Stains and Seers

Most of my readers will be familiar with the kind of visionary appearance found in Chicago this week. Indeed, I remember seeing an account a few years back of a wall-stain which was recognized as the figure of the Virgin Mary by a set of Catholic school children, after an earlier group of Korean or Japanese origin had recognized in it the face of the goddess Kwannon.

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It's my suggestion that the mechanism is one of projection, and goes back before Rorschach and his blots to Leonardo at least, Botticelli very likely )Da Vinci mentions him in a similar passage), and possibly earlier.

Having said that, it's worth remembering that if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it is no less beautiful on that account.