"I sent the following letter to Sean Hannity recently in response to his misrepresentation of what I said on his show regarding the Mumbai terrorist attacks. I have not received any response back from him. Today I read it aloud on my Sirius-XM radio program and am now making it public here as well."
Read Deepak's letter
Sunday 7 December 2008
Monday 1 December 2008
1 December 2008 - World Aids Day
More people than ever before are living with HIV in the UK and new infections continue. HIV is a serious long-term condition and people living with HIV often face discrimination. Whatever your HIV status, there is a role you can play in ending HIV prejudice and stopping the spread of HIV.
The UK theme for World AIDS Day 2008, "Respect & Protect", is inspired by the UNAIDS and World AIDS Campaign ongoing international theme, 'Leadership'. The international theme is developed as an overall theme which each country is encouraged to adapt to suit more specific issues around the epidemic in their region.
For more information go to World Aids Day
Sunday 30 November 2008
Advent - Sunday 30 November 2008
The Christian church year begins with Advent (from the Latin adventus meaning "coming" or "arrival") which is also a time when Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Advent begins on the Sunday nearest November 30 (St. Andrew's Day) and lasts until Christmas Eve. The progression of Advent may be marked with an Advent calendar reckoning Advent to start on 1 December, a practice introduced by German Lutherans.
More information can be found at Wikipedia
St Andrew's Day
Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, Greece and Russia and was Christ's first disciple.
In Greek Andrew means 'manly'. St. Andrew's biographical details are simple: he was born between AD 5 and AD 10 in Bethsaida, the principal fishing port of Palestine. His parents were Jona and Joanna; his brother was Simon. Jona, along with his business-partner and friend Zebedee and his sons James and John, was a fisherman.
Andrew had a strong sense of curiosity. He would have gone to the synagogue school at the age of five to study scripture and then astronomy and arithmetic.
Continues at BBC online
Saturday 29 November 2008
What's it like living next door to a neighbourhood witch?
Mail OnlineYou'd think milkmen would be used to pre-dawn doorstep encounters with all manner of 'unconventional' folk, wouldn't you? Well, not in leafy Dorchester.
Grandmother Suky Burton roars with laughter as she remembers the day she and the man who delivers the pints locked eyes in a moonlit driveway.
'It was the early hours and I'd been to a ceremony at Stonehenge. Normally, I'd change out of my robes before coming home, but it was cold, so I didn't bother.
The milkman took one terrified look at me and scuttled off to his milk float as fast as his legs could carry him. I've never seen one of those vehicles move so quickly. He'd obviously never seen a witch before.'
Full Article
Friday 28 November 2008
10 things fungi have done for us
BBC NewsMycologists are a rare breed, and scientists worry the UK will miss out lucrative fungi-based discoveries. Like what?
Mushroom risotto. And umbrellas for fairies. Obviously fry-ups, which go without saying. But apart from these, what have fungi ever given us?
All manner of discoveries, says Peter Roberts, of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, such as:
Full Article
William Blake - Happy Birthday
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker.
On Another's Sorrow
Can I see anothers woe,
And not be in sorrow too.
Can I see anothers grief,
And not seek for kind relief.
Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrows share,
Can a father see his child,
Weep, nor be with sorrow fill'd.
Can a mother sit and hear
An infant groan an infant fear --
No no never can it be.
Never never can it be.
And can he who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrows small,
Hear the small birds grief & care,
Hear the woes that infants bear --
And not sit beside the nest
Pouring pity in their breast.
And not sit the cradle near
Weeping tear on infants tear.
And not sit both night & day,
Wiping all our tears away.
O! no never can it be.
Never never can it be.
He doth give his joy to all.
He becomes an infant small.
He becomes a man of woe
He doth feel the sorrow too.
Think not, thou canst sigh a sigh,
And thy maker is not by.
Think not, thou canst weep a tear,
And thy maker is not near.
O! he gives to us his joy,
That our grief he may destroy
Till our grief is fled & gone
He doth sit by us and moan
~ by William Blake
Thursday 27 November 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
'Buddha's skull' found in Nanjing
The TelegraphChinese archaeologists have claimed that a 1,000-year-old miniature pagoda, unearthed in Nanjing, holds a piece of skull belonging to Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.
The pagoda was wedged tightly inside an iron case that was discovered at the site of a former temple in the city in August.
The four-storey pagoda, which is almost four feet high and one-and-a-half feet wide, is thought by archaeologists to be one of the 84,000 pagodas commissioned by Ashoka the Great in the second century BC to house the remains of the Buddha.
Ashoka, one of India's greatest emperors, converted to Buddhism after waging a bloody war in the eastern state of Orissa. He is widely credited with spreading Buddhism throughout Asia, and across his kingdom, which stretched from Pakistan through Afghanistan and into Iran.
The pagoda found in Nanjing is crafted from wood, gilded with silver and inlaid with gold, coloured glass and amber. It matches a description of another of Ashoka's pagodas which used to be housed underneath the Changgan Buddhist temple in Nanjing.
A description of the contents of the pagoda was also found: a gold coffin bearing part of Buddha's skull inside a silver box. Although scans have confirmed that there are two small metal boxes inside the pagoda, experts have not yet peered inside. The pagoda is currently on display in the museum.
Qi Haining, the head of archaeology at Nanjing Museum, told state media: "This pagoda may be unique, the only one known to contain parts of Buddha's skull".
Full Article
Tuesday 25 November 2008
St Catherine's Day
Catherine of Alexandria by Raphael, c. 1507Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine is a Christian saint and martyr who is claimed to have been a noted scholar in the early 4th century. She is believed to have been born in Alexandria of a noble family and converted to Christianity through a vision.
In the beginning of the fifteenth century, St. Catherine's was one of the voices heard by St. Joan of Arc.
Considered to be the Patron Saint of:
apologists; craftsmen who work with a wheel (potters, spinners, etc.); archivists; attornies; barristers; dying people; educators; girls; jurists; knife grinders; knife sharpeners; lawyers; librarians; libraries; maidens; mechanics; millers; nurses; old maids; philosophers; potters; preachers; scholars; schoolchildren; scribes; secretaries; spinners; spinsters; stenographers; students; tanners; teachers; theologians; turners; University of Paris; unmarried girls; wheelwrights
UK: TV reporter Julie MacDonald's chilling encounters for new psychic show
Daily Record
JULIE MacDONALD is a serious news woman. As a reporter and presenter for news channel Al Jazeera, the Scottish journalist has spent several years reporting in the Middle East and has covered hard-hitting and dangerous stories all over the turbulent region.
But even her well-earned nerves of steel melted when she spent some time in the company of her most dangerous interview subject ever - a serial killer who has been dead for almost 30 years
The Glasgow-born presenter is the star of a new paranormal investigation series about the worst murderers in history, and spent six months travelling around America with a psychic trying to contact the spirits of the killers and their victims.
Julie expected nothing but hocus pocus from her seance sessions, but says she was left in tears, out of breath and feeling physically sick by her encounters.
She has teamed up with US psychic Bobby Marchesso for the series which features serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Aileen Wuornos and Jeffrey Dahmer.
Full Article
Conversations With a Serial Killer is on Living TV, Tuesdays at 10pm.
JULIE MacDONALD is a serious news woman. As a reporter and presenter for news channel Al Jazeera, the Scottish journalist has spent several years reporting in the Middle East and has covered hard-hitting and dangerous stories all over the turbulent region.
But even her well-earned nerves of steel melted when she spent some time in the company of her most dangerous interview subject ever - a serial killer who has been dead for almost 30 years
The Glasgow-born presenter is the star of a new paranormal investigation series about the worst murderers in history, and spent six months travelling around America with a psychic trying to contact the spirits of the killers and their victims.
Julie expected nothing but hocus pocus from her seance sessions, but says she was left in tears, out of breath and feeling physically sick by her encounters.
She has teamed up with US psychic Bobby Marchesso for the series which features serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Aileen Wuornos and Jeffrey Dahmer.
Full Article
Conversations With a Serial Killer is on Living TV, Tuesdays at 10pm.
Pagan couple make their new house a home by installing stone circle in garden
Mail online
When John and Suzy Burton decided to move to a smaller house, they informed the removal men that they would like to take a few precious stones with them.
To be more precise, 13 huge rocks from the garden.
Mr Burton, a druid, and his wife, a witch, were the proud owners of a stone circle which, they say, gives them positive energy.
So when the pagan couple left their historic £1million mansion, Abbotts Court in Weymouth, Dorset, a dozen men with a crane and a fleet of trucks took the rocks to their new home in Dorchester, ten miles away.
Neighbours watched in amazement as the stones, each weighing between half and three-quarters of a ton, were placed in the garden.
The couple - both antique dealers - had them aligned at special points around the extensive grounds of the £600,000, six-bedroom property to encircle themselves with energy.
Full Article
When John and Suzy Burton decided to move to a smaller house, they informed the removal men that they would like to take a few precious stones with them.
To be more precise, 13 huge rocks from the garden.
Mr Burton, a druid, and his wife, a witch, were the proud owners of a stone circle which, they say, gives them positive energy.
So when the pagan couple left their historic £1million mansion, Abbotts Court in Weymouth, Dorset, a dozen men with a crane and a fleet of trucks took the rocks to their new home in Dorchester, ten miles away.
Neighbours watched in amazement as the stones, each weighing between half and three-quarters of a ton, were placed in the garden.
The couple - both antique dealers - had them aligned at special points around the extensive grounds of the £600,000, six-bedroom property to encircle themselves with energy.
Full Article
Monday 24 November 2008
Kiwifruit Ranked Among Highest in Antioxidants
Natural NewsThe antioxidants found in kiwifruit are absorbed by the body more effectively than those from other antioxidant-rich fruits, according to a study conducted by researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center in Little Rock, and published in
the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
Full Article
Witchcraft is given a spell in India's schools to remove curse of deadly superstition
The Times
Witchcraft is being put on the curriculum for India’s primary schoolchildren in an effort to debunk superstitions that are behind scores of gruesome murders every year.
A belief in witches and the evils purportedly wrought by them – from famine to sporting failure – is widespread among tribal communities in the country’s impoverished rural hinterland. It is estimated that 750 people, mostly elderly women, have been killed in witch-hunts in the states of Assam and West Bengal since 2003.
Full Story
Witchcraft is being put on the curriculum for India’s primary schoolchildren in an effort to debunk superstitions that are behind scores of gruesome murders every year.
A belief in witches and the evils purportedly wrought by them – from famine to sporting failure – is widespread among tribal communities in the country’s impoverished rural hinterland. It is estimated that 750 people, mostly elderly women, have been killed in witch-hunts in the states of Assam and West Bengal since 2003.
Full Story
God is eclipsed by supernatural believers and tales of UFO sightings
Daily Mail
Tales of aliens and ghosts may seem far-fetched, but they are believed more than God.
A survey has found that while 54 per cent of us are convinced the Almighty exists, 58 per cent believe in the supernatural.
They found women were more likely to believe in the supernatural than men, and were more likely to visit a medium.
Full Story
Tales of aliens and ghosts may seem far-fetched, but they are believed more than God.
A survey has found that while 54 per cent of us are convinced the Almighty exists, 58 per cent believe in the supernatural.
They found women were more likely to believe in the supernatural than men, and were more likely to visit a medium.
Full Story
Sunday 23 November 2008
Meditation May Protect Your Brain
AlterNetFor thousands of years, Buddhist meditators have claimed that the simple act of sitting down and following their breath while letting go of intrusive thoughts can free one from the entanglements of neurotic suffering.
Now, scientists are using cutting-edge scanning technology to watch the meditating mind at work. They are finding that regular meditation has a measurable effect on a variety of brain structures related to attention -- an example of what is known as neuroplasticity, where the brain physically changes in response to an intentional exercise.
Full Article
Take The Vow...
With Deepak Chopra
To take the vow of non-violence in thought, speech and action, go to takethevow.com or Deepak Chopra
To take the vow of non-violence in thought, speech and action, go to takethevow.com or Deepak Chopra
Walking for rain
Cyprus Sunday MailDOES GOD have his hands on the heavenly tap? According to residents of Palechori village, if he doesn’t then the Virgin Mary does.
Hundreds of Palechori residents marched eight kilometres on Friday night, holding icons of the Mother of Jesus and praying for an end to the drought that has besieged the island.
Young and old donned their woolly jumpers and walked with the local priest through the mountainous village, singing liturgies in the hope that someone up there would answer their prayers and bring some much-needed rainfall.
...It seems the eight kilometres were not in vain as by Saturday morning, police released an announcement warning drivers of low visibility on the roads of Kofinou, Zygi and Kornos due to heavy rainfall. Warnings of rain and fog were also issued for Troodos....
Full Story
Woman With Flower
I wouldn't coax the plant if I were you.
Such watchful nurturing may do it harm.
Let the soil rest from so much digging
And wait until it's dry before you water it.
The leaf's inclined to find it own direction;
Give it a chance to seek the sunlight for itself.
Much growth is stunted by too much prodding,
Too eager tenderness.
The things we love we have to learn to leave alone.
Naomi Long Madgett
Lettuce drink to health
theage.comForget salads. Leafy greens as beverages are the health-kick du jour.
It sounds like something superheroes might drink but the "green smoothie" is gathering a growing - and, if the hype is to be believed, glowing - following.
Fans of this home-blended fruit and vegetable drink say a regular dose will do everything from improve your sleep to amp up energy levels, eradicate skin conditions and basically make you feel great.
Full Article
Saturday 22 November 2008
Feast Day of St. Cecilia
Carlo Dolci, St Cecilia at the Organ, 1671 (Dresden Gemäldegalerie)Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians and Church music. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches on November 22.
Saint Cecilia was a Roman martyr of the 3rd century. From the 6th century onwards, she was referred to as a saint. According to one version of her life she was a Christian who converted her pagan husband and his brother. Because she refused to perform an act of idolatry before a prefect, she was condemned to death by suffocation with the steam and heat of her own bathroom. She survived this, but was then decapitated.
From the 16th century onwards Cecilia was regarded as the patron saint of musicians, perhaps because according to the account of her life, she sang 'in her heart' to God.
Friday 21 November 2008
Helicopter in dramatic near-miss with 'sinister' UFO 1,500ft above Birmingham
Mail Online
Aliens may have once made a 'sinister' night time visit to Birmingham, a new report suggests.
The claim stems from a curious incident when a police helicopter dramatically had to swerve out of the way of a mystery aircraft to avoid a crash at 1500ft over Birmingham.
The extraordinary incident is detailed in a document compiled by experts from the Airprox Board, which records near misses and reports them to the military and air traffic control units.
The report describes the strange other aircraft only as 'small and probably non-metallic' and its intent as possibly 'sinister'.
Full Story
Aliens may have once made a 'sinister' night time visit to Birmingham, a new report suggests.
The claim stems from a curious incident when a police helicopter dramatically had to swerve out of the way of a mystery aircraft to avoid a crash at 1500ft over Birmingham.
The extraordinary incident is detailed in a document compiled by experts from the Airprox Board, which records near misses and reports them to the military and air traffic control units.
The report describes the strange other aircraft only as 'small and probably non-metallic' and its intent as possibly 'sinister'.
Full Story
US: TAPS Ghost Hunters launch new site
TAPS Ghost Hunters is one of the most popular paranormal research groups. TAPS is shorthand for The Atlantic Paranormal Society.
Their missiion is to investigate paranormal activity including ghosts, poltergeists, EVP, residual hauntings, and other unexplained activity. You may have seen the TV show but they have now also have launched a new interactive social website called: Join The Hunt
The new site allows you to:
Take Weekly Tutorials: Learn how to hunt ghosts with our weekly lessons about how to use EMF gauges, EVP's and other gear!
View Ghost Stories: Read stories about ghostly encounters or share your own.
Ask a Hunter: Have a question about ghost hunting? Ask a TAPS member.
Vote! Haunted or Not?: Check out alleged photos of ghosts and vote on whether you think they're haunted or not.
Get Resources: Peruse books, movies and more that will help you with your ghost hunting career.
Worth checking out!
Firefly populations are disappearing
International Herald TribuneBAN LOMTUAN, Thailand: Thousands of fireflies fill the branches of trees along the Mae Klong River here, flashing on and off in unison - relentless and silent, two times a second, deep into the night.
Nobody knows why.
The fireflies, all males, sit on the tips of the leaves and hone their flashes into a single synchronized mating call - and then continue without a pause as if they were driven by an invisible motor.
"It's one of the most amazing things you'll ever see," said Sara Lewis, a professor of biology at Tufts University, near Boston. Evolutionary biologists have studied synchronous flashing for 200 years, she said, and it remains a mystery.
Full Story
Thursday 20 November 2008
Mammoth's genome pieced together
BBC NewsA US-Russian team of researchers has pieced together most of the genome of a woolly mammoth, Nature journal reports.
The experts extracted DNA from samples of mammoth hair to reconstruct the genetic sequence of this Ice Age beast.
Though some stretches are missing, the researchers estimate that the genome is roughly 80% complete.
The work could provide insights into the extinction of the mammoth and also resurrects questions about the viability of cloning long-dead species.
The scientists were aided in their task by the fact that several deep-frozen carcasses of woolly mammoths have been dug out of the permafrost in Siberia.
These conditions are ideal for the preservation of hair, which is a preferred source for the extraction of ancient DNA.
Full Story
...no man is hurt but by himself
Diogenes said that, and he was right. Every person's
experience is created internally, by him or herself. No
one outside of you can tell you what anything means,
or whether you are "hurt" or not.
If you feel hurt by something or someone, it is the result
of your decision to feel that way. This may be tough to
hear, but it is true. You can change your mind at any
moment.about how something is affecting you.
Neale Donald Walsch
experience is created internally, by him or herself. No
one outside of you can tell you what anything means,
or whether you are "hurt" or not.
If you feel hurt by something or someone, it is the result
of your decision to feel that way. This may be tough to
hear, but it is true. You can change your mind at any
moment.about how something is affecting you.
Neale Donald Walsch
Sparrow numbers 'plummet by 68%'
BBC News
The population of house sparrows in Britain has fallen by 68% in the past three decades, according to the RSPB.
A report by the charity said the paving over of front gardens and removal of trees had caused a big decline in insects that the birds eat.
It suggests sparrows are now disappearing altogether from cities such as London, Bristol and Edinburgh.
Full Story
The population of house sparrows in Britain has fallen by 68% in the past three decades, according to the RSPB.
A report by the charity said the paving over of front gardens and removal of trees had caused a big decline in insects that the birds eat.
It suggests sparrows are now disappearing altogether from cities such as London, Bristol and Edinburgh.
Full Story
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Scientists find new penguin, extinct for 500 years
Associated PressWELLINGTON, New Zealand – Researchers studying a rare and endangered species of penguin have uncovered a previously unknown species that disappeared about 500 years ago.
The research suggests that the first humans in New Zealand hunted the newly found Waitaha penguin to extinction by 1500, about 250 years after their arrival on the islands. But the loss of the Waitaha allowed another kind of penguin to thrive — the yellow-eyed species that now also faces extinction, Philip Seddon of Otago University, a co-author of the study, said Wednesday.
The team was testing DNA from the bones of prehistoric modern yellow-eyed penguins for genetic changes associated with human settlement when it found some bones that were older — and had different DNA.
Full Story
The spiritual miracles of Marianne
Irish Independent
If there is a textbook for life, Marianne Williamson seems to have it
"In any given moment , we can have an open-hearted response to the person in front of us or we can have a closed path. We can respond with love or we can respond with fear. We can gloat, we can blame, we can help the relationship. We can judge, send forth our desire to be at our most excellent or give into an attitude of 'I don't care'.
"At any given moment, we are deciding between the best that we are capable of or deciding for the lower aspects of our nature and if we make a right-minded choice for the sounder of the two, it's much like exercising a muscle, which over time becomes your personality."
I am sitting with one of the world's most celebrated spiritual teachers as she arrives from Britain, where her daughter has started university at Cambridge, and on the eve of her sell-out seminar.
Like her writing style , Marianne Williamson presents herself and her ideas in a clean and tidy manner, with no small talk cluttering the ground.
As the petite brunette, sporting a leopard-skin cardigan delivers her doctrine, my attention drifts to my history with this former jazz singer who teaches faith without dogma and religion without institution.
Full Article
Related Site:
Marianne Williamson - Official Site
If there is a textbook for life, Marianne Williamson seems to have it
"In any given moment , we can have an open-hearted response to the person in front of us or we can have a closed path. We can respond with love or we can respond with fear. We can gloat, we can blame, we can help the relationship. We can judge, send forth our desire to be at our most excellent or give into an attitude of 'I don't care'.
"At any given moment, we are deciding between the best that we are capable of or deciding for the lower aspects of our nature and if we make a right-minded choice for the sounder of the two, it's much like exercising a muscle, which over time becomes your personality."
I am sitting with one of the world's most celebrated spiritual teachers as she arrives from Britain, where her daughter has started university at Cambridge, and on the eve of her sell-out seminar.
Like her writing style , Marianne Williamson presents herself and her ideas in a clean and tidy manner, with no small talk cluttering the ground.
As the petite brunette, sporting a leopard-skin cardigan delivers her doctrine, my attention drifts to my history with this former jazz singer who teaches faith without dogma and religion without institution.
Full Article
Related Site:
Marianne Williamson - Official Site
Obama taps into our yearning for meaning, spirituality
Freep.com
The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States was a defeat for the Christian right, but that doesn't mean that faith didn't play a major role in Obama's resounding victory. While the Republican Party ran under the mantra of "God and country," Obama tapped into something possibly even bigger -- God and spirit.
A survey out this month revealed that 52% of Americans age 12 to 25 say that they don't trust organized religion, but that they are increasingly spiritual. According to the Minneapolis-based Search Institute, young people are turning away from their churches, mosques and temples and finding God in nature, music, friends and community service.
Full Story
The election of Barack Obama as president of the United States was a defeat for the Christian right, but that doesn't mean that faith didn't play a major role in Obama's resounding victory. While the Republican Party ran under the mantra of "God and country," Obama tapped into something possibly even bigger -- God and spirit.
A survey out this month revealed that 52% of Americans age 12 to 25 say that they don't trust organized religion, but that they are increasingly spiritual. According to the Minneapolis-based Search Institute, young people are turning away from their churches, mosques and temples and finding God in nature, music, friends and community service.
Full Story
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Found: An Ancient Monument to the Soul
New York Times
In a mountainous kingdom in what is now southeastern Turkey, there lived in the eighth century B.C. a royal official, Kuttamuwa, who oversaw the completion of an inscribed stone monument, or stele, to be erected upon his death. The words instructed mourners to commemorate his life and afterlife with feasts “for my soul that is in this stele.”
University of Chicago archaeologists who made the discovery last summer in ruins of a walled city near the Syrian border said the stele provided the first written evidence that the people in this region held to the religious concept of the soul apart from the body. By contrast, Semitic contemporaries, including the Israelites, believed that the body and soul were inseparable, which for them made cremation unthinkable, as noted in the Bible.
Full Story
In a mountainous kingdom in what is now southeastern Turkey, there lived in the eighth century B.C. a royal official, Kuttamuwa, who oversaw the completion of an inscribed stone monument, or stele, to be erected upon his death. The words instructed mourners to commemorate his life and afterlife with feasts “for my soul that is in this stele.”
University of Chicago archaeologists who made the discovery last summer in ruins of a walled city near the Syrian border said the stele provided the first written evidence that the people in this region held to the religious concept of the soul apart from the body. By contrast, Semitic contemporaries, including the Israelites, believed that the body and soul were inseparable, which for them made cremation unthinkable, as noted in the Bible.
Full Story
'Anti-gravity yoga' to take off in British gyms
Daily Telegraph
A new craze could sweep British gyms over the coming months - upside-down yoga.
As unlikely as it sounds, converts of 'AntiGravity Yoga' say the technique enables them to reach positions other exercises can't reach, leading to a better all-round work-out.
Participants use a hammock suspended from the ceiling to carry out yoga, pilates and dance moves while defying gravity.
Full Story
A new craze could sweep British gyms over the coming months - upside-down yoga.
As unlikely as it sounds, converts of 'AntiGravity Yoga' say the technique enables them to reach positions other exercises can't reach, leading to a better all-round work-out.
Participants use a hammock suspended from the ceiling to carry out yoga, pilates and dance moves while defying gravity.
Full Story
World asked to help craft online charter for religious harmony
Breitbart.com
A website launched Friday with the backing of technology industry and Hollywood elite urges people worldwide to help craft a framework for harmony between all religions.
The Charter for Compassion project springs from a "wish" granted this year to religious scholar Karen Armstrong at a premier Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in California.
"Tedizens" include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin along with other Internet icons as well as celebrities such as Forest Whittaker and Cameron Diaz.
Wishes granted at TED envision ways to better the world and come with a promise that Tedizens will lend their clout and capabilities to making them come true.
Armstrong's wish is to combine universal principles of respect and compassion into a charter based on a "golden rule" she believes is at the core of every major religion.
Full Story
A website launched Friday with the backing of technology industry and Hollywood elite urges people worldwide to help craft a framework for harmony between all religions.
The Charter for Compassion project springs from a "wish" granted this year to religious scholar Karen Armstrong at a premier Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in California.
"Tedizens" include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin along with other Internet icons as well as celebrities such as Forest Whittaker and Cameron Diaz.
Wishes granted at TED envision ways to better the world and come with a promise that Tedizens will lend their clout and capabilities to making them come true.
Armstrong's wish is to combine universal principles of respect and compassion into a charter based on a "golden rule" she believes is at the core of every major religion.
Full Story
Monday 17 November 2008
Government's new science minister raises eyebrows with 'sixth sense' claim
Daily Mail
The Government's new science minister has raised eyebrows after he says he believes he has a 'sixth sense' to predict the future, it was revealed today.
Lord Drayson said he was one of the humans with a 'capability' that experts did not fully understand.
Although the peer does not claim his powers of foresight are paranormal, the comments may raise a few eyebrows among the community he represents.
Extra-sensory abilities are not commonly accepted to exist by scientists.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Lord Drayson said: 'In my life there have been some things I have known, and I don't know why.
'I think there is a lot we don't understand about human capability.'
Full Story
This story also in The Times
The Government's new science minister has raised eyebrows after he says he believes he has a 'sixth sense' to predict the future, it was revealed today.
Lord Drayson said he was one of the humans with a 'capability' that experts did not fully understand.
Although the peer does not claim his powers of foresight are paranormal, the comments may raise a few eyebrows among the community he represents.
Extra-sensory abilities are not commonly accepted to exist by scientists.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Lord Drayson said: 'In my life there have been some things I have known, and I don't know why.
'I think there is a lot we don't understand about human capability.'
Full Story
This story also in The Times
Saturday 15 November 2008
Charity ghost hunt held at castle
BBC NewsAn overnight ghost hunt is to be held at a Dundee castle to raise funds for charity.
The 16th Century Mains Castle will host the event, where more than 20 participants will join a professional paranormal investigation team.
Reports of past paranormal activity in the castle include inexplicable voices being heard and furniture being moved.
Full Story
Friday 14 November 2008
Peppermint oil 'the most effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome'
Daily MailPeppermint oil is the most effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, doctors said last night.
The oil, which can be bought cheaply and without prescription, is better than muscle-relaxants or fibre for easing the condition which afflicts up to one in five Britons, research suggests.
Full Story
Wednesday 12 November 2008
'Buddha boy'
Daily Mail
A teenage boy who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha has re-emerged from the jungle in southern Nepal, attracting thousands of devotees, officials said today.
After retreating into the jungle for more than a year, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, re-emerged Monday near Nijgadh town, about 100 miles south of the capital, Katmandu.
Upon hearing the news, thousands of Bamjan's followers, some from as far away as India, traveled to the site Tuesday to see him, police official Abhaya Joshi said over the telephone.
Full Story
A teenage boy who many believe is the reincarnation of Buddha has re-emerged from the jungle in southern Nepal, attracting thousands of devotees, officials said today.
After retreating into the jungle for more than a year, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, re-emerged Monday near Nijgadh town, about 100 miles south of the capital, Katmandu.
Upon hearing the news, thousands of Bamjan's followers, some from as far away as India, traveled to the site Tuesday to see him, police official Abhaya Joshi said over the telephone.
Full Story
Race to save world's rarest wolf
BBC NewsScientists in the remote Bale mountains of southern Ethiopia are in a race against time to save the world's rarest wolf.
Rabies passed from domestic dogs is threatening to kill up to two-thirds of all Ethiopian wolves.
Scientists from the UK and Ethiopia are currently vaccinating wolf packs to prevent the spread of the disease.
The population has dwindled to as few as 500, as a result of human encroachment into their habitat.
Vaccination campaign
Dr Claudio Sillero of Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Unit (WildCRU) says vaccinations are the only hope of maintaining the Ethiopian wolf population.
Full Article
Related Sites:
Oxford University Wildlife Conservation Research Unit
Tuesday 11 November 2008
London Mind Body Soul Exhibition - Olympia 2, 15th & 16th November 2008
The Mind Body Soul Exhibitions offer a vast array of therapies and products, from Aromatherapy, to Reiki and Reflexology, Meditation and Yoga. These are just a few of the things you could see and experience at the Exhibition, together with lectures, workshops and stage demonstrations, not only are the events informative, but a great day out.
Full Details
Full Details
Laura Day: The financial psychic of Wall Street who predicted global meltdown
Telegraph
This woman knows nothing about finance yet claims she can predict turmoil in the markets months before it happens. Don't believe her? Many blue-chip companies do – and pay handsomely for her 'intuition'.
A few blocks from Wall Street lives a woman who is not in the least bit surprised at the recent economic upheaval on her doorstep. In fact, she predicted it years ago and is rather enjoying it.
'I love crisis,' says Laura Day, a psychic who advises major corporations on how to direct their business dealings. 'I love turning it around. I'm going to brag – in the last few weeks I've become a hero. My clients were all prepared for this. They were out of the market a year ago and now they're ringing me saying, "The whole world is freaking out and I'm just sitting here calm."'
The 49-year-old mother has earned more than $10 million (£6.4 million) in the past 15 years advising corporations and individuals including Demi Moore, Jennifer Aniston and Rosanna Arquette. Day's otherwordly expertise doesn't simply encompass the financial; Arquette credits her with saving her daughter's life by sensing a potentially fatal medical condition.
Full Article
This woman knows nothing about finance yet claims she can predict turmoil in the markets months before it happens. Don't believe her? Many blue-chip companies do – and pay handsomely for her 'intuition'.
A few blocks from Wall Street lives a woman who is not in the least bit surprised at the recent economic upheaval on her doorstep. In fact, she predicted it years ago and is rather enjoying it.
'I love crisis,' says Laura Day, a psychic who advises major corporations on how to direct their business dealings. 'I love turning it around. I'm going to brag – in the last few weeks I've become a hero. My clients were all prepared for this. They were out of the market a year ago and now they're ringing me saying, "The whole world is freaking out and I'm just sitting here calm."'
The 49-year-old mother has earned more than $10 million (£6.4 million) in the past 15 years advising corporations and individuals including Demi Moore, Jennifer Aniston and Rosanna Arquette. Day's otherwordly expertise doesn't simply encompass the financial; Arquette credits her with saving her daughter's life by sensing a potentially fatal medical condition.
Full Article
Monday 10 November 2008
Scholar finds Mayans' buried highway through hell
According to the Mayans, the dead, were thought to enter the afterlife through a cave populated by sinister gods and represented by the jaguar, the symbol of night. A Mexican archaelogist may have discovered the path that departed spirits had to travel after death~ Associated Press
Legend says the afterlife for ancient Mayas was a terrifying obstacle course in which the dead had to traverse rivers of blood, and chambers full of sharp knives, bats and jaguars.
Now a Mexican archaeologist using long-forgotten testimony from the Spanish Inquisition says a series of caves he has explored may be the place where the Maya actually tried to depict this highway through hell.
The network of underground chambers, roads and temples beneath farmland and jungle on the Yucatan peninsula suggests the Maya fashioned them to mimic the journey to the underworld, or Xibalba, described in ancient mythological texts such as the Popol Vuh.
"It was the place of fear, the place of cold, the place of danger, of the abyss," said University of Yucatan archaeologist Guillermo de Anda.
Searching for the names of sacred sites mentioned by Indian heretics who were put on trial by Inquisition courts, De Anda discovered what appear to be stages of the legendary journey, recreated in a half-dozen caves south of the Yucatan state capital of Merida.
Full Article
KGAN CBS2 Report:
He says it was a dark place of fear, danger and "the abyss." Among the discoveries are a paved, 100-yard underground road, a submerged temple, walled-off stone rooms and the "confusing crossroads" of the legends. Ancient skulls are scattered around.
The caves are very remote and hidden -- possibly because, even as the Maya were forced to convert to Christianity, they still slipped away to worship underground.
Susan Hiller: Proposals and Demonstrations
From the Susan Hiller collection: Homage to Yves Klein 2005-2007, ongoing~ Guardian
Even doubters can't fail to be amazed by Susan Hiller's inexplicable images.
Susan Hiller's latest show - enthralling, unmissable - begins with a leap in the dark. The scene takes place at a crowded soiree. An elderly gentleman in Victorian dress has not just risen from his seat but appears to have been ejected several feet in the air. There is no visible explanation in the spectral gaslight.
Other men in other photographs lift up above the horizon. There are instances of levitation and yogic flying. A mother and daughter float above the garden path, blithely smiling; a banker in a bowler appears to lean against a wall high above the passers below. Teenagers leap out into the void.
That we can fly is one of our most cherished dreams and, like a dream, the urge hovers somewhere between fantasy and belief. Children imagine they can fly, mystics actually believe it; for the rest of us, only in sleep does the sensation ever become a reality.
These thoughts and many more are prompted by Homage to Yves Klein, Hiller's wonderful anthology of images of unaided flight, of figures no longer tethered to the earth. Leaping, floating, levitating, jumping, cross-legged in mid-air, weightless as balloons bobbing up at the ceiling - these people really seem to be flying, slipping the bonds of science.
...For 30 years and more, ever since she settled in Britain, this American-born artist, now in her sixties, has been collecting evidence of mysterious phenomena - telekinesis, hallucinations, voices from beyond the grave, visions of the Virgin at Fatima. I have no idea whether she believes in any of these phenomena; my guess is that she is agnostic on the grounds that one can never disprove another's claims. But she is perennially struck by our love of the irrational and unexplained.
Full Review
Suan Hiller
Proposal and Demonstrations at the Timothy Taylor Gallery, London. Until 20 December
Watching...
A young couple moves into a new neighbourhood.
The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbour hanging the wash outside.
"That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."
Her husband looked on, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbour would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?"
The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."
And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Alliance for a New Humanity
The First European Human Forum of the Alliance for a New Humanity will take place in Barcelona on November 7-9 to connect and communicate on a global level with people, groups, and organizations.
More Information
The ANH is an a-political, non-ideological and plural initiative promoted in 2003 by ten founding members and presided by Deepak Chopra. Today, it is a group constituted by people from all over the world with a common goal in mind: to create and reinforce a more sustainable, pacific and empathic humanity.
Today, the Alliance has a Board of Honour composed of more than fifty personalities, amongst whom Nobel Peace Prize winners, writers, scientists, human rights activists, environmentalists, artists, sports men and women, philanthropists, communicators, former chiefs of state and spiritual guides from all over the world.
More Information
The ANH is an a-political, non-ideological and plural initiative promoted in 2003 by ten founding members and presided by Deepak Chopra. Today, it is a group constituted by people from all over the world with a common goal in mind: to create and reinforce a more sustainable, pacific and empathic humanity.
Today, the Alliance has a Board of Honour composed of more than fifty personalities, amongst whom Nobel Peace Prize winners, writers, scientists, human rights activists, environmentalists, artists, sports men and women, philanthropists, communicators, former chiefs of state and spiritual guides from all over the world.
The World's First Global Peace Intention Experiment
Over 11,000 people from over 65 countries took part in a global peace intention experiment in September 2008, focusing their peace towards the Wanni (north) region of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka has experienced a prolonged, savage civil war with more suicide bombings than anywhere else on the planet. Thousands have been displaced and the recent tsunami has had added toil to a once settled people.
Lynne McTaggart established the Intention Experiment to scientifically verify, via statistical feedback, the effect that individual thought can have on our external physical reality. Working in conjunction with Jessica Utts, Professor of Statistics at the University of California - the data will be analysed and assessed in further detail.
The Experiment involved eight days of thoughts using the following intention:
"My intention is for peace and cooperation to be restored in the Wanni region of Sri Lanka and for all war-related deaths and violence to be reduced by at least 10 per cent"
Full Report at Natural News.com
Related Sites:
Lynne McTaggart - The Intention Experiment
Recommended Reading:
The Intention Experiment: Use Your Thoughts to Change the World
Sri Lanka has experienced a prolonged, savage civil war with more suicide bombings than anywhere else on the planet. Thousands have been displaced and the recent tsunami has had added toil to a once settled people.
Lynne McTaggart established the Intention Experiment to scientifically verify, via statistical feedback, the effect that individual thought can have on our external physical reality. Working in conjunction with Jessica Utts, Professor of Statistics at the University of California - the data will be analysed and assessed in further detail.
The Experiment involved eight days of thoughts using the following intention:
"My intention is for peace and cooperation to be restored in the Wanni region of Sri Lanka and for all war-related deaths and violence to be reduced by at least 10 per cent"
Full Report at Natural News.com
Related Sites:
Lynne McTaggart - The Intention Experiment
Recommended Reading:
The Intention Experiment: Use Your Thoughts to Change the World
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Healing Power Of Reiki
Daily RecordScot Suzanne Hasn't Looked Back Since Quitting Manager's Role To Take Up The Japanese Technique
IT may seem an unlikely spot, but the small village of Ayton on the eastern side of the Borders is the hub of a little known Japanese healing technique.
From a house which was once an isolation hospital, Suzanne Manning not only practises the art of Reiki but also trains others to use it too.
In the 10 years since she moved into her 18th century home, she has trained over 300 people and has also helped patients with a host of ailments, from migraines to arthritis.
Full Article
Oldest Shaman Grave Found
National Geographic
Archaeologists in northern Israel say they have discovered the world's oldest known grave of a shaman. The 12,000-year-old grave holds an elderly female of the mysterious Natufian culture, animal parts, and a human foot. The immediate area contains several burials, but the shaman's grave is unique in its construction, contents, and arrangement.
"From the standpoint of the status of the grave and its contents, no Natufian burial like this one has ever been found," lead archaeologist Leore Grosman said.
"This indicates the woman had a distinct societal position."
Full Article
Saturday 1 November 2008
All Saints Day
Fra Angelico - 1428-30, Tempera on wood - National Gallery, LondonThe Church has always honoured those early witnesses to the Christian faith who died as martyrs. During the first three hundred years Christians were persecuted, often suffering torture and bloody death. They refused to deny Christ, even when this denial might have saved their own lives, or the lives of their children and families.
Many of those especially holy people whose names and stories were known, the Church later canonized (that is, the Church formally recognized that the life of that person was without any doubt holy, or sanctified -- a "saint" who is an example for us). The Church's calendar contains many saint's days.
But there were thousands and thousands of early Christian martyrs, the majority of whose names are known only to God -- and throughout the history of the Church there have been countless others who really are saints, who are with God in heaven, even if their names are not on the list of canonized saints.
In order to honour the memory of these unnamed saints, the Church dedicated a special feast day so that all living Christians would celebrate at a special Mass the lives and witness of those "who have died and gone before us into the presence of the Lord".
All Saint's Day, originated as a feast of All Martyrs, sometime in the 4th century. At first it was celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. It came to be observed on May 13 when Pope St. Boniface IV (608-615) restored and rebuilt for use as a Christian church an ancient Roman temple which pagan Rome had dedicated to "all gods", the Pantheon. The pope re-buried the bones of many martyrs there, and dedicated this Church to the Mother of God and all the Holy Martyrs on May 13, 610.
About a hundred years later, Pope Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a new chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all saints (not just to the martyrs) on November 1, and he fixed the anniversary of this dedication as the date of the feast.
A century after that, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration of All Saints to November 1 for the entire Church.
The vigil of this important feast, All Saint's Eve, Hallowe'en, was apparently observed as early as the feast itself.
Ever since then, the entire Church has celebrated the feast of All Saints on November 1st, and Hallowe'en on October 31.
Wikiipedia, All Saints for more information
Friday 31 October 2008
Halloween - 31 October
History.Com
Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
Full Article
Information on Halloween including how it is celebrated around the world, superstitions associated with it, how to carve a pumpkin (!) and much more can be found here
Jack-o-lantern smiling brightWitches flying in the night
Ghosts and goblins, cats and bats
Witches with their funny hats
A full moon can't be beat
As we go out to Trick or Treat
Happy Halloween!!
Thursday 30 October 2008
Samhain
BBCSamhain (pronounced 'sow'inn') is a very important date in the Pagan calendar for it marks the Feast of the Dead. Many Pagans also celebrate it as the old Celtic New Year (although some mark this at Imbolc). It is also celebrated by non-Pagans who call this festival Halloween.
More Information
Mysterious Britain
The festival marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter in the Celtic calendar, and is one of the four Celtic fire festivals - the quarter points in the solar year. It marked the point in the year were a time of plenty gave way to more lean times, in all probability the reason for its association with dread and eeriness. Traditionally it is when the gates of the otherworld are open, a time when dark forces are abroad in the realm of humans. This is a brief overview of Halloween examining its roots and folklore.
In the old Celtic calendar Halloween - or more correctly Samhain - was actually the beginning of the New Year, and the preparation for the coming hardship of winter. All the animals that were not breeding stock were slaughtered, and their meat salted and stored for the dark months. As one of the most important celebrations of the year, a great feast was held, and bonfires were lit throughout the countryside.
Full Article
30 October - Devil's Night
LiveScience.com
We all know what happens on Halloween, the night that little boys and girls dress up and (unwittingly) celebrate the ancient Celtic tradition of Samhain and All Hallows Eve.
Anyone who has woken up on Halloween morning to find their house egged, their pumpkin smashed or yard toilet-papered, however, is lucky enough to live where a sister tradition that is not quite as old (but a yearly custom all the same) is also practiced with fervor.
The night of Oct. 30, which goes by a variety of names including Devil's Night in Detroit and Miggy Night in parts of England, sees neighborhood youngsters pull pranks just as diverse as the custom's monikers, ranging from the innocent to the downright dangerous.
So where did this license to cause mayhem come from?
Mischief Night, as it is most commonly known in the United States, has been around in its present form for at least 50 years, when it became a day for playing "tricks" while Halloween itself was reserved for the little one to gather "treats." The practice goes back hundreds of years before that, though, to a time when Halloween and misbehavior were inextricably linked.
Full Article
U.S. and Soviet spooks studied paranormal powers to find a Cold War advantage
Scientific American
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is well known for pushing the boundaries of science and technology in search of ways to give the U.S. military an edge—robotic pack animals, self-navigating vehicles and plant-based jet fuel, to name a few. Less well known is the agency's Cold War-era investigation into how paranormal phenomena like extrasensory perception might be used by the U.S. to get a leg up on the former Soviet Union and, perhaps more importantly, by the USSR against the United States.
Working with Washington, D.C., think tank RAND Corporation, DARPA determined that paranormal research by the Soviets focused on physical science, engineering and quantifiable results, whereas their U.S. counterparts tended to be psychologists looking instead to explore the human mind. The bottom line, according to a 1973 DARPA-commissioned study entitled "Paranormal Phenomena": "the U.S. has failed to significantly advance our understanding of paranormal phenomena."
As Halloween approaches, the report serves as a reminder of our fascination with paranormal forces (for more on this, visit Sciam.com's "Science of the Occult" in-depth report). The authors were worried that the Soviets might win the race to use the supernatural to its advantage much as they had threatened to win the space race decades earlier when they launched Sputnik. "If paranormal phenomena exist," RAND analysts P. T. Van Dyke and Mario L. Juncosa concluded, "the thrust of Soviet research appears more likely to lead to explanation, control and application than [does] U.S. research."
Full Article
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is well known for pushing the boundaries of science and technology in search of ways to give the U.S. military an edge—robotic pack animals, self-navigating vehicles and plant-based jet fuel, to name a few. Less well known is the agency's Cold War-era investigation into how paranormal phenomena like extrasensory perception might be used by the U.S. to get a leg up on the former Soviet Union and, perhaps more importantly, by the USSR against the United States.
Working with Washington, D.C., think tank RAND Corporation, DARPA determined that paranormal research by the Soviets focused on physical science, engineering and quantifiable results, whereas their U.S. counterparts tended to be psychologists looking instead to explore the human mind. The bottom line, according to a 1973 DARPA-commissioned study entitled "Paranormal Phenomena": "the U.S. has failed to significantly advance our understanding of paranormal phenomena."
As Halloween approaches, the report serves as a reminder of our fascination with paranormal forces (for more on this, visit Sciam.com's "Science of the Occult" in-depth report). The authors were worried that the Soviets might win the race to use the supernatural to its advantage much as they had threatened to win the space race decades earlier when they launched Sputnik. "If paranormal phenomena exist," RAND analysts P. T. Van Dyke and Mario L. Juncosa concluded, "the thrust of Soviet research appears more likely to lead to explanation, control and application than [does] U.S. research."
Full Article
Wednesday 29 October 2008
Global Peace Meditation
The Chopra Center for WellbeingWednesday, October 29
3:30 to 4:30pm (Pacific Daylight Time)
10:30 to 11:30 PM (GMT)
Wherever you are on the planet, please join us for a one-hour meditation for the collective intent of peace in the world. This Wednesday, October 29 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm (PDT) 10:30-11:30pm (GMT), Deepak and David will be leading this meditation with the Seduction of Spirit participants in Carlsbad, California, and we will be broadcasting it via live audio. We invite you and all the members of the extended Chopra Center family throughout the world to join us in this global meditation for peace.For more information, go to the Chopra Center website
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Diwali - Festival of Lights
Diwali 2008 is on October 28, TuesdayBBC
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is the most popular of all the festivals from South Asia, and is also the occasion for celebrations by Jains and Sikhs as well as Hindus.
The festival of Diwali extends over five days. Because of the lights, fireworks, and sweets involved, it's a great favourite with children.
The festival celebrates the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance, although the actual legends that go with the festival are different in different parts of India.
The Times of India summed up the modern meaning of Diwali:
Regardless of the mythological explanation one prefers, what the festival of lights really stands for today is a reaffirmation of hope, a renewed commitment to friendship and goodwill, and a religiously sanctioned celebration of the simple - and some not so simple - joys of life.Full Article
One of the biggest festivals of Hindus, Deepawali or Diwali in India is celebrated with lots of enthusiasm and happiness. This festival is celebrated for five continuous days, with the third day being celebrated as the main Diwali or as 'Festival of Lights'. Fireworks are always associated with this festival. The day is celebrated with people lighting diyas, candles all around their house. Lakshmi Puja is performed in the evening to seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth. Diwali gifts are exchanged among all near and dear ones.
The Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India has a beautiful site with lots of information including:
- Diwali Recipes
- Deep in Diwali
- Tradition of Playing Cards
- Pooja Thali Decorations
- Making Diwali Cards
- Diwali Essay
- Diwali Poems
- Diwali Songs
- Diwali Mela
- Diwali Wallpapers
- Diwali Decorative Items
World's largest crystal discovered in Mexican cave
The TelegraphHidden deep beneath the surface of the Earth is one of the greatest natural marvels on the planet: a giant crystal cave packed with crystals up to 36 feet long and weighing 55 tons.
Buried a thousand feet below Naica mountain in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico, the cave was discovered by two miners excavating a new tunnel for a commercial lead and silver mine.
Known as Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) it contains some of the world's largest known natural crystals–translucent beams of gypsum as long as 36 feet and softer than human nails.
The crystals thrived in the cave's extremely rare and stable natural environment. Temperatures hovered consistently around a steamy 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius), and the cave was filled with mineral-rich water that drove the crystals' growth.
Full Article
1 October 2008 The healing power of gemstones
Solomon's real mine?
Mail Online3,000 years on, archaeologists uncover fabled site in desert...
In a discovery straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, archaeologists believe they have uncovered one of the lost mines of King Solomon.
The vast copper mine lies in an arid valley in modern-day Jordan and was created in the 10th century BC - around the time Solomon is believed to have ruled over the ancient Hebrews.
The mines are enormous and would have generated a huge income for the king, who is famed for bringing extraordinary wealth and stability to the newly-united kingdom
of Israel and Judah.
The announcement will today reopen the debate about how much of the Old Testament is myth and how much is history.
Full Article
Thursday 23 October 2008
Most Haunted Live 25th - 31st October 2008: Investigating the Denbigh Asylum in Wales
Saturday 25 October 2008: First of seven spooky nights of paranormal investigation in Denbigh, a Welsh village allegedly cursed by witches and home to an asylum which has reportedly been the scene of ghostly activity. Yvette and the team try to conjure up the spirit of one of the witches as well as other phantoms.
Living TV
Paranormal investigator to host web chat
Belfast Newsletter
HALLOWEEN is edging closer and Ulster folk are bracing themselves for spooky goings-on and things that go bump in the night.
There is often deep scepticism surrounding ghostly sightings or alleged paranormal activity and that debate is set to be played out in an interactive web chat on the News Letter website next week.
Taking your questions will be a leading investigator from the Northern Ireland Paranormal Society (NIPS), who is no stranger to 'scary' assignments.
Darren Ansell – who when he is not targeting the truth is a full-time business development manager – is looking forward to portraying a positive message to would-be detractors.
"I would hope to show people and answer questions in a way that portrays paranormal investigators in the right light as normal people with normal jobs," he said.
"Paranormal investigation is not all about running and screaming and I would like to show a little bit more professionalism about what we do."
The origins of the 33-year-old's fascination with the unknown began with his own personal experiences while growing up in Ballynahinch.
Full article and information on how to join in
Due to take place: Thursday, October 30
HALLOWEEN is edging closer and Ulster folk are bracing themselves for spooky goings-on and things that go bump in the night.
There is often deep scepticism surrounding ghostly sightings or alleged paranormal activity and that debate is set to be played out in an interactive web chat on the News Letter website next week.
Taking your questions will be a leading investigator from the Northern Ireland Paranormal Society (NIPS), who is no stranger to 'scary' assignments.
Darren Ansell – who when he is not targeting the truth is a full-time business development manager – is looking forward to portraying a positive message to would-be detractors.
"I would hope to show people and answer questions in a way that portrays paranormal investigators in the right light as normal people with normal jobs," he said.
"Paranormal investigation is not all about running and screaming and I would like to show a little bit more professionalism about what we do."
The origins of the 33-year-old's fascination with the unknown began with his own personal experiences while growing up in Ballynahinch.
Full article and information on how to join in
Due to take place: Thursday, October 30
Wednesday 22 October 2008
So Powerful Is the Light
"So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth"
Baha'u'llah (1817-1892)
Founder and prophet of the Baha'i faith
Teacher of the earth as "one country and mankind its citizens"
The Big Question: What was the Holy Grail, and why our centuries-old fascination with it?
The Independent
Why are we asking this now?
Because a new exhibition at the Royal Academy, which brings together hundreds of relics from more than 1,000 years of the Byzantine Empire, has stirred up renewed and fevered excitement over the idea that the Holy Grail is in town.
Curators spent five years bringing together a host of archaeological treasures including mosaics, jewellery, icons and manuscripts to create the first exhibition in Britain on Byzantine art in more than 50 years. But the item causing the most frenzied excitement is the Antioch Chalice, a sixth century silver cup on loan from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art which – to grail aficionados – is one of the most credible contenders to be the Holy Grail itself.
Professor Robin Cormack, the exhibition's curator said: "[The chalice] has an inner plain cup with an ornate covering. The outer cup can be dated to the sixth century but nobody can say for sure when the inner cup was made. There is still a plausible argument that it is the Holy Grail."
What is the grail actually meant to be?
The Holy Grail is an expansion of the legend surrounding the Holy Chalice, the vessel used by Christ during the Last Supper. According to grail legend, Joseph of Arimathea used the cup to collect Jesus's blood and sweat as he was dying on the cross, giving the vessel magical, life-sustaining properties. Credited in the Gospels as the man who generously gave up his own tomb to bury Christ's body, grail legend extends Joseph of Arimathea's story further by making him the first keeper of the Holy Grail.
Full Article
Related Site:
Royal Academy of Arts - Byzantium Exhibition
Pets are good for your health...
Guardian Online
American researchers have discovered that owning a pet can significantly reduce your risk of a common cancer. And that's not all, says Emine Saner
The body of evidence supporting the notion that pet ownership is good for your health grew even fatter this month. A new study, published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, found that keeping animals can cut the risk of developing the relatively common cancer of the immune system, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, by almost one third.
"The idea that pets and good health are associated goes back 20 years or more," says Dr June McNicholas, a psychologist who has researched the relationship between people and their pets. The catalogue of health plusses can't all be attributed to regular dogwalking however. When a study suggested that people who own pets have better cardiac health, says McNicholas, "one of the significant factors in people recovering well from a heart attack was owning a pet, but it wasn't just dogs. It applied equally to cats." Here are some of the many ways in which pets have been found to strengthen our constitutions.
Full Article
American researchers have discovered that owning a pet can significantly reduce your risk of a common cancer. And that's not all, says Emine Saner
The body of evidence supporting the notion that pet ownership is good for your health grew even fatter this month. A new study, published in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, found that keeping animals can cut the risk of developing the relatively common cancer of the immune system, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, by almost one third.
"The idea that pets and good health are associated goes back 20 years or more," says Dr June McNicholas, a psychologist who has researched the relationship between people and their pets. The catalogue of health plusses can't all be attributed to regular dogwalking however. When a study suggested that people who own pets have better cardiac health, says McNicholas, "one of the significant factors in people recovering well from a heart attack was owning a pet, but it wasn't just dogs. It applied equally to cats." Here are some of the many ways in which pets have been found to strengthen our constitutions.
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First shots of tigers swimming with humans
The TelegraphTraditionally, trainers have struggled to build an attachment with the largest of the big cats because the sheer bulk of the animals limits the potential for physical interaction.
But the Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, or TIGER, near Miami, claims to have overcome the problem by encouraging both tigers and humans to swim together in a specially adapted pool.
Tigers are known as the best swimmers of all the big cats with modified webbing between their toes to make their feet more like flippers.
Although a number of wildlife parks have encouraged the animals to swim for exercise, the routine has usually consisted of little more than trainers throwing lumps of meat into the water for the tigers to collect.
Bhagavan Antle, director of the centre, said he wanted to give the 200lb, two metre long creatures an opportunity to exercise properly without giving them meat.
He also wanted the public to be able to appreciate the grace and power of the big cats in the water so he built a giant outdoor swimming pool expressly for the purpose.
...The hand-reared tigers are introduced to the water a few months after birth and the trainers then give one-on-one tuition to each of the animals while they are in the water.
"At the institute we feel that swimming with the big cats gives them a closer bond between the animal and their human companions," said Mr Antle.
Full Article & Video
The five tasks a day that could protect your mental wellbeing
Mail OnlineSimple tasks such as playing a musical instrument, gardening and mending a bicycle every day could protect your mental health.
Scientists say the 'five-a-day' activities can improve mental wellbeing in the same way eating five fruits or vegetables daily helps the body stay healthy.
People should try to be active, connect with others, take notice of their surroundings and keep learning.
...The five categories are: Connect with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours; be active with sports and hobbies such as gardening or dancing or just a daily stroll; be curious, noting the beauty of everyday moments as well as the unusual; learn something, for example fixing a bike or playing an instrument; and finally, giving to others you meet around you.
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Tuesday 21 October 2008
Coffee and chocolate are the key to long life
The TelegraphChocolate, coffee and tea are among the key foods and drinks needed to live a long and healthy life, according to a leading nutritional scientist.
Professor Gary Williamson, from the department of food science at Leeds University, has produced a list of 20 "lifespan essential" foodstuffs.
All are rich in naturally occurring chemicals, known as polyphenols, which have been linked to a variety of health benefits including protection against heart disease.
He said that foodstuffs on the list, which is dominated by fruits and vegetables, can also help to slow down the ageing process by helping to protect cells from the natural damage that occurs over time.
Full Article
Hikers find 'abominable snowman' footprints
MSNBC
KATHMANDU - Japanese climbers returning from a mountain in western Nepal said on Tuesday they had found footprints they think belonged to the abominable snowman or Yeti.
"We saw three footprints which looked like that of human beings," Kuniaki Yagihara, a member of the Yeti Project Japan, said in Kathmandu, after returning from the mountain with photographs of the footprints.
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The Harmony of Chinese Medicine
Epoch TImes
It speaks in a language that is foreign to our ear and conjures up images of peculiar herbal concoctions, but there is a lot more to Chinese medicine than meets the eye. Developed over several thousand years, Chinese medicine is a holistic, individualized approach aimed at preventing, identifying, and treating the root cause of illness, rather than treating the symptoms alone.
Chinese medicine follows the principle of “heaven, human beings, and the universe.” According to its theory, the human body is considered a small universe with an intricate set of systems that connect with each other and the environment.
The best way to maintain health is to nurture the mind and body and have a relaxed, gentle lifestyle. When balance and harmony are achieved in all aspects of life, the human body will be in a state of balance.
If a sick person is healed by a doctor, yet afterwards goes on losing his temper and pursuing self-interest, how could his illness not recur? Chinese medicine links every part of the patient’s nature.
Ironically, many people in the modern age reject all things that are “unconventional.” But a system that has existed for thousands of years is still continuing to treat over one quarter of the world’s population. The practice of Chinese medicine can provide us with a fresh insight into many health issues.
Full Article
It speaks in a language that is foreign to our ear and conjures up images of peculiar herbal concoctions, but there is a lot more to Chinese medicine than meets the eye. Developed over several thousand years, Chinese medicine is a holistic, individualized approach aimed at preventing, identifying, and treating the root cause of illness, rather than treating the symptoms alone.
Chinese medicine follows the principle of “heaven, human beings, and the universe.” According to its theory, the human body is considered a small universe with an intricate set of systems that connect with each other and the environment.
The best way to maintain health is to nurture the mind and body and have a relaxed, gentle lifestyle. When balance and harmony are achieved in all aspects of life, the human body will be in a state of balance.
If a sick person is healed by a doctor, yet afterwards goes on losing his temper and pursuing self-interest, how could his illness not recur? Chinese medicine links every part of the patient’s nature.
Ironically, many people in the modern age reject all things that are “unconventional.” But a system that has existed for thousands of years is still continuing to treat over one quarter of the world’s population. The practice of Chinese medicine can provide us with a fresh insight into many health issues.
Full Article
Monday 20 October 2008
Burning fall leaves can hold spiritual significance
CourierNews - Chicago
In the eighteenth century, Charles Wesley wrote a hymn known as Earth and All Stars.
The second verse is a stirring tribute to the extremes of the elements and nature. One line in particular, "Flowers and trees! Loud rustling dry leaves!" is especially appropriate at this season. We can all identify with it.
After all, it's autumn! What is more common in this part of the country than loud rustling dry leaves?
We kick those leaves out of the way, rake them, heap them into compost piles, bag them (in special bags, yet!), or, if we are particularly fortunate, burn them, relishing the aroma of the sacrificial smoke as it wends its way heavenward.
A lot of symbolism and memories are bundled with those colorful remnants of the greenness of summer, symbolic ever since God created autumn.
...Whatever faith we proclaim, whatever we hold sacred (and everyone holds something sacred), we are symbolic creatures. Burning leaves for the garden is a ritual of autumn. It is one thing to ban an event; quite another to ban a ritual, as the early church discovered. That is why so many symbols seemingly out of place in Christian worship are there: as transitional motifs from our symbolic nature into the divine.
Full Article
Sunday 19 October 2008
John Edward is a medium with a message
Couriermail.com.auTHE world's most famous psychic, John Edward, was 15 and managing a video store in downtown Manhattan when he first realised he "wasn't like other folk".
"A woman came in to rent something and I said, 'You're pregnant', and she said, 'No I'm not', and I said, 'Yes you are. Because I'm seeing your aunt who just died in a car accident and she's telling me you're going to name your baby after her'," recounts Edward, now 39, down the phone (and still in his native New York).
"She went white as a ghost and said, 'Oh my God, I do have an aunt who died in a car crash recently'.
"Then a few weeks later, she came in and said she was pregnant. It was a girl and she named her Bonnie, after the aunt.
"After that, the owner would say, 'Please don't do that John, you're freaking out the customers'."
Full Article
Related Site
Official John Edward site
Contained in the released Ministry of Defence files...
Telegraph Online
These are some of the most interesting reports contained in the released Ministry of Defence files:
1) January 1991: Man reports seeing two aliens landing their flying saucer next to a railway track near Warminster Army barracks in Wiltshire.
2) March 1990: Woman claims she is an alien from "Amazon, the planet of warrior women" in the Sirius system, whose spacecraft landed on Earth during the Second World War. Encloses drawing of herself with ears similar to Star Trek character Mr Spock.
3) 1989: Two aliens seen emerging from flying saucer in Somerset, apparently in order to check their engine. One was able to speak in perfect English, according to witness.
4) April 1991: Alitalia airliner en route from Milan to Heathrow has near miss with brown missile-shaped object near Lydd in Kent. Case closed after investigation fails to identify object.
5) June 1991: Four passengers on board a Dan Air Boeing 737 saw a "wingless projectile" pass beneath the aircraft as it climbed from Gatwick Airport headed for Hamburg.
More detailed coverage can be found at the BBC Online
Read the files at the UK National Archives
These are some of the most interesting reports contained in the released Ministry of Defence files:
1) January 1991: Man reports seeing two aliens landing their flying saucer next to a railway track near Warminster Army barracks in Wiltshire.
2) March 1990: Woman claims she is an alien from "Amazon, the planet of warrior women" in the Sirius system, whose spacecraft landed on Earth during the Second World War. Encloses drawing of herself with ears similar to Star Trek character Mr Spock.
3) 1989: Two aliens seen emerging from flying saucer in Somerset, apparently in order to check their engine. One was able to speak in perfect English, according to witness.
4) April 1991: Alitalia airliner en route from Milan to Heathrow has near miss with brown missile-shaped object near Lydd in Kent. Case closed after investigation fails to identify object.
5) June 1991: Four passengers on board a Dan Air Boeing 737 saw a "wingless projectile" pass beneath the aircraft as it climbed from Gatwick Airport headed for Hamburg.
More detailed coverage can be found at the BBC Online
Read the files at the UK National Archives
Passenger jet almost 'collided with UFO'
Mirror Online
A passenger jet heading for Heathrow almost collided with a UFO over Kent, according to the latest "X-files" to be released by the Government tomorrow.
In other reports US Air Force pilots were ordered to shoot down a UFO over East Anglia (the files don't say what happened next) and RAF Tornado jets were overtaken by another UFO over Germany.
The files from 1986-92 include claims from people who say they met or were abducted by aliens. They will be posted on the National Archives website
A passenger jet heading for Heathrow almost collided with a UFO over Kent, according to the latest "X-files" to be released by the Government tomorrow.
In other reports US Air Force pilots were ordered to shoot down a UFO over East Anglia (the files don't say what happened next) and RAF Tornado jets were overtaken by another UFO over Germany.
The files from 1986-92 include claims from people who say they met or were abducted by aliens. They will be posted on the National Archives website
Thursday 16 October 2008
York plays host to ghost vigil
The Press
A CITY-WIDE experiment into the paranormal will take place on Hallowe’en this month as ghost hunters stage the world’s biggest ghost vigil.
In an attempt to boost York’s reputation as the most haunted city in the world, astrologer Jonathan Cainer wants residents to listen out for things going bump in the night on October 31.
He said: “Several cities claim the title of the world’s most haunted and obviously there’s no official designation, but he who shouts longest and loudest gets it.
“York must be up there, so I say let somebody say we aren’t and, while they prove that, we will prove that we are the most haunted.
“Guy Fawkes Night ought to belong to York, but we can make Hallowe’en ours, with that in mind we want to do the world’s biggest ghost vigil.
“This is an open invitation to everyone in York but particularly to spiritualists or those living and working in haunted properties.”
Full Article
A CITY-WIDE experiment into the paranormal will take place on Hallowe’en this month as ghost hunters stage the world’s biggest ghost vigil.
In an attempt to boost York’s reputation as the most haunted city in the world, astrologer Jonathan Cainer wants residents to listen out for things going bump in the night on October 31.
He said: “Several cities claim the title of the world’s most haunted and obviously there’s no official designation, but he who shouts longest and loudest gets it.
“York must be up there, so I say let somebody say we aren’t and, while they prove that, we will prove that we are the most haunted.
“Guy Fawkes Night ought to belong to York, but we can make Hallowe’en ours, with that in mind we want to do the world’s biggest ghost vigil.
“This is an open invitation to everyone in York but particularly to spiritualists or those living and working in haunted properties.”
Full Article
Understanding the power of music - Science shows that music really does kill pain and reduce stress
MSNBCMore than 7,000 runners who raced earlier this month in a half-marathon in London were under the influence of a scientifically derived and powerful performance-enhancing stimulant — pop music.
The dance-able, upbeat music at London's "Run to the Beat" race was selected on the basis of the research and consultation of sport psychologist Costas Karageorghis of Brunel University in England. He has learned how to devise soundtracks that are just as powerful, if not more so, as some of the not-so-legal substances that athletes commonly take to excel.
"Music is a great way to regulate mood both before and during physical activity. A lot of athletes use music as if it's a legal drug," Karageorghis told LiveScience. "They can use it as a stimulant or as a sedative. Generally speaking, loud upbeat music has a stimulating effect and slow music reduces arousal."
Full Story
Monday 6 October 2008
Half of mammals 'in decline', says extinction Red List
(Photo © Mark Carwardine/NHPA)Half the world's mammals are declining in population and more than a third probably face extinction, said an update Monday of the "Red List," the most respected inventory of biodiversity.
A comprehensive survey of mammals included in the annual report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which covers more than 44,000 animal and plant species, shows that a quarter of the planet's 5,487 known mammals are clearly at risk of disappearing forever.
But the actual situation may be even grimmer because researchers have been unable to classify the threat level for another 836 mammals due to lack of data.
"In reality, the number of threatened mammals could be as high as 36 percent," said IUCN scientist Jan Schipper, lead author of the mammal survey, in remarks published separately in the US-based journal Science. Full Story
IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature
IUCN helps develop conservation science, manages field projects all over the world, and brings together players from different domains and sectors to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice.
This work encompasses all types of animal and plant species on the planet; all types of ecosystems – the different types of natural places that exist on Earth; and a wide range of major environmental and sustainable development issues.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
California woman “tunes into” animals
Tonawanda News
Marla Steele admits she thought it was crazy when she first heard about pet psychics. She was a skeptic.
But things started happening that changed her mind. For the past eight years, Steele, 43, has been “tuning into” animals across the country, sharing with pet owners any pain their animals might be feeling or telling them that their deceased pet is content in its next life.
“I think that there’s a bigger spiritual connection that we have with our animals,” Steele explains.
Full Article
Related Site
Marla Steele, Healing with Energy - Office site
Revealed: How the Government studied the paranormal for use in war on terror
Glasgow Daily Record
Secret documents have revealed the MoD have been studying the paranormal and other unexplained scientific phenomenon for use in the war against terror.
The newly released files show that just after 9/11, the Ministry of Defence conducted a research project into psychics - with the possibility they could be used to locate terrorist cells.
Last night saw the UK debut of the eagerly anticipated US TV show Fringe, which takes its name from fringe science, an umbrella term for such bizarre notions as ghosts, UFOs, psychics and invisibility.
The series, from JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost, centres on FBI agent Olivia Dunham and uses paranormal plots following in the X-Files tradition.
Coincidentally, as the show takes off, the truth of just how seriously our Government have taken fringe science is slowly emerging.
As Abrams has said: "Though you could say it's science fiction, the weird thing about Fringe is that a lot of the stuff is at least in the realm of possibility.
Full Story
Secret documents have revealed the MoD have been studying the paranormal and other unexplained scientific phenomenon for use in the war against terror.
The newly released files show that just after 9/11, the Ministry of Defence conducted a research project into psychics - with the possibility they could be used to locate terrorist cells.
Last night saw the UK debut of the eagerly anticipated US TV show Fringe, which takes its name from fringe science, an umbrella term for such bizarre notions as ghosts, UFOs, psychics and invisibility.
The series, from JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost, centres on FBI agent Olivia Dunham and uses paranormal plots following in the X-Files tradition.
Coincidentally, as the show takes off, the truth of just how seriously our Government have taken fringe science is slowly emerging.
As Abrams has said: "Though you could say it's science fiction, the weird thing about Fringe is that a lot of the stuff is at least in the realm of possibility.
Full Story
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