This image is a pastiche of two mythological events: the sacrifice of the bull at the hand of Mithra, and the Assumption of Mary. In the Assumption, Mary is believed to have been taken body and soul into heaven and crowned with twelve stars, as shown in the halo on the right. I was interested in this idea of the bodily being taken into heaven, and replaced Mary with the much more animistic, earthly idol of the bull. Thus the picture’s main idea is that of the trajectory of a lot of mythology: the movement from the agricultural, animistic, tangible, earthly to the monotheistic, the intellectual, the abstract, the inhuman. The title of the image and the project, "Magic Despaired," comes from a quote from Gaddis' "The Recognitions," describing this trajectory: "magic despaired and became religion." The emphasis on intellectualism in Christianity is shown on the writing on the outside of the halo, in Georgian, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35.
In some bull sacrifice renderings, wheat comes out of the bull’s wound, as shown in the blue constellation sticking out of his neck. The bull is often surrounded by signs of the zodiac, as are on the tapestry.