A gift for love from love.
"I need no witness, just the stars, the moon, the love before me."

Solo Show
January 16, 2009
Moksha, Seattle
In honor of Valentine's Day and it's pagan origins:

Pagan Beginnings was based around a painting entitled, Romantic Misunderstandings, that we collaborated on several years ago (pictured below). The painting began with just a head floating in outer space. We researched beheadings and found many legends about St. Valentine.


During Emperor Claudius II's reign, pagan rituals were ripe and marriage was outlawed to keep soldiers focused on war. Bishop Valentine held secret marriage ceremonies of soldiers in opposition to Claudius II. Eventually he was persecuted and executed. There is more about it here and here.

What really intrigued us was all the pagan history we discovered. Rome before it was Rome: Roman legend says that the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, twin babies in a basket are placed in the Tiber, and are washed up at the site of seven green hills. The babies are found by a mother wolf, who suckles them and rears them as her own, saving them from death.

This sheds a new light on the wolf. In our dark European and Scandinavian folktales the wolf was bad. They huffed and puffed and blew your house down, and impersonated grandmothers. Here was a wolf showing compassion, intelligence, altruism and love.


The true origin of St. Valentine's day appears to be theLupercalia. During Lupecalia, the young men in loin clothes would lead a procession of priests around the city carrying bloody strips of goat hide with which they would gently slap women and crops alike to increase fertility and purification. This macabre parade was followed by lotteries in which maidens names were plucked from massive urns by eager young bachelors. The resulting pairs would become sexual partners for a year.

The festival of Lupercalia was observed for hundreds of years until Christianity took root in Rome. Not surprisingly early Christian leaders found much of the festival’s activities objectionable. The sex lottery and goat-skin whips were gradually phased out as emphasis shifted to the life and legend of Saint Valentine.

Where has this connection with the earth gone? I'd swap modern living for goat-skin whips any day.

Interestingly enough, St Valentine's Day is traditionally the time when wild birds come together to mate.

Black Mountain
SOLD

Left: Lupercalia AVAILABLE
Right: Doorway to Pagan SOLD

Claudius Gothicus
AVAILABLE

One Soldier Gets A Girl
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My Head For Your Heart
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The Gods Look Down
AVAILABLE

Virgin Awaits
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Devour My Innocence
AVAILABLE

Give All To Love
AVAILABLE

Secrets
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St. Valenine's Head
SOLD

A Daring Attempt At War
AVAILABLE


SHOP FOR PIECES AND PRINTS HERE

acrylic on wood
2006
click image to enlarge

Romantic Misunderstandings began with just a head floating in outerspace. We researched beheadings and found many legends about St. Valentine. On February 14 around the year 278 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed.

Under the rule of Claudius II (photo above), marriage was outlawed to make it easy for soldiers to join the army. A lottery of names gave the men a new lover each year. Valentine, a leader in the underground Christian movement, performed marriages in secret. When Claudius II discovered this he had Valentine beaten, beheaded, and his head served to Valentines' blind lover.

Nothing is certain, but it's a great story.

Jason of Flying Coffin used this design to print tees and crews. They are all sold out from his line, but we have a stash available.