On My Mind: 5-4-15

A Young Lady Moorea Hastings

Moorea - I've been looking at paintings and one was of Marchesa Luisa Casati (born Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman), a popular artist's model. She had one grandchild via her daughter Cristina, a girl named Moorea. An island in French Polynesia called Mo'orea (or sometimes simply Moorea), which means "yellow lizard", is where she was conceived and was subsequently named after.

Pericles and Octavius - Moorea went on to have two sons with her two husbands, the Hon. Pericles Plantagenet James Casati Wyatt and Octavius Orlando Irvine Casati Black. To me they sound like characters out of "Harry Potter". Pericles comes from the Greek peri, "around, in excess", and kleos, which means "glory". Pericles was most famously an Athenian general.

Hecate - I'm so thrilled Showtime's "Penny Dreadful" is back on. It premiered last night, and it was as sumptuous and wild as the first season was. This season's antagonist is Madame Kali aka Evelyn Poole, played wonderfully by Helen McCrory. She is a witch, and has many lovely daughters. Only one has been given a name (so far), and it is quite appropriately Hecate. Hecate is a Greek name possibly meaning "far off", and is a form of the original Hekate. The Goddess Hecate is associated with not only witchcraft, magic, sorcery, and necromancy, but the moon, dogs (her arrival is said to be heralded by the sounds of howling dogs), the underworld, crossroads, ghosts, keys, and knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants. She is often depicted in triple form as a mother, maiden, and crone.

*Photo is not mine, and was found on Daily Mail Online