Noctifera wrote:The mummification process is not one to be ooked about.. it was a sacred, careful, highly spiritual and ritualistic honor to that being.

Also, at least for the Egyptians, it was a long, expensive* process, so it would only have done with their most honored dead

* According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the mummification process cost a talent of silver; which (assuming 1 Drachma of his era = $50 US) works out to around $200,000 in modern money

Yinepu wrote:When I remove muscles and organs from a dead body, I notice how they are attached, what makes movement possible.. how they should have functioned in life. Knowing these things also helps to know how a body in life should look and move.

Didn't one of the Master Sculptors (possibly da Vinci) study anatomy in the morgue so he could create more realistic sculptures?

Yinepu wrote:

SikruaSuncat wrote:
Ditto. Cool job. I deal with older furs....my jackal skin looks pretty crappy. Badly Tanned with a smaller version of the 'zombie smell' Heh! Good thing I only use the fur.

I also work with fur, hides and feathers.
One of my favorite skulls in my collection is from a jackal

Unfortunately, jackal fur is the very <<removed by mod>> to process and spin...the only thing worse is cat fur! Even Highland coo fur is easier!! Mine is black backed jackal. The hyena fur gives me a creepy vibe sometimes.... scavenger energy! I am making bracelets with that.

REMOVED - DO NOT RETRY wrote:Perhaps the people who are most creeped out by mummies are the ones who truly do have strong callings for them. Just reading more and more in this thread makes me hope to include one in my family in the future.

I can see that. I have always thought a certain measure of nervousness and fear was equatable to fascination, intrigue and ultimately necessity on an unconscious level.. I do believe those feeling such a reaction have the very most to gain.

Yinepu wrote: I love mummies..always have
I feel there is a certain beauty in the whole mummification process.

But then again I also love skeletons and can see the beauty in them as well.. though the process of maceration isn't very pleasant smelling.. there is beauty in how decomposition takes place.
Being an artist I tend to find beauty in strange places.. places which are normally overlooked by the average person.. a bit weird, I know.. but that's just how I am

When I remove muscles and organs from a dead body, I notice how they are attached, what makes movement possible.. how they should have functioned in life. Knowing these things also helps to know how a body in life should look and move.
Even with maggots or beetles used for flesh removal.. there is a certain beauty in how they can strip a corpse down to the bone.

Lol, not even remotely weird! I too am an artist, of similar mentality and persuasion, and I think all true artists must be - it amounts to vision.
I am enthralled by decomposition and dissection, to see and know intimately all the little components that make up an organism.. from where they come and how they function and to where they end up. When I was taking biology in school my favourite part was the dissection and I had to help dissect more than one project as many other students were too squeamish - to me it's more surreal than anything. Also have you gone to the Bodies Exhibit? Now that's a trip.. though a little besides deterioration.

There is a decomp time lapse I would post here for your viewing pleasure that has a neat story behind it, but I am not sure if it would be appropriate to share, if it's against the forum rule or something.

Dragonoake wrote: Also, at least for the Egyptians, it was a long, expensive* process, so it would only have done with their most honored dead

* According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the mummification process cost a talent of silver; which (assuming 1 Drachma of his era = $50 US) works out to around $200,000 in modern money

Indeed it took a great deal of investment and you were certainly honored to be preserved with such care.

The removal of organs didn't halt at ancient mummification, it might interest others to know that the hearts of many illustrious historical figures were removed on the request of loved ones or demand of the dying - and preserved separate from their bodies. There are a number of fantastic death rituals and traditions that go overlooked..

As a necromancer for several years it has been my obligation to fully immerse in the culture of death and it's ties to the spiritual, the mysticism of the dark.. there will always be things unpleasant or startling to the senses (especially if you're empathic) but if you can embrace what they have to teach you would be surprised and amazed at the powerful influence. Also death and life are cyclic and intimately connected, you cannot have one without the other, you will often find amazing secrets of one within the other.

Also it's sad that in our modern culture we have been largely removed from the sick, the dying and the dead, heck even where our food comes from as well, that we have lost our reverence for the natural processes and the people who handle them.

It's funny though that for all the ancient Egyptians' wisdom, they did not realize the importance of the brain. I'm sure it doesn't take away from the spirits though.

Some of the old Hebrew customs make a hell of a lotta sense! They bathe and prepare the body for burial.in some sects. The person KNOWS that loved one is dead and can come to grips with putting the body in the ground. Same thing for a woman's first period. They shower you with gifts and hug yoou and give you advice and say "Today you are a woman!" and smile.They take something gory and scarey like death and blood and make it not so awful!

Lokakisa wrote:Also it's sad that in our modern culture we have been largely removed from the sick, the dying and the dead, heck even where our food comes from as well, that we have lost our reverence for the natural processes and the people who handle them.

We raise, slaughter and butcher our own livestock.... I know a few people who can't get over the idea that we can deliver the babies, raise them and then end up putting them on the dinner table when they're grown.
I would rather know where my food has been and what kind of life it has lived. They tend to think that the meat is magically grown in the back room of the grocery inside of styro and plastic packages.

Dragonoake wrote:

Yinepu wrote:When I remove muscles and organs from a dead body, I notice how they are attached, what makes movement possible.. how they should have functioned in life. Knowing these things also helps to know how a body in life should look and move.

Didn't one of the Master Sculptors (possibly da Vinci) study anatomy in the morgue so he could create more realistic sculptures?

If memory serves.. there were quite a few artists who did that

Yinepu wrote:I would rather know where my food has been and what kind of life it has lived. They tend to think that the meat is magically grown in the back room of the grocery inside of styro and plastic packages.

My cousin (city boy from Nor-Cal) wouldn't touch milk once he came to Iowa and saw where it came from

Noctifera wrote:I have always thought a certain measure of nervousness and fear was equatable to fascination, intrigue and ultimately necessity on an unconscious level.. I do believe those feeling such a reaction have the very most to gain.

You know, that's really something to consider.