Fountain Beak: Buffoon. Old Netherlands (?), Second Half Of The 15th Century. Bronze

HA-MELEKH SCROLL (Ottoman Empire, c.1800)

‘This scroll opens with an elaborate depiction of the Signs of the Zodiac, a recurrent motif in decorated megillot. According to a midrash, when Haman plotted to destroy the Jewish nation, he consulted the zodiac to determine an auspicious time to carry out his scheme. He decided that the month of Adar, which corresponds with the sign of Pisces (fish), would be the best time because Haman would be able to devour and destroy the Jews just as big fish swallow small ones. God, however, was infuriated by Haman and thwarted his plans, stating “Fish sometimes swallow their prey, but they too can be swallowed” (Esther Rabbah 7:11).

In this image of the zodiacal wheel, which turns clockwise around the sun, the artist emphasized the role that Pisces/Adar played in the Purim story. He depicted the fish as larger in scale than the other signs, and placed them outside the circle, next to the signs that precede it, Capricorn and Aquarius. The decorative border above and below this panel ex- tends as continuous bands throughout the megillah, with similar designs framing the sides of each text column

This type of scroll is known as a ha-melekh scroll because most of the columns begin with the word ha-melekh (the king) as a result of a deliberate ar- rangement of the text. In the book of Esther, this appellation refers to King Ahasuerus. Rabbis suggest- ed, however, that emphasis be placed on the word ha-melekh as an allusion to God, the King of Kings, whose name is not mentioned explicitly in the scroll.’

source

ANATOMY (Kitty Horrorshow) + Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me + Twin Peaks 1x01 "Northwest Passage" + Twin Peaks 2x07 "Lonely Souls"

a third of the cast of Higurashi wouldve been at January 6

Rena: radicalized by TikTok Pizzagate conspiracy theories, believes Hillary Clinton is a lizard-person

Tomitake and Takano: members of a fascist paramilitary

The Sonozakis: petite-bourgeoisie radicalized by government land development projects (see melinda cooper's article in Dissent, "family capitalism and the small-business insurrection")

Ooishi: dirty off-duty cop

Mild hot take but I don't think a Gnostic or Buddhist or Kabbalistic reading of Revolutionary Girl Utena is necessarily incorrect. I'm used to people dismissing readings based on those assumptions out of hand but I don't think that's quite fair.

Not that this layer cancels out the more obvious and central stuff about gender and fairy tales of course, especially given how heavily gendered Gnostic and especially Kabbalistic symbolism is.

(A thorough reading of Utena from a Kabbalistic symbolism lens sounds interesting but very much beyond me at least, lol. Maybe if I ever read Wolfson and Idel.)

Still while I'm confident the show does flirt with more esoteric and mystical ideas I don't think it views organizations built around those ideas very fondly. Most esotericism is premised on exclusiveness coming from possession of secret knowledge and the groups which position themselves on that ground (the Black Rose society and to a lesser extent the Student Council itself) are portrayed as cults, more or less.

The gay twin struggle

bisexuality is being attracted to both of them

mon oncle

Shri devi (Palden Lhamo), Central Tibet, circa 1750-1850.

medieval parchment repairs

in a psalter, south-western germany, late 12th/early 13th c.

source: Hermetschwil, Benediktinerinnenkloster, Cod. membr. 37, fol. 19r, 53r, and 110r

1968