In the year 1492, Italy faced troublesome years ahead as the death of Lorenzo de Medici threw the nation's political system off balance and paved the way for an invasion by the French. That August in Rome, Rodrigo Borgia became Pope and Christopher Columbus put out to sea to set foot in the New World just over two months later. In April 1492, Lorenzo de Medici, the powerful and highly respected ruler of Leonardo's native Florence, lay dying. When lightening struck the cathedral dome, the extraordinary Dominican preacher, Girolamo Savonarola took it for an omen, thundering at his congregation ' Behold the sword of the Lord, swift and sure over the peoples of the earth ! ' and he warned the Florentines that terrible times lay ahead for the church and the state.
By 1527 Rome was ransacked by German troops, while Michelangelo worked for the Medici in Florence. Pope Clement VII was held prisoner and was soon to face another crisis - Henry VIII, desperate for a male heir, wanted to divorce his wife, and if the Pope refused his permission the dominion of the Catholic Church in England was at risk.
Against all this historical background, here we are in the year 2009. Now the Vatican is openly ackowledging extra-terrestrials beings associated with Jesus Christ ! The same church which squashed other religions in the New World as heathen.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci has been described as the greatest genius the world has ever known, and for good reason. He was a dreamer inspired to be a painter, a sculptor, an architect, a musical composer, a writer and an outstanding inventor. He designed an aeroplane and a submarine 500 years before they appeared in the twentieth century.
A genius is a visionary and a visionary is a dreamer. We are all dreamers and we may all be visionaries but we are not all geniuses. The difference between the da Vincis of this world and others, is that they can pluck a thought or an idea that comes to them in the still of the night, in a dream and create from it reality. To them, the true world is their inner world. Above all, they are good listeners, not only to other people but to that small, quiet voice within.
Dreams of the famous and infamous throughout the ages have without doubt helped to make history and shape our present way of life. In essence, however, their dreams are no different in any way from our dreams. We all have prophetic dreams, warning dreams and inspirational dreams just as they did, but if we do not accept them as sources of power and original thought, and acknowledge that we can obtain from them all information and solutions we can possibly need during our lifetime, they will be content to remain in the background like shy friends.
Recognize them, however, and immediately they step forward and begin to put our house, the mansion of our soul, in order. But, llike Professor Kekule said, we must first learn to dream.
A genius is a visionary and a visionary is a dreamer. We are all dreamers and we may all be visionaries but we are not all geniuses. The difference between the da Vincis of this world and others, is that they can pluck a thought or an idea that comes to them in the still of the night, in a dream and create from it reality. To them, the true world is their inner world. Above all, they are good listeners, not only to other people but to that small, quiet voice within.
Dreams of the famous and infamous throughout the ages have without doubt helped to make history and shape our present way of life. In essence, however, their dreams are no different in any way from our dreams. We all have prophetic dreams, warning dreams and inspirational dreams just as they did, but if we do not accept them as sources of power and original thought, and acknowledge that we can obtain from them all information and solutions we can possibly need during our lifetime, they will be content to remain in the background like shy friends.
Recognize them, however, and immediately they step forward and begin to put our house, the mansion of our soul, in order. But, llike Professor Kekule said, we must first learn to dream.
Sunday, 4 October 2009
DREAMS, ART and SURREALISM
Biblical and historical dreams have provided artists with exciting subjects to paint since at least the eleventh century but it was not until the surrealist movement came along that dreams were psychologically captured in essence and in feeling. Surrealism, the name given to an artistic group in France in 1924, endeavoured to express dreams, the action of the unconscious mind, on to canvas. Although nightmares were no stranger to the imagination of the artist, Goya in particular excelling in this respect, none had tried to convey the atmosphere and symbolic message of the dream-experience until this time. 'Surrealism is based on a belief in the omnipotence of the dream', said Andre Breton, often called the Pope of the Surrealist movement.
Reaching its heyday in the 1930's the influence responsible for its emergence was clearly that of psychoanalysis. With Freud's emphasis on free association of ideas, laced with sexual repression and Jung's symbolism; paintings appeared that shocked the world to its artistic roots. And even today there are those who, not caring to understand dreams, let alone art, dismiss this art as total rubbish.
Salvador Dali's paintings, with titles like ' The Persistence of Memory' 'The Birth of Liquid Desires' ' The Spectre of Sex Appeal' are clearly reflections of Freudian-type dreams. Melting telephones and furniture, watches, crutches, barren beaches. Eerily produce appropriate, dreamlike atmospheres of general un-ease and obsession. In contrast, Max Ernest, with his 'Robing of the Bride' and 'The Eye of Silver' fills his scenes with archetypal forests, blazing suns, bird-headed women, rocks towering to the sky, silent swamps and mysterious figures all very much in keeping with the traditional Jungian concept of dreams.
Other artists in this group went on to paint anxiety dreams, portraying strong feelings of fear and terror in one form or another. Hypnagogic dreams were a popular subject, too, showing images falling half-way between sleep and the waking state. Here to stay, surrealism certainly opened the door on our inner world and in so doing, contributed in its own way towards a better understanding of art, ourselves and, of course, dreams too, for dreams are very much like paintings.
Reaching its heyday in the 1930's the influence responsible for its emergence was clearly that of psychoanalysis. With Freud's emphasis on free association of ideas, laced with sexual repression and Jung's symbolism; paintings appeared that shocked the world to its artistic roots. And even today there are those who, not caring to understand dreams, let alone art, dismiss this art as total rubbish.
Salvador Dali's paintings, with titles like ' The Persistence of Memory' 'The Birth of Liquid Desires' ' The Spectre of Sex Appeal' are clearly reflections of Freudian-type dreams. Melting telephones and furniture, watches, crutches, barren beaches. Eerily produce appropriate, dreamlike atmospheres of general un-ease and obsession. In contrast, Max Ernest, with his 'Robing of the Bride' and 'The Eye of Silver' fills his scenes with archetypal forests, blazing suns, bird-headed women, rocks towering to the sky, silent swamps and mysterious figures all very much in keeping with the traditional Jungian concept of dreams.
Other artists in this group went on to paint anxiety dreams, portraying strong feelings of fear and terror in one form or another. Hypnagogic dreams were a popular subject, too, showing images falling half-way between sleep and the waking state. Here to stay, surrealism certainly opened the door on our inner world and in so doing, contributed in its own way towards a better understanding of art, ourselves and, of course, dreams too, for dreams are very much like paintings.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Dreams In Art and literature
Before Freud described the dark battles going on in the minds of men and Jung unveiled the world of the collective unconscious filled with prototypes and symbols, poets, writers and painters had long since discovered all this, and more. Their dreams had been mines of information on every subject under the sun, inspiring them to reflect on the profound psychological and paradoxical nature of man.
Expressing that confrontation of repressed savagery and open benevolence present within the authors and other artists, we find literary revelations that could easily have come straight from the confidential casebook of a present-day psychiatrist. The fears of hell and visions of horror were therefore recognized ages ago, as aspects of one's darker unknown self.
Neither Freud's generation, nor Freud himself, should have been surprised by his discoveries concerning man's true self if they had read earlier literature. The symbolic paradise dream, set in a personal garden of delight, was seen and written about in terms of compensation and wish-fulfilment, a long time before it received the analytical Freudian treatment. Throughout Shakespeare's work, run themes and references to sleep and dreams conveying those states of reality and illusion between which we so often find ourselves trapped.
The author Robert Louis Stevenson who was fortunate in that he remembered most of his dreams, in his book 'Across The Plains' he described how complete stories came to him during sleep. Each night he would pick up the fantasy-thread where he had left it the night before and carry on from there. In Shakespeare's Hamlet we find: ' To sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death what dream may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil ?
Expressing that confrontation of repressed savagery and open benevolence present within the authors and other artists, we find literary revelations that could easily have come straight from the confidential casebook of a present-day psychiatrist. The fears of hell and visions of horror were therefore recognized ages ago, as aspects of one's darker unknown self.
Neither Freud's generation, nor Freud himself, should have been surprised by his discoveries concerning man's true self if they had read earlier literature. The symbolic paradise dream, set in a personal garden of delight, was seen and written about in terms of compensation and wish-fulfilment, a long time before it received the analytical Freudian treatment. Throughout Shakespeare's work, run themes and references to sleep and dreams conveying those states of reality and illusion between which we so often find ourselves trapped.
The author Robert Louis Stevenson who was fortunate in that he remembered most of his dreams, in his book 'Across The Plains' he described how complete stories came to him during sleep. Each night he would pick up the fantasy-thread where he had left it the night before and carry on from there. In Shakespeare's Hamlet we find: ' To sleep, to sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub; for in that sleep of death what dream may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil ?
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
GHOSTS
I liked Victoria's ghost stories very much and as we have been talking about unusual phenomena, time travel and the fourth dimension, I thought we could continue to talk about ghost stories. I have never seen a ghost apart from distant red stars, which died long ago and their light has taken a million light years to get here to earth but I have experienced some unusual and uncanny happenings like the one more than 30 years ago, when Peter and I had not yet married. Late at night, I was reading my book alone, waiting for a phone call from Peter who was in the U.S. at the time, when the lights started flickering not all at the same time, first, the bedside table lamp on my side of the bed and then on Peter's side and afterwards the lights from the ceiling started to flicker as well. I waited for a little while and the lights all went back to normal, so I turned them all off and went to sleep. During my sleep, in a dream, I saw Peter's father, he sounded anxious and told me that he wanted to give his son an important message; he asked me if I could go and use the ouija board that had been left in our living room. I replied that I was afraid to use that board and if he could just tell me what was his message for Peter was, he replied it had to be written down, I felt mortified that I was not helping him the way he wanted and I was just promising him to remember all what he told me. He just disappeared and I felt frustrated not knowing exactly what this message for Peter really was.
The next day, someone called Nicky called to ask for Peter. I said that he was in the U.S. she said it was urgent but refused to tell me what it was about and that she would talk to Peter when he got back home; that morning Peter called me and when I told him there were urgent news for him here at home, the lights started flickering quite dramatically, so I remembered to tell him about my dream last night and how the lights suddenly started flickering all through our conversation. When Peter came home from abroad, we learned that his father had passed away on the night that I had had my dream.
The next day, someone called Nicky called to ask for Peter. I said that he was in the U.S. she said it was urgent but refused to tell me what it was about and that she would talk to Peter when he got back home; that morning Peter called me and when I told him there were urgent news for him here at home, the lights started flickering quite dramatically, so I remembered to tell him about my dream last night and how the lights suddenly started flickering all through our conversation. When Peter came home from abroad, we learned that his father had passed away on the night that I had had my dream.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Powys X-Files revealed
Today there is an exclusive report in the Powys County Times an exclusive report by Richard Jones news@coountytimes.co.uk whether there it's allien activity or natural phenomena as the reports of UFOs have flooded in this summer from across the county. In his very intriguing report, Richard has interviewed people who have also taken photos of what they have witnessed. Whatever the explanation, experts agree that the number of suspected flying saucers has hit unusual highs this summer. Phillip Hoyle, of the UFO Investigation and Research Unit in Shrewsbury, has enjoyed a busy and exciting summer visiting people who have reported sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects.
In an exclusive interview with the County Times, he revealed "There seems to be a concentration of orange sphere reports around the Newtown and the LLansanffraid area, many witnesses are reporting seeing orange spheres in particular over hill farms around Newtown. Other witnesses are describing not spheres but cigar shaped craft with lights or windows along the side. He said, " I met up with Frederick Kershaw, who was driving from Llanfyllin to Llansanffraid when he saw a cigar shaped craft flying very low over his car. "
" A similar shaped craft was also seen just above tree top level and was described as looking like an iluminated railway carriage in size and sighted just outside Knighton." "What is also very interesting is that farmers in these areas are observing odd lights in the sky at night above their farms and bizarrely discovering the next day their animals dead."
"What is going on, is there a connection to these strange animal deaths and the unconventional lights in the sky ? Kay Jones, who lives on the outskirts of Welshpool, saw three spheres appear in succession at 10.45p.m. on Saturday night, but unlike the Newtown sightings, they were not orange, but an incredible shade of vivid green. The lights seem to pulsate and were almost in the bedroom with her. She told me how it left her too shaken to move for a few minutes, and when she looked at her bedside clock, it appeared to have lost an hour." "Since that experience, Kay has had a persisitent headache on one side of her temple, which she is unable to get rid of. "
"At 11p.m. on Sunday July 12, Susan Blake of Bettws Cedewain, told me how she witnessed a large shining bright light approach her house, and as it got closer she could clearly see a disk shaped object with a dome on top. She said, it appeared to land hehind trees, and it was silent, definitely not a helicopter. I have checked with RAF Shawbury and Nesscliffe and they had no known operation flights at that time."
"Emma Richards, of Trehafren, Newtown, observed orange spheres in groups of three, which then tripled in size and became translucent. They then shot through the sky and disappeared above a field by her house. Her husband also sighted three similar orange spheres while driving on the A 470 over the Brecon Beacons between Builth Wells and Rhayader and managed to take photos of them. " By examining these reports for colorations, sometimes it's possible to create a projected flight path of the spheres and many reports that the Brecon Beacons are a hot spot activity and even might be the origin of of some of the orange spheres. "
"On May 28, another person I have met up with, James Hall, was travelling back from Dolanog towards Llanfair Caereinion with his daughter. It was 11p.m. when they came across three orange lights hovering in the sky, two of the lights moved off very fast and disappeared, the other light was left just zig-zagging. Further afield, Ian Hawkins was camping late May at Shell Island when he sighted three orange spheres coming over the sea towards him, they were totally silent before two of the three spheres ascended into the clouds. "
"Another witness, Mr. Ian Welch, from Bala, North Wales, claims he has been in contact with beings not of this world and has many high quality photographs depicting totally unconventional aerial craft. The message related to this encounter witnessed by the occupants of these crafts is very clear and profound, mankind must stop its relentless pursuit of material gain and its favourite past time of tribal warfare, and work for the unification of all nations and work in harmony with the planet and its life forms."
"Also, at Bala a Breakdown Mechanic, Andy Carter, was travelling alongside Bala Lake, en-route to a stranded vehicle. His attention was drawn to a bright orange light, irregular in shape, and resembled something in flames or burning. Many people are still of the belief that all these orange spheres are no more than chinese lanterns but if they are lanterns they must be built by NASA, as many do not conform to any conventional type of aircraft and display intelligent control and advanced technology "
The newspaper then appeals that as more and more sightings are being reported, a picture is developing indicating areas where the UFO activity is concentrated, if any reader would like to report their own sightings contact Phil Hoyle by e-mail at phil.hoyle@yahoo.co.uk or by phoning 01743- 245574.
In an exclusive interview with the County Times, he revealed "There seems to be a concentration of orange sphere reports around the Newtown and the LLansanffraid area, many witnesses are reporting seeing orange spheres in particular over hill farms around Newtown. Other witnesses are describing not spheres but cigar shaped craft with lights or windows along the side. He said, " I met up with Frederick Kershaw, who was driving from Llanfyllin to Llansanffraid when he saw a cigar shaped craft flying very low over his car. "
" A similar shaped craft was also seen just above tree top level and was described as looking like an iluminated railway carriage in size and sighted just outside Knighton." "What is also very interesting is that farmers in these areas are observing odd lights in the sky at night above their farms and bizarrely discovering the next day their animals dead."
"What is going on, is there a connection to these strange animal deaths and the unconventional lights in the sky ? Kay Jones, who lives on the outskirts of Welshpool, saw three spheres appear in succession at 10.45p.m. on Saturday night, but unlike the Newtown sightings, they were not orange, but an incredible shade of vivid green. The lights seem to pulsate and were almost in the bedroom with her. She told me how it left her too shaken to move for a few minutes, and when she looked at her bedside clock, it appeared to have lost an hour." "Since that experience, Kay has had a persisitent headache on one side of her temple, which she is unable to get rid of. "
"At 11p.m. on Sunday July 12, Susan Blake of Bettws Cedewain, told me how she witnessed a large shining bright light approach her house, and as it got closer she could clearly see a disk shaped object with a dome on top. She said, it appeared to land hehind trees, and it was silent, definitely not a helicopter. I have checked with RAF Shawbury and Nesscliffe and they had no known operation flights at that time."
"Emma Richards, of Trehafren, Newtown, observed orange spheres in groups of three, which then tripled in size and became translucent. They then shot through the sky and disappeared above a field by her house. Her husband also sighted three similar orange spheres while driving on the A 470 over the Brecon Beacons between Builth Wells and Rhayader and managed to take photos of them. " By examining these reports for colorations, sometimes it's possible to create a projected flight path of the spheres and many reports that the Brecon Beacons are a hot spot activity and even might be the origin of of some of the orange spheres. "
"On May 28, another person I have met up with, James Hall, was travelling back from Dolanog towards Llanfair Caereinion with his daughter. It was 11p.m. when they came across three orange lights hovering in the sky, two of the lights moved off very fast and disappeared, the other light was left just zig-zagging. Further afield, Ian Hawkins was camping late May at Shell Island when he sighted three orange spheres coming over the sea towards him, they were totally silent before two of the three spheres ascended into the clouds. "
"Another witness, Mr. Ian Welch, from Bala, North Wales, claims he has been in contact with beings not of this world and has many high quality photographs depicting totally unconventional aerial craft. The message related to this encounter witnessed by the occupants of these crafts is very clear and profound, mankind must stop its relentless pursuit of material gain and its favourite past time of tribal warfare, and work for the unification of all nations and work in harmony with the planet and its life forms."
"Also, at Bala a Breakdown Mechanic, Andy Carter, was travelling alongside Bala Lake, en-route to a stranded vehicle. His attention was drawn to a bright orange light, irregular in shape, and resembled something in flames or burning. Many people are still of the belief that all these orange spheres are no more than chinese lanterns but if they are lanterns they must be built by NASA, as many do not conform to any conventional type of aircraft and display intelligent control and advanced technology "
The newspaper then appeals that as more and more sightings are being reported, a picture is developing indicating areas where the UFO activity is concentrated, if any reader would like to report their own sightings contact Phil Hoyle by e-mail at phil.hoyle@yahoo.co.uk or by phoning 01743- 245574.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
SWINE FLU DISEASE
The illness started in a part owned U.S. pig farm company called Smithfield Foods. Very recently, they have tried to clean up their act, putting on a real show hosing down visitor's cars and requiring visitors to wear white smocks etc. but the people of La Gloria know better. One sixth of their population of 3,000 have been suffering from severe respiratory problems for years. The other part of this pig farm is owned by Granjas Carroll of Mexico, a mega farm that employs an industrial technique known as Confined Animal Feeding Operations which produces and processes as many as a million pigs a year. Residents of La Gloria, have spoken of the 'manure lagoons' emanating from the facility which they blame for a range of illnesses.
In North Carolina in the U.S.A. near Raleigh, there is a river called the Neuse. Suddenly fish were dying of the most terrible diseases and people were becoming sick. After an intense study of the causes, they found the problem was coming from all the pig farms stationed around it.
There is a film I recommend called ' Pig Business' : Behind the film they tried to ban by Tracy Worcester. It is a ground braking expose of U.S. industrial pig farming conglomerate Smithfield Foods. The film has met with repeated attempts at censorship by Smithfield's company lawyers. In here, she explains how England's libel laws have helped stall the film's general release and stop the world learning more about the environmental realities of intensive livestock rearing.
After a showing of her film 'Pig Business' at the Royal Society of Arts on the 13th of November 2008, Channel 4 which was scheduled to broadcast the film in the New Year, received two letters from lawyers acting for Smithfiled Foods of America the world's biggest pig producer and processor. Fearing the legal might of a $12 billion company threatening to sue, channel 4 pulled her film just before broadcast on February 3rd 2009.
To prepare for the worst, Channel 4 made changes to accord with England's business-friendly libel laws and the U.K. T.V. standards administered by OFCOM. Despite a further two threatening letters channel 4 broadcast the film on its More 4 Channel on June 30th. Not even the tabloids are immune from Smithfield's threatening letters, both the Daily Mail and The Evening Standard have received warning letters for reporting about the film. So did the Polish T.V. station Szczecin T.V. and the Polish National Geographic magazine - the latter was requested unsuccessfully - to apologize for an article that reported on water and air pollution near a pig farm or face legal action.
On the day of a showing at the Barbican Arts Centre in London on 27th May 2009, Smithfield's lawyers told the Barbican management that the film was 'defamatory' as a result, the audience was made to wait half an hour whilst the executive producer and the film producer were told that the showing would only go ahead if they signed a document agreeing to indemnify the Barbican, putting it in her website would apparently expose Tracy Worcester to Smithfield's litigation in every jurisdiction. So the message will have to be spread guerrilla - style i.e. below Smithfield's radar.
For another nine days, the film will be on Channel 4's website there is only one way for you to make up our own mind on whether this film is defamatory or fair and balance reporting - you will have to watch it
Tracy Worcester is an environmental campaigner and filmmaker. Visit the pigbusiness website here.
In North Carolina in the U.S.A. near Raleigh, there is a river called the Neuse. Suddenly fish were dying of the most terrible diseases and people were becoming sick. After an intense study of the causes, they found the problem was coming from all the pig farms stationed around it.
There is a film I recommend called ' Pig Business' : Behind the film they tried to ban by Tracy Worcester. It is a ground braking expose of U.S. industrial pig farming conglomerate Smithfield Foods. The film has met with repeated attempts at censorship by Smithfield's company lawyers. In here, she explains how England's libel laws have helped stall the film's general release and stop the world learning more about the environmental realities of intensive livestock rearing.
After a showing of her film 'Pig Business' at the Royal Society of Arts on the 13th of November 2008, Channel 4 which was scheduled to broadcast the film in the New Year, received two letters from lawyers acting for Smithfiled Foods of America the world's biggest pig producer and processor. Fearing the legal might of a $12 billion company threatening to sue, channel 4 pulled her film just before broadcast on February 3rd 2009.
To prepare for the worst, Channel 4 made changes to accord with England's business-friendly libel laws and the U.K. T.V. standards administered by OFCOM. Despite a further two threatening letters channel 4 broadcast the film on its More 4 Channel on June 30th. Not even the tabloids are immune from Smithfield's threatening letters, both the Daily Mail and The Evening Standard have received warning letters for reporting about the film. So did the Polish T.V. station Szczecin T.V. and the Polish National Geographic magazine - the latter was requested unsuccessfully - to apologize for an article that reported on water and air pollution near a pig farm or face legal action.
On the day of a showing at the Barbican Arts Centre in London on 27th May 2009, Smithfield's lawyers told the Barbican management that the film was 'defamatory' as a result, the audience was made to wait half an hour whilst the executive producer and the film producer were told that the showing would only go ahead if they signed a document agreeing to indemnify the Barbican, putting it in her website would apparently expose Tracy Worcester to Smithfield's litigation in every jurisdiction. So the message will have to be spread guerrilla - style i.e. below Smithfield's radar.
For another nine days, the film will be on Channel 4's website there is only one way for you to make up our own mind on whether this film is defamatory or fair and balance reporting - you will have to watch it
Tracy Worcester is an environmental campaigner and filmmaker. Visit the pigbusiness website here.
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