I have a beautiful horologe or hourglass filled with black sand. I imagine that the sand comes from Kaimu Beach. Hourglasses were used both to keep track of time and for navigation. Although assumed to have been used in the 3rd century and carried around as timepieces the first evidence of the existence of the hourglasse was in 1338, depicted in a fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Ferdinand Magellan kept 18 hourglasses per ship as he navigated the globe. How did I learn this? Lost in Wikipedia of course! Fascinating!! My hourglass does not help me with navigation unfortunately but it is a constant reminder for me to slow down. When it was new to me I used it daily to block an hour of uninterrupted writing time. Over the years that ritual has slowly unraveled as have many resolutions made at the end of years past. I do love this time of year because, at least for me, it is a time for renewal and new goals, some which will be met and some not. Gradually over the years it seems that I slowly meet a few more. Time to turn the hour glass over again.
Temperance bearing an hourglass; detail
of Lorenzetti's Allegory of Good Government,
1338.
8 comments:
What an interesting way to use an hour glass. Here's wishing you and yours a wonderful New Years. I think we all have old resolutions that unraveled but hey, like you said, turn over the glass and start again fresh!
You are a wise woman :) And I like your hourglass tradition. I wish you and your family a wonderful new year stuffed with lots of good things and blessings. Much love to you.
What a great tradition. I remember the black sand beach I visited with my new husband in Greece. 2010 seemed impossibly far away then...
Happy New Year and may it be filled with every blessing!
Thank you for this picture and for the new information. I wonder what is the significance of 18 hour glasses.
This is a beautiful post, Cinda ~ giving many lovely thoughts on time and fresh starts. Thank you. I enjoyed the last two posts, too. Barbara
I adore this metaphor, for how often do we measure our lives out in moments of joy, as opposed to mindless time-filling?
I also need to periodically turn over the glass and think of why I'm doing what I do.
Thanks, Cinda. Happy New Year.
You learn something new every day. Thanks for the informative and interesting post. Now its off to Dictionary.com to learn how to pronounce horologe.
Stephen Tremp
Your hourglass sounds beautiful and I love the symbolism of it. in fact, this post has planted the seed in my mind to find an hourglass of my own :)
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