tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2905155363976375938.post8328522583191187785..comments2024-03-21T22:36:54.451-04:00Comments on HISTORIES OF THINGS TO COME: Nuclear Leaks 16: Chernobyl Anniversary - Wormwood Will Fall from the SkyLC Douglasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04250961297714038453noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2905155363976375938.post-85725730007848127182012-05-22T20:39:54.269-04:002012-05-22T20:39:54.269-04:00Thanks for your comment Gina, and the links. Yes, ...Thanks for your comment Gina, and the links. Yes, this would be a more sensible explanation!LC Douglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04250961297714038453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2905155363976375938.post-12015793168634629732012-05-06T16:18:27.749-04:002012-05-06T16:18:27.749-04:00note that the slavic languages here all call wormw...note that the slavic languages here all call wormwood 'cherno' something. red wine is called crno vino. crno really means dark, not black necessarily. i would suggest the appellation 'cherno' differentiates mugwort from yellow (A absinthium) and white (A judaica) flowered varieties. http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Arte_vul.html this page is also interesting: http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Arte_vul.htmlginahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10504582340995664890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2905155363976375938.post-41140896692599023142012-04-27T20:33:58.388-04:002012-04-27T20:33:58.388-04:00Thanks very much for your comment and the links, D...Thanks very much for your comment and the links, Dia. I did not know that Crowley had written a piece on it (am not surprised). I looked at it. It is well-written. He strikes me as a creature of his time, one of these people who could make a living (and a following) out of just existing on his own terms. Perhaps he existed out of his time; a recent similar figure, who did not have as much impact, could be Sebastian Horsley. As you know, I do not like Crowley at all and think he was very bad news. The only good thing I can say about him is that he would agree with me. <br /><br />But what interests me at this point is that in the past 10 years or so absinthe has come back into fashion. The return of absinthe is emblematic of something afoot now beneath the surface; I wonder what aspects of the Bohemian Belle Epoque draws in these Millennial hipsters? What is it they are seeking in the pre WWI era? What hidden spirit are they trying to revive? I first encountered it in cocktail bars around 1999. I got the impression that most people who sampled it for thrills were struggling with an emptiness.<br /><br />If this Millennial compulsion instead in some subconscious way relates to nuclear, scientific, technological advancements and fears, I would think it is more like the example of absinthe-wormwood-Chernobyl, a sort of grand and extremely unfortunate palimpsest. It's not that these symbols are directly connected with each other, or causally linked. But they overlap each other transparently, across centuries. As the Millennial consciousness stretches thin, you see green shining through; and that's not really a good thing.LC Douglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04250961297714038453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2905155363976375938.post-15152959480701519012012-04-26T13:33:07.161-04:002012-04-26T13:33:07.161-04:00An amazing article! I wasn't aware of the horr...An amazing article! I wasn't aware of the horrific details of the Chernobyl incident you mention in the beginning of the post, nor the connection to absinthe or wormwood. Very, very weird.<br /><br />As I was a huge fan of the Symbolist and Decadent culture of the previous turn-of-the-century, I came across the mention of absinthe frequently. It was all the rage at the time with the luminaries of the Decadent movement, such as Paul Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, Rimbaud, Aubrey Beardsley, etc., etc.<br /><br />Even our "pal", Aleister Crowley wrote a book about absinthe, "The Green Goddess". Here's an interesting quote from the book:<br /><br />"What is there in absinthe that makes it a separate cult? ... Even in ruin and in degradation it remains a thing apart: its victims wear a ghastly aureole all their own, and in their peculiar hell yet gloat with a sinister perversion of pride that they are not as other men." -- Aleister Crowley<br /><br />(quote found here:http://www.oxygenee.com/absinthe/books7.html)<br /><br />Relevant links to absinthe, and its relation to the Decadent/Symbolists and its modern usage - yes, there's even an absinthe museum! - can be found here : http://www.feeverte.net/links.html<br /><br />And, lastly, a long list of absinthe/Symbolist-related books: http://www.amazon.com/Season-Drunken-Green-Absinthe-Symbolism/lm/R3OEV6UHDICONL<br /><br />Thanks for the informative, intriguing post!Dia Sobin (Araqinta)https://www.blogger.com/profile/03398194511342193439noreply@blogger.com