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Moonstone Descriptions
& fact
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The moonstone is associated with the moon and was the stone of the goddess Diana. The most powerful time to use the moonstone is in a full moon.
It has been worn as an amulet to bring good emotions to the wearer, while protecting those of a sensitive nature. It can reunite lovers who have quarreled. Moonstone is also considered a good luck stone.
Moonstone is a very personal stone. It is a reflection of the person who owns it. It does not add or detract, only shows how it is. This is why the moonstone is said to perceive that which "is".
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Available at Kustom9
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/kustom9/125/126/21
15th October 2015
5 Colorful CHoices
Each Set include the Ring & Necklace
Extended Version Include all The Colours Options with
a Hud Intelligent
Copy/Mod
Dont forget the GIFT Which is this Witch Hat at Kustom9 9L
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StyleCard:
Hair : Spellbound Astarte JUly Group Gift
Hat : Kustom9 Anniversary Gift by Ariskea
Top: Pixiecat :Dusk.Top - Black
Skirt : MoDANNA [Minuit Collection] Long Skirt
Bat Pet :Hocus Pocus Arcade September Bat
Sacred to Isis our mother the Moon
Ancient companion and daughter of Earth
Waxing and waning she marks out our days,
Changes our moods and the flux of our blood.
Mistress of tides of the sea’s ebb and flow,
Lantern of light in the darkness of night,
Let us give praise to her beauty and grace,
Lovely and slim as a maiden when young
Golden and splendid she shines at the full.
See how she sails through the clouds up above
Graceful and calm like a galleon she rides
Breasting the billows of night’s flowing tides.
Goddess so beautiful, goddess of love,
Many have worshipped her down through the years,
‘Luna’, ‘Diana’, ‘Astarte’ the names
Given to praise all her beautiful forms.
Harvest moon, hunter’s moon, crescent or full,
who is immune to her magical spell?
Queen of all heaven, she reigns up above,
Come and behold her in reverence and love.
rev.8/6/05
Hymn to the Moon by Pete Crowther
A heavily Warhammer 40k-inspired power armor. The color scheme doesn't match any official Space Marine (sorry, Adaptes Astartes) chapters, although there's a few successor chapters that are more or less all green. The half-cones for the wide shoulder pauldrons were something I initially threw on as a placeholder, but I liked them so much I decided to keep them.
3. Light Tree
4. puppetina
5. retsof
6. Tazos
7. Cornisa 20
8. sculptures
9. Skeneas
10. skonico
12. Bulmaro
13. Urban Gothic
14. peaches
16. Iso Beach
17. Generalities
18. Tianguis
19. The Joy of the new Generations
20. Jedi Master
22. Metronautas
23. Orestes
24. Toy stant,
25. X-Mark Rageforst
30. barbery
31. Changes
32. Sn Julian
33. Astarte
34. Chicles, paletones, chocolates
Bueeeeeno, mi compu anda dandolas, ahora no se que madre le falla, por eso ando ausente, :( pero bueno, espero se arregle para volver con astedes pronto
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
I don't know why I like to do wedding photos in black and white..not too festive, but I like the effect :)
Photo by: Stella Stapleton
Musee du Louvre
Dark red quartzite torso from a statue, probably of Nefertiti, showing an exaggeration of the erogenous zones in giving her the appeal of a love-goddess such as Hathor or Astarte.
Castello di Venere (The Castle of Venus)
Erice
In this place the worship of femininity and fertility has ever since been very important. It started in the Bronze Age with the Phoenician divinity Astarte, turning then into the worship for Venus Erycina in the eight century bC, when a famous templum was built in honour of the goddess in Erice.
During all their domination the Romans, that were certain of being descendants of the Trojan Aenea, son of Venus, showed always big respect for this temple and the worship for the goddess, to the point, eg, that all Sicily, aknowledged as the granary of the empire, was granted with removal of duties.
This Castle has been built by the Normans in the 12th century on the site of the preexisting temple of Venus.
Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess Venus. Aphrodite's major symbols include myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In Laconia, Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept of "sacred prostitution" in Greco-Roman culture, an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous.
In Hesiod's Theogony, Aphrodite is born off the coast of Cythera from the foam (aphrós) produced by Uranus's genitals, which his son Cronus has severed and thrown into the sea. In Homer's Iliad, however, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Plato, in his Symposium 180e, asserts that these two origins actually belong to separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania (a transcendent, "Heavenly" Aphrodite) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people"). Aphrodite had many other epithets, each emphasizing a different aspect of the same goddess, or used by a different local cult. Thus she was also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus), because both locations claimed to be the place of her birth.
Sat 30th October 2010
Club Four Deuces
04:00 - 05:00: HINA98 Writer
05:00 - 06:00: ta93 Scribe
06:00 - 07:00: Cats Coakes
07:00 - 08:00: Mitsu Whitfield
08:00 - 09:00: Salinger Carver
09:00 - 10:00 6669 Setzer
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SINNERS%20HEAVEN/250/90/22
Social Scene
10:00 - 10:45 Donnydon Dollinger (Polysics tribute)
10:45 - 12:00: Astarte Haalan
Pour House
12:00 - 13:00 - Chemtrail Kips
13:00 - 14:00 - Monique Gothly
Social Scene
14:00 - 16:00: Dr Sketchy's VOODOO THAT YOU DO with Cienega Soon
Pour House
16:00 -18:00 - Bionic Merlin
18:00- 19:30 - Jimmi Scorpio
19:30- 21:00 - Krev Neximus
21:30- 23:00- Veronica Sidewell
23:00 -00:00- Jebus Beaumont
Sun Oct 31st 2010
Social Scene
00:00 - 02:00 Kookie Hax
02:00 - 05:00: Siouxie Lovenkraft
05:00 - 07:00: Milton Nightfire
07:00 - 09:00: Mzdeedee Dagger
09:00 - 11:00: Vali Rau
11:00 - 13:00: Cyrus Overland
13:00 - 15:00: Shril Lane
"Look my dear, we couldn't have you running around SL like that, you haven't even got bento hands! What do you mean I am obsolete and ugly too? Lara X, who is this Lara X?! OMG, am I destined to be locked away in this attic?!"
Hey, we've still got what it takes girls, at least we have a V ;p
Sexy silk from Avec Toi, new Astarte from Azoury (Dubai Event). All in a dusty attic somewhere in Bamboo @ maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bamboo/229/54/53
"Now Doubt — now Pain
Come never again,
For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,
And all day long
Shines, bright and strong,
Astarté within the sky,
While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye —
While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye." - Edgar Allan Poe
Other Info :
Orchid Hair Piece (Part from Truth Hair - Video Games Gacha - Arcade)
Coco Doll (001C head - open mouth) with Dita's Dainty Lashes 1.0 !
"Nascita di Venere" y/o " El nacimiento de Astarté".
"Entre Céfiro (Dios del viento del oeste) y Cloris´.
Primeras horas de la mañana de 22 de abril de 2010 en la marisma de Bacuta, mi particular paraíso, en la búsqueda de Argantonio y el perdido Imperio de Tartessos. En Huelva. España.
2010.José Luis Julián Barrios García. All Rights Reserved, and should not be used for other purposes without written consent. Do not use them without permission, please contact me if you wish to buy and use any of my work.
That road up leads to a really nice abandoned town with working traffic lights and trams. Wonder where the people went to.. that lonely giant spider I met up there might have something to do with it.
Visit it at: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Astarte/9/221/42http://map...
((PSC Grizzly Civilian by Pro Street Cars))
Museum Wilnsdorf:
"Weibliches Idol - Astarte (?)
mittelsyrisch, 2. Jahrtausend vor Christus, Original: Israel-Museum, Jerusalem"
Inspired by WH40K.
I was inspired by a particular squad in the Index Astartes - the Legion of the Damned. I wanted this guy to be the Emperor's bad-ass right-hand man, to do all of his personal errands.
My entry for the contest over at the Lego Space Marines group :)
Also, sorry for lack of posting, this year at school is a killer, and life has just been chewing away at my time..
-Chris
Guapa - Astarte Skin Normal & Fantasy
For Lelutka Evo X, compatible with all heads using the Evo X UV map.
@ Saturday Sale
80 L$ each tone
What's Included:
- Face skin (with and without brows) in 27 tones
- Base Eyebrows
- Custom Shape for Lelutka Avalon Head 4.0 / Legacy Bpdy
- Ears skin
- 5 Lip options
🚀 Teleport: maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oasis%20Beach/100/158/1475
🌐 Credits soon
Details on following portrait:
Midsummer Eve, 1908 by Edward Robert Hughes Framed Painting
Pagan features taken alongside the Midsummer Eve portrait of the plausible moon goddesses; Isis, Diana, Artemis, Astarte, Hekate, Inanna, Arianrhod, Sanskrit, Rhiannon, Mother Earth, Gaia
~Yggdrasil is the mythical tree that connects the nine worlds in Norse cosmology.
A character from the Marvel Darth Vader comics. Aiolin is like this cool force cyborg person. She also had a twin brother in the comics named Morit who I'll probably make later. They where the exact same outfit so it would be super easy.
•• Body:
Catwa Head Daniel
Belleza - Jake Body
•• Hair:
Modulus - Harper Hair - Monochromes
•• Acessories:
RAWR! Astarte Bindi
(@OutreEvent)
opens 23 July
RAWR! Astarte Horns
(@OutreEvent)
starts 23 July
The Monte Sirai site, inhabited since the Neolithic and the Nuraghic period, become, around 750 BC the site of a Phoenician settlement probably founded by the inhabitants of the nearby town of sulci (current S.Antioco).
The choice of location is probably due to its exceptional location: from the top of the volcanic tabulated, about 190 m., You can control both the sea, with the surrounding islands, the plains up to the mountains.
The top of the mountain housed the living quarters and public buildings of which the most important was certainly the temple of Astarte, which in the beginning was built around a pre-existing nuraghe that was the innermost part of the temple, the Holy of Holies.
The population reoccupy the site is relatively low, as evidenced by the 13 chamber tombs in the necropolis, which almost certainly correspond each to a family. During the Hellenistic period, Monte Sirai knows a new stage of development: in the fourth century, the citadel is provided with a wall with a thickness of 4 m, and grows in size and importance; the acropolis measuring 60x300 m. and he had a single access corridor.
With the Roman conquest, the city did not suffer any destruction, while all the fortifications that surrounded the acropolis were destroyed, and life went on quietly until a sudden drop, which occurred in 110 BC approximately, for still unclear reasons.
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Il sito di Monte Sirai, frequentato fin dal neolitico e in epoca nuragica, diventa, attorno al 750 a.C. sede di un insediamento fenicio, probabilmente fondato dagli abitanti della vicina città di Sulci (attuale S.Antioco).
La scelta del luogo si deve probabilmente alla sua eccezionale posizione: dalla cima del tabulato vulcanico, alto circa 190 m., si può controllare sia il mare, con le isole circostanti, che la pianura sino ai monti.
La sommità del monte ospitava i quartieri d'abitazione e gli edifici pubblici dei quali il più importante era certamente il tempio di Astarte, che in principio fu costruito attorno ad un nuraghe preesistente che costituiva la parte più interna del tempio, il Sancta Sanctorum.
La popolazione che rioccupa il sito è di modesta entità, come testimoniato dalle 13 tombe a camera della necropoli, che quasi certamente corrispondevano ciascuna ad una famiglia. In epoca ellenistica, Monte Sirai conosce una nuova fase di sviluppo: nel IV secolo, la cittadella viene munita di una cinta muraria con uno spessore massimo di 4 m, e aumenta di dimensioni e di importanza; l'acropoli misurava 60x300 m. e, aveva un unico accesso a corridoio.
Con la conquista romana, la città non subì alcuna distruzione, mentre tutte le fortificazioni che circondavano l'acropoli furono rase al suolo, quindi la vita continuò tranquillamente sino all'improvviso abbandono, avvenuto nel 110 a.C. circa, per cause ancora oscure.
Location: Fazenda Grotão - Brasilia, Brazil.
The Astarte Eighty-eight (Callicore astarte) is a species of butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It is found from Mexico south to Brazil.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Papilionoidea
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Biblidinae
Tribe: Callicorini
Genus: Callicore Hübner, [1819]
Species: C. astarte (Cramer, [1779])
Subspecies: C. a. selima
Scientific name: Callicore astarte selima
The City Astarte - Color Version by Daniel Arrhakis (2021)
With the music : Audiomachine - Ninurta | DARK PHOENIX Teaser Trailer Music
A creative intriguing mystic city made with stock images and images of mine. Art Collage, textured layered techniques, deformations and digital painting processes.
* The Brooklyn Bridge modified for this work, New York by Joshua Woroniecki on Pexels (C0) :
images.pexels.com/photos/2570208/pexels-photo-2570208.jpe...
Sculpture is "Caduceus", recognized as a universal medical symbol, in this bronze representation by James N. Muir.
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A Wonderful Weekend dear friends ! : )
Thank you for your so kind visit, comments and invitations ! Very late with all but trying catching up during the next days !
DOUX - Joya hairstyle [
{Le'La} Red Demonic Queen
DL - Small demon wings
LUAS MALEFICA HORNS BLACK
A Very Viper Hell o'ween
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Viper%20Isles%202/166/67/2003
This was taken from the medieval village of Erice, Sicily (and it was windy that day, so windy!!!).
Erice lies on the top of Mount San Giuliano (750 meters), overlooking Trapani from a superb scenic location. Erice was first inhabited by the Elymians who erected a temple dedicated to the worship of the goodness of fertility and love. Successive invaders used this building to worship their own divinities: Tanit-Astarte for the Phoenicians, Aphodrite for the Greeks and Venus Erycina for the Romans.
A sphinx moth (I think Smerinthus astarte) at around 6 a.m. I had set up a light the night before and this moth (among others) had come to it. Definitely worth getting up early. (Montana)
Giganta, Tsukuri, Duke of Deception, Astarte, and Mayfly.
comicvine.gamespot.com/tsukuri/4005-100547/
comicvine.gamespot.com/duke-of-deception/4005-56849/
Baalbek, Lebanon.
As early as 9000 BC, Baalbek was a place for worship and became a cornerstone of ancient civilizations. Located in modern day Lebanon, the ruins stand tall as an archaeological wonder with towering monuments and impressive columns.
Up until 150 BC, the site was a temple dedicated to the Phoenician Astarte and Baal. It is not hard to imagine that the wreaths and sacrifices carried out for Astarte the goddess of fertility and war were then shifted to Venus during the Roman colonization. Subsequently, the temple was brought into the Christian era with Constantine the Great’s influence on the Roman Empire. That is up until 637 AD when Islamic rule led to the use of the site as a reinforced fortress and a Mosque was added.
Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek
The decline of these ruins began when the temple passed to the Ottoman Empire, it was abandoned and left in ruins. In addition, earthquakes, storms and natural forces continued to tear the site apart until 1898. That year marked a visit from the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who pioneered the attempt of restoring Baalbek and preserving it.
In terms of architecture the greatest temples at the site are the Temples of Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. The sheer magnitude of these have created something of a puzzle for archaeologists as they continuously theorize as to how rocks of this grandeur could have been carved and assembled. For example, the temple of Jupiter is surrounded by 54 columns which stand at nearly 23 meters high and are considered some of the largest in the world. The temple of Bacchus stands out from the rest as it is so well preserved and is adorned with beautiful carvings that date back to the Roman Empire.
Baalbek, Ruins
Today, the ruins of Baalbek still stand as one of Lebanon’s most prized historical treasures. The place is always alive with music festivals and folklore-related activities. Tourists and locals alike flock for the chance of seeing the picturesque sunset behind those ancient columns. Walking through this sacred site, one can’t help but picture all the different peoples who have worshiped here at the alters of their Gods.
For video, please visit youtu.be/76bkHN7xfxQ
The City Astarte - Monotone by Daniel Arrhakis (2021)
The Monotone version of my work
www.flickr.com/photos/arrhakis/51150588709/in/dateposted-...
Baalbek, Lebanon.
As early as 9000 BC, Baalbek was a place for worship and became a cornerstone of ancient civilizations. Located in modern day Lebanon, the ruins stand tall as an archaeological wonder with towering monuments and impressive columns.
Up until 150 BC, the site was a temple dedicated to the Phoenician Astarte and Baal. It is not hard to imagine that the wreaths and sacrifices carried out for Astarte the goddess of fertility and war were then shifted to Venus during the Roman colonization. Subsequently, the temple was brought into the Christian era with Constantine the Great’s influence on the Roman Empire. That is up until 637 AD when Islamic rule led to the use of the site as a reinforced fortress and a Mosque was added.
Temple of Bacchus, Baalbek
The decline of these ruins began when the temple passed to the Ottoman Empire, it was abandoned and left in ruins. In addition, earthquakes, storms and natural forces continued to tear the site apart until 1898. That year marked a visit from the German Emperor Wilhelm II, who pioneered the attempt of restoring Baalbek and preserving it.
In terms of architecture the greatest temples at the site are the Temples of Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. The sheer magnitude of these have created something of a puzzle for archaeologists as they continuously theorize as to how rocks of this grandeur could have been carved and assembled. For example, the temple of Jupiter is surrounded by 54 columns which stand at nearly 23 meters high and are considered some of the largest in the world. The temple of Bacchus stands out from the rest as it is so well preserved and is adorned with beautiful carvings that date back to the Roman Empire.
Baalbek, Ruins
Today, the ruins of Baalbek still stand as one of Lebanon’s most prized historical treasures. The place is always alive with music festivals and folklore-related activities. Tourists and locals alike flock for the chance of seeing the picturesque sunset behind those ancient columns. Walking through this sacred site, one can’t help but picture all the different peoples who have worshiped here at the alters of their Gods.
For video, please visit youtu.be/76bkHN7xfxQ
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Photograph taken at an altitude of Sixty two metres at 12:31pm on an overcast summer afternoon on Thursday 15th July 2021, off Chessington Avenue in Bexleyheath, Kent.
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THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF PIGEONS
The Feral pigeon (Columba livia) gets a really bad name thanks to a whole bunch of popular misconceptions. Labelled as sky rats, flying ashtrays, rats with wings, there is even a name for extreme fear of them, peristerophobia.
Some say they spread communicable disease to humans, a myth banded by pest control companies making money out of extermination, and although they can naturally carry some disease like tuberculosis (just like many other bird species), being able to breed up to six times per year and being so commonly seen has lead to the belief that they cause damage and drive other species away (again, no scientific evidence supports this). Seen as a plague by mankind, who is... er... the biggest plague on the planet after all and more likely to infect pigeons with his own germs!
Being common these days seems to make some animals less appealing than others, and yet the pigeon is culturally and historically significant and utterly beautiful in terms of plumage. When was the last time you took the time to spend a few moments in the company of these gorgeous, fascinating birds, or talked to one.... Well do so soon, your life will be all the better for such interactions.
In world terms, Pigeons represent peace and good, symbolizing Prosperity and fertility, luck, fortune, peace and harmony, love and devotion and beauty and piety. It is believed that the Pigeon totem as your animal spirit guide will enter a good persons life after a period of suffering or hurt, restoring faith and the good in their world. It will symbolize Love and kindness, sacrifice and devotion, calmness and tranquility.
Their presence in dreams can have significant meaning if the dream is of catching one, killing one, a pigeon falling in the sky, finding a dead pigeon etc. Pablo Ruiz Picasso's 1949 lithograph on paper 'La Colombe', shows a white dove on a black background, widely considered a sign of peace. It was used to illustrate a poster at the 1949 Paris Peace Congress, and is now house in the Tate Gallery, London. The Lithograph went on to become a renowned international iconographic image referred to as 'The dove of peace'. The dove was in fact a Milanese pigeon which had been gifted to Picasso by friend and fellow artist Henri Émile Benoît Matisse.
They are a wild ancestor of domestic world pigeons. A common sight in UK gardens, and traditionally seen on London postcards of Piccadilly circus until the feeding of pigeons was banned around the year 2000, they can weigh up to 370g (8-13oz) with a wingspan of 34cms. There are approximately 550,000 breeding pairs in the UK, and they are protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and happily on the Green status for conservation
With a name taken from the Latin word for Dove, there are around 350 recorded types of pigeon, the commonest being the Feral pigeon with an estimated European population of around 15 million. Feral pigeons are also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons. They make up part of the group of columbiformes which includes the now extinct Dodo to which they are closely related. Wild pigeons live in coastal areas, whilst feral pigeons are more urban, and more often than not found in close proximity to mankind. Feral pigeons have a lifespan usually of between three to five years, much longer in captivity. Pigeons have an incredibly close link to mankind
Technically they are: Kingdom:Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class:Aves Order: Columbiformes
Family:Columbidae Genus:Columba Species:C. livia Subspecies:C. l. domestica
In the UK, Pigeons are covered under the "General Licences" and therefore it is illegal to kill them or destroy pigeon nests for any reason other than those listed under the general licences. They can be humanely culled by the land owner or their agent for a variety of reasons (mainly crop protection). At commercial premises where I worked for many years, Pigeons and babies were professionaly killed on a regular basis, shot with high powered air rifles and then heads dippeds into an acid substance... it was very bloody and extremely unpleasant to witness!
They are possibly the first domesticated animal in history and Charles Robert Darwin was one of the first and most famous pigeon breeder, who recognised their beauty and abilities and place in the natural order of things. On board HMS Beagle, he sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27th December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. Scheduled for a two year voyage, it actually returned on 2nd October 1836. He published his work, 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life', in 1859 and it has long been considered the foundation of evolutionary biology. In the opening of the work, Darwin began with 'fancy pigeons' which were becoming fashionable to own and exhibit in London at the time.
By crossbreeding the many different species of fancy pigeon, Darwin showed that, contrary to a commonly held belief that there were two different species which spawned the multitude of domestic pigeons, they actually all came from one wild species: the Rock Dove (Columba livia).
Nathan Mayer Rothschild developed a system of communication faster than those of most governments at that time. It is believed that he used carrier pigeons and semaphore to communicate across the English Channel. Following the Battle of Waterloo he used this system to stunning effect. Through a clever stratagem, and foreknowledge of the outcome at Waterloo, Rothschild made an immense fortune by manipulating the London stock market.
Then In the early 1800s the Rothschild family set up a network of pigeon lofts throughout Europe using homing pigeons to carry information between its financial houses. This proved to be the fastest and most efficient method of communication at that time, and the speed of the service and the ability to send and receive information ahead of the competition helped the Rothschild family amass a fortune, which still exists today. There are medals from 1870 commemorating the pigeon post in Paris.
Pigeons are highly intelligent, one of the few birds who can actually recognise themselves in a mirror, tests proving that they were capable of identifying themselves over other pigeons in photographs even with a five to seven second delay and they could even recognize humans in photographs as well. Proving that their self cognitive abilities were higher than a three year old child (who struggled with photographic recognition of a two second delay), pigeons were trained to discriminate real-time self-image using mirrors as well as videotaped self-image, and proved that pigeons can recognize video images that reflect their movements as self-image.
They proved themselves capable of being able to learn the alphabet in trials. They have been used to predict the weather with hearing far superior to that of humans in the very low frequency range that allows them to detect incoming storms not yet on the radar. They can assist in message delivery, help in search and rescue missions and even carry wartime messages across enemy lines, dating back to Greek and Roman times, and then forwards to both World Wars by the British Intelligence.
During the first world war, pigeons were dropped from an aeroplane in batches in harnesses with parachutes in order to send and retrieve messages from the resistance. A male pigeon in 1918 named Cher Ami was awarded the Croix de Guerre, an honour bestowed on foreign troops by the French Army, after saving 194 US troops who were pinned down by enemy fire. Despite being shot several times, he still managed to deliver the message attached to him. In history pigeons have been recorded as far back as 3000BC and records show that in the 5th Century AD, both Egypt and Syria used them to send and receive messages. Greek poet Anacreon wrote poems of his tame pigeon over 2000 years ago in which he described the bird's role in carrying a love letter to the poet's lover and how the bird drank from his cup and ate from his hand.
Some scholars believe that man's connections with pigeons go as far back as Neolithic man 10,000 years ago. An archaeological discovery of lifelike pigeon images beside the figurines of the Mother goddess, dating from the Bronze Age (2400-1500 BC) in Sumerian Mesopotamia, links to worship also in Crete where the Goddess was depicted with Doves upon her head. Pigeons were also sacrificed to Aphrodite (Venus), the Goddess of love in Greco-Roman culture. The Dove was also the symbol of Demeter (Ceres). Astarte, goddess of fertility and love was often times depicted with a pigeon in ancient Phoenician tradition and Ishtar, mother to the Sumerian people also. Goddesses Aphrodite and Venus from Greek and Roman culture were similarly often depicted with symbolic pigeons. They are highly revered in religions including Hindi where it was believed that pigeons were messengers of deity of death, Yama.
Also in Muslim and Sikh traditions as well as Christianity. Some Sikhs will ceremoniously feed pigeons in honour of Guru Gobind Singh, a high priest who was renowned as a friend to pigeons. The Old Testament dove of Noah and the New Testament dove of the Holy Spirit are the ancestors of the dovecote birds of the past and today’s urban pigeons. In China, it is believed that with the coming of Spring, a Sparrow hawk would transform into a pigeon and vice versa, repeating the opposite transformation at the end of the season.
Pigeons have been recorded flying at more than 92mph and the average speed is around 78mph, they can also reach altitudes of 6,000 feet. Contrary to the rumour mill, pigeons are very clean birds and very little evidence exists to show that they can spread disease to humans.
Generally pigeons mate for life and are monogamous, both incubate and care for their young, and they are amazingly social creatures found in large groups. Pigeons have also saved lives on sinking ships by being released to alert nearby people, and some pigeons have received honours and awards for their part in saving lives. They have been trained to save lives at sea by recognising the red and yellow life jackets of victims, and even being able to view the UV spectrum. They can use landmarks to recognise and retrace routes, and use the sun as as a guide and an internal magnetic compass.
During a study in 2016, four pigeons built up a vocabulary of between 26 and 58 written English words, they could identify visual patterns and therefore tell them apart. The birds could even identify words they hadn't seen before.
Researchers at University of California Davis Medical Center put 16 pigeons in a room with magnified biopsies of potential breast cancers. If the pigeons correctly identified them as either benign or malignant, they got a treat, Once trained, their percentages of correctly identifying the biopsies was between 85-99% accurate.
Pigeons have been recorded regularly using the subway in the United states of America, hoping on and off subway cars and seeming to understand the direction of the journey. They also on occasions perform aerial backflips, seemingly just for fun. They see the world with five spectral bands, a kaleidoscope of colour compared to humans triple system of colour perception.
These are magnificent birds that so often fall victim to mankind's prejudice and dislike. Take a look at their ornate, beautiful plumage, the many markings and differences in coloration, and think about their history and the incredible journey they have made through the centuries.
Give them some love, they have certainly earned it!
Paul Williams May 2021
©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)
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DARK PURPLE - The Clematis Viticella (variety "Tuczka"?), commonly known as "Italian leather flower", "purple clematis" or "Virgin's bower", is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family of genus Clematis; it is native to Europe. The genus name is from Ancient Greek clématis, ("a climbing plant"). Over 250 species and cultivars are known.
The clematis, despite being present for thousands of years in European territory, appeared in our gardens only in the Middle Ages ... and right at the return of the crusaders. Probably the more or less professional growers (a nice piece of land was a coveted reward for those who retired from their arms) thought of reproducing the pavilions that were made with jasmine in the East with the clematis. Clematis is perfect and only shadows when needed, that is, in the middle of summer. So it was grown in abundance and the peasants got into the habit of cutting off its branches and adorning their fields, ensuring that this favored the crops. In England it was even nicknamed "joy of the traveler" because it also grew freely in the woods and at the edges of the roads.
Alpine clematis, also called blue, although the color tends to veer towards violet, is currently one of the most widespread, because the mountain dwellers were among the first to cultivate this flower in the garden, given that they used its leaves to treat the sores difficult to heal, ulcers and even ulcerated skin tumors, both for men and for pets. Too loved in the Middle Ages not to end up at the stake of witches in the so-called Age of Reason! By studying methodically it was found that the plant belongs to the ranunculacee family, and is therefore potentially poisonous.
The clematis that grow in our gardens today (which no one uses to treat wounds anymore), all come from America, from Siberia, if not even from China, because, after three abundant centuries of oblivion, they were reintroduced as exotic ornamental plants , exclusively for the suggestion of colors.
Sources: Wikipedia; Mary Falco, "The Garden of Astarte - Clematis".
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