![\"Parsifal\"](\"http:\/\/steampunkopera.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/jd1-parsifale.jpg\")
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Prometheus<\/p>\n
Begun in 1904\u20135 and finally completed in 1907,\u00a0Delville made great efforts to find theosophical significance in the theme of Prometheus. For example, the star taken by Prometheus is also the symbol of the White Order of Brussels. In 1907 the work suddenly took on increased importance with the publication in French of the fourth volume of\u00a0The Secret Doctrine<\/em>, in which Helena Blavatski had dedicated an entire chapter to Prometheus. No longer the\u00a0thief of fire of ancient mythology, Prometheus was from this point on assimilated into theosophy as a prophet,\u00a0a light bearer, revealing with his theosophical flame the suffering of humanity.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n Orpheus<\/p>\n After being torn apart and decapitated by\u00a0bacchanals (female followers of Bacchus), Orpheus’ head and lyre were thrown into the river where they eventually washed up on the shore of Lesbos. The head awoke and became an Oracle. The lyre was placed in the night sky as a constellation. For Delville this would be a perfect subject matter. After suffering in the material world, the initiate finally transcends to a state of otherworldly knowledge.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n The Love Of Souls<\/p>\n While lovely and romantic on one hand, this work also portrays the coming together of the female and male aspects of humanity, which only when combined can create the perfect being. This new being is the point of the painting, as the man and woman are actually only the tail, beneath the tail even, of the phoenix which is manifesting above them.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n Satan’s Treasures<\/p>\n Delville\u2019s vast undersea world, ruled by Satan, is almost certainly an image of the material abyss. Satan, lord of the physical realm, presides over its sleeping inhabitants. Wrapped in delusion, the dreaming men and women are mesmerized by Satan\u2019s spell, and trapped by their own desires. Satan\u2019s \u201ctreasures\u201d include not only their sensuality, but also their attraction to worldly riches, represented by the pearls, coins, and corals that surround them. Above all, the entranced people themselves are the treasures of Satan.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n The Age Of Splendor<\/p>\n Delville\u2019s 1894 painting\u00a0can be seen as an illustration of this next phase of human development, transcending the entrapment of matter.The realm of matter is represented by serpents and tangled thorny roses at the bottom right of the canvas. A male figure, with raised arms and upturned eyes similar to those of Mrs. Stuart Merrill, sits half in and half out of the material realm. On his left, a luminous and almost bodiless female angel rises upward, with the fluid and transparent folds of her dress surrounding the man in a circle of light. A vast landscape spreads out, far below the figures. It is filled with jagged hills similar to those in\u00a0Satan\u2019s Treasures<\/em>. Here, however, they are painted in luminous purples and golds and rise out of a bright blue sea.<\/p>\n This scene can be viewed in two ways. If it is inspired by the episode from Schur\u00e9\u2019s Initiation of Isis, the man would be the disciple\u2019s discarded earthly self, falling back, and swallowed up by matter. In this case, the angel would be what Schur\u00e9 describes as \u201canother, purer, more ethereal self,\u201d which has just been born. Alternatively, if the story is not taken directly from Schur\u00e9, the angel can be seen as a separate being (perhaps the man\u2019s higher self), guiding him up from the abyss.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n The Women of Eleusis<\/p>\n Eleusis is an actual town in Greece, where the Eleusinian Mysteries were centered. So, you all know Elysium? Those of you who have listened to the Steampunk Opera will be more than familiar (and just WAIT til we get to the Atompunk Opera). Elysium is the final resting place of the virtuous. However, it was also specifically \u00a0a netherworld realm, located in the depths of Hades beyond the river Lethe. Its fields were promised to initiates of the Mysteries who had lived a virtuous life. In Delville’s worldview this would of course be a transcendent place where the purified initiate might arrive at their destination.<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n The Wheel Of Fortune<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>