Graven Images Oracle (Soon To Be Published!)

gravenimages

Hi! Eek! I meant to reply sooner than this--but now that my friend has gone home I've discovered just how behind I am. I'm actually writing this on the fly as I'm gone for the weekend but will be back on Monday night, so the next time I post I'll put up a couple more cemetery stories :) (I actually wanted a vampire face, but I don't know how to do it!). In the mean time, if you visit the website you'll see that it’s under construction--that should be done in the next couple of weeks…

Elmwood cemetery, which I've mentioned before is an eerie place. The final resting place of many of the area’s prominent citizens, (one of the famous memorials there is for Joyce Kilmer who wrote the poem “Trees”) most of the street names in town match up with the names of the tombstones. Things have changed. To get into Elmwood, you have to go down a badly repaired, industrialized road. The street ends at the cemetery gates--two solid looking Victorian pillars. Once you pass through, you’re in another world.

The first thing you’ll notice is the quiet. You can’t hear anything from the outside, no cars, no machinery, nothing. You can hear animals, but that’s about it. What you’ll notice next are the trees. They’re huge and dominant—maybe it’s because you came in from an area where there is little to no plant life at all. The trees are tall, dark and old. And they’re everywhere. In places they are so dense, that it is dark under their canopy. I found myself at the edge of one of these patches when I went to photograph the monument that would eventually be known as “Ivy.”

I had been wandering around in Elmwood one afternoon and had gone through various “sections.” These groups of tombstones are marked off here and there with thin rows of shrubs—there are no gates, so sometimes you can wader in and out without realizing that you had left one section and entered another. This was different. This section was nestled in a section of imposing pines—there are so many trees that you can smell the sap in the air even if you are in your car and the windows are up (we tried this!). And then there’s the ivy.

I stepped in—hesitantly. By the time I had taken a handful of steps, the ivy was calf-high. The stones seemed to float in a green sea. And it was dim and murky in there—any pictures I took ended up needing the flash—even though I was outside and it was the middle of the day. As I examined the stones—and I really didn’t want to touch anything—I found that all of them were carved with the Cyrillic alphabet.

The photograph that became “Ivy” (and you’ll be able to see this card once the website is done), is of a cross-topped headstone that is overwhelmed by ivy. You can see some of the other stones in the background, the trees, a litter of autumn leaves, and the shadows. I think the picture captures a tiny bit of the movement that was going on in that place, because you see, something lives in that little wood. Oh, of course there are animals, but what I saw, out of the corners of my eyes and even head on, were shadows—too large to be woodchucks—flitting from tree to tree. And there was the distinct feeling that I was being watched. It wasn’t negative or threatening, but watchful—and it followed me home. I’ll never forget that night—it was one of those times where you’re in bed with your eyes closed and you feel that if you open them you’ll be face to face with something…

Now adjacent to Elmwood Cemetery, is Evergreen Cemetery. There are no “people” statues there (angels, archetyple figures, etc.) but the last few times Kat and I drove by at night, she saw a transparent figure there, and each time he’s gotten closer and closer to the road…
 

lunakasha

gravenimages said:
And there was the distinct feeling that I was being watched. It wasn’t negative or threatening, but watchful—and it followed me home. I’ll never forget that night—it was one of those times where you’re in bed with your eyes closed and you feel that if you open them you’ll be face to face with something…

Now adjacent to Elmwood Cemetery, is Evergreen Cemetery. There are no “people” statues there (angels, archetyple figures, etc.) but the last few times Kat and I drove by at night, she saw a transparent figure there, and each time he’s gotten closer and closer to the road…

OOOOOH.....that sounds soooo creepy! :eek: })

Looking forward to the next "chapter" when you get a chance.....
and I will be checking the website for new pics, thanks!

:) Luna
 

gravenimages

Hello! Again I find myself apologizing for my lack of postage, but, travels now done AND website revamped, I'm back! Please have a look at the new and improved website and let me know what you think--I don't know if this means the start of a new thread, so please let me know. You can see more of the cards now. ANY feedback you can give us is really appreciated :). Now I'm off to read up on the Shelll oracle so I can post there too, adn I owe another spooky story--although Kat has now registered here as well, so maybe she can do one (hint hint!) XXNat
 

darwinia

gravenimages said:
Please have a look at the new and improved website and let me know what you think--I don't know if this means the start of a new thread, so please let me know. You can see more of the cards now.

MUCH better Nat, it loads so much faster, and I found spooky "Ivy" on this page--everybody go look:
http://www.gravenimagesoracle.com/news.html

Oh yes, I can get a much better sense of the cards now and still love the deck. Magic, just lovely imagery.
 

lunakasha

darwinia said:
MUCH better Nat, it loads so much faster, and I found spooky "Ivy" on this page--everybody go look:
http://www.gravenimagesoracle.com/news.html

Oh yes, I can get a much better sense of the cards now and still love the deck. Magic, just lovely imagery.

"Ivy" is one of my favorites too, along with "The Wall".

Nice job Nat (and Kat!).....looking forward to seeing more!

I am curious: will you be designing a page where we can view all of the cards??? That would be so cool....and would tide us over until we can purchase and hold the actual cards! :D (nope I'm not TOO impatient am I?)

:) Luna
 

gravenimages

Thank you so much! Learning the dreamweaver program was a challenge, but I think the site looks good :)

I was thinking about doing that (making a page so that all of the cards can be viewed)--but I have a couple of other things that I want to add first--maybe some graphics in the blank spaces on some of the pages, and also a page about Elizabeth--a woman whose tombstone is picture in "The Wall"--she's the one tucked into the corner. We did some research on her and it makes for a good story as well--I'm going to see if I can get Kat to post that. Also, I'm working on getting that reading generator up--I'm hoping that we can get working on the script for that at the end of the month--and that will be another way to see more of the cards. I'm hoping that we can get it to generate the cards in the pentegram layout described on the site--worse case scenario will be that it will be a three card reading--but it will display the cards and the text that goes with them for interpretation.

Nat :)
 

gravenimages

A little new stuff--I just put a link to Find-a-Grave on the news page for background information on The Wall if anyone is interested :) Must go check on Shell Oracle...

XXNat
 

darwinia

This is great, it really brings some extra meaning to The Wall card Nat.

From your description of Elizabeth's grave:

"There are also no records of exhumations and reinterments, so it is highly possible that the new portion of the church was built not only over Elizabeth but potentially other graves, whose markers were destroyed."

I thought that was a no-no? (We've all seen the movie Poltergeist, right?)



I'm off to my cemetery today to take a picture of a father's grave for a friend. She told me how to find it--it has a little bench instead of a headstone--I love odd markers like that or stones that have pictures on them. Another reason the Graven Images Oracle seems delightfully appealing.

There is a stone I like with a little boy fishing carved on it and I always liked it--coincidentally the mother of the boy buried there came to my house with another friend of mine and I heard the story. He was killed by a train while playing on the railroad tracks when he was about 8 years-old. Because he liked to fish, they had the picture carved on the stone.

The story adds such poignancy, doesn't it?
 

darwinia

For all you graveyard lurkers out there, I notice that there is an hour-long documentary on Vision TV, which I get via satellite in Canada--not sure if you can pick it up in the US.

Tonight, Wednesday May 3/2006 at 10 p.m. Eastern time:

Mortal Remains
"Cemeteries: who are they really for? This special examines the evolution of North America's graveyards throughout the centuries, and how they ultimately exist for the living"
 

gravenimages

Hello again! Actually, I think I saw bits and pieces of that program (or something like it) on PBS--our public television station--it looked really neat and took you on a tour of sesveral cemeteries in the US, and maybe abroad too, but I'm not sure. WIll look it up.

I have other news which I was going to post--a small collection of my non-Graven Images photos will be part of the Caladan Gallery Black and White Exhibit (www.caladangallery.com). This art gallery specializes in Spiritual Art--so please check it out--I realize that I should probably post this in Advertisements--but for everyone on this thread that has been so supportive of my work with the Graven Images Oracle, I wanted to post it here. Framed prints will be available and I may do some note cards too, but I'm working on that. I'm going to be doing an email for everyone on my mailing list this weekend about the show--it's going to be up from May 9 through June 10th and then archived on line :)

If you haven't had a chance check out the new look of the website--We've added some upcoming events. I'm still twekaing problems with fonts for people with dial up--but I'm working on it--it's been so crazy here! Akk!

XXNat