Water heals and purifies. It also kills and destroys.
Few symbols encompass both the life-giving and death-dealing properties of water as the sacrament of baptism, which represents both the passing of the old self and their rebirth as a new creature (Romans 6:3-11).
Here, the image of death & rebirth is also reinforced by a dragonfly motif; the dragonfly spends the first years of its life in the deep waters as a nymph, and is completely transformed into a new being as it rises to the surface.
Unlike butterflies, a dragonfly undergoes several molting processes after its emergence, showing that, while the creature is already made new, it is not yet perfected, and must grow in its new identity through what is called progressive sanctification.
The work's title refers to the Christian daimyo, Konishi Yukinaga, whose baptismal name is Augustine, and is the primary subject of this image.
It may be a surprise, but I am only now reading 1st book on UFOs ( I have been mostly interested in aliens as fiction or in ttRPGs). I just learned about the Arecibo Message.
Frank Drake sent a message of 1679 bits to his fellow UFO friends and said that this was a mathematical message he wanted to send to the aliens. While not all cultures share language, we all share math.
To test if it was decode-able, he asked them to figure out what it meant with no other context. They failed.
So he sent it to more UFO friends. They failed, too.
So he put it in a decoder magazine and got exactly one correct answer from an electrician. 1679 is the product of two semi-prime numbers, which should get you to realize it’s a 23 *73 picture.
Bu needless to say if the interpretation rate was that low amongst earthlings, the hopes for alien communication seemed dim. Especially since the message will take 25K years to arrive.
But we do have C’therax and Friends’ take above – admittedly the DNA double helix (blue) does look like a butterflyish thing.
Twizzy loves all things yellow. Cause it feel like the sun and is always bright. Speaking of which , she also likes flowers. Her faves are sunflowers, marigolds, buttercups, tulips, etc.
I could draw mandalas all day. I think I go crazy for the ones that have nature elements in them more though. Micron ink on Bristol. Janelle Dimmett 2023. www.janelledimmett.com
When i was younger & used to wear bright , colourful frocks , i always saw butterflies around me & i wanted to catch them. Growing gradually, now , i realised that the real joy of seeing a butterfly is not by catching it , rather to let it free & embrace the natural beauty.
