flores de Mayo

May Day is here and wonder | wander | world is reminded of our Flores de Mayo  and Santa Cruzan celebrations back home. 

Santacruzan de Mayo provincial parade, Iloilo

A parade of the town’s loveliest ladies dressed in their dazzling best reenact the search and discovery of Christ’s Cross by Queen Helena and Emperor Constantine in an evening procession that culminates in the town plaza in front of the main cathedral.

vintage photo of the Bacolod Plaza, 1923

The towns all along the coast of Negros Island take their turn dressing up their fairest and hosting fiestas to celebrate the occasion in their own distinct style.

compartmentalizing in crisis

Trauma or crisis can all too readily kick in our fight or flight syndrome. Whatever the cause - corona virus? climate change? community pantries?  

The World’s Scientists’ Warning to Humanity, 1992

Any and all can be an aggravation. Especially in light of yet another Earth Day celebration. 

turning your pain into art

For the first time in wonder | wander | world, we're taking a writing class together! It was even more of an eye-opening experience than we expected, and sometimes very emotional. 

Anxiety Eggs, art by Mahala, 2017

meet Pamela "Pixie" Colman Smith

As an exercise draw a composition of fear or sadness, or great sorrow, quite simply, do not bother about details now, but in a few lines tell your story. Then show it to any one of your friends, or family, or fellow students, and ask them if they can tell you what it is you meant to portray. You will soon get to know how to make it tell its tale. ~ Pamela Colman Smith, “Should the Art Student Think?” July, 1908

A year after Arts and Crafts movement magazine The Craftsman published illustrator Pamela Colman Smith’s essay, she spent six months creating what would become the world’s most popular tarot deck. Her graphic interpretations of such cards as The Magician, The Tower, and The Hanged Man helped readers to get a handle on the story of every newly dealt spread.

Pixie - the forgotten Bohemian artist

Colman Smith—known to friends as “Pixie”—was commissioned by occult scholar and author Arthur E. Waite, a fellow member of the British occult society the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, to illustrate a pack of tarot cards. 

a tragic tale of injustice

wonder | wander | world wishes us all a joyous Easter Sunday! This time we have at least 28 substantial eggs in our Easter basket that we are very grateful for. Halleluiah! 

According to some scholars, such as Dr. Tony Nugent, teacher of Theology and Religious Studies at Seattle University, and Presbyterian minister, the Easter story comes from the Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar), an epic myth called “The Descent of Inanna” found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dating back to 2100 BC. 

The Descent of Innana

When Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld. In the underworld, she enters through seven gates, and her worldly attire is removed. "Naked and bowed low" she is judged, killed, and then hung on display. In her absence, the earth loses its fertility, crops cease to grow and animals stop reproducing. Unless something is done, all life on earth will end.