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Islands have a powerful collective image, of a sanctuary, an escape and of freedom. Yet this island isn’t a peaceful haven. It’s minute, jammed at the end of the human world before the rule of wilderness takes complete control; teetering here it is impenetrable and mysterious. Blasted by the feral mountain weather; shrill winds through pining trees, running fingers of disturbed water varnish the lake, swaying branches and a cloud scudded sky. There is never stillness; but there is the prospect of shelter amongst the trees on the wall-topped isle.

 

This is a paradoxical wilderness, the reservoir and even I suspect the island itself is man made, set here to hide it’s human origins in this wildest of settings. It is somehow outside the human world, more than simple geography would dictate. Maybe that’s where that stab of uncertainty comes from; spirits seem to haunt this place. I can’t seem to comprehend the essential mixture of what I see and what I know There are no roads in sight, no traffic, no lights and no voices, save the faint whistles of a farmer rounding sheep, a soft white question mark on a distant yellow hill. It’s lonely and at dusk the solitude thickens with the light.

 

I wonder if serenity could be found on a summer night sleeping in the enclosure while the shimmering stars press down, if the universe would infiltrate my sacred retreat. One day, one rare warm summer night, if bravery allows, I might sample that delight, but with the possibility of a sleepless, jittery night. What ghosts might emerge from the drowned valley, hanging vaguely against the sky, like a faint, fleet-footed cloud, a dark-shrouded branch, the moan of wind in a creaking tree.

 

Classical references for light and dark abound, they are often unsophisticated, but universal metaphors for good and evil. But here, at night, universal is turned on its head as uncountable stars spike the sky; it is a colander to a different world.

 

When we reach the totality of night, the circle of experience narrows like bands around the chest. The circle is so limited; pale and indistinct even within, beyond a few feet - black, missing, lays an unknown, only guessed world. Moonless just the faintest glimmering from southern sodium lights, away past the dam, through twisted narrow valleys, the light creeps incestuously with her black, mad cousin.

 

Then I can only but question my rational mind, the world of understanding, of knowledge, of sight and matter. As my senses adapt sounds unexpectedly seem to take on a new life - the volume switch gets turned up, noises become alive and swift like the wind. Now I am the wild creature, alert, listening, smelling, feeling the cold wind and the wet, the brush of the trees and the ground beneath my feet, but seeing very little.

 

This is where the journey really starts. Not the drive out of the city, through the old industrial valleys. Not the walk past one reservoir and through the storm ravaged line of pine trees encircling this place. This journey forces me inside, inside my circle and inside my mind. This is the journey of an island of light into an encircling dark.

In Part 2, I discussed how the Serpent was used as a symbol for not only initiation into the mysteries and immortality but also a symbol for sexuality, generation, death and rebirth due to the creature’s ability to shed its skin of the old to reveal a shiny new skin underneath. The mythologized Serpent, of course, does appear in almost every culture around the world over. Genesis 3 relays how the Serpent offers knowledge in the form of a fruit grown from the Tree of Knowledge (the “Good ” and “Evil” part may have have been added later as a gloss.) Like the Serpent, the Tree of Knowledge is sometimes considered to be a phallic symbol. This Fruit along with the Tree also were used to signify the result or effect of some cause, having both a positive and a negative effect and origin.

 

The Two Trees.

 

The Tree of Knowledge and digesting the forbidden fruit in Genesis according to Jewish tradition represented the primeval mixture or intermingling of good and evil, light and darkness in an almost Manichean fashion. Eating the fruit forbidden set off a chain reaction where humanity developed a “yeitzer hara” or “evil inclination.” Unlike the earlier Hebrews, who blamed themselves for their woes, the Jewish Rabbis believed God had implanted in the ‘heart’, the Hebrew place of the unconscious of each individual, at his birth or conception. The yezer was not hereditary. It was intrinsically good and the source of creative energy, but had a strong potential for evil through appetite or greed. Only strict observance of the Law could keep the strong, irrational passions it engendered under control. To the commentators in the five centuries before Christ, Adam’s death was due to his own “sinful actions”, and not to the Augustine-authored “original sin nature” or “ancestral sin” inherent in the DNA in the race of man because of the disobedience of the primal parents. The Zohar claims that Adam and Eve lost their immortality by ingesting the fruit which is ironically enough compared to the occult:

 

Hear what saith scripture when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree by which death entered into their souls or lower nature, ‘And when they heard the voice of the Lord of the Alhim walking in the garden’ (Gen. iii-8), or, as it ought to be rendered, had walked (mithhalech). Note further that whilst Adam had not fallen, he was a recipient of divine wisdom (hochma) and heavenly light and derived his continuous existence from the Tree of Life to which he had free access, but as soon as he allowed himself to be seduced and deluded with the desire of occult knowledge, he lost everything, heavenly light and life through the disjunction of his higher and lower self, and, the loss of that harmony that should always exist between them, in short, he then first knew what evil was and what it entailed, and, therefore, it is written, ‘Thou art not a God that approveth wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee’ (Is. v-5); or, in other words, he who implicitly and blindly follows the dictates of his lower nature or self shall not come near the Tree of Life.

 

According to the Babylonian Talmud, Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden for just twelve hours before being unceremoniously thrown out. This is half a day in Paradise. That snake sure was a fast worker! Yahweh gave Adam and Eve the tour round Eden, told them what they could or couldn’t do and had no sooner turned his back than they were disobeying him and he had to expel them and sentence them, and the whole human race to come, to hell-fire for all eternity. Is that not the biggest (pardon this author’s french) fuck up of all time? It takes a spectacular degree of incompetence to screw things up that badly, so quickly. And yet the source who engineered this monumental disaster is supposed to be the Creator of the Universe, all-knowing and all-powerful, incapable of error! It is any wonder why the Gnostics called the creator god of Genesis as a dark and brutal god who was also given names such as: Samael (Blind One) and Saklas (idiot-retard)?

 

The Catholic Church Father Irenaeus mentions in Adv. Hear. 1, 29, 3, that the Barbelognostics revered the classic Qabalistic symbol of the “Tree, which itself they call Knowledge (gnosis).” This Tree is generated by two more primordial entities or “Aeons” called “Man” and “Knowledge.” It is hard to know just what his source for this passage may have been, for the kabbalistic symbol of the Tree does not figure in any of the surviving versions of the Apocryphon of John. There is, however, a passage in the Church Father Origen’s description in Contra Celsum of the diagrams of the cosmos envisaged by the Ophites:

 

And everywhere there, the Tree of Life, and the resurrection of flesh from the Tree …

 

This passage suggests that the form of the Tree had been imposed on the whole diagram. The Church Father Origen also gives a number of “ten circles”, the traditional number of the emanations or “sefiroth” associated with the cosmic spheres in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life – though roughly only seven of them can have planetary names. This image of the spiritual powers circling in the heavenly spheres, which the Jewish scholar, Gershom Scholem has suggested entered Jewish esoteric teaching from Hellenistic-Egyptian traditions in the centuries before Christianity (or at least Christian gnosticism) arose bears also upon the enigma of the seven-headed form of Iao in the fourth sphere (as discussed in the Apocryphon of John), that of the Sun.

 

This idea of the Archons situated upon the astral “aerial toll houses” of Eastern Orthodoxy (and of course Gnosticism, especially in the First Apocalypse of James) does indeed seem to originate in ancient Egypt where the the Book of the Dead lists protective spells learned by initiates to guard against the dangerous “judges” during the post-mortem journey of the soul. Speculation in Christian and in Gnostic circles concerning the order of the celestial hierarchy hinged upon a few passages in the Pauline literature, which seem to imply, however, different sequences as Colassians 1:16 states:

 

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

 

The names of the authorities are as follows, featured and listed in the Ophite doctrine, refuted by Celsus in Contra Celsum:

 

Michael – lion, Souriel – bull, Raphael – serpent, Gabriel – eagle, Thauthabaoth – bear, Erathaoth – dog, Taphabaoth/Onoel – ass.

 

The sequence was composed using the figures of four biblical Cherubim, to whom three new personages were added. The animal forms are derived from the biblical story of the famous vision of Ezekiel as is the iconography of the four evangelists. Ezekiel had seen four monstrous beings in the shape of winged men with four faces: of a man, a lion, a bull and an eagle, on each of the four sides. Jerome connects this tetramorph with the Four Evangelists, being Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

 

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In the Trimorphic Protennoia, the Archons claim that they also were derived from a tree:

 

For as for our tree from which we grew, a fruit of ignorance is what it has; and also its leaves, it is death that dwells in them, and darkness dwells under the shadow of its boughs. And it was in deceit and lust that we harvested it, this (tree) through which ignorant Chaos became for us a dwelling place.

 

As mentioned in Part 1, the Gospel of John 15, 1-2 equates Christ with the vines and fruit of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, which also sounds vaguely Dionysian. Dionysus was also called the surname Dendritês, the god of the tree, which has the same import as Dasyllius, the giver of foliage.

 

The Gospel of Truth also equates the cross to the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden:

 

He was nailed to a tree (and) he became fruit of the knowledge of the Father. It did not, however, cause destruction because it was eaten, but to those who ate it, it (cause) to become glad in the discovery, and he discovered them in himself, and they discovered him in themselves.

 

The Gospel of Philip also makes the connection between the Tree of Life, the resurrection via the chrism (anointing) and Jesus Christ, explicit:

 

Philip the apostle said, “Joseph the carpenter planted a garden because he needed wood for his trade. It was he who made the cross from the trees which he planted. His own offspring hung on that which he planted. His offspring was Jesus, and the planting was the cross.” But the Tree of Life is in the middle of the Garden. However, it is from the olive tree that we got the chrism, and from the chrism, the resurrection.

 

Elsewhere in the Gospel of Philip, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is identified with the flesh and the Law (the lower natures as opposed to the pnuematic one). Using a riff from the Epistle to the Romans 7:7-11, the author says:

 

“It has the power to give knowledge of good and evil. It neither removed him from evil, nor did it set him in the good. Instead it created death for those who ate of it. For when it said, ‘Eat this. Do not eat that.’ it became the beginning of death.”

 

The pseudepigraphic Jewish-apocalypse Book of Enoch 31:4, describes this tree of knowledge in the midst of the “Garden of Righteousness”:

 

It was like a species of the Tamarind tree, bearing fruit which resembled grapes extremely fine; and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance. I exclaimed, How beautiful is this tree, and how delightful is its appearance!

 

Irenaeus’ pupil, Hippolytus would write in Against All Heresies (VI, 27) on how the Valentinians compared the Logos to the fruit of the Tree of Life:

 

This (one) is styled among them Joint Fruit of the Pleroma. These (matters), then, took place within the Pleroma in this way. And the Joint Fruit of the Pleroma was projected, (that is,) Jesus,— for this is his name—the great High Priest. Sophia, however, who was outside the Pleroma in search of Christ, who had given her form, and of the Holy Spirit, became involved in great terror that she would perish, if he should separate from her, who had given her form and consistency.

 

He also writes that the Father projected a warrior Aeon as a defense mechanism to protect the Aeonic realm of the Pleroma from the shapeless void created by the fallen Sophia, who is often shaped in a Cross:

 

Now this (Aeon) is styled Horos, because he separates from the Pleroma the Hysterema that is outside. And (he is called) Metocheus, because he shares also in the Hysterema. And (he is denominated) Staurus, because he is fixed inflexibly and inexorably, so that nothing of the Hysterema can come near the Aeons who are within the Pleroma.

 

This description also matches with Irenaeus’ account (Against Heresies 1.3.5) on how the Valentinian Christians viewed the hidden, metaphysical meaning and nature of the Cross:

 

“They show, further, that that Horos of theirs, whom they call by a variety of names, has two faculties,-the one of supporting, and the other of separating; and in so far as he supports and sustains, he is Stauros, while in so far as he divides and separates, he is Horos. They then represent the Saviour as having indicated this twofold faculty: first, the sustaining power, when He said, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross (Stauros), and follow after me, cannot be my disciple; ” and again, “Taking up the cross follow me; ” but the separating power when He said, “I came not to send peace, but a word.” They also maintain that John indicated the same thing when he said, “The fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge the floor, and will gather the wheat into His garner; but the chaff He will burn with fire unquenchable.” By this declaration He set forth the faculty of Horos. For that fan they explain to be the cross (Stauros), which consumes, no doubt, all material objects, as fire does chaff, but it purifies all them that are saved, as a fan does wheat. Moreover, they affirm that the Apostle Paul himself made mention of this cross in the following words: “The doctrine of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.” And again: “God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world.”

 

In the above paragraph, Horos or Stauros (the cross of John) is the limit (X) of Plato’s Timaeus. Simon Magus taught this same exact thing as we will see below. The cross symbolizes the separation of powers and realms. It represents the apokatastasis, the Stoic conflagration, the baptism by fire. Paul the Apostle speaks of this fire that purifies and tries men’s works in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. To be crucified to the world is to bear the symbol of the cross which is a flat-out denial of YHWH and the Elohim archons’ creation. It is to spit in the face of the Greek gods of fate like Socrates. It is hemlock to the flesh and to the spirit it is immortality.

 

It is the Cross of Christ, which in the Gnostic interpretation separates God from the manifest world, the uncreated, transcendent World of Forms from the Creator and the created realm, constituting a Separate and Hidden God. This limit in essence separates the “wheat from the tares”. At the same time, it also serves as a bridge between the saved sparks of light into the realm above. The extremely esoteric Sethian text, Allogenes, mentions a power or aeon by the name of “Kalyptos”, which can mean either “hidden” or “that which covers,” which may derive from the conception of the veil parting the higher from the lower realm. This power derives from the Aeon of Barbelo, which is also a state of being in which a spiritual power descends into matter. The position of Kalyptos comes very close to that of the Valentinian Horos, Stauros or Limit that separates the highest deity Bythos (Depth or Abyss) from the other Aeons that derive from him. This limit also functions though a second barrier between the “hysterema” of the material cosmos and the realm of the Aeons. Sophia also functions as a veil in On the Origin of the World.

 

lightning-flash-on-tree

 

All of these concepts are also reflected in Origen’s Contra Celsum (6, 33) in which he states that that on the diameter of one of the circles a sword of fire was depicted, the same one that had driven Adam and Eve from the earthly Paradise. This flaming sword guarded the Tree of knowledge (gnosis) and of life (zoe). If the sword was above the black line of Tartarus, then the tree of knowledge and of life has to be the series of circles starting from Gnosis and Sophia and leading through the circle of Life to the Father. This could be similar to the Kabbalistic number of 777 being the sum the paths that the Lightening Path of Creation travels down through the Tree of Life. It is through this channel that the Luciferian motif of bringing the light of heaven to the World of Action becomes apparent.

 

In Contra Celsum, Origen reports Celsus’ comments on the Christians (the Ophite-Sethian Gnostics in reality), who called their baptismal rite “seal” (recalling the Five Seals of the Sethians); the person who placed the seal was called “father”; the one who received it was called “son” and “young man”, answering: “I am anointed with the white chrism of the tree of life”. Celsus further down describes the Christian belief of “tree of life” being both synonymous with Christ and the resurrection in 6:34:

 

And in all their writings (is mention made) of the ‘tree of life’ (τό της ζωης ξύλον), and a resurrection of the flesh by means of the ‘tree’ (από ξύλου), because, I imagine, their teacher was nailed to a cross (σταυρω ένηλώθη), and was a carpenter by craft (τέκτων τήν τεχνην)…

 

Celsus connects a so-called “tree of life,” and a resurrection by means of the “tree,” to Jesus’ execution: that he was nailed to an execution pole and his trade being carpenter, joiner. The relevant point Celsus is making here is that Jesus was suspended on some kind of pole, and secured to it with nails. Clearly, the parallels between the Ophite diagram and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with the circles shown to have numerical values, are there.

 

The Trimorphic Protennoia and the hermetic Discourse on Eighth and Ninth in the Nag Hammadi library pre-suppose numerical values for the manifestations of God, as does the system of Valentinus as described by his enemy, Irenaeus, which envisioned the theoretical attainment of 10 divine Aeons. He also develops a system consisting of about thirty Aeons, which would suggest that he had taken the simpler Ophite system and expanded it until it was almost uncontrollable. Even more interesting is in the Sethian text, Melchizedek, it portrays Adam and Eve defeating the guardians of the Tree of Life with their own weapon!

 

For when they ate of the tree of knowledge, they trampled the Cherubim and the Seraphim with the flaming sword.

 

Fludd Sephirothic Tree web

 

The Sephirothic Tree by Robert Fludd

 

The Qabalah or Kabbalah itself has many similarities with Gnosticism in their closely related teachings of the hidden God and hypostatization of God’s attributes. The Sephirot (or Enumerations, which also means “book” in Hebrew) are the ten emanations of God (or infinite light: Ein Sof Aur) into the universe. These emanations manifest not only in the physical part of the universe, but also in the metaphysical one. Kabbalah distinguish four different worlds or planes: Atziluth, or World of Emanations, where the Divine Archetypes live; Beri’ah or World of Creations, where Highest Ranking Angels are; Yetzirah or World of Formations is the astral world; and Asiyah or World of Actions, is the physical plane and “low astral” plane. Each of these worlds are progressively grosser and denser (one can see the strong Kabbalistic influence on Neo-Platonic thought here as well), but the ten Sephiroth manifest in all of them.

 

The Kabbalah is rooted in the Merkavah and Assyrian traditions, and the Kabbalah defines Sefirot is also based on the great visions described by Ezekiel. The Sephiroth constitutes the “Tree of Life”, and is aligned in three columns, each headed by a Supernal. The names of the Sephirot are: Kether (Crown), Chochman (Wisdom), Binah (Understanding), Chesed (Mercy), Gevurah (Severity), Tiphareth (Redeemer), Netzach (Victory), Hod (Majesty), Yesod (Foundation), Malkhuth (Kingdom). Some clear Christian and Gnostic associations on the Tree of Life is down the middle path, with Keter relating to the Father, which emanates into Tipharet relating to the Holy Ghost, and Christ as the Solar Logos and Savior, which emanates to Yesod, relating to the Son. This being the path by which God emanates into Malkut, the physical world

 

The Manichean Psalm CCXX illustrates the theme of matter receiving the spiritual Light rather well by using Tree imagery:

 

They rose, that they belong to Matter, the children of Error, desiring to uproot thy unshakable tree and plant it in their land. Matter and her sons divided me up amongst them, they burnt me in their fire, they gave me a bitter likeness.” … “I am the sweet water that is beneath the sons of Matter.

 

SophiaInTree

 

Alchemical image of the Divine Sophia as a Tree of Learning and source of the Elixir of Life.

 

In Jewish Wisdom literature, it was Khokhmah who personified the female Divine. She is understood as an emanation of God, yet she resonates with the Hebrew Goddess who is otherwise assailed in the Old Testament, by Jehovah especially Asherah, the Queen of Heaven. Proverbs 3:18 calls up an image of Khokhmah that originates in the oldest core of Jewish culture: “She is a Tree of Life to all who lay hold of her.” In the same book, Khokhmah sings, “The one who finds me, finds life.” A similar aretalogy can be found in the Sethian text, Thunder-Perfect Mind. The creation story of the 2nd, Century Gnostic, Valentinus of Alexandria, the greatest of Sophia’s devotees, describes the origin and essence of the matter composing this world as emotionally and psychically consubstantial with Sophia as indicated by Irenaeus in Against Heresies, 5, 4:

 

This mother they also call Ogdoad, Sophia, Terra (Gaia), Jerusalem (cf. Gal. 4:26), Holy Spirit, and, with a masculine reference, Lord. Their mother dwells in that place which is above the heavens, that is, in the intermediate abode; the Demiurge in the heavenly place, that is, in the hebdomad; but the Cosmocrator in this our world. The corporeal elements of the world, again, sprang, as we before remarked, from bewilderment and perplexity, as from a more ignoble source. Thus the earth arose from her state of stupor; water from the agitation caused by her fear; air from the consolidation of her grief; while fire, producing death and corruption, was inherent in all these elements, even as they teach that ignorance also lay concealed in these three passions.

 

Furthermore, she knows:

 

the beginning and end and middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons, the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars, the nature of animals and the tempers of wild animals, the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings, the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots… (Wisdom 7:15-22)

 

The imagery of the tree is also included in Simon Magus’s cosmology, as reported by Hippolytus of Rome, is a powerful model that describing some rare concepts that Simononians in the early third century work described in the Philosophumena, as the “Great Declaration” or “Great Announcement”. Simon very much describes a tree of fire that consumes itself. This is a third century Simonian document, positing that the root of all existence is infinite, and abides in man, who serves as its dwelling-house. The Logos or the Word is projected down by the luciferian Lightening Flash through the Aeons and into the manifest world and man. From the original root, the hidden principle, spring three pairs of manifestations of: Mind and Thought, Voice and Name, Reasoning and Reflection.

 

The Father is, moreover, “He that hath stood” in relation to premundane existence; “He that standeth” in relation to present being; and “He that shall stand” in relation to the final consummation. Man is simply the realization of “boundless power,” the ultimate end of the cosmic process in which the godhead attains self-consciousness. This infinite power works in all of the aeons as a compound name: He who stands, has stood, and will stand; a term alluded to in the Clementine Homilies and Recognition’s which say, that Simon Magus considered himself as the “Standing One” along with the “that power of God which is called Great”.

 

The Simonian author employs very Stoic language in describing what is hidden and revealed in the divine Fire, the original Boundless Power that is the stuff that the original Ineffable God is made of—the equivalent of the Qabalistic Ein Sof or Kether—the Crown. In this above entry (linked above) by Hippolytus, he refers to Simon’s theology of the “fruit from the Tree” as being the quintessential product of the human incarnation. The tripartite division of spirit, psyche and matter are simply manifest expressions of the original Stoic-like Divine Fire. This concealed fruit or “Hidden Power” which is another term that he used, requires a key in the conscious process of imagining or beholding a power to form mental images.

 

The Simonian author interestingly uses the term “imagining” as a reference of becoming divinized or be initiated into the mysteries. But this can only be manifested “if its imagining has been perfected and it takes the shape of itself.” Later, the text mentions a “storehouse” which is a room, located adjacent to a royal chamber within a palace where the gold, jewels and other wealth are stored. Here, the Simonian author is referring to the treasure-house and the storehouse, both concepts that are found within the Pistis Sophia that refer to a location within the “House of Many Mansions” of John 14:2.

 

Simon Magus also appealed to Matthew 12:33, as Hippolytus writes in Refutations of All Heresies VI, 11:

 

If, however, a tree continues alone, not producing fruit fully formed, it is utterly destroyed. For somewhere near, he says, is the axe (which is laid) at the roots of the tree. Every tree, he says, which does not produce good fruit, is hewn down and cast into fire.

 

This, of course, was also Marcion’s (and much later in Mani’s theological two principle system) main scriptural justification for his radical dualism in Christ’s maxim that a good tree does not bear evil fruit, nor does an evil tree bear bad fruit. So if we also interpret that in terms of origins, then the evil god could not possibly have originated from the good god, because good things do not produce evil things, and vice versa. The Gospel of Thomas says something very similar:

 

(45) Jesus said, “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good man brings forth good from his storehouse; an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things.”

 

The fact is Simon had a similar doctrine that condemned false religion and predicted a final dissolution of the cosmos, presumably dissolved in fire, so that Simon’s elect can be redeemed, viz. the Great Announcement; Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, 6:14; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.23.3.

 

These words from Simon and John resonate with a key saying of Jesus in Matthew 7:17-20,

 

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

 

This was a key saying used by the Gnostics and Marcionites. Could it be that this metaphor originated from John the Baptist, from whom Simon also learned this same metaphor?

 

Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, that you have Abraham for your father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” (Cf. John 8:39, 44; 1:17-18)

 

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In the text On the Origin of the World, it states that the tree of life and the tree of gnosis are situated “to the north of Paradise” and is identified as Epinoia. The Greek name Epinoia carries the meaning of “understanding” or “thought” or “purpose”. She is sent to dwell within Adam, her role being to give him consciousness of his divine origins and the way to return to the Pleroma. The author of On the Origin of the World makes a positive evaluation of the Garden of Eden:

 

And the tree of eternal life is as it appeared by God’s will, to the north of Paradise, so that it might make eternal the souls of the pure, who shall come forth from the modelled forms of poverty at the consummation of the age. Now the color of the tree of life is like the sun. And its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like those of the cypress. Its fruit is like a bunch of grapes when it is white. Its height goes as far as heaven. And next to it (is) the tree of knowledge (gnosis), having the strength of God. Its glory is like the moon when fully radiant. And its branches are beautiful. Its leaves are like fig leaves. Its fruit is like a good appetizing date. And this tree is to the north of Paradise, so that it might arouse the souls from the torpor of the demons, in order that they might approach the tree of life and eat of its fruit, and so condemn the authorities and their angels.

 

This depiction is in stark contrast with how the the Apocryphon of John depicts Eden as more of a zoo-like prison of the authorities:

 

And the archons took him and placed him in paradise. And they said to him, ‘Eat, that is at leisure,’ for their luxury is bitter and their beauty is depraved. And their luxury is deception and their trees are godlessness and their fruit is deadly poison and their promise is death. And the tree of their life they had placed in the midst of paradise.

 

The Apocalypse of Moses is primarily an account about Adam’s death, its cause and cure. Seth is procured along with Adam’s many other children which leads Adam to recount briefly the story of the temptation, the fall, and the the first parents’ punishment in chapters 7-8. Adam’s narrative explains the reason for his present plight. Adam then subsequently sends his wife Eve and son Seth to paradise in search of the oil of mercy that will bring him relief. (9:3) On the way to the garden, Seth is attacked by a beast (in chapters 10-12) which seems to be evidence that God’s curse in Genesis 3:15 is in effect. Adam’s request to be saved is subsequently denied.

 

(The oil of Mercy) will not be yours now, but at the ends of the times. Then will arise all flesh from Adam to the great day …. , and then all the joy of paradise will be given to them. … (13:2-4)

 

Adam knows he is going to die and later on in Chapters 22-29, God appears in paradise on his chariot while accompanied by his angels. His throne is fixed, and he indicts and sentences his creatures from the consequences of the fall being spelled out in detail in chapters 24-26. Adam seeks the oil of mercy but God commands the angels to get on with the expulsion (27:4-28:1). Again Adam pleads, this time for access to the Tree of Life (28:2). God’s response to Adam’s plea is met with a reproof:

 

You shall not take from it now … if you keep yourself from all evil, as one about to die, when again the resurrection comes to pass, I shall raise you up. And then there shall be given to you from the tree of life. (28:3-4)

 

Another time, Adam pleads with God for herbs from Eden to offer incense and seeds to grow food. God is kind enough to grant this request before Adam and Eve are kicked out from the garden in Chapter 29. The text concludes on a solemn yet promising note which expands on Genesis 3:19:

 

I told you that you are dust, and to dust you will return. Again I promise you the resurrection. I shall raise you up to the last day, in the resurrection, with every man who is of your seed. (41:2-3)

 

In the concluding portion of the book, it describes Eve’s death and her burial by Seth, who is commanded to bury in this fashion everyone who dies until the day of the resurrection. These ideas are also reflected in the apocryphal the Book of the Cave of Treasures, where the dying Adam assembles his sons, including Seth for a request to embalm him with myrrh, cassia and balsam and to leave his body in the Cave of Treasures, situated at a side of a high mountain but below paradise.

 

Seth himself was also considered to be the archetypal father and savior of the Gnostics, resulting from the Jewish exegesis and combination of various biblical themes: (1) that of “the sons of God” in Gen 6:4 (LXX), (2) that of Seth as “another seed” appointed by God in place of the slain Abel in Gen 4:25, who (3) was fathered by Adam as a son in his own likeness and image according to Gen 5:3.

 

These themes, in combination with Gen 1:26, concerning the god “Man” created in the image and likeness of God, implied the divine nature of Seth, the “planter” of the heavenly seed (Gen 4:25). Seth would recover from “the great aeons” the glory that had left Adam and Eve at their Fall, caused by the Ialdabaoth. Seth would preserve his seed against the repeated attempts of Ialdabaoth to steal it by keeping it separate from the lustful seed of Cain which came from the Archons. At the end of time, Seth (or Sophia in On the Origin of the World) would destroy Ialdabaoth and his followers in a Revelations-styled apocalypse and reinstate his seed, the part of mankind untainted by lust, into its original glory. The strongest instant that we see Seth as a Gnostic Savior is in the Apocalypse of Adam, where Adam tells his son Seth:

 

And the glory in our hearts left us, me and your mother Eve, along with the first knowledge that breathed within us.

 

Later, Adam called his son “by the name of that man who is the seed of the great generation as a planter of the righteous seed”, recalling 1 Corinthians 15: 35-49 by Paul the Apostle, who compared the resurrection to a seed. Paul states that when a plant sprouts forth from the seed, and the remnants of the seed whither away. The plant came from the seed, but the plant isn’t the seed, and the seed isn’t the plant. They’re two distinct things, and the plant doesn’t come to life until the seed dies. So what Paul is saying is that spirit is deposited as a seed in the body, and it remains a seed until the body dies and decomposes. Then the spirit sprouts forth from the body, and the body is transmuted into a spiritual body, which also recalls the Parable of the Sower in Matthew, Mark and Thomas. It isn’t reanimation of a corpse at all as Catholic Church Fathers such as Irenaeus and especially Tertullian, have maintained (Against Heresies, 5.12.1, De Resurrectione Carnis). Paul’s theology concerning the spiritual resurrection isn’t so far removed from the ideas expressed in the Great Announcement:

 

…the manifested side corresponds to the trunk, limbs, leaves, and encasing bark. All these members of the tree are set ablaze from the all-consuming flame of the fire and destroyed. But as for the fruit of the tree, if it’s for is perfect and it assumes the true shape, it is gathered into the storehouse, not thrown into the fire.

 

Here, the vegetation and tree motifs are evident. Returning to the Gnostics—is it from Seth’s descendants who would possess the Gnosis. The Apocryphon of John suggests that Sophia prepared a place for the souls in heaven, where Jesus, the incarnation of the aeon Christ would disclose the true knowledge of how to return to their true home in with the Spirit (in Pleroma), where they would ascend past the rulers (archons) and their astral spheres and be healed of all deficiency and become holy and faultless. To gain these higher realms, one must ascend above the Seven Heavens of Chaos into the Aeons as stated in the Gospel of the Egyptians:

 

Then there came forth from the great aeons four hundred ethereal angels, accompanied by the great Aerosiel and the great Selmechel, to guard the great, incorruptible race, its fruit, and the great men of the great Seth, from the time and the moment of Truth and Justice, until the consummation of the aeon and its archons, those whom the great judges have condemned to death.

 

The Apocryphon of John spells it out in a more concise manner:

 

And he placed seven kings – each corresponding to the firmaments of heaven – over the seven heavens, and five over the depth of the abyss, that they may reign. And he shared his fire with them, but he did not send forth from the power of the light which he had taken from his mother, for he is ignorant darkness.

 

Origen, despite being one of the Church Fathers (and theological enemies of the Gnostics), he actually had a doctrine very much influenced by Platonism (but stood firmly against groups like the Valentinians and Marcionites). Origen also did not accept the historicity of the Bible nor did he interpret it literally. One example of this can be taken from De Prinicipiis, 4.1.16, where he discusses the Genesis creation myth more as an allegory:

 

No one, I think, can doubt that the statement that God walked in the afternoon in paradise, and that Adam lay hid under a tree is related figuratively in Scripture, that some mystical meaning may be indicated by it.” And “those who are not altogether blind can collect countless instances of a similar kind recorded as having occurred, but which did not literally take place? Nay, the Gospels themselves are filled with the same kind of narratives; for example, the devil leading Jesus up into a high mountain, in order to show him from thence the kingdoms of the whole world, and the glory of them.

 

Likewise, the Valentinians viewed scripture as allegorical on three different levels that corresponded to the three natures. The earlier Gnostics viewed the Old Testament as a symbolic record of the struggle between Yaldabaoth-Jehovah and Sophia as testified in Irenaeus’ account in Against Heresies, VII, 3:

 

They maintain, moreover, that those souls which possess the seed of Achamoth are superior to the rest, and are more dearly loved by the Demiurge than others, while he knows not the true cause thereof, but imagines that they are what they are through his favour towards them. Wherefore, also, they say he distributed them to prophets, priests, and kings; and they declare that many things were spoken (7) by this seed through the prophets, inasmuch as it was endowed with a transcendently lofty nature. Themother also, they say, spake much about things above, and that both through him and through the souls which were formed by him. Then, again, they divide the prophecies [into different classes], maintaining that one portion was uttered by the mother, a second by her seed, and a third by the Demiurge. In like manner, they hold that Jesus uttered some things under the influence of the Saviour, others under that of the mother, and others still under that of the Demiurge, as we shall show further on in our work.

 

As we can see, the Tree was an important universal symbol for not only the Gnostics, Simonians, Valentinians, etc, but to groups like the Jewish-Kabbalists, alchemists and many occult groups throughout the ages. The Tree is highly associative with the idea of the descent and crucifixion (and eventual ascent and resurrection) of spirit into and from matter as seen in Sophia-Achamoth’s fall from the celestial world and into the prima materia which parallels the Genesis account of the fall of Eve, the “mother of the living”. In Plato’s Timaeus, do we find the account of the Fall of Atlantis, (as strange as it might sound) which could be read as symbolic of the Divine tragedy and catastrophe so predominant in Gnostic cosmology and theology.

 

In Part 4, we will investigate a possible Gnostic exegesis of the Atlantis myth and other Greek tales, the Gnostic science of human physiology and the mind relating to Genesis, where and how exactly Orthodox theology developed from and ultimately became victorious as a common religious Christian doctrine, along with some concluding final thoughts on this series.

 

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The doxa thus constitutes a set (a "network", a system) of values, maxims around some (all, but some more than others) aspects and elements of the reality meant. It is situated beyond language, but below the discourse on which it tacitly bases intercomprehension.

 

"Each object of the world can pass from a closed, silent existence to an oral state, open to the appropriation of society. "(Barthes 1957:216)

We can therefore describe a doxic system as an evolving hierarchical field, where different models follow one another in the centre. These models bring together one or more "ideologems" or presuppositions, all of which are defined on one or more axes and in one or more fields, and which are expressed in the discourse by a mythical image or set of images. All these models, by their hierarchical and oppositionary character, contribute to the realization and actualization of the basic ideological meaning that is the perpetuated existence of a hierarchical society, where the terms can change but the structure must remain immutable.

The Idols of the Tribe have their foundation in human nature itself, and in the tribe or race of men. For it is a false assertion that the sense of man is the measure of things. On the contrary, all perceptions as well of the sense as of the mind are according to the measure of the individual and not according to the measure of the universe. And the human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it.

— Novum Organum, Aphorism XLI

The "ideologems", the units that make up the doxic system, are structured in two (diversified) dimensions. First, there are the axes or axiologies: bipolar lines whose ends are absolutely opposed notions, such as Bien-Mal, Order-Disorder.. The axes can be presented as continua, with "ambivalent" terms (e. g. unhappy love), but the two extremities always remain dominant and determine the final value. Still, one of the two opposing terms is evaluated positively and the other negatively. One axis can flow from another or materialize it.

 

Doxa (ancient Greek δόξα; from verb δοκεῖν dokein, "to appear", "to seem", "to think" and "to accept" is a Greek word meaning common belief or popular opinion. Used by the Greek rhetoricians as a tool for the formation of argument by using common opinions, the doxa was often manipulated by sophists to persuade the people, leading to Plato's condemnation of Athenian democracy.

The word doxa picked up a new meaning between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC when the Septuagint translated the Hebrew word for "glory" (כבוד, kavod) as doxa. This translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was used by the early church and is quoted frequently by the New Testament authors. The effects of this new meaning of doxa as "glory" is made evident by the ubiquitous use of the word throughout the New Testament and in the worship services of the Greek Orthodox Church, where the glorification of God in true worship is also seen as true belief. In that context, doxa reflects behavior or practice in worship, and the belief of the whole church rather than personal opinion. It is the unification of these multiple meanings of doxa that is reflected in the modern terms of orthodoxy and heterodoxy.This semantic merging in the word doxa is also seen in Russian word слава (slava), which means glory, but is used with the meaning of belief, opinion in words like православие (pravoslavie, meaning orthodoxy, or, literally, true belief)..

In Plato's Gorgias (dialogue), Plato presents the Sophists, rhetors who taught people how to speak for the promise of commercial success, as wordsmiths that ensnare and use the malleable doxa of the "multitude" to their advantage without shame. In this and other writings, Plato relegated doxa as being a belief, unrelated to reason, that resided in the unreasoning, lower-parts of the soul. This viewpoint extended into the concept of doxasta in Plato's Theory of Forms, which states that physical objects are manifestations of doxa and are thus not in their true form. Plato's framing of doxa as the opponent of knowledge led to the classical opposition of error to truth, which has since become a major concern in Western philosophy. (However, in the Theaetetus and in the Meno, Plato has Socrates suggest that knowledge is orthos doxa for which one can provide a logos, thus initiating the traditional definition of knowledge as "justified true belief".) Thus, error is considered in Occident as pure negativity, which can take various forms, among them the form of illusion. As such, doxa may ironically be defined as the "philosopher's sin". In classical rhetoric, it is contrasted with episteme.

Plato's student Aristotle objected to Plato's theory of doxa. Aristotle perceived that doxa's value was in practicality and common usage, in contrast with Plato's philosophical purity relegating doxa to deception. Further, Aristotle held doxa as the first step in finding knowledge, as doxa had found applications in the physical world and those who held it had great amount of tests done to prove it and thus reason to believe it.[Aristotle clarifies this by categorizing the accepted truths of the physical world that are passed down from generation to generation as endoxa. Endoxa is a more stable belief than doxa, because it has been "tested" in argumentative struggles in the Polis by prior interlocutors. The use of endoxa in the Stagirite's Organon can be found in Aristotle's Topics and Rhetoric.Trying to make a list of universal doxas is therefore considered utopian, and it is a good game to present the fruits of these attempts (let us think of the Declaration of Human Rights) as necessarily illegitimate since, precisely, being the expression of a dated and localized culture. On the other hand, from a descriptive (and not normative moral) eristic perspective, a list of doxas such as one encounters in a course of rhetoric, therefore having no claim to found an ideology, can be tinged with universality, in so far as it purports to account for human argumentative activity, regardless of cultural and social groups. The "universal doxas" (in the course of the Manual of Polemics, Muras devotes 130 pages out of 340) as rhetorical (and not philosophical and even less moral) objects, revived in ever new contexts, make it possible, as preliminary agreements (Perelman), to argue.ideology "cannot be considered as a monolithic system:" the ideological activity of a society presents itself as an ever complete and never successful approximation of a system of thought. "(Grivel 1980: d4)

 

On the other hand, he points out that the "universality rate" of text universals fluctuates (Grivel 1978:39) - meaning that the doxic system has centre-periphery movements and vice versa.

 

In any case, just like the language system as a system of potentialities, ideology continues to exist. Doxic language changes, language remains - or even: language changes so that language can perpetuate its existence. "The rule includes the novelty of its manifestation, which is its rule. "(Grivel 1973:63)

It is clear that the conversion of history into nature serves to prolong the current order of things: The present state is proclaimed nature, i. e. realization of the essence of the human being, thus morally good. History becomes Nature which becomes Moral: thus any attack on societal structures becomes immorality itself. (Cf. Barthes 1957:151.) In the final analysis, doxa, for Barthes, is the image that the bourgeoisie has of the world and imposes on the world. The bourgeois strategy is to fill the whole world with its culture and morality, making it forget its own status as a historical class:"The status of the bourgeoisie is peculiar, historical: the man whom it represents will be universal, eternal; (...) Finally, the first idea of the perfectible, mobile world will produce the overturned image of an immutable humanity, defined by an infinitely renewed identity. "(Barthes 1957:250-251)

Pierre Bourdieu, in his Outline of a Theory of Practice, used the term doxa to denote what is taken for granted in any particular society. The doxa, in his view, is the experience by which "the natural and social world appears as self-evident". It encompasses what falls within the limits of the thinkable and the sayable ("the universe of possible discourse"), that which "goes without saying because it comes without saying". The humanist instances of Bourdieu's application of notion of doxa are to be traced in Distinction where doxa sets limits on social mobility within the social space through limits imposed on the characteristic consumption of each social individual: certain cultural artifacts are recognized by doxa as being inappropriate to actual social position, hence doxa helps to petrify social limits, the "sense of one's place", and one's sense of belonging, which is closely connected with the idea that "this is not for us" (ce n'est pas pour nous). Thus individuals become voluntary subjects of those incorporated mental structures that deprive them of more deliberate consumption.

Doxa and opinion denote, respectively, a society's taken-for-granted, unquestioned truths, and the sphere of that which may be openly contested and discussed.

Bourdieu explains the term "doxa" in his interview with theorist Terry Eagleton. To explain the term, he uses an example about the common beliefs in school. He asked students what qualifies as achievement in school. In response, the students on the lower end of the academic spectrum viewed themselves as being inferior or not as smart as the students who excelled. The responses are where doxa comes into play, because that was the common belief and attitude that the students had based on what society pushed them to believe. Bourdieu believes that doxa derived from socialization, because socialization also deals with beliefs deriving from society, and as we grow up in the environment, we tend to believe what society tells us is correct.

It is a socially accepted misconception, that if you do not score as high as someone else then you are obviously not as smart as they are. Scores do not prove that one is smarter, because there are many different factors that play into what you score on a test. People may excel within a certain topic and fail at another. However, even though it is a misconception, people tend to partake in common practices to make themselves feel better. For example, the students who feel inferior due to popular belief that they are not as smart as the students who score higher than them, may experiment with drugs to ease the insecurities they face. Bourdieu believes that doxa is more than common belief. He believes that it also has the potential to give rise to common action.

While doxa is used as a tool for the formation of argument, it should be noted that it is also formed by argument. The former can be understood as told by James A. Herrick in The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction: "The Sophists in Gorgias hold that rhetoric creates truth that is useful for the moment out of doxa, or the opinions of the people, through the process of argument and counterargument. Socrates will have no part of this sort of 'truth' which, nevertheless, is essential to a democracy." Importantly noted, democracy, which by definition is the manifestation of public opinion, is dependent upon, and therefore also constrained by, the same limits imposed upon the individuals responsible for its establishment. Due to compromised opinions within a society, as well as opinions not counted for due to inaccessibility and apathy, doxa is not homogeneous, nor is it created agreeably. Rather, it is pliable and imperfect—the outcome of an ongoing power struggle between clashing "truths".

To expand upon the quote from his Outline of a Theory of Practice in the above section, "Use in sociology and anthropology", Bourdieu writes, "When there is a quasi-perfect correspondence between the objective order and the subjective principles of organization (as in ancient societies) the natural and social world appears as self-evident. This experience we shall call doxa". Adam Smith of the University of Chicago observes in his article "The limitations of doxa: agency and subjectivity from an archaeological point of view": "Bourdieu consigns the practices of the denizens of ancient societies to the realm of doxa, their lives cast as routines predicated upon the mis-recognition of social orders as natural ways of life, rather than political products."This calls to attention that the notion of social order as naturally occurring is misperceived, disregarding its creation by political argumentation.

Doxa, then, can be understood as created by argument as well as used in the formation of argument, essential for the establishment of democratic policies.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxa

" "What would Buddha do to search for perfect knowledge ?"

"Your mind becomes Buddha.

Your mind is Buddha.

All the Buddhas' ocean of perfect knowledge begins in your very mind and thought."

(Amitayur Dhyana Sutra 17)

 

Buddha doesn't have to do anything to gain perfect knowledge.

He knows he has it already.

He knows we have it already.

But someone we seem to be left out of the loop.

How ironic that we don't know we have perfect knowledge !

What went wrong ?"

(From "What would Buddha do ?" by Franz Metcalf)

 

Those two Tibetan monks were under the Bodhi Tree which is behind the Mahabodhi Temple, the place of Gautama Buddha's attainment of nirvana (Enlightenment), in Bodh Gaya (बोधगया), in the Indian state of Bihar.

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On Nov. 13, 2012, a narrow corridor in the southern hemisphere experienced a total solar eclipse. The corridor lay mostly over the ocean but also cut across the northern tip of Australia where both professional and amateur astronomers gathered to watch.

 

During a solar eclipse one can see – using appropriate instruments to protect the eyes since you should never look at the sun directly – dim structures around the edges of the sun. These structures are the sun's atmosphere, the corona, which extends beyond the more easily seen surface, known as the photosphere.

 

In modern times, we know that the corona is constantly on the move. Made of electrified gas, called plasma, the solar material dances in response to huge magnetic fields on the sun. Structural changes in these magnetic fields can also give rise to giant explosions of radiation called solar flares, or expulsions of solar material called coronal mass ejections, CMEs – which make the corona a particularly interesting area to study.

 

Credit: NASA/Cirtain

 

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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.

 

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Wilyakali:

 

Wilyakali lies in the east of the state of South Australia, crossing into New South Wales, including the town of Broken Hill. The Wilyakali people traditionally visited the Paakantji people on the Menindee Lakes in the Darling Riverine Plains Bioregion each year.

 

The three Major language groups for the Broken Hill Region are the Paakantji, Mayyankapa, and Nyiimpaa.

 

Wilyakali and Danggali both lie east of the Ngadjuri language and north of the upper River Murray languages.

 

Wilyakali and Danggali are part of the Darling River Language Group or Paakantyi / Paakantji language group. This is a group of closely related languages in South Australia and New South Wales, which can be subdivided into two groups: the “Northern Dialects” and the “Southern Dialects.” Wilyakali and Danggali are both part of the “Southern Dialects.”

 

Other “Southern Dialects” include Pulaali, Southern Pankantyi, Pantyikali, Wanyuparlku and Marrawarra. Some of these languages have been recorded more than others. Although each language has its own distinguishing features, they are so similar they can be understood by speakers of other languages in this group. Therefore, the following reference list will include Southern Paakantyi references that may be helpful. The language name is noted in square brackets after each reference, when known.

 

Today the Wilyakali people are still the main Aboriginal group in Broken Hill, though there are a number of Aboriginal people that come from other language groups.

 

The Aboriginal people of Broken Hill have established working parties to pursue their vision of a better future. They continue to look after their traditional lands and are joint managers of the Mutawintji National Park which is the first national park handed back to the traditional owners in New South Wales. There are many strong elders who continue to maintain and pass on their traditional knowledge to their young people and, today, share their stories with the wider community.

 

Danggali:

 

The Danggali nation is located across plains southwest of Broken Hill from near Tandou Lake, southwestward to Mount Bryan and Burra Creek, northwest of Morgan, South Australia, chiefly in the more arid country extending generally eastward to within a few miles of the Darling River.

 

For most of the year, Danggali people depended on water from the roots of water mallee trees but came in to the Anabranch of the Darling in dry times. Eyre (1845) gives the general term Paritke for these scrub dwellers west and northwest of the Murray. Their language name was Jakumban and they extended eastward to the Darling. They were known farther east as the Jokajoka or Jakojako, a term based on ['ja:ko] their word for 'no.' Richardson indicated them as extending westward, presumably in the scrub country north of the Murray, as far as North West Bend.

 

Walyakali is to the north of Danggali. Wilyakali and Danggali both lie east of the Ngadjuri language and north of the upper River Murray languages. Wilyakali and Danggali are part of the Darling River Language Group or Paakantyi / Paakantji language group. This is a group of closely related languages in South Australia and New South Wales, which can be subdivided into two groups: the “Northern Dialects” and the “Southern Dialects.” Wilyakali and Danggali are both part of the “Southern Dialects.”

 

Other “Southern Dialects” include Pulaali, Southern Pankantyi, Pantyikali, Wanyuparlku and Marrawarra. Some of these languages have been recorded more than others. Although each language has its own distinguishing features, they are so similar they can be understood by speakers of other languages in this group. Therefore, the following reference list will include Southern Paakantyi references that may be helpful. The language name is noted in square brackets after each reference, when known.

 

Source: Mobile Language Team (mobilelanguageteam.com.au/languages/danggali/), Aboriginal Housing Office, & South Australian Musuem (www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/collection/archives/language_group...).

altered textbook

 

Wissen, abgelagert.

verändertes Lehrbuch

Parvati (Devanagari: पार्वती, IAST: Pārvatī) is the Hindu goddess of love, fertility and devotion. She is the goddess of divine strength and power. She is the gentle and nurturing aspect of the Hindu goddess Shakti. She is the mother goddess in Hinduism and has many attributes and aspects. Each of her aspects is expressed with a different name, giving her over 100 names in regional Hindu mythologies of India. Along with Lakshmi (goddess of wealth and prosperity) and Saraswati (goddess of knowledge and learning), she forms the trinity of Hindu goddesses.

 

Parvati is the wife of the Hindu deity Shiva - the destroyer, recycler and regenerator of universe and all life. She is the daughter of the mountain king Himavan and mother Mena. Parvati is the mother of Hindu deities Ganesha and Karttikeya. She is also the mother of Ashokasundari, whose husband was Nahusha Her elder sister is the goddess Ganges. Some communities also believe her to be the adopted sister of Vishnu.

 

With Śiva, Pārvatī is a central deity in the Saivism sect of Hinduism. In Hindu belief, she is the recreative energy and power of Śiva, and she is the cause of a bond that connects all beings and a means of their spiritual release. In Hindu temples dedicated to her and Śiva, she is symbolically represented as argha or yoni. She is found extensively in ancient Indian literature, and her statues and iconography grace ancient and medieval era Hindu temples all over South Asia and Southeast Asia.

 

ETYMOLOGY AND NOMENCLATURE

Parvata is one of the Sanskrit words for "mountain"; "Parvati" derives her name from being the daughter of king Himavan (also called Himavat, Parvat) and mother Mena. King Parvat is considered lord of the mountains and the personification of the Himalayas; Parvati implies "she of the mountain".

 

Parvati is known by many names in Hindu literature. Other names which associate her with mountains are Shailaja (Daughter of the mountains), Adrija or Nagajaa or Shailaputri (Daughter of Mountains), 'Haimavathi' (Daughter of Himavan) and 'Girija' or 'Girirajaputri' (Daughter of king of the mountains).

 

The Lalita sahasranama contains a listing of 1,000 names of Parvati (as Lalita). Two of Parvati's most famous epithets are Uma and Aparna. The name Uma is used for Sati (Shiva's first wife, who is reborn as Parvati) in earlier texts,[which?] but in the Ramayana, it is used as a synonym for Parvati. In the Harivamsa, Parvati is referred to as Aparna ('One who took no sustenance') and then addressed as Uma, who was dissuaded by her mother from severe austerity by saying u mā ('oh, don't'). She is also Ambika ('dear mother'), Shakti (power), Mataji ('revered mother'), Maheshwari ('great goddess'), Durga (invincible), Bhairavi ('ferocious'), Bhavani ('fertility and birthing'), Shivaradni ('Queen of Shiva'), and many hundreds of others. Parvati is also the goddess of love and devotion, or Kamakshi; the goddess of fertility, abundance and food/nourishment, or Annapurna.

 

The apparent contradiction that Parvati is addressed as the fair one, Gauri, as well as the dark one, Kali or Shyama, has been explained by the following legend: Once, Shiva rebuked Parvati about her dark complexion. An angry Parvati left him and underwent severe austerities to become fair-complexioned as a boon from Brahma. Regional stories of Gauri suggest an alternate origin for Gauri's name and complexion. In parts of India, Gauri's skin color is golden or yellow in honor of her being the goddess of ripened corn/harvest and of fertility.

 

Parvati is sometimes spelled as Parvathy or Parvaty

 

HISTORY

Some scholars hold that Parvati does not explicitly appear in Vedic literature, though the Kena Upanishad (3.12) contains a goddess called Uma-Haimavati. Sayana's commentary in Anuvaka, however, identifies Parvati in Talavakara Upanishad, suggesting her to be the same as Uma and Ambika in the Upanishad, referring to Parvati is thus an embodiment of divine knowledge and the mother of the world.

 

She appears as the shakti, or essential power, of the Supreme Brahman. Her primary role is as a mediator who reveals the knowledge of Brahman to the Vedic trinity of Agni, Vayu, and Indra, who were boasting about their recent defeat of a group of demons. But Kinsley notes: "it is little more than conjecture to identify her with the later goddess Satī-Pārvatī, although [..] later texts that extol Śiva and Pārvatī retell the episode in such a way to leave no doubt that it was Śiva's spouse.." Sati-Parvati appears in the epic period (400 BC–400 AD), as both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata present Parvati as Shiva's wife. However, it is not until the plays of Kalidasa (5th-6th centuries) and the Puranas (4th through the 13th centuries) that the myths of Sati-Parvati and Shiva acquire more comprehensive details. Kinsley adds that Parvati may have emerged from legends of non-aryan goddesses that lived in mountains. While the word Umā appears in earlier Upanisads, Hopkins notes that the earliest known explicit use of the name Pārvatī occurs in late Haṃsa Upanishad (Yoga / Shukla Yajurveda).

 

Weber suggests that just like Shiva is a combination of various Vedic gods Rudra and Agni, Parvati in Puranas text is a combination of wives of Rudra and Agni. In other words, the symbolism, legends and characteristics of Parvati evolved over time fusing Uma, Haimavati, Ambika in one aspect and the more ferocious, destructive Kali, Gauri, Nirriti in another aspect. Tate suggests Parvati is a mixture of the Vedic goddesses Aditi and Nirriti, and being a mountain goddess herself, was associated with other mountain goddesses like Durga and Kali in later traditions.

 

LEGENDS

The Puranas tell the tale of Sati's marriage to Shiva against her father Daksha's wishes. Her father Daksha and her husband Shiva do not get along, and ignore the wishes of Sati. The conflict gets to a point where Daksha does not invite Shiva to a major fire ceremony, and Shiva does not come on his own, humiliating Sati. She self-immolates herself at Daksha's yajna ceremony. This shocks Shiva, who is so grief-stricken that he loses interest in worldly affairs, retires and isolates himself in the mountains, in meditation and austerity. Sati is then reborn as Parvati, the second daughter of Himavat and Minavati, and is named Parvati, or "she from the mountains", after her father Himavant who is also called king Parvat.

 

According to different versions of her myths, the maiden Parvati resolves to marry Shiva. Her parents learn of her desire, discourage her, but she pursues what she wants. She approaches the god Kama - the Hindu god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection, and asks him to help her. Kama reaches Shiva and shoots an arrow of desire. Shiva opens his third eye in his forehead and burns the cupid Kama to ashes. Parvati does not lose her hope or her resolve to win over Shiva. She begins to live in mountains like Shiva, engage in the same activities as Shiva, one of asceticism, yogin and tapas. This draws the attention of Shiva and awakens his interest. He meets her in disguised form, tries to discourage her, telling her Shiva's weaknesses and personality problems. Parvati refuses to listen and insists in her resolve. Shiva finally accepts her and they get married. Shiva dedicates the following hymn in Parvati's honor,

 

I am the sea and you the wave,

You are Prakṛti, and I Purusha.

– Translated by Stella Kramrisch

 

After the marriage, Parvati moves to Mount Kailash, the residence of Shiva. To them are born Kartikeya (also known as Skanda and Murugan) - the leader of celestial armies, and Ganesha - the god of wisdom that prevents problems and removes obstacles.

 

ALTERNATE STORIES

There are many alternate Hindu legends about the birth of Parvati and how she got married with Shiva. In the Harivamsa, for example, Parvati has two younger sisters called Ekaparna and Ekapatala. According to Devi Bhagawata Purana and Shiva Purana mount Himalaya and his wife Mena appease goddess Adi Shakti. Pleased, Adi Shakti herself is born as their daughter Parvati. Each major story about Parvati's birth and marriage to Shiva has regional variations, suggesting creative local adaptations. In another version of Shiva Purana, Chapters 17 through 52, cupid Kama is not involved, and instead Shiva appears as a badly behaved, snake wearing, dancing, disheveled beggar who Parvati gets attracted to, but who her parents disapprove of. The stories go through many ups and downs, until Parvati and Shiva are finally married.

 

Kalidasa's epic Kumarasambhavam ("Birth of Kumara") describes the story of the maiden Parvati who has made up her mind to marry Shiva and get him out of his recluse, intellectual, austere world of aloofness. Her devotions aimed at gaining the favor of Shiva, the subsequent annihilation of Kamadeva, the consequent fall of the universe into barren lifelessness, regeneration of life, the subsequent marriage of Parvati and Shiva, the birth of Kartikeya, and the eventual resurrection of Kamadeva after Parvati intercedes for him to Shiva.

 

ICONOGRAPHY AND SYMBOLISM

Parvati, the gentle aspect of Devi Shakti, is usually represented as fair, beautiful and benevolent. She typically wears a red dress (often a sari), and may have a head-band. When depicted alongside Shiva, she generally appears with two arms, but when alone, she may be depicted having four. These hands may hold a conch, crown, mirror, rosary, bell, dish, farming tool such as goad, sugarcane stalk, or flowers such as lotus. One of her arms in front may be in the Abhaya mudra (hand gesture for 'fear not'), one of her children, typically Ganesha, is on her knee, while her elder son Skanda may be playing near her in her watch. In ancient temples, Parvati's sculpture is often depicted near a calf or cow - a source of food. Bronze has been the chief metal for her sculpture, while stone is next most common material.

 

A common symbolism for her and her husband Siva is in the form of yoni and linga respectively. In ancient literature, yoni means womb and place of gestation, the yoni-linga metaphor represents "origin, source or regenerative power". The linga-yoni icon is widespread, found in Shaivite Hindu temples of South Asia and Southeast Asia. Often called Shivalinga, it almost always has both linga and the yoni. The icon represents the interdependence and union of feminine and masculine energies in recreation and regeneration of all life. In some temples and arts, the iconographic representation of sexuality, fertility and energies of Parvati and Shiva, is more explicit, where they are shown in various stages of their sexual form and union.

 

In some iconography Parvati's hands may symbolically express many mudras (symbolic hand gestures). For example, Kataka — representing fascination and enchantment, Hirana — representing the antelope, the symbolism for nature and the elusive, Tarjani by the left hand — representing gesture of menace, and Chandrakal — representing the moon, a symbol of intelligence. Kataka is expressed by hands closer to the devotee; Tarjani mudra with the left hand, but far from devotee.

 

If Parvati is depicted with two hands, Kataka mudra — also called Katyavalambita or Katisamsthita hasta — is common, as well as Abhaya (fearlessness, fear not) and Varada (beneficence) are representational in Parvati's iconography. Parvati's right hand in Abhaya mudra symbolizes "do not fear anyone or anything", while her Varada mudra symbolizes "wish fulfilling". In Indian dance, Parvatimudra is dedicated to her, symbolizing divine mother. It is a joint hand gesture, and is one of sixteen Deva Hastas, denoting most important deities described in Abhinaya Darpana. The hands mimic motherly gesture, and when included in a dance, the dancer symbolically expresses Parvati. Alternatively, if both hands of the dancer are in Ardhachandra mudra, it symbolizes an alternate aspect of Parvati.

 

Parvati is sometimes shown with golden or yellow colour skin, particularly as goddess Gauri, symbolizing her as the goddess of ripened harvests.

 

In some manifestations, particularly as angry, ferocious aspects of Shakti such as Durga or Kali, she has eight or ten arms, and is astride on a tiger or lion. In benevolent manifestation such as Kamakshi or Meenakshi, a parrot sits near her right shoulder symbolizing cheerful love talk, seeds and fertility. A parrot is found with Parvati's form as Kamakshi - the goddess of love, as well as Kama - the cupid god of desire who shoots arrows to trigger infatuation. A crescent moon is sometimes included near the head of Parvati particularly the Kamakshi icons, for her being half of Shiva. In South Indian legends, her association with the parrot began when she won a bet with her husband and asked for his loin cloth as victory payment; Shiva keeps his word but first transforms her into a parrot. She flies off and takes refuge in the mountain ranges of south India, appearing as Meenakshi (also spelled Minakshi).

 

SYMBOLISM OF MANY ASPECTS FOR THE SAME GODDESS

Parvati is expressed in many roles, moods, epithets and aspects. In Hindu mythology, she is an active agent of the universe, the power of Shiva. She is expressed in nurturing and benevolent aspects, as well as destructive and ferocious aspects. She is the voice of encouragement, reason, freedom and strength, as well as of resistance, power, action and retributive justice. This paradox symbolizes her willingness to realign to Pratima (reality) and adapt to needs of circumstances in her role as the universal mother. She identifies and destroys evil to protect (Durga), as well as creates food and abundance to nourish (Annapurna).

 

MANIFESTATIONS AND ASPECTS OF PARVATI

Several myths present alternate aspects of Parvati, such as the ferocious, violent aspect as Shakti and related forms. Shakti is pure energy, untamed, unchecked and chaotic. Her wrath crystallizes into a dark, blood-thirsty, tangled-hair Goddess with an open mouth and a drooping tongue. This goddess is usually identified as the terrible Mahakali or Kali (time). In Linga Purana, Parvati metamorphoses into Kali, on the request of Shiva, to destroy a female asura (demoness) Daruka. Even after destroying the demoness, Kali's wrath could not be controlled. To lower Kali's rage, Shiva appeared as a crying baby. The cries of the baby raised the maternal instinct of Kali who resorts back to her benign form as Parvati.

 

In Skanda Purana, Parvati assumes the form of a warrior-goddess and defeats a demon called Durg who assumes the form of a buffalo. In this aspect, she is known by the name Durga. Although Parvati is considered another aspect of Sakti, just like Kali, Durga, Kamakshi, Meenakshi, Gauri and many others in modern day Hinduism, many of these “forms” or aspects originated from regional legends and traditions, and the distinctions from Parvati are pertinent.

 

In Devi Bhagwata Purana, Parvati is the lineal progenitor of all other goddesses. She is the one who is the source of all forms of goddesses. She is worshiped as one with many forms and names. Her different moods bring different forms or incarnation. For example,

 

- Durga is a demon-fighting form of Parvati, and some texts suggest Parvati took the form of Durga to kill the demon Durgamasur.

- Kali is another ferocious form of Parvati, as goddess of time and change, with mythological origins in the deity Nirriti.

- Chandi is the epithet of Durga, considered to be the power of Parvati; she is black in color and rides on a lion, slayer of the demon Mahishasura.

- Ten Mahavidyas are the ten aspects of Shakti. In tantra, all have importance and all are different aspects of Parvati.

- 52 Shakti Peethas suggests all goddesses are expansions of the goddess Parvati.

- Navadurga nine forms of the goddess Parvati

- Meenakshi, goddess with eyes shaped like a fish.

- Kamakshi, goddess of love and devotion.

- Lalita, the playful Goddess of the Universe, she is a form of the Devi Parvati.

- Akhilandeshwari, found in coastal regions of India, is the goddess associated with water.

- Annapurna is the representation of all that is complete and of food.

 

STORY OF THE ATTAINMENT OF THE NAME DURG

A demon named Durgasur has undertook severe austerities to please Lord Brahma. Being pleased with his penances, as his blessing, he cannot be killed by any man, demon, God or male deity. He gathered his large demonic forces and declared war against the Gods. Durgasur and Indra's forces engage in a severe war. In the end, Durgasur defeats Indra and he, with the help of his fellow demons take over the three worlds, and the heavens. Durgasur, full of pride and arrogance started tormenting and torturing innocent common people like villagers, wrecking down the religious schools and students and teachers, molesting other sages' wives and wreaking atrocities on the sages also. All the Gods, sages, their wives, the common people, teachers and students, united all together went to Kailash to seek the refuge of Lord Shiva but he was not there. They turned to his wife, Goddess Parvati, the full form of the Adi Parashakti and requested her to kill Durgasur and put an end to his every bad deed and atrocity. Parvati, hearing the atrocities of Durgasur, felt compassionate for them and she promised to stop Durgasur. She invokes Kaalratri, in the form of a damsel and requested her to go to Durgasur and ordered him to stop his atrocities on vulnerable people and Gods. Kaalratri went to Durgasur's territory and she requested him to cease his every atrocity on the Gods and common people and to hand over their respective abodes by going back to where he came from or get slayed at the hands of Parvati. Hearing this, Durgasur becomes very annoyed and he refuses to stop his atrocities on the world and ordered his demons to catch hold of the female messenger. Kaalratri turns furious and so she grew massive in her original form. She tells him to make preparations for his death. Durgasur becomes angry and commands his army to attack Kailash. Kaalratri returns to Parvati and conveyed the complete message to her. Parvati, on hearing this, she tells Durgasur that his last wish is to fight and his wish would be fulfilled by her. Parvati infuses Kaalratri in her body. Then, she, along with the Gods and common people approach the battlefield, waiting for Durgasur. Parvati creates a luminous circle around them as their own safety shield. Durgasur and his corps reach the battleground. Seeing them, Parvati sprouted a thousand hands holding all types of weapons. Seeing this thousand-armed form of Parvati, the Gods and common people express their gratitude awhile Durgasur and his army corps are terrified. At her call, all her Shaktis, of female forms, having a number of arms, weapons, wearing different garments, ornaments and apparels, riding on all kinds of animal vehicles, some of them were fierce and some of them were beneficial, they were of different names and incarnations and/or forms of Adi Parashakti. The war began. The fierce forms of Parvati managed to destroy the entire demon army of Durgasur. A severe duel erupted between Parvati and Durgasur. In the end, Parvati kills Durgasur with her trident. Seeing this end or Durgasur, the Gods and common people's joy knew no bounds and started worshipping her. She was instantly pleased. The Gods gave Parvati the name Durga as she killed demon Durgasur. Parvati restored all the worlds and abodes of the Gods and common people and the worlds were at peace again.

 

LEGENDS

Parvati's legends are intrinsically related to Shiva. In the goddess-oriented Shakta texts, that she is said to transcend even Shiva, and is identified as the Supreme Being. Just as Shiva is at once the presiding deity of destruction and regeneration, the couple jointly symbolise at once both the power of renunciation and asceticism and the blessings of marital felicity.

 

Parvati thus symbolises many different virtues esteemed by Hindu tradition: fertility, marital felicity, devotion to the spouse, asceticism, and power. Parvati represents the householder ideal in the perennial tension in Hinduism in the household ideal and the ascetic ideal, the later represented by Shiva. Renunciation and asceticism is highly valued in Hinduism, as is householder's life - both feature as Ashramas of an ethical and proper life. Shiva is portrayed in Hindu legends as the ideal ascetic withdrawn in his personal pursuit in the mountains with no interest in social life, while Parvati is portrayed as the ideal householder keen about the nurturing worldly life and society. Numerous chapters, stories and legends revolve around their mutual devotion as well as disagreements, their debates on Hindu philosophy as well as the proper life.

 

Parvati tames Shiva, the "great unpredictable madman" with her presence. When Shiva does his violent, destructive Tandava dance, Parvati is described as calming him or complementing his violence by slow, creative steps of her own Lasya dance. In many myths, Parvati is not as much his complement as his rival, tricking, seducing, or luring him away from his ascetic practices.

 

Three images are central to the mythology, iconography and philosophy of Parvati: the image of Shiva-Shakti, the image of Shiva as Ardhanarishvara (the Lord who is half-woman), and the image of the linga and the yoni. These images that combine the masculine and feminine energies, Shiva and Parvati, yield a vision of reconciliation, interdependence and harmony between the way of the ascetic and that of a householder.

 

The couple is often depicted in the Puranas as engaged in "dalliance" or seated on Mount Kailash debating concepts in Hindu theology. They are also depicted as quarreling. In stories of the birth of Kartikeya, the couple is described as love-making; generating the seed of Shiva. Parvati's union with Shiva symbolises the union of a male and female in "ecstasy and sexual bliss". In art, Parvati is depicted seated on Shiva's knee or standing beside him (together the couple is referred to as Uma-Maheshvara or Hara-Gauri) or as Annapurna (the goddess of grain) giving alms to Shiva.

 

Shaiva approaches tend to look upon Parvati as the Shiva's submissive and obedient wife. However, Shaktas focus on Parvati's equality or even superiority to her consort. The story of the birth of the ten Mahavidyas (Wisdom Goddesses) of Shakta Tantrism. This event occurs while Shiva is living with Parvati in her father's house. Following an argument, he attempts to walk out on her. Her rage at Shiva's attempt to walk out, manifests in the form of ten terrifying goddesses who block Shiva's every exit.

 

David Kinsley states,

 

The fact that [Parvati] is able to physically restrain Shiva dramatically makes the point that she is superior in power. The theme of the superiority of the goddess over male deities is common in Shakta texts, [and] so the story is stressing a central Shakta theological principle. ... The fact that Shiva and Parvati are living in her father's house in itself makes this point, as it is traditional in many parts of India for the wife to leave her father's home upon marriage and become a part of her husband's lineage and live in his home among his relatives. That Shiva dwells in Parvati's house thus implies Her priority in their relationship. Her priority is also demonstrated in her ability, through the Mahavidyas, to thwart Shiva's will and assert her own.

 

ARDHANARISVARA

Parvati is portrayed as the ideal wife, mother and householder in Indian legends. In Indian art, this vision of ideal couple is derived from Shiva and Parvati as being half of the other, represented as Ardhanarisvara. This concept is represented as an androgynous image that is half man and half woman, Siva and Parvati respectively.

 

IDEAL WIFE, MOTHER AND MORE

In Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, she as Umā suggests that the duties of wife and mother are as follows - being of a good disposition, endued with sweet speech, sweet conduct, and sweet features. Her husband is her friend, refuge, and god. She finds happiness in physical, emotional nourishment and development of her husband and her children. Their happiness is her happiness. She is positive and cheerful even when her husband or her children are angry, she's with them in adversity or sickness. She takes interest in worldly affairs, beyond her husband and family. She is cheerful and humble before family, friends, and relatives; helps them if she can. She welcomes guests, feeds them and encourages righteous social life. Her family life and her home is her heaven, Parvati declares in Book 13 of the Mahabharata.

 

Rita Gross states, that the view of Parvati only as ideal wife and mother is incomplete symbolism of the power of the feminine in mythology of India. Parvati, along with other goddesses, are involved with the broad range of culturally valued goals and activities. Her connection with motherhood and female sexuality does not confine the feminine or exhaust their significance and activities in Hindu literature. She is balanced by Durga, who is strong and capable without compromising her femaleness. She manifests in every activity, from water to mountains, from arts to inspiring warriors, from agriculture to dance. Parvati's numerous aspects, states Gross, reflects the Hindu belief that the feminine has universal range of activities, and her gender is not a limiting condition.

 

GANESHA

Hindu literature, including the Matsya Purana, Shiva Purana, and Skanda Purana, dedicates many stories to Parvati and Shiva and their children. For example, one about Ganesha is:

 

Once, while Parvati wanted to take a bath, there were no attendants around to guard her and stop anyone from accidentally entering the house. Hence she created an image of a boy out of turmeric paste which she prepared to cleanse her body, and infused life into it, and thus Ganesha was born. Parvati ordered Ganesha not to allow anyone to enter the house, and Ganesha obediently followed his mother's orders. After a while Shiva returned and tried to enter the house, Ganesha stopped him. Shiva was infuriated, lost his temper and severed the boy's head with his trident. When Parvati came out and saw her son's lifeless body, she was very angry. She demanded that Shiva restore Ganesha's life at once. Shiva did so by attaching an elephant's head to Ganesha's body, thus giving rise to the elephant headed deity.

 

PARVATI IN CULTURE

FESTIVALS

Teej is a significant festival for Hindu women, particularly in northern and western states of India. Parvati is the primary deity of the festival, and it ritually celebrates married life and family ties.[68] It also celebrates the monsoon. The festival is marked with swings hung from trees, girls playing on these swings typically in green dress (seasonal color of crop planting season), while singing regional songs. Historically, unmarried maidens prayed to Parvati for a good mate, while married women prayed for the well-being of their husbands and visited their relatives. In Nepal, Teej is a three-day festival marked with visits to Shiva-Parvati temples and offerings to linga. Teej is celebrated as Teeyan in Punjab.

 

The Gowri Habba, or Gauri Festival, is celebrated on the seventh, eighth, and ninth of Bhadrapada (Shukla paksha). Parvati is worshipped as the goddess of harvest and protectress of women. Her festival, chiefly observed by women, is closely associated with the festival of her son Ganesha (Ganesh Chaturthi). The festival is popular in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

 

In Rajasthan the worship of Gauri happens during the Gangaur festival. The festival starts on the first day of Chaitra the day after Holi and continues for 18 days. Images of Issar and Gauri are made from Clay for the festival.

 

Another popular festival in reverence of Parvati is Navratri, in which all her manifestations are worshiped over nine days. Popular in eastern India, particularly in Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Assam, as well as several other parts of India such as Gujarat, this is associated with Durga, with her nine forms i.e. Shailputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandmata, Katyani, Kalratri, Mahagauri, Siddhidaatri.

 

Another festival Gauri tritiya is celebrated from Chaitra shukla third to Vaishakha shukla third. This festival is popular in Maharashtra and Karnataka, less observed in North India and unknown in Bengal. The unwidowed women of the household erect a series of platforms in a pyramidal shape with the image of the goddess at the top and a collection of ornaments, images of other Hindu deities, pictures, shells etc. below. Neighbours are invited and presented with turmeric, fruits, flowers etc. as gifts. At night, prayers are held by singing and dancing. In south Indian states such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the Kethara Gauri Vritham festival is celebrated on the new moon day of Diwali and married women fast for the day, prepare sweets and worship Parvati for the well-being of the family.

 

ARTS

From sculpture to dance, many Indian arts explore and express the stories of Parvati and Shiva as themes. For example, Daksha Yagam of Kathakali, a form of dance-drama choreography, adapts the romantic episodes of Parvati and Shiva.

 

The Gauri-Shankar bead is a part of religious adornment rooted in the belief of Parvati and Shiva as the ideal equal complementing halves of the other. Gauri-Shankar is a particular rudraksha (bead) formed naturally from the seed of a tree found in India. Two seeds of this tree sometimes naturally grow as fused, and considered to symbolic of Parvati and Shiva. These seeds are strung into garlands and worn, or used in malas (rosaries) for meditation in Saivism.

 

NUMISMATICS

Ancient coins from Bactria (Central Asia) of Kushan Empire era, and those of king Harsha (North India) feature Uma. These were issued sometime between 3rd- and 7th-century AD. In Bactria, Uma is spelled Ommo, and she appears on coins holding a flower. On her coin is also shown Shiva, who is sometimes shown in ithyphallic state holding a trident and standing near Nandi (his vahana). On coins issued by king Harsha, Parvati and Shiva are seated on a bull, and the reverse of the coin has Brahmi script.

 

MAJOR TEMPLES

Parvati is often present with Shiva in Saivite Hindu temples all over South Asia and southeast Asia.

 

Some locations (Pithas or Shaktipeeths) are considered special because of their historical importance and legends about their origins in the ancient texts of Hinduism. Other locations celebrate major events in Parvati's life. For example, the World Heritage Site at Khajuraho is one such site where Parvati temple is found. It is one of the four major sites associated with Parvati, along with Kedarnath, Kashi and Gaya. The temple’s origin in Khajuraho has been traced to the Hindu mythology in which Khajuraho is the place where Parvati and Shiva got married.

 

One interpretation of the (Khajuraho) temples is that they were built to celebrate the mythic marriage of Shiva and his consort. At Maha-shivratri in Khajuraho, they celebrate the marriage of Shiva and Parvati. (...) The erotic sculptures are a metaphor of the union of Shiva and Parvati, the marriage of two cosmic forces, of light and darkness, sky and earth, spirit and matter.

 

Each major Parvati-Shiva temple is a pilgrimage site that has an ancient legend associated with it, which is typically a part of a larger story that links these Hindu temples across South Asia with each other.

 

Some temples where Parvati can be found include Annapurneshwari temple, Attukal Bhagavathy temple, Chengannur Mahadeva temple, Oorpazhachi Kavu, Valiya Kavu Sree Parvathi Devi temple, Sri Kiratha Parvathi Temple Paramelpadi, Korechal Kirathaparvathi temple, Sree Bhavaneeswara Temple Palluruthy, Irumkulangara Durga Devi Temple, Chakkulathukavu Temple, Nedukavu Parvathy Devi temple, Karthyayani Devi temple, Varanad Devi Temple, Veluthattu Vadakkan Chowa temple, Thiruvairanikulam Mahadeva temple, Ardhanariswara temple and Kadampuzha Devi Temple in Kerala, Meenakshi Amman Temple in Tamil Nadu, Kamakshi Amman Temple in Tamil Nadu, Sri Siva Durga Temple , Mandaikadu Bhagavathi Temple and Devi Kanya Kumari in Tamil Nadu, Mookambika Devi Temple and Banashankari Temple in Karnataka, Maanikyambika Bhimeswara temple in Andhra pradesh, Vishalakshi Temple, Vishalakshi Gauri temple and Annapurna devi temple in Uttar Pradesh, Parvati Temple in Madhya Pradesh, Tulja Bhavani Temple in Maharashtra, Nartiang Durga Temple in Meghalaya, Tripura Sundari Temple in Tripura.

 

OUTSIDE INDIA

Sculpture and iconography of Parvati, in one of her many manifestations, have been found in temples and literature of southeast Asia. For example, early Saivite inscriptions of the Khmer in Cambodia, dated as early as the fifth century AD, mention Parvati (Uma) and Siva. Many ancient and medieval era Cambodian temples, rock arts and river bed carvings such as the Kbal Spean are dedicated to Parvati and Shiva.

 

Boisselier has identified Uma in a Champa era temple in Vietnam.

 

Dozens of ancient temples dedicated to Parvati as Uma, with Siva, have been found in the islands of Indonesia and Malaysia. Her manifestation as Durga has also been found in southeast Asia.[86] Many of the temples in Java dedicated to Siva-Parvati are from second half of 1st millennium AD, and some from later centuries. Durga icons and worship have been dated to be from the 10th- to 13th-century.

 

In Nakhorn Si Thammarat province of Thailand, excavations at Dev Sathan has yielded a Hindu Temple dedicated to Vishnu (Na Pra Narai), a lingam in yoni, a Shiva temple (San Pra Isuan). The sculpture of Parvati found at this excavation site reflect the South Indian style.Bali, IndonesiaParvati, locally spelled as Parwati, is a principal goddess in modern day Hinduism of Bali. She is more often called Uma, and sometimes referred to as Giriputri (daughter of the mountains). She is the goddess of mountain Gunung Agung. Like Hinduism of India, Uma has many manifestations in Bali, Indonesia. She is the wife of deity Siwa. Uma or Parwati is considered as the mother goddess that nurtures, nourishes, grants fertility to crop and all life. As Dewi Danu, she presides over waters, lake Batur and Gunung Batur, a major volcano in Bali. Unlike India where Sri refers to Lakshmi, Sri is another name of Uma in Bali; her icons and pillar temples grace terraced rice fields (sawahs). Parwati's small pillar temples in rice fields is to seek her blessings of abundance and a good crop. Her ferocious form in Bali is Dewi Durga. As Rangda, she is wrathful and presides cemeteries. As Ibu Petri, Parwati of Balinese Hinduism is the goddess of earth. The legends about various manifestations of Parwati, and how she changes from one form to another, are in Balinese literature, such as the palm-leaf (lontar) manuscript Andabhuana.

 

RELATED GODDESS

BUDDHISM

Tara found in some sects of Buddhism, particularly Tibetan and Nepalese, is related to Parvati. Tara too appears in many manifestations. In tantric sects of Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, intricate symmetrical art forms of yantra or mandala are dedicated to different aspects of Tara and Parvati.

 

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS

Parvati is closely related in symbolism and powers as Cybele of Greek and Roman mythology and as Vesta the guardian goddess of children. In her manifestation as Durga, Parvati parallels Mater Montana. She is the equivalent of Magna Mater (Universal Mother). As Kali and punisher of all evil, she corresponds to Proserpine and Diana Taurica.

 

As Bhawani and goddess of fertility and birthing, she is the symbolic equivalent of Ephesian Diana. In Crete, Rhea is the mythological figure, goddess of the mountains, paralleling Parvati; while in some mythologies from islands of Greece, the terrifying goddess mirroring Parvati is Diktynna (also called Britomartis). At Ephesus, Cybele is shown with lions, just like iconography of Parvati is sometimes shown with a lion.

 

Carl Jung, in Mysterium Coniunctionis, states that aspects of Parvati belong to the same category of black goddesses as Artemis, Isis and Mary. Edmund Leach equates Parvati in her relationship with Shiva, with that of Greek goddess Aphrodite - a symbol of sexual love.

 

108 NAMES OF PARVATI

Parvati is known by 108 different names. Following are the name along with it meaning.

 

Aadya: The meaning of this name is initial reality.

Aarya: It is the name of the Goddess

Abhavya: Signifies fear

Aeindri: The power of Lord Indra.

Agnijwala: Signifies fire

Ahankaara: Indicates pride.

Ameyaa: The name signifies beyond measure.

Ananta: Signifies one who is infinite.

Ananta: The Infinite

Anekashastrahasta: It means the possessor of many hand weapons

AnekastraDhaarini: It means the possessor of many weapons

Anekavarna: Person with multiple complexions.

Aparna: Signifies a person who does not eat anything during fasting

Apraudha: Signifies a person who does not age

Bahula: Various forms

Bahulaprema: Loved by everyone

Balaprada: Signifies the giver of strength

Bhaavini: The Beautiful Woman

Bhavya: Future

Bhadrakaali: One of the forms of Goddess Kali

Bhavani: The abode of the universe

Bhavamochani: The absolver of the universe

Bhavaprita: Loved by everyone in the universe

Bhavya: Indicates magnificence

Braahmi: God Brahma’s power

Brahmavaadini: Present everywhere

Buddhi: Intelligence

Buddhida: The bestower of wisdom

Chamunda: Name of Goddess who killed the demons Chanda and Munda

Chandaghanta: Mighty bells

ChandaMundaVinashini: Goddess who killed asuras Chanda and Munda

Chinta: Tension

Chita: Death-bed

Chiti: The thinking mind

Chitra: The Picturesque

Chittarupa: Thinking or thoughtful state.

Dakshakanya: It is the name of daughter of Daksha

Dakshayajnavinaashini: Interrupter of the sacrifice of Daksha

Devamata: Mother Goddess

Durga: The Invincible

Ekakanya: The girl child

Ghorarupa: Fierce outlook

Gyaana: Knowledge

Jalodari: Abode of the ethereal universe

Jaya: The Victorious

Kaalaratri: Goddess who is black and is similar to the night.

Kaishori: The adolescent

Kalamanjiiraranjini: Musical anklet

Karaali: Violent

Katyayani: Sage Katyanan worships this name

Kaumaari: Adolescent

Komaari: Beautiful adolescent

Kriya: Action

Krrooraa: Brutal

Lakshmi: Goddess of Wealth

Maaheshvari: Power of Lord Shiva

Maatangi: Goddess of Matanga

MadhuKaitabhaHantri: Goddess that killed the demons Madhu and Kaitabha

Mahaabala: Strength

Mahatapa: Penance

Mahodari: Keeping the universe in a huge belly

Manah: Mind

Matangamunipujita: Worshipped by Sage Matanga

Muktakesha: Open tresses

Narayani: Lord Narayana destructive attributes

NishumbhaShumbhaHanani: Goddess who killed brothers Shumbha Nishumbha

Mahishasura Mardini: Goddess who killed demon Mahishasura

Nitya: Eternal one

Paatala: The color red

Paatalavati: Wearing the color red and white

Parameshvari: Ultimate Goddess

Pattaambaraparidhaana: Dress made of leather

Pinaakadharini: Trident of Shiva

Pratyaksha: Real

Praudha: Old

Purushaakriti: Taking the form of a man

Ratnapriya: Adorned

Raudramukhi: Fierce face like destroyer Rudra

Saadhvi: Sanguine

Sadagati: Bestowing Moksha

Sarvaastradhaarini: Possessor of missile weapons

Sarvadaanavaghaatini: Ability to kill all the demons

Sarvamantramayi: Instruments of thought

Sarvashaastramayi: Deft in all theories

Sarvavahanavahana: Rides all vehicles

Sarvavidya: Knowledgeable

Sati: Women who burned on the pyre of her husband

Satta: Above all

Satya: Truth

Satyanandasvarupini: Eternal bliss

Savitri: Daughter of the Sun God Savitr

Shaambhavi: Consort of Shambhu

Shivadooti: Ambassador of Lord Shiva

Shooldharini: Person who holds a monodent

Sundari: Gorgeous

Sursundari: Very Beautiful

Tapasvini: Engaged in penance

Trinetra: Person with three eyes.

Vaarahi: Person who rides on Varaah

Vaishnavi: Invincible

Vandurga: Goddess of forests

Vikrama: Violent

Vimalauttkarshini: Providing joy

Vishnumaya: The spells of Lord Vishnu

Vriddhamaata: Mother who is old

Yati: Person one who renounces the world

Yuvati: Woman

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Tree of Knowledge is a ghost gum located in front of the railway station at Barcaldine, under which the workers of the 1891 Shearer's Strike met. An icon of the Labor Party and Trades Unions, it symbolises the foundation of the organised representation of labour in Queensland.

 

Barcaldine sprang up in 1886 as the terminus of the Central Railway. The area was already settled by pastoralists and had previously been centred on Blackall. Large sheep stations were like small townships with their own working facilities, stores, worker's accommodation and tradesmen such as blacksmiths. The owners and managers of these stations had considerable power to dictate terms to an itinerant workforce recruited for the shearing season. Poor working conditions, low pay and the threat of competition from cheap foreign labour caused discontent within the industry.

 

Barcaldine was a natural focus for the development of unionism. As the railhead, the town drew many seasonal and casual workers. Besides shearers and hands there were navvies who had worked on the construction of the railway and carriers who had found their work reduced by it. Difficulties in finding work and financial hardship helped to build a sense of mateship and mutual support amongst sections of them. In 1887 the Central Queensland Carriers Union was formed, and discussions leading up to this are said to have been held under the gum tree which provided shade where carriers waited at the front of the railway station. At the same time, the Queensland Shearers' Union was formed at Blackall. Within a year it had 1300 members, indicating a perceived need for collective bargaining to obtain fair pay and working conditions. In 1888 the Central Queensland Labourers' Union was formed at Barcaldine. These three unions were the driving force behind the strike of 1891.

 

In Brisbane, the Trades and Labour Council was formed in 1885 and in 1889 became the Australian Labour Federation. At Barcaldine in the same year the Pastoral Employers' Association was founded in response and moved to reduce pay rates. Many workers now joined the unions, pushing membership of the Shearers Union over 3000 and the Labourer's Union to 2,250. Only severe wet weather in 1890 delayed a confrontation. By January 1891 union representatives had gathered at Barcaldine for meetings and pastoralists were pressing shearers to sign freedom of contract forms. A strike was called and employers began to import non-union labour from the south. Strikers, some of whom were armed, gathered at Barcaldine and set up a camp at Lagoon Creek and other places around the town.

 

The government dispatched police and soldiers to the area and the strikers responded by drilling and staging torchlight processions in the town. The tree in front of the station, the Tree of Knowledge, was the location of many meetings and a focus for protest. In March the situation escalated as carriers and railway workers went out in sympathy and military reinforcements arrived. Barcaldine became the focus of the whole country's interest and armed conflict was expected. However, heavy rain which limited movement and the arrest of leaders slowed momentum and strikers began to disperse. On 15 June the strike was officially called off. It had failed, but was to have far reaching effects. The following year, T.J. Ryan became the first representative of labour to be elected to the Queensland Parliament and soon after the Labor Party in Queensland was formed.

 

Because the area beneath the Tree of Knowledge was the scene of actions and decisions which had a profound effect on the future of labour and politics in Australia, it has become an icon of the Labor Party and Trades Unions. It is also important to the people of Barcaldine as a symbol of the town's identity and historical importance. This is reflected by the name chosen for the commemoration committee formed in 1987, the Tree of Knowledge Development Committee, and by the care given to the tree. In 1990 it was discovered that the tree was infested by termites and other insects and had severe health problems. Treatment by a tree surgeon, pest control and flushing of the root system with thousands of litres of water gave the tree a new lease of life. This treatment was completed in late 1993.

 

In 1991, there were major celebrations at Barcaldine to mark the centenary of the Shearers' Strike. In preparation for this, the area around the tree was landscaped and a memorial to the strikers erected within the enclosure.

 

Source: Queensland Heritage Register.

East Grinstead Station, East Sussex

For “Knowledge is Golden” the inspiration was specific to the area which the mural was done. San Francisco is seeing its second gold rush with information and knowledge being the currency of today. SOMA, being slated to be developed as the new downtown of San Francisco with technology leading the transformation, is why we chose this location for our message.

Gold miners have been replaced by tech innovators. Pickaxes and shovels have been replaced with laptops and desktops. Though the times have changed, the human thirst for chasing opportunity remains prevalent in these times. And with this influx of new people, San Francisco culture as we know it will never be the same.

 

www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/tag/ghost-signs

Ryerson University.

Art Nouveau glass mosaic, embossed parts coated with Zsolnay eosin glaze.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0XotjqSAjA

Born in 1865, Miksa Róth was 19 years old when he took over his father Zsigmond’s workshop.

The craft of glass painting was still in its infancy. In 1855 English glass workers succeeded in creating an "antique glass" effect.

This coloured glass was suitable for the repair and restoration of the windows of medieval churches, as well as for decorating the new romantic, and the historically eclectic designs. By 1880, workshops were sprouting up in the capital, the most significant of which belonged to Miksa Róth, who at the turn of the century was providing work for 10 trainees, working on both public and private building commissions.

Miksa Róth’s first significant work was in 1886 in Máriafalva (Mariasdorf, Austria) where Imre Steindl was leading the reconstruction of the Roman Catholic church.

Earlier Róth had studied the stained glass windows of Gothic cathedrals on a tour of Europe.

During the reconstruction of many other national monuments, Róth designed Gothic stained glass windows at Keszthely for the reconstruction of the Roman Catholic church led by Samu Pecz (architect of the main market hall in Budapest) in 1896.

In Budapest, you can see examples of his beautiful work in the Gresham Palace (now the newly opened Four Seasons hotel), the Agricultural Museum, the Music Academy and the Andrássy Dining Room amongst many others. The plans for the stained glass windows of the Parliament building were prepared in 1890. Róth took into account both the staircase’s light source and the building’s interior decoration, and decided to use the Grotesque style originating from the Renaissance period.

Reflecting the multi-coloured nature of Hungarian architecture at the turn of the century, Róth created windows in many styles: Historic, Hungarian Secession, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil and Viennese Secession.

Róth’s craft was given a new inspiration when he saw the "opalescent" and "favril" glass made by Louis Comfort Tiffany, whose display at the 1893 Chicago World Trade Fair, entitled Four Seasons featured shimmering, iridescent colours and an immediately popular natural marbling effect of the glass.

Róth was also influenced by the work of the English pre-Raphaelite artists, in particular Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. In 1897, Miksa Róth bought a collection of opalescent glass from the Hamburg glass painter Karl Engelbrecht, and began to regularly order glass from his factory.

At the 1898 Budapest Museum of Applied Arts’ Christmas Exhibition Róth displayed glass windows prepared using a type of Tiffany glass, seen for the first time in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

Róth won the silver medal at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 with the Pax and Rising Sun mosaics made with opalescent glass.

The Róth workshop then made a large number of stained glass windows with floral designs, whose success could be attributed to the nostalgia felt by people living then in large cities for the lost world of nature.

In Budapest the stairwells and lifts were brightened up with luxuriant gardens in place of the drab partition walls and dark corridors.

Middle class citizens even decorated their parlours with the symbolic motives of flowers: Irises, lilies, sunflowers, poppies and roses, birds such as peacocks and swans, and fauns, nymphs, fairies and female figures frolicking in gardens, arbours and riverbanks to recall the lost period of the Golden Age.

One of Róth’s most significant creations using opalescent glass was for cupola of the Teatro Nacional in Mexico City, which he carried out according to designs by Géza Maróti.With this work he showed details of geometric design of the Jugenstil and Viennese Secession which he also used in windows for Bank Building (1905 Ignác Alpár), the Gresham Palace (1907 Zsigmond Quittner and József Vágó) and the Music Academy (1907 Flóris Korb and Kálmán Giergl) . Róth worked with many of the best architects, builders and designers of the time.

For Ödön Lechner's magnificent Post Office Savings Bank building, Róth created an unusual mosaic, embedded into cement. In 1910, Róth created the gorgeous windows of the Culture Palace in Marosvásárhely (Targu Mures in Romania). In the Hall of Mirrors, scenes from traditional Székely fairy tales, ballads and legends are featured in the 12 stained glass windows which fill the entire length of the long hall. It is worth a visit to Marosvásárhely alone to stand among these magical and colourful designs.

Róth worked for a long time in conjunction with two artists from the Gödöllô artists’ settlement, Sándor Nagy and Aladár Kriesch Körösfôi. Together they created the Hungarian Secession style windows for the National Salon and the windows and mosaics for the Hungarian House in Venice. For the Marosvásárhely Culture House triptych, also based on Nagy’s designs, Róth used a special medieval technique, employing thick leading and strong lines. From the 1920s Róth mainly received commissions from the Church and State.

He died in 1944 after a lifetime of bringing joy and colour to the world with his beautiful creations.

 

____

 

Róth Miksa (1865. december 26. Pest - 1944. június 14. Budapest) a magyar üvegfestészet és mozaik művészet egyik legjelentősebb alkotója volt. A pesti Eötvös Reálgimnáziumban tanult s az apja műhelyében sajátította el a mesterség alapjait. Később Német-, Francia- és Olaszországban tanulmányozta a kora-középkori üvegfestészet technikáját és képszerkesztési módszerét. A XIII. századi üvegfestészet egész életét meghatározó befolyással volt művészeti tevékenységére. Emlékirataiban a német Sigismund Frankot valamint az angol preraffaelitákat, Burne Jones-t, William Morrist nevezi meg művészeti példaképeinek.

 

Első sikereit historizáló stílusú képeivel érte el: az 1896-os Ezredévi Kiállítás és az Országház üvegfestményei hozták meg számára az országos elismertséget. 1897-től az Osztrák-Magyar Monarchiában elsőként használta fel a Tiffany-üveget szecessziós stílusú alkotásaihoz. Számos hazai és nemzetközi elismerést szerzett: elsőként ő kapta meg az Iparművészeti Állami Aranyérmet, az 1900-as párizsi világkiállításon ezüstéremmel, az 1902-es torinói és az 1904-es St. Louisin pedig arannyal díjazták munkáit.

 

Alkotásai megtalálhatóak az oslói Fegeborg templomtól a mexikói Theatro Nationalig - ahová Maróti Gézával készítettek 1500 négyzetláb nagyságú üvegkupolát és mozaik képeket. 1939-ben, a második zsidó törvény meghozatala után szüntette meg a Nefelejcs utcai házában működő "üvegfestészeti műintézet" tevékenyégét. 1944-ben halt meg.

 

www.rakovszky.net/D1_DisplRemImg/Rako_DRI_ShowARemoteImag...

 

disappearingbudapest.blogspot.hu/2011/03/miksa-roth-geniu...

 

csomalin.csoma.elte.hu/~toti/uvegek/roth.htm

 

nol.hu/kult/20130404-roth_miksa_demotivalasa

 

hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3th_Miksa</a

Located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford University is recognized as one of the world's leading research and teaching institutions. It is located in Palo Alto, California.

Of

Self

Understanding

And

Wisdom

 

. . . there is an owl somewhere in every bookcase

sooc, my first roll of film since I was a kid :)

Fang, a Pharmacology major ~ has knowledge of Medicine, Martial Arts, and is in great physical health.

 

Recently he ran a marathon..

 

Seriously you want a guy like Fang in your corner ! LOL..

 

i lighted him up with an AB1600 and a 580 EX II ..

 

really simple set up.

 

580 EXII was on FULL power with a shoot thru umbrella and the AB1600 was the 86 PLM..

 

we did this shot on top of a parking garage.. i don't have a studio that is why.. LOL>.

Paris, Octobre 2025

Oeuvre de Shepard Ferey alias Obey

Leica M6

Voigtlander Ultron 35 mm

Kentmere 100

Scan Epson Perfection V850

 

Until I can afford real models, mr Woodhead will do :-)

album art done for my friends band tummybumpr

     

“Storm and Silence.” ―Robert Thier, 2016

In previous post I told you that I’m starting to learn (at least some of) the characteristics of my Sony/Zeiss setup. I can put this tacit knowledge to use in my photography and use it as a repertoire for creating better images and photography experiences. And if using this very nice Sony/Zeiss setup has had one effect on me, it is that I don’t worry about gear anymore and because of that I tend to gravitate more towards actual shooting; thinking how I should approach some particular scenery or situation, exploring more my own thoughts about making images and always returning to same question ‘what does this image tell me and does it have that something in it which would make it stand out from the rest of the images in my own catalogue’. In short, I’m gravitating towards real-life and away from the test-diagrams, ‘the next best thing’, upgrade-continuum, reviews, etc.

 

But I need to be honest here: one doesn’t really need a Sony camera or bunch of Zeiss lenses to ‘be there’ or to ‘experience life’ photographically speaking. There are loads of very experienced and great photographers out there who work with something else. The equipment doesn’t make one a successful photographer and this is how it will always be. However, this truth is sometimes reduced to an exaggerated claim that ‘equipment doesn’t matter’, which I have to disagree as an internet aphorism. If you are a passionate and discerning photographer you already know that equipment matters a lot and finding the right tools which fit into your aesthetic and intellectual approach is very important for the flow. If you’ve gone through several different camera bodies you certainly know that some of them were better for you than others, and pretty often it isn’t the newest one. Never mind the specs there were some particular bodies and lenses which made you enjoy the process more than with others. Being sensitive for these kind of experiences is important since otherwise you’ll just end up chasing the specs and upgrades and never really create the right relationship with your photography.

 

If there’s been one setup in my life that has really affected my photography it was the Sony Nex-5N + SEL50F18 combination (though after 100 000 shots with that body I got pretty tired of it as it didn’t have viewfinder and the ergonomics lacked). I also had a kit lens SEL1855 to go with it, but quite a contrary, it was always the lens I didn’t glue with at all, since I always had to be on my toes not to cross the point where its performance would degrade very fast (and still I was at the low end of it). With the current Zeiss lenses I’m pretty much freed from these kind of technical limitations (with some very few exceptions) and I feel they are taking the place of ‘the number one’ photographic tool. But we’re not there yet, because as you know, what it really takes is creating the images you really love before the relationship will blossom. Viewing the shots that are most precious to you, and at the same time, remembering what you used to take them is the path for creating right relationship with you and your photography. With the shots like the one today, I’m entering into that positive swirl which will help me to get into that flow. It’s a good thing with a strong ‘being there’ feeling.

 

Days of Zeiss: www.daysofzeiss.com

Knowledge Capital, Umeda, Osaka.

Trinity College Library - Long Room.

The main entrance to Kunskapsparken in Lund.

#flickrfriday

 

Seattle, WA

(This is a re-edit of a photo I had already uploaded. )

 

Tree in rural Kansas northwest of Kansas City.

without clear, honest self-knowledge…

all other 'knowledge' is built on somewhat shaky foundations ;o)

Thank you to Fraulein Simoneaux for leading a fun and informative discussion on women in 1929 and how to incorporate our knowledge of the period into our rp. Here's a copy of the discussion for those of you who couldn't make it. My apologies for not cleaning up the typos! ~ Zoe

_____

 

Zoe Foodiboo: For those of you just coming in, this is Fraulein Teruumi Simoneaux.

Zoe Foodiboo: Alf!

Zoe Foodiboo: oops

Karlin Lutrova: what an OUT rage

Zoe Foodiboo: Anyway, she's our newest librarian/archivist. Please welcome her.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): guten abend

Karlin Lutrova: /me giggle soflty " no matter, I make my own coffee at home "

Adele Kling: Welcome!

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): /me claps

Alf Korhonen: Guten Tag Alle!

Adele Kling: Hallo, Rosemary

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me claps

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Guten tag Alf

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Danke! I'm very excited!

Jani (Janire Coba): guten tag *smiles

Lori Miles (Lorelai Winslet): Very nice to meet you, Frl. Simoneaux

Zoe Foodiboo: We had a wonderful discussion in the library last weekend and we were so excited about it, we thought we’d expand it to include all of you.

webspelunker Ghostraven: Hello Alf!

Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo Rose!

Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo Alf!

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): Hallo Alf, Nice to see you

Karlin Lutrova: /me notices the film directoer and trys to look her best

Zoe Foodiboo: Anyway, I'll be quiet and let Frl Teruumi get the ball rolling.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): RoseMary! Hello dear

Zoe Foodiboo: Teruumi?

Alf Korhonen: Crowded here!

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, indeed. Crowded :))

Zoe Foodiboo: whispers: Does everyone have a place to sit?

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): /me clears her throat and begins composing a thought "Danke Zoe"

Alf Korhonen: May I join your table, Karlin?

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): There's one seat next to me.

Zoe Foodiboo: Someone can havve my chair...I can rez my own.

Karlin Lutrova: would be a pleasure

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): there are seats available

Alf Korhonen: Danke

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Oh no, two seats.

Zoe Foodiboo: oh okay

Karlin Lutrova: gerne Mein Herr

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): As Fraulein Zoe mentioned we had a lovely chat about women last week

Alf Korhonen: I like women too!

Zoe Foodiboo: /me giggles, "I bet you do..."

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me chuckles

Adele Kling: haha

Karlin Lutrova: /me coughs a giggle

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I noticed that many people not even involved with Berlin or SL in general had a very one sided view of what women were like during the 20s

Zoe Foodiboo: whispers: Hallo Fraulein, have a seat

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): /me whispers Hello Whispy

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I think we all can agree that most likely the flapper is a reaction to WWI. and the outdated society model

Karlin Lutrova: /me nods

whispy (whispy Darkstone): hello my dear

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods

whispy (whispy Darkstone): /me looks round smiling at the people around her

Adele Kling: Yes

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): And women cut their hair, started smoking, the corset was dumped. Women started to gain a voice in the society

Jani (Janire Coba): /me nods

Zoe Foodiboo: /me smiles and smokes

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): and they had jobs, so they had 'economic power', no?

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Exactly

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): indeed

Karlin Lutrova: well I knew I was smokin' but had no idea it was public knowledge

Karlin Lutrova: my late husband thought so anyway ........

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): and then I thought we roleplay women in 1929. When we look at our RL selves we can notice a change. We are influenced by all kinds of different global and private events and happenings and it changes us as people

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): But we in SL are stuck in a way, especially here in Berlin because we replay the events of 1929 but none of us have lived during that time so we can only trust our imagination

Adele Kling: and history

Zoe Foodiboo: imagination but also rooted in our research...

Jani (Janire Coba): true

Zoe Foodiboo: yes, Adele

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): yes.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): yes, of course

Karlin Lutrova: /me nods

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): well I guess reading about the time gives us a better idea to know what to imagine...

Adele Kling: and Jo, lol

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Jo of course!

Zoe Foodiboo: Reading....and looking at photos

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): hahaha Addie

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): And OUR interpretation of how people felt.

Jani (Janire Coba): yes

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): and also movies

Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, how can we forget Jo. Our high priestess of the 20s

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods

whispy (whispy Darkstone): i agree i think fact fiction film all help understand and enhance rp

Karlin Lutrova: yes, and stories from relatives

Zoe Foodiboo: oh yes, good point Karlin

Karlin Lutrova: that were there I mean

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): unfortunately I do not have relatives that old… :(

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): And on that note I thought it would be great for us to meet and discuss how can we enhance our roleplay

Karlin Lutrova: yeah, gives me a sense of some reality to it

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods

Jani (Janire Coba): yes, that'd be great for me since i'm new to Berlín

Karlin Lutrova: ( oh Mutti and Vati and Ottoa are all gone )

Zoe Foodiboo: Great for me, too. I often forget myself and chatter OOC stuff at inappropriate times.

Karlin Lutrova: me also

Mab Ashdene: Are there more women in Berlin than men?

Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, still.

Karlin Lutrova: rp Berlin right?

Mab Ashdene: That makes it hard.

Zoe Foodiboo: But more men seem to stay.

Mab Ashdene: Yes

webspelunker Ghostraven: Maybe because of that little misunderstanding...

webspelunker Ghostraven: The Great War.

whispy (whispy Darkstone): from my experience there are always more female avs than male

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Have you seen Boardwalk, the series? I think that show is well in terms of research regarding our time

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): For example, I did some reading here and there and I found information that by 1928 there was a new kind of flapper evolved. She danced, smoked, drove cars but she was a lot tamer from the first flappers

Karlin Lutrova: yes, Second Life™ is a women's shopping paradise

Zoe Foodiboo: Boardwalk Empire? Yes, I love it as a resource. Well, and it's entertaining.

Mab Ashdene: There are no men playing the roles of fathers or husbands.

Adele Kling: Thats interesting.

Karlin Lutrova: simply put

Mab Ashdene: Or only a few.

Adele Kling: Its early 20s, BE

webspelunker Ghostraven: Maybe because they're all dead?

Zoe Foodiboo: Tamer in what ways, Teruummi?

Jani (Janire Coba): oh, i got addicted to 20s since i watched Boardwalk Empire *laughs

whispy (whispy Darkstone): I think a sharing of resources for rp ers is always a good idea

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I think Web is saying a good point.

Karlin Lutrova: Mutti said thee were very few men in those years anyway too

Mab Ashdene: Without the sense of having a man around or a mother around who cares what we do it is easy to go wild an play a flapper.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): They didn't participate in petting parties, wore a lot less makeup

webspelunker Ghostraven: TY

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Some didn't even smoke or drink alcohol

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Recently I'd found out that learning about 1910s is very important to understand 1920s Berlin.

Adele Kling: Petting parties! Haven't been invited to one in years!

webspelunker Ghostraven: They sound like nuns!

Zoe Foodiboo: How so, Herr Gustav?

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): They were becoming more respectable and "professional"

Karlin Lutrova: good to point out Gustav

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I guess 1920s Berlin or German, is quite similar to 1960s.

Zoe Foodiboo: Now that's an interesting analogy...

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Lots of men dead or gone. And hunger gave women to position to work in society.

whispy (whispy Darkstone): and politics

webspelunker Ghostraven: That's a good point that others have made too...

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Work in a society as a matter of course.

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Amazingly watching the movie, "Berlin Symphony"

Mab Ashdene: That is interesting.

webspelunker Ghostraven: Otto Friedrich wrote of that.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I think there is a lack of older women also, and we have to consider that not all the females were flappers. That was actually a minority, as I understand

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): We all notice how many women are working in office.

Zoe Foodiboo: Good point, Tequila.

Mab Ashdene: When the pimp left the brothel, the women took over the running of the place.

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): And commuting. That's veyr interesting.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Very good point indeed

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): Yes that is a great movie

Adele Kling: Yes, Flappers were young

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): YEs, Tequila.

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): Has anyone watched the 13 hour "berlin Alexanderplatz"

Zoe Foodiboo: But there's a whole spectrum of women not represented in our Berlin.

Karlin Lutrova: very true , flappers where thought of as dirty by some of the echelon of high society

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): Plaenty or rp material there

Adele Kling: I love Berlin Alexanderplatz, until the end.

webspelunker Ghostraven: Who, Zoe?

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): And not all young females were flappers...it was only the daring, bold, young females

Karlin Lutrova: /me nods

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Yes!

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): sure, i've never viewed my character as a flapper

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): Who Zoe?

Zoe Foodiboo: Older women...yes, as Tequila said, women who weren't as bold as to become a Flapper

Adele Kling: Nor mine.

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): /me looks puzzled and curious

Jani (Janire Coba): i'd appreciate if someone knew about some films of Berlin in the 20s ((sorry for interrupting))

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): or middleaged women

Alf Korhonen: Der Letzte Mann I think

Adele Kling: About Berlin in the 20s, or shot in the 20s?

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): apart from frau Yardley, there aren't any middleaged women in Berlin as far as i can remember

Jani (Janire Coba): both would be useful to me

Mab Ashdene: There was Babette Darkfold.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Yes, that's true

Zoe Foodiboo: No. We had a grandma type when Bubbe was here but she's long gone.

Zoe Foodiboo: Well, and Vera's mom. But she rarely makes an appearance as well.

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): Look up early Fritz Lang movies Janire to start with

Angello Valerian: the great gastby, chanel and stravinsky, therese...

Adele Kling: I can get you a list of films, Jani.

whispy (whispy Darkstone): i came to berlin as a young modern woman, but now have bought this alt along, as a much much older woman, out of interest to how folk react, plus as a very political, perhaps even not as sweet old lady as she looks

Jani (Janire Coba): thanks greta :)

Zoe Foodiboo: Aside from it being difficult to find older women skins and shapes, I'm not sure why I continue to be a young woman as a character in Berlin.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I think another thing we don't have is a clear social structure

Zoe Foodiboo: Hi Claire

ClaireDeAir: hiya

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): That's very interesting, Whispy.

Angello Valerian: Guten Abend

Karlin Lutrova: oh! i just saw that 13 hour film was a television series

ClaireDeAir: How are you?

Adele Kling: Hallo Claire

ClaireDeAir: hiya

webspelunker Ghostraven: Hello Claire!

webspelunker Ghostraven: Doing fine, how're you?

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): the "social structure" such as it is, is very much based on where we live

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Oh, I think there is also a huge woman, I think she is named Lolle...?

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): and it is not clear

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): she's not huge, just curvy

ClaireDeAir: wow I have never seen this many people in here before hehehe

whispy (whispy Darkstone): could the list of films go in a group notice as i would be interested please

Angello Valerian: great idea, would be a great help

Adele Kling: Ok, I can do that whispy. Sometime this week : )

Zoe Foodiboo: I love Lolle's look.

Zoe Foodiboo: and her apartment is lovely. very realistic.

Jani (Janire Coba): oh yes, thanks for the films

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): yes it is

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): how old is Lolle supposed to be?

whispy (whispy Darkstone): i have looked for good older skins and shapes for ages now i have managed to get a look i want slightly older than i ideally wanted, but i am looking forward to developing this look

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i've always thought around late 20s early 30s

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): but i don't know

Zoe Foodiboo: I'm not sure. She's a mother so I would imagine not that old.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): OK

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Finding a good "aged" skin is bit tough in SL....

Karlin Lutrova: oh, one good shop for older type skins is MB Skins

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): it is

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): easier for men actually

Mab Ashdene: Maybe we should all have children and age.

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Oh really? I must checked it. Thanks Karlin :)

Karlin Lutrova: femme older skins I should add

Karlin Lutrova: yes, well made age skins seem few and far between

Zoe Foodiboo: I have a question. In what ways do you behave different here in Berlin as opposed to other places in SL, as a nod to historical accuracy. Aside from your appearance, I mean?

Karlin Lutrova: most looks like they ahve mud plastered faice makes lol

ClaireDeAir: lol

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Well, modesty, language...

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i play more roles here

Adele Kling: Role-playing here is very relaxed. I try to use jargon (American) from the time.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i even call them cartoon characters

Jani (Janire Coba): well, i used to rp in versailles, and language of course was different, and protocole was super important there

Karlin Lutrova: well, that was the acccepted values

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I come here roleplay so as I said when we spoke last week, I try to approach it as a writer

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): the way we intercat as well...it it seems to be more respectful

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): and i never use long paragraphs, mainly because i don't have the patience for it

Jani (Janire Coba): here i act like.. women arr feeling more free

Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, I agree, protocol and respect here is highly valued.

Adele Kling: Respect, proper use of titles.

Mab Ashdene: I only ever roleplay here.

Karlin Lutrova: para rpl is difficult for me also

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): and those who are NOT respectful, are doing it as part of RP

Zoe Foodiboo: I forget myself with that, sometimes, Adele.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Me too

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): (thinking of a dark alt)

Adele Kling: For me too, Karlin. I'm not that creative.

Karlin Lutrova: rude r p can be dicely though

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): also I do not think we rp like goreans…they tend to make super long literate statements in each sentence

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): also it slows down the interaction a bit, doing long paragraphs

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): but i don't mind others doing it

whispy (whispy Darkstone): i research all my roles then use my imagination... i mainly use fantasy based on mythology but always with lots of research often to be disapointed that what the sim declares does not happen ie as in much rp,,, mostly occ chat but here i have seen much potential

Jani (Janire Coba): sometimes i just stay quiet and listen cause i'm super respectful with the rp and if i notice my english can be a bit poor, just.. listen and smile hahaha

Karlin Lutrova: yes para rp I found is hard to keep a temp o

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): true

Karlin Lutrova: so to speak

Zoe Foodiboo: Oh, don't worry about your English, Jani :)

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i think that is very common for newcomers, Jani, just checking how it works in the sim, listening and learning

Zoe Foodiboo: It's an international city after all

Jani (Janire Coba): oh yes, till i finish my english degree i must stay quiet, read and learn

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i did that as well when i was new

Jani (Janire Coba): hahah

Zoe Foodiboo: True, Rose.

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I agree Rosemary.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I gave this example to Herr Web yesterday. Imagine five people sitting at a table

Jani (Janire Coba): aham

Karlin Lutrova: to be , it is just talking like from a script, not reciting some novel

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods

Karlin Lutrova: to be **

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Two are fully IC, two are fully OOC and one is a newbie

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): It confuses people

Karlin Lutrova: yes, very much

Adele Kling: Yes

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I felt very confused at first as to who is who

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): indeed

Jani (Janire Coba): haha yes

Karlin Lutrova: I have been in rp sims where it was VERY strict

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): haha

Karlin Lutrova: OOC an y ou got in trouble

Jani (Janire Coba): unless they use this "(())" double.. thingies ^^

Karlin Lutrova: here, find it confusing

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): that is why i think the double paragraphs ((like this)) is good to use when OOC

Zoe Foodiboo: I agree, Rose.

Angello Valerian: indeed

Karlin Lutrova: never srue if someone is OOC or not at times

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): agreed

Zoe Foodiboo: I must remember to use them.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): even if i think we all forget it now and then

Jani (Janire Coba): paragraphs! thanks for the word haha

Karlin Lutrova: true**

Adele Kling: Yes, Berlin is lite-RP, so far.

Karlin Lutrova: /me nods

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i don't think i would like it if it was that incredibly strict

Zoe Foodiboo: Me neither.

Adele Kling: Which is fine.

whispy (whispy Darkstone): no one can apologise for their english not being good especially if it is a second or third language, some of us who are english academics are also dyslexic and out english appears awfully :D

Karlin Lutrova: I am nver good with vague rules lol

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): me neither

Zoe Foodiboo: But too loose isn't fun either....I guess we need to find that pleasant balance...

Jani (Janire Coba): haha whispy

Karlin Lutrova: I just try to deal with it =)

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Yet rp is an area of opportunity

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I agree Zoe

Karlin Lutrova: me too!

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): agree Zoe

Karlin Lutrova: may I mention?

webspelunker Ghostraven: ((For the record I'm a Marxist in RP and RL.))

Karlin Lutrova: IM ing in the middle of RP is also confusing

Karlin Lutrova: like " is this IM roleplay ? or OOC"

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): When I came here, I was scared to death about the roleplaying.I wasn't sure what to expect. Listening to some of the residents showed me how to be "me" but still "in character". I try to keep in character but be me also.

Zoe Foodiboo: Oh, I always consider IM to be OOC.

Karlin Lutrova: its not possible in Real Life™ at any rate

Karlin Lutrova: I am find that to be a good idea Zoe

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I let people know when IIM them IC

Jani (Janire Coba): me too , greta

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): but usually I keep IMs for OOC business

Karlin Lutrova: I unintentionally have offended some because

Karlin Lutrova: I have learned to " keep rp firends in the rp sims"

Adele Kling: I try not to IM at all while in RP. If there one thing I hate is when I enter a room and everyone is quiet, sending IMs, instead of being engaged in RP chat.

Karlin Lutrova: other wise it get's too involved

Karlin Lutrova: if that makes any sense to anyone

Mab Ashdene: I like involved.

Adele Kling: It does.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): me too Mab

Zoe Foodiboo: oh....I'm terribly guilty of that, adele. :P

Karlin Lutrova: what happens here , stays here

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Karlin Lutrova: RP wise

Adele Kling: haha

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): but i think i'm guilty of it too

Karlin Lutrova: lol, I sound like mafioso

Zoe Foodiboo: But I will try to be better from now on!

Jani (Janire Coba): i use ims to ask about any rule, or doubt, or business

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): especially since i have a husband who is very fond of IM :P

Karlin Lutrova: agrees with Janire

Adele Kling: haha, Rosemary

Zoe Foodiboo: /me wiggles her eyebrows at Rose

Karlin Lutrova: well, that is ,,, a different scenario

Greta Fuchsin (GretaFuchsin Resident): Let's face it. Some things will not translate from the 1920's to the 21st century. We, not matter how much research we do, will not be perfect 1920's people. But we can also respect the time we are in here and act as close to the times as we can.

Zoe Foodiboo: absolutely, Greta

Jani (Janire Coba): agrees

Karlin Lutrova: to be candid, the rules do indeed say to keep , uh,,, private things in IM

Karlin Lutrova: its in the tenant rules

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I think in order to have a better rp, we all must have our roles clear…otherwise the local chat is simply not interesting

Zoe Foodiboo: I think we all do....

Karlin Lutrova: tell your husband that lol

Zoe Foodiboo: Er, I mean they all do. Not me. I'm never naughty.

Zoe Foodiboo: lol

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha karlin

Adele Kling: /me coughs

Karlin Lutrova: /me coughs too

Mab Ashdene: Tell us about your youth and innocence, Zoe.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Of course, but say you walk into the Keller and it's full of people but dead silent mostly. That's because everyone is IMing

Karlin Lutrova: lol just keeping it real friends

Jani (Janire Coba): me either, the naughtiest thing i've done here is to dance with gustav at eldorado

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Zoe Foodiboo: /me giggles at Mab

Jani (Janire Coba): i can't be more pure and virginal than i am already here lol

Adele Kling: I hate that Teruumi

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Oh, Jani LOL

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): me too

Karlin Lutrova: the naugtiest for me I think is muttting a milllion fire places here

Karlin Lutrova: lol

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): yes, it's like a film by Ingemar Bergman, silence everywhere

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha karlin

Karlin Lutrova: is that bad?

Karlin Lutrova: muting,

Mab Ashdene: I will not get into my naughtiness.

Jani (Janire Coba): if i'm quiet is cause i am distracted and afk or i'm ready to learn some rp lol

Karlin Lutrova: I learned a trick

Adele Kling: ((For the newcomers, we have a Facebook page. I'm thinking thats a good place to post the film list, as that way oithers can contribute.))

Karlin Lutrova: I hide in a phone booth

Pola Solo: Hi!

Karlin Lutrova: if I dont want interaction

Zoe Foodiboo: POla!

Mab Ashdene: Darling!

Adele Kling: Hello Pola

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): Hallo Pola

Zoe Foodiboo: YOu made it!

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Pola! Hallo!

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Hi Pola

Zoe Foodiboo: Isn't this lovely? Full house!

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hello Pola :)

Jani (Janire Coba): may i ask something?

Karlin Lutrova: gruess dich Pola =)

whispy (whispy Darkstone): ty i will look for the fb page

Adele Kling: : )

Adele Kling: your welcome

Jani (Janire Coba): should we have in our profile pics the a little description of our character?

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I do

Zoe Foodiboo: I think that's up to you....

Zoe Foodiboo: Everyone has a different take on it

Karlin Lutrova: I thought of putting that in picks

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Me too. I alos posted a Bio in FB

Karlin Lutrova: its not for everyone in Second Life™ ofcourse

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): and I keep a NC where I write up more stuff for myself

Jani (Janire Coba): i mean, so others know why we act in some way, i ont know

Zoe Foodiboo: Some prefer not to because then they can really "meet" people and get to know them the way they would in RL.

Karlin Lutrova: and putting in pics is good advert for Berlin 1929 =)

Adele Kling: I have some info. I like to learn about people by interacting with them in RP, but I give a little background.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): some of us have created backgrounds for our characters, and i know that it helps, it's easier to understand why our characters do what they do

Karlin Lutrova: /me nods

whispy (whispy Darkstone): i like to put my chars in picks, but i like to float around listening and developing first see where i can slot in

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I keep a short blurb in my picks and then when I rp needs it I share more

Mab Ashdene: I don't really think of myself as a character.

Zoe Foodiboo: Also, there are oral history interviews you can read on Flickr. To learn more about the histories of some of the old timers.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): good point RoseMary

Karlin Lutrova: my character is obesessed with her dead husband lol

Zoe Foodiboo: Mab, Pola, Tequila, Rose...theirs are all there.

Adele Kling: Correct, but do we have to give a full bio in our profile? For me, it kind of ruins the RP fun.

Karlin Lutrova: maybe too much

Jani (Janire Coba): i agree adele

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Agreed

Karlin Lutrova: me too, to a point

Jani (Janire Coba): i meant like... where we're from, or how i ended in berlin, idk

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): yes it's fun to find out each others background stories the "normal" way

Mab Ashdene: Pola darling, am I a character or am I myself?

Karlin Lutrova: its a good idea, so another may have material on what to ask you about

Zoe Foodiboo: Is Pola drunk?

Jani (Janire Coba): loool

Zoe Foodiboo: Why is she sleeping?

Mab Ashdene: Usually.

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha pola

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): To me it, helps my character reacting to events if I understand where it comes from

Karlin Lutrova: thats why I meantion Otto sometimes

Zoe Foodiboo: see - rp at its finest! :P

Pola Solo: You are a version of yourself.

Mab Ashdene: Interesting.

Karlin Lutrova: to give ppl a idea from which to ask about or rp

ClaireDeAir: Even actors sometimes do a version or themselves.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): yes Claire

Karlin Lutrova: and my ultra concertvie doting mother in Danzig

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): /me nods

Karlin Lutrova: well yes, "method acting"

Mab Ashdene: I mention grandfather and the mountains sometimes.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): In a way we are acting

Jani (Janire Coba): hahahaha

Pola Solo: /me giggles.

Jani (Janire Coba): yes mab

Karlin Lutrova: like Dustin Hoffman said his was techique

Jani (Janire Coba): you made me laugh a lot yesterday, you funny woman

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Exceot that the script is being written while we do that

Karlin Lutrova: in his early years of cineama I

Karlin Lutrova: should say

whispy (whispy Darkstone): improvisation is how i think of rp,,,, something i love

Karlin Lutrova: has to be improv!

Karlin Lutrova: I totally agree

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): yes!

ClaireDeAir: I love to do improv

Karlin Lutrova: it's not like we are professional actorls

ClaireDeAir: it is a lot of fun.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): hahah Karlin

Adele Kling: thats for sure

Karlin Lutrova: let alone that face its hit an miss when any of us are here

whispy (whispy Darkstone): which is where the place and lose rules set the scene along with brief character background

Karlin Lutrova: =)

Mab Ashdene: Pola and I practice our routines at home before showing up at the Eldo.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): since i use some alts showing different personalities, i often curse the fact that i'm on as the wrong character, since i may for instance in a discussion know the perfect thing for one of my alts to say, but the problem is that i am not online as the right person

Mab Ashdene: We are no good at improv.

Karlin Lutrova: its not a complaint, more a observation, but its hard to know what to plan in rp

Zoe Foodiboo: Sure you are! Your interview was hysterical.

Karlin Lutrova: even from one week to the next

Karlin Lutrova: if that makes sense to anyone ?

Jani (Janire Coba): alts? for rp?

Pola Solo: We improvise reluctantly, and grumble a lot.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): yes it does

Jani (Janire Coba): i'd go insane

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Jani (Janire Coba): this is my one and only avi

ClaireDeAir: I am an musician and I do some acting, myself.

Karlin Lutrova: just saying, thats why improv is really the only choice

Karlin Lutrova: not a bad thing mind you =)

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I only use this avi also

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): me too

Karlin Lutrova: same here I should say this set up and outfits

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): and it proves to be tiring sometimes

Karlin Lutrova: thoug, I do like to go bout sometimes

Zoe Foodiboo: I use my grandpa on occasion. I'm not good at being an old man tho.

Adele Kling: haha

Karlin Lutrova: just today someone asked me about this rp sim

Karlin Lutrova: I was n a sneaker sshop

Jani (Janire Coba): if you all use alts i wont find a husband, in case is any of you, mean women

Karlin Lutrova: anyway, she might come

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): But I mean, even if having cear roles in the city, sometimes rp simply does not happen…Like Morgie has all those stores, and Addie have the photo studio. How many of you had visited her studios to rp a portrait?

Karlin Lutrova: what if I brought Otto back from the dea d?

Karlin Lutrova: in an lat Oo

Karlin Lutrova: alt lol

Adele Kling: Yeah, how many?

Adele Kling: /me laughs

Zoe Foodiboo: Well, I did ask Adele and we talked, but we're rarely on at the same time.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i haven't, but i will :)

Karlin Lutrova: that would be quite a gossip topic at least in the Keller

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Very good point

Jani (Janire Coba): the thing is... Morganic is too quiet, and i don't dare to speak to him :$

Zoe Foodiboo: there goes the sun

Karlin Lutrova: not too far fetched really

Jani (Janire Coba): he scares me

Adele Kling: Morganic is often afk, hard to RP with him.

Karlin Lutrova: tea leave reading, and all that was the rage

Zoe Foodiboo: He scares you? aw. He's the sweetest man....

Zoe Foodiboo: and so funny

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): but i think Elvina stole some developer fluid from you, Adele

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I have seen a lot of people taking on roles such as workers in the places, and rp simply does not happenɽ

Adele Kling: But you can hang out at his shops, they are fun.

Jani (Janire Coba): haha i dont know him, maybe that's why

Karlin Lutrova: naaah, its that card board cheef that creeps me out

Adele Kling: Og gawd, hope she doesn't drink it.

Karlin Lutrova: he keeps staring at me !

Jani (Janire Coba): hahahahahha

Karlin Lutrova: the pervert , don't yu know

Zoe Foodiboo: Morgy's such a dear.

Adele Kling: He is

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): Morganic's really not that much into RP, as far as i know, he's into building and organizing

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): hahaha Karlin...Hope Honoria doesn't hear you saying that

Adele Kling: Yes, Rosemary.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): he's like everybody's brother :)

Karlin Lutrova: he has a heart

Karlin Lutrova: I can tell even behind the screen =)

Zoe Foodiboo: True, he doesn't rp much. But he's very knowledgeable about the period. He's a good resource and fun to talk to.

Jani (Janire Coba): hey, jo

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): yes agree

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): yes

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): ah missed it, blasted

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Guten Abend Frau Jo

Adele Kling: oh yes

Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo Frau Jo

Zoe Foodiboo: Well, we're still talking.

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hallo Frau Jo

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): /me waves to Frau Jo

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): No, you're just in time to continue

Karlin Lutrova: the comment on the mr cardboard was not a relfection on that adorable man

Zoe Foodiboo: There's a couple of seats.

Mab Ashdene: Just in time for gossip.

Jani (Janire Coba): i said maybe he scares me cause i dont know him

Karlin Lutrova: uhoh, that Frau Yardley is here

Angello Valerian: Guten Abend Fray Jo

Karlin Lutrova: everone look busy !

webspelunker Ghostraven: Hello Frau Jo!

Alf Korhonen: I still looking at the girls! :)

Jani (Janire Coba): but he stays there, quiet, with his moustache, and scares me :$

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Anyone would be able to make a little synthesis for Frau Jo? I do not think we have met any agreements, have we?

Karlin Lutrova: lol greetings Jo !

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): Morganic is friendly and has a lot of knowledge of the time, i've learnt lots from him

Zoe Foodiboo: hahaha, Alf

Alf Korhonen: They are so cute!

Karlin Lutrova: synthesis?

Zoe Foodiboo: Well, no, but many interesting perspectives were shared.

Karlin Lutrova: what do you mean Tequila =)

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): she means a quick sum up

Zoe Foodiboo: I think we agreed we want more old people. and fat people. er, curvy.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): forget about it

Karlin Lutrova: oh , I'm sorry , dont mind me

Karlin Lutrova: I think that was about language

Pola Solo: Hallo Frau Jo.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): and more rp

Karlin Lutrova: sorry :(

Jani (Janire Coba): yep

Mab Ashdene: Shall I go fat and old?

Zoe Foodiboo: oh yes, brackets

Karlin Lutrova: lol

Jani (Janire Coba): i wont go fat and old

Alf Korhonen: Maybe I might call my father to visit Berlin again!

Second Life: Cuthbert Helendale is online.

Jani (Janire Coba): sorry, but NO

Zoe Foodiboo: Let's all get fat and old!

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Jani (Janire Coba): no!

Adele Kling: and less IM, heh

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): oh, and that not everyone has to be a flapper

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): we will soon

webspelunker Ghostraven: speak for yourselves!

Karlin Lutrova: what if I do undead like the Nosforatu film in berlin at that time

Jani (Janire Coba): in rl indeed rosemary haha

Karlin Lutrova: lol jk

Karlin Lutrova: wasn't the Jack the Ripper story orginated from Berlin?

whispy (whispy Darkstone): if you all go fat and old i will have to go back to the younger av i arrived with lol

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): in sl too but it takes some time :D

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): and we spoke about developing backgrounds for our characters

Jani (Janire Coba): i miss some policemen bothering people

Jani (Janire Coba): to be honest

Jani (Janire Coba): lol

Karlin Lutrova: Jac des Messer?

Karlin Lutrova: or some thing

Karlin Lutrova: I recalll that 3 penny oper tune

Jani (Janire Coba): like: your skirt is short! you havent paid your rent! or... your car is there in the middle or nowhere

Jani (Janire Coba): i dont know

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I think we need a criminal organization, lol

Jani (Janire Coba): just bothering

Jani (Janire Coba): lol

Jani (Janire Coba): oh yessss

Jani (Janire Coba): criminals in berlin

webspelunker Ghostraven: It would help!

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): Vera started one last autumn, but then it all ended

Karlin Lutrova: may I ask?

Zoe Foodiboo: we had one, didn't we?

Zoe Foodiboo: Mo's gone

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): why did it end?

Karlin Lutrova: where tere even usch a thing a women as polizeii?

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Mo was attacking my door the other day

Zoe Foodiboo: I think cause Vera left.

Karlin Lutrova: in those years?

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): he's back apparentky

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): vera vanished, she does that sometimes

Karlin Lutrova: there **

Zoe Foodiboo: He was? I never see him anymore....

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): and yes there were female members of the kriminal polizei

ClaireDeAir: /camto offf

Karlin Lutrova: I am sorry, but its very difficult to type when every letter appears 2 seconds later sorry for errors

Jani (Janire Coba): were there criminal women?

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): of course

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): of course

Adele Kling: Always!

Karlin Lutrova: I wonder , if my rp can go in taht direction Jo

ClaireDeAir: /camto off

Karlin Lutrova: I need to research that

Zoe Foodiboo: I don't see why not.

whispy (whispy Darkstone): i arrived as a young preformer,,, but realised that perhaps there are many of them with the flappers,,,, so bought in granny to explore less filled rp groups etc

Angello Valerian: there is a kind of army ... At least two military who can protect us haha

Mab Ashdene: I broke into the cafe earlier.

Karlin Lutrova: awesome , then I can scold men for rude behavior

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Criminal women is a must have…they help a lot as they are less suspicious of things

Karlin Lutrova: lo l jk

Jani (Janire Coba): haha yes

Telephone: whispers: Thank you! Click the telephone to place your call

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): there always have been and always will be ciminal women

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): yes

Jani (Janire Coba): we need criminals, murderers, kidnappers, and policemen

Karlin Lutrova: you mean polizei yes Jo?

Mab Ashdene: But surely not VERY criminal women.

Alf Korhonen: Hei isä! Se Alf poikasi!

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): /me looks at Pola

Karlin Lutrova: or do you mean women that did crime

Jani (Janire Coba): it's just a suggestions, lol ,and idea

Zoe Foodiboo: We have policemen

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): kriminal polizei is a division of the police

webspelunker Ghostraven: Female Party members were considered criminals by some.

Jani (Janire Coba): but zoe are they active rpers?

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): Elvina is quite harmless as a criminal

Zoe Foodiboo: Alf, are you alright?

Alf Korhonen: "Muistatko minut! Miten äiti?"

Karlin Lutrova: interestint, I must research that Jo

Jani (Janire Coba): (idk, just asking since i'm new to here)

Zoe Foodiboo: I think they are, Jani. I ran one over a couple of weeks ago.

Mab Ashdene: Pola, are we criminals?

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): its not much walking on the streets but more doing work at police stations and dealing with prisoners

Alf Korhonen: Sorryv talking to dad in Vienna! Line is bad

Karlin Lutrova: ah, desk work

Pola Solo: We are sort of demimonde, I think

Karlin Lutrova: actually makes sense

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Yes, the police that checks the political events is different than criminal police, no?

Alf Korhonen: "Onko sinulla aikaa käydä Berliini pian!"

webspelunker Ghostraven: Typically!

Zoe Foodiboo: oh, sim police vs rp police you mean?

ClaireDeAir: How do you become a police officer here?

Jani (Janire Coba): or maybe sudenly.... someone with a gun threating people at der keller

Karlin Lutrova: I really must read more than I am if I expect to be in character at all

Jani (Janire Coba): lol

Mab Ashdene: Is auctioning underage boys criminal?

Jani (Janire Coba): that'd be funny

Alf Korhonen: "On lopetettava nyt, koska se on kallista soittaa!"

webspelunker Ghostraven: I have some knowledge of these matters.

whispy (whispy Darkstone): women political activists from the sufferagettes to communists and anarchist did political actions to get noticed then as now

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): people are invited to join the police

ClaireDeAir: ok

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): So, criminal police could be easily rp'ed without interfering with Dantiz

ClaireDeAir: great

Karlin Lutrova: uh, Berlin was wild and progressive but not THAT much

Alf Korhonen: "Terveys äiti katsottuna Voi pian!"

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): criminal police?

Alf Korhonen: "Hyvästi isä!"

Karlin Lutrova: good pont Tequila

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): problem is that in berlin police has real powers and are sim maanagers

ClaireDeAir: a bod cop

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): so we cant make anyone a cop

ClaireDeAir: bad*

Alf Korhonen: Dam line!

Jani (Janire Coba): oh

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): the second you have a badge people assume you're a manager

Karlin Lutrova: maybe rp polizei could interefere with actually Sim security

Jani (Janire Coba): but we can make anyone a criminal with a gun

Karlin Lutrova: never thought of that

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): yes, we would need to separate the groups

Jani (Janire Coba): attacking your der keller

Alf Korhonen: Back!

Jani (Janire Coba): and scaring women

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Mab Ashdene: I once got locked up for pulling a gun.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): so who would be considered as a good cop in Berlin?

Mab Ashdene: But I didn't mean to shoot it!

Karlin Lutrova: shame on you !

Zoe Foodiboo: it's fun getting arrested

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): it is!

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i know we have one or two corrupt cops

Alf Korhonen: Shoot and kill

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Yes, police forces have divisions as far as I understand…some place investigate protests and political crimes, while the criminal police would be on charge of investigating murderers, no? then there is the drug police…if I am right….

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): but most take their job seriously, if only they could be online more

Karlin Lutrova: so man y directions to do with that idea lol

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): any kind of hapenning is fun to take part in

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): some of our cops even have rl law experience :)

Alf Korhonen: My mother was still ill but my father might come next week to Berlin! Depends on mothers health

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): the major RP event in Berlin is getting closer and closer

webspelunker Ghostraven: Or they could be NSA!

Karlin Lutrova: is it ok to bring up the subject of , the politics that was more and more of what Berlinweould be?

Karlin Lutrova: I know its a deliccate subject but

Karlin Lutrova: I enjoy referranes to actual events

Karlin Lutrova: at the time

Karlin Lutrova: Jo?

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): you can discus nazism all you want, just stay away from being a proper antisemite

Karlin Lutrova: well yes ofcourse not that

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): the second we start tp suspect being all excited about jolly nazism is more than just roleplay, you're at trouble

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): the newspapers help us find things to talk about too

Zoe Foodiboo: whispers: Hallo Ludwig!

Ludwig Caesar (Ludwig2005 Resident): huh.....

Karlin Lutrova: but well, maybe its too complicated to try an incorporate that element

Karlin Lutrova: most of it at the time was in Bavaria anyway

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): And you can always be with or against nazism, no? In RL not every German citizen would be in agreement with it

Jani (Janire Coba): uhm... i wouldnt be comfortable talking about nazism

Jani (Janire Coba): so i'd be quiet again lol

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): then don't

Karlin Lutrova: was that ok to bring up? I just really like to know any guiddelines about that

Karlin Lutrova: me either, not in a supporting way at all

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): we're not making mandatory rules, just discussing possibilities

Zoe Foodiboo: sharing ideas

Jani (Janire Coba): yep

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i find that it happens that we talk about nazis, but that we often just regard them as silly bavarians

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): berlin was a "red" city and mostly anti nazi, even in 1933 the nazis didnt get half the votes

Karlin Lutrova: my character does not support the Reds either btw

Jani (Janire Coba): oh, then alright

Mab Ashdene: I like men in uniform.

Jani (Janire Coba): i can talk about them as silly bavarians

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): but now and then I do let slip that I agree with the nazis on art and the decadence of society, then again socialists agreed with that as well

Jani (Janire Coba): problem sorted ^^

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): and communists

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): or as bumpkins, the way city folk often view people in the countryside

Karlin Lutrova: I agree with Jo

Angello Valerian: i'd prefer a kind of Berlin mafia, than a lot of politicians around us hahah

Jani (Janire Coba): mafia

Jani (Janire Coba): yes!

Karlin Lutrova: some of their values may ahve made sense

Karlin Lutrova: but thats all really imo

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i remember there were some maffia RP starting some years ago

whispy (whispy Darkstone): hitler was a very charismatic character good speaker just like mussilini, they woed the public or some were just not comfortable with politics more liked fun others took politics very seriously

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): stupid modern art and architecture

Karlin Lutrova: unfortunately true Whispy

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): but it may have been more based on Italy than Germany

Karlin Lutrova: very persuasive

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): I hope people see the movie M and get excited about creating a Berlin based underworld

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): prostitutes, thieves, beggars

Karlin Lutrova: Hind Site is perfect sit so, ppl didnt know

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): like in that movie, not like al capone

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I read a book that is called 'the wet fish' and it is very interesting, involving some Russian gold that is leading to several murders, but the book is not translated to English for some weird reason

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): that would give so much dimension to the town

Karlin Lutrova: isi t just tittled " M"?

webspelunker Ghostraven: Those are small potatoes....

Alf Korhonen: I can just say it is a great movie and if you have not seen it! you should!

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): M is really an interesting movie indeed.

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Yes, M, 1931, one of the best movies ever

Karlin Lutrova: oh,it was a romaticiised crimenal?

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): a classic

webspelunker Ghostraven: Organized crime is about extortion, blackmail, fencing, and the like!

Alf Korhonen: it is with sound as well!

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): there is also a magazine about RL crime at the newspaper kiosk here

Zoe Foodiboo: Maybe it'll play again at the Babylon

Karlin Lutrova: fun

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): and I try to put in as many crime stories into the newspaper as I can, but just don't have enough time to write one every day

Karlin Lutrova: btw, are those magazines here readable as a HUD kindd of thing?

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): No, but I am thinking about making one with turnable pages

Karlin Lutrova: Ive only bought posted art on the city walls and suck

Karlin Lutrova: such

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): you suck walls?

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): oh right

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Oh great!

Karlin Lutrova: lol

Jani (Janire Coba): hhaahahahhaahhhh

Karlin Lutrova: :P

Karlin Lutrova: IT was a TYPO !!

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): haha

Karlin Lutrova: LOL

Jani (Janire Coba): what would Otto say about you sucking walls...

Karlin Lutrova: gosh I am a bit flushed Real Life™

Karlin Lutrova: how funny

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): hahaha

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Pola, you have to kidnap Alf and give him a makeover, so, there, I've given you a first criminal underworld plan ;)

Jani (Janire Coba): oh yes, plz

Karlin Lutrova: Oo

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Wooooo

Karlin Lutrova: the mafioso is alive and well!

Alf Korhonen: WHAT

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): we love you alf, but your 2007 skin makes me want to get a metal brush ;)

Karlin Lutrova: well, it was nice knowing you Alf

Mab Ashdene: Pola, you are not the criminal underground.

Jani (Janire Coba): hahahaha

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): hahaha

Zoe Foodiboo: Frau Jo!

Zoe Foodiboo: my goodness.

Jani (Janire Coba): but she's right!

Jani (Janire Coba): just.... too sincere maybe

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): May I participate in that one? I love shopping...The fashion police arrests Alf!

Jani (Janire Coba): but right

Alf Korhonen: Yw Karlin

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): be nice to Alf!

Karlin Lutrova: actually true, I mention that too with good intention Alf

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i agree though :P

Karlin Lutrova: the Sound of Silence........

Jani (Janire Coba): haha

Jani (Janire Coba): ok then

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): sorry, couldnt resist

Karlin Lutrova: I meant no offence either :(

Alf Korhonen: It would not be me if I transfer into someone else! (:

Jani (Janire Coba): we all agree on that

Karlin Lutrova: seriously

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): but alf knows, I've been teasing about that for a while ;)

Jani (Janire Coba): Alf, we love you, but you need a makeover

Jani (Janire Coba): next point!

Alf Korhonen: I know and you still refuse to merry me! :)

Karlin Lutrova: oh comn, 2007 is very sexy

Karlin Lutrova: lol

Zoe Foodiboo: Well, don't go getting to movie star-ish.....the women will never leave you alone and you won't want to leave your apartment

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): skin change first!

Alf Korhonen: Like a rattle snake! LOL

Karlin Lutrova: yeah no Fabio skin PLEASE!

Clara Croll (Lephty Lewsey): or a new liver

Jani (Janire Coba): jo, don't marry him till he looks like an updated avi, please

Karlin Lutrova: Fabio would be worse than the present

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): there is a new skin shop in VR, great realistic real people skins

Jani (Janire Coba): i wonder who fabio is lol

Karlin Lutrova: ooooo, a gossip item

Karlin Lutrova: /me takes notes

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): old people, people who dont sleep enough, in short, people like me

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): What about Valentino alike skin?

Karlin Lutrova: ok, kind of like Arnold then

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): oh my

Jani (Janire Coba): fabio, valentino, what's up with italian skins? hahaha

webspelunker Ghostraven: Great!

Pola Solo: The Italian sex mall has opened, obviously.

webspelunker Ghostraven: Guess what I'm doing?

Zoe Foodiboo: I'm tellin' ya, being handsome in Berlin ain't for sissies. Some of the women are crazy.

Clara Croll (Lephty Lewsey): do they have older people skins?

Zoe Foodiboo: /me twirls her finger near her temple and whistles

Karlin Lutrova: if Alf appears here looking like Swarzennegger I will shoot !

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha zoe

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Hahah, agreed Zoe!

Jani (Janire Coba): oh me to

Alf Korhonen: LOL

Mab Ashdene: Zoe, don't be mean to me.

Zoe Foodiboo: lol

Karlin Lutrova: orsome pin head with maxeed out shoulders ..ick

Jani (Janire Coba): if Afl appears like Arnold it'll be a criminal war here in berlin

Jani (Janire Coba): lol

Jani (Janire Coba): and.. if gustav gets an old skin i wont dance with him again

Karlin Lutrova: hmmmm. who is Daddyo

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Much older?????LOL

Zoe Foodiboo: Gustav?

Zoe Foodiboo: Rose's husband?

Clara Croll (Lephty Lewsey): well, I would like a slightly aged skin

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Fru Jo, do you think it is possible to profile some characters for the May protests? I mean, I have no clue on where my character would fit in that event...

Zoe Foodiboo: ohhh, that Gustav

Karlin Lutrova: maybe I should turn off that when avatars enter thingy

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yep, me. Much older???LOL

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): profile characters?

Jani (Janire Coba): Gustav is married?

Jani (Janire Coba): him too?

Zoe Foodiboo: I think you're dreamy, Gustav :) I love your look.

Jani (Janire Coba): oh come on

Karlin Lutrova: well, not older than 90 ok?

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): Gustav not Gustov

Zoe Foodiboo: Gustov Chesnokov? Yes, to Rose.

Jani (Janire Coba): then i better change my avi to an old fat one

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Danke, Zoe ;) My love!

Jani (Janire Coba): since i wint get a rp husband

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Zoe Foodiboo: /me winks

Jani (Janire Coba): no

Jani (Janire Coba): this gustav

Zoe Foodiboo: Oh, that Gustav.

Jani (Janire Coba): the one there

Karlin Lutrova: so it's settled, Otto will mysteriusly come back from the dead

Mab Ashdene: Pola, maybe we should get a rp husband.

Zoe Foodiboo: Well, you might wait a long time if you wait for a marriage proposal from him....

Pola Solo: We could, I suppose.

Jani (Janire Coba): and there'll be some criminals with gund at der keller

Karlin Lutrova: ok, not really, I should get seroiusl sorry

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): like having a bit of description about what characters would fit in the May protests. Like a flapper for example….would she be with the reds or with the status quo?

Mab Ashdene: No one would be brave enough.

Zoe Foodiboo: ooooh, there's a man!

Zoe Foodiboo: Hello there Herr

webspelunker Ghostraven: She's welcome with the Reds!

Karlin Lutrova: greetings Mr daddyo

Clara Croll (Lephty Lewsey): he's a tall one

Daddyo (daddyo99649964 Resident): hello

Zoe Foodiboo: Welcome, have a seat.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): shah Herr Ghostraven…I mean in a real historical way

Guy Cutter (GeorgeW Carver): Berlin had beatnicks in 1929?

Karlin Lutrova: well, if yoru e talking about time periods no

Guy Cutter (GeorgeW Carver): /me chuckles

Karlin Lutrova: but you can be sure the values and ideals of beatniks was there

Karlin Lutrova: Kerouac would hav e lved Berlin imo

Karlin Lutrova: loved *

Jani (Janire Coba): ok...erm...

Jani (Janire Coba): we need men here in berlin

Jani (Janire Coba): HAHAHAHA

Jani (Janire Coba): a lot of men

Karlin Lutrova: /me nods "true

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me chuckles

Karlin Lutrova: omg is it raining men ??

Pola Solo: I have a male alt, but I'm useless at it.

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): well lure them here

Jani (Janire Coba): it should be raining men

webspelunker Ghostraven: Karlin's right...

Jani (Janire Coba): naked ones

Jani (Janire Coba): yoohoo

Guy Cutter (GeorgeW Carver): /me rubs his eyes

Jani (Janire Coba): no, i dont want an alt :(

Karlin Lutrova: for shame Jo !

webspelunker Ghostraven: Weimar was the start of the Beat generation!

Mab Ashdene: How can we lure men in?

Karlin Lutrova: lol jk

Zoe Foodiboo: We'll post you at the Teleportplatz, Mab

Karlin Lutrova: silence

Pola Solo: Hahahah!

Karlin Lutrova: now that could actually work

Jani (Janire Coba): how can we bring some men to rp here in berlin.... lemme think....

whispy (whispy Darkstone): not sure my granny would lure them,,,, *chcuckles*

Mab Ashdene: How about a nice cardboard cutout?

Pola Solo: Yes!

whispy (whispy Darkstone): but being ready to rp with folk when they wander the city works well i think

Zoe Foodiboo: Do you have the one from the exhibit?

Karlin Lutrova: why not, cutouts are hot

Mab Ashdene: No

Pola Solo: Mab is a moveable feast.

Zoe Foodiboo: Those were hilarious.

Jani (Janire Coba): i could post on flickr we need a criminal group of men to rp here

Jani (Janire Coba): loool

Karlin Lutrova: ok, not really

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I've been trying. But well, all of my friends are....well, you know LOL

webspelunker Ghostraven: Appeal to the workers!

webspelunker Ghostraven: They'll come!

Mab Ashdene: They said things, didn't they?

Pola Solo: Yes.

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha gustav

Jani (Janire Coba): hahaha

Jani (Janire Coba): i just adore you

Zoe Foodiboo: They did. Maybe Sein has them in his inventory.

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): ;)

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me winks

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): we should let people know what berlin is all about

Pola Solo: I have a copy of mine. Let me find it.

Pola Solo: /me searches through her purse.

Karlin Lutrova: in his intentory?

Jani (Janire Coba): i agree with jo

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): there are so many options that people dont consider

Zoe Foodiboo: oh, they were so cute.

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): same problem with kids

Mab Ashdene: What did they say? I am curious. I forgot.

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): people have no imagination these days!

Karlin Lutrova: you have men in your inventory?

Karlin Lutrova: lol being silly

Zoe Foodiboo: She's got Pola in her inventory.

Zoe Foodiboo: Just wait, it's adorable.

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Pocket Pola

Karlin Lutrova: very convenient

Jani (Janire Coba): uhm... i could bring my ex rl bf here to rp lol

Jani (Janire Coba): he's an english funny one

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I think a little bit of reading is good for imagination….yet what to read…that is the question

Karlin Lutrova: you sure that could invite drama though ?

Zoe Foodiboo: I tried to bring my beau but he's in EQ all the time.

Karlin Lutrova: to be candid

Jani (Janire Coba): me? drama? nah, we super friends

Karlin Lutrova: awesome

Jani (Janire Coba): and he's as obsessed with boardwalk empire as me lol

Mab Ashdene: Don't bring your boyfriend in. That would be ... unwise.

Zoe Foodiboo: Is that it Pola?

Zoe Foodiboo: oh

Pola Solo: I'm not sure

Jani (Janire Coba): no no, EX boyfriend, now just friends lol

Zoe Foodiboo: I wish I'd kept copies for the archives. I assumed Sein did.

Pola Solo: Yes, there it is. I think.

Pola Solo: You need a scarf with that. Lots of scarves.

Karlin Lutrova: wish I could find someone who could rp my shrew ofa mother

Zoe Foodiboo: oooh, yes!

Pola Solo: No, you'd look terrible in that. Buy something else. No, we don't have anything else.

Zoe Foodiboo: hahahahaha

Zoe Foodiboo: that was such a fun exhibit

Pola Solo: Did I tell you we carried your size? Oops.

Karlin Lutrova: though< i really have not filled out that character though

Pola Solo: It was perfect.

Lori Miles (Lorelai Winslet): : )

Jani (Janire Coba): loool

Mab Ashdene: Haha!

Pola Solo: Did I tell you we carried your size? Oops.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): I have guests at home RL this evening and most go to organize everything, but I will be following this conversation via FB if you post it there

Karlin Lutrova: fun fun

Pola Solo: This is my "mean shopgirl" cutout.

Tequila Mockingbird (Tequila Krovac): Good night

Zoe Foodiboo: Okay, I will if that's okay with everyone.

Jani (Janire Coba): good night tequila

Karlin Lutrova: oh , I actually bought that outfit I think lol

Pola Solo: Good night, Tequila dear.

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i am going to remodel teleportplatz one day, might be fun ti try something a bit more up there to lure people in

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Auf wiedersehen!

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Good night Tequila

Karlin Lutrova: bis bald Teqiula

Zoe Foodiboo: It was so cute with Mabs

Second Life: Neil Langrishe (Poohneil Streeter) is online.

Karlin Lutrova: =)

Pola Solo: What are you wearing under that? No, don't tell me; I can see it.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Auf Wiedersehen Tequila

Jani (Janire Coba): who can make a good sign to atract ment to rp here

Jani (Janire Coba): lol

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): bye tequila

Karlin Lutrova: good idea Jo !

Jani (Janire Coba): something about criminals, they love that stuff

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Well, I have to go, too. RL things.

Mab Ashdene: I don't have mine.

Jani (Janire Coba): bye, gustav!

Mab Ashdene: Pola, do you have mine?

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Bye guys.

Karlin Lutrova: tasteful yet a bit more aggressive ?

Pola Solo: Good bye, Gustav. See you later.

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): Auf Wiedersehen Herr Rosenheim

Zoe Foodiboo: Bye Gustav! Thanks for coming.

Pola Solo: I don't think I have yours, darling.

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): well some ideas suggestions backgrounds etc, but I don't want to push too much info on new visitors

Alf Korhonen: Bye Gustav

Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me tips my hat

Pola Solo: I think it's safe to say that ladies should wear proper underthings. Thank goodness we don't carry those here.

Karlin Lutrova: nacht Mein Herr

Zoe Foodiboo: lol

Pola Solo: Did I tell you we carried your size? Oops.

Lori Miles (Lorelai Winslet): Thank you for organizing this event Frl Foodiboo and Frl Simoneaux.

Pola Solo: Whew! I thought she'd NEVER leave.

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): yes it was very interesting

Jani (Janire Coba): loool

Mab Ashdene: Hahaa!

Karlin Lutrova: actually that Old ...does

Jani (Janire Coba): this Pola is mean!

Pola Solo: I think it's safe to say that ladies should wear proper underthings. Thank goodness we don't carry those here.

Pola Solo: No, you'd look terrible in that. Buy something else. No, we don't have anything else.

Zoe Foodiboo: Oh my pleasure. It was all Frl Teruumi. I just sent out the invitations.

Karlin Lutrova: I forgot it 's name

Pola Solo: No, you'd look terrible in that. Buy something else. No, we don't have anything else.

Pola Solo: I think it's safe to say that ladies should wear proper underthings. Thank goodness we don't carry those here.

Pola Solo: What are you wearing under that? No, don't tell me; I can see it.

Karlin Lutrova: Old Vintage?

Pola Solo: Whew! I thought she'd NEVER leave.

whispy (whispy Darkstone): yes thank you very much,,, this has been inspirational,,, i love rp and history and today has been inspiring

Zoe Foodiboo: What did Mab's say? She had some zingers too.

Mab Ashdene: I really don't remember.

Zoe Foodiboo: We'll do it again I think, won't we Frl Teruumi?

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I hope it was fun and informative to you despite the fact we kind of traveled further from the topic

Karlin Lutrova: the shop to the right as you walk into the lane of shops from the landing spot

Alf Korhonen: The girls still looking cute even if it is late! :)

Pola Solo: Something about facial hair, wasn't it?

Teruumi Jacqueline Simoneaux (Korina Asamoah): I'm sure we will Frl Zoe

Jani (Janire Coba): Alf... your skin.... remember it

Zoe Foodiboo: and medication?

Jani (Janire Coba): hahahahhaha

Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): we berliners always get distracted

Mab Ashdene: Probably.

Alf Korhonen: ssss don't mention my skin condition

Rosemary Thyme Chesnokova (MsRosemaryThyme Resident): i blame the alcohol

Jani (Janire Coba): oh, plz remember that abput the films, that'll help us a lot

Jani (Janire Coba): Alf, is it a dissease?

Mab Ashde

Today, I finally get to try the Fujinon XF50-140mm for the first time in the Fuji Photo Walk Event. The greatest outcome of this event was to interact with different Fujifilm photographers.

 

The event took place at the Trout Lake Park. I think around 20-30 people showed up. As I arrived I quickly tried the XF10-24mm. It is a great lens and quite useful for landscape photography. I used it for 30 minutes and swapped to the XF50-140mm. It is definitely a heavy lens. My arm got a bit tired after an hour of shooting.

 

My initial impression is that the lens is excellent; it is very fast as it locks on to the subject without any problems. The images are pretty sharp (not as sharp as the XF90mm). I was about to keep away my distance between the subject so that he can "be" himself...and I got the shot I like today!

 

Location: Vancouver, BC (Trout Lake Park)