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LAMMAS
Sunset 31st July Traditional date 1st August Old Lammas 6th August In Britain witches refer to this astrological date 6th August, known as Old Lammas. Which is considered a power point of the Zodiac, which is symbolised by a Lion.Lughnasadh marks the beginning of the (grain) harvest season. At this time we give thanks to the Earth for its bounty. Festivities and Rituals center on the assurance of a bountiful harvest and to celebrate the harvest cycle. Witches though at this time give thanks to the Goddess, bake bread, and place ears of corn, grain, corn dollies, bread on our altars. This is a time also when the Sun God is beginning to lose his virility and as the days start to get shorter the Sun God begins to age and decline.
This is a time of farewells, justice spells, spells for abundance are appropriate now, to dismiss regrets and prepare for Winter. A good time for grounding meditations and prosperity magick.
Lughnasadh (Loo-nus-uh) named in honour of the Celtic god Lugh's foster mother was from an older race known as the 'Fir Bolg'. Who were conquered by the Tuatha De Danann of Ireland. According to legend Lugh decreed that a commemorative feast be held at the beginning of the harvest season each year in honour of his foster mother, Tailtiu. Tailtui being a royal lady of the Fir Bolg who were defeated by the Tuatha De Danann. Tailtui was obliged by the Tuatha De Danann to make clear a vast forest so that grain could be planted for them. As a result of this exhausting work she died, and legend says that she was buried under a large mound which was named after her...'The Hill of Tailtui'. The hill of Tailtui was where the first Lughnasadh was held in Ireland. Where many folk gathered to feast, take part in games and contests of skill. Some ideas to celebrate this time are to perform ritual. Share your harvest with others, bake bread, pick fruits from your garden if you have one and share some of your harvest with your neighbours. Visiting places such as orchards, lakes and wells at this time is also traditional.
If I had a little money - Abba
My friend Kate never fails to come up with a thought provoking topic. Earlier in the week she asked,"What are your thoughts and how do you feel about money?" Money IS NOT the root of all evil. It is the LOVE of money that is at the root of the ills in modern society. It would be totally pointless Joe Soap in Harare having £20000 if today it won't buy a loaf of bread or tomorrow a crust! Money is seen as a way to get status - to get power. Power over your neighbour, with a bigger car, newer disposal unit ect. We have seen in the USA and Zimbabwe how money gives you political power. Desire for money and status is only bad when people do bad things in order to obtain what they desire. Money, and the need to aquire more of it, is equated to 'poorness' and 'richness.' Yet another fallacy. In 1992 I was paid 10 times what my father earned in 1962. Does that make him poor and me rich? He could afford to give his family an annual holiday - a luxery not many of the families in our street could emulate - did that make us rich and them poor? I can 'pay my way' as my parents would have said. I do not dislike money - only the people who exploit the lives of other's with the power that financial monopoly gives them. People do not 'struggle' with money. Living in a working class area of Manchester in 1907, the wives would manage the husbands wages with the skill of conjuror. The pawnshop was not a place of ridicule but a 'poormans' bank. The emphasis you note is not the lack of oodles of money but on the management of what they had. Todays students complain bitterly about 'the debt' of, [The privelege] of attending university. A part time job would negate some of the debt. However look at this debt. £20,000 ? They will leave the ivory tower and will work for say 30 years. They will only have to repay £13 per week over that period! Whats that ? - 2 packets of cigarettes or 4 pints of lager or a posh blouse from Asda/Walmart! A lottery winner many years ago won the equivalant of £1M. Her 'struggle' was to get rid of it as soon as possible - Spend! Spend! Spend! was her simple minded answer to her 'richness.' Please do not think that I have never been financially embarrassed. For several years the management of my scant resources meant not socialising for months on end. Adding water and half an onion or carrot each day to sunday's stew! By friday it was healthier to dissolve an oxo cube in a mug of hot water! The one lesson I learnt from my upbringing and education was that saving is a virtue not a crime. Money is good. Money is a tool to use in every day life. Do not blame the implement - blame those who misuse it. Look after the pennies and the Pounds, Dollars, Yuans or Rands will look after themselves! As you sow, so shall you reap.
Greek postcardHello Grandad, The hairyplane was fun and I have been in the pool in my ship. Mummy and Daddy are taking lots of pictures and everyone calls me Alexander the Great. I like cucumber and have learned to dance, everyone claps at me. Daddy is going brown and Mummy is going red ( she says its because of something called moskeetos, what are they??? They are still drinking the giggle juice but thats because its very warm!!! We are going on a trip on Sunday to see lots of hysterical stuff (I think thats what Daddy said)!!! Bye for now, i have to dance again for my new fan club. Love Alex (The Great) ST. SWITHINS DAY
St Swithin's Day, if it does rain Full forty days, it will remain St Swithin's Day, if it be fair For forty days, t'will rain no more The words and lyrics of the English nursery rhyme reflect the 'old wive's tale' that if it rains on St. Swithin's day then it will continue to rain for a further forty days. St. Swithin's Day falls on 15th July. St. Swithin, or Swithun was born circa 800 and died AD862. He was a Saxon Bishop of Winchester when he died he was buried outside Winchester Cathedral so that he could 'feel' the raindrops when he was dead. However, when he was canonised a tomb was built inside the cathedral and July 15th 971 was the day his body was to be moved. Legend has it that a storm, breaking the end of a long dry spell, on the 15th and rain on each of the subsequent 40 days led to the monks taking this as a sign of 'divine displeasure' and left his body where it was. The Shrine of St. Swithun, together with the tomb of Alfred the Great, in Winchester Cathedral made the Cathedral a principal place of pilgrimage in England. The shrine was destroyed in 1538 by King Henry VIII' s men during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The sayings surrounding St. Swithin's Day during the Middle Ages were subject to observations that summer weather patterns are usually quite well established by mid July and tended to persist until late August. This, the most famous of all the weather related saints' days in the UK. originally only concerned rain, but later related to 40 days of similar weather. There is very little truth behind these sayings, and since 1861 there has neither been 40 dry nor 40 wet days following a dry or wet St. Swithin's Day. In fact on average about 20 days with some rain and 20 rain free days can be expected between July 15th and August 24th, and of course it goes without saying that the weather on July 15th is independant of conditions for the following 40 days. Our European neighbours have similar sayings based around the idea of 40 days of similar weather (ie wet or dry). The French have St. Medard's Day on the June 8th . The Germans have the Day of Seven Sleepers on June 27th whilst the Belgians have St. Godelieve on July 27th. WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL
VIVE LA FRANCE
The French are citizens of a nation state, unlike us, who are mere subjects of a monarchy. Moreover, that nation was forged out of palpable ideals and values: liberté, égalité, fraternité , whereas Britain was cobbled together to make its sovereigns a bit more money. Unlike Britain, they have a written constitution. Based on the same principles enshrined in the Magna Carta and borrowed by the two new republics of France and the United States of America. Born in the French Revolution with the seminal Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, its powerful and moving opening statements include as 'Men are born and remain free and equal in rights' and 'All citizens, being equal in [the eyes of the law], are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments'. The constitution has been through numerous drafts, each one an expansion and refinement of the predecessor. Indeed, France is now into the fifth version of, well, itself. Having been through the wars - literally - it's a nation continually redefining and improving itself. The country also boasts the most stirring national anthem I think I've ever heard, the nerve-tingling, blood-racing triumph that is La Marseillaise. Just hearing it sung in whatever context, regardless of whether you understand the words, sends shivers down your spine. Remember the scene in the film Casablanca? The collective patrons of Rick's Bar, led by Humphrey Bogart, see off the close-harmony drone of a bunch of Nazi officers by striking up La Marseillaise and singing it over and over until they've deafened the Germans into submission. It's one of cinema's greatest moments. It's also testament to the power of national fervour wedded to a dynamite tune, neither of which we ever seem to match successfully on this side of the Channel, except on the last night of the Proms! They have trains that run on time, serve decent food, have clean carriages and travel ultra-fast. Despite having a shorter working week they have a higher productivity per person than in Britain. They have a civic pride with people employed to wash the streets of all the major cities in France first thing every morning. Why does this not happen here?! They have a civilised attitude towards drink which seldom, if ever, sees drunken louts rampaging through town centres of a weekend. They do get the odd drug addict cycling around the country though . . . . ! Eleven things you didn’t know about France 1. France’s motto, ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’, was not adopted until the Revolution of 1848. 2. Louis XIV (1462-1515) hated washing and only took three baths in his entire adult life. Not bathing was a sign of prestige at the time, and people covered up the stink with perfumes, oils and spices. 3. It is 4847 miles (7800 km) or 4212 nautical miles from Paris, France to Paris, Texas as the crow flies. 4. For centuries, a rite of passage for French gourmets has been to eat the ortolan bird. These tiny birds are captured alive, force-fed, then drowned in Armagnac, then roasted and eaten whole, bones and all, while the diner draped his or her head with a napkin to preserve the aroma, their manners, and some say, to hide from God. It is now illegal to eat ortolan in France. 5. The battle of Agincourt was fought on October 25 1415 in northern France as part of the Hundred Year’s War (1337-1453). Henry V’s English army, although outnumbered, gave the French a good kicking – 12,000-18,000 French dead or wounded to a trifling 150-250 dead English. 6. France fits in an almost regularly shaped hexagon, three sides on land, three sides on the sea. So much so that France is very often called l'hexagone. 7. Louis XIX was King of France from breakfast until teatime on 2 August 1830, at which point he abdicated. 8. There are 40 Appellation d’origine contrôlée approved cheeses in France. The Auvergne has five of these, more than any other region in France. The five are:- Cantal, St.Nectaire, Bleu d'Auvergne, Fourme d'Ambert and Salers. 9. John Balliol, king from 1292-1296, tried to escape his reliance on Edward I of England by signing a treaty with King Philip of France in 1295. This became known as the Auld Alliance. In 1428 James I sent troops to help Joan of Arc and from 1422 until 1792 the French king's bodyguard was made up from Scottish soldiers. 10. In some regions of France the locals still believe that if a bachelor steps on a cat’s tail, he won’t find a wife for at least a year. 11. 200 years ago, Napoleon signed the first european community treaty. France, with its possessions in Spain and Italy, joined with the western German states of Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden, in a treaty of co operation and trade, named the Confederation of the Rhine.
SCEPTICS TAKE NOTE . . . .
Writing in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, a journal of Britain's de-facto academy of sciences, the team said that the Sun had been less active since 1985, even though global temperatures have continued to rise. "Over the past 20 years, all the trends in the Sun that could have had an influence on the Earth's climate have been in the opposite direction to that required to explain the observed rise in global mean temperatures," they write. The study is co-authored by Mike Lockwood of Britain's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Claus Froehlich of the World Radiation Centre in Switzerland. The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that human activity is to blame for the rise in global temperatures. In its latest report, issued this year, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that this warming is already affecting the climate system. Since 1900, the mean global atmospheric temperature has risen by 0.8 C (1.44 F), and the sea level by 10-20 centimetres (four to eight inches). Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, have risen by around a third since the Industrial Revolution and are now at their highest in 650,000 years. Eleven of the past 12 years rank among the dozen warmest years on record. In the past few years, glaciers and snow and ice cover have fallen back sharply in alpine regions, the edges of the Greenland icesheet and on the Antarctic peninsula have shrunk, Arctic summer sea ice has thinned and retreated and Siberian and Canadian permafrost have shown signs of thaw and fallback. SO ITS NOT THE SUN CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING,THEN ITS EITHER THOSE LITTLE GREEN MEN OR MANKIND !! Rain rain, go away. . . .
Global warming: myth or fact ? MYTH: The science of global warming is too uncertain to act on.
MYTH: Even if global warming is a problem, addressing it will hurt industries and workers. FACT: A well designed trading programme will harness global ingenuity to decrease heat-trapping pollution cost-effectively, jumpstarting a new carbon economy.
MYTH: Water vapour is the most important and abundant greenhouse gas. So if we’re going to control a greenhouse gas, why don’t we control water instead of carbon dioxide (CO 2 )? FACT: Although water vapour traps more heat than CO 2 , because of the relationships between CO 2 , water vapour and climate, nations must focus on controlling CO 2 in order to fight global warming.
MYTH: Global warming and extra CO 2 will actually be beneficial — they reduce cold-related deaths and stimulate crop growth. FACT: Any beneficial effects will be far outweighed by damage and disruption.
MYTH: Global warming is just part of a natural cycle. The Arctic has warmed up in the past. FACT: The global warming we are experiencing is not natural. It is being caused by humans.
MYTH: We can adapt to climate change — civilisation has survived droughts and temperature shifts before. MYTH: Recent cold winters and cool summers don’t feel like global warming to me. FACT: While different pockets of the country have experienced some cold winters here and there, the overall trend is warmer winters.
MYTH: Accurate weather predictions a few days in advance are hard to come by. Why on earth should we have confidence in climate projections decades from now? FACT: Climate prediction is fundamentally different from weather prediction, just as climate is different from weather.
MYTH: As the hole in the ozone shrinks, global warming will no longer be a problem. FACT: Global warming and the hole in the ozone layer are two different problems.
For more detailed explanation go to: http://liveearth.uk.msn.com/green/articles/global%20warming%20myths%20debunked.aspx
For those of us experiencing the wettest June this century in the British Isles go to: http://liveearth.uk.msn.com/green/articles/the%20arctic%20losing%20its%20cool.aspx?imageindex=1
"A child born in a wealthy country is likely to consume, waste, and pollute more in his lifetime than 50 children born in developing nations. Our energy-burning lifestyles are pushing our planet to the point of no return. It is dawning on us at last that the life of our world is as vulnerable as the children we raise."
Oh Canada !Canada Day, one of Canada's most important holidays, it is celebrated on July 1st each year. It honours the day that the British colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada became united as one country, called the Dominion of Canada. Canada Day is very much a Family Day with outings, picnics and celebrations of the birth of the nation. Lots of flags waving, fireworks, parades, patriotic singing, and especially family picnics.
A survey published at the weekend found that more than half of them would not be granted citizenship on the basis of their knowledge of their own country. According to the Ipsos Reid poll, 60 % of Canadians would fail the citizenship exam, a necessary step for immigrants to be granted citizenship.
However, 70 % of newcomers scored a passing grade when administered the same quiz. "Immigrants to Canada have accumulated more knowledge about the workings of the Canadian government, key moments in Canada's past, and the geography of Canada than the general Canadian public." In 1997, only 45 percent of respondents failed an identical test, indicating that Canadians' knowledge of themselves also appears to be sliding.
To pass the test participants had to correctly answer 12 of 21 questions on Canadian history, politics, culture and geography. This is no criticism of that country, just made me wonder how many Brits could pass a citizenship examination? 01.07.1916JULY 1st 1916 They came from towns and villages from Astbury to Zennor. Amiens to Z.... They came from the farms, offices, factories and public schools. Pals from Manchester. Scousers, Brummies, Scots,Geordies,Taffies & Frenchies. They came from towns and villages often so small no one has ever heard of them. They left behind, mothers, fathers, wives, sweethearts, siblings and children. They left behind their country. It wasn’t for adventure or glory that they came, though some hoped for it. They came because their way of life was threatened. This is not a place of budding poppies or neat white crosses..... There is nothing to inspire or evoke greatness, only acrid, oily smoke filling the air and stinging the eyes. The cachophony of heavy guns is so deafening it is impossible to think. You advance, the straps of your backpack, biting into your shoulderblades, step by step, rifle in hand, you advance, through a hail of machine gun fire, to Montauban, an impossible objective. Then silence. You crumble and fall. You are dead. This is the reality of war, at 6 am, 91 years ago, the week long bombardment of the German lines ceased. At 7.30 Whistles were blown and in near silence thousands of men began to advance on the enemies front lines.....for James Harold Boardman, age 25, a private in the Manchester Regiment, it was a stroll to oblivion. No cross marks his grave - just a name on a slab of marble at Thiepval. HE WAS ONE OF 20,000 BRITISH SOLDIERS WHO DIED THAT DAY..............
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial. The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 31 July 1932.
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