1.“When you were a wandering desire in the mist, I too was there, a wandering desire. Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness dreams were born. And dreams were time limitless, and dreams were space without measure.”
Khalil Gibran, “The Forerunner“2.Etymology of Desire:
Early 13c., from Old French desirrer (12c) ‘wish, desire, long for,‘ from Latin desiderare ‘long for, wish for; demand, expect,‘ original sense perhaps ‘await what the stars will bring,‘ from the phrase de sidere ‘from the stars,‘ from sidus (genitive sideris) ‘heavenly body, star, constellation.‘
3.“Desire itself derives from a Latin nautical term which means ‘of the star.’ To have desire is to have a vector, an intentionality, a direction. To lose desire is to be as adrift as a mariner who has lost the guiding star across otherwise trackless seas.”
James Hollis, “Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life”
Emily Balivet, “The Star – Goddess of Hope”
symbolreader 
Reblogged this on lampmagician and commented:
Desire is something necessary, like breathing !
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this is a scene from a great film about romantic desire and how it connects to your selections on desire:
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First of all – I adore these movies, and then I think that this conversation beautifully illustrates the purposefulness and fruitfulness of desire. Thank you, Gray.
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I love this, particularly the connection to ‘of the stars’. I immediately think of the quote from the Upanishad:
“You are your deepest driving desire. As is you desire, so is your will. As is your will, so is your deed. As is your deed, so is your destiny. You are your deepest, driving desire . . .” ― Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Thank you, Monika!
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What an epic quote, Kim, and so enriching.
Thank you!
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Hmmm. I’ll have to contemplate how this may tie into interpretations of The Star tarot card, which I usually associate with hope and renewal. It’s worth noting that the Rider-Waite deck also has a woman pouring water from two pitchers.
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I agree and I do think that Emily Balivet here was inspired by the Tarot when she created that image. I wanted to post her vision of the Star because I think that some of her art is quite stunning. How desire relates to the Star card, I am not sure. But it does make me think of ancient navigation and also the magnificent and celebrated sonnet of Shakespeare number 116. I know you must know the sonnet but I love it so much I cannot resist quoting (that is the only sonnet I memorized):
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. “
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I can see why you love this sonnet so, considering your fascination with the Odyssey and with Time. I know I read it a log time ago, but I was glad to read it again. Thanks for sharing it. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!
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Thanks, Jeff. Hope you are enjoying yours, too.
2014-09-28 20:18 GMT+02:00 symbolreader :
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I’m training for a half marathon, so I ran 12 miles today. I’m feeling somewhat… exhausted 😉
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Much impressed!
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Hey Monika,
You’ve stretched my concept of artistic ‘thought’ to breaking point with the questing power of just one almighty word – Desire. And in the process reduced me to a series of impressionistic mumblings whilst I sit in meditative silence contemplating my navel and watching reality collapse around me. How I love Monday evenings 🙂
But, who could better Shakespeare’s magnificent sonnet as an expression of absolute Love.
All of us need to be in touch with a mysterious, tantalizing source of inspiration that teases our sense of wonder and goads us on to life’s next adventure. But the real questions are, in what form does the Lady of Desire choose to take? How long before the Goddess reveals more than the superficiality of her herself in the colours of her flesh? I am devoted to the tender pain of desiring Her whose voice whispers deeply in my heart but whose loving gaze from afar seldom falls upon me at this time. If unrequited love is the infinite curse of a lonely heart…then it is the desire for her that impels me to want to describe her beauty in a way that I can. Love is lunacy of the sweetest kind.
“There is […] a third kind of madness, which is possession by the Muses, enters into a delicate and virgin soul, and there inspiring frenzy, awakens lyric…. But he, who, not being inspired and having no touch of madness in his soul, comes to the door and thinks he will get into the temple by the help of art – he, I say, and his poetry are not admitted; the sane man is nowhere at all when he enters into rivalry with the madman.” ~ Plato, Phaedo ~
So then let Desire be a form of madness, and let Love, the greatest of the hearts passions have me throw caution to the wind, embrace the muse, and make love once again with her art. “Maybe it [will be] is just enough to meet at the crossroads in a town called life and agree to take separate paths, then with a Cheshire grin you both look back and shout, “Beat you to the top of the mountain”, followed by the funniest sprint of both of your lives.” ~ Shannon L. Alder ~
~ I am a Creature of the Fey ~
I am a creature of the Fey
Prepare to give your soul away
My spell is passion and it is art
My song can bind a human heart
And if you chance to know my face
My hold shall be your last embrace.
I shall be thy lover…
I am unlike a mortal lass
From dreams of longing I have passed
I came upon your lonely cries
Revealed beauty to your eyes
So shun the world that you have known
And spend your nights within my own.
I shall be thy lover…
You shall be known by other men
For your great works of voice and pen
Yet inspiration has a cost
For with me know your soul is lost
I’ll take your passion and your skill
I’ll take your young life quicker still.
I shall be thy lover…
Through the kisses that I give
I draw from you that I will live
And though you think this weakness grand
The touch of death your lover’s hand
Your will to live has come too late
Come to my arms and love this fate
I shall be thy lover…
I am a creature of the Fey
Prepare to give your soul away
My spell is passion and it is art
My song can bind a human heart
And if you chance to know my face
My hold shall be your last embrace.
~ by ~ Heather Alexander ~
And so here I sit with yearning desire, and pen at the ready, waiting for Her sweet caress to inspire light and love in painted words and images upon the page, but already I feel as if my true journey with her has only just begun. What will evolve from such a loving union in unknown and yet the answers press on my fingertips with the same weight of touch as does the wanting ache for her love in my open heart.
So, whether it is I, or Her, or both of us who stand weeping at the crossroads I cannot say. All I know is that it is imperative for my soul to travel onwards with her together until death separates us for the last time.
Namaste
DN – 29/09/2014
P,S: Perhaps the inclusion of water within the image of the Star tarot card alludes to the power of conviction, having faith in the belief of desire…the perpetual swell, ebb and flow of the great oceans falls upon the shore like waves of love fall upon the heart…and who wouldn’t doubt the veracity of belief to move mountains and banish fear?
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Hello Dewin
You bring exquisite beauty with your comments and I am very grateful to you. Much as I enjoy reading what you write, it is very hard for me to keep up at the moment and reply as copiously as I would want to. Venus has recently entered Libra, her domicile, and questions of balance, tact and boundaries will be discussed far and wide in the media and in private circumstances. I hope it is ok if I remain brief this time. Thank you for introducing me to Heather Alexander – I had never heard of that artist. I tried to look her up on youtube, but a song called “Black Unicorn” quite put me off, I am afraid.
I also think that the water in the tarot card communicates that our desires, to be genuine and to “move mountains and banish fear,” must come from the depth of the great ocean – this mysterious, tantalizing source of inspiration, as you describe it.
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Dreams and desires and stars. It all works for me. And the lady in the painting looks sort of art nouveau-ish and sort of silent movie-ish. Her bare foot touching the water she pours. Touch what you pour. Pour what you touch. It’s certainly a mystery from here.
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Thank you for such a perfect summary, evoking silent movies. “Touch what you pour. Pour what you touch” – trying to make it my motto now. I love this woman’s art.
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