Jon Presco
The Rose of the World. The Metaphilosophy of History) is the title of the main book by Russian mystic Daniil Andreev. It is also the name of the predicted new universal religion, to emerge and unite all people of the world before the advent of the Antichrist, described by Andreev in his book. This new interreligion, as he calls it, should unite the existing religions “like a flower unites its petals”
PAN’S LABYRINTH: El Laberinto del Fauno (Spanish, 2006). Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
Starring Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi Lopez, and Doug Jones as Fauno and Pale Man.
Hi all,
Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro built a big rep in this country through his graphic-novel movies
Hellboy (fun and funny) and that over-the-top gore-fest Blade 2, with Wesley Snipes as a gashing and
gnashing steroid-pumped vampire.
But he reached the film-critic pantheon, not to mention receiving three Academy Awards, with Pan’s
Labyrinth, a rich brew of childhood fantasy and fables steeped in the sadistic realities of war.
Not that del Toro didn’t provide us with some personal precursors to “PL,” his best movie so far.
Two previous films, Cronos and The Devil’s Backbone, got critics and fanboys alike to see him as
a director to watch. But “PL” is a step up, way up, in concept, imagination, and pure visual energy.
Like Spirited Away, it’s about a prepubescent girl, Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), growing out of parental
dependence into an awakening sexuality. But it’s 1944 in Franco controlled Spain, Ofelia’s father has
been killed in the war, and her new stepfather, Vidal (Sergi Lopez), is a Nazi fascist out to crush any
and all anti-Franco guerillas.
Further complicating matters is her mother, Carmen (Ariadna Gil), carrying Vidal’s baby.
Ofelia hates all this, specifically Vidal. “Call him father,” Carmen keeps saying to Ofelia.
“It’s just a word.”
As Vidal tortures and executes guerillas with a narcissistic pride that his brutality is saving the
human race, and that he is providing his country with a great future because he will have a
son who will “purify Spain,” Ofelia retreats in to a creative world of Pan the faun and his
labyrinth.
Here she has to complete a series of tasks to survive — an escape fantasy that reflects the
war-torn world she lives in but also offers a way out. Think Quentin Tarantino meets Alice in
Wonderland.
“PL” does what all the best movies do — create a unique new world and make us a part of it,
feel like we’re there and living it. There are scary dream characters, not only Pan, but a Giant Toad
and the Pale Man. Then there are the entrancing dream-like symbols of wombs and vaginas. I’m
guessing de Toro researched Carl Jung here, mixing dream imagery with mythological symbols.
Del Toro, along with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Amores Perros, Babel) and Alfonso Cuaron
(Y Tu Mama Tambien and the best Harry Potter The Prisoner of Azkaban) is one of the “3 Amigos,”
that triad of Mexican directors who have put Mexico on the map of international cinema.
If you haven’t caught their movies, put them on your must-see agenda. You’ll be rewarded and it’ll
give you a good idea of all the good stuff that’ll be coming from these guys in the future.
Pan’s Labyrinth was nominated as Best Foreign Film in 2007 (it won for cinematography, make-up,
and art direction). With it’s ravishing images and a moving story about the conflict between brutality
and innocence pulling us seamlessly into this director’s vivid imagination, it should have won.
The winner? The Counterfeiters. Who remembers?
Be there or you’ll miss it,
Doug
Roza Mira (full title in Russian: Роза Мира. Метафилософия истории, literally The Rose of the World. The Metaphilosophy of History) is the title of the main book by Russian mystic Daniil Andreev. It is also the name of the predicted new universal religion, to emerge and unite all people of the world before the advent of the Antichrist, described by Andreev in his book. This new interreligion, as he calls it, should unite the existing religions “like a flower unites its petals”, Andreev wrote. According to Roza Mira, there are no contradictions between different religions, because they tell about different aspects of spiritual reality, or about the same things in different words. Daniil Andreyev compares different major religions to different paths leading to one and the same mountain peak (which is God). Andreyev names five world religions, which are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Andreyev believes in the Trinity of God, but the third hypostasis, instead of being the Holy Spirit, is claimed to be the Eternal Femininity.
Daniil Andreyev agrees with main Christian dogma, namely, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that had come to our world to help it on its way to the Light. However, Andreyev states that the murder of Jesus wasn’t planned as a part of Redemption; it was instead inspired by the Devil to hinder God’s plans. Though strongly rooted, psychologically and emotionally, in the Russian Orthodox Church, Andreev also believed in reincarnation and karma, so that his personal faith, as expressed in Roza Mira, is something of an amalgamation of Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. (On his deathbed, Andreev was shocked to find that the attending Orthodox priest refused him last rites[citation needed]; the priest knew that the dying man believed in reincarnation, and so did not consider him a Christian.)[citation needed]
In large part, Roza Mira is a spiritual cosmography, a description of the domains human souls occupy after death or between incarnations—domains resembling, to greater or lesser degrees, the heavens, hells, purgatories, and netherworlds of various religions and mythological systems. As such, it can be compared to works like the Bardo Thodol or Tibetan Book of the Dead, and the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (as well as modern expressions of the same visionary tradition, like The Urantia Book). As a 20th-century entrant in this sub-genre, Roza Mira extends its purview far beyond the terrestrial Earth, to other planets, solar systems, and galaxies. Andreev peoples these visionary domains with types of beings recognizable from world religions and mythologies—angels, archangels, demons, daemons, titans, nature spirits or “elementals”—and also with creatures unique to Andreev’s vision, called igvas, raruggs, and witzraors, among others. The venues include familiar names like Atlantis and Gondwana, plus unique Andreevian coinages, Olirna and Digm, Mudgabr and Fongaranda and many more. All of this is expressed in a distinctive and remarkable volcabulary—and this vocabulary is one of the most noteworthy aspects of the text. So, the Earth (Enrof) is the center of a complex structure (bramfatura) of 242 “variomaterial planes.” Similar structures abound in the known universe, so that Andreev’s cosmos comes to resemble the “niutas of kotis of Buddha countries” (i.e. tens of millions of millions of alternative realms) described in the sutras of the Buddhist religious canon. This makes Roza Mira a highly distinctive and notable entry in the Western esoteric spiritual literature.
Daniil Andreyev was the son of Leonid Andreyev, a prominent Russian writer of the start of the century; Maxim Gorky was his godfather. After the infant’s mother, Alexandra (Veligorsky) Andreeva, died during childbirth, Leonid Andreev gave the infant Daniil to his late wife’s sister, Elizabeth Dobrov, to raise. This act had two important consequences: it meant that when Leonid Andreev, like many other writers and intellectuals, left Russia after the 1917 Russian Revolution, his young son remained behind; it also meant that Daniil was raised in a household that remained deeply religious.
Daniil Andreyev was the son of Leonid Andreyev, a prominent Russian writer of the start of the century; Maxim Gorky was his godfather. After the infant’s mother, Alexandra (Veligorsky) Andreeva, died during childbirth, Leonid Andreev gave the infant Daniil to his late wife’s sister, Elizabeth Dobrov, to raise. This act had two important consequences: it meant that when Leonid Andreev, like many other writers and intellectuals, left Russia after the 1917 Russian Revolution, his young son remained behind; it also meant that Daniil was raised in a household that remained deeply religious.
Like many of his contemporaries, the boy Daniil had a pronounced literary bent; he began writing poetry and prose in early childhood. He graduated from high school but was not allowed to attend university, because of his “non-proletarian” background. He supported himself as a graphic artist and wrote in his spare time.
Daniil Andreev was conscripted into the Red Army in 1942. He served as a noncombatant, and during the Siege of Leningrad helped to transport supplies across Lake Ladoga. After World War II Andreev returned to civilian life, but was arrested by Soviet authorities in April 1947 and sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment, being charged of anti-Soviet propaganda and preparations to assassinate Joseph Stalin. He suffered a heart attack in prison in 1954, the first manifestation of the heart condition that would eventually cause his death. In the same year his sentence was reduced to 10 years. He was released on April 22, 1957,[1] already terminally ill. He was officially rehabilitated on July 11, 1957.[1]
While in prison in Vladimir from 1947 to 1957, Andreev had mystic visions and started writing Roza Mira, finishing it after he was released. The book was known in the Soviet Union via Samizdat, but was first officially published only in 1991. In 1997, Roza Mira was published in English in the USA.
[edit] Works
Almost all works that Andreev wrote before 1947, were destroyed by MGB as “anti-Soviet literature”, including his novel Wanderers of Night (Russian: Странники ночи) about the spiritual opposition to the Soviet regime and atheism. Being imprisoned, however, Andreev managed to restore some of his poems. He also tried to restore Wanderers of Night, but he could only restore a few pages of it. Also some works of his childhood were kept by his friend, including his first poems written at the age of 8.
His main book, Roza Mira (Russian: Роза Мира, literally “The Rose of the World”) contains a detailed description of numerous layers of spiritual reality that surround Earth, of the forthcoming religion called Roza Mira that will emerge and unite all people and states, and of the events of the future advent of Antichrist and his fall.
Apart from Roza Mira, he wrote a poem The Iron Mystery (Russian: Железная мистерия, published in 1990), a “poetic ensemble” (that is what he called it) Russian gods (Russian: Русские боги, full text published in 1995) and other works.
Gorky’s reputation as a unique literary voice from the bottom strata of society and as a fervent advocate of Russia’s social, political, and cultural transformation grew. By 1899, he was openly associating with the emerging Marxist social-democratic movement which helped make him a celebrity among both the intelligentsia and the growing numbers of “conscious” workers. At the heart of all his work was a belief in the inherent worth and potential of the human person (личность, ‘lichnost’). In his writing, he counterposed individuals, aware of their natural dignity, and inspired by energy and will, with people who succumb to the degrading conditions of life around them. Both his writings and his letters reveal a “restless man” (a frequent self-description) struggling to resolve contradictory feelings of faith and skepticism, love of life and disgust at the vulgarity and pettiness of the human world.
He publicly opposed the Tsarist regime and was arrested many times. Gorky befriended many revolutionaries and became Lenin’s personal friend after they met in 1902. He exposed governmental control of the press (see Matvei Golovinski affair). In 1902, Gorky was elected an honorary Academician of Literature, but Tsar Nicholas II ordered this annulled. In protest, Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Korolenko left the Academy.[5]
Juan became heir-apparent to the defunct Spanish throne after the renunciations of his two older brothers, Alfonso and Jaime, both in 1933. To assert his claim to the throne, after his father’s death he used the title of Count of Barcelona, a sovereign title associated with the Spanish crown.
In 1936, his father sent him to enter Spain and participate in the uprising but, near the French border, General Mola arrested him and sent him back.
When General Francisco Franco declared Spain to be a kingdom in 1947, he characterised it as a reinstitution. However, Franco was afraid that Don Juan would turn out to be too liberal and roll back the Falangist state. As a result, in 1969, Franco passed over Juan, who would have been King if the monarchy had continued uninterrupted, in favour of his son Juan Carlos, who Franco believed would be more likely to continue the Francoist State after his death. Juan Carlos later surprised many by his support of democratising Spain. Franco and the Count of Barcelona did not have a good relationship, with the Count constantly pressing Franco to restore the monarchy. Relations soured further when Juan called Franco an “illegitimate usurper”, while Franco claimed he had a stronger claim to rule Spain than did Juan.
The Count of Barcelona formally renounced his rights to the Crown eight years after being displaced as recognised heir to the throne by Franco, and two years after his son Juan Carlos had become King. In return, his son officially granted him the title of Count of Barcelona, which he had claimed for so long.
He was buried as Juan III (John III of Spain), with honours due a King, in the Royal Crypt of the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial, near Madrid. His wife survived him by seven years.
His mother was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and he was therefore a second cousin to Edward VIII and George VI.
He was fond of the sea, and joined the Naval School at San Fernando, Cádiz, and had tattoos of a marine theme from his time in the British Royal Navy.
He was the 1165th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain.
Victoria Eugenie of BattenbergFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg
Queen consort of Spain
Tenure 31 May 1906 – 14 April 1931
Spouse Alfonso XIII of Spain
Issue
Infante Alfonso, Prince of Asturias
Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia
Infanta Beatrice, Princess of Civitella-Cesi
Infanta Maria Cristina, Countess of Marone
Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona
Infante Gonzalo de Borbón y Battenberg
Full name
Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena
Father Prince Henry of Battenberg
Mother Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
Born (1887-10-24)24 October 1887
Balmoral Castle, Scotland, UK
Died 15 April 1969(1969-04-15) (aged 81)
Lausanne, Switzerland
Burial El Escorial
Religion Roman Catholicism
prev Anglicanism
Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (christened Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena; 24 October 1887 – 15 April 1969) was queen consort of King Alfonso XIII of Spain. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom; and the first cousin of King George V of the United Kingdom, Queen Maud of Norway, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, Queen Marie of Romania, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Queen Louise of Sweden, and Queen Sophia of the Hellenes. Juan Carlos I of Spain is her grandson.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Engagement
3 Queen of Spain
4 Exile
5 Later life
6 Legacy
7 Titles, styles, honours and arms
7.1 Titles and styles
7.2 Arms
8 Issue
9 Ancestry
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links
[edit] Early lifeVictoria Eugenie was born on 24 October 1887 at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland in the United Kingdom. Her father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the fourth child and third son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine by his morganatic wife Countess Julia von Hauke, and her mother was Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
As Prince Henry was the product of a morganatic marriage, he took his style of Prince of Battenberg from his mother, who had been created Princess of Battenberg. As such Henry’s daughter would normally have been born with the title Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. However, on 4 December 1886, Queen Victoria had issued letters patent granting the title of “Highness” to all sons and daughters of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice, thus the Princess was born Her Highness Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. She was named for her two grandmothers and for her godmother, Empress Eugénie, the Spanish-born widow of the former Emperor of the French Napoleon III, who lived in exile in the UK. To her family, and the British general public, she was known by the last of her names, as Ena.
Victoria Eugenie grew up in Queen Victoria’s household, as the British monarch had reluctantly allowed Beatrice to marry on the condition that she remain her mother’s full time companion and personal secretary. She therefore spent her childhood at Windsor Castle, Balmoral, and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Her father died while on active military service after contracting fever in Africa in 1896. After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, the Battenbergs moved to London and took up residence in Kensington Palace. During a summer in Osborne, Victoria Eugenie met Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia, a cousin to Nicholas II. The Grand Duke felt attracted to the beautiful British princess and when they met again in Nice in 1905, he proposed marriage to her. She was about to accept but declined at the last moment.
Rosamond Press 
Reblogged this on Rosamond Press and commented:
The Rose of the World is made manifest.