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The Serpent's Tale (History)
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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Hatty wrote:
Artemis goddess of the hunt and wisdom: your timing-better-than-speed applies to hunting. You could also say timing is better than strength hunting-wise.

Does this image not remind you of the knight in shining armour rescues damsel in distress trope? George was appropriated as the chivalric exemplar. Where does that leave Michael?


Where does it leave Martha? Like it or not Martha is being ignored, you can call Wiley caninus politico correctus...if you like.. but he notices the problem.

Martha's "taming" exploits = Michael's

In fact you could say her exploits exceed Michael's as the true art of warfare is to defeat the opponent by destroying their centre of gravity. (COG)

http://folklore-society.com/miscellany/tarasque

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_gravity_(military)

St Margaret is often seen with a dragon at her feet.

Mar(tha) Mar(garet)

BTW.....Joan of Arc cites Margaret and Michael in her defence......both dragon slayers.

Why do the Frenchies have St Martin (who should be dodging fire breathing reptiles) sharing his cloak (eh) and Tarasque taming Martha?

The Tarasque is until proven otherwise a crocodile......
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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I have this notion that Marg = Mong(ol).
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Dragons with green man-like foliage are quite rare apparently. Someone on Facebook who investigates things like dragon paths posted a picture of one

we discovered this incredible stone hiding in Kildare Cathedral, the home of St Brigid. It is a rare depiction of a dragon with a sprig of oak coming out of its mouth. This area was once a sanctuary of the iron Age Druids who worshipped the dragon force in an oak groves nearby.

Not sure where the Druids fit in, surely not suited to a church setting? But Kildare is thoroughly Norman, founded c.1223, and this apparently pagan imagery may be nothing of the sort. Kildare also sports a sheela-na-gig grotesque, unusual for a cathedral even in Ireland. Are the Irish more misogynistic than everyone else?

Margaret seems to have arrived quite late, middle or late 13th century, and seems mystical rather than military. She's the one who was swallowed by a dragon and then 'reborn' ... echoes of Jonah in the belly of the whale and Plato's cave allegory, more wisdom than Christian salvation. Anyway the Catholic Church says she's apocryphal.
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aurelius



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Most interesting, Hatty. That would be this dragon (won't reproduce image unfortunately:

http://davidlyons.photoshelter.com/image/I0000aqaSEb8UT.U

Hard to tell if it is disgorging, or biting (e.g. the little dragon biting the knight's shield I photo'd at Margam).

Wiki reckons Kildare = Cill Dara, the church of the oak.
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aurelius



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The Tree Of Life? 6, The Acacia, part 2

In addition to its sacramental role in Freemasonry, ancient Egypt and Judaism, many species of acacia contain high concentrations of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in the inner root bark.

It can be consumed as a powerful psychedelic drug and has historically been prepared by various cultures for ritual and healing purposes. DMT has a relatively short duration of action, intense effects and rapid onset. For that reason, DMT was known as the "businessman's trip" during the 1960s in the United States, as a user could access the full depth of a psychedelic experience in considerably less time than with other substances such as LSD or magic mushrooms.[6] DMT can be inhaled, injected, or orally ingested, and its effects depend on the dose. When inhaled or injected, the effects last a short period of time: about 5 to 15 minutes. Effects can last 3 hours or more when orally ingested along with an MAOI, such as the ayahuasca vine in the traditional ayahuasca brew of many native Amazonian tribes.[7]


As well as being found in Africa and the Middle East, acacia species are greatest in number in Australia and the genus is also indigenous to Madagascar and tropical Asia.
In most countries, DMT is illegal today. The substance can produce mystical, hallucinatory, even the classic ‘near death’ experience, hence the epithet ‘the spirit molecule’.
It has been conjectured that some alchemists used entheogenic plants, including acacia, to make elixirs in order to experience what they believed was a ‘divinity within’. It is entirely possible that various religious revelations were engendered by the taking of such a drug. Was Moses under the influence when he beheld the ‘burning bush’ that was not destroyed by flame? An Israeli professor came to that conclusion -
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/06/religion.israelandthepalestinians

In case you were wondering, although the actual shrub is not identified in the Exodus incident, acacia is famed for its fire-resistant qualities, not to mention its ability to regenerate after three years from being cut down (Pliny, Natural History, Book XIII, chapter 19). Or indeed for being able develop a poison when over-grazed and to pass on that communication to acacias nearby:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12717361-200-antelope-activate-the-acacias-alarm-system/

Freemasonry claims it has now replaced the ancient initiations, and has substituted the acacia

...for the lotus, the erica, the ivy, the mistletoe, and the myrtle. [Acacia..,] in this little and apparently insignificant symbol, but which is really and truly the most important and significant one in Masonic science, we have a beautiful suggestion of all the mysteries of life and death, of time and eternity, of the present and of the future.

https://freemasonryetc.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/acacia-an-interesting-and-important-symbol-in-freemasonry/

Immortality; innocence; initiation. And - birth control. Ironically, certain properties of the acacia were believed by the ancient Egyptians to be useful as a contraceptive. They are said to have made a potion by grinding together acacia spikes, honey and dates, the latter two ingredients presumably soothers to help the medicine go down, to prevent pregnancy. We now know the DMT in acacia would have acted as a spermicide.

Potential influence on the ‘Priestly’ contributor to Genesis - check.

Tree offering visions (delusions) of immortality – check.

Designated ‘Tree of Life’ – check.

Associated heroic myth – check.

Found in Southeast Asia - check.

Cast of supporting motifs including serpent – nope.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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aurelius wrote:


Unless it was the other way round of course, gods being created from the ancestors of 'heroes' -



Christians and Academics are against this sort of thing, they are not at all happy with demigods....mysteriously, most heroes and saints are fine....no matter what.... they will adapt and defend these (tossing aside inconvenient dates, places and incredible actions).... to protect their Christian chronology.

What is the difference between a hero and a demigod?

What is the difference between the age of heroes and the age of demigods?
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aurelius



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Wile E. Coyote wrote:

Christians and Academics are against this sort of thing, they are not at all happy with demigods


Strange when they accept the Nephilim in the O.T.!
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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Auro, I have belatedly spotted a book you probably know all about, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben (trans: Jane Billingshurst) Collins £9.99. Or free to librarians.
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aurelius



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That's helpful. I looked it up on our catalogue and currently someone else is borrowing it but I'll look out for its return. Back in the 70s there was The Secret Life of Plants (I have this) - covers laboratory experiments exploring their sensitivities. Probably why Charles Windsor talks to them.

But the 'acacia warning system' was new to me.
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aurelius



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Acacia Addendum: Third Degree

Knowledgeable types on this forum will be well familiar with the most famous elements in Masonic ritual (aprons, blindfolds & secret handshakes) but this little drama is appropriate to this thread:

Ceremony involves enacting out a drama whereby the candidate becomes 'Hiram Abiff' the (mythical) architect of King Solomon's temple. The candidate as Hiram Abiiff is attacked by three Juwes (Joo-ees) who kill him by three violent blows to the body and head (or sometimes all three blows are to the head, right and left temples and forehead). The first blow is with a 24" gauge to the throat, the second with a square to the chest and the third (death blow) with a maul to the head. The candidate then falls onto an open stretcher and is shown a black coffin shaped cloth with skull and bones, and is then buried temporarily under the temple rubbish, then moved to burial under the Acacia tree.


But like the striker feeling the merest touch from a defender very little is required to get him on his feet again:

the worshipful master, impersonating King Solomon, steps forward and applying the third degree 'lion's paw' grip succeeds in raising the candidate from death into new life in Freemasonry.

https://www.christian-restoration.com/fmasonry/third%20degree.htm
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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Our colleagues over at Vulpes Libris are reviewing a Green Man book. They seem to have twigged that he is not part of traditional folklore but otherwise fail in their usual endearing fashion.

https://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/the-land-of-the-green-man-a-journey-through-the-supernatural-landscapes-of-the-british-isles-by-carolyne-larrington/
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Boreades


In: finity and beyond
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Here be dragons.

http://grael.uk/dragons
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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Wish you would highlight some things of interest from the article.
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aurelius



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This appears to be a new site and one that I personally am enjoying exploring. The author explains the purpose of the website as

To illuminate the Grael tradition and heritage in Britain, via a comprehensive set of articles.

- Finding the earliest pre-Roman and pre-Druidic origins, right back to the Megalithic era
- Showing the connections between trade in goods and trade in ideas, especially by sea, covering thousands of miles
- Shedding light on the origins of Mystery Schools, Druids and Monasteries in Britain
- Explaining the origins and role of Gnostic Christianity in Britain
- Revealing the Roman Mithraic Christian traditions in Britain
- Showing what became of Gnostic Christianity, and how the two types of Christianity coexist to this day
- Making sense of the Arthurian legends
- Proving the links with Knights Templars and Freemasonry
- Demonstrating the links to modern Druids, Grael associates, the regrowth of self-awareness and esoteric paths
- Digging into Gnostic Gardening


Thanks Borry.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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Thanks for nothing, you mean. Where's the link to our Glastonbury lecture on your pre-Roman shipping page?
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