Recently in heaven and hell Category

I'm really excited about my new project, which has me thinking about all things paranormal. Turns out, they're all around us -- almost, well, normal.  The Bible is one source for images and ideas, but the appeal (some would say awareness) seems basic to our humanity. If we don't believe, exactly, we are nevertheless captivated and strangely affected by the supernatural. There's the vampire craze, of course; but angels and demons (thank you, Dan Brown, we cannot use that phrase in exactly the same way ever again), hybrid beings, and mysterious doings are part of the warp and woof of our lives.

Some weeks ago, when the summer ahead seemed endless, I opened a hulking book that has been quite a ride -- Galilee, by Clive Barker. Immortal beings intersecting with extraordinary human beings in ordinary settings. It's wild, not least because the narrator is a curious being and so self-aware of telling the story (another layer that's intriguing). Besides that, I've been watching old episodes of Saving Grace, True Blood, and the pilot of Neighbors from Hell (didn't do it for me), Supernatural, and the Gates. So many more! -- and I'm open to suggestions. Hope you enjoyed a magical Fourth~

 Out of the heaps of snow we've been getting lately, someone in my neighborhood has fashioned a great big Cupid in her front yard...or is it a cherub? Shoot, is Cupid himself some kind of cherub? I stood contemplating those questions for a minute or so until my dog started snuffling about at the smooshed remains of a sandwich beginning to emerge from under the packed snow, and I figured it was time to move on.
 Christmas came and went with its cards adorned by chubby-cheeked winged babies. Now it's Valentine's Day, and they're back again. We're accustomed to calling these charming figures cherubs. But it's a biblical word, and in the Bible, cherubs are nothing like that.

I've just begun (re)reading Milton's "Paradise Lost." Truth is, I don't remember ever reading the whole thing through before. Snippets here and there for lit classes over the years but never from the beginning to the end. What a ride it is! And to think that Milton wrote it blind. Contemplate that, for a minute.

This, too, impresses: Where most English translations read Gen 1:2 as "the spirit of God hovered over the face of the deeps," Milton follows the Hebrew verb describing the spirit like a bird "brooding" over the waters. That's the way that verb appears elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible -- the protective hovering of a bird over its nest... though Milton imagines the spirit in a masculine form impregnating "the Abyss" below despite the Hebrew's feminine Spirit subject in this verse.

But that's small stuff -- a tiny example of the thousands of ways that Milton appeals to and shifts the biblical text. Fascinating. I'm still a little puzzled by the bad guys that open the story. I mean, Satan appears to be a different character than Beelzebub, and there are cherubim and seraphim in hell. Well, back to it, as the dark powers prepare for war.

I am finally following Donna Freitas' enthusiastic recommendation to watch old episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Hey, just because it's research doesn't mean it has to be dull. As I investigate how the Bible portrays supernatural beings and places and how that portrayal has influenced pop ideas about evil personified, angels, the undead, heaven, and hell, I'm finding connections everywhere. In "Buffy," consider how it is that "the anointed" is a little boy... and rules (?) the evil contingent of demons below; and the head vampire called "The Master" rises to life again after three days. Strikes me that a lot of Bible language associated with Jesus is co-opted by the dark side in "Buffy." More watching to do...