The Minotaur In The Labyrinth

toni morrison, sula // stephanie peters, fire // seneca, medea (trans. a.j. boyle) // david mcconochie, medea // peter russell, night the first // stephanie peters, roaring flame // hozier, arsonist’s lullabye // jackson pollock, the flame

THE ART of GRACE SLICK

Grace Slick, formerly of Jefferson Airplane (and later Starship) who were one of Woodstock's monumental participants, has been involved in the visual arts scene lately in her life...

The Airplane, most notable for their psychedelic masterpiece 'White Rabbit', entwines the tale of Alice In Wonderland with lyrics advocating for the expansion of one's consciousness through hallucinogens as the ultimate solution; which, in opposition, dismisses the validity to the otherwise socially acceptable norm of the American pharmaceutical diet's true effectivity.

it's refreshing to see that, after many decades have passed, even though she chose to pursue a different artistic avenue than music—the thematics and probable integrity remain the very same.

included are just a few selections from her primary focal point, that eternal fascination with Wonderland; however, she has also paid homage to some of her fellow peers of the Revolution, by painting portraits of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, amongst many others.

The Epic of Gilgamesh illustrated by Wael Tarabieh (½)

But our notebooks give us away, for however dutifully we record what we see around us, the common denominator of all we see is always, transparently, shamelessly, the implacable “I.” We are not talking here about the kind of notebook that is patently for public consumption, a structural conceit for binding together a series of graceful pensées; we are talking about something private, about bits of the mind’s string too short to use, an indiscriminate and erratic assemblage with meaning only for its maker. And sometimes even the maker has difficulty with the meaning.

Joan Didion, from On Keeping A Notebook in: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Ariadne ♡

Alexa Demie in Fairy Tales (2020) Photography: Petra Collins

some of the short stories from this eve that im thinking abt still... someone read them and tell me ur thoughts thank u

monsters never leave you - carlie st. george . i thought the fairytale elements were woven together nicely 😌 you get undead siblings, tree mothers, chosen family, forgiveness vs love etc! good stuff

call them children - wenmimareba klobah collins the monster narrative continues. their descriptions are delightful, especially in the crafting of the setting, and the ending... obsessed

my country is a ghost - eugenia triantafyllou the longing after loss that imbues this.. feel like it captures a loss of family connection when you’re not in your homeland very well imo

open house on haunted hill - john wiswell another house that loves you! adore the concept of this one, though it’s not horror vibes, more cozy and amusing! though the last line ‘if anything is as patient as a parent, it’s a haunting’ so much potential Thematically there for something more sinister... please may someone write it!

you might've gotten this question before but I wondered, what are your favorite fairytales/myths? also just wanted to say i love your blog so much, scrolling through it feels like wandering in a magical garden 💚

apologies for answering this 3 days late! thank you so much for asking this, and for loving my blog… how lovely of you! i appreciate it, truly ♡

some fairytales i love:

bluebeard’s bride

death and the nightingale, by hans christian andersen. it’s about an emperor, a nightingale, a clockwork bird, and the grim reaper.

the goose girl

east of the sun, west of the moon -i’m linking a version with kay nielsen’s famous illustrations, because they add a lot to it!

i couldn’t find a text of this, and i know it’s obscure, but there’s this kashmiri folk tale called ‘the chinese princess’ that is about a lamia. i read it in ‘angela carter’s book of fairytales’ and it has stuck with me… i recommend hunting the book down digitally if you can!

my friend doe @rosedaughter once talked of a palestinian version of little red riding hood that i found so delightfully chilling and incredible… here’s the post where she recounts it.

this only loosely counts, but in the silmarillion by jrr tolkien, the creation myths - the music of the ainur, and how that fictional world was created - have stuck with me. i always found it wonderful to read. it’s called the ainulindale, it’s about the length of a chapter, and here is the text of it.

the frame story of 1001 nights - of sheherazade spinning tales every night to a prince and his court.

the crane wife / tsuru no ongaeshi 

the twelve dancing princesses …i really love this one, it always fascinated me.

loosely related to the 12 dancing princesses, there is an anime called ‘princess tutu’ that’s about fairytales and story meta and character trope subversion and it’s incredible and i can’t recommend it enough. and although linking a fic is probably odd, there’s a fanfic for princess tutu that rewrites the story of the 12 dancing princesses in such a stunning way. i believe you can enjoy it even if you don’t know the show. it’s one of my favourite pieces of writing ever, read it here.

the ballad of tam lin! it’s a scottish fairytale that resembles a beauty and the beast-type tale, and i love it very much. here’s the wiki for it, you can read the full text from the link there.

again, this only loosely counts, but the poem ‘goblin market’ by christina rossetti is so beautiful. i love it, it counts to me.

vasilisa the beautiful and her brief encounter with baba yaga.

swan lake, the ballet, in general.

cupid and psyche from greek mythology!

i hope you enjoy these!

the girl with a pomegranate (1875)

William-Adolphe Bouguereau