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#source: historical beauty lily
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Behind the scenes of Pride & Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright
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taking-thyme · 5 months
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🌅 Lucifer Deity Guide 🌅
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Note: This is inspired by both my own experiences with Lucifer and the information I read on @scarletarosa's blog and her devotional guide to him. Please go read that one too!!
The divine rebel, Lucifer is the light of truth and divine wisdom; an ancient light which shines through the darkness, representing illumination. He is the driving force of innovation, liberation and transformation. According to Scarletarosa, who actively works with Lucifer and was told this by him, he was the first-born god of the Universe created by the supreme deity, the Source. He is so incredibly ancient and beautiful. Lilith was created to be his counterpart, the Queen of Heaven. However, Jehovah took the throne of heaven from Lucifer and cast him and his followers into hell. Most of them lost their connection to heaven and their energy became dark and intense. Jehovah claimed the throne of heaven and set himself up as the one true god, manipulating humans into betraying their original deities. Thus, Lucifer became the King of Hell and has been scorned by Christians for millenia. 
God of: Illumination, Light, Darkness, Change, Rebirth, Challenges, Innovation, Logic, Truth, Knowledge, Wisdom, Strategy, Persuasion, Revolution, Luxury, Pleasure, Freedom, The Arts and The Morning Star (“Morning Star” is another name for the planet Venus)
Symbols: Sigil of Lucifer, The Morning Star, Violins and Fiddles (instruments traditionally associated with him)
Plants and Trees: Rose, Belladonna, Mulberry, Patchouli, Myrrh, Min, Tobacco, Marigold, Lilies, Hyacinth, Sage
Crystals: Amethyst, Black Obsidian, Onyx, Garnet, Selenite, Rose Quartz
Animals: Black Animals in general, Dragons, Snakes, Owls, Eagles, Ravens, Crows, Rams, Foxes, Pigs,  Bats, Rats, Moths, Swans
Incense: Rose, Frankincense, Patchouli, Myrrh
Colors: Black, Red, Silver, Emerald Green, Gold
Tarot: The Devil
Planets: The Morning Star, Venus
Day: Monday and Friday
Consort: Lilith
Children: Naema, Aetherea and many others
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How was he traditionally worshipped?
There is not much to say about how Lucifer was historically worshiped seeing as he wasn’t worshiped at all for a large chunk of human history. He seems to have been worked with in some capacity according to the Gesta Treverorum, written in 1231, which is where we first see the term Luciferian being used to refer to his worship. This was by a woman named Lucardis for a religious circle, who was said to lament to Lucifer in private and prayed to him. However, the term Luciferians was later applied to basically any groups Christians didn’t like and wanted to fight, as one might expect. However, the modern Luciferian movement also sheds light on how Lucifer is worshiped. For Luciferians, enlightenment is the ultimate goal. Their basic principles highlight truth, freedom of will and fulfilling one’s ultimate potential, and encourage the same in all of us. Traditional dogma is shunned because Luciferians believe that humans do not need deities or the threat of eternal punishment to know what is good and the right thing to do. All ideas are to be tested before being accepted, and even then one should remain critical because knowledge is fluid and ever-changing. Regardless of whether Luciferians view Lucifer as a deity or an archetype, he is a representation of ultimate illumination and exploration in the name of personal growth. 
Epithets
Phanes
The Morning Star
Light-bringer
The First-born
Prince of Darkness
Son of Morning
The Glory of Morning
Lord of the Lunar Sphere
The First Light
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Offerings
Red Wine, Whiskey (especially Jack Daniels), Champagne, Pomegranate Juice, Black Tea (especially earl grey), Chocolate (especially dark chocolate), Cooked Goat Meat, Venison, Apples, Pomegranates, Honey, Good Quality Cigars, Tobacco, Daggers and Swords, Silver Rings, Emeralds and Emerald Jewelry, Goat Horns, Black Feathers, Seductive Colognes, Red Roses, Dead Roses, Crow Skulls, Bone Dice, Devotional Poetry and Artwork, Classical Music (especially violin)
Devotional Acts
Acts of self-improvement, spiritual awakening and evolution, knowledge-seeking and dedication to spirituality ; Shadow Work ; Working to overcome your ego to become wiser ; Defending those in need ; Working to better yourself without being too self critical ; Fighting against tyranny and bigotry whenever you encounter it
Altar Decorations
Black or Red Candles, Snake and Dragon Figurines, His sigil, Roses, Fancy Chess Boards and Playing Cards, Silver Jewlery and ornaments, Black feathers, Goat horns
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Appearance
For me Lucifer usually appears as a tall light-skinned man with long fiery red hair (so red it looks like it’s been dyed), a sophisticated face with a killer jawline, passionate eyes and dressed in a fancy black suit. From all my experiences with him and what I’ve heard from other followers, it seems Lucifer and most demons dress in full suits and tuxedos. 
Personality
Lucifer is nothing if not charming. He’s a protector first and foremost - one that always works to help you better yourself, but a protector nonetheless. He feels like a protective older brother taking care of you while your parents are away. He is a very complex entity, deeply wise and eloquent. He is more serious than one might expect for a demon given their popular depictions in our culture as chaotic forces of evil, but Lucifer is full of courage and love. I often feel him with me even when I’m not doing things related to him. He is proud of his follower’s accomplishments and congratulates them on a job well done, though he also reminds them that the job is never truly over. Growth is constant. Lucifer is the epitome of growth, blunt and gentle at the same time, telling you what you need to do and giving you space to figure out how to do it. 
Lucifer values resilience, the pursuit of self-betterment, intellectualism, courage, open-mindedness and responsibility in individuals and wants to see his followers develop these qualities. He is constantly rooting for you to reach your full potential. He won’t hold your hand the entire way, but he will help you take steps in the right direction. Lucifer, like all deities, is different for everyone and will adjust his approach depending on your needs.
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^ The Sigil of Lucifer
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piosplayhouse · 7 months
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Hi! I came across a post complaining about the guy yuri poll and discourse aside, I vaguely remember you made a post about what is yaoi and what is yuri? I dunno if I dreamed this post up, but I've scrolled and scrolled and I can't find it. So, I wanted to ask (if you don't mind answering >.<), what is yaoi/yuri? (beyond the basic definitions) What counts as guy yuri and girl yaoi?
Uwaa ok so I will say Im planning to actually write a paper on this but I haven't done much research yet so ask in a few months and you'll hopefully have a better answer with cited sources. But here is a bit of what I'm conceptualizing at this point (corrections and additions very welcome!)
What set me down this path really was of course the fantastic Yaoizine hosted by tshirt3000, which includes a rather poignant author's note about broadening the definition of yaoi in public to the abstraction. Indeed, the actual origin of the term "yaoi" is an acronym for "yamanashi, ochinashi, iminashi" (plotless, climaxless, meaningless) from 70s doujinshi spheres wherein it was used as a somewhat self-degrading term to define a specific type of porn-without-plot self-indulgent indie fancomic. These were of course, mostly of the male-male variety. However, as the Yaoizine makes clear, there's not really an inherent gendering within the word in any sense but genre expectation-wise. This becomes particularly salient in the case of perhaps one of the most famous wlw romances out there, Revolutionary Girl Utena. Tshirt cites an interview with the creator of the anime, Ikuhara Kunihiko, where he refers to the relationship between the two main female characters (among other things) as yaoi, recontextualizing the term from merely a mlm genre into a statement on the dynamics of power and consumption as they relate to gender-- an act of sexual passion paired with a reversal of societal norms = yaoi in this case, which is why utenanthy fits perfectly within the term.
Conversely, yuri (lily) is a bit more difficult to analyze from a gender-neutral perspective as it originated not as a counterpart to yaoi, but instead as a counterpart to bara (rose, a term used to refer to erotic gay male content) used when lesbians would write in to gay magazines trying to hook up and whatnot. However, it's pretty agreed upon that the genre grew out of Class S literature, a type of literature based on girls, often senpai and kouhai, going to an all-girls school together and experiencing a connection that straddles the thin line between romance and homosociality. Homosociality like this among women has historically been and to this day remains somewhat under the radar and perceived as a "phase" or an amateur attempt at romance before a woman eventually marries a man. This is where we see significant overlap between pre/early modern Japanese male homosexual literature and lesbian literature, where homosexuality is seen as a youthful phase that will inevitably be grown out of (as in the case with the chigo system, LUG (lesbian before graduation), etc). Essentially, it was very common for the characters of early modern queer literature (mostly written by queer authors btw) to have brief and passionate schoolyard flings before graduating onto "normal" sexuality. Of course, these narratives fell out of style and are considered dead today, but their remnants can still be seen in the subsequent shojo and modern gl manga boom. The yuri that grew from this in the beginning was usually explicitly erotic, but still somewhat held onto the predominant themes of schoolgirl innocence and youthful beauty. Over time, meanings and terminology shifted, and the "yuri" we use today is more interchangeable with "gl", meaning it's not so much of an indicator of explicit content as "yaoi" is. However, I would still argue that one of the largest indicators of a story's "yuri factor" (if you could say that) is its ties to the establishing homosociality progressed into homoromantic relationship genre expectation. Of course, there are many wlw stories that subvert this, (as there are many mlm stories that subvert the yaoi or even bl template) but to me, if you were to compare yaoi and yuri's theming, yaoi's focus tends to skew more towards the intimacy in explicit eroticism, while yuri looks more into the implicit eroticism in intimacy. If that makes sense.
Of course, when looking into "boy yuri" there's also a transfem-coding factor to consider, which I think is what the majority of people have in mind when they refer to a couple as "boy yuri". Historically, there is massive precedent for feminization between male queer couples in historical Japanese literature, as well as in early modern relatives of bl, mainly Inagaki Taruho's work, so it would be somewhat disingenuous to say feminization is a purely modern, female-created phenomenon. But anyway, those are my (somewhat messy and likely inaccurate) thoughts so far, let me know what you all think. Have a happy yaoimas and merry new yuri, as they say.
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mask131 · 8 months
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A fantasy read-list: B-1
Part B: The First Classical Fantasy
1) On one side, the British Isles... 
We looked at the most ancient roots of the fantasy genre, which are... well, literaly antique roots - the texts of the Antiquity, the myths and mythologies of the world, the legends of the so-called “pagans” and the tales of long-gone societies, cultures and civilizations. Plus the true, literal “medieval fantasy” and some Arthuriana sprinkled at the top. Now I want to explore the Renaissance fantasy - or rather the first wave and apparition in literature of true “proto-fantasy”. These classical works that are still heavy influences and inspirations on modern fantasy pieces, but are younger than all the mythological and medieval stuff. 
Given this huge read-list promises to be very big, very long and span over several years, I will try to restrain myself here to two nation-tied phenomenon. And in this specific post I will look at a given wave of “classical proto-fantasy” in the British Isles... Beginning with none other than...
# Shakespeare. William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avalon, the greatest playwright of England and a man whose work shaped our common imagination and popular culture today. Of course, since this list is focused about the wide genre of fantasy, I must start by listing his more openly supernatural and fantastical plays. On one side you have a lighter, more colorful and whimsical world of wonders and magic, in the shape of supernatural comedies, be it A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with its now world-known depiction of the fairy court as the Titania-Oberon-Puck triangle, or The Tempest, which implanted archetypal figures such as Prospero the wizard, Ariel the aerial spirit or the monstrous Caliban. On the darker side of fantasy, you have the grim and nightmarish tragedies that are Hamlet, one of the most famous cases of royal hauntings and madness in the history of theater, or Macbeth, which changed forever the way people view witches throught its iconic trio of Weird Sisters. 
But the beautiful thing with Shakespeare is that even in his more “mundane” and “realistic” works, the magic never truly goes away. Thanks to his poetic writing and his love of symbolism and mysticism, Shakespeare maintains throughout his work a fantastical ambiance, an ambiguous tone that opens the door for many oniric sequences or supernatural readings. The description of Mab, queen of fairies, in Romeo and Juliet was just as influential on fairy folklore as A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The abnormal storm and pagan madness of King Lear leaves one wondering about the true cosmic powers at work here. And even in historical works witchcraft is never far away - such as with Richard III, where devilish forces and hellish characters are at play in an well-recorded historical event... 
# But beyond Shakespeare, or rather all around him, there was a constellation of other poets and playwrights who helped conceive, flesh out and develop this “wonder-wave” that swept across Elizabethan England. Take Shakespeare’s most famous rival for example, Christopher Marlowe, who wrote The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, the first ever adaptation of the Faust legend for the stage. You have Edmund Spenser and his mystical fay epic, The Faerie Queene, which influenced not just Shakespeare but many more authors of knight adventures and fairy works. I can also mention Michael Drayton’s Nimphidia, The Court of Fairy (or Nymphidia depending on how you write it), a poem drawing from Shakespeare’s fairy characters to depict all the affairs, treacheries and secrets at the otherworld’s court ; or the various Elizabethan retellings of Ovid’s Metamorphosis written by John Lily (Endymion, Midas, Galathea...). 
# And of course, I have to point out here that beyond specific authors, Shakespeare’s fantastical works drew from a lot of various sources, all representing different fragments or aspects of the way people approached the supernatural, folklore and legends in their time. For example, the more Jacobean play The Witch by Thomas Middleton, which had elements reused for Macbeth ; or the Daemonologie of King James, which also influenced Shakespeare’s writing of demons and witches. I can also drop here names going from quite obscure today, such as The Spanish Tragedy of Thomas Kyd, to behemoths of culture, like Dante’s Divine Comedy. 
# Speaking of a man of the Isles who explored and influenced the fairy literature... I have to mention Robert Kirk, and his treatise on fairies and ghost known as The Secret Commonwealth. To this day, Kirk is still considered one of the greatest folklorists and collector of supernatural tale and fairy/ghost/witch beliefs of the 17th century, and The Secret Commonwealth stays one of the major “fairy books”. 
# Leaving a bit the topic of fairies, I will conclude this post with one name... Ossian. During the 18th century, James Macpherson discovered and translated ancient Gaelic texts of Scotland - a series of epic poems attributed to a legendary bard by the name of Ossian. He started by translating Fingal, An Epic Poem in Six Books, and then worked on Temora, An Ancient Epic Poem, before collecting it all as The Works of Ossian. This discovery and translated was a HUGE phenomenon, and a revolution in the world of culture. Up until that point, people had praised the Homeric epics and thought the “Homeric phenomenon” was a one-time thing that couldn’t have happened anywhere else but Ancient Greece... And yet here were these great, glorious, excellently done, epic poems of mythical heroes and ancient witchcraft and gods, attributed to a mythical god-inspired bard and poet, part of another form of Antiquity than the Greco-Roman one. People jubilated upon discovering the “Celtic Homer”, and praised these grea poems proving that the Greek epics could be challenged by Gaelic sagas... 
... But the thing is that James Macpherson probably never translated those works, and that maybe Ossian was a purely fictional invention. You see, James Macpherson was a poet himself with not much success before “discovering” the works of Ossian, and he was deeply passionate about ancient Scottish poetry and Celtic texts and the like, collecting them and imitating them. Despite their enormous importance and influence for literary movements, and painters across Europe, and poets for centuries to come, the poems of Ossian are clearly artificial in nature, written by Macpherson alone without any “translation” required. The poet purposefully created a “Celtic Homer”, as a way to sell his work - and selling it did! Mind you, the Ossian poems stay true to the texts and essence of ancient Celtic legends and myths. Macpherson knew his sources, as I said was passionate about ancient Gaelic poetry, and he took inspiration and influence from works such as the Ulster cycle, the Fenian cycle, the Book of the Dun Cow, the Book of Lismore or The Yellow Book of Lecan... The very fictional character of Ossian was actually shaped after the mythological character of Oisin. But Ossian and his poems stay an artificial creation of an 18th century poet, even though they fit perfectly alongside antique Celtic texts. It is similar to how nowadays Titania is an integral part of fairy folklore, and yet she was a literary inventon of Shakespeare for one of his plays. 
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hillbillyoracle · 2 years
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Money and Planetary Correspondences
I realized this has come up in conversations a few times and thought I’d make a quick little write up I could link to. Feel free to reblog and use though. 
Planetary Numbers
Saturn: 3, 9
Jupiter: 4, 16
Mars: 5, 25
Sun: 6, 36
Venus: 7, 49
Mercury: 8, 68
Moon: 9, 81
Coins for Planets
I can only speak to American coins as I am American, but you can likely use similar aspects that I’ve used to consider who your local coinage might work for. There are only 4 standard coins in circulation right now so I don’t have any that I associate with Saturn, Jupiter, or the Sun. 
Penny - Venus
Someone once recommended pennies to me for Venus offerings since they used to be made with a lot of copper and still have that coppery appearance. Copper is the classical metal most consistently associated with Venus. I’ve laid out seven pennies in Venusian locations (art galleries, beauty salons, etc) as part of an offerings to her and had reasonable success. 
Nickel - Mars
Nickels are worth five cents - Mars’s number. Use five of them and together you have 25 cents - another of Mars’s numbers. That’s really my main basis for this association. 
Dime - Mercury
So for literal years, I thought this connection was completely UPG until I mentioned my practice to @dianasson of laying dimes at crossroads or next to my car in parking lots and pouring water out as a offering to Mercury for safe passage. He told me about historical “mercury dimes” which were dimes that had a portrait of liberty with a winged hat on that people mistook for the roman god Mercury. So it’s not a totally baseless association apparently. 
Quarter - the Moon
Since it’s 25 cents, it could also be used for Martial associations. My association between the Moon and quarters is purely UPG at the moment and largely has to do with the many faces of quarters in circulation and our tendency in many English speaking countries to refer to when the moon is half full as a quarter moon. I haven’t used this association much but I like to use 4 quarters of different faces on the back to represent the four main stages of her her complete cycle. 
Devotional Donations and Monetary Remediation
Devotional donations and monetary remediation aren’t very popular on my corner of Tumblr from what I can tell. Or at the very least I don’t see if come up much. 
Devotional donations are ongoing donations given regularly as a devotional act to a given spirit or deity. It’s putting your money where your mouth is basically.  The amount given in devotional donations tends to be more variable in my experience. This can be done for a planet or any spirit or deity you work with.
Monetary remediation - sometimes called planetary charity - is a donation given for either a specific length of time (like a given transit) or ongoing (for difficult natal placements) to remediate a difficult astrological configuration, usually with some relationship to one’s natal chart. Often monetary remediation is given in increments that correspond with the remediated planets numbers and in the hour and day of the planet being worked with.
What both devotional donations and monetary remediation have in common is that they’re usually given to charities which tend to “the children” of a given spirit or planet, meaning those they care about or look after by virtue of their spheres. These associations don’t always line up with modern life and differ fairly widely depending on the source you’re using so I can’t list them all out here. That being said, choosing a group based on the correspondences of the planet is unlikely to go wrong. 
Sources: 
Where not stated as my personal experience, these correspondences are pulled largely from The Picatrix, and Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy with some influence from Christopher Warnock’s notes on William Lily’s works. 
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burritofriedrich · 2 months
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hello,i am chinese.I love ur fanfiction in ao3 about french revolution.I' d like to know how u feel about saint-just and robespierre and their relationship.
Hi!!! Thank you sm <3 this is my first ask ever haha ! 
In my ffs the relationship and the romantic sparkle between them is more an idea of fiction. I can not stress this point enough because I dislike the „radical“ ship-culture that sometimes is present in fandoms about historical events, which often fails to differentiate between historical fact and fiction. The „they were roommates“-trope is often met with eye rolls but serves as a necessary reminder that for most historical figures there is no evidence for romantic interaction and in my opinion it would be rude to assume they had!
All this applies to the Robespierre/Saint-Just relationship. Historically, they were two figures who talked, wrote letters and spend time together. The sources we have about their relationship should be put in context with their historical time to fully understand it and not misinterpret them as something more than friends as a person of todays time likely would, since not everyone wants to do the necessary research. Some of the sentences written sure sound really intense for us – I‘m looking at you, 1790-August-letter from Saint-Just saying „you whom I only know, like God, through his miracles“ – but they get a new context if one looks at the friendship-culture of that time and the idea of fraternité. It sure is a strong sentence after all haha! I would be lying if I said it did not touch me while reading it, also reading their correspondence and of course reading about their shared death. There is a certain beauty to die for ones ideals and doing it together can easily get romanticised with tropes such as „shared destiny“ etc etc. 
I gathered all these little things about their relationship and hold it dear to me, transform the feelings I get from it into vibes and these vibes into fiction. And I think it is very important to always be able to separate the historical figures from the idea we have of them: it‘s the only way you can keep history a hobby and a profession at the same time. 
What intrigued me the most about their relationship and made me want to write about them is the symbolism they offer! Saint-Just happened to be a little history-crush of mine ever since we read his speech against the king in middle-school. Sadly, I forgot about him until I started studying at university and worked on french 1800 century. art. There I read about him again and learned his nickname of „archangel of death“ and people calling his writings „evangelism of Saint-Just“. I was obsessed! I love angle symbolism, it offers such a variety to give a deeper meaning to a text.
I fell for the idea of Saint-Just being a young revolutionary, described as angelic, yet cruel and deadly. He was a symbol of radicalism for me and dragged me (and still drags) in a philosophical dilemma between holding such ideals of freedom and equality but creating a thing like the Terror.
Robespierre being referred to as „ you whom I only know, like God “ only helped to build the symbolism around angel and christian martyrs. He of course is a highly interesting person and I wish to read more of his speeches. 
In „Dying in a hottub“ one can already collect small allusions to the angel-symbol such as him gifting lilies (the flower of archangel Gabriel) to Robespierre or his fascination of Justicia and the scale (a devise also linked to archangel Michel). I plan to expand on this theme in later chapters. I hope the reader can see how I let my modern-AU Saint-Just struggle with his everyday life, the role which he wants to fullfill in university and the role he wants to fullfill in his friend circle. The root of his struggles lies in being an idealist with unattainable aspirations making him feel lost. Sometimes I feel this way too, to be honest.
My modern-AU Robespierre finds himself in the same position: Unable to follow all of his ideals. But he on the other hand, tries to find a compromise and to understand why he can't achieve them and consequently what changes have to be made to fullfill them. He does struggle too of course, but he is better in finding compromises. He is aware of his position in life and maintains composure, while Saint-Just feels lost. To him Robespierre appears steady as if he faces no struggles at all, making him admirable in his eyes. 
In „My love language is killing annoying people for u“ I play around with the themes of trust and passage of time. They are trusting each other while struggling to rely on anybody else. They share many moments together although destiny only grants them little time. These tragic counterparts inspired me to write about this relationship! 
Puh! I never really wrote this exposition down, it had only been in my head until now haha I hope it makes sense!! Thank you for reading my ff and please feel free to reach out to me I love talking about it and hearing what others think <3 
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dandeliicns · 2 months
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Mattheo's birth month is July
send your muse’s birth month and Victoria will tell them their birth month flower and what means in the language of flowers. || accepting !
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" Mattheo Abbott, interested in flowers? I'm impressed." She states with a little sass in her tone. This might have been the first time she actually smiled at him, despite her expression being more of a smirk than a smile. "So yours is interesting because there are two flowers that are dedicated to your birth month, I take it as a man with two personalities, this is rather fitting." she chuckles before she gives her explanation. "So the first flower is, Larkspur. It carries carious symbolic meanings and I'll list a few that I think fit you. The first meaning is; lightness and levity, symbolizing an open heart and carefree spirit. I think when you're happy you're more carefree or when you aren't as stressed. The next is, Protection. Historically, larkspur was believed to have protective qualities, warding off evil spirits and venomous creatures. This symbolism has carried over into modern times, with larkspur sometimes being used as a symbol of protection and safety. Which is accurate when you think of your relationship to Rosalie. She tells me how you care for her and what you've been through so I agree with this statement. However, lets move onto the last which is, Bravery and knightly virtues. Larkspur’s use in heraldry and its association with knightly virtues has led to it being a symbol of courage, strength, and nobility. I think with this one, you'll have to reflect on your actions and think of the outcomes that happened because of them. Did you help more than you hurt? Did someone thank you because of what you did? I can't answer it for you, you'll have to look within for that."
While she lets him sit with the answer, she decides to move onto the next flower. "Your second flower is, Water Lily's. In different countries they have different historical backgrounds but you can look those up yourself. The meaning of those, like the Larkspur, they have different ones as well. I'm not sure what will fit based on what I know, so again, you'll have to look within yourself to see if they identify with you. Purity and innocence is the first meaning, Water lilies, with their pristine, floating blooms, symbolize purity and innocence. Their ability to emerge from murky water and produce beautiful flowers represents spiritual and emotional growth. Enlightenment and spiritual awakening would be the second, as a fun fact this comes from Buddhism however unlike the first, water lilies represent the path from ignorance to enlightenment. I would go with the second instead of the first since I personally don't see you as that spiritual but like I said before, it's all up to you. As for the last, Rebirth and renewal, the blooming cycle of water lilies, opening in the morning and closing in the evening, signifies the cycle of rebirth and renewal. This makes them a fitting symbol for new beginnings and transformation. So take some time to think about it and let me know which flower you think is better for you. I look forward to your reasoning!"
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Writers notes: Please feel free to use this information as a headcanon if you feel like it fits Mattheo! Maybe even give some examples of each and how it personally fits him! I can link you the source on where I got it from and it is right here ! [XXXX]
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poppiesandamber · 7 months
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The company’s fleet includes the state Double Bay ferry services, which run daily from Circular Quay to Kirribilli and the North Shore Fast Ferry, which connects the city centre to various destinations on Sydney Harbour. Moovit’s free Sydney Ferries network map gives you detailed route and schedule information, as well as real-time ferry status updates.
Customer Reviews
Floreat's arrangements are sleek and modern, with the majority of flowers sourced from local growers. Owner Jodie Lampe is committed to an environmentally conscious business, and she's particularly fond of native flowers for their distinctive character. A cavalcade of succulents grows at the front door, with buckets of sweet peas, long-stemmed pastel poppies and balls of fringed tulips inside.
Located just 17 kilometers from Sydney's CBD, Manly is a popular beach-side suburb that offers the quintessential Northern Beaches lifestyle. It's a popular spot for sun-seekers, surfers, and shoppers. You can find plenty of cafes, restaurants, and boutiques around the central Manly Corso.
Manly also boasts stunning beaches, picturesque bays, and rugged headlands. The famous Manly to Spit Bridge Walk is a must-do for locals and tourists. It's a 10km journey along the ocean, offering stunning views and secluded beaches. Another attraction is Q Station, a historic site that was once used to quarantine immigrants and travellers arriving with infectious diseases like smallpox and Spanish influenza.
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malithi-kkb285 · 8 months
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Detailing the Key Concept
What Plants should be Included? considering plants that are shown as being native to Hamilton, and are also included in the free Indigenous plant species that the Brisbane City Council provides
blue flax lily (dianella caerulea) -> attracts birds & lizards; edible blueberries; leaves traditionally used for cord & string; fruit juice can serve as antiseptic for sea ulcers
matrush (lomandra filiformis) -> attracts lizards & frogs; edible base of leaves, flowers & seeds; roots were used as medicine for insect bites
tea tree (leptospermum whitei) -> attracts insects & bees; leaves crushed & inhaled to alleviate colds/coughs; creating tea tree oil (anti-bacterial & anti-fungal)
bottlebrush (callistemon) -> attracts birds & insects; can make tea out of leaves & blossoms
myrtle (melaleuca; backhousia) -> attracts birds & insects; edible flowers, leaves & berries; creating oil (anti-bacterial & anti-fungal)
banksia (banksia) -> attracts birds; edible flowers, leaves & seeds; leaves can make tea; root is anthelmintic
tukeroo (cupaniopsis anacardioides) -> attracts birds, bees & insects; edible fruit & tubers
Implementation Plan
As the Northshore Hamilton area is legally owned by EDQ, it qualifies as Council land, making it an area that is automatically eligible to receive 50 free plants from the Brisbane City Council
EDQ requests plants listed above from Council -> utilises existing plants to grow more
once garden is eventually developed, public access opens, within specified time periods
classes/workshops will be led by willing members of Indigenous communities/people who are well-versed in botany -> free/discounted tickets for site residents; payments generate revenue for EDQ
Sources
Native plant species
Council offers a variety of plants through the Free Native Plants Program, suitable for all garden types and sizes.
BRISBANE.QLD.GOV.AU
PPNN.ORG.AU
Blue Flax Lilly - Dianella caerulea - Care Guide
Dianella caerulea! Commonly known as the blue flax-lily, blueberry lily, or paroo lily, this sub-tropical is native across the eastern state
MELBOURNE BUSHFOOD
'POKULBI' PAROO LILY / BLUE FLAX (Dianella caerulea) 'Bush Tucker Plant Seeds'
A plant which keeps growing from year to year. It forms mats. It grows to 0.75 m high and spreads to 0.4 m across.A hardy perennial native h
EDIBLE OZ
GREEN / CREEK MAT RUSH (Lomandra hystrix) 'Bush Tucker Plant Seeds'
Lomandra hystrix, commonly known as green mat-rush, or creek mat-rush, is a perennial, rhizomatous herb found throughout eastern Australia.
EDIBLE OZ
Tea Tree: The Protector - Wonderground
An exploration of the historical, medicinal and cultural uses of the Australian Tea Tree. A lovely read!
WONDERGROUND|GEORGINA REID
Bottlebrush Tree: Tea, Medicinal Uses & Growing Guide | ForagingGuru
Bottlebrush trees can be used as a gorgeous evergreen shrub for borders and gardens. They are also edible and great for making tea.
FORAGINGGURU
Are Myrtle Flowers Edible?
Common myrtle shrubs (Myrtus communis) produce beautiful, small white flowers during summer and fall. Although these flowers look attractive
PETAL REPUBLIC|EDWARD HODSDON
MYRTLE: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Interactions, Dosing and Reviews
Learn more about MYRTLE uses, effectiveness, possible side effects, interactions, dosage, user ratings and products that contain MYRTLE.
WEBMD.COM
medicinal herbs: BANKSIA ROSE - Rosa banksiae
Natutal medicine can heal your body and mind. Medicinal herbs: Banksia Rose (Rosa banksiae)
NATURALMEDICINALHERBS.NET
FILES-PREPROD-D9.NORTHERNBEACHES.NSW.GOV.AU
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projectlandscapeltd · 9 months
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Top Parks to Visit near Calgary
Calgary, the vibrant city nestled in the Canadian province of Alberta, is not only known for its bustling urban life and skyscrapers but also for its proximity to breathtaking natural beauty. Surrounding Calgary are numerous parks that offer a perfect escape from the city's hustle and bustle, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the serenity of nature. Whether you're a nature enthusiast, an adventure seeker, or simply looking for a peaceful retreat, these top parks near Calgary are must-visit destinations.
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Heritage Park
An annual membership is the best way to see more, do more and get more at Heritage Park with unlimited access to the Historical Village and Gasoline Alley Museum. It only takes three visits and your membership pays for itself - and don't forget, you can put your daily admission towards your annual membership. One day at Heritage Park isn’t enough to experience everything we have to offer – so buy your annual membership today and get in on the fun!
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Heritage Park Historical Village tells the significant and vital story of the settlement of Western Canada and how the unique western landscape formed the cultural foundation of who Western Canadians are today. Situated on 65 acres of rolling landscape, Heritage Park Historical Village is nestled on the banks of the Glenmore Reservoir with a breathtaking view of the majestic Rocky Mountains.
Griffith Woods Park
Griffith Woods Park is a primarily natural environment park that lies along the banks of the Elbow River in the southwest part of Calgary. This park is very large and is primarily a natural environment park. There are many trails throughout this park, both paved and unpaved, to explore. All of the trails at Griffith Woods Park are flat and easy to walk. The park is a great food source and habitat for animals of all kinds. While visiting the park, please be aware of your surroundings and take BearSmart precautions.
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Griffith Woods Park lies along the banks of the Elbow River in the southwest part of the city. The park was created in 2000 and named after Wilbur Griffith who, with his wife Betty, donated a portion of their estate to The City of Calgary to be set aside as a nature preserve. Griffith Woods is habitat to a wide variety of flora and fauna including orchids, moose, deer, a variety of birds and its unique and sensitive natural spruce and balsam poplar forest. It is designated as a special protection natural environment park.
Granary Road - Farmer's Market & Active Learning Park
The Active Learning Park at Granary Road is a family destination like none other in Canada. 3 Kilometers of winding trails connect 36 acres of active learning fun and 11 exhibits that teach kids about animals, insects and agriculture while they’re having fun! Designed to thrill the imaginations of toddlers to teens the park features a giant spider web climber, in-ground lily pad trampolines, a huge 4-story ant farm, a gigantic fruit tree with the world’s largest corkscrew apple slide, a blind-as-a-bat maze, zip-lines and a working farm/petting zoo featuring our famous goat stampede, the new Golden Goat Bridge and our adorable alpaca!
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Visitors will get an up-close look at your product offering as they weave through the market to buy tickets for the park and will see multiple vendor advertisements throughout the park and in the gift store. Plus, park visitors will receive rotating coupons for discounts to market vendors and other cross promotions to further drive parkgoers into the market. We strongly recommend that vendors include mom and family friendly products and price points in their assortments. This is going to be fun!
Weaselhead Flats
Weaselhead Flats lay at the mouth of the Elbow River in the southwest part of the city. The park was created in the early 1980s and occupies about 237 hectares. The origin of the name is uncertain but it is likely named after the Tsuu T'ina Chief Weaselhead who was in power at the time of European contact.
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Along with the delta, the Weaselhead Flats contain a fast flowing river, the Elbow, which was once called the "Swift River". There are also "oxbow wetlands" which are formed when the river takes a shortcut, thereby isolating a bend. The bend is maintained as a wetland by spring flooding or rainfall. The cliff face on the north side provides an excellent view of the silts deposited on the bottom of "Glacial Lake Calgary", which covered much of this area at the end of the last glaciation.
The flats as we know them started developing in 1933 when the Glenmore Dam was created. Before becoming a park they were used by the military for training purposes. Evidence of this use, such as foxholes, are scattered throughout the park.​​​​​​​​​​​​
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Project Landscape has earned its reputation as the best landscaping Calgary company Calgary by consistently delivering exceptional results that surpass expectations. Their team of experienced professionals possesses a deep understanding of the local climate and terrain, allowing them to design and build landscapes that thrive in Calgary's unique environment. With a commitment to using sustainable practices and cutting-edge techniques, Project Landscape ensure that every project is not only beautiful but also eco-friendly and built to last.
Project Landscape 3511 64 Ave. SE, Calgary, AB T2C 1N3 +1 403-257-4059 https://www.projectlandscape.ca/ https://www.google.com/maps?cid=11747008283103314784
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buyofficialpainting · 9 months
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Stepping into the Realm of Claude Monet: Your Guide to Buying His Masterpieces with MerchFuse
In the vast landscape of fine art, few names resonate as vividly as that of Claude Monet. Known as a pivotal figure of the Impressionist movement, Monet's work continues to awe art enthusiasts and collectors across the globe. If you're thinking of adding a Claude Monet painting to your collection, MerchFuse, a renowned online marketplace, can be your go-to platform. This blog will navigate you through this process.
Understanding Claude Monet and His Work
Before acquiring a piece of artwork, it's imperative to develop a deep understanding of the artist and their work. Claude Monet, born in 1840, was a French painter whose groundbreaking approach to encapsulating light and natural forms revolutionized the art world. Some of his most celebrated works include the Water Lilies series, "Impression, Sunrise," and "The Woman in the Green Dress."
Monet's paintings are lauded for their vibrant color palettes, transient effects of light and weather, and an extraordinary vision for natural beauty. Owning a Monet via MerchFuse means possessing a piece of art history, a tangible link to the birth of Impressionism.
Ensuring Authenticity with MerchFuse
Due to Monet's popularity, many reproductions, copies, and forgeries exist in the market. Therefore, buying from a trusted source like MerchFuse is crucial. MerchFuse is committed to offering authenticated and original pieces of art. It is in close association with certified art experts who meticulously verify each artwork's authenticity before listing it on the platform.
Navigating the Collection
MerchFuse boasts a diverse and extensive collection of Monet's work, including both his well-known pieces and less famous, yet equally enchanting ones. To make an informed purchase, familiarize yourself with Monet's various artistic periods, such as his early works, mid-career, and later works. This knowledge will help you choose a piece that not only matches your aesthetic preference but also holds historical significance.
Investing in a Monet
Buying a Monet is not just an art acquisition; it's an investment. The value of Monet's paintings has shown a steady increase over the years. With MerchFuse, you can be assured that you're investing in an artwork of not only aesthetic but also financial value. They offer competitive prices and provide detailed provenance and condition reports, ensuring your investment is well-informed.
Secure, Insured Shipping
One of the many benefits of purchasing from MerchFuse is their secure, insured shipping. They understand that artworks are not just commodities but treasures of immense sentimental and financial value. Therefore, they offer professionally packed and insured shipping to ensure your Monet painting reaches you in perfect condition.
Buying a Claude Monet painting is like owning a slice of art history. With MerchFuse, this process is made simpler, more secure, and absolutely delightful. Whether you're a seasoned collector or a budding art enthusiast, there's a Monet waiting for you at MerchFuse – a piece that speaks to you and enriches your space with its timeless beauty. Dive into the world of Claude Monet with MerchFuse today.
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The Little Mermaid (2023) dir. Rob Marshall
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horwoodhouse · 2 years
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The Manor House Refurbishment Journey
Our historic property is now well into its final phase of redevelopment, with the closing chapter of over two years of work focused on the beautiful Grade II-listed Manor House. The building is currently underdoing a complete transformation which will reimagine the original bricks and mortar into a new collection of stunning spaces including 9 spacious bedroom suites, a breathtaking wedding ceremony space, expansive lounges and a private dining room. It’s been a fascinating time for us here at Horwood House, and we wanted to share a little sneak preview of what you can expect when renovations finish later in the year.
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Horwood House has a rich history which dates back across many centuries. Originally a farmhouse (some 300 years ago), the Manor House was upgraded in the early 1900s by Frederick Denny – whose name is honoured by “The Denny” – a pork and apricot croquette – on the menu at Harry’s Bar & Kitchen. However, the building is best known as being the birthplace of the famous gardener, Percy Thrower, who created our famous lily pond and the beautifully manicured Pytheas Gardens that surround the hotel. These gardens have proved to be a rich source of inspiration for the new interior scheme within the Manor’s refurbishment.
When we began planning the renovation of the Manor, we worked closely with our designers, ICA, to start afresh with the interior scheme but to ensure we are in keeping with the building’s original features and reflect the surrounding 38 acres of grounds.
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The colour scheme is light with subtle grey, green and gold accents whilst our carpet has been created specially for us by one of the finest producers in the UK, Oriental Weavers Hospitality.
Our ground floor lounge, layered with rich textures of buttoned leather, paisley prints and plush velvets, will be a luxurious and elegant space, worthy of the special weddings, events and parties that the space will host for years to come. The upper floors of the manor will house 9 stylish suites, each with its own individual character, featuring freestanding baths, grand bay window seating and luxury king-sized beds.
Ensuring our public areas sparkle, leading lighting designers, Imagin Global, have created a number of signature chandeliers for the Manor, inspired by the traditional 19th century heritage lighting found in many stately homes. A statement piece hangs above the Manor’s feature staircase – this showstopping three-tier chandelier is made from steel with a plated finish, features smooth and ribbed glass tubes, and faux candles.
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Finally, in a nod to our history, we have commissioned new artwork for the Manor that explores 1911, the year in which the Manor House as we know it today was built and the landmark events that mark the period, such as the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, along with the publication of “The Secret Garden” and works by the celebrated poet, D.H. Lawrence. 1911 is also the name of our new dining concept, which we hope to launch later this year.
If you’d like to keep up to date with the refurbishment, you can see more behind the scenes content on our Instagram @horwoodhouse – we can’t wait to welcome you to the Manor House soon.
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yurimother · 3 years
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Yuri Expert Erica Friedman Dives Into LGBTQ Anime & Manga History in New Book 'By Your Side' – June 2022
In February, Yuri researcher and trend-setter Erica Friedman announced that they are writing a new book, By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Manga & Anime. The book will be published by Journey Press in June 2022, in time for pride month and the 20th anniversary of Okazu, the world's oldest and most comprehensive site on lesbian anime and manga.
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The term "Yuri" began life as a coded reference to lesbianism within manga and anime genre, but in the past few decades, fans, creators, and publishers shaped the term into a beautiful genre of its own. Friedman traces the past, present, and future of the genre, all the way from the modern Yuri phenomenon manga, webcomics, novels, and games to its routes over a century ago in Yoshiya Nobuko's pioneering works. Walk together through the past, present, and future of Yuri in this insightful and entertaining new work.
By Your Side is a collection of interlocking essays, articles, and essays from Friedman's gloriously hilarious, witty, and unwieldable mind. Through these essays, readers will become familiar with many of the Yuri genre's greatest creators, tropes, concepts, symbols, and titles. As the title suggests, the series focuses on the first 100 years of lesbian anime and manga, 1919-2019.
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Friedman describes her hopes for the book to YuriMother:
I want people to approach it like joining me at a Yuri panel - as an ongoing, casual discussion of a topic we love to talk about! I want to walk by your side as we wander through a garden full of lilies and chat about the changes we've seen in Yuri... I hope folks will pick it up and read a section, then put it down and think about that series, or person, or concept, then come back later and read another section!
Because the chapters in BYS are sourced from my writings and presentations, BYS can be used by fans of Yuri who want to know more about the history of the genre and by students of pop culture who are looking for research they can use for their own work.
We also spoke about the future of Yuri.
So much has changed in the past even 20 years, I can hardly project what we haven't even imagined yet. ^_^
But...the thing that is the most exciting change I've seen recently and the thing I hope for the most is creators modeling worlds where queer lives and happiness are normalized...creators imagining joy in queer lives in Yuri.
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Indeed, the past few years have seen wonderous titles from a variety of creators embracing Yuri's queer identity to tell both joyful and brutally real Yuri stories. Works like My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, Yuri Life, and most recently, I'm in Love with the Villainess come to mind.
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Friedman continues:
We spent a lot of time in the last century performing lesbian trauma for Yuri subplots. I'm looking forward to Yuri manga where lesbian couples just are and then the story happens.
They went on to express their excitement over finally getting ready to put out their "Big Book o'Yuri."
I'm very excited that the Big Book o'Yuri will be a reality, obviously. ^_^ And I'm delighted to be able to work with Journey Press on this. I know they'll give us all the best book they can make. We're probably going to run a Kickstarter, which will give us a chance to develop fun physical and digital goods, as well! And, when the pandemic is over, I absolutely want to do events at bookstores where I can talk to folks about their experiences with Yuri!
I'm also just exceptionally happy that there will be a book about Yuri out there. Right now we collect every essay we can on the Yuricon Essays page to help folks trying to do research (YuriMother is proud to have contributed works to this Essays page). Once this book is out, my wish is that we'll see more Yuri research being published as well. I look forward to reviewing other books about Yuri.
Just you wait, Erica Friedman! You blaze the trail, and YuriMother (which is to say I, the writer of this report) will happily follow in your footsteps! Readers, join me in supporting By Your Side when it is released next year and continue to consume and learn about Yuri!
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Erica holds a Masters Degree in Library Science and a B.A. in Comparative Literature and is a full-time researcher for a Fortune 100 company. She has lectured at dozens of conventions and presented at film festivals, notably the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. She has participated in an academic lecture series at MIT, University of Illinois, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Harvard University, Kanagawa University, and others.
She has edited manga for JManga, Seven Seas, and Udon Entertainment, most recently Riyoko Ikeda’s epic historical classic, The Rose of Versailles.
Erica has written about Yuri for Japanese literary journal Eureka,  Animerica magazine, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund,  Dark Horse, and contributed to Forbes, Slate, Huffington Post, Hooded Utilitarian, and The Mary Sue online. She has written news and event reports, interviews Yuri creators, and reviews Yuri anime, manga, and related media on her blog Okazu since 2002.
They were the founder of ALC Publishing, the first English publisher to release English Yuri manga. ALC Publishing passed the torch to new publishers in 2013 and no long publishes material.
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Journey Press was born in 2019 with the goal of bringing unusual and diverse science fiction to the forefront of the publishing landscape. We are dedicated to supporting the women and queer people who have been erased from the history books, and to the reprinting of worthy novels that fell by the wayside, in addition to publishing new novels by creators of all types.
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hobidreams · 4 years
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april 1869.
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the night brings with it the moon, rippling waters, and truths silenced with his mouth hot on your skin.
pairing: joseon king!yoongi x reader genre: smut, angst words: 2.2k contains: historical au, exhibitionism (but more indirectly), rough sex, dirty talk, name-calling, hurt feelings, hair pulling, a very unhealthy (but historically accurate) relationship, yoongi is an ass
moonlit throne index. this is drabble two. start from the beginning?
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The chilly evening wind of coming spring sweeps a scattering of fallen leaves across the courtyard. It ripples through the sleeves of your jeogori as you descend from the stone veranda of your quarters towards the private palace gardens. The two guards who stand at the entrance move wordlessly aside upon seeing you, offering you slight bows that you return. Past this barrier, the tall, reaching trees hang against the darkened sky, heavy branches scratching invisible marks over the moonlight. You follow the set path with steady footsteps, passing blooming shrubs with a yawn on your lips. The day has been long and your eyes are sore from studying medicine with only a dim lamp for company. But the breeze - it whisks away fatigue with an enviable ease.
The path winds along the expansive pond. Water lettuce and lily pads cover most of the liquid surface, lining the makeshift island that houses your favorite: the grand pavilion. Recently renovated on the king’s direct instruction. You move closer, slippers leaving stone to scrape the thin wooden bridge.
Something in the dark shifts.
Your eyes fall upon a shadow. Your steps stutter, then quicken.
“Jeonha.”
The king sits on the left bench, near the open front that has yet to be replaced, with a casual arm draped over the intricate banister. He doesn’t stir at the sound of your deliberately soft voice, his gaze remaining mired on something in the distance, far beyond the pavilion’s, or perhaps even the palace’s, reach. His hat is abandoned beside him, the topknot slightly loose where it is bound on his head.
“May I join you?”
He waves his hand absently.
You consider your options, but ultimately take advantage of the pavilion’s half-finished state and sit on the very edge with your legs tucked under you in a traditional kneel. You cannot even remember the last time you’ve sat together like this - out in the open outdoors, away from the tightly-drawn curtains of his chambers and away from prying eyes. Only now do you realize how much it had been missing. “The willow trees have grown out nicely,” you offer, what you hope is a safe topic. You watch a lily pad drift idly by. “I hope the lotus flowers bloom well this year. The pond truly felt so empty last season without their color. I—”
“Is it commonplace for subjects to inflict idle chatter on their king?” The ice in his voice is a slap across the face.
You shut up immediately. Nervously swallow too, but the heaviness in your throat remains stuck. You’ve become uncomfortably familiar with that tone, the quick temper that flares up in seconds but takes its time to dissipate. A part of you wants to retreat and hide; the other can never bear to leave him. Ever so slightly, chewing on the inside of your cheek, you turn your head instead. Take your first good look at him and almost gasp at how gaunt he looks in the sparse light. Nor do you expect the deep purple settled beneath his eyes. If this had been ten or even just two years ago, you wouldn’t hesitate to mention it but with things as they are, you are so nervous to speak and…
“What?”
“Have,” you bow your head slightly, “have you not been sleeping?”
Silence.
“Jeonha?” You press. “Please.”
When he finally looks at you, it’s with a glare. “I haven’t the time.”
“And your meals?”
“Not hungry.”
Your fingers knot. “But rest, sleep is essential. As is food. Without it, to make important decisions—”
“Hah!” His scowl deepens, the scar stretching down with his lips. “It would make little difference in how they are received.”
Ah.
You should’ve known it was impossible to miss the rumors rumbling through the palace, their source the restless palace occupants faced with a ruthless king. He can’t stop the rampant thievery brought on by the grain shortage, yet executes the thieves themselves. His petty rejection of treaty with Japan left threats of war looming like an open wound that refuses to heal. All this, the former king would never have done. Or so the gossip goes.
“Still… Jeonha, you cannot, simply cannot, live like this. The people need you to be strong. They need their leader. Every hour you spend pushing yourself too far is an hour taken off your life. ” Saying the words alone puts a tremble in your fingers. The thought of his death could keep you awake right along with him. Has. But every syllable you speak is an overstep of your boundaries and rank. “I-If something is weighing on your mind, tell me. Use me. Tell me what you need and I’ll try to help however I can.”
He laughs then, but it’s an ugly, mocking sound. With a thud, he drops to the floor. “Spare me your fucking idealism.” His tight fist finds the roots of your hair. He yanks, hard. Your plain hairpin clatters to the floor, teetering wildly off the pavilion edge. “You, help me? What power do you have?” He drags you backwards, your eyes wide and quivering as they find fury in his. “What can you really do?”
He all but rips open your sash and you let him. You let him throw aside the layers that cover your chest until you’re exposed to him, torn white fabric pooling around your arms. His breath is hot at the shell of your ear as he growls, “this is all I need from you. This and nothing else.”
“T-Then use me,” you repeat, despite the dagger stab of pain in your heart. If this will lessen his burdens, you’ll do it. If this will have him in your arms if only fleetingly, you’ll do it.
He grabs a breast and smirks when you tense, then cry out when he pinches a nipple pebbled from the wind. Take it all, you think deliriously when his fingers tighten with an almost unbearable strength, and again when he dips his head low, sucking hard at the nape of your neck to give you a dark ache to remember come morning. He leaves one mark then another, and another, as if threatening to consume you entirely with his desire. And you? You’re addicted to that jolt of pain, the heady wetness of dominance that says he wants you. He wants nothing but you right now, and you tuck that precious knowledge away with a moan.
When he flips you onto your back, you don’t hear the quiet splash as your hand knocks the pin over. All your focus is stolen by your king between your legs, demanding obedience even from his knees. He wastes no time in forcing your skirt up, undoing the ties of the shorts beneath and throwing them aside. You don’t think you breathe until his nail rakes across the scrap of cloth covering your heat. “Look at you,” he mutters. “So wet. Shameless.” He doesn’t bother taking off the sokgot before fucking two fingers into you, deep enough for you to feel the ridge of his knuckles. The way your tight cunt opens and molds to him makes him sink his teeth into his lip in appreciation.
You already feel pressure building when he curls his fingers. It spikes up when he scissors, pushes you apart to hear you gasp. The noise travels far, echoing across the water while he makes a mess of you with each rapid pump. You don’t need to see to know that clear arousal is running down the sides of your lower lips. The sound of slick is as lewd as your whines, pitched at a tell-tale high.
“Fast, too fast,” you groan. But when you shift back, you’re only met with open air beneath your hands. You turn your head in panic and yelp when you realize just how close you are to the edge, with nothing but murky water below. “J-Jeonha, let me bac—”
“No.” His eyes glimmer with something possessive at the sight of you stretched out over the precipice, moonlight’s glow painted across your bare skin. All that pliant softness for him to ruin.
And you do break, when he hits that spot and punishes it without a second’s pause. “Please, oh god, please.” You don’t even know what you’re begging for but his palm slaps against your skin with reckless strokes. Your spine curves back, head going with it until all you see is the night and burning stars and everything in this palace that belongs solely to him. You let go. You cum with an errant hand flung out, fingers skimming across the water, the rest of you pinned beneath him. Uncontrollable.
His smile is sadistic as he leans over you, still fully clothed in his royal robes as he watches you tremble. “Think the guards can hear you?” You want to shake your head but all you do is grind your hips into him. “If they turned their heads, they’d see you like this. Needy. Desperate.” He spits the humiliating words through set teeth. “Why don’t I call them over and show them what the esteemed physician is really like?” His cocksure grin stretches even wider when he feels you clench in response. It seems to make up his mind; he doesn’t extract his fingers even though bliss has turned sharply into soreness. Just fucks you through the last of the aftershocks and then some until he brings you to peak for a second, noisy time.
Only then does he draw back, swiping his tongue slowly up his soaked hand. His eyes never leave you, even as he strips enough to pull his thick cock from the folds of gilded silk. You don’t get much of a glimpse before it’s sheathed in you, much fuller than his fingers. Your overstimulated cunt reacts despite the sensitivity, wetly clinging to his shaft as he bottoms out. He doesn’t stop to savor, doesn’t even let you catch a breath before he’s moving forward. His thrusts now, angry and quick and deep  - they’re for him.
The low grunts of effort drop alongside sweat down his neck, topknot bobbing back and forth and he keeps going, nimble hips pistoning with none of the precision of his swordplay. Where that is beautiful, controlled movements, he finds himself the exact opposite when he’s inside you. A damn slave to the pleasure surging through his body,  and he seems to hate that he needs it. A loathing that he leaves in the bruises on your ass every time you smack to the floor.  “Always this tight for me,” he mutters in a low register.
You’re trying your best to hold on, and survive the acute ache of him battering against your deepest core because you could never ask him to stop. Your fingers cling to the stone boundary, holding you to solid ground when everything feels like it’s been tossed clear up into the air. You almost can’t bear to look at him like this. It’ll make you believe in the intimacy shared between lovers when this is—
He snarls your name, draws your attention back.  “Say it.”
“J-Jeonha…!”
He must like what he hears and finds in your gaze, for he smirks. “You’ve become a nice little whore for me, haven’t you?”
And that’s it. That’s when you feel the hot sting behind your eyes finally overflow. It’s a word that’s you’ve become well-acquainted with these past few months but to hear it from his lips is... The tears slide backwards down your cheeks, rippling the pond but he doesn’t notice. Or if he does, maybe he pretends they’re of pleasure. If only you could follow suit.
He takes two almost-unbearably deep strokes and then, suddenly, you’re empty. He’s gasping, surprisingly undone as his hand slides frantically on his own cock. Sticky cum soon splatters all over your stomach, staining your skirt with his conquest. Panting, he looks at you through loose strands of blonde hair and doesn’t pull away. Instead, he leans forward. For a moment, you forget yourself and expect him to kiss you. Instead, he hauls you up from the brink with a sweaty hand on the back of your neck.
“What? Want something else?” He snaps when he finds your puffy eyes staring at him.
You think about asking him if he’s alright. Maybe he would listen if you tried again, just once more time. But your body is sore, your thighs and core between them especially so. A lingering reminder that this is perhaps all you are good for in his eyes. Whore.
“No. Nothing.”
He stands, wiping dust off his sleeves, but otherwise not bothering to fix much of his wrinkled robes.  “Then you are dismissed,” he says, then walks off. Likely to his private quarters, the back entrance connected to this garden.
Alone on the floor, you curl yourself up and still feel the emptiness, a dissatisfaction. You hadn’t noticed it before, but a songbird has been singing, marking the terribly late hour. On a sigh with fingers trembling, you pull the scraps of your jacket around your nakedness and try to shield yourself from the wind.
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dwellordream · 3 years
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“...In early portraits Livia sports the nodus hairstyle, in which the hair rolls forward over the forehead and is then drawn back to form a distinctive topknot. This style was seen by Ovid as a useful corrective to a very round face. Generally in the heads of this group the face is a regular oval with broad cheekbones. The eyes are large and the brow above them arches slightly. The nose is large and aquiline, while the curving mouth and the chin are very small. The portraits project an image well suited to Livia—one of ageless and elegant beauty, calm and dignified, perhaps strangely emotionless.
The severity of the nodus style would be less appealing with age. Thus the hair in portraits of the Tiberian period generally has a centre parting, and falls from either side in waves. The head is still relatively youthful, given that Livia must have been now in her seventies, a tradition maintained by modern aging monarchs, whose images on stamps and coins tend to be frozen for several decades. It could be argued that the elusive issue of Livia’s appearance is irrelevant in a political biography. But it has some historical importance. The sources suggest that Augustus was drawn to Livia initially by basic sexual attraction. Some knowledge of her physical appearance would help us place that claim in a proper context. 
Whatever attributes Livia was granted by Nature she could enhance by Art. When it came to dress, Ovid attributes to Livia a surprisingly progressive attitude, that she was simply too busy to spend a lot of time on her appearance. The assertion has to be seen against the background of a large household and an enormous staff, whose task it would have been to pay attention to those details deemed unworthy of their mistress’s time and effort. The evidence for the wide range of functionaries operating within the household of Livia is dealt with in chapter 9.
At this point we can limit ourselves to noting the surprising number of helpers devoted to Livia’s personal appearance. Inevitably there were several ornatrices (dressers), as well as staff a veste/ad vestem, whose task it was to keep her clothes in good order. In addition, the ab ornamentis would have had responsibility for her ceremonial garments and accessories, along with a specialist who looked after those she wore as priestess of Augustus, a freedman ab ornamentis sacerdotalibus. Her calciator made her shoes. Augustus liked to boast that his clothes were made by his wife and sister. Perhaps, but they would have had help. Livia employed both lanipendi (wool weighers) and sarcinatores / sarcinatrices (sewing men / women). For her comfort she had an unctrix (masseuse). 
Perhaps most striking are the skilled craftsmen who would have been employed for the manufacture and maintenance of luxury items. Her aurifex (goldsmith) and inaurator (gilder) might have been occupied mainly with furniture, but the margaritarius (pearl setter) sounds like someone who would have been employed to work on her personal jewellery. Elizabeth Bartman has noted the absence of jewellery from the sculpted images of Livia, which she describes as ‘‘bordering on the ascetic.’’ This, of course, may have been a deliberate fabrication of Livia’s image in the sculptural prototypes that she allowed to be distributed. There was a tradition of Roman women making a sacrifice of luxury items for the good of the state, such as the women who donated their jewellery to help fund the war against Veii in the early republic. 
But it may be that Livia aimed for understated elegance, to be simplex munditiis, as Horace expressed the concept in his famous poem. This could explain why Augustus aroused amused disbelief among the senators when he held up Livia as an example of womanhood and, when pressed to explain, cited as evidence her appearance and dress and her exodoi (her public forays) as illustrations of moderation to be emulated. Augustus had the evidence of his own eyes, and he admired her for avoiding extravagance. But the senators perhaps may have seen a kind of elegant moderatio, the appearance of simplicity that only the best dressmakers, coiffeurs, and jewellers can produce, using the finest and most expensive material. 
Livia’s energies would have been channelled mainly into her role as wife of Augustus and as mother of Tiberius. We know little of her private interests, or of how she tried to relax. Only one scrap of evidence survives for anything remotely approaching frivolity. She seems to have competed inanely with Julia, the granddaughter of Augustus, over the record for owning the smallest dwarf. This was settled honourably, as Julia owned the smallest male, at two feet, one palm (about sixty-seven centimetres), but Livia could boast the smallest female dwarf, Andromeda, height not recorded. We might also detect perhaps a hint of a certain silliness when she was a young woman.
The story of her trying to foretell her child’s sex by means of a hen’s egg is noted in chapter 1. After Tiberius’ birth she seems to have consulted an astrologer (mathematicus), Scribonius. He was able to forecast that her son would govern, but without the trappings of monarchical rule, an especially impressive performance, because he anticipated this before the principate had been established and before Livia had even met Augustus. But this kind of behaviour should be viewed in the context of its age, and Livia was probably no more unsophisticated in such matters than the great mass of her contemporaries. 
Otherwise her interests are likely to have been more serious, and she seems to have been a literate and educated woman. At any rate, in one of his letters to her Augustus quotes frequently and extensively in Greek, presumably on the assumption that she would understand him. She did of course spend some time in the Greek world during the period of her first husband’s exile, but she would at that time have moved mainly in a Latin-speaking milieu. It is more than likely that she learned the language through formal tuition. Given her family background, we can assume that Livia would have been well educated as a child. Roman girls shared domestic tutors with their brothers before their marriage. There are many examples of the happy result of this practice. Pliny the Younger was flattered to find his young wife reading and memorizing his works, and setting his verses to music. Cornelia, the wife of Pompey, was educated in literature, music, and geometry, and enjoyed attending philosophical discussions. 
The existence of the highly educated woman, at least at a slightly later date, is confirmed by the caustic observations of the atrabilious Juvenal, who proclaims horror at females who speak with authority on literature, discuss ethical issues, quote lines of verse the rest of humanity has not even heard of, and even correct your mistakes of grammar. Apart from Livia’s knowledge of Greek, however, we have no concrete evidence of her intellectual pursuits, in contrast to her great-granddaughter Agrippina, whose memoirs survived and were read by Tacitus. But we do have some testimony about Livia’s intellectual sophistication. Philo was a contemporary and, though a resident of Alexandria, very familiar with Rome and the imperial house. 
For example, he met Caligula in person when he headed a delegation to Rome to represent the case of the Jews of his native town. In a speech that he attributes to Caligula’s Jewish friend Herod Agrippa, he has Agrippa cite the precedent of Livia, whom he represents as a woman of great mental ability and untypical of her sex, for he contended that women were generally incapable of grasping mental concepts (whether this is Agrippa’s or Philo’s prejudice is not made clear). Agrippa supposedly attributed Livia’s superiority in this sphere to her natural talents and to her education (paideia). Livia was well disposed to the Jews and generous to the Temple, and we might expect some gilding of the lily. But Philo’s characterization of her could clearly not have been absurdly wide of the mark, or the arguments attributed to Agrippa would have been discredited. 
The Corinthian poet Honestus describes Livia as fit company for the muses, a woman who saved the world by her wisdom. The inflated language traditional in such a dedicatory piece, however, means that it has little historical value. Apart from the uncertain case of Honestus, we have no other case of Livia’s supporting any cultural or intellectual endeavour, although she was an active patron in many other areas. In this sphere she was eclipsed by Augustus’ sister Octavia, who was a sponsor of the architect Vitruvius and to whom the Stoic philosopher Athenodorus of Tarsus dedicated a book of his work. Although Livia’s interest in fostering artistic and cultural undertakings might have been limited, there was one field in which her enthusiasm seems to have been boundless: the issue of healthy living, both physical and psychological. Despite her general reserve in most other matters, she seems to have been willing, even eager, to impart her views on the issue of how to live a long and robust life. 
She was ahead of her time in her use of what would now be called a grief counsellor. When her son Drusus died in 9 bc, she was devastated. That she managed to handle the situation with dignity was due to no small extent to the counselling given her by the philosopher Areus (or Areius) Didymus of Alexandria. Areus was basically a Stoic but kept an open mind to other schools and ideas, the kind of eclectic pragmatist that the Romans found appealing. He was clearly a man of great charm, and at the time of Actium, Octavian described him as his mentor and companion. Octavian reputedly spared all the Alexandrians after the battle and stated publicly that he did so because of the fame of Alexander the Great, the beauty of the city, and his regard for one of its citizens, Areus. In the event Alexandria did not emerge totally unscathed, for Octavian followed up his generous gesture by visiting the corpse of Alexander, where he behaved like the worst kind of bad tourist, touching the nose and breaking it off.
According to Seneca’s account, to which the author undoubtedly added his own imaginative touches, Areus, in giving his advice to Livia, described himself as an assiduus comes (constant companion) of her husband and claimed to know not only their public pronouncements but also the secretiores animorum vestrorum motus (the deeper emotions of the two of you). He clearly knew his patient well, and in the event proved a highly effective consultant. He gently observed that Livia had been in the habit of repressing her feelings and of being constantly on guard in public. He encouraged her to open up when dealing with the subject of Drusus, to speak to her friends about the death of her son, and to listen to others when they praised him. She should also dwell on the positive side of things, particularly the happiness that he brought her when he was still alive. The advice may have the shallow ring of the popular psychology handed out in the modern media, but it worked. 
Seneca observed how well Livia coped with her loss by following this advice, in contrast to the morbidly obsessive Octavia, sister of Augustus, who never ceased to be preoccupied with thoughts of her dead son Marcellus. Livia lived a long and, by her own description, healthy life, with only one serious illness recorded, when she was already eighty. Her formula for her robust constitution seems to have been proper diet and the use of ‘‘natural’’ remedies. She clearly had the irritating habit of healthy people who insist on inflicting on others their philosophy of wholesome living. For history this has proved fortunate, because some of her dietary recommendations are recorded. In her early eighties she anticipated a trend that was to reemerge almost two thousand years later, attributing her vigorous condition to her daily tipple. She drank exclusively the wine of Pucinum. This was a very select vintage, grown on a stony hill in the Gulf of Trieste, not far from the source of the Timavo, where the sea breezes ripen enough grapes to fill a few amphorae. Pliny confirms its medicinal value, which he suspects might long have been recognised, even by the Greeks.
It need not be thought that in following this regimen Livia had simply invented a formula for healthy living. In fact, she was echoing a nostrum that had become very trendy in her youth, and in doing so marked herself as an acolyte of one of the master-gurus of health-faddists, Asclepiades of Prousias. According to tradition, Asclepiades started as a poor professor of rhetoric before turning to medicine. During his career he acquired considerable fame (Pliny speaks of his summa fama) and provoked the animosity of other medical writers—he was still being attacked by Galen almost three hundred years after his death. The anger of his fellow healers is not hard to explain, because he turned ancient medicine on its head by distancing himself from dangerous pharmacological and surgical procedures, even describing traditional medicine as a ‘‘preparation for death.’’ Instead, he placed emphasis on more humane and agreeable treatments—diet, passive exercise, massages, bathing, even rocking beds. Pliny felt that he mainly used guesswork but was successful because he had a smooth patter. 
How effective he was cannot be gauged now. He is said to have recovered a ‘‘corpse’’ from a funeral procession and then to have successfully treated it. But famous doctors in antiquity routinely restored the dead to life. Perhaps more impressive, and more alarming to the medical profession, was Asclepiades’ pledge that by following his own prescriptions he could guarantee that he would never be ill, and that if he lapsed, he would retire from medicine. He was apparently never put to the test, and eventually died by accident, falling from a ladder. It is not hard to believe that Asclepiades might have exercised an influence on Livia, especially in that Pliny remarks that he almost brought the whole human race round to his point of view, and Elizabeth Rawson argues that a case can be made that he was the most influential Greek thinker at work in Rome in the first century bc. Pliny notes a dilemma that has a strangely contemporary ring—whether wine is more harmful or helpful to the health. 
As the champion of the latter belief Pliny cites Asclepiades, who wrote a book on wine’s benefits, based to some extent on the teaching of Cleophantus. Asclepiades received a familiar nickname oinodotes (wine giver), although to avoid being cast as someone who encouraged inebriation, he did advocate abstinence under certain circumstances. As Pliny words it, Asclepiades stated that the benefits of wine were not surpassed by the power of the gods, and the historian, like Livia, seems to have been won over, conceding that wine drunk in moderation benefitted the sinews and stomach, and made one happy, and could even be usefully applied to sores. Livia might have become acquainted with Asclepiades’ teaching while he was still alive (it is uncertain when he died), but in any case Pliny makes it clear that after his death his ideas took a firm hold on the population, and would still have been in circulation for many years after he made his ultimate precipitous descent from the ladder.
Apart from her views on the benefits of fine wines, Livia was known for other health tips. Pliny adds his personal recommendation for one of her fads, a daily dose of inula (elecampane). The elecampane, with its broad yellow petals, is a common plant throughout Europe, and its root has long been a popular medicine. Because it is bitter and can cause stomach upset if eaten alone, it is usually ground up, or marinated in vinegar and water, then mixed with fruit or honey. It was supposedly useful for weak digestion. Horace describes its popularity among gluttons, who could overdo safely by using elecampane afterwards. Then, as now, celebrity endorsements helped; Pliny observes that the use of the plant was given a considerable boost by Livia’s recommendation. In some modern quarters it is still promoted as an effective tonic and laxative.
…These curiosities do provide a possible context for one of the charges levelled against Livia, which the scholarly world generally agrees was groundless: that of using poison to remove those who blocked her ambitions. The accusation is one that powerful women in competitive political situations throughout antiquity and the middle ages found difficult to refute, because poison has traditionally been considered the woman’s weapon of choice. Because women took the primary responsibility for family well-being, they would have been the inevitable targets of suspicion if a person died of something brought on by gastric problems. If Livia had insisted on inflicting her home cures on members of her family, it is not difficult to imagine that a malign reputation could have arisen after a death that was advantageous to her. One also should not discount the possibility that the combination of birthwort and ash of swallows did more harm than good, and that she might indeed have helped despatch some of her patients, despite the very best of intentions. 
Allied to Livia’s preoccupation with herbal remedies is her passionate interest and regular involvement in various aspects of horticulture. The most vivid illustration of this comes from her villa at Primaporta . The highlight of the complex is the garden room, built and decorated around 20 bc in the form of a partially subterranean chamber nearly 12 metres long by 6 metres wide, perhaps a dining room intended for summer use. The most impressive feature of the room is the magnificent wall painting, unparalleled for its scale and detail. It creates an illusion of a pavilion within a magical garden, teeming with flowers and birds. Unusually for the Pompeian Second Style of painting, all structural supports have been dispensed with, even at the angles, although along the tops of the walls there is a rocky fringe, which conveys the impression of the mouth of a grotto. In the foreground stands a wicker fence. Behind that is a narrow grassy walk, set with small plants, bordered on its inner side by a low stone parapet. A small recess is set in the wall at intervals to accommodate a bush or tree. 
Behind it stands a rich tangled forest of carefully painted shrubs and trees, with various types of laurel predominating. The rich mass of foliage is framed at the top by a narrow band of sky. The painting is detailed and accurate, with flowers and fruit and birds perched on the branches or on the ground. The birds, of many species, range freely, with the exception of a single caged nightingale. Flowers and fruit of all seasons are mingled together. This rich extravaganza belonged clearly to an owner who exulted in the richness and variety of nature. But Livia’s horticultural interests went beyond a mere feast for the eye—she had a direct and practical interest in produce. She developed a distinctive type of fig that bore her name, the Liviana, mentioned by agricultural writers and recommended by Columella and Athenaeus, and which may have contributed to the tradition that she eliminated Augustus by specially treated figs grown in their villa at Nola.“
- Anthony A. Barrett, “The Private Livia.” in Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome
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