BUDDHA DAY 8th May 2009

May 8 2009, Vesak (or Wesak) Day celebrates the birth, Enlightenment, and passing away of the Buddha Gautama. Vesak is an annual holiday observed traditionally by practicing Buddhists in many Asian countries like Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Taiwan.Vesak is an annual holiday observed traditionally by practicing Buddhists in many Asian countries like Nepal, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Taiwan.Sometimes informally called "Buddha's birthday," it actually encompasses the birth, enlightenment Nirvana, and passing (Parinirvana) of Gautama Buddha.

The exact date of Vesak varies according to the various lunar calendars used in different traditions. In Theravada countries following the Buddhist calendar, it falls on the full moon Uposatha day (typically the 5th or 6th lunar month). While the Vesak Day in China, it is on the eighth of the fourth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. The date varies from year to year in the Western Gregorian calendar but falls in April or May.

On Vesak day, devout Buddhists and followers alike are expected and requested to assemble in their various temples before dawn for the ceremonial, and honorable, hoisting of the Buddhist flag and the singing of hymns in praise of the holy triple gem: The Buddha, The Dharma (his teachings), and The Sangha (his disciples).

Devotees may bring simple offerings of flowers, candles and joss-sticks to lay at the feet of their teacher. These symbolic offerings are to remind followers that just as the beautiful flowers would wither away after a short while and the candles and joss-sticks would soon burn out, so too is life subject to decay and destruction.

Devotees are enjoined to make a special effort to refrain from killing of any kind. They are encouraged to partake of vegetarian food for the day. In some countries, notably Sri Lanka, two days are set aside for the celebration of Vesak and all liquor shops and slaughter houses are closed by government decree during the two days. Also birds, insects and animals are released by the thousands in what is known as a 'symbolic act to liberation'; of giving freedom to those who are in captivity, imprisoned, or tortured against their will.

Some devout Buddhists will wear a simple white dress and spend the whole day in temples with renewed determination to observe the Ten Precepts.

Devout Buddhists undertake to lead a noble life according to the teaching by making daily affirmations to observe the Five Precepts. However, on special days, notably new moon and full moon days, they observe the Ten Percepts to train themselves to practice morality, simplicity and humility.

Some temples also display a small image of the baby Buddha in front of the altar in a small basin filled with water and decorated with flowers, allowing devotees to pour water over the statue; it is symbolic of the cleansing of a practitioners bad karma, and to reenact the events following the Buddha's birth, when devas and spirits made heavenly offerings to him.

Devotees are expected to listen to talks given by monks. On this day monks will recite verses uttered by the Buddha twenty-five centuries ago, to invoke peace and happiness for the Government and the people. Buddhists are reminded to live in harmony with people of other faiths and to respect the beliefs of other people as the Buddha had taught.

Full Moon in Virgo 11th March 2009

This is the ideal time to focus on our diet and eat more healthily.This is the Full Moon to take responsibility for our health and celebrate our bodies.

If you are dealing with a serious health issue just now, don’t take anything at face value.What are the psychic causes of physical illness? What are the spiritual implications of disease? What is my body trying to tell me about my life?

Become an active partner in your healing process. Read the research, ask lots of questions.Virgo wants to understand the mechanics of illness so that it can better affect a cure. This kind of questioning may include opening yourself to alternative treatments or new approaches.

Every Full Moon should be viewed as a golden opportunity to expand your consciousness, spread goodwill around the globe and learn more about your higher destiny. Don't succumb to the lower temptations to conduct a tug-of-war with significant others or bicker over trivial pursuits.

ALONE - A poem by Pamela Colman Smith

Alone and in the midst of men,
Alone 'mid hills and valleys fair;
Alone upon a ship at sea;
Alone -- alone, and everywhere.
O many folk I see and know,S
o kind they are I scarce can tell,
But now alone on land and sea,
In spite of all I'm left to dwell.
In cities large -- in country lane,
Around the world -- 'tis all the same;
Across the sea from shore to shore.
Alone -- alone, for evermore.

Pamela Colman Smith - Happy Birthday

Pamela Colman Smith (16 Feb 1878-18 Sept 1951) was an artist, illustrator, and writer. She is best known for designing the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of divinatory tarot cards for Arthur Edward Waite.
P.C.S. was born in Pimlico, Middlesex (now London), England the daughter of an American merchant from Brooklyn, Charles Edward Smith and his American wife Corinne Colman. The family often moved around due to her father’s job with the West India Improvement Company and time was spent in London, Kingston, Jamaica and Brooklyn, New York.
Her mother died when she was just 10 years old, and due to the absence of her father because of his work, she was taken under the wing of the Lyceum Theatre group (London) led by Ellen Terry, Henry Irving, and Bram Stoker. Her later art work was much influenced by travelling around the country with the theatre group in her early teens.
By 1893, Smith had moved to Brooklyn, New York to be with her father and at the age of 15, she enrolled at the relatively new Pratt Institute and there studied art under the noted artist teacher Arthur Wesley Dow. Four years later she graduated and returning to England in 1899, she became a theatrical designer for a miniature theatre and an illustrator. She illustrated Ellen Terry's book on Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, The Russian Ballet, published in 1913. She joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1903 and met A.E.Waite.
In 1909, Waite commissioned P.C.Smith to produce a tarot deck with appeal to the world of art. The result was the unique Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck (Rider was the name of the publisher), which has become the world's most popular and well-known 78-card tarot deck. All of the cards depict full scenes with figures and symbols including the Minor Arcana, and with Smith's distinctive designs they have become the basis for the designs of many subsequent packs – commonly known as RW clones.
Pamela was also an author and wrote and illustrated several books about Jamaican folklore, including Annancy Stories (1902) which were about Jamaican versions of tales involving the traditional African folk figure Anansi the Spider. She also did a lot of illustrating for the work of William Butler Yeats and his brother Jack. Apart from the tarot deck, her artwork found little commercial success.
Pamela Colman Smith never married. After the end of the First World War (1914-18),she received an inheritance that made it possible for her to move to Cornwall, an area very popular with artists due to the quality of light and the lifestyle. She died in Bude, Cornwall on the 18th September 1951. After her death, all of her personal effects and belongings, including her paintings and drawings, were sold at auction to satisfy her debts which had mounted up.

GEMINIDS - Meteor Shower

Every year, from the 12th-14th December (the peak on the 13th) it is possible, and very likely, that you will see meteors or shooting stars in the night sky. These meteors appear to come from the area of the constellation of Gemini but can actually be seen almost anywhere in the sky and are fairly easy to spot - especially in the absence of light pollution (street lights etc) or a bright moon. Unfortunately, there is a full moon on the 12th this year so this could make viewing more difficult. The peak viewing rate can be as much as 120 per hour at a dark site.
This meteor shower is caused by what is thought to be an extinct comet and were first observed only 150 years ago. Meteors are small fragments (not much bigger than a grain of sand) of cosmic debris which vapourise due to friction with the air when entering the earth's atmosphere. Fragments which do land on the earth's surface are called meteorites.

Compost happens!

I love composting - it has to be the ultimate in recycling. Everything that comes from the earth or is nurtured by it goes back, in the form of brown, crumbly, earthy-smelling compost. From the house - everything from vegetable and fruit peelings to teabags, toilet roll tubes, coffee grounds, cereal boxes and eggshells, hair and animal fur and the contents of your vacuum cleaner bag can go in the compost bin. However, these household leftovers need to be balanced by adding garden waste in the form of prunings and clippings, grass mowings, leaves and some weeds - preferably not the roots of perennials such as dandelion, ground elder, buttercup, bindweed etc. as these need a high temperature to destroy them which may not be reached in a domestic composter. Not too much in the way of twigs and brown prunings as these thake a long time to break down although this is a lot quicker if they are shredded first. Too many grass clippings will cause a slimy mixture due to a lack of air in the heap. A good balanced mixture is best that is stirred up from time to time (not compulsory but helps).
I find wood is a good material with which to make a composter or buy one ready to assemble. Wood breathes and insulates and looks good although will need replacing after a number of years. Cover the compost mixture with a layer of insulation - old potting compost bags with a few layers of bubble wrap inside are ideal.The compost bin should also be situated in the sun if possible to aid heating up.
Things to avoid in your compost bin are meat, fish, dairy and cooked foods - these are not a good idea as they can attract vermin. Other do nots are cat and dog faeces and disposable nappies.
When the compost is cooked, it can be used as a mulch throughout the garden, helping to keep down weeds, keep in moisture, enrich the soil and it looks good too. The whole process can take as little as 6 - 8 weeks or as much as a year. If all this seems like hard work then a pile of material in the corner of your garden will eventually rot down without you having to do anything to it - just leave it to nature.

Above picture shows my composting set-up.

LEVI STUBBS 1936 - 2008

I was very sad when I heard of the passing into spirit of Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops - one of my favourite groups. He had one of those amazing voices that could express any emotion. Do you remember "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), "It's the Same Old Song", "Bernadette", "I'm In a Different World" ?
The Four Tops first got together in 1953 (then called the Four Aims) and were signed to Chess records in 1956. Berry Gordy saw one of their performances in 1963 and signed them up, arranging for Holland, Dozier, Holland to write songs for them. This happened a year later with "Baby, I need your loving", followed by "I can't help myself" and then "Reach out". They successfully toured the United States and the world but left Motown in 1971. The Four Tops continued to record and tour in the 1970s and '80s. By 1995, Levi Stubbs’s health had begun to fail, forcing him to curtail his performances. Lawrence Payton died in 1997, and Renaldo "Obie"Benson in 2005.
Levi died on 17th October at the age of 72 years in his Detroit home. He had been suffering from cancer and had to stop performing in 2000 after having a stroke. Abdul "Duke" Fakir is the only surviving member of The Four Tops.

Eco-friendly candles

I am very fond of burning candles and have recently started investigating candles which are more eco-friendly.
Most candles are made from paraffin wax which is a derivative of the petroleum industry. This is obviously non-renewable, unless you want to wait for several million years, and the global environmental impact on the world is well documented.
The Oil Palm is grown as a commercial crop in Malaysia and used to produce (for example) cooking oil, confectionery, margarines and creamers. It is therefore a renewable resource and a non-genetically modified crop.
Palm wax is much cleaner burning than paraffin wax and produces much less soot and potentially harmful emissions.The cancles also burn for longer with a whiter flame.

About 80% of palm oil is used for food applications - the rest being for non-food products such as candles, lotions, body oils, shampoos, skin care products, rubber and cleaning products.
I believe it is possible to make palm oil based bio-diesel.

LAMMAS & SILBURY HILL 1st August

Lammas marks the beginning of the early harvest - cereals, barley, wheat and oats. It was often celebrated with bonfires, once lit on hills and beacons all over Europe. This is also the festival of the Celtic God of the Sun Lugh, whose sacrifice in the harvest at Lughnasadh is made so that people may live.

Excavations at Silbury Hill, the largest manmade earthwork in England suggest that its contruction began in August, carbon dated to approx. 2660 BCE. Perhaps it was built to celebrate Lammas. The name Silbury Hill is derived from the ancient water Goddess Sul, whose spirit is said to dwell in the hill's surrounding moat. The shape of the hill is like a pregnant belly, suggesting strong associations with the Goddess, fertility and fruitfulness.

The Corn King gives his life for the land,

We toast his sacrifice with ale in our hand,

And eat the bread, from the harvest made,

As sheaves of corn to the eath are laid,
May our well-earned bounty reward our toil,

As we harvest the seed and the grain from the soil.

Local History

Very local to me are the remains of Waverley Abbey. The construction was started in 1128 by the first Cistercian monks to establish an order in Britain . The small colony that had emigrated from France consisted of only an abbot and 12 monks. By 1187 the community supported 70 monks and 120 laybrothers. By the time the abbey was fully dedicated in 1278 the buildings centred on an imposing church that was 300 feet (91 metres) long and 150 feet (45 metres) wide at its transepts. Such were the capabilities of the community that over 7,000 guests were reportedly invited to the dedication including abbots, knights and lords and ladies.

The Cistercians were at the forefront of agricultural development in the 12th century, and by 1300 Waverley had 14 farms (‘granges’) which included valuable stocks of sheep enabling the monks to undertake a lucrative trade in wool with merchants as far away as Flanders and Florence. The wool was shorn from sheep bred from the original flock brought over from France when the abbey was first established. Wool produced in England was considered to be the best quality in Europe at the time. Although much of the abbey’s income was earned from farming, much benefit was gleaned from the various properties gifted to them by the Bishop of Winchester.

The abbey fell to the wholesale destruction wreaked by Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries from 1536, and despite the abbot’s protestations to the outside world the buildings were systematically stripped of their finery, and eventually even the fabric of the buildings were dismantled to be used as building materials elsewhere. It is thought that many of the great houses between the 16th and 18th centuries in Surrey took advantage of building materials from the ruined abbey including Loseley House near Guildford.
Today little remains of the splendour of the place, but the ruins are nevertheless still impressive and give a good idea as to exactly what this industrious community of brothers had achieved. Now in the care of English Heritage the site has been well preserved and is open to visitors for no charge all year round.