21-01-2016, 09:45 AM
Hi Don!
For posting such files in future you may be better off converting them first into PDF files (Word should have an export function) as it will open better on more machines, and people won't worry about viruses and the like.
I disagree with Diane's apparant assertation that this is a merman - she is combing her hair, a womanly sign. Mermen, when they appear, are usually belicose in nature, although off the top of my head they never appeared until the Renaissance.
In any case, I suggest the mermaid imagery depicts the "ruling over Rahab", a Hebrew seamonster representing chaos, who is mentioned in Psalm 89 (which is a bit water heavy in any case) - the image shows the human essence of the monster being lifted away from the beast in God's good light.
Incidentally, I've just noticed that the Hunterian Psalter, which is where the image came from, has a lovely nonsense magic charm marginalia, one of my particular interests. From the description:
There is some fascinating marginalia to be found on the last page of the book. A thirteenth century inscription appears to give instruction in Latin for the preparation and administration of an amulet for the cure of epilepsy: the amulet is to be sanctified at the altar at the Mass of the Holy Ghost and then suspended from the neck of someone afflicted with epilepsy or perhaps in danger of death. The inscription goes on to provide the words which make up the charm to be written on the amulet itself; this text is in a corrupted form of Anglo-Saxon rendering it incomprehensible but therefore, perhaps, more potent - 'an abracadabra function', as Brown and Voigts explain.
For posting such files in future you may be better off converting them first into PDF files (Word should have an export function) as it will open better on more machines, and people won't worry about viruses and the like.
I disagree with Diane's apparant assertation that this is a merman - she is combing her hair, a womanly sign. Mermen, when they appear, are usually belicose in nature, although off the top of my head they never appeared until the Renaissance.
In any case, I suggest the mermaid imagery depicts the "ruling over Rahab", a Hebrew seamonster representing chaos, who is mentioned in Psalm 89 (which is a bit water heavy in any case) - the image shows the human essence of the monster being lifted away from the beast in God's good light.
Incidentally, I've just noticed that the Hunterian Psalter, which is where the image came from, has a lovely nonsense magic charm marginalia, one of my particular interests. From the description:
There is some fascinating marginalia to be found on the last page of the book. A thirteenth century inscription appears to give instruction in Latin for the preparation and administration of an amulet for the cure of epilepsy: the amulet is to be sanctified at the altar at the Mass of the Holy Ghost and then suspended from the neck of someone afflicted with epilepsy or perhaps in danger of death. The inscription goes on to provide the words which make up the charm to be written on the amulet itself; this text is in a corrupted form of Anglo-Saxon rendering it incomprehensible but therefore, perhaps, more potent - 'an abracadabra function', as Brown and Voigts explain.