Evolution of Fantasy Art

Fantasy A Part of all Human Societies

Every creature at some point of time tends to dwell in a fantasy world and mankind has always been a dreamer with strong need for the irrational. As we see even in the prehistoric age, many paintings depicted gods, imaginary fantasy beasts and other mythical creatures while some pictures from the caves in Spain had pictures which were over 15,000 years old.

 When it were discovered at first they were believed to be fake but with the discoveries done in other caves these paintings were confirmed as real and original where the people had painted them to the extent of giving them an abstract figure, more of a fantasy. As fantasy has existed down the ages, so also fantasy art and illustration.

Fantasy art has always been a part of all human societies all through history and is found in plenty in folklore, fairy tales, mythology, religion and science fiction. Most of the ideas and fantasy stories have made their place in art, with illustration into reality and fantasy art and fantasy literature have always been linked like the two sides of a coin.

High and Low Fantasy 

To define what is not a reality in the form of fantasy is quite a difficult task and for high fantasy, in terms of illustration and literature could be one from other world or other worldly creatures. A great fantasy writer and expert, Tolkien, has defined the difference in terms of primary and a secondary world, primary which is our own world while secondary being the imaginary world.

High fantasy according to him is distinguished from low fantasy on the basis of setting and low fantasy is set in our real primary world. Low fantasy may then include all mythology, fictions, fairytales which may be fanciful and a non –rational phenomenon but tend to exist in our world without any explanation of its existence in the rational world.

Mythology History in Fantasy Art

The ability to create within secondary world in the past was not always permitted and fantasy art did not emerge through the creation of secondary world but through the depiction of low fantasy which exist in the primary world.

Popular themes of fantasy art that have been adopted in the new worlds of high fantasy that have always been are the fairy tales, folklore, legends and mythology. European art in the past were the only themes which seemed worthy and were portraiture, of Christian or classical mythology while artistic imagination was not free. While depicting myths and tales, the need to hold true to the story was essential.

Myth defined as fiction at one point of time was considered as fact to some people and art was created in context to the beliefs which they looked upon even to the extent that though they were not believed in by the society, they were at least revered and respected.

Mythology history in fantasy art takes us back to the cave drawings of imaginary gods, beasts and mythical creatures which arose probably from a need to explain various things which is captured and subdued in the form of fantasy art.

Fingers Length Portrays Your Personality

Research shows that a quick study of the hands especially the length of the index and the ring finger tells a lot about a person’s personality along with the risk of disease. The two important fingers are the index finger, the one which is used to pointing to something and the ring finger.

Your finger length can tell or predict how well a person can perform on various tests in school and what kind of a person they turn out to be. Scientist made a comparison on the finger lengths of seventy five children with their Standardized Assessment Test – SAT, scores and found a clear link between the child’s performance in numeracy as well as literacy test along with the relative length of their index and the ring finger.

It is known that boys comparatively perform better in math test while girls did better at reading, writing and verbal tests. Scientists are of the belief that the link is caused due to different levels of the hormones testosterone and estrogen in the womb and the effect they have on the length of the finger as well as the development of the brain.

Index and the Ring Fingers – Important for reading

The total length of the fingers is measured according to the size of the palm and on an average, the longest finger is about 7/8th the size of the palm and if the length of the finger is as long as the palm, the fingers are considered to be long while short fingers are shorter than 7/8th of the size of the palm.

 The length and size of an individual’s fingers can give a common personality of the person. Long fingers portray a detail oriented person who think things completely and tend to be critical on small details while short fingers denote a physically oriented big picture people who are focused on the real world in an overall manner.

The index finger is considered very important in palm reading and though the index and ring fingers are compared to each other, if the index finger is even a fraction longer it is considered long. The ring finger on the other hand should be 1/8th or 12 cm longer than the index finger to be considered long and the line drawn between them must be half way up the final joint on the middle finger.

Index Finger – Mirror Finger 

The index finger being the most important finger is also called the mirror finger since it indicates the person’s self image. A long index finger indicates a natural leader who are used to responsibility, having a high standard for themselves as well as others.

They also tend to be drawn to self reflection in all their activities. A short index finger on the other hand indicates a lower self esteemed personality who may tend to hide behind a persona which they create, with trouble in expressing their true feelings and thoughts. Moreover they are also prone to various health issues which may be the outcome of self negligence like unhealthy eating habits or smoking.

The middle finger also known as the `wall’ finger portrays the attitude toward authority and mental abilities while the thumb is used as a measure of willpower as well as self control. Short thumbs have a lower ability to stick to things when they tend to get tough while long thumbs have high levels of self discipline and perseverance.

The Pineal Gland, The Third Eye

Is there a possibility that we have a third eye that can connect us to the spiritual dimension? The Pineal gland is something that is spoken in the New Age community as the intuition organ having connection point between the body and the spirit though only few people are aware that the pineal gland is in fact a literal eye. The Pineal Gland also called pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, epiphysis or the third eye is a small endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain.

It is located near the center of the brain, in the midst of the two hemispheres tucked in a groove where the two rounded thalamic bodies meet. It produces serotonin derivative melatonin, which is a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep cycle with seasonal functions. It is regarded as one of the most important part of the nervous system and the word `pinea’, is derived from the Latin word, `pincone’.

Pincone is a symbolism appearing all over the ancient world from the Greek, Sumerian and Roman traditions right to the Vatican’s `Court of the Pine Cone’, as well as the staff of the Pope. It is considered to be of high psychic and spiritual significance and bindis in the Hindu culture is a way of signifying the importance of the pineal gland with spiritual wakefulness.

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Can be activated to the Spiritual World through Yoga….

The Pineal Gland or the third eye of every human being can be activated to the spiritual world frequencies and once tuned into proper frequencies with the aid of meditation, yoga or various esoteric, occult methods, it helps to travel into another dimension known as astral projection or travel or remote viewing.

Along with advance practice and ancient methods, there is also a possibility of controlling the thoughts and action of people in the physical world. It is also represented in Catholicism in Rome where the pineal is depicted as a pine cone in art.

While the ancient societies like the Egyptians and the Romans were aware of the benefits, they exemplified the pineal gland in their vast symbologies with the symbol of an eye. Several research have been conducted confirming that there are certain period in the night perhaps between the hours of one and four in the morning when the chemicals get released in the brain bringing about feelings of connectivity to one’s higher source.

Pineal Gland target for Flouride

A research carried out by a scientist, Jennifer Luke in the late 90s, on the first study the effects of sodium fluoride, on the pineal gland and was determined that the pineal gland placed in the middle of the brain seemed to be a target for fluoride. Besides, the pineal gland seemed to absorb more fluoride than any other physical matter in the body and the bones.

The Pineal gland seems to be like a magnet to sodium fluoride which calcifies the gland, making it no longer effective in balancing the entire hormonal processes through the body. Various studies have proved that sodium fluoride goes to the most important gland in the brain and is the only thing which attacks the most important center of our gland in the brain.

Galactic Center Alignment Of Milky Way

Galactic Alignment between the Sun and the Center of Galaxy

Our planet is connected to our solar system and our solar system is connected to our galaxy which in turn is connected to the universe, the living and breathing organism of life. The earth orbits round the Sun, which itself is a part of the Milky Way galaxy taking about 220 million years for the Sun to complete a single journey around the Milky Way. The Sun moves up and down during its travel in orbit around the center of the galaxy, its oscillation taking a total of 64 million years to complete. When the Sun passes directly through the galactic disk, there is a perfect galactic alignment between the Sun and the center of the galaxy. The Milky Way is 100,000 years away and 1,000 light years thick and during the course of those 64 million years cycle, the Sun tends to rise above the galactic plane, 500 light years moving down through the galactic plane, till its 500 light years below and then returns back again.

Galactic Equator – Milky Way

The Galactic Alignment is the alignment of the December solstice sun with the Galactic equator of our galaxy, the Milky Way which occurs as a result of the precession of the equinoxes and is associated with the end of the ancient Mayan calendar in 2012. Precession is the result of the earth moving very slowly on its axis shifting the position of the equinoxes and solstices by a degree every 71.5 years due to which the sun is one half of a degree wide which will take the December solstice sun, 36 years to precess through the Galactic equator. The Galactic Equator, a virtual line that describes 0 degrees longitude and 0 degree latitude acts as a divisionary line between the northern and southern hemisphere of the Milky Way galaxy and the precise alignment of the solstice point with the Galactic equator was calculated to occur in 1998. This date was refined further by Smelyakov to May 7, 1998.

Galactic Alignment once every 25,000 years 

Due to the width of the Sun being the cause of an inprecise alignment of visual alignment, the Galactic Alignment `zone’ is 1998 +/- 18 years = 1980 – 2016, according to Jenkins – era 2012. The Galactic Alignment takes place only once every 25,000 years and occurs to what the ancient Maya pointed, with the 2012 end date of their Long Count calendar. Some, who claimed that the Maya predicted the end of the world in 2012, used a particular astronomical alignment into believing that this would take place at the end of the 13 Bak’tun in the Maya Long Count calendar – December 21st 2012. The claim was that the Sun on that date would align with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, a thing which happens once in every 25,772 years. It was further claimed that the Maya knew about the alignment and set their Long Count calendar to end on that day since that alignment would be leading to something to take place which was left to the imagination and would affect mankind involving every level of dimension as well as every planet in our solar system.

History mystery: Uppsala a Religious Site in Gamla Uppsala

The temple at Uppsala was a religious site in Gamla Uppsala – Old Uppsala which is near the modern Uppsala, in Sweden and was created to worship the Norse gods of prehistoric times. The most famous image of Uppsala is based on Adam of Bremen’s detailed description in the history of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen relating his account on the famous pagan center which had been studied and discussed for centuries creating the fantasy of many historians as well as laymen.

The temple is documented in other sources though it is referred in the Norse sagas and Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum. The main controversies relating to the temple is aimed on determining if the pre Christian society of Sweden had any temples and if so where in the Old Uppsala were they situated. Some are of the belief that the temple was confused with the hall of the Swedish kings which were located around ten meters to the north of the present church.

Cathedral Church Built on same Location

The Archbishopric of Sweden in 1164, established at Gamla Uppsala, was once the political centre of the Svear kingdom during the late Iron Age and also a stronghold of pre Christian cult and their symbolic decision was portrayed through the construction of one of the largest churches in Scandinavia. At Gamla Uppsala, the cathedral church was built on the same location as the famous pagan temple, described by Adam of Bremen during the early 1970s and though they are still retained in present time’s textbooks and elsewhere, its conclusion is erroneous. Many churches in Scandinavia were built in the vicinity of the older pagan sanctuaries though there is little or any evidence that churches were built and consecrated over them.

Famous Temple Ubsola

Adam of Bremen relates that the Swedes had a famous temple, Ubsola that was situated near a large tree having wide branches which were always green and no one had any indication of its species. Besides it was a well which was probably used in performing the sacrifices where a living man was immersed in the well. It was their belief that if the man would disappear, the gods would answer their prayers. This was a little distance from the towns of Sigtuna and Birka and a golden chain was around the temple hanging over its gable, the chain of which could be seen glittering far and wide whenever anyone approached it.

Inside the temple, decorated with rich gold, stood three statues of gods, the most important being Thor, who sat on a throne in the centre. Besides him sat the gods Odin also called Wotan and Frey called Fricco, by Adam. While Thor is said to govern air, thunder, lightning, winds, rain, good weather and harvest, Odin is related to fury, bringing in war and strength against enemies. Frey is related to peace and pleasure, is represented by a statue with immense phallus. Thor is compared to Jupiter and Odin’s statue which is armed is compared to Mars by Adam. The people also worshipped heroes who were elevated to gods like King Erik where an account of him is given in Vita Ansgari.

History mystery: Heimdall – God of Sky and Light

According to Norse mythology, Heimdall was a god who possessed the resounding horn, owned a horse with golden mane and had golden teeth. He was known by many names as Rig, Hallinskioi, Gullintanni and Vindler or Vindhler. Heimdall was the guardian of the gods who was the son of nine mothers, the daughters of the Giant Geirrendour also known as God Aegir, or the nine Wave Sisters. He was the whitest of all gods and was considered to be the god of sky and light since he was born at the dawn of the world and was raised by seawater, the force of the earth and the blood of a boar.

His dwelling was in the Cliffs of Paradise, Himinbjorg and his horse was named Gulltop. Being a guardian of Gods, he would monitor the Rainbow Bridge Bifrost which was the only entrance to Asgard. His had to serve as a watchman for the gods against the giant Jotun with his strong and mighty horns known as Gjjallar along with his rooster Gullinkambi as well as other threats against the Asgardian. Nothing escaped him and needing less sleep than a bird he was capable of seeing through the night as in the day, more than a hundred miles away and his hearing was such that no sound could escape him so much so that he could even hear the grass grow or the wool of sheep curl, in other words he had an excellent sense of hearing.

Heimdall is compared to the tree of the universe standing at the top above the highest rainbow in the sky. At Ragnorak, he would be the first to draw the attention of the gods to warn them and the last to die in a duel with Loki. He would stand on the boundary of the human and the divine world with some accounts of the personification of the world tree Yggdrasil. When he was young he lived among men giving them gifts of culture. He was considered to be one of the first god which dates back to the earliest Indo European pantheons and it was Heimdall, not Odin who had fathered three classes of mankind, - the peasants, serfs and the warriors.

When the sound of the horn Gjallar was heard throughout the nine worlds, the Aesir would assemble with the knowledge of the prophecies that they were approaching their doomsday and resigning to their fate they prepared themselves to meet their enemies of the gods who gathered at the plain called Vigrior. This was the Apocalyptic Battle of Ragnorok where Heimdall was the one to take Loki down though he too would perish from his wounds where the world would be engulfed in flames and thereafter sink into the sea. In the final battle with Loki, the Bifrost, the magical rainbow bridge which was a portal between Asgard and the human world got destroyed and was later rebuilt but the fighters Asgards got separated from the rest of the universe and remained hidden.

History Mystery:The Kalevala Epic

Old Kalevala published in 1935

The old Kalevala, the first version was published in 1835 compiled and edited by Elias Lonnrot on the basis of the epic folk poems collected in Finland and Karelia. This poetic song tradition which was sung in an unusual archaic trochaic tetrameter had been part of the oral tradition among Balto Finnic language for around two thousand years and when the Kalevala finally appeared in print for the first time, Finland it was said to be an Autonomous Grand Duchy for quarter of a century. Earlier to this, till 1809, Finland was a part of the Swedish empire. The Kalavala was an important turning point for Finnish language culture which caused chaos abroad as well, drawing the attention of other Europeans to a small unknown people who bolstered the Finn’s faith and self confidence in the Finnish language and culture. The Kalevala was then called the Finnish national epic.

Kalevala – National Epic of Karelia and Finland

Lonnrot together with his colleagues carried on their efforts in the collection of folk poetry adding new collection to it and the version commonly known today was published in 1849 consisting of 22,795 verses which are divided into fifty songs, the titles of which can be interpreted as `The land of Kaleva’, or `Kalevia’. Kalevala is considered as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and one of the most significant forms of Finnish literature. It also played an important role in the development of the Finnish national identity intensifying the Finland’s language strife together with the growing sense of nationality which finally led to the independence of Finland from Russia in the year 1917.

Finnish Poetry in Oral Tradition

Prior to the 18^th century, the Kalevala poetry was quite common in Finland and Karelia but began to disappear first in western Finland since the European rhymed poetry became common more in Finland and the Finnish folk poetry was written down in the 17^th century which was collected by scholars and hobbyist all through the centuries but the major part of the Finnish poetry only remained in the oral tradition. Kaarle Akseli Gottulund, (1796-1875), a Finnish born nationalist and linguist expressed his concern for a Finnish epic similar to The Iliad, Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied which was compiled from various poems and songs from most of Finland. He thought that such an endeavor would bring about a sense of independence and nationality to the Finnish people.

Turku Weekly News

It was toward 1820, that Reinhold von Becker who founded the journal Turun Wiikko-Sanomat – Turku Weekly News, published three of his articles entitled Vainamoisesta and his works were a source of inspiration to Elias Lonnrot in his master’s thesis at Turku University. It is believed that during the Finnish reformation towards the 16^th  century, the clergy had prohibited relating and singing of pagan rites and stories due to the introduction of the European poetry and music causing a considerable reduction in the traditional folk songs together with their singers. This could have resulted in the somewhat fading away of the tradition though not completely forgotten.