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The Via Crucis of
Camille - Crux 1 - Page 15
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Camille waits on the cold floor while I set the
tools for her crucifixion. She's ready to give her
all to the task, that much is clear. My instructions
prior to the session were very specific. She had to
react as she never did before. This was my chance to
work out the mechanics of a nailing.
"How?" She asked. "Well" -I said - "React
to the pain, to the hammer, to the nails. You'll know what
to do. Your body will know what to do".
She was ready.
I looked down on her body, the marks of the whip
clearly featured on her skin. I saw through the
lens before and the image was clear. Just the surroundings
were incompatible with the moment... but what could
I do?
I was ready. I could hear my heart. I
could hear her heart. I could hear my steps on the
floor, she could hear the preparations, her eyes were closed. |
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Leticia was laying on the ground
wet with her blood. The soldiers were preparing her execution.
The log was placed on the ground near her head, she was aware
of the movements even as she was passing from one side to
the other of her consciousness.
She was exhausted and her beaten
body was refusing to respond and to move. She looked unconscious,
as a sleeping beauty. Her suffering didn't take any of her
radiance. Her face was calm in spite of the horror to come.
The soldiers preparing her cross
were gazing at her, moving slowly, as if to give her some
moment of rest before the long martyrdom she was about to
face.
One soldier knelt besides her
and opened her arms to the sides along the timber.
Still she didn't move. |
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The servant was aware of the proceedings,
she had been 'tested' with the hot sword piercing her breast
and now she could not fade into the void again. Her body was
crying for an end to the pain while her mind was set on the
spectacle below her.
There was a calm ritual going
on, with deference to the status Leticia. The soldiers could
not avoid having some respect for their victim. Their behavior
was solemn, unlike the time they put the servant through
her suffering.
After making the servant drag
herself thought her path of fire, they chained her arms
to the timber and pulled her body up the post to make her
hang and wait for her mistress.
As they raised her off the ground
the chains sunk their metal into her flesh, she shook in
pain as her body stretched, pulled down by the forces of
the earth. |
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The argument in specialized circles was that the
crucified were not nailed through the palm of their hands
as the millions of images of Christ described. The
weight of the body would pull the hands right out when the
body was hanged up. But the image was
part of culture. It had to be that way. And
how was Camille going to hang from the cross?
It was obvious. I was going to tie her
wrists to the wood. I've seen images of
crucifixions where the wrists were tied and the hands were
nailed.
Perhaps most crucifixions were only accomplished
with ropes. The nails through the hands were
just additional means of torture for the victim.
Camille will get both this time, the ropes
and the nails. |
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Leticia's wrists were chained
to the timber after stretching her arms to the sides to cover
the length of the wood. The chains were there to keep her
from falling off if the nails did not support her.
They were also there to keep
her arms stretched to the sides for maximum effect.
After chaining her, a soldier
took a long iron wrought nail and placed its tip in the
center of Leticia's palm. She opened her eyes when she felt
the metal pressing her hand. The chains pressing her wrists
were painful, but not enough to make her react.
She grew apprehensive to the
pain to come as the soldier picked up a heavy square hammer
and raised it ready to strike.
She looked at him, trying to
see his eyes, wishing he would hit her head instead and
end her suffering. The soldier avoided her eyes. |
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