Reflections

There is something so fascinating about reflections anywhere but natural reflections in water are particularly magical; it is easy to imagine people in distant times being entranced and maybe a little awed by the strange phenomena as they would have seen it. Maybe the story most well-known to us is the story of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection and killed himself because he could not attain his desire… he’d already caused misery and heartbreak to poor Echo who was spurned in her love for him There are stories and fables about animals who saw their reflection in water, the dog with the bone who saw a dog with a bigger bone in the water and tried to snatch it, losing his own bone in the process, the stag who so admired his antlers in his reflection but disliked his slim legs… until his antlers got caught in some branches and he was trapped by a lion…When ancient precious items are retrieved form bogs, marshes and pools, I wonder if those who cast them in for some ritual, magic or superstitious purpose watched the reflections and tried to ‘read’ something in them?

6 Comments

david lewis on January 3, 2015 at 3:56 pm

When I was a teenager I spent a lot of time looking in the mirror combing my hair and practicing my smile etc. My Mother said once to me that if I kept looking in the mirror that one day I would see the Devil staring back at me. She meant that I was being vain I guess. Never forgot that admonition tho.

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