Have Fun on your Last Day

This car was driven for 1 week before an officer noticed what the graphics company employee did put on the passenger side of the car. The employee did this on his last day working for the graphics company before he retired.

My Profile

In case anybody is interested, I have added two other blogs to my profile. One is about wildlife rehabilitation and the other is about my work as a graphic artist.

Uncle Albert

"A human being is part of the whole, called by us the Universe, a part
limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and
feelings, as something separated from the rest - - a kind of optical
illusion in his consciousness."

(Albert Einstein)

It all ties together...

I got started with this whole Grail Lore thing because I was researching the history of Alternative medicine for a film documentary. It led me to the Crones and herbal healers of olde, and the persecution of women.

Meanwhile, my husband has been busy with his hobby: family genealogy.

He just told me that he has traced his line all the way back to William the Conqueror and the medieval kings of Europe.

Thus, his hobby and mine have collided. We now find ourselves researching the same history.

Amazing.

Hypatia

The fate of one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world

Excerpt from "Realm of the Ring Lords" by Laurence Gardner:


The City of Alexandria, which had been founded in the North of Egypt in 331 BC by Alexander the great of Macedonia, was the most important cultural centre of the ancient world. It was an academic focus for the greatest scholars, scientists, doctor's, mathematicians and philosophers, who traveled from far and wide to study the largest collection of arcane documents ever amassed in one arena. But, one day in the year AD 391, a perverted Christian mob, led by the Roman-appointed Bishop Theophilus, marched upon the Serapeum where the library collection was held.

Close to the harbor, this majestic building, with its marble steps, columned halls and magnificent gardens, had been a centre of Egyptian worship for seven centuries, as well as being an inspired foundation of Greek learning, housing many hundreds of thousands of valuable papyrus and parchment texts, together with fine statues, tapestries and other works of art. To this truly cosmopolitan academy came Egyptians, Macedonians, Greeks, Anatolians, Italians, Arabians, Persians, Indians and Jews - but according to Bishop Theophilus and his Christians it was a satanic and sinful place, full to bursting with historical records that were superfluous to Imperial requirement and contrary to the newly devised Church teaching. Emperor Theodosius of Rome (AD 385-412) therefore brought to bear the Council of Creeds of Nicaea (AD 325) and Constantinople (AD 381), demanding that orthodox Christianity must be imposed upon Alexandria and that the contents of the Serapeum should be destroyed.

Once inside the great library, the angry mod, acting upon the Emperor's instruction, smashed everything to pieces and burnt every written text they could find - more than half a million irreplaceable documents representing the finest minds of the ages was lost for all time, leaving the Church free, henceforth, to make up its own history, to interpret its own science and to establish its own philosophy.

Following this atrocity, while under the leadership of Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria, the clerics then turned upon the scholars themselves - especially the women, who were said to have no place in the academic arena! They pursued them for years, hounding and slaughtering, until the last of them was hacked to death on Lenten day in March AD 415. She was Hypatia, a professor of philosophy, a noted authority on the works of Plato and a teacher of algebraic mathematics. But, in the eyes of the Church, Plato was a heretic and Hypatia was a witch who must be dealt with accordingly. On being wrested from her carriage, she was disrobed and dragged naked to the churchyard of Caesarium by a group of Christian monks. There, undergoing death by torture at the age of forty-five, she had the flesh scooped from her bones with sharp tiles and oyster shells before her remains were scattered as a public warning in the streets of Alexandria.

Hypatia, daughter of the Greek geometrician Theon, wrote a renowned work called the Astronomical Canon and a commentary on The Conics of Apollonius (a student of Euclid who, in the 3rd century BC, first introduced the now familiar terms ellipse, parabola and hyperbola). She invented and perfected many devices for calulating astronomical measurement, including the Planesphere and, in particular, the Astrolabe - an instrument used to measure the height of stars above the horizon. Once set, astrolabes would identify the entire sky and they became widely used for maritime navigation.

Another of Hypatia's inventions was the hydroscope, which determined the specific gravity of liquids. To the Christian bishops, however, she was a sorceress and when, many centuries later, the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael painted his masterwork "The School of Athens", he was instructed to remove Hypatia from the scene in order to make his work acceptable to the bishop of Rome.

Hooray! I got some Ink!

I wrote a little editorial piece that actually got published.

Here it is:

I recently received my free copy of the Quran from CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations). I expected a little pocket size version of the text. Instead, I received a full size leather bound volume, with gold embossed lettering.

I wish to thank Nihad Awad, and CAIR for funding this effort. They obviously care deeply for their cause, and are sincere in their efforts to spread understanding and tolerance. Mr. Awad's accompanying letter requested that I treat the Quran with respect. I assure him that I honor his generous gift.

I have read through the text and was surprised to find that the Quran and the Bible share many of the same stories and characters. Mary, Joseph, Moses, The story of David and Goliath, Noah's flood, and other familiar teachings are found all throughout the Quran. Jesus is referred to 22 times.

Anyone who centers their world-view in Jewish, Islamic or Christian tradition should be aware that all three religions offer valuable primary source material. These texts offer great historical insight into the early civilizations of the Middle-East, and the struggles between different sub-cultures. They share in the same purpose: to offer moral guidance and honor the divine. For me, it became clear that all of these seemingly different religions grew from the same tree.

My criticism is that both the Bible and the Quran are written with the voice of patriarchal nationalism, each espousing their truth as the only right way. I hope that someday people will rise to a higher level of enlightenment, and see that the divine is not exclusive to any one sect. It is within everything, and available to everyone. It is up to us to glean the divine from all we encounter, from the miracle of a seed that grows to a tree, to the teachings of the diverse and beautiful, Holy Scriptures of the world.

Instead of fighting over our differences, I suggest we explore our commonalities.

May the reward of the fruit from the tree of life go to CAIR, and everyone who extends the olive branch of, mutual respect, diversity and peace.

Whats Itchin you

Cure for Poison Ivy, Stings and Skin irritations:


Adventures in the great outdoors include encounters with poison ivy, bee stings, bug bites and other skin irritations.
Mother Nature loves you, and has put a cure close at hand. Everywhere poison ivy grows, another plant called Jewelweed or Touch-me-not, grows nearby.

Everytime I see poison ivy, I look for Jewelweed, and find it nearby. It's Amazing. Mother Natures First Aid Kit.



Jewelweed blooms May through October in eastern North America from Canada to Florida. It grows everywhere... in the woods, along roadside ditches, and anywhere wild and moist. A cousin to impatiens, Jewelweed is an asemetrical green leafy plant that sometimes develops yellow flowers, the Touch-Me-Not variety has orange flowers with dark red dots. The seeds will 'pop' when touched , that is where the name Touch-Me-Nots came from. There is plenty of jewelweed in the wild, and it is not hard to find once you learn to identify it.




Jewel Weed totally neutralizes the Poison Ivy's oily antigen called Urushiol, and you will no longer spread it by scratching or rubbing. Just slice open the stem and rub the juice on your skin. This will promptly stop the itch and prevents breakout.

The Results of a Clinical Study, in which a 1:4 jewelweed preparation was compared for its effectiveness with other standard poison ivy dermatitis treatments was published in 1958 (Annals of Allerty 1958;16:526-527). Of 115 patients treated with jewelweed, 108 responded ‘most dramatically to the topical application of this medication and were entirely relieved of their symptoms within 2 or 3 days after the institution of treatment.' It was concluded that jewelweed is an excellent substitute for ACTH and the corticosteroids in the treatment of poison ivy dermatitis. The active principle in the plant responsible for this activity remains unidentified." by Varro Tyler, PhD in his book HERBS OF CHOICE




Jewelweed is famous for its skin healing properties. Poultices and salves from the plant are a folk remedy for bruises, burns, cuts, eczema, insect bites, sores, sprains, warts, and ringworm.

I use it for my kids all the time.

Its a little tidbit of Crone Wisdom that every mother should know.