"Angel In Blue"
Used with permission
© Jeffrey K. Bedrick
 


"What matters today is not the difference
between those who believe and those who do not believe,
but the difference between those who care and those who don't."
                                  Abbe' Pire



Music Selection:
"All I Ask Of You" - Phantom of the Opera

Many people have asked me why I named my website "MisChif's Muses".
Below, is a detailed explation of what a "Muse" is.
If you take the time to read this page,
you will futher understand the contents of this site.


What Is A Muse?

 A state of meditation.
[Middle English musen, from Old French muser (possibly from mus, snout,
from Medieval Latin musum), or of Germanic origin.]

Muse (myooz) - Noun
   [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin Musa, from Greek Mousa.]
 words from Greek and Roman mythology.

1.  (Verb) To think or meditate in silence
To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation,
which one often does while reading webpages!

2.  (Verb) To gaze meditatively or wonderingly
To consider or say thoughtfully.

3.  (Noun) The inspiration that motivates a poet,
artist, thinker or the like.
  A guiding spirit.  A source of inspiration.

4. (Noun)  One of the nine Greek goddesses,
daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who presided over the arts.

Muses were originally said to have been the daughters
of Mother Earth and Air before Zeus' ascendancy led to his being
described as the father of the lesser dieties.

The Muses were a wild lot until they were reformed by Apollo,
who tamed them and taught them formal and decorous dances
through which they might express themselves.

 They taught the Sphinx her riddle and also
defeated the Sirens in a musical contest,
claiming the Siren's wing feathers as their prize.

The Muses were often described as the queens of song,
and no Olympian banquet was complete without them.

As patrons of the fine arts, the Muses were often perceived as
promoters of the more civilized aspects of mortal existence.

For these reasons, the Muses were frequently invoked
in several millennia of  artistic expression,
and remain reference points for painters and poets alike.


The "Muses"

Calliope
The Muse of Epic Poetry
The eldest and most distinguished of the nine Muses.
She is the Muse of eloquence  and epic or heroic poetry.
Calliope ("beautiful voice") is the mother of
Orpheus and Linus with Apollo.
She was the arbitress in the argument
over Adonis between Persephone and Aphrodite.
Her attributes are a scroll, tablets and stylus.

Clio
The Muse of History
With Pierus, the king of Macedonia, she is the mother of Hyacinth.
She was credited for introducing the Phoenician alphabet into Greece.
Her attribute is usually a parchment scroll or a set of tablets

Erato
The Muse of  Love Poetry
The Muse of lyric poetry, particularly love and erotic poetry, and mimicry.
She is usually depicted with a lyre.

Euterpe
The Muse of Lyric Poetry
Her name means "rejoicing well."
She  is the muse of music and lyric poetry.
She is also the muse of joy and pleasure and of flute playing and was
thought to have invented the double flute, which is her attribute.

Melpomene
The Muse of Tragedy
She is usually represented with a tragic mask
and wearing the cothurnus (the boots traditionally worn by tragic actors).
Sometimes she holds a knife of club in one hand, and the mask in the other.

Polyhymnia
The Muse of songs to the Gods
Polyhymnia is the Greek Muse of the sacred hymn, eloquence and dance.
She is usually represented in a pensive or meditating position.
She is a serious looking woman,
dressed in a long cloak and resting with an elbow on a pillar.
Sometimes she holds a finger to her mouth.

Terpsichore
The Muse of Dance
Terpsichore was the Muse of Dance,
hence the English word terpsichorean or dancer.
 According to some traditions,
she is the mother of the Sirens with the river-god Achelous.
Her attribute is the lyre.

Thalia
The Muse of Comedy
Thalia  resides over comedy and light poetry.
Her attributes are the comic mask and a shepherd's staff.

Urania
The Muse of Astronomy and Astrology
She is represented with a globe in her left hand
and a peg in her right hand.
Urania is dressed in a cloak embroidered with stars
and she keeps her eyes towards the sky


The Graces
(Also known as the Charites)

Greek goddesses of gracefulness and the charms of beauty.
 They are usually considered the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome,
or Dionysus and Aphrodite.

According to Homer the Graces belonged to the retinue of Aphrodite
The gods were delighted when they danced to Apollo¹s lyre.

The Charites, or Graces, are the personifications
of charm and beauty in nature and in human life.

They were young, beautiful, modest, and perfectionists of gracefulness.
They love all things beautiful and bestow talent upon mortals.

Together with the Muses they serve as sources of inspiration
in poetry and the arts.

Originally, they were goddesses of fertility and nature,
closely associated with the underworld and the Eleusinian mysteries.

They were named:
Aglaia (splendor),
Euphrosyne (mirth),
and Thalia (good cheer)

For more information on Greek Mythology,
see my Muses for the Mind page

\
Welcome To The Wanderings Of My Mind

'Tis a magical world we live in. ...........
Please, take a minute to think about all the magic
surrounding you right now........
The digital alarm goes off to wake us each morning.
Sleepy eyed, we jump in the shower,
shave with our battery driven, "electric" shaver;
we blow dry our hair with the machine
that generates hot air for us;
and if you are a female, proceed to curl your hair
to perfection with the electric curling iron.

Next, we go to the automated coffee maker
to draw our first cup of caffeine,
then, pop a bowl of instant oatmeal in the micro-wave oven.

We pull our wrinkle free, clothes from the dryer,
pick up our pager and cell phone,
jump in our car and then push a button
which activates our automated, garage door opener.

All this magic, and just within the first hour of our day!

Throughout our day, we are mesmerized by computers,
phones, faxes, email, and now, the Internet.
Depending on your particular job,
you may have "High Tech" equipment at your command.

If you really stop to think about the world we live in today,
it becomes evident that each of us are "Magicians" in our own right.

We need to always remember that our presence
is only a tiny part of a greater, more miraculous, magical world.

It is important to recognize our own power to create and destroy.

We have a very important responsibility as 'modern' magicians,
to promote the positive magic,
from the magic of love and forgiveness,
to the magic of science and how it effects our environment.

My Web pages are dedicated to the mythical, magical world we live in.
I hope that each of my visitors will ponder the roles we play
in the magic of our world.

I have listed a variety of sites which I feel are well done
resources and inspiration for others.

In sharing them with you,I hope to contribute something positive
to this medium and the 'high-tech' world we now live in.

These links show the vast spectrum of magic in our world today.
They range from the wonders of nature's magic
to the power of human's technological contributions.

May they enlighten and entertain you
on your journey through the magical world of cyber-space.

Sincerely,
MisChif

(Wanderings of my Mind © 1996)
 


Index of MisChif's Pages
Click on the link above for a complete index of my webpages.

Warning:
This site has grown a lot over the last five years and there are several pages now.
Most of my pages are graphic intensive and take a while to load.
For this, I apologize, but I think they are worth the wait.

Banner Exchange Graphic

I want to thank Oh My Graphics for the beautiful banner below!!!
Please feel free to use this banner to link back to my site.

 The URL is:
 https://members.tripod.com/~cslaw/MM1.html
 

       


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