My entry for round 5 of the Middle Earth LEGO Olympics. My category was Valinor from The Silmarilion, and I chose to recreate the Kinslaying at Alqualondë. The build was loosely inspired by this image, particularly the landscaping. It took 7 days to complete, and weighs a whopping 26.2 pounds, making it my largest solo build to date! The build process proved to be very challenging at times, especially the water and mossy hillside. Initially I just was using trans clear 1x2 bricks for the water, but it was warping so much I had to add plates to connect it to the bottom layer of water, so that it would attach correctly.

 

Below is a summary of the Kinslaying at Alqualondë for those of you who are interested.

 

"The Kinslaying at Alqualondë was the first slaying of Elf by Elf, and was the act that banned the Ñoldor from returning to Aman, the lands of the West, for centuries. When Fëanor intended to leave Valinor, he needed ships to get to Middle-earth without great loss, but the Ñoldor possessed no ships, and Fëanor feared that any delay in their departure would cause the Ñoldor to reconsider. The Ñoldor, led by Fëanor and his sons, tried to persuade their friends, the Teleri of Alqualondë, to give him their ships. However, the Teleri would not help in any way against the will of the Valar, and in fact attempted to persuade their friends to reconsider and stay in Aman. Unwilling to take "no" for an answer, the Ñoldor started taking the ships and sailing them away. This angered the Teleri, and they threatened the Ñoldor with rocks and arrows, and they threw many of Fëanor's followers out of the ships and into the harbor. They also began to attempt to block the harbour; however, it is only slightly possible that the Teleri drew first blood. Then the Ñoldor drew swords, and the Teleri their bows, and there was a bitter fight that seemed evenly matched, if not even in favor of the Teleri, until the second Host of the Ñoldor, led by Fingon, arrived together with some of Fingolfin's people. Misunderstanding the situation, they assumed the Teleri had attacked the Ñoldor under orders of the Valar, and they joined the fight."

 

Plenty more pictures on brickbuilt.

Traffic Block - African bush elephant

 

Verkehrshindernis - Afrikanischer Elefant

 

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 km2 (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

 

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

 

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

 

The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Name

 

African Elephant or African Bush Elephant [Loxodonta africana]

 

Introduction

 

The Elephant is the world's largest land mammal, and weighs up to 7 tonnes and reaches heights of 3.3 m at the shoulder. Elephants can live to a potential age of 70 years. The massive tusks of older bulls can weigh up to 50 or 60 kilograms, but tusks weighing up to 90 kilograms have been recorded.

 

Appearance

 

What is the trunk and what is it used for?

The Elephant's trunk is a modified nose which is very sensitive and can even detect water under ground. There are as many as 50 000 muscles in an Elephant trunk. The sensitive finger-like appendages at the tip of the trunk enables them to pick the smallest twig or flower, pull the toughest reed of grass or even pick out a thorn from their feet.

 

Do elephants have knees or elbows?

 

The joints that are perceived as 'knees', are in fact wrists. This is a common misunderstanding due to the belief that a leg joint that bends between the foot and the body must be a knee. The main difference between us and the elephants is that our foot bones and hand bones are separate, whereas those of the elephant are one in the same, and have evolved to suit this four-legged mammal.

 

Why do elephants have tusks?

 

The tusks are used for obtaining food, fighting (amongst males) and for self defence. They are actually their upper incisors, and grow continuously until they die at around 60 years old. Although their skin is up to 3cm (1 inch) thick, it is quite sensitive.

 

Diet

 

Elephants are voracious feeders which in a day consume up to 272 kg (600 pounds) of grass, tender shoots and bark from trees. An adult Elephant can drink up to 200 litres of water in a single session. A single Elephant deposits up to 150kg (330 pounds) of dung every day - about one dollop every 15 minutes!

 

Breeding

 

African Elephant are not seasonal breeders. Generally they produce one calf every 3 to 4 years. The gestation period is about 22 months. At birth calves weigh about 100 kg (220 pounds) and are fully weaned between 18-24 months. An orphaned calf will usually be adopted by one of the family's lactating females or suckled by various females. Elephants are very attentive mothers, and because most Elephant behavior has to be learned, they keep their offspring with them for many years. Tusks erupt at 16 months but do not show externally until 30 months. Once weaned, usually at age 4 or 5, the calf still remains in the maternal group. Females mature at about 11 years and stay in the group, while the males, which mature between 12 and 15, are usually expelled from the maternal herd. Even though these young males are sexually mature, they do not breed until they are in their mid, or late 20s or even older and have moved up in the social hierarchy.

 

Behaviour

 

Mature males form bachelor groups and become solitary bulls. Elephant form strong family units of cows, calves and young offspring. Such herds are always led by an old female. Apart from drinking large quantities of water they also love wading or swimming in it. Elephants clearly relish mud baths.

It was once thought that family groups were led by old bull elephants, but these males are most often solitary. The female family groups are often visited by mature males checking for females in oestrus. Several interrelated family groups may inhabit an area and know each other well.

 

How do you tell an elephant's mock charge from a serious one?

 

It is imperative to keep in mind that Elephant are extremely intelligent, and each individual has a distinct character. Although there will be exceptions to the rules, the common signs of a mock charge are bush-bashing, dust-throwing, trumpeting and other vocalizations, open ears and an intimidating presence, can be considered a mock-display. Aggressive or startled elephants usually make sudden headshakes and flap their large ears against their head. Serious charges usually occur after all attempts to intimidate have failed, and the Elephant feels threatened. The ears are pinned back and head and trunk are lowered. Ultimately, the key lies in the intelligence of the animal and how they will react to the 'target' and unfamiliar actions, and a conscious decision is made.

 

Why do elephants rhythmically flap their ears?

 

Contrary to common belief, it is not an expression of anger. Being an animal of such a large size, with no sweat glands and a dark body colour, elephants flap their ears to cool the body and rid themselves of irritating insects.

 

Where are they found?

 

Once ranging across most of Africa the Elephant population has declined dramatically across the continent. In South Africa the Addo Elephant and Kruger National Park protect large herds. Due to rigorous conservation measures the Elephant population in South Africa has grown from a estimated 120 in 1920 in 4 locations, to 10 000 at 40 locations to date.

 

Notes

 

The African Elephant has recently been classified into two separate species, the more common African Bush Elephant [Loxodonta Africana] and the smaller African Forest Elephant [Loxodonta cyclotis] of the rainforest of Central Africa.

 

(krugerpark.co.za)

 

Der Kruger-Nationalpark (deutsch häufig falsch Krüger-Nationalpark) ist das größte Wildschutzgebiet Südafrikas. Er liegt im Nordosten des Landes in der Landschaft des Lowveld auf dem Gebiet der Provinz Limpopo sowie des östlichen Abschnitts von Mpumalanga. Seine Fläche erstreckt sich vom Crocodile-River im Süden bis zum Limpopo, dem Grenzfluss zu Simbabwe, im Norden. Die Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt etwa 350 km, in Ost-West-Richtung ist der Park durchschnittlich 54 km breit und umfasst eine Fläche von rund 20.000 Quadratkilometern. Damit gehört er zu den größten Nationalparks in Afrika.

 

Das Schutzgebiet wurde am 26. März 1898 unter dem Präsidenten Paul Kruger als Sabie Game Reserve zum Schutz der Wildnis gegründet. 1926 erhielt das Gebiet den Status Nationalpark und wurde in seinen heutigen Namen umbenannt. Im Park leben 147 Säugetierarten inklusive der „Big Five“, außerdem etwa 507 Vogelarten und 114 Reptilienarten, 49 Fischarten und 34 Amphibienarten.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Afrikanische Elefant (Loxodonta africana), auch Afrikanischer Steppenelefant oder Afrikanischer Buschelefant, ist eine Art aus der Familie der Elefanten. Er ist das größte gegenwärtig lebende Landsäugetier und gleichzeitig das größte rezente landbewohnende Tier der Erde. Herausragende Kennzeichen sind neben den Stoßzähnen und dem markanten Rüssel die großen Ohren und die säulenförmigen Beine. In zahlreichen morphologischen und anatomischen Merkmalen unterscheidet sich der Afrikanische Elefant von seinen etwas kleineren Verwandten, dem Waldelefanten und dem Asiatischen Elefanten. Das Verbreitungsgebiet umfasst heute große Teile von Afrika südlich der Sahara. Die Tiere haben sich dort an zahlreiche unterschiedliche Lebensräume angepasst, die von geschlossenen Wäldern über offene Savannenlandschaften bis hin zu Sumpfgebieten und wüstenartigen Regionen reichen. Insgesamt ist das Vorkommen aber stark fragmentiert.

 

Die Lebensweise des Afrikanischen Elefanten ist durch intensive Studien gut erforscht. Sie wird durch einen stark sozialen Charakter geprägt. Weibliche Tiere und ihr Nachwuchs leben in Familienverbänden (Herden). Diese formieren sich wiederum zu einem enger verwandten Clan. Die einzelnen Herden treffen sich zu bestimmten Gelegenheiten und trennen sich danach wieder. Die männlichen Tiere bilden Junggesellengruppen. Die verschiedenen Verbände nutzen Aktionsräume, in denen sie teils im Jahreszyklus herumwandern. Für die Kommunikation untereinander nutzen die Tiere verschiedene Töne im niedrigen Frequenzbereich. Anhand der Lautgebung, aber auch durch bestimmte chemische Signale können sich die einzelnen Individuen untereinander erkennen. Darüber hinaus besteht ein umfangreiches Repertoire an Gesten. Hervorzuheben sind auch die kognitiven Fähigkeiten des Afrikanischen Elefanten.

 

Die Nahrung besteht sowohl aus weicher wie auch harter Pflanzenkost. Die genaue Zusammensetzung variiert dabei regional und jahreszeitlich. Generell verbringt der Afrikanische Elefant einen großen Teil seiner Tagesaktivitäten mit der Nahrungsaufnahme. Die Fortpflanzung erfolgt ganzjährig, regional gibt es Tendenzen zu einer stärkeren Saisonalisierung. Bullen kommen einmal jährlich in die Musth, während deren sie auf Wanderung zur Suche nach fortpflanzungswilligen Kühen gehen. Während der Musth ist die Aggressivität gesteigert, es finden dann auch Rivalenkämpfe statt. Der Sexualzyklus der Kühe dauert vergleichsweise lange und weist einen für Säugetiere untypischen Verlauf auf. Nach erfolgter Geburt setzt er in der Regel mehrere Jahre aus. Zumeist wird nach fast zweijähriger Tragzeit ein Jungtier geboren, das in der mütterlichen Herde aufwächst. Junge weibliche Tiere verbleiben später in der Herde, die jungen männlichen verlassen diese.

 

Die wissenschaftliche Erstbeschreibung des Afrikanischen Elefanten erfolgte im Jahr 1797 mit einer formalen artlichen Trennung des Afrikanischen vom Asiatischen Elefanten. Der heute gebräuchliche Gattungsname Loxodonta wurde offiziell erst dreißig Jahre später eingeführt. Die Bezeichnung bezieht sich auf markante Zahnunterschiede zwischen den asiatischen und den afrikanischen Elefanten. Im Verlauf des 20. Jahrhunderts wurden mehrere Unterarten unterschieden, darunter auch der Waldelefant des zentralen Afrikas. Letzterer gilt heute genetischen Untersuchungen zufolge als eigenständige Art, die weiteren Unterarten sind nicht anerkannt. Stammesgeschichtlich lässt sich der Afrikanische Elefant erstmals im beginnenden Mittleren Pleistozän belegen. Der Gesamtbestand gilt als gefährdet. Ursachen hierfür sind hauptsächlich die Jagd nach Elfenbein und Lebensraumverlust durch die zunehmend wachsende menschliche Bevölkerung. Der Afrikanische Elefant zählt zu den sogenannten „Big Five“ von Großwildjagd und Safari.

 

(Wikipedia)

Generated by me, Tool used AI Stable Diffusion

 

Many people misunderstand the work of artists, seeing it as frivolous or irrelevant. However, artists have the ability to communicate complex ideas and emotions in a way that words alone cannot. They are often at the forefront of social and political movements, using their work to challenge dominant narratives and advocate for change...

Vercors Plateau - France

Site of uprising against the Nazi occupation 1942 - 1944

 

Article taken and translated from "Jungle World" 2020:

 

If you wander into the remote and little-developed Vercors region on the southeastern edge of the French Alps, you'll come across memorial sites and sites of the Resistance in almost every village, no matter how small. Known only to a few in Germany, the region is considered particularly rebellious throughout France, both then and now. Local historians trace this history back to the religious wars of the 16th century. Currently, various left-wing and environmental groups in the region are claiming this tradition of resistance for themselves, from refugee support groups to Kurdistan Solidarity and environmental protection. The specifics behind this are open to debate, but the importance of the Resistance during the German occupation is undisputed. One of the most important groups of the French Maquis, the resistance against the Nazis during World War II, was active in the Vercors and organized an armed uprising in 1944. "The history of the Resistance and the battles against the Wehrmacht are deeply rooted in the local historical consciousness." (Julien Guillon, historian). The village of Vassieux-en-Vercors and its Mémorial de la Résistance, opened on July 21, 1994, the 50th anniversary of the German attack on Vassieux, bear witness to this to this day. The memorial was built on the former command post of the maquisards, the Resistance fighters, and is impressively modeled on its architecture. At an altitude of approximately 1,300 meters above sea level, surrounded and covered by vegetation on all sides, it hangs directly on the mountain edge, seemingly reminiscent of the fighters' tactical behavior: observation, hiding, and camouflage. Visitors to the memorial are guided to the exhibition rooms along the former paths of the maquisards. The tour ends with a sweeping, yet oppressive view of the Vercors plateau, the village rebuilt after its complete destruction by the Germans, and the cemetery with hundreds of graves. It is the only one in France where combatants and civilians are buried together. According to Julien Guillon, the Memorial's historian, this reflects the close connection between armed forces and civilians: "The history of the Resistance and the battles against the Wehrmacht is deeply rooted in the local historical consciousness and still plays a special role in people's self-image today." Every year in July, the events of 1944 are commemorated here. To support the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6, the French government in exile issued a call from London for acts of sabotage and attacks against the Wehrmacht. The Resistance leadership then initiated the "Plan Montagnard" (Mountain Plan), which had been prepared over many months. Within a few days, more than 3,000 previously underground partisans from all over France reached the plateau, where they formed combat units. Previously, smaller groups had been hiding in remote farmsteads in the mountain range, gradually preparing for open revolt in larger, more concentrated formations. A free republic was even proclaimed. As the US Army increased its airdrops of war material in the following days and vaguely hinted at a large-scale airborne assault behind the German rear, final liberation seemed imminent. Parades were already being held in the surrounding villages and small towns in anticipation of victory. But instead of the expected Allies, German Air Force planes landed on the plateau on the morning of July 21. German soldiers murdered more than 200 civilians and approximately 600 partisans. The two days of fighting were followed by numerous acts of revenge by the Germans. Among other things, they completely destroyed the town of Chapelle-en-Vercors, and the wounded and the staff of the hospital hidden in the Grotte de la Luire were killed or deported to concentration camps.

Guillon has been working at the Memorial for six months. His current research focus is on the role and significance of women in the Resistance. In a planned book publication, he hopes to emphasize that they were not only important as armed fighters, but that the Resistance would not have been possible without the infrastructure that women largely maintained, including through courier services and the hiding and care of the wounded, and that women's contributions should be more fully recognized. Documents are still being discovered in basements and attics, which are being historically classified and archived. Guillon, whose great-grandfather was murdered in the Mauthausen concentration camp, also sees his work as his personal commitment to society. In France, too, the conditions of remembrance and commemoration are changing, partly because there are fewer contemporary witnesses. Therefore, Guillon is entrusted with the development of new museum education concepts and projects. Exchange and collaboration with colleagues in institutions in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes department and at memorial sites outside France, especially in Germany, will be given greater attention in the future. At the local level, he also believes that addressing collaboration and the crimes committed by local militias will gain in importance. Until now, such a discussion had not been possible, especially in a rural, rural region like the Vercors, where the families of the victims and the perpetrators often lived next door. In 1944 and afterward, grief and bitterness over the defeat were great. In a telegram, one of the leaders of the uprising, Eugène Chavant, founder of the resistance organization France Combat, accused the Allied forces of "cowardice and betrayal." The insurgents, he argued, were first encouraged and then abandoned and sacrificed to the Germans. Therefore, the Allies and the French government in exile share the blame. This theory continued to shape postwar commemoration. Indeed, Charles de Gaulle's government-in-exile had demanded that all resistance forces in France be mobilized to support the Allied landings in Normandy. Recent research, however, shows that there were never any binding plans or concrete promises for large-scale airborne support, but only hints in this direction. A clear historical assessment of these tragic misunderstandings remains unanswered. Nevertheless, the uprising undeniably contributed to shaking German rule. In several neighboring departments, the Resistance succeeded in almost completely liberating towns and villages from German occupation troops in the following weeks, such as the city of Annecy. The uprising also helped make the Allied landings in Provence on August 15, 1944, possible. On August 21, the Wehrmacht was finally forced to withdraw. The murder of the people and the destruction of the towns in the Vercors were war crimes. But as in many other well-known cases, the Wehrmacht officers responsible were either not convicted at all or were quickly released after short prison sentences. First Lieutenant Friedrich Schäfer, who was directly responsible for the massacres of the civilian population and the destruction of Vassieux, was awarded the Knight's Cross for his actions in October 1944. The commander-in-chief of the operation, General Karl Pflaum, was released from pre-trial detention after just a few years for health reasons. In 1973, a street in the Upper Bavarian town of Neuötting was named in his honor. It still bears his name today. These memorial sites will continue to prevent travelers from perceiving the Vercors merely as a beautiful landscape.

 

The rhinoceros hornbill (Buceros rhinoceros) is one of the largest hornbills, adults being approximately the size of a swan, 91–122 cm (36–48 in) long and weighing 2–3 kg (4.4–6.6 lb). In captivity it can live for up to 90 years. It is found in lowland and montane, tropical and subtropical climates and in mountain rain forests up to 1,400 metres altitude in Borneo, Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, and southern Thailand.

 

The rhinoceros hornbill is the state bird of the Malaysian state of Sarawak and the country's National Bird. Some Dayak people, especially the Ibanic groups, believe it to be the chief of worldly birds or the supreme worldly bird, and its statue is used to welcome the god of the augural birds, Sengalang Burong, to the feasts and celebrations of humankind. Contrary to some misunderstandings, the rhinoceros hornbill does not represent their war god, Sengalang Burong, who is represented in this world by the brahminy kite

No blue hour tonight in Brisbane, just orange skies filled with heat haze, 37.5C and high humidity today - a real stinker as we would say.

 

I took a shot of Jaws here before the Christmas decorations went up and held back once I saw them, hoping to get a shot before Christmas festivities were over. Anyway, Jenny and I drove down to Sandgate tonight, I remembered the camera this time with food intentions, however humble on our minds.

 

For those of you who remember, Victor Meldrew of the comedy TV series "One Foot in the Grave" was at work, nearly I guess. We had hardly pulled up and hopped out of the car with camera clutched in hand and as I raised the lens in the darkening dusk, the owner of Tackleland (the shop this belongs to) popped out from behind the chimney with battery operated drill in hand and proceeded to disassemble his Christmas sale sign and decorations. Here he is with his drill - after all this time I made the shot by literally five seconds! What? Well, at least we just made it.

 

Our great friend Kevin who is also our doctor has a habit of calling me "Victor" because of our propensity, like Mr Victor Meldrew for lurching from one crisis to another and saying through clenched teeth, "I don't believe it"! in fact, I think in later years he added a swear word to add emphasis, no doubt pretty apt for the situations he found himself in. Just like us far too regularly.

 

Richard Wilson played Victor - here is a synopsis that says it all - "Victor Meldrew is a retiree whose insufferable attitude only attracts bad luck. Besides troubling his wife, Victor manages to annoy his neighbors with his sly antics, leading to misunderstandings."

 

I'm not insufferable- am I?

 

By the way, the sign says "Wishing you a jawsome Christmas"

location : Ryoan-ji Rock Garden (Historical Site/ Special Place of Scenic Beauty) . Ryoanji temple , Kyoto city , Kyoto Prefecture ,Japan

 

京都　龍安寺　石庭

 

I feel like I've been waiting for the moment like this..,

now ..the glint of pale winter lights are on snow in a real zen world..

 

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

 

Ryōan-ji (Shinjitai: 竜安寺, Kyūjitai: 龍安寺, The Temple of the Dragon at Peace) is a Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, Japan. It belongs to the Myōshin-ji school of the Rinzai branch of Zen Buddhism. The Ryōan-ji garden is considered one of the finest surviving examples of kare-sansui ("dry landscape"),a refined type of Japanese Zen temple garden design generally featuring distinctive larger rock formations arranged amidst a sweep of smooth pebbles (small, carefully selected polished river rocks) raked into linear patterns that facilitate meditation. The temple and its gardens are listed as one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, and as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

The site of the temple was an estate of the Fujiwara family in the 11th century. The first temple, the Daiju-in, and the still existing large pond were built in that century by Fujiwara Saneyoshi. In 1450, Hosokawa Katsumoto, another powerful warlord, acquired the land where the temple stood. He built his residence there, and founded a Zen temple, Ryōan-ji. During the Ōnin War between the clans, the temple was destroyed. Hosokawa Katsumoto died in 1473. In 1488, his son, Hosokawa Matsumoto, rebuilt the temple.

 

The temple served as a mausoleum for several emperors. Their tombs are grouped together in what are today known as the "Seven Imperial Tombs" at Ryōan-ji. The burial places of these emperors -- Uda, Kazan, Ichijō, Go-Suzaku, Go-Reizei, Go-Sanjō, and Horikawa—would have been comparatively humble in the period after their deaths. These tombs reached their present state as a result of the 19th century restoration of imperial sepulchers (misasagi) which were ordered by Emperor Meiji.

 

There is controversy over who built the garden and when. Most sources date the garden to the second half of the 15th century.[3] According to some sources, the garden was built by Hosokawa Katsumoto, the creator of the first temple of Ryōan-ji, between 1450 and 1473. Other sources say it was built by his son, Hosokawa Masamoto, in or around 1488. Some say that the garden was built by the famous landscape painter and monk, Sōami (died 1525),.but this is disputed by other authors.Some sources say the garden was built in the first half of the 16th century.[7] Other authors say the garden was probably built much later, during the Edo Period, between 1618 and 1680.[6] There is also controversy over whether the garden was built by monks, or by professional gardeners, called kawaramono, or a combination of the two. One stone in the garden has the name of two kawaramono carved into it.

 

The conclusive history, though, based on documentary sources, is as follows: Hosokawa Katsumoto (1430-1473), deputy to the shogun, founded in 1450 the Ryoan-ji temple, but the complex was burnt down during the Onin War. His son Masamoto rebuilt the temple at the very end of the same century. It is not clear whether any garden was constructed at that time facing the main hall. First descriptions of a garden, clearly describing one in front of the main hall, date from 1680-1682. It is described as a composition of nine big stones laid out to represent Tiger Cubs Crossing the Water. As the garden has fifteen stones at present, it was clearly different from the garden that we see today. A great fire destroyed the buildings in 1779, and rubble of the burnt buildings was dumped in the garden. Garden writer and specialist Akisato Rito (died c. 1830) redid the garden completely on top of the rubble at the end of the eighteenth century and published a picture of his garden in his Celebrated Gardens and Sights of Kyoto (Miyako rinsen meisho zue) of 1799, showing the garden as it looks today. One big stone at the back was buried partly; it has two first names carved in it, probably names of untouchable stone workers, so called kawaramono. There is no evidence of Zen monks having worked on the garden, apart from the raking of the sand,

 

The temple's name is synonymous with the temple's famous 'Zen garden', the karesansui (dry landscape) rock garden, thought[by whom] to have been built in the late 15th century.

 

The garden is a rectangle of 248 square meters. Young and Young put the size at twenty-five meters by ten meters. Placed within it are fifteen stones of different sizes, carefully composed in five groups; one group of five stones, two groups of three, and two groups of two stones. The stones are surrounded by white gravel, which is carefully raked each day by the monks. The only vegetation in the garden is some moss around the stones.

 

The garden is meant to be viewed from a seated position on the veranda of the hōjō, the residence of the abbot of the monastery.

 

The stones are placed so that the entire composition cannot be seen at once from the veranda. They are also arranged so that when looking at the garden from any angle (other than from above) only fourteen of the boulders are visible at one time. It is traditionally said that only through attaining enlightenment would one be able to view the fifteenth boulder.

 

The wall behind the garden is an important element of the garden. It is made of clay, which has been stained by age with subtle brown and orange tones. In 1977, the tile roof of the wall was restored with tree bark to its original appearance.

 

When the garden was rebuilt in 1799, it came up higher than before and a view over the wall to the mountain scenery behind came about. At present this view is blocked by trees.

 

The garden had particular significance for the composer John Cage, who composed a series of works and made visual art art works based on it.

 

Meaning of the garden

 

Like any work of art, the artistic garden of Ryōan-ji is also open to interpretation, or scientific research into possible meanings. Many different theories have been put forward inside and outside Japan about what the garden is supposed to represent, from islands in a stream, to swimming baby tigers to the peaks of mountains rising above to theories about secrets of geometry or of the rules of equilibrium of odd numbers. Garden historian Gunter Nitschke wrote: "The garden at Ryōan-ji does not symbolize anything, or more precisely, to avoid any misunderstanding, the garden of Ryōan-ji does not symbolize, nor does it have the value of reproducing a natural beauty that one can find in the real or mythical world. I consider it to be an abstract composition of "natural" objects in space, a composition whose function is to incite meditation.".

 

Scientific analysis of the garden

 

In an article published by the science journal Nature, Gert van Tonder and Michael Lyons analyze the rock garden by generating a model of shape analysis (medial axis) in early visual processing.

 

Using this model, they show that the empty space of the garden is implicitly structured, and is aligned with the temple's architecture. According to the researchers, one critical axis of symmetry passes close to the centre of the main hall, which is the traditionally preferred viewing point. In essence, viewing the placement of the stones from a sightline along this point brings a shape from nature (a dichotomously branched tree with a mean branch length decreasing monotonically from the trunk to the tertiary level) in relief.

 

The researchers propose that the implicit structure of the garden is designed to appeal to the viewer's unconscious visual sensitivity to axial-symmetry skeletons of stimulus shapes. In support of their findings, they found that imposing a random perturbation of the locations of individual rock features destroyed the special characteristics.

 

Centuries after its creation, the influences of the dry elements at Ryōan-ji continue to be reflected and re-examined in garden design — for example, in the Japangarten at the Art Museum at Wolfsburg in Germany.

  

Ryōan-ji (jap. 龍安寺, dt. „Tempel des zur Ruhe gekommenen Drachen“) ist ein 1499 gegründeter Zen-Tempel im Nordwesten der japanischen Stadt Kyōto in deren Stadtbezirk Ukyō.

 

Erbaut wurde er 1450 von Hosokawa Katsumoto, einem hohen Staatsbeamten der Muromachi-Zeit, auf einem Grundstück, das ursprünglich der Fujiwara-Familie als Landsitz diente. Seit 1994 gehört er zusammen mit anderen Stätten zum UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe Historisches Kyōto (Kyōto, Uji und Ōtsu). Der Tempel gehört zur größten Schule des Rinzai-Zen mit dem Muttertempel Myōshin-ji.

 

Hauptattraktion des Tempels ist der hier befindliche und wohl berühmteste Zen-Garten Japans, der Hojo-Teien im Kare-san-sui-Stil aus der Mitte des 15. Jahrhunderts. Der Garten besteht aus einer Fläche (30 mal 10 Meter) aus fein gerechtem Kies mit 15 scheinbar zufällig platzierten Steinen in 5 bemoosten Gruppen. Aus keinem Blickwinkel sind alle 15 Steine sichtbar. Die südliche und westliche Seite des Gartens ist von einer rötlichen Mauer gesäumt, über welcher der Blick auf die Bäume und Sträucher des begehbaren Gartens fällt. Auf der nördlichen Seite befindet sich das Tempelgebäude mit der Sitzterrasse, von der aus man den Steingarten überschaut. Die umgebende Mauer ist mit ölgetränktem Mörtel erbaut worden. Im Laufe der Jahrhunderte ist das Öl aus dem Stein ausgetreten und hat so das charakteristische Muster auf dem Stein hinterlassen.

 

Zur Tempelanlage gehört auch ein großer Teich, der auf eine allererste Tempelgründung an dieser Stelle im 10. Jahrhundert zurückgeht. In der Mitte des Teiches befindet sich eine kleine, begehbare Insel mit einem Schrein, der der Gottheit Benzaiten gewidmet ist.

Ryōan-ji (龍安寺 o 竜安寺 El templo del dragón tranquilo y pacífico) es un templo Zen situado en Kioto, Japón. Forma parte del conjunto de Monumentos históricos de la antigua Kioto (ciudades de Kioto, Uji y Otsu) declarados Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco en el año 1994. El templo fue creado por la escuela Myoshinji de los Rinzai, pertenecientes al Budismo Zen.

 

Dentro de este templo existe uno de los karesansui (jardines secos) más famosos del mundo, construido a finales del siglo XV, en torno al 1488. El creador de este jardín no dejó ninguna explicación sobre su significado, por lo que durante siglos ha sido un misterio descubrir el verdadero sentido o el porqué de su gran belleza.

 

Se trata de un jardín rectangular construido frente al edificio principal. La composición utiliza arena rastrillada, musgo, y rocas. Existe un predominio de formas alargadas colocadas en paralelo a la posición del edificio.

 

Los tres lados restantes están cerrados por muros, lo que junto a la línea inferior de la plataforma desde la que se debe contemplar el edificio, permite acotar la visión del jardín en un marco longitudinal

 

El jardín se ubica frente al salón Hojo, en el extremo sur, como una extensión del salón perteneciente al abad.

 

En total hay 15 piedras dispuestas en 3 grandes grupos. El primero comprende las 3 rocas de más a la derecha. El segundo, las 5 siguientes, y el tercero, las 7 restantes. En cada grupo destaca una piedra mayor que las demás. El musgo se utiliza como base de algunos grupos para dar unidad.

 

Existe una idea de movimiento, según miramos los grupos de derecha a izquierda, se van volviendo cada vez más dispersos, hasta llegar a las últimas dos piedras que no tienen musgo. No se puede ver todo de un sólo vistazo, hay que ir moviendo la vista.

 

El árbol oculto

 

Durante muchos años se pensó que la mejor interpretación del sentido de la disposición de las piedras en el jardín era el de una especie de Tigre cruzando un río. En el 2002, unos científicos de la Universidad de Kioto utilizaron ordenadores para buscar formas usando la disposición de las zonas vacías del jardín en vez de la disposición de las piedras. El resultado es que encontraron el patrón de un árbol escondido dentro de la estructura del jardín. Dicen que por eso es tan placentero presenciar el jardín, nuestro subconsiciente capta el patrón del árbol sin que lo notemos.

 

El mismo equipo de investigación probó moviendo algunas piedras de forma aleatoria y vieron que enseguida se perdía la armonía de la configuración inicial. Por ello creen que la construcción del jardín está muy bien pensada y no es un acto de la casualidad.

 

Ryōan-ji (竜安寺 / 龍安寺, littéralement « Temple du repos du dragon ») est un monastère zen situé dans le Nord-Ouest de Kyōto, construit au xvie siècle, à l'époque de Muromachi. Il fait partie du Patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO, étant l'un des monuments historiques de l'ancienne Kyoto. Le temple appartient à l'école Myōshin-ji de la branche rinzai du bouddhisme zen. Le site du temple appartenait à l’origine au clan Fujiwara.

Le monastère a été fondé en 1450 par Hosokawa Katsumoto. Détruit lors de la guerre d'Onin par un incendie, il est rebâti par son fils, Hosokawa Masamoto, à partir de 1488. Après un nouvel incendie en 1797, le monastère est profondément remanié.

 

Pour beaucoup, le nom du temple évoque son célèbre jardin de pierres, de style karesansui, qui est considéré comme l’un des chefs-d’œuvre de la culture zen japonaise.

 

Le jardin a été construit à la fin du XVe siècle ou au début du xvie siècle, entre 1499 et 1507. Sa superficie est d'environ 200 mètres carrés. Il est entouré au sud et à l'ouest d'un muret couvert d'un toit de tuile, à l'est d'un autre muret, et au nord d'une véranda en bois derrière laquelle se trouve le hōjō (les appartements du supérieur du monastère). À l'extérieur se trouvent des érables et des pins rouges qui n'étaient sans doute pas présents à l'origine. La construction sur un terrain plat est une nouveauté à l'époque. Quinze pierres, entourées de mousse, y sont disposées en groupes, d'est en ouest, de cinq, de deux, de trois, de deux puis de trois. Le petit nombre de pierres est aussi une nouveauté par rapport aux autres jardins secs de la même période : celui du Daisen-in par exemple en compte plus de cents, sur une surface deux fois plus petite. Le jardin de pierres du Ryoanji appartient à la catégorie des « jardins de néant » (mutei).

 

La paternité du jardin a été attribuée diversement à Hosokawa Katsumoto ou au peintre Sōami. Ces attributions sont probablement légendaires. Sur l'une des pierres du jardin sont gravés les noms de deux kawaromono (ja) (une sorte d'intouchables japonais) : Kotarō et Hiko jirō. On sait par ailleurs qu'un Kotarō et un Hikojirō ont travaillé au jardin du Shōsenken (au monastère Shōkokuji) dans les années 1490-1491. Aussi ces deux personnes pourraient bien être les véritables auteurs du jardin de pierres du Ryoanji.

 

Les pierres ont été disposées de telle sorte qu’il ne soit pas possible de voir les quinze pierres à la fois, d’où que se trouve l’observateur5.

 

Le jardin se compose simplement d’un lit de fins graviers de kaolin harmonieusement ratissés. Le kaolin ratissé symbolise l’océan, les rochers les montagnes.

 

- wikipedia

   

It amazes me that wild animals drink out of muddy water they have trampled in and seem to remain healthy. This rhinoceros was one of seven we encountered on safari in South Africa. Good to see its horn is large and intact.

 

The southern "white" rhino may be misnamed because of a misunderstanding of the Dutch word for 'wide.' Clearly a wide mouth is one of the most noticeable traits of this species.

Yet another trip to the soon to be demolished Nutbourne brickworks with LED Eddie. Definitely the last trip there, partly because it's really skanky, but also due to a slight misunderstanding with the local constabulary and a rather unfriendly security guard who "won't call the police" if he catches us again!

The Type Moon studio who produces the "Fate" games & anime cast the paladin Astolfo as Rider of Black in Fate/Grand Order game & anime. Astolfo, while male, dresses in feminine garb because he "likes cute things".

 

His feminine appearance causes comedic misunderstandings in the anime. Regardless of being a boy or girl, Astolfo has definitely achieved "cute".

This was one of my favourite shots from my holidays this year. Due to a misunderstanding with Flickr I don't think many of my contacts got to enjoy it. I uploaded lots of photos to Flickr, then made a shot or two public each day, I didn't realize that I had to change the date they were posted to my photo stream to make them show up in the recent photos of my contacts.

Often enough there exists between what is said and what is heard, a vast ocean of misunderstanding where much is lost at sea.

so I heard back from alice about the eyes.

all of the eyes in stock that are under the product number of the ones I bought look like the ones I got, so that's a bummer; but I'm getting a partial refund for the misunderstanding so yay for that at least.

and these are actually kind of growing on me. I like them more in doll than I do out of doll. so she may be keeping them at least for awhile.

 

olivia margaret - dollzone aimi

faceup - mendokusai

eyes - 14mm glass from alice's collections

wig - sewaddicted

sweater - alice's collections (meant for msd boys)

jeans - Knibitz

necklaces - me

shoes - deb's adorables ( for 14" kish dolls)

 

187/365

 

- Diego De Silva -

 

“I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings."

 

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

enjoy it : contrastedgallery.wordpress.com/

 

V I S I O N S is a new web magazine V I S I O N S is periodic, thematic and multimedia.

 

This Number “B A C K S T A G E “ is a project curated by ANNALISA CEOLIN. Poster by Manuel Diumenjó, Thanks.

 

THE PROJECT

 

“LIFE IS A MOVIE, DEATH IS A PHOTOGRAPH” SUSAN SONTAG

 

For this Issue, I have chosen the theme “B A C K S T A G E “. It wanted deal with the relationship complex, ambiguous and at all obvious between Photography and Cinema , starting from a quote by Susan Sontag. “Life is a movie; death is a photograph.”

 

For the section Great Photographers, we have selected the Great Directors of Photography of the best known directors and of the most famous and beloved film.

For sections Guests and Authors were selected photographers who have and express a cinematic approach for content and style, with a prevalence of images of Black and White. Finally in the last section Films we have movies in which main characters are photographers.

So were invited authors and authoresses whose research touches on the boundaries of photography. You will never find neither expected and attractive images, nor formal homologated styles among them. Each author has a strong personality, sometimes complex and hermetic. The photographers express themselves, their identity and their inner life, through images that arouse emotions, but also misunderstandings, enigmas and complexity . A formal richness and of a not common content.

You will find images inspired to concept ” Life is a movie”, similar freeze-frame, backstage true and metaphoric, superbe Black and white, colors , still, life , blur, mysterious pictures . So thank to these authors who have allowed us to share their photos and their research.

 

In this issue of VISIONS # 3 you will recognize their life and soul, the most hidden feelings, fears, their past and future. These authors came to their most intimated essence, are just themselves and their being is expressed in the images that you will find in VISIONS# 3 and that I wish you love and appreciate as it has been for me .

 

VISIONS # 3 is divided into four sections: THE GREATS among the Directors of Photography in the contemporary history of Cinematography , THE GUESTS who have exhibited at**** contrasted gallery on Flickr and are distinguished by the maturity of their path, THE AUTHORS largely photographers of FLICKR who have established themselves for their stylistic originality, trailers of THE FILMS inspired by theme .

 

B A C K S T A G E , THE LIFE IS A MOVIE

 

THE GREATS DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHER

 

*KARL FREUND :

METROPOLIS directed by Fritz Lang

*VITTORIO STORARO :

APOCALYPSE NOW directed by Francis Coppola,

LAST TANGO IN PARIS directed by Bernardo Bertolucci,

THE LAST EMPEROR directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

*JOHN ALCOTT :

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY directed by Stanley Kubrick

, BARRY LINDON directed by Stanley Kubrick,

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE directed by Stanley Kubrick

*ROBBY MULLER : DEAD MAN directed by Jim Jarmusch,

BREAKING THE WAWES directed by Lars von Trier,

PARIS,TEXAS directed by Wim Wenders,

DOWN by LAW directed by Jim Jarmusch

*GREGG TOLAND : CITIZEN KANE directed by Orson Welles

*SVEN NYKVIST : PERSONA directed by Ingmar Bergman

, FANNY and ALEXANDER directed by Ingmar Bergman

, CRIES and WHISPERS directed by Ingmar Bergman

 

THE GUESTS

 

distinguished by the maturity of their path and superbe Black and White

 

*JAN BISHOP

*MANUEL DIUMENJO’

*ERIC ROSE

*MASSIMO SBRENI

 

THE AUTHORS

 

You will find images inspired to concept ” Life is a movie”, similar to the still of films, backstage true and metaphoric. Black and white, colors , still, life , blur, mysterious pictures with :

 

Paulo Correia, Mimi Lha Maryko-Rrady, Vasilikos Lukas,

Salvatore Piermarini, Montserrat Diaz, Robert Kalman,

Awdotia, Eleni Mahera, neliʘ, mugijo, Eduardo Arrona-

Reflexoz, Cathy Lehnebach, Yves Vernin, ɨɨv ivana rajic’,

Dirk Delbaere, .. … . .fabio & macintyre, mamnaimie piotr,

Jib Peter, F A fflaneur

   

THE FILMS

Photographers and Movie

 

REAR WINDOW directed by Alfred Hitchcock

BLOWUP directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

DAY FOR NIGHT directed by François Truffaut

SALVADOR directed by Oliver Stone

  

6459

 

La statue d'Évangeline

Héroïne de Longfellow

Cette statue d'Évangeline, héroïne du poème épique de Longfellow Evangeline:Conte d'Acadie, est un symbole fort et déchirant de la Déportation. Elle établie le lien entre l'histoire d'Évangeline et celle de Grand-Pré.

Deux célèbres sculpteurs québécois contribuent à la création de la statue. La Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR) demande à Henri Hébert de créer l'oeuvre. Selon Henri, sa composition s'inspire d'une statuette réalisée par son père , Louis-Philippe Hébert, et intitulée l'Acadie. Une des soeurs d'Henri, Pauline, a posé pour le visage. l"attitude représente Évangeline « pleurant le pays perdu ».

 

Statue of Evangeline

Longfellow's Heroine

This statue of Evangeline, heroine of Lngfellow's epic poem, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie, is a powerful, emotive symbol of the Deportation. It connects the story of Evangeline to the history of Grand-Pré.

Two famous sculptors from Québec were associated with this statue. The Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR) commissioned Henri Hébert to create the statue. Henri said his composition was inspired from a statuette, entitled l'Acadie, produced by his father, Louis-Philippe Hébert. One of Henri's sisters, Pauline, posed for the face. The " attitude " depicts Evangeline crying for the lost land.

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Visit: www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation...

 

From the Canadian encyclopedia's website:

 

Soldiers rounding up terrified civilians, expelling them from their land, burning their homes and crops ‒ it sounds like a 20th century nightmare in one of the world's trouble spots, but it describes a scene from Canada's early history, the Deportation of the Acadians.

The Acadians had lived on Nova Scotia’s territory since the founding of Port-Royal in 1604. They established a small, vibrant colony around the Bay of Fundy, building dykes to tame the high tides and to irrigate the rich fields of hay. Largely ignored by France, the Acadians grew independent minded. With their friends and allies the Mi' kmaq, they felt secure, even when sovereignty over their land passed to Britain after 1713 (see Treaty of Utrecht).

In 1730 the British authorities persuaded the Acadians to swear, if not allegiance, at least neutrality in any conflict between Britain and France. But over the years the position of the Acadians in Nova Scotia became more and more precarious. France raised the stakes by building the great fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. In 1749 the English countered this threat by establishing a naval base at Halifax. In 1751 the French built Fort Beauséjour on the Isthmus of Chignecto and the English responded with Fort Lawrence, a stone's throw away.

While previous British governors had been conciliatory towards the Acadians, Governor Charles Lawrence was prepared to take drastic action. He saw the Acadian question as a strictly military matter. After Fort Beauséjour fell to the English forces in June 1755, Lawrence noted that there were some 270 Acadian militia among the fort's inhabitants ‒ so much for their professed neutrality.

In meetings with Acadians in July 1755 in Halifax, Lawrence pressed the delegates to take an unqualified oath of allegiance to Britain. When they refused, he imprisoned them and gave the fateful order for deportation.

Lawrence had strong support in his Council from recent immigrants from New England, who coveted Acadian lands. Traders from Boston frequently expressed wonder that an "alien" people were allowed to possess such fine lands in a British colony. On Friday, September 5, 1755 Colonel John Winslow ordered that all males aged 10 years and up in the area were to gather in the Grand-Pré Church for an important message from His Excellency, Charles Lawrence, the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia. The decree that was read to the assembled and stated in part: "That your Land & Tennements, Cattle of all Kinds and Livestocks of all Sorts are forfeited to the Crown with all other your effects Savings your money and Household Goods, and you yourselves to be removed from this Province."

It was a New Englander, Charles Morris, who devised the plan to surround the Acadian churches on a Sunday morning, capture as many men as possible, breach the dykes and burn the houses and crops. When the men refused to go, the soldiers threatened their families with bayonets. They went reluctantly, praying, singing and crying. By the fall of 1755 some 1,100 Acadians were aboard transports for South Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Lawrence urged his officers not to pay the least attention "to any remonstrance or Memorial from any of the inhabitants." When Colonel John Winslow read the deportation order, he admitted that although it was his duty, it was "very disagreeable to my nature, make and temper." In a phrase that would not be out of place in many more recent atrocities he added "But it is not my business to animadvert, but to obey such orders as I receive."

Some Acadians resisted, notably Joseph Beausoleil Brossard, who launched a number of retaliatory raids against the British troops. Many escaped to the forests, where the British continued to hunt them down for the next five years. A group of 1,500 fled for New France, others to Cape Breton and the upper reaches of the Peticoudiac River. Of some 3,100 Acadians deported after the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, an estimated 1,649 died by drowning or disease, a fatality rate of 53 per cent.

Between 1755 and 1763, approximately 10,000 Acadians were deported. They were shipped to many points around the Atlantic. Large numbers were landed in the English colonies, others in France or the Caribbean. Thousands died of disease or starvation in the squalid conditions on board ship. To make matters worse, the inhabitants of the English colonies, who had not been informed of the imminent arrival of disease-ridden refugees, were furious. Many Acadians were forced, like the legendary Evangeline of Longfellow's poem, to wander interminably in search of loved ones or a home.

Although the Acadians were not actually shipped to Louisiana by the British, many were attracted to the area by the familiarity of the language and remained to develop the culture now known as "Cajun."

Back in Nova Scotia, the vacated Acadian lands were soon occupied by settlers from New England. When the Acadians were finally allowed to return after 1764, they settled far from their old homes, in St Mary's Bay, Chéticamp, Cape Breton, Prince Edouard Island and the north and east of present-day New Brunswick.

The expulsion proved to have been as unnecessary on military grounds as it was later judged inhumane. Lawrence's lack of imagination played as big a part as greed, confusion, misunderstanding, and fear.

The migrations of the Acadians to a new Acadia continued into the 1820s. Throughout the ordeal they maintained their sense of identity, as indeed they do today ‒ a remarkable demonstration of human will in the face of cruelty. (From the Canadian encyclopedia's website)

 

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The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Golden Dawn.The Breaking of the Golden Dawn

They had to fight from the start against Arthur Edward Waite, who, at the head of a group of followers, wanted to modify the system of leadership, for reasons he explained in 1903: to be caliph instead of the caliph, then make The Order give up all magic, overhaul all rituals, and all for good reason: Waite claims the Third Order doesn't exist. Waite and Blackden then founded their own Order, with a temple they named Isis-Urania after the first temple of the Golden Dawn. Brodie-Inner makes his Edinburgh temple independent.Following the Golden Dawn on the Tarot track is much easier indeed: Waite in 1910 gives his drawn version of the mysteries described in "book T" of the Golden Dawn, the "Rider tarot", and accompanies it with a book where he says too much or not enough. The particularity of this game is that, unlike Book T, the Minors are small scenes illustrating the principle attached to them. But no keywords, no visible alchemy or Qabala everywhere: Waite's mysticism emanates from all magic. From the book and the game, then from Book T when it began to be distributed under the coat, many creations flourished, up to recent authors such as the game of Hanson-Roberts, Salvador Dali or the Sacred rose…while that of Crowley inspired Barbara Walker, specialist in feminine magic, the German Haindl, Gill, Clark, or the Italian Mario…in his “Tarot of the Ages”… Attempts from Book T itself gave birth to the game of Robert Wang, supervised by Israel Regardie, the game of Gareth Knight, the game of Geoffroy Dowson, the very faithful game of Sandra Tabatha Cicero...

Paul Foster Case, member of the Order, founds the BOTA (Builders of Adytum), where everyone must paint their game themselves, according to Case's book; the drawing differs slightly from Waite, and has the Minors abstracted.

 

History, technology and survival

 

What is fascinating when one approaches the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is to see how this structure so brief - from 1887 to 1903: barely sixteen years! - Has dared to touch all areas of occultism, both Western and Eastern, has carried out a gigantic synthesis of contradictory or unusual teachings, and has influenced all the schools of the 20th century throughout the English- and French-speaking world. Audacities forged by Golden Dawn seekers are considered gospel by many esoteric groups, either directly from Golden Dawn because they were founded by a former member, or indirectly through the discovery of their work and the adaptation of the said works to their own research. We are going to see first of all which are the researchers whose discoveries or affirmations have been used by the GD; then we will see the history of the Order itself, and finally the continuators of the GD and its current influence.

 

Masters of the Golden Dawn

 

We can first see a theoretician of ceremonial magic, Cornelius Agrippa, whose work was centered on the analogies between objects, elements, man, and the cosmos. Acting on one according to certain rules, one could act on the other by way of sympathy and by the union of all in all. Henri-Corneille Agrippa de Nettesheim, (1486-1535) is a man who alternately occupies multiple official functions, as theologian, philosopher, linguist, jurist and astrologer, zigzagging with the hunters of the Inquisition who want the head of this man free from any school. His books are a classic reference on talismans and other magic rituals. If the name of Paracelsus (1493-1541) is not unknown to the GD, it is Agrippa who is the "essential" base. Another important base, although much more obscure, will be the angelic system developed by John Dee, (1527-1608), Welsh scholar, following revelations seen in rock crystal by the medium Kelly, visions that Dee took notes. He explains three magics: natural (by sympathy), acting on the elemental; mathematics (numbers and figures) for the celestial world; and religious, acting on the supra-celestial world through a kabbalistic system based on angels. This system includes a true new language, with grammar, syntax, symbolism, only adapted to the angels who can come called by their true names. This carries with it enormous and illegible implications, which Dee called “the Enochian”, in reference to Enoch who was taken up to heaven without dying.

 

Enochian magick is one of the pillars of the secret teaching of the GD. Good books (in English) have been devoted to him, and a divinatory game was even developed a short time ago in order to facilitate the evocative work of the follower. Of course, the great classics of alchemy (Corpus Hermeticus, the Fama Fraternitatis, the Confessio Fraternitatis) and grimoires (especially the Clavicles of Solomon and the Book of Abramelin the Wise) are also used, dissected, reworked and reorganized.

The vogue aroused by Francis Barrett's "The Magus" (1801) grew steadily, despite the blunders with which it was riddled, to the point that Barrett founded a magic association, of which Montagne Summers (1880-1948) and Frédérick Hockley were members. But France will have a great part in the elaboration of the rituals of the future Order: indeed, one of the avowed references of the GD is Papus, jointly with Eliphas Lévi and Court de Gébelin.The old methods and the slow technological revolution since the liturgical catechism. appeared as a trophy . The stigmata are an alchemical ordeal and the symbolism of the way of the cross of an initiation. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

 

The references

 

Papus (1865-1916) began to write in 1884, at the age of 19, and his written work - like his occult work as founder and unifier of various traditions - was followed with passion across the Channel.

 

Eliphas Lévi (1810-1875) is considered the Great Kabbalist of the century, and his books are scrutinized, dissected, commented on with feverishness. He made known Antoine Court de Gébelin who had revealed the secrets of the primitive world in 1775 and who had given back to the game of tarot peddled in the countryside its letters of nobility.

 

The efforts of the Parisian Rosicrucians (Stanislas de Guaita, Joséphin Péladan) resuscitate the old dream of reviving all these specifically Western forgotten heritages, in the face of the growing Orientophilia due to Madame Blavatski's Theosophy: the Templars and their rites, the Rose+ Cross and their alchemy, the druids and their Celtic secrets, the Egyptian gods and the strength of their symbols, the Enochian mysteries revealed to John Dee and still untapped, divination and communication with the Invisible as sources of esoteric knowledge... Further energized in London by the lightning advances of the Theosophical Society, revealing an invisible world to converse with, and the demonstrations of the spiritualist Douglas-Home, the project is becoming more and more 'in tune with the times'.

 

The founders

 

It was to originate in the minds of three Freemason friends who were also members of the "Societas Rosicruciana In Anglia" (SRIA): Doctor William Wynn Westcott, (friend of Mme Blavatski, reader of John Dee, and Grand- Master of the Societas from 1878); Samuel Liddel Mathers, who later styled himself MacGregor Mathers, claiming descent from the Scottish Clan MacGregor; and William Robert Woodman their friend. One will note in the same Societas Kenneth Mackenzie, admirer of Eliphas Lévi whom he had gone to meet in Paris, and Doctor Felkin. All these names will become familiar to you, because it is around them, and barely a dozen other names, that everything will be built.The foundation : One of the legends has it that the seer Frédérick Hockley, pupil of Francis Barrett and teacher of Mackenzie, died in 1885, leaving behind him a vast library, including manuscripts encrypted with probably a code of the "Polygraphy" of the Abbé Tritheme, initiator of Cornelius Agrippa.

Woodford, a friend of Mackenzie, receives these documents from him. He is not a Mason, but knows Westcott's taste for grimoires. He hands her the texts, which Westcott passes on to Mathers for decoding. In these manuscripts, which turn out to be abbreviated kabbalistic notes, Westcott finds the address of a Rosicrucian connected with the oldest and surest branch of the original true Rose+Cross, Die Goldenne Dammerung (The Dawn Doree): Anna Sprengel, in Nuremberg. He contacted her immediately and obtained the right to establish an English branch of the Order of the Rose+Croix under the name of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which was done in 1887. Mathers was named Imperator. The first Temple (equivalent to a Masonic Lodge) was opened in 1888 under the name of Isis-Urania. Recruitment is rapid among the Brothers of the Societas, but the Order is also open to non-Masons, and to women. In 1891, Mathers announced the death of Anna Sprengel and the decision to continue working outside the "third Order", the German Rose+Croix. The GD then included an external order, and since 1892 two internal orders, where all the decisions concerning the rituals and the axes of work were taken. Woodman died in 1891. Westcott and Mathers remain sole leaders of the Order.

 

Secret names and ranks

 

The custom of “nomen” in Latin, the sacred language of the Rosicrucians, is established: at the rank of Neophyte, a nomen was chosen. The texts of the Order sent to the followers bore as signature the initials of the nomen of the author. For example, note that of Mathers: Frater Deo Duce and Comite Ferro (DDCF), that of Westcott: Frater Sapere Aude (SA), that of Anna Sprengel: Soror Sapiens Dominabitur Astris (SDA). One will be struck by the resemblance to the customs of the Strict Templar Observance of Germany, transformed into a Masonic rite known as the “Rectified Scottish Regime” by the Lyonnais occultist Jean-Baptiste Willermoz in 1785. The decoration of the temples and numbers of accessories or costumes were heavily inspired by ancient Egypt, apart from the symbolic creations specific to the GD. Here are the names of the ranks of the Outer Order (Golden Dawn): Neophyte, Zealator, Theoricus, Practicus, Philosophus. In the Inner Order (Ordo Rosae Rubae et Aurae Crucis) (The Red Rose and the Golden Cross), nine months after the ceremony of the Portal or the Veil of the Temple, one received the degree of Adeptus Minor which was subdivided into Zelator Adeptus and Theoricus Adeptus; then came the ranks of Adeptus Major, and finally Adeptus Exemptus. The chiefs carried, in the Third Order, the titles of Magister Templi, Magus and finally of Ipsissimus.

 

Teaching content

 

Let us now see the panorama of what the follower of the Golden Dawn must know, or experience, or deepen, aided in this by strict rituals and finicky astrological calendars: 1) To the rank of Neophyte was given a partial view of all the activities of the Order, and of the already important rituals such as the Qabalistic Sign of the Cross and the Minor Ritual of the Pentagram.

2) The other degrees correspond to the Tree of the Sephiroth, the ubiquitous key in the Golden Dawn at all levels; the Zelator corresponds to Malkuth, the Theoricus to Yesod, etc.

In the First Order magical works are not very developed; rather, we insist on self-knowledge through exercises such as "the Middle Pillar" based on kundalini and the Sephirotic tree, introspection, visions in drawings called Tattvas following a Hindu technique, the practice of Geomancy, Tarot, and learning the theoretical bases of Qabalah, astrology, etc. The first principles of the almighty imagination are explained and put into action, principles which will be at the origin of all the theories and methods of creative visualization of which the New Age is fond. 3) In the Second Order, ceremonial magic takes a prominent place, the Tarot is used in another way, and the Adept is supposed to master many rituals, know how to make and consecrate various objects, Lotus staff, Rose+croix personal and pantacles, knowing how to study the why and how of the rituals he once underwent in the first Order, and entering the Enochian world. 4) The Third Order was only in contact with the two founders; it was nicknamed "the Grand White Lodge of Adepts" and received its directives from "mahatmas" whom Mathers contacted, in the purest Theosophical style, by clairvoyance, astral projection, mysterious appointment, or unknowingly....Most theoretical texts have been published in English. The collection by Israel Regardie, a member of the Order, gives only the texts, with little commentary; the French version is well explained by active members of the Order; the publications of Waite or Crowley bear the mark of the remodeling due to their authors; and many followers, members or not, such as Gareth Knight, Robert Wang, Gerald Schueler, Dion Fortune, Moryason...use the techniques, sometimes adapting them. The researcher who would like to operate concretely should make a rigorous synthesis of these different sources... Unless he receives directly from a true Adept the oral teachings which accompany the texts.

And, of course, each follower calls himself “the sole holder of THE TRUE Golden Dawn”! But let's not anticipate. Let us only reflect on techniques as diverse as they are divergent, often based on subjective parapsychological phenomena and clearly affirmed traditions, brought together for the first time, the link being established by constants such as the Tarot, the Qabalah, the Enochian mysteries... Such a conflagration of diverse and passionate thoughts could only explode, both for human reasons due to the development of the pride inherent in all magic, and for purely eggregoric reasons, due to the reworking of rituals and structures as time went by. as the experiences of the Inner Order (RR and AC) impacted the Outer Order (GD).

 

The flaw

 

The flaw came to light with the departure of Doctor Westcott in 1897. The Golden Dawn had been open for ten years. The official reason for leaving is as follows: having forgotten in a "cab" official documents of the Order implicating him, Westcott was summoned by the English authorities to choose between his post of coroner (medical examiner) and his membership of the Order. Rumors about magic around the corpses did not allow a serene exercise of this profession to a follower... We can legitimately suppose that the autocratic character of Mathers was for a lot in the final choice of Westcott, founder of the first hour. Freed from any moderator, MacGregor Mathers had a field day, ruling and deciding everything. Who will be able to judge whether, on the esoteric plane, Mathers' decisions were good or not? Either way, the full powers of the Imperator began to unnerve the spirits - the embodied spirits of his co-followers.

With Westcott's departure begins the decline of the Order as such. One of the points which aroused the anger of the "rebels" was the initiation into the Order in 1898 of a young magician, Aleister Crowley, who, against the opposition of the Brothers and Sisters, was raised to the degree of Adeptus Minor ( the highest grade concretely practiced in the Interior Order) by Mathers himself at the "Ahathoor" Temple in Paris on January 16, 1900.

So much has been said of Crowley that he can't be as black as that. If his personal life was a succession of sexual debauchery and excess, his initiatory written work is fascinating, lucid and balanced. But in Victorian England, even in a secret society where angels, demons and entities roam, Crowley was seen as the reincarnation of Satan himself, a legend he maintained with that mocking smile that we see in certain photos, drawing on his pipe and loving to make the ladies in feathered hats shiver with fright...Mathers' revelation. But finally a satanic legend pays off, and a famous actress, Florence Farr, the leader of the Isis-Urania Temple in London since April 1897, resigns from her post to Mathers. And there, an incredible thing will happen, a clap of thunder in a serene sky: Mathers believes to see in this resignation an underground action of Westcott, and he answers to Florence Farr a letter, dated February 16, 1900 from Paris, which I translated here: "...I cannot let you mount a combination to create a schism with the idea of working secretly or openly under the orders of Sapere Aude (=Westcott) under the false impression that he has been given a power on the work of the Second Order by Soror Dominabitur Astris (=Anne Sprengel). So all of this forces me to tell you completely (and don't get me wrong, I can prove to the hilt every word I say here, and more...) and if I'm confronted with SA I'd say the same , if only for the love of the Order, and in these circumstances which would really kill the reputation of SA, I beg you to keep the secret from the Order for the moment, although in fact you are perfectly free to show him this, if you consider it appropriate after careful consideration".

 

"(Wescott) was NEVER in communication, at any time, either personally or in writing, with the Secret Heads of the (Third) Order, he had himself forged - or caused to be forged - the alleged correspondence between him and them , and my tongue having been bound all these years by an Oath of Secrecy intended for this purpose, lent to him, asked by him, to me, before showing me what he had done, or caused to be done, or both. You must understand that I say little on this subject, given the extreme gravity of the matter, and once again I ask you, both for his love and that of the Order, not to force me to go further forward on this subject. Mathers does not go so far as to deny the existence of Anna Sprengel - whom he confused for a time with an adventurer, Loleta Jackson, alias Madame Horos, alias Swami Viva Ananda - but the word was out: all the German Rosicrucian guarantee was a bluff, a huge bluff, as was the fanciful "History of the Order" by the same Westcott.

 

The fall of the Imperator

 

Florence waits a few days, asks Westcott for an explanation, who calmly denies it, regretting that the witnesses from the first hour are dead. Florence then divulges Mathers' letter to all the Adepts in London, who on March 3 elect a Committee of Seven to hold Mathers to account. Mathers proudly refuses to show any evidence, does not recognize any authority above him except the leaders of the Third Order. On March 23, he dismissed Florence Farr from her duties; on March 29, the Second Order meeting in plenary assembly dismissed Mathers and expelled him from the Golden Dawn, all orders combined. Mathers threatens them with all possible karmic punishments, affirms that one cannot impeach him without his agreement because of magic bonds. Crowley joins him in Paris, comes up against the secession of the Ahatoor temple, and organizes with Mathers a veritable "duel of sorcery" between them and the "rebels". It's tragic to see a mind as vast as Mathers sink in this war of leaders for a power that is crumbling anyway. Each Temple thinks of itself as the sole holder of the "true" rituals, since their personal experiences have been positive (and they were logically positive, given the magnificent work of the founders on the rituals). In addition, each Frater or Soror with a different experience - through the visualization of the Tattvas among other things - feels invested with the duty to "save the true Golden Dawn".

This phenomenon of fragmentation was precipitated by the existence of secret working groups within the Order itself, an existence desired by Mathers as early as 1897 for the purpose of deepening the knowledge acquired. Florence Farr had thus founded a group called “La Sphère”. Enter William Butler Yeats, (1865-1939) Irish, future Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. After having been leader of Isis-Urania, he left the Order in 1901, the same year as the trial of Théo Horos. and his wife for fraud and sexual offenses, trials where the name and practices of the Golden Dawn were called into question with the distorting amplification that you can guess, and above all the publication of pieces of Ritual of the Neophyte where the oath pronounced by the recipient was considered blasphemy. The demoralizing effect on the followers of the Outer Order accentuated the ravages of the war of leaders... In 1902, the Second Order gave itself a triumvirate to lead it: PW Bullock, quickly replaced by Doctor RW Felkin; MW Blackden, Egyptologist, and JW Brodie-Inner. The tarot forms another set of beliefs, values and processes to replace them, Magdalene translated the Ark of the Covenant into a tree where the branches became cards for a deck....As far as the Golden Dawn initiation on the TOWER is concerned; the couple is falling apart, and an inevitable fight is going to happen.Translation "You must remain in control of the situation and keep your cool. Avoid saying anything that might hurt others. As far as your life is concerned, your romantic relationship may be coming to an end.

Take this as a warning - if you really care about your relationship, it's time for you to do some damage control or open up a line of communication to clear up any misunderstandings. " iation into the system of telepathic speech and quantum science was transmitted by medieval chivalry, which brought to the West the sacred science that had survived in the East. The knight is this transmitting agent, and he inspired the language of the alchemists, which symbolises the force that enables a chemical reaction and therefore a transformation of matter. In chemistry, transmutation has not yet been mastered, but it is a common phenomenon among alchemists. Alchemists are Initiates or, better still, Adepts.

 

www.ledifice.net/7215-3.html

 

The initiatory process for accessing the coded language of the ancient knights probably came to the USA via Rosicrucians inspired by wonderful tales such as The Alchemical Wedding attributed to the name of Christian Rozenkreuz or Goethe's The Wonderful Tale and the Beautiful Lily. Both drew their inspiration from Eastern philosophers, as did Dante, Shakespeare and Hugo. The initiation process was adapted to the tarot deck by Marie Magdalena . Mary Magdalene and Jesus, two great Essene initiates, when they came to Earth, their souls split into five parts to incarnate in as many different bodies. This journey took place between the Resurrection in 33 AD and the Ascension in 73 AD. During these years, Mary Magdalene, Jesus and their children travelled through France, the Netherlands and England. Later, Mary Magdalene and Jesus travelled to Spain, where they met Mary of Bethany and her daughter Sarah. Magda left us the tarot as a tutorial for accessing pure consciousness free of the ego that came mainly from the Romans and was unfortunately taken over by. Rome and therefore by the various occupants of a high command located on the banks of the Tiber. The genesis of the Golden Dawn. is to take our spiritual history early and rediscover this primordial alignment between earthly and cosmic forces. The initiatory process, represented by the imagiers of the Middle Ages, was left dormant in Marseille by Magda. Magda, with her tarot perhaps drawn in the Baumes cave not far from Marseille, has survived to this day. The founders of Golden Dawn asked the Rider Waite Smith trio to recreate a more modern system of representation than the tarot left by Magda and already illustrated by imagiers keen on coded language. Example our knight has worked well, he's a good knight, good night...

 

The image shows the path to follow to become a magician like Magda or, from a more recent, slightly phallocratic and Western point of view, a magician like Jesus.

 

We start with the knight of the sword, and the sword is the intellect. The tower here by. Strasbourg (birth of the free masons). it's this card which sees two guys fall. in jest, it's the loss of ego and weightlessness useful for splitting the soul into thirds. The ace. de baton is the one that Hermes Trimegoiste receives but. it is also that of Moses, it became. the caduceus of. doctors. The page of pentacle brings the philosophical gold to make this transmutation made possible by the operating mode.

 

The Knight of Swords is often taken to represent a confident and articulate young man, who may act impulsively. The problem is that this Knight, though visionary, is unrealistic. He fights bravely, but foolishly. In some illustrations, he is shown to have forgotten his armor or his helmet.A young man stands alone in a field. Pretty flowers, a ploughed field and fruit trees surround him, symbols of the harvest and Abundance to come. He is holding a Denarius in his hand. He looks at it intently. He studies it. The sky is clear. This Jack is quietly building his road to material success.

 

Like all the Jacks in the Tarot, the Jack of Pence represents a beginning, the first stages of a project. The Suit of Pence is the Suit associated with the Earth Element, material possessions and everything we hold dear - our health, our values, our skills. The Jack of Pence symbolises an awareness of the importance of all the material aspects of life. Wands are associated with fire energy, and the Ace of Wands is the core representation of fire within the deck. The card shows a hand that is sticking out of a cloud while holding the wand.

 

When we look at this card, we can see that the hand is reaching out to offer the wand, which is still growing. Some of the leaves from the wand have sprouted, which is meant to represent spiritual and material balance and progress. In the distance is a castle that symbolizes opportunities available in the future.The Ace of Wands calls out to you to follow your instincts. If you think that the project that you've been dreaming of is a good idea, and then just go ahead and do it. The Tower card depicts a high spire nestled on top of the mountain. A lightning bolt strikes the tower which sets it ablaze. Flames are bursting in the windows and people are jumping out of the windows as an act of desperation. They perhaps signal the same figures we see chained in the Devil card earlier. They want to escape the turmoil and destruction within. The Tower is a symbol for the ambition that is constructed on faulty premises. The destruction of the tower must happen in order to clear out the old ways and welcome something new. Its revelations can come in a flash of truth or inspiration.

 

Symbolism of the House of God or the House of God? or Tower for Rider-Waite-Smith in Golden Dawn system: the decisive question of the determinant in the name of the card. I've just been talking about language. And when it comes to language, it's important to be aware of the name of the card. It's a curious name for a tower, alas a dungeon, a fortress used both to protect itself from enemies and to symbolise its power and mark out its territory. It's hard to make the connection between a house and a fortified tower (there are crenellations). The name on the card doesn't match the drawing: symbolism behind it. Joy! Some anti-Cathos tarot cards, generally from the 19th century, call the card the House of God. Wrong! It is not the House of God. It is the House of God. Or Maison Dieu. This also requires a few notes.

The House of God leaves no room for ambiguity: it's a church, a place of worship. The tarot card is not to be taken as such.

The medieval house of God is something else again. "Another meaning of house, "building for specialised use" (12th c.), gave rise to a large number of expressions that appeared in Old French, then again in the 19th-20th c.: the oldest are based on the assimilation between the house and the temple of God (c. 1120, maison Dieu): the hospital where the poor were housed and cared for also received the name Maison Dieu (1165), analogous to hôtel-Dieu, and convents and monasteries that of maison (1165).".

The Maison-Dieu gave rise to legions of small villages and hamlets, particularly on the route to Santiago de Compostela.

Any esoteric researcher knows that when they come across villages with this name, they can stop. The likelihood of finding something symbolic, esoteric or occult in the area is relatively high. God's house (today in US Golden Dawn) is therefore a building where the poor, the sick and pilgrims can find refuge, comfort and care. We're a long way from Babel!.....? And if I remember the meaning of the card[2] at level 2, I'd be happy to add the following: "There is nothing in this world, apart from the spirit, that should not perish from slow or sudden dissociation. Heaven is outside. It is also within. And when its fire consumes or sets ablaze, strips the skin or strikes with lightning, it is always because a fault has been committed against harmony and disorder has arisen... This is how accidents, illnesses, cancers, revolutions and wars arise. Thus perish empires, peoples and races: from false notes." As always, there are many ideological undertones with the Rosicrucians. Food for thought.

 

www.vincentbeckers-cours-de-tarot.net/maison-dieu-symboli...

 

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded by persons claiming to be in communication with the Secret Chiefs. One of these Secret Chiefs (or a person in contact with them) was supposedly the (probably fictional) Anna Sprengel, whose name and address were allegedly decoded from the Cipher Manuscripts by William Wynn Westcott. In 1892, S. MacGregor Mathers (another founder) claimed that he had contacted these Secret Chiefs independently of Sprengel, and that this confirmed his position as head of the Golden Dawn.[1] He declared this in a manifesto four years later saying that they were human and living on Earth, yet possessed terrible superhuman powers.[1] He used this status to found the Second Order within the Golden Dawn,[2] and to introduce the Adeptus Minor ritual. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Latin: Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (Aurora Aurea), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy and spiritual development. Many present-day concepts of ritual and magic that are at the centre of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca[1] and Thelema, were inspired by the Golden Dawn, which became one of the largest single influences on 20th-century Western occultism.[ The three founders, William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott and Samuel Liddell Mathers, were Freemasons. Westcott appears to have been the initial driving force behind the establishment of the Golden Dawn. The Golden Dawn system was based on hierarchy and initiation, similar to Masonic lodges; however, women were admitted on an equal basis with men. The "Golden Dawn" was the first of three Orders, although all three are often collectively referred to as the "Golden Dawn". The First Order taught esoteric philosophy based on the Hermetic Qabalah and personal development through study and awareness of the four classical elements, as well as the basics of astrology, tarot divination, and geomancy. The Second or Inner Order, the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, taught magic, including scrying, astral travel, and alchemy. The Third Order was that of the Secret Chiefs, who were said to be highly skilled; they supposedly directed the activities of the lower two orders by spirit communication with the Chiefs of the Second Order.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has been considered one of the most important Western magical systems for over a century. Although much of their knowledge has been published, to really enter the system required initiation within a Golden Dawn temple--until now. Regardless of your magical knowledge or background, you can learn and live the Golden Dawn tradition with the first practical guide to Golden Dawn initiation. Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition by Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero offers self-paced instruction by two senior adepts of this magical order. For the first time, the esoteric rituals of the Golden Dawn are clearly laid out in step-by-step guidance that's clear and easy-to-follow. Studying the Knowledge Lectures, practicing daily rituals, doing meditations, and taking self-graded exams will enhance your learning. Initiation rituals have been correctly reinterpreted so you can perform them yourself. Upon completion of this workbook, you can truly say that you are practicing the Golden Dawn tradition with an in-depth knowledge of qabalah, astrology, Tarot, geomancy, spiritual alchemy, and more, all of which you will learn from Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition. No need for group membership

Instructions are free of jargon and complex language

Lessons don't require familiarity with magical traditions

Grade rituals from Neophyte to Porta. Link with your Higher Self

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to learn the Golden Dawn system, Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition explains it all. The lessons follow a structured plan, adding more and more information with each section of the book. Did you really learn the material? Find out by using the written tests and checking them with the included answers. Here is a chance to find out if the Golden Dawn system is the right path for you or to add any part of their wisdom and techniques to the system you follow. Start with this book now. At the beginning of the twentieth century the esoteric order of the Golden Dawn deposited part of its magical wisdom in Tarot decks. The Golden Dawn Magical Tarot uses symbology and colours as adhered to by the Order of the Golden Dawn. The major arcana show abstract and very vibrant scenes, but the minors are overly repetitive. Little changes between the cards of a suit but the number of cups or pentacles.More than thirty years ago, U.S. Games Systems published the The Golden Dawn Tarot, revealing for the first time many truths and secrets of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and its interpretation of the tarot. The card designs follow the symbolic framework of the Inner Tradition. The foundational documents of the original Order of the Golden Dawn, known as the Cipher Manuscripts, are written in English using the Trithemius cipher. The manuscripts give the specific outlines of the Grade Rituals of the Order and prescribe a curriculum of graduated teachings that encompass the Hermetic Qabalah, astrology, occult tarot, geomancy, and alchemy. According to the records of the Order, the manuscripts passed from Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, a Masonic scholar, to the Rev. A. F. A. Woodford, whom British occult writer Francis King describes as the fourth founder[2] (although Woodford died shortly after the Order was founded).[3] The documents did not excite Woodford, and in February 1886 he passed them on to Freemason William Wynn Westcott, who managed to decode them in 1887.[2] Westcott, pleased with his discovery, called on fellow Freemason Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers for a second opinion. Westcott asked for Mathers' help to turn the manuscripts into a coherent system for lodge work. Mathers, in turn, asked fellow Freemason William Robert Woodman to assist the two, and he accepted.[2] Mathers and Westcott have been credited with developing the ritual outlines in the Cipher Manuscripts into a workable format.[c] Mathers, however, is generally credited with the design of the curriculum and rituals of the Second Order, which he called the Rosae Rubae et Aureae Crucis ("Ruby Rose and Golden Cross" or the RR et AC).

 

www.loscarabeo.com/en/products/tarocchi-iniziatici-della-...

 

A. E. Waite and A. Crowley were inspired by that philosophy, as well as famous poets, intellectuals and artists. Today the Golden Dawn Tarot comes back to light in a new form that translate the secret instructions transmitted only to the initiates of the Brotherhood into extraordinary images.

In a professional draw, The Magician, also known as The Bateleur, indicates that you are highly competent in your field, and that you know how to use your skills and knowledge to achieve your professional goals. So use your natural talents to shine! This is not the time to lose self-confidence, to hide or worse to minimise the extent of your abilities. On the contrary! Show what you can do, and accept the challenges that come your way.

 

From a slightly more divinatory point of view, you can also expect to receive positive feedback from your manager or a potential employer.In esoteric decks, occultists, starting with Oswald Wirth, turned Le Bateleur from a mountebank into a magus. The curves of the magician's hat brim in the Marseilles image are similar to the esoteric deck's mathematical sign of infinity. Similarly, other symbols were added. The essentials are that the magician has set up a temporary table outdoors, to display items that represent the suits of the Minor Arcana: Cups, Coins, Swords (as knives). The fourth, the baton (Clubs) he holds in his hand. The baton was later changed to represent a literal magician's wand.

 

The illustration of the tarot card "The Magician" from the Rider–Waite tarot deck was developed by A. E. Waite for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1910. Waite's magician features the infinity symbol over his head, and an ouroboros belt, both symbolizing eternity. The figure stands among a garden of flowers, to imply the manifestation and cultivation of desires.

 

In French Le Bateleur, "the mountebank" or the "sleight of hand artist", is a practitioner of stage magic. The Italian tradition calls him Il Bagatto or Il Bagatello. The Mantegna Tarocchi image that would seem to correspond with the Magician is labeled Artixano, the Artisan; he is the second lowest in the series, outranking only the Beggar. Visually the 18th-century woodcuts reflect earlier iconic representations, and can be compared to the free artistic renditions in the 15th-century hand-painted tarots made for the Visconti and Sforza families. In the painted cards attributed to Bonifacio Bembo, the Magician appears to be playing with cups and balls. How can we put our spiritual knowledge and beliefs into practice on a daily basis? That's the question posed by Le Magicien. How do you go from thinking of spirituality as a series of intellectual concepts to actually living them? How can you apply them to embody your Authentic Being and bring to life what you really want?

 

The Magician indicates that these answers are already within you and that you have the tools - symbolised by the Tarot Suits on the table - to move towards self-fulfilment. The Magician is very 'hands-on' and advises you to test to find what gives you the greatest sense of well-being and grounding; to practise your Magic to develop yourself and reach your full potential. Intuitive practices create the link between Body, Soul and Spirit... Open your Heart to Intuition and practise!

vivre-intuitif.com/apprendre-le-tarot/signification/majeu...

The Magician - or Bateleur in the Tarot de Marseille - points his wand towards Heaven, while his other hand points towards Earth. This gesture signifies that he captures the Energy of the Universe, that it flows through him, to manifest itself in the world, in everyday life. In front of him, the attributes of the four Tarot Suits are placed on the table: a Rod, a Cup, a Sword and a Denarius. Each represents an Element: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The magician thus has everything at his disposal to manifest his dreams and desires, to materialize them, to make them possible, tangible. In this Energy, the possibilities are infinite, as underlined by the symbol above his head and belt, a snake biting its own tail. The Magician is associated with the planet Mercury, the planet of competence, logic and intelligence. His number is 1, the number of beginnings. The Magician , also known as The Magus or The Juggler, is the first trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional tarot decks. It is used in game playing and divination; in the English-speaking world, the divination meaning is much better known. Within the card game context, the equivalent is the Pagat which is the lowest trump card, also known as the atouts or honours. In the occult context, the trump cards are recontextualized as the Major Arcana and granted complex esoteric meaning. The Magician in such context is interpreted as the first numbered and second total card of the Major Arcana, succeeding the Fool, which is unnumbered or marked 0. The Magician as an object of occult study is interpreted as symbolic of power, potential, and the unification of the physical and spiritual worlds. The Magician is one tarot card that is filled with symbolism. The central figure depicts someone with one hand pointed to the sky, while the other hand points to the ground, as if to say "as above, so below". This is a rather complicated phrase, but its summarization is that earth reflects heaven, the outer world reflects within, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, earth reflects God. It can also be interpreted here that the magician symbolizes the ability to act as a go-between between the world above and the contemporary, human world. On his table, the magician also wields all the suits of the tarot. This symbolizes the four elements being connected by this magician - the four elements being earth, water, air, and fire. The infinity sign on his head indicates the infinite possibilities of creation with the will. Upright Magician Meaning. The Magician is the representation of pure willpower. With the power of the elements and the suits, he takes the potential innate in the fool and molds it into being with the power of desire. He is the connecting force between heaven and earth, for he understands the meaning behind the words "as above so below" - that mind and world are only reflections of one another. Remember that you are powerful, create your inner world, and the outer will follow. Remember that you are powerful, create your inner world, and the outer will follow. When you get the Magician in your reading, it might mean that it's time to tap into your full potential without hesitation. It might be in your new job, new business venture, a new love or something else. It shows that the time to take action is now and any signs of holding back would mean missing the opportunity of becoming the best version of yourself. Certain choices will have to be made and these can bring great changes to come. Harness some of the Magician's power to make the world that you desire most.

labyrinthos.co/blogs/tarot-card-meanings-list/the-magicia...

 

Symbolism

Rider–Waite

If The Fool - The Mate symbolises the desire to discover, The Magician is "The Alchemist" of the Major Arcana, the one who can create everything from nothing, transforming lead into gold. The Magician card is therefore the card of "manifestation" par excellence, i.e. to make possible, to concretise and to have an impact on one's environment and the world. The Magician is a card that highlights your unique talents... unique talents that serve your unique and authentic desires.

 

With the Magician, success is within reach. You're ready to use your abilities and skills to achieve your goals. The desire to do something new, to start a cycle, is very strong. In Magician's Energy, you feel optimistic and in a conquering frame of mind. You're able to use all the resources at your disposal to achieve this: your skills, those close to you and all the tools - intuitive or otherwise - that are at your disposal.

 

The Magician is a card that also evokes concentration and focus. So this is not the time to spread yourself too thin or try to do everything at once. It's all about staying focused on a single objective and putting all your energy and resources into it. The Magician warns against distractions, or even temptations, that could lead you astray and compromise the achievement of your objective.

  

The Magician is depicted with one hand pointing upwards towards the sky and the other pointing down to the earth, interpreted widely as an "as above, so below" reference to the spiritual and physical realms. On the table before him are a wand, a pentacle, a sword, and a cup, representing the four suits of the Minor Arcana. Such symbols signify the classical elements of fire, earth, air, and water, "which lie like counters before the adept, and he adapts them as he wills". The Magician's right hand, pointed upwards, holds a double-ended white wand; the ends are interpreted much like the hand gestures, in that they represent the Magician's status as conduit between the spiritual and the physical. His robe is similarly also white, a symbol of purity yet also of inexperience, while his red mantle is understood through the lens of red's wildly polarised colour symbolism—both a representative of willpower and passion, and one of egotism, rage, and revenge. In front of the Magician is a garden of Rose of Sharon roses and lily of the valley lillies....

 

Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily from Goethe, Johann Wolfgang was demonstrating the "culture of aspiration", or the Magician's ability to cultivate and fulfill potential of the ouroboros wo symbolized the Green Snake in this tale, the Magician is an. alchemist. The Magician is associated with the planet Mercury the Ouroboros alchemist , and hence the signs of Gemini the two will-o-wisp and Virgo Lily in astrology.

 

Marseilles

Although the Rider–Waite Tarot deck is the most often used in occult contexts, other decks such as the Tarot of Marseilles usually used for game-playing have also been read through a symbolic lens. Alejandro Jodorowsky's reading of the Magician as Le Bateleur draws attention to individual details of the Marseilles card, such as the fingers, table, and depiction of the plants, in addition to the elements shared between the Rider–Waite and Marseilles decks.[10] The Magician in the Marseilles deck is depicted with six fingers on his left hand rather than five, which Jodorowsky interprets as a symbol of manipulating and reorganizing reality. Similarly, the table he stands behind has three legs rather than four; the fourth leg is interpreted as being outside the card, a metafictional statement that "[i]t is by going beyond the stage of possibilities and moving into the reality of action and choice that The Magician gives concrete expression to his situation". Rather than flowers, the Magician of the Marseilles deck is depicted with a small plant between his feet. The plant has a yonic appearance and has been interpreted as the sex organs of either a personal mother or the abstract concept of Mother Nature.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician_(tarot_card)

  

Divination

Like the other cards of the Major Arcana, the Magician is the subject of complex and extensive analysis as to its occult interpretations. On the broad level, the Magician is interpreted with energy, potential, and the manifestation of one's desires; the card symbolizes the meetings of the physical and spiritual worlds ("as above, so below") and the conduit converting spiritual energy into real-world action.

 

Tarot experts have defined the Magician in association with the Fool, which directly precedes it in the sequence; Rachel Pollack refers to the card as "in the image of the trickster-wizard". A particularly important aspect of the card's visual symbolism in the Rider–Waite deck is the magician's hands, with one hand pointing towards the sky and the other towards the earth. Pollack and other writers understand this as a reflection of the Hermetic concept of "as above, so below", where the workings of the macrocosm (the universe as a whole, understood as a living being) and the microcosm (the human being, understood as a universe) are interpreted as inherently intertwined with one another. To Pollack, the Magician is a metaphysical lightning rod, channeling macrocosmic energy into the microcosm.

 

According to A. E. Waite's 1910 book Pictorial Key To The Tarot, the Magician card is associated with the divine motive in man. In particular, Waite interprets the Magician through a Gnostic lens, linking the card's connection with the number eight (which the infinity symbol is visually related to) and the Gnostic concept of the Ogdoad, spiritual rebirth into a hidden eighth celestial realm. Said infinity symbol above the Magician's head is also interpreted as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the prophetic and theophanic aspect of the Trinity. Like other tarot cards, the symbolism of the Magician is interpreted differently depending on whether the card is drawn in an upright or reversed position. While the upright Magician represents potential and tapping into one's talents, the reversed Magician's potential and talents are unfocused and unmanifested. The reversed Magician can also be interpreted as related to black magick and to madness or mental distress.[14] A particularly important interpretation of the reversed Magician relates to the speculated connection between the experiences recognized in archaic societies as shamanism and those recognized in technological societies as schizophrenia; the reversed Magician is perceived as symbolizing the degree to which those experiences and abilities are unrecognized and suppressed, and the goal is to turn the card 'upright', or re-focus those experiences into their positive form.

 

In art

The Surrealist (Le surréaliste), 1947, is a painting by Victor Brauner. The Juggler provided Brauner with a key prototype for his self-portrait: the Surrealist's large hat, medieval costume, and the position of his arms all derive from this figure who, like Brauner's subject, stands behind a table displaying a knife, a goblet, and coins.

 

www.amazon.fr/Self-Initiation-into-Golden-Dawn-Tradition/...

 

Founding of the First Temple

In October 1887, Westcott claimed to have written to a German countess and prominent Rosicrucian named Anna Sprengel, whose address was said to have been found in the decoded Cipher Manuscripts. According to Westcott, Sprengel claimed the ability to contact certain supernatural entities, known as the Secret Chiefs, that were considered the authorities over any magical order or esoteric organization. Westcott purportedly received a reply from Sprengel granting permission to establish a Golden Dawn temple and conferring honorary grades of Adeptus Exemptus on Westcott, Mathers, and Woodman. The temple was to consist of the five grades outlined in the manuscripts.

 

In 1888, the Isis-Urania Temple was founded in London. In contrast to the S.R.I.A. and Masonry,[6] women were allowed and welcome to participate in the Order in "perfect equality" with men. The Order was more of a philosophical and metaphysical teaching order in its early years. Other than certain rituals and meditations found in the Cipher manuscripts and developed further, "magical practices" were generally not taught at the first temple. For the first four years, the Golden Dawn was one cohesive group later known as the "First Order" or "Outer Order". A "Second Order" or "Inner Order" was established and became active in 1892. The Second Order consisted of members known as "adepts", who had completed the entire course of study for the First Order. The Second Order was formally established under the name Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (the Order of the Red Rose and the Golden Cross) Eventually, the Osiris temple in Weston-super-Mare, the Horus temple in Bradford (both in 1888), and the Amen-Ra temple in Edinburgh (1893) were founded. In 1893 Mathers founded the Ahathoor temple in Paris.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetic_Order_of_the_Golden_Dawn

Secret Chiefs: in various occultist movements, Secret Chiefs are said to be transcendent cosmic authorities, a spiritual hierarchy responsible for the operation and moral calibre of the cosmos, or for overseeing the operations of an esoteric organization that manifests outwardly in the form of a magical order or lodge system. Their names and descriptions have varied through time, differing among those who have claimed experience of contact with them. They are variously held to exist on higher planes of being or to be incarnate; if incarnate, they may be described as being gathered at some special location, such as Shambhala, or scattered through the world working anonymously. One early and influential source on these entities is Karl von Eckartshausen, whose The Cloud upon the Sanctuary, published in 1795, explained in some detail their character and motivations. Several 19th and 20th century occultists claimed to belong to or to have contacted these Secret Chiefs and made these communications known to others: Aleister Crowley (who used the term to refer to members of the upper three grades of his order, A∴A∴), Dion Fortune (who called them the "esoteric order"), and Max Heindel (who called them the "Elder Brothers").

While in Algeria in 1909, Aleister Crowley, along with Victor Neuburg, recited numerous Enochian Calls or Aires. After the fifteenth Aire, he declared that he had attained the grade of Magister Templi (Master of the Temple), which meant that he was now on the level of these Secret Chiefs, although this declaration caused many occultists to stop taking him seriously if they had not done so already. He also described this attainment as a possible and in fact a necessary step for all who truly followed his path.[a] In 1947, when Aleister Crowley died, he left behind a sketch of one of the Secret Chiefs, Crowley's invisible mentor that he called LAM. The sketch looks like a grey alien. The church invisible, invisible church, mystical church or church mystical, is a Christian theological concept of an "invisible" Christian Church of the elect who are known only to God, in contrast to the "visible church"—that is, the institutional body on earth which preaches the gospel and administers the sacraments. Every member of the invisible church is "saved", while the visible church contains all individuals who are saved though also having some who are "unsaved".[1] According to this view, Bible passages such as Matthew 7:21–27, Matthew 13:24–30, and Matthew 24:29–51 speak about this distinction.

 

Views on the relation with Visible church

Distinction between two churches

The first person in church history to introduce a view of an invisible and a visible church is Clement of Alexandria. Some have also argued that Jovinian and Vigilantius held an invisible church view.

 

The concept was advocated by St Augustine of Hippo as part of his refutation of the Donatist sect, though he, as other Church Fathers before him, saw the invisible Church and visible Church as one and the same thing, unlike the later Protestant reformers who did not identify the Catholic Church as the true church.[8] He was strongly influenced by the Platonist belief that true reality is invisible and that, if the visible reflects the invisible, it does so only partially and imperfectly (see theory of forms). Others question whether Augustine really held to some form of an "invisible true Church" concept.

 

The concept was insisted upon during the Protestant reformation as a way of distinguishing between the "visible" Roman Catholic Church, which according to the Reformers was corrupt, and those within it who truly believe, as well as true believers within their own denominations. John Calvin described the church invisible as "that which is actually in God's presence, into which no persons are received but those who are children of God by grace of adoption and true members of Christ by sanctification of the Holy Spirit... [The invisible church] includes not only the saints presently living on earth, but all the elect from the beginning of the world." He continues in contrasting this church with the church scattered throughout the world. "In this church there is a very large mixture of hypocrites, who have nothing of Christ but the name and outward appearance..." (Institutes 4.1.7) Richard Hooker distinguished "between the mystical Church and the visible Church", the former of which is "known only to God."[11]

 

John Wycliffe, who was a precursor to the reformation, also believed in an invisible church made of the predestinated elect. Another precursor of the reformation, Johann Ruchrat von Wesel believed in a distinction between the visible and invisible church.

 

Pietism later took this a step further, with its formulation of ecclesiolae in ecclesia ("little churches within the church").

 

Non-distinction

Roman Catholic theology, reacting against the protestant concept of an invisible Church, emphasized the visible aspect of the Church founded by Christ, but in the twentieth century placed more stress on the interior life of the Church as a supernatural organism, identifying the Church, as in the encyclical Mystici corporis Christi of Pope Pius XII, with the Mystical Body of Christ. In Catholic doctrine, the one true Church is the visible society founded by Christ, namely, the Catholic Church under the global jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome.

  

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This encyclical rejected two extreme views of the Church:

 

A rationalistic or purely sociological understanding of the Church, according to which it is merely a human organization with structures and activities, is mistaken. The visible Church and its structures do exist but the Church is more, as it is guided by the Holy Spirit:

Although the juridical principles, on which the Church rests and is established, derive from the divine constitution given to it by Christ and contribute to the attaining of its supernatural end, nevertheless that which lifts the Society of Christians far above the whole natural order is the Spirit of our Redeemer who penetrates and fills every part of the Church.

An exclusively mystical understanding of the Church is mistaken as well, because a mystical "Christ in us" union would deify its members and mean that the acts of Christians are simultaneously the acts of Christ. The theological concept una mystica persona (one mystical person) refers not to an individual relation but to the unity of Christ with the Church and the unity of its members with him in her. This is where we can find direct contrast to Christian philosophy like the preachings of Rev.Jesse Lee Peterson, yet the personification is similar. There is another view, that contrasts these two school-of-thought, and that is from Albert Eduard Meier, as he includes Electric Theory in his teachings, similar to Creationism.

Eastern Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky too characterizes as a "Nestorian ecclesiology" that which would "divide the Church into distinct beings: on the one hand a heavenly and invisible Church, alone true and absolute; on the other, the earthly Church (or rather 'the churches'), imperfect and relative".

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_invisible

  

The fall of the Imperator

 

Florence waits a few days, asks Westcott for an explanation, who calmly denies it, regretting that the witnesses from the first hour are dead. Florence then divulges Mathers' letter to all the Adepts in London, who on March 3 elect a Committee of Seven to hold Mathers to account. Mathers proudly refuses to show any evidence, does not recognize any authority above him except the leaders of the Third Order.

 

On March 23, he dismissed Florence Farr from her duties; on March 29, the Second Order meeting in plenary assembly dismissed Mathers and expelled him from the Golden Dawn, all orders combined. Mathers threatens them with all possible karmic punishments, affirms that one cannot impeach him without his agreement because of magic bonds.

 

Crowley joins him in Paris, comes up against the secession of the Ahatoor temple, and organizes with Mathers a veritable "duel of sorcery" between them and the "rebels". It's tragic to see a mind as vast as Mathers sink in this war of leaders for a power that is crumbling anyway.

 

Each Temple thinks of itself as the sole holder of the "true" rituals, since their personal experiences have been positive (and they were logically positive, given the magnificent work of the founders on the rituals). In addition, each Frater or Soror with a different experience - through the visualization of the Tattvas among other things - feels invested with the duty to "save the true Golden Dawn".

 

This phenomenon of fragmentation was precipitated by the existence of secret working groups within the Order itself, an existence desired by Mathers as early as 1897 for the purpose of deepening the knowledge acquired.

 

Florence Farr had thus founded a group called “La Sphère”. Enter William Butler Yeats, (1865-1939) Irish, future Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. After having been leader of Isis-Urania, he left the Order in 1901, the same year as the trial of Théo Horos. and his wife for fraud and sexual offenses, trials where the name and practices of the Golden Dawn were called into question with the distorting amplification that you can guess, and above all the publication of pieces of Ritual of the Neophyte where the oath pronounced by the recipient was considered blasphemy.he demoralizing effect on the followers of the Outer Order accentuated the ravages of the war of leaders... In 1902, the Second Order gave itself a triumvirate to lead it: PW Bullock, quickly replaced by Doctor RW Felkin; MW Blackden, Egyptologist, and JW Brodie-Inner.

 

The Breaking of the Golden Dawn

 

They had to fight from the start against Arthur Edward Waite, who, at the head of a group of followers, wanted to modify the system of leadership, for reasons he explained in 1903: to be caliph instead of the caliph, then make The Order give up all magic, overhaul all rituals, and all for good reason: Waite claims the Third Order doesn't exist.

 

Waite and Blackden then founded their own Order, with a temple they named Isis-Urania after the first temple of the Golden Dawn. Brodie-Inner makes his Edinburgh temple independent.

 

Felkin reacts with a magical act: he abolishes the name "Golden Dawn" and gives it the name "Stella Matutina". It is this branch that is the legal (and spiritual?) successor to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It is under this name that Dion Fortune or Israel Regardie will know the Order. We are in 1903. The history of the Order is over: begins that of its heirs.The Continuators

 

The Golden Dawn had almost as many successors as the Martinist order of Papus, while having the original branch that survives alongside its imitators.

 

Crowley

 

One of the most famous followers of the spirit of GD is of course Crowley. After founding his Order, Astrum Argentinum, he received the patents of the Ordo Templis Orientiis during one of his many trips to the Orient - from where he also brought back yogas.

 

One of the fundamental designs of the OTO represents an oval containing an Egyptian-style eye at the top, in the middle a beaked dove at the bottom, and at the bottom a Flaming Cup stamped with the Templar cross. He had frequent contact with Rudolf Steiner, who found himself imbued with Golden Dawn for many of his afterlife theories.

  

Great Blue Herons are setting up their nests under the bluff in Tsawwassen. A few misunderstandings about who belongs where will ensue, making for entertaining viewing.

I made this faux wood pendant this morning. And to avoid any misunderstandings: I DON'T have any faux wood tutorials - I was just INSPIRED by the great work of Hillovely. So this is my very personal version of faux wood.

Causewayed enclosures

 

In this illustration, we see a foreground of sedentary locals (settled protagonists in the Neolithic revolution) gathering to watch and listen to the arrivals of Transport Dragons (vestige clans and groups, each of which retain movement within their distinct and logically contradictory collective mythologies). The local crofters listen to the songs, and perhaps see shadows of dancing. They will visit the circle over the coming week to either watch theatre, dance, song, technical demonstration or speech; to trade and even to witness to local judgements, as these 'ancients' attempt to retain hierarchy over the landscape that they have travelled and learned through great ages. Some have become saltimbanque, others trade raw or finished goods, some trade wisdom, some trade promise of protection from bandits or simply heavy lifting, and one gathering may differ qualitatively from another.

 

There are no shocks or surprises, and this is not an image of misunderstanding, implicit distrust and incomprehension – just two ways of being which probably had an significant amount of blur between. For example, Transport Dragons that made summer camps for several months (as was common in the Mesolithic) and sedentary crofters that retained a ritual memory of a past Transport Dragon and its qualities. Many new populations without a Transport Dragon mythology must also have existed.

 

Both 'styles' of being are in regular contact, synergy and, at times dispute. At a time when permanent fixtures and markers were increasingly impressed onto the landscape, the Transport Dragons joined the spirit of the age and turned many of their regular meeting spots into a series of concentric ripples in the Earth's surface. Today we term the category of British site a 'Causewayed Enclosure'.

 

Causeways tend to be raised and go from an A to a B, and I have never understood why the mounds should not be the 'causeways', rather than the breaches for which it is said. In this illustration the earthworks are projected as 'Pedestal Rings', reminding all that even when the 'Transport Dragon' was not locally present their undulation on the landscape would not forget, and I will continue to use my descriptive term for this earthwork style.

 

The covered frame structures I term 'Transport Dragons' (features of Homo Sapiens that were so important in helping him navigate through extremes - for example Ice Age and mega predator) had become increasingly meaningless as the Neolithic package tied man to a fixed pastoral landscape. Despite the incongruity of just such a protective carry device in increasingly mild conditions, and without great predators, a mix of inertia, stubbornness and applied speciality will have kept a vivid percentage of their number in movement - in movement and aside today's archaeological record. Nodes where the new generation of pastoral crofters could meet these applied residuals from man's deep past being a way for the new and the old to retain dialogue and mutual support.

 

In central Europe, variants of Causewayed Enclosures can be called 'Rondels' (70-110m in diameter) and we can easily put forward a hypothesis. Between 4900 and the limits of 4800 BC, mutually beneficial fixed points on the landscape were recognised for meetings between sedentary populations and residual Transport Drangons, and these areas were carved and built into the landscape as 'Pedestal Circles'. In central Europe, sedentary Neolithic populations finally arrived with speed, and took over prime spots on riverbanks and aside lakes. As these new locals, with their striking wooden 'long houses' and 'linear band keramik' (LBK) turned clan allotment into local power, they would dispute the importance of the decisions taken by the Transport Dragon collectives, and as the free passage aside the rivers stuttered to a close, with the rapidly increasing number of LBK homesteads and fences, the Transport Dragons failed to witness mutual trust, exchange or benefit. By 4700 BC, the peoples of the Rondels were categorically rejecting token LBK advances. LBK were seen to be clearly undermining the greater laws of 'mythical' people, and landscape, and they could even be seen seeking trade and ideas from the river's flow rather than from its littoral, the inland flux and detailed landscape knowledge. The bounce and chatter from the now decimated littoral highways had all but gone from central Europe and beyond. A rupture of confidence and goodwill had occurred. To resolve the rupture, the Rondels became 'military'; the Transport Dragons were converted into fighting 'machines', and the long house LBK culture was purged. The Transport Dragons had fire power, defence, combined raw power and otherworldly surprise. Some evidence of fire is always to be expected, as things can burn, but some of the evidence of burn from this period may be from warfare as this became the period of Kilianstadten, Herxheim and Talheim, known today as perhaps the first real evidence of war between man.

 

Currently theories try to believe that the LBK auto-destructed, with hypothetical arguments that seem to require an a priori that there was a sudden loss of both IQ and common sense. Not easy to imagine in a society still dominated by seasons. The auto destruction was said to have been powered by younger brothers moving on to find new land, and that the point of saturation 'auto exploded' the whole social network, unthreading the LBK's sense of social stability, function and 'culture'. This same principle of younger male sibling expansion can be seen to have pushed farmsteads to well above the 1000m altitude in mountain ranges such as the Pyrenees. This example includes descriptions from living memories and helps account for some of the derelict high altitude farms. Severe weather, every few years, caused rupture and failure - real local level problems, but no auto destruction of the whole rural lifestyle: and land opportunities were still fertile back during the latter LBK periods, certainly for minds open to a little imagination within demographics that were still very low for the species - so this hypothesis of a population saturation tipping point that fed into a total auto-destruction seems to carry a great weight on very thin ice. The argument is explained on a Youtube by Stefan Milo: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF664B27aBo

 

Returning to the Causewayed Enclosures of Britain, and we see again that they were a feature of early Neolithic interface, which for this geography corresponded to a building frenzy within the slot of time from 3700-3625 BC (precise dates from Professor Alasdair Whittle, of Cardiff University) so perhaps just 400 years after the arrival of the Neolithic package, and at the very least 100 examples of earthwork being built over a period of just 75 years. Here in Britain, turning flat meeting-grounds into varietal 'Rondels' might have been seen as a way of communicating that either 'we' get to keep littorals free, movement free, trade and respect for our mythical Dragons, or, our earthwork loci will turn against you. People told each other the stories of life, and in the ages prior to writing, stories could last - including stories of a first 'war'! It might be that from 3625 BC, more neutral gathering sites were favoured, with a sudden agreed change opening curtains on the rise of the cursus (see drawing linked below), henge, stone circle, and long barrow. For stability, it may have been that the standing stones of later circles had a preferred flexibility to represent both new leaderships of sedentary arrivals, new leaderships of new Transport Dragons, and older leaderships from traditional Transport Dragons and post Mesolithic neo-sedentarism.

 

With today's internet there are plenty of ways of bathing in visions of Prehistory, and one statement offered as a 'given fact' can be juxtaposed here to see if slots into our hypothesis and puzzle:

“The Stone Age was a series of tiny city states run by oppressive class of totalitarian priests” Historia Civilis.

"?!" AJ

 

A few words on details and form: one circle could gain new outer circles of 'pedestals', with this increase in size over time simple showing how success breeds success. The site at Whitehawk in Sussex appears to have finished with four concentric rings of pedestals that seem to be tailored for different sizes of Transport Dragon: from the self referential neo one-man Medjed-esque/Bosch-esque/ jester-esque, all the way up to long walking trains of linked 'wagon' sections. The ditches (key to making the pedestal), may also have served a formal taboo. Anyone approaching from a ditch (the exterior side) might put themselves in danger, with the two ends guarded by hospitality and protocol, and the inner side of the Transport Dragon rolled up with attention facing inwards for interaction. With some late Transport Dragons dedicated to trade of goods, just such a taboo would make sense. There is evidence of year to year upkeep of the pedestal and ditch. In good order, rain would run away from the base of the Transport Dragon, and in conditions of high wind, the transport dragons could be walked to the centre for mutual protection. Some examples (especially Rondels) may have had wooden central palisades, and functions from stopping song from being 'blown away' to providing a sense of dedicated space. Occasionally ditches had stone walls reinforcing their structure (French examples) and some of these were in use for such a long time that phase changes may have occurred. As might be expected, a general detritus of life was found in the ditches.

 

If we were to criticise my drawing, the tree pole is too large and some of the gaps are a little large and the exterior ditches are not greatly obvious. The mix of late Transport Dragons also seems to be too varied, with a Sphinx-like formal mythological example aside a Trojan-horse like 'pro domestication' wicker and stretch model, some phantasmagorical examples and some more measured and functional examples perhaps closer to early bronze age carts.

 

With Causewayed Enclosures predating by decades the long barrows (for example West Kennet), and by over 1000 years Woodhenge, they are important early earthworks for an Isle that went on to deliver a festival of diverse henges, circles, cursus, mound and enclosure.

 

AJM 07.12.21

Belgian postcard, no. 950. Photo: Warner Bros.

 

American actress Eleanor Parker (1922-2013) appeared in some 80 films and television series. She was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951) and Interrupted Melody (1955). Her role in Caged also won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. One of her most memorable roles was that of the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965). Her biographer Doug McClelland called her ‘Woman of a Thousand Faces’, because of her versatility.

 

Eleanor Jean Parker was born in 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lola (Isett) and Lester Day Parker. Her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School. She appeared in a number of school plays. When she was 15 she started to attend the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. After graduation, she moved to California and began appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse. There she was spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin. The studio signed her to a long-term contract in June 1941. She was cast that year in They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941), but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in the short Soldiers in White (B. Reeves Eason, 1942). She was given some decent roles in B films, Busses Roar (D. Ross Lederman, 1942) and The Mysterious Doctor (Benjamin Stoloff, 1943) opposites John Loder. She also had a small role in one of Warner Brothers' biggest productions for the 1943 season, the pro-Soviet Mission to Moscow (Michael Curtiz, 1943) as Emlen Davies, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R (Walter Huston). On the set, she met her first husband, Navy Lieutenant. Fred L. Losse, but the marriage turned out to be a brief wartime affair. Parker had impressed Warners enough to offer her a strong role in a prestige production, Between Two Worlds (Edward A. Blatt, 1944), playing the suicidal wife of Paul Henreid's character. She played support roles for Crime by Night (William Clemens, 1944) and The Last Ride (D. Ross Lederman, 1944). Then she got the starring role opposite Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944). She was considered enough of a ‘name’ to be given a cameo in Hollywood Canteen (Delmer Daves, 1944). Warners gave her the choice role of Mildred Rogers in a new version of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (Edmund Goulding, 1946), but previews were not favourable and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released. She had her big break when she was cast opposite John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (Delmer Daves, 1945). However, two films with Errol Flynn that followed, the romantic comedy Never Say Goodbye (James V. Kern, 1946) and the drama Escape Me Never (Peter Godfrey, 1947), were box office disappointments. Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing parts in films – in Stallion Road (James V. Kern, 1947), where she was replaced by Alexis Smith and Love and Learn (Frederick De Cordova, 1947). She made the comedy Voice of the Turtle (Irving Rapper, 1947) with Ronald Reagan, and the mystery The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948). She refused to appear in Somewhere in the City (Vincent Sherman, 1950) so Warners suspended her again; Virginia Mayo played the role. Parker then had two years off, during which time she married and had a baby. She turned down a role in The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949) which she wanted to do, but it would have meant going to England and she did not want to leave her baby alone during its first year.

 

Eleanor Parker returned in Chain Lightning (Stuart Heisler, 1950) with Humphrey Bogart. Parker heard about a women-in-prison film Warners were making, Caged (John Cromwell, 1950), and actively lobbied for the role. She got it, won the 1950 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. She also had a good role in the melodrama Three Secrets (Robert Wise, 1950). In February 1950, Parker left Warner Bros. after having been under contract there for eight years. Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. apparently had no intention of making it. Because of this misunderstanding, her agents negotiated her release. Parker's career outside of Warners started badly with Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) playing a fictionalised wife of Rudolph Valentino for producer Edward Small. She tried a comedy at 20th Century Fox with Fred MacMurray, A Millionaire for Christy (George Marshall, 1951). In 1951, Parker signed a contract with Paramount for one film a year, with an option for outside films. This arrangement began brilliantly with Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951) playing Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't understand the position of her unstable detective husband (Kirk Douglas). Parker was nominated for the Oscar in 1951 for her performance. Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (George Sidney, 1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner. Wikipedia: “Parker later claimed that Granger was the only person she didn't get along with during her entire career. However, they had good chemistry and the film was a massive hit. “MGM cast her into Above and Beyond (Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, 1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a solid hit. While Parker was making a third film for MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (John Sturges, 1953), she signed a five-year contract with the studio. She was named as star of a Sidney Sheldon script, My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin directed by George Cukor, but neither film was made. Back at Paramount, Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1900s mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle (Byron Haskin, 1954), produced by George Pal. Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in an Egyptian adventure film, Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954), and a Western, Many Rivers to Cross (Roy Rowland, 1955). MGM gave her one of her best roles as opera singer Marjorie Lawrence struck down by polio in Interrupted Melody (Curtis Bernhardt, 1955). This was a big hit and earned Parker a third Oscar nomination; she later said it was her favourite film. Also in 1955, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955), released through United Artists. She played Zosh, the supposedly wheelchair-bound wife of heroin-addicted, would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra). It was a major commercial and critical success. In 1956, she co-starred with Clark Gable in the Western comedy The King and Four Queens (Raoul Walsh, 1956), also for United Artists. It was then back at MGM for two dramas: Lizzie (Hugo Haas, 1957), in the title role, as a woman with a split personality; and The Seventh Sin (Ronald Neame, 1957), a remake of The Painted Veil in the role originated by Greta Garbo and, once again, intended for Ava Gardner. Both films flopped at the box office and, as a result, Parker's plans to produce her own film, L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not materialise.

 

Eleanor Parker supported Frank Sinatra in a popular comedy, A Hole in the Head (Frank Capra, 1959). She returned to MGM for Home from the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960), co-starring with Robert Mitchum, then took over Lana Turner's role of Constance Rossi in Return to Peyton Place (José Ferrer, 1961), the sequel to the hit 1957 film. That was made by 20th Century Fox who also produced Madison Avenue (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1961) with Parker. In 1960, she made her TV debut, and in the following years, she worked increasingly in television, with the occasional film role such as Panic Button (George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo, 1964) with Maurice Chevalier and Jayne Mansfield. Parker's best-known screen role is Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965). The Baroness was famously and poignantly unsuccessful in keeping the affections of Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) after he falls in love with Maria (Julie Andrews). In 1966, Parker played an alcoholic widow in the crime drama Warning Shot (Buzz Kulik, 1967), a talent scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), and a rich alcoholic in An American Dream (Robert Gist, 1966). However, her film career seemed to go downhill. A Playboy Magazine reviewer derided the cast of The Oscar as "has-beens and never-will-be". From the late 1960s, she focused on television. In 1963, Parker appeared in the medical TV drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour in the episode Why Am I Grown So Cold?, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also appeared in episodes of Breaking Point (1964). And The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1968). In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award. Parker also appeared on stage in the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve. In 1976, she played Maxine in a revival of The Night of the Iguana. Her last film role was in a Farrah Fawcett bomb, Sunburn (Richard C. Sarafian, 1979). Subsequently, she appeared very infrequently on TV, most recently in Dead on the Money (Mark Cullingham, 1991). Eleanor Parker was married four times. Her first husband was Fred Losee (1943-1944). Her second marriage to Bert E. Friedlob (1946-1953) produced three children Susan Eleanor Friedlob (1948), Sharon Anne Friedlob (1950), and Richard Parker Friedlob (1952). Her third marriage was to American portrait painter Paul Clemens, (1954-1965) and the couple had one child, actor Paul Clemens (1958). Her fourth marriage with Raymond N. Hirsch (1966-2001) ended when Hirsch died of oesophagal cancer. She was the grandmother of actor/director Chasen Parker. Eleanor Parker died in 2013 at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California of complications of pneumonia. She was 91. Parker was raised a Protestant and later converted to Judaism, telling the New York Daily News columnist Kay Gardella in August 1969, "I think we're all Jews at heart ... I wanted to convert for a long time."

 

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Once known as the African Wild Dog, this species is now one of Africas endangered species. Due to the name “wild” villages hunt and kill them due to the wild dog misunderstanding. Hence, the name change.

Lennox case update. Defence lawyers have made legal arguments to appeal judge. will have to wait to see what happens. Sorry I've not been around, hope to be fully back in the swing soon.

   

Statement on Lennox by Sarah Fisher

It has been brought to my attention that a small clip of my assessment of Lennox has been put on the

internet. This clip has been taken completely out of context and whilst I have remained relatively

quiet on this case since I spoke in court, I feel that I am now forced to make a statement to clarify

what actually happened during the time I was with Lennox.

Wrongly or rightly many documents and details about this case have been passed onto different

parties. I do not feel it is appropriate for me at this moment to discuss in detail everything that has

been said to me, nor to put forward my own ideas regarding all the statements made, as everyone is

entitled to their own opinion and beliefs. What I am qualified to do however is to discuss behaviour.

My assessments, statements and videos of those assessments have been accepted in other court cases

at Magistrates, County and Crown Courts here in the UK so the field of assessment in cases such as

this is not unknown to me.

I do not care if I am to be criticized by members of the public or even other professional bodies as I

have a wealth of experience handling and working with many breeds of dogs, large and small and I

also work with horses with behavioural issues so do not need to defend the claims that I have little or

no experience of working with powerful animals such as Pit Bull Types. I would however like to

clarify that a Pit Bull Type is often a mix of dogs. Nothing extraordinary happens to the psyche of a

dog when it conforms to certain measurements.

I do care however that Lennox is being portrayed in a poor light through this video clip as my

experience of handling Lennox was thoroughly enjoyable and I now feel the need to explain in greater

detail the truth, as I see it, about my assessment. I know that Victoria Stilwell has been what I would

consider to be a sane voice amidst the madness that surrounds this case and she has seen full video

footage of the assessments carried out by myself and David Ryan plus other documentation.

When the door to the van was first opened Lennox barked. He barked at me three times when I

approached. As I said in my report this is not uncommon behaviour in any dog that is in a confined

situation in a crate, kennel or in a car. He was also shaking like a leaf but this does not come over in

the video that my assistant took of this assessment. He was clearly frightened as he could not have

known what was going to happen to him and again this is not an uncommon behaviour in the dogs

that come to me for help. No one has ever disputed that Lennox can be anxious around some strangers

but I believe the key word some has sadly been overlooked.

I asked for someone that Lennox knew to take him out of the crate to keep his stress levels low. Entry

and exit points can be a source of conflict for any dog. I was told I had to handle Lennox on my own

for the entire assessment and that he had bitten the last person that came to see him. This is the clip

that has been released. Had I had any concerns for my safety or those around me given that I was to

be fully and wholly responsible for a dog that I do not know and that I had been told has bitten, I

would not have continued with the assessment if I believed that dog to be a danger either to myself or

those who were standing in the car park. Lennox gave me a lot of information about his temperament

whilst in the crate. In court however, and therefore under oath, Ms Lightfoot the Dog Warden stated

that in fact Lennox had not bitten anyone so I have to assume on the evidence placed before the court

that the statement made to me at the start of my assessment was untrue. Given the publicity

surrounding this case I am also confident that had Lennox actually bitten anyone whilst in the care of

his family as has been suggested someone would have come forward by now.

I spent approx 15 minutes with Lennox prior to being taken from the crate, working with a clicker and

some treats to see if, even in the environment that was causing him some anxiety, he could still learn

and take direction from a stranger. He could. His eyes were soft and he was friendly. At this point I

would also like to clarify the meaning of the word friendly. It does not mean confident. Was Lennox

anxious? Yes. Hostile? No.

I believe that Lennox would have been totally at ease had I indeed taken him out myself but I also

believe I have a duty of care to reduce stress where possible when handling any animal in a situation

that is causing them distress. No doubt this statement will also be taken out of context by those who

wish to discredit me and to discredit my belief that Lennox is not a danger to the public based on my

experience with him and also based on the video assessment carried out by David Ryan which I have

also seen.

I use food in an assessment to monitor the dogs stress levels and emotions at all times. It is not a

bribe. A habitually aggressive dog will generally seek out conflict in my experience but even these

dogs can often be rehabilitated. No amount of food can disguise this behaviour and giving food to a

dog with aggression issues can be extremely dangerous. The dog may be lured to a person by the

promise of food but once it has taken the food it may panic as the offering of the food has now

brought that dog into close proximity with the threat i.e. a stranger. I have worked with dogs with

aggression issues and whilst some may well take the food, the person delivering the food may not be

able to move once the food has gone as the movement of the person, even the smallest movement of

their arm, may trigger the dog to lunge and bite. I would not hand feed a dog that I deem to be

aggressive. The delivery of the treat must come from the person that the dog knows and trusts - not

the stranger. The dog can learn to approach a threat and then turn back to the person that the dog trusts

for the reward if the approach to the person is appropriate. I use food throughout an assessment to

monitor what is happening with the dog on an emotional and physical level not to make him my best

friend.

Lennox was so gentle with the taking of the food both in the crate and also later in the car park. He

was also appropriate in his behaviour with the games we played. He was also gentle when he jumped

up at me to see if he was allowed the food that I was withholding in my hand. When he realised it

wasn't forthcoming he politely backed off. This would suggest to me that he has been around a family.

Not chained up in a yard as has also been claimed by people who do not know the family or the dog.

Lennox showed excellent impulse control at all times and at no point did he grab me or my own

clothing which many dogs do when getting excited by a game. I have worked with some truly

challenging dogs and some will become increasingly aroused by lead ragging or games with toys and

start seriously mouthing or biting the handlers arms or clothing. This can quickly flip over to more

overt aggression and these dogs can be dangerous particularly if they are being handled by just one

person. It is imperative that dogs with this behaviour are taught a more appropriate way of interacting

with people and responding to the leash and also greater self control. There are many ways to help

dogs that have been encouraged, through mishandling and misunderstanding, to behave in such a

manner. Kicking and beating them is certainly not the answer.

Lennox does rag on the lead but it is very self controlled. He did not exhibit any of the behaviours that

I have mentioned above. Regardless of what some uneducated people may wish to think, it is possible

to glean a lot of information about a dog through games and food as many behaviour counsellors and

trainers will confirm.

I wrote a fifteen page report on my experience with Lennox and my thoughts about the David Ryan

assessment. In this report I state that I have concerns about the appearance of Lennox’s neck. In the

video I explain this too. His ears are unlevel and there was a change in the lay of his coat over the

Atlas in line with the nuchal ligament that is present between T1 and C2 vertebrae. Coat changes

often occur in dogs, cats and horses that have suffered injury or those that are unwell. I have studied

this over seventeen years of handling many animals. In all cases where I referred an animal back to a

vet, whether it was in the care of a shelter, owned by my private clients or students that I teach

changes to the soft tissue or skeleton were noted on further detailed investigation. When I see this

around the neck in a dog I know that it is likely to give the dog cause for concern when someone

unknown to that dog attempts to handle the collar or put on or take off a lead. Coat changes may well

be present where deep bruising has also occurred. Pain and pain memory is a key factor in many

behavioural problems.

Lennox was quite rightly put on Amitriptyline. I do not believe that the Council have failed in their

duty to care for Lennox when it comes to the stress that he has been under and I understand that this

drug is used to treat anxiety and depression. It was with interest, though, that I discovered that this

drug is also used to treat chronic pain in dogs. Again this was mentioned in my written report. This

may explain in part why my experience with Lennox seems to fly in the face of other evidence

presented before the courts. He was not on Amitriptyline when he was assessed by David Ryan.

I would absolutely move on to touch an animal all over its body in any assessment that I do. I may or

may not choose to muzzle a dog that is unknown to me to do this if I have concerns about the body

language that I have seen prior to this part of my assessment. I elected not to stroke Lennox all over

because of my concerns about his neck, the newly forming scabs that were present on his flanks and

the blood that was present around the nail beds around his right hind foot. This decision was made

based on the physical evidence before me not because I felt I would be in danger. I talked about this

in court which was open to the public and at the end of my assessment which is also on film I

explained this to a representative from the BCC Dog Warden team and asked if there was anything

else that she would like me to do with Lennox. She said no.

I cannot comment on what happened when Lennox was seized or measured by Peter Tallack because I

wasn't there. I can explain behaviour though and any frightened animal can be intimidating. I have

recently been in Romania working with traumatised horses and two stallions had not been mucked out

for months as the staff (men) were too scared to go in with them. They called them 'pitbulls' such is

the misguided impression of this type of dog. Hay had been simply thrown over the stable doors and

their water buckets were hanging crushed against the stable wall. I went in with them, not because I

have any desire to be a hero, but because I can read an animal well and within minutes they were

quiet, standing at the end of their stables albeit it pressed up against the walls. I was calm with them

and we took out all the filthy bedding and fetched new water buckets for them too. They didn't attack

anyone. They were simply terrified and they were not provoked. I spent time with one of them on my

own, hand feeding him and was finally able to touch his face. This process probably took less than

half an hour. I was totally absorbed in what I was doing and when I turned to walk out I realised that

one of the Romanian men had been watching me. He raised his eyebrows, gave me the thumbs up and

walked away. Other people could then go in with this magnificent horse too and hand feed him the

fresh sweet grass that we had picked from the surrounding fields so it isn’t simply that I am quiet in

my handling of animals nor possess some extraordinary skill that can make even the most savage lion

behave like a lamb when in my company.

I can perhaps, help an animal that is struggling, gain trust in human beings as many people can. I can

perhaps work with a difficult animal and make it look as though that animal is calm but all the time I

am reading that animal. Every second of the way. I am looking at the eyes if it is safe to do so, I am

watching the respiration, I am studying the movement, the set of the ears and the tail and so on and

my opinions about an animal are based on many years of working in this way. One case that will

always stand out in my mind was a large member of the Bull Breed family. I believe she was two

years old. I won’t go into the details here but I will say that when I worked with her she appeared to

be very good to the member of kennel staff that was watching. At the end of my assessment the

member of staff asked me what I thought. I sadly had to say that I thought the dog should be put to

sleep. The member of staff was horrified and I remember her saying ‘but she’s been so good with

you’. But I had noticed some worrying signs. The shelter ignored my advice and rehomed the dog

who savaged the new owner so badly the owner ended up in the ICU. Of course the dog was

immediately destroyed.

I knew what I was walking into when I agreed to go and assess Lennox for the family. To have to

defend Lennox outside of the court has, however, come as a surprise. I have made this statement to

shed a little more light on what is a distressing case for all those involved, knowing full well that I

will no doubt be subject to further scrutiny and criticism. So be it. I am not afraid. If nothing else this

case has highlighted some important issues about the fears and prejudice concerning dogs, their breed

types and their behaviour. Certainly it highlights the sad truth as Xenephon said so wisely in 400 BC.

Where knowledge ends, violence begins.

Just to correct a misunderstanding - The title 'WE DON'T WANT YOU' is as viewed from the perspective of the person or persons attempting entry and is supposed to simply demonstrate the sense of ' not belonging' and being bereft of hope and worth.

West German postcard by Film-Foto-Verlag, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. FK 258. Photo: Paramount.

 

American actress Eleanor Parker (1922-2013) appeared in some 80 films and television series. She was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951) and Interrupted Melody (1955). Her role in Caged also won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. One of her most memorable roles was that of the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965). Her biographer Doug McClelland called her ‘Woman of a Thousand Faces’, because of her versatility.

 

Eleanor Jean Parker was born in 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lola (Isett) and Lester Day Parker. Her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School. She appeared in a number of school plays. When she was 15 she started to attend the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. After graduation, she moved to California and began appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse. There she was spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin. The studio signed her to a long-term contract in June 1941. She was cast that year in They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941), but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in the short Soldiers in White (B. Reeves Eason, 1942). She was given some decent roles in B films, Busses Roar (D. Ross Lederman, 1942) and The Mysterious Doctor (Benjamin Stoloff, 1943) opposites John Loder. She also had a small role in one of Warner Brothers' biggest productions for the 1943 season, the pro-Soviet Mission to Moscow (Michael Curtiz, 1943) as Emlen Davies, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R (Walter Huston). On the set, she met her first husband, Navy Lieutenant. Fred L. Losse, but the marriage turned out to be a brief wartime affair. Parker had impressed Warners enough to offer her a strong role in a prestige production, Between Two Worlds (Edward A. Blatt, 1944), playing the suicidal wife of Paul Henreid's character. She played support roles for Crime by Night (William Clemens, 1944) and The Last Ride (D. Ross Lederman, 1944). Then she got the starring role opposite Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944). She was considered enough of a ‘name’ to be given a cameo in Hollywood Canteen (Delmer Daves, 1944). Warners gave her the choice role of Mildred Rogers in a new version of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (Edmund Goulding, 1946), but previews were not favourable and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released. She had her big break when she was cast opposite John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (Delmer Daves, 1945). However, two films with Errol Flynn that followed, the romantic comedy Never Say Goodbye (James V. Kern, 1946) and the drama Escape Me Never (Peter Godfrey, 1947), were box office disappointments. Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing parts in films – in Stallion Road (James V. Kern, 1947), where she was replaced by Alexis Smith and Love and Learn (Frederick De Cordova, 1947). She made the comedy Voice of the Turtle (Irving Rapper, 1947) with Ronald Reagan, and the mystery The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948). She refused to appear in Somewhere in the City (Vincent Sherman, 1950) so Warners suspended her again; Virginia Mayo played the role. Parker then had two years off, during which time she married and had a baby. She turned down a role in The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949) which she wanted to do, but it would have meant going to England and she did not want to leave her baby alone during its first year.

 

Eleanor Parker returned in Chain Lightning (Stuart Heisler, 1950) with Humphrey Bogart. Parker heard about a women-in-prison film Warners were making, Caged (John Cromwell, 1950), and actively lobbied for the role. She got it, won the 1950 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. She also had a good role in the melodrama Three Secrets (Robert Wise, 1950). In February 1950, Parker left Warner Bros. after having been under contract there for eight years. Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. apparently had no intention of making it. Because of this misunderstanding, her agents negotiated her release. Parker's career outside of Warners started badly with Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) playing a fictionalised wife of Rudolph Valentino for producer Edward Small. She tried a comedy at 20th Century Fox with Fred MacMurray, A Millionaire for Christy (George Marshall, 1951). In 1951, Parker signed a contract with Paramount for one film a year, with an option for outside films. This arrangement began brilliantly with Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951) playing Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't understand the position of her unstable detective husband (Kirk Douglas). Parker was nominated for the Oscar in 1951 for her performance. Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (George Sidney, 1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner. Wikipedia: “Parker later claimed that Granger was the only person she didn't get along with during her entire career. However, they had good chemistry and the film was a massive hit. “MGM cast her into Above and Beyond (Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, 1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a solid hit. While Parker was making a third film for MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (John Sturges, 1953), she signed a five-year contract with the studio. She was named as star of a Sidney Sheldon script, My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin directed by George Cukor, but neither film was made. Back at Paramount, Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1900s mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle (Byron Haskin, 1954), produced by George Pal. Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in an Egyptian adventure film, Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954), and a Western, Many Rivers to Cross (Roy Rowland, 1955). MGM gave her one of her best roles as opera singer Marjorie Lawrence struck down by polio in Interrupted Melody (Curtis Bernhardt, 1955). This was a big hit and earned Parker a third Oscar nomination; she later said it was her favourite film. Also in 1955, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955), released through United Artists. She played Zosh, the supposedly wheelchair-bound wife of heroin-addicted, would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra). It was a major commercial and critical success. In 1956, she co-starred with Clark Gable in the Western comedy The King and Four Queens (Raoul Walsh, 1956), also for United Artists. It was then back at MGM for two dramas: Lizzie (Hugo Haas, 1957), in the title role, as a woman with a split personality; and The Seventh Sin (Ronald Neame, 1957), a remake of The Painted Veil in the role originated by Greta Garbo and, once again, intended for Ava Gardner. Both films flopped at the box office and, as a result, Parker's plans to produce her own film, L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not materialise.

 

Eleanor Parker supported Frank Sinatra in a popular comedy, A Hole in the Head (Frank Capra, 1959). She returned to MGM for Home from the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960), co-starring with Robert Mitchum, then took over Lana Turner's role of Constance Rossi in Return to Peyton Place (José Ferrer, 1961), the sequel to the hit 1957 film. That was made by 20th Century Fox who also produced Madison Avenue (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1961) with Parker. In 1960, she made her TV debut, and in the following years, she worked increasingly in television, with the occasional film role such as Panic Button (George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo, 1964) with Maurice Chevalier and Jayne Mansfield. Parker's best-known screen role is Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965). The Baroness was famously and poignantly unsuccessful in keeping the affections of Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) after he falls in love with Maria (Julie Andrews). In 1966, Parker played an alcoholic widow in the crime drama Warning Shot (Buzz Kulik, 1967), a talent scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), and a rich alcoholic in An American Dream (Robert Gist, 1966). However, her film career seemed to go downhill. A Playboy Magazine reviewer derided the cast of The Oscar as "has-beens and never-will-be". From the late 1960s, she focused on television. In 1963, Parker appeared in the medical TV drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour in the episode Why Am I Grown So Cold?, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also appeared in episodes of Breaking Point (1964). And The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1968). In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award. Parker also appeared on stage in the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve. In 1976, she played Maxine in a revival of The Night of the Iguana. Her last film role was in a Farrah Fawcett bomb, Sunburn (Richard C. Sarafian, 1979). Subsequently, she appeared very infrequently on TV, most recently in Dead on the Money (Mark Cullingham, 1991). Eleanor Parker was married four times. Her first husband was Fred Losee (1943-1944). Her second marriage to Bert E. Friedlob (1946-1953) produced three children Susan Eleanor Friedlob (1948), Sharon Anne Friedlob (1950), and Richard Parker Friedlob (1952). Her third marriage was to American portrait painter Paul Clemens, (1954-1965) and the couple had one child, actor Paul Clemens (1958). Her fourth marriage with Raymond N. Hirsch (1966-2001) ended when Hirsch died of oesophagal cancer. She was the grandmother of actor/director Chasen Parker. Eleanor Parker died in 2013 at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California of complications of pneumonia. She was 91. Parker was raised a Protestant and later converted to Judaism, telling the New York Daily News columnist Kay Gardella in August 1969, "I think we're all Jews at heart ... I wanted to convert for a long time."

 

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

For millenniums, the path to enlightenment has been made up

of many steps. Most commonly, it begins with festering misunderstandings

that lead to pain, the pain then leads to growth, growth leads to clarity,

clarity leads to fun, fun leads to joy, and joy leads to true illumination.

 

May I recommend skipping to the fun part?

 

Love you forever,

The Universe

 

"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

 

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

 

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

 

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

 

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.

 

To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

 

Carl Sagan

 

(I found this photo online some years ago...I really like it so I shared it with you...)

The 2nd Gate: A hermit looking bearded man with a pair of keys in his hand stands at door, with a knocker, latched closed. He is accompanied by a dog, with the Hebrew symbol for nine behind him and a burning lantern at his feet. The latin caption translates to “Open that which is closed”.

 

A pair of keys in symbology are often gold and silver. Both reflecting a different light, one of emotional warmth and wealth, the other of spiritual purity and enlightenment. The right hand represents the familiar material world, the left hand represents the unconscious or unknown world. Sinister means left and describes how many thought of left handed people: A misunderstanding of the unknown. His companion might be the right reading ‘dog’ or the inverted left reading ‘god’. One journeyman will see things from the left (spiritual), the other will see things from the right (material). One will open spiritual doors another will open doors to material things. There’s a strong message of duality here.

 

card and information from:

slapphappe.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/symbolism-in-the-nint...

 

for april

open the doors

  

34/52 Love

.

For how long does this path goes before we turn on our own selves; blaming the blue ocean for its shade, even if it is but a reflection of the skies above?

.

I've read today that no matter how a soul tries to understand other soul that it’ll be but a deformed shadow on the floor. That we are but islands in the sea of life, having drifting in between us the sea that defines and separates us. So can we completely understand anyone else?

.

In this sphere of reflection I've pondered about the immense power of self love. How to love ourselves seems so much more difficult and different than loving anyone else. Yet, if unafraid we can look upon our true hearts; so why are we still finding it so hard to embrace a kind of love that is magnetic, so very true, indestructible, unfaltering?

.

There must be a way to feel less adrift. To feel that it does not matter if its autumn or spring in our souls. If we have fallen tears or sincere joyful smiles. That the circumstances do not alter who we are. That we are able to feel the winds of hurricanes without letting go of the ground of who we are. And if we do, that we will always know how to return. How to seed again. How to let go of hurt. How to forgive. How to rebirth.

.

To love our own hearts is a crusade. The hardest journey there is. The one that will make all others journeys taste like lemon drops on top of a mountain made of honey. The kind of love that truly is worth fighting for. Possibly the most important one. For if I do not move myself to the point of understanding and acceptance - all the rest will be strayed in the darkness of necessity and dependence, instead of in the rainbow that is passion and deliverance. If I do not have myself I truly have nothing at all, do I?

.

And underneath this thick layer of misunderstanding there's capacity; to root, to grow. To embrace this soul of mine into what it deserves; which is to love and be loved in a circle that never ever ends.

jensen-klint's main work, the grundtvig memorial church northwest of copenhagen, is often named as an example of expressionist architecture.

 

we should always be suspicious of categories in art and the partial blindness they induce, but few categories carry more misunderstandings and nonsense than expressionism.

 

with jensen-klint, I believe the term should be avoided altogether. we are looking at a neo-gothic church. the great change in scale between the church and the surrounding housing has been compared with the expressionist idea of a stadtkrone but a similar contrast can be found in the contemporary work of heinrich tessenow.

 

the highly expressive and original tripart tower is the architect's attempt to design a tower that would connect organically with the nave and two aisles of the basic basilica plan. the problem of how to assemble tower and nave is as old as the christian building type itself and jensen-klint's solution was born on his 60th birthday in 1913 as the result of a deep personal and creative crisis.

 

unable to secure commissions, he decided to develop his ideas to their full extent on paper instead. in a sense, he was giving up his career but the move proved liberating to his talent. he entered his next church design, done entirely without a brief or a client, into the 1913 competition for a grundtvig memorial and lost. to a statue.

 

a week later, in an exceptional turn of events, the jury admitted to have made a mistake and announced that jensen-klint's church was to be built.

 

the project attracted a lot of international attention when first published and again in the 1920's when the tower was completed. I have read that it inspired many church designs across europe and north america but I have never seen a list.

 

hallgrímskirkja (1937-1986) in reykjavik is obvious, though, and named elsewhere in connection with klint:

www.flickr.com/photos/solveigzophoniasdottir/306156116/in...

 

iceland was a Danish colony until 1948 (the whole north atlantic colonial adventure is a dark chapter in our history and one that isn't over yet) so the influence here is more easily explained.

 

I am less sure about this one, Akureyrarkirkja (1940), also on iceland: www.flickr.com/photos/solveigzophoniasdottir/291511984/

 

but the art deco crowd seems to have had an eye for klint - as seen here in turner's cross which has been named in connection with the grundtvig church. it is by barry byrne (1931) and found in cork, ireland: www.flickr.com/photos/robandlucy/763443719/

 

I have read that there are also bastard children of the grundtvig church in poland and the US. haven't found them yet. in denmark there are plenty. most significantly, jensen-klint's son kaare klint who completed his father's projects continued building churches in the style which since became a school:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/14716771@N05/2108788850/in/pool-dan...

 

the jensen-klint set so far.

It seems the felines are misunderstanding things, to say nothing of acting very ungratefully to their loyal protector!

 

(Maybe they're simply hoping he'll just roast catnip-dipped marshmallows for them from atop the stump.)

 

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Drive/travel safely!

African bush elephants in morning light

 

Afrikanische Elefanten im Morgenlicht

 

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of 19,485 km2 (7,523 sq mi) in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends 360 km (220 mi) from north to south and 65 km (40 mi) from east to west. The administrative headquarters are in Skukuza. Areas of the park were first protected by the government of the South African Republic in 1898, and it became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

 

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

 

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere an area designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

 

The park has nine main gates allowing entrance to the different camps.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Name

 

African Elephant or African Bush Elephant [Loxodonta africana]

 

Introduction

 

The Elephant is the world's largest land mammal, and weighs up to 7 tonnes and reaches heights of 3.3 m at the shoulder. Elephants can live to a potential age of 70 years. The massive tusks of older bulls can weigh up to 50 or 60 kilograms, but tusks weighing up to 90 kilograms have been recorded.

 

Appearance

 

What is the trunk and what is it used for?

The Elephant's trunk is a modified nose which is very sensitive and can even detect water under ground. There are as many as 50 000 muscles in an Elephant trunk. The sensitive finger-like appendages at the tip of the trunk enables them to pick the smallest twig or flower, pull the toughest reed of grass or even pick out a thorn from their feet.

 

Do elephants have knees or elbows?

 

The joints that are perceived as 'knees', are in fact wrists. This is a common misunderstanding due to the belief that a leg joint that bends between the foot and the body must be a knee. The main difference between us and the elephants is that our foot bones and hand bones are separate, whereas those of the elephant are one in the same, and have evolved to suit this four-legged mammal.

 

Why do elephants have tusks?

 

The tusks are used for obtaining food, fighting (amongst males) and for self defence. They are actually their upper incisors, and grow continuously until they die at around 60 years old. Although their skin is up to 3cm (1 inch) thick, it is quite sensitive.

 

Diet

 

Elephants are voracious feeders which in a day consume up to 272 kg (600 pounds) of grass, tender shoots and bark from trees. An adult Elephant can drink up to 200 litres of water in a single session. A single Elephant deposits up to 150kg (330 pounds) of dung every day - about one dollop every 15 minutes!

 

Breeding

 

African Elephant are not seasonal breeders. Generally they produce one calf every 3 to 4 years. The gestation period is about 22 months. At birth calves weigh about 100 kg (220 pounds) and are fully weaned between 18-24 months. An orphaned calf will usually be adopted by one of the family's lactating females or suckled by various females. Elephants are very attentive mothers, and because most Elephant behavior has to be learned, they keep their offspring with them for many years. Tusks erupt at 16 months but do not show externally until 30 months. Once weaned, usually at age 4 or 5, the calf still remains in the maternal group. Females mature at about 11 years and stay in the group, while the males, which mature between 12 and 15, are usually expelled from the maternal herd. Even though these young males are sexually mature, they do not breed until they are in their mid, or late 20s or even older and have moved up in the social hierarchy.

 

Behaviour

 

Mature males form bachelor groups and become solitary bulls. Elephant form strong family units of cows, calves and young offspring. Such herds are always led by an old female. Apart from drinking large quantities of water they also love wading or swimming in it. Elephants clearly relish mud baths.

It was once thought that family groups were led by old bull elephants, but these males are most often solitary. The female family groups are often visited by mature males checking for females in oestrus. Several interrelated family groups may inhabit an area and know each other well.

 

How do you tell an elephant's mock charge from a serious one?

 

It is imperative to keep in mind that Elephant are extremely intelligent, and each individual has a distinct character. Although there will be exceptions to the rules, the common signs of a mock charge are bush-bashing, dust-throwing, trumpeting and other vocalizations, open ears and an intimidating presence, can be considered a mock-display. Aggressive or startled elephants usually make sudden headshakes and flap their large ears against their head. Serious charges usually occur after all attempts to intimidate have failed, and the Elephant feels threatened. The ears are pinned back and head and trunk are lowered. Ultimately, the key lies in the intelligence of the animal and how they will react to the 'target' and unfamiliar actions, and a conscious decision is made.

 

Why do elephants rhythmically flap their ears?

 

Contrary to common belief, it is not an expression of anger. Being an animal of such a large size, with no sweat glands and a dark body colour, elephants flap their ears to cool the body and rid themselves of irritating insects.

 

Where are they found?

 

Once ranging across most of Africa the Elephant population has declined dramatically across the continent. In South Africa the Addo Elephant and Kruger National Park protect large herds. Due to rigorous conservation measures the Elephant population in South Africa has grown from a estimated 120 in 1920 in 4 locations, to 10 000 at 40 locations to date.

 

Notes

 

The African Elephant has recently been classified into two separate species, the more common African Bush Elephant [Loxodonta Africana] and the smaller African Forest Elephant [Loxodonta cyclotis] of the rainforest of Central Africa.

 

(krugerpark.co.za)

 

Der Kruger-Nationalpark (deutsch häufig falsch Krüger-Nationalpark) ist das größte Wildschutzgebiet Südafrikas. Er liegt im Nordosten des Landes in der Landschaft des Lowveld auf dem Gebiet der Provinz Limpopo sowie des östlichen Abschnitts von Mpumalanga. Seine Fläche erstreckt sich vom Crocodile-River im Süden bis zum Limpopo, dem Grenzfluss zu Simbabwe, im Norden. Die Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung beträgt etwa 350 km, in Ost-West-Richtung ist der Park durchschnittlich 54 km breit und umfasst eine Fläche von rund 20.000 Quadratkilometern. Damit gehört er zu den größten Nationalparks in Afrika.

 

Das Schutzgebiet wurde am 26. März 1898 unter dem Präsidenten Paul Kruger als Sabie Game Reserve zum Schutz der Wildnis gegründet. 1926 erhielt das Gebiet den Status Nationalpark und wurde in seinen heutigen Namen umbenannt. Im Park leben 147 Säugetierarten inklusive der „Big Five“, außerdem etwa 507 Vogelarten und 114 Reptilienarten, 49 Fischarten und 34 Amphibienarten.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Der Afrikanische Elefant (Loxodonta africana), auch Afrikanischer Steppenelefant oder Afrikanischer Buschelefant, ist eine Art aus der Familie der Elefanten. Er ist das größte gegenwärtig lebende Landsäugetier und gleichzeitig das größte rezente landbewohnende Tier der Erde. Herausragende Kennzeichen sind neben den Stoßzähnen und dem markanten Rüssel die großen Ohren und die säulenförmigen Beine. In zahlreichen morphologischen und anatomischen Merkmalen unterscheidet sich der Afrikanische Elefant von seinen etwas kleineren Verwandten, dem Waldelefanten und dem Asiatischen Elefanten. Das Verbreitungsgebiet umfasst heute große Teile von Afrika südlich der Sahara. Die Tiere haben sich dort an zahlreiche unterschiedliche Lebensräume angepasst, die von geschlossenen Wäldern über offene Savannenlandschaften bis hin zu Sumpfgebieten und wüstenartigen Regionen reichen. Insgesamt ist das Vorkommen aber stark fragmentiert.

 

Die Lebensweise des Afrikanischen Elefanten ist durch intensive Studien gut erforscht. Sie wird durch einen stark sozialen Charakter geprägt. Weibliche Tiere und ihr Nachwuchs leben in Familienverbänden (Herden). Diese formieren sich wiederum zu einem enger verwandten Clan. Die einzelnen Herden treffen sich zu bestimmten Gelegenheiten und trennen sich danach wieder. Die männlichen Tiere bilden Junggesellengruppen. Die verschiedenen Verbände nutzen Aktionsräume, in denen sie teils im Jahreszyklus herumwandern. Für die Kommunikation untereinander nutzen die Tiere verschiedene Töne im niedrigen Frequenzbereich. Anhand der Lautgebung, aber auch durch bestimmte chemische Signale können sich die einzelnen Individuen untereinander erkennen. Darüber hinaus besteht ein umfangreiches Repertoire an Gesten. Hervorzuheben sind auch die kognitiven Fähigkeiten des Afrikanischen Elefanten.

 

Die Nahrung besteht sowohl aus weicher wie auch harter Pflanzenkost. Die genaue Zusammensetzung variiert dabei regional und jahreszeitlich. Generell verbringt der Afrikanische Elefant einen großen Teil seiner Tagesaktivitäten mit der Nahrungsaufnahme. Die Fortpflanzung erfolgt ganzjährig, regional gibt es Tendenzen zu einer stärkeren Saisonalisierung. Bullen kommen einmal jährlich in die Musth, während deren sie auf Wanderung zur Suche nach fortpflanzungswilligen Kühen gehen. Während der Musth ist die Aggressivität gesteigert, es finden dann auch Rivalenkämpfe statt. Der Sexualzyklus der Kühe dauert vergleichsweise lange und weist einen für Säugetiere untypischen Verlauf auf. Nach erfolgter Geburt setzt er in der Regel mehrere Jahre aus. Zumeist wird nach fast zweijähriger Tragzeit ein Jungtier geboren, das in der mütterlichen Herde aufwächst. Junge weibliche Tiere verbleiben später in der Herde, die jungen männlichen verlassen diese.

 

Die wissenschaftliche Erstbeschreibung des Afrikanischen Elefanten erfolgte im Jahr 1797 mit einer formalen artlichen Trennung des Afrikanischen vom Asiatischen Elefanten. Der heute gebräuchliche Gattungsname Loxodonta wurde offiziell erst dreißig Jahre später eingeführt. Die Bezeichnung bezieht sich auf markante Zahnunterschiede zwischen den asiatischen und den afrikanischen Elefanten. Im Verlauf des 20. Jahrhunderts wurden mehrere Unterarten unterschieden, darunter auch der Waldelefant des zentralen Afrikas. Letzterer gilt heute genetischen Untersuchungen zufolge als eigenständige Art, die weiteren Unterarten sind nicht anerkannt. Stammesgeschichtlich lässt sich der Afrikanische Elefant erstmals im beginnenden Mittleren Pleistozän belegen. Der Gesamtbestand gilt als gefährdet. Ursachen hierfür sind hauptsächlich die Jagd nach Elfenbein und Lebensraumverlust durch die zunehmend wachsende menschliche Bevölkerung. Der Afrikanische Elefant zählt zu den sogenannten „Big Five“ von Großwildjagd und Safari.

 

(Wikipedia)

French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 256. Photo: Warner Bros.

 

American actress Eleanor Parker (1922-2013) appeared in some 80 films and television series. She was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951) and Interrupted Melody (1955). Her role in Caged also won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. One of her most memorable roles was that of the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965). Her biographer Doug McClelland called her ‘Woman of a Thousand Faces’, because of her versatility.

 

Eleanor Jean Parker was born in 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio. She was the daughter of Lola (Isett) and Lester Day Parker. Her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School. She appeared in a number of school plays. When she was 15 she started to attend the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. After graduation, she moved to California and began appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse. There she was spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin. The studio signed her to a long-term contract in June 1941. She was cast that year in They Died with Their Boots On (Raoul Walsh, 1941), but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in the short Soldiers in White (B. Reeves Eason, 1942). She was given some decent roles in B films, Busses Roar (D. Ross Lederman, 1942) and The Mysterious Doctor (Benjamin Stoloff, 1943) opposites John Loder. She also had a small role in one of Warner Brothers' biggest productions for the 1943 season, the pro-Soviet Mission to Moscow (Michael Curtiz, 1943) as Emlen Davies, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R (Walter Huston). On the set, she met her first husband, Navy Lieutenant. Fred L. Losse, but the marriage turned out to be a brief wartime affair. Parker had impressed Warners enough to offer her a strong role in a prestige production, Between Two Worlds (Edward A. Blatt, 1944), playing the suicidal wife of Paul Henreid's character. She played support roles for Crime by Night (William Clemens, 1944) and The Last Ride (D. Ross Lederman, 1944). Then she got the starring role opposite Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You (Delmer Daves, 1944). She was considered enough of a ‘name’ to be given a cameo in Hollywood Canteen (Delmer Daves, 1944). Warners gave her the choice role of Mildred Rogers in a new version of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (Edmund Goulding, 1946), but previews were not favourable and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released. She had her big break when she was cast opposite John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (Delmer Daves, 1945). However, two films with Errol Flynn that followed, the romantic comedy Never Say Goodbye (James V. Kern, 1946) and the drama Escape Me Never (Peter Godfrey, 1947), were box office disappointments. Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing parts in films – in Stallion Road (James V. Kern, 1947), where she was replaced by Alexis Smith and Love and Learn (Frederick De Cordova, 1947). She made the comedy Voice of the Turtle (Irving Rapper, 1947) with Ronald Reagan, and the mystery The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948). She refused to appear in Somewhere in the City (Vincent Sherman, 1950) so Warners suspended her again; Virginia Mayo played the role. Parker then had two years off, during which time she married and had a baby. She turned down a role in The Hasty Heart (Vincent Sherman, 1949) which she wanted to do, but it would have meant going to England and she did not want to leave her baby alone during its first year.

 

Eleanor Parker returned in Chain Lightning (Stuart Heisler, 1950) with Humphrey Bogart. Parker heard about a women-in-prison film Warners were making, Caged (John Cromwell, 1950), and actively lobbied for the role. She got it, won the 1950 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. She also had a good role in the melodrama Three Secrets (Robert Wise, 1950). In February 1950, Parker left Warner Bros. after having been under contract there for eight years. Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. apparently had no intention of making it. Because of this misunderstanding, her agents negotiated her release. Parker's career outside of Warners started badly with Valentino (Lewis Allen, 1951) playing a fictionalised wife of Rudolph Valentino for producer Edward Small. She tried a comedy at 20th Century Fox with Fred MacMurray, A Millionaire for Christy (George Marshall, 1951). In 1951, Parker signed a contract with Paramount for one film a year, with an option for outside films. This arrangement began brilliantly with Detective Story (William Wyler, 1951) playing Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't understand the position of her unstable detective husband (Kirk Douglas). Parker was nominated for the Oscar in 1951 for her performance. Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (George Sidney, 1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner. Wikipedia: “Parker later claimed that Granger was the only person she didn't get along with during her entire career. However, they had good chemistry and the film was a massive hit. “MGM cast her into Above and Beyond (Melvin Frank, Norman Panama, 1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a solid hit. While Parker was making a third film for MGM, Escape from Fort Bravo (John Sturges, 1953), she signed a five-year contract with the studio. She was named as star of a Sidney Sheldon script, My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin directed by George Cukor, but neither film was made. Back at Paramount, Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1900s mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle (Byron Haskin, 1954), produced by George Pal. Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in an Egyptian adventure film, Valley of the Kings (Robert Pirosh, 1954), and a Western, Many Rivers to Cross (Roy Rowland, 1955). MGM gave her one of her best roles as opera singer Marjorie Lawrence struck down by polio in Interrupted Melody (Curtis Bernhardt, 1955). This was a big hit and earned Parker a third Oscar nomination; she later said it was her favourite film. Also in 1955, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955), released through United Artists. She played Zosh, the supposedly wheelchair-bound wife of heroin-addicted, would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra). It was a major commercial and critical success. In 1956, she co-starred with Clark Gable in the Western comedy The King and Four Queens (Raoul Walsh, 1956), also for United Artists. It was then back at MGM for two dramas: Lizzie (Hugo Haas, 1957), in the title role, as a woman with a split personality; and The Seventh Sin (Ronald Neame, 1957), a remake of The Painted Veil in the role originated by Greta Garbo and, once again, intended for Ava Gardner. Both films flopped at the box office and, as a result, Parker's plans to produce her own film, L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not materialise.

 

Eleanor Parker supported Frank Sinatra in a popular comedy, A Hole in the Head (Frank Capra, 1959). She returned to MGM for Home from the Hill (Vincente Minnelli, 1960), co-starring with Robert Mitchum, then took over Lana Turner's role of Constance Rossi in Return to Peyton Place (José Ferrer, 1961), the sequel to the hit 1957 film. That was made by 20th Century Fox who also produced Madison Avenue (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1961) with Parker. In 1960, she made her TV debut, and in the following years, she worked increasingly in television, with the occasional film role such as Panic Button (George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo, 1964) with Maurice Chevalier and Jayne Mansfield. Parker's best-known screen role is Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965). The Baroness was famously and poignantly unsuccessful in keeping the affections of Captain Georg von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) after he falls in love with Maria (Julie Andrews). In 1966, Parker played an alcoholic widow in the crime drama Warning Shot (Buzz Kulik, 1967), a talent scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar (Russell Rouse, 1966), and a rich alcoholic in An American Dream (Robert Gist, 1966). However, her film career seemed to go downhill. A Playboy Magazine reviewer derided the cast of The Oscar as "has-beens and never-will-be". From the late 1960s, she focused on television. In 1963, Parker appeared in the medical TV drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour in the episode Why Am I Grown So Cold?, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also appeared in episodes of Breaking Point (1964). And The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1968). In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award. Parker also appeared on stage in the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve. In 1976, she played Maxine in a revival of The Night of the Iguana. Her last film role was in a Farrah Fawcett bomb, Sunburn (Richard C. Sarafian, 1979). Subsequently, she appeared very infrequently on TV, most recently in Dead on the Money (Mark Cullingham, 1991). Eleanor Parker was married four times. Her first husband was Fred Losee (1943-1944). Her second marriage to Bert E. Friedlob (1946-1953) produced three children Susan Eleanor Friedlob (1948), Sharon Anne Friedlob (1950), and Richard Parker Friedlob (1952). Her third marriage was to American portrait painter Paul Clemens, (1954-1965) and the couple had one child, actor Paul Clemens (1958). Her fourth marriage with Raymond N. Hirsch (1966-2001) ended when Hirsch died of oesophagal cancer. She was the grandmother of actor/director Chasen Parker. Eleanor Parker died in 2013 at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California of complications of pneumonia. She was 91. Parker was raised a Protestant and later converted to Judaism, telling the New York Daily News columnist Kay Gardella in August 1969, "I think we're all Jews at heart ... I wanted to convert for a long time."

 

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

(Aka the modern legacy)

 

models: Karl & Juan

 

Here is an extract of my work: vanishing gods.

 

It's a representation of the conflict between the old generation destroying the legacy of their children.

 

I also try to explain our lack of spirituality, through the decadence of our own representation of divinities or gods. These one we have created.

These pictures are about the great misunderstanding between religion and spirituality.

Less Gods and more Spirit.

 

www.modelmayhem.com/theanticstaatsoper

 

theanticstaatsoper.tumblr.com/

====A Safehouse====

 

Booster- Wally! You're not dead! That's a relief! Don't suppose you can talk to the League, tell 'em to back off? For your pal Booster?

 

Thawne- Hmm. Perhaps, if you do something for me...

 

*Impressions weren't his forte, or at least, hadn't been for a while. Thawne had distant memories of a time he masqueraded as Barry Allen, but they were jumbled, distorted- an all too familiar consequence of his timeline meddling. Thank God, then, they were not only gullible, but very, very drunk*

 

Booster- Yeah... I'm sure that's manageable, like, what do you-

 

*The business like tone surfaces again. All the time he's been there, Thawne has been focused on one thing-*

 

Thawne- Your time courier. That'll do.

 

*Booster stops, laughs briefly, glancing at Ted, before holding up his wrist to Thawne*

 

Booster- *This* old thing? Because I should warn you, it hasn't worked in a really long-

 

*Flash. Thawne tinkers with it, while Ted and Booster exchange looks*

 

Ted- How did he-?

 

Booster- Eh, Speed stuff, man.

 

Thawne- I'm sure it'll suffice.

 

Booster- Right oh, just don't do anything crazy like y'know, save your family, stop Sanctuary, because heh, that's crazy.

 

Thawne- Crazy. Yeah. Thanks... pal.

 

*Thawne walks to the door. Slowly. Normally he'd run, but Wally was a people person. He couldn't be seen as impersonal now, could he?*

 

Ted- Just one last thing-

 

Thawne- Oh, I have to be going.

 

Ted- How gullible do you think we are?

 

*Thawne groans and turns back to the duo, both are armed. Irritated, he yells out sarcastically*

 

Thawne- Oh, please...

 

Ted- Let's get one thing straight, we're drunk, but we're not *that* drunk!

 

Booster- As in, we know that's just a cosplay you've got on... Zolomon.

 

Thawne- Heh. It's Thawne actually.

 

...

 

Booster- Oh, I thought Zoom is Wally's-

 

Thawne- I'm a *Reverse* Flash, it doesn't matter who holds the mantle.

 

Booster- Yeah, we just- well, I thought there was some exclusivity

 

Ted- Seems like there would be.

 

Thawne- Heh. Well, you know

 

*His eyes crackle with lightning*

 

Booster- I'm thinking we should've just let him go...

=====

 

* So his dad shot him. That was new, Simon thought. The bullet went through his armour, but that wasn't what really stung. It was a mistake coming here, but admitting that was admitted Thawne was right, and well, the thought sickened him. A cough awakened him from his blood loss ramblings- Emi's. No matter his own pain, she had to come first, he had to believe that if someone remembered him, surely she would*

 

Simon- Hey.

 

*She stirs, confused for a minute. Then punches him in the face*

 

Emi- Who are you?

 

Simon- It's me, I-

 

Emi- How did you know my name?!

 

Simon- Because... because I know you!

 

...

 

Emi- So, you're a stalker?

 

Simon- Wait, what? No! Emi, please tell me you remember me!

 

Emi- I know you got me shot and exposed my identity, so that's two reasons to put an arrow in-

Simon- Please, just calm down.

 

???- Step away from her.

 

*It's her brother. And he doesn't look too happy that she's clutching her arm, nor that some stranger is currently shaking her by the shoulders*

 

Simon- This is a misunderstanding, if you-

 

Ollie- I said-

 

*It happened again, as though someone has taken control of him, Simon grabbed his gun, and sent Green Arrow flying into a stack of wooden boxes*

 

Emi- Ollie!

 

Simon- I didn't- I wouldn't- I... it was on stun, I swear.

 

*Or at least, Simon hoped. What was happening to him?*

 

Simon- We have to go.

 

Emi- I'm not going-

 

*Simon activates the lowest setting on his gun, just enough to stun her, not enough for any lasting pain*

 

Simon- Sorry.

 

====

*Walker feels his windpipe is about to burst. Behind his mask, their eyes are locked. Carson's looking demented, almost possesed*

 

Carson- Good to see you again Drury. I'd say I'd prefer it if it were under different circumstances, but...

 

*He chuckles*

 

Carson- That'd be a bone faced lie.

 

Drury- You're such a dick.

 

Carson- You would know. Tell me, how's Miranda?

 

*Walker's mind is racing, thinking of a million ways to skin, gut and shoot him, thinking he could mention her. He claws at him mid air, screaming angrily*

 

Drury- Don't say her name, don't you fucking dare!

 

Carson- Dare? Dare?! Yes, I dare! Miranda, Miranda, Miranda, the woman you killed! What exactly are you going to do?

 

*Airborne, Carson drops his confused, seething, nemesis to the ground bellow, making sure he hits every piece of scaffolding on the way down. Drury takes a breath of air, coughing blood as he does so. A thud to his right, and he knows Carson's landed. And that's when Drury feels the splintered glass in his leg. The vial has smashed*

 

Drury- No no no no no no... What- what the *hell* do you want from-? Do you know what you've-?!

 

Carson- Ssshhhh, don't speak, don't spoil the moment. I don't want anything from you. Not *you* at least. Alternate realities, it's a bitch, I'm sure

 

Drury- Cut the bullshit.

 

Carson- Oh, but, nah, you wouldn't believe me. If you did this wouldn't be half as sweet!

 

*He plunges the knife into Walkers leg. He rolls over, trying to force him off him to no avail. A kick to the face, a punch to the ribs, and Drury crashes back down broken.

Carson looks down at him, kneeling on his broken ribcage, then removes his helmet, and licks the blood off his fingers*

 

Carson- Let's do this proper.

 

Drury- Do what-?

 

*A punch, a kick, more blood*

 

Carson- You really do have a lot of questions don't you? Now, let's see what we're working with-

 

Drury- Get your hands off-

 

*A punch. A kick. More blood. The mask's off, but Drury immediately goes to cover his face.*

 

Carson- No. No. Let's see.

 

Drury- No! No-!

 

*As Carson pries his hands away, Drury scratches him. Hard. Unhindered, Carson holds him up to a nearby lamppost and giggles*

 

Carson- You beauty...

 

Bridget- Dad!

 

*Carson stops mid monologue, and turns his bloodied face around to face his daughter. Stopped in her tracks by the sight in front of her, she backs away*

 

Carson- Bridget, I was just-

 

Bridget- What... Why are you-?

 

Carson- Bridget, I can explain, you see-

 

Bridget- We don't need him!

 

Carson- But, you see-

 

Bridget- Just stop, Dad! Stop!

 

*Like a spell is broken, Carson looks down at Drury, shocked.*

 

Carson- Walker-?

 

Drury- Yeah. Yeah, me. Well done *cough* you just killed us all.

 

*Now Carson steps back, confused, a thousand voices are yelling at him- coward, failure, dick, and he falls to his knees*

 

Carson- Kitten, I- what'd I do?

 

Bridget- I... Don't know dad*

 

*She was lying, but she had to, she finally had her dad back, and she couldn't let these episodes spoil that. Carson smiles, it's fake, and they both know it, but he still collapses into her arms, and she still catches him*

 

Carson- I don't know... I don't...

 

*One blast knocks him down, another Bridget. Simon runs towards Drury, carrying Emiko*

 

Drury- Oh, look, it's-

 

Simon- -have to go, they won't be down long, move it-

 

*The boom tube opens, and the three crash back down in the lair, at the feet of-*

 

Thawne- Well look at that Simon, you made yourself some friends. So did I.

 

==The Gotham Royal Hotel==

 

The West Balcony: Floor 22

 

Before either had had a chance to recover from their earlier misunderstanding, Gar and Jenna were joined on the balcony by David Franco, who took little notice of either of them whilst he concluded his phone call. Accompanying him, was Ramsey Rosso, the same bodyguard who had rudely intruded upon the pair's reunion earlier that night.

 

"Very good, Henry," Franco spoke into his phone. "Wait for me at the rendezvous." He cleared his throat, and tapped Jenna on the shoulder. "That was Henry, Jelly Bean. We should go." His previously smug smile faltered, when he finally noticed Lynns beside her.

 

'Jelly Bean?' Gar looked over at Jenna, catching her face turning ever so slightly red in embarrassment.

 

'Who's Henry? Another boyfriend?' Sharpe said to himself, still listening in on them through the comms.

 

"Who's Henry? Another boyfriend?" Gar repeated without thinking.

 

The muffled sound of Sharpe face-palming could be heard from the other side of the earpiece.

 

"Gar!" Jenna scowled reproachfully.

 

"Sorry," he spluttered. "Bad joke. I'm, uh, not very good at them.

 

"Apparently not," Franco glared at him suspiciously. "Jelly Bean?" he repeated impatiently. "Something I should know about?"

 

Jenna shook her head, her anger rising. "He was just sharing work notes, Davey. God! I'll be there in a sec."

 

"Jelly Bean-" he began.

 

"Don't call me Jelly Bean."

 

"Fine." Clearly irritated, Franco held his hands up in the air in defeat, and sauntered off.

 

'Smooth,' Sharpe whistled

 

Lobby: Ground Floor

 

They'd been sitting there for two hours now: Kuttler, was sat by the monitors, Mayo, was finishing off his third Big Belly Burger. So far, nothing. No loud noises, no booby traps, no intruders; just the drunk chattering of party guests on the security cameras, the smacking of Mayo's lips and the clacking of Kuttler's slender fingers on the nearby keyboard.

Bored, and still rather peckish, Mayo rolled his chair over to Kuttler's side, and let out a long yawn. "Still nothing?" he asked.

 

"The entire building is monitored by this security room. If there's a breach in protocol, we'll know," Kuttler said calmly.

 

"Kay, cool," Mayo nodded unsurely. "But, say... Mr Polka Dot's with them," he pointed out. "Couldn't he just... Portal them in?"

 

"The insulin that I spiked him with should keep him incapacitated for a few days, but in the event that it doesn't, we have a contingency. Here, screw this in," Kuttler instructed Mayo. 'Ah, it'll do,' he thought, as he added the finishing touches to the small device.

 

"You see," he elaborated, "The dots he peels from his costume are one thing, simple nanotechnology: The fireballs, the buzzsaws, the explosives... The ones he summons seemingly from thin air, are another matter entirely: rifts in the skin of reality which he harnesses from that infernal belt of his. Which is why I've cobbled together this old thing:" he stated, presenting Mayo with the finished device: a lightweight, black and grey square of some kind. "Be careful with it, it's not a toy. It's a dimensional neutraliser."

 

"Bit small isn't it? You really think that'll stop him?" Mayo asked, his scruffy mono-brow furrowing.

 

"It had better," Kuttler began, hastily changing his attitude upon registering the concern on Mayo's face. "I- Theoretically, yes. I tried out a prototype on The Folded Man some years ago. Imploded the poor man... Luthor, had wanted a contingency in-place in the event that Swift, Shade, ever betrayed us... Didn't quite pan out, these things never do...

This new one is non-lethal, per your friend Brown's specifications. It should simply sever the connection between him and the dimensions he harnesses his portals from. The only problem is, it needs to be directly applied to his costume for the signal to work, which is no small feat. I, am diabetic, and you... really should have diabetes too," he added, casting his eye towards the stack of fast food wrappers.

 

Mayo kicked the floor glumly. "That's not really fair... I exercise! Sometimes."

 

"Uhuh." Unmoved by his hurt feelings and feeble protests, Kuttler's attention was drawn elsewhere, as a faint sound pierced the air, like the whistle of the wind on a cold winter morning. "No, it's too soon..." he said under his breath. "Mayo," he whispered to his charge. "You need to get this device to Flannegan. He'll know what to do," he stated, placing the small device into the palm of Mayo's hand.

 

"Got it," Mayo replied dutifully, tucking it inside one of his mismatched socks. "But what about you-?"

 

"I'll manage," Kuttler stated, as he opened a drawer beneath his desk, retrieved a syringe and a small torch, and strutted off into the direction of the noise. As he loaded the syringe with insulin, his hand was intercepted by a bony arm.

 

"Uh uh," a voice responded. "You're not taking me out the same way twice.

 

"How the hell did you get in here?" Kuttler asked.

 

"I cycled. How the fuck do you think? I Portaled in. Jesus, and you're meant to be the smart one," the intruder answered with a curled lip, almost offended by the question

 

"Ah, Krill," Kuttler spoke, pointing his torch at the intruder's face with his free hand. "You're looking well. For someone recovering from an insulin overdose."

 

The torchlight glinted off the plastic feeding tube around Krill's nose, and he winked back unabashedly. "Oh, all better now, thank you," he gestured with his right hand, tightening his grip on Kuttler's wrist with his left. "I ate a dozen Knickerbocker Glories and a New York cheesecake on the way over here. You would not believe the amount of traffic there is on my commute."

 

"I agree. I wouldn't," Kuttler remarked.

 

Distracted, Krill turned to Mayo's abandoned soda, dabbed the straw, and took an obnoxious slurp of the liquid. "So, Pointless," he slurped, taking a note of the discarded food wrappers, "Who else is here?"

 

"Whatever do you mean?" Kuttler asked aerily.

 

Seeing through the lie, Krill snapped impatiently. "Now, don't play coy, you diabetic doughboy. No way you ate all this by yourself."

 

"Must've been the hotel staff," he said blankly.

 

Impatient, Krill shoved him aside, and marched into the main annex. Kuttler, breathed a sigh of relief: Mayo, was nowhere to be seen. 'He's quicker than I expected,' he thought privately.

 

Still unconvinced, Krill slapped Kuttler across the face. "If it was the hotel staff's, then how come the soda's still cold, you prick? How come the ice ain't melted?" he spat.

 

'Abner, what's taking so long?' a voice called into Krill's headset, and the Polka Dot Man reluctantly turned his attention away from the fast food investigation.

 

"Had a run in with one of your boys that's all," he relaxed.

 

'Charlie?' the voice asked excitedly.

 

"Nah: Kuttler, the science nerd. The one I was telling you about."

 

'Is he going to be a problem?'

 

Krill smirked as he looked down at Kuttler's stirring body. "Shouldn't think so, no," he replied, as he swung his leg back, and kicked him in the stomach.

 

~-~

 

"Boss, the passcodes worked, looks like Krill's contact was true to his word," a henchman spoke. "The building is ours."

 

"There's a surprise..." Day muttered, as he knelt down beside Kuttler's bloodied figure. "Is he alive?" he inquired.

 

"Yeah, yeah. I know you have a fetish for these clowns," Krill replied.

 

Day tutted disapprovingly. "You shouldn't have attacked him."

 

"He shouldn't have stuck a syringe of insulin in my neck. Lousy git anyhow: all the charm and warmth of a weekday Wetherspoons. What do you want me to do with 'im?"

 

A thin smile broke across Day's face. "Bring him upstairs. It's high time we introduced ourselves."

 

North Corridor. Floor 22

 

Drury put his finger to his temple, and frowned. "That's weird," he noted.

 

"What?" Gaige asked grumpily.

 

"Getting some kind of interference from the lobby..." Drury addressed Gaige, before returning to his earpiece. "Ballroom team, this is Drury: We've lost contact with Kuttler. Mayo too. I repeat; the lobby team has been compromised. Make your way over to the east hallway, and we'll work out a plan."

 

"What about the guests?" Chuck asked. "Shouldn't we notify them-?"

 

"Not Jules' target," Drury assured him. "Just you lot head on over to the east hall. I'll be there shortly."

 

The Ballroom: Floor 22

 

Mid conversation with Manga Khan, Rigger replied "Copy that."

 

Now with an excuse to escape the mug-based conversation that had, by his estimate, been going on for about half an hour, he looked over towards the emergency exit sign, and started to move towards it. "Ok, that's really interesting," he said agitatedly, barely listening to Manga's lecture.

 

"See, it is interesting. People think mugs are simple, and they are, but there's so much more to it!" the golden man cackled enthusiastically.

 

"I tell you what," Rigger said, cutting Manga off, and handing him a small business card. "Here, is my work number. Call that whenever, and we can talk more about those mugs of yours, eh, bud?"

 

As Rigger walked to the door, his phone started to buzz, and as he glanced over his shoulder, sure enough there was Manga, holding the phone to his ear expectantly.

 

"Well, um, well not now obviously," Rigger stammered into the receiver.

 

Sionis Penthouse: Floor 48

 

"Penthouse team, how can we help?" Reardon asked.

 

"You can start by getting Sionis somewhere safe," Drury's voice responded. "Is there someplace he can lay low? A place Day wouldn't know about?"

 

"Wouldn't be much of a mob boss if there wasn't... There's a series of old service tunnels below the building. They come out beneath the south Steel Mill. Reinforced steel, would've survived the quake," Sionis spoke.

 

"Can you get to it from there?" Drury inquired.

 

"Sure. There's an opening on the thirteenth floor... the architects were superstitious like that."

 

"Go," Drury advised.

 

North Corridor: Floor 22

 

Tilting his head back to Gaige, Drury smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that; duty calls," he stated, hesitating slightly. "We can talk more later, but just- Look," he paused. If you're planning to start a gang war here, tonight, I really need to know," he pleaded.

 

"Oh, like you were planning on telling me about Day?" Gaige rolled his eyes. "God, you are a self important ass sometimes..."

 

"It's part of my charm," Drury joked.

 

"No, it's pretty fucking tedious actually."

 

"Just, listen, the Misfits... they're a family to me. Always have been. And, well, right now, they need me. If their safety, is in any way jeopardised because of some revenge scheme, then-"

 

"No. No, they aren't," Gaige stated, cutting him off. "You have a family," he reminded him. "Three kids that, right now, need their father far more than the Dice Boy or the Hang-Glider ever have. It's time you remembered that. Those weirdos, those friends of yours? They're grown men. Strange, yes. Degenerates, abso-fucking-lutely. But grown men all the same."

 

Drury paused. "Four kids," he corrected Gaige.

 

"Squealy girl, emo boy and the pre-schooler. Who am I missing?"

 

"Simon. Lightning Bug?"

 

"Ah, the Superhero," Gaige said disdainfully. "See that's what happens when you don't have a father figure in your life... What goes around comes around, I guess," he added regrettably. "Take you, for example, stuck in some pointless war with Ted Carson, who's that for? It's not for your kids. It's not for your Misfits, so don't give me that bullshit; Even if those weirdos were dependant on you, and they're not, it's not their fight. It's not their war. It's yours-"

 

"Now, you wait a second, I didn't want this-! Any of this!" Drury argued.

 

"-And for a long time now, you've been treading water, doing the same old crap, in a bitter bloody cycle: You trap him: he escapes, you kill him: he's resurrected- doesn't matter, either way he's back, so he seeks revenge... you have a dick measuring contest...then once you're bored, you kill him again- or bring in someone else who can-"

 

"That's not fair! Carson struck first. He ran over Gar, he got the cops on my tail, he tried to murder me at Gotham General. If I'd left the Misfits alone, there's no telling what he'd have done. They're safer by my side!"

 

"Hah. That's not strictly true, is it?" Gaige growled. "I'm sure it was fun, at first. That little Tom and Jerry routine of yours. But then, his daughter got involved: then it was a problem. Cause now- Daddy's out of the picture, and it doesn't look like he's coming back.

And she's young, and grief stricken, so she uses her inheritance, a little from her dad, a little from her mom and her creepy uncle, and she backs the Society.

So what do you do? You go to the League of fucking Assassins, and you ask them for help. So don't- Don't tell me that I wasn't there, that I don't understand your, uh, family feud, cause I do. My daughter died for it, and the Misfits will die for it until you learn to let them, and this fucking war of yours, go. Break the fucking cycle."

 

Drury stared into Gaige's eyes, the same eyes he'd kept hidden behind a scarf or diving helmet since before they'd met, and he swallowed. "Yes, sir," he said coldly, as he walked down the hallway. Passing him on his way out, was David Franco, looking slightly disheveled, and his ever-present bodyguard. Composing himself, the White Mask approached Gaige and smiled his usual insincere smile.

 

"Physician, it's time," he celebrated with an unwelcome hug. "Oh; bee-tee-dubs, I caught what you said to that moth loser; some of it, that is. Fucking wild man. Well said, just wish I'd had my phone on me-" ​

 

Very suddenly, Gaige grabbed Franco by his collar and flung him against the concrete wall. "That 'moth loser' is the Demon Slayer. Show him some fucking respect."

 

As Franco attempted to wriggle free of Gaige's iron grip, Rosso moved in to intervene, as large black veins rose to the surface of his skin.

 

"Not... Now... Ramsay..." Franco gasped, as his skin flushed a deep red.

 

"You three, stop!" a fourth man interrupted them.

 

Gaige dropped Franco to the ground, as he turned around.

 

A group of armed henchmen had blindsided the trio, their machine guns aimed at their chests. "You're coming with us," the leader of the group announced.

 

Gaige's eyes narrowed, as he examined each of the thugs in turn. "Is that a bobble hat, son?" he raised an amused eyebrow.

 

==Bathroom: Floor 22==

 

"Sir is a big boy now, Major, he can wash his hands aaaaaaalllll by himself," Dufus announced proudly.

 

"I ain't taking that chance," Booker replied agitatedly. "I've seen where you put those oversized sausage fingers when you think no one's looking. Eating boogers... Boogers! This! Was our chance to hit the big leagues!"

 

"You always say that, Maj," the Mighty Bruce replied tiredly.

 

"And, Bruce! I'm always right! I can't help it if an army of penguins or the JLI, or an unforeseen, overbearing night school teacher gets in our way sometimes."

 

"Every time."

 

Before he had time to think up a retort, Booker was interrupted by some kind of commotion outside. "What was that?" he wondered from a moment, then shrugged. "Meh, someone else can handle it."

 

The Ballroom: Floor 22

 

"Woo! Gotta give ol' Black Face this, he knows how to throw a party," Abner Krill declared loudly as Gaige, Franco and Rosso were escorted into the main ballroom, their hands raised above their heads in surrender. The other guests were all huddled together in the center of the room, kept at bay by more of The Calendar Man's armed henchmen.

Day himself, was stood on the stage, a large spherical drum positioned behind him. "Round up the stragglers," he murmured to his closest henchmen. "There's always one or two troublemakers... Lock down the elevators and bring anyone you find to the ballroom." The henchmen, unbeknownst to the crowd, were Joker goons, and each wore matching Christmas jumpers and hats, no doubt per Day's request. "Now, ladies, gentlemen, Misfits... would you all mind staying where you are. Please, draw your attention to the device behind me. Some of you, may have already recognised it, but for those of you not in the know-"

 

Kuttler, let out a strained cough as one of the henchmen dragged him to the front of the stage.

 

"Mr Kuttler," Day smiled. "Do you mind explaining to the crowd what this device is?"

 

"Screw you..." Kuttler spat.

 

"Come now, Noah. No need for that," Day responded. The closest thug, slammed Kuttler in the face with the butt of their gun. "Let's try that again," Day drawled.

 

"It's a dispersal device," Kuttler mumbled.

 

"Louder, please."

 

"It's a dispersal device. Loosely based on Stagg's Cloudburst, the device that the Society... my Society... used in it's attack on the city two years ago."

 

"That it is. Don't worry, it's harmless, empty, inactive: Just for show, a visual aide if you like. It's sister device, which is being planted somewhere in this building as we speak, is not. That, is armed with a chemical concoction that you may well be familiar with. Fearless."

 

In the crowd, Drury reached for his holstered cocoon gun and motioned to Chuck and Gar. 'Fearless,' he mouthed anxiously.

Chuck, put his hand against his breast pocket, reaching not for the holstered gun, but rather the small capsule of medication Kuttler had given him earlier that week. 'A last resort,' he reminded himself, privately dismissing what he considered to be a very dangerous train of thought. 'A last resort only.' He would not stoop to the same underhanded tactics that claimed his boy's life. He couldn't.

 

"But do not be alarmed," Day continued unimpeded. "Fearless is not a curse. It is my tool, my gift: a liberating baptism, to wash the doubt and anxiety from your minds."

 

At this, a robotic voice cleared his throat.

 

"Excuse me, good sir," Manga Khan interrupted. "Excuse me, but if it's a barter you want, a barter you'll get. I will gladly take your primitive little dispersal devices, and in return, you will be placed on the waitlist for my spring fashion line."

 

"What's that idiot doing?" Drury hissed at Rigger.

 

"Hell if I know," he replied.

 

"Well, he's going to get himself killed." Flannegan stated.

 

Day's brow furrowed, his usual cool demeanor shattered. "I don't- What is this? What-? Did someone- Did someone bring a robot here?" he asked Manga.

 

"That, is Lord Manga," Krill explained. "Think QVC in space. Do you still do those 'I'm with Stupid' shirts?" he asked.

 

Manga, gestured to his robotic aide. "That 'robot' is L-Ron, my servant, secretary and lackey, thank you very much. And yes, I do."

 

"I do wish you wouldn't call me that, M'Lord," the stubby robot at Lord Manga's side stated.

 

"What's wrong with 'secretary?' It's a vital and well respected position in any given organisat-"

 

With a toss of one of Krill's buzzsaw-like dots, Manga's head was sliced cleanly sliced off its' shoulders, as it clattered to the ground, its' body following soon after. A cloud of pink mist rose from the armour and floated out through the open window.

 

"I can always get the shirt off Amazon," Krill justified his decision.

 

Day nodded, shaken slightly by the encounter. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to leave you in the more than capable hands of my henchmen. I, have a grievance to air with your host. Abner!" he clicked his tongue.

 

"Minute. Want to see if they've got any of those mini eclairs."

 

With Day distracted, Drury and company tuned into their communication devices.

 

"Can anyone hear me? Mr Moth? It's Mayo. ​We're in something of a pickle here. Krill's here, took The Calculator, I think. Maybe."

 

"Gee, where were you ten

minutes ago..." Gar mumbled.

 

"Under a desk," Mayo said nonchalantly.

 

"Mitch, Mr Moth was dad's name. Call me, Drury, please," Drury reprimanded him.

 

"Forget about that, Dru. Mayo, you're free?" Chuck stammered.

 

"Yeah! Listen, I'll come to you!" he said confidently.

 

"No, wait, don't," Drury hissed.

 

...

 

"Please don't."

​

But the plea fell on deaf ears: For now, the fate of every man, woman and Misfit in the Gotham Royal rested in the greasy hands of the Condiment King.

Hello....after getting a better explanation of the change, I will be remaining on Flickr. (my apologies for my misunderstanding). Thank you all so much for your dear friendships, comments and faves.

 

We have some of our summer annual flowers now planted and hung on our porch. These Fuchsia's are hanging and we hope the humming birds will visit them soon.

Great Blue Herons are setting up their nests under the bluff in Tsawwassen. A few misunderstandings about who belongs where will ensue, making for entertaining viewing.

Little people, big world

Strawberry Fields Forever

 

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Numerous music critics consider it to be one of the group's best and most adventurous recordings. Among the breakthroughs it established in studio techniques of the time, for a single release, the track incorporates reverse-recorded instrumentation and tape loops, and was created from the editing together of two separate versions of the song – each one entirely different in tempo, mood and musical key. The song was later included on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP (although not on the British double EP package of the same name).

 

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is one of the defining works of the psychedelic rock genre and has been covered by many artists. The Beatles made a promotional film clip for the song that is similarly recognised for its influence in the medium of music video. The Strawberry Fields memorial in New York's Central Park is named after the song.

 

Lyrics

Let me take you down, cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

 

Living is easy with eyes closed

Misunderstanding all you see

It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out

It doesn't matter much to me

Let me take you down, cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

 

No one I think is in my tree

I mean it must be high or low

That is you can't you know tune in but it's all right

That is I think it's not too bad

Let me take you down, cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

 

Always, no sometimes, think it's me

But you know I know when it's a dream

I think I know I mean a "Yes" but it's all wrong

That is I think I disagree

Let me take you down, cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever

Strawberry Fields forever

Strawberry Fields forever

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UQK-UcRezE

  

O Mariang sakdal dilag dalagang lubhang mapalad

Sadyang pinili sa lahat nitong Haring mataas.

Itong bulaklak na aming alay ng aming pagsintang tunay

Palitan mo Birheng Mahal ng tuwa sa kalangitan.

 

La Virgen Amorosa, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Coronada

    

The Virgin of Remedies, my source of comfort and solace at times of uncertainty. I will never forget my experience with this Virgin 3 years ago. On the first quarter of 2008, my faith was put to the test because of some online misunderstanding with some people. This lead to some false accusations and the like. I always prayed to this Virgin so that she can grant me remedy like what She gave to the Capampangans during the 50s. She will grant you as she did to me.

 

Viva la Virgen de los Remedios de Pampanga!

 

Photo from the Official Page of the Cofradia de la Virgen de los Remedios, Patrona de la Pampanga

I received an email this morning from Art Wong, the Assistant Director of Communications/PIO for the Port of Long Beach with regards to the recent case of photographer harassment by the Long Beach Harbor Patrol that I blogged about yesterday. I will print his email response to my request for clarification from their department as to what authority myself and photographer David Sommars were told we were not allowed to shoot from a public sidewalk in the Long Beach Harbor last Friday night and then respond to his email.

 

Here is his email response in full:

 

"Generally, we've asked our Harbor Patrol officers to tell photographers that for safety and security reasons they should come to our Admin Building, and present identification. When they come to our offices, usually I or someone in our Communications Division talks to the photographer about where they may safely shoot from the public right of ways. Our concern is for the safety of the photographers, so that they're not run over by trucks. Also the security of the Port, especially in the years since 9/11, we tell photographers that they are only allowed in public areas. We need identification of the individuals and vehicles so we can keep track of who we've advised, and so we can communicate that info to our Harbor Patrol officers and the officers watching on our surveillance cameras. Commercial photographers, however, need a permit so our Harbor Patrol officers can secure the area in which they're working, so that traffic can be re-routed. In the Sunday night it seems that the officer thought you were trying to enter a private area and you were a commercial photographer. You, and other photographers, have a right a take pictures from public right-aways. But for your own safety, and for the security of the Port, we have asked our officers to be as vigilant as possible. If they were too zealous, please accept our apologies and contact me to arrange another visit."

 

My response:

 

This response from the Port of Long Beach is complete and utter BS.

 

David and I were nowhere near any private property whatsoever in fact when we were told to stop shooting by the Long Beach Harbor Patrol. The photo above is a clearer photo of the location we were at when we were confronted. We were clearly on a public sidewalk on an overpass -- nowhere even remotely close to any private property entrance. We were more than 100 yards away from accessing any private areas whatsoever. The photography I published of their Officer clearly shows both the officer and his patrol car on the same overpass from where we were shooting. Here is a link to the overpass where we were shooting from on a Google Map to get a better perspective that we were nowhere remotely close to a private area when this confrontation took place.

 

The fact that the Officer would suggest that he forced us to stop shooting because he "thought we were trying to enter a private area," is a bald faced lie. This Officer is a liar who is trying to justify his act of harassment in some way after the fact. I would encourage staff at the Port of Long Beach to examine the photograph of the Officer, the bridge above and the Google Map link. They should know the location where we were shooting and should also know that we were nowhere near any private areas whatsoever when this incident took place.

 

Secondly, the incident in question took place last Friday night, not Sunday night.

 

Finally, I think it is a huge stretch for the the Port of Long Beach to claim that the Officer who ejected us from the Port thought that we were "commercial" photographers. We were simply two guys with cameras who clearly explained to the officers that we were doing "art" photography. We were not impeding traffic in any way. We were not a professional film production crew. We were never told that we were being ejected because we were "commercial" photographers. We were no threat to ours or anyone elses personal safety. We were told we had to leave because we were not allowed to shoot the plant that we were shooting from a public sidewalk. This response is just even more CYA BS from the Port of Long Beach.

 

It is unfortunate that rather than take responsibility for their actions, apologize for violating our Constitutional rights, and offering to change how they enforce their anti-photography campaign, that they'd rather try to justify our eviction from public land that our taxes pay for and chalk it up to a "misunderstanding," on the part of their officers.

 

The response of course wouldn't be complete without at least one reference to 9/11 in it. This response from the Port of Long Beach is very, very disappointing.

If you think that this sort of response is unacceptable, please take a second and digg this story here.

   

Born in the City of London, 21 February, 1801, the eldest of six children, three boys and three girls; died at Edgbaston, Birmingham, 11 August, 1890.

 

His father was John Newman, a banker, his mother Jemima Fourdrinier, of a Huguenot family settled in London as engravers and paper-makers. His French pedigree is undoubted. It accounts for his religious training, a modified Calvinism, which he received at his mother's knees; and perhaps it helped towards the "lucid concision" of his phrase when dealing with abstruse subjects. His brother Francis William, also a writer, but wanting in literary charm, turned from the English Church to Deism; Charles Robert, the second son, was very erratic, and professed Atheism. One sister, Mary, died young; Jemima has a place in the cardinal's biography during the crisis of his Anglican career; and to a daughter of Harriet, Anne Mozley, we are indebted for his "Letters and Correspondence" down to 1845, which contains a sequel from his own hand to the "Apologia."

 

A classic from the day it was completed, the "Apologia" will ever be the chief authority for Newman's early thoughts, and for his judgment on the great religious revival known as the Oxford Movement, of which he was the guide, the philosopher, and the martyr. His immense correspondence, the larger portion of which still awaits publication, cannot essentially change our estimate of one who, though subtle to a degree bordering on refinement, was also impulsive and open with his friends, as well as bold in his confidences to the public. From all that is thus known of him we may infer that Newman's greatness consisted in the union of originality, amounting to genius of the first rank, with a deep spiritual temper, the whole manifesting itself in language of perfect poise and rhythm, in energy such as often has created sects or Churches, and in a personality no less winning than sensitive. Among the literary stars of his time Newman is distinguished by the pure Christian radiance that shines in his life and writings. He is the one Englishman of that era who upheld the ancient creed with a knowledge that only theologians possess, a Shakespearean force of style, and a fervour worthy of the saints. It is this unique combination that raises him above lay preachers de vanitate mundi like Thackeray, and which gives him a place apart from Tennyson and Browning. In comparison with him Keble is a light of the sixth magnitude, Pusey but a devout professor, Liddon a less eloquent Lacordaire. Newman occupies in the nineteenth century a position recalling that of Bishop Butler in the eighteenth. As Butler was the Christian champion against Deism, so Newman is the Catholic apologist in an epoch of Agnosticism, and amid the theories of evolution. He is, moreover, a poet, and his "Dream of Gerontius" far excels the meditative verse of modern singers by its happy shadowing forth in symbol and dramatic scenes of the world behind the veil.

 

He was brought up from a child to take great delight in reading the Bible; but he had no formed religious convictions until he was fifteen. He used to wish the Arabian tales were true; his mind ran on unknown influences; he thought life possibly a dream, himself an angel, and that his fellow-angels might be deceiving him with the semblance of a material world. He was "very superstitious" and would cross himself on going into the dark. At fifteen he underwent "conversion", though not quite as Evangelicals practise it; from works of the school of Calvin he gained definite dogmatic ideas; and as he rested "in the thought of two and two only absolute and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator." In other words, personality became the primal truth in his philosophy; not matter, law, reason, or the experience of the senses. Henceforth, Newman was a Christian mystic, and such he remained. From the writings of Thomas Scott of Aston Sandford, "to whom, humanly speaking", he says, "I almost owe my soul", he learned the doctrine of the Trinity, supporting each verse of the Athanasian Creed with texts from Scripture. Scott's aphorisms were constantly on his lips for years, "Holiness rather than peace", and "Growth is the only evidence of life." Law's "Serious Call" had on the youth a Catholic or ascetic influence; he was born to be a missionary; thought it was God's will that he should lead a single life; was enamoured of quotations from the Fathers given in Milner's "Church History", and, reading Newton on the Prophecies, felt convinced that the pope was Antichrist. He had been at school at Ealing near London from the age of seven. Always thoughtful, shy, and affectionate, he took no part in boys' games, began to exercise his pen early, read the Waverley Novels, imitated Gibbon and Johnson, matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, December, 1816, and in 1818 won a scholarship of 60 pounds tenable for nine years. In 1819 his father's bank suspended payment, but soon discharged its liabilities in full. Working too hard for his degree, Newman broke down, and gained in 1821 only third-class honors. But his powers could not be hidden. Oriel was then first in reputation and intellect among the Oxford Colleges, and of Oriel he was elected a fellow, 12 April, 1822. He ever felt this to be "the turning point in his life, and of all days most memorable."

 

In 1821 he had given up the intention of studying for the Bar, and resolved to take orders. As tutor of Oriel, he considered that he had a cure of souls; he was ordained on 13 June, 1824; and at Pusey's suggestion became curate of St. Clement's, Oxford, where he spent two years in parochial activity. And here the views in which he had been brought up disappointed him; Calvinism was not a key to the phenomena of human nature as they occur in the world. It would not work. He wrote articles on Cicero, etc., and his first "Essay on Miracles", which takes a strictly Protestant attitude, to the prejudice of those alleged outside Scripture. But he also fell under the influence of Whateley, afterwards Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, who, in 1825, made him his vice-principal at St. Mary's Hall. Whateley stimulated him by discussion, taught him the notion of Christianity as a social and sovereign organism distinct from the State, but led him in the direction of "liberal" ideas and nominalistic logic. To Whateley's once famous book on that subject Newman contributed. From Hawkins, whom his casting vote made Provost of Oriel, he gained the Catholic doctrines of tradition and baptismal regeneration, as well as a certain precision of terms which, long afterwards, gave rise to Kingsley's misunderstanding of Newman's methods in writing. By another Oxford clergyman he was taught to believe in the Apostolic succession. And Butler's "Analogy", read in 1823, made an era in his religious opinions. It is probably not too much to say that this deep and searching book became Newman's guide in life, and gave rise not only to the "Essay on Development" but to the "Grammar of Assent." In particular it offered a rejective account of ethics and conscience which confirmed his earliest beliefs in a lawgiver and judge intimately present to the soul. On another line it suggested the sacramental system, or the "Economy", of which the Alexandrians Clement and St. Athanasius are exponents. To sum up, at this formative period the sources whence Newman derived his principles as well as his doctrines were Anglican and Greek, not Roman or German. His Calvinism dropped away; in time he withdrew from the Bible Society. He was growing fiercely anti-Erastian; and Whateley saw the elements of a fresh party in the Church gathering round one whom Oriel had chosen for his intellectual promise, but whom Oxford was to know as a critic and antagonist of the "March of Mind."

 

His college in 1828 made him Vicar of St. Mary's (which was also the university church), and in its pulpit he delivered the "Parochial Sermons", without eloquence or gesture, for he had no popular gifts, but with a thrilling earnestness and a knowledge of human nature seldom equalled. When published, it was said of them that they "beat all other sermons out of the market as Scott's tales beat all other stories." They were not controversial; and there is little in them to which Catholic theology would object. Their chastened style, fertility of illustration, and short sharp energy, have lost nothing by age. In tone they are severe and often melancholy, as if the utterance of an isolated spirit. Though gracious and even tenderhearted, Newman's peculiar temper included deep reserve. He had not in his composition, as he says, a grain of conviviality. He was always the Oxford scholar, no democrat, suspicious of popular movements; but keenly interested in political studies as bearing on the fortunes of the Church. This disposition was intensified by his friendship with Keble, whose "Christian Year" came out in 1827, and with R. Hurrell Froude, a man of impetuous thought and self-denying practice. In 1832 he quarrelled with Dr. Hawkins, who would not endure the pastoral idea which Newman cherished of his college work. He resigned his tutorship, went on a long voyage round the Mediterranean with Froude, and came back to Oxford, where on 14 July, 1833, Keble preached the Assize sermon on "National Apostasy." That day, the anniversary of the French Revolution, gave birth to the Oxford Movement.

 

Newman's voyage to the coasts of North Africa, Italy, Western Greece, and Sicily (December, 1832-July, 1833) was a romantic episode, of which his diaries have preserved the incidents and the colour. In Rome he saw Wiseman at the English College; the city, as mother of religion to his native land, laid a spell on him never more to be undone. He felt called to some high mission; and when fever took him at Leonforte in Sicily (where he was wandering alone) he cried out, "I shall not die, I have not sinned against the light." But during the earlier stages of that journey it was not clear, even to the leader himself, in what direction they were moving — away from the Revolution, certainly. Reform was in the air; ten Irish bishoprics had been suppressed; disestablishment might not be far off. There was need of resistance to the enemies without, and of a second, but a Catholic, reformation within. The primitive Church must somehow be restored in England. He took his motto from the Iliad: "They shall know the difference now." Achilles went down into battle, fought for eight years, won victory upon victory, but was defeated by his own weapons when "Tract 90" appeared, and retired to his tent at Littlemore, a broken champion. Nevertheless, he had done a lasting work, greater than Laud's and likely to overthrow Cranmer's in the end. He had resuscitated the Fathers, brought into relief the sacramental system, paved the way for an astonishing revival of long-forgotten ritual, and given the clergy a hold upon thousands at the moment when Erastian principles were on the eve of triumph. "It was soon after 1830", says Pattison grimly, "that the Tracts desolated Oxford life." Newman's position was designated the Via Media. The English Church, he maintained, lay at an equal distance from Rome and Geneva. It was Catholic in origin and doctrine; it anathematized as heresies the peculiar tenets whether of Calvin or Luther; it could not but protest against "Roman corruptions", which were excrescences on primitive truth. Hence England stood by the Fathers, whose teaching the Prayer Book handed down; it appealed to antiquity, and its norm was the undivided Church.

 

Meanwhile, Oxford was shaken like Medicean Florence by a new Savonarola, who made disciples on every hand; who stirred up sleepy Conservatives when Hampden, a commonplace don, subjected Christian verities to the dissolving influence of Nominalism; and who multiplied books and lectures dealing with all religious parties at once. "The Prophetic Office" was a formal apology of the Laudian type; the obscure, but often beautiful "Treatise on Justification" made an effort "to show that there is little difference but what is verbal in the various views, found whether among Catholic or Protestant divines" on this subject. Döllinger called it "the greatest masterpiece in theology that England had produced in a hundred years", and it contains the true answer to Puritanism. The "University Sermons", profound as their theme, aimed at determining the powers and limits of reason, the methods of revelation, the possibilities of a real theology. Newman wrote so much that his hand almost failed him. Among a crowd of admirers only one perhaps, Hurrell Froude, could meet him in thought on fairly equal terms, and Froude passed away at Dartington in 1836. The pioneer went his road alone. He made a bad party-leader, being liable to sudden gusts and personal resolutions which ended in catastrophe. But from 1839, when he reigned at Oxford without a rival, he was already faltering. In his own language, he had seen a ghost; the shadow of Rome overclouding his Anglican compromise. Two names are associated with a change so momentous — Wiseman and Ward. The "Apologia" does full justice to Wiseman; it scarcely mentions Ward. Those who were looking on might have predicted a collision between the Tractarians and Protestant England, which had forgotten the Caroline divines. This came about on occasion of "Tract 90" — in itself the least interesting of all Newman's publications. The tract was intended to keep stragglers from Rome by distinguishing the corruptions against which the Thirty-Nine Articles were directed, from the doctrines of Trent which they did not assail. A furious and universal agitation broke out in consequence (Feb., 1841), Newman was denounced as a traitor, a Guy Fawkes at Oxford; the University intervened with academic maladroitness and called the tract "an evasion." Dr. Bagot, Bishop of Oxford, mildly censured it, but required that the tracts should cease. For three years condemnations from the bench of bishops were scattered broadcast. To a mind constituted like Newman's, imbued with Ignatian ideas of episcopacy, and unwilling to perceive that they did not avail in the English Establishment, this was an ex cathedra judgment against him. He stopped the tracts, resigned his editorship of "The British Critic", by and by gave up St. Mary's, and retired at Littlemore into lay communion. Nothing is clearer than that, if he had held on quietly, he would have won the day. "Tract 90" does not go so far as many Anglican attempts at reconciliation have gone since. The bishops did not dream of coercing him into submission. But he had lost faith in himself.

 

From 1841 Newman was on his death-bed as regarded the Anglican Church. He and some friends lived together at Littlemore in monastic seclusion, under a hard rule which did not improve his delicate health. In February, 1843, he retracted in a local newspaper his severe language towards Rome; in September he resigned his living. With immense labour he composed the "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine", in which the apparent variations of dogma, formerly objected by him against the Catholic Church, were explained on a theory of evolution, curiously anticipating on certain points the great work of Darwin. It has many most original passages, but remains a fragment. On 9 October, 1845, during a period of excited action at Oxford, Newman was received into the Church by Father Dominic, an Italian Passionist, three days after Renan had broken with Saint-Sulpice and Catholicism. The event, although long in prospect, irritated and distressed his countrymen, who did not forgive it until many years had gone by. Its importance was felt; its causes were not known. Hence an estrangement which only the exquisite candour of Newman's self-delineation in the "Apologia" could entirely heal.

His conversion divides a life of almost ninety years into equal parts — the first more dramatic and its perspective ascertained; the second as yet imperfectly told, but spent for a quarter of a century sub luce maligna, under suspicion from one side or another, his plans thwarted, his motives misconstrued. Called by Wiseman to Oscott, near Birmingham, in 1846, he proceeded in October to Rome, and was there ordained by Cardinal Fransoni. The pope approved of his scheme for establishing in England the Oratory of St. Philip Neri; in 1847 he came back, and, besides setting up the London house, took mission work in Birmingham. Thence he moved out to Edgbaston, where the community still resides. A large school was added in 1859. The spacious Renaissance church, consecrated in 1909, is a memorial of the forty years during which Newman made his home in that place. After his "Sermons to Mixed Congregations", which exceed in vigour and irony all other published by him, the Oratorian recluse did not strive to gain a footing in the capital of the Midlands. He always felt "paucorum hominum sum"; his charm was not for the multitude. As a Catholic he began enthusiastically. His "Lectures on Anglican Difficulties" were heard in London by large audiences; "Loss and Gain", though not much of a story, abounds in happy strokes and personal touches; "Callista" recalls his voyage in the Mediterranean by many delightful pages; the sermon at the Synod of Oscott entitled "The Second Spring" has a rare an delicate beauty. It is said that Macaulay knew it by heart. "When Newman made up his mind to join the Church of Rome", observes R. H. Hutton, "his genius bloomed out with a force and freedom such as it never displayed in the Anglican communion." And again, "In irony, in humour, in eloquence, in imaginative force, the writings of the later and, as we may call it, emancipated portion of his career far surpass the writings of his theological apprenticeship." But English Catholic literature also gained a persuasive voice and a classic dignity of which hitherto there had been no example.

 

During the interval between 1854 and 1860 Newman had passed from the convert's golden fervours into a state which resembled criticism of prevailing methods in church government and education. His friends included some of a type known to history as "Liberal Catholics." Of Montalembert and Lacordaire he wrote in 1864: "In their general line of thought and conduct I enthusiastically concur and consider them to be before their age." He speaks of "the unselfish aims, the thwarted projects, the unrequited toils, the grand and tender resignation of Lacordaire." That moving description might be applied to Newman himself. He was intent on the problems of the time and not alarmed at Darwin's "Origin of Species." He had been made aware by German scholars, like Acton, of the views entertained at Munich; and he was keenly sensitive to the difference between North and South in debatable questions of policy or discipline. He looked beyond the immediate future; in a lecture at Dublin on "A Form of Infidelity of the Day" he seems to have anticipated what is now termed "Modernism", condemning it as the ruin of dogma. It is distressing to imagine what Newman's horror would have been, had his intuition availed to tell him that, in little more than half a century, a "form of infidelity" so much like what he had predicted would claim him as its originator; on the other hand, he would surely have taken comfort, could he also have foreseen that the soundness of his faith was to be so vindicated as it has been by Bishop O'Dwyer, of Limerick, and above all, the vindication so approved and confirmed as it is in Pius X's letter of 10 March, 1908, to that bishop. In another lecture, on "Christianity and Scientific Investigation", he provides for a concordat which would spare the world a second case of Galileo. He held that Christian theology was a deductive science, but physics and the like were inductive; therefore collision between them need not, and in fact did not really occur. He resisted in principle the notion that historical evidence could do away with the necessity of faith as regarded creeds and definitions. He deprecated the intrusions of amateurs into divinity; but he was anxious that laymen should take their part in the movement of intellect. This led him to encourage J. M. Capes in founding the "Rambler", and H. Wilberforce in editing the "Weekly Register." But likewise it brought him face to face with a strong reaction from the earlier liberal policy of Pius IX. This new movement, powerful especially in France, was eagerly taken up by Ward and Manning, who now influenced Wiseman as he sank under a fatal disease. Their quarrel with J.H.N. (as he was familiarly called) did not break out in open war; but much embittered correspondence is left which proves that, while no point of faith divided the parties, their dissensions threw back English Catholic education for thirty years.

 

For twenty years Newman lay under imputations at Rome, which misconstrued his teaching and his character. This, which has been called the ostracism of a saintly genius, undoubtedly was due to his former friends, Ward and Manning. In February, 1878, Pius IX died; and, by a strange conjuncture, in that same month Newman returned to Oxford as Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, "dear to him from undergraduate days." The event provoked Catholics to emulation. Moreover, the new pope, Leo XIII, had also lived in exile from the Curia since 1846, and the Virgilian sentiment, "Haud ignara mali", would come home to him. The Duke of Norfolk and other English peers approached Cardinal Manning, who submitted their strong representation to the Holy See. Pope Leo, it is alleged, was already considering how he might distinguish the aged Oratorian. He intimated, accordingly, in February, 1879, his intention of bestowing on Newman the cardinal's hat. The message affected him to tears, and he exclaimed that the cloud was lifted from him forever. By singular ill-fortune, Manning understood certain delicate phrases in Newman's reply as declining the purple; he allowed that statement to appear in "The Times", much to everyone's confusion. However, the end was come. After a hazardous journey, and in broken health, Newman arrived in Rome. He was created Cardinal-Deacon of the Title of St. George, on 12 May, 1879. His biglietto speech, equal to the occasion in grace and wisdom, declared that he had been the life-long enemy of Liberalism, or "the doctrine that there is no truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another", and that Christianity is "but a sentiment and a taste, not an objective fact, not miraculous."

 

Hitherto, in modern times, no simple priest, without duties in the Roman Curia, had been raised to the Sacred College. Newman's elevation, hailed by the English nation and by Catholics everywhere with unexampled enthusiasm, was rightly compared to that of Bessarion after the Council of Florence. It broke down the wall of partition between Rome and England. To the many addresses which poured in upon him the cardinal replied with such point and felicity as often made his words gems of literature. He had revised all his writings, the last of which dealt somewhat tentatively with Scripture problems. Now his hand would serve him no more, but his mind kept its clearness always. In "The Dream of Gerontius" (1865), which had been nearly a lost masterpiece, he anticipated his dying hours, threw into concentrated, almost Dantean, verse and imagery his own beliefs as suggested by the Offices of Requiem, and looked forward to his final pilgrimage, "alone with the Alone." Death came with little suffering, on 11 August, 1890. His funeral was a great public event. He lies in the same grave with Ambrose St. John, whom he called his "life under God for thirty-two years." His device as cardinal, taken from St. Francis de Sales, was Cor ad cor loquitor (Heart speaketh to heart); it reveals the secret of his eloquence, unaffected, graceful, tender, and penetrating. On his epitaph we read: Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem (From shadows and symbols goes the truth); it is the doctrine of the Economy, which goes back to Plato's "Republic" and which passed thence by way of Christian Alexandria into the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, the poetry of the Florentine, and the schools of Oxford. John Henry Newman thus continues in modern literature the Catholic tradition of East and West, sealing it with a martyr's faith and suffering, steadfast in loyalty to the truth, while discerning with a prophet's vision the task of the future.