William Blakes Fourfold Vision–Imagination is Eternity

 Now I a fourfold vision see,

William Blake

And a fourfold vision is given to me;
‘Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And threefold in soft Beulah’s night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newton’s sleep!

Maybe today, we need more of the mystery that was William Blake's approach to the world.

 Blake’s contemporaries often regarded him as eccentric or mad. But today we can be found singing Jeruslalem with gusto at proms––even if we don't understand a word of what he  meant––yet still drawn to the idea that the 'dark satanic mills' can be defeated with 'mental strife'. 

 Blake was a mystic, an early Rosicrucian. He studied British (and Norse) mythology and works of Jacob Boehme, and his favourite book, it is said, was St John's  Revelation, and he'd experienced visions and 

His who tried to explain his constant prophetic visions through his poetry and unique art. It seems that he was telling us about human imagination. How through vision, meditation and other penetrating thought methods––shamanism included, I think––it reveals the truths of existence. ‘If the doors of perception were cleansed,' he wrote, 'every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.’ 

I first encountered this idea at a Temenos Meeting at Lampeter University, where Susanne Sklar explained how Blake's Fourfold mythic system is designed to change the way we think and see, leading us into a world where imagination and forgiveness are social structuring principles, and how he evolved these theories throughout his working life, culminating in his book Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion, in which he imagines how war, poverty, and repression no longer exist when Jerusalem, which Blake seems to witness as a feminine-divine, rises and we enter the state of Eternity.

Blake spoke a lot about  fourfold vision' but he didn't invent the term. He would have known very well that it is in the Bible and in 

Jacob having his mysterious dream of angels going up his Ladder.  

Paradise Lost, (Blake wrote a long poem about Milton).  Also,  before Blake was born, Thomas Boston's book of theology entitled  Human Nature, in its Four-fold State, names these 'states' as Ulro, Generation, Beulah, and Eternity. Blake refers to these in Jerusalem.  Because the four visionary paths mean different things depending on the interpretation, I wonder if these inner names offer clues to what what Blake actually meant. 

Blake considered 'single vision'…Ulro…to be the way a person sees the world in either/or dynamics,  beliving only in the reality that one can see in front of oneself. In the quote at the top of this blogpost, Blake mentions Newton’s sleep, believing it to be the sleep of reason where the world is viewed solely through the narrow lens of science. Rather, Blake urges people to be 'twofold always', recognizing that everything is multi-dimensional with layers of meaning, one leading to another. Twofold Vision…Generation…invites a focus on patterns and interconnections within relationships, a constant search for sincronicity, and an understanding of omens and oracles. 

Threefold Vision…Beulah…concentrates on relationships. In Hebrew, Beulah means 'married', and in this instance, it suggests  a constant search for personal connection, the lived experience of empathy, and intuitive, emotional engagement with others. This vision acknowledges that as we encounter the world, we are changed. Blake explained the way he saw things in a letter to the Reverend Dr. Trusler, in 1799: I know that This World Is a World of IMAGINATION & Vision. I see Every thing I paint In This World, but Every body does not see alike. To the eyes of a Miser a Guinea is more beautiful than the Sun, & a bag worn with the use of Money has more beautiful proportions than a Vine filled with Grapes. The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the Eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. ... It's nice to acknowledge that Blake's own marraige to Catherine was a happy union that lasted to his death. 

the fourfold imagination

Eternity––the fourfold vision experience––includes and makes sense of the best of the other states. Reasoning, basic drives, love and other emotions and, most important, imagination, to innterelate and allow a person's senses to be open. This can lead to immense 'seeing', or visionary experiences. Therapist Hugh Palmer says; Fourfold Vision, combines precision, relationship, empathy, and creativity in a dynamic, ethical interplay. This state of eternity might offer the artist a window, or mirror, or culvert or path towards new and original thinking, be it in paint, stone, words or any other creative outlet. 

Anyone who has taken a shamanic journey will have quickly found themselves shaken out of their single vision status and into recognising there is more inside and outside the world than we can simply see. The fourfold vision offers a 'glimpse of eternity' and a shamanic journey can offer someting very close to that; a relationship with the ancestors, an ability to learn in new ways and a chance to bond and communicate with spirit guides and deities. 

Blake was revolutionary in every way, as these words might show; Nature has no Outline, but Imagination has. Nature has no Tune, but Imagination has. Nature has no Supernatural and dissolves: Imagination is Eternity.

His poem,  Auguries of Innocence, is a statement on the right to life and freedom without qualification, suggesting he would have been just as comfortable and outspoken if he'd lived in the 21st century:

A Robin Red breast in a Cage

Puts all Heaven in a Rage.

A dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate

Predicts the ruin of the State.

Each outcry of the hunted Hare

A fibre from the Brain does tear.

The wanton Boy that kills the Fly

Shall feel the Spider’s enmity.

Each couplet is an illustration of a philosophical perspective suggesting that so long as anyone is imprisoned, none of us is free. It is the ultimate call for justice that includes all creatures.

Blake lived almost 70 years, and just before his death, he created the picture below,  The Ancient of Days Striking the First Circle of the Earth, after reading again, in Paradise Lost, …He took the golden Compasses….

The Ancient of Days Striking the First Circle of the Earth

https://www.legendsofwales.com/home/twrch-trwyth/

The Twrch Trwych––a magical boar of great size and superhero strength––has fascinated me for years. Anyone who has seen a boar burst out of woodland cover and race across a forest path, snorting and steaming, the sharpness of his tusks catching the light, will know that the non-magical variety of boar is impressive enough. But this boar shoots silver spears from his bristles and is accompanied by his seven sons, all piglets with a nasty streak. 

His is a tale within in myth, and one of the first tales of King Arthur. A story of courage to the death, in the quest for some barber's equipment. In the story, the names of all the earliest knights of Arthur are set down, and many places in Wales are named. The myth has been called an 'onomastic tale', which is the study of the origin of place names. In Welsh myth, naming places in a hunt or journey is often linked to key episodes within the tale. But it's just as possible that the story inspired the place-names themselves. In their wonderful book about the Trwych's journey, Hunting the Wild Magalith,  Bowan and Pritchard say...replace the word 'story' with 'place'...in the animist past, the land is a story book, places are narrative, and the high ground is the home of heroes and gods.

Although the story wasn't set down in writing until the 14th century (in two manuscripts, the Red Book of Hergest, and the White Book of Rhydderch which is held in the National Library of Wales) it may be far older, part of ancient storytelling. We find it in the very complicated tale of Culhwch and Olwen. Long before we meet the boar, at the start of the tale, Culhwch, a cousin of Arthur's,  asks the great king for help; he's helplessly in love with Olwen, but Ysbaddaden, her father, is evil, possessive, and, worse, gigantic. The first thing Arthur does is sit Culhwch down and, with his very own golden comb and ‘shears with hoops of silver’, makes him presentable for the pursuit of love. It's clear that being clean shaven, well combed and generally tidy in appearance has great importance to the people in the tale, and across the Welsh myths, pigs and boars are also important. The compelling part of this story is that it combines both elements.

Culhwch achieves a series of impossible tasks thanks to Arthur and his war band, and wins the hand of his love. But Ysbaddaden insists he must be shaved properly before the wedding can take place, and this can only be done with the magical comb, scissors and razor that are entangled between the ears of the Twrch Trwyth.

It's possible that the story of this boar is actually another tale entirely, as the Twrch Trwyth was an Irish king magically transformed for his wickedness. Being turned into an animal because you've been bad crops up a lot in the ancient Welsh stories.

Arthur, Culhwch and the knights sail to Ireland and fight the Trwyth. Very soon he and his sons have escaped, leaving the dead and wounded behind, and swum the Irish Sea, to execute his revenge by ravaging towns, villages and crops across the land of Cymru. 

The monstrous pigs land at St David's head, now famous for the cathedral dedicated to the saint, and the well and shrine to his mother, Saint Non. Dolmen (passage graves called called Cromech in Welsh), litter this landscape, Carn Llidi being the closest to the boars' route. The Twrch charged furiously down towards Deu Gleddau, an ancient ford on the massive Cleddau river where there is a Bronze Age settlement and an earlier tomb, Carn Turne. 

The Twrch Trwyth's route next takes him upstream to Carn Goedog, identified as a major source for the spotted dolerites at Stonehenge So these two confirmed bluestone quarries, Craig Rhos-y-felin and Carn Goedog, both have the appearance of a resting or hiding giant boar, it seems very likely that these rocky outcrops disguised as giant boars hiding in the Preseli landscape inspired the gigantic size of the boar. The text of Culhwch doesn't mention these sites but the boar must at least pass close by them on his way from the Nevern to Cwm Cerwyn.

They run amok up to Nevern,where the most wonderful church still stands, yews bleeding in the churchyard and an ogham stone inside the building. 

Then south again, down the Afon Brynberian for a couple of miles, passing through two remarkable sites on either flank, as if through a gateway. One of these sites is the world famous bluestone cromlech Pentre Ifan, the other has been, up until relatively recent times, almost completely overlooked. It is a (stoneless) neolithic henge known as Castell Mawr.

So the route of the Twrch Trwyth through the Preseli Hills begins by him passing through two neolithic monuments, one circular, one with a huge capstone. Both these monuments have in recent times been identified by archaeologist prof. Mike Parker Pearson as being key to understanding the circular dimensions and architectural structures at Stonehenge. (See this blogpost for more info). 

The chase goes right through St Clears, where The Twrch killed four champions including Gwrydre, Arthur's son, who was trampled to death. 

At the border of Ammanford and the village of Penybanc is a metal sculpture symbolising the Twrch Trwyth and two of his company; while in Cwmamman itself, Ysgol y Bedol school displays a splendid sculpture commemorating the community's history, including its mythology. The Twrch is depicted fighting a warrior and his dogs in what has become part of the village's treasures .

Ammanford

Another legend depicts King Arthur himself as a Giant crossing over the Amman Valley. At the place on the Betws Mountain above Brunant Farm where he stopped to empty his shoe, there is a large flat rock, known by some as "Y Garreg Fawr" (Big Rock) and to others as "Arthurs Stone"

The magical boars began to run rings around the war band, going from Ammaford up into the black mountains, skirting Carreg Cennin Castle above the pretty village of Trap and finally to the lovely Llyn Fan Fawr  (Welsh for 'great lake (near) the peak'). 

Llyn y Fan Fawr

https://mabinogionastronomy.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-route-of-twrch-trwyth-and-bluestones.html

Now there were less boars, but there were less of Arthur's men, too, many having been lost in the fighting. The Twrch headed right up through what is now Ceredigion, almost to Aberystwyth, and down to Talgarth, with men picking off boars each time. But the Twrch Trwych ran on, through the Tawy Valley to Ewyas Harold, a village in the Golden Valley in Herefordshire, with Arthur's war band constantly hard on their trotters, still seeking the comb, razor and scissors. The great boar was alone now, having lost his sons. As he reached the mouth of the Severn, Arthur leapt upon him. Manawyddan grabbed his feet, upending him into the tidal waters. Then Mabon leaned forward and snatched the razer. Cyledr the Wild wrenched the scissors from between his ears. Before they could get the comb, the Twrch slipped out of Arthur's grasp, shook off his tormentors and scrambled back onto the land. With great speed he fled across the shore towards Cornwall. Undeterred, Arthur pursued him to the Cornish coast where Culhwch seized the comb and tore it from between the ears of the Twrch before the creature fled headlong into the deep sea. He was never seen again.

So Cuhlwch outwits the giant Ysbaddaden, and presents him with the tools to be shaved for the wedding. 

I've found there is great fun and fascinating revelations in trying to trace their devastating path, as all along it, are Neolithic and Bronze Age sites, including stone circles and graves. 

The magical boar can still be seen...

The Stonehenge Mystery of the Altar Stone.

 

Ten or more years ago, my imagination was captured by the mind-blowing discoveries at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, where the archaeological dig had started uncovering this new discovery in a 2010 dig. Brick by brick, bone by bone, they revealed a 5500-year-old temple complex with more than 100 buildings, surrounded by a 10ft wall. Some of this complex is possible more than 800 years earlier than Stonehenge and could be as, if not more, important than the Wiltshire site.

The altar stone lies flat and buried under two fallen sarsen stones
and is barely visible to visitors. Photograph: Aberystwyth University

This week's jaw-dropping news about the Altar Stone at Stonehenge changes things again. Scientific research has revealed an extraordinary new mystery––the massive six-tonne stone at the heart of the monument was brought to Stonehenge from the far north of Scotland.

The Altar Stone is ritually the most important stone at Stonehenge. It marks the intersection of the winter solstice sunrise to summer solstice sunset alignment, and the summer solstice sunrise to winter solstice sunset alignment.

Individual crystals were examined which allowed the Altar Stone to be dated, showing Old Red Sandstone from the Orcadian basin in north-east Scotland. This basin was once a massive ancient water body called Lake Orcadie. It's possible that this was already a ritually important stone that  might even have been taken from the Orkney sacred site, or certainly the very north-east area of the mainland. 

Aberystwyth University geologist Nick Pearce
 analyses Neolithic standing stones in Orkney 
(Prof Richard Bevins, Aberystwyth University)

This journey of over 500 miles seems near impossible. It might have been brought by sea as there is evidence that people at this time were making sea journeys. However, it could have been dragged. That would mean organising teams of people to pull the stone, possibly swapping to new teams as the journey progressed south. But now we are beginning to realise how closely connected settlements might have been, this feels more realistic.

Speaking in the New Scientist,  geologist Richard Bevins from Aberystwyth University said, "Most stone circles are made from rocks found within a kilometre of the site. The thing that’s unique about Stonehenge is the distance that stones have been transported." 

Bevins’s team has already shown that the bluestones come from the Preseli hills in Wales, about 280 kilometres away. One idea is that they were part of an even older Welsh stone monument that was moved, a fascinating story to me, which I featured in this blog post here, because I live so close to these Welsh sites. 

It was always a possibility that early man travelled widely, and the news this week seems to confirm that both these sites were connected. 

An artist's impression of what
archeologists are uncovering

I first wrote about the amazing temple complex at the Ring of Brodgar after Jim and I visited Orkney just as they were starting to dig there. Even then,  it was quite apparent to us  that Orkney was a hub of society at that time, rather than an 'outback'.

You can read more about the full era of the Orkney complex  here on this blogpost, "Unlocking the Secrets of Ancient Worship".

All this linking together of sites across England, Wales and Scotland (as we now think of it), suggests not only hardworking, intelligent and knowledgeable people living in the early Neolithic, but people who could plan, work and worship together. Of course, they may have argued, even fought each other too, but perhaps we might take a lesson from their achievements, which, in comparison, seem to outweigh our own 

The Siberian Shamanka: What we Know About Pre-historic Shamanism, PART ONE.

:   

Ice Maiden

I am the young girl:

warm-skinned,

beating-wild heart,

galloping with my tribe

across bleak plains,

calling to the wind.

I am the young woman:

dressed in silk tussah,

red-piped;

tasselled girdle;

boots, knee-high.

I am the story teller:

gold-leaf camels parade

my three foot crown;

prancing deer with

curling antlers

race across my skin.

I am ancient bones:

six dead horses

guard my grave-gate;

spices and mutton

nurture my silence.

I am the young girl:

I am treasure:

twenty-five centuries of

frozen sleep

and now they come to wake me;

warm water seeps through my ice mask,

but I do not smile

as the blue sky greets me.  © Theolyn Cortens 2000

What is a shaman? How far back into history can we trace shamanic work? The answers are startling, intriguing and convincing. They show a firm line from this century leading right back to the Mesolithic. 

But first we go back two thousand, five hundred years, and journey to Siberia.

The Siberian Shamanka (Shaman) showing tattoos

It was the summer of 1993. This was archeologist Natalia Polosmak's fourth season working with her team on the Altai Mountains, where the permafrost is a guardian of ancient secrets.

Diggers reported they had discovered a block of ice in which lay the mummified body of a 25-year-old woman.

Natalia found that this Siberian Ice Maiden was of Scythian descent––a tribe that roamed the steppes throughout the Bronze Age. The grandeur of the burial could only mean she was a princess. She was housed in a small cabin, and its wood has allowed her burial to be dated, indicating that the Ice Maiden was buried in the spring, at some point during the 5th century BCE. The Ice Maiden had intricate designs adorning her skin and lay surrounded by her six horses. Autopsy also revealed that the this young woman had suffered from breast cancer, and was using  cannabis to relieve her pain. 

Reconstruction of the tomb chamber of the Siberian Ice Maiden. Top, above, her costume reconstruction. Both can be seen in the Anokhin Museum.

Her costume was well preserved. Her blouse was wild silk, her full skirt was brilliant dyed. She wore a long cloak of marten fur, knee-high boots and a choker of wooden camels. Her headdress was particularly spectacular, and it seems to consist of her own elongated hair. Alongside her was a polished mirror (used for centuries as a divinatory tool) and the herb coriander, as seeds in a stone dish. 

the deer tattoo
.

It is her tattoos that lead archeologists to believe she was a shaman. She was marked with a deer motif on one of her shoulders, and on her wrist and thumb. 

The Sythians were a fascinating nomadic tribe which, by the time of the ancient Greeks, had settled on the Black Sea. To gain a colourful and beautifully realised picture of that time, try reading Naomi Mitchison's The Corn King and the Spring Queen (1931, available from Amazon), a fabulous story of these ancient peoples.

But the Ice Maiden is by no means the oldest representation of shamanism discovered by archeologists. Shamanic activity and shaman costumes and tools  have been found around the world and indeed, in the United Kingdom. The  power to transcend spirit worlds, and to return with healing and knowledge can be traced into the distant past. In fact, as far back as the Mesolithic Period, around ten thousand years before our times.

I'll be returning to this subject in PART TWO of "What we Know About Pre-historic Shamanism". Watch this space! 

Return to my Trees – a three hundred mile walk through Welsh forests

 Dod yn ôl fy nghoed...

        To return to my trees.

What on earth is that Welsh phrase supposed to mean? Unsurprisingly, knowing the poetic and lyrical nature of the Welsh nation, it doesn't just mean 'nipping into the woods'. It's a phrase used when someone needs to clear their head, to think again.

Matthew Yeomans, a Cardiff author of Rough Guides translates it as 'to return to a balanced state of mind...' 

Something that has been medically proved to occur when we walk in amongst trees; our blood pressure reduces and so does our anxiety levels. We return from our walk feeling de-stressed and ready for life.

the mythic map

Yeoman, who has been a traveller all his writing life, didn't have to travel far geographically to write this fourth book. Having travelled the world, he decided to walk through the ancient and modern forests of Wales, losing himself in the stories of the these woodlands––their natural word, of course, and the history of the trees, but also their wider history, mythology and legends, especially those which appear between the covers of the Mabinogion, the ancient tales of Wales. While Yeoman  explored the paths, he also explored the religions, culture, arts and music of Wales, as well as the industrial past and present of his home nation. 

Yeoman started in the Welsh Marches, at Wentwood,striding across the south of the country, to the Black Mountains. Then he worked northwards, past the Devil's Bridge, through Snowdonia and Llangollen and onwards to the north-eastern border, finally stopping at Chirk. 

Such a grand idea: linking the forest paths throughout a modern country, walking those (often unmarked) ways, talking to the local people and learning about the land. 300 miles is a massive journey, and Yeoman is still walking, often with other people who want to encourage us all to walk.

On Radio 6, Matthew Yeomans explained how this walk emerged out of the cabin fever of Covid. 'I had to get out…I didn't  know much about trees, but I heard that the Welsh Government had announced a plan to create a  national forest of Wales.' He wanted to find out if it was possible to travel through Wales without leaving woodland behind.

Recently, I walked just a few miles of Yeoman's Mythic Map, over the Bwlch Mountain near Maesteg, walking with my son and my dog. I love walking with others because that's when the most intimate and interesting chats happen, when you're looking ahead at the path and the trees, listening to the brook and the birds, you can open your heart. But walking along introduces a new dimension––not only bringing down stress and puts our lives into perspective––it allows me reach 

Top of the Bwlch Mountain

the most creative parts of my mind. When I walk alone, my books, stories, characters and settings accompany me and grow clearer and more real as I progress along my route. Many writers walk to invent their stories.

I've used walking as inspiration for years. It doesn't matter if the surrounds are urban or rural, but naturally it's nicer if there are trees. The most important thing is that I am on my own. When I walk alone, I chatter to my characters, and they chatter back.

Castell Cerreg Cennen:
 "castle on the rock above the river Cennen"

I'm keen to walk more trails on Yeoman's mythic map. I've already visited the lake of Llyn y Fan Fach, which features in the story of The Physicians off Myddfai, and the area around Trap, near Llandelio, where Castell Carreg Cennen  looms over the landscape where, in the Mabinogion, the magical boar, the Twrch Trwyth, sped past having killed most of Arthur's war band. 

This wonderful, inspiring book,  has grown, turning from one man's long walk into a book, a mythic map, and a Welsh playlist plus a list of podcasts all of which can be downloaded

As Yeoman, walks, linking just some of the woodlands and forests of Wales into one long passageway for animals, birds invertebrates and even humans, he constantly seeks an answer to the question; when and how did we humans lose our connection with nature – and how do we find it again? It occurs to me that this walk, this linking of trees with each footfall and rest against a bole of a friendly tree, is that first connection. Every time we walk among trees, they calm us, enliven us and tell us the deepest of Gaia's truths.

They are matchless,

My trees in winter. 

While I watch telly and eat carbs, 

Put the fire on, the heating up, 

They stand naked to the battle;

Steady for storm, ready for gale. 

Winter trees communicate in semaphore

Black flags against the half-day’s light.

They are gallows for bats,

Rigging for gulls,

Blue cages for robins 

Steeples for stormcocks.

In the cold sun, 

The oaks glow emerald with moss;

Planes strike piebald patterns;

Birch trunks shimmer like a high moon. 

I pull on gloves, hat, scarves,

Brave the cold to watch 

As they wait secure, 

Dreaming sap dreams,

Expectant for spring.                                                 (Trees in Winter by Nina Milton)

Not everyone lives near a forest. But I'm sure you can find some trees to enjoy. So go and enjoy them. Return to them, to clear your head, find a better perspective, solve you problems and, even, perhaps, write a book. You may return to a balanced state of mind. You may even  return to a balanced state of soul.

The Beautiful Tau Banner of Lady Dai; Duchess of Ancient China

 

 Xin Zhui, (better known as the Lady Dai)


 In 1971 some builders stopped for a smoke as they dug out an air raid shelter on a hill in Hunan, China. They were puzzled; as they dug deeper into the hill, the soil crumbled away as if it had  previously been disturbed. They lit their cigarettes and noticed that the matches burned with a deep blue flame. They might not have known that decomposition of human remains can release highly flammable gasses, but they left the site quickly, and reported their finding. 




The outside cavity holding the three coffins



When the archeologists arrived a few months later, they established that this was the resting place of a noble family of the Han dynasty. Two tombs, of the Marquis of Dai, who died in 186 BCE,  and  a male relative, who may have been a son or brother, had been disrupted and robbed. But the final tomb, built circa 163 BCE, for the Marquis's wife, Xin Zhui, (better known as the Lady Dai), was intact, and the archaeologists discovered  an opulent, spectacular and surprising interior. 



One of the three inner caskets

• The tombs were accessed via rectangular vertical shafts dug deep into the earth, a method originating from the bronze age. Lady Dai's funnel-like crypt contained more than 1,000 precious artefacts, including makeup, toiletries, lacquerware, and 162 carved wooden figures which represented her staff of servants. A meal was even laid out to be enjoyed by the 50 year-old duchess in the afterlife. In the central area lay three nesting coffins. Inside many layers of silk was the beautifully preserved mummy, wrapped in her finest robe, her skin still soft to the touch. The fact that she was quite corpulent, from her amazingly rich diet – scorpion soup was apparently a favourite – may have helped the quality of her ancient skin.

  

  An artefact found in the tomb

• The outermost coffin was a plain box. Inside were the three nesting coffins painted with  hugely expensive lacquer in black, red, and white. This protected from water damage and bacterial invasion. I cannot imagine how awed the archeologists must have been as they steadily revealed each coffin.
• But even more magnificent than all of this, was the banner that lay on top of the innermost of the coffins. This almost intact piece of beautifully painted silk would have been part of the procession of the Marquise  to her resting place. And on it were full and intricate instructions for her soul. The banner instructed Xin Zhui's spirit how to reach her paradise. 
• This T-shaped silk banner was over six feet long and in excellent condition for 2000-year-old fabric. It is a very early example of pictorial art in China.
• I first encountered this breathtaking story of life in Ancient China at a lecture given at Lampeter University, in West Wales. Fabric specialist had travelled from across the country to learn more about Lady Dai’s banner, its art and its messages. 
• The banner is divided into four horizontal sections. In the first, Lady Dai is pictured standing on a platform, leaning on a staff, wearing an embroidered silk robe. Framing the scene are white and pink sinuous dragons, their bodies looping through a 'bi' (a disc with a hole,  representing the sky). This section is remarkable in itself, as it is the earliest example of a painted portrait of a specific individual in China.
• In the section below this scene, sacrificial funerary rituals are portrayed in a mourning hall. Tripod containers and vase-shaped vessels for offering food and wine stand in the foreground. In the middle ground, seated mourners line up in two rows.
•  On a mound in the  between  two rows of mourners there are the patterns on the silk that match the robe Lady Dai wears in the scene above this.
• Lady Dai’s banner helps the modern world understand the religion she followed two millennia ago, and how artists began to represent depth and space in early Chinese painting. They made efforts to indicate depth through the use of the overlapping bodies of the mourners. They also made objects in the foreground larger, and objects in the background smaller, to create that illusion of space.
• Above and below the scenes of Lady Dai and the mourning hall, are images of heaven and the underworld. Toward the top, near the cross of the “T,” two men face each other and guard the gate to the heavenly realm. Directly above the two men, at the very top of the banner, is  a deity with a human head and a dragon body.
• Dragons and other immortal being look down from the sky to a toad standing on a crescent moon flanks the dragon/human deity and  what looks like a three-legged crow within a pink sun. The moon and the sun are emblematic of a supernatural realm above the human world. In the lower register, beneath the mourning hall,  the underworld is painted with a red snake, a pair of blue goats, and an earthly deity, holding up the floor of the mourning hall Two giant black fish cross to form a circle beneath him. The beings in the underworld symbolize water and earth, and they indicate an underground domain below the human world. 
• 
  
• While other mummies tend to crumble at the slightest movement, Dai is the most well-preserved ancient corpse yet to be discovered. Unlike most of the mummies found in ancient Egypt, her organs were all intact –  there was still blood in her veins—Type A. This allowed pathologists the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform an autopsy on the preserved body, 2,100 years after her death, ultimately giving us a firsthand glimpse at how the richest of the rich lived during the Han Dynast and is arguably the most complete medical profile ever compiled on an ancient individual.
• Thanks to her luxurious lifestyle, the Marquise had osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis, gallstones, liver disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol. She must have been in pretty constant pain from a fused spinal disc.
• Immediately after she was exposed to oxygen for the first time in 2,000 years, her body started to break down, which caused some of the visible decay apparent in the photograp of her mummy at the top of this blog.  Her body and belongings were taken into  the care of the Hunan Museum, where she now lies in state.
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