In Tibetan beliefs, Yamī is a goddess of death who rules the female spirits of the underworld. Along with her twin brother, Yama, and four demon gods who accompany her, Yamī is responsible for catching human souls after death.

In Japanese, Yamī means “darkness” and in voodoo belief, Yami refers to a body without a soul that serves a sorcerer as a slave.

T-shirts of this illustration are available in the online store.

An ancient Japanese religion, Shinto is the “way of the gods,” a ritualistic expression of profound respect for the kami (the intrinsic god-like spirit) in nature. Purity and fertility are paramount Shinto concepts, and cannabis is an essential symbol of both.

Shinto creation stories tell of two creator deities, who descended from heaven and together produced the various islands of Japan, with the mountains, rivers, and surrounding seas. Their first procreation was Amaterasu Omikami, the Great Sun Goddess, whose radiance shone through the six directions: north, south, east, west, above, and below.

She is enshrined at the holiest of places, the Ise Shrine in Mie prefecture. At the shrine, the special prayer given for the founding Goddess of Japan is called “taima”, which literally means “cannabis,” and these ceremonies are still conducted five times a year. In fact, cannabis and mulberry fiber, and cloth and paper made from them are offered to the gods at all Shinto shrines, along with salt, sake and rice.

This image depicts Lucifer as a woman and God’s most loyal lover and pays homage to the masterworks of Alphonse Mucha.

“One of the most amazing images of love that I know is Persian—a mystical Persian representation of Satan as the most loyal lover of God. You will have heard the old legend of how, when God created the angels, he commanded them to pay worship to no one but himself; but then, creating man, he commanded them to bow in reverence to this most noble of his works, and Lucifer refused—because, we are told, of his pride.

However, according to this Moslem reading of his case, it was rather because he loved and adored God so deeply and intensely that he could not bring himself to bow before anything else. And it was for that that he was flung into Hell, condemned to exist there forever, apart from his love.”

- Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Also, the all new Pale Horse online store is up and ready to rock! The new store includes: 5 shirt designs, lucha libre prayer candles, limited, signed prints, koozies & stickers.  Thanks to  Merchline for everything! I’m a picky bastard and they got everything looking perfect. Go get your Christmas shopping on here.

Gods and Monsters Art Show: Gallery Tour and Opening from Pale Horse Design on Vimeo.

Yamāntaka is a Sanskrit name that literally means “Slayer of Death”. This Yamāntaka is a fear-inducing, violent, and intimidating diety who has conquered all evil spirits, including the Lord of Death, Yama. Within Buddhism, “slaying death” is actually a quality of all buddhas as they have stopped the cycle of rebirth. Yamantaka represents the goal of the journey to enlightenment. There are three types of death spoken of in the Yamāntaka Tantra: Outer death is the regular end of life, which is embodied by Yama, Lord of Death. The inner death is ignorance of the true nature of non-dual reality. Instinctive habitual grasping and aversion to real objects and subjects arises from this ignorance. The secret death is dualistic appearance on the subtlest level of clear light mind and illusory body. With the practice of Yamāntaka one overcomes those types of death and gains immortality as a Buddha.

Gods and Monsters Art Show: Gallery Tour and Opening from Pale Horse Design on Vimeo.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the forces of man’s destruction described in the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible. The opening of each of the first four seals by the slain Lamb summons a Horseman, who brings plaque, war, hunger and death to mankind.

Upon the opening of the fourth seal, there appeared a Pale Horse, ridden by Death and closely followed by Hades. Power was given unto them for over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, famine, pestilence and the wild beasts of the earth.