House Gods ll

King Mongkut is still venerated as a God in Thailand.  He died in 1868 after having caught malaria during a visit to a small village south of Bangkok where he had gone to watch a total solar eclipse he  himself had calculated a few years earlier.
In the west he became famous as the all singing and all dancing King of Siam in ‘The King and I’.
A few weeks ago I spent an evening with a Thai lady, Grace,  who had recently moved to Hastings. On her house altar I noticed a postcard of King Mongkut’s contemporary, Queen Victoria,  in amongst the flowers and incense.
Grace told me about how she was once walking along the sea front in St. Leonards when she came across this sculpture of Queen Victoria. The sculpture spoke to her, and gave her some advise about where she should go to meet her husband to be. Grace needed to get married in order to stay in England, so she followed Queen Vic’s advise and everything went to plan. Grace has now decided that Queen Victoria is a Goddess.
And who am I to argue otherwise.                                                                                              

This is how I’m more used to seeing her, though.
Again, I am constantly amazed by how smoothly reality can twist and turn itself into whatever shape we need it to be…Queen Vic; a Dumpy, Dead Despot with a Bollard on her Head or a Benevolent Living Goddess – take your pick.  This link https://thepaganandthepen.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/house-gods/ brings you to my previous post on House Gods.

Photos by Matthew May.

More House Gods at www.annakeiller.com

http://annakeiller.wordpress.com

House Gods

 
I have been thinking about how our human Gods are made. It seems to begin with a thought or concept that stick in the mind, creating a momentum of its own through constant reinforcement.
I’m thinking about how the power of thought appear in crowd situations. If you watch a demonstration, for instance, it is interesting to see how a group can create an atmosphere so intense that some are compelled to acts of violence and random destruction they would never normally dream of . I’m thinking about the recent student fee demonstration in London, for example,  when a young guy dropped a fire extinguisher onto a crowd many feet below. The collective mind takes over in those situations. It is almost as though people become bigger, stronger and bolder when bolstered by the group dynamic. But  then the demonstration is over and the mood deflates.
The same must be true when Gods are created. Except in this case we have a continuity in the group when led in worship by a priest/ess or guru. A God/ess is created to explain the primal force of creation, for instance – or thunder, rain or spring. The worship of these deities is upheld through ceremonies and rituals over centuries, and the power of these collected thoughts create a momentum of its own. Over the years the myths change; Inannas young husband, Dimuzu, destined to die and then rise again for the good of the land, gives way to a new myth about the virgin born King. And so on. But behind it all lies a need to personify and communicate with our creator, I think.
So, I have been busy creating some House Gods on my own ! I was inspired by the Roman Gods Lares and Penates. In Rome, each family had their own set of  personal Gods to safe guard against house fire, ill health, redundancy and bad luck.
My House God sculptures are altogether more frivolous. They are made of smoke fired and glazed ceramics and they’re between 7-10” tall. You can find more on my website www.annakeiller.com

This House God is kind and very sensitive, and will protect your house against termites. Load her up with good intent and watch the magic unfold.

This House God has got a nail through his head so is often indisposed. When on form, though, he will rock your world. Prone to tantrums, he responds well to lullabies sung with a slight irish accent.

This particular House God is keen on remote controls of all kinds. Load him up with good intent and you will never loose your control again…

This loving House God will protect your shoes from the puppy!

Bronze age woman

I am a visionary artist/sculptor with a great love of clay. Having experienced for myself how connected we are with the living world around us, I try to tell stories about this great marriage while also making sculptures I hope are attractive in their own right.
This particular sculpture tells a story about how I was walking near the remains of an old bronze age fort one afternoon when I saw a woman approach across the bracken. I had the sun in my eyes so I could only see her silouette against the lemon light – but I knew she was smiling. I started smiling too.
Some noisy crows flew above my head and I got momentarily distracted. When I looked back, the lady had gone.

www.annakeiller.com