Anker

                                                  Dimensions height 28 cm

                                                                    width  24 cm

                                                                    depth  3 cm

"Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing.^[6] The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.

In the Abrahamic religions, the serpent represents sexual desire.^[7] According to the Rabbinical tradition, in the Garden of Eden, the serpent represents sexual passion.^[8] In Hinduism, Kundalini is a coiled serpent, the residual power of pure desire.^[9]"

"The serpent, or snake, is one of the oldest and most widespread mythological symbols. The word is derived from Latin serpens, a crawling animal or snake. Snakes have been associated with some of the oldest rituals known to humankind^[1] and represent dual expression^[2] of good and evil.^[3]

In some cultures snakes were fertility symbols, for example the Hopi people of North America performed an annual snake dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit) and to renew fertility of Nature. During the dance, live snakes were handled and at the end of the dance the snakes were released into the fields to guarantee good crops. "The snake dance is a prayer to the spirits of the clouds, the thunder and the lightning, that the rain may fall on the growing crops.."^[4] In other cultures snakes symbolized the umbilical cord, joining all humans to Mother Earth. The Great Goddess often had snakes as her familiars - sometimes twining around her sacred staff, as in ancient Crete - and they were worshiped as guardians of her mysteries of birth and regeneration.^[5]"

"The serpent, when forming a ring with its tail in its mouth, is a clear and widespread symbol of the "All-in-All", the totality of existence, infinity and the cyclic nature of the cosmos. The most well known version of this is the Aegypto-Greek Ourobouros. It is believed to have been inspired by the Milky Way, as some ancient texts refer to a serpent of light residing in the heavens. The Ancient Egyptians associated it with Wadjet, one of their oldest deities as well as another aspect, Hathor. In Norse mythology the World Serpent (or Midgard serpent) known as Jörmungandr encircled the world in the ocean's abyss biting its own tail."


"Serpents are represented as potent guardians of temples and other sacred spaces. This connection may be grounded in the observation that when threatened, some snakes (such as rattlesnakes or cobras) frequently hold and defend their ground, first resorting to threatening display and then fighting, rather than retreat. Thus, they are natural guardians of treasures or sacred sites which cannot easily be moved out of harm's way."

Horseshoe

                                                  Dimensions height 21 cm

                                                                    width  22 cm

                                                                    depth  2 cm

"When kept as a talisman, a horseshoe is said to bring good luck. Some believe that to hang it with the ends pointing upwards is good luck as it acts as a storage container of sorts for any good luck that happens to be floating by, whereas to hang it with the ends pointing down, is bad luck as all the good luck will fall out. Others believe that the horseshoe should be hung the other way (with the ends pointing down), as it will then release its luck to the people around it.^[3] "  
  









A horseshoe on a door is regarded a protective talisman in some cultures

Whirl

"Two-Spirit People (also Two Spirit or Twospirit) is an umbrella term sometimes used for what was once commonly known as berdaches/bərˈdæʃɨz/, Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations communities.

Third gender roles historically embodied by Two-Spirit people include performing work and wearing clothing associated with both men and women. The presence of male two-spirits "was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples." Male and female two-spirits have been "documented in over 130 tribes, in every region of North America."

                        

"Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ, stem ανδρ- (anér, andr-, meaning man) and γυνή (gyné, meaning woman), referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. Sexual ambiguity may be found in fashion, gender identity, sexual identity, or sexual lifestyle. It could also refer to biological intersex physicality, especially with regards to plant and human sexuality.^"

                           

"Before the late twentieth century, the term berdache was widely used by anthropologists as a generic term to indicate "two-spirit" individuals; however, this term has become considered increasingly outdated and considered offensive. (Based on the French bardache implying a male prostitute or catamite, the word originates in Arabic bardaj: البَرْدَجُ" meaning "captive, captured.") Spanish explorers who encountered two-spirits among the Chumash people called them "joyas", Spanish for "jewels".

Use of the berdache term has widely been replaced with Two-Spirit, which itself gained widespread popularity in 1990 during the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference in Winnipeg. Two-Spirit is a term chosen to distinctly express Native/First Nations gender identity and gender variance, in addition to replacing the otherwise imposed terms of berdache and gay.

"Two-spirited" or "two-spirit" usually indicates a person whose body simultaneously manifests both a masculine and a feminine spirit. The term can also be used more abstractly, to indicate presence of two contrasting human spirits (such as Warrior and Clan Mother) or two contrasting animal spirits (which, depending on the culture, might be Eagle and Coyote). However, these uses, while descriptive of some aboriginal cultural practices and beliefs, depart somewhat from the 1990 purposes of promoting the term.

There are many indigenous terms for Two-Spirit individuals in the various Native American languages — including Lakota: wíŋkte,Navajo: nádleehé, and Mohave: hwame.^"

"For humans, androgyne (/ˈændrədʒaɪn/ an-drə-jyn) in terms of gender identity is a person who does not fit neatly into the typical masculine and feminine gender roles of their society. Androgynes may also use the term "ambigender" or "polygender" to describe themselves. Many androgynes identify as being mentally between woman and man, or as entirely genderless. They may identify as "non-gendered", "gender-neutral", "agendered", "between genders", "genderqueer", "multigendered", "intergendered", "pangender" or "gender fluid"."

                                                  Dimensions height 20 cm

                                                                    width  22 cm

                                                                    depth  4 cm

                                       

                                       

A statuette of Aphroditus in the anasyromenos pose. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed the pose had apotropaic magical power.


                                        
Herm of Aphroditus at theNationalmuseum in Stockholm.



                                        

Bronze statuette, Roman imperial, 1st-3rd century AD.


                                        

Greek terracotta figurine, late 4th century BC, National Museum of Magna Grecia.

Greyhound

"The Greyhound is a very old European breed, a sighthound which has been historically bred for coursing game and latterly racing. Since the rise in large scale rescue of retired racing Greyhounds, particularly in North America from the end of the 20th century, it has seen a resurgence in popularity as a family pet."

"When in a portrait of a married couple, a dog placed in a woman's lap or at her feet can represent marital fidelity. When the portrait is of a widow, a dog can represent her continuing faithfulness to the memory of her late husband. An example of a dog representing marital fidelity is present in Jan van Eyck's "Arnolfini Portrait."

"It is a gentle and intelligent breed whose combination of long, powerful legs, deep chest, flexible spine, and slim build allows it to reach average race speeds in excess of 18 metres per second (59 feet per second, or 63 kilometres per hour (39 mph)). At maximum acceleration, a greyhound reaches a full speed of 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) within 30 metres or six strides from the boxes, traveling at almost 20 metres per second for the first 250 metres of a race. The only other animal that can accelerate faster over a short distance is the cheetah, which can reach speeds of 109 kilometres per hour (68 mph) over 3-4 strides from a standing start.^"

"The key to the speed of a Greyhound can be found in its light but muscular build, large heart, and highest percentage of fast-twitch muscle of any breed,the double suspension gallop and the extreme flexibility of the spine. "Double suspension rotary gallop" describes the fastest running gait of the Greyhound in which all four feet are free from the ground in two phases, contracted and extended, during each full stride.^"

"Fidelity when personified in Westen art stands for the secular aspect of Faith, or the trust that exists between a master and servant, or in family relationships. Fidelity is often represented as a woman, shown holding a golden seal and a key, but may also be represented by a dog. Fidelity may be shown alone, or may be accompanied by a dog, a symbol of not only faithfulness but also fidelity. In the Renaissance, Penelope or Griselda might also stand for fidelity. Fidelity is not in the usual lists of the seven virtues, though it may sometimes be included in such groupings. The plant myrtle (Myrtus) has been associated with fidelity, and hence used in weddings, from Roman times to the present, and wreathed crowns of myrtle may be found in art."





                           

                                                 Dimensions height 18 cm

                                                                    width  20 cm

                                                                    depth  3 cm

"A dog, when included in an allegorical painting, portrays the attribute of fidelity personified. The deep origins of this can also be recognized in the generic name Fido given to dogs, which originated from the Latin word fidus, meaning "trust." The story of the faithful dog of Titus Labienus, that would not quit his master's corpse, recorded in Pliny's Natural History book viii, was briefly recounted in Cesare Ripa's Iconologia (1593, etc.) in the explanation of the emblem of Fedeltà represented as a woman holding a ring and accompanied by a white dog.^"

                                           

"Greyhound owners and adoption groups consider Greyhounds to be wonderful pets.

Greyhounds are quiet, gentle, and loyal to owners. They are very loving creatures, and they enjoy the company of their humans and other dogs. Whether a Greyhound enjoys the company of other small animals or cats depends on the individual dog's personality."

                                        

Margaret Gorman with her pet Greyhound, "Long Goodie", in April 1925

                                      

Greyhounds have a distinctive and striking appearance.

                                     

"Gray-Hound" in a 1658 English woodcut

Fascinus

"In ancient Roman religion and magic, the fascinus or fascinum was the embodiment of the divine phallus. The word can refer to the deity himself (Fascinus), to phallus effigies and amulets, and to the spells used to invoke his divine protection.^[1] Pliny calls it a medicus invidiae, a "doctor" or remedy for envy (invidia, a "looking upon") or the evil eye."

"The Vestal Virgins tended the cult of the fascinus populi Romani, the sacred image of the phallus that was one of the tokens of the safety of the state (sacra Romana). It was thus associated with the Palladium.^[2] Roman myths, such as the begetting of Servius Tullius, suggest that this phallus was an embodiment of a masculine generative power located within the hearth, regarded as sacred.^[3] When a general celebrated a triumph, the Vestals hung an effigy of the fascinus on the underside of his chariot to protect him from invidia.^[4]"

"Augustine, whose primary source on Roman religion was the lost theological works of Varro, notes that a phallic image was carried in procession annually at the festival of Father Liber, the Roman god identified with Dionysus or Bacchus, for the purpose of protecting the fields from fascinatio, magic compulsion:^[5]

“

Varro says that certain rites of Liber were celebrated in Italy which were of such unrestrained wickedness that the shameful parts of the male were worshipped at crossroads in his honour. … For, during the days of the festival of Liber, this obscene member, placed on a little trolley, was first exhibited with great honour at the crossroads in the countryside, and then conveyed into the city itself. … In this way, it seems, the god Liber was to be propitiated, in order to secure the growth of seeds and to repel enchantment (fascinatio) from the fields.[6]

”

As a divinized phallus, Fascinus shared attributes with Mutunus Tutunus, whose shrine was supposed to date from the founding of the city, and the imported Greek god Priapus.^[7]"

                                                  Dimensions height 29 cm

                                                                    width  13 cm

                                                                    depth  4 cm

  "A graphic representation of the power of the fascinus to ward off the evil eye is found on a Roman mosaic that depicts a phallus ejaculating into a disembodied eye.^[8] The motif is also known from multiple relief sculptures from Leptis Magna in present-day Libya.^[9] A 1st-century BC terracotta figurine shows "two little phallus-men sawing an eyeball in half."^[10]

Phallic charms, often winged, were ubiquitous in Roman culture, from jewelry to bells and wind chimes to lamps.^[11] Thefascinus was thought particularly to ward off evil from children, mainly boys, and from conquering generals. Pliny notes the custom of hanging a phallic charm on a baby's neck, and examples have been found of phallus-bearing rings too small to be worn except by children.^[12]

The "fist and phallus" amulet was prevalent amongst soldiers. These are phallic pendants with a representation of a (usually) clenched fist at the bottom of the shaft, facing away from the glans. Several examples show the fist making the manus fica or "fig sign", a symbol of good luck.^[13]The largest known collection comes from Camulodunum.^[14]

"The English word "fascinate" ultimately derives from Latin fascinum and the related verb fascinare, "to use the power of the fascinus," that is, "to practice magic" and hence "to enchant, bewitch." Catullus uses the verb at the end of Carmen 7, a hendecasyllabic poem addressing his lover Lesbia; he expresses his infinite desire for kisses that cannot be counted by voyeurs nor "fascinated" (put under a spell) by a malicious tongue; such bliss, as also in Carmen 5, potentially attracts invidia.^[15]

Fescennine verses, the satiric and often lewd songs or chants performed on various social occasions, may have been so-named from the fascinum; ancient sources propose this etymology along with an alternative origin from Fescennia, a small town in Etruria.^[16]"

Gallo-Roman examples of the fascinum in bronze







Bas-relief of a legged phallus ejaculating into an evil eye on which a scorpion sits, from Leptis Magna