Death

Samhain is almost upon us so lets talk about death. Halloween isn't just about getting dressed up as scary things like vampires, ghouls & Anne Widdecombe. For the likes of us it is a time to honour those who have gone before us, those who are directly related to us, our friends, those who have fought for our rights & the ancestors from time immemorial. It is this time that it is said that the veil between this world & the spirit world are at its thinnest. This maybe be because at this time it was a time when creatures that could not be fed over winter were culled & stored. That the winter was a time for the weak if they got ill would be less likely to survive. To that we are not entirely sure, but any of the suggestions are kind of plausible. One thing is for certain that very few of the customs of old are still practised today, not many families leave an extra portion of food for a deceased relative, not many pay homage to the dead at all they just like to have a party & dress up, though I don't have too much of a problem with that if they make an effort with their costume. So whatever you are doing this Halloween remember a loved one past. Now we should not be afraid of death we should embrace, it is inevitable, though I'm in great hurry to shuffle off this mortal coil, I will not fear it when it comes.

Finding Unexpected Things

I'm starting to get ready to move house which means getting rid of a whole load of rubbish but whilst doing so I sound some lost 'treasures' including a an old Seal of Solomon of mine, a ring that no longer fits & a Hagstone, so what will I find next & what to do with them next. Freecycle or charity shops next. I'm also finding small change which will go in the new vacuum fund. Old bank statements & payslips are going to be shredded & either recycled or burnt. This is going to be interesting. I see a clothing cull & a book cull too.

Unicorns are not real! well sort of

A 'facebook friend' of mine posted up a very realistic 'photo' of a unicorn, to which someone replied is that real? I almost head butted the computer table in disbelief. I didn't realise that some people could be that gullible, but then why should I be? I once said me hoodie was lined with genuine yeti fur & I got a "really" in response. Unicorns are a misunderstanding of what was being seen, the most likely candidate for the unicorn is the extremely rare Arabian oryx an antelope from the Middle East which is where the first unicorns were reported to have lived, they have 2 horn but if the lose one in a fight it doesn't grow a replacement. The Indian version of such a beast was the karkadan which is mistranslation of what people saw when the encountered an Indian Rhino, which possibly is one explanation of it's scientific name of rhinoceros unicornis. The same way that the centuar is what happened when a none horse riding civilisation saw people riding on horseback & early explorers who met a phoenix fowl came back with the notion of the phoenix. As to what a yeti is I have no idea, perhaps the indigenous race wearing fur, a person playing pranks I have no idea. So go against the juorney song & do stop believing otherwise you will sound foolish

Gay Marriage Rights, Cures & the Tory Support

So this old chestnut again, sorry for revisiting a subject again, but the Tories are in town & along with it so has homophobia. Tories want to not be seen as the nasty party then don't have hate spouting politicians it's a simple equation. There have been conferences against gay marriages & one for gay cures. George Carey former Arch Bishop of Canterbury said allowing gay marriage will lead to a Nazi Germany style state, lets look at this so if gay people get marriage rights, gay people will be asking to be be hated, tortured, held in concentration camps & be gassed, along with Jews, Liberal Politicians, disabled people & Romany Gypsies? Yeah I'm pretty much sure that is not what voting for equal marriage is not going to do that to Britain's society, promoting inequality to keep down the people who aren't flavour of the month does that.

Gay 'cures' are a curious thing, seeing as though being gay is not an illness, it is more like being left handed or being able to roll your tongue. How can your cure something like that, brainwashing someone into being heterosexual when they are not would lead someone into lying about who they really are & last I checked Christianity dishonesty was frowned upon, so why are the radicals pushing it, it is one of the things that is turning people away from the church, not encouraging them, so please stop putting money in chasing phlogiston & put your money to good use like HIV treatments in Africa or anti malarial drugs in the third world & making poverty history. We did not chose to be gay we are just making the best of our lives with what we have got & trying to live our lives as decent honest people.

Voting for X Factor

I don't get it, what is the point? To vote for someone who is to lazy to put the effort into a music career in the first place to be someone else's puppet & not have their own creative input into their music or to have it severely restricted, it allows a lack of artistic merit into our music culture, it does not nurture the talent that it says it does, just stifles the creativity of any contestants that have any, though I doubt many have that, just to provides a homogenised sound & endless uninspired covers that sound very similar to the original, which is rendered a little pointless. A friend on facebook posted a good point, if the people who endlessly harp on about voting for who they want to win X Factor put as much effort into voting for who they wanted to run the country we could be in a much better place by now & I know many people who vote for X Factor candidates who don't vote. I have heard it  been called escapism & from some it is, but to most they of the people I know who call it that don't fully understand what they are escaping from, so therefore it is not escapism because you have to have a fairly decent grip on reality of the events happening in the world in the first place. Please pay attention to what is going on in the world then I will have no objections for you watching a program I care little if anything for.

Home baked goodness

One of the joys of autumn is home baking, the warm welcoming smell of a freshly baked pie or cake, mmm heaven. Not one of my healthiest of hobbies but there is no doubt about it when you have the satisfaction of saying I did that & devouring it quicker than you should, but for some reason because it is home baked it doesn't count, even if it was a chicken & mushroom pie yesterday & a German friendship cake today, which is in the oven as I type. It makes the house feel more homely & is most definitely comforting. I also find that baking also de-stresses me as it slows you down to a comfortable pace & gets your mind concentrating on one thing. If you bake with love it always tastes better. Better sign off as cake will be ready in a sec.

Chaos

With my life being in a state of flux, impeding move, new nephew & niece, promotion with new responsibilities, my foot playing up & the moot taking on a newer role. Chaos seems to be ensuing & it is hard to keep my feet on the ground. So I'm turning to my faith & I seem to have somehow felt disconnected with that too, So what to do? Reconnect with myself & hope everything slots into place. Hopefully reconnecting with my faith will also give me some sense of calm in the transition. Though acknowledging chaos is part of Paganism knowing that you can't control everything but finding your place in the mesh of what is going on is comforting & concentrating on what you can do & what you can influence is the key to managing it, setting out a strategy is key to taming it somewhat could make me feel more at ease. Or should I just ride it & see where it spits me out, not knowing is the scary part, would this create rash decisions, leaving me feel harried & likely to snap or brake down, or it could lead me to discover something new about myself. I think more the previous option is more me, hoping for the best & being prepared for the worse. Coping strategies vary from person to person, some people thrive more on a suck it & see approach & it works for them & who am I to argue with that, challenges define us & you have to except what such a thing reveals & deal with the fallout. So wish me luck & I shall see you at the other end.