#asclepias

Thrace, Perinthos, Severus Alexander, AD 232-235

EGYPT, Alexandria. Faustina II Regnal year 14 of Antoninus Pius (150/1 CE)

(cant find a date or place something Hadrianapolis)

Cyzicus, Mysia; Unknown issuer, c. 450-400 BCE

Apollodorus, Bibliotheca "For Triptolemos, the elder of Metaniera's sons, Demeter prepared a chariot of winged Drakones (Dragons)"

thank you ovid for letting us have at least giving medea winged serpents Ovid, Metamorphoses "[Medea flees Thessalia (Thessaly) after the murder of King Pelias :] Had she [Medea] not soared away with her winged Serpents (Serpentes), she surely must have paid the price. Aloft, over the peak of shady Pelion . . . she fled, and over Othrys . . . [Until] at last, borne on her Vipers' (Vipereae) wings"

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica "[Medea] with Winged Serpents cleaves the air, dripping with murder"

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica "Circe was borne away [from the land of Colchis] by winged Dracones (Dragon-Serpents)"

150 CE Roman sarcophagus

Asclepius riding a winged serpent based af holy cow

 Pautalia, Thrace; Caracalla (198-217 CE),

Got my first passionflower bloom of the year! This is the hardy Passionfruit or maypop (Passiflora incarnata) which is native to southern Turtle Island. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get fruit this year.

The narrowleaf milkweed is also flowering as well. (Asclepias fascicularis) Other garden pals include cucumbers and various wasp friends!

The world awakens each day from its nightly slumber transformed by a sparkling layer of morning dew on the grass, on flower petals and leaves, on cars and car windows. These glistening droplets last only a little while, an integral part of what imbues the early morning with its aura of magic. If we sleep too late, we miss the magnificent display of sunlight playing on an infinite amount of tiny crystal-like drops. To step onto the dew-covered grass is to anoint our feet with a form of water that comes only once a day for a short time, a rarefied gift of the night air that will soon evaporate in the full light of the sun. If we inhale slowly and consciously enough, it is almost as if we are drinking in this magical elixir formed in the boundary between darkness and light.

In one myth, morning dew is believed to be tears from heaven, and in another, the droplets are poured from the vessel of the goddess of dawn. When we see the earth draped in these shimmering drops, it is easy to imagine fairies bathing in the water or a sky god weeping from longing to be closer to his beloved earth goddess. Seeing the sparkling beauty of the earth emerging from darkness, we may understand this longing in terms of our own gratitude, how blessed we are to be here.

Perhaps heaven really does long to be here on earth and perhaps that is why we are here, as conduits between the divine and the earthbound. As we drink the morning dew in with our eyes, our skin, our breath, it is easy to imagine that it really is a magical potion, a gift from heaven, a reminder of our true purpose, and a daily opportunity to be transformed.

Butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa