Kirjahaku

The Art of Living: Falstaff, the Fool, and Dino asks the question what virtues should a person cultivate in order to live a happy life? Instead of looking to the powerful or successful or even the wise, the book advises us to turn to the fools. The essential quality of the archetype of the Fool (whether in literature, the Tarot, or as a medieval court jester) is freedom. They can speak the truth and accept themselves as they are. Falstaff, the literary star of Shakespeare's Henry IV plays, perhaps the greatest comic character ever written, keeps his equanimity no matter the circumstances through his supreme wit. Dino, in his prime, the most popular star in Hollywood, follows the maxim: your life belongs to you. With a lightness of spirit and the courage it takes to stand outside the social order, they delight in the blessing of life. With over 125 illustrations to vivify these irresistible characters, The Art of Living blends scholarship, esoteric studies, cultural critique with the spirit of play, humor, and personal stories. It invites readers to partake in the renewing experience of meeting the fool in themselves.

For millennia, the human imagination has been devoted to the Goddess, so it is hardly a surprise to find images of supernatural females like Sheela na gigs adorning sacred and secular architecture throughout Ireland, England, Wales, and Scotland. Appearing on rural churches, castles, bridges, holy wells, tombs, and standing stones, these powerful images of a figure fearlessly displaying her vulva embody the power of the Dark Goddess over the mysteries of sex, life, death, and rebirth. Exploring the art and myth of the Sheela na gig from Celtic and Classical times back to Paleolithic cave art, Starr Goode shows how the Sheela embraces a conundrum of opposites: she clearly offers up her ripe sex yet emanates a repelling menace from the upper half of her hag-like body. Through more than 150 photographs, the author shows how the Sheela is a goddess with the power to renew, a folk deity used to help women survive childbirth, and, as a guardian of doorways and castle walls, a liminal entity representing the gateway to the divine. She explains how these powerful images survived eradication during the rise of Christianity and retained their preeminent positions on sacred sites, including medieval churches.