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FIRE CRESCENT VII (CLOSE UP) CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 2014
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“My art is the constancy of change;
the flux; the crossroad;
the becoming;
the moment between the waiting;
the truth of poetry in all disciplines;
the axis between innocence and knowledge;
the anticipation of the sunrise, the rainbow, the caress,
the sound of color and the rhythm of intimacy;
and
the wonder,
the wonder,
the wonder,
the wonder of awe,
the wonder of grace,
and
the wonder of how authentic love unfolds a choreography,
an improvisation,
an unfolding of the majesty and amplitude
of resonating souls:
GOSPEL.
The wonder.
The full spectrum, magnitude and depth of:
taste and sound and touch and smell and sight
of awe X grace.
Faith.
RAPTURE.
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THE CROSSROADS.”
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CATHERINE L. JOHNSON
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Crosses
symbolize spirituality
and
healing.
They are seen as the meeting place
of divine energies.
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The 4 points of a cross represent
self,
nature,
wisdom,
and
higher power or being.
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Crosses suggest transition,
balance,
faith,
unity,
temperance,
hope,
and
life.
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The
CROSSROAD
symbolizes
a joining of three roads;
the balance of opposites;
a place where pivotal options stand before a person,
a point when a vital decision/choice must be made
-the practice and belief of free will in relation to fate;
the meeting of time and space;
and
a nexus.
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The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
1874-1963
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MOON Aerial: MINES I (CLOSE UP) CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 2012
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OEDIPUS THE KING
William Shakespeare
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A crossroads is a place where a choice has to be made,
so crossroads usually symbolize moments where decisions
will have important consequences
but where different choices are still possible.
In Oedipus the King, the crossroads is part of the distant past,
dimly remembered,
and
Oedipus was not aware at the time that he was making a fateful decision.
In this play, the crossroads symbolizes fate
and
the awesome power of prophecy
rather than freedom and choice.
http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/oedipus/themes.html
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MOON Aerial: MINES I (CLOSE UP) CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 2012
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CROSSROADS:
meeting point of opposites
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In most cultures it is a significant place of meeting
with transcendent powers (gods, spirits, the dead).
It is often close to the symbolic content of the door,
since the crossroads can also symbolize
the necessary transition to the new
(from one phase of life to another; from life to death).
To win the favor of the gods or spirits, obelisks, altars, or stones were erected,
or inscriptions were placed at crossroads.
Practically everywhere in Europe crossroads were also regarded
as the meeting place of witches and evil demons.
For this reason,
Christians have erected at crossroads crosses, chapels,
and statues of the Madonna and the saints.
Among many African tribes the symbolism of the crossroads
plays a significant role in ritual acts.
In Greek mythology Oedipus slays his father at a crossroads.
The Greeks made sacrifices to a goddess
of the (three-way) fork in the road
who was often represented in triple form:
Hecate, goddess of ghosts and magic,
who was also closely associated with the realm of the dead.
The statue of Hermes, the psychopomp (spirit guide)
stood guard at crossroads and forks in the road.
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(Above is an excerpt from the entry for
Crossroads in “The Herder Symbol Dictionary.”
Translated by Boris Matthews.
Chiron Publications, Wilmette, Illinois.)
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The issue of the deeper symbolism of the X,
speaking of the crossroad,
is the larger metaphor:
it is the intersection,
the center of the universe
of communing and community
-the nexus.
The idea of plane and place has magical import:
X marks the netherworld where spirits can come,
pass through,
and
exit the world that we know,
and,
perhaps.
draw us into another.
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The crossroads might be emblematic
of the spiritual confusion,
or the place of decision making:
it is here that YOU must make the call
to which direction you might hold in your heart.
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The X is the four points of the cardinal direction,
it’s the place where all points of the sphere of being
can reach back to the centerpoint of the locus,
the locality,
the nexus of where you are and who you are.
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It is the spheric and multidimensional
conformed as one planar nexus:
the point where things come together,
or come apart.
As the planes touch,
in that instant,
the experiencer is neither
in one world or the other
— twixt and twain,
in between and apart
— the place of liminality.
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In anthropology,
LIMINALITY
(from the Latin word līmen, meaning “a threshold”)
is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation
that occurs in the middle stage of rituals,
when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status
but have not yet begun the transition
to the status they will hold when the ritual is complete.
During a ritual’s liminal stage,
participants “stand at the threshold”
between their previous way of structuring
their identity, time, or community, and a new way,
which the ritual establishes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality
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Robert Johnson
1911-1938
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the legendary blues singer/guitarist/soul man
wrote the lyrics to a song
that speaks to the X’d passage of the crossroads:
Robert Johnson’s Cross Roads Blues
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2e-roCgcyU
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CROSS ROADS BLUES
(Take #1)
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I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
I went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees.
Asked the lord above for mercy, save me if you please.
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I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride.
I went down to the crossroads, tried to flag a ride.
Nobody seemed to know me, everybody passed me by.
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Im going down to rosedale, take my rider by my side.
Im going down to rosedale, take my rider by my side.
You can still barrelhouse, baby, on the riverside.
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You can run, you can run, tell my friend-boy willie brown.
You can run, you can run, tell my friend-boy willie brown.
And Im standing at the crossroads, believe Im sinking down.
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CROSS ROADS BLUES
(Take #2)
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I went to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above “Have mercy, now
save poor Bob, if you please
Mmmmm, standin’ at the crossroad
I tried to flag a ride
Standin’ at the crossroad
I tried to flag a ride
Didn’t nobody seem to know me
everybody pass me by
Mmm, the sun goin’ down, boy
dark gon’ catch me here
oooo ooee eeee
boy, dark gon’ catch me here
I haven’t got no lovin’ sweet woman that
love and feel my care
You can run, you can run
tell my friend-boy Willie Brown
You can run, you can run
tell my friend-boy Willie Brown
Lord, that I’m standin’ at the crossroad, babe
I believe I’m sinkin’ down
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DIVINE HORSEMEN
MAYA DEREN
Documentary of vodun in Haiti.
Crossroad as a ritual vehicle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmQHml54shI
MAYA DEREN INTERVIEW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhE26s90Ux8
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Yellow Night: RISE (CLOSE UP) CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 2012
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FOR VISUAL INFORMATION ON
THE FULL PORTFOLIOS:
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FIRE CRESCENT 2014:
https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/new-work-fire-crescent-portfolio-i-xvi-2014-catherine-l-johnson-fire-crescent-portfolio-i-xvi-2014-catherine-l-johnson/
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MOON Aerial: MINES 2012:
https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/moon-aerial-mines-ix-2012-14h-x-11-5w-catherine-l-johnson/
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Yellow Night: RISE 2012:
https://catherineljohnson.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/yellow-night-rise-i-xi-2012-9-75h-x-7-5w-catherine-l-johnson-2/
CATHERINE L. JOHNSON 