General Intercession I.

Plaster casts and labels (Click images for enlargements)
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General Intercession II.

Paintings and wall text (Click first image, then click through. Each painting is accompanied by each succeeding text label)
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In Neolithic times, warriors pitched axe heads into a bog to ensure triumph in battle. In Japan, women placed ladles with the bottoms cut out on Shinto shrines to encourage ease in childbirth. Votive offerings include amulets at the foot of Athena, ivory figurines at a temple of Isis, tin milagros left at shrines for the Virgin Mary, and pennies in a shopping mall fountain. Such offerings are deposited without the intention of recovery; they are given as a sacrificial gesture to gain favor with supernatural forces for the fulfillment of a wish. Whether the force being appealed to for assistance is saint, deity, prophet, ancestral spirit, sage, oracle, or Lady Luck, the petition is the same. Please intercede on my behalf.

For abundant harvest, for swift recovery after surgery, for safe return home, for eradication of an epidemic, for fulfillment in artistic pursuits, for the overthrow of a dictator, for rain, for repose of the elderly, for the appeasement of ghosts, for the lifting of an unpleasant condition or state of mind, for the alleviation of an rash, for the sexual attention of a man or woman, for forgiveness of transgressions, for release from remorse, for the repair of a broken bone or tooth, for unity within family, for the protection of an infant, for the procurement of funds, for a peaceful transition of power, for better weather, for a good night’s sleep.