliving" something living but not alive. This term and concept gave name to my second album theunderliving.com and keeps on being recurrent throughout my entire works.

This is a new videoclip for my song Haunted, the original version was released in Ancient Shadows (2006) but this is a new video and version was recorded this year (2018) and features a longer cello line and many more backing vocals as well as a a new videoclip filmed on an abandoned Palace on top of a Hill, an abandoned village and other locations. I premier it as fitting for Samhain as the veil is thin but remains as an official music video for the song. This new version slightly different than the one that was officially published will be listed free for patrons at patreon.com/yidneth and also here on Dsound in forthcoming for my Steemit followers. Here so far the music video.

Haunted (Lyrics / Poem)

My crumbling walls groan and complain
the ivory gleam is now turned to grey
no steps on my dusty floors
No one sleeps in the musty bed
I feel alone and desolate
Deprived of the splendour of the elder days
my baleful halls... an ode to decay
the piano still plays itself
that off-key melody
that makes the shadows dance and boil
in that frantic ball
Shelter of the nameless gods and ghostly shades
the wild moan of wind warns I shall not be dwelt in…
…in the starless... dismal nights...
... I am... haunted
The garden grows wild
the ivy crawled and hid all the gates
and pallid blooms of rancid scent
took place when roses withered away
The abyss of nightmare lurks in each hole
and things unseen behind every door
but I cannot help but miss
the laughter of children
oh come again... cross the fence... to play with me
(Hide and seek)
All the yearning sins and secrets I may keep
still invoke and build that hideous fantasy
ah everyone knows... I am... haunted
And centuries run...
this rotten core will never fall down
laid my foundations deep in the ground
Defiant and silent I shall await....
while everyone says...
I am... haunted

Locations: Aizkolegi Palace, Tiermas and Ordesa

Aizkolegi Palace stands on top of a hill, 842 meters high surrounded by lush and dark woods with gnarled trees. It was built over a century ago by Pedro Ciga, last owner of "El Señorío de Bertiz", the natural Park where it stands now abandoned.

It was built as a second house uphill with amazing views of the surrounding valleys covered in beechwoods. On a clear day you are able to see the sea afar. Pedro installed a telescope on it to "observe and admire the wonders of Nature" but now it's closed and in ruins.

In his testament it was told it had to be preserved "its way" yet now inhabited, the windows and doors have been closed with planks and only some open windows upstairs offer an uneasy ominous black glimpse of its core. I wonder what's inside but I can only imagine it. There are several signals that warns of the dangers as the abode has been left to the elements and slowly breaking apart for a long time. Yet still stands, decaying and haunted by its own solitude. Thus it was perfect to portray my little story. The song had already been released on my first album Ancient Shadows, but being one of my favourites I couldn't help but film a new video and re-record voices, choirs and more instruments in this brand new updated version. The music video was filmed earlier this year before Spring opened its new leaves.

The house must be indeed HAUNTED because we got lost on our way downhill for several miles, had to go uphill again back to it to find our way through the dark woods... very ominous

Additional sequences were filmed a month ago in Tiermas Village, an abandoned town in Tiermas. The scenes at the waterfalls belong to the the Natural Park of Ordesa, the waterfall "Las Gradas" resembles somehow a construction, and the flow of water somehow represents the flow of time.

Of course yet again my obsession for moths... I never miss the chance to film one when the visit me...

And its obsession for a flame... like a ghost to the living... like an empty house for inhabitants

And thus there are moths in this video as there are usually in my drawings and the imagery since Ancient Shadows (my first album) where this song was first included in an older version. Moths and the ghost will reappear again in my third and forthcoming album Fear no More and I took the chance to re-made Haunted to rescue many of the elements that will be recurrent.

Credits

Music and lyrics by Priscilla Hernandez @yidneth
All arrangements, piano, synth, lead and backing vocals by Priscilla Hernandez @yidneth
Cello by Francina Turon and Biel Fiol

Video edit by Priscilla Hernandez
Camera work by @hedac
Special thanks to my friend Naliam who filmed an additional footage of me in Tiermas.

The piano plays itself that off key melody that makes the shadows dance and boil in a franctic ball

The Witch in the Woods

Halloween is drawing near and the veil is getting thin...

Every year I do a Halloween special and this was last year's Hocus Pocus but I am resharing it now along with the photoshoot, making of and locations

so get ready for some eerie entries this October... :). Video was done last Fall, but many of the pictures have been recently edited and are shared now for the first time. Sharing here a special creepy little music video I made for Halloween last year as I am preparing a new seasonal special for this one. In the mood for something slightly eerie? This post also includes photo shoot, filming locations, and lots of pictures!

Are you in Halloween mood quite yet? Do you usually celebrate it?
Are you plotting your costume already?
There will be some "Special Spectral entries" as Autumn is here now in its full glory with its mysterious mists and fallen leaves.
Press play to listen / watch the video featuring several locations in Spain and France.

Who remembers this movie?

Hocus Pocus is a fantasy seasonal Halloween movie that was released in 1993 by Disney. Featuring a trio of Witches (The Sanderson Sisters) the movie is lighthearted and fun entertainment, but there was an eerie haunting moment, darker than the rest of the film by its tone and meaning, that stayed with me longer, and that was the moment Sarah, the blonde haired witch (how appropiate) uses her power, her sweet voice with which she is able to lure unfortunate children into her lair... just like a Siren.
So as a collector of movie scores, my main and major influence in my own music, I have been picking some "classics" from my childhood and giving them a spin within my own style. And thus here I'm sharing my own version of the soundtrack.
So do you remember this movie?

It was indeed a commercial and critical flop back in the day but slowly it became a cult classic. Apparently there is a sequel about to be released too after so many years. I remember it with fondness though and some scenes like Sarah singing this song are quite vivid in my mind... It is now a seasonal classic of my generation, so well drop also your impressions if you remember or have watched it. If not, this is the perfect month to have a look at it!

I put a spell on you and now you're mine

But this post is more than about the song but also the hikes and behind the scenes of this little creepy video I made as Halloween special. (Preparing another surprise for this one) as we get into the mood for the forthcoming All Hallows Eve. Despite being blonde myself and having a "similar garment" than the character that sings it I did not pretend to cosplay the character but tell a different kind of story (darker in mood) than the original take... I am curious about your own interpretations.

The veil is getting thinner...

Lyrics

"Sarah's Theme" is one of the sung and most iconic tracks in Hocus Pocus Movie score with music by James Horner; lyrics by Brock Walsh inspired by Edgard Allan Poe; performed by Sarah Jessica Parker in the movie. Additional variations were made by who was in charge of most of the instrumental soundtrack of the movie. The theme also known as "Garden of magic" and has become a rather well known seasonal Halloween classic. There are longer versions but the original lyrics (very short) are these:

Come little children, I'll take thee away,
Into a land of enchantment.
Come little children, the time's come to play,
Here in my garden of magic.

Credits

Original version

Credits: Sarah´s theme was composed by James Horner and variations and rest of the movie soundtrack by John Debney http://johndebney.com/. Lyrics by Brock Walsh.
John Debney was kind enough to listen to my version and send back a compliment which I found so encouraging. This is just a tribute cover and it' was not an official release, I always recommend to purchase the ORIGINAL soundtrack but I enjoyed recording this as it was a challenge was a good practise to improve my hammered dulcimer playing :) and thus it deviates quite a lot from the original arrangement.

I loved your rendition, it sounded great John Debney (Hocus Pocus OST composer and conductor)

My version

Cover and arrangements by me, Priscilla Hernandez (http://priscillahernandez.com)

Priscilla Hernandez  voice, lead and choir, arrangements, hammered dulcimer, piano, video edition
Armen Vartanyan: violin
Svetlana Tovstukha: cello
Héctor Corcín  : mixing, mastering, camera work, video edition

Filming locations

The abandoned decaying ruins of a former village of miners of Arruitzgain on Basakaitz Mount (Spain) served as main background to film the video... There used to be also a train (Plazaola) to transport the minerals from this area that has been of mining interest since the Romans settlements in the area... And at the beginning of the hike you can choose to go over the now deserted rails and tunnels. Then there is a hike uphill while while enjoying a forest of long and slender beech trees. I filmed this exactly mid October last year but the leaves hadn't fully shifted into autumn colours quite yet (thus we used color correction in the video to make it moodier)

The mining village was abandoned in the fifties and barely a few buildings tumbling down and emerging chimneys and walls over the engulfing and lush vegetation and they look much older while a thick pad of moss, vines and blackberry bushes have covered the walls.

It felt convenient that there was a fireplace in one of them... oddly enough with signs of recent use, maybe one hiker took the remaining building structure as shelter.

We also collected some wood in order to create that uneasy feeling of "Witch in the Woods" as I was intending to do a video for the song "Come Little Children" anyway. I always try to release a Halloween special, whether a cover of Halloween classic like this, or an original... so already working in this year special Halloween release. The early autumn filtered light was perfect and I found a perfect witchy staff out of a wooden stick.

After filming we stayed in the woods until dark... you had to be careful as light got dim you could easily for into hollows like this

El Señorío de Bertiz also in Navarra (Spain) served as additional location including the spooky shot at the end wearing a mask I made out of a piece of bark I collected from the floor. It's a place we often visit and hike that I will cover in detail in one of my "hiking adventures" posts. But here a clear still of that "eerie ominous ending". I decided to add a spooky reverse effect to finish. And well , I think I succeeded in my "spectral" makeover.

Additional scenes were added filmed on or hike to the mountaing Midi dOssau (French Pyrenees), some general scenes of autumnal elements and small waterfalls and conveniently filming scenes dressed in black like casting spells in different spots on our ascent. Yes, I hiked with a corset up to the Pyrenees and here is proof!
I even got into thef freezing mountain lake but I did not use that footage in the final edit of the video.

In conclusion

Little boys and girls don't get lost in the woods after dark

Priscilla Hernandez

Light as a feather

And when I feel I'm drowning in darkness I try to remember the light in myself. And I remember I know a way to rise

we grow wings out of our abyssal fins to take flight and feel ethereal.

Watch and listen the music video while you keep on reading

Do you ever dream you fly? What is Lucid dreaming?

I have quite a lot of sleep disorders, some like sleep paralysis are frightening. False awakenings are confusing... But then there is lucid dreaming those dreams where you are aware you are the *dreamer" and you have control of how the dream unfolds before you. As I had a history with night horrors, nightmares, and sleep paralysis I learned almost naturally how to do this. I even use it to practise music... but of course mostly to travel, fly, and shape a world of my own. So I learned to "dream" without fear. Of course sometimes I still lose control of them and I go back to terrifying nightmares, but for me being able to "shape my dreams" to create stories and living them, being the c

Like transparent waters and clear lucid reams
Sweet wonders unfolding, I'm conscious
I take flight... my soul feels unclouded

Again it was the result of Héctor and I teamwork... And lots and lots of glitter. A combination of indoors and ourdoors locations and lots of diy and practical effects. It started out selecting the right feathers...
And lots of time floating on freezing ponds, walking barefoot in the forest, and fighting with the wind machines! :)

Making of the dress and overall look

I made my own dress. I used white coloured fabrics. The skirt was made with a handkerchief patterns, several squares or organza fabric layered. The bodice was a work of patience though, cutting shapes and using a hot glue gun.. at the end it felt more like an "armour" very rigid... and sparkly All is very glittery in this video.
I completed my look using a light gray wig and doing a very sparkly make up with rhinestones and transparent droplets glued to my skin like dew.
I also made a heavy white cloak with the help of my friend Cristina.

For some additional dancing sequece I was gifted a pair of Silk chiffon Isis Wings that seemed to fly around me courtesy of "Dancing Wings" which one one of the elements that was not self-made

Another part of the costume (especially at the end where the videoclip moves to water to air and stars) is the fairy wings. Though I made the design of these fairy wings and drew the pattern it was done custom-made for me by a company called "Enchanted Costumes" who gently endorsed them for my concerts and shows. So those white wings are the ones I usually use on stage and also appeared at the end of the video. This is a promotional shoot wearing the wings and fabrics, it represents the last third of the music video when we have already "taken flight"

We filmed both indoors and outdoors.

We needed to float on water so we scouted for locations in Nature and found some lovely ponds in Catalonia. I remember my friend Wui (who also helped me with make up that day) and I ended up swimming back through ponds under the light of the full Moon because we wouldn't venture to hike back the edges in darkness. So the atmosphere in the video of floating under the Moon was very real
We also filmed in the forest of Orgi (Navarre) additional scenes wearing the hood

For the indoors we used a green screen and black background. Lots of glitter, crystals, cobweb and a wind machine... And believe me wind machies love to tangle floating fabrics... :) The number of bloopers and funny takes was insane. Luckily enough many takes were ethereal Enough. We used blue lights to provide ambience to the scenes. It also enhanced enhanced the iridescent make ups.

Easter Egg I had not previously shared (In memory)

By the time I released this video two of my rats (aka. "fufunchis") Tuula and Ritva had said their good byes. The final third of the video is very "AIR". In fact there is a transition of elements from water to air. We included nebulae among the stars... and here is the Easter Egg, at some points those nebulae were generated by using pictures of Tuula and Ritva blurred, of course they are part of the "Heavens" now and still and forever part of the Universe I've lived in. You may require to watch several times to spot them... but if you do, let me know in comments.

Lyrics / Poem

Pure and serene...
Ethereal
Like dew on a cobweb of delicate silk
and sheer threads of silver
are the weft of the fabric of dreams
gauzy and fragile (gauzy and fragile)
like thin ice (thin ice)
oh floating dust (oh floating dust)
in open skies (in open skies)
I feel... hyaline
hyaline...
Ethereal
Like transparent waters
(They tenderly held me...)
and mother of pearl
(with gentle sway...)
those moon like pale opals
(all covered...)
I feel...
(...with moonbeams while drifting)
Hyaline...
while drifting
Our trails of afterglow
pulse like shimmering stardust
and the patterns that they draw
lead the way out of darkness
We grow wings from abyssal fins
to take flight and feel
Ethereal
Like transparent waters
(Sweet wonders unfolding)
and clear lucid dreams
(I'm conscious)
Iridescent and pale
insect wings
(to take flight)
Hyaline
(unclouded)
My soul feels
Unclouded
We get ready now
for life under the light
(Sweet wonder...)
I feel
We get ready now
for life under the light
(I'm conscious...)
I feel...
we get ready now
for life under the light
(to take flight
light as a feather)
hyaline
unclouded
I feel
ethereal
Don't you feel ethereal?
unclouded
Don't you feel ethereal?
Pure and serene
My essence...
Ethereal

This song will be included in my third album Fear no more so feel free to support us by purchasing the song from Bandcamp:

Song Credits:

Gauzy and Fragile like thin Ice

Music and lyrics and arrangements: Priscilla Hernandez
Priscilla Hernandez: composition, vocals, synth, keyboard, piano, flute, kantele
Héctor Corcín: Percussion, Oscar Tribalthunder, additional electronic arrangements
Armen Vartanyan: violín

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.