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"Did we like it?"
Even though we feel like as though we've feasted to the point of gluttony on the lavish historical regal dramas to the point when they will become hunted to extinction in the grand forests of TV, this was a well-acted, well-paced drama. And while a few gobbets of fleshy dialogue did get stuck in our throats, provoking convulsions of mirth, it did justify the blanket advertising which has clouded the gaps between programmes like debt consolidation ads for the financially illiterate.
"What was good about it?"
o Anne Marie Duff was marvellous as Elizabeth, the 'Virgin Queen'. It would still have been watchable even if she had been acting the role only accompanied by a dumb haunting of ghosts of the figures portrayed.
o Duff played her as a capricious human whirlwind. She could flit between spitting spite at her sister Queen Mary's spy, expressing her disgust at her confinement, faking her faith to Catholicism to ease the ire of Mary, or the exultation at Mary's death that liberated her from her imprisonment and also speeded her ascent to the throne.
o A fine supporting cast including the criminally underused Ian Hart, Kevin McKidd, Tara Fitzgerald and Dexter Fletcher.
o The sets were flawless from the footsteps pounding on the wood, which added urgency, to the grimy interiors of Elizabeth's numerous jails.
"What was bad about it?"
o Queen Mary (Joanne Whalley) was written as though she were Darth Vader. In every scene, unless screaming in agony, she was either instructing her minions to execute, torture or jail someone; indeed at one point she seethed to Lord Chamberlain Gardiner "Do not fail me again" as if was a hapless admiral in the Imperial fleet who would later be choked to death by the Dark Lord of the Sith. And what's more, during their confrontation Mary even offered Elizabeth the chance to strike her down with her own weapon, but she, like 'Young Skywalker', relented.
o The division between Protestants and Catholics was very much portrayed as a chasm between good and evil. Whereas the Catholic Mary was murderously determined to reinstall her faith amongst her subjects following the "heresy" of her father Henry VIII, through such techniques as burning at the stake, while conducing her worship in churches that looked more like Satanists' covens, Elizabeth was seen to be generous and tolerant when allowing Catholics to follow their religion freely after her coronation.
o Some of the most pointed moments of drama relied on a certain ignorance of history on the part of the viewer. When Gardiner raced to Elizabeth after the apparent birth of Mary's child, thus providing an heir and making Elizabeth disposable, as if he was to carry out her execution it was in fact to inform her that her sister had died and she was now queen.
o The stakes the Protestants were burning at seemed suspiciously smooth, it was almost as though they'd been trimmed with the latest Black & Decker tools rather than hewn from the rough trunks of the English countryside.
o The occasionally awkward juxtaposition of Ye Olde English and modern slang. The worst instance was: "'Tis was but another false alarm!"
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"MODERATE" TURKEY
by Ali Uyanik
March 6, 2013 at 5:00 am
Be the first of your friends to like this.Minorities have been classified by the political elite as dangerous for the nation. "We did not want to leave because the mob would then have gotten what it wanted: to expel minorities and dissenters. The people with whom we lived very well avoid me; some even joined the mob." - Servet Evli, Turkish Alevi, targeted with ostracism, imprisonment and death threats."A crisis began in the southeast Turkish province of Malatya last summer, 2012. In the town of Surgu, more than 50 people gathered in front of the home of a mixed family of Alevi and Sunni Muslims; they were yelling, "Death to Alevis! Death to Kurds!"
Alevis, who include ethnic Turks and Kurds, are a religious minority of about 20 million people, or a quarter of the Turkish census of 80 million both in the country and abroad, especially in Germany and the Netherlands. Alevis are heterodox believers whose ceremonies combine pre-Islamic elements with Shia Islam and spiritual Sufism.
"We are afraid," said the Alevi family's father, Servet Evli, aged 33. "We no longer feel safe after what happened in Surgu. Because of the constant harassment, my wife and children have gone to Istanbul, and I cannot leave my property."
The AKP inherited, from the secular republic, a fear of "others." These are defined as non-Turks and non-Sunni Muslims. Conspiracy theories against minorities, always dangerous, have become the motives and themes of the state. Unsurprisingly, anti-Jewish prejudice is also now widespread in Turkey.
On the domestic front, Turkey is unstable. The Kurdish problem remains unresolved. Kurdish regions in the east lag behind the western parts of the country in economic development. Unemployment in the eastern provinces is high. Many people seek a new life in the cities. Because of Turkish-Kurdish enmity, the debate over Turks and Kurds has invaded the western towns. Many innocents continue to be killed in fighting between the government and the radical Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK].
The murder of the Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007 exemplified the feverish atmosphere in Turkey. When a young man shot Dink, some media and nationalist circles immediately condemned the murdered Turkish Armenian. The argument over genocide of the Armenians at the end of the 19thand first decades of the 20th century remains taboo. A serious discussion of our history continues to be delayed.
Population expulsions still take place in Turkey. In the Alevi area of Dersim, as well as elsewhere in the southeast, new dam construction means people must leave their historic villages. In the Batman region of the Turkish southeast, the ancient city of Hasankeyf will be flooded to build a dam. Experts have criticized the Hasankeyf dam project for loss of a cultural heritage location. Yet the Turkish authorities insist it must be completed as an element of their vision of modernization.
The ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP] may present itself as reforming and "moderate" within an Islamist context. But its critics claim its policies are unfriendly to democracy. Turkey now has more than 70 journalists in prison. The numbers of minors and school pupils kept in pretrial detention waiting for a court judgment is very high. They involve more than 2,000 trials and 4,000 investigations. According to the journalist Ahmet Sik, author of the "underground" book "The Imam's Army", the Turkish police has been infiltrated by the Islamist disciples of the preacher Fethullah Gulen during the past two decades. Sik was arrested and released but faces more legal prosecution for his opinions criticizing Islamists.
Since 2002, the Islamist AKP has limited the influence of the secularist military in society. A major blow was struck by the Islamists in 2009 when, for the first time, two retired generals, Sener Eruygur and Hursit Tolon, were dragged into court and charged with trying to overthrow the government. While the AKP's opponents claim the party wants to dismantle the military and erect an Islamic state, president Abdullah Gul replies that "democratic reforms since 2002" affecting the army are a concession aimed at satisfying the European Union's conditions for Turkish membership.
In 2008 military, judicial, political, and journalistic professionals were accused in court of belonging to "Ergenekon," a purported secret terrorist conspiracy. Their ostensible aim was to create social disorder, hysteria, and fear in the population, by assassinations that would destabilize the state. The military "plotters" were accused of attempting to renew the legitimacy of the army, to repeat its past interventions in politics, and to again impose security and order. Plans in 2006 for a military revolt, entitled "Sarikiz" (Beautiful) and "Ayisigi" (Moonlight), were produced. The Ergenekon trials served to test the powers of the AKP versus the military. It was viewed as an attempt by AKP to get rid of its establishment critics.
While the secular republic pursued a policy of "Turkish Islam," the AKP aims at a 100 percent Sunni Turkish society. Its political images portray the AKP as uniting Islam and the idea of the Turkish nation in a new order. Once the secularists - and before them the Young Turks at the end of the Ottoman empire - dreamed of a homogenized Turkish identity. Although the AKP proclaimed an opening to the Alevis and promised to investigate atrocities against the Alevis in the 1930s, it does not represent Alevi interests. Instead, Erdogan insults Alevis and their prayer houses, and Alevis are excluded from state resources.
Since 1923, national and religious minorities have been classified by the political elite as dangerous for the nation. Fears of the minorities are repeatedly injected into politics. Conspiracy theorists see the minorities in Turkey as agents of foreign powers intending to bring chaos to Turkey. The increasing suppression of dissent is alarming.
The upheaval in Surgu began at the end of July 2012. Sunni Muslims were observing their fasting month, Ramadan. Conforming to tradition in various Islamic societies, a drummer went through Surgu before daybreak to wake up the believers in time for a meal prior to sunrise, when the Ramadan ritual of abstinence begins. Most Alevis do not fast at Ramadan.
The Evli family considered the drums a form of noise pollution. Being mainly Alevi (their mother is Sunni), they told the drummer it was unnecessary to disturb them at their house: as Alevis, they would not be participating in the Ramadan fast. An argument started; insults were exchanged.
The drummer circled through Surgu, recounting the controversy. As gossip made its further rounds, an irate crowd appeared at the Evli house. Rocks were thrown, windows broken, and a stable was burned down. The Evli family remained shut in the house for hours.
"Every one of us was afraid of dying on that awful evening," Servet Evli recalled. "My sister told Yol TV [a local broadcaster] about the incident. We thank them for reporting about the situation in Surgu days later."
District police and the national gendarmerie drove the thugs away from the house. The Alevi community in Turkey and in Western Europe protested against the aggression, and supported the Evli family. Turkish politicians and Alevi community representatives visited the victims. The national gendarmerie patrolled at the house for more than 40 days to assure the security of the family. But although the confrontation seems to have cooled, hatred is still being directed at the Evlis.
"We got away easily," Servet Evli declares. "We could have been lynched or our house set afire. Then all that would remain would be another location for people to leave roses and mourning displays."
Despite short-term relief, a permanent anxiety remains. "Since the incident, we feel great pressure against us in our small town," Evli continues. "People shun us, some out of fear, some out of hate. Here everybody knows everybody."
They are now outcasts. The family lives by farming, but today nobody will buy their produce. "The village mayor came to us and said it would be better for us to leave because our security could not be guaranteed," Evli said. "We could have received a payment to move to the nearest other city, but I was against it. We did not want to leave because the mob would then have gotten what it wanted: to expel minorities and dissenters."
According to Evli, "we cannot buy anything in Surgu anymore. The storekeepers have listed us as banned from their shops." The Evlis buy what they need in other towns. But the father of the family is not intimidated. He wants to send a message by staying in Surgu: that the Alevis cannot simply be chased away, even if they are an irritant to the religious Sunnis.
Evli, who travels frequently to the city of Dogansehir 16 kilometres (nine miles) away, is barred from service by local collective taxis. Evli comments, "The drivers do not let me into their vans, because they calculate that if they do, other passengers will refuse to use their cabs." The mother of the Ramadan drummer reported Evli to the public prosecutor for threatening her, supposedly, at her home. "Luckily, I could prove I was in Istanbul then, and therefore escaped repression," Evli notes. As if exclusion and isolation were not enough, Servet Evli has been accused additionally of slander. "I must fight against defamation, my statements are denounced as lies. If the worst happens, 14 years in jail await me."
There are times when Servet Evli has no idea what to do next, but he thinks of the coming winter and the means he will need for his large family to survive it. His wife's relatives, although Sunni, have helped them. "They shake their heads about the situation," Servet observes. "All I want is justice. What happened last summer has disturbed me deeply. The people with whom I lived very well avoid me; some even joined the mob."
Politicians in the area try to ameliorate the problem, Evli argues. They told the Malatya province governor, Ulvi Saran, that the case was an isolated one. Yet the "isolated case" became a widely-discussed episode in Turkey, symptomatic of the Alevi situation.
Turkey is living in a bright, new world - or so we are told. Longing for social homogeneity is considerable and has grown since the foundation of the secular republic in 1923. But with the electoral success of the Islamist, Shariah-oriented, and conservative Justice and Development Party in 2002, a political, cultural, and economic change has taken place. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as prime minister since 2003, and Abdullah Gul, confirmed as president in 2007, hold the most important political-representative positions in the country for AKP.
The decisive factor for the success of the AKP was its pragmatic Islamist political strategy. Claiming to represent rural Anatolia, the AKP defeated the secularist elite successfully. Above all, the AKP gained quick victories at the municipal level. Domestic policy and foreign affairs positions seemed to bind the AKP to a free-market outlook.
But the Turkish dream, of a better, fairer, and more peaceful society, collapsed.
In response to what was once called "the Arab Spring," Turkey failed with a wished-for "zero problem" approach, as relations with Syria, Iran, and Iraq went sour. Turkey failed to become, as Erdogan had promised, a great regional power.
Although the Turkish economy may continue growing, too many people contend with poverty. A third bridge, uniting Asia and Europe, is planned across the strait of the Bosporus in Istanbul; property values are rising on the main boulevards; gentrification proceeds; the property market has a major place in the economy - but may prove a bubble that will burst.
Poor residents are pushed out of their neighborhoods. The tenants are expelled, to facilitate the resale or rental of their flats and houses at a higher rate. The Tarlabasi neighborhood of Istanbul, which houses numerous internal and foreign migrants, is marked by forced changes in population. The urban management officials are anything but democratic in dealing with the residents of this part of the city. Sulukule, another Istanbul neighborhood, and among the oldest continuous Roma (Gypsy) settlements in the world, is expelling the Roma.
Alevis as well have not benefited from the rise of the AKP. A distinct Alevi religious identity is denied. Social stigma and discrimination continue to be suffered by the Alevis in the AKP era. Alevi "cem" [meeting houses] are not recognized as sacred sites; in school curricula, Alevi belief is a marginal topic.
The official Turkish state office for religious affairs - the Diyanet - enjoys, after the military, the second largest share of the national budget. But the Alevis do not gain from it. Under the religious agenda, the Alevis are unambiguously the biggest losers. Thanks to the AKP, every three days a new mosque is constructed in Turkey, which already has 81,000 mosques. Religion has been restored to a prominent public place. Even Taksim Square in Istanbul, considered a "secular" location, is to include a mosque.
No promises made to the Alevis are kept. Such is the bright new world brought by the AKP.
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It is sometimes said that animist worldviews are unitary, totalized, and seamless. What does this mean? At a first approximation, it means that such worldviews are distinctly and adamantly non-dualist. Animist worldviews neither recognize nor use a series of dichotomies that we tend to take for granted and which are prevalent, if not dominant, in modernist worldviews. These dichotomies include (but are not limited to):
* Nature/Supernature
* Physical/Metaphysical
* Matter/Spirit
* Material/Ethereal
In the absence of these dichotomies, the world presents - or rather is constructed as - a seamless unity in which people, animals, landscapes, plants, things, ideas, and events are connected, even if the precise nature of those connections is unknown or mysterious. This seamless unity stands in stark contrast to the series of dualisms that dominate the kinds of politico-religious formations that are generally known as "modern" or "world" religions.
It is my contention that these conceptual dualisms arose in conjunction with and as a consequence of the Neolithic transition. The process, I surmise, began with the newly built environment featuring the settlement and house. From this materiality flows ideas about inner/outer and private/public. In these seemingly innocent dualisms we find conceptual seeds that will eventually sprout into ideas about property, ownership, wealth, and distinction. From the early Neolithic through the post-Neolithic present, we find a multiplying or cascading series of dualisms on which everything will come - or be made - to rest. It is this constant sundering and splintering of things that so bewilders animists who are exposed to (or resist) Neolithicization.
As I read and understand the animist ethnographic record, this is what separates animist worldviews from the many different kinds of sociocultural and ideological formations that arise in Neolithic and post-Neolithic societies. This also explains why animist worldviews cannot be made to lie down on the procrustean bed of "religion." It further explains why I contend that "religion" slowly originates out of the Neolithic transition and is particular to post-Neolithic societies. There is no such parceled and constructed thing as "religion" in animist worldviews. The only people who find "religion" in that worldview are those who conceive religion as a something like a natural, timeless, essential, and universal category.
There is today a growing and sophisticated body of research that is sometimes called the "new animism." Considered in all its variety and as a whole, this scholarship describes a fully integrated and comprehensive way of being in, knowing about, and relating to the world. Animist worldviews make no distinction between the symbolic world of the mind and the physical world in which minds are embedded. Animist worldviews seamlessly bridge or join those worlds and thus literally and figuratively "make sense." There is no "nature" that exists separate and apart from "supernature." There is simply one reality, one world, and one cosmos. Everything within this unified cosmos - perception, thought, action, experience, and event - is connected and hence "real." Animist worldviews are, in this sense, seamless, unitary, and totalizing.
While I would like to take credit for these ideas, I have done little more than piece them together from various sources. The intellectual godfather of this conception is Irving Hallowell, whose classic work (pdf) on Ojibway ontology paved the way toward this understanding of animist worldviews. His ideas were brilliantly extended by Nurit Bird-David and her understanding of these worldviews as a "relational epistemology" and "cosmic economy of sharing." Embedded within the latter is an "ethic," which is a category and construct that modernists (and philosophers) usually treat as something separate and apart. This separateness is of course a legacy of Cartesian dualism. Bruce Charlton, for his part, extended these ideas yet further by considering animist worldviews as a "relational ontology." This ontological treatment is perhaps most brilliantly expressed in the work of Tim Ingold, whose "rhizomatic" understanding of animist worldviews is profound.
For those who want an "operational" analysis of animist ontology, Ingold's analysis is the place to start. In a
Given the radical differences between animist worldviews and modernist worldviews, it can be difficult to wrap your mind around them. The best way to do this is, in my estimation, to read long and deep in the hunter-gatherer Record. This will, of course, always result only in partial understanding because animist worldviews are lived and experienced in ways that elude capture through written records. They are deeply embedded in particular lifeways and oral traditions, in addition to being deeply embodied within ancestral or non-agricultural environments.
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By Ewyen Minh
The Rabbit is one of the most lucky Chinese signs. As with all signs, Rabbits have certain characteristics that define them. The Rabbit is an East oriented animal with a Yin (female) nature. It symbolizes luck and peace while its western zodiac equivalent is the Pisces. It's favorable gem stone is the Pearl which is the magical stone of the moon.
Rabbit people are very active during spring and especially during March which is their associated month. Throughout the day, they rule from 5am until 7am. They like blue, grey and white colors and they love to eat lots of sea food and vegetables. You can find many Rabbit people in Asia and Eastern Europe. The Rabbit is strongly Rabbit people are usually social. They try to give their best to make others have fun and enjoy their company. They love being seductive and they know they are good at it! One thing they hate is fighting or quarelling. They would do anything to avoid arguments and they have developed clever strategic methods just for that!
Let's see how the Rabbit behaves in the following fields:
Work issues: Requires improvement
Love issues: Very strong
social issues: Very strong
Spiritual issues: Very strong
Body issues: Very strong
A few positive
(1 least compatible - 10 most compatible)
With a Pig: 10
With a Sheep: 9
With a Monkey: 8
With a Rabbit: 7
With a Dog: 6
With a Snake: 6
With a Dragon: 5
With a Horse: 5
With a Rat: 5
With an Ox: 5
With a Tiger: 5
With a Rooster: 4
E.Minh is a Chinese astrologer with over 20 years of experience in Chinese astrology and the lunar calendar. For more information about the Twelve Chinese Horoscope Signs visit my free website about Chinese astrology and discover a way to communicate with your inner self and the Universe. You can also
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What we see today is only a small portion of the actual Wall.
By Rabbi Shraga Simmons
The Western Wall was built as a retaining wall to support the western side of the Temple Mount. It stretches some 200 meters - the length of the Temple Mount (to the left as you look at the Wall). Most of it is obscured behind the structures of the Muslim Quarter.
From the onset of the Middle Ages, the area in front of the Wall had been used as a garbage dump. (That is why the gate nearby the Wall is called "Dung Gate.") In the 16th century, the Sultan Suleiman discovered the location of the Wall and had the area cleaned out.
In the early 20th century, Arab homes had been built up to 15 feet from the Wall, leaving just a narrow alleyway - a space of about fifteen feet in front of the Wall - for Jews to come and pray.
Following the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, the armistice line between Israel and Jordan ran through the middle of the city, dividing Jerusalem. Jordan occupied the Old City, including the Temple Mount, the Jewish Quarter, and the Western Wall. The Jewish population of the Old City was forced out of the area, all the synagogues in the Old City were destroyed - and Jews were forbidden by Jordanian law to visit the Western Wall.
On June 7, 1967 - the third day of the Six-Day War - Israeli forces recaptured the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Western Wall. (Read two emotional accounts of Israeli paratroopers who liberated the Wall.)
During the war, most of the residents of the Magreb Quarter (the buildings in front of the Wall) had left the area when Israeli forces began to surround the Old City on the first day of the war. Those who were left were relocated by the Israeli government to a new community. The buildings were then removed, enabling construction of the large Western Wall Plaza which accommodates thousands of visitors to the Wall daily.
The Western Wall Tunnels
Beneath the Muslim Quarter, archeologists have spent the last decade digging deeper and farther to discover the true extent of the Western Wall. It has been found that the Wall is more than 200 meters long and stretches down to the bedrock of the Temple Mount. Within the past few years, it has become possible to travel through the "Western Wall Tunnels," the archeological excavation which runs underneath the Muslim Quarter along the entire length of the Temple Mount.
The entrance to these tunnels is off the left side of the Western Wall Plaza, about halfway between the Wall itself and the stairs leading up to the Jewish Quarter. These tunnels exit onto the Via Dolorossa at the north end of the Temple Mount.
The Stones
The Western Wall is constructed of limestone. The edges of the stones are etched to form a border around each one. This design is typical of Herod, the Roman-appointed king of Judea (circa first century BCE) who built the wall as a retaining wall for the Temple Mount. As you look farther up the wall, the stones get smaller. This is because the wall was originally not as tall as it is now, but was added to over the centuries. The base of the wall is actually about twenty feet below the current floor of the prayer area.
One of the stones in the Wall measures more than 40 feet long, and weighs 400 tons. This is the largest stone ever quarried by man - nothing near its size exists in Greece, in the pyramids, or in Manhattan. No crane today can even lift such a stone. How it got there is an engineering marvel. Others stones are over 100 tons. These stones can be viewed in the archeological tunnels that have been opened in the past few years.
Many people have the custom of placing small pieces of paper containing prayers between the stones of the Wall. Jewish tradition teaches that the Temple Mount is the holiest site on Earth, and that the presence of God constantly rests on this site. Jewish mystical tradition teaches that all prayers from around the world ascend to the Wall, from where they then ascend to heaven.
Flora and Fauna
There are a number of species of plants growing out of the stones in the Wall:
1. Henbane. This is the most common plant in the Wall. The Hebrew name for this plant is Shikaron, which is a form of the word for drunkenness. The name is possibly derived from the poisonous, intoxicating substance contained in the plant.
2. Podosnoma. This is the second most common plant in the Wall. It is a typical rock plant, and is able to penetrate stone with its roots in order to extract water.
3. Sicialian Snapdragon. These plants are found mostly on the higher sections of the Wall. It often takes root in cracks between the stones of a wall, and on fences.
4. Horsetail Knotgrass. The Talmud (Shabbos 14:13) mentions that an antidote for snake bite was prepared from this plant.
5. Thorny Caper. This plant produces flower buds that were used in ancient times as a spice after marination. In the summer, buds open every day to produce flowers and fruits.
6. Phagnalon. This smaller plant is found scattered throughout the Wall.
Birds, such as swallows, sparrows, and doves, as well as small lizards, have been known to nest in the cracks and between the stones of the Wall.
based on "The Western Wall," published by the Israeli Ministry of Defense
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The Western Wall Information
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As there is very few temples dedicated to Goddess Laxmi in Malaysia, this shrine stands out like a blooming pink petal lotus on murky mud. In the 1960's, a Hindu devotee by the name of Mr.Samy brought a Laxmi statue to Malaysia from the sacred Tiruvanamallai hills from Tamil Nadu, India. He chose to build a shrine for Goddess Laxmi in the outskirts of Ipoh town, as there are plenty Hindu residents in this area. In addition, the selected area was in a jasmine orchard, therefore more apt for the worship of Goddess Laxmi. In 1990, the shrine was renovated, and was completed during "Varusha Pirappu" (Tamil New Year), hence a yearly festival was held during the "Varusha Pirappu". During this period, the previous cement statue was replaced by a granite statue, to allow the pouring of ritual "Abhisekham" (liquid oblations).
This shrine is renowned for the blessings of offspring to childless couples. Many Hindu couples from around Malaysia come to this temple to seek Goddess Laxmi's blessings to have children, and are never disappointed. In addition, Goddess Laxmi always takes care of her ardent devotees, ensuring their welfare is her priority. There was an old lady who used to take of this shrine. She used to clean the shrine daily, and light the "Kuthu Vilakku" (Oil Lamp). Her spiritual chores were taken over by a full time priest, as she was getting old. Due to ill-fate, the old devotee became paralysed. Despite her disability, she visited the shrine daily, praying to Goddess Laxmi. Her spiritual endeavour was blessed by Goddess Laxmi, as the devotee soon recovered from her ailment. Another dedicated devotee used to offer lotus flowers every Friday to Goddess Laxmi at this shrine. On the way to work by motorcycle, the devotee was knocked by oncoming vehicle. Despite the motorcycle becoming a total wreck, the devotee was completely unscathed. A crowd of onlookers claimed to have witnessed a bright light hovering around the devotee during the accident. Some devotees have also had visions of Goddess Laxmi, giving spiritual advice when necessary. The vision of Goddess Laxmi, was described that she was seated on a pink lotus, had brilliant golden complexion and was wearing a luminous green sari with pink borders.
There is also an idol of Nagamman at this shrine, who is the guardian deity of this shrine. Her existence is confirmed by the presence of a very large cobra, which frequents the shrine after dusk. Devotees who come late to the shrine have witnessed the cobra slithering out of the shrine. In addition, there is a "Trisulam" in this shrine, which is supposed to have been located in this shrine since the establishment of the shrine.
Address: 142, Jalan Lahat, Ipoh, Perak. Phone: 019-5128110 (Mr.Tamil Selvan)
Origin: http://witchnest.blogspot.com
Let's take this construct we are currently experiencing together through our 5 Senses.
Most of Us would agree that Energy is "There" and Changes constantly. We see things Appear, Maintain that appearance for some amount of "Time" and then Disappear...
Now were do we send all of our energy ? well, a lot of different places if your like most of us.
However, there are a few areas that a rather large portion of humanity sends a tremendous amount of energy to... Religion/Spirituality. Worship can be viewed as a form of energetic transfer of energy from a person to a deity.
WHAT IF each of these deities is "powered by" human energies? Food.
Mind you, i'm not speaking about a Creator of ALL That IS including us but rather a group of various "entities" roaming around the cosmos setting themselves up as God.
Some say that these various deities are coming back to earth to harvest or gather up their flocks...
Oh, and there's that fake alien invasion thing lurking out there...
Interesting times no doubt.
Cheers Peace and Love ~!~
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"SHAWN O'NEAL (c) COPYRIGHT 2010-2011 REPUBLISH WITH ORIGINAL AUTHOR CREDIT.(c)UPSIDE DOWN WORLD REPORTS 2011 "WWW.ROADSIDEMYSTIC.COM"
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Mystere
As if all that isn't bad enough, when an obnoxious neighbor with a grudge is found dead in the Goddess luau pit, suspicion falls on Em and the rest of the Goddess staff. With the help of a quirky dance troupe of over-the-hill Hula Maidens, Em and the cast of characters must ban together to find the killer and solve the mystery before the next pupu party.
Important Note: This book was listed at the price mentioned above on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.
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"Part of the purpose of this blog is to raise awareness of how shamanism is practised by contemporary women and men in the everyday world and to encourage debate. In this spirit Shaman UK invites friends and colleagues with a variety of practices to contribute their thoughts and ideas on shamanism and their own work with spirit. "Author of this post, Phil Jones, comes from an ancient British spiritual tradition quite different to my own practice; his description of the making of a drum evocatively explores both craft and ritual."
One of the most important tools you will ever need as a shaman is the drum, the spirit horse to take you on the journey to the other-worlds. The crafting of your first drum is like the birth of a child, an experience that fills you with both wonder and love.
When asked to make a drum with someone or for someone the first step of that process is to ask them for what purpose they want to bring this "being" into the ordinary world. As an Animist I view my drums and rattles as living things, so it is important that I understand their intent. To make a drum is easy, to make a shamanic drum that will enable its caretaker to travel outside of ordinary reality is a skill that few people possess. When making drums for myself I travel to all three worlds at different stages of the crafting. First the Lower World to meet the Stag and the tree, to honour their sacrifice. Then the Middle World to ask my guides what designs or symbols need to be on the drum. Finally, after the skin has dried and the drum is ready to sing for the first time, I travel to the Upper World to meet the spirit of the drum and find its purpose.
I make frame drums, the hoops are of Ash or Birch, the skin is Red Deer, I prefer the person I'm teaching to make the drum themselves, and often I make one at the same time. Whenever possible the drums are crafted under the Yew tree that I work with. The Yew is the Axis Mundi of my Shamanic Druidry, the tree of rebirth and ancestral memories.The skins come from the same herd of deer, and as our drums have grown in number over time they have created a tribe, or herd. Many times, in the drum circle we run here in Kent, people have commented that they could hear the S The Birthing ProcessWe start by soaking the deer skin for three days in pure water taken from an ancient spring head on the marshes near were I live. The person making the drum is asked to bring with them plants and herbs that they feel connected to so these can be added to the water and the skin washed with them.
Next, the maker sands the hoop; with this process they get to not only put their energy into the frame but get to know its very bones. After this we make a paint of Red Ochre and water and this is smeared onto the hoop with their fingers; for me this symbolises the blood of the drum. So, now we have the blood and the bones of our drum. The skin is then removed from the water and thanks are given to the stag who's life was sacrificed, holes are punched around the skins edge and the hoop is placed on top ready for lacing up. The sinew is then measured out and threaded on to a Fox bone needle which I make from Fox ribs. We use sinew rather than raw hide strips as these become the vocal cords that allow my drums to sing. Then I ask the maker to put their hands back into the Red Ochre before they begin stringing the drum as this imitates the natural birthing process and they become the midwife at the birth of their drum. When the threading is done, then comes the tensioning; this is something I normally take over as it takes skill and intuition to make sure that skin and tension will work together.
When all this is finished we put the drum aside and start on the beater, the heart that makes the drum come alive. I only work with the indigenous trees of Britain so discuss with the drum-maker beforehand what tree they would like to make the beater from. I ask the person to find their beater stick before they make the drum so he or she can spend time with the tree of their choice. Making that effort is what it's really all about.
Once both beater and drum are completed they are blessed over a fire and a ceremony is performed to awaken and welcome the drum to this world. When the skin has dried (usually 3 to 4 days) it is time for the maker to journey with it and meet the spirit of their drum for the first time.
Phil Jones is a shamanic druid. He is also a drum and rattle maker. Phil lives and practices in England and runs guided shamanic walks and drum-making workshops in and around Faversham, Kent.
For further information see the Shamanic/Druidry website. E-mail ancientwalks@hotmail.com.All photos taken by Phil Jones
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B"H
The definition of an illegal order in this government is, unfortunately, anything that goes against the political aspirations of left-wing politicians and their arab puppeteers.
It has little to do with morality and ethics, just as the current government has little to do with morality or ethics.
M
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The rabbi argues that the whole debate over whether or not to refuse orders is superfluous, as the classification of an immoral order is taught to every IDF soldier in basic training, as the IDF's conscious effort to differentiate itself from the functionaries of the Nazi army who had said they were "just following orders."
The example given in basic training is that of the Kafr Kassem affair, in which soldiers opened fire on Israeli Arab farmers who were violating a curfew, but were doing so because they had not been around to hear its declaration. The soldiers were held accountable in court despite their have been following orders. The principle offered, however, is purposely vague, instructing soldiers that an illegal order is one "which a black flag waves over it."
According to Rabbi Levanon, a frank discussion must be had about whether only the killing of civilians falls under the rubric of an illegal order or whether aiding the enemy, negating the Zionist project or violating clear Torah principles constitute such as well.
Left-wing authors and politicians have often stated that if an order is given to expel Arabs from their homes, they would not only refuse but use violence to oppose it. Famed author Amos Oz once declared "we will lay down on the roads, block the crossings, and blow up the bridges to stop the transfer of Arabs."
In 2004, 185 prominent lawmakers, IDF officers and public figures signed a declaration calling for refusal to take part in withdrawals from parts of the Land of Israel. Signers included Meir Har Zion of the famed IDF unit 101, former Prime Minister's Office director-general Yossi Ben Aharon, writer Naomi Frenkel, Ezra Cohen and the father, brother and uncle of Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu.
Rabbi Levanon believes the red line was crossed in Gush Katif, at Amona and in Hevron. "The expulsion of Jewish families from Hevron on Tuesday was clearly beyond the boundaries set by the Torah as well as by human logic," he said.
The rabbi says a public discussion is necessary because the justice system cannot be trusted to dictate such values as it has demonstrated systematic preference and bias in the past. "The court has become the greatest cause of civil strife in the state. It's impossible for hundreds of thousands of people to have their mouths shut by a court order."
With regard to the actual act of refusal, Rabbi Levanon says that Monday's refusal of elite IDF soldiers of the Duchifat Brigade to take part in the Hevron eviction was not necessarily even connected to the legality or morality of an order. "One of the commanders who was tried [for refusing to take part in the Hevron eviction] was [himself] expelled from Gush Katif," he said. "Is it practical to request from someone who is today [two years later still] living in a caravan in Nitzan, whose family was kicked out of their home, to expel others from their homes? Everyone agrees that if he requests, he should be accommodated. The fact that he had an unwise commander should be looked into."
Rabbi Levanon warned against trying to "strangle" an ideology. "Such a move," he warned, "will only result in finding that ideology in the prime minister's office instead."
Claim That "Rabbis Ordered Them to Refuse" False
Some of the soldiers of the Duchifat Brigade who refused to take part in the Hevron eviction were students in the Otniel Yeshiva, whose Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Re'em HaCohen is a vocal critic of refusal. HaCohen, whose brother Gershon HaCohen commanded the implementation of the Disengagement, told Yediot Acharonot Monday night that despite press reports, the rabbis who the soldiers consulted with actually tried to convince them not to refuse orders. "But we are talking about soldiers being sent to evacuate people they grew up with."
Three of the commanders who refused orders attended HaCohen's yeshiva in Otniel. One was from Neve Dekalim, one from Kiryat Arba and one from Ofakim, in the Negev.
Many of those who refused orders during the Disengagement, most notably Avi Bieber, cited their conscience rather than any religious ruling.
Yesha Rabbis Praise Soldiers
The Yesha Rabbis' Council of Judea and Samaria issued a statement of support for Hevron's residents and the IDF soldiers who refused to take part in their eviction.
"We support and strengthen the pioneers of Hevron who are waging a just and moral struggle against a corrupt and amoral government," the statement reads. "We bless the Israeli soldiers that obeyed the command of their Jewish hearts and did not take part in the expulsion."
The rabbis said that both the residents and the soldiers would in the end be victorious. "With self-sacrifice and faith they will overcome the weakness and defeatism of the government of Israel."
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Invocation of Lord and Lady
The following is the text of a ritual titled Invocation of the Lord and Lady which was presented by the Fellowship of the Sacred Grove at a local gathering in November of 1993. Prayers and invocations are not included in the text as these are delivered spontaneously by the Priest and Priestess.
PART ONE: THE PREPARATIONS
[Priest, Priestess, Bard and Quarters begin standing in circle just outside the circle that will be consecrated for the ritual. Other participants begin outside of circle and will later enter through South gate. Customarily, East and North are male, South and West female.]
1. The Warning
[The Bard moves to center of circle and addresses all.]
"We gather tonight to open the veil between the worlds.
This is not safe - To pass beyond that threshold we must leave behind the protections of the mundane world. We must remove the veils which disguise us and lay aside the jewels which dazzle our eyes. We must take the risk of Seeing, and of being Seen.
For our protection we rely upon the Lord and the Lady, whose Children we are.
Any who are not ready to approach Them in reverence, love and trust should leave now.
[Pause]
Those of you who have chosen to walk this path, prepare yourselves to meet God and Goddess.
[Bard remains in center.]
2.Claiming the Circle
[East takes one step forward into the circle and speaks, facing inward.]
"In the name of the Lady of Light, and in my own name,
I claim this circle as a place of Men.
Let all who enter be bound to speak, and hear, the Truth.
So mote it be."
[West takes one step forward into the circle and speaks, facing inward.]
"In the name of the Sacred King, and in my own name,
I claim this circle as a place of Women.
Let all who enter be bound to Perfect Love and Trust.
So mote it be."
[South takes one step forward into the circle and speaks, facing inward.]
"In the name of the Lord of the Greenwood, and in my own name,
I claim this circle as a place of Nature
Let all who enter be bound to the sacred web of life.
So mote it be."
[North takes one step forward into the circle and speaks, facing inward.]
"In the name of the Queen of Heaven, and in my own name,
I claim this circle as Sacred Space.
Let all who enter be opened to the presence of God and Goddess.
So mote it be."
3. Marking the Circle
[All sing Listen to the Lord and Lady while Priest and Priest mark circle. When finished Priest and Priestess stand before alter in North, facing South.]
4. The Challenges
[East and West move to South gate and form Arch with athames. North crosses to South gate. Participants enter through South gate one at a time and are challenged at knife point by North and South, then shown to places by Bard.]
Who seeks to join this fellowship?
Will you support and defend your companions on this quest?
Do you swear to use that which you learn in this circle only in service of the light?
Are you ready to meet the Mother and Father of All life?
Then enter and be welcome.
[Comment: This took several minutes, but the effect of the delay was positive rather than negative. The lengthy challenge process acted to center and focus the entire circle.]
5.Sealing the Circle
[Bard speaks from center.]
We have stepped beyond time, to a place not of earth. In the presence of the Lord and Lady, we join together and are one.
[Bard crosses to take place in circle, then takes hand of next person deosil and says We are one. Each participant takes the hand of the next repeating We are one until the whole circle is joined. When the circle is complete, the Bard announces again We are one!]
PART TWO: THE MYSTERY
1. Pathworking
[Priest moves to center and leads all in pathworking. After preliminary relaxation and centering, the working takes the participant first to four symbols - a living tree, a sword, a cup, and a standing stone - each of which holds a message for the visitor. Then the participants journey to an ancient clearing around a weathered stone alter where, in times long past, their ancestors honored the Lord and Lady. In that holy place, the participants call the Guardians of the Quarters, then prepare to invoke the Lord and Lady.]
[Comment: The actual invocation of the Lord and Lady follows without transition, inviting the participants to continue to experience it in the ancient clearing.]
2. Calling the Lord and Lady
[Priestess joins Priest in center. Priestess invokes the Lord. Other celebrants invoke Lord and/or Lady as they feel inspired. Priest closes invocations by invoking the Lady. All invocations end with Come join with us. which is repeated by all.]
3. Chant:
Priestess begins chant alone, all join in after first time through. Participants should stand, clap and dance as they feel moved.]
Isis, Osiris, Woden and Freya; Lord and Lady, Brigid and Lugh
[Chant builds in power to be cut off at peak by Bard striking staff on the ground.]
4. Readings
[During chant East and West have stepped outside circle and deliver readings from opposite sides of circle. Bard is at center. Bard speaks.]
Hear now the words of the Great Mother who is called Isis, and Freya, and Brigid, and many other names.
[West speaks.]
Think not that I am far from you, for you can see my visage in the moon, and hear my voice upon the wind.
I am the silence of the sea, and the secret of the standing stones.
I am the beauty of the green earth, and the mystery of the stars.
I am the Mother of all things, and the soul of nature, who gives life to the universe.
I am the source of your beginning, and I am the fulfillment of your desire.
[Bard speaks.]
Hear the words of the All Father who is called Osiris, and Woden, and Lugh, and other names beyond counting.
[East speaks.]
You know me not, but I am with you. My face is the sun, and my voice the thunder.
I am the strength of the forest, and the keenness of the sword.
I am the rune giver; the patient teacher; the revealer of secrets.
I am the warrior, the defender of the weak and the companion of heroes.
I am the Horned One. I am the gateway to the Mysteries, and I am Mystery itself.
[West speaks.]
Arise and come unto us, for mine in the womb that bore thee and the breast that nursed thee. Your joy is our joy, and your sorrow, our sorrow.
We would teach you the ways of healing, and the joys of love, for our law is love unto all beings. We give the knowledge of the eternal spirit, and beyond death we give peace and reunion with those who have gone before. We would lead you to love and to freedom. Call on us, and we will show you the hidden paths.
[East speaks.]
Follow my white stag into the deep forest. There is mystery in the wild places, and a path that leads between the worlds.
The path is not easy, for it leads to that which cannot be given by another.
Those who would share our freedom must create it anew within their own hearts.
But no one who walks that path walks alone. Fear not to call on us, for we have not forgotten our Children.
5. Great Rite
[Priest and Priestess take positions in center of circle, Priest kneeling with chalice, Priestess standing with athame. Priest makes spontaneous prayer to Lord and Lady. Priestess prays and/or responds on behalf of Lord and Lady, customarily ending with So mote it be as she lowers the athame.
[Comment: a common theme here is to invite the Lord and Lady to join with us as they join with each other, but sensitivity to the inspiration of the moment is the prime concern.]
6. Blessing
[All sing We all come from the Goddess as Priest and Priestess circle group, touching and offering a blessing to each in turn. When all have received a blessing, Priest and Priestess return to circle and all join hands. Priest and Priestess signal end to song by returning to center.]
PART THREE CLOSING
1. Thanking the Lord and Lady
[Priest thanks Lady, Priestess thanks Lord.]
2. Return to Mundane Consciousness
[Priestess return to circle. Priest resumes pathworking in ancient clearing, thanks quarters and draws participants back into normal consciousness. Priest returns to circle.]
3. Opening the Circle
[Bard moves to center and addresses all.]
The rite is ended, the circle is open, may the blessing of the Lord and Lady be with you all. So mote it be. (All respond.)
END
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One of the biggest mysteries in the world of cryptozoology is a creature half-man half-fish called the Mermaid or a mermaid. Because of a strange character, creature is then more often associated with the mystical rather than science.
Mermaid is a term given to water creature that has a body from the waist up like a woman while the waist down like a fish. Although we have only ever heard of this creature from a collection of fairy tales, the existence of these creatures can be traced in the literature up to 2,000 years ago.
The word comes from the word Mere Mermaid meaning Sea (in Old English) and the word Maid, which means women. So, a creature called the Mermaid is a creature half-man half-fish are female, while the male is called Merman.In fairy tales, these creatures are called like sitting on a rock near the beach, singing, holding a mirror while admiring her own beauty. Singing contain so-called mystical power so that people who hear it will be charmed to death by drowning.In Cornwall, England, there is a stone called the stone as a Mermaid Mermaid is called once sat on the rock and sing to cause a local fisherman named Matthew Trawella died because of it.Mermaid in the culture of the nationsThe first story about these creatures could be traced to the year 1000 BC in Assyrian mythology. Goddess Atargatis, the mother of Queen Semiramis, called falling in love with a shepherd of the mortal man. One day, accidentally, the goddess killing the shepherd.Because sadly, Atargatis attempted suicide by plunging into the lake to take a way a fish. However, he refused to hide the beauty of the lake owned by the goddess. So he just turned it into the fish from the waist down.
The story of the Assyrian may be the basis of the emergence of a legend about the mermaid in the whole world.In his book Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, published in 1884, folklore expert named S. Baring Gould believes that the story of a mermaid and Merman originated from the story of a half fish god or goddess in ancient religions.God of the Chaldean Oannes and the Philistine god Dagon has such a way as Mermaid. God Coxcox and Teocipactli from Baja also has a half-fish form. American Indian legend says even if they were brought out of Asia by man of fish. Of these, perhaps the most famous is the god Triton and Siren Goddess in ancient Greek legend who also has a body half fish.In addition to Europe and the Middle East, the story of this creature can also be found in the mythology in various countries in Africa and Asia.In Africa, a similar creature called Mami Wata Mermaid is believed to cure the sick and bring good luck to those who followed him.
DUGONG AND MANATEE
Most researchers do consider the existence of creatures such as the Mermaid as a hoax. Others consider it a wrong identification. The main suspect is the animal that comes into the class Sirenian, herbivorous aquatic creature that dwells in rivers and seas.Two creatures that belong to the Sirenian include Dugong and Manatee. These creatures have a remarkable adaptation in the sea. Although it looks fat, but in some poses, these creatures can be mistaken as a Mermaid. For example, when they are nursing a baby, they would carry him in the chest so it can be mistaken for a woman's chest by witnesses who watched from a distance.
Dugong
Manatee
Although it seems many who agree with Manatee or Dugong identity as a mermaid, but, when we examine the historical record, we can find a variety of testimony that seemed to confirm the encounter with a creature who really like mermaid or Merman (not Dugong or Manatee).
MERMAID SIGHTINGS IN HISTORY
In the year 558 AD, mentioned that a mermaid was caught by a fisherman in Ireland. Mermaid was then taken to the village and was baptized by the residents. Not long later, the creature dies.Then, a monk named Ralph Coggeshall never tell if a Merman once caught by the fishermen in Suffolk in 1187. The creature was not able to speak and immediately taken to the village to be examined. Even after being tortured, the creature was still not showing signs that he could speak. Merman was later imprisoned for some time in the castle of Orford. But when the villagers wanted to bathe in the sea, he managed to escape.Still in the 12th century, Speculum Regale of Iceland noted the discovery of a mermaid near Greenland.
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1) Get into your magickal mindset.
2) Be aware of the energy around you, your aura, and the flow of energy up and down the spine.
3) Focus your attention on the base of the spine, the root chakra. Be aware of this bright red disc. Feel the chakra start to spin open and activate as you inhale. Feel it spin open, cleansing any blocks you have to the physical world and to your sense of community. Release any anger you have for anyone or anything in the world. The chakra spins open like a red water lily or lotus flower revealing a fiery ruby within it, clear and energized.
4) With the next inhale, focus your attention on your naval area, at the belly or sacral chakra. Be aware of this flowing orange wheel of light. Feel the chakra start to spin open and activate. Feel it spin open and cleanse any blacks you have to your instincts and your relationships. Release any sense of betrayal. The chakra spins open like an orange lotus flower revealing an orange carnelian stone within it, clear and energized.
5) With the next inhale, focus your attention below the diaphragm muscle, at the solar-plexus chakra. Be aware of this shining yellow disc. Feel any blocks you have to your personal power and will. Release any fear you have. The chakra spins open like a yellow lotus flower revealing a yellow citrine stone within, clear and energized.
6) With the next inhale, focus your attention on the sternum bone, at the heart chakra. Be aware of this pulsing green wheel. Feel the chakra start to spin open and activate. Feel it spin open and cleanse any blocks you have to unconditional love, perfect love, and perfect trust. Release any grudges and forgive. The chakra spins open like a green lotus flower revealing an emerald within it, clear and energized.
7) With the next inhale, focus your attention on the thorax, at the throat chakra. Be aware of this spinning blue light. Feel the chakra start to spin open and activate. Feel it spin open and cleanse any blocks you have to communication, including psychic communications. Release any judgements you hold. The chakra spins open like a blue lotus flower revealing a blue sapphire within it, clear and energized.
8) With the next inhale, focus your attention on the brow, at the third eye chakra. Be aware of this deep-indigo point of light. Feel the chakra start to spin open and activate. Feel it spin open and cleanse any blocks you have to your psychic and magickal gifts. Release any blindness you have to the truth. The chakra spins open like a purple lotus flower revealing an amethyst within it, clear and energized.
9) With the next inhale, focus your attention on the top of the head, at the crown chakra. Be aware of this dazzling light, violet or white in colour. Feel the chakra start to spin open and activate. Feel it open and clease any blocks you have to your connection to the divine, the Goddess and God. Come into your joy. The chakra spins open like a white lotus flower revealing a dazzling diamond within it, clear and energized.
10) With all seven chakras open and cleared, visualize your symbol of balance above the crown. Intend that it balance the energies of the crown chakra. Hold it there. Let it descend to the third eye with the same intention. Bring it down to the throat. Then bring it to the heart, solar plexus, belly, and root. When you are done balancing all the chakras, let the symbol descend from the base of your spine, down into the Earth, creating your grounding cord, a beam of light grounding you to the center of the planet.
11) Ask Mother Earth to send you this energy, and feel it ascend through this grounding "straw" or taproot to the root chakra as you inhale. Feel it energize the root, and with each breath, feel it move up through the belly, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and crown, rising out of the crown and connecting you to the sky.
12) Ask the Sky Father to send his energy down, and feel it descend down through the crown like water, flowing down through the seven chakras and into the earth. Pause a moment at each of these points to feel the energy flow through. Feel the balance in each chakra and in your entire body.
13) When done, slow down the energy flow with your intent, and then stop it, allowing the remaining earth energy to flow upward and out, and the remaining sky energy to flow down and out into the Earth, helping ground you.
14) Return yourself to normal consciousness, counting up and giving yourself clearance and balance. Do any necessary grounding.
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The first Big Break of the year. Where I get to interrogate a debut author about their new book. This week I have had the pleasure of featuring Sarah Alderson, author of Hunting Lila and Fated. Sarah is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors and I was so happy she agreed to be questioned by me.
"Firstly, can I thank you for joining me today on my blog."Thank you so much for having me! I love your blog.
"What did you do for a living before writing became your chosen career?"
I spent a year after finishing university temping in the private sector in posh banks and got very quickly put off by the whole environment. I'm a hippy at heart and pretty rebellious when it comes to following orders. I got fired from a job at Accenture! At that point I thought I needed a change of sector so I entered the charity world.
I ended up working for about eight years at a charity in London, working my way up until I was Head of Projects. Which basically means I was very bossy, made up a lot of nonsense in order to get funding and had a lot of meetings with patronising men twice my age. It was great fun most of the time; I had a brilliant team and together we created a lot of very cool volunteering projects that helped thousands of people - refugees, elderly people, people suffering from mental health issues and kids who weren't in education or employment. It was an amazing thing to feel like I was making a real difference to people's lives rather than just making rich people richer.
"You and your family now live in heavenly Bali. Tell us about your journey to find the dream place to write?"
My husband and I decided that we wanted to live somewhere else - we'd had enough of commuting and juggling childcare in London - so we packed up our bags and took our then 3 year old daughter around the world for 9 months to look for somewhere else to live.
It was epic - the most amazing time. We started in India - Alula (our daughter) wore her pink tutu and went to school on the beach in Goa whilst we both worked on our laptops at beach bars! I was writing the sequel to Hunting Lila at the time.
After a few months in India we travelled through Singapore and on to Bali, which we totally fell in love with - it's such a magical place, with all the beauty and vibrancy of India only with better toilets. We spent another three months there checking it out, after which we carried on to Australia and then finally to the US. I have so many incredible memories of that trip. We returned to the UK for just a month to stock up on Marmite before we moved to Bali for good.
I blogged the whole trip, from the lows (Indian night trains on a cramped bunk with a three year old and a cockroach for company) through to the highs of finding home (canoeing with dolphins, daily massages, confronting a bear in Yosemite)...and I still write the blog, detailing our crazy but incredible lives www.canwelivehere.com
I can write anywhere, so long as I have my laptop and my music, but Bali is the perfect place to write. It's the most peaceful place in the world (once you learn to tune out the geckos, the frogs, the cockerels and the dogs) - I'm so relaxed there and without too much to do or worry about it's easier to focus on writing.
"How long did it take you to write your debut novel 'Hunting Lila'?"
It took about four and a half months. But it was ridiculously long. I had no idea how many words YA novels were supposed to be so I just wrote it. And then I spent a few weeks editing it (kind of). And then I sent it off to agents. Now I look back I wonder how on earth I got to where I am - but there's something to be said for na"ivete.
"Where did you get the idea for Hunting Lila?"
I was tired of reading about girls swooning after boys with supernatural powers and waiting to be rescued. I wanted to write about a girl with a super power who didn't need rescuing. And then I thought wouldn't it be cool if she was part of a conspiracy and what if her mother had died because of it and what if she'd been in love with this boy for as long as she could remember and I kept saying 'what if' and it just flowed from there.
"Was this your first finished manuscript, or are there others hidden away?"
No, Hunting Lila was my first ever attempt at writing a book. Haha - don't tell me that's obvious!
"How many times did you have to edit your book before the agent was happy to send it off to publishers?"
My agent told me I needed to cut out 40,000 words from the first half (I told you it was long!). Losing that number of words is easier said than done. It took me about a month. Originally Lila, Alex,
Sara and Jack go for a weekend jaunt to Catalina Island and there were a few Alex and Lila scenes on the beach, which did nothing to further the plot, only to further my fantasies of Alex with his top off. So I had to lose them (sigh).
Once I'd cut the words we did a quick line by line and it was ready. I got my agent in early March 2010. I think we sent out the book for submission at the start of June and I signed my contract with Simon ">What was your first reaction when you found out that your book was to be published?"
We were having a party at our house in Bali. It was a Friday night. I had spent the previous three weeks on tenterhooks as publishers came back to my agent with rejections and some interest. I knew that the editor at Simon ">How long has it taken for your book to reach publication after the initial agreement?"
I signed in July 2010 and Lila was published in August 2011. Fated was accepted in November 2010 and is being published in January 2012. It's a long wait - but I know that's actually quite short in comparison to some authors who wait years.
"What was happening to your manuscript during this time?"
For six months nothing much! Which is why I wrote Fated. Whilst I was waiting for Fated and Hunting Lila to be published I wrote two and a half more After the manuscript is sent back and forth between me and my editor it's sent to a copywriter who checks it for continuity and grammar errors and then they print the unproofed copies for review. I have to wait two weeks for those to arrive in the post to Bali. At first I couldn't bring myself to read the uncorrected proof for Hunting Lila. But then I did and was so glad, as I picked up a dozen or so errors. It's much easier to proof it as a book than on screen. The final changes are made at this point, signed off, and then it's sent to print with lots of prayers. It's usually at that point I remember I've forgotten to mention someone in the acknowledgements and / or discover a glaring continuity error half way through.
"How did you keep yourself occupied as you waited for publication day?"
With Hunting Lila I kept busy by writing three and a half more
Well Evie, the main character is seventeen like Lila, and like Hunting Lila this book has got a lot of action in it and the bonus of a very, very hot guy. It's also a thriller with plenty of page turning conspiracy moments. But whilst Hunting Lila was told through Lila's eyes, Fated is told from two perspectives - both Evie's and Lucas's (the half Shadow Warrior, half human sent to spy on her and then ordered to kill her). There's a cast of really cool secondary characters too - not all of whom are human.
Fated is a bit darker than Hunting Lila. It's about the concept of fate versus freewill - do we have choice in our lives or not? It's very difficult sometimes I think as a teenager, if you're being told certain things about who you are and what's expected of you, to break free and do what you want to do - be who you want to be - hell, it's hard even as an adult to shake off the weight of expectation. It takes real bravery to stand up and say 'No, I'm not going to be this person that society expects me to be. I'm going to think for myself and choose my own path.'
I wanted to explore that as an idea. I really do believe in fate too - that the people who come into your life come into it for a reason, as with Lucas and Evie. Actually, now I think about it, both I started writing Fated when I was in California, on the last stretch of our round the world trip. We were staying with friends and they have the most incredible house just north of LA. I was desperate to start writing as the idea for Fated had been in my head for a while bursting to get out, and then John took Alula to the beach for the day to give me some space. I sat at the table with my laptop and opened a new document. I can still remember writing the first line.
'Her name is Evie Tremain. She's seventeen years' old. She lives in Riverview, California. Now go and kill her.'
I finished Fated about two months later back in Bali.
"What other projects are you working on at the moment?"
I've just finished two sequels to Fated, which I wrote in very quick succession (the last one only took me 30 days). I loved the characters so much, and wanted to write about what happened to them next, even though I didn't have a book deal.
For the last couple of weeks I have been crazy busy promoting both
It's going to be sold as an e-book and all profits will be going to my friend's charity Girltank which supports young women around the world who are making social change happen. For me probably the most exciting part of getting a profile as a writer is being able to use it to promote the causes I feel strongly about, and empowering women is probably the most important one for me.
"Tell us what a typical writing day would be like?"
When I'm in Bali I wake up really early - around 6ish - and steal out onto the balcony to check my emails and start writing. I try to pack in as much as I can before my daughter wakes up but once
she does I'm on mummy duty until she goes to school. Around 8.30 I'm back at my desk and will work solidly for several hours. If I'm having a plotting day I'll always go for a swim - that's where I do most of my plotting and thinking. Ok, and sunbathing.
I'm a total social media addict so I'll stop every fifteen minutes or so to check email and Facebook and Twitter. I stop working most days at 2pm so I can pick my daughter up from her school in the middle of the rice paddies.
Normally if I'm in the throes of a book I can't think about anything else, so once Alula is in bed I'm back in front of my computer - though I'm a morning person, usually I'm brain dead and only ready for a G">What advice would you give to aspiring and unpublished authors?"
Keep writing and keep believing!
I keep hearing people scoffing at the idea of writers getting their first manuscript accepted. I got my first and my second! It is possible and I hope people draw inspiration from me rather than listening to the negative comments out there.
I would also say start building a following and a platform now because publishers don't have huge marketing budgets anymore - and they can only take on a few new authors. Simon ">
"Thank you Sarah for giving us fantastic answers. I am a little envious of your writing life. "
Both Hunting Lila and Fated are available to
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