Doors of Perception

 “There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors of perception."
                                                                                               ~ Ray Manzarek of the Doors, 1967

Art and religion, carnivals and saturnalia, dancing and listening to oratory—all these have served, in H. G. Wells’s phrase, as Doors in the Wall. And for private, for everyday use there have always been chemical intoxicants.
                                                                                      Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, 1954

Doors of Perception

ingredients: vintage book covers, vintage book page, vintage used envelope, image transfers, acetate, acrylic ink, watercolor pencils, metallic and nonmetallic artist pens, mica, leaf, found objects, milagros, stitching, glass beads, brads, beads, electrical resisters, vintage key




If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. 
For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.
                                                                  ~ William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1790




reference: http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/11/17/rock-doors-between/

Doors and Windows of Richmond, VA

This is a subject I'm drawn to again and again.  (Hmmmm... a subject for a future series, perhaps?)  

So, come with me on a little tour of Richmond, Virginia's doors and windows...

Doors and windows have had, throughout history, much symbolic meaning attached to them, and I don't think it's hard to see why.  Think of a classic book or movie (Wuthering Heights, The Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan, Jane Eyre, Rear Window, The Secret Garden... ) - and there's probably a door or window playing an important role.  Their part in horror movies is obvious.   (Why do the characters always open the door, after  you've pleaded so emphatically with them not to?)

Of course, the symbolism of doors and windows lies in their function:  Opening. Closing.  Who /what is allowed to enter, and who's kept out.  Who's forced to leave (or pushed out!), and who is set free; 

  who's protected and safe within, and who is imprisoned.

  A window may reveal, or conceal.  Symbolically, someone looking out a window is an observer, but not a part of what they see.  Is that a face behind the window, or just a shadow?

 A door may be a passageway, or a barrier.  Is that a spirit moving through a portal, or just a trick of the light?

A window may reveal what's inside,

or only reflect its surroundings.

 

 A window into the past...

 

  ...a moment in time, frozen and framed.

In dreams, two doors side by side often symbolize a choice to be made.  Would you like door number 1, door number 2, or what's behind the curtain?  (What was that show called, anyway?)

A window may function as a stage, where a bizarre story plays out in our imaginations- a view into another world.

A door within a door carefully protects the secrets that lie within...

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.  ~ Flora Whittemore

There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.  ~ Aldous Huxley

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.  ~ Joseph Campbell