Velut Luna - A Tribute to Sibilla Cumana

[bobinder]

Wow, Bob and Eul! You two left me almost speechless. Such a beautiful tribute! When Eul first mentioned the Vesuvius scene in Luna's story in that comment on dA, I could sense immediately that it would be a powerful, moving and epic scene even without reading it, and now I get to know the powerful, moving and epic story behind that story. All I can say right now is: Thank you all for the wonderful collaboration among your brilliant minds!

Thank you, Shiva.
It's good to receive so much positive feedback, especially from the crux author-manipulators, including yourself.

My original intention was to produce a single portrait of Amica ('Luna is my name') to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the story, and I recall your enthusiastic response to that picture on DeviantArt. When I discussed the proposed portrait with Eul, she was delighted by the concept. Fairly soon, we were developing rather more ambitious ideas for celebrating Luna, which have now been realised in this thread.

I am sure you will enjoy reading 'Amica' when you have time, and I hope the story will inspire your own creative talents.

 

[bobinder]

Hello Bobinder! I feel honoured by your mention of my work: thank you once more. In "Temple Crucifixions" I was for the first time impressed by the sensual body and cute expression of the Romanian model appearing in some black and white photographs. Later on my attention was drawn on Velut Luna. This happened at the time I had shortly reviewed the movie "The Nuns of Saint Archangel" in CF thread "Bondage,Captivity,Interrogation,Torture Scenes in Mainstream movies" when somebody mentioned that a writing by Velut Luna on same events already existed.
Please accept my compliments for your new illustration of the crucified slavegirl of Pompeii and for the passion both yourself and Eulalia showed for this story.

Thanks for your comments, and for clarifying your sources, Hammers.
It is interesting to learn how you and Luna have responded equally to the inspiration provided by the Aisii pictures.
I believe that my very first sight of Ana-Maria was actually in Luna's crux manipulation, and so it was Luna who effectively introduced me to Aisii's expressive modelling photography.

 

[Loxuru]

A very good and touching tribute! Thanks Eulalia and Bobinder!

 

[bobinder]

Still only half way through this dense thread (I mean dense in terms of information density..) So much to digest and so packed with information yet shot through with nostalgia and sadness too. I have not given Velut Luna’s writing yet the attention it clearly deserves, but was always aware of her subtle spirit floating through the forum.. thanks @bobinder and @Eulalia for this beautiful retrospective, I am quite captivated!

Well done Bob and Eulalia , it will take some time to read all your posts on this thread , I will be busy the next few days doing so. I did a quick scan thru several of them and enjoyed what I saw.

A very good and touching tribute! Thanks Eulalia and Bobinder!

Thank you, Monty, Kathy and Lox.
It's good to hear so many people saying that they want to come back and spend more time looking through this thread in detail.
I hope our tribute may inspire readers to revisit and explore Luna's original threads.

 

[messaline]

Among all the stories told by Luna, my two favourites are "The Devil In The Convent" and "Amica" of course !

Her stories were wonderful and so much inventive ! Sure that we lost much in loosing Luna ...
We had some little PMs and I found this girl very attracting , with an open mind and so much gentle ...
It even was astonishing how a girl like Luna could write so much dark stories ...
Then, I only can tell : wherever you can be , Luna, we'll always think to you ...
Kisses ........ and some tears ...
Messa

 

[l'bogo]

Velut Luna - Silent Moon​

I can't find words to praise your work, it seems to me the most extensive and appreciative review ever written here on the Forum, along with Bob's extraordinary interpretation of Luna’s artwork.

Luna was definitely a fine writer and you have interpreted her thoughts in an excellent way, as Bob has reviewed almost every aspect of her artwork. I exchanged only a few messages with Luna, I regret not having had a more full correspondence.

But I want to dwell on some aspects of Luna's work, which, with the little English I knew then, I sensed more than anything in her writings.

I refer to her dreamlike, arcane, almost prophetic vision, in ‘Devil’ and ‘Amica’,, where she meets the spirits that dwell in her computer (in ‘Devil’) with her traumatic return to the past, the Inquisition, or when she describes her apparent death in ‘Amica’, and also in the scene where Detrfri invokes the curse of Vibia, and the similar descriptions of crucifixions in ‘Devil’ and ‘Amica’: in ‘Amica’ she mentions other women condemned to the cross, they are priestesses of the lunar cult (which happens likewise in ‘Devil’) , but she herself is a priestess of the Moon in Amica; and then the final chapter of ‘Amica’, when Rectina meets the shadows that emerge from the memory of the tragedy, and the last sentence pronounced by Rectina, which is the phrase with which the story began. A circular sense, a circular world, I would say always interconnected, between one story and another, a 'continuum', like the place of imprisonment of Luna kidnapped by the phantom character, of which we will never know anything, that she foreshadows in the 'Giallo', and is the obsession of Didier, who in my opinion would have been the true protagonist of this story: Didier with his psychoses and the trauma he has suffered, more than the policewoman Corinne, and more functional to the plot – these are aspects that still leave me very confused.

Then there is a very enigmatic phrase; something that has this meaning: 'To discover the truth we need to take an “oblique” look ... mystery in the mystery ...

When we’re observing through a telescope, to see some evanescent objects, we need 'distracted vision': that is, the presence of the faint filament of a nebula can be grasped only with the corner of the eye, when the light hits the marginal part of the retina, which is more sensitive than the central area.

But nothing is lost, her words remain our inheritance.

Sibilla

wow! the girl from the Gates of Hell! :D those little poems of yours are delightful, well done! ... And a little Sibilla

www.cruxforums.com

 

[l'bogo]

ΕΠΙΤΑΦΙΟΣ​

Il frutto
della giovinezza
dura un attimo
che già
presto
è l'ora
di passare
le soglie
dell'Ade
(*)
​

The fruit
of youth
lasts
just a moment
Soon [and]
it's already time
to pass
through the gates
of Hades
(**)​

Will be your epitaph

But I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying

(*) from Luna's last Lyric
(**) Eulalia translation​

 

[bobinder]

Then, I only can tell : wherever you can be , Luna, we'll always think to you ...
Kisses ........ and some tears ...
Messa

Velut Luna - Silent Moon​

I can't find words to praise your work, it seems to me the most extensive and appreciative review ever written here on the Forum, along with Bob's extraordinary interpretation of Luna’s artwork.

Thank you Messa and l'bogo, for your contributions, and in particular for the enlightening information you have both provided here and elsewhere regarding the source of Luna's avatar, which I was previously unable to identify.

'Nude Against Rocks'

(Image hosted on DeviantArt - https://www.deviantart.com/carvenaked/art/Nude-against-rocks-131582683 )​

In addition to the thoughtful insights of his earlier post, Luna's Italian friend and fellow author, l'bogo has responded to this tribute by seeking and discovering the original source of Luna's most self-defining image. Luna converted the photograph to monochrome for inclusion in 'The Devil in the Convent'. The desaturated version frustrated my attempts to find it via search engines, although the fact that the black and white image produces a colour thumbnail in my picture files indicates that the original photograph is in colour.

The picture, entitled 'Nude Against Rocks', depicts a model identified as 'Aubrey, from Buffalo', and was taken by Arrik Kim during a photo session posed at a waterfall in Middletown, Connecticut, on 30 July 2007. Arrik Kim is a multi-talented woodworker, sculptor, artist and photographer, whose DeviantArt gallery is presented, appropriately, in the name, 'Carvenaked' -

carvenaked User Profile | DeviantArt

www.deviantart.com

Luna was certainly inspired by what she found in the gallery, and might initially have been attracted by the small number of crux photographs, featuring a model named, 'Jessie'. The Carvenaked 'Girl on Cross' series has become quite well known since its first appearance in August 2010, but Luna does not seem to have used them in her threads.

​

Instead, she created something original, using the suggestive pose by Aubrey. The twenty-nine-year-old art model looks rather different from the Aisii facial type favoured by Luna, although she does have long, dark hair and, like Ana-Maria, evidently struck exactly the kind of pose which Luna found irresistible.

​

 

[l'bogo]

Just a little note on the sidelines of these memories.

Luna had special attention in choosing the names of the characters in her stories.

Some are names of characters who really existed, such as the Greek slave who, in the House of the Vettii, exercised the "trade": a certain Eutichis who called herself "Greek and of polite manners". In any case she was decidedly economic, "only two axes". Registration found on the door jamb.
But everywhere you will find a correspondence between the name and the character of the people.

 

[Frank Petrexa]

VII

And then it ceased.

I – and other friends of Luna – had been concerned by things she’d said about her health in PMs during August 2016. She was out of contact for about 3 weeks, but I was aware she was taking a restful break, and hoped she’d soon be well again. She came back on September 16th and her posts on the ‘Histoires’ thread seemed to herald the return of the bright, lively Luna we knew and loved, but the same evening she sent me a message giving a very different picture, though she still said twice, in her lovely fractured English, ‘I hope to be right! If not send to me a warning!’

After that, silence. Days passed, then weeks, after three months I posted my announcement, quoting her last message to me:

http://www.cruxforums.com/xf/threads/histoires-de-luna.4007/post-291093

There can be no doubt she died of some serious illness, I found reliable information later that there was an outbreak of meningitis in Italy in the summer of 2016 which claimed the lives of a significant number of young adults, Luna may very well have been one of them.

But I don’t want this Tribute to engage in futile speculation or to dwell on the tragedy – if any of her friends wants to contact me for the little more information I can add, please send a PM – but here I want to celebrate what she gave, to me and to all of us.

I was surprised how deeply her loss affected me, our friendship and working together had become a very special part of my life, she’d told me so much about herself I felt I knew her closely – and yet, in a sense, we didn’t know each other at all! We never exchanged our ‘real life’ names, never questioned or pressed each other for personal information. As I wrote a year later on the ‘Histoires’ thread, ‘the fact that we respected each other's privacy and anonymity absolutely ... meant our friendship was so uncomplicated, we just clicked, had so much in common to share and chat about. If we'd ever really met, I think we'd have got on very well, but it would have been much more complex. Like I, and others, have said, it was a privilege and a joy to know Luna in this strange way. She's a memory I'll always treasure’.

I’m grateful to Bob for his initiative in creating this Tribute. For three years, I’ve found it hard to re-read Luna’s wonderful stories, and almost impossibly painful to re-visit our thousands (literally) of posts we exchanged in PMs. Now I’ve done so, I feel a sense of ‘closure’, I can pass from grieving to gratitude, feeling personally thankful to have had the chance to communicate with such a very wonderful person, and I’m sure I can say for very many here on the Forums, we’re all eternally grateful for the legacy of superb stories that are now treasured in our Archive.

View attachment 751559​

There is a vaccine for meningitis. It could prevent a lot of tragedies like this. Unfortunately, with the whole world so mobile, disease can spread rapidly and soon people will need to get 30-40 vaccinations (if there is a vaccine) to stay safe. Right now in the United States people are worried about equine encephalitis being spread by mosquitoes. It would be good if there were a kind of universal vaccine. I did read about a "universal anti-venom": a bunch of "nano particles" with attached proteins that would bind to most known snake venoms and vacuum them up out of the blood before they can do damage. But it was only experimental. Something like that for vaccines would require a lot of different "antigens" and probably would have a lot of "cross reactivity". The bottom line is that the microbes are winning.
At least one can say that she seemed to have a happy, fulfilling life, even if it was too short.

 

[Eulalia]

There is a vaccine for meningitis. It could prevent a lot of tragedies like this. Unfortunately, with the whole world so mobile, disease can spread rapidly and soon people will need to get 30-40 vaccinations (if there is a vaccine) to stay safe. Right now in the United States people are worried about equine encephalitis being spread by mosquitoes. It would be good if there were a kind of universal vaccine. I did read about a "universal anti-venom": a bunch of "nano particles" with attached proteins that would bind to most known snake venoms and vacuum them up out of the blood before they can do damage. But it was only experimental. Something like that for vaccines would require a lot of different "antigens" and probably would have a lot of "cross reactivity". The bottom line is that the microbes are winning.
At least one can say that she seemed to have a happy, fulfilling life, even if it was too short.

Apparently the outbreak in Italy hit even young adults who'd had the vaccination.
And the mortality may have been under-reported - according to an article I found
in an online medical journal, the test being used by most pathologists in Italy
didn't reliably identify this strain. But, as I said, I don't want to dwell on that topic.

 

[pepev]

Very Great work by the two of you.

 

[mp5stab]

It’s always difficult to lose a member on a mostly anonymous forum like this. One day they are posting, the next day they aren’t, and you only have the scantily clues to pick up afterwards. For me, Luna came and went almost unnoticed, and that’s a massive shame. I feel like this thread has done a little to rectify that; the stunning, jaw-agape-ifyingly, electrifyingly sexy work of Bobnearled is enough incentive to read and reread these histories you have gathered together. The keen eye for detail you both share draws more out of her work than I could imagine. And of course, Bob’s particular style of photo manipulation and painting can’t be praised enough! Beautiful!

 

[bobinder]

It’s always difficult to lose a member on a mostly anonymous forum like this. One day they are posting, the next day they aren’t, and you only have the scantily clues to pick up afterwards. For me, Luna came and went almost unnoticed, and that’s a massive shame. I feel like this thread has done a little to rectify that; the stunning, jaw-agape-ifyingly, electrifyingly sexy work of Bobnearled is enough incentive to read and reread these histories you have gathered together. The keen eye for detail you both share draws more out of her work than I could imagine. And of course, Bob’s particular style of photo manipulation and painting can’t be praised enough! Beautiful!

Thank you so much, Emily, for your lovely comment. Such generous appreciation from a fellow crux artist is an honour indeed!

Like you, I did not have the chance to introduce myself to Luna, and that remains a sadly missed opportunity. Luna shared a great deal of herself with us, not least by projecting her character into her creative work in such an engaging manner. Indeed her sense of style has been instrumental in my discovery of the talent and vision behind her words and pictures.

The inspiration for this thread is Luna herself, but in terms of my critical contributions and visual interpretations, I could not have achieved half as much without the guidance and assistance of Eulalia, who knew her best. Luna's contributions to Cruxforums have an enduring appeal.

Inspiration never dies​

 

[bobinder]

'A Painter's Model'

​

'So I'm intiated into my new job, a really tough job, being a painter's model, and Rubio is very demanding. We mustn’t lose the pose, which is always very complicated, before he has completed his sketch, so my muscles grow numb muscles, pain begins to torture my back, my legs are siezed with cramps. More naked than dressed, or with clothes that leave much of the skin revealed, one day I have to be a nymph, the next a naiad, or Diana, Minerva, Flora or Electra, or one of the muses, or Venus herself, so my body is to be put on display in frescoes that everyone will admire.'

(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna)

Luna's description of the ordeals endured by Amica whilst posing in the artist's studio is significant in view of her impending misfortunes later in the story. She refers to 'pain' and 'torture', as well as being 'seized with cramps. More naked than dressed...', all of which seems to provide a foretaste of her suffering as a slave in the tile quarry and ultimately of her crucifixion.

Before she is captured and sent to the slave labour camp, Amica spends some time hiding in a portrait studio belonging to the artist, Rubio. Disguised with her hair dyed black, she poses as the artist's model, whilst Rubio sketches his designs for the frescoes in the Baths of Diomede. During this period, Luna refers to examples of the pictures of Amica, painted by Rubio, including the fantasy warrior and the double portrait with blonde and dark hair, which symbolises Amica's disguise as well as reflecting the light and dark themes of each half of the story.

​

L'bogo has pointed out that Luna based her characters on real people, and he has kindly drawn my attention to the fact that Rubio is synonymous with Luis Royo, the artist who actually painted the pictures which Luna presents. Through Amica, Luna now assumes the role of the dark-haired art model with whom she identified, and so I have shown Ana-Maria Ilinca, posing in the artist's studio, with Luis Royo's pictures on either side. The Aisii source image, taken by Daniel Ilinca, dates from 2017 and is entitled, 'Lotus Flower'.

​

As a painter of frescoes, it seems appropriate for Rubio's studio to be decorated in a trompe-l'œil architectural style, and so I have used a background which is an authentic Roman interior. This is the cubiculum, or bedroom, from the villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, which was remarkably well preserved following its burial in the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius.

​

Several Roman villas have been discovered at Boscoreale, which lies on the lower slopes of the volcano, between Pompeii and Herculaneum, although the site has not been fully excavated in the manner of its better known neighbours. This particular interior has been salvaged complete, and is currently preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In my picture, the view from the window is a manipulated reconstruction.

Another of Luna's characters is named Fannius, the dashing soldier and son of Lucius, who takes Amica to spend a romantic interlude at his villa on the slopes of Vesuvius. Knowing Luna's inclination for adapting the names of real people, it is not unlikely that she named her Fannius in recognition of the owner of the villa at Boscoreale.

Rubio informs Amica that there is a bed in the studio, making this a comfortable hiding place, and so I have included a suitable Roman reproduction from the Villa Pompeianum at Aschaffenburg.

​

The publication of this manipulation co-incides with Ana-Maria's birthday on 2nd October, and since she has provided so much inspiration to Luna, and latterly to myself, it seemed appropriate to mark the occasion with a portrait detail of Amica in her role as an art model. Despite the number and variety of her expressive poses, Ana-Maria almost never smiles, and we have to look outside her modelling portfolio for cheerful expressions. I was lucky enough to find a picture, taken at a social event, in which the angle of Ana-Maria's face corresponds exactly to the studio pose I had used in the manipulation.

​

Due to the low, blue lighting conditions, the smiling portrait was converted to monochrome and then recoloured to blend with the face of the original picture. Selective filter treatments and digital repainting completed the effect, and the result is an image of Amica looking reasonably cheerful in spite of her discomfort, as she poses for Rubio.

​

 

[bobinder]

Complexities

​

'But I've got to extricate myself from the mess I've landed myself in, fleeing from an unwanted marriage, but also from a comfortable home that had come to feel like a prison, but how hard it is to disentangle myself from the complexities I'm experiencing under my skin.'

(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna)

Amica's disguise allows her to move around Pompeii without being recognised. Whilst posing as a painter's model for her friend, Rubio, she is also employed as a performer in erotic stage shows. The story now reflects a period of fear and uncertainty, not only for Amica, but for the local population. The wealthiest citizens are gradually leaving Pompeii in the wake of repeated earth tremors, and Amica anticipates a move to Naples with Rubio. At this time, she contemplates the 'wild and dissolute life' which has enabled her to avoid her impending forced marriage to Diomede, but which, in its own way, is another trap from which she hopes to escape.

Luna is not specific about the location in which Amica puts her thoughts in order. I have visualised her returning to the seashore to seek some moments of solitude whilst she contemplates her future prospects. The portrait of Ana-Maria is derived from a casual, outdoor snapshot. Unlike her art and fashion sessions, this is not posed self-consciously, and there is a natural quality about her expression, and the loose strands of hair waving in the breeze, which seems appropriate for the theme of contemplating disordered thoughts.

The crescent moon blurs into the sky of the heavily defocused seascape, symbolising the lack of clarity. Amica alone occupies the shallow depth of field for this close-up scene, in which she brings her thoughts into sharp focus. Her contemplation on the lonely shore marks a symbolic lull before the storm, and the ensuing drama escalates with events moving beyond her control.

​

 

[phlebas]

ok it's taken me a week to find this thread, started shortly after I went away. Bob, you didn't mention this when we met! I am in awe, such a depth of feeling, of analysis, of emotion. Such illustrations, windows into a soul. Kudos to you and Eul for such an amazing tribute.

I am also one of those who didn't keep up with Luna's output, I've been meaning to go back and revisit, especially her slave girls, and know I absolutely must do. This is the sort of thing that lifts this group above the average "adult" themed group, and nudges us towards loftier ideals. Friendships made here can be deep and genuine, and when we lose someone we feel a real loss. I'm sorry not to have known Luna better while she was with us.

 

[bobinder]

ok it's taken me a week to find this thread, started shortly after I went away. Bob, you didn't mention this when we met! I am in awe, such a depth of feeling, of analysis, of emotion. Such illustrations, windows into a soul. Kudos to you and Eul for such an amazing tribute.

I am also one of those who didn't keep up with Luna's output, I've been meaning to go back and revisit, especially her slave girls, and know I absolutely must do. This is the sort of thing that lifts this group above the average "adult" themed group, and nudges us towards loftier ideals. Friendships made here can be deep and genuine, and when we lose someone we feel a real loss. I'm sorry not to have known Luna better while she was with us.

Thank you for your kind comments, Phlebas.
If this thread is awe-inspiring, as so many readers have indicated, the source of that inspiration is Luna herself.

I have found the exploration and interpretation of her work an enjoyable experience as well as an emotional one, and I am grateful for Eul's input and guidance on so many of the details which we have revealed. I am sure you will enjoy revisiting Luna's threads and I hope they will inspire you in your own creative endeavours.

 

[bobinder]

Public Executions on Market's Day

​

@hammers' use of Luna's 'Aisii' crux figure has been documented earlier in this thread, and he has been developing his manipulation skills to a high standard in the challenging medium of Windows Paint. I am delighted to see that his latest picture perpetuates not only his enthusiasm for the Roman crux theme, but a special interest in ancient Pompeii.

'Public Executions on Market's Day' uses a reconstruction of the Pompeii Forum, showing the Temple of Jupiter with Vesuvius dominating the skyline in the background. This is the same source image from which I adapted the buildings for my own development of Luna's Vesuvius crux scene in 'Amica'. Hammers' picture is broadly consistent with Luna's description of the mass crucifixion in the Forum, although there is no specific intention to illustrate the story, and his concept obviously predates the eruption.

A number of Pompeiians seem to be observing the executions, although for most the business of Market Day is more pressing, and the scene evokes a powerfully disturbing sense of casual normality. Arguably his most convincing manipulation to date, in terms of figure scale, lighting and blending, Hammers' picture is only the fifth image of a crucifixion, identifiably within sight of Vesuvius, of which I am aware, and the first to present a mass crux scene in this location.

 

[bobinder]

Vesuvius Roars

​

'And there, in front, all wrapped up in his purple robe and flames, reappears Vesuvius, a ghostly Caesar seated on his throne of lava and ash, splitting the sky with his flame-crowned brow, roaring horrendously.

The tree of fire rising out of his throat spreads into the heavenly dome, the sky, disappearing into the supernal abyss. Rivers of blood flow from his red gaping maw, and the earth, sky and sea all tremble with terror.'

(From 'Amica, the Slavegirl of Pompeii' by Velut Luna)

Velut Luna presented the monochrome version of Carvenaked's 'Nude against Rocks' in her story, 'The Devil in the Convent'. Having adapted this source for her avatar, it became her most self-defining image on Cruxforums, and the temptation to use it in a further illustration of the crux scene in 'Amica' was irresistible. Aubrey replaces Ana-Maria as the model in this latest variation, entitled 'Vesuvius Roars', and the background is the same as that used in my previous crux manip ('Vesuvius Shrieks').

​

Aubrey's left foot is cropped out of the original photograph, and so her right foot was duplicated and flipped for the manipulation. As her hands were incorrectly positioned, these were replaced by those of Ana-Maria from Luna's own crux manip ('Vesuvioeluna'). A desaturated close-up view has been provided with transparent sepia filter treatments to produce an emulation, in the style of Luna's avatar.

​