As part of the occult respiratory system of the earth, caves enjoy their own hermetic microclimates. And being so tenuously…
As part of the occult respiratory system of the earth, caves enjoy their own hermetic microclimates. And being so tenuously tuned to the world above, only the rarest squalls can disturb their meditations. In their coldest reaches ice may form and conform to strange configurations; a florescent hoar-frost that encrusts the rock with glistening needles. A field of glassy growths to bring a burst of constellations. Bubbles, captive in their upward glancing paths, withhold their precious cargoes. Folds of ice form perfect peristyles and colonnades. And all around the crystal clubs and branching trunks enclose a hyperborean fantasy: a verglas temple pegged with spikes of ice, and with waves of frost that never seem to break upon its hearth. Here, in this silent space, temperature replaces time as a useful referent of delineation.
Paul Prudence, Figured Stones: Exploring the Lithic Imaginary