This study identified the icon of Virgin Moscovita and the icon of the Holy Mandylion, described in Konstantinos Dapontes’ writings, with the icon of the Virgin and the icon of the Holy Mandylion preserved in his family monastery Evangelistria in Skopelos island. We can now retrace the “biography”of these two artefacts, the history of their creat…[Read more]

La découverte d’une inscription slavonne dans le narthex de l’église du monastère de Râmeț (comté d’Alba) en 1966, sa relecture avec des moyens techniques spéciaux en 1978 et sa publication officielle en 1985 ont porté à l’attention des historiens le nom du peintre (Mihul du Criș-Blanc), le nom de l’évêque fondateur (archevêque Gélase),…[Read more]

This entry investigates the connections between neo-populism and neo-conspiracism in the USA. One central thread is the rhetoric of purity that fosters rigid dichotomies of thought about identities, contributing to both populism and conspiracism, eliciting a neologism: conspirapopulism.

In each of these [identities-roles] there is stored implicit and ingrained knowledge about appropriate values and behaviors, likes and dislikes, ways of being.
A. Three main forms of automatic self-regulation are identified: an automatic effect of perception on action, the automatic pursuit of a goal and a continuous automatic evaluation of one’s…[Read more]

The Dietrich Child Perhaps the most incredible case Edgar Cayce ever encountered was the case of the Dietrich child. In fact, because newspapers did publish the remarkable story of the Dietrich child, Edgar Cayce immediately became a sensation. In 1902, Cayce had just begun to gain a reputation as a healer. Aimee Dietrich was a six-year-old child…[Read more]

This blog post tells the story of an embroidered silk postcard sent by an Australian soldier to his sister Millie in Camden, NSW, for Christmas 1916.
The post gives a short account of the history of postcards and, in particular, the millions of embroidered silk postcards made in France between 1915 and 1919.

The Meaning of Meaning As a metaphor, which might give a better perspective of meaning, could possibly be compared to the role and purpose of blood in physiology and the human body. Meaning, like blood is essential to life. We live and breathe meaning. That’s what our world is made of-meaning. Similar to how blood circulates through our body and…[Read more]

Paul Klee, a German artist, highlighted the eternal struggle of human beings to synthesize the “inner vision” with “outside experience.” “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”-Michelangelo “Beauty is the illumination of the soul!”-Poet-Theologian O’Donohue, Art & the Unconscious Psyche-Psychic Life Carl Jung…[Read more]

Historicaql Synergies 1. The Sumerians created a palace/temple -economy with a centralized over-ruling organization which controlled crop production and distribution of some goods. A centralized government was necessary because the Sumerians subsisted on crops which required centralized irrigation systems. So, the Sumerian religious temple economy…[Read more]

Teorya ng Apat na Pangangailangan na [sapat] Nagpapaliwanag at Naglalarawan sa Relihiyon Ang Apat na Pangunahing Drive: Ang Pangangailangan para sa Kahulugan, Ang Pangangailangan sa Pag-aari, Ang Pangangailangan para sa Ideolohiya, at ang Espirituwal na Drive Ang aking argumento ay ang mga paniniwala sa relihiyon ay pangunahing nilikha at nabuo ng…[Read more]

This blog post tells the story of an embroidered silk handkerchief sent to an Australian soldier on the frontline in 1916 at Christmas.

This newspaper article tells the story of a First World War patriotic fund, the Princess Mary Christmas Fund, launched in 1914. Princess Mary, the daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, aimed to raise enough funds to ensure that ‘every Sailor afloat and every Soldier at the front’ received a Christmas present in the form of a small keepsake…[Read more]

This blog post details two public artworks at the Camden Civic Centre that won awards at the Camden Art Prize.
The artworks are ‘Crossroads’ by Diego Latella (1977) and ‘Space’ by Irene Carroll (1994)

My argument is that religious beliefs are primarily created and generated by four very basic and fundamental “Needs” or “Drives.” From a rather practical and pragmatic approach, in general, religions could be said to involve meaning or purpose, others and relationships, as well as structures and principles for both meaning, relationships, and gro…[Read more]

Karen Armstrong, In her book, The Case For God, opens with the discussion of the 300 plus caves in Southern France and Northern Spain which have amazingly artistic ‘prehistoric’ cave paintings of prehistoric animals many of whom are now extinct, some dating to 30,000 years ago. “In all there are about six hundred frescoes and fifteen hundred engra…[Read more]

This blog post tells the story behind the Camden Teamsters Memorial in John Street, Camden, NSW.
The memorial is a tribute to the teamsters, bullockies and carriage drivers who travelled the Yerranderie Road between the mining town of Yerranderie and Camden through the Burragorang Valley.
The memorial has a rear wheel from a flat-top wagon, a…[Read more]

Korean War Battle of Chosin Reservoir: The British casualties in one day in the battle of the Somme during WWI were 50,000 dead and wounded. 50,000 casualties in one day – patriotism & esprit de corps – is a very solid proof that there is a “psychology of groups.”
Why is the Battle of Chosin Reservoir important?
Preface: Materialist dogma – “…[Read more]

This article argues that the analysis of a threedimensional image demanded a three-dimensional approach. The authors realise that discussions of images and image processing inveterately conceptualise representation as being flat, static, and finite. The authors recognise the need for a fresh acuteness to three-dimensionality as a meaningful – a…[Read more]

This text consists of the ‘lectio praecursoria’ given at the defense of my doctoral dissertation “The Good Noblemen Who Conquered the Kingdom: Islam, Historiography, and Aristocratic Legitimation in Late-Medieval Portugal”. This dissertation deals with aristocratic historiography and political legitimation in late-medieval Portugal (late…[Read more]