Friday, November 19, 2010

Maidens~May.den~Mai.den~May Flower

In popular legend mermaids are a class of beings part woman and part fish. They live in the sea, but are represented often as seated on the rocks, a lovely woman with a human head and body ending in a scaly fish's tail. She has long, beautiful hair, which she combs with one hand, holding the mirror above the waves with the other. They sometimes seem to have exercised a special care of individuals, and often re-veiled future events. There are stories of their falling in love with men and remaining faithful wives and mothers for a long season, until they found a chance of returning to the sea, and also of their enticing their lovers to their ocean homes.


comb[camb, Icelandic, kambr] 1. an instrument for separating and adjusting hair, wool etc. 2. crest on a cock's head. 3. Top, or crest, of a wave. 4. to disentangle, cleanse, and adjust. 5. To break with a white foam.

combat[french.combattre, from com and battre to strike, beat]

combine[latin. combinare french. com, for con, and binus plural, bini two and two double]

combustion - taking fire and burning

coma[Greek. lethargy] a morbid propensity to sleep

Lethe[forgetfulness] 1. Greek myth, one of the rivers of Hell, which caused forgetfulness to those who drank of it. 2. Obilvion; a draught of oblivion.

maid[magedh, magdh, magden, maeden] 1. a virgin; a maiden 2. a female servant

maiden[see supra] a maid 2. An instrument for beheading criminals 1. Pertaining to a young unmarried woman 2. Fresh; new; pure; virgin

magic[see magi] Science or practice of evoking spirits or educing the occult powers of nature, and performing things wonderful by their aid.

supra - on top; above

Magdalen[from Mary Magdalene. see Luke vii36] a reformed prostitute (AL~male on the inside)

den - 1. a cave used for concealment or security 2. a haunt; a retreat

haunt[french. hanter, french. hentan, to pursue] to frequent

hen- [henn, hen, french. hana] female of any fowl; especially, the domestic fowl.

fowl [fugol, fugel, allied to fleogan, to fly] a bird especially a wild bird

foul[ful, sordid] 1. containing extraneous matter which is injurious or offensive. 2. morally defiled. 3. cloudy or rainy. 4. loathsome; hateful. 5. entangled.

hand[hond] 3. a measure of four inches. 4. Slide part. 5. Actual performance; hence, manner of performance. 6. An agent or servant. 9. Agency in transmission



The SIRen, the compelling character of the mermaid in pictures, is an attempt to express the irresistible qualities of VOICE, (the little mermaid gave up her voice)of what she sings. No one who hears it can prevent themselves from wanting to reach that song. Wanting to go over to the other side and that other side is a kind of death. That foreknowledge of what is to come or that sweet irresistible chant the sailor hears and throws himself into the sea to follow, is the enchantment of language, of expression, of the idea of hearing that you can't say no to because the pictures it conjures up are so beautiful. There is a sense of the child in the womb, in the watery vessel, it hears the maternal voice and that babble, that incoherent space, is the space of bliss, the space that you wish to get back to. So the mermaid is the blissful, rocking, containing voice of the mother when you are in your infantile lack of separation and before all the grief and misery of being a human being hits you. So its the primal memory that you want to return to.


The Valkyries or Valkyrja(the chooser of the slain) were a troop of goddesses, the handmaidens of Odin. They served in Valhall, and were sent on Odin's errands.



Phonetic:Val~Cur~Reese(2nd here)/Val~Cur~Ruse

Valance[from Norm.French. valant, french. avalant,descending, hanging down](see vail) hanging drapery for a bed a couch or a window. (windows to reality)

Vail[written also veil]a concealing screen[from old English. avail, to let down, french. Latin.- ad, to, and vallis, valley] to lower in token of inferiority, reverence, or submission.

Vale[of valley] low ground between hills

cur[contra. French-Latin-German. koter, kother, a common dog, original dog of a cot, french-German.koth, English. cot] A worthless degenerate dog. (Neanderthals bitches)

cott[cote,cyte,cottage] bed, coach, a little bed that can be folded together.

coterie[french, cote, share, portion] a set of person's who meet familiarly; a club

site[latin. situs, french. sinere, situm, to let put, or set down] place for a building, a situation.

sit[sitton, allied to Skr. sad] to remain in repose; to abide. to incubate; to brood over. 6. to be engaged in public business, as legislators etc.