From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: Robert Lambert Jones III).
Here is my recap of the creatures I used in my story poem, The Fear of a Farmer: Valkyrie, Norns, Water Horse, Selkie, sea serpent, and Cherubim. As I did for The Staff in the Tree, I have chosen to show certain illustrations with some accompanying verses. I’m a bit more pleased with the visual quality in this particular book. And now…
“So know, as you tremble with eyes open wide, I’ve come to commission the hero inside.”
From out of the darkness, a trio of Norns Gave such admonition as righteousness scorns.
Norns from The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: Robert Lambert Jones III).
Its profile was equine but horribly so, Distorted, and much like a fish did it go.
From The Fear of a Farmer (copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
He turned to discover a striking surprise, A womanly creature with ebony eyes.
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
“I said I would love and return to the deep. A promise I make is a promise I keep.”
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
Respectfully, Einar stood up in the stern. The guardian lowered its head in return.
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
“What’s this,” chuckled Asger, “that falls on my ear? You give him the wrong appellation, I fear.”
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
Their power was awesome, as often was proved By flashes of lightning whenever they moved.
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
“Be careful,” said Anni. “Arise, but don’t speak.” She stood and positioned her hand on its beak.
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
The Fear of a Farmer has just been made available on Amazon. You may find out more about it by clicking HERE.
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
I must start by admitting that the above picture is inaccurate, but I will get to that later. The following painting by Raphael shows what cherubim (plural for cherub in the Old Testament) are not: fat babies with wings.
Cherubs by Raphael
I am only familiar with these creatures from the Judeo Christian tradition. They are described as guarding the entrance to the Garden of Eden (Genesis) and as appearing to the prophet Ezekiel in a vision he had during the Babylonian captivity (Ezekiel). The latter account also refers to them as “living creatures” stationed around the throne of God. They are described as having four faces: that of a lion, that of an ox, that of an eagle, and that of a man. They also have four wings full of eyes, the hands of a man and the feet of a cow. It has been suggested that their appearance is symbolic (e.g. ox as servant, lion as ruler, etc.) and should not be taken literally.
This description may seem grotesque to some, intriguing or even cool to others. It also defies artistic representation, but this hasn’t stopped people from trying. A golden sculpture of two cherubim facing each other on the Mercy Seat ( or lid) of the Ark of the Covenant is described in the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament). In the photograph of a re-creation below, each is shown as a kneeling human figure with two wings, and both are shown facing each other with their wingtips touching. The truth, however, is that we don’t really know exactly what these figures looked like.
By the way, the above image might remind you of what the Ark looked like in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. The movie version shows pretty good agreement with scholarly opinion, but all scriptural accuracy in the movie ends there.
Large statues of two cherubim were stationed behind the Ark in the Holy of Holies, the inner and most sacred chamber in the temple built by Solomon. They were allegedly human figures, each with two wings, and two of their wings touched in the center between them while the other two extended to the walls. Again, we cannot be entirely sure of what they looked like.
Depicting the description from chapters 1 and 10 of the book of Ezekiel is more problematic. Here is an attempt from around 1200 (A. D. or C. E., depending on your preference of notation).
From the Cathedral of Cefalu, Sicily (c. 1200).
Oops! On closer examination this looks more like a seraph with six wings instead of four, but I’ll keep it, anyway, because I like the colors.
Here is another from a different church, as nearly as I could make out the rather obscure reference I found. Well… the heads of an eagle, an ox, a lion, and a man are shown as described in the book of Ezekiel, but it appears to have six wings. Is this a cherub-seraph hybrid?
From St. Stefans Romanian Orthodox Church.
The following illustration is one for which I could not obtain a credit, but it shows what I said about the difficulty and aesthetics (or lack thereof) of portrayal earlier in this post.
In my drawing at the top of this post, I chose to take a simpler approach. Honestly, I just wanted to draw this concept (I like eagles, as did my mother when she was still alive), and I found a way to include it in my story in a way that added some additional meaning to the plot. I envisioned a huge, four-winged, four legged eagle and left it at that. I will conclude with the following drawing of a cherub being placated by Anni, the Valkyrie.
From The Fear of a Farmer (Copyright: 2017 Robert Lambert Jones III).
PNEUMYTHOLOGY 