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Four terns posing, while working to perpetuate the species, a group of voyeurs, one practicing for when they have their opportunity, oh, and one photographer standing in the Atlantic Ocean to take their photograph.
Anastasia beach.
No, I don't remember taking this photo, or the series before, during, and after this event. But I was glad when I came across it 5 years later.
Royal terns.
I have over 100 folders of unprocessed photos from the past 6 years which I’m currently going through, this is one of the photos from that group. Many of these re-visit an already posted subject. I'm on folder 13 - that has 1428 photos! This photo was in the first 1/3 of that folder.
Miss Ky is a retro fashionista who is also a veterinary practitioner believe it or not .
Rods n Rockabilly
Brisbane
A fictional practitioner of magic.
Come with me now
I'm gonna show you how.
Afraid to lose control and get caught up in this world.
I've wasted time, I've wasted breath.
I think I've thought myself to death.
Come with me now.
Candid street shot, Bristol, UK.
Hair/Hat - Foxy - Maeve Hair (Natural Ombres)
Hairbase - Tableau Vivant - Genus Hairbase 02 (D)
Head - Genus - Babyface
Skin - Pumec - Cleo (Tone #5) Genus
Face Tattoo - Bus - Moon Child Tattoo (Genus)
Cheek Acc - La baguette - Cute Witch Stickers
Chest Tattoo - Rainbow Sundae - Basic Witch - Chest 02
Choker - Ama - Pentacle Collar (Black Silver)
Necklace - Reign - Moon Crystal Necklace - Silver
Dress - Pixicat - Banshee Dress - Black
Rings - Ama - Brigid Rings (Black Teal) Maitreya
Nails - Aleutia - SS17 Manicure Polish HUD (Purple)
Mini Cauldron Acc - Witchy Hands - #2 Magic Cauldron (Rare)
Decor -
Backdrop - Focus Poses - Witch Craft Room Backdrop (Edited)
Cabinet / Spellbook Stand - DRD - Spiritualists Shoppe
Wooden Chair - Jian - Witch's Recluse - Chair
Spider Chair / Potion Bottles - Ionic -
Table / Potion Cabinet / Potions /Book Pile / Flying Papers - Merak - Frozen in Time
Wall Pentacle / Hanging Herbs / Herb Bottles / Herb Drawers / Smudgesticks etc - Dust Bunny - Wiccan Artistry
Moon Box / Potion Bottles / Grimoire / Wand / Small Book etc - Kunst
Cauldron - Random Matter
Floating Candles - The Emporium - Magician's Candle (White)
(If I've missed something and you'd like to know where it is from, please just ask)
♥
A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers, and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, merchandising and selling their product. In some countries modern supermarkets are replacing fishmongers who operate in shops or fish markets.
The fishmongers guild, one of the earliest guilds, was established in the City of London by a Royal Charter granted by Edward I shortly after he became king in 1272. Partnership with foreigners was forbidden and the sale of fish was tightly controlled to ensure freshness and restrain profit, which was limited to one penny in the shilling. Nevertheless, the guild grew rich and, after Edward's victory over the Scots, was able to make a great show, including one thousand mounted knights.
During the reign of Edward II, the political power of the fishmongers waned and Parliament decreed that no fishmonger could become mayor of the city. This was soon rescinded and their wealth increased further so that, during the reign of Edward III, the guild could provide £40 to the war against the French, this being a great sum at that time.
The guild was then reformed by Great Charter as the Mystery of the Fishmongers of London. They were given a monopoly over the crying and selling of fish and they regulated the catching of fish in the Thames which teemed with fish such as salmon at that time. The guild still continues today as one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies.
In many countries, the fishwife was proverbial for her sharp tongue and outspoken speech. In Medieval France, the ones in Paris were known for their special privilege of being able to speak frankly to the King himself, when he ventured into the marketplace, and voice criticism without fear of punishment.
Molly Malone is a character from a popular Irish song about a young fishwife who tragically dies at a young age.
Charles Fort in his book Lo! compiles the story of the Mad Fishmonger or "St. Fishmonger", which later may or may not appear in the Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson. St. Fishmonger allegedly caused crabs and periwinkles to fall from the sky.
In the English translation of the Asterix series, the village fishmonger is called Unhygienix. In the film The Beach, the Island's chef has only fish as a source of meat, and is named Unhygienix in reference to the Asterix character.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, some contend that the word fishmonger was a euphemism for a "fleshmonger" or pimp. Source Wikipedia.
TD : Agfapan 100 Professional 35mm film, developed in D-76 1+1 for 7 minutes. Exposure ISO 100 @35mm lens, natural daylight. Scanned with Alpha 6000 edited in ACR, inverted in CS6.
It's funny seeing buses again in the town centre but with the Bus Station most part closed we can all enjoy this once regular scene. Once again it's a jepg edit which is quicker and good quality.
As a practitioner of old ocean magic, and the paragon of aqua corpus transmogrification, Karklin dwells within his sea swell abode, protecting and collecting various magical items from across the seven seas.
Built as a part of #TimeforCrab 2024!
Join in on the fun with your own lego crab!
1. Build a crab
2. Post your crab with the tag #TimeforCrab
3. Repeat!
Nurse practitioner Nan Madden and Pediatrician Dr. Greg Melnick at the pre clinic.
Cebu City Team Members Rotary Philippines "cleft lip" "cleft palate" surgery children volunteers Canada USA ward recovery "operating room" nurses doctors surgeons anethetists pediatrician cebuano service helping "service above self" volunteer rotarians
Shamanism is a practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered states of consciousness in order to perceive and interact with what they believe to be a spirit world and channel these transcendental energies into this world.
There are many variations of shamanism throughout the world, but several common beliefs are shared by all forms of shamanism. Common beliefs identified by Eliade (1972) are the following:
Spirits exist and they play important roles both in individual lives and in human society.
The shaman can communicate with the spirit world.
Spirits can be benevolent or malevolent.
The shaman can treat sickness caused by malevolent spirits.
The shaman can employ trance inducing techniques to incite visionary ecstasy and go on vision quests.
The shaman's spirit can leave the body to enter the supernatural world to search for answers.
The shaman evokes animal images as spirit guides, omens, and message-bearers.
The shaman can perform other varied forms of divination, scry, throw bones/runes, and sometimes foretell of future events. Wikipedia.
Art and Science, they say, are polar opposites that must not be forked together. One is intuitive, inductive, and sensory, while the other is analytical, deductive, and logical. They must be held apart, for they come from different places and evoke different things in the practitioner while suffocating and/or rewarding them in unlike ways.
Now, is that true?
Let’s take the example of the String theory – a theory, which at its crescendo, posits the existence of eleven dimensions around us: ten of space and one of time (M-theory). On the surface, string theory is the child of Science: an analytical idea that was deduced in a systematic and logical way. It divides all particles in the universe into two types: Bosons and Fermions, and from there, attempts to explore the universe at the highest level of abstraction. At dizzying heights of such abstraction, this theory posits that a staggering 10^520 universes (Multiverse) may exist folded within the theoretical ‘String landscape’ of 11 dimensions. Intuitively, such abstraction is useless for an artist, who often struggles to portray three regular dimensions within restrictions of the two dimensional canvas. Instead, imagine portraying all 11 dimensions on a flat surface… it is forbiddingly disorienting!
Disorientation is not limited to artists; scientists suffer at the hands of this theory too. The String theory cannot be experimentally proven, or more importantly, disproven. To many scientists, what cannot be tested is not science. Period. And yet, generations of physicists have pursued the String theory with a creative madness rivaled in intensity only by lunacy of geniuses like Beethoven, Schumann and Vincent van Gogh. So, who are these physicists working their paint in mathematical formalization for three decades trying to birth their ‘theory of everything’ in some tangible form? Are they scientists – because they are using impeccable mathematics in their art; or, are they artists – because they are applying their top creative sparks and imagination in their science?
So, at the risk of offending a few prigs and pundits, I will leave you with the idea that Science and Art are perhaps like Bosons and Fermions, which according to an even wilder version of string theory (Supersymmetry), are contained in one another: every Fermion has a Boson, and every Boson a Fermion.
Ma, Wai Chung Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioner (and his father, also a very well known Chinese Medicine Practitioner) was pretty well known back in the prime time. Unfortunately, their property needed to be reconstruct due to its old age as the building is almost 70 years old, and seems like they have nowhere to go.
Rolleiflex Xenotar 2.8F
Kodak Ektar
June 2023
Ps: minor adjustment in Photoshop
‘roots, language and social norms have been three of the most important parts of the definition of what it is to be a
human being. The migrant, denied all three, is obliged to find new ways of describing himself, new ways of being human.’
From Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism,Salman Rushdie
Encounter with a ‘Japanese Doll’ practitioner, Dalston, London
Upper East Side, Central Park - Jun 2008 - 085
These pictures were taken on two successive days when I had doctor appointments on the Upper East Side of NYC, and had the chance to walk along Fifth Avenue, and then through Central Park in order to return to my apartment on the Upper West Side, at Broadway & 96th
I had spotted this woman jogging in Central Park a little earlier -- how could you not notice someone in a bright pink top and pink hat? She had been running south, while I was walking north, and she went by too quickly for me to get a picture.
But about ten minutes later, as I was approaching Columbus Avenue and 96th Street, she jogged past me again ... she had to stop at Columbus Avenue, because of the traffic, so she was actually jogging in place when I took this picture...
Note: on Sep 26, 2012, I replaced the original version of this photo with a slightly edited one. All I did was some relatively minor adjusting of "hot spots" and "cold spots" -- but unfortunately, I was unable to remove all the monochromatic blackness in the woman's tights Unfortunately, the original photo was shot as a JPG image, before I learned about the benefits of shooting in RAW and making more subtle adjustments with my Aperture photo-editing program...
Note: this picture was published in a Sep 21, 2008 blog article entitled "Road Kill." It was also included in a June 6, 2009 photo mashup, as seen in the comment below, and as displayed in full-sized format on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Aug 4, 2009 blog titled "What Kind of Music Do You Listen to When You Work Out?" More recently, it was published in a Sep 1, 2009 blog titled "How Far Should You Run In A Workout?", which was republished in a Jul 19, 2010 blog, and again in a Dec 17, 2010 blog. And it was published in a Sep 28, 2009 blog titled "Treadmill Vs. Outdoor Running," which was reprinted in a Jun 30, 2010 Bike Swim Run blog with the same title. It was also published in a Nov 6, 2009 blog titled World Run Day 2009 is This Sunday!" And it was published in a Dec 12, 2009 "Sweet California" blog titled "Tomorrow's the Day."
Moving into 2010, the photo was published in a Feb 25, 2010 blog titled "Is Less Exercise More Effective?" It was also published in an undated (Mar 2010) blog titled "My yeast infection cure." And it was published in a Mar 31, 2010 "Wellwire" blog titled "What's My Motivation?", as well as a Mar 31, 2010 Suite-101-dot-com blog titled "Term Insurance Comparison by Age for Women Only," and an Apr 1, 2010 blog titled "Encouraging Activity With Group Health Insurance Discounts." It was also published in an Apr 22, 2010 Italian blog titled "Ti alleni con la musica? Apple sostituisce le cuffie che non resistono al sudore." It was also published in an Apr 23, 2010 Insured Life blog, with the same title as the caption that I used on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Apr 27, 2010 Italian blog, titled Alternare i tipi di allenamento per migliorare i risultati. It was also published in a May 24, 2010 blog titled "How Physical Activity Enhances Productivity." And it was published in an undated (May 2010) blog titled "Exercise for Women." It was also published in a Jun 3, 2010 blog titled "How to Look Cute While Jogging."
In the second half of 2010, it was published in a Jul 7, 2010 blog titled "Women’s Workout Guidelines Are Mostly Guesswork." A tightly cropped version of the photo was published in a Jul 14, 2010 blog titled "3 Reasons Not To Use An iPod Armband." And a very tightly cropped version was also published in an Aug 26, 2010 issue of the French version of Slate, in a blog titled "Ecouter de la musique pousse à s'entraîner plus fort." It was also published in a Sep 11, 2010 blog titled "Working Out in Maintenance Mode." And it was published in a Sep 26, 2010 ArticleTZ blog, with the same title (and notes) as what I had put onto the original Flickr page. It was also published in an undated (Oct 2010) Cool New York Group Health Insurance images blog , with the same title as the caption that I put on my Flickr page.
Moving into 2011, the photo was published in an undated (early Jan 2011) blog titled "Top Picks in Running Sneakers." It was also published in a Mar 15, 2011 blog titled "Ready To Race? Getting Started & Running In NYC." And it was published in a Sep 9, 2011 blog titled "Sport: risultati migliori cambiando ritmo."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Jan 3, 2012 blog titled "5 Resolutions Diversity Practitioners Should Make in 2012." It was also published in a Feb 15, 2012 blog titled "High-Tech Health: Your Smartphone and the Gym." And it was published in a May 8, 2012 blog titled "5 Signs Your Exercise Habit Might Be Getting Out of Hand." It was also published in a May 31, 2012 blog titled "Five Practical Tips for Developing a Sustainable Workplace for Employees." And it was published in a Jun 1, 2012 blog titled "Workout Camp." It was also published in a Jun 17, 2012 blog titled "A hidden message of encouragement in my exercise playlist." And it was published in an Aug 30, 2012 blog titled "Tips To Help Avoid Yeast Infections," as well as a Sep 3, 2012 blog titled "Think You Can’t Do Anything About Your Yeast Infection? Think Again!" It was also published in an undated (late Sep 2012) blog titled "10 Most Powerful Success Habits," as well as a Sep 26, 2012 blog titled "Celebrate National Women’s Health and Fitness Day!" And it was published in an undated (late Oct 2012) blog titled "Ti alleni con la musica? Apple sostituisce le cuffie che non resistono al sudore." It was also published in a Dec 27, 2012 blog titled "Saving Money on Term Life Insurance."
Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Jan 7, 2013 blog titled "Simple Way On How To Deal With Yeast Infection," as well as a Jan 7, 2013 blog titled "Alternative And Natural Treatments For A Yeast Infection," and a Jan 24, 2013 blog titled "Tips To Avoid Yeast Infections In The Future." It was also published in an undated (late Jan 2013) blog titled "The 16 Most Popular Habits of Highly Successful People." And it was also published in a Mar 26, 2013 blog titled "Exercise With Music For Bigger Benefits." It was also published in a May 24, 2013 article titled "ランニングの際に使いやすいアームバンド," as well as a Jun 3, 2013 blog titled "Alternative And Natural Treatments For A Yeast Infection." And it was published in a Jun 24, 2013 blog titled "Stop Trying To Deal With Yeast Infections Without Good Advice. Read Here!"
An LBM growing in moss. Such a little cuite I don't even care much that I have no ID. OM 90mm at f4 or so.
A Bhutanese man poses with his prayer beads. The primary use of prayer beads is to keep track of the number times a mantra is recited. A typical prayer bead contains 108 beads, corresponding to the sacred number in Buddhism. As practitioners recite mantras, they pass each bead through their fingers, helping them maintain focus and count the repetitions without distraction. If you recite the mantras 108 times, then you have counted through all the beads on the string. The prayer beads often have knots or rings that accounts for every hundred and thousand rounds that the faithful has gone through the prayer beads.
A portrait shot of a member of the black.d.o.t_. performing group, seul_dew, just before their Taekwondo and Korean calligraphy performance at the Our Tampines Hub during the Korean Travel Fair 2023.
As a practitioner of Taekwondo, she wears the dobok, the uniform that is usually worn by practitioners of Korean martial arts.
It is the Age of Steam...
Deep in the darkest depths of Yorkshire lives Dr Frankenstein.
He resides in a luxurious country mansion where he masquerades as a respectable medical practitioner. When night falls however, he spends most of his time doing experiments on cadavers, perfecting their reanimation.
Dr. Frankenstein
Victor trained formally as a practioner of medicine and then later on as coroner. His interest in science and particularly in the research of the cycle of life and death, resulted him becoming some what of an introvert. Spending more and more time in his lab and less and less time seeing patients, The Doctor became renowned for his ability to perform complicated and often life saving surgery with the greatest of ease. So much so that the villagers who lived nearby turn a blind eye to some of his more obvious eccentricities. Indeed such was his familiarity with the inner workings of the human body he was able to accrue a vast fortune from selling anatomical guides and operational procedures to the wider medical community.
"Mr Igor"
The Doctor's faithful manservant. A "fellow" recruited from the scrapheap of broken men back from the war with Muscovy, he travels the countryside looking for organ or limb donors who want to assist the Good Doctor with his experiments. It's most unfortunate that at times, the people donating the organs still need them ( It's all in the name of science you understand)...
The Monster
Dr Frankensteins' greatest achievement is the reconstruction and reanimation of his dearly departed brother Adam. Killed in the war with Muscovy, his internal organs have been replaced with clockwork pumps and machinations. Fitting all those parts into Adam's wretched and mutilated body proved to difficult so using a patchwork of donor parts and a reinforced extemded brass skeleton the monster was born. Frankenstein believes Adam's consciousness is still locked away inside the monsters brain, but as of yet his experiments to restore his brothers identity have proved futile.
Madam Auderville
Madam Auderville is the only servant who has remained loyal to the doctor upon finding out his true nature. This is most probably why she is still alive and the rest have ended up on the mortuary slab. she takes good care of the Mansion and ensures at least outwardly that the place appears normal and without cobwebs (much to Mr Igor's disdain).
Photo by Gmanvespa as always!
Megastovepipehat and crazy arms by V&A Steamworks
Vancouver Falun Gong practitioners often gather at the Vancouver Art Gallery north plaza for speeches and to protest persecution in China.
It has been 20 years since the Chinese government branded Falun Gong as a cult.
The persecution of Falun Gong is the anti-religious campaign initiated in 1999 by the Communist Party of China to eliminate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong in China.
China maintains a doctrine of state atheism.
Falun Gong practitioners who were imprisoned in China's detention centres and labour camps report undergoing unexplained medical examinations and blood tests as a precursor to live organ harvesting.
Branded a heretical organization by Beijing, Falun Gong’s members are increasingly being harassed in Canada by Chinese diplomatic officials and other agents.
Beijing’s long arm can be seen influencing Canadian politicians at the local and national levels, as well as infiltrating civil society and community events to keep an eye on practitioners.
The only Mini Cooper ambulance vehicle in the country used by SCAS as a CHP seen here at Policing Through The Ages 2015. My thanks go to the driver of the vehicle for putting the blues on for photos.
Taken on: 03/10/15
Built in the 10th Century by two practitioners of Tantric Buddhism it is located in the most fantastic geological folds and schist's rock surroundings and popularly called MOONSCAPE and it certainly looks like an alien planet..
Lamayuru also marks the meeting place of the Great Himalayan Wall & of the East Karakorum Ranges.
I've been through Lamayaru 5 times over the last couple of years but such is the play of light in Ladakh that I've never once seen the the landscape remain same as each time a different color would burst out of an unseen vein of minerals with the changing light of the day.. .. It is always different but never fails to makes you gasp in awe each time you pass through or decide to stay...
The gompa itself has been undergoing renovations for the last 2 years and now is restored completely with newly painted frescoes
Lamayuru is located in between Bodhkharbu and Kha-la-che, on a steep rock mountain. It lies at a distance of approximately 127 km to the west of Leh town. It belongs to the Red-Hat sect of Buddhism and houses approximately 150 Buddhist monks. The monastery is made up of a number of shrines and also has a very rich collection of thankas and magnificent wall paintings. At the outset, the Monastery consisted of five buildings, out of which only the central one exists today.
Every year the Gompa plays host a masked dance, which takes place on the 17th and 18th day of the 5th month of Tibetan lunar calendar. The monks from the monasteries of the nearby areas also come to take part in the celebrations.
There is an interesting legend associated with the gompa It is said that the Lamayuru Valley used to be a clear lake, at the time of Sakhyamuni (the Historical Buddha). And, Nags (holy serpents) used to reside in the lake.
Bodhisattva Madhyantaka had once a prediction quite a long time back that the lake would eventually be dried, making way for the construction of a Buddhist monastery. The legend moves further to state that Mahasiddhacharya Naropa, an 11th century Indian Buddhist scholar, sat in meditation for a number of years in one of the caves in Dukhang. He was the one who caused a crack in the hillside surrounding the lake.
Through this crack, the lake started draining. When the lake dried out, the scholar found a dead lion lying inside it. On the same spot, where he found the tiger, he constructed the first temple of the area, known as the Singhe Ghang (Lion Mound).
Another legend has it that the building of Lamayuru Monastery was constructed, as per the instructions of King of Ladakh, under the direction of Rinchen Zangpo, the Translator ( and a protector manifestation of Padmasambhava. After this, the monastery came under the administration of the Zhwa-mar-pa (Red Hats).
Later, Dharmaraja Jamyang Namgial offered the monastery to Chosje Danma. And this led to the observance of the rituals of the Digung Kargyud School, with the monastery being renamed as Yungdrung Tharpaling. Today, the Lamayuru Monastery is served by the successive reincarnations of Skyabsje Toldan Rinpoche. and remains one of the oldest schools of Tibetan Buddhism along with Samye Monastery in Tibet..
LV63 LLX London Ambulance Service 8120 Advanced Paramedic Practitioner Skoda Octavia 4WD Rapid Response Vehicle
SADHU
SMOKING HASHISH
mystic, an ascetic, practitioner of yoga (yogi) and/or wandering monks. The sadhu is solely dedicated to achieving the fourth and final Hindu goal of life, moksha (liberation), through meditation and contemplation of Brahman. Sadhus often wear ochre-colored clothing, symbolizing renunciation.
'Sādhu!' is also a Sanskrit and Pali term used as an exclamation for something well done.
The Sanskrit terms sādhu ("good man") and sādhvī ("good woman") refer to renouncers who have chosen to live a life apart from or on the edges of society in order to focus on their own spiritual practice.
The words come from the Sanskrit root sādh, which means "reach one's goal", "make straight", or "gain power over" The same root is used in the word sādhana, which means "spiritual practice".
Sadhu smoking charas,a common practice amongst Sadhus(mostly Shaivite) to suppress,& eventually destroy their sexual desire;and just concentrate on meditation.
Sadhus are sanyasi, or renunciates, who have left behind all material and sexual attachments and live in caves, forests and temples all over India.
BENARES
Photography’s new conscience
-Practioners Ward-
Coming to Hexicals Productions Harvest of Souls Event
Sept 23rd - October 31st, 24
HALLOWEEN HARVEST SALE
Four of our previous Halloween themed items will be on special sale for L$399 at this event only.
Taxi : maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Botanica%20Magika/111/246/...
The uniform of medical practitioners during the Great Plague of the 1600s. The strange appearance is the result of the erroneous belief that the plague was caused by 'foul air.' To counter this, the 'beak' of the mask would be filled with herbs and spices which would 'filter' the air like an early gas mask. However, this made communication very difficult, so the plague doctor would use a 'wand' or staff to issue instructions. They would also often prescribe odd medicines, such as spiders and toads (whose skin absorbs air and water) and even a urine bath.
Of-course, in reality, the bubonic plague is caused by flea bites that lived on the many rats in cities at this time. Ironically though, plague doctors were protected by their uniforms, but not for the reasons they thought. The mask came with a thick leather overcoat and gloves, which somewhat protected the wearer from flea bites to a degree
medical practitioner prays between patients in the suburb of Ghouta. Ghouta's health sector has been devastated by the four year blockade, which restricts even basic medicines and supplies. Imagine taking your sick child to the hospital only to leave with no treatment.
Who is left for you to turn to but God?
“It’s all about relationships – relationships are the agent of change. Human beings are social creatures, we are neurobiologically and physiologically intended to be in relationship.” ~ Dr Bruce Perry (2021)
Another development of my ‘brain-art’ series which I have been developing over the last couple of years, and which incorporate my existing smoke art and mandala work. In this image the idea was to convey ‘connectivity’ and the positive ‘flow of energy’ that occurs in the therapeutic alliance when a practitioner is empathically attuned to a child/young person. It was inspired by the affective neuroscience theories by Dan Siegel, Stephen Porges, Bruce Perry and Louis Cozolino - all leading experts in the field of child development research and trauma-informed approaches...
This position would be especially logical if one believed that the fluids themselves were being recycled to nourish body tissues.The future has always been surprising. The body is loaded with 100% optimism. It’s just like you don’t have any timeTaoist alchemy and Kundalini yoga, in their respective ways, are religious traditions based on an imperative of rational, yet creative,experimentation with the relationship of the internal body to objects in the outside world, and the relationship of human physical energy with the abstracted realms of religious symbolism and ontological beliefs. Both systems present a picture which is not entirely comprehensive by the methods and assumptions of modern science. Yet these types of traditions may have something useful to teach us, if we can analyze their beliefs and practices within the historical and cultural context in an effort to understand them as they were, and as they are, within their individual cultural framework. Scientific methods such as neurobiology can give us some insight into the basic underlying causes of human experience, yet will never be able to fully explain the phenomenological idiosyncrasies of religious ritual. With this in mind, we can apply the knowledge of modern science to the study of ancient religious in a responsible and realistic way. Taoist and Tantric sexual practices conserve and utilize the precious energy within the genital fluids. The vital forces energies that sustain life are ojas and prana. One particular type of prana is kundalini or shakti. The Taoist equivalent is ching. By murmuring this energy, life is enriched and preserved. By squandering it, health suffers and death results, Yogys believe kundalini energy is coiled up like a serpent at the base of the spine to the pineal gland in the brain, and enlightenment is attained. The kundalini energy flows through the chakras, energy centers in your subtle body related to the endocrine glands. The endocrine glands are fed by your body’s central heating system, the sexual center. If that center is weak, you entire system is weak. If that center is functioning optimally, the body can survive indefinitely. Taoist and Tantric techniques strengthen the sexual chakra. Their methods conserve its precious fluids and also pump these nourishing fluids back into the body, directing them to the endocrine glands. This technique stimulates the production of ojas and soma. The only caution about Taoist and Tantric sexual practices is the following: because of the tradition of patriarchal oppression, many of theses practices are designed solely for the male to attain immortality, often at the expense of young, ignorant, inexperienced girls, whose vitality {shakti } is drained from their bodies. The male is cautioned to never let semen leave his body, to practice coitus reservatus, stopping short of ejaculation. Yet he is advised to bring his partner to orgasm repeatedly. With his sperm held in check and his vital energy pumping back into his system continually, he invigorates and rejuvenates his body. Also pumping the energy and fluids of the female into his body at the time of her climax, he obtains her vitality as well. Practitioners are advised to engage in this female-draining activity a dozen or more times a day with several 14-to 19 year old virgins. Innocent females are victims of this crime against their health, driving them to early grave.
On other hand, when both partners ate fully knowledgeable and experienced in Taoist or Tantric sexual practices, a mutually beneficial, enriching, elevating relationship can growth is only possible with mutual respect, love, honesty, commitment, and trust. When partners recognize and worship each other as divines beings, there can be an exchange of divine energy in both body and Spirit.How does this move in the body? If we cannot see it, does it really exist? Science is only just getting a few tests going that prove energy is in the body and around it. Is it real what the Ancient wisdoms teach us? Can it guide us to oneness and conscious awakening?
It has been a long road for those in the energy field of health getting the message across to the general population that energy is everywhere, particularly in the body. With proof, barriers seem a lot easier to free up. Oriental medicine and Ayurvedic medicine are the clearest and longest standing observational sciences that describe and fully believe that energy exists as long as 5000 years ago. Both have movement medicine in the forms of Yoga and Qigong.
As I already discussed in the previous article Bring the energy home, there is a cycle called the Microcosmic cycle which when experienced connects the front and back energy meridians. Also called the Governing and Conception channels, in Oriental medicine a further 12 major channels exist that run up and down the body through the limbs, arms and legs (6 Yin and 6 Yang).These energies connect to the sun (yang) and moon (yin) influences. Predominantly yang energy in the morning and more yin energies in the afternoon, changing again after midnight. Then more yang energies developing until we awake and the body starts to function optimally again in the awakened state.The logograph 氣 is read with two Chinese pronunciations, the usual qì 氣 "air; vital energy" and the rare archaic xì 氣 "to present food" (later disambiguated with 餼). Pronunciations of 氣 in modern varieties of Chinese with standardized IPA equivalents include: Standard Chinese qì /t͡ɕʰi⁵¹/, Wu Chinese qi /t͡ɕʰi³⁴/, Southern Min khì /kʰi²¹/, Eastern Min ké /kʰɛi²¹³/, Standard Cantonese hei3 /hei̯³³/, and Hakka Chinese hi /hi⁵⁵/. Pronunciations of 氣 in Sino-Xenic borrowings include: Japanese ki, Korean gi, and Vietnamese khi. Reconstructions of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA transcription include: /kʰe̯iH/ (Bernard Karlgren), /kʰĭəiH/ (Wang Li), /kʰiəiH/ (Li Rong), /kʰɨjH/ (Edwin Pulleyblank), and /kʰɨiH/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang). Reconstructions of the Old Chinese pronunciation of 氣 standardized to IPA transcription include: /*kʰɯds/ (Zhengzhang Shangfang) and /*C.qʰəp-s/ (William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart). The etymology of qì interconnects with Kharia kʰis "anger", Sora kissa "move with great effort", Khmer kʰɛs "strive after; endeavor", and Gyalrongic kʰɐs "anger".The earliest texts that speak of qi give some indications of how the concept developed. In the Analects of Confucius qi could mean "breath". Combining it with the Chinese word for blood (making 血氣, xue–qi, blood and breath), the concept could be used to account for motivational characteristics:
The [morally] noble man guards himself against 3 things. When he is young, his xue–qi has not yet stabilized, so he guards himself against sexual passion. When he reaches his prime, his xue–qi is not easily subdued, so he guards himself against combativeness. When he reaches old age, his xue–qi is already depleted, so he guards himself against acquisitiveness.— Confucius, Analects, 16:7
The philosopher Mozi used the word qi to refer to noxious vapors that would in eventually arise from a corpse were it not buried at a sufficient depth. He reported that early civilized humans learned how to live in houses to protect their qi from the moisture that troubled them when they lived in caves. He also associated maintaining one's qi with providing oneself with adequate nutrition. In regard to another kind of qi, he recorded how some people performed a kind of prognostication by observing qi (clouds) in the sky. Mencius described a kind of qi that might be characterized as an individual's vital energies. This qi was necessary to activity and it could be controlled by a well-integrated willpower.page needed] When properly nurtured, this qi was said to be capable of extending beyond the human body to reach throughout the universe. It could also be augmented by means of careful exercise of one's moral capacities.[14] On the other hand, the qi of an individual could be degraded by adverse external forces that succeed in operating on that individual. Living things were not the only things believed to have qi. Zhuangzi indicated that wind is the qi of the Earth.Moreover, cosmic yin and yang "are the greatest of qi".He described qi as "issuing forth" and creating profound effects.[15] He also said "Human beings are born [because of] the accumulation of qi. When it accumulates there is life. When it dissipates there is death... There is one qi that connects and pervades everything in the world." Another passage traces life to intercourse between Heaven and Earth: "The highest Yin is the most restrained. The highest Yang is the most exuberant. The restrained comes forth from Heaven. The exuberant issues forth from Earth. The two intertwine and penetrate forming a harmony, and [as a result] things are born." The Guanzi essay Neiye (Inward Training) is the oldest received writing on the subject of the cultivation of vapor [qi] and meditation techniques. The essay was probably composed at the Jixia Academy in Qi in the late fourth century B.C. Xun Zi, another Confucian scholar of the Jixia Academy, followed in later years. At 9:69/127, Xun Zi says, "Fire and water have qi but do not have life. Grasses and trees have life but do not have perceptivity. Fowl and beasts have perceptivity but do not have yi (sense of right and wrong, duty, justice). Men have qi, life, perceptivity, and yi." Chinese people at such an early time had no concept of radiant energy, but they were aware that one can be heated by a campfire from a distance away from the fire. They accounted for this phenomenon by claiming "qi" radiated from fire. At 18:62/122, he also uses "qi" to refer to the vital forces of the body that decline with advanced age. Among the animals, the gibbon and the crane were considered experts at inhaling the qi. The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu (ca. 150 BC) wrote in Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals:[17] "The gibbon resembles a macaque, but he is larger, and his color is black. His forearms being long, he lives eight hundred years, because he is expert in controlling his breathing." ("猿似猴。大而黑。長前臂。所以壽八百。好引氣也。") Later, the syncretic text assembled under the direction of Liu An, the Huai Nan Zi, or "Masters of Huainan", has a passage that presages most of what is given greater detail by the Neo-Confucians: Heaven (seen here as the ultimate source of all being) falls (duo 墮, i.e., descends into proto-immanence) as the formless. Fleeting, fluttering, penetrating, amorphous it is, and so it is called the Supreme Luminary. The dao begins in the Void Brightening. The Void Brightening produces the universe (yu–zhou). The universe produces qi. Qi has bounds. The clear, yang [qi] was ethereal and so formed heaven. The heavy, turbid [qi] was congealed and impeded and so formed earth. The conjunction of the clear, yang [qi] was fluid and easy. The conjunction of the heavy, turbid [qi] was strained and difficult. So heaven was formed first and earth was made fast later. The pervading essence (xi–jing) of heaven and earth becomes yin and yang. The concentrated (zhuan) essences of yin and yang become the four seasons. The dispersed (san) essences of the four seasons become the myriad creatures. The hot qi of yang in accumulating produces fire. The essence (jing) of the fire-qi becomes the sun. The cold qi of yin in accumulating produces water. The essence of the water-qi becomes the moon. The essences produced by coitus (yin) of the sun and moon become the stars and celestial markpoints (chen, planets).— Huai-nan-zi, 3:1a/19 Characters In Yoga they talk of Ida and Pingala channels and a central channel called Sushumna with very many Nadis connecting our energy back to our Chakras. This Kundalini shakti energy moving systematically when ready to the top most Chakra Sahasara and then connects to the Supreme shiva and universe.
This energy is also affected by our emotions, the food we eat, and how we move this energy i.e. with Qigong and Yoga and how well we relax. Learning these skills help develop and refine this energy and maintain a storage where we can then start to develop longevity and preserve our inherited energy from our family.We are also affected energetically by our environment, particularly magnetic waves, microwaves sonic waves, radio waves, TV signals, mobile phones and so on. The long term effect has not been fully understood, our body’s energy is at the mercy of these frequencies unless we learn energy techniques to take control of these movements and redirect the flow. Managing our bodies and its needs sometimes can feel overwhelming but with the correct help and attitude we can soon feel the benefits of repeated Qi flow and awakened consciousness.
Yoga also uses movement to connect ourselves to the universe. We can learn so much from these practices about our bodies and how to get into a flow that benefits mind, body, and spirit. My experience when studying Kundalini Yoga was a very powerful one. Kundalini is known as the mother Yoga and when followed by its principles and ancient wisdom, allows for natural movement of the Kundalini. This is a simple but effective Yoga, often postures being held and breath sequences and Bhandas used to help move energy. Meditations and Mantras with Mudras further help reconnect the spirit and open us to the universal oneness. Both Qigong and Yoga have deep understanding of our energetic connections and make use of techniques and principles that guide us safely back to our spiritual home and beyond. Having studied and experienced both of these models extensively, I feel privileged to have great teachers and the opportunity to pass onto others these great energy healersIn Hindu philosophy including yoga, Indian medicine, and martial arts, Prana (प्राण, prāṇa; the Sanskrit word for "life force" or "vital principle")[1] comprises all cosmic energy, permeating the Universe on all levels. Prana is often referred to as the "life force" or "life energy".[not verified in body] It also includes energies present in inanimate objects.[not verified in body] In the Hindu literature, prana is sometimes described as originating from the Sun and connecting the elements of the Universe. This life energy has been vividly invoked and described in the ancient Vedas and Upanishads.[not verified in body. In living beings, this universal energy is considered responsible for all bodily functions through five types of prana, collectively known as the five vāyus. Ayurveda, tantra and Tibetan medicine all describe praṇā vāyu as the basic vāyu from which all the other vāyus arise. Indologist Georg Feuerstein explains, "The Chinese call it chi, the Polynesians mana, the Amerindians orenda, and the ancient Germans od. It is an all-pervasive 'organic' The ancient concept of prana is described in many early Hindu texts, including Upanishads and Vedas. One of the earliest references to prana is from the 3,000-year-old Chandogya Upanishad, but many other Upanishads also make use of the concept, including the Katha, Mundaka and Prasna Upanishads. The concept is elaborated upon in great detail in the practices and literature of haṭha yoga, tantra,and Ayurveda. Prana is typically divided into multiple constituent parts, in particular when concerned with the human body. While not all early sources agree on the names or number of these subdivisions, the most common list from the Mahabharata, the Upanishads, Ayurvedic and Yogic sources includes five, often divided into further subcategories.This list includes: Prana (inward moving energy), apana (outward moving energy), vyana (circulation of energy), udana (energy of the head and throat), and samana (digestion and assimilation).[citation needed] Early mention of specific pranas often emphasized prāṇa, apāna and vyāna as "the three breaths". This can be seen in the proto-yogic traditions of the Vratyas among others.[6]:104 Texts like the Vaikānasasmārta utilized the five pranas as an internalization of the five sacrificial fires of a panchagni homa ceremony.[6]:111–112 Vāyus
Poren Huang (Chinese: 黃柏仁, born 1970), a Taiwanese sculptor, was born in Taichung, located in central Taiwan. His grandfather and parents engaged in wood carving business.During the 1970s, Poren Huang's father, Mingde Huang, had a successful wood carving industry and huge export volume. As a major wood carving factory in Taiwan,the factory employed more than 100 craftsmen to produce wood handicrafts during peak seasons. Mingde Huang expected his son Poren Huang to inherit the family business, but Poren Huang preferred artistic creation to wood handicraft production, resulting in years of differences between the father and son. In 2005, Poren Huang fully expressed his ideas through his series of works, The Dog's Notes. Although he and his father held different viewpoints, he highly values family interaction. He focused on mending his family relationship before pursuing his personal ambition, and some of his works in The Dog's Notes strongly convey enlightenment and morality.After World War II, with the recovery of the global economy, prosperity and focus on human rights, the hard work of the previous generation is often reciprocated with the disregard, self-centeredness, mockery and impiety of the next generation. In The Dog's Notes, Poren Huang added the quality of loyalty and kindness to purify the human heart and create positive influence.Using the dog as a creative starting point, each piece of work is suggestive of the "human". About 10% to 90% of the works borrow from the dog to explore various human behaviors. Modern people generally feel kindly toward dogs because of their ability to soothe. Therefore, Poren Huang uses the dog as his creative theme to convey positive traits such as self-confidence, courage, loyalty or innocence, and to provoke in people deeper thoughts as they come in contact with his work. Many people are first attracted by the amusing forms; however, after a period of contact and interaction with the pieces, they seem to sense the deeper significance and remain inspired by positive ideas and thoughts. There are primarily two types of animals that appear in The Dog's Notes, the dog and the panda. They share a common characteristic of being humanized. These animals do not appear completely animal-like under Poren Huang's sculpting, but instead, they appear to have the scent of a human. That is why viewers tend to stand in front of the artwork and stare for quite a long time, unwittingly; perhaps it is because they did not get an affirmative answer as to whether the artwork is human or animal? When the dog and the panda enter the human's environment, they naturally learn to cohabitate with humans. They lose the wild nature of being wild animals, and become more humanized. People are the same way. Poren Huang wishes that humans can be more inspired by the dogs, and to learn the positive characters found in dogs, such as innocence, loyalty, kindness, bravery, and being passionate. Much like the Chinese proverb, "The son does not despise the mother for being ugly, and the dog does not blame the owner for being poor"; the dog will not despite the owner, and will not leave the owner, instead he will spend the rest of his life by his owner's side. Humans, on the other hand are different. They might look down on others or alienate others. They might even become disrespectful toward parents. The selfishness of humans causes wars and unrest in the world. Therefore, Poren Huang is not just creating artworks of animals, but instead, he is making his sculptures more humanized, so that the viewers can naturally reflect and be inspired. In addition, Poren Huang's humanized works of art also have a little bit of the "Oriental Literati" essence. Although these artworks will have various emotions, but they are never too intense, and are never over the top. Just like Ang Lee, Xi Jinping, Yo-Yo Ma, Jeremy Lin, as well as other generally well-known Chinese, whose personalities are perhaps the same way, which is gentle and refined, and with the modesty of a gentleman. Much like the Eastern literai who are well read of poetry and literature, their emotions are not easily shown; they are more restrained, and are full of character and depth.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poren_Huang
Francois Gachon is an advertising agent of the By Chance agency and a watercolourist graduated from the school of applied arts, he painted this subtle body that I have inlaid in the photo. Poren Huang considered this collage to be very artistic.The wallpaper is a painting by Paul Gauguin named Delightful Land... Te nave nave nave nave fenua, 1892
Witch : a practitioner of witchcraft (specially in adherence with a neo-pagan tradition or religion (such as Wicca)
This witch finally can shine in her world and the light and beauty follow her. people say she can light a room up just by entering it. if you are lucky enough to have this witch in your life you are truly blessed. Light and harmony beauty and grace.. the mouth of a sailor and the humor of a teenage boy.
Thank you to my wolf who was willing to see all this being hidden
One of the best known practitioners of spirit photography was William Mumler. In the 1860s he was one of the first photographers to claim the ability to record "extras" of departed spirits in photographs. He was prosecuted but never convicted of fraud.
This is one of two cdvs by Mumler in our collection. An extra stands behind a man and hands him a cross. Since the man looks down at the cross and subjects in spirit photographs most often seem unaware of the extras around them it seems likely that he is a medium with the ability to see the extras.
* New Information: To our delight there is a reproduction of the same image in Kaplan's book The Strange Case of William Mumler. It is from the Getty Museum and identifies the man as Harry Gordon.
From the internet we learn the Henry C. Gordon (also know as Harry Gordon) was the first American medium credited with levitation in February of 1851.
This photo was taken in an indoor kyūdō training hall of the Chiba University-Japan, using an Olympus Zuiko fast lens. Kyūdō is a kind of traditional Japanese archery (弓道).
Olympus OM10
Zuiko Auto-S 50mm/1.4
Kodak Ultramax400
Epson Perfection 2400