Resonance
21 x 29,7cm, ink on paper, Kevin Lucbert, 2023
You know, there’s something poetic in Hades being both the deity and the place. His watching over the deceased is such a big part of the deity that he is also the place the deceased go. It’s so integral to him that he is inseparable from the place.
You want to fall on your knees.
You want to scream and beg about everything, that's wrong. Everything that's right and still wrong. What you should be. What you want to be. How your whole body hurts and the pain seems to go beyond. How it makes the whole world hurt. You plead for death or life or anything but this. You are chocking on your words as you realize... This is not how it works.
And your deity takes your hand. They hold you tight as they say
Do not kneel.
I walk with you. Help you. Teach you all I can. I care for you. But do not kneel in front of me and plead.
You have to stand so I can walk with you.
Caryatid
The upper part of one of the caryatids that flanked the Lesser Propylaea of the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis. The caryatid was made in Attica in about 50 B.C. Eleusis Museum, Greece
Lord Hephaestos of the Smoldering Kilns—
tamer of the flame and shaper of smoke,
lover of the ashes and crafter of unmatched skill.
i plead with thee to tame this wild beast.
quell the roaring spirits whom consume all they touch,
their greed unquenchable, destructive, and smoldering.
thus I call to you, my savior, undying Hephaestos—
Klytomêtis, Klytos, Aithalóeis Theós—
bend back this unruly beast and strike down your mighty hammer.
show mercy to us, God of the Scorching Heat,
that we may sing your praises to the unburned skies.
for i will remember you with this prayer, and again with another.
Klytomêtis (Κλυτομητις) - Famed for Skill, Crafts
Klytos (Κλυτος) - Renowed, Famed, Glorious
Aithalóeis Theós (Αιθαλοεις Θεος) - Sooty God