View allAll Photos Tagged Divination
This picture I can claim as mine, but only because I was holding the phone camera when it took this. I may have moved part way through an exposure, or accidentally taken this picture altogether. The camera and movement provided this image. Is there anything significant in the image I ask myself? I do see lots of detail that inspire me to think that there could be something visible. I have drawn red shapes around two significant elements in the image. The box is around a letter and several letters do follow on from the C. I have drawn a circle around the head of a bird. There are a few faces elsewhere and some other strange renditions. For those into divination then this here with a camera and fate creating the image might be divincamation, or part of the field of photovoyance. Most images with unintentional results are discarded, but maybe allowing random, or rather opening opportunities allows for photovoyance to take place? Sometimes the procedure can be without any intent and at other times you could ask for intervention either on a situation, or from a chosen source.
From Voir for to see all the way to Voyance for something showy needing to be seen and over blown we have Photovoyance, showy abstract pictures demanding to be seen even when you have netter photographs to see. Within the images of Photovoyance are abstract clues and signs, that can be happily looked upon and gladly forgotten either as a tricks, or magic of the light along and pixel receptors and screen displays. Then years later certain aspects of a lost blurry image can then become testament of fate shown in photographs and fortune in digital images.
© PHH Sykes 2022
phhsykes@gmail.com
My future holds something quite marvelous-- tomorrow I leave for Paris! :))
_________
L'avenir me réserve quelque chose de merveilleux-- demain je parts pour Paris.
Camera - Nikon D7200
Lens - Sigma Super telephoto 150mm - 600mm contemporary lens
Stabilizer - Monopod
My son and i went down to the reservoir to see what was happening. Whilst on the way round to were i was wanting to sit, this heron was at the edge of the reeds. While we were waiting, this heron managed to capture a fish, which i believe is a 3/4 of a pound Roach. This shot was taken after i captured the previous shot "Fish on a Sunday (www.flickr.com/photos/johnny45908/49258196151/)
The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a long-legged predatory wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water or stalking its prey through the shallows.
Standing up to 1 m tall, adults weigh from 1 to 2 kg (2.2 to 4.4 lb). They have a white head and neck with a broad black stripe that extends from the eye to the black crest. The body and wings are grey above and the underparts are greyish-white, with some black on the flanks. The long, sharply pointed beak is pinkish-yellow and the legs are brown.
The birds breed colonially in spring in "heronries", usually building their nests high in trees. A clutch of usually three to five bluish-green eggs is laid. Both birds incubate the eggs for around 25 days, and then both feed the chicks, which fledge when 7-8 weeks old. Many juveniles do not survive their first winter, but if they do, they can expect to live for about 5 years.
In Ancient Egypt, the deity Bennu was depicted as a heron in New Kingdom artwork. In Ancient Rome, the heron was a bird of divination. Roast heron was once a specially prized dish; when George Neville became Archbishop of York in 1465, 400 herons were served to the guests.
Starting from left to right and from top to the base;
The North Tower: Divination Classroom, passageway and stairs of the one-eyed witch, Potions Classroom.
North Corridor: Transfiguration Classroom, Chamber of Secrets.
The Clock Tower: Defense Against Dark Arts Classroom, Dumbledore Office, Representation of the Viaduct Entrace that it's located on the front of the Castle. In the back of the Main Stair we have the Dungeons Corridor and the Slytherin Common Room.
South Corridor: Gryffindor Common Room, the Magical Chess challenge and in the back the Flying keys challenge.
The Gryffindor Tower: Gryffindor Boys Bedroom, Stairs to the Dorms, Last challenge room or Mirror of Erised room
The verbena in our garden really flourished this summer!
Verbena (/vərˈbiːnə/, vervain) is a genus in the family Verbenaceae. It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants. The majority of the species are native to the Americas and Asia.
The leaves are usually opposite, simple, and in many species hairy, often densely so. The flowers are small, with five petals, and borne in dense spikes. Typically some shade of blue, they may also be white, pink, or purple, especially in cultivars.
The genus can be divided into a diploid North American and a polyploid South American lineage, both with a base chromosome number of seven. The European species is derived from the North American lineage. It seems that verbena as well as the related mock vervains (Glandularia) evolved from the assemblage provisionally treated under the genus name Junellia; both other genera were usually included in the Verbenaceae until the 1990s. Intergeneric chloroplast gene transfer by an undetermined mechanism – though probably not hybridization – has occurred at least twice from vervains to Glandularia, between the ancestors of the present-day South American lineages and once more recently, between V. orcuttiana or V. hastata and G. bipinnatifida. In addition, several species of verbena are of natural hybrid origin; the well-known garden vervain has an entirely muddy history. The relationships of this close-knit group are therefore hard to resolve with standard methods of computational phylogenetics.
Some species, hybrids and cultivars of verbena are used as ornamental plants. They are drought-resistant, tolerating full to partial sun, and enjoy well-drained, average soils. Plants are usually grown from seed. Some species and hybrids are not hardy and are treated as half-hardy annuals in bedding schemes.
They are valued in butterfly gardening in suitable climates, attracting Lepidoptera such as the Hummingbird hawk-moth, Chocolate albatross, or the Pipevine swallowtail, and also hummingbirds, especially V. officinalis, which is also grown as a honey plant.
The hybrid cultivars "Silver Anne" and "Sissinghurst" have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
For some verbena pathogens, see List of verbena diseases. Cultivated verbenas are sometimes parasitized by Sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and spread this pest to other crops.
Verbena has longstanding use in herbalism and folk medicine, usually as an herbal tea. Nicholas Culpeper's 1652 The English Physitian discusses folk uses. Among other effects, it may act as a galactagogue (promotes lactation) and possibly sex steroid analogue. The plants are also sometimes used as abortifacient. Verbena has been listed as one of the 38 plants used to prepare Bach flower remedies, a kind of alternative medicine promoted for its effect on health. However, according to Cancer Research UK, "there is no scientific evidence to prove that flower remedies can control, cure or prevent any type of disease, including cancer".
The essential oil of various species, mainly common vervain, is traded as "Spanish verbena oil". Considered inferior to oil of lemon verbena in perfumery, it is of some commercial importance for herbalism and it seems to be a promising source of medical compounds. Verveine, the famous green liqueur from the region of Le Puy-en-Velay (France) is flavored with these vervains.[citation needed]
Verbena has long been associated with divine and other supernatural forces. It was called "tears of Isis" in ancient Egypt, and later called "Hera's tears". In ancient Greece it was dedicated to Eos Erigineia. In the early Christian era, folk legend stated that V. officinalis was used to staunch Jesus' wounds after his removal from the cross. It was consequently called "holy herb" or (e.g. in Wales) "Devil's bane".[citation needed]
Vervain flowers are engraved on cimaruta, Italian anti-stregheria charms.[citation needed] In the 1870 The History and Practice of Magic by "Paul Christian" (Jean Baptiste Pitois) it is employed in the preparation of a mandragora charm. The book also describes its antiseptic capabilities (p. 336), and use as a protection against spells (pp. 339, 414).
While common vervain is not native to North America, it has been introduced there and for example the Pawnee have adopted it as an entheogen enhancer and in oneiromancy (dream divination), much as Calea zacatechichi is used in Mexico.
The generic name is the Latin term for a plant sacred to the ancient Romans. Pliny the Elder describes verbena presented on Jupiter altars; it is not entirely clear if this referred to a verbena rather than the general term for prime sacrificial herbs.[verification needed]
The common names of verbena in many Central and Eastern European languages often associate it with iron. These include for example the Dutch IJzerhard ("iron-hard"), Danish Læge-Jernurt ("medical ironwort"), German Echtes Eisenkraut ("true ironherb"), Slovak Železník lekársky ("medical ironherb"), and Hungarian vasfű ("iron grass"). An indeterminate vervain[verification needed] is among the plants on the eighth panel of the New World Tapestry (Expedition to Cape Cod).[citation needed]
In the Victorian language of flowers, verbena held the dual meaning of enchantment and sensibility.
For further information please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbena and www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=1993
Greek traditional custom where people jump over the fire. It's roots go back to ancient Greece and it's first description is found in Byzantine writings.
Klidonas ( Κλήδονας, pronounced Kleedonas) is a folk divination process, according to which disclosed in unwed girls identity of their future spouse.
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Dating from the late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, it is thought the two upright stones of Men-an-tol were part of a stone circle consisting of 19 stones. The original location and function of the holed stone is unknown but was in a different position to the present day when it was investigated by William Borlase in 1749.
Many legends have grown up around the site over the centuries usually involving healing cures, spells and divination.
"Forecasting the future" is a major preoccupation, probably rooted in a common desire to understand the relationships of Cause and Effect.
This image was just intended to be a New Year's greeting for the start of 2010. Since then, however, I've used it in several discussions about the "volatile" times that this (2010's) decade seems to be characterized by. In fact, at this time the four prime domain vectors of change in Politics, Economics, Sociology and Technology each seem to be accelerating.
At the start of 2014, I needed to expand my "alphabet" of Tags. Inevitably, I became intrigued by Chinese Symbols and learned a bit about the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui, used for Devination. Now I have a vast new set of Characters and Symbols to work with! Now I'll be able to encode any patterns I'm lucky enough to recognize, very efficiently.
As an optimist, I'm eagerly anticipating the apparent changes. That being said, I have to admit there are moments when I've wondered if the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times." isn't also applicable.
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THE CLOCK TOWER SECTION
Hi guys, finally here we have this MOC that I have been working on during months. This Diorama represents from the left to de right; The Whomping Willow, the Stone Circle entrance that connects to the Wooden Bridge that I have omitted for space reasons in this MOC, and Hagrid’s Hut. In the Back we have the section of Hogwarts that represents the Gryffindor Tower, the Clock Tower and also the North Tower, where the Divination classroom is located.
After the completion of my last MOC, I decided that from then on each MOC that made the Hogwarts Castle would be based only on one or two films in order to recreate them as completely as possible. Because the clock tower is a new section in the Azkaban prisoner film, I decided to focus on this film, but when LEGO released the new Harry Potter sets I finally dedicated the castle to the first three Harry Potter films, thus recreating the final scenes of the philosopher's stone and the secret chamber.
Happy Halloween!
Agnes the Blood Witch being dramatic.
I have been absolutely LOVING everyone’s spooky photos leading up to Halloween this year!
Halloween is my favorite holiday and my favorite time of year, and for some reason I’m never ready for it anymore! It is almost like I feel the least spooky this season, and after the day passes THEN the spooky starts for me and lasts the rest of the year!
Postmark on the back of this postcard: Worcester, Mass., Oct. 30, 1909.
Addressed to: Miss Ora Bickford, New Gloucester, Maine, R.F.D. no. 1.
Message: "With best wishes for a happy Hallowe'en. Love, Elva."
"A formerly widespread tradition held that young women gazing into a mirror in a darkened room (often on Halloween) could catch a glimpse of their future husband's face in the mirror--or a skull personifying Death if their fate was to die before they married." This explanation of what the women in this postcard is doing appears in Wikipedia's article on scrying, which is defined as "the practice of looking into a translucent ball or other material with the belief that things can be seen, such as spiritual visions, and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling."
Cupid's presence in this postcard is somewhat puzzling, but the publisher, L. R. Conwell, also included Cupid in at least one other Halloween postcard. See The Joys of Halloween Be Yours.
Originally posted on Ipernity: Wishing You a Lucky Halloween.
See below for additional examples of early twentieth-century postcards that depict mirror-gazing and other Halloween fortune-telling activities: Hallow'een Greeting, Halloween Greetings, Halloween Games at Midnight, and May This Be Your Luck on Halloween.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_heron
The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a long-legged predatory wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more northern parts migrate southwards in autumn. A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water or stalking its prey through the shallows.
Standing up to a metre tall, adults weigh from 1 to 2 kg (2.2 to 4.4 lb). They have a white head and neck with a broad black stripe that extends from the eye to the black crest. The body and wings are grey above and the underparts are greyish-white, with some black on the flanks. The long, sharply pointed beak is pinkish-yellow and the legs are brown.
The birds breed colonially in spring in "heronries", usually building their nests high in trees. A clutch of usually three to five bluish-green eggs is laid. Both birds incubate the eggs for a period of about 25 days, and then both feed the chicks, which fledge when seven or eight weeks old. Many juveniles do not survive their first winter, but if they do, they can expect to live for about five years.
In Ancient Egypt, the deity Bennu was depicted as a heron in New Kingdom artwork. In Ancient Rome, the heron was a bird of divination. Roast heron was once a specially-prized dish; when George Neville became Archbishop of York in 1465, four hundred herons were served to the guests.
Description
The grey heron is a large bird, standing up to 100 cm (39 in) tall and measuring 84–102 cm (33–40 in) long with a 155–195 cm (61–77 in) wingspan.[2] The body weight can range from 1.02–2.08 kg (2.2–4.6 lb).[3] The plumage is largely ashy-grey above, and greyish-white below with some black on the flanks. Adults have the head and neck white with a broad black supercilium that terminates in the slender, dangling crest, and bluish-black streaks on the front of the neck. The scapular feathers are elongated and the feathers at the base of the neck are also somewhat elongated. Immature birds lack the dark stripe on the head and are generally duller in appearance than adults, with a grey head and neck, and a small, dark grey crest. The pinkish-yellow beak is long, straight and powerful, and is brighter in colour in breeding adults. The iris is yellow and the legs are brown and very long.[4]
The main call is a loud croaking "fraaank", but a variety of guttural and raucous noises are heard at the breeding colony. The male uses an advertisement call to encourage a female to join him at the nest, and both sexes use various greeting calls after a pair bond has been established. A loud, harsh "schaah" is used by the male in driving other birds from the vicinity of the nest and a soft "gogogo" expresses anxiety, as when a predator is nearby or a human walks past the colony. The chicks utter loud chattering or ticking noises.[4]
Taxonomy and evolution
Herons are a fairly ancient lineage and first appeared in the fossil record in the Paleogene period; very few fossil herons have been found however. By seven million years ago (the late Miocene), birds closely resembling modern forms and attributable to modern genera had appeared.[5]
Herons are members of the family Ardeidae, and the majority of extant species are in the subfamily Ardeinae and known as true or typical herons. This subfamily includes the herons and egrets, the green herons, the pond herons, the night herons and a few other species. The grey heron belongs in this subfamily and is placed in the genus Ardea, which also includes the cattle egret and the great egret.[5] The grey heron was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus who gave it the name Ardea cinerea. The scientific name comes from Latin ardea "heron", and cinerea , "ash-grey" (from cineris ashes).[6]
Four subspecies are recognised:[7]
A. c. cinerea – Linnaeus, 1758: nominate, found in Europe, Africa, western Asia
A. c. jouyi – Clark, 1907: found in eastern Asia
A. c. firasa – Hartert, 1917: found in Madagascar
A. c. monicae – Jouanin & Roux, 1963: found on islands off Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania.
It is closely related and similar to the North American great blue heron (Ardea herodias), which differs in being larger, and having chestnut-brown flanks and thighs, and to the cocoi heron (Ardea cocoi) from South America that forms a superspecies with. Some authorities believe that the subspecies A. c. monicae should be considered a separate species.[8] It has been known to hybridise with the great egret (Ardea alba), the little egret (Egretta garzetta), the great blue heron and the purple heron (Ardea purpurea).[9] The Australian white-faced heron is often incorrectly called a grey heron.[10] In Ireland, the grey heron is often colloquially called a "crane".[11]
Distribution and habitat
The grey heron has an extensive range throughout most of the Palearctic ecozone. The range of the nominate subspecies A. c. cinerea extends to 70° North in Norway and 66° North in Sweden, but otherwise its northerly limit is around 60° North across the rest of Europe and Asia eastwards as far as the Ural Mountains. To the south, its range extends to northern Spain, France, central Italy, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iraq, Iran, India and Myanmar (Burma). It is also present in Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and many of the Mediterranean Islands. It is replaced by A. c. jouyi in eastern Siberia, Mongolia, eastern China, Hainan, Japan and Taiwan. In Madagascar and the Aldabra Islands, the subspecies A. c. firasa is found, while the subspecies A. c. monicae is restricted to Mauritania and offshore islands.[4]
Over much of its range, the grey heron is resident, but birds from the more northerly parts of Europe migrate southwards, some remaining in central and southern Europe, others travelling on to Africa south of the Sahara Desert.[4]
Within its range, the grey heron can be found anywhere with suitable watery habitat that can supply its food. The water body needs to be either shallow enough, or have a shelving margin in which it can wade. Although most common in the lowlands it also occurs in mountain tarns, lakes, reservoirs, large and small rivers, marshes, ponds, ditches, flooded areas, coastal lagoons, estuaries and the sea shore. It sometimes forages away from water in pasture, and it has been recorded in desert areas, hunting for beetles and lizards. Breeding colonies are usually near feeding areas but exceptionally may be up to 8 kilometres (5 mi) away, and birds sometimes forage as much as 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the nesting site.[4]
Behavior
The grey heron has a slow flight, with its long neck retracted (S-shaped). This is characteristic of herons and bitterns, and distinguishes them from storks, cranes, and spoonbills, which extend their necks.[4] It flies with slow wing-beats and sometimes glides for short distances. It sometimes soars, circling to considerable heights, but not as often as the stork. In spring, and occasionally in autumn, birds may soar high above the heronry and chase each other, undertake aerial manoeuvres or swoop down towards the ground. The birds often perch in trees, but spend much time on the ground, striding about or standing still for long periods with an upright stance, often on a single leg.[4]
Diet and feeding
Fish, amphibians, small mammals and insects are taken in shallow water with the heron's long bill. It has also been observed catching and killing juvenile birds such as ducklings, and occasionally takes birds up to the size of a water rail.[12] It may stand motionless in the shallows, or on a rock or sandbank beside the water, waiting for prey to come within striking distance. Alternatively, it moves slowly and stealthily through the water with its body less upright than when at rest and its neck curved in an "S". It is able to straighten its neck and strike with its bill very fast.[4]
Small fish are swallowed head first, and larger prey and eels are carried to the shore where they are subdued by being beaten on the ground or stabbed by the bill. They are then swallowed, or have hunks of flesh torn off. For avian prey such as small birds and ducklings, the prey is held by the neck and either suffocated or killed by having its neck snapped with the heron's beak, before being swallowed whole. The bird regurgitates pellets of indigestible material such as fur, bones and the chitinous remains of insects. The main periods of hunting are around dawn and dusk, but it is also active at other times of day. At night it roosts in trees or on cliffs, where it tends to be gregarious.
Breeding
This species breeds in colonies known as heronries, usually in high trees close to lakes, the seashore or other wetlands. Other sites are sometimes chosen, and these include low trees and bushes, bramble patches, reed beds, heather clumps and cliff ledges. The same nest is used year after year until blown down; it starts as a small platform of sticks but expands into a bulky nest as more material is added in subsequent years. It may be lined with smaller twigs, strands of root or dead grasses, and in reed beds, it is built from dead reeds. The male usually collects the material while the female constructs the nest. Breeding activities take place between February and June. When a bird arrives at the nest, a greeting ceremony occurs in which each partner raises and lowers its wings and plumes.[11] In continental Europe, and elsewhere, nesting colonies sometimes include nests of the purple heron and other heron species.[4]
Building nest
Courtship involves the male calling from the chosen nesting site. On the arrival of the female, both birds participate in a stretching ceremony, in which each bird extends its neck vertically before bringing it backwards and downwards with the bill remaining vertical, simultaneously flexing its legs, before returning to its normal stance. The snapping ceremony is another behaviour where the neck is extended forward, the head is lowered to the level of the feet and the mandibles are vigorously snapped together. This may be repeated twenty to forty times. When the pairing is settled, the birds may caress each other by attending to the other bird's plumage. The male may then offer the female a stick which she incorporates into the nest. At this, the male becomes excited, further preening the female and copulation takes place.[4]
The clutch of eggs usually numbers three to five, though as few as two and as many as seven eggs have been recorded. The eggs have a matt surface and are greenish-blue, averaging 60 mm × 43 mm (2.36 in × 1.69 in). The eggs are normally laid at two-day intervals and incubation usually starts after the first or second egg has been laid. Both birds take part in incubation and the period lasts for about twenty-five days. Both parents bring food for the young. At first the chicks seize the adult's bill from the side and extract regurgitated food from it. Later the adult disgorges the food at the nest and the chicks squabble for possession. They fledge at seven to eight weeks. There is usually a single generation each year, but two broods have been recorded.[4]
The oldest recorded bird lived for twenty-three years but the average life expectancy in the wild is about five years. Only about a third of juveniles survive into their second year, many falling victim to predation.[11]
City life
Grey herons have the ability to live in cities where habitats and nesting space are available. In the Netherlands, the grey heron has established itself over the past decades in great numbers in urban environments. In cities such as Amsterdam, they are ever present and well adapted to modern city life. They hunt as usual, but also visit street markets and snackbars. Some individuals make use of people feeding them at their homes or share the catch of recreational fishermen. Similar behaviour on a smaller scale has been reported in Ireland.[13] Garden ponds stocked with ornamental fish are attractive to herons, and may provide young birds with a learning opportunity on how to catch easy prey.[14]
Herons have been observed visiting water enclosures in zoos, such as spaces for penguins, otters, pelicans, and seals, and taking food meant for the animals on display.[15][16][17][18]
Predators and parasites
Being large birds with powerful beaks, grey herons have few predators as adults, but the eggs and young are more vulnerable. The adult birds do not usually leave the nest unattended, but may be lured away by marauding crows or kites.[19] A dead grey heron found in the Pyrenees is thought to have been killed by an otter. The bird may have been weakened by harsh winter weather causing scarcity of its prey.[20]
A study performed by Sitko and Heneberg in the Czech Republic between 1962 and 2013 suggested that central European grey herons host 29 species of parasitic worms. The dominant species consisted of Apharyngostrigea cornu (67% prevalence), Posthodiplostomum cuticola (41% prevalence), Echinochasmus beleocephalus (39% prevalence), Uroproctepisthmium bursicola (36% prevalence), Neogryporhynchus cheilancristrotus (31% prevalence), Desmidocercella numidica (29% prevalence) and Bilharziella polonica (5% prevalence). Juvenile grey herons were shown to host fewer species, but the intensity of infection was higher in the juveniles than in the adult herons. Of the digenean flatworms found in central European grey herons, 52% of the species likely infected their definitive hosts outside central Europe itself, in the pre-migratory, migratory, or wintering quarters, despite the fact that a substantial proportion of grey herons do not migrate to the south.[21]
In human culture
"The Heron. Common Heron, Heronsewgh, or Heronshaw. (Ardea cinerea, Lath.—Héron cendré, Temm.)" wood engraving by Thomas Bewick in his History of British Birds, volume 2, 1804
In Ancient Egypt, the bird deity Bennu, associated with the sun, creation, and rebirth, was depicted as a heron in New Kingdom artwork.[22]
In Ancient Rome, the heron was a bird of divination that gave an augury (sign of a coming event) by its call, like the raven, stork, and owl.[23]
Roast heron was once a specially-prized dish in Britain for special occasions such as state banquets. For the appointment of George Neville as Archbishop of York in 1465, four hundred herons were served to the guests. Young birds were still being shot and eaten in Romney Marsh in 1896. Two grey herons feature in a stained glass window of the church in Selborne, Hampshire.[24]
The English surnames Earnshaw, Hernshaw, Herne, and Heron all derive from the heron, the suffix -shaw meaning a wood, referring to a place where herons nested.
“Divination is the quest to understand more about the past, present, and future. In other words, Tarot readings are an attempt to understand ourselves better and discover how we might live better in the future.”
Theresa Francis-Cheung
Coming soon @ Fantasy Gacha Carnival
start 11th FEB
Kind of form of magic or divination.
small fox in bamboo case.
**All photographs are created by myself the 'old fashioned' way - all film, darkroom, etc. without the use of digital capture or manipulation. All black and white images are available as signed, numbered archival fibre based photographic prints. Visit my website for more details: www.rikgarrett.com
For a long time I had a hankering to go and see Hadrian's Wall. I told my wife, I just had to go. It was 12th June 2016, just 11 days before the Brexit vote, and I wrote the following to accompany the picture I took that day. I wish I had been able to see three years ahead!
The summer solstice was only about 10 days away when I headed out to Hadrian's Wall. I had been nagging my long suffering wife that I wanted to see it, and having announced it was on my bucket (fidelia) list, she had eventually relented. And so I arrived this morning having set out just before a grey dawn. It was raining softly and a foggy mist clung to the crags and hill tops that stretched out towards the east from where I started. I could faintly make out the line of the wall, this great construction of the Roman Empire, where it zig-zagged up and down towards the far horizon. The Emperor Hadrian had picked his land well. The northern boundary of the empire used the natural features to create a formidable defensive wall to keep the barbarian races to the North, out.
I set out into the rain, with my trusty companion dog. It was not the day I had hoped for. With luck the rain might stop, but it would be too much like a miracle if the sun would appear. The stones were slippery under my feet and I debated if it was best to walk on the wall top or the path behind it on the southern side. I took the path.There was no sign of other humans as far as I could see and I was grateful to be away from the hordes of drunken young men and women who had packed the town centre to watch the game last night. I'm a quiet, peaceful soul, with an artistic bent towards landscapes. The thought made me curse the rain, as I checked to make sure my parchment was protected and kept dry from the rain. As I crested a rise in the ground, a raven came into view, stood on an outcrop of rock. It's little beady black eye looked at me as it cawed out to me.And then it flapped its wings as it lifted into the air to soar over the side of the crag. As I watched it, I thought back in my mind. Doesn't that mean something? And then it came to me. " Raven with wings black as night, black as coal, the raven is the messenger from another world. When the raven makes it's presence known to you, you are about to receive a secret knowledge, knowledge that will benefit you greatly, particularly if you engage in craft of magic and divination of arts". I plodded on, silently, deep in my thoughts, tripping over the occasional stone.
Well, I had already followed the wall several times down into many deep hollows and climbed back up the steep bank on the opposite side and across the top of the crags beyond, heading ever eastwards, passing a couple of fortified gateways, minor watch towers and secondary forts, when I came to a section which wended through a delightful, sheltered glade of trees with birds twittering and singing. Still I had seen no one, and I only broke my silence to pass a companionable comment to the loyal dog that sometimes followed and sometimes ran ahead. "Good girl!" I was still chewing over the thought in my head of how lucky I had been that the raven had spoken to me when I was suddenly scared out of my skin by a deep voice that came from behind a tree beside the path ahead of me. Suddenly I picked out the dark shape, a man hiding from the rain under the canopy of leaves above. Realising he had made me jump, his face creased into a smile.
"Wow, you made me jump!" I said
"Ha, there's nothing along here to scare you, except the wolves and bears"
"Haha, funny, " I replied. "It's nice and quiet out here. I was hoping to do a few landscapes of the wall and get away from the madding crowds. Did you hear about the game last night?
"No," he said, "I've been walking the wall since yesterday. Why, do tell, what happened?. We did have a runner come to give us the score at half time..........."
"Well, I started, "Trouble as usual. It's the usual hooligans and vandals, got together and had a fight in the streets. It's crazy, they go to watch a game and all they want to do is fight each other. Apparently it has got very ugly."
He tutted. "They are all just barbarians...animals. Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to insult your dog", he said, bending to tickle her behind the ear. "They are just scum! But if I got my way I would crucify them and stick them on posts along this wall"
Mmmmm! I thought. You can meet some queer folk when you go out for a walk on a Sunday morning. It's often a good idea to recognise when it is a good time to break off and carry on past them. This one was a bit extreme, but I have to say that I didn't think the punishment he suggested was too harsh. Personally I would like to see them have their eyes scooped out with a hot copper teaspoon, too. But I missed my chance to escape. He carried on:
"Yes, and a lot of them are arguing about having independence too. They don't like being ruled by European dictators. They are talking about a peaceful revolution, a BREXIT, where Britannia leaves our EUmpire."
"Is that so ?" I proffered, trying not to get engaged.
"I heard...........", he said, going on, "Oh, it's ridiculous. You would think that for all the EUmpire has given them like protection and security, freedom from war........... as long as they do what we say, they would think it is worth REMAINING. I mean, we are letting hundreds of thousands of low cost slaves from Northern Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean come into the country to do all the menial tasks. There are so many they can all have cheap slaves if they want to. We've tried threatening them with pestilence, poverty and ostracisation and still they want rid of us. Mind you we won't actually give them a choice even if they vote to leave the EUmpire. We've enslaved them but they don't really know it. We'll build a few roads, and some Roman baths and have a few toga parties for their political elite with free drugs, rent boys and prostitutes, and they'll still want to remain in the EUmpire".
"Aye", I said, as I thought this is one looney centurion. I didn't think it the greatest idea to mention I value my independence, freedom and sovereignty over my country more than anything as he had a pointy spear (pilum) leaning against the tree. I don't care about coin, the price of figs, or if I have to pay a small price for freedom, the things I value most cannot be bought. And I can't be bought either, and nor can my wife (although she says she is open to offers). I'm not a racist but some of the tribes they are letting in are overcrowding the place. I'm a patriot. I want to sing Rule Britannia at the top of my voice once more. I'm not a Roman. I'll never be a Roman. I'm part Pict, part Celt, I'm a Briton!
At that moment the raven flew overhead. I glanced up just as a wet dollop of whitish raven shit dropped down landing on the man's face and splashing across his upper lip and into is partly open mouth.
"Oooo dear; nasty!" was all I could think to say, and with a little wave to the man, I took my chance to scuttle off down the path once more and zoom from 156 AD back to the 21st Century. I think the raven had given me a sign, future knowledge. I think he's on our side! He wants Britannia to leave that Empire based in Europe which is ruled by foreign dictators. He supports BREXIT!
…………….and I still do. More than ever. And what an amazing feeling I had standing on that hard border, zigzagging right across the country from one side to the other, and sensing the centurions who patrolled that wall 2000 years ago, on the same stones and earth I was now stood on.
This is our land.
"Necromancy is a practice of magic involving communication with the deceased, either by summoning their spirit as an apparition or raising them bodily, for the purpose of divination, to bring someone back from the dead, or to use the deceased as a weapon, as the term may sometimes be used in a more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft. Necromancers throughout history have been known to raise armies of the dead, gaining the ability to engage in large scale battles without the need to regulate food sources or energy levels due to the inhuman capacities of the undead. The most powerful of all necromancers are usually mages who have attained lichdom, and one of such liches,
Yuhyrn the Dread Weaver, is known for having laid waste to entire cities, armies and, during his peak, even an entire kingdom."
The fourth in my series of medieval fantasy scenes.
All effects were done through practical effects.
Comments are appreciated!
~ GM
COSMOGENIC DIVINATION IN A CRYSTAL HEART / THE FINAL / CHRISTELLE GEISER & AEON VON ZARK / NAKED EYE PROJECT BIENNE / ALTERED STATE SERIE / THE WEIRD DREAM / PORTRAIT.
Wren Troglodytes Troglodytes
The Eurasian wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) is a very small bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren.
The scientific name is taken from the Greek word "troglodytes" (from "trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting arthropods or to roost.
This small, stump-tailed wren is almost as familiar in Europe as the robin. It is mouse-like, easily lost sight of when it is hunting for food, but is found everywhere from the tops of the highest moors to the sea coast.
In most of northern Europe and Asia, it nests mostly in coniferous forests, where it is often identified by its long and exuberant song. Although it is an insectivore, it can remain in moderately cold and even snowy climates by foraging for insects on substrates such as bark and fallen logs.
Its movements as it creeps or climbs are incessant rather than rapid; its short flights swift and direct but not sustained, its tiny round wings whirring as it flies from bush to bush.
It is a bird of the uplands even in winter, vanishing into the heather when snow lies thick above, a troglodyte indeed. It frequents gardens and farms, but it is quite as abundant in thick woods and in reed-beds.
At night, usually in winter, it often roosts, true to its scientific name, in dark retreats, snug holes and even old nests. In hard weather, it may do so in parties, consisting of either the family or of many individuals gathered together for warmth.
The male wren builds several nests, up to 6 or 7. These are called "cock nests" but are never lined until the female chooses one to use.
The normal round nest of grass, moss, lichens or leaves is tucked into a hole in a wall, tree trunk, crack in a rock or corner of a building, but it is often built in bushes, overhanging boughs or the litter which accumulates in branches washed by floods.
In European folklore, the wren is the king of the birds, according to a fable attributed to Aesop by Plutarch, when the eagle and the wren strove to fly the highest, the wren rested on the eagle's back, and when the eagle tired, the wren flew out above him. Thus, Plutarch implied, the wren proved that cleverness is better than strength. The wren's majesty is recognized in such stories as the Grimm Brothers' The Willow-Wren and the Bear. Aristotle and Plutarch called the wren basileus (king) and basiliskos (little king).
In German, the wren is called Zaunkönig (king of the fence). An old German name was “Schneekönig” (snow king), and in Dutch, it is “winterkoning” (winter king), which all refer to king. In Japan, the wren is labelled king of the winds, and the myth of The Wren Among the Hawks sees the wren successfully hunt a boar that the hawks could not, by flying into its ear and driving it mad.
It was a sacred bird to the druids, who considered it "king of all birds", and used its musical notes for divination. The shape-shifting Fairy Queen took the form of a wren, known as "Jenny Wren" in nursery rhymes. A wren's feather was thought to be a charm against disaster or drowning.
Population:
UK breeding:
8,600,000 territories
A postcard addressed on the back to Earl Elliot, Douglassville, Pa., and postmarked at Douglassville, Pa., Oct. 31, 1906. The handwritten message on the front is "Greetings for the day," and the initials "L.U."--presumably those of the sender--appear in a number of places on the front, including on the wall next to the fireplace.
The clock strikes midnight on Halloween as a woman gazes into a fire and children bob for apples in a wash tub and on a string. Jack-o'-lanterns form a border around the scene, and ghostly figures hover in the message box at the bottom.
The woman in front of the fireplace may actually be playing a fortune-telling game involving three nuts, which she has named after three of her suitors. After placing the three nuts in the fire (I think the nuts are visible here on the top of the grate at the front of the fireplace), she watches to see how they burn. The following poem, which appeared in 1900 in The Jolly Hallowe'en Book, by Dorothy M. Shipman, p. 68, describes the practice.
The Test of the Nuts
I've named three nuts and placed them
Side by side on the grate,
The one which cracks is unfaithful,
The lover I know I should hate.
The one which blazes with brilliant fire,
Tells of high regard, 'tis said,
But the one which burns with a steady flame
Names the man whom I shall wed.
Originally posted on Ipernity: Halloween Games at Midnight.
A small series of more humble flowers from the garden.Hypericum perforatum, known as Perforate St John's-wort, St John's wort is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae.
St. John's Wort has been used in medicine for over 2.400 years. It was used in ancient Greece and prescribed by Hippocrates and others for insanity, among other problems. It was also used in the Crusades to treat battle wounds.
It is associated with St. John the Baptist. It was gathered on St. John's Day and soaked in olive oil to create an anointing oil called the "Blood of Christ".
It is said that the red sap "bleeds" in August on the day when St. John was beheaded.
The ancient name Fuga Daemonum (Scare Devil) and the Latin name Hypericum ("over" + "apparition") attests to its usefulness in driving away evil spirits. The latter may also refer to the fact that it was hung over religious icons. It was hung in the home, and carried as a talisman. It was also used to protect from lightening strikes.
One legend says that if you step on a St. John's Wort plant, you will be stolen away by a faerie horse.
St. John's Wort was also used for divination of romance and longevity. St. John's Wort was hung over the beds of the members of a household to divine their longevity. The sprig that was most wilted the next morning indicated who would die the soonest.
Keeping a sprig under your pillow is said to grant you a vision of St. John who will promise that you will live another year. If no such vision comes, however… expect you will soon die.
All of these should, of course, be done on Midsummer or St John's Eve. LOL.
This is a bushy little perennial and very winter hardy.It is a medicinal herb with antidepressant activity and potent anti-inflammatory.
Flowers are used to produce a yellow dye. The stem produces a red dye.
In the garden St. John's Wort attracts bees.
In large doses, St John's wort is poisonous to grazing livestock (cattle, sheep, goats, horses).
Wishing you a bright day and thanx, M, (*_*)
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
MUCH BETTER seen in LARGE size.
BLACK SWAN entrances:
Gillian Murphy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT334WsfBIU
Natalie Portman: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsvtIzebNcw
Male Black Swan: (at 7m40s) www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eAc9lzoDz8&feature=related
THE LOVER is the 6th trump / Major Arcana card in most traditional TAROT decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.
www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://planetwaves.net/paget...
www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Lovers
"A young man now stands between two women and seems to be confused and unsure about what to do next. The image can be interpreted as the choice between vice and virtue - the stern woman on the right is crowned with laurel leaves and symbolises the road that leads to victory, while the attractive woman on the left is crowned with flowers to symbolise the road of sensuality. A Cupid hovers above the scene in front of a radiant sun and prepares to shoot his arrow."
"We can speculate infinitely on the relationship of the three figures: a boy presenting his fiancée to his mother; a woman discovering her husband with his mistress; a man attempting to choose between two different women, or, as the traditional interpretation views it, between vice and virtue..."
BANNED tutu: Zola Zsun
Top hat: Cutea Benelli (Grim Bros.)
Second Life: Dreamworld Reef
Mucubal (also called Mucubai, Mucabale, Mugubale) people are a subgroup of the Herero ethnic group, which means they are bantu speaking, and are supposed to have come from Kenya and to be related with Massais.
They are semi nomadic pastoralists living of cattle raising and agriculture. They live in a large area between the slopes of Chela Mounts in the north, and River Cunene to the south, where they are believed to have stopped during the Herero migration, about 300 years ago.
Mucubal have some very specific customs and traditions. They only are interested in cattle and do not care of the rest of the world outside of the bush. Mucubals are not allowed to mention people’s name in public, except their parent’s one, and children’s name in general. A married couple is not allowed to talk to each other in public, as long as the wife hasn’t had children. They only can speak to each other in private. Girls have their upper teeth sharpened and lower ones removed. In order to convince young girls to have their lower teeth removed, old men make them believe, that their teeth leave their mouth during the night, to go in a hole dug to relieve themselves and return in their mouth covered with excrement. The family structure and organization is also very specific. The father has the authority and is the head of the family, although the matrilineal descent is considered more important, as they inherit throught the mother's family. For example the son of the Soba -chieftain of the village-’s sister is the heir of the Soba. It is possible to be disowned by their father's family but not by their mother's because for them this link is sacred. The maternal uncle has to provide his nephew with an ox, called Remussungo. However a father provides his son with an ox, called Hupa. Mucubal can only get married with an outsider of the clan, although it cannot be with a member of another tribe like a Himba for example. Marriages of convenience are the rule most of the time. The fiancée is presented to her future husband during the Fico ceremony, when she is fourteen or less. This ceremony consists in a party with the two families during which presents are offered. The couple has to wait a few more years before consummating the marriage in the centre of the village. Mucubal men can have several wives and are also allowed to sell their wife, if they don’t get along with her or even if they want to earn money, as a woman can be worth 2 cows, which is about 2000 euros and represents a lot of money. For a first marriage a woman can even be worth 3 or 4 cows.
Their nomadic lifestyle based on cycles, between nomadism and stays in the same places (where they settle their villages), accounts for their religious customs and the funerary rites they follow. Mucubal people believe in a God called Huku, Klaunga, Ndyambi. They also worship their ancestors' spirits called Oyo Handi and Ovi huku, which are considered inferior to their supreme divinity. Divination is very important in their culture. They use talismans and amulets to protect their herds or prevent adultery. Nevertheless Mucubal are not afraid of death. Funerals can last several days or weeks. They decorate their graves with cattle horns. The number of cows sacrificed are in relation with the importance of the deceased. This shows the importance of cattle in their culture. Cattle is only killed on special occasions, as Mucubal usually don’t eat meat but rather corn (when they manage to grow some), eggs, milk and chicken.
They don’t eat any fish because according to the legend, one of their chieftains was brought to the sea by the portuguese and never came back. So they think that fish kills men.
Women use mupeque oil, a yellow dried fruit crushed and boiled from which they just drink juice but do no eat pulp. They also eat small red berries with a pepper taste that they boil. In order to show they are hungry Mucubal mimic the gesture we do when we brush our teeth. Mucubal especially women, are famous for the way they dress. The latter wear an original and unique headdress called the Ompota. It is made of a wicker framework, traditionally filled with a bunch of tied cow tails, decorated with buttons, shells, zippers and beads. But tradition is disappearing as some women use modern stuff to fill their ompota headdress. One was using a Barbie doll box! Women whether they are married or not can wear jewels. Ornaments like iron anklets, called Othivela, and armlets, called Othingo, are worn by girls as well as adult women. Mucubal women are also famous for the string they have around their breast, called oyonduthi, which is used as a bra. Women use to smoke tobacco (that they keep in a snuffbox called boceta) in pipes called opessi. There are several ways of saying hello. "Okamene" means good morning", "Tchou"is what a woman answers to a greeting and "Mba" is the word a man answers back to a woman saying him hello.
© Eric Lafforgue
As Riven comes up into the Divination tower, she would feel that the ground was different from usual. If she looked down she would see grass under her boots, trailing into the classroom, dotted with soft dots of light leading the way.
Upon entering said room, she'd be greeted by a dimmer light than usual, grass on the floor, candles floating and being visited by glowworms flying around the whole room, adding a dot of light here and there. In the middle of the room between the tables on the rugs where she and Jamie had sat many times, waited a blanket with pillows for a picnic. And if, just if she should look up, a sparkly night sky greeted her. The stars brighter and more colorful than usual. And then of course there was Jamie, standing in the middle of all of it, smiling with a bit of that nervous look in their eyes, waiting for her.
Riven climbed up into the classroom but stopped at the door and slowly looked around the room, obviously rather in awe. Her eyes came to a halt on her person and she ran up to them and wrapped her arms around them, "bloody hell this is AMAZING!!!"
Jamie slings their arms around Riven as she bumps against them and exhales with a smile. "I was hoping you like it." they said quietly and squeezes her before leaning slightly back to look at her. "While we are here, the world beyond these walls doesn't exist. Just us two in our own little garden of peace.... and a whole lot of divination tools celebrating with us."
*~*~*
A whole lot of magic in one room to give Jamie's favorite person a Birthday she won't forget. :)
One of the things that struck me when I first came to the USA, almost fifty years ago, was a big sign along the freeway depicting the palm of a hand and advertising a Palmist. When I asked a local what a palmist was, I could not believe the answer. I had not heard the saying yet, ascribed to P.T. Barnum, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
I have since seen so-called psychics advertised all over the place, verifying the truth of that saying...
This one has been in Pismo Beach, California, since 1951.
The only psychic I ever talked to had a table on the Venice Beach boardwalk. I asked her how business was; she replied, “Not good!” When I asked, “So why did you come today?” her initial hand gestures seemed to suggest that she was going to say, “How was I supposed to know?...” but then she realized the logic of my question and got angry...
Scrying (also called seeing or peeping) is a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling.
The grey heron (Ardea cinerea) is a long-legged predatory wading bird.
In Ancient Egypt, the deity Bennu was depicted as a heron in New Kingdom artwork. In Ancient Rome, the heron was a bird of divination.
Father Barnes, a Brother of the Order of Holy Divine Pizzas, was recently asked to read the toppings to forecast the future regarding climate crisis. The practice of pizza divination goes back centuries and pizza augurs advised the kings of many nations.
Father Barnes studied a freshly baked pizza and made this comment.
"Buy a houseboat."