Goya and The Witches

[NevadaCat]

I'm trying to be more diligent in searching the entire board before I post. I did find some threads about the artist Goya and I could have done a remora and posted with those references, but I'm feeling a little bold. In response to all that is discussed here and in The Work and in the earlier works, I think this painting by Goya is quite interesting. I'd like to take "the witch" out of the equation and simply leaving it on the doorstep of unknown energies that zap the life force. What John Keel might call the nonthinkers and the games that they play. The reason why I'd like to take "the witch" out of the equation is because I feel this word is highly charged and has nothing to do with those individuals The Inquisition (of the day) oppressed or obsessed over: the shamans, the healers, the midwives, anyone that was awake and aware and had real power through knowledge.

Goya also has an interesting portrait of a giant, seated and pensive with the suggestion of motion in the face, kind of like the cave paintings in red ochre in France and other places. Goya was brutalized in his foundation (to his attic and basement) by war and Hapsburg/Medici/ formerly unincorporated corporations then known as families ripping everyday people asunder. We are now as he was then and perhaps as all who are aware have been for a very long time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches%27_Flight

This may end up in Baked Noodles subsection but that's OK.

 

[RedFox]

I'm trying to be more diligent in searching the entire board before I post. I did find some threads about the artist Goya and I could have done a remora and posted with those references, but I'm feeling a little bold. In response to all that is discussed here and in The Work and in the earlier works, I think this painting by Goya is quite interesting. I'd like to take "the witch" out of the equation and simply leaving it on the doorstep of unknown energies that zap the life force. What John Keel might call the nonthinkers and the games that they play. The reason why I'd like to take "the witch" out of the equation is because I feel this word is highly charged and has nothing to do with those individuals The Inquisition (of the day) oppressed or obsessed over: the shamans, the healers, the midwives, anyone that was awake and aware and had real power through knowledge.

From the wiki link:

The general scholarly consensus is that the painting represents a rationalist critique of superstition and ignorance, particularly in religious matters: the witches' corozas are not only emblematic of the violence of the Spanish Inquisition (the upward flames indicate that they have been condemned as unrepentant heretics and will be burned at the stake),[6] but are also reminiscent of episcopal mitres, bearing the characteristic double points. The accusations of religious tribunals are thus reflected back on themselves, whose actions are implicitly equated with superstition and ritualized sacrifice.[7] The bystanders can then be understood either as appalled but unable to do anything or willfully ignorant and unwilling to intervene.[8] The donkey, finally, is the traditional symbol of ignorance.[9]

I don't know much about him, but looking through his works on wiki seems to suggest that most of his work represented a reaction to the pathology and violence he found himself surrounded by. If the above wiki quote is based on the truth then he was comparing those running the inquisitions to evil blood sucking supernatural 'witches'. That they themselves where the evil 'whiches' they accused others of being.

It's something you often see in pathology, the furvent blaming/accusation of the victim for some abhorrent behaviour the accusers are actually indulging in.

Taking away 'the witch' from this work then would distroy the message I think.

One thing Laura has pointed out a few times when recalling her study of history is that you have to consider the social context of the person/events (let alone weather it was true or not), and that societal context is most likely quite foreign to us.

 

[NevadaCat]

Goya was a keen observer of his time, and I appreciate what you shared. My post was certainly subjective.

I wonder how Goya would construct the painting today and if he'd depict people suspended in the air staring up into the blue glow of their phones/electronics.

 

[Keit]

Goya was a keen observer of his time, and I appreciate what you shared. My post was certainly subjective.

I wonder how Goya would construct the painting today and if he'd depict people suspended in the air staring up into the blue glow of their phones/electronics.

Actually, if I understood the symbolism of the picture correctly, and following your idea, he would probably depict the peasants as staring into their phones, while the witches would be busy waterboarding their victim. fwiw.

 

[NevadaCat]

Brilliant!

 

[NevadaCat]

And maybe a few false flag events on the horizon to distract those without their EYE phones. The horrifying image of the torture victims at Guantanamo with the hood on their head could be a modern Goya.