You guys. This hike. In the rain. In the winter. Was NOT a good idea. I wouldn't exactly give it zero stars, but I would highly, *highly* recommend against hiking it on a rainy, dark day.

 

At the time, it had its appeal. I was looking for hikes with serious elevation gain - this one clocked in around 4000 feet. It's a short drive from Portland - about one hour. It's mostly forested - more protection against the rain. And, I'd never done it before - so it had the appeal of a new-to-me hike.

 

But. It's steep. It's rocky, with narrow bits of ridgeline and lots of huge rocks on those ridgelines and even a ROPE in one section to pull yourself up (or let yourself down) a particularly hard section. The forest didn't protect me from the rain very well. It was raining SO hard and steadily that the trail turned into a river 70% of the time. Despite "waterproof clothing" I was soaked through after a couple of hours (and I was out for over eight hours). Stream crossings were abundant and were more like small river crossings - at a certain point I stopped trying to find a way to avoid getting my feet submerged (up to my calves) and just waded through the water each time. I ran late, and had to hike for over an hour in the dark (still raining) at the end. There were minimal views, and my film cameras were quite disgruntled about the experience for days after I got back. It was a little scary at times (the steep slick parts and hiking in the dark).

 

This was definitely a hike that gained me a few resilience points. I did it. I made it back. I didn't get hurt or lost. But I will never do this hike again in the rain.

 

The saving grace was a good audiobook - a second "reading" of "A Court of Silver Flames" via Graphic Audio. There were so many moments during this hike that I was more attuned to the book than the trail. The story took my mind off the discomfort and the mild tinge of panic as I waded through rushing stream after rushing stream in the darkening afternoon and evening.

 

And, even though I was listening to an audio book, I have plenty of memories of this hike, etched into my brain via mildly traumatic efforts. Hah.

 

Isn't that the truth, though? There are certain hiking (and life) experiences that encourage development of lasting memories: joy and wonder and discovery. But also misery and suffering. Maybe that's another reason I love hiking so much - nearly every hike features a bit of both. I *remember* those days spent hiking. For a person who hates the fact that memories are slipperier with age, I crave the events and actions that make them stick firmly.

 

Epilogue: I actually came back to this loop this year (in 2024) and managed to complete it again on a beautiful day in June, in two less hours than last winter's hike.

 

Image made with my Hasselblad 500 C/M.

I was at Shark Valley and noticed a large group of people standing at the water's edge gesturing and pointing at something. I hurried to see what all the excitement was about and saw.......the first thing to come to mind was "just another gator".

 

Watching and listening to the excited people around me, I realized I had fell into the old trap of taking for granted those things that I see so often. When I travel, I am often amazed at the nonchalance the locals have towards the sights that I find awe inspiring and here I find myself doing the same thing.

 

Listening to the excited voices around me which were a hodgepodge of nationalities as I heard French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Creole, and a few other languages that I did not recognize, I began to look at the gator and his surroundings with their eyes. What a magnificent creature Mother Nature had presented us with.....one which had endured for millions of years and was perfectly attuned to its environment. Much, much more then "just another gator".

Hello again my dear flickr friends. Thank you ever so much for all you wonderful comments. They are always a delight to read with great appreciation.

 

I hope you had a wonderful week and are adjusting to the upcoming autumn just like me.

 

And yes as you can see I am still not out of the woods yet (not in my mind and photos anyway lol). And I hope you are not bored with the forest shots yet. I know there are quite a number of these shots (as I like to create the forest scene on my flickr page too) so please only comment on any photos that might appeal to you the most.

 

For any poem followers, below is a poem - which I had initially intended to find on the internet (as opposed to writing it myself). However, the one I came across didn't quite suit this image

(ref:http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-red-carpet/ ) So I used its general outline to make up my own version of it below. It's not my favourite but I hope someone will like it lol .

 

Wishing you a lovely weekend that is full of glowing beauty and happiness. : ) xo

_____________________________________________

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A red carpet welcome from the forest .

Poem - by Yasmin de Light

 

I step into the autumn forest gateway

Welcoming red carpet of leaves all the way

 

Sun softly beaming through revealingly clad branches

Birds singing autumns tunes

With apprehensive delight I walk each precious step in line and all attune.

 

Each step warmly greeted by the earthy scent of leaves and barks and privileged forest sights

With open arms I twirl joyfully gazing up to the dizzying forest heights.

 

I see applauding, dancing and singing audience of birds, squirrels and even green and amber leaves.

Their smiles of eagerness. Like fans striving for celeb. attention, photo memorabilias and autographs to receive.

 

Is this my 15 minutes of fame.? ... I ask.. in my mind...

Smiling, waving, blowing kisses back, I reciprocate the warm welcome reserved for the celebrity kind .

 

Each glorious moment a magical dream - like floating on etheral wings.

It must be said - the golden glory of autumns throne is truly a special thing.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A red carpet welcome from the forest. - by Yasmin de Light

  

I am astonishingly attuned to the wild birds that appear in my backyard. Hours spent on the balcony with super telephoto lens and DSLR in hand will attest to this. This bird appeared to be as large as a Tom Turkey!

Generally speaking, when I'm out hiking and looking for the next great photo, I have at least one, if not three small dogs with me -- Boots, Teddy, and Toby. While I love their company, I can't tell you how many awesome animal and bird shots I have missed because of a motivated and interested dog. In the northern wild, animals are particularly attuned to the approach of threats and a running dog will quickly scare off pretty much anything. All of that said, Boots is now fifteen, Teddy is fourteen, and Toby is getting up there too. With age, their senses are a little less acute than they used to be. Today, I was lucky to spot a grouse on the trail well before the dogs had any idea that it was there. I stopped and hitched them all up to leashes, handing the tethers to my wife. Then I changed lenses on my camera, and adjusted the various settings accordingly before proceeding with a certain degree of stealth in the direction of my quarry, a female chestnut morph Spruce grouse. Without the barking dogs in tow, I was able to get close enough for a number of what I think are excellent images. This is one of them, tap through my photo-stream a little to see the other two. Each provides a different view of this common but beautiful northern bird.

 

Photo taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 and M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3. Photo processed in DxO PhotoLab 5.5.x.

Like many others, I felt shocked by the new design of flickr. My eyes found no rest anymore. In the front page view, the densly crowded photos are fighting each other. Viewing the contact page - just as the front page of my own stream - I feel being shouted at by a many-voiced chorus whose voices by themselves might be beautiful but which are not at all attuned to each other. In the single photo view, the black background looks so heavy to my eyes that it seems to crush the photos. They are deprived of the necessary space to breathe.

Looking around for alternatives, I was pointed to ipernity, and as some others already, I now opened an account there. For the time being, I will keep and maintain the flickr account and the new ipernity account to see how flickr develops and how well ipernity works. flickr is a place which I enjoyed very much and to which some very important memories are related. So I cannot give it up easily. Yet, I would be glad if I could meet more of the people whose photos I appreciate so much again at ipernity .

One of the smallest of Africa's wild cats and definitely the most deadly, it's the black-footed cat. These highly attuned predators have a knack for being lethal and are the most successful hunters in the wild cat kingdom. There are 2 known subspecies of black-footed cat in South Africa. They prefer steppes, open, arid-savannas, and semi-deserts with an abundance of trees and shrubs. Sadly, these little critters are listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. This is due to habitat destruction, vehicle strikes, accidental poisoning, introduction of invasive species, and climate change.

 

First the Stats...

 

Scientific name: Felis nigripes

Weight: Up to 4.2 lbs.

Length: Up to 28 inches, including tail

Height: Up to 9.8 inches

Lifespan: Up to 12 years

 

Now on to the Facts!

 

1.) They can walk up to 20 miles a night in search of food.

 

2.) These tiny critters are nocturnal (active at night).

 

3.) During the heat of the day, they sleep in abandoned termite mounds, unoccupied springhare, porcupine, and aardvark burrows.

 

4.) Black-footed cats prey on mice, insects, small reptiles, and birds; killing up to 15 creatures a night!

 

5.) Black-feet have a high tolerance for dehydration and get most of their water from the food they eat.

 

But wait, there's more on the black-footed cat!

 

6.) Their primary predators are domestic and feral dogs, wild dogs, caracals, and jackals.

 

7.) These little beasts communicate via purrs, loud calls, growls, gurgles, and hisses.

Did you know...?

The black-foo critter.science/the-cute-and-ferocious-black-footed-cat/

hearts′ empath ♥ brick-red ♥ brecciated jasper (aka poppy jasper) puffed in the shape of a heart-symbol was 'empathed', i.e. overdubbed & admixed with a 2nd tricolor broken - heart - festoon by means of the scanning process.

 

The object was scanned in the middle of the night with all lights switched off - nevertheless the 'empath' of the halogen - scanner - light glitched an interesting (but somehow embarassing) oranje-wit-blauw halo (aka the prince's flag in the Netherlands) festoon onto the grinded surface.

  

Obviously the macroscopic, black hematite-Schlieren became admixtures to the igneous extrusive jasper during the sublimation-process of the lava.

 

The Tricolour of The Netherlands is the oldest tricolour, first appearing in 1572 as the Prince's Flag in orange–white–blue. Soon the more famous red–white–blue began appearing — it is however unknown why, though many stories are known. After 1630 the red–white–blue was the most commonly seen flag. The Dutch Tricolour has inspired many flags but most notably those of Russia, India, New York City, and France, which spread the tricolour concept even further. The Flag of the Netherlands is also the only flag in the world that is adapted for some uses, when the occasion has a connection to the royal house of the Netherlands an orange ribbon is added.(wikipedia).

 

JASPER as a TRIGONAL  crystal-system

► MINERAL Ein Mineral ist ein Element oder eine chemische Verbindung welche normal kristallin ist und welche als Resultat eines geologischen Prozesses gebildet wurde.

JASPIS als eine Varietät von Chalcedon (Varietät des Mineral Quarz [SiO2 = silicon dioxide, trigonales Kristallsystem in rhomboedrischer Aufstellung]) stellt kein eigenständiges Mineral dar, sondern ist eine dichte, lichtundurchlässige, mikrokristalline Varietät, normalerweise rot, braun oder gelb und durch Oxide des Eisens gefärbt.

► Silex (Roter Jaspis) - Farbe Ziegelrot bis Braunrot. Zu ihm zählt auch der rote Brekzien-Jaspis. Die Farbe entsteht hier durch Eisenoxid aus überwiegend dreiwertigem Eisen.

 

JASPER as a healing crystal

►     JASPER (hardness: 6,5 - 7,0; density: 2,6 g/sm3)

The name of the stone goes back to the Greek word jaspis - "motley", "speckled". The coloration of Jasper can be red, dark blue, green, violet, white and even black.

Medical properties. In olden time jasper considered as means from an epilepsy and a fever. People believed that the jasper can improve sight, cure an epilepsy and remove a toothache. Famous Avitsenna advised to carry jasper on a stomach, to prevent illnesses of a stomach.

Magic properties. It is considered that ornaments from a jasper promote adjustment of relations and protect from ill fate. The jasper is capable to give to the owner determination and to make it more wisely.

Jaspis is crudely, in-blown up, in balls and Geschieben, rarely in grape/cluster or to shapes. It can contain up to 20%

admixtures of strange substances such as alumina, ferric oxide, iron hydroxide and manganese hydroxide. Since the quantity and distribution of these admixtures decided on the appearance, are extraordinarily large the color and Jaspis.

ancient times: Jaspis was in the antiquity with the Greeks and Romans a most outstanding mineral. In the course of the centuries the Jaspis at meaning and appreciation lost and at present to Siegelsteinen, doses, vases, desk tops, cans, mosaic, architectural work etc. was used.

Bible: That the Apostel Johannes revealed Himmli Jerusalem (revealing 21, 18-20) exhibited walls from Jaspis, as "the first reason", all other jewels follow only after it.

Middle Ages In the late Middle Ages famous natural scientists Konrad Gesner delivered: "The Jaspis is a sign before the chest, the sword in the hand and the queue under the feet. It protects against all diseases and renews spirit, heart and understanding."With the ancient Greeks one believed that the Jaspis gives internal harmony to its carrier and women have a harmonyful pregnancy by carrying the stone. In addition the red Jaspis helps best with nausea and excessive Esslust during the pregnancy and can facilitate relieving - a marvelous stone for all ranges of the abdomen.

► Brekzienjaspis @samaki.de

Heilwirkungen auf die Psyche: hilft körpereigene positive Energien zu sammeln und negative Energien abzubauen, durch diesen Ausgleich in der Seele verhilft er uns zu einem harmonievolleren, beschwingteren und glücklicheren Alltag, hilft neue Lebensenergien zu aktivieren; dieser Heilstein gilt als insgesamt sehr stärkend, hilft uns, in gutem Kontakt zur Erde zu bleiben, bzw uns zu erden; fördert den Sinn für Realität und wirkt dabei gleichzeitig unterstützend, seinen Lebensweg zu gehen; als Steinewasser, in Kombination mit Bergkristall, ein guter Begleiter durch einen aktiven (auch körperlich anstrengenden) Tag.

Heilwirkungen auf den Körper: hat eine stark blutstillende Wirkung, hilft bei Schlafstörungen durch Erdstrahlen und Wasserstrahlen (Stein körperfern unter das Bett legen), bewahrt vor einer Unterfunktionen der Schilddrüse, ist gut für Blut und Knochen (kräftigend).

Chakra: 3. Chakra, Solarplexus-Chakra, mit Themen wie "innerer Weisheit", sich selbst entdecken, und 1. Chakra, Wurzel-Chakra, hilft uns, am Boden der Tatsachen zu bleiben und von dort in die heilsame Mediation zu gehen, uns zu öffnen. Sternzeichen: alle Sternzeichen.

► Brecciated Jasper Hearts@healingcrystals

The Hematite within Brecciated Jasper acts as a deflector of negativity. While it is said that Brecciated Jasper can stimulate the rise of the Kundalini, it has a tendency to add stability to this energy. It is a stone of strength and vitality and can be used to help bring mental clarity and focus to a previously scattered life. It is also used for overcoming sexual guilt or shame, and can be helpful for those who are recovering from any kind of illness. You can use a Brecciated Jasper Heart as a "worry-stone" to take advantage of its calming and nurturing properties. These Brecciated Jasper Hearts can also be used during Meditations, held in your client's hand during a session, or just to carry in your pocket.

► poppy jasper @kosmix [_210810_]

Poppy Jasper is a poppy-patterned variety of orbicular jasper originating in South Africa. In medieval times, warriors often carried poppy jasper in belief it would bring them courage in the heat of oncoming battle. It belongs to the quartz group and is a brecciated jasper, composed of approximately 20% extraneous materials due to the gaps left between dry, iron enriched clay when the rock is first formed.

While poppy jasper is often multi-colored due to foreign deposits, it still is predominately red, black and gray in appearance. The black and gray often act to form a sort of background behind "blooms" of red-orange color that distinctly resemble that of a poppy plant, hence the name.

Residents of the U.S. may find this particular form of jasper in Morgan Hill, California. It is considered a rare stone and is well sought-after collectible by gem connoisseurs at a going rate of $20-30/lb.

► Brecciated Jasper Puffed Heart This jasper veined with hematite is an excellent aid to keeping your feet on the ground and attaining emotional stability. It also promotes mental clarity.

► Poppy aka Brecciated Jasper Metaphysically Poppy Jasper is the supreme nurturer. Brings tranquility and wholeness, protection and grounding. Aligns chakras, facilitates Shamanic journeys and dream recall. Rectifies unjust situations. Strengthens the circulatory system and is sometimes referred to as the "Stone of health". It has the qualities of enhancing organizational abilities, relaxation, and a sense of wholeness. It is occasionally used to assist when dowsing. It aligns the chakras and balances the yin-yang, physical, and emotional. It is a stone of protection, and is used in particular for protection during astral travel. It encourages attunement and communication with animals and can help with animal allergies, plus other allergies. It brings happiness and a good outlook on life and eases stress. It can help increase physical endurance and ward off dehydration. It is also a good stone for grounding oneself and is associated with the root chakra.

► Jasper @s a mineral

Jasper is an opaque variety of Chalcedony occurring in all colors. It is sometimes impure, containing organic material and iron oxides. Jasper is a favorite among amateur gem cutters, for its abundance and diversity is great. Some Jasper is banded, and these banded Jaspers are also Agates. When Jasper does not exhibit interesting colors or patterns, it is known as Chert. There are many types of Jasper, and many distinct names are given to each type. Most names are only used locally, and new names are made up every year. Below is a list of many of the Jasper names seen on the market. The second list contains Jasper types that are locally named for the area they occur in.

Brecciated Jasper: Red and black, with some white tracing:

► @fay canyon cabochons

► Support during times of stress - Facing problems - Courage - Energy

The colours are simply amazing with endless puzzle patterns of reds, whites, blacks and earthtones. Jasper is a very nurturing gemstone that helps to uplift you and support you during times of stress. It's beneficial in bringing tranquility and wholeness to you. Jasper helps to unite all aspects of your life and also helps others around you to open up to the idea of helping each other as well. It helps to protect you and ground your energy - if you work with Chakra it helps to absorb negative energy and in turn cleanse and align the Chakra and aura.

Jasper is also a stone of shamanic journeys and helping you to remember your dreams. It is a stone of balance for the yin and yang. If you dowse? This may be a wonderful tool to help you. Jasper also helps to clear electromagnetic and environmental pollution that includes radiation.

This gem also helps you to feel more determined and brings to you the courage to face problems. It helps you to be honest with yourself. Jasper also aids with quick thinking and organization. If you have projects on the go and need a little boost, Jasper can help stimulate your imagination and transform those ideas into great actions. Jasper also is beneficial with boosting your energy levels. In relationships, it can help pleasurable situations. If you have been feeling run down, this stone may help to lift and re-energize yourself.

Brecciated Jasper is also an excellent gemstone for helping you to keep your feet in the ground in a world full of turmoil. It can help to promote mental clarity.

► Poppy, or Brecciated, Jasper Heart (from mother earth to you) is beautiful not only for the colors and patterns it reveals, but also for its meaning. Jasper is a powerful healer, particularly of the physical body. It strengthens the gallbladder, liver, and bladder. A wonderful treat from Mother Earth for everyone you love (and don't forget yourself)!

► @phoenixorion Jasper is an opaque form of Chalcedony, and has been a stone for kings and shamans.

  

HEMATITE:

..., also spelled as hæmatite, is the mineral form of iron(III) oxide (α-Fe2O3), one of several iron oxides. It crystallizes in rhombohedral systems. Colors: black to steel or silver-gray, brown to reddish brown, or red.

Hematite (mineral information ... is rather variable in its appearence it can be in reddish brown, ocherous masses, dark silvery-grey scaled masses, silvery-grey crystals, and dark-grey masses, to name a few. What they all have in common is a rust-red streak. GEOLOGICAL SETTING: Large ore bodies of hematite are usually of sedimentary origin; also found in high-grade ore bodies in metamorphic rocks due to contact metasomatism, and occasionally as a sublimate on igneous extrusive rocks ("lavas") as a result of volcanic activity. It is also found coloring soils red all over the planet...

  

SILPHION & ARKESILAOS

► σίλφιον aus epichorisch σίλφι oder σίρφι, lat.: sirpe, laserpicium = lac +sirpicium; außerdem sind besondere griechische Namen für Teile der Pflanze überliefert.) Name einer in der Cyrenaica wachsenden Pflanze und besonders des aus dessen Stengel und Wurzel gewonnenen harzigen Milchsaftes, der vom 6.Jahrhundert v. Chr. eine sehr hochgeschätzte Droge war und als Ausfuhrartikel die Grundlage des Reichtums von --> Kyrene bildete. Auch in der hellenistischen Zeit war der S-Handel gewinnbringend (Plaut, Rud. 630 Catull. 7,4), aber vom Beginn der Kaiserzeit an war das echte S. vom Markt verschwunden, und man behalf sich mit minderwertigem S. aus dem Orient. Trotz erhaltener Beschreibungen bei Theophrast u.a. (s. bes. Plin. nat. 19, 38-46) und Abbildungen auf Münzen von Kyrene und auf der Pariser Arkesilaos-Schale (auf der er die Verpackung und Verschiffung von S. beaufsichtigt) und vieler Bemühungen von Historikern und Botanikern (eine ganze Literatur!) ist die sichere Bestimmung des S. nicht gelungen; doch scheint es sich um eine mit Scorodosma foetidum, welches Asa foetida liefert, nahe verwandte Pflanze zu handeln; obwohl S. einen zwar sehr intensiven, aber doch angenehmen Geruch und Geschmack gehabt haben soll. Über die Verwendung von S. sind die antiken Angaben spärlich. Stengel und Blätter wurden als Gemüse gegessen, und die Droge diente als Gewürz und medizinisch als Allheilmittel... {Hehn-Schrader Kulturpflanzen (8) 112. Steier, RE III A 103-114} Konrad Ziegler in (Der Kleine Pauly, dtv, Band 5)

► Arkesilaos 1. Sohn Battos I. (Hdt 4, 159), König von Kyrene 599-583 (?) 2. Aresilaos II. (565/60-555/50) war der Enkel von Arkesilaos I. Er vertrieb nach seiner Thronbesteigung seine Brüder, welche daraufhin die Libyer um Kyrene aufwiegelten, bei Leukon lockten sie ihn in einen Hinterhalt, wobei er 7000 Hopliten verlor. Kurz daraufhin verübte sein mit ihm verfehdeter Bruder Laarchos ein Attentat auf ihn; seine Witwe rächte ihn jedoch wenig später (Hdt. 4, 160, Plut.mul.virt. 260 E ff. S. Mazzarino Fra Oriente e Occidente 1947, 153, 313-317). Trotz seiner kurzen Herrschaft (565/60-555/50) haben Künstler und Dichter ihm gehuldigt: Eugammon von Kyrene widmete ihm sein Epos 'Telegonia', die Arkesilaos-Schale stellt ihn bei der Beaufsichtigung des Verladens Exportartikels Silphion dar.

►     Silphium @wikipedia

Silphium (also known as silphion or laser) was a plant of the genus Ferula. Generally considered to be an extinct "giant fennel" (although some claim that the plant is really Ferula tingitana), it once formed the crux of trade from the ancient city of Cyrene for its use as a rich seasoning and as a medicine. It was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant.

Silphium was an important species as evidenced by the Egyptians and Knossos Minoans developing a specific glyph to represent the Silphium plant.

The valuable product was the resin (laser, laserpicium, or lasarpicium) of the plant. It was harvested in a manner similar to asafoetida, a plant with similar enough qualities to silphium that Romans, including the geographer Strabo, used the same word to describe both.

Aside from its uses in Greco-Roman cooking (as in recipes by Apicius), many medical uses were ascribed to the plant. It was said that it could be used to treat cough, sore throat, fever, indigestion, aches and pains, warts, and all kinds of maladies. Chief among its medical uses, according to Pliny the Elder, was its role as an herbal contraceptive. Given that many species in the parsley family have estrogenic properties, and some (such as wild carrot) have been found to work as an abortifacient, it is quite possible that the plant was pharmacologically active in the prevention or termination of pregnancy. Legend said that it was a gift from the god Apollo. It was used widely by most ancient Mediterranean cultures; the Romans considered it "worth its weight in denarii."

    Connection with the heart symbol

There has been some speculation about the connection between silphium and the traditional heart shape (♥). The symbol is remarkably similar to the Egyptian "heart soul" (ib). The sexual nature of that concept, combined with the widespread use of silphium in ancient Egypt for birth control, and the fact that the seeds of silphium are shaped like a heart as shown in the left illustration, leads to speculation that the character for ib may have been derived from the shape of the silphium seed.

Contemporaneous writings help tie silphium to sexuality and love, as laserpicium makes an appearance in a poem (Catullus 7) of Catullus to his lover Lesbia. As well as in Pausanias' Description of Greece in which he says "For it so happened that his maiden daughter was living in it. By the next day this maiden and all her girlish apparel had disappeared, and in the room were found images of the Dioscuri, a table, and silphium upon it."

►     The Secret of the Heart @ heartsmith

There are a few ancient symbols that recur through the ages. One of these symbols - the heart - means many things to many people. Just how did the stylized heart shape become the icon for love and the human soul? Let's work our way back in history:

The heart symbol as we know it today, was popularized in the Victorian era over a hundred years ago. They loved the romantic heart shape and embellished it in many ways; but they didn't invent it. Where did it come from?

"Silphium has left its mark in modern society in a way that has not previously been recognized. Have you ever wondered why the human heart - the repository and the embodiment of romantic love - is always drawn stylized instead of in the natural shape of the human heart organ? The answer is rooted in the ancient function of Silphium! And the connection between this artistic convention and Silphium is found in the coinage of Cyrene, which features a seed pod of the revered plant." (Emilio N Favority and Kurt Baty. The Celator, Vol 9, No.2)

► Asafoetida (Pers. انگدان Angedan).

MEDICAL Apps: Asafoetida reduces the growth of indigenous microflora in the gut. fighting flu - Asafoetida was used in 1918 to fight the Spanish influenza pandemic. Scientists at the Kaohsiung Medical University in Taiwan report that the roots of Asafoetida produces natural antiviral drug compounds that kill the swine flu virus, H1N1. In an article published in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products, the researchers said the compounds "may serve as promising lead components for new drug development" against this type of flu. contraceptive/abortifacient - Asafoetida has also been reported to have contraceptive/abortifacient activity, and is related (and considered an inferior substitute to) the ancient Ferula species Silphium. antiepileptic - Asafoetida oleo-gum-resin has been reported to be antiepileptic in classical Unani as well as ethnobotanical literature.

HUNTING apps (bait): John C Duval reported in 1936 that the odor of asafoetida is attractive to the wolf, a matter of common knowledge, he says, along the Texas/Mexico border. It is also used as one of several possible scent baits, most notably for catfish and pike.

MAGICK apps: In Jamaica, asafoetida is traditionally applied to a baby's anterior fontanel (Jamaican patois "mole") in order to prevent spirits (Jamaican patois "duppies") from entering the baby through the fontanel. In the African-American Hoodoo tradition, asafoetida is used in magic spells as it is believed to have the power both to protect and to curse. In ceremonial magick especially from The Key of Solomon the King, it is used to protect the magus from daemonic forces and to evoke the same and bind them.

Asant (Ferula assa-foetida), auch bekannt als Stinkasant (hindi: हिंग Hing, urdu: Hei-ng) oder Teufelsdreck: Indikationen für die Anwendung waren a) verschiedene Angst- und Nervenstörungen (Nervosität, Hysterie, Hypochondrie), b) krampfartige Magen-, Leber- und Galleleiden, c) Impotenz und reduzierter sexueller Antrieb. Entsprechend war Asant vorwiegend als Nerven- und Beruhigungsmittel sowie als gastrointestinales Spasmolytikum verbreitet. Seit dem Altertum galt Asa foetida außerdem als Aphrodisiakum und wurde über Jahrhunderte in der Liebesmagie eingesetzt. ... Asant soll auch in Chanel Nº 5 enthalten sein.

►     Did the ancient Romans use a natural herb for birth control? The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder described use of the resin "with soft wool as a pessary to promote the menstrual discharge." If taken as ancient writers claimed, silphium might have worked as a monthly morning-after pill. Other items touted as contraceptives in antiquity include wild carrot (a silphium relative also known as Queen Anne's lace), pennyroyal, and pomegranate. In small doses many of these are known to stimulate menstrual flow, just as silphium is supposed to have done.

Whether it was effective or not, silphium certainly was a popular plant. Almost impossible to cultivate, it became the main source of economic power for Cyrene, a Greek colony in what's now Libya, where it grew wild.

Nonetheless, by the end of the first century AD silphium was no more. The last pieces of this aphrodisiac plant were reputedly consumed by the dying emperor Nero: "Qualis artifex pereo!"

After silphium disappeared, asafetida was used as a replacement, imported from what are now Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Already used by the poor because it was cheaper and more plentiful than silphium, asafetida was considered inferior from both a culinary and medicinal standpoint.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Protect Your Heart at Every Age

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

EXPLANATIONS of WORDS

Schlieren (from German; singular "Schliere", meaning "streak") are optical inhomogeneities in transparent material not visible to the human eye. Schlieren physics developed out of the need to produce high-quality lenses void of these inhomogeneities. These inhomogeneities are localized differences in optical path length that cause light deviation. This light deviation is converted to shadow in a schlieren system.

dub 1. give an unofficial name or nickname to (someone or something), make someone a knight by the ritual touching of the shoulder with a sword. 3. smear (leather) with grease. ORIGIN: late Old English (in the sense 'make a knight'): from Old French adober 'equip with armour'.

overdub (verb) record (additional sounds) on an existing recording. (noun) an instance of overdubbing: a guitar overdub [_NODE_1321_]

empathy the ability to understand and share the feelings of another DERIVATIVES: empathize (verb), empathetic / empathic (adjectives), empath (noun). ORIGIN: In the early 20th century the german word Einfühlung was 're-translated' into the until then not existing greek word empatheia

empath (chiefly in science fiction) a person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual.

[_NODE_604_]

 

PHOTOCREDITS {1280/1440/1530/1800/5260 results, 21082010 / 26092010 / 11112010 / 17112010 / 28022011}

@FLICKR

PHOTOS:

► box in shape of a silphium seed pod

► Temple d'Asclépios à Al-Bayda et motifs de silphium ... look at the stylized heart-symbols at the top of the temple-columns!

GALLERIES:

► hearts in the temple of love {♥-slideshow}

► heart

via flickr-API-POP-UP's:

► morning after pill@answerbag

► signs of pregnancy@answerbag

► Resources for those considering a career in healthcare Miriam Salpeter@facebook (Febr 10, 2010)

► Resources for those considering a career in healthcare Miriam Salpeter@keppie careers (Febr 10, 2010)

► post@tumblr

► 1280 x 1280 @ everystockphoto

► back-up@musicspot.fr

► pictures of impossible shapes @ the little Blog

► photos @ What's popular today?

► hearts ♥ brick-red ♥ brecciated jasper @ Dr Dave's My Alternative Healing & Health Blog {May, 8th, 2010}

► BACKUP: Lastest Critical Illness Claims News @ critical illness cover. Post by James on July 2nd, 2010.

► esoteric @ 24-tipp-de, Sept 22nd, 2010

► pictures of impossible shapes @ the little blog

BLOGS

► poppy jasper @kosmix (210810)

► ... the drive of service and compassion. These are the tools that we can give people to return to empathy without fear ... by Joy Eckstine, Topics: Homeless Health, 22 Sept 2010.

► Valentine’s Day – Love Yourself This Year @richardmaun - Tips & Stories to improve work and life (February 13, 2011)

► Love and Trash is a DIY blog for people who do things differently. (March 2011)

► High-risk hearts: a South Asian epidemic @University of Cambridge, June 30, 2011 Why is heart disease increasing at a greater rate in South Asia than in any other region globally? Large-scale population studies in Pakistan and Bangladesh aim to discover the basis of a little-studied public health problem of epidemic proportions. (MIRROR-ECHO @ medicalexpress-news)

► Having Sex Like It's Going Out of Style @ Medicinal Marzipan (body image & authentic living), July 22, 2011. Having Sex Like It's Going Out of Style (ECHO) @ dillarddario27 blog, July 24, 2011

► Content, The Heart and Soul of Your Online Brand by Jeff Bullas. Categories: Content, Social Media. November 21, 2011

  

28052010: 1578

21082010: 2490

26092010: 2854

11112010: 3556

17112010: 3624

28012011: 4454

03022011: 4508

10022011: 4609

14022011: 4696

17022011: 4749

07032011: 4931

29032011: 5173

18042011: 5417

19082011: 6660

23102011: 7387

23112011: 7797

16082012: 9346

28112012: 9797

10072013: 10.979

29032014: 25.517

25072014: 37.511

30Jul2014: 37.938

08Dec2014: 51.506

 

2015

01 April ... 67,855, 35 faves

06 Juli ... 82,989

15 Nov ... 92,317

30Nov ....93,825

Si vede già la loro fioritura nei giardini, fiorisce prima di altri, e prima del pesco nei campi che poi pduce le pesche.

Gocce di pioggia in questa immagine rende ancora più bella la fioritura.

 

Tra la fine dell'inverno e l'inizio della primavera il fior di pesco produce una profusione di fiori di colore rosso-arancione, che continuano a sbocciare per un paio di mesi. In autunno produce piccole mele gialle o rosse, dal sapore amaro, utilizzate per marmellate e conserve.

 

I giardini si stanno rivestendo di vari colori con molte varietà di fiori primaverili. E' molto rilassante osservarli ... e fotografarli, ci si sente in sintonia con questi fiori, un certo senso di felicità ... quasi un pò di allegria, anzi portano proprio l'allegria !

 

-----

 

You can already see their bloom in the gardens, blooms before others, and before the peach tree in the fields which then produce peaches.

Rain drops on this image give them more beauty.

  

Between the late winter and early spring the peach blossom produces a profusion of red-orange flowers that continue to bloom for a couple of months. In autumn it produces small yellow or red apples, bitter taste, used for jams and preserves.

 

The gardens are coating of various colors with many varieties of spring flowers. It 'very relaxed ... observe and photograph, you feel attuned to these flowers, a sense of happiness ... almost a little bit of cheerfulness, indeed bring their own cheerfulness.

Pentax 645N Ilford Delta 400 XTOL 1:1 11:14@68.5 10/24/2020

Stormtroopers 365 > Day 269/365

[Subscribe: (feed) - (mail) - (twitter) - (facebook)]

 

PS: I love this.

 

PPS: about noise, you will find below a cool Keith Moon story (Keith Moon was the drummer of the Who, and main source of inspiration for the Muppet character of Animal, portrayed here)

 

An infamous hotel-room escapade found Keith providing a well-intentioned "inn-keeper" with the ultimate definition of "noise" versus "music". Legend tells that Moon was quietly standing in the lobby of a mid-western American hotel, with his portable cassette player blasting out some of the Who's latest work. After a few minutes of this sound onslaught, the normally crowded lobby had become practically deserted. It was at this point that the hotel manager emphatically asked Keith to turn the "noise" down to a respectable level. In disdain for one not attuned to his musical tastes, Moon kept right on playing his tape at ear-splitting levels. This prompted another plea from the manger, again begging that the "noise" be turned off. This dialogue continued unabated for the next few minutes until the hotel representative warned that if Keith did not turn the machine off at once he would be forced to summon the police. At these ominous words Moon mad an agreement with the manager. He said that he would go back to his room if the official would accompany him. While this request seemed somewhat strange, it was quickly agreed upon, and the two journeyed up to Keith's ninth floor abode. Upon reaching his room, Moon signaled that the man should wait a moment outside the door while Keith went inside. After about two minutes Moon reemerged, followed closely by a loud dynamite explosion emanating from his bathroom. As smoke began to fill the hallway, Moon turned to the horrified manager and calmly explained, "That my friend is noise. This on the other hand," as he again turned on his cassette player, "is the Who." [source]

What is it about electronic music that makes it impossible for some to stand still? What is it about country music that makes others want to throw wherever the sound is coming from out the nearest window? What is it about 432 Hz that makes us feel so relaxed?

Music is a force to be reckoned with. Certain songs bring you to tears while others get you exhilarated and inspired for a once dreaded workout. People create playlists for when they’re downhearted, happy and almost every emotion in-between.

Music affects more than your psyche, as well. It is also known to affect internal functions like blood pressure, speed or slow down your heart rate, reduce anxiety and even help with digestion, amongst many other things. What most people don’t know though is how it does this. I mean, what is music made of? What properties make up the landscape of sounds that create a song?

Well in short, it's all about frequencies and, the way we feel, the way the brain responds when we listen, depends on the combination of frequencies in the track. This is known as the frequency response This simple theory will help you understand the fuss surrounding the slightly more complicated theory of the power of 432 Hz. The Earth’s Heartbeat (The Schumann Resonance) To understand this whole 432 Hz thing, we need to first learn about the Schumann Resonance, which will ultimately explain this number’s importance. German physicist Winfried Otto Schumann documented the Schumann Resonance in 1952.

He understood that global electromagnetic resonances exist within the cavity between the Earth’s surface and the inner edge of the ionosphere and are excited and activated by lightning.

He determined that the frequency of these electromagnetic waves are very low, ranging anywhere from 7.86 Hz to 8 Hz.

This frequency is essentially the Earth’s heartbeat; the frequency the Earth beats at. Now, 432 Hz resonates with the frequency of 8 Hz. And here’s how… On the musical scale where A has a frequency of 440 Hz, the note C is at about 261.656 Hz.

On the other hand, if we take 8 Hz as our starting point and work upwards by five octaves (i.e. by the seven notes in the scale five times), we reach a frequency of 256 Hz in whose scale the note A has a frequency of 432 Hz. This frequency, which is at the top end of the Theta range and at the start of the Alpha range, makes us feel very relaxed but conscious and open to intuitive learning. Listening to a concentrated recording of music at this frequency, like a binaural beats track, will synchronize (entrain) the brain to this state and induce the aforementioned effects.

Think for a moment about all the frequencies that travel through your brain in a given day: cell phones, Wi-Fi, radio and microwaves. All these exist at different frequencies and pull our brain from one frequency to the next. The brain is on a constant yo-yo, being pinged at by different frequencies: it’s no wonder these devices emitting artificial electromagnetic radiation have been linked to cancer, depression and insomnia. So it makes sense that if we spent more time being attuned to the natural electromagnetic pulses of the earth (the heartbeat of Mother Nature) – at 432 Hz – we would, in turn, feel more centered, balanced, conscious and peaceful. ✓ Try Our 432Hz Meditation Today! 432 Hz Vs the Commercial Standard 440 Hz Okay, so now we understand that, why the hell isn't all music tuned to 432 Hz! Well, it has been during some periods, and many greats have lobbied for it, but it didn't work out that way. And here's why…

According to music theory, A=432 Hz is mathematically consistent with the universe. This is known as Verdi’s ‘A’ – named after Giuseppe Verdi, a famous Italian composer.

Verdi and many other musicians, like Mozart, tuned their music to this frequency because of its healing energy and the natural ‘feel good’ properties it evoked in the audience. In fact, Verdi wrote to the Congress of Italian Musicians to have 432 Hz approved as the standard tuning. Subsequently, this was unanimously approved in 1881 and recommended further by physicists Joseph Sauveur and Felix Savart, as well as by the Italian scientist Bartolomeo Grassi Landi. However, it wasn't enough. Even though this was approved in Italy at the time, music is not tuned at 432 Hz as standard today. This is because The American Federation of Musicians accepted the 440 Hz as the standard pitch in 1917. Then, in 1940, the United States introduced 440 Hz worldwide. London followed suit, and in 1953 440 Hz was approved as the general tuning standard for musical pitch there. What? I know. Weird. Since then, 440 Hz has since stood the test of time, despite geniuses like Verdi and many great producers and composers agreeing that this frequency is disharmonic because it has no scientific relationship to the physical laws that govern our universe. Historical Use of 432 Hz: Ancient Greece, Egypt & Tibet Further evidence of a 432 Hz preference is found in ancient Greece, where instruments associated with Orpheus – the God of Music – were tuned at 432 Hz. And get this, according to international researcher and musician Ananda Bosman, the majority of instruments unearthed from ancient Egyptian sites are tuned to, yes, you guessed it, A=432 Hz! The evidence doesn’t stop there, either.

Using a Korg Tuner, like this one, sound researcher Jamie Buturff discovered that many CD recordings of Tibetan monks’ singing bowls were tuned at 432 Hz. This is undoubtedly because of the frequency's direct link to Mother Nature and natural ability to make people relax for meditative purposes. 432 hz music ✓ Experience Our 432Hz Meditation Today!

432 Hz Conspiracy Theories The mathematical theory behind 432 Hz and its endorsement by famous musicians cannot be doubted, neither can the fact that the Earth is tuned at this frequency. However, the Internet, like it does with so many things, has injected this science with mystery, sparking a number of conspiracy theories. It's not surprising though. Considering that musical greats and ancient societies preferred 432 Hz, but the US and UK ignored this and chose 440 Hz, it was bound to make people suspicious. Most theories centre around the belief that the 440 Hz frequency was deliberately adopted by governments/regimes as a way to manipulate and control the masses, making then lethargic, often borderline depressed and therefore easily influenced, Perhaps the most popular conspiracy theory is that of Nazi Germany. It is suggested that the regime decided to adopt 440 Hz as standard, avoiding 432 Hz at all costs and developing other influential frequencies alongside it designed to assist in the control of people's minds.

Joseph Goebbels, who served as a prime minister of propaganda for the German Third Reich, and whose job was to spread the Nazi message, supposedly directed this mission.

He apparently used music containing concentrated 440 Hz frequencies and others to induce fear and hostility in the masses. People listening to this music were essentially prisoners of their own aggressive consciousness.

While this certainly is an interesting theory, there is no proof to back up this claim. Why You Need More 432 Hz Music in Your Life It is no surprise that when listening to the same music tuned at the two different frequencies (432 Hz and 440 Hz), most people say they feel a sense of relaxation after having listening to the 432 Hz version. However, the average person, distinguishing between the two by ear would be difficult, and on a first listen the effects might not be that pronounced.

Over time though, you will naturally feel more pleasant listening to 432 Hz music instead of 440 Hz – because your brain will become attuned to the frequency of the Earth. 440 Hz, despite being forced upon us as a music tuning pitch standard, is not in harmony with the frequency of the Earth. It is alien to us as a species. We are part of Mother Nature, and therefore playing the brain music that isn't tuned at this frequency over a prolonged period of time will of course make you feel out of sync.

Could this be the reason that certain types of music cause behavioural issues and intense negative emotional reactions in some people? Possibly. Of course, a person might not realise that they are being affected by the frequency. Every day you hear music tuned at 440 Hz, so it is unlikely that you would stop and think, I feel quite agitated and out of sorts lately; must be all that 440 Hz music. But the reality is that it could well be the reason for days when you can't quite place why you feel imbalanced and misaligned with life. Humans are a part of nature like every other animal and plant species, so it makes absolute sense that aligning your energy with the Earth will naturally make you feel more peaceful and happier. We all know music has healing properties: Music therapists use music to help restore memory in Alzheimer’s patients, improve basic motor skills in stroke victims and help many more suffering from a range of different things. We also know that listening to specific frequencies in concentrated amounts, entrains the brain to specific states of well-being. And all the evidence, scientifically from nature, mathematically from music theory and endorsed by the likes of Verdi and Mozart, points towards the fact that 432 Hz is an extremely powerful tuning frequency, from which instruments should be tuned. For this reason, we have produced our own 432 Hz binaural beats meditation, which you can use to attune your brain to the Earth's frequency for increased well-being. Not only will you feel a calming effect after listening, regular listening will decrease feelings of stress and anxiety and in turn promote natural healing and a deeper connection with all sentient beings and the world at large. It's time to tune yourself to the heartbeat of the planet.

 

www.binauralbeatsmeditation.com/432-hz-truth-behind-natur...

 

Gather ’round, kids. Those of you with tinfoil hats may wish to ensure that they’re fitted snuggly. What I’m about to tell you will shake your faith in all the music you’ve heard in your life.

If you look down the right paths, it becomes clear that governments and various security apparatuses have used music to control us using music. All the music of the West that’s based on the standard 12-tone scale is used for the management of crowds as well as thought control.Let’s begin with some music theory. If musical performances were to sound the same the world over, some standardization was required. As early as 1885, the Music Commission of the Italian Government declared that all instruments and orchestras should use a tuning fork that vibrated at 440 Hz, which was different from the original standard of 435 Hz and the competing 432 Hz used in France.

In 1917, the American Federation of Musicians endorsed the Italians, followed by a further push for 440 Hz in the 1940s.With the help of Verdi, 432 Hz appeared as a reference at the end of the 19th century. In 1939, gear change: the International Federation of National Standards Associations, now known as the International Organization for Standardization, decided on a standard pitch at 440 Hz. This decision was ratified a few years later at an international conference in London in 1953, despite protests from Italians and French people, who were attached to Verdi's 432 Hz. Finally, in January 1975, the 440 Hz pitch became a standard (ISO 16:1975), which subsequently defined its use in all music conservatories. The 440 Hz frequency has therefore won the institutional battle, becoming an international standard.

This hegemony, and the dates on which it solidified, did not fail to provoke a reaction from conspiracy fighters of all kinds. Indeed, the promulgation in 1939 of the 440 at the expense of the 432 led to a musical coup d'état by the Nazis - the Germans had very early, around 1700, chosen the 440 Hz. With Hitler's desire to rebuild the great lost Germanic empire, music was instrumentalized, becoming a spearhead of this lost desire for greatness. Perhaps, as Amaury Cambuzat wisely points out, "they were based on a statement by Plato: if you want to control the people, start by controlling their music. The Nazis having proven their ability to recover and their obsession with imposing standards (as they adopted the swastika symbol)...". Music would therefore only be a collateral victim.There is no international conspiracy to prefer 440Hz to 432, but conspiracy theories are getting out of hand. With calculations that Nostradamus would not deny, some "specialists" are having a field day on the Web. The 432Hz would thus be "the setting that makes the golden reason of the PHI universe vibrate and unifies the properties of light, time, space, matter, gravity and magnetism with biology, the code of DNA and consciousness. When our atoms and DNA begin to resonate in harmony with the spiral pattern of nature, our sense of connection to nature is said to be "enlarged". The number 432 is also reflected in the reports of the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, the precession of the equinoxes, the Great Pyramid of Egypt, Stonehenge, Sri Yantra and many other sacred sites," says Esprits Science Métaphysiques.com. This galimatias, which puts DNA and consciousness on a scientific equal footing, brews up a delirious mysticism, proposes clever calculations that would almost prove that 432 is God's other name. In 1953, a worldwide agreement was signed. Signatories declared that middle “A” on the piano be forevermore tuned to exactly 440 Hz. This frequency became the standard ISO-16 reference for tuning all musical instruments based on the chromatic scale, the one most often used for music in the West. All the other notes are tuned in standard mathematical ratios leading to and from 440 Hz.

This tone standard is now universally accepted, which is why a piano in Toronto sounds exactly the same as a piano in China.

Weirdly, no one can say for sure why this frequency was chosen in the first place. In fact, there those among us who vehemently disagree with this standard. In fact, they consider the 440 Hz middle “A” to be an abomination against nature. Adherents to this theory claim that a more “natural” frequency for middle “A” is 438 Hz. Others believe that the correct middle “A” is 432 Hz (also known as Verdi’s A) because it has “a pure tone of math fundamental to nature” and is “mathematically consistent with the patterns of the universe, vibrating with Phi, the Golden Ratio. They point to how this pitch can be connected to everything from nautilus shells to the works of the ancients, including the construction of the Great Pyramid. Furthermore, 432 Hz resonates with 8 Hz (the Schumann Resonance), the documented fundamental electromagnetic “beat” of Earth. It just feels better. Research says that music tuned from this frequency is easier to listen to, brighter, clearer, and contains more inherent dynamic range. As a result, music with this tuning need not be played at higher volumes and thus reduces the risk of hearing damage.If the importance of musical frequency remains undeniable, since the human body is intrinsically sensitive to its environment, wanting to discern a pitch superior to all is ineptitude. Amaury Cambuzat remains convinced "that none of these tuning fork frequencies, whether 440 Hz or others, is absolute. This frequency would have to be continuously modulated and modified according to places, seasons, and so many other biological factors to be able to approach a "perfect vibration" frequency. Again, assuming that the latter exists. 432 Hz could become the majority frequency nowadays but certainly not universal. To affirm such a theory, it would be necessary to deny that everything is in motion, in constant evolution, not to take into account the peoples who rely on their traditional way of singing and playing their instruments in direct relation with their senses, their culture and what surrounds them, and certainly not on a standard pitch at 432 or 440 Hz". The more radical among middle “A” haters insist that the true frequency should be 528 Hz because it’s a “digital bio-holographic precipitation crystallization [and] miraculous manifestation of diving frequency vibrations.” I have no idea what that means. Here’s where the conspiracy comes in. There is allegedly something sinister and evil about 440 Hz. It is said that the Rockefeller Foundation had an interest in making sure the United States adopted the 440 Hz standard in 1935 as part of a “war on consciousness” leading to “musical cult control.” Without going too far down this rat hole, this theory says that tuning all music to 440 Hz turns it into a military weapon. I quote from one of the many online articles on the subject: “The monopolization of the music industry features this imposed frequency that is ‘herding’ populations into greater aggression, psychosocial agitation, and emotional distress predisposing people to physical illnesses and financial impositions profiting the agents, agencies, and companies engaged in the monopoly.” Going a little deeper, we end up at the doorstep of the Nazis. It is said that propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels insisted that on 440 Hz tuning in Germany because he believed it made people think and feel in specific ways, making them “a prisoner of a certain consciousness.” And if you’re trying to mobilize the population for Der Fuhrer, that’s exactly what you want, right? There’s more from the Tinfoil Headphones crowd: “The powers that be are successfully lowering the vibrations of not only the young generation but the rest of us as well. These destructive frequencies entrain the thoughts towards disruption, disharmony, and disunity. Additionally, they also stimulate the controlling organ of the body — the brain — into disharmonious resonance, which ultimately creates disease and war.” There’s something to think about the next time you pop in some earbuds. Does listening to music make you feel more warlike and diseased? I’ve also been told that the different effects these frequencies have on our chakras. Songs tuned to 440 Hz work on the third eye chakra (the “thinking”) while 432 Hz stimulates the heart chakra (the “feeling”). Therefore, 432 Hz music increases the spiritual development of the listener. It may even have healing properties.

There are numerous organizations advocating a universal switch to 432 Hz, but that would involve upsetting worldwide standards, not to mention the construction and re-tuning of millions of musical instruments. Nice idea, but it ain’t gonna happen. If that idea stressed you out, please meditate on this special 432 Hz music.If many artists would have set their frequencies at 432 Hz like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin or John Lennon (very strong presumptions still weigh on Imagine), their choices did not derive from an obsession for purity, perfection or the so-called superiority of one pitch over the other but only from a research, an artistic curiosity that experiments and decompartmentalizes the norms to better embrace their diversity.

 

globalnews.ca/news/4194106/440-hz-conspiracy-music/

 

The building is designed as a cultural and residential complex.[2] The original 1966 brick façade of the Kaispeicher A, formerly a warehouse, was retained at the base of the building. On top of this a footprint-matching superstructure rests on its own foundation exhibiting a glassy exterior and a wavy roof line. About one thousand glass windows are curved.[17] The building has 26 floors with the first eight floors within the brick façade. It reaches its highest point with 108 meters at the western side.[2] The footprint of the building measures 120,000 m2. A curved escalator from the main entrance at the east side connects the ground floor with an observation deck, the Plaza, at the 8th floor, the top of the brick section. The Plaza is accessible by the public. It offers a view of Hamburg and the Elbe. From the Plaza the foyer of the concert hall can be reached.

 

The Elbphilharmonie has three concert venues. The Great Concert Hall can accommodate 2,100 visitors whereby the performers are in the center of the hall surrounded by the audience in the vineyard style arrangement. The acoustics were designed by Yasuhisa Toyota who installed about 10,000 individually microshaped drywall plates to disperse sound waves.[17] The Great Concert Hall contains a pipe organ with 69 registers built by Klais Orgelbau. The Recital Hall is intended for the performance of recitals, chamber music and jazz concerts; it can hold an audience of 550 people.[2] In addition, there is the Kaistudio that allows for 170 visitors and is intended to serve educational activities.[17] The consultant for the scenography of the concert hall was Ducks Scéno.

 

The easternmost part of the building is rented by Westin as the Westin Hamburg Hotel that opened on 4 November 2016.[18] The hotel offers 244 rooms between the 9th and 20th floors. The lobby in the 8th floor can be accessed from the Plaza. The upper floors west of the concert hall accommodate 45 luxury apartments. The complex also houses conference rooms, restaurants, bars, and a spa. A parking garage for 433 cars is part of the building complex as well.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbphilharmonie

The use of crystal balls continued past the Druidic tradition. Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), a royal advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, was a scientist, astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who was also a hermetic philosopher involved in alchemical studies.Crystal balls have been used for at least four thousand years for divination. The art of gaining information for looking into crystal is called “scrying.” Most people associate a gypsy reading crystal ball as a symbol of mystical power. Other people may remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz movie showing the witch watching live action scenes of Dorothy trying to get to Emerald City. The reality is that crystal balls do not possess actual power, nor do they show scenes like you would see on a television foretelling the future.However, a psychic, while in a trance, may see different images in his or her brain while in a light trance. These images can be concrete pictures, symbols or vague impressions. What these images convey are information about situations you are facing and guidance of how to resolve your problems.There are three types of clear crystal balls. There is natural quartz crystal, laboratory-grown crystal and glass. Natural quartz crystal balls are cut from naturally occurring veins of crystal. These can have inclusions, cracks in the crystal and veils, cloudy wisps within the crystal. These “faults” in the crystal aid the reader in divination.Other crystals balls have their uses as well. Amethyst balls channel spiritual energy, and are effective in communicating with spirit guides. They are also helpful in interpreting dreams. Rose quartz balls are helpful in issues of emotions and the heart. Rose quartz can help in healing of emotional hurts and fosters forgiveness. Smoky quartz helps in grounding and clearing negativity. Obsidian is a power crystal that aids in reflecting what is in the souls of self and others. Malachite is useful in revealing past-life connections. Lapis, Sodalite and Dumotierite energize psychic attunement. Yellow stones, tiger-eye, yellow citrine, topaz, ametrine and amber reveal the brighter side of an issue and warms the heart. All of these stones are available as balls, though some are more expensive than others.The History of Crystal Ball Reading The use of crystal balls continued past the Druidic tradition. Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), a royal advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, was a scientist, astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who was also a hermetic philosopher involved in alchemical studies. He used crystal balls in his work, which he believed would aid in communication with angels. A quartz ball that once belonged to Dee now resides in the British Museum.The ancient Greeks used reflective surfaces such a pools of waters to help with divination. Two thousand years before the birth of Christ, British Druids used crystal balls for divination. Transparent Beryl, a natural gemstone that comes in all colors was used as an early crystal ball but In the Middle Ages crystal balls shifted from being shaped in beryl to crystal which is more reflective.Crystal balls were used in other areas of the world as well. The third largest crystal ball in the world, now housed in the Penn Museum, weighs fifty-five pounds. It was created for the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) during the Quing Dynasty in the 19th century.Reading Work?Some readers claim that nothing can be seen in a crystal ball and believe they act as a focus for meditation. Others, such as Alexandra Chauran, the author of Crystal Ball Reading for Beginners, tells us that occlusions in the crystals can form symbols when you are in are in a light trance. Some people have describe the experience of being “drawn into” the orb, feeling a bending of time while gazing into the ball. However the crystal ball is used, it is clear that it is a tool to focus and direct the intuitive and psychic abilities of the reader. Regardless, seeing things in crystal balls may not be as mystic as some people believe. Crystals carry an electric charge called piezoelectricity that can be converted into electrical signals. This electric charge is the very reason that cut crystals are used watches, TV and radio transmitters. Crystals can also provide oscillations that can drive very accurate clocks. A quartz crystal clock will not vary more than a thousandth of a second per day.The size of ball preferred varies greatly among those who read crystal balls. Some use a "palm ball" of a few inches in diameter that is held in the hand. Other readers prefer a larger ball mounted on a stand.Is A Crystal Ball Reading Right For You?Crystal balls are fascinating. Their structure and piezoelectric properties make them great tools for looking into life’s secrets. The psychic who reads crystal balls do tap into some mysterious energies than can provide guidance for many of the questions you have.

 

psychicelements.com/blog/crystal-ball-reading/

Crystal balls have been used for at least four thousand years for divination. The art of gaining information for looking into crystal is called “scrying.” Most people associate a gypsy reading crystal ball as a symbol of mystical power. Other people may remember the scene in the Wizard of Oz movie showing the witch watching live action scenes of Dorothy trying to get to Emerald City. The reality is that crystal balls do not possess actual power, nor do they show scenes like you would see on a television foretelling the future.However, a psychic, while in a trance, may see different images in his or her brain while in a light trance. These images can be concrete pictures, symbols or vague impressions. What these images convey are information about situations you are facing and guidance of how to resolve your problems.There are three types of clear crystal balls. There is natural quartz crystal, laboratory-grown crystal and glass. Natural quartz crystal balls are cut from naturally occurring veins of crystal. These can have inclusions, cracks in the crystal and veils, cloudy wisps within the crystal. These “faults” in the crystal aid the reader in divination.Other crystals balls have their uses as well. Amethyst balls channel spiritual energy, and are effective in communicating with spirit guides. They are also helpful in interpreting dreams. Rose quartz balls are helpful in issues of emotions and the heart. Rose quartz can help in healing of emotional hurts and fosters forgiveness. Smoky quartz helps in grounding and clearing negativity. Obsidian is a power crystal that aids in reflecting what is in the souls of self and others. Malachite is useful in revealing past-life connections. Lapis, Sodalite and Dumotierite energize psychic attunement. Yellow stones, tiger-eye, yellow citrine, topaz, ametrine and amber reveal the brighter side of an issue and warms the heart. All of these stones are available as balls, though some are more expensive than others.The History of Crystal Ball Reading The use of crystal balls continued past the Druidic tradition. Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), a royal advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, was a scientist, astronomer, mathematician, and geographer who was also a hermetic philosopher involved in alchemical studies. He used crystal balls in his work, which he believed would aid in communication with angels. A quartz ball that once belonged to Dee now resides in the British Museum.The ancient Greeks used reflective surfaces such a pools of waters to help with divination. Two thousand years before the birth of Christ, British Druids used crystal balls for divination. Transparent Beryl, a natural gemstone that comes in all colors was used as an early crystal ball but In the Middle Ages crystal balls shifted from being shaped in beryl to crystal which is more reflective.Crystal balls were used in other areas of the world as well. The third largest crystal ball in the world, now housed in the Penn Museum, weighs fifty-five pounds. It was created for the Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) during the Quing Dynasty in the 19th century.Reading Work?Some readers claim that nothing can be seen in a crystal ball and believe they act as a focus for meditation. Others, such as Alexandra Chauran, the author of Crystal Ball Reading for Beginners, tells us that occlusions in the crystals can form symbols when you are in are in a light trance. Some people have describe the experience of being “drawn into” the orb, feeling a bending of time while gazing into the ball. However the crystal ball is used, it is clear that it is a tool to focus and direct the intuitive and psychic abilities of the reader. Regardless, seeing things in crystal balls may not be as mystic as some people believe. Crystals carry an electric charge called piezoelectricity that can be converted into electrical signals. This electric charge is the very reason that cut crystals are used watches, TV and radio transmitters. Crystals can also provide oscillations that can drive very accurate clocks. A quartz crystal clock will not vary more than a thousandth of a second per day.The size of ball preferred varies greatly among those who read crystal balls. Some use a "palm ball" of a few inches in diameter that is held in the hand. Other readers prefer a larger ball mounted on a stand.Is A Crystal Ball Reading Right For You?Crystal balls are fascinating. Their structure and piezoelectric properties make them great tools for looking into life’s secrets. The psychic who reads crystal balls do tap into some mysterious energies than can provide guidance for many of the questions you have.

 

psychicelements.com/blog/crystal-ball-reading/

Gor’a’an Mossbottom – Wilden Druid

•Race: Wilden (Plant-like Fey Creature)

•Class: Druid (Circle of the Land – Forest)

•Alignment: Neutral Good

 

Appearance & Equipment:

 

Gor’a’an has dark brown, bark-like skin with intricate natural patterns, resembling the ancient trees of the Feywild. His clothing is woven from moss, vines, and rough fabrics, blending seamlessly with the wilderness. He carries a totem staff, an intricately carved symbol of his connection to nature, adorned with small fey trinkets, wooden charms, and glowing fungi. His rucksack is always stocked with herbs, salves, and natural remedies, ensuring he is prepared for any situation.

 

Companion – Twig:

 

Gor’a’an’s closest companion is Twig, a small feywild creature that resembles a sentient stick covered in lichen. Despite its unassuming form, Twig is deeply attuned to the natural world, capable of blending into the forest effortlessly and even acting as an extension of Gor’a’an’s magic. It scurries along branches, whispers of dangers ahead, and can also emit a cloud of fungal spores to both disorient and incapacitate foes, allowing they and Gor’a’an to make a clean getaway.

 

Abilities & Magic:

 

Gor’a’an is a guardian of the wilds, focusing on healing and defensive magic while keeping a few potent offensive spells for those who dare to defile the forest.

•Healing & Protection:

•Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Goodberry – Keeps allies alive with nature’s touch.

•Barkskin, Protection from Evil and Good, Absorb Elements – Bolsters defenses when danger arises.

•Faerie Fire – Unveils hidden threats lurking in the shadows.

•Nature’s Wrath (Offensive Magic):

•Call Lightning – Summons a storm to punish those who harm the land.

•Entangle – Roots and vines ensnare foes.

•Moonbeam – Calls down radiant light to burn the unnatural.

•Feywild Influence & Mobility:

•Pass Without Trace – Moves unseen through the undergrowth.

•Misty Step – Flickers through the trees like a wandering spirit.

•Conjure Woodland Beings – Summons fey allies to aid in his defense of nature.

 

Personality & Goals:

 

Gor’a’an is wise, patient, and deeply protective of the natural world. He is gentle and nurturing to those who respect the balance of life but has no mercy for despoilers of the wilderness. He speaks in a slow, deliberate manner, as if channeling the wisdom of the ancient groves. While he is more of a healer and protector by nature, he will not hesitate to unleash the wrath of the wild if the need arises.

 

Gor’a’an sees himself as a caretaker of the cycle—not a master of nature, but a part of it. He seeks to preserve the balance between civilization and the wild, offering guidance to those willing to listen and punishing those who take too much.

historysafariexpresso.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/japanese-f...

" . . .the water basin, tsukubai 蹲踞,* originally used to cleanse the hands before entering a place of ritual, such as a temple or tea house. “This process is thought to cleanse the spirit,” says our Visitor Guide brochure. The Japanese tea house* represents the values of lasting friendships and an enduring connection with nature."

 

historysafariexpresso.wordpress.com/2016/09/09/japanese-f...

Another element of the Japanese garden is the ishidoro 石灯籠,* stone lantern, also known as oribe-doro and tōrō.

 

www.niwa.org/

The mission of the Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego (JFG) is to develop a traditional Japanese garden as a center to educate, engage, and inspire people of diverse backgrounds about Japanese culture and community legacy.

 

JFG is an accredited museum that offers a variety of educational programs, exhibits, and cultural festivals to enhance appreciation and understanding of Japanese culture. Over 330,000 visitors from the United States and internationally attend the garden annually. JFG opened to the public in 1991 and is an expression of friendship between San Diego and its sister city, Yokohama. The garden is inspired from centuries-old Japanese design and techniques that showcase JFG’s living exhibition comprised of plants and florae native to Japan and San Diego. The second phase opened in 1999 and was designed by renowned landscape architect Takeo Uesugi, which included the addition of the Exhibit Hall, Activity Center, and Upper Koi Pond. The third phase, completed in 2015, incorporated a 200 cherry tree grove, large azalea and camellia garden, a water feature reminiscent of the San Diego watershed, and the state of the art Inamori Pavilion. Today, JFG resides on 12 acres and fosters a relationship between humans and nature, providing a respite attuned to Japanese simplicity, serenity, and aestheticism.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Friendship_Garden_(Balboa_Park)

The Japanese Friendship Garden, also known as Sankei-en ( 三渓園 ) is a twelve-acre Japanese garden located within Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It is an expression of friendship between San Diego and its Japanese sister city Yokohama that binds the two cultures to create a unique experience for visitors from all over the world; over 240,000 people from across the United States and the world visit the garden annually. Representing a new concept in the development of a Japanese garden outside Japan, the Japanese Friendship Garden is designed to present an atmosphere of elegant simplicity (shibui) and quiet beauty. The garden's naturalistic design is guided by the original principles/techniques of the Japanese garden while incorporating elements of the regional San Diego landscape and climate; in terms of features, the garden is well-known for its unique placement, sukiya-style buildings, koi ponds, and landscape exhibits. The Japanese Friendship Garden also hosts many local educational programs, activities, festivals, and horticultural classes that focus on the relationship between nature and Japanese culture.[1]

The Japanese Friendship Garden was built and continues to be maintained under the philosophy that, "a garden is always in a state of change but the basic elements of trees, shrubs, rocks and water designed in natural balance create a peaceful, harmonious, and transcendental environment conducive to contemplation and meditation."[2]

DSC01548 acd2

 

Haiku thoughts

still water shimmers—

stone lantern guards the silence,

basin cups the sky

Suburban Washington D.C. Hiking Trail

Fairfax County, Northern Virginia

Accessed via Bull Run Regional Park

Date taken: April 22, 2015

Website | Facebook | Google+ | FAA

 

Designated as a National Recreational Trail (NRT) in 2006, the Bull Run Occoquan Trail traverses eighteen miles of tributary streams to the Occoquan River (itself a tributary of the Potomac River). Four regional parks in Northern Virginia are connected via this natural surface greenway trail, including Bull Run Regional Park pictured here. The Bluebell Trail--a one-mile loop trail off the main--is essentially located on a flood plain, the perfect mix of attributes for the largest occurance of Virginia Bluebell wildflowers in the state, decorating the ground in early spring before the forest canopy above matures and blocks sunlight from hitting the forest floor. These wildflowers are known as spring ephemerals.

 

As the suburbs of the Nation's capital have grown in both reach and density, these greenways are increasingly important features for residents and wildlife alike. Not to mention that trails and wildflowers like these draw me out of the high mountains and up from the coastal beaches to enjoy the seasonal beauty of the Piedmont Province and my own backyard!

 

Spring is coming folks! Keep your eyes and ears attuned to the changes and get outside to enjoy the seasonal shift!

www.phillipparnell.co.uk

 

Show Support!

www.facebook.com/phillipparnellphotography

www.twitter.com/phillparnell

  

I was thinking, millions of women across the world are fighting for the right to be topless in public just like men. It is something that men take for granted. One thing that most definitely shouldn't be taken for granted is domestic abuse. This is something that can happen to male or female. This picture could be viewed in either light. Her expression and pose is as such that she could well be the abused or abuser. Just like in real life - unless we are well attuned, these cases can go unnoticed, hidden by well practiced facades.

The town’s name was Penance. A truly pitiful thing, strewn across the most desolate region of what had come to be called the Red Desert, in the land not yet the state of Wyoming. An unusual place. Unforgiving like you could not fathom, though tranquil, at times, to such a degree that even the most sorrowful being should forget all else that this country had endured. I know as much.

 

It was explained to me, during my sojourn therein, that ownership of all twelve buildings had exchanged hands as many times as months had gone by since its completion. No one wanted it. Penance was no destination, merely a place to rest one’s head on the way to one. So, in truth, everyone was a stranger in Penance. The strangest of them, in this humble narrator’s opinion, was to arrive the final day of October, in the year of our Lord, 1871.

 

He was astride a grey horse. He wore a grey coat—yes, that grey coat—over his shoulders in such a way, it seemed the weight of gold. His grey hat, as incriminating as the coat, did not hide his face as well as, I suspect, any soul would have preferred it to.

 

Leaving his mare on the stoop without a rope to hold her, he wordlessly joined our congregation in Penance’s saloon. Before his boots passed the swinging doors, we each of us had seen only the beast on which our new companion rode. The second, that being a grey wolf, with a head as large as a cauldron, plodded along at the man’s spurs. It sank mildly to its belly at the threshold, still managing to give us all a good fright. Eli gripped my hand where it lay on the table.

 

And yes, as this type of story goes, the drab outsider walked to the unoccupied bar, nary a glance at a single one of us to repay our gawking. Better that way, as I do believe a child or another woman would have fainted to be caught by his right eye, yellowed and lidless as it was. A gruesome window in the cheek of the same side displayed his teeth. His worn cuffs rested upon the counter, ever so lightly. Penance’s temporary bartender was no braver than any one of us, but he approached the patron anyway.

 

The bartender extended an ordinary “friend” to the disfigured man, where the word may have easily been taken for a question rather than a greeting. The stranger’s response was no less ambiguous, as the slight tip of his hat looked to be indicative of the man’s goodwill, as much as it did his weariness. Whatever the case, I could sense the room had thankfully begun to breathe again.

 

“I hope that you, sir, can sympathize- that is, understand our situation here, and that I can afford you only one drink,” our bartender decreed, in a tone delicate like cobwebs.

 

“I’ll thank you kindly for water. Any that ain’t bein’ drunk.”

 

The bartender was unsettled by this. “Pardon me for saying, but a man who found his way here with not but a horse and the… clothes on his back, might could do with something stronger.”

 

“Water,” the man reassured him, “will be jist dandy.”

 

He was given his request by a shaky hand not a minute later. Us gathered folks were back to finding it a genuine task to draw air. The man sipped from the glass with his neck crooked so that he did not lose any through his wound. It was then that he did at last acknowledge the rest of our being there. As I had worried, one of our women gasped and indeed fell on her husband’s shoulder when she met the horrible gaze. Our tormentor cleared his throat.

 

“I was thinkin’ to myself, how nice it was to ride into a town without the starin’. I see now that was on account of all the prairie dogs hunkerin’ down in their hole.”

 

The young cowboy, with which Eli and I had shared a stagecoach to this point, was none too pleased by the teasing. A guardian angel must have stayed his hand from reaching his gun, though the boiling emotions on his face were left unchecked. A number of our men had guns, but were not so keen nor impatient to employ them.

 

The stranger troubled the bartender once more. “’TIS a mite crowded in here, wouldn’t you reckon?”

 

“Yes sir?”

 

“Well now it ain’t picnic weather out, but I also ain’t seen so many bodies lookin’ to be under one roof, less’n there was a storm comin’, or festivities. Well… I behold a clear sky and long faces.”

 

Another group’s coachman—an older but not yet frail man—spoke for us. “We’re ALL in here; every one of us, in Penance. Seven days here, it’s been, for my party.”

 

“What keeps you, the lively atmosphere?” the stranger mocked, propping himself up with his elbows on the bar.

 

“It’s like this,” the coachman informed gravely. “There is presence, a… manifestation, on the range that leads westward away from here, and it has allowed no man or woman safe passage.”

 

“Them first words sound to me like fancy oratin’ for ‘ghost.’”

 

The man’s insinuation elicited a harsh murmur that washed over our assemblage. It was not a thought that had escaped us, but the actual vocalization of such a notion was all the more taboo. Eli rose from his chair, still clutching my hand.

 

“We are not simple, sir. These here folks know what they saw,” he berated the man, who just glared. I stood with Eli, now with both hands on his. He never did have tolerance for being made smaller. I would like to think I was good for him in that way, guiding him away from intemperate actions. I had lived with the denigration a greater deal of time than he, and despite it all, learned to keep living.

 

“Three groups have made for the ridge,” the coachman continued. “My own, and the second, we lost one of our number each before we turned back. The last that tried… lost all except one.” He placed a hand on the shoulder of the boy sat beside him: no more than fourteen years old, wheat-colored hair and, as I understood the world, faces only ever got to be so pale if they had been within an arm’s length of Death.

 

“We’ve stopped everyone else who’s come along,” the coachman concluded.

 

“It were me younger brother it took!” a middle-aged woman with red hair wailed, her husband and children huddled close.

 

“My littlest one. My only girl,” a father whispered from the other end of the room. For the three days Eli and I had been here, he had confided in no one and no thing, save for his glass.

 

“It had wings. Like a raven’s, but bigger. Didn’t it, boys?” said a rancher, who had ridden with the childless father. His partners concurred with somber mumbling.

 

“It had lots of voices,” was what the Irish woman’s girl had to contribute, before being shushed.

 

“The wind up and quits blowin’ when it’s near, that’s how you kin tell w-“

 

“You weren’t one of the ones what went there Zed, shut yer mouth!”

 

“So,” the stranger finally cut in, having not let up for a moment with watching my Eli. “You ain’t been there for yourself.”

 

“These people have no cause to lie,” Eli rationalized sternly. “No grounds to embellish such awful loss! Shame on you, insinuating they’re spreading falsehoods about the departed!”

 

I could have struck him for his rashness, but against all expectations, the stranger did not appear to take offense.

 

“Jist gittin’ the facts, son. I believe in ghosts myself. My issue was with givin’ it some highfalutin name that don’t do ‘em justice,” he clarified, prompting the coachman to furrow his brow and look down at his table. The man pushed off from the counter, glass in hand, of which he had drank very little.

 

“I aim to see to my horse. Then I aim to be crossin’ that mountain pass by sundown. Anyone who rides with me will have my protection, I can guarantee.”

 

Dead silence was the travelers’ answer to him. Without so much as a nod, he started for the door. It was I who let my voice be heard next.

 

“We two,” I announced, Eli at my side. “We will join you.”

 

“Don’t go with him!”

 

With his outburst, the young cowboy Eli and I had kept company with immediately stole away the critical eyes (the stranger’s included) that had shifted to me when I spoke.

 

“Don’t go with him,” the lad again advised. “I know him. I… I know you, mister. Now I was raised to let every man say his piece, but your word is not to be trusted.”

 

When the stranger remained quiet, the cowboy yelled for all the town to hear. “If that there uniform didn’t already suade all you’uns, maybe knowin’ him by his name will! This man is Jonah Hex.”

 

The title was of no significance to me, but a few of us (chiefly the men of Jonah Hex’s own age) looked, all at once, a sight more vengeful. I could tell then that Eli was making to move between me and the brewing contention, so I held him firmly in place.

 

“I never socialized with you,” Hex calmly asserted to the incendiary.

 

“I know you, even so. I heard you done plenty of killin’ for the rebels,” the cowboy accused. His thumb fidgeted at the hem of his coat.

 

“You keep that hand off’n your belt, friend,” Hex warned.

 

“I heard you defected, soon as you knew the rebels was losin’, just so you could do more killin’ for the other side.”

 

“Y’don’t hear so good then. I ain’t stirrin’ up any hostilities, now or later.”

 

The cowboy briefly regarded Eli and me out the corner of his eye. There was a fire within it. He returned his attention to Hex.

 

“… You sometimes forget what color you’re wearin’, mister?”

 

“No. I do not.”

 

“Smug bastard,” the cowboy fumed. “Smug son of-“

 

The grey wolf was suddenly there in our midst, having been acutely aware of the mounting tension. It had clamped its fangs onto the young firebrand’s right wrist before the hand there attached could fully draw and aim its weapon. By some miracle, the pistol did not discharge in the process of clattering across the floorboards, at my shoes. Hex observed peaceably the great creature’s escorting of the cowboy in a complete circle with short, violent yanks. Every other person was still as a stone. When the cowboy attempted to box the wolf in the ear, it let go of the one arm in exchange for the left, and the lad took to hollering something terrible.

 

“Hex!” was the only whole, intelligible word I could tell you was uttered.

 

The grin Hex gave the cowboy was somehow more fiendish than the wolf’s own. “I can’t rightly guess what you’d appreciate me doin’.”

 

“Call off the dog, for… GAH! In the name of God!”

 

“Fool thing jist follows me around. I ain’t very well taught it to ‘drop’.”

 

The cowboy’s whimpering had become difficult to stomach. “Then… then leave, please! Make it follow you!”

 

Hex did not directly oblige. He ambled up to Eli and me, picking up the gun that had been cast aside. To say the least, it took me by surprise when the intimidating man, still facing us, holstered the weapon safely back into the boy’s belt. Hex growled (in a tribal language I did not know) what was presumably a command for the wolf. It’s eyes and jowls slackened, but it did not budge. Hex repeated the phrase more coarsely, and the beast unhooked itself from the cowboy’s poor arm right away, bounding back out the saloon, all aggression purged from its behavior.

 

Hex then tendered what was barely discernible as an apology to the cowboy. “He weren’t so interested in listenin’. He don’t take to bein’ called ‘dog.’”

 

The cowboy shook, in his ignominy, and in noting the wolf’s response. “Lyin’… you lyin’ snake-“

 

“Clean them bites. I ain’t had him looked at by one of them… veteran-Aryans, they call ‘em.”

 

My laugh at Hex’s unknowing was rude, I knew, but it could not have been helped. He peered at me, and I composed myself; a gesture born of respect, mind you, not fear. I was certain of that then. I thought Eli too, in that instance, had begun to reevaluate just who this man was.

 

“You say you two are goin’ over that ridge with me…”

 

It was the faintest I had heard him speak. His question—the one yet unsaid—hung in the air as plainly as if he had finished; the question of why I, of all the people in Penance, was accepting of his offer. I replied with no insincerity.

 

“I should not be glad to see you go alone.”

 

I must have confused him immensely. He did not call me a fool, nor feel the need to remind Eli of his woman’s rightful place. It was but the most minute bow I earned, as the bartender had received earlier.

 

Just then the posse of ranchers was collecting their belongings and heading out to their coach. The one who had previously chipped in now addressed Hex.

 

“We’ll be going too. We won’t be having that thing take any more of us,” he affirmed.

 

A stout yet meek-looking man seated by a window got up, hat in hand. “They sent word from Oregon that my mother is ill. I… I can’t wait here, not another day.”

 

The pale boy that had been orphaned not a week prior ran to where Hex was standing, abandoning the elderly coachman that had taken the child under his wing. The driver pleaded for him, to no avail.

 

“I won’t stay!” the boy shouted defiantly. “My father was Brom Cavender, and he was not a coward or a nobody! I am Hadley Cavender, and neither shall I be a coward or a nobody!”

 

The coachman’s defeat was in his eyes when he, next, reasoned with Hex. “He came back from the mountain by himself. All covered in blood he was. The boy has no more family he knows of, anywhere, and you see, I… have a duty to stay with the family I set out with. … See to it that Hadley settles in a decent town, where he will be cared for.”

 

“That I will,” was Hex’s pledge.

 

All appeared to be resolved with the details of our venture, and so Eli and I were prepared to make our way to our coach, with or without our cowboy associate who now carried a considerable grudge. Jonah Hex impeded us, however, with a gently raised glove and an astonishingly penitent expression.

 

“Seems as though I won’t be a’tall lonesome. Aught to set yourselves down here, see if some soldiers don’t pass through and hep you better’n I can.”

 

“No,” Eli cleared up with haste. “We’ll go, if it’s all the same to you.”

 

“Well then,” Hex muttered quite vacuously, apparently unaccustomed to denial delivered in such a non-confrontational manner. Likewise, contrasting his bullying of the cowboy, he sounded apologetic, properly so; on what basis, I could only speculate. I did not think the courtesy towards me necessary.

 

A sporting lady (perhaps the only one living and working in Penance at the time) emerged from the back of the room, draped herself about a post supporting the ceiling and sang after Hex, who was no nearer to exiting, past all the delays.

 

“There’s no sense in rushin’ off just yet,” she beamed. “Why not leave in the morning?”

 

“Can’t, missy. I already have a lady to attend,” Hex dismissed, waving his water beyond the saloon’s entrance, suggesting he had some intention to quench his horse straight from the glass itself. “I wouldn’t be unfaithful. She’s a woman I know I can lean on. ‘sides that, she has a finer rump than you.”

 

As I said, he was undoubtedly the strangest stranger that ever there was.

  

***

  

True to our words, those of us claiming the audacity to weather whatever devilry had beset the westward hills did just that. We withdrew from Penance as the sky grew tired and Mr. Hex grew more surly, suffering the impediments of some of us reviewing our luggage twice, or bidding the town a farewell lengthier than a blink.

 

Twenty minutes on, from the start of our excursion, left Penance nothing but a candlelight in the sea of sand and grass at our backs. The ridge there that our sights were set on taunted us for every step our horses took. I conjured, that night, the irrational belief that the ever-growing mountain was, in no uncertain terms, eager to blot out what precious sunlight we had remaining; it is a conviction I hold to this day, for no scripture or trust in a Savior has since quelled the concern in me that the earth, on that particular evening, in that particular place, was itself evil.

 

We had, as our convoy, fewer than a dozen ranchers; some, atop their own steeds, and others at the reins of the three stagecoaches. Eli and I rode in a fourth. Our young cowboy had elected to stay behind, with his pride so bruised, even when Eli had promised to him that there would be no incentive to answer to Mr. Hex, in any capacity, for the journey’s duration. Thusly, the lead rancher (whose named we learned was Amos) was our new courier. Same as the two other couples on this trip, Eli and I were instructed not to leave our compartment for any occasion, as we were perceived to be most ill-equipped for the dangers the hardened riders knew to be lying ahead. I alone knew Eli owned a firearm, and could cleanly hit his mark from a respectable distance.

 

Hadley, the boy, shared our cab. He did not fill the air with endearing contemplations that I might have assumed all children his age had in abundance. Neither did he show overt grief, in returning to the site of his family’s tragic and senseless murder. Instead he was intensely fixated on Hex’s revolvers, swinging at the veteran’s hips as his horse kept pace with us. Hex caught wind of the goggling shortly thereafter, and cast a scowl at the boy.

 

“My father could shoot,” was Hadley’s defense.

 

“Hell of a lot of men could. That’s why so damn many of ‘em ain’t around to shoot,” Hex droned, unimpressed.

 

By this time, the mere hours in which I had had dealings with Jonah Hex told me there was no requisite of inuring myself to him. Elsewhere, the entirety of my life, there had been in effect an ordinance for me to hold my tongue.

 

“You need not be crass with him.”

 

Upon reproving Hex’s methods, the most unreservedly gratifying thing occurred: A man, older and more seasoned than I, listened to my words.

 

That Southern cavalryman, with his burns and cuts, looking as mean as a cornered bear, simply surveyed for several moments the last sliver of sun which shone over the crags and drifts of our mountainous obstruction. He had an air of rumination about him, and took a long breath before responding.

 

“The way I seen it, boys grow up to die young, if’n y’don’t teach ‘em how things are.”

 

Eli tugged at my sleeve discreetly, wanting no trouble to arise.

 

“There is a time for compassion, also, Mr. Hex. When a boy could benefit from a little understanding, rather than further indelicacy. Both are rudimentary to a child’s upbringing,” I declared.

 

Hadley and Eli were silent. Hex wrung the leather reins in his hands and squinted (more than he did by nature), but eventually relaxed in his saddle; a concession of having been bested.

 

“You speak real finely, miss.”

 

“And you do not, sir.”

 

Mr. Hex let out an amused grunt.

 

“What do I call you other’n ‘miss’ then?” he inquired, misconstruing my objections to his conduct.

 

I smiled. “‘Euryale’ is my name.”

 

Hex tried unsuccessfully to interpret the pronunciation. “… ‘My eye’s a’ what, now?”

 

“‘Eu-rya-le’,” Eli annunciated, fondly. “It means she will ‘roam far.’”

 

“Strange,” decided Hex, hardly the one to comment on such things.

 

I expounded. “Its origins lie in a very old story; a Greek narrative, that my father came across, and passed on to me.”

 

“And your father, he could read,” Hex inferred. He said it cautiously, not disbelieving-like.

 

“My father was smarter than most cared to notice. Yes, he did read. Texts and poems, journals… anything that he knew the master of our plantation would not recognize as being misplaced, in the time we required to finish them.”

 

Eli seized my hand again, when realizing the memories had upset me. I found inside myself the will to disclose, “He only took the stories for my siblings and me. We begged for them, not knowing what he risked.”

 

“Your master let you keep that name?” Hadley redirected, skeptical.

 

He was so very young, and I could not be cross with him. “The plantation’s owner and his family had their own name for me, but it was not mine. … Would you like to hear the story that my name comes from?”

 

Hadley seemed invested.

 

“Euryale was not the hero of the tale, nor the focus, for that matter. Her sister, Medusa, was wronged by a being she could never hope to have authority over. The story says that he was a deity, but he was wicked, instead of benevolent like our God. For the infraction she did not commit, Medusa was blamed by others of the false idol’s kind. A sorceress among them cursed Medusa to be a loathsome monster, never to have another commiserate her; to but look at her face, then, would turn one to stone.”

 

There, I paused, to enjoy Hadley’s rapture, Eli’s warmth… Hex, even, leaned suspiciously on his mount, intrigued. His wolf, trotting dutifully near his stirrup for the past hour, stared at him with its giant orange eyes. And while it was a simple animal, Hex became ill at ease, conscious of himself, and he sneered at the creature.

 

“As fate would have it, Medusa would find consolation in her sisters: Stheno and Euryale. Though they were gifted with remarkable longevity, and though they were free of the guilt that the corrupt rulers had ascribed to Medusa, the sisters chose to stand with her, and bear the same undue punishment. … And so, you see, there is dignity to be found in those demonized by history. I cherish my name, for this reason.”

 

Hadley frowned at the conclusion. “But… no one saved them? What did the monsters look like?”

 

“You’ve neglected what younger ears gather from stories,” Eli chaffed quietly.

 

“Boys’ ears, perhaps,” I retorted, turning my nose up at him.

 

It had all been in good humor. Eli smirked and apprised Hadley. “Listen here then, Hadley. These sisters grew tusks, like those elephants you may’ve seen at the circus have. And their hair, it was replaced by snakes, bigger than rattlers…”

 

I adored Eli so, for his gift of preoccupying small ones; Hadley was soon lost in his regaling of heroes and quests from across oceans, and I, paying no mind to the menace of hills before us, discovered there was solace to be had. I composed a silent prayer for those safeguarding our expedition, as well as those of us being transported with bated breath and far less steely resolve.

 

Jonah Hex watched me do so. He had adopted a curiously approving countenance.

 

“It’s a fittin’ name… miss.”

  

***

  

Palpable, suffocating darkness was now the usher of our caravan. No more was Penance a beacon to us. With our riders’ torches revealing the primitive trail only a yard or so around us, and the discontinuity of stars alone defining land from sky, it was hard to guess the span of wilderness that we had yet to brave, if we were to reach the ridge’s summit.

 

Our climb was steady. Hadley had fallen asleep between Eli and me, exhausted by stories and the monotonous trek. Some ranchers endeavored to establish if we had already passed the rise on which they had, a week ago, faced their malicious spirit; the fretting and deliberating proved to excite the husband and wife riding in the coach behind us, and it necessitated a scolding from Amos for them all to keep their heads. He then called to us from his perch in the driver’s box; he did so in a gravelly timbre, so as to not again ignite any alarm.

 

“We’re twenty minutes from the peak, y’hear? … You both seem sensible, so I should tell you, this is about where my company saw… it, when first we rode. But, you rest easy now; we heard weird things then, long before it finally took the Rainer girl. This time, I haven’t seen OR heard anything.”

 

“Neither’ve I,” came Hex’s drawl, his mare’s gait matching Amos’ position. “But it don’t make me ‘rest easy.’ There ain’t no critters anywhere in these hills, ‘part from us.”

 

Amos tossed the reins and jutted his chin out at the animals there harnessed. “Horses look at peace. No better judges of surroundings than them, I’ve learned.”

 

“I think,” Eli proposed, “… we would feel it also, if something unholy walked this region, this day. Our souls, not our worldly perceptions, would warn us.”

 

I drew Eli’s eyes to mine. “You say you do NOT feel anything now? Then I envy you, and pray my own intuitions are misguided.”

 

Eli pondered this. I hugged Hadley’s bobbing head to my dress’ collar. “… I pray there are better lives waiting for us all, past this mountain.”

 

“What got you both hightailin’ west, trouble? You findin’ one of your families?” Hex pressed.

 

“We heard tell of the river,” Eli shared. “A grand one, just over this range. You’re right, sir; we are seeking Euryale’s family. They may be there.”

 

“They surely may be,” mused Hex. “Railroad made it to that town some years back, can’t recall how many. Good a place as any to settle, when you’re fixin’ to git hitched-“

 

“Mr. Hex!” Eli and I drowned him out in unison; we were boisterous enough to rouse poor Hadley. Hex’s forthright ways could fluster most anyone, and I do not mind saying that I, who welcomed his candor in many aspects, was no exception.

 

Unsure of who else had been attentive to Hex’s maundering, namely Amos, Eli readied to mend the conversation. “… You know same as all of us, Mr. Hex, a boy and a girl like us wouldn’t… even if there weren’t laws, it would not be correct for-“

 

“Why in tarnation not? What laws?!” Hex’s puzzlement was earnest.

 

I grabbed the coach’s door and pulled my head outside. “Mr. Hex, PLEASE. This is not to be discussed at these volumes.”

 

This conciliated Hex, though he was still none the wiser to the realities that Eli and I withstood regularly.

 

“I’d like it not to be left open-ended; Euryale and myself wouldn’t dream of carrying out an ambition so… outlandish,” Eli fibbed. It was intended to appease Amos, should he have been attuned to the subject.

 

The rancher’s acknowledgement drifted in our cab’s window with plumes of dust being kicked up by the horses. “Needn’t be afraid of what I think. I’m a simple farmhand, born and raised. Never had big ideas, like them congressmen, ‘bout what men can and can’t do.”

 

Amos freed a hand from his steering and patted our roof comfortingly. “I’ll keep your secret. But tell me, son.. you really couldn’t find a filly more like you?”

 

Our driver cackled at his own joke, unaware Eli felt equally insulted as I.

 

“I shouldn’t need find a woman more like me,” Eli maintained, reaching over Hadley and brushing a lock of hair from my temple. “I’d just a’soon find the one I love.”

 

Hadley wrinkled his nose, swiftly coaxing us away from our seriousness. Hex bent in alongside the coach, grimly preparing his next words.

 

“You don’t have kin in Green River, then.”

 

“She has no kin to speak of, now,” Eli confessed. “Mine… I disowned. Being that they couldn’t see the war was over. Or that a war was had at all.”

 

As Eli had come to my aid many a time when I evoked my past, so did I come to his. I knew he must have been remembering his brother, when his blood ran cold in my grip on his arm. He swallowed, then faced Hex, who waited patiently.

 

“Euryale and I, we crossed paths a year after the fighting. And maybe it won’t be in Green River, but we’re going to make a home for ourselves, in one town or the next,” Eli vowed with determination.

 

“See that you don’t run outta country,” Hex bade us heavily.

 

“HOLD! WHOA, WHOA!”

 

At the foremost rider’s cry, our progress was halted. Hex jolted out of his repose, startling me with just how quickly the enmity and dogged constitution could return to him. From my seat, I saw our scout wrestling with his horse, which stamped nervously to and fro, bellowing, and frothing through its halter bit. The man swung her about, and jerked towards two other ranchers. Their rallying devolved into frenzied hisses and jeers, keeping us others in suspense.

 

“What is it?” Amos barked.

 

“Euryale?”

 

Hadley stammered my name, pawing at my arm. “I won’t tell anyone you want to marry Eli.”

 

“Thank you Hadley, that is kind,” I validated, hoping he would be heartened. He jumped from our seat and joined Eli by the right-side door. They craned their necks to deduce the hinderance ahead.

 

Amos’ already fragile tact was waning. “Well?! What’d he see?”

 

“He says, ‘a man!’” one rifleman reported.

 

Hex’s wolf sniffed the night breeze; docile, though alert. Its owner noticed I had become chilled, and, remiss in his deed, Hex began to offer me his coat.

 

I eyed the article, unable to gracefully put into words his oversight. My speechlessness led Hex to comprehending just as well.

 

He donned the coat, frustrated. “I weren’t thinkin’.”

 

“No, please,” I interrupted, “ … I cannot accept the thought of wearing those colors, but know that I do not think of you, and their connotations, as inseparable.”

 

Hex emoted not at all.

 

“You do not… represent that side of history,” I rephrased.

 

Amos continuously interrogated his fellow ranchers; the account, growing no more coherent.

 

“You say the man didn’t walk, now how is it that he’s in a different place than where you spotted him?”

 

“It… DIDn’t walk, it moved without walkin’, I try to tell yeh!”

 

I looked at Hex ardently. “You do not wear them because you are proud; you wear them because you are not.”

 

…

 

“I think it is a merciless thing, what retribution you have placed upon yourself.”

 

“Do you now?”

 

“Do you not imagine your judgement should be left to more righteous hands?” I implored further.

 

“No ma’am.”

 

“Why is that?”

 

“God weren’t there… that day.”

 

I was to unearth no more of Hex’s background, for at that moment, an unannounced, malign rush of dread overcame us all. It was not at all comparable to wind, no; the air was venomous. I saw that the sensation was not all my own when Eli took on a pallor so chalky that it could have been distinguished with or without the assistance of a lamp. From behind and beyond our cab, disturbed yelps from men and women alike rang out. Hex’s horse reared, and his wolf skulked at the coach’s wheel, no longer the formidable predator we beheld in Penance.

 

A shot punctuated the tumult, and then more followed. I hauled Hadley to the floor instinctively.

 

“In the brush! Kill it!”

 

“Where?!”

 

“Hold your fire!”

 

“It’s circlin’ behind us!”

 

Eli had not drawn his gun. “Mr. Hex! Can you see it?”

 

I lay prone. Shielding Hadley’s face, I tipped the nearest door slightly ajar. Hex had momentarily restrained his frantic mare by grasping her bridle itself and running a hand down her cheek. Had he been a second faster, he may have evaded another horse—this one, having succeeded in throwing its rider—which bucked madly and collided with the pair. Hex’s leg was pinned by the beasts’ flanks, while the bronco viciously bit his mare’s shoulder. She shrieked in an appallingly human way, and all three thrashed on the ground.

 

The righthand window of our coach was splintered by an unseen force. Eli thrust Hadley and I out of the transport as we were showered in debris. Impacting the cool dirt blurred my vision, but, for the rest of my days I shall remember, with absolute lucidity, the sight of our horses engulfed in a fire that burst forth from below their hooves, and the coach upending; hurled, like a toy. Amos was propelled along with it.

 

Hadley was not in my arms. I crawled through the billowing haze, and spied Hex wrenching his heel from the saddle cinch as his mare righted herself, and galloped away, utterly crazed. She corrected her flight too late, tumbling over a fatally-steep slope. There was distant whinnying, and then nothing at all. The abstruse battle had dissolved.

 

I now ask of all those immersed in this tale to grant their credence generously. For the gossiping and prating surrounding this mountain range, and that which had circulated Penance, was far from unfounded. It was our luckless host’s lot to encounter, on that thirty-first day of October, the horror that Hadley, Amos and the other men had once survived, and all that remains to be read, here, is a documentation of stark savagery, and of woe.

 

Over the crest of the ridge stood what one might have mistook for a man. I should say, moreover, one might have mistook it for standing. It in fact was not.

 

It was faintly silhouetted against the inky sky, but my eyes were acclimated well enough to the environment by that time that I may now soundly state that a body, brittle and decaying, hung there by a noose lashed around its throat. Light zephyrs traversing the hills made the cadaver oscillate, and the toes of its boots traced the sand lazily. Its twisting rope stretched on and on into the cavernous black above, as though it were puppeteered by some cruel divinity.

 

Eli, Hex and all the rest were forgotten for an instant. I could not move of my own volition. The aura of our enemy was crushing, relentless, nearly insurmountable. In our company was some unearthly thing not accounted for by the confines of sanity, and only by the grace of God was I able to bring myself to renounce the consuming void.

 

Our coach, and one other, were irreparable, scorched masses, scattered like seeds. A third, I saw speeding down the mountain, with those left behind given up for dead. The fourth was overturned, and I recognized, scrambling out of it, the man who sought to reach Oregon. He sobbed and held a palm out at the phantom; it had neared, without my realizing it.

 

Tears streamed from underneath the stout man’s spectacles. “Please Ma… I’m coming home now. I know I was away, but I-I… there was the war. We stopped the rebs. I’m coming home now. You can’t go. You ain’t s-seen the medal your son got yet.”

 

Like a diseased marionette, the apparition dangled a shadowed arm out to the man at its feet. The son, and former soldier, was reduced to a tortured child before my eyes. His audible anguish stabbed at the still of the night.

 

“Back, devil!”

 

Recovered from his ridicule, and with bandaged forearms, it was our young cowboy: racing up the path on horseback, taking aim at the foul wraith. Two bullets were fired; one buried itself in the soil, while the other punched neatly through the desired target’s lapel. It absorbed the projectile like the lifeless husk it was.

 

The cowboy was forty yards off and closing in, lining up his third shot. A gleam was visible in his eyes, even from this distance. “Fire and brimstone unto you, you-“

 

Flame from the nearby wreckage swelled, licking the cowboy’s face; it had done so with undeniably hostile intent directing it, shifting not as a natural blaze should. The lad writhed and slipped off his mount, brutally coming to rest in a shallow ditch.

 

I screamed for Mr. Hex. He had been dragged so carelessly by his mare that he was recuperating with great toil. He coughed, and laboriously rolled onto his stomach. I knew there would be no time for Hex to intervene.

 

The cowboy pointed his gun, using his one intact arm, and he drew a bead on his foe, using his one unimpaired eye. The hanged thing performed a stiff, swiping motion, and the nails, harnesses and varied metal objects littering the ground rose as one, contorting and melting into one another to form a long, pitted stave. It leveled with the cowboy’s skull. He cocked his pistol’s hammer.

 

The spear darted at its victim, but I watched as Hex’s wolf, battered and singed, leapt into view and foiled the lethal blow, which glanced off the canine’s haunch. A howl died in the animal’s lungs, and it crashed to the earth at the cowboy’s side. The cowboy’s chest heaved, then the beast’s. They were alive.

 

Our attacker made no effort to try again. It lingered in subdued obstinacy; swaying, and crackling with rot all the while.

 

The ashes and planks of our coach buckled, and Eli appeared beneath them, partially pulling himself loose. Relief flooded my soul. He choked my name, but neither he nor I dared to run to the other to embrace; the ghost had glided, on its macabre leash, squarely between us. It then spun in my direction.

 

“No! Euryale!” Eli rummaged for his weapon, but his hip and holster were still trapped under much of the coach’s remnants.

 

I waved him off, recalling the cowboy. “Don’t shoot at it!”

 

I was prepared to die, but not ready to. The dark shape was two body’s lengths away, obscuring Eli. I kept my head high; were this the Devil, it would be in his nature to savor one’s groveling, and I would permit him no such satisfaction. By now, I was hearing its “breathing,” were that the unbroken, low whistle issuing from behind its drooping brim. This was when Hadley stepped out of the clouds of smoke corralling the scene of our impasse. The boy was, with hands atremble, wielding one of Hex’s revolvers, which had been mislaid during the horses’ skirmish.

 

“Don’t, Hadley! Get away from it!” Eli exhorted.

 

I tried to be resilient, for Hadley; he was disconcerted enough as he was. “Go to Eli!”

 

Hex was on one knee, rasping, clenching his ribs like they might fall away without his care. His eyes widened, once seeing Hadley and his objective, and the man opened his mouth to prevent the impending threat; a deep, thick red spilled out instead.

 

Three of Hadley’s fingers encircled the trigger. “I can kill it…” the boy grimaced.

 

“Hadley, stop!”

 

The ghost’s knotted neck rotated to where the child had boldly planted himself. Hadley seized up, and all the world hesitated with him. The flames may have frozen, too; I could not be sure. Quaking, Hadley slowly repositioned his shot.

 

The barrel was trained on me.

 

Hex staggered upright.

 

Eli panicked. “EURYALE!”

 

“What’re you doin’, son…” said Hex, hauntingly.

 

Hadley’s lip quivered. “It’s them.”

 

“Speak up,” Hex told him sharply.

 

“My father w-wasn’t a liar.”

 

“… We ain’t of any such opinion-”

 

“It’s them,” Hadley seethed, in a voice that both was and was not his own. His hold on his weapon tightened. “They betrayed us, our good work and our food. They left with the Yankees. And the land came to death. They ruined us.”

 

“You’re not shootin’ my gun. You hearin’ me?”

 

“DAMN THIS-“ Eli failed again to lever the boards from his back. “EURYALE!”

 

“Let Hadley go,” I demanded of the suspended body. It creaked and danced, in an abrupt gale that ate through to my core. The thing tricked no one, playing dead.

 

Hadley straightened with a shudder. “They have no right. No rights.”

 

“NO!” Eli roared.

 

Hex had been thirty paces from Hadley, but had crept up to twenty. The man’s good eye narrowed. “Ain’t none of us have a right to be here. We jist are.”

 

“My father didn’t lie to me.”

 

“SHOOT IT, HEX!”

 

“I forgive him, Lord,” I whispered. “It is not his doing.”

 

Something akin to words seeped out of the ghost:

 

“indulge me…

indulge in me”

 

This was heeded not by Hex. “Put my gun down.”

 

“They’re not human.”

 

“You’re not shootin’ anybody.”

 

“My father doesn’t have a coward for a son.”

 

The muzzle of Hadley’s gun twitched. Its mechanism ticked.

 

There was a pop.

 

Hex had drawn.

 

Hadley was sprawled in the dirt.

 

I forgot any need to be wary in the presence of the hanging reaper; caring little if I were snatched up by its malevolent thrall, I threw myself to Hadley. I desperately checked his heartbeat. My despair was like no other I have harbored in my lifetime; a maroon badge pooled on his breast.

 

Hex dropped his revolver. Eli was unresponsive, gazing at our dismal spectacle.

 

I cradled Hadley, staining my clothes. “What have you done, Jonah Hex?”

 

“Hey you,” the gunslinger rumbled.

 

I was shaken to see him studying me, and my mournful burden. Hate was etched into him, every inch. I understood, though, that it was not a hatred for us; perhaps, not even for the entity taunting Hex from over his shoulder. Not all of it, anyhow.

 

Hex turned to the dormant oblivion. His bearing was soft; pacifying, even. It made his acid tone considerably more disquieting.

 

“I’m supposin’, if I were to shoot you, you wouldn’t be so accommodatin’ as to die.”

 

The morbid pendulum rocked a stride closer.

 

“’t’sa shame. That arrangement sounds mighty agreeable to me.”

 

Amos stumbled forward, dazed, and coated in soot. One proper look at our spectral nemesis coerced the rancher into groping for his gun, but I, supporting Hadley, mouthed “no” and shook my head vehemently. Amos reluctantly eased, gave a melancholic glance to the body I carried, and then proceeded to Eli to release him from his prison; beyond their chore, they were transfixed, as I was, by Hex advancing on the anomalous evil.

 

“See, you jist killed my horse, and you made me shoot a boy who weren’t responsible for hisself. And I’m findin’ no excuses whatsoever not to take you by that big fuckin’ necktie of yours and haul your chickenshit hide back to hell. Not-a-one.”

 

A dull groan escaped his opponent.

 

“Real ornery feller. But you’re a small feller also, ain’t you?”

 

The ghost’s rope strained, deafeningly so. I gathered Hex had infuriated whatever sinister will manipulated it. The space between the two of them wavered, rippling like a pond. The effect swept over Hex, but no unfavorable consequences came of this; he continued his serene walk.

 

“Filth,” Hex spat. “What you think you can show me I don’t already see every day?”

 

The air stirred a second time.

 

“Jeb don’t blame me for Fort Charlotte. He’s wrong not to, but he don’t blame me.”

 

A third time, the villain unleashed its witchcraft, whose impurity found its way to me as it did Hex. Flashes of my family invaded my mind. They never experienced a life outside of the plantation.

I fled without them.

left them to die…

No.

I did.

I did not.

 

“White Fawn done what she done. I couldn’ta stopped her. She were too free a spirit,” snarled Hex. “You’re nothin’. You have nothin’. I know what you really are.”

 

Eli was at last freed, and he hastened to me, aware of my disorientation. I saw truth and decency again when he enfolded me. We held Hadley, together.

 

Jonah Hex was a single step from it, now. Another jet of fire, wreathing with sentience, erupted from the earth and almost slashed through his torso, but it fell short. Hex deliberately plunged his arm into it, as a demonstration of contempt. He sustained sparse injuries, for the flame recoiled at his touch.

 

“It’s not a war when it’s one side that’s fightin’.”

 

The corpse’s dried bones clacked beneath its garb, and it crooned to Hex in a horrid, pealing chant, not unlike it was spoken from inside a hollowed-out tree:

 

“it comes ever naturally to your ilk…

your trivial desires…

your infantile bickering, clawing…

you and all my cousins’ bastard creations, affronts…

you will always be so good at it…

for me”

 

Its withered fingers extended, but Hex nabbed the wrists, forcing them apart. I could swear to you now, even by the paltry light of Amos’ lantern and what little help the moon was providing through the canopy of fog, that the figure wore the Union Army’s blue on one sleeve, and grey on the other, like Hex himself bore. The cavalryman pulled the hanging atrocity toe-to-toe with himself.

 

“Best be gittin’, now. It’s the dead stayin’ dead, what scares me.”

 

Thunderous percussions—similar to those of drums, and not of a storm—sounded over the land. The sky bowed and fluctuated about the astral tether belonging to Hex’s captive, and, as equivocally as it had surfaced, the blight then receded into thin air. The man who had vanquished it was left there: fists empty, panting, with twice as many lesions and contusions as he had before sunset.

 

I wish I could tell you there was an ambiance of resolution to accompany the victory, but this was not so. Embers, and the fetor of burnt horses’ flesh, stung our senses. The night was dense. A downcast Amos relieved me of Hadley, after trying and failing to express his condolences. I initially resisted surrendering my charge, until Eli persuaded me to with a shivering hand cupped on mine. The stout man had collected himself, and gotten our cowboy to his unsteady feet; over and over (but expecting no reply), they both questioned in manic tones what we had all witnessed still living, lurking, feeding, here in the vast frontier of America.

 

Jonah Hex trod to the cliff where his mare had met her end; on his way, he stooped but once to retrieve the weapon he had used that evening. Eli and I trailed him.

 

“Mr. Hex…” Eli disturbed his grieving. “We’d like you to know… we know what you done for us, and I thank-“

 

Hex’s revolver snapped to Eli’s brow. We were in shock; immobilized, and struck dumb by the act.

 

“You ever ended a life, son?”

 

Eli was unflinching. “No sir, I haven’t.”

 

Hex moved close to Eli’s face. Marring the man’s features, in addition to those terrible abrasions, was the same outrage he had fostered before. His triumph over the demon had not soothed his conscience in the least.

 

“Don’t you thank me for what I done. Don’t you ever thank a man for killin’ for you. You can’t know what they gave up.”

 

He was broken, a thousand times over. I was sorry for him, truly; therefore I was taken aback by my own immodesty, which ensued once Hex lowered his gun. My memory of this night is vague only here, and though I know I am accountable, I wish it were true that I was scarcely in control of the regrettable words that passed my lips.

 

“I would not thank you,” I swore fiercely. “Not in all the years I have left will I thank you, for choosing my life over another. He was a boy, Jonah Hex!”

 

I refused Eli’s arm shepherding me away, pushing it aside.

 

“My life was payed for by the blood of One other… and you have made it so my life has been payed for by the blood of two. I would have died in Hadley’s stead, but you are selfish, and arrogant and you dispense death on a whim. No, you will not have my gratitude or forgiveness.”

 

I fear I must have hit him, or chastised him with more profane language than I can admit to using, myself. Hex justified himself in no way, standing as a statue would.

 

Amos had rounded up a spooked horse and mounted, with Hadley enclosed securely in front of him.

 

“I’ll ride back to Penance, and tell everyone… tell everyone the way is clear.”

 

“And we’ll stay here. If that monster shows itself again, we know how to fight it,” the stout man ensured. The young cowboy nodded.

 

Hex’s wolf limped to him. He stroked its ear, then worked up the nerve to look at Eli and me.

 

“I’ll be takin’ you to Green River,” he croaked.

 

And so he did.

  

***

  

We did not speak to our scarred stranger for all the remainder of the journey. He led our horses to town. Without us asking, he gruffly convinced the local hostelry to provide Eli and me with rooms. Then he rode west; a wolf in tow, and a heavy coat on his back.

 

Eli and I would find lasting sanctuary in a mission, in the heart of Arizona territory. It was 1882 by then. Our son Hadley would come to us in the summertime of 1883.

 

I pray as I have prayed in these many years since, that Mr. Jonah Hex did cease to be that man all in grey, that never did let another tend to his wounds.

Snookered By Snook At My Dock On The Bay At Tampa Bay Florida Sunset - IMRAN™

I do not cook. And I hate the experience of cutting and cleaning fish. So I tend not to fish at my dock despite the amazing variety and volume of fish available to me. The idea of catch and release sounds fine, but then just hurting a fish, or accidentally killing it while trying to remove a hook too deeply swallowed by it, just for 'sport' also does not appeal to me. OK, fine. To tell you an additional truth... the number of times I did catch the disgusting catfish in the area, and the nasty experience of trying to release them, and to do so without getting spiked, is an extra deterrent. LOL. But, I sure love to see all the seafood I can see at my feet but not consume as food directly. Check out these snooks and the monster spawning ones in this one minute livestream. At night usually there is a large onr hiding in the shadow of the dock pilings cast on the water from the dock light. They are so attuned to external signals. My even taking a step closer to the edge of the dock can make them scamper away under the dock. Enjoy. Wait for that stunning sunset sky at the end! Like, love, comment, share!

 

© 2020 IMRAN™

Description: The first sitting in Washington

 

Lincoln was the first president after photography truly came of age. He embraced the new technology, sitting frequently, and he was interested in both technological issues and composition. Perhaps because of his early struggle to make himself into somebody of substance—to make himself visible—Lincoln was acutely aware of the power of image-making. Although Lincoln knew, and joked about, the fact that he was a difficult subject, he was not camera-shy, producing a continuous portrait record of his time in office. Attuned to public opinion, Lincoln used portraits to keep himself in the eye of his fellow citizens. When he arrived in Washington, Lincoln quickly arranged to have himself photographed at Alexander Gardner’s studio. These photographs were the first widely disseminated pictures of the president with his newly grown beard.

 

Publisher: Edward & Henry T. Anthony & Company

 

Creator/Photographer: Alexander Gardner

 

Medium: Albumen silver print

 

Dimensions: 8.6 cm x 5.4 cm

 

Date: 1861

 

Persistent URL: www.si.edu/object/abraham-lincoln:npg_NPG.79.150

 

Repository: National Portrait Gallery

 

Accession number: NPG.79.150

Where Do Mermaids Come From?

Where do mermaids come from? Mermaid legends are told all over the world. We hear of mermaids in Ireland, Scotland, England, Israel, India, Greece, Syria, China, and in Africa. How is it that so many different cultures across the world have their own mermaid legends? How is it that cultures far away from one another have similar tales of mermaids? Most people believe mermaids are mythical creatures fit for a kid’s imagination and nothing more. But legends come from somewhere. Truth lies behind every legend, including the legends of mermaids and where they come from. A new age concept tells us mermaid origins come from lost civilizations like Lemuria and Atlantis. Learn more below.

 

Edgar Cayce on Atlantis I

364-1

2. Atlantis as a continent is a legendary tale. Whether or not that which has been received through psychic sources has for its basis those few lines given by Plato, or the references made in Holy writ that the earth was divided, depends upon the trend of individual minds. Recently, however, the subject has taken on greater import, since some scientists have declared that such a continent was not only a reasonable and plausible matter, but from evidences being gradually gathered was a very probable condition.

3. As we recognize, there has been considerable given respecting such a lost continent by those channels such as the writer of Two Planets, or Atlantis - or Poseida and Lemuria - that has been published through some of the Theosophical literature. As to whether this information is true or not, depends upon the credence individuals give to this class of information.

4. Then, it has seemed well to many of this group, that those channels through which information may be obtained interest themselves in such an undertaking, as to gain through those channels such information that might be applicable in the lives or experiences of individuals interested in such.

5. From time to time, in and through the information obtained for some individuals in their life readings, has come that they, as an entity or individual, occupied some particular place, or performed some activity in some portion of that continent; or emigrated from the continent to some other portion of the earth's surface at the time, and began some particular development. These must have been a busy folk, for with their advent into other climes (as the information runs) they began to make many changes from the activities in that particular sphere in which they entered.

6. Then, if we are to accept such as being a fact or fiction, may truly depend upon what value to the human family knowledge concerning such a peoples would be in the affairs of individuals today. What contribution would information be to the minds of individuals, as to knowing or understanding the better or closer relations to the Creative Forces? Or, to put it another manner, what would information of that nature mean to my SOUL today?

7. Be it true that there IS the fact of reincarnation, and that souls that once occupied such an environ are entering the earth's sphere and inhabiting individuals in the present, is it any wonder that - if they made such alterations in the affairs of the earth in their day, as to bring destruction upon themselves - if they are entering now, they might make many changes in the affairs of peoples and individuals in the present? Are they, then, BEING born into the world? If so, what WERE their environs - and will those environs mean in a material world today?

 

364-3

1. EC: Yes, we have the subject and those conditions. As has been said, much data has been received from time to time through psychic forces as respecting conditions in or through the period, or ages, of this continent's existence. That the continent existed is being proven as a fact.

2. Then, what took place during the period, or periods, when it was being broken up? What became of the inhabitants? What was the character of their civilization? Are there any evidences of those, or any portion of, the inhabitants' escape? The POSITION of the continent, and the like, MUST be of interest to peoples in the present day, if either by inference that individuals are being born into the earth plane to develop in the present, or are people being guided in their spiritual interpretation of individuals' lives or developments BY the spirits of those who inhabited such a continent. In either case, if these be true, they ARE WIELDING - and are to wield - an influence upon the happenings of the present day world.

3. The position as the continent Atlantis occupied, is that as between the Gulf of Mexico on the one hand - and the Mediterranean upon the other. Evidences of this lost civilization are to be found in the Pyrenees and Morocco on the one hand, British Honduras, Yucatan and America upon the other. There are some protruding portions within this that must have at one time or another been a portion of this great continent. The British West Indies or the Bahamas, and a portion of same that may be seen in the present - if the geological survey would be made in some of these - especially, or notably, in Bimini and in the Gulf Stream through this vicinity, these may be even yet determined.

4. What, then, are the character of the peoples? To give any proper conception, may we follow the line of a group, or an individual line, through this continent's existence - and gain from same something of their character, their physiognomy, and their spiritual and physical development.

5. In the period, then - some hundred, some ninety-eight thousand years before the entry of Ram into India [See 364-3, Par. R2] - there lived in this land of Atlantis one Amilius [?], who had first NOTED that of the separations of the beings as inhabited that portion of the earth's sphere or plane of those peoples into male and female as separate entities, or individuals. As to their forms in the physical sense, these were much RATHER of the nature of THOUGHT FORMS, or able to push out OF THEMSELVES in that direction in which its development took shape in thought - much in the way and manner as the amoeba would in the waters of a stagnant bay, or lake, in the present. As these took form, by the gratifying of their own desire for that as builded or added to the material conditions, they became hardened or set - much in the form of the existent human body of the day, with that of color as partook of its surroundings much in the manner as the chameleon in the present. Hence coming into that form as the red, or the mixture peoples - or colors; known then later by the associations as the RED race. These, then, able to use IN their gradual development all the forces as were manifest in their individual surroundings, passing through those periods of developments as has been followed more closely in that of the yellow, the black, or the white races, in other portions of the world; yet with their immediate surroundings, with the facilities for the developments, these became much speedier in this particular portion of the globe than in others - and while the destruction of this continent and the peoples are far beyond any of that as has been kept as an absolute record, that record in the rocks still remains - as has that influence OF those peoples in that life of those peoples to whom those that did escape during the periods of destruction make or influence the lives of those peoples TO whom they came. As they MAY in the present, either through the direct influence of being regenerated, or re-incarnated into the earth, or through that of the MENTAL application on through the influences as may be had upon thought OF individuals or groups by speaking from that environ.

6. In the MANNER of living, in the manner of the moral, of the social, of the religious life of these peoples: There, classes existed much in the same order as existed among others; yet the like of the warlike INFLUENCE did NOT exist in the peoples - AS a people - as it did in the OTHER portions of the universe.

 

364-4

2. EC: Yes, we have the subject here, The Lost Continent of Atlantis.

3. As the peoples were a peaceful peoples, their developments took on rather that form - with the developing into the physical material bodies - of the fast development, or to the using of the elements about them to their own use; recognizing themselves to be a part OF that about them. Hence, as to the supplying of that as necessary to sustain physical life as known today, in apparel, or supplying of the bodily needs, these were supplied through the natural elements; and the DEVELOPMENTS came rather in the forms - as would be termed in the PRESENT day - of preparing for those things that would pertain to what would be termed the aerial age, or the electrical age, and supplying then the modes and manners of transposition of those materials about same that did not pertain to themselves bodily; for of themselves was transposed, rather by that ability lying within each to be transposed in thought as in body.

4. In these things, then, did Amilius [?] see the beginning of, and the abilities of, those of his own age, era, or period, not only able to build that as able to transpose or build up the elements about them but to transpose them bodily from one portion of the universe to the other, THROUGH the uses of not only those RECENTLY re-discovered gases, and those of the electrical and aeriatic formations - in the breaking up of the atomic forces to produce impelling force to those means and modes of transposition, or of travel, or of lifting large weights, or of changing the faces or forces of nature itself, but with these transpositions, with these changes that came in as personalities, we find these as the Sons of the Creative Force as manifest in their experience looking upon those changed forms, or the daughters of men, and there crept in those pollutions, of polluting themselves with those mixtures that brought contempt, hatred, bloodshed, and those that build for desires of self WITHOUT respects of OTHERS' freedom, others' wishes - and there began, then, in the latter portion of this period of development, that that brought about those of dissenting and divisions among the peoples in the lands. With the attempts of those still in power, through those lineages of the pure, that had kept themselves intact as of the abilities of forces as were manifest IN their activities, these BUILDED rather those things that ATTEMPTED to draw BACK those peoples; through first the various changes or seasons that came about, and in the latter portion of the experience of Amilius [?] was the first establishing of the altars upon which the sacrifices of the field and the forest, and those that were of that that SATISFIED the desires of the physical body, were builded.

5. Then, with the coming in or the raising up of Esai [?], with the change that had come about, began in that period when there were the invasions of this continent by those of the animal kingdoms, that brought about that meeting of the nations of the globe to PREPARE a way and manner of disposing of, else they be disposed of themselves by these forces. With this coming in, there came then the first of the destructive forces as could be set and then be meted out in its force or power. Hence that as is termed, or its first beginning of, EXPLOSIVES that might be carried about, came with this reign, or this period, when MAN - or MEN, then - began to cope with those of the beast form that OVERRAN the earth in many places. Then, with these destructive forces, we find the first turning of the altar fires into that of sacrifice of those that were taken in the various ways, and human sacrifice began. With this also came the first egress of peoples to that of the Pyrenees first, OF which later we find that peoples who enter into the black or the mixed peoples, in what later became the Egyptian dynasty. We also find that entering into Og, or those peoples that later became the beginning of the Inca, or Ohum [Aymara'?], that builded the walls across the mountains in this period, through those same usages of that as had been taken on by those peoples; and with the same, those that made for that in the other land, became first those of the mound dwellers, or peoples in that land. With the continued disregard of those that were keeping the pure race and the pure peoples, of those that were to bring all these laws as applicable to the Sons of God, man brought in the destructive forces as used for the peoples that were to be the rule, that combined with those natural resources of the gases, of the electrical forces, made in nature and natural form the first of the eruptions that awoke from the depth of the slow cooling earth, and that portion now near what would be termed the Sargasso Sea first went into the depths. With this there again came that egress of peoples that aided, or attempted to assume control, yet carrying with them ALL those forms of Amilius [?] that he gained through that as for signs, for seasons, for days, for years. Hence we find in those various portions of the world even in the present day, some form of that as WAS presented by those peoples in THAT great DEVELOPMENT in this, the Eden of the world.

6. In the latter portion of same we find as CITIES were builded more and more rare became those abilities to call upon rather the forces in nature to supply the needs for those of bodily adornment, or those of the needs to supply the replenishing of the wasting away of the physical being; or hunger arose, and with the determinations to set again in motion, we find there - then Ani [?] [See the name ANI mentioned on pp. 6, 57, 187 and 324 of the book, MYTHS & LEGENDS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, by Lewis Spence.] [GD's note: I put a question mark because I didn't know whether this was the correct spelling or not.], in those latter periods, ten thousand seven hundred (10,700) years before the Prince of Peace came - again was the bringing into forces that to TEMPT, as it were, nature - in its storehouse - of replenishing the things - that of the WASTING away in the mountains, then into the valleys, then into the sea itself, and the fast disintegration of the lands, as well as of the peoples - save those that had escaped into those distant lands.

7. How, then, may this be applicable to our present day understanding? As we see the effects as builded in that about the sacred fires, as through those of Hermes, those of Arart, those of the Aztec, those of Ohum [Aymara'?], each in their respective sphere CARRYING some portion of these blessings - when they are kept in accord and PURE with those through which the channels of the blessings, of the Creative Forces, may manifest. So, we find, when we apply the lessons in the day - would ye be true, keep that EVERY WHIT thou KNOWEST to do within thine own heart! Knowing, as ye USE that as is KNOWN, there is given the more and more light to know from whence ye came and whither ye go!

8. Ready for questions.

9. (Q) Please give a description of the earth's surface as it existed at the time of Atlantis' highest civilization, using the names of continents, oceans and sections of same as we know them today?

(A) As to the highest point of civilization, this would first have to be determined according to the standard as to which it would be judged - as to whether the highest point was when Amilius [?] ruled with those understandings, as the one that understood the variations, or whether they became man made, would depend upon whether we are viewing from a spiritual standpoint or upon that as a purely material or commercial standpoint; for the variations, as we find, extend over a period of some two hundred thousand years (200,000) - that is, as light years - as known in the present - and that there were MANY changes in the surface of what is now called the earth. In the first, or greater portion, we find that NOW known as the southern portions of South America and the Arctic or North Arctic regions, while those in what is NOW as Siberia - or that as of Hudson Bay - was rather in that region of the tropics, or that position now occupied by near what would be as the same LINE would run, of the southern Pacific, or central Pacific regions - and about the same way. Then we find, with this change that came first in that portion, when the first of those peoples used that as prepared FOR the changes in the earth, we stood near the same position as the earth occupies in the present - as to Capricorn, or the equator, or the poles. Then, with that portion, THEN the South Pacific, or Lemuria [?], began its disappearance - even before Atlantis, for the changes were brought about in the latter portion of that period, or what would be termed ten thousand seven hundred (10,700) light years, or earth years, or present setting of those, as set by Amilius [?] - or Adam.

 

364-5

2. EC: Yes, we have the information as given respecting the continent Atlantis. In the considerations that may be had concerning such information, many are the questions that must naturally arise in the minds of individuals who would consider same in any way or manner. However, will a very close check be kept upon those who evince an interest, these will be found to be those who occupy in the present some influence innate or manifested from their experience or sojourn under or in that environ. As has been given, this would be well to do; for to the analytical or to the research character of mind, there will be little that may escape the attention of such a mind - when spiritual or psychic, or occult, or those kindred subjects are approached - as to how quick there is the desire, that expression of "I know it, but don't know how to tell it, will be in that individual's or entity's feeling, and expression - when one may be obtained at all. They will immediately become the dreamer! Try this!

3. Ready for questions.

4. (Q) Explain the information given regarding Amilius [?], who first noted the separation of the peoples into male and female, as it relates to the story in the Bible of Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden giving the name of the symbols Adam, Eve, the apple, and the serpent.

(A) This would require a whole period of a lecture period for this alone; for, as is seen, that as is given is the presentation of a teacher of a peoples that separated for that definite purpose of keeping alive in the minds, the hearts, the SOUL minds of entities, that there may be seen their closer relationship to the divine influences of Creative Forces, that brought into being all that appertains to man's indwelling as man in the form of flesh in this material world. These are presented in symbols of that thought as held by those peoples from whom the physical recorder took those records as compiled, with that gained by himself in and through the entering into that state where the entity's soul mind drew upon the records that are made by the passing of time itself in a material world. As given, these are records not only of the nature as has been termed or called akashic records (that is, of a mental or soul record), but that in a more material nature as set down in stone, that was attempted to be done - HAS been attempted to be done throughout ALL time! WHY does man NOW set in stone those that are representatives of that desired to be kept in mind by those making records for future generations? There are many more materials more lasting, as is known to many.

In the records, then, as this: There are, as seen, the records made by the man in the mount, that this Amilius [?] - Adam, as given - first discerned that from himself, not of the beasts about him, could be drawn - WAS drawn - that which made for the propagation OF beings IN the flesh, that made for that companionship as seen by creation in the material worlds about same. The story, the tale (if chosen to be called such), is one and the same. The apple, as 'the apple of the eye', the desire of that companionship innate in that created, as innate in the Creator, that brought companionship into the creation itself. Get that one!

In this there comes, then, that which is set before that created - or having TAKEN ON that form, able of projecting itself in WHATEVER direction it chose to take, as given; able to make itself OF that environ, in color, in harmony, in WHATEVER source that makes for the spirit of that man would attempt to project in music, in art, in ANY form that may even be conceivable to the mind itself in what may be termed its most lucid moments, in its most esoteric moments, in its highest animation moments; for were He not the SON of the living God made manifest, that He might be the companion in a made world, in material manifested things, with the injunction to subdue all, BRING all in the material things under subjection - all UNDER subjection - by that ability to project itself IN its way? KNOWING itself, as given, to be a portion OF the whole, in, through, of, by the whole? In this desire, then, keep - as the injunction was - thine self separate: OF that seen, but NOT that seen. The apple, then, that desire for that which made for the associations that bring carnal-minded influences of that brought as sex influence, known in a material world, and the partaking of same is that which brought the influence in the lives of that in the symbol of the serpent, that made for that which creates the desire that may be only satisfied in gratification of carnal forces, as partake of the world and its influences about same - rather than of the spiritual emanations from which it has its source. Will control - inability of will control, if we may put it in common parlance.

 

364-6

1. GC: You will have before you the material and information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis, a copy of which I hold in my hand. You will answer the questions which I will ask regarding this:

2. EC: Yes, we have the information as written here, as given. In following out that as just given, with these changes coming in the experience of Amilius [?] and I [Ai? Ay?], Adam and Eve, the knowledge of their position, or that as is known in the material world today as desires and physical bodily charms, the understanding of sex, sex relationships, came into the experience. With these came the natural fear of that as had been forbidden, that they know themselves to be a part of but not OF that as partook of EARTHLY, or the desires in the manner as were ABOUT them, in that as had been their heritage.

3. Were this turned to that period when this desire, then, becomes consecrated in that accomplished again in the virgin body of the mother of the SON of man, we see this is then crystallized into that, that even that of the flesh may be - with the proper concept, proper desire in all its purity - consecrated to the LIVING forces as manifest by the ability in that body so brought into being, as to make a way of escape for the ERRING man. Hence we have found throughout the ages, so oft the times when conception of truth became rampant with free-love, with the desecration of those things that brought to these in the beginning that of the KNOWLEDGE of their existence, as to that that may be termed - and betimes became - the MORAL, or morality OF a people. Yet this same feeling, this same exaltation that comes from association of kindred bodies - that have their lives consecrated in a purposefulness, that makes for the ability of retaining those of the essence of creation in every virile body - can be made to become the fires that light truth, love, hope, patience, peace, harmony; for they are EVER the key to those influences that fire the imaginations of those that are gifted in ANY form of depicting the high emotions of human experience, whether it be in the one or the other fields, and hence is judged by those that may not be able, or through desire submit themselves - as did Amilius [?] and I [?] to those ELEMENTS, through the forces in the life as about them.

7. (Q) How large was Atlantis during the time of Amilius?

(A) Comparison, that of Europe including Asia in Europe - not Asia, but Asia in Europe - see? This composed, as seen, in or after the first of the destructions, that which would be termed now - with the present position - the southernmost portion of same - islands as created by those of the first (as man would call) volcanic or eruptive forces brought into play in the destruction of same.

8. (Q) Was Atlantis one large continent, or a group of large islands?

(A) Would it not be well to read just that given? Why confuse in the questionings? As has been given, what would be considered one large continent, until the first eruptions brought those changes - from what would now, with the present position of the earth in its rotation, or movements about its sun, through space, about Arcturus, about the Pleiades, that of a whole or one continent. Then with the breaking up, producing more of the nature of large islands, with the intervening canals or ravines, gulfs, bays or streams, as came from the various ELEMENTAL forces that were set in motion by this CHARGING - as it were - OF the forces that were collected as the basis for those elements that would produce destructive forces, as might be placed in various quarters or gathering places of those beasts, or the periods when the larger animals roved the earth - WITH that period of man's indwelling. Let it be remembered, or not confused, that the EARTH was peopled by ANIMALS before peopled by man! First that of a mass, which there arose the mist, and then the rising of same with light breaking OVER that as it SETTLED itself, as a companion of those in the universe, as it began its NATURAL (or now natural) rotations, with the varied effects UPON the various portions of same, as it slowly - and is slowly - receding or gathering closer to the sun, from which it receives its impetus for the awakening of the elements that give life itself, by radiation of like elements from that which it receives from the sun. Hence that of one type, that has been through the ages, of mind - that gives the SUN as the father OF light in the earth. Elements have their attraction and detraction, or those of ANIMOSITY and those of gathering together. This we see throughout all of the kingdoms, as may be termed, whether we speak of the heavenly hosts or of those of the stars, or of the planets, or of the various forces within any or all of same, they have their attraction or detraction. The attraction increases that as gives an impulse, that that becomes the aid, the stimuli, or an impulse to create. Hence, as may be seen - or may be brought to man's own - that of attraction one for another gives that STIMULI, that IMPULSE, to be the criterion of, or the gratification of, those influences in the experience of individuals or entities. To smother same oft becomes deteriorations for each other, as may come about in any form, way or manner. Accidents happen in creation, as well as in individuals' lives! Peculiar statement here, but - true!

9. (Q) What were the principal islands called at the time of the final destruction?

(A) Poseidia and Aryan [?], and Og [?].

10. (Q) Describe one of the ships of the air that was used during the highest period of mechanical development in Atlantis.

(A) Much of the nature, in the EARLIER portion, as would be were the hide of MANY of the pachyderm, or elephants, many into the CONTAINERS for the gases that were used as both lifting and for the impelling of the crafts about the various portions of the continent, and even abroad. These, as may be seen, took on those abilities not only to pass through that called air, or that heavier, but through that of water - when they received the impetus from the NECESSITIES of the peoples in that particular period, for the safety of self. The shape and form, then, in the earlier portion, depended upon which or what skins were used for the containers. The metals that were used as the braces, these were the COMBINATIONS then of what is NOW a lost art - the TEMPERED brass, the temperament of that as becomes between aluminum (as now called) and that of uranium, with those of the fluxes that are from those of the COMBINED elements of the iron, that is carbonized with those of other fluxes - see? These made for lightness of structure, non-conductor OR conductors of the electrical forces - that were used for the IMPELLING of same, rather than the gases - which were used as the lifting. See? For that as in the NATURE'S forces may be turned into even the forces OF that that makes life, as given, from the sun rays to those elements that make for, or find CORRESPONDING reaction in their APPLICATION of same, or reflection of same, TO the rays itself - or a different or changed form of storage of FORCE, as called electrical in the present.

11. We are through for the present.

 

364-7

3. (Q) How is the legend of Lilith connected with the period of Amilius?

(A) In the beginning, as was outlined, there was presented that that became as the Sons of God, in that male and female were as one, with those abilities for those changes as were able or capable of being brought about. In the changes that came from those THINGS, as were of the projections of the abilities of those entities to project, this as a being came as the companion; and when there was that turning to the within, through the sources of creation, as to make for the helpmeet of that as created by the first cause, or of the Creative Forces that brought into being that as was made, THEN - from out of self - was brought that as was to be the helpmeet, NOT just companion of the body. Hence the legend of the associations of the body during that period before there was brought into being the last of the creations, which was not of that that was NOT made, but the first of that that WAS made, and a helpmeet to the body, that there might be no change in the relationship of the SONS of God WITH those relationships of the sons and daughters of men.

In this then, also comes that as is held by many who have reached especially to that understanding of how NECESSARY, then, becomes the PROPER mating of those souls that may be the ANSWERS one to another of that that may bring, through that association, that companionship, into being that that may be the more helpful, more sustaining, more the well- ROUNDED life or experience of those that are a PORTION one of another. Do not misinterpret, but knowing that all are OF one - yet there are those divisions that make for a CLOSER union, when there are the proper relationships brought about. As an illustration, in this:

In the material world we find there is in the mineral kingdom those elements that are of the nature as to form a closer union one with another, and make as for compounds as make for elements that act more in unison with, or against, other forms of activity in the experience in the earth's environ, or the earth's force, as makes for those active forces in the ELEMENTS that are ABOUT the earth. Such as we may find in those that make for the active forces in that of uranium, and that of ultramarine, and these make then for an element that becomes the more active force as with the abilities for the rates of emanation as may be thrown off from same. So, as illustrated in the union, then, of - in the PHYSICAL compounds - that as may vibrate, or make for emanations in the activities of their mental and spiritual, and material, or physical forces, as may make for a GREATER activity in this earth environ. Then, there may be seen that as is in an elemental, or compound, that makes for that as is seen in the material experience as to become an antipathy for other elements that are as equally necessary in the experience of man's environ as in the combination of gases as may produce whenever combined that called water, and its antipathy for the elements in combustion is easily seen or known in man's experience.

So in those unions of that in the elemental forces of creative energies that take on the form of man, either in that of man or woman, with its NATURAL or ELEMENTAL, see? ELEMENTAL forces of its vibration, with the union of two that vibrate or respond to those vibrations in self, create for that ideal that becomes as that, in that created, in the form - as is known as radium, with its fast emittal vibrations, that brings for active forces, principles, that makes for such atomic forces within the active principles of all nature in its active force as to be one of the elemental bases from which life in its essence, as an active principle in a material world, has its sources, give off that which is EVER good - unless abused, see? So in that may there be basis for THOSE forces, as HAS been, as IS sought, thought, or ATTAINED BY those who have, through the abilities of the vibrations, to make for a continued force in self as to meet, know, see, feel, understand, those sources from which such begets that of its kind, or as those that become as an antipathy for another, or as makes for those that makes for the variations in the tempering of the various elements, compounds, or the like; so, as is seen, THESE - then - the BASIS for those things as has been given here, there, in their various ways and manners, as to the companion of, and COMPANIONS of, that that first able - through its projection of itself and its abilities in the creation - to bring about that that was either of its OWN making, or creation, or that given in the beginning to BE the force THROUGH which there might BE that that would bring ever blessings, good, right, and love, in even the physical or material world. See?

4. (Q) How long did it take for the division into male and female?

(A) That depends upon which, or what branch or LINE is considered. When there was brought into being that as of the projection of that created BY that created, this took a period of evolutionary - or, as would be in the present year, fourscore and six year. That as brought into being as was of the creating OF that that became a portion of, OF that that was already created by the CREATOR, THAT brought into being as WERE those of the forces of nature itself. God said, "Let there be light" and there WAS light! God said, "Let there be life" and there WAS life!

5. (Q) Were the thought forms that were able to push themselves out of themselves inhabited by souls, or were they of the animal kingdom?

(A) That as created by that CREATED, of the animal kingdom. That created as by the Creator, with the soul.

6. (Q) What was meant by the Sons of the Highest in Atlantis and the second coming of souls to the earth, as mentioned in a life reading given thru this channel? [See 2802-1 on 5/18/25.]

(A) In this period or age, as was seen - There is fault of words here to PROJECT that as actually OCCURS in the FORMATIONS of that as comes about! There was, with the WILL of that as came into being through the correct channels, of that as created by the Creator, that of the CONTINUING of the souls in its projection and projection - see? while in that as was OF the offspring, of that as pushed itself INTO form to SATISFY, GRATIFY, that of the desire of that known as carnal forces of the SENSES, of those created, there continued to be the war one with another, and there were then - FROM the other SOURCES (worlds) the continuing entering of those that WOULD make for the keeping of the balance, as of the first purpose of the Creative Forces, as it magnifies itself in that given sphere of activity, of that that had been GIVEN the ABILITY to CREATE with its OWN activity - see? and hence the second, or the CONTINUED entering of souls into that known as the earth's plane during this period, for that activity as was brought about. Let's REMEMBER that as was given, in the second, third from Adam, or fourth, or from Amilius, there was "In that day did they CALL UPON the NAME of the Lord" - is right! and ever, when the elements that make for littleness, uncleanness, are crucified in the body, the SPIRIT of the Lord, of God, is present! When these are overbalanced, so that the body (physical), the mental man, the imagination of its heart, is evil, or his purpose is evil, then is that war continuing - as from the beginning. Just the continued warring of those things within self as from the beginning; for with these changes as brought SIN into the world, with same came the FRUITS of same, or the seed as of sin, which we see in the material world as those things that corrupt good ground, those that corrupt the elements that are of the compounds of those of the first causes, or elementals, and pests are seen - and the like, see? So does it follow throughout all creative forces, that the fruits of that as is active brings that seed that makes for the corrupting of, or the clearing of, in the activative forces of, that BEING acted upon.

7. (Q) What was meant by "As in the first Adam sin entered, so in the last Adam all shall be made alive?"

(A) Adam's entry into the world in the beginning, then, must become the savior OF the world, as it was committed to his care, "Be thou fruitful, multiply, and SUBDUE the earth!" Hence Amilius, Adam, the first Adam, the last Adam, becomes - then - that that is GIVEN the POWER OVER the earth, and - as in each soul the first to be conquered is self - then ALL THINGS, conditions and elements, are subject unto that self!

That a universal law, as may be seen in that as may be demonstrated either in gases that destroy one another by becoming elements of the same, or that in the mineral or the animal kingdom as may be found that destroy, or BECOME one WITH the other. Hence, as Adam given - the SON of God - so he MUST become that that would be able to take the world, the earth, back to that source from which it came, and ALL POWER is given in his keeping in the earth, that he has overcome; self, death, hell and the grave even, become subservient unto Him THROUGH the conquering of self in that made flesh; for, as in the beginning was the word, the Word WAS with God, the Word WAS God, the same was IN the beginning. The Word came and dwelt among men, the offspring of self in a material world, and the Word OVERCAME the world - and hence the world BECOMES, then, as the servant of that that overcame the world!

8. (Q) Please give the important re-incarnations of Adam in the world's history.

(A) In the beginning as Amilius, as Adam, as Melchizedek, as Zend [?], as Ur [?] [Enoch? GD's note: Perhaps Ur was prehistory person [364-9, Par. 3-A] who established Ur of the Chaldees? I don't think he was mentioned anywhere else in the readings as an incarnation of Jesus.], as Asaph [?] [Songs of Asaph? See Ps. 81:5 indicating that Joseph and Asaph were one and the same?], as Jesus [Jeshua] - Joseph - Jesus. [See 364-9, Par. 3-A.]

Then, as that coming into the world in the second coming - for He will come again and receive His own, who have prepared themselves through that belief in Him and acting in that manner; for the SPIRIT is abroad, and the time draws near, and there will be the reckoning of those even as in the first so in the last, and the last shall be first; for there is that Spirit abroad - He standeth near. He that hath eyes to see, let him see. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear that music of the coming of the Lord of this vineyard, and art THOU ready to give account of that THOU hast done with thine opportunity in the earth as the Sons of God, as the heirs and joint heirs of glory WITH the Son? Then make thine paths straight, for there must come an answering for that THOU hast done with thine Lord! He will not tarry, for having overcome He shall appear even AS the Lord AND Master. Not as one born, but as one that returneth to His own, for He will walk and talk with men of every clime, and those that are faithful and just in their reckoning shall be caught up with Him to rule and to do JUDGEMENT for a thousand years!

9. (Q) Describe some of the mental abilities that were developed by the Atlanteans at the time of their greatest spiritual development.

(A) Impossible to describe achievements physical in their spiritual development. The use of MATERIAL conditions and spiritual attributes in a material world would, and do, become that as are the miracles of the Son in the material world; for even as with Him in - and as He walked, whether in Galilee, in Egypt, in India, in France, in England, or America - there WERE those periods when the activities of the physical were as was what would be termed the everyday life of the SONS of God in the Atlantean or Eden experience; for as those brought the various changes from the highest of the SPIRITUAL development to the highest of the mental, then of the MATERIAL or physical developments, then the fall - see?

 

Back to Contents

  

Edgar Cayce on Atlantis II

364-10

1. GC: You will have before you the information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis. You will please continue with this information, and answer the questions which I will ask regarding same.

2. EC: Yes. In understanding, then, in the present terminology, occult science, or psychic science - as seen, this was the natural or nature's activity in that experience, and not termed a science - any more than would be the desire for food by a new born babe. Rather the natural consequence. This explanation may of necessity take on some forms that may possibly be confusing at times, but illustrations may be made through the various types of occult science, or psychic manifestations, that may clarify for the student something of the various types of psychic manifestations in the present, as well as that that was natural in this period.

3. There is, as has been oft given, quite a difference - and much differentiation should be made - in mysticism and psychic, or occult science as termed today.

4. From that which has been given, it is seen that individuals in the beginning were more of thought forms than individual entities with personalities as seen in the present, and their projections into the realms of fields of thought that pertain to a developing or evolving world of matter, with the varied presentations about same, of the expressions or attributes in the various things about the entity or individual, or body, through which such science - as termed now, or such phenomena as would be termed - became manifest. Hence we find occult or psychic science, as would be called at the present, was rather the natural state of man in the beginning. Very much as (in illustration) when a baby, or babe, is born into the world and its appetite is first satisfied, and it lies sleeping. Of what is its dreams? That it expects to be, or that it has been? Of what are thoughts? That which is to be, or that which has been, or that which is? Now remember we are speaking - these were thought forms, and we are finding again the illustrations of same!

5. When the mental body (Now revert back to what you are calling science) - when the mental body, or mind, has had training, or has gone through a course of operations in certain directions, such individuals are called so-and-so minded; as one of an inventive turn, and trained; one of a statistician turn, and trained; one of a theologian turn, and trained; one of philosophical turn, and trained. Of what does the mind build? We have turned, then, to that that has become very material, for the mind constantly trained makes for itself MENTAL pictures, or makes for that as is reasoned with from its own present dimensional viewpoints - but the babe, from whence its reasoning? from whence its dream? From that that has been taken in, or that that has been its experience from whence it came? Oft has it been said, and rightly, with a babe's smile 'Dreaming of angels', and close in touch with them - but what has PRODUCED that dream? The contact with that upon which IT has fed! Don't forget our premise now from which we are reasoning! and we will find that we will have the premise from which those individuals, or the entities, reasoned within the beginning in this land. (We are speaking of Atlanteans, when they became as thought forces.) From whence did THEY reason? From the Creative Forces from which they had received their impetus, but acted upon by the thought FORMS as were in MATERIAL forms about them, and given that power (will) to be one WITH that from what it sprang or was given its impetus, or force, yet with the ability to USE that in the way that seemed, or seemeth, good or well, or pleasing, unto itself. Hence we find in this particular moulding or mouldive stage, that in which there was the greater development of, and use of, that as is termed or called psychic and occult forces, or science - in the present terminology, or age.

6. Illustrating, then, that as to how this was used by those entities, those beings, in the formative stage of their experience or sojourn among that as had been created in all of its splendor to supply every want or desire that might be called forth by that being, with all of its attributes physical, mental AND SPIRITUAL at hand; for, as has been given, even unto the four hundred thousandth generation from the first creation was it prepared for man's indwelling. As we today (turn to today), we find there the developments of those resources. How long have they remained? Since the beginning! How long has man been able to use them for his undoing, or his pleasure, or for his regeneration? Since the knowledge of some source has awakened within its psychic force, or source, of the apparatus, or the form that it takes, either in a physical or mental (for remember, Mind is the Builder - and it moves along those channels through which, and by which, it may bring into existence in whatever dimension or sphere from which it is reasoning, or reasoning toward - see) - and as these may be illustrated in the present:

7. When there is a manifestation of a psychic force, or an occult action, or phenomena, or activity in, upon, of or for, an individual, there is then the rolling back, as it were, or a portion of the physical consciousness - or that mental trained individual consciousness - has been rolled aside, or rolled back, and there is then a visioning - To what? That as from the beginning, a projection OF that form that assumed its position or condition in the earth as from the beginning, and with those so endowed with that as may be called an insight into psychic sources there may be visioned about a body its astral (if chosen to be termed), rather its THOUGHT body, as is projected FROM same in such a state; especially so when there is the induction, or the inducing of, an unconsciousness of the normal brain, or normal mental body. Submerged - into what? Into the unconscious, or subconscious. Sub, in THIS instance, meaning BELOW - not above normal; below - SUBJECTED to the higher consciousness, or to the higher thought, that has been builded - just as sure as has a physical body been builded, from what?

That as has been given from its first nucleus as passed through in its experience. Then there may be visioned by such a body, as may be called with the second sight, or with a vision, that accompanying thought body of such an one, manifesting in much the way and manner as individuals in the Atlantean period of psychic and occult development brought about in their experience. Through such projections there came about that first necessity of the division of the body, to conform to those necessities of that as seen in its own mental vision as builded (MENTAL now - Don't confuse these terms, or else you will become VERY confused in what is being given!).

8. The mental vision by its action upon what body is being builded? On the mental body of the individual in a material world, out of Spirit, out of the ability to have all the attributes of the spiritual or unseen forces - but MATERIALIZED forces, as is necessary from the mental body in a material world MENTALLY trained to, or in, certain directions, or given directions, or following the natural bent of its threefold or threeply body, as is seen in every individual or every entity. As these projected themselves, then we find these DEVELOPMENTS were in this portion of the development in the Atlantean period. How were these used? In much as were from the beginning. Remember there was ever the instruction to those peoples that were to hold to that that would bring for the spiritual forces, rather than the abuses of the abilities - as those with familiar spirits, as those that spoke to or partook of the divinations of those that had passed from the earth's plane, or those that partook of the animal magnetism - that came from the universal consciousness of animal matter as passed into its experience, in its interchange through those periods of integration and disintegration - and the spirit forces possessing those that would lay themselves open to such conditions, for these are as real as physical bodies if the attunements of the entity are such that it may vision them! and they are about you always, sure! These, then, are entities - sure; whether animal or those endowed with the soul - until they pass through those changes - as there ever has been, see? Also there are those that ever make for those channels in the psychic and occult (we are speaking of, through which man - as it reached that stage, or that position that it became farther and farther from its natural sources, through the same CHARACTER of channel may it communicate with that from which it is a portion of, or the Creative Forces), and hence the terminology arose as 'Good Spirits' and 'Bad Spirits'; for there are those that partake of the earth, or of the carnal forces, rather than of those forces that are of the spiritual or CREATIVE. Those that are destruction are of the Earth. Those that are constructive, then, are the good - or the divine and the devilish, bringing for those developments in their various phases. Hence the greater development of that called occult, or psychic forces, during the Atlantean period - and the use of same, and the abuse of same - was during its first thousand years, as we would call light years; not the light of the star, but the sun goes down and the sun goes down - years. That brought about those cycles, or those changes. Hence we have that which has been given through many of the sources of information, or the channels for individuals - and in those, these, the entity - as a voice upon waters, or as the wind that moved among the reeds and harkened, or again as when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God beheld the coming of man into his own, through the various realms as were brought by the magnifying of, or the deteriorating of, the use of those forces and powers as manifested themselves in a MATERIAL area, or those that partook of carnal to the gratification of that that brought about its continual HARDENING and less ability to harken back through that from WHICH it came, and partaking more and more OF that upon which it became an eater of; or, as is seen even in the material forces in the present: We find those that partake of certain elements, unless these become very well balanced WITH all SOURCES - Of what? That of which there were the first causes, or nature, or natural, or God's sources or forces are. Hence ELEMENTS - not rudiments; elements - as are termed in the terminology of the student of the anatomical, physiological, psychological forces within a body - GERMS! Sure they are germs! for each are as atoms of power - From what? That source from which it has drawn its essence upon what it feeds. Is one feeding, then, its soul? or is one feeding its body? or is one feeding that interbetween (its mental body) to its own undoing, or to those foolishnesses of the simple things of life? Being able, then, to partake OF the physical but not a part of same - but more and more feeding upon those sources from which it emanates itself, or of the SPIRITUAL life, so that the physical body, the mental body, are attuned TO its soul forces, or its soul source, its Creator, its Maker, in such a way and manner, as it develops.

9. What, then, IS psychic force? What IS occult science? A developing of the abilities within each individual that has not lost its sonship, or its relation to its Creator, to live upon - or demonstrate more and more through phenomena of whatever nature from which it takes its source, for that individual activity of that entity itself through the stages of development through which it has passed, and giving of its life source that there may be brought INTO being that which gives more knowledge of the source FROM which the entity ESSENCE (Isn't a good word, but signifies that intended to be expressed; not elements, not rudiments, but ESSENCE of the entity itself, ITS spirit and soul - its spirit being its portion of the Creator, its soul that of its entity itself, making itself individual, separate entity, that may be one WITH the Creative Force from which it comes - or which it is! of which it is made up, in its atomic forces, or in its very essence itself!) emanates; and the more this may be manifest, the greater becomes the occult force.

10. To what uses, then, did these people in this particular period give their efforts, and in what directions were they active? As many almost as there were individuals! for, as we find from the records as are made, to some there was given the power to become the sons of God; others were workers in brass, in iron, in silver, in gold; others were made in music, and the instruments of music. These, then, we find in the world today (Today, now - we are reasoning from today). Those that are especially gifted in art - in its various forms; and a real artist (as the world looks at it) isn't very much fit for anything else! yet it is - What? An expression of its concept OF that from WHICH it, that entity, sprang - through the various stages of its evolution (if you choose to call it such) in a material world, or that which it fed its soul or its mental being for its development through its varied experiences IN a material world. These, then, are but manifestations (occult forces) in individuals who are called geniuses, or gifted in certain directions.

11. These, then, are the manners in which the ENTITIES, those BEINGS, those SOULS, in the beginning partook of, or developed. Some brought about monstrosities, as those of its (that entity's) association by its projection with its association with beasts of various characters. Hence those of the Styx, satyr, and the like; those of the sea, or mermaid; those of the unicorn, and those of the various forms - these projections of what? The abilities in the PHYCHIC forces (psychic meaning, then, of the mental AND the soul - doesn't necessarily mean the body, until it's enabled to be brought INTO being in whatever form it may make its manifestation - which may never be in a material world, or take form in a three-dimensional plane as the earth is; it may remain in a fourth-dimensional - which is an idea! Best definition that ever may be given of fourth-dimension is an idea! Where will it project? Anywhere! Where does it arise from? Who knows! Where will it end? Who can tell! It is all inclusive! It has both length, breadth, height and depth - is without beginning and is without ending! Dependent upon that which it may feed for its sustenance, or it may pass into that much as a thought or an idea. Now this isn't ideal that's said! It's idea! see?)

12. In the use of these, then, in this material plane - of these forces - brought about those that made for all MANNERS of the various forms that are used in the material world today. MANY of them to a much higher development. As those that sought forms of minerals - and being able to be that the mineral was, hence much more capable - in the psychic or occult force, or power - to classify, or make same in its own classifications. Who classified them? They were from the beginning! They are themselves! They were those necessities as were IN the beginning from an ALL WISE Creator! for remember these came, as did that as was to be the keeper of same! The husbandman of the vineyard! Each entity, each individual - today, has its own vineyard to keep, to dress - For who? Its Maker, from whence it came! What is to be the report in thine own life with those abilities, those forces, as may be manifest in self - through its calling upon, through what? How does prayer reach the throne of mercy or grace, or that from which it emanates? From itself! Through that of CRUCIFYING, NULLIFYING, the carnal mind and opening the mental in such a manner that the Spirit of truth may flow in its psychic sense, or occult force, into the very being, that you may be one with that from which you came! Be thou faithful unto that committed into thy keeping! Life ITSELF is precious! For why? It is of the Maker itself! That IS the beginning! The psychic forces, the attunements, the developments, going TO that! As did many in that experience. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not for God took him. As was many of those in those first years, in this land, this experience.

13. These in the present, then, do not justly call it science; rather being close to nature. Listen at the birds. Watch the blush of the rose. Listen at the life rising in the tree. These serve their Maker - Through what? That psychic force, that IS Life itself, in their respective sphere - that were put for the service of man. Learn thine lesson, O Man, from that about thee!

 

364-11

1. GC: You will have before you the information given through this channel on the lost continent of Atlantis. You will continue with this information, and will answer the questions which I will ask regarding this:

2. EC: Yes. As to why, then, each individual must be, and is, the keeper of his own vineyard? For there is, as from the beginning, in each entity that - of the Father, or the First Cause - that enables one to make manifest even in the material world through the attributes OF the First Cause, that makes for the manifestation OF that power, or force, in a material world. As to what one does WITH same is an action of the will that entity himself, or herself.

3. As to occult or psychic science, as called, then - it is, as we have found through some manifestations, that these forces are first recognized in or by the individual. Hence, as has been seen, in the beginning these were the natural expressions of an entity. As there developed more of the individual association with material conditions, and they partook of same in such a manner as to become wholly or in part a portion OF same, farther - or more hidden, more unseen - has become occult or psychic manifestations. First there were the occasional harking back. Later by dream. Again we find individuals raised in certain sections for specific purposes. As the cycle has gone about, time and again has there arisen in the earth those that MANIFESTED these forces in a more magnificent, more beneficent, way and manner. And, as has been given, again the time draws near when there shall be seen and known among men, in many places, the manifestations of such forces in the material world; for "As ye have seen him go, so will He return again." Be thou faithful unto those words He has given while yet with you. Hence it behooves every individual to take cognizance of that force that may manifest in their material lives, even in this material age; for those that become ashamed for His sake - for THAT sake - of that that may manifest (which is as the Spirit's manner of activity) through those many channels that are open to those who will look up, lift up - and these, we find, are often in the lowliest of places and circumstances. Why? Since these are forces of the Most High, since these supplied - as of old - those secular things in abundance, and were supplied the needs not only of the physical being but of the mental and spiritual also, contributing to those forces as made for the gratification also of that builded in a material world, does it become any wonder that he that shall be abased and remains true shall wear the Crown of Life? Does it become unreasonable, then, that ye are being chastised for that which has been builded within the material forces of the body itself, that must be tried so as by fire? for the chaff must be burned out! Even as with the use of those sources of information, the abilities to become a portion of those elements that were the creative forces OF the compounds or elements within the universal forces, at that period brought about those forces that made for destruction of the land itself, in the attempt to draw that as was in man then back TO the knowledge; and these brought about those destructive forces (that are known today) in gases, with that called the death ray [See 364-11, Par. R2], that brought from the bowels of the earth itself - when turned into the sources of supply - those destructions to portions of the land. Man has ever (even as then) when in distress, either mental, spiritual OR physical, sought to know his association, his connection, with the divine forces that brought the worlds into being. As these are sought, so does the promise hold true - or that given man from the beginning, "Will ye be my children, I will be thy God!" "Ye turn your face from me, my face is turned from thee", and those things ye have builded in thine own endeavor to make manifest thine own powers bring those certain destructions in the lives of individuals in the present, even as in those first experiences with the use of those powers that are so tabu by the worldly-wise, that are looked upon as old men's tales and women's fables; yet in the strength of such forces do WORLDS come into being!

4. THIS is what psychic force, and so called occult science, DID mean, HAS meant, DOES mean in the world today.

5. Ready for questions.

6. (Q) Describe in more detail the causes and effects of the destruction of the part of Atlantis now the Sargasso sea.

(A) As there were those individuals that attempted to bring again to the mind of man more of those forces that are manifest by the closer association of the mental and spiritual, or the soul forces that were more and more as individual and personal forms in the world, the use of the these elements - as for the building up, or the passage of individuals through space - brought the uses of the gases then (in the existent forces), and the individuals being able to become the elements, and elementals themselves, added to that used in the form of what is at present known as the raising of the powers from the sun itself, to the ray that makes for disintegration of the atom, in the gaseous forces formed, and brought about the destruction in that portion of the land now presented, or represented, or called, Sargasso sea.

7. (Q) What was the date of the first destruction, estimating in our present day system of counting time in years B.C.?

(A) Seven thousand five hundred (7,500) years before the final destruction, which came as has been given.

8. (Q) Please give a few details regarding the physiognomy, habits, customs and costumes of the people of Atlantis during the period just before this first destruction.

(A) These, as we find, will require their being separated in the gradual development of the body and its physiognomy as it came into being in the various portions of that land, as well as to those that would separate themselves from those peoples where there were the indwelling of peoples, or man - as man, in the various areas of the land, or what we call world.

In the matter of form, as we find, first there were those as projections from that about the animal kingdom; for the THOUGHT bodies gradually took form, and the various COMBINATIONS (as may be called) of the various forces that called or classified themselves as gods, or rulers over - whether herds, or fowls, or fishes, etc. - in PART that kingdom and part of that as gradually evolved into a physiognomy much in the form of the present day may (were one chosen of those that were, or are, the nearest representative of the race of peoples that existed in this first period as the first destructions came about). These took on MANY sizes as to stature, from that as may be called the midget to the giants - for there were giants in the earth in those days, men as tall as (what would be termed today) ten to twelve feet in stature, and in proportion - well proportioned throughout. The ones that became the most USEFUL were those as would be classified (or called in the present) as the IDEAL stature, that was of both male and female (as those separations had been begun); and the most ideal (as would be called) was Adam, who was in that period when he (Adam) appeared as five in one - See?

In this the physiognomy was that of a full head, with an extra EYE - as it were - in those portions that became what is known as the EYE. In the beginning these appeared in WHATEVER portion was desired by the body for its use!

As for the dress, those in the beginning were (and the Lord made for them coats) of the skins of the animals.

ਧਨਾਸਰੀ ਛੰਤ ਮਹਲਾ ੧ ॥

Dhanaasaree, Chhant, First Mehla:

 

ਪਿਰ ਸੰਗਿ ਮੂਠੜੀਏ ਖਬਰਿ ਨ ਪਾਈਆ ਜੀਉ ॥

Your Husband Lord is with you, O deluded soul-bride, but you do are not aware of Him.

 

ਮਸਤਕਿ ਲਿਖਿਅੜਾ ਲੇਖੁ ਪੁਰਬਿ ਕਮਾਇਆ ਜੀਉ ॥

Your destiny is written on your forehead, according to your past actions.

 

ਲੇਖੁ ਨ ਮਿਟਈ ਪੁਰਬਿ ਕਮਾਇਆ ਕਿਆ ਜਾਣਾ ਕਿਆ ਹੋਸੀ ॥

This inscription of past deeds cannot be erased; what do I know about what will happen?

 

ਗੁਣੀ ਅਚਾਰਿ ਨਹੀ ਰੰਗਿ ਰਾਤੀ ਅਵਗੁਣ ਬਹਿ ਬਹਿ ਰੋਸੀ ॥

You have not adopted a virtuous lifestyle, and you are not attuned to the Lord's Love; you sit there, crying over your past misdeeds.

 

ਧਨੁ ਜੋਬਨੁ ਆਕ ਕੀ ਛਾਇਆ ਬਿਰਧਿ ਭਏ ਦਿਨ ਪੁੰਨਿਆ ॥

Wealth and youth are like the shade of the bitter swallow-wort plant; you are growing old, and your days are coming to their end.

 

ਨਾਨਕ ਨਾਮ ਬਿਨਾ ਦੋਹਾਗਣਿ ਛੂਟੀ ਝੂਠਿ ਵਿਛੁੰਨਿਆ ॥੧॥

O Nanak, without the Naam, the Name of the Lord, you shall end up as a discarded, divorced bride; your own falsehood shall separate you from the Lord. ||1||

 

ਬੂਡੀ ਘਰੁ ਘਾਲਿਓ ਗੁਰ ਕੈ ਭਾਇ ਚਲੋ ॥

You have drowned, and your house is ruined; walk in the Way of the Guru's Will.

 

ਸਾਚਾ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਇ ਪਾਵਹਿ ਸੁਖਿ ਮਹਲੋ ॥

Meditate on the True Name, and you shall find peace in the Mansion of the Lord's Presence.

 

ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਧਿਆਏ ਤਾ ਸੁਖੁ ਪਾਏ ਪੇਈਅੜੈ ਦਿਨ ਚਾਰੇ ॥

Meditate on the Lord's Name, and you shall find peace; your stay in this world shall last only four days.

 

ਨਿਜ ਘਰਿ ਜਾਇ ਬਹੈ ਸਚੁ ਪਾਏ ਅਨਦਿਨੁ ਨਾਲਿ ਪਿਆਰੇ ॥

Sit in the home of your own being, and you shall find Truth; night and day, be with your Beloved.

 

ਜਾਇ ਬਹੈ ਸਚੁ ਪਾਏ ਅਨਦਿਨੁ ਨਾਲਿ ਪਿਆਰੇ ॥

Without loving devotion, you cannot dwell in your own home - listen, everyone!

 

ਨਾਨਕ ਸਰਸੀ ਤਾ ਪਿਰੁ ਪਾਏ ਰਾਤੀ ਸਾਚੈ ਨਾਏ ॥੨॥

O Nanak, she is happy, and she obtains her Husband Lord, if she is attuned to the True Name. ||2||

 

ਪਿਰੁ ਧਨ ਭਾਵੈ ਤਾ ਪਿਰ ਭਾਵੈ ਨਾਰੀ ਜੀਉ ॥

If the soul-bride is pleasing to her Husband Lord, then the Husband Lord will love His bride.

 

ਰੰਗਿ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ ਰਾਤੀ ਗੁਰ ਕੈ ਸਬਦਿ ਵੀਚਾਰੀ ਜੀਉ ॥

Imbued with the love of her Beloved, she contemplates the Word of the Guru's Shabad.

 

ਗੁਰ ਸਬਦਿ ਵੀਚਾਰੀ ਨਾਹ ਪਿਆਰੀ ਨਿਵਿ ਨਿਵਿ ਭਗਤਿ ਕਰੇਈ ॥

She contemplates the Guru's Shabads, and her Husband Lord loves her; in deep humility, she worships Him in loving devotion.

 

ਮਾਇਆ ਮੋਹੁ ਜਲਾਏ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮੁ ਰਸ ਮਹਿ ਰੰਗੁ ਕਰੇਈ ॥

She burns away her emotional attachment to Maya, and in love, she loves her Beloved.

 

ਪ੍ਰਭ ਸਾਚੇ ਸੇਤੀ ਰੰਗਿ ਰੰਗੇਤੀ ਲਾਲ ਭਈ ਮਨੁ ਮਾਰੀ ॥

She is imbued and drenched with the Love of the True Lord; she has become beautiful, by conquering her mind.

 

ਨਾਨਕ ਸਾਚਿ ਵਸੀ ਸੋਹਾਗਣਿ ਪਿਰ ਸਿਉ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਿ ਪਿਆਰੀ ॥੩॥

O Nanak, the happy soul-bride abides in Truth; she loves to love her Husband Lord. ||3||

 

ਪਿਰ ਘਰਿ ਸੋਹੈ ਨਾਰਿ ਜੇ ਪਿਰ ਭਾਵਏ ਜੀਉ ॥

The soul-bride looks so beautiful in the home of her Husband Lord, if she is pleasing to Him.

 

ਝੂਠੇ ਵੈਣ ਚਵੇ ਕਾਮਿ ਨ ਆਵਏ ਜੀਉ ॥

It is of no use at all to speak false words.

 

ਝੂਠੁ ਅਲਾਵੈ ਕਾਮਿ ਨ ਆਵੈ ਨਾ ਪਿਰੁ ਦੇਖੈ ਨੈਣੀ ॥

If she speaks false, it is of no use to her, and she does not see her Husband Lord with her eyes.

 

ਅਵਗੁਣਿਆਰੀ ਕੰਤਿ ਵਿਸਾਰੀ ਛੂਟੀ ਵਿਧਣ ਰੈਣੀ ॥

Worthless, forgotten and abandoned by her Husband Lord, she passes her life-night without her Lord and Master.

 

ਗੁਰ ਸਬਦੁ ਨ ਮਾਨੈ ਫਾਹੀ ਫਾਥੀ ਸਾ ਧਨ ਮਹਲੁ ਨ ਪਾਏ ॥

Such a wife does not believe in the Word of the Guru's Shabad; she is caught in the net of the world, and does not obtain the Mansion of the Lord's Presence.

 

ਨਾਨਕ ਆਪੇ ਆਪੁ ਪਛਾਣੈ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਸਹਜਿ ਸਮਾਏ ॥੪॥

O Nanak, if she understands her own self, then, as Gurmukh, she merges in celestial peace. ||4||

 

ਧਨ ਸੋਹਾਗਣਿ ਨਾਰਿ ਜਿਨਿ ਪਿਰੁ ਜਾਣਿਆ ਜੀਉ ॥

Blessed is that soul-bride, who knows her Husband Lord.

 

ਨਾਮ ਬਿਨਾ ਕੂੜਿਆਰਿ ਕੂੜੁ ਕਮਾਣਿਆ ਜੀਉ ॥

Without the Naam, she is false, and her actions are false as well.

 

ਹਰਿ ਭਗਤਿ ਸੁਹਾਵੀ ਸਾਚੇ ਭਾਵੀ ਭਾਇ ਭਗਤਿ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਰਾਤੀ ॥

Devotional worship of the Lord is beautiful; the True Lord loves it. So immerse yourself in loving devotional worship of God.

 

ਪਿਰੁ ਰਲੀਆਲਾ ਜੋਬਨਿ ਬਾਲਾ ਤਿਸੁ ਰਾਵੇ ਰੰਗਿ ਰਾਤੀ ॥

My Husband Lord is playful and innocent; imbued with His Love, I enjoy Him.

 

ਗੁਰ ਸਬਦਿ ਵਿਗਾਸੀ ਸਹੁ ਰਾਵਾਸੀ ਫਲੁ ਪਾਇਆ ਗੁਣਕਾਰੀ ॥

She blossoms forth through the Word of the Guru's Shabad; she ravishes her Husband Lord, and obtains the most noble reward.

 

ਨਾਨਕ ਸਾਚੁ ਮਿਲੈ ਵਡਿਆਈ ਪਿਰ ਘਰਿ ਸੋਹੈ ਨਾਰੀ ॥੫॥੩॥

O Nanak, in Truth, she obtains glory; in her Husband's home, the soul-bride looks beautiful. ||5||3||

  

Hukamnama at Gurdwara Sahib Fremont on new year's day.

  

Pretty amazing - pretty perfect. Aside from the fact that it was read/sung so beautifully by Harpreet Singh. As soon as we finished saying Fateh after the Hukamnama, Bhenji and I turned to each other and... We both felt the same way. Somehow, it was just perfect as "the year's Hukamnama". I used to be pretty attached to this Shabad when I was younger, but I didn't know what it meant then. It means so much more to me now that I at least vaguely understand it.

 

I've been doing this a lot lately - I'll upload a picture, and forget to unprivate it after I add the title/description, because I'm so used to my private uploads lately. I realized it a couple of days later, but I wasn't feeling that same feeling as when I first uploaded it, so I decided to wait. I was really hesitant about uploading this in the first place {not reallyy sure about the editing}, and the second time around, it was even worse.. But here we are! haha

 

GS is so cute - he was blushing within seconds of me walking up with my camera. Like, his cheeks actually turned red ^_^

The Meiji-style gate was donated to the JFG by the San Diego-Yokohama Sister City Society, and the late Will Hippen. The gate was dedicated to the former mayor of San Diego, the late Charles Dail, who established the first sister-city association with Yokohama. The gate now symbolizes the entrance to the future expansion of the JFG.The gate is typical of those used in towns in ancient Japan. The large doors were only opened for royalty. The normal folks had to pass through the smaller doors on the side. The crest on the large gates is the crest of the wife of the Emperor. It shows the Catalpa tree, which was her favorite.

www.sandiego.gov/digital-archives-photos/gate-japanese-fr...

 

"Zen has no gates. The purpose of Buddha’s words is to enlighten others; therefore, Zen is gateless. Now, how does one pass through this gateless gate?" Mumon

 

"The great Way has no gate;

Thousands of roads enter it.

When one passes through the gateless gate,

One walks freely throughout heaven and earth." Mumon

 

Charles C. Dail Memorial Gate to the Japanese Friendship Garden. Dail was the Mayor of San Diego from 1955 to 1963. The garden is an expression of friendship between San Diego and its Sister City Yokohama, Japan. The 1915 Panama California Exposition included a Japanese Teahouse and garden, which remained until 1941. In 1955, a plan for restoring a Japanese garden was started. In 1968, the San Diego Yokohama Sister City Society acquired and dedicated the gate to show commitment. The new garden opened in 1999.

www.niwa.org/

 

The mission of the Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego (JFG) is to develop a traditional Japanese garden as a center to educate, engage, and inspire people of diverse backgrounds about Japanese culture and community legacy.

 

JFG is an accredited museum that offers a variety of educational programs, exhibits, and cultural festivals to enhance appreciation and understanding of Japanese culture. Over 330,000 visitors from the United States and internationally attend the garden annually. JFG opened to the public in 1991 and is an expression of friendship between San Diego and its sister city, Yokohama. The garden is inspired from centuries-old Japanese design and techniques that showcase JFG’s living exhibition comprised of plants and florae native to Japan and San Diego. The second phase opened in 1999 and was designed by renowned landscape architect Takeo Uesugi, which included the addition of the Exhibit Hall, Activity Center, and Upper Koi Pond. The third phase, completed in 2015, incorporated a 200 cherry tree grove, large azalea and camellia garden, a water feature reminiscent of the San Diego watershed, and the state of the art Inamori Pavilion. Today, JFG resides on 12 acres and fosters a relationship between humans and nature, providing a respite attuned to Japanese simplicity, serenity, and aestheticism.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Friendship_Garden_(Balboa_Park)

 

San Diego 2023

 

DSC04421 LRC Dail Gate

Towards the end of March I made another trip to Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.

 

This Juvenile Spoonbill continued to have a flap around.

 

Spoonbills are relatively rare breeding birds in the UK, but their numbers are increasing. They are most often found along coastal sites in southern and eastern England. The main stronghold for breeding spoonbills in the UK is Holkham Nature Reserve in Norfolk.

 

Spoonbills are named after their bizarre spatula-like bill. Generally feeding in flocks, they swing their slightly open beaks from side to side through shallow pools of water. Their remarkable bill is packed full of sensors attuned to the tiniest vibrations, and once located, unlucky beetles, crustaceans, worms, small fish, tadpoles and frogs stand no chance of escape.

This magnificent structure at 101 N Last Chance Gulch (First National Bank) was the second home of Montana Territory's first bank, chartered in 1866.

 

Combining Romanesque, French Second Empire and popular Victorian-period stylistic elements, the St. Paul firm of Hodgson, Wallingford and Stem created this three-story building of native granite and brown Wisconsin sandstone.

 

The bank occupied the building from its completion in 1886 to 1931. The Securities Building, as it is known today, stands as witness to Helena's great prosperity in the 1880s.

 

In the sandstone beltline above the corner entrance, to the left and right, are two dates. On the left "1866", the bank's date of organization and on the right "1886", the date of completion of this building.

 

The "1886" date also appears above the corner entrance transom. Standing at the corner of Main and Grand streets it was built for the princely sum of $35,000.

 

For many years the banks primary business was handling gold dust from the nearby placer diggings. Initially organized to serve the needs of the mines and miners, the First National Bank grew and changed with the times and shifted its emphasis to serving the growing cattle and sheep industries.

 

The bank sailed along until the "panic of 1893", which ultimately took the bank down, along with many of its peers.

 

During a two week period in July 1893 more than a million dollars in coin and currency were withdrawn from Helena's banks.

 

On July 27, the First National Bank suspended operations. The bank managed to pull itself out of receivership in 1903, continuing in operation in the building until moving to a new Art Deco Building in 1931.

 

Today the renovated building contains apartments and office space.

 

BULLWHACKER SCULPTURE:

Commerce that started during Helena's gold rush days flourished. Traders were supplied by freight wagons from Fort Benton.

 

Attuned to noise, the oxen responded to the crack of the whip over their heads and the constant curses of the bullwhacker, hence this sculpture, a testament to the gold rush era.

 

In September, 1976, John B. Weaver’s model of “The Bullwhacker” was chosen for a monument depicting a phase of the early history of Helena.

 

Before the railroad came in 1883, goods that could not be locally made arrived in Helena by oxen or mule teams.

 

Freighters experimented with camels, too, but that idea failed. If mules caught the scent of camels on the wind, they bolted every time, leaving goods spilled down the mountainsides.

 

Bullwhackers like this one, sculpted by John B. Weaver, walked alongside the teams of oxen, cracking their whips to keep the animals moving.

 

John B. Weaver was born in Anaconda, Montana in 1920. After studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, Weaver taught at the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, was curator at the Montana Historical Society for five years, and then spent six years as Natural History Sculptor for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C.

 

Among Weaver’s other major commissions are the Charles M. Russell bronze at Statuary Hall in Washington, D. C., monumental memorials at Butte and Helena, Montana, and portrait busts of President Harry S. Truman and General Douglas MacArthur. Weaver’s works have also been found in numerous private collections, including those of Mrs. Aristotle Onassis and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson.

This might seem somewhat strange for me to say, but I often hike when I'd rather not. There's no one making me, and in fact, I kind of want to hike when I don't want to. There's a lot to learn about myself in times like those. Long distance runners talk about hitting a wall, deep into a marathon, pushing past the limits of human endurance. But my limits are never physical. I'm in decent shape, so a few hours in the forest is no great challenge. The question is more in leaving home for the cold or heat, overcoming an urge to sleep in longer or kick back all day on the couch. I'm not a driven person by nature. I suppose that sounds absurd, for someone starting off his nineteenth year of daily exploration. Some think I possess an unquenchable force pushing me forward. In the absence of that, I've discovered the joy in making myself, going against the gravity of a less-than-willing mind. Those who went full-out since birth are deeply disturbed when change comes to them. They might be miles beyond my physical capacity, but when anxiety, depression, or injury arrives with a desire to curl up and stay put — they may not have the paths in thoughts to follow out. I've turned out well-attuned to all my best escape routes. That mattered a lot when I was younger, and with age, it matters more.

 

November 22, 2025

Moschelle, Nova Scotia

 

Year 19, Day 6586 of my daily journal.

 

bluesky | etsy | facebook | instagram

substack | threads | tumblr | youtube

 

You can support my work

get things in the mail

and see everything

first on Patreon

As I did on G+ I'd like to thank everyone who still follows me after being away from here for a few months. Much appreciated. And to new followers some of who picked up on my foray into Street photography with the previous post. I'll stay attuned to that now and if I can find images with a similar vibe when I'm out and about I'll definately be doing more.

 

This is more back to my usual thing, I see a kind of beauty in scenes I know others may see as ugly or mundane. I thought the dark barren rocky and sandy ground round this old WWII Pillbox was perfect for it. So often they are overgrown with grass and weeds and look kind of quaint. I wanted an image with some tension, evocative of those times.

 

Website | Google+

“Their desire was silent yet magnificent, like a thousand daisies attuning their faces toward the path of the sun.”

― Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides

 

other flickr • blog • tumblr

side note: the Fuji X-E5 is a lovely little camera but I don't love the skin tones I've been getting from it under less-than-stellar artificial light - either going murky or skewing too red if I try to fight it. I think I'm too attuned to how my Sony FF cameras deal with all kinds of lighting conditions.

"The design and idea behind the first-ever BMW M2 Coupé stem from the historical roots of BMW M GmbH. The vehicle combines top sporting prowess and classic rear-wheel drive with the precision and agility of a modern M automobile. Characteristic front and rear aprons optimise air flow and aerodynamics. The sportily attuned suspension and a powerful M TwinPower Turbo inline 6-cylinder petrol engine ensure breathtaking performance..."

 

For more info please visit official BMW website: bmw.com

 

Car on the photo above was available for test drives during Top Marques Monaco 2016 but unfortunatelly I couldn't get any test drives and all I could do was admiring the design and sound of this car.

 

bmw.com

topmarquesmonaco.com/

 

________________________________________________

 

www.facebook.com/MarcinWojciechowskiPhotography/

Monica Gandhi: Science in the Arena

 

I photographed Monica Gandhi on May 5, 2021, at Ward 86 at San Francisco General, one of the most historically significant HIV clinics in the world. It was the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of uncertainty, shifting policies, and public anxiety. Gandhi was in the thick of it—writing op-eds, giving interviews, and advocating for a balanced, evidence-driven response to the crisis. She was everywhere, and whether people agreed with her or not, they listened.

 

She wasn’t just another public health voice repeating the party line. Gandhi was precise, pragmatic, and unafraid to challenge prevailing narratives when the science led her elsewhere. She spoke about risk assessment, the importance of ventilation, and the role of vaccines as the key to moving past fear and restriction. She often found herself at odds with more cautious approaches, pushing instead for policies that accounted for both public health and the human need for connection. Some saw her as a much-needed realist, others as a contrarian, but she was always deeply engaged in the data, unwilling to let ideology drive the response to a pandemic that demanded clear-eyed thinking.

 

But COVID wasn’t the first pandemic Gandhi had spent her career studying. Her roots were in HIV research, and that background shaped her approach. Ward 86, where we met, was a fitting place—ground zero for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S. It was there that doctors had fought another deadly virus, one that in its early days was also met with confusion, stigma, and fear. Gandhi had dedicated much of her work to HIV treatment and prevention, with a particular focus on long-acting antiretrovirals, disparities in access to care, and the global fight against the virus. She studied how to simplify HIV treatment regimens for better adherence, how to make care more equitable, and how to develop new ways of preventing transmission—work that had a direct impact on real-world health outcomes.

 

By the time COVID arrived, Gandhi had spent decades thinking about infectious disease through the lens of both science and public policy. She understood that a virus wasn’t just a biological entity—it existed in a world shaped by politics, fear, and trust. She was particularly attuned to the impact of health policies on the most vulnerable. People living with HIV were disproportionately affected not just by COVID itself, but by the lockdowns and restrictions meant to control it. Many struggled with disrupted care, delayed treatments, and the social isolation that came with shutdowns. Those who were poor suffered the most—public school closures in the Bay Area lasted far longer than those of private schools, widening educational and economic disparities that would persist long after the pandemic was over.

 

Her work on HIV had also made her a fierce advocate for harm reduction—a philosophy she carried into COVID. She argued that the pandemic response needed to be practical, sustainable, and rooted in what people could realistically adhere to over time. She pushed for policies that focused on protecting the most vulnerable while allowing society to function, drawing from decades of research on how public health measures succeed or fail in the real world. She understood that restrictions had trade-offs, and that shutting down society came with its own set of consequences, particularly for those with the least resources.

 

When we met, she was warm, focused, and deeply thoughtful. She had that rare quality in a scientist—the ability to hold firm opinions while still being open to new data. She listened carefully, processed everything, and responded with precision. As she stood in the hallway of Ward 86, the history of another pandemic surrounding her, she spoke about the challenges of communication during a crisis. How do you give people clear guidance when the science is still evolving? How do you maintain public trust when policies shift? How do you weigh the costs of restrictions against their benefits? These were the questions she wrestled with daily, not just in academic circles but in the public arena.

 

Her willingness to step into that arena—to engage in the messiness of public debate—set her apart. It would have been easier to stay in the lab, publish papers, and let others handle the political side of things. But Gandhi believed that science wasn’t just about discovery; it was about application. And in a pandemic, applying science meant communicating it, defending it, and sometimes fighting for it against resistance from all sides.

 

In the years since, much of what she advocated for—ventilation as a key mitigation strategy, the prioritization of vaccines over prolonged restrictions, and the need for a balanced approach to risk—has become widely accepted. But at the time, it wasn’t always easy to say. She took criticism from those who felt she was too aggressive in pushing for normalcy and from those who thought she wasn’t aggressive enough. She walked that line carefully, always returning to the data.

 

That day at Ward 86, I saw a scientist who wasn’t just studying history—she was shaping it.

Portland's Tip Top Cleaners has gone to the great High Street in the sky, but its iconic sign remains. The space where generations of Portlanders dropped off laundry and picked up dry cleaning is now occupied by a mini vintage mall.

 

One of the 12 vendors sells rugs, including the Afghan war rugs seen here. In my opinion, they're priced to take you to the cleaners. In any case, it was my first exposure to this genre. I went in search of answers to the many questions these rugs provoked. My quest was successful. Read on!

 

"Ultimately, Afghan war rugs are produced for the market. It’s that simple."

 

The real story behind Afghanistan’s war rugs

 

The war rugs are distinctive and dynamic, but they’re often wildly misunderstood.

 

By Jamal J. Elias

Fast Company

9 September 2021

 

The end of the U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan has resulted in the withdrawal of most foreign aid workers and contractors.

 

It may well also spell the demise of the country’s war rug industry.

As a specialist in the visual and material culture of the Islamic world, I first became aware of war rugs when I was working on a book on truck decoration in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.

 

Since that time, I’ve followed changes in this industry and cultivated relationships with Pakistani and Afghan rug sellers.

War rugs – with symbols of war – are distinctive and dynamic in their styles. But they’re often misunderstood by buyers, journalists and curators.

 

The growth of the war rug market

 

There is no evidence of the existence of Afghan war rugs prior to the late-20th century.

The earliest rugs seem to have emerged shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 from refugee camps in Pakistan, where millions of Afghans had relocated.

 

Featuring guns, helicopters and tanks, they were small and shoddily made with coarse wool. Rug sellers and souvenir shops pitched them to workers for non-government organizations and Western government officials.

 

The designs have become more sophisticated over the years.

English words were added, intentionally or accidentally garbled with Cyrillic words and letters to evoke a Soviet connection.

 

After 9/11, fixed patterns started to emerge – a sign that weavers were adhering to templates provided by rug merchants.

 

The images made it clear that they were hoping to primarily appeal to an American souvenir market.

 

One popular design commemorates the 9/11 attacks, pointing out that it was not Afghans who were responsible, but terrorists from other countries.

 

Another depicts a map of Afghanistan, professing Afghanistan’s friendship with the U.S. with text and images. It has the misspelled word “terrarism” written on the region of the country associated with the Taliban.

 

The writing on some rugs declares that they’re made in Sheberghan, a city in northern Afghanistan famous for its Turkmen weavers.

 

It’s unlikely that they’re all made there. However, whether they’re made in northern Afghanistan or in Afghan settlements in Pakistan, the word “Shebergan,” written in English, is supposed to signal that these rugs are authentically Afghan.

 

Such rugs are readily available on eBay and were – until recently – sold by souvenir sellers in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan’s cities with the largest number of foreign workers and tourists.

 

With the Taliban’s return to power, it remains unclear what the future of rug making and its market will be.

 

Over the years, war motifs have found their way into higher-quality, larger carpets, with small tanks appearing where rows of medallions might traditionally have been. Other rugs feature a more comprehensive integration of modern and traditional patterns.

 

While these larger carpets take substantially more time to make and cost more money than the far more common smaller, coarser rugs, they nevertheless don’t meet the standards of fine carpets, which suggests they’re geared more to souvenir collectors than those seeking luxury home furnishings.

 

Misreading the meaning of the rugs

 

Over the past 20 years, Afghan war rugs have garnered considerable attention.

 

Books in German and English describe, catalog and contextualize them. Magazines and major newspapers have run features on them, and university art galleries have exhibited them.

 

Within the coverage, there’s a tendency to see war rugs as a reflection of the emotional lives of the weavers, who, wracked by war and violence, felt compelled to incorporate these motifs into their designs.

 

Articles and exhibits often ignore the reality that rug brokers and dealers – not weavers – are the ones who are attuned to fickle market tastes.

 

Studies on labor in the rug industry note that they’re normally the ones who supply weavers with new patterns, color schemes and yarn. I’ve seen the same dynamic in my own long-term observations.

 

Yet you’ll still see exhibit curators describe war rugs as combining “ancient practice with the latest in the daily lives of the weavers,” or as windows into the perspectives of everyday Afghans – the “underdogs” in a country subsumed by strife.

 

In 2014, The New York Times reported that weavers had incorporated “the grim realities of life in a war zone into their traditional craft.”

 

Six years earlier, Smithsonian Magazine buried a brief acknowledgment that the rugs are for tourists under claims – with scant evidence – that the earliest war rugs were intended for Afghan buyers who resented the Soviet invasion. Later, the writer notes that female weavers drew from their own lives when they incorporated symbols of violence.

 

The appeal of the trauma market

 

With so much evidence showing that Afghan war rugs are produced in response to market demand, why do claims that they’re based on the weavers’ experiences of war persist?

 

Part of the answer lies in the global market for handicrafts. Buyers want to feel like they’re purchasing artisanal products when, in reality, they’re sold by the thousands in chain stores and through online storefronts such as Ten Thousand Villages or Etsy.

 

Implying that rugs are a source of income for traumatized and destitute Afghan women ignores the reality that the overwhelming majority of profits go to middlemen and dealers.

 

A work-from-home model encourages workers to devote all available time to rug production. It also encourages child labor: Children are either tasked with making the crude rugs or are forced to take up the responsibilities of adults.

 

The appeal of war rugs – and the insistence that their designs represent a victim’s experience of war – seems to reflect a vicarious desire to peer into the emotional experience of Afghan civilians.

 

In reality, though, this gives primacy not to the actual experiences of Afghans, but to the viewers’ and customers’ ideas of victimhood.

 

The granular realities of the loss of home and animals, family deaths or food insecurity aren’t represented in the rugs. Nor should we assume weavers would wish to put their own traumas on display for the world.

 

Modern rugs are not venues for self-expression, and the designs tend to contain an index of symbols that reflect an outsider’s understanding of war: AK-47s, 9/11, security politics and drones.

 

Nowhere in the rugs do we see the well-documented psychological and health impacts on Afghanistan’s population caused by decades of deprivation and violence.

 

Real trauma is not only hard to turn into a commodity, it is also hard to live with – even in souvenirs.

www.fastcompany.com/90678962/the-real-story-behind-afghan...

 

Jamal J. Elias is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A week later and another trip to Slimbridge on the 1st of April.

 

A adult Spoonbill flies in to land by the Tack Piece Lagoon.

 

Spoonbills are relatively rare breeding birds in the UK, but their numbers are increasing. They are most often found along coastal sites in southern and eastern England. The main stronghold for breeding spoonbills in the UK is Holkham Nature Reserve in Norfolk.

 

Spoonbills are named after their bizarre spatula-like bill. Generally feeding in flocks, they swing their slightly open beaks from side to side through shallow pools of water. Their remarkable bill is packed full of sensors attuned to the tiniest vibrations, and once located, unlucky beetles, crustaceans, worms, small fish, tadpoles and frogs stand no chance of escape.

A week later and another trip to Slimbridge on the 1st of April.

 

The Juvenile Spoonbill was putting in a great appearance again as it worked its way along the edge of the Tack Piece Lagoon.

 

Spoonbills are relatively rare breeding birds in the UK, but their numbers are increasing. They are most often found along coastal sites in southern and eastern England. The main stronghold for breeding spoonbills in the UK is Holkham Nature Reserve in Norfolk.

 

Spoonbills are named after their bizarre spatula-like bill. Generally feeding in flocks, they swing their slightly open beaks from side to side through shallow pools of water. Their remarkable bill is packed full of sensors attuned to the tiniest vibrations, and once located, unlucky beetles, crustaceans, worms, small fish, tadpoles and frogs stand no chance of escape.

Portland's Tip Top Cleaners has gone to the great Main Street in the sky, but its iconic sign remains. The space where generations of Portlanders dropped off laundry and picked up dry cleaning is now occupied by a mini vintage mall.

 

One of the 12 vendors sells rugs, including the Afghan war rugs seen here. In my opinion, they're priced to take you to the cleaners. In any case, it was my first exposure to this genre. I went in search of answers to the many questions these rugs provoked. My quest was successful. Read on!

 

"Ultimately, Afghan war rugs are produced for the market. It’s that simple."

 

The real story behind Afghanistan’s war rugs

 

The war rugs are distinctive and dynamic, but they’re often wildly misunderstood.

 

By Jamal J. Elias

Fast Company

9 September 2021

 

The end of the U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan has resulted in the withdrawal of most foreign aid workers and contractors.

 

It may well also spell the demise of the country’s war rug industry.

As a specialist in the visual and material culture of the Islamic world, I first became aware of war rugs when I was working on a book on truck decoration in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.

 

Since that time, I’ve followed changes in this industry and cultivated relationships with Pakistani and Afghan rug sellers.

War rugs – with symbols of war – are distinctive and dynamic in their styles. But they’re often misunderstood by buyers, journalists and curators.

 

The growth of the war rug market

 

There is no evidence of the existence of Afghan war rugs prior to the late-20th century.

The earliest rugs seem to have emerged shortly after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 from refugee camps in Pakistan, where millions of Afghans had relocated.

 

Featuring guns, helicopters and tanks, they were small and shoddily made with coarse wool. Rug sellers and souvenir shops pitched them to workers for non-government organizations and Western government officials.

 

The designs have become more sophisticated over the years.

English words were added, intentionally or accidentally garbled with Cyrillic words and letters to evoke a Soviet connection.

 

After 9/11, fixed patterns started to emerge – a sign that weavers were adhering to templates provided by rug merchants.

 

The images made it clear that they were hoping to primarily appeal to an American souvenir market.

 

One popular design commemorates the 9/11 attacks, pointing out that it was not Afghans who were responsible, but terrorists from other countries.

 

Another depicts a map of Afghanistan, professing Afghanistan’s friendship with the U.S. with text and images. It has the misspelled word “terrarism” written on the region of the country associated with the Taliban.

 

The writing on some rugs declares that they’re made in Sheberghan, a city in northern Afghanistan famous for its Turkmen weavers.

 

It’s unlikely that they’re all made there. However, whether they’re made in northern Afghanistan or in Afghan settlements in Pakistan, the word “Shebergan,” written in English, is supposed to signal that these rugs are authentically Afghan.

 

Such rugs are readily available on eBay and were – until recently – sold by souvenir sellers in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan’s cities with the largest number of foreign workers and tourists.

 

With the Taliban’s return to power, it remains unclear what the future of rug making and its market will be.

 

Over the years, war motifs have found their way into higher-quality, larger carpets, with small tanks appearing where rows of medallions might traditionally have been. Other rugs feature a more comprehensive integration of modern and traditional patterns.

 

While these larger carpets take substantially more time to make and cost more money than the far more common smaller, coarser rugs, they nevertheless don’t meet the standards of fine carpets, which suggests they’re geared more to souvenir collectors than those seeking luxury home furnishings.

 

Misreading the meaning of the rugs

 

Over the past 20 years, Afghan war rugs have garnered considerable attention.

 

Books in German and English describe, catalog and contextualize them. Magazines and major newspapers have run features on them, and university art galleries have exhibited them.

 

Within the coverage, there’s a tendency to see war rugs as a reflection of the emotional lives of the weavers, who, wracked by war and violence, felt compelled to incorporate these motifs into their designs.

 

Articles and exhibits often ignore the reality that rug brokers and dealers – not weavers – are the ones who are attuned to fickle market tastes.

 

Studies on labor in the rug industry note that they’re normally the ones who supply weavers with new patterns, color schemes and yarn. I’ve seen the same dynamic in my own long-term observations.

 

Yet you’ll still see exhibit curators describe war rugs as combining “ancient practice with the latest in the daily lives of the weavers,” or as windows into the perspectives of everyday Afghans – the “underdogs” in a country subsumed by strife.

 

In 2014, The New York Times reported that weavers had incorporated “the grim realities of life in a war zone into their traditional craft.”

 

Six years earlier, Smithsonian Magazine buried a brief acknowledgment that the rugs are for tourists under claims – with scant evidence – that the earliest war rugs were intended for Afghan buyers who resented the Soviet invasion. Later, the writer notes that female weavers drew from their own lives when they incorporated symbols of violence.

 

The appeal of the trauma market

 

With so much evidence showing that Afghan war rugs are produced in response to market demand, why do claims that they’re based on the weavers’ experiences of war persist?

 

Part of the answer lies in the global market for handicrafts. Buyers want to feel like they’re purchasing artisanal products when, in reality, they’re sold by the thousands in chain stores and through online storefronts such as Ten Thousand Villages or Etsy.

 

Implying that rugs are a source of income for traumatized and destitute Afghan women ignores the reality that the overwhelming majority of profits go to middlemen and dealers.

 

A work-from-home model encourages workers to devote all available time to rug production. It also encourages child labor: Children are either tasked with making the crude rugs or are forced to take up the responsibilities of adults.

 

The appeal of war rugs – and the insistence that their designs represent a victim’s experience of war – seems to reflect a vicarious desire to peer into the emotional experience of Afghan civilians.

 

In reality, though, this gives primacy not to the actual experiences of Afghans, but to the viewers’ and customers’ ideas of victimhood.

 

The granular realities of the loss of home and animals, family deaths or food insecurity aren’t represented in the rugs. Nor should we assume weavers would wish to put their own traumas on display for the world.

 

Modern rugs are not venues for self-expression, and the designs tend to contain an index of symbols that reflect an outsider’s understanding of war: AK-47s, 9/11, security politics and drones.

 

Nowhere in the rugs do we see the well-documented psychological and health impacts on Afghanistan’s population caused by decades of deprivation and violence.

 

Real trauma is not only hard to turn into a commodity, it is also hard to live with – even in souvenirs.

www.fastcompany.com/90678962/the-real-story-behind-afghan...

 

Jamal J. Elias is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

When a Jedi scouting party was searching an asteroid belt in the Cularin System for Imperial installations, they stumbled upon a hollowed out rock with an unusually high organic signature. Upon entering they found a long-dead station, so old that even the automated defences, a hitherto unknown biomechanical system, were somnolescent.

 

Within were thousands of sleeping pods, all empty, living quarters so ancient that walls and furnishings crumbled to dust at the slightest touch, and then, right in the centre, held aloft by a gently writhing plinth of non-Newtonian fluid, a single, intact starfighter.

 

The fighter, a bizarre object with a twin V-shaped hyperdrive armature and very pointy primary weapons, was gently removed and shipped back to the quarantine level of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. It resisted all attempts at taking samples or opening. Its material seemed softly organic to the touch but immediately developed a preternatural toughness as soon as any tool was brought close.

 

The V-Wing remained impregnable and unassailed for several months until it was moved to the Jedi museum on the main temple level. Master Yoda happened by, accompanied by Pokludix Zaa. The starfighter immediately reacted, the transparent, globe-like cockpit suddenly dematerialising and the green tentacular structures within seemingly beckoning to Pokludix.

 

Master Yoda himself said very little, simply, “Hmmm? Hm. Errhhhm.” And then, after a few more moments of green tentacular beckoning towards Zaa, “Pokludix, to fly it perhaps this starfighter wants you. Perhaps somehow attuned to its systems you are. Yes, hmmm.”

 

Zaa tentatively approached and placed himself within the pilot’s seat. The green tentacles eveloped him in a gentle embrace, and then morphed themselves into an organic safety harness. The globular cockpit rematerialized and then the whole ship began to hum. And then…

 

My final build for the Alphabet Fighter contest at FBTB.

 

  

both opening prompt and vanishing point for these mostly gestural ink paintings is a quote from artist Alok Hsu Kwang-han –

 

“the emptiness of the self is the one who can move through the broken heart of the world and feel at home”

 

the initial impulse to allow the intuition of the moment to guide the brush strokes, as portraits of energy or presencing; a kind of witnessing without accumulation or interference, attunement to murmurations; while occasionally more representational images emerge – as well, entendering – and in the spirit of the initial quotation, everything belongs

Japanese Friendship Garden Brochure

Dry stream. The Dry Stream suggests the fall of water through carefully placed stones. Designed by experts from Japan, the Dry Stream has an elevation drop of approx. 30 ft. and took roughly one to two months to complete.

 

“The rocks are where they are- and this is their will. The rivers flow- and this is their will. The birds fly- this is their will. Human beings talk- this is their will. The seasons change, heaven sends down rain or snow, the earth occasionally shakes, the waves roll, the stars shine- each of them follows its own will. To be is to will and so is to become.” D.T. Suzuki

 

www.niwa.org/

The mission of the Japanese Friendship Garden Society of San Diego (JFG) is to develop a traditional Japanese garden as a center to educate, engage, and inspire people of diverse backgrounds about Japanese culture and community legacy.

 

JFG is an accredited museum that offers a variety of educational programs, exhibits, and cultural festivals to enhance appreciation and understanding of Japanese culture. Over 330,000 visitors from the United States and internationally attend the garden annually. JFG opened to the public in 1991 and is an expression of friendship between San Diego and its sister city, Yokohama. The garden is inspired from centuries-old Japanese design and techniques that showcase JFG’s living exhibition comprised of plants and florae native to Japan and San Diego. The second phase opened in 1999 and was designed by renowned landscape architect Takeo Uesugi, which included the addition of the Exhibit Hall, Activity Center, and Upper Koi Pond. The third phase, completed in 2015, incorporated a 200 cherry tree grove, large azalea and camellia garden, a water feature reminiscent of the San Diego watershed, and the state of the art Inamori Pavilion. Today, JFG resides on 12 acres and fosters a relationship between humans and nature, providing a respite attuned to Japanese simplicity, serenity, and aestheticism.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Friendship_Garden_(Balboa_Park)

 

San Diego 2023

 

DSC04491 dry stream rocks LR

Meadowsweet or mead wort, is a perennial herb in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows.

 

An important food plant for hoverflies, butterflies and bees, it is also the main food plant for caterpillars of the following moths – Brown Spot Pinion, Hebrew Character, Powdered Quaker, Emperor, Lesser Cream Wave and Satyr Pug. Roots produce a black dye and the leaves a blue pigment both of which were widely used by the Celts. The seeds provide food for birds.

 

Culpepper says :

'The leaves, when they are full grown, being laid on the skin will, in a short time, raise blisters thereon, as Tragus saith.' He also states that for acquiring the 'merry heart' some use the flowers and some the leaves.' He tells us that 'a leave hereof put into a cup of claret wine gives also a fine relish to it.'

 

Aromatic, astringent, diuretic, and sub-tonic. It is a valuable medicine in diarrhoea, imparting to the bowels some degree of nourishment, as well as of astringency. It is also considered of some service as a corrector of the stomach, and not without some power as an alterative, and is frequently used in affections of the blood. It is a good remedy in strangury, dropsy, etc., and almost a specific in children's diarrhoea.

 

Meadowsweet was one of the Druid's most revered herbs. In the Mabinogion it is told that, among other herbs, Meadowsweet served as a magical ingredient to create the flower maiden 'Bloddeuedd' who was to be the wife of Llew Llaw Gyffes. Thus it is often associated with love magic. Alas, the magical marriage did not last. Meadowsweet may be more suitable for finding a passionate but short-lived affair rather than marital bliss. It is also associated with the gift of courage and protection and may be used to attune to the fairy realm.

In March 2025, I photographed Dr. Catie Cuan, a rare kind of technologist—one who does not merely study movement but inhabits it, shaping our understanding of both human and robotic motion in ways that feel at once inevitable and revolutionary. To witness her at work is to see someone in deep conversation with machines, coaxing out a language of movement that is not just efficient but expressive, not just technical but emotional.

A trained dancer and mechanical engineer, Cuan is a pioneer in ‘choreorobotics,’ a field that merges artificial intelligence, human-robot interaction, and art. Her career has been a dance in itself, moving fluidly between performance, research, and entrepreneurship, all in pursuit of a singular question: how can robots move in a way that feels alive?

Cuan holds a PhD and a Master’s of Science in robotics and AI from Stanford, where she is also a postdoctoral researcher leading the art and robotics efforts at the new Stanford Robotics Center. Her dissertation, “Compelling Robot Behaviors through Supervised Learning and Choreorobotics,” explores how machine learning can teach robots to move in ways that evoke presence—where motion itself carries meaning. During her doctoral research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, Google, and Stanford University, she led the first multi-robot machine learning project at Everyday Robots (Google X) and Robotics at Google, now part of Google DeepMind.

But Cuan is not content to leave her work in the realm of academia. She has spent years choreographing robots, treating them not as rigid automatons but as performers capable of communicating through motion. She has held residencies at the Smithsonian, the Exploratorium, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, TED, Everyday Robots (Google X), the RAD Lab, and ThoughtWorks Arts, working with nearly a dozen different robotic platforms—from the industrial ABB IRB 6700 to small, interactive tabletop machines. Her performances reimagine robots not as servants or tools, but as collaborators, capable of moving with grace, intention, and even artistry.

Cuan’s vision is as much about rethinking robotics as it is about rethinking humanity’s relationship to machines. Her work suggests that the way a robot moves can influence the way we feel about it—that movement is not just a function of engineering but of psychology, of storytelling, of something deeply embedded in how we perceive life itself. In healthcare, she envisions robots that move with a bedside manner, adjusting their motion to put patients at ease. In entertainment, she imagines robots that can dance, that can anticipate and respond to human motion as a partner rather than an operator. Her work, at its core, is about breaking down the binary between the organic and the artificial.

Photographing Cuan, I saw someone who carries these ideas not just in her mind but in her body. Her own movements are precise yet fluid, deliberate yet spontaneous, as though she is always attuned to the forces of motion around her. In that moment, it was clear: she is not just designing how robots move—she is teaching them how to be seen, how to be understood, how to exist in a world that has, until now, only made space for the living.

 

Sometimes we know people who just radiate love through their smile. This person is one of the kindest people I know. She is attune to everyone in a room and truly makes our day as a family!

... passing in front of the Schröder House.

Designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1924. A private residence until 1985.

Architectural highlight of De Stijl and iconic

landmark in Utrecht.

 

In 1924, Truus Schröder asked well-known Utrecht furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld to design a new house for her. A recently widowed mother of three, she wanted a dwelling completely attuned to her – and to her unconventional ideas about what a home should be. Having worked with Rietveld in the past, she knew his disdain for tradition. It was a match made in heaven.

 

Schröder played an important role in the design process. She knew exactly what she wanted: simplicity and a space that freed rather than constrained her.

Source: www.rietveldschroderhuis.nl/en

---------------

Ontworpen door Gerrit Rietveld in 1924. Bewoond tot 1985.

Architectonisch hoogtepunt van De Stijl en icoon

in de stad Utrecht.

 

In 1924 vraagt Truus Schröder de bekende Utrechtse meubelontwerper Gerrit Rietveld of hij haar nieuwe woonhuis wil ontwerpen. De moeder van drie kinderen is net weduwe geworden en wil een huis dat helemaal voldoet aan haar eigenzinnige woonideeën. Ze kent Rietveld al van een eerdere samenwerking en weet dat ook hij zich afzet tegen tradities. Een perfecte combinatie.

 

Rietveld en Schröder werken samen aan het ontwerp van het huis. Schröder weet precies wat ze wil: soberheid en léven in plaats van geleefd worden.

 

Bron: www.rietveldschroderhuis.nl/nl/rietveld-schroderhuis?set_...

I do!

 

“Keats mourned that the rainbow, which as a boy had been for him a magic thing, had lost its glory because the physicists had found it resulted merely from the refraction of the sunlight by the raindrops. Yet knowledge of its causation could not spoil the rainbow for me. I am sure that it is not given to man to be omniscient. There will always be something left to know, something to excite the imagination of the poet and those attuned to the great world in which they live"

 

― Robert Frost, Interviews With Robert Frost

 

"Old First Church"

First Congregational Church of Bennington

Eternal Home of Robert Frost

May 2013

Anytime I see BMW M2 I have to take photo of it. I really like this car.

 

"The design and idea behind the first-ever BMW M2 Coupé stem from the historical roots of BMW M GmbH. The vehicle combines top sporting prowess and classic rear-wheel drive with the precision and agility of a modern M automobile. Characteristic front and rear aprons optimise air flow and aerodynamics. The sportily attuned suspension and a powerful M TwinPower Turbo inline 6-cylinder petrol engine ensure breathtaking performance..."

 

Source: BMW Ireland.

 

Photographed at Dublin Weston Airport during first Performance Car Vmax event organized by Runway Club Ireland. If you live in Ireland and you'd like to visit next event organized by them please keep an eye at official website here: Runway Club Ireland

________________________________________________

 

Marcin Wojciechowski Photography

 

Marcinek_55 Instagram

 

attuned

to whisperings

from within

      

Of all the dark and sundry tools employed by the Revenant Sisterhood, none is as controversial as the energumens. These wretched souls are the formerly possessed, purified by the Matriarch and subsequently bound into service for life. Relocated to a secret asylum below Cathedral, they are exposed for months on end to tortured hosts still plagued by the spirit of a demon, and subjected to devastating psychological conditioning that attunes their mind to the presence of demonkind within mortal bodies. Like crystal that resonates when a specific note is intoned, an energumen’s very soul vibrates in the presence of the possessed.

 

Energumens emerge from these dank quarters nearly mad, unnaturally sensitive to the world around them. The manner in which they are treated varies, but most are leashed like animals, leveraged for their aggression and unique talents with no regard to their safety or the ongoing degradation of their sanity. As an energumen’s reception increases, he is able to sense the possessed from miles away, and becomes almost impossible to control in their presence. Plagued with severe headaches, bouts of dementia, and frenzied rage, he is sated only when the possessing demon is excised or the host is killed. Such behavior can pit energumens against their handlers at critical moments, when the latter wishes to suppress or contain a possessing demon that has been tracked down while the former is desperate to destroy it.

 

Another entry from the Dark Legacies Campaign Guide, hope you enjoy it. This scene, necessarily dark, was hard as 😣 to photograph. More photos, including original artwork by John Gravato, available on my IG feed.