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Sometimes we choose to focus on a particular aspect of photography. “I do black and white” ... “I take photos of people”... “I’m into macro.” After all, photography covers a very broad territory. People like to carve out their niche, specialize in a particular type of photography, and hone their skills in that area, rather than become a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none. They want to develop their individual style and establish their unique identity within the vast territory of people doing photography. In some cases, people are purists about sticking to what they do. They’re sure their type of photography is the real thing.
We also slip into certain habits without even realizing it. Maybe you’re always shooting outdoors, or from a standing position, or using a high contrast method of post-processing. Usually they’re methods that produced good results in the past, so you keep using them. If it ain’t broke, then why fix it, right?
I’d like to suggest that these routine behaviors might limit our skills and visions as photographers, whether we’ve deliberately chosen these areas of focus, and especially if we’ve slipped into habitual patterns without even realizing it.
Stated simply, it’s good to try something new. Not many people are going to argue with that suggestion, unless they’re hardcore purists, stubbornly elitist, narrow-minded, or afraid to try something different for fear of failing.
The more important issue is this: how do you go about trying something different?
The first step is to identify your habits and style. It will be relatively easy to make a list of the subjects and methods that you’ve chosen consciously, deliberately. The harder task is pinpointing your routine behaviors that have developed without your realizing it. You might ask your colleagues for feedback. They often can see the habitual patterns in your work that you don’t. If you also look at the photography of other people, you’ll discover subjects and techniques that are very different than your own. Make a note of how their work is different than yours, even if you don’t like what you see.
Then you could start experimenting, in whatever way strikes you as interesting. Do something that’s different than what you typically do. If you’re using other people’s photos as a guide, you’ll be tempted to emulate the photos that you like. But don’t limit yourself that way. Also try to recreate the images that you didn’t fancy.
That last point is important, because it leads to the idea that I’d like to emphasize in this article: REVERSALS. When you identify a particular way that you’re doing photography, reverse it. If you always shoot color, try black and white. If you prefer portraits of people, start shooting non-human subjects. If all your photos maintain horizontal lines, try shooting with diagonal tilts.
There are interesting psychological as well as philosophical reasons why I’m suggesting reversals – reasons why it might be a better method than simply experimenting on a whim. Our mind operates based on polarities. We understand color because we know what black-and-white is. We recognize sharpness because we've seen blur. If you don't understand and appreciate one, it's hard to fully understand and appreciate the other.
The dynamic relationship between opposites runs deeper than these mechanisms of perception. Consciously, we dislike and avoid something, but on an unconscious level, there’s often something about it that entices us, or that we need, even though we might not think so. If you're always creating peaceful, soft-focus photos of nature, might there be something about sharp conflict situations that you need to understand and embrace? If you've always insisted on shooting black and white, what is it about color that you might be overlooking, that might benefit you? Eastern philosophies like Taoism, as well as some western psychological thinkers like Carl Jung, talk about how a healthy personality embraces the interaction and balancing of its internal opposing forces, like love and hate, strength and submission, happiness and sadness. We become stagnant, locked up, and limited in how we think, feel, and perceive when we repress one side of the dynamic polarity. Allowing ourselves to open up to the expression of opposing forces results in fresh insights and a wider field of view. Dialectical philosophy would describe it as challenging a premise with a counter-premise in order to arrive a higher truth that synthesizes the best insights of these opposing views.
So identify the ways you usually do photography, then try reversing them. You might reverse your shooting techniques, your post-processing methods, or your subject matter. Reverse one element at a time, or several at a time.
Figuring out a reversal can be a challenging and instructive process unto itself. For example, what’s the opposite of doing sports photography? Shooting people who are cooperating rather than competing, or perhaps people who are engaged in some quiet, relaxed, solitary activity? Often there will be more than one way to create a reversal. Try them all. If you usually use sepia tones, try different color tints, black-and-white, or full-spectrum color. If you like nature photography, try shooting buildings, machines, and people. By identifying different ways to reverse what you usually do, you will be exercising your artistic, technical, and conceptual muscles by activating the polarities of your photography mind.
Tackling the conceptual reversal will be particularly rewarding in understanding what your photography means to you. If you specialize in portraits of children, the obvious reversal would be shots of adults. But consider what “child” means to you. Youth, innocence, play, a need for love, protection, or nurturance? Reversing those ideas will enrich your understanding of why and how you do your usual type of photography.
As a result of your experimentations, you might decide to continue exploring these other styles of photography. Or you might not necessarily like the photos that emerge from your reversals. In fact, some people who know your photography won't like them, even if you do, because they expect certain types of images from you. Try not to let that discourage you from experimenting. If you do decide to go back to your familiar way of doing things, that’s OK. You nevertheless will learn from the reversal process. No longer a slave to your old habits, you will expand your range of seeing, shooting, processing, and understanding. You will find that you’re bringing new insights and skills that will enrich your old way of doing things. Allowing the polarities of your photography mind to engage each other will teach you not just about your work, but about yourself and why you’re a photographer.
* This image and essay are part of a book on Photographic Psychology that I’m writing within Flickr. Another more easy to navigate version of the book is located at this web site
This was for sale today on EBay.
Square and Compasses - This symbolic stone was removed from above the entrance to the Lambton Mills Masonic Temple erected by Mimico Lodge on the north side of Dundas Street in 1882.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest.”
The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with its traditional modes of recognition. It is not a secret society, since all members are free to acknowledge their membership and will do so in response to enquiries for respectable reasons. Its constitutions and rules are available to the public. There is no secret about any of its aims and principles. Like many other societies, it regards some of its internal affairs as private matters for its members. In history there have been times and places where promoting equality, freedom of thought or liberty of conscience was dangerous. Most importantly though is a question of perspective. Each aspect of the craft has a meaning. Freemasonry has been described as a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Such characteristics as virtue, honour and mercy, such virtues as temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice are empty clichés and hollow words unless presented within an ordered and closed framework. The lessons are not secret but the presentation is kept private to promote a clearer understanding in good time. It is also possible to view Masonic secrecy not as secrecy in and of itself, but rather as a symbol of privacy and discretion. By not revealing Masonic secrets, or acknowledging the many published exposures, freemasons demonstrate that they are men of discretion, worthy of confidences, and that they place a high value on their word and bond.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
Portrait workshop with Oliver Gietl and model Julia. This was really fun and instructive - a great recommendation! Cmp.:
www.model-kartei.de/sedcard/modell/19084/
We started out with only one light (a beauty dish) and one reflector and ended up with four lights and two reflectors and one fan.
Sestertius circa 65, Æ 25.41 g. NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P Laureate head r., with globe at point of bust. Rev. PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA IANVM CLVSIT S – C View of the temple of Janus, door to r., decorated with garland. C 146. BMC 319. RIC 438. CBN 73.
Struck on a full flan and with an exceptionally well-detailed reverse. A lovely
untouched green patina, good extremely fine
Ex Triton VI, 2003, 823 and Tkalec 2006, 134 sales. From the Luc Girard collection.
The Temple dedicated to Janus, the god of beginnings and endings, was one of Rome’s most ancient. The sources indicate it was a rather small temple consisting of two archways with doors that were joined by side-walls. Its location is not known perhaps because the foundation was small enough to have been obscured by subsequent construction.
It was believed that Romulus built the temple after he made peace with the Sabines, and that king Numa decreed its doors should be opened during war and shut during times of peace. Its doors had been closed perhaps five or six times in all Roman history prior to the reign of Nero: under the legendary king Numa (to whom the tradition is traced), at the end of the Second Punic War, three times under Augustus, and, according to Ovid, once under Tiberius.
Thus, when in 65 peace generally had been established on the empire’s fronts, Nero did not hesitate to close the temple’s doors. He marked the event with great celebrations and struck a large and impressive series of coins to document this rare event. The inscription, IANVM CLVSIT PACE P R TERRA MARIQ PARTA, is one of the most instructive on all Roman coins, for it announces “the doors of Janus have been closed after peace has been procured for the Roman People on the land and on the sea”.
In relation to this, Suetonius (Nero 15) describes the visit to Rome of Tiridates, Rome’s candidate for the throne of Armenia. Nero crowned Tiridates, was hailed Imperator and “...after dedicating a laurel-wreath in the Capitol, he closed the double doors of the Temple of Janus, as a sign that all war was at an end.”
Despite Nero’s contentment with affairs on the borders, the year 65 was not happy on the home front as much of Rome was still in ashes from the great fire of the previous year, Nero narrowly survived the Pisonian conspiracy, and not long afterward he kicked his pregnant wife Poppaea to death.
NAC54, 345
MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West
There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]
In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]
When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.
According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]
It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942
By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
There was never any doubt I would go to Rob's funeral. Rob was born just two weeks before me, and in our many meetings, we found we had so much in common.
A drive to Ipswich should be something like only two and a half hours, but with the Dartford Crossing that could balloon to four or more.
My choice was to leave early, soon after Jools left for work, or wait to near nine once rush hour was over. If I was up early, I'd leave early, I said.
Which is what happened.
So, after coffee and Jools leaving, I loaded my camera stuff in the car, not bothering to program in a destination, as I knew the route to Suffolk so well.
Checking the internet I found the M2 was closed, so that meant taking the M20, which I like as it runs beside HS2, although over the years, vegetation growth now hides most of it, and with Eurostar cutting services due to Brexit, you're lucky to see a train on the line now.
I had a phone loaded with podcasts, so time flew by, even if travelling through the endless roadworks at 50mph seemed to take forever.
Dartford was jammed. But we inched forward, until as the bridge came in sight, traffic moved smoothly, and I followed the traffic down into the east bore of the tunnel.
Another glorious morning for travel, the sun shone from a clear blue sky, even if traffic was heavy, but I had time, so not pressing on like I usually do, making the drive a pleasant one.
Up through Essex, where most other traffic turned off at Stanstead, then up to the A11 junction, with it being not yet nine, I had several hours to fill before the ceremony.
I stopped at Cambridge services for breakfast, then programmed the first church in: Gazeley, which is just in Suffolk on the border with Cambridgeshire.
I took the next junction off, took two further turnings brought be to the village, which is divided by one of the widest village streets I have ever seen.
It was five past nine: would the church be open?
I parked on the opposite side of the road, grabbed my bag and camera, limped over, passing a warden putting new notices in the parish notice board. We exchange good mornings, and I walk to the porch.
The inner door was unlocked, and the heavy door swung after turning the metal ring handle.
I had made a list of four churches from Simon's list of the top 60 Suffolk churches, picking those on or near my route to Ipswich and which piqued my interest.
Here, it was the reset mediaeval glass.
Needless to say, I had the church to myself, the centuries hanging heavy inside as sunlight flooded in filling the Chancel with warm golden light.
Windows had several devotional dials carved in the surrounding stone, and a huge and "stunningly beautiful piscina, and beside it are sedilia that end in an arm rest carved in the shape of a beast" which caught my eye.
A display in the Chancel was of the decoration of the wooden roof above where panels contained carved beats, some actual and some mythical.
I photographed them all.
I programmed in the next church, a 45 minute drive away just on the outskirts of Ipswich, or so I thought.
The A14 was plagued by roadworks, then most trunk roads and motorways are this time of year, but it was a fine summer morning, I was eating a chocolate bar as I drove, and I wasn't in a hurry.
I turned off at Claydon, and soon lost in a maze of narrow lanes, which brought be to a dog leg in the road, with St Mary nestling in a clearing.
I pulled up, got out and found the air full of birdsong, and was greeted by a friendly spaniel being taken for a walk from the hamlet which the church serves.
There was never any doubt that this would be open, so I went through the fine brick porch, pushed another heavy wooden door and entered the coolness of the church.
I decided to come here for the font, which as you can read below has quite the story: wounded by enemy action no less!
There seems to be a hagioscope (squint) in a window of the south wall, makes one think or an anchorite, but of this there is little evidence.
Samuel and Thomasina Sayer now reside high on the north wall of the Chancel, a stone skull between them, moved here too because of bomb damage in the last war.
I drove a few miles to the next church: Flowton.
Not so much a village as a house on a crossroads. And the church.
Nothing so grand as a formal board outside, just a handwritten sign say "welcome to Flowton church". Again, I had little doubt it would be open.
And it was.
The lychgate still stands, but a fence around the churchyard is good, so serves little practical purpose, other than to be there and hold the signs for the church and forthcoming services.
Inside it is simple: octagonal font with the floor being of brick, so as rustic as can be.
I did read Simon's account (below) when back outside, so went back in to record the tomb of Captain William Boggas and his family, even if part of the stone is hidden by pews now.
-------------------------------------------------
The landscape to the west of Ipswich rises to hills above the gentle valley of what will become the Belstead Brook before it empties itself into the River Orwell. The large villages of Somersham and Offton nestle below, but in the lonely lanes above are small, isolated settlements, and Flowton is one of them. I often cycle out this way from Ipswich through busy Bramford and then leave the modern world behind at Little Blakenham, up towards Nettlestead on a narrow and steep lane, down into Somersham and back up the other side to Flowton. It is unusual to pass a vehicle, or even see another human being, except in the valley bottom. In summer the only sound is of birdsong, the hedgerows alive in the deep heat. In winter the fields are dead, the crows in possession.
A hundred years ago these lanes were full of people, for in those days the villagers were enslaved to the land. But a farm that might support fifty workers then needs barely two now, and the countryside has emptied, villages reduced to half their size. Most of rural Suffolk is quieter now than at any time since before the Saxons arrived, and nature is returning to it.
In the early spring of 1644, a solemn procession came this way. The body of Captain William Boggas was brought back from the Midlands, where he had been killed in some skirmish or other, possibly in connection with the siege of Newark. The cart stumbled over the ruts and mud hollows, and it is easy to imagine the watching farmworkers pausing in a solemn gesture, standing upright for a brief moment, perhaps removing a hat, as it passed them by. But no sign of the cross, for this was Puritan Suffolk. Even the Church of England had been suppressed, and the local Priest replaced by a Minister chosen by, and possibly from within, the congregation.
William Boggas was laid to rest in the nave of the church, beside the body of his infant daughter who had died a year earlier. His heavily pregnant widow would have stood by on the cold brick floor, and the little church would have been full, for he was a landowner, and a Captain too.
The antiquarian David Davy came this way in a bad mood in May 1829, with his friend John Darby on their way to record the memorials and inscriptions of the church: ...we ascended a rather steep hill, on which we travelled thro' very indifferent roads to Flowton; here the kind of country I had anticipated for the whole of the present day's excursion was completely realised. A more flat, wet, unpleasant soil and country I have not often passed over, & we found some difficulty in getting along with safety & comfort.
But today it would be hard to arrive in Flowton in spring today and not be pleased to be there. By May, the trees in the hedgerows gather, and the early leaves send shadows dappling across the lane, for of course the roads have changed here since Darby and Davy came this way, but perhaps Flowton church hasn't much. James Bettley, revising the Buildings of England volumes for Suffolk, observed that it is a church with individuality in various details, which is about right. Much of what we see is of the early 14th Century, but there was money being spent here right on the eve of the Reformation. Peter Northeast and Simon Cotton transcribed a bequest of 1510 which pleasingly tells us the medieval dedication of the church, for Alice Plome asked that my body to be buried in the churchyard of the nativitie of our lady in fflowton. The same year, John Rever left a noble to painting the candlebeam, which is to say the beam which ran across the top of the rood loft and screen on which candles were placed. This is interesting because, as James Bettley points out, the large early 16th Century window on the south side of the nave was clearly intended to light the rood, and so was probably part of the same campaign. The candlebeam has not survived, and nor has any part of the rood screen. In 1526 John Rever (perhaps the son of the earlier man of the same name) left two nobles toward the making of a new rouff in the said church of ffloweton. The idiosyncratic tower top came in the 18th Century, and the weather vane with its elephants is of the early 21st Century, remembering a travelling circus that used to overwinter in the fields nearby.
The west face of the tower still has its niches, which once contained the images of the saints who watched over the travellers passing by. Another thing curious about the tower is that it has no west doorway. Instead, the doorway is set into the south side of the tower. There must be a reason for this, for it exists nowhere else in Suffolk. Perhaps there was once another building to the west of the tower. Several churches in this area have towers to the south of their naves, and the entrance through a south doorway into a porch formed beneath the tower, but it is hard to see how that could have been the intention here.
The Victorians were kind to Flowton church. It has a delicious atmosphere, that of an archetypal English country church. The narrow green sleeve of the graveyard enfolds it, leading eastwards to a moat-like ditch. The south porch is simple, and you step through it into a sweetly ancient space. The brick floor is uneven but lovely, lending an organic quality to the font, a Purbeck marble survival of the late 13th Century which seems to grow out of it. The bricks spread eastwards, past Munro Cautley's pulpit of the 1920s, and up beyond the chancel arch into the chancel itself. On the south side of the sanctuary the piscina that formerly served the altar here still retains its original wooden credence shelf. On the opposite wall is a corbel of what is perhaps a green man, or merely a madly grinning devil.
But to reach all these you must step across the ledger stone of Captain William Boggas, a pool of dark slate in the soft sea of bricks. It reads Here lyes waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ the body of William Boggas gent, deere to his Countrey, by whoes free choyce he was called to be Captayne of their vountaries raysed for their defence: pious towards God, meeke & juste towards men & being about 40 yeeres of age departed this life March 18: 1643. To the north of it lie two smaller ledgers, the easterly one to his young daughter, which records the date of her birth and her death in the next ensuing month. To the west of that is one to William, his son, who was born on April 11th 1644.
At first sight it might seem odd that his son could have been born in April 1644 if William senior had died in March 1643, but in those days of course the New Year was counted not from January 1st, but from March 25th, a quarter day usually referred to as Lady Day, in an echoing memory of the pre-Reformation Feast of the Annunciation. So William Boggas died one month before his son was born, not thirteen. It would be nice to think that William Junior would have led a similarly exciting and possibly even longer life than his father. But this was not to be, for he died at the age of just two years old in 1645. As he was given his father's name, we may assume that he was his father's first and only son.
A further point of interest is that both Williams' stones have space ready for further names. But there are none. There would be no more children for him, for how could there be? But William's wife does not appear to be buried or even remembered here. Did she move away? Did she marry again, and does she lie in some other similarly remote English graveyard? Actually, it is possible that she doesn't. Boggas's wife was probably Flowton girl Mary Branston, and she had been married before, to Robert Woodward of Dedham in Essex. Between the time of William Boggas's death in 1644 and the 1647 accounting of the Colony, Mary's daughter and nephews by her first marriage had been transported to the Virginia Colony in the modern United States. Is it possible that Mary went to join them?
And finally, one last visitor. Four months after the birth of the younger William, when the cement on his father's ledger stone was barely dry, the Puritan iconoclast William Dowsing visited this remote place. It was 22 August 1644. The day had been a busy one for Dowsing, for Flowton was one of seven churches he visited that day, and he would likely have already known them well, because he had a house at nearby Baylham. There was little for him to take issue with apart from the piscina in the chancel which was probably filled in and then restored by the Victorians two hundred years later.
Dowsing had arrived here in the late afternoon on what was probably a fine summer's day, since the travelling was so easy. I imagined the graveyard that day, full of dense greenery. He came on horseback, and he was not alone.With him came, as an assistant, a man called Jacob Caley. Caley, a Portman of Ipswich, was well-known to the people of Flowton. He was the government's official collector of taxes for this part of Suffolk. Probably, he was not a popular man. What the villagers couldn't know was that Caley was actually hiding away a goodly proportion of the money he collected. In 1662, two years after the Commonwealth ended, he was found guilty of the theft of three thousand pounds, about a million pounds in today's money. He had collected one hundred and eighteen pounds of this from the people of Flowton alone, and the late John Blatchly writing in Trevor Cooper's edition of the Dowsing Journals thought that the amount he was found guilty of stealing was probably understated, although of course we will never know.
I revisit this church every few months, and it always feels welcoming and well cared for, with fresh flowers on display, tidy ranks of books for sale, and a feeling that there is always someone popping in, every day. The signs by the lychgate say Welcome to Flowton Church, and on my most recent visit in November 2021 a car stopped behind me while I was taking a photograph of the elephants at the top of the tower. "Do go inside, the church is open", the driver urged cheerily, "we've even got a toilet!" As with Nettlestead across the valley, the church tried to stay open throughout the Church of England's Covid panic of 2020 and 2021, whatever much of the rest of the Church might have been doing. And there was no absurd cordoning off of areas or imposition of the one-way systems beloved by busybodies in many other English churches. Instead, a simple reminder to ask you to be careful, and when I came this way in the late summer of 2020 there were, at the back of the church, tall vases of rosemary, myrtle, thyme and other fragrant herbs. Beside them was a notice, which read Covid-19 causes anosmia (losing sense of smell). Here are some herbs to smell! which I thought was not only useful and instructive, but rather lovely.
Simon Knott, November 2021
Jadis, si je me souviens bien, ma vie était un festin où s'ouvraient tous les coeurs, où tous les vins coulaient.
Un soir, j'ai assis la Beauté sur mes genoux. - Et je l'ai trouvée amère. - Et je l'ai injuriée.
Je me suis armé contre la justice.
Je me suis enfui. O sorcières, ô misère, ô haine, c'est à vous que mon trésor a été confié!
Je parvins à faire s'évanouir dans mon esprit toute l'espérance humaine. Sur toute joie pour l'étrangler j'ai fait le bond sourd de la bête féroce.
J'ai appelé les bourreaux pour, en périssant, mordre la crosse de leurs fusils. J'ai appelé les fléaux, pour m'étouffer avec le sable, avec le sang. Le malheur a été mon dieu. Je me suis allongé dans la boue. Je me suis séché à l'air du crime. Et j'ai joué de bons tours à la folie.
Et le printemps m'a apporté l'affreux rire de l'idiot.
Or, tout dernièrement, m'étant trouvé sur le point de faire le dernier couac! j'ai songé à rechercher le clef du festin ancien, où je reprendrais peut-être appétit.
La charité est cette clef. - Cette inspiration prouve que j'ai rêvé!
"Tu resteras hyène, etc.... ," se récrie le démon qui me couronna de si aimables pavots. "Gagne la mort avec tous tes appétits, et ton égoïsme et tous les péchés capitaux."
Ah! j'en ai trop pris: - Mais, cher Satan, je vous en conjure, une prunelle moins irritée! et en attendant les quelques petites lâchetés en retard, vous qui aimez dans l'écrivain l'absence des facultés descriptives ou instructives, je vous détache des quelques hideux feuillets de mon carnet de damné.
********
Un tempo, se ben ricordo, la mia vita era un festino in cui tutti i cuori si aprivano, e tutti i vini scorrevano.
Una sera, ho accolto la Bellezza sulle mie ginocchia. - E l'ho trovata amara. - E l'ho ingiuriata.
Mi sono armato contro la giustizia.
Sono fuggito. O streghe, o miseria, o odio, è a voi che è stato affidato il mio tesoro!
Riuscii a far svanire dal mio spirito ogni umana speranza. Su ogni gioia, per soffocarla, ho fatto il balzo sordo della bestia feroce.
Ho invocato i carnefici per mordere, morendo, il calcio dei loro fucili. Ho invocato i flagelli per asfissiarmi nella sabbia, nel sangue. La sventura è stato il mio dio. Mi sono disteso nel fango. Mi sono asciugato al vento del delitto. E alla follia ho giocato qualche brutto tiro.
E la primavera mi ha portato il riso atroce dell'idiota.
Ora, proprio di recente, essendo stato sul punto di fare l'ultima stecca!, ho pensato di ricercare la chiave dell'antico festino, al quale potrei forse riprendere appetito.
Questa chiave è la carità. - Tale ispirazione dimostra che ho sognato!
"Tu sarai sempre iena, ecc...", ribatte il demonio che mi incoronò di così amabili papaveri. "Raggiungi la morte con tutti i tuoi appetiti, e il tuo egoismo, e tutti i tuoi peccati capitali."
Ah! ne ho avuto fin troppo: - Ma, caro Satana, te ne supplico, una pupilla meno irritata! e in attesa di qualche piccola vigliaccheria in ritardo, per te, che apprezzi nello scrittore l'assenza di facoltà descrittive o istruttive, stralcio questi pochi ripugnanti foglietti dal mio taccuino di dannato.
Arthur Rimbaud
Square and Compasses
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
Vintage silver and turquoise Masonic Square and Compasses pin.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
There was never any doubt I would go to Rob's funeral. Rob was born just two weeks before me, and in our many meetings, we found we had so much in common.
A drive to Ipswich should be something like only two and a half hours, but with the Dartford Crossing that could balloon to four or more.
My choice was to leave early, soon after Jools left for work, or wait to near nine once rush hour was over. If I was up early, I'd leave early, I said.
Which is what happened.
So, after coffee and Jools leaving, I loaded my camera stuff in the car, not bothering to program in a destination, as I knew the route to Suffolk so well.
Checking the internet I found the M2 was closed, so that meant taking the M20, which I like as it runs beside HS2, although over the years, vegetation growth now hides most of it, and with Eurostar cutting services due to Brexit, you're lucky to see a train on the line now.
I had a phone loaded with podcasts, so time flew by, even if travelling through the endless roadworks at 50mph seemed to take forever.
Dartford was jammed. But we inched forward, until as the bridge came in sight, traffic moved smoothly, and I followed the traffic down into the east bore of the tunnel.
Another glorious morning for travel, the sun shone from a clear blue sky, even if traffic was heavy, but I had time, so not pressing on like I usually do, making the drive a pleasant one.
Up through Essex, where most other traffic turned off at Stanstead, then up to the A11 junction, with it being not yet nine, I had several hours to fill before the ceremony.
I stopped at Cambridge services for breakfast, then programmed the first church in: Gazeley, which is just in Suffolk on the border with Cambridgeshire.
I took the next junction off, took two further turnings brought be to the village, which is divided by one of the widest village streets I have ever seen.
It was five past nine: would the church be open?
I parked on the opposite side of the road, grabbed my bag and camera, limped over, passing a warden putting new notices in the parish notice board. We exchange good mornings, and I walk to the porch.
The inner door was unlocked, and the heavy door swung after turning the metal ring handle.
I had made a list of four churches from Simon's list of the top 60 Suffolk churches, picking those on or near my route to Ipswich and which piqued my interest.
Here, it was the reset mediaeval glass.
Needless to say, I had the church to myself, the centuries hanging heavy inside as sunlight flooded in filling the Chancel with warm golden light.
Windows had several devotional dials carved in the surrounding stone, and a huge and "stunningly beautiful piscina, and beside it are sedilia that end in an arm rest carved in the shape of a beast" which caught my eye.
A display in the Chancel was of the decoration of the wooden roof above where panels contained carved beats, some actual and some mythical.
I photographed them all.
I programmed in the next church, a 45 minute drive away just on the outskirts of Ipswich, or so I thought.
The A14 was plagued by roadworks, then most trunk roads and motorways are this time of year, but it was a fine summer morning, I was eating a chocolate bar as I drove, and I wasn't in a hurry.
I turned off at Claydon, and soon lost in a maze of narrow lanes, which brought be to a dog leg in the road, with St Mary nestling in a clearing.
I pulled up, got out and found the air full of birdsong, and was greeted by a friendly spaniel being taken for a walk from the hamlet which the church serves.
There was never any doubt that this would be open, so I went through the fine brick porch, pushed another heavy wooden door and entered the coolness of the church.
I decided to come here for the font, which as you can read below has quite the story: wounded by enemy action no less!
There seems to be a hagioscope (squint) in a window of the south wall, makes one think or an anchorite, but of this there is little evidence.
Samuel and Thomasina Sayer now reside high on the north wall of the Chancel, a stone skull between them, moved here too because of bomb damage in the last war.
I drove a few miles to the next church: Flowton.
Not so much a village as a house on a crossroads. And the church.
Nothing so grand as a formal board outside, just a handwritten sign say "welcome to Flowton church". Again, I had little doubt it would be open.
And it was.
The lychgate still stands, but a fence around the churchyard is good, so serves little practical purpose, other than to be there and hold the signs for the church and forthcoming services.
Inside it is simple: octagonal font with the floor being of brick, so as rustic as can be.
I did read Simon's account (below) when back outside, so went back in to record the tomb of Captain William Boggas and his family, even if part of the stone is hidden by pews now.
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The landscape to the west of Ipswich rises to hills above the gentle valley of what will become the Belstead Brook before it empties itself into the River Orwell. The large villages of Somersham and Offton nestle below, but in the lonely lanes above are small, isolated settlements, and Flowton is one of them. I often cycle out this way from Ipswich through busy Bramford and then leave the modern world behind at Little Blakenham, up towards Nettlestead on a narrow and steep lane, down into Somersham and back up the other side to Flowton. It is unusual to pass a vehicle, or even see another human being, except in the valley bottom. In summer the only sound is of birdsong, the hedgerows alive in the deep heat. In winter the fields are dead, the crows in possession.
A hundred years ago these lanes were full of people, for in those days the villagers were enslaved to the land. But a farm that might support fifty workers then needs barely two now, and the countryside has emptied, villages reduced to half their size. Most of rural Suffolk is quieter now than at any time since before the Saxons arrived, and nature is returning to it.
In the early spring of 1644, a solemn procession came this way. The body of Captain William Boggas was brought back from the Midlands, where he had been killed in some skirmish or other, possibly in connection with the siege of Newark. The cart stumbled over the ruts and mud hollows, and it is easy to imagine the watching farmworkers pausing in a solemn gesture, standing upright for a brief moment, perhaps removing a hat, as it passed them by. But no sign of the cross, for this was Puritan Suffolk. Even the Church of England had been suppressed, and the local Priest replaced by a Minister chosen by, and possibly from within, the congregation.
William Boggas was laid to rest in the nave of the church, beside the body of his infant daughter who had died a year earlier. His heavily pregnant widow would have stood by on the cold brick floor, and the little church would have been full, for he was a landowner, and a Captain too.
The antiquarian David Davy came this way in a bad mood in May 1829, with his friend John Darby on their way to record the memorials and inscriptions of the church: ...we ascended a rather steep hill, on which we travelled thro' very indifferent roads to Flowton; here the kind of country I had anticipated for the whole of the present day's excursion was completely realised. A more flat, wet, unpleasant soil and country I have not often passed over, & we found some difficulty in getting along with safety & comfort.
But today it would be hard to arrive in Flowton in spring today and not be pleased to be there. By May, the trees in the hedgerows gather, and the early leaves send shadows dappling across the lane, for of course the roads have changed here since Darby and Davy came this way, but perhaps Flowton church hasn't much. James Bettley, revising the Buildings of England volumes for Suffolk, observed that it is a church with individuality in various details, which is about right. Much of what we see is of the early 14th Century, but there was money being spent here right on the eve of the Reformation. Peter Northeast and Simon Cotton transcribed a bequest of 1510 which pleasingly tells us the medieval dedication of the church, for Alice Plome asked that my body to be buried in the churchyard of the nativitie of our lady in fflowton. The same year, John Rever left a noble to painting the candlebeam, which is to say the beam which ran across the top of the rood loft and screen on which candles were placed. This is interesting because, as James Bettley points out, the large early 16th Century window on the south side of the nave was clearly intended to light the rood, and so was probably part of the same campaign. The candlebeam has not survived, and nor has any part of the rood screen. In 1526 John Rever (perhaps the son of the earlier man of the same name) left two nobles toward the making of a new rouff in the said church of ffloweton. The idiosyncratic tower top came in the 18th Century, and the weather vane with its elephants is of the early 21st Century, remembering a travelling circus that used to overwinter in the fields nearby.
The west face of the tower still has its niches, which once contained the images of the saints who watched over the travellers passing by. Another thing curious about the tower is that it has no west doorway. Instead, the doorway is set into the south side of the tower. There must be a reason for this, for it exists nowhere else in Suffolk. Perhaps there was once another building to the west of the tower. Several churches in this area have towers to the south of their naves, and the entrance through a south doorway into a porch formed beneath the tower, but it is hard to see how that could have been the intention here.
The Victorians were kind to Flowton church. It has a delicious atmosphere, that of an archetypal English country church. The narrow green sleeve of the graveyard enfolds it, leading eastwards to a moat-like ditch. The south porch is simple, and you step through it into a sweetly ancient space. The brick floor is uneven but lovely, lending an organic quality to the font, a Purbeck marble survival of the late 13th Century which seems to grow out of it. The bricks spread eastwards, past Munro Cautley's pulpit of the 1920s, and up beyond the chancel arch into the chancel itself. On the south side of the sanctuary the piscina that formerly served the altar here still retains its original wooden credence shelf. On the opposite wall is a corbel of what is perhaps a green man, or merely a madly grinning devil.
But to reach all these you must step across the ledger stone of Captain William Boggas, a pool of dark slate in the soft sea of bricks. It reads Here lyes waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ the body of William Boggas gent, deere to his Countrey, by whoes free choyce he was called to be Captayne of their vountaries raysed for their defence: pious towards God, meeke & juste towards men & being about 40 yeeres of age departed this life March 18: 1643. To the north of it lie two smaller ledgers, the easterly one to his young daughter, which records the date of her birth and her death in the next ensuing month. To the west of that is one to William, his son, who was born on April 11th 1644.
At first sight it might seem odd that his son could have been born in April 1644 if William senior had died in March 1643, but in those days of course the New Year was counted not from January 1st, but from March 25th, a quarter day usually referred to as Lady Day, in an echoing memory of the pre-Reformation Feast of the Annunciation. So William Boggas died one month before his son was born, not thirteen. It would be nice to think that William Junior would have led a similarly exciting and possibly even longer life than his father. But this was not to be, for he died at the age of just two years old in 1645. As he was given his father's name, we may assume that he was his father's first and only son.
A further point of interest is that both Williams' stones have space ready for further names. But there are none. There would be no more children for him, for how could there be? But William's wife does not appear to be buried or even remembered here. Did she move away? Did she marry again, and does she lie in some other similarly remote English graveyard? Actually, it is possible that she doesn't. Boggas's wife was probably Flowton girl Mary Branston, and she had been married before, to Robert Woodward of Dedham in Essex. Between the time of William Boggas's death in 1644 and the 1647 accounting of the Colony, Mary's daughter and nephews by her first marriage had been transported to the Virginia Colony in the modern United States. Is it possible that Mary went to join them?
And finally, one last visitor. Four months after the birth of the younger William, when the cement on his father's ledger stone was barely dry, the Puritan iconoclast William Dowsing visited this remote place. It was 22 August 1644. The day had been a busy one for Dowsing, for Flowton was one of seven churches he visited that day, and he would likely have already known them well, because he had a house at nearby Baylham. There was little for him to take issue with apart from the piscina in the chancel which was probably filled in and then restored by the Victorians two hundred years later.
Dowsing had arrived here in the late afternoon on what was probably a fine summer's day, since the travelling was so easy. I imagined the graveyard that day, full of dense greenery. He came on horseback, and he was not alone.With him came, as an assistant, a man called Jacob Caley. Caley, a Portman of Ipswich, was well-known to the people of Flowton. He was the government's official collector of taxes for this part of Suffolk. Probably, he was not a popular man. What the villagers couldn't know was that Caley was actually hiding away a goodly proportion of the money he collected. In 1662, two years after the Commonwealth ended, he was found guilty of the theft of three thousand pounds, about a million pounds in today's money. He had collected one hundred and eighteen pounds of this from the people of Flowton alone, and the late John Blatchly writing in Trevor Cooper's edition of the Dowsing Journals thought that the amount he was found guilty of stealing was probably understated, although of course we will never know.
I revisit this church every few months, and it always feels welcoming and well cared for, with fresh flowers on display, tidy ranks of books for sale, and a feeling that there is always someone popping in, every day. The signs by the lychgate say Welcome to Flowton Church, and on my most recent visit in November 2021 a car stopped behind me while I was taking a photograph of the elephants at the top of the tower. "Do go inside, the church is open", the driver urged cheerily, "we've even got a toilet!" As with Nettlestead across the valley, the church tried to stay open throughout the Church of England's Covid panic of 2020 and 2021, whatever much of the rest of the Church might have been doing. And there was no absurd cordoning off of areas or imposition of the one-way systems beloved by busybodies in many other English churches. Instead, a simple reminder to ask you to be careful, and when I came this way in the late summer of 2020 there were, at the back of the church, tall vases of rosemary, myrtle, thyme and other fragrant herbs. Beside them was a notice, which read Covid-19 causes anosmia (losing sense of smell). Here are some herbs to smell! which I thought was not only useful and instructive, but rather lovely.
Simon Knott, November 2021
The romantic Snežnik Castle in Notranjska boasts authentic interiors from the second half of the 19th century
A stroll through the four castle floors evokes the atmosphere of 150 years ago because rooms boast genuine furniture and other household objects from the latter half of the 19th century. The parlours and bedrooms of Princes Herman and Ulrich, of Princess Ana and the guest rooms are pleasant and comfortable fitted out with a number of originally upholstered historical seating suites and ornamental stoves. The walls are decorated with family portraits, old photos, and prints. One distinct feature is the Egyptian room from the early 20th century. To make the ambience of the holiday residence cosier, the family had a piano, the billiard table, and the theatre corner. Gradually, the owners gathered many hunting trophies, including the stuffed bear that has been at the castle for over a century. The stonefaced bailey area is intended for temporary exhibitions, and there is a wedding room on the ground floor.
The ancient castle in its beautiful natural surroundings is providing a whole day of pleasant and instructive entertainment.
MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West
There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]
In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]
When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.
According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]
It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942
By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
"Quan Am Thi Kinh"
"Cheo" is a form of popular theatre in Vietnam that has its roots in ancient village festivals. It consists of folk songs with pantomime, intrumental music and dances, combined with instructive or interpretive sketches dealing with stories from legends, poetry, history or even daily life. Also brought into play are acrobatic scenes and magic. "Cheo" tells tales of chiefs, heroes and lovely maidens and offers an eclectic mix of romance, tragedy and comedy.
Traditionally "Cheo" was composed orally by anonymous authors. Today's playwrights compose "cheo" operas along traditional lines : the characters in the plays sing time-tested popular melodies with words suited to modern circumstances.
The costomes, makeup, gestures and language create typical characters familiar to every member of the audience. The props are simple. As a result, there is a close interchange between the performers and the spectators.
A "Cheo" play could be put on stage in a large theatre, but it could also be performed successfully on one or two bed mats spread in the middle of a communal house with a cast of only three: a hero, a heroine and a clown.
The sound of the "Cheo" drum has a magical power and upon hearing it, villagers cannot resist coming to see the play. The clown in a cheo play seems to be a supporting role, but actually he or she is very important to the performance. The clowns present a comic portrayal of social life, with ridiculous, satirical words and gestures, they reduce the audience to tears of laughter.
The national 'Cheo" repertoire includes among others Truong Vien, Kim Nhan, Luu Binh - Duong Le, and Quan Am Thi Kinh, which are considered treasures of the traditional stage.
"Cheo" opera is an integral part of Vietnamese theatre and is well-enjoyed by people in both country and town, and by foreign spectators as well. It is particularly relished by foreign tourists and overseas Vietnamese on a visit to their country of origin.
from vietnamgateway.org/vanhoaxa/english/topic_folk_detail.htm
Chèo (opéra traditionnel): Issu de la musique et de la danse folklorique, le chèo est le genre de théâtre traditionnel le plus remarquable du Vietnam. Il était au début très répandu dans les villages, et est devenu au fur et à mesure un genre d’opéra populaire exceptionnel du delta du Nord. L’opéra populaire chèo comprend la danse, le chant, la musique et les textes qui reprennent des anecdotes historiques ou sociales. La narration d’une pièce de chèo abonde d’expressions lyriques provenant des “ca dao” (chansons populaires), “tuc ngu” (dictons), et illustre l’optimisme humain à travers des expressions humoristiques, ironiques et intelligentes; l’humanisme se traduit nettement dans ce théâtre, reflétant l’aspiration au bonheur, à une société solidaire, à la protection humaine, à la victoire du bien sur le mal. Les personnages dans le chèo sont de caractère symbolique, conventionnel et leur mentalité n’évolue pas du début à la fin de la pièce. Ce patrimoine du théâtre populaire traditionnel qui connait toujours un engouement chez différentes générations de public se compose de Quan Âm Thị Kính, Chu Mãi Thần, Kim Nhan...
www.vietnamembassy-france.org/fr/nr070521170056/nr0708211...
This is my chance to speak a bit about the results.
The overwhelming feeling I got about the democratic field is that between the 3 realistic candidates, there are no practical policy differences to speak of. Details of specific programs may differ a little, but even these are exaggerated. That leaves an interesting choice for voters: 3 flavors or attitudes of basically middle-of-the-road Democrat. There's Hillary's careful and pragmatic campaign which was planning their first 100 days since 2000. There's Obama, who's connection with voters while speaking is overwhelming when you are in the same room, especially when paired with a message of Hope and Optimism that is so compelling that it wouldn't last 5 minutes in the swamps of DC. And there's Edwards, who's popular support drags well behind the others, but is followed by a fanatic and well-organized group of Union members and those who are like him: angry that the promise of America is out of reach for so many in our brave new century.
In regards to tonight's results, there are several things to note. First, either way it turned out, at no point was this going to be the dominating clear-cut and instructive victory that the media is going to portray. If two voters out of every 100 had changed their mind and voted differently, the winnter would have been different, but wouldn't have changed the delegate count at all (they both get 9 delegates, out of thousands).
The fact that the punditry insists on putting emotions or motivations into the totality of the New Hampshire electorate is stunningly stupid(i.e. "The voters of New Hampshire didn't want to be told who to vote for"). Every one of these voters had their own thought process, and at no point did they get together to decide who was going to win, aside from the voting itself. Stop referring to the "electorate" as if it was an individual creature with a consciousness.
The punditry did a similarly stupid thing when it predicted an Obama victory today. Many brazenly referred to this assumption even during broadcasts today, speaking as if the only question was going to be the size of the victory. This was remarkable because there was little evidence to say this was the case. Remember, polls done in the days leading up to an election are unreliable, and these small-sample large-margin tracking polls doubly so. They can only establish a pattern, and in this case the pattern they should have seen was that Obama had been trending up towards Clinton's numbers and that it was going to be close compared to the years of poll number dominance that Clinton had enjoyed... nothing more.
Perhaps the reason they were so irresponsible in reading the polls was because they were enamored by the story and the personality of the Obama campaign. They obviously loved the story of a political dynasty crumbling at the feet of a Kennedyesque super-speaker. They reported to you a story of overflowing and passionate Obama events, contrasted with merely full Clinton events that lacked that sort of energy. This isn't a complete story, at least from what I saw and from what I've heard from people here. Clinton events were well attended state-wide and the one I went to was full, passionate, and a bit more tightly managed than the Obama event I went to. Yes, more people went to Obama events, but a big part of that was the novelty of this new figure. They wanted to see Obama, to feel the heat... they've all met Hillary before, and she's been hanging around here since 1991. But that doesn't mean they aren't going to end up voting for her, a fact that the punditry missed completely.
I also suspect that the news this afternoon about possible shakeups within the Clinton campaign after they lost in the state may have been nothing but some of the most high-stakes expectation setting maneuvers ever attempted. If so, it was brilliant.
There was one event this week that stands out to me as possibly being significant enough to have changed the minds out of those 2 people out of 100 that marked the margin of victory: the Hillary Clinton being emotional thing. Well... not the thing itself, but the reaction to it. The moment Hillary's voiced cracked even a little, the horrid happy little crows descended upon her with amazing speed. While they didn't say it out loud, the message was clear: look! An emotional woman... is she getting "hysterical"?... how weird... how unseemly... how unPresidential. If I was a 20-25 year old woman, one of those who had been in the Obama camp in surprising numbers in the Iowa caucus, this media reaction may have been enough to change my mind, to remind me how much unfairness and sexism still persists, and to remind me that the glass ceiling is made up of a hundred little sexist reactions, double standards, and unwritten rules, instead of a single prohibition. This, of course, is just a theory since I wasn't a voter today, but I'd be curious to hear what you think.
The reason I went to the Edwards event tonight to finish up my trip, is that I find him to be the closest to my political attitude out of the 3, and I would have voted for him if I was able too today. His 17% today wasn't enough to have a "surprisingly good" finish, and probably ends his chances with the 1-on-1 dogfight surely to dominate the headlines from here on out. However, I was excited and energized by hearing him speak tonight (mill references aside). At this event he promised to run all the way to the convention, and I really hope he does. Even if he runs the rest of the way in the 8-15% range for the rest of the way, if the other 2 run neck and neck through super-duper-crazy-ultra-mega Tuesday and things head to the convention unresolved, his block of delegates could be critical. And this block of delegates would mean something important: they would represent the hopes of Union loyalists and those impatient Liberals who feel poorly served by both Clinton's pragmatism and Obama's optimism. It would be interesting to see what concessions (or a Vice-Presidential role) Edwards could get for these delegates.
Whatever happens, it will be interesting, as was my time here. I'll have to write about the Republicans in the days to come as I've enjoyed doing this bit, but have to go to sleepy time now. G'night from New Hampshire.
People watch Hillary Clinton's victory speech in a hotel lobby in Manchester, New Hampshire. 1/8/08
Here's an interesting collection:
www.flickr.com/photos/100932320@N05/albums/72157635275073145
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
It's instructive to go into this part of the cemetery and realise that many Muslim Australians led peaceful lives here long before the threat of Islamic extremism. Just like the rest of us.
I am so impressed that people recognise my obscure song references I thought I would try something really obscure. Well so I thought but when I watched the Top Gear Burma Special recently, Clarkson and the team sang this song at a karaoke.
Back to the Wheatear. All the books tell you that males have black masks and grey backs, while females have brown backs and no masks. This bird has a browny grey back and a bit of a mask, so looks a bit like both males and females. It is a young male Wheatear, hatched last summer, on his first migration north. Wheatears take two years before they acquire their stunning grey and black plumage. I thought it was quite an instructive and interesting photograph so decided to post.
one of the best ways to practice tig welding aluminum is to practice stacking beads in different directions. It is a cheap way to practice and with the thermal conductivity of aluminum, it is very instructive as to how it welds cold, as well as when it heats up after a few beads. Try it !! you will thank me later
This lovely dignified house at no. 6 King Street, Bristol, is an instructive building. On either side of it the houses are timber-framed. Part of one of them is seen off right; the other, across Queen Charlotte Street, is the famous Llandoger Trow public house. They were built around 1665, but only 35 years later, in the first year or two of the 18th century, brick frontages rather like this one were going up around the corner in Queen Square.
Changes of fashion are often indicative of a change of thought. These orderly, harmonious façades were the expression of the Enlightenment; the Age of Reason had no place for the higgledy-piggledy chaos of timber-framed houses. Almost overnight they came to be thought hopelessly old-fashioned, almost barbarous, and large numbers were given new brick fronts.
If we look closely we can see that this is what has happened here. In fact this house is contemporary with its neighbours ...or perhaps I should say "these two houses", for the two gables and off-centre door suggest that two houses were combined behind the new frontage. The roofs would have had gables facing the street, like the house next door, but they must have been cut back at the time of the re-fronting. The generous provision of windows, the string courses between the floors and the quoins all of one size, are typical of about 1720. The fine shell hood over the door (see next photo) looks of an earlier style than the rest; it may have come from elsewhere ...but they are difficult things to date.
This earliest phase of Georgian domestic architecture is my favourite. It looks a little primitive compared to what came later but is, to me, more vigorous. Later on windows were fewer, further apart and more deeply recessed, with thinner glazing bars; but I prefer this effect, in which you seem to be looking at a screen of winking, gleaming glass panes, framed by smart, white-painted woodwork.
"India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only."
-Mark Twain, American author
The romantic Snežnik Castle in Notranjska boasts authentic interiors from the second half of the 19th century
A stroll through the four castle floors evokes the atmosphere of 150 years ago because rooms boast genuine furniture and other household objects from the latter half of the 19th century. The parlours and bedrooms of Princes Herman and Ulrich, of Princess Ana and the guest rooms are pleasant and comfortable fitted out with a number of originally upholstered historical seating suites and ornamental stoves. The walls are decorated with family portraits, old photos, and prints. One distinct feature is the Egyptian room from the early 20th century. To make the ambience of the holiday residence cosier, the family had a piano, the billiard table, and the theatre corner. Gradually, the owners gathered many hunting trophies, including the stuffed bear that has been at the castle for over a century. The stonefaced bailey area is intended for temporary exhibitions, and there is a wedding room on the ground floor.
The ancient castle in its beautiful natural surroundings is providing a whole day of pleasant and instructive entertainment.
The program uses storytelling of local and foreign tales that are selected for their instructive morals about life skills and positive mental attitude. The process combines techniques that enlighten, educate, entertain, inspire, motivate children to retell stories and discuss the morals among their peers, family and communities. Motivational Mentoring sessions are conducted in Zambian languages, and are based on traditional ways in which values are passed down from generation to generation. This has proven not only more effective than ‘foreign’ approaches, but gives children a sense of connection to their roots and society.
Its so refreshing to see Carl's Industrial Light and Magical Models putting out so many kits these days. Sort of confirms your faith in mankind.
This one is a Westland Skate MK. I derived from a Hasegawa P-47D with PM model Sea Fury Centaurus engine, Frog Hornet prop and spinner.
To quote Carl:
"I decided to let the Kiwi's get the first Skates. The core decals are from an Aeromaster Kiwi and Techmod set. The white stripes from a Carpena set. Prop decals from Authentic Decal. I stole the stripe idea from the P-40s."
And even more instructive is this insight into his inner madness:
"I’ve been stricken with a builders block for the last few months.
I could only helplessly look my stash, move it aimlessly around and buy more kits. Even kits from Emil the Enabler did not help. Nothing worked. The apathy continued. Any attempt to pick a tool resulted in a large sigh and deeper slide into lethargy.
However a few nights ago while watching X-Files season 4, episode called Tempus Fugit, it was Fox Mulder who saved my soul. His tenacity to find the truth broke me out of my funk.
I had an engine epiphany.
What if I put a Centaurus from a Sea Fury on a P-47? I already had to plans to build a FAA ready P-47 which I was going to call the Skate. But it was going to use the existing PW-2800. Plus I am also looking for quick build in order to get the modelling juices following again.
So I grabbed a trusty donor PM Models Sea Fury kit, an older Hasegawa P-47D, my chop saw and mitre and closed my eyes. I made two cuts: One straight down parallel to the cooling flaps and one horizontal to intersect with the first cut. I dropped in the Centarus, added some styrene to fill the gaps and putty to create/shape a new contour.
Attached are photos after I glued the Sea Fury cowling on, did some PSR but before painting. I also added a small faring ( part of a F7F wing tip) and the Sea Fury Tail hook behind the tail wheel.
Things under wings will be two 500 LBs bombs and a center-line drop tank."
Retford - St Swithun's Church
Detail: Musical Angel.
The church was founded in 1258, but the current building is almost completely the work of restorers of 1658, 1854-5 and 1905.
St Swithun’s is a cruciform stone building consisting of chancel, with vestry, nave aisles, transepts, north chantry chapel, south porch and a 90' central embattled tower with 8 pinnacles, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial.
The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays.
There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. The south porch built in 1852.
In 1884-5 G G Place re-built the north aisle (with capitals imitating the 13th century ones), then north porch, north chancel aisle, clerestory, battlements and the east window of 13th century stonework. (All of these were renovated in 1905.) Galleries were removed and new seats and roof installed.
G F Bodley re-built the chantry chapel in 1873 and refurbished the chancel.
New choir stalls were erected in 1889 and in 1910 and 1914 the corporation presented new stalls for its own use.
In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d1807) by William Kinnard, architect.
The Victorian stained glass is instructive with work by Clayton & Bell, Kempe & Co, O’Connor, Hardman, Wailes and one by a local, George Shaw.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
Guide
Although there are records of a church on this site in the 13th century, the church today is a typical large town church, built on a cruciform plan with a central tower. The oldest part as it now stands is the North Transept which today is called the Lady Chapel and used for weekday or other small services. The central pillar and its two arches belong to the 14th century and still display their original painted decoration. Anciently there were two chantry chapels here known as Our Lady's Chantry and St Trinity Chantry. Their altars were against the East wall which may have been further to the East than it is now. The purpose of a chantry was to provide regular Masses for the souls of departed benefactors. A document of 1535 says that St Swithun's had four chantries and there may have been two more in the South Transept or elsewhere in the church. The neighbouring Chapelgate probably takes its name from the existence of the chantry chapels. The North Transept chapel is also a war memorial and it houses the banner of the Borough of East Retford.
The rest of the church is basically of the 15th century and is in the style often called perpendicular. The central tower collapsed in a storm in 1651, destroying much of the Chancel and South transept. It was rebuilt in 1658 and from outside it clearly has a 17th century look to it. Inside, massive piers were built to carry its weight and these low, heavy crossing arches are a feature of the church today. Looking eastward from the nave, the columns of the earlier arches can be seen, much more slender and with a much higher springing. Under the tower, on the South side high above the vicar's stall, although not easily seen with the naked eye, is a stone bearing the inscription Ano Mundi 5226 Ano Christie 1582. It was moved to there from the chantry in 1873.
There are many memorials in the church. The oldest one is a floor slab in the North-East corner of the North Transept chapel. It dates from 1496 and is in memory of Henry Smyth, but most of the memorials are of the 18th and 19th centuries.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
www.visitoruk.com/Retford/st-swithuns-church-C567-AT5017....
The Postcard
A postally unused postcard bearing no publisher's name. The photography was by H. H. Hole of Williton, Somerset.
The image is a glossy real photograph, and the card has a divided back.
Kilve
Kilve is a village in Somerset, within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the first AONB to be established, in 1957. At the 2011 census, Kilve had a population of 344.
Kilve lies equidistant from Bridgwater to the east and Minehead to the west. The village includes a 17th. century coaching inn, and a post office and stores. This part of the village, formerly known as Putsham, also contains the village hall, which was extended to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
History of Kilve
The village was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Clive, probably meaning cliff.
Oil Extraction
At the far end of the car park are the remains of a red brick oil retort, built in 1924, when it was discovered that the shale in the cliffs was rich in oil.
The beach at Kilve is part of the Blue Anchor to Lilstock Coast SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). Along this coast the cliffs are layered with compressed strata of oil-bearing shale and blue, yellow and brown lias embedded with fossils.
In 1924 Dr. Forbes-Leslie founded the Shaline Company to exploit the oil. The retort house was the first structure erected for the conversion of shale to oil at Kilve, but the company was unable to raise sufficient capital, and the oil retort is all that remains of the anticipated Somerset oil boom.
The Oil Retort House is a Grade II listed building.
Environs of Kilve
A path leads down from the chantry through fields now used as a car-park to the beach which William Wordsworth, who lived for a brief period with his sister Dorothy at Alfoxton House, described as "Kilve's delightful shore". The beach is on the West Somerset Coast Path.
Kilve Pill, where a stream from Holford runs into the sea, was once a tiny port, used for importing culm, an inferior type of coal which was used in the lime burning process.
It was also the site for "glatting" which was the hunting of conger eels by dogs. On the shore a Saint Keyne serpent can be seen, which a local legend says is a snake turned to stone, but is in reality an ammonite.
It is just possible to make out the remains of a stone jetty and the ruins of a lime kiln nearby. Here the limestone was burnt to provide farmers with the lime to spread on their fields. The limestone carrier Laurina was wrecked at Kilve in 1876.
The Pill was long associated with smuggling, and legend has it that barrels of spirits hidden in the chantry were deliberately set fire to as the revenue men appeared on the scene. Legend also has it that the smugglers' ponies were taught to respond to the commands "whoa" and "gee up" in the reverse sense of the words.
Along the whole length of the stream from Holford to the shore at Kilve there were a number of working mills. Farmers appear to have used water-power in the same way as modern ones use the power from engines. The old mill in the village, now a private house, still retains its overshot wheel, but the others have long since vanished.
Kilve Court
South of the village is Kilve Court Residential and Outdoor Learning Centre, which runs a wide range of courses for young people, including Adventurous Activity Courses set in the centre's extensive grounds and Academic Enrichment Courses, designed to help gifted and talented children to develop their skills in subjects such as Art, Drama, English and Maths.
Kilve Court is one of the few centres in the country to run instructive Creative Writing for ages up to 16, with published authors, such as Beth Webb, directing courses.
The main part of the building was constructed between 1702 and 1705, in the reign of Queen Anne, by Henry Sweating, and incorporating an earlier dwelling, although alterations were made in the 1920s by Clough Williams-Ellis.
Somerset County Council acquired the house in 1964, and it was opened in 1965 with residential places for 26 children and four members of staff. Since that date there have been a number of extensions and the house, together with a hutted camp site on the hill above, can now accommodate a total of 166. Kilve Court is a major employer in the village.
Religious Sites
(a) The Church of St. Mary
The Church of St. Mary (interior shown in the photograph) dates back to the 14th century. In the vestry is one remaining carved arch of the ancient screen. The tower has recently had a considerable amount of restorative work done on it, and is now rendered and painted a shade of off-white, as the whole church was until the early years of the 20th century.
Since 1969 the church has been designated a Grade II* listed building.
(b) Ruin of the Chantry
Kilve Chantry was founded in 1329, when a brotherhood of five monks was employed to say Mass for their founder, Simon de Furneaux.
The Roll of Incumbents shows that several successive chantry priests were incumbents of Kilve parish. The chantry seems to have fallen into a ruin long before the dissolution of the monasteries, and for centuries it served as a barn for the adjacent farm.
The building stayed in use for many years, possibly by smugglers, until a fire in 1848. It is now listed on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk register as "very bad" with a priority rating of "A", the highest possible.
Blue Ben
Kilve is said to have once been home to a dragon called Blue Ben. The skull of a fossilised Ichthyosaur on display in the local museum is sometimes pointed out as belonging to Blue Ben.
We have been testing the Vortex Razor HD 10X42 binoculars (from now on “the Razor”) in the field for six months and we think is worth telling you our impressions from a birder’s perspective.
Vortex is an American company that has been building optics since 2004. They are already well known in the US and Canada and becoming increasingly popular in Europe as well for providing high quality optics at very reasonable prices.
The Razor in particular is made in Japan and comes with the VIP warranty that is provided by Vortex to all its high-quality optics, which means that if your Razor HD accidentally breaks or is defective in any way, you can send it to Vortex and they will repair or replace it and send them to you at no cost, no questions asked. Remarkably, this is a lifetime warranty, fully transferable and no receipt is needed to hang on to. From what we have heard from several clients that use Vortex, this system really works and is probably the best warranty you can get.
We have intensively tested the Razor in the field for six months, in all sorts of conditions and habitats: from the rainforest in Panama, to the highlands of Costa Rica, the desert of Morocco, the farmlands of the Netherlands, Whalewatching off Tarifa (Spain) and observing the raptor migration in the Strait of Mesina (Italy) and our local patch, the Strait of Gibraltar. They have suffered extreme temperatures and insolation, heavy rain, snow, hale, sand, saltpetre, strong winds… and as you can imagine, they have not been exempted from a long series of falls, bangs and knocks. Yes, we have given the Razor a hard life almost every single day during these last six months!
Additionally, the Vortex equipment has been at the disposal of our international clients and birders visiting the main raptor lookouts in the Strait of Gibraltar during the spring raptor migration period, which has provided us with very instructive feedback.
We will not get into very technical details about the materials used, optics theory and statistics, but focusing exclusively in our own field experience and “feel” of the Razor. If you want to know more about the main features and specifications of this model, we recommend you to check out the page for the Razor on the Vortex Birding Website: www.vortexbirding.com/product/vortex-razor-hd-10x42-binoc...
In the Hand
Our first impression when we handled the Razor is that it has a relatively small magnesium body that feels balanced, robust and light. Indeed, when we compared it to other high-quality 10X42 binoculars, we realized that their weight is below average (703g). This is a remarkable feature that our shoulders thanked after long sessions of raptor migration counts in the Strait of Gibraltar.
It has a single bridge design that makes it comfortable to hold, with a thumb indent on the inferior part of the barrels that provides a good grip and extra comfort for intense birding sessions.
Most of the body is covered in a rugged dark green armor that is nice and natural to the touch that along with its shape provides extra grip, especially on humid conditions. The areas that are not covered by the armor are basically the bridge and a small part of the barrel.
The eyepieces are confortable; neither of us opens the eyepieces to look through them, but they sit comfortably on our glasses or on our eye sockets. They have two intermediate positions that hold well, in case you don’t need to fully extend the eyepieces.
The focusing wheel is also covered with a soft rubber that sits apropriatelly where your index finger tends to rest. The resistance is the right one … long… finer focus
The lens caps and eyepieces cover that protect the glass seem to be made from rubber, and they fulfill its function well.
Finally, despite the fact that this is a highly subjective view, we find the Razor design attractive and clever.
In the Field
If you have been using a pair of binoculars for a long time, you know that using a different pair can be, at first, uncomfortable, just because your eyes, your hands and your brain are used to your regular binoculars. This has happened to us to a certain extent, but the time to adjust our senses to the Razor have been very short. In fact, after the second day with them, we haven’t used our former binoculars anymore (which are of very good quality and between the most expensive in the market).
The Razor is supposed to be fully waterproof, thanks to sealed glass and interior filled with argon gas. In our experience, after heavy rain and high humidity weeks in the rainforest and the cloud forest of Central America, we haven’t had a single problem with water or internal fogging. Moreover, we have repeatedly clean the gear with a jet of tap water to remove accumulated sand and saltpetre. This is of paramount importance for birders like us that spend a good amount of time birding either in humid and harsh environments where chances for a more careful cleaning are limited. This treatment has neither affected the smoothness of the focus wheel and eyecups.
As we said, we have had very little consideration for the physical state of the Razor, as we have used them extensively during our travels in all sorts of situations. Up to this moment, the binoculars are in excellent conditions, with the exception of a few minor scratches on its body, and their optical and mechanical performance is equally well as new.
Through the eye
As soon as you hold the Razor and focus you get that “special feeling” you get when you are using top gear.
The 10X42 version of the Razor has 6.9° field of view, which we consider is very good in order to cover ground when scanning for birds in the field, migrant raptors in the sky or seabirds from a boat.
Our perception is that the Razor provides a clear, bright, high-quality image with excellent sharpness, up to the standards of the best binoculars in the market. They work well with different light levels, and they excel with middle levels of light. When tried before sunrise and after sunset, the most critical time to test binoculars, they perform very well too..
We had no impression that the glass provided warmer or cooler colors, but a neutral and natural tone, which we consider to be a very positive quality. Also, the Razor has an apochromatic lens system, which are supposed to reduce chromatic aberrations, improve sharpness and resolution. In fact, we haven’t noticed any chromatic aberrations.
For those of us who are interested on insects, like dragonflies, damselflies, and butterflies, for instance, is important to have a pair of binoculars with a small close focus distance. The company affirms that the Razor can focus on objects as close as 1.8m, and other sources talk about even shorter distances. In any case, we have used them to watch dragonflies often, and they are wonderful as well, significantly beyond the performance of some other binoculars within the same price range.
Conclusion and a note about the warranty
We are fully satisfied with the Razor. We think it’s a phenomenal piece of gear that provides excellent and reliable performance. Considering all the options in the market, we believe that the quality and price make the Razor one the best options and we (can) recommend it to any enthusiast birder, for all kind of situations and levels of birding intensity.
The VIP warranty deserves a special mention. We have talked both with Vortex users and specialized national dealers that have used the warranty, and are fully satisfied with Vortex customer service. They all got their binoculars or scope back, in perfect conditions. In some cases they even were totally new. This is an outstanding feature when thinking on purchasing a high quality of binoculars.
Finally, we wish to thank Vortex staff for their trust, kindness and support to our activity as field ornithologist and nature guides.
Yeray Seminario and Javi Elorriaga / Birding The Strait
There was never any doubt I would go to Rob's funeral. Rob was born just two weeks before me, and in our many meetings, we found we had so much in common.
A drive to Ipswich should be something like only two and a half hours, but with the Dartford Crossing that could balloon to four or more.
My choice was to leave early, soon after Jools left for work, or wait to near nine once rush hour was over. If I was up early, I'd leave early, I said.
Which is what happened.
So, after coffee and Jools leaving, I loaded my camera stuff in the car, not bothering to program in a destination, as I knew the route to Suffolk so well.
Checking the internet I found the M2 was closed, so that meant taking the M20, which I like as it runs beside HS2, although over the years, vegetation growth now hides most of it, and with Eurostar cutting services due to Brexit, you're lucky to see a train on the line now.
I had a phone loaded with podcasts, so time flew by, even if travelling through the endless roadworks at 50mph seemed to take forever.
Dartford was jammed. But we inched forward, until as the bridge came in sight, traffic moved smoothly, and I followed the traffic down into the east bore of the tunnel.
Another glorious morning for travel, the sun shone from a clear blue sky, even if traffic was heavy, but I had time, so not pressing on like I usually do, making the drive a pleasant one.
Up through Essex, where most other traffic turned off at Stanstead, then up to the A11 junction, with it being not yet nine, I had several hours to fill before the ceremony.
I stopped at Cambridge services for breakfast, then programmed the first church in: Gazeley, which is just in Suffolk on the border with Cambridgeshire.
I took the next junction off, took two further turnings brought be to the village, which is divided by one of the widest village streets I have ever seen.
It was five past nine: would the church be open?
I parked on the opposite side of the road, grabbed my bag and camera, limped over, passing a warden putting new notices in the parish notice board. We exchange good mornings, and I walk to the porch.
The inner door was unlocked, and the heavy door swung after turning the metal ring handle.
I had made a list of four churches from Simon's list of the top 60 Suffolk churches, picking those on or near my route to Ipswich and which piqued my interest.
Here, it was the reset mediaeval glass.
Needless to say, I had the church to myself, the centuries hanging heavy inside as sunlight flooded in filling the Chancel with warm golden light.
Windows had several devotional dials carved in the surrounding stone, and a huge and "stunningly beautiful piscina, and beside it are sedilia that end in an arm rest carved in the shape of a beast" which caught my eye.
A display in the Chancel was of the decoration of the wooden roof above where panels contained carved beats, some actual and some mythical.
I photographed them all.
I programmed in the next church, a 45 minute drive away just on the outskirts of Ipswich, or so I thought.
The A14 was plagued by roadworks, then most trunk roads and motorways are this time of year, but it was a fine summer morning, I was eating a chocolate bar as I drove, and I wasn't in a hurry.
I turned off at Claydon, and soon lost in a maze of narrow lanes, which brought be to a dog leg in the road, with St Mary nestling in a clearing.
I pulled up, got out and found the air full of birdsong, and was greeted by a friendly spaniel being taken for a walk from the hamlet which the church serves.
There was never any doubt that this would be open, so I went through the fine brick porch, pushed another heavy wooden door and entered the coolness of the church.
I decided to come here for the font, which as you can read below has quite the story: wounded by enemy action no less!
There seems to be a hagioscope (squint) in a window of the south wall, makes one think or an anchorite, but of this there is little evidence.
Samuel and Thomasina Sayer now reside high on the north wall of the Chancel, a stone skull between them, moved here too because of bomb damage in the last war.
I drove a few miles to the next church: Flowton.
Not so much a village as a house on a crossroads. And the church.
Nothing so grand as a formal board outside, just a handwritten sign say "welcome to Flowton church". Again, I had little doubt it would be open.
And it was.
The lychgate still stands, but a fence around the churchyard is good, so serves little practical purpose, other than to be there and hold the signs for the church and forthcoming services.
Inside it is simple: octagonal font with the floor being of brick, so as rustic as can be.
I did read Simon's account (below) when back outside, so went back in to record the tomb of Captain William Boggas and his family, even if part of the stone is hidden by pews now.
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The landscape to the west of Ipswich rises to hills above the gentle valley of what will become the Belstead Brook before it empties itself into the River Orwell. The large villages of Somersham and Offton nestle below, but in the lonely lanes above are small, isolated settlements, and Flowton is one of them. I often cycle out this way from Ipswich through busy Bramford and then leave the modern world behind at Little Blakenham, up towards Nettlestead on a narrow and steep lane, down into Somersham and back up the other side to Flowton. It is unusual to pass a vehicle, or even see another human being, except in the valley bottom. In summer the only sound is of birdsong, the hedgerows alive in the deep heat. In winter the fields are dead, the crows in possession.
A hundred years ago these lanes were full of people, for in those days the villagers were enslaved to the land. But a farm that might support fifty workers then needs barely two now, and the countryside has emptied, villages reduced to half their size. Most of rural Suffolk is quieter now than at any time since before the Saxons arrived, and nature is returning to it.
In the early spring of 1644, a solemn procession came this way. The body of Captain William Boggas was brought back from the Midlands, where he had been killed in some skirmish or other, possibly in connection with the siege of Newark. The cart stumbled over the ruts and mud hollows, and it is easy to imagine the watching farmworkers pausing in a solemn gesture, standing upright for a brief moment, perhaps removing a hat, as it passed them by. But no sign of the cross, for this was Puritan Suffolk. Even the Church of England had been suppressed, and the local Priest replaced by a Minister chosen by, and possibly from within, the congregation.
William Boggas was laid to rest in the nave of the church, beside the body of his infant daughter who had died a year earlier. His heavily pregnant widow would have stood by on the cold brick floor, and the little church would have been full, for he was a landowner, and a Captain too.
The antiquarian David Davy came this way in a bad mood in May 1829, with his friend John Darby on their way to record the memorials and inscriptions of the church: ...we ascended a rather steep hill, on which we travelled thro' very indifferent roads to Flowton; here the kind of country I had anticipated for the whole of the present day's excursion was completely realised. A more flat, wet, unpleasant soil and country I have not often passed over, & we found some difficulty in getting along with safety & comfort.
But today it would be hard to arrive in Flowton in spring today and not be pleased to be there. By May, the trees in the hedgerows gather, and the early leaves send shadows dappling across the lane, for of course the roads have changed here since Darby and Davy came this way, but perhaps Flowton church hasn't much. James Bettley, revising the Buildings of England volumes for Suffolk, observed that it is a church with individuality in various details, which is about right. Much of what we see is of the early 14th Century, but there was money being spent here right on the eve of the Reformation. Peter Northeast and Simon Cotton transcribed a bequest of 1510 which pleasingly tells us the medieval dedication of the church, for Alice Plome asked that my body to be buried in the churchyard of the nativitie of our lady in fflowton. The same year, John Rever left a noble to painting the candlebeam, which is to say the beam which ran across the top of the rood loft and screen on which candles were placed. This is interesting because, as James Bettley points out, the large early 16th Century window on the south side of the nave was clearly intended to light the rood, and so was probably part of the same campaign. The candlebeam has not survived, and nor has any part of the rood screen. In 1526 John Rever (perhaps the son of the earlier man of the same name) left two nobles toward the making of a new rouff in the said church of ffloweton. The idiosyncratic tower top came in the 18th Century, and the weather vane with its elephants is of the early 21st Century, remembering a travelling circus that used to overwinter in the fields nearby.
The west face of the tower still has its niches, which once contained the images of the saints who watched over the travellers passing by. Another thing curious about the tower is that it has no west doorway. Instead, the doorway is set into the south side of the tower. There must be a reason for this, for it exists nowhere else in Suffolk. Perhaps there was once another building to the west of the tower. Several churches in this area have towers to the south of their naves, and the entrance through a south doorway into a porch formed beneath the tower, but it is hard to see how that could have been the intention here.
The Victorians were kind to Flowton church. It has a delicious atmosphere, that of an archetypal English country church. The narrow green sleeve of the graveyard enfolds it, leading eastwards to a moat-like ditch. The south porch is simple, and you step through it into a sweetly ancient space. The brick floor is uneven but lovely, lending an organic quality to the font, a Purbeck marble survival of the late 13th Century which seems to grow out of it. The bricks spread eastwards, past Munro Cautley's pulpit of the 1920s, and up beyond the chancel arch into the chancel itself. On the south side of the sanctuary the piscina that formerly served the altar here still retains its original wooden credence shelf. On the opposite wall is a corbel of what is perhaps a green man, or merely a madly grinning devil.
But to reach all these you must step across the ledger stone of Captain William Boggas, a pool of dark slate in the soft sea of bricks. It reads Here lyes waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ the body of William Boggas gent, deere to his Countrey, by whoes free choyce he was called to be Captayne of their vountaries raysed for their defence: pious towards God, meeke & juste towards men & being about 40 yeeres of age departed this life March 18: 1643. To the north of it lie two smaller ledgers, the easterly one to his young daughter, which records the date of her birth and her death in the next ensuing month. To the west of that is one to William, his son, who was born on April 11th 1644.
At first sight it might seem odd that his son could have been born in April 1644 if William senior had died in March 1643, but in those days of course the New Year was counted not from January 1st, but from March 25th, a quarter day usually referred to as Lady Day, in an echoing memory of the pre-Reformation Feast of the Annunciation. So William Boggas died one month before his son was born, not thirteen. It would be nice to think that William Junior would have led a similarly exciting and possibly even longer life than his father. But this was not to be, for he died at the age of just two years old in 1645. As he was given his father's name, we may assume that he was his father's first and only son.
A further point of interest is that both Williams' stones have space ready for further names. But there are none. There would be no more children for him, for how could there be? But William's wife does not appear to be buried or even remembered here. Did she move away? Did she marry again, and does she lie in some other similarly remote English graveyard? Actually, it is possible that she doesn't. Boggas's wife was probably Flowton girl Mary Branston, and she had been married before, to Robert Woodward of Dedham in Essex. Between the time of William Boggas's death in 1644 and the 1647 accounting of the Colony, Mary's daughter and nephews by her first marriage had been transported to the Virginia Colony in the modern United States. Is it possible that Mary went to join them?
And finally, one last visitor. Four months after the birth of the younger William, when the cement on his father's ledger stone was barely dry, the Puritan iconoclast William Dowsing visited this remote place. It was 22 August 1644. The day had been a busy one for Dowsing, for Flowton was one of seven churches he visited that day, and he would likely have already known them well, because he had a house at nearby Baylham. There was little for him to take issue with apart from the piscina in the chancel which was probably filled in and then restored by the Victorians two hundred years later.
Dowsing had arrived here in the late afternoon on what was probably a fine summer's day, since the travelling was so easy. I imagined the graveyard that day, full of dense greenery. He came on horseback, and he was not alone.With him came, as an assistant, a man called Jacob Caley. Caley, a Portman of Ipswich, was well-known to the people of Flowton. He was the government's official collector of taxes for this part of Suffolk. Probably, he was not a popular man. What the villagers couldn't know was that Caley was actually hiding away a goodly proportion of the money he collected. In 1662, two years after the Commonwealth ended, he was found guilty of the theft of three thousand pounds, about a million pounds in today's money. He had collected one hundred and eighteen pounds of this from the people of Flowton alone, and the late John Blatchly writing in Trevor Cooper's edition of the Dowsing Journals thought that the amount he was found guilty of stealing was probably understated, although of course we will never know.
I revisit this church every few months, and it always feels welcoming and well cared for, with fresh flowers on display, tidy ranks of books for sale, and a feeling that there is always someone popping in, every day. The signs by the lychgate say Welcome to Flowton Church, and on my most recent visit in November 2021 a car stopped behind me while I was taking a photograph of the elephants at the top of the tower. "Do go inside, the church is open", the driver urged cheerily, "we've even got a toilet!" As with Nettlestead across the valley, the church tried to stay open throughout the Church of England's Covid panic of 2020 and 2021, whatever much of the rest of the Church might have been doing. And there was no absurd cordoning off of areas or imposition of the one-way systems beloved by busybodies in many other English churches. Instead, a simple reminder to ask you to be careful, and when I came this way in the late summer of 2020 there were, at the back of the church, tall vases of rosemary, myrtle, thyme and other fragrant herbs. Beside them was a notice, which read Covid-19 causes anosmia (losing sense of smell). Here are some herbs to smell! which I thought was not only useful and instructive, but rather lovely.
Simon Knott, November 2021
as first envisaged, with marina and megastructures. phase 1 was just the tip of one tentacle. it's instructive to compare it with the google satellite view.
Sorting My Records: A Power Point Mix about Record Collecting, originally presented at a colloquium in the music department at the University of Hong Kong in October of 2010, is a hybrid presentation that combines the seemingly mundane aspects of power point with relevant sounds, images, and video clips along with live narration.
The model for this hybrid, as noted in its title, is the “mix” or “playlist” of the DJ. Moving at a fast pace, Sorting My Records elicits an information overload that necessitates that the audience pick and choose between the written word, the spoken word, the image (moving or still), or the sound, in essence, giving themselves over to the flow of sound and image as one might do at a concert or in a disco.
Nevertheless, the ostensible topic is instructive, guiding the audience through the psychologies of collecting, the history of recording technologies and their impact on musical culture, with specific reference to Andrew Guthrie's edition “Broken Records: 1960 – 1969” which documents one 45 rpm for each year of that tumultuous decade. This edition will be on sale at all of the scheduled events.
Now, after the successful reception of the initial presentation, Andrew Guthrie has organized a mini-tour for Sorting My Records: A Power Point Mix about Record Collecting with 3 dates and locations spread across diverse regions of Hong Kong in an homage to, and parody of, the D.I.Y. tour of an indie band. These dates and locations include:
ACO Books on February 19 at 3pm
1/F, Foo Tak Bldg.
365 Hennessy Rd.
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Email: acobook@gmail.com
Phone: 2893 4808
C&G Artpartment on March 19 at 6pm
3/F, 222 Sai Yeung St. South
Prince Edward, Kowloon
Web: www.candg-artpartment.com/
Email: info@CandG-Artpartment.com
Phone: 2390 9332
Lung Kong Restaurant on April 2 at 5pm
38 G/F Main Street, Tung Shue Wan
Lamma Island
黑膠碎片: 1960 - 1969是一個獨特的藝術剪輯記錄. 充滿音樂和影像的幻影片以DJ音樂列表的形式, 像播放音樂般地介紹上世紀六十年代的音樂. 從六零年代中篩選的十張黑膠唱片代表不同的年份, 向諸位回顧六零年代中被遺忘或者被忽略的聲音, 以此追憶那段動盪的年代.
講座內容:
- 收藏家對通過收藏而富有象徵意義的物品迷戀的追尋
- 物品並非因為金錢價值而是因為富有收藏家個人色彩變得珍貴
- 收藏家如何對收藏品進行創作改造並因此恢復收藏過程中失去的精力
- 時下唱片的採樣手法, 以及錄音技術的革新如何影響我們消費音樂的習慣
(講座以英語進行)
Milena Martínez Basalo won the 2nd award for her lovely documentary Aurelia.
Last week we were invited for this year's edition of the Benicassim festival near Valencia, ES, to take part of the jury of the FIB Cortos (www.cortos.fiberfib.com) short film festival. We've never been in a jury before. It was a brilliant experience, watching 15 great films and discussing them afterwards with the rest of the jury, was great fun and instructive.
Voltaire Seated after Jean-Antoine Houdon
In March of 1778, in the course of recording Voltaire's features for the revered writer's portrait bust (1972.61), Houdon seems to have made a quick sketch of the old man informally seated in the sculptor's studio. Later that year, Voltaire's niece, Mme Denis, commissioned a lifesize marble statue based on the sketch, which had been much admired by visitors who saw it in Houdon's studio. The marble (Comédie-Française, Paris) was completed in 1781, but a small gilt-bronze example of the maquette version, destined for the collection of Catherine the Great, was shown in the Salon of 1779. (The Russian empress also commissioned a marble version, still in Saint Petersburg.) Houdon's studio went on to produce numerous replicas of this sketch model, of which the Museum's example, which features the sculptor's atelier seal on its back, is one.
The contrast between the two subtly different versions—the sketch from life and the tuned-up final conception—is fascinating and instructive, revealing precisely how the artist adjusted "reality" to produce an immortal image. The initial maquette is more passive, less alert than the large versions; it shows the bald-pated philosopher seated upright with left hand resting inertly on the chair arm and both feet aligned. One contemporary description emphasizes its naturalistic, domestic quality: "This is precisely the old man of Ferney. . . . shrouded in his dressing gown, tired, ready for bed . . ."
In comparison to the maquette, the larger sculpture was subtly energized. Its head is slightly cocked to the side, the left hand actively grips the chair arm and the right foot is angled further back. A lower seat back and bulkier robe both lend greater monumentality to the sculpture, a graphic demonstration of the creative processes that transformed a casual genre sketch into an icon of the Enlightenment.
St Swithun, Retford, Nottinghamshire.
The Parish Church of East Retford.
Grade ll* listed.
The church was founded in 1258, but the current building is almost completely the work of restorers of 1658, 1854-5 and 1905.
St Swithun’s is a cruciform stone building consisting of chancel, with vestry, nave aisles, transepts, north chantry chapel, south porch and a 90' central embattled tower with 8 pinnacles, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial.
The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays.
There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. The south porch built in 1852.
In 1884-5 G G Place re-built the north aisle (with capitals imitating the 13th century ones), then north porch, north chancel aisle, clerestory, battlements and the east window of 13th century stonework. (All of these were renovated in 1905.) Galleries were removed and new seats and roof installed.
G F Bodley re-built the chantry chapel in 1873 and refurbished the chancel.
New choir stalls were erected in 1889 and in 1910 and 1914 the corporation presented new stalls for its own use.
In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d1807) by William Kinnard, architect.
The Victorian stained glass is instructive with work by Clayton & Bell, Kempe & Co, O’Connor, Hardman, Wailes and one by a local, George Shaw.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
Guide
Although there are records of a church on this site in the 13th century, the church today is a typical large town church, built on a cruciform plan with a central tower. The oldest part as it now stands is the North Transept which today is called the Lady Chapel and used for weekday or other small services. The central pillar and its two arches belong to the 14th century and still display their original painted decoration. Anciently there were two chantry chapels here known as Our Lady's Chantry and St Trinity Chantry. Their altars were against the East wall which may have been further to the East than it is now. The purpose of a chantry was to provide regular Masses for the souls of departed benefactors. A document of 1535 says that St Swithun's had four chantries and there may have been two more in the South Transept or elsewhere in the church. The neighbouring Chapelgate probably takes its name from the existence of the chantry chapels. The North Transept chapel is also a war memorial and it houses the banner of the Borough of East Retford.
The rest of the church is basically of the 15th century and is in the style often called perpendicular. The central tower collapsed in a storm in 1651, destroying much of the Chancel and South transept. It was rebuilt in 1658 and from outside it clearly has a 17th century look to it. Inside, massive piers were built to carry its weight and these low, heavy crossing arches are a feature of the church today. Looking eastward from the nave, the columns of the earlier arches can be seen, much more slender and with a much higher springing. Under the tower, on the South side high above the vicar's stall, although not easily seen with the naked eye, is a stone bearing the inscription Ano Mundi 5226 Ano Christie 1582. It was moved to there from the chantry in 1873.
There are many memorials in the church. The oldest one is a floor slab in the North-East corner of the North Transept chapel. It dates from 1496 and is in memory of Henry Smyth, but most of the memorials are of the 18th and 19th centuries.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
www.visitoruk.com/Retford/st-swithuns-church-C567-AT5017....
this is the gate that lets the water in and out of the waterway, keeping the water levels stable. to the right is the boat lock with the lookout and the lock control room above the seaward lock gate, from this look out is where I get my "looking across the creek toward the city" from - this shot is taken from the footbridge that opens up when the lock does
Scavenger Challenge - 23, 24, 25. The Education Center topic for this month emphasizes VISUAL LINE (not physical lines). In order to understand this term as it relates to photography, please read the instructive material and create three shots showing a strong vertical line, a strong horizonal line and a strong diagonal line. BE ADVISED! "Line" does not refer to a stripe on the pavement or a zebra's coat! This assignment specifically refers to the visual line of an image! Read the Education Center topic for more details.
St Swithun, Retford, Nottinghamshire.
The Parish Church of East Retford.
Grade ll* listed.
The church was founded in 1258, but the current building is almost completely the work of restorers of 1658, 1854-5 and 1905.
St Swithun’s is a cruciform stone building consisting of chancel, with vestry, nave aisles, transepts, north chantry chapel, south porch and a 90' central embattled tower with 8 pinnacles, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial.
The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays.
There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. The south porch built in 1852.
In 1884-5 G G Place re-built the north aisle (with capitals imitating the 13th century ones), then north porch, north chancel aisle, clerestory, battlements and the east window of 13th century stonework. (All of these were renovated in 1905.) Galleries were removed and new seats and roof installed.
G F Bodley re-built the chantry chapel in 1873 and refurbished the chancel.
New choir stalls were erected in 1889 and in 1910 and 1914 the corporation presented new stalls for its own use.
In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d1807) by William Kinnard, architect.
The Victorian stained glass is instructive with work by Clayton & Bell, Kempe & Co, O’Connor, Hardman, Wailes and one by a local, George Shaw.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
Guide
Although there are records of a church on this site in the 13th century, the church today is a typical large town church, built on a cruciform plan with a central tower. The oldest part as it now stands is the North Transept which today is called the Lady Chapel and used for weekday or other small services. The central pillar and its two arches belong to the 14th century and still display their original painted decoration. Anciently there were two chantry chapels here known as Our Lady's Chantry and St Trinity Chantry. Their altars were against the East wall which may have been further to the East than it is now. The purpose of a chantry was to provide regular Masses for the souls of departed benefactors. A document of 1535 says that St Swithun's had four chantries and there may have been two more in the South Transept or elsewhere in the church. The neighbouring Chapelgate probably takes its name from the existence of the chantry chapels. The North Transept chapel is also a war memorial and it houses the banner of the Borough of East Retford.
The rest of the church is basically of the 15th century and is in the style often called perpendicular. The central tower collapsed in a storm in 1651, destroying much of the Chancel and South transept. It was rebuilt in 1658 and from outside it clearly has a 17th century look to it. Inside, massive piers were built to carry its weight and these low, heavy crossing arches are a feature of the church today. Looking eastward from the nave, the columns of the earlier arches can be seen, much more slender and with a much higher springing. Under the tower, on the South side high above the vicar's stall, although not easily seen with the naked eye, is a stone bearing the inscription Ano Mundi 5226 Ano Christie 1582. It was moved to there from the chantry in 1873.
There are many memorials in the church. The oldest one is a floor slab in the North-East corner of the North Transept chapel. It dates from 1496 and is in memory of Henry Smyth, but most of the memorials are of the 18th and 19th centuries.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
www.visitoruk.com/Retford/st-swithuns-church-C567-AT5017....
MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West
There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]
In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]
When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.
According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]
It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942
By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
Author and educator John Marsden visited the NMIT Publishing Lab at The Chapel on Fairfield campus for a seminar for Bachelor of Writing and Publishing students.
The talk was entertaining and instructive and drew upon his experiences as a teacher and successful author. His book Tomorrow, When the War Began - the first of a seven part series - was recently made into a successful film.
IONIA, Ephesos. Phanes. Circa 625-600 BC. EL Trite (14mm, 4.67 g). ΦANEOS (in retrograde archaic Greek), stag grazing right, its dappled coat indicated by indentations on the body / Two incuse punches, each with raised intersecting lines. Weidauer 40 = ACGC 54 = Kraay & Hirmer 585 = GPCG p. 98, 3; SNG München 14 = Aufhäuser 8, lot 140; Gemini V, lot 619 (same die and punches); Gorny & Mosch 159, lot 189; CNG 66, lot 446 (same die and punches); Tkalec, 19 February 2001, lot 116 (same die and punches); Berk inv. cc57640; CNG inv. 922163. Good VF, lightly toned. Extremely rare.
The celebrated coins of Phanes – the first coins on which a legend appears – are known to be among the earliest of Greek coins, as a hemihekte (twelfth stater) of the issue was found in the famous foundation deposit of the temple of Artemis at Ephesos. It is this find spot, along with the design of the grazing stag (an animal associated with Artemis and which was used on later Ephesian issues), that has suggested Ephesos as the mint.
The Phanes coinage consists of seven denominations, from stater down to 1/96 stater, with some denominations occurring in different varieties (the stag facing in different directions and sometimes associated with the symbol of a pentagram or a triad of pellets). Only the two largest denominations bear the name of Phanes. The approximately four known staters carry the legend ΦΑΝΕΟΣ ΕΜΙ ΣΗΜΑ (or similar) (“I am the badge of Phanes”), and the ten known trites (third staters) bear just the name ΦΑΝΕΟΣ (“of Phanes”). The Phanes who issued these coins is otherwise unattested. The use of a personal name at this early point in the development of coinage is instructive. We know from these coins that the responsibility for the issue was personal – whether the issuer was an official or a private individual – rather than collective, i.e. the citizenry as a whole.
There are currently only ten Phanes trites known, struck from four obverse dies and five pairs of punches:
1) Die A / punches α1
a) London, British Museum (BM reg. no. 1948,0705.1) = GPCG p. 98, 3 = Weidauer 40 = ACGC 54 = AGC 15 = Kraay & Hirmer 585
2) Die A / punches β2
a) Harlan J. Berk BBS 159 (3 June 2008), no. 1
3) Die B / punches γ3
a) Gorny & Mosch 159 (8 October 2007), lot 189
4) Die C / punches δ4
a) Classical Numismatic Group 66 (19 May 2004), lot 446
b) Private collection
c) Gemini V (6 January 2009), lot 619
d) Zhuyuetang 8 = A. Tkalec (19 February 2001), lot 116
e) Harlan J. Berk BBS 156 (23 October 2007), no. 3
f) Classical Numismatic Group 91 (19 September 2012), lot 270 (present coin)
5) Die D / punches ε5
a) Munich, Staatliche Münzsammlung (SNG München 14) = Aufhäuser 8 (8 October 1991), lot 140
Interestingly, while there is some consistency in the patterns of the reverse punches, none were used with more than one obverse die. It thus appears that the reverse punches were paired to specific obverse dies, and there was no sharing between them. There was sharing between denominations, however. For example, Weidauer 37 is an electrum hemihekte that uses reverse punch 4 of the trites listed above. These interdenominational punch links conclusively connect the anepigraphic, yet stylistically similar, fractions to the Phanes-signed staters and trites.
CNG91, 271
What is the physiological impact on a space flight? A lot can be deduced from the test on this dog for the life and health of future astronauts...
(Chocolate Jacques instructive chromos, picture-album "Race to the Stars", 1960's)
IONIA, Ephesos. Phanes. Circa 625-600 BC. EL Sixth Stater Hekte (2.36 gm). Forepart of stag right, head reverted; pentagram to right / Incuse square punch with raised lines within. Cf. Weidauer 35 = Robinson, Electrum, pl. XXIX, 3B = Traité pl. II, 18 = BMC Ionia pg. 47, 4 (type left with three pellets before); Boston MFA -; SNG von Aulock -. Good VF. Extremely rare, one of only eight known hektes of Phanes, unique with the pentagram.
The Coinage of Phanes
The celebrated coins of Phanes are known to be amongst the earliest of Greek coins, for a hemihekte of the issue was found in the famous foundation deposit of the temple of Artemis at Ephesos. It is this find spot, along with the design of the grazing stag (an animal associated with Artemis), that has suggested Ephesos as the mint.
The Phanes coinage, as presently known, consists of seven denominations, from stater down to 1/96 stater, with some denominations occurring in different varieties (the stag facing in different directions and sometimes associated with the symbol of a pentagram or a triad of pellets). Only the two largest denominations bear the name of Phanes. The three known staters carry the legend FANEOS EMI SHMA (or similar) (“I am the badge of Phanes”), and the four known trites (third staters) bear just the name FANEOS (“Of Phanes”). The use of a personal name at this early point in the development of coinage is instructive. We know from these coins that the responsibility for the issue was personal whether the issuer was an official or a private individual rather than collective (the citizenry as a whole).
Despite the absence of a legend on the smaller denominations, the whole series is linked beyond doubt by the consistent type of the stag, by the common weight standard, and by the occasional use of the same reverse punch on different denominations within the series.
Apart from the more frequently encountered 1/24 stater, all the denominations are very rare, each known by only a handful of examples. The last stater to be sold brought CHF 480,000 in the 2000 Tkalec auction, and the last trite brought $56,000 in CNG auction 66. This is the first occasion that four different denominations have appeared together in one sale.
CNGTritonVIII, 399
Of course, Masonic ballot boxes come in pairs but I found this single, old one in an antique store selling for a song. The Square and Compasses were a gift from Cardenas Lodge, Cuba, my second lodge. Together, they make a decorative piece at my home.
Square and Compasses - This symbolic stone was removed from above the entrance to the Lambton Mills Masonic Temple erected by Mimico Lodge on the north side of Dundas Street in 1882.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest.”
The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with its traditional modes of recognition. It is not a secret society, since all members are free to acknowledge their membership and will do so in response to enquiries for respectable reasons. Its constitutions and rules are available to the public. There is no secret about any of its aims and principles. Like many other societies, it regards some of its internal affairs as private matters for its members. In history there have been times and places where promoting equality, freedom of thought or liberty of conscience was dangerous. Most importantly though is a question of perspective. Each aspect of the craft has a meaning. Freemasonry has been described as a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Such characteristics as virtue, honour and mercy, such virtues as temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice are empty clichés and hollow words unless presented within an ordered and closed framework. The lessons are not secret but the presentation is kept private to promote a clearer understanding in good time. It is also possible to view Masonic secrecy not as secrecy in and of itself, but rather as a symbol of privacy and discretion. By not revealing Masonic secrets, or acknowledging the many published exposures, freemasons demonstrate that they are men of discretion, worthy of confidences, and that they place a high value on their word and bond.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
Although low quality
Photo is instructive as follows below
Lesser Yellowlegs LEYE (Tringa flavipes)
West Reservoir
Pendray Farm (Private Property)
North Saanich
(Saanich Peninsula)
Capital Regional District
Vancouver Island
British Columbia
DSCN8089 - Cropped
Field Mark Cues ^i^
Bulk of Body is daintier than GRYE ( a tough one to gage at distance)(Killdeer sized ish body )
Although this bill is on the large hefty end of the scale of variation for a LEYE, and could cause confusion with ID between this & the more prevalent GRYE (in our area generally) .. it is straight & noticeably tapers to a point
This time of year can be tough with juvenile GRYE (shorter bills ,smaller body size than full adults) in the mix with straighter bills but body size and bill heft should facilitate differentiation
It also must be said that it is ok to leave a bird as Yellowlegs Species as far as ID goes
There have been a few over the years that have gone into and stayed in that column - especially when i am on the prairies or NE BC.
I even wonder about possibility of hybrids but likely that one would be impossible to ascertain without DNA proof
42 Abel Smith St., Wellington
Here's the puffery straight off the Resene Paints website:
"Tattoo Apartment Building is in a very eclectic area of the city.
The new complex fits into its surroundings, yet stands out
from the crowd. It is intense but at the same time fun and inviting. The colours in the mural depict this, which was left to the artist to bring together.
The result is ‘city art’ for everyone and anyone to stand, gaze and deliberate.
Whether you love it or hate it; it prompts conversation between those nearby, a permanent canvas for future change.
The inspiration for the mural is fairly contrived; it was the act of entering and exiting a building. The welcomes you receive and the goodbyes you receive.
The artist looked briefly at the use of gargoyles and their ‘instructive use’ vs ‘purely aesthetic visual use’. Welcoming creatures instructively beckoning you into the south main entrance and on the north these creatures are leaving, in a hurry, for the enjoyment of purely comedic visual aesthetic.
The colours were a response to combining simplicity and visual impact. The use of simple variants of primary colours
allowed the exploration of a large space with elementary restrictions, while working with the infinite possibilities, with mixing each. This mural is a good example of continuity despite scale, as well as maximum impact, despite restrictions in the colour palette."
=====
Say WHAT???!!!
The site even tells me the Resene (of course!) colours used were Blue Lagoon, Prussian Blue, Red Berry and Witch Haze...
...yet NOWHERE does this paint supplier ever name the artist who actually did the work!
Let's also not even mention the sentence construction errors in this blurb!
As for "gargoyles"? I thought they were KOALA BEARS!!!
I have been taking photographs a lot lately. I've tried many different styles of photography with my
point-and-shoot. From still lifes to composition experiments, nature and human-beings. I've also tried to create abstract pictures or to implement symbols in my stills. It still is an interesting and exciting journey.
Have I become wiser through my journey? Did it bring me to a higher level? Well, the only thing I can answer to those questions is YES.
My eyes have become more sensitive to perspective, colour, hues, shadow, you name it. I've become aware of the fact that everything can be photographed and be edited into a nice picture.
I don't have to ask myself the question anymore if someone else is going to like the photo. It's me who shall be the one that thinks the pic is beautiful, interesting or useful for instructive use and in the meantime I know that in any case someone else on this globe is sharing the same opinion about the photo I just made.
But the most important thing that befell me the last months, is the fact that I've become free.
Free to make any picture I want; making something out of nothing. Whether it are trees in front of my appartment, drinking cups or eating plates I use every day or just vegetable scraps I put on a plate while cleaning radishes.
I've learned to listen to my inner voice, instead of the opinions of other individuals or (amateur) photographers who try to tell me what a picture should look like.
I feel free and can choose from a thousand paths I can tread on as a photographer.
I think this is one of the most beautiful rocket-shaped germanium radios: body in three colors, a yellow tip which serves as an indication of tuning and bras knob. Also it is equipped with nice red/black piezoelectric ear plug and alligator clip for connect to external antenna.
It comes with cardboard box in good condition and instructive.
Font : www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured/posts/20-years-later...
Credit: The Henson Company
Isso aí estou mega feliz porque meu Grupo de Teatro de formas animadas, LABORATÓRIO ANIMADO volta as atividades este ano com o espetáculo O Duende e o Natal.
Depois de um longo período hibernando o grupo volta à todo vapor se apresentando para crianças do ensino especial. E no ano que vem, se Deus quizer, estaremos atuando o ano todo com peças relâmpago de caráter instrutivo. Amo muito tudo isso !!!
That's right !! I'm so happy because my group of Puppet theater LABORATÓRIO ANIMADO (Animated Laboratory) come back with the activities this year with the show The Elf and Christmas.
After a long hibernation period the group back to full blast performing for children in special education. And next year, God willing, we will be working all year with parts Lightning instructive. Really love it all!
The events of the Civil War were still on the tongues of old soldiers, as they were called, when we were boys. Some would talk and relate much, while others were reticent to talk of those times unless persuasion was used by one who was well acquainted with them. As a further example of the soldiers who talked but little: some of us were in Ed Rhodes restaurant under the Bank one night when one got to talking to the colored manager about some thing in the Rebellion. There was a mistake in the argument and the facts were not there. The night watchman, Albert S. Henderson, was in there, and from his own experience in that war gave way to his usual quiet, and very interestingly related the facts. Very interesting and instructive were the experiences of the old soldiers to us youngsters. We were always ready to sit and listen.
Probably the majority of the soldiers we learn of around here were enlisted men or were volunteers as they were called. It was common practice though at the time of draft for a man to pay several hundred dollars for a substitute to go for him. While some made no secrecy of it, others have tried to have it forgotten. No mention is here made or recalled.
When Abraham Lincoln called for more volunteers, and Illinois, far exceeding the quota, responded in the slogan "we are coming Uncle Samuel three hundred thousand more," many of our young men said "let's join up for three months; it'll all be settled in that time." They were in for four years. Local groups and organizations did what they could by making and sending provisions for camp or hospitals. Communities were all interested in each others loved ones away in the dangers of battle, in privation or in rebel prisons. Bob Purcell was in three of the rebel prisons and had enlisted as a volunteer for what was thought would be but a short time. John C. Myers came home with a bullet hole all the way through his head and carried a bad scar below his eye till he died. Many never came home, having died in action, prison or hospitals.
-Arnett C. Lines
I met Robert when we were both on Jury Duty in Toronto.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
St Swithun, Retford, Nottinghamshire.
The Parish Church of East Retford.
Grade ll* listed.
The church was founded in 1258, but the current building is almost completely the work of restorers of 1658, 1854-5 and 1905.
St Swithun’s is a cruciform stone building consisting of chancel, with vestry, nave aisles, transepts, north chantry chapel, south porch and a 90' central embattled tower with 8 pinnacles, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial.
The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays.
There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. The south porch built in 1852.
In 1884-5 G G Place re-built the north aisle (with capitals imitating the 13th century ones), then north porch, north chancel aisle, clerestory, battlements and the east window of 13th century stonework. (All of these were renovated in 1905.) Galleries were removed and new seats and roof installed.
G F Bodley re-built the chantry chapel in 1873 and refurbished the chancel.
New choir stalls were erected in 1889 and in 1910 and 1914 the corporation presented new stalls for its own use.
In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d1807) by William Kinnard, architect.
The Victorian stained glass is instructive with work by Clayton & Bell, Kempe & Co, O’Connor, Hardman, Wailes and one by a local, George Shaw.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
Guide
Although there are records of a church on this site in the 13th century, the church today is a typical large town church, built on a cruciform plan with a central tower. The oldest part as it now stands is the North Transept which today is called the Lady Chapel and used for weekday or other small services. The central pillar and its two arches belong to the 14th century and still display their original painted decoration. Anciently there were two chantry chapels here known as Our Lady's Chantry and St Trinity Chantry. Their altars were against the East wall which may have been further to the East than it is now. The purpose of a chantry was to provide regular Masses for the souls of departed benefactors. A document of 1535 says that St Swithun's had four chantries and there may have been two more in the South Transept or elsewhere in the church. The neighbouring Chapelgate probably takes its name from the existence of the chantry chapels. The North Transept chapel is also a war memorial and it houses the banner of the Borough of East Retford.
The rest of the church is basically of the 15th century and is in the style often called perpendicular. The central tower collapsed in a storm in 1651, destroying much of the Chancel and South transept. It was rebuilt in 1658 and from outside it clearly has a 17th century look to it. Inside, massive piers were built to carry its weight and these low, heavy crossing arches are a feature of the church today. Looking eastward from the nave, the columns of the earlier arches can be seen, much more slender and with a much higher springing. Under the tower, on the South side high above the vicar's stall, although not easily seen with the naked eye, is a stone bearing the inscription Ano Mundi 5226 Ano Christie 1582. It was moved to there from the chantry in 1873.
There are many memorials in the church. The oldest one is a floor slab in the North-East corner of the North Transept chapel. It dates from 1496 and is in memory of Henry Smyth, but most of the memorials are of the 18th and 19th centuries.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
www.visitoruk.com/Retford/st-swithuns-church-C567-AT5017....