THE DANCER, from The Wanderer, by Kahlil Gibran.

More from my good friend Aladin

lampmagician

As I believe the one we have been given as a gift from the Soul, the Whole, the Almighty, is a part of her soul: the art, to use it and to take the profits of unlimited imagination.

Here, I share a beautiful explanation by Kahlil Gibran on this divine treasure.
From the book; The Wanderer. 🙏💖

Once there came to the court of the Prince of Birkasha, a dancer with her musicians. And she was admitted to the court, and she danced before the prince to the music of the lute and the flute and the zither.

She danced the dance of flames and the dance of swords and spears; she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space. And then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind.

After this, she stood before the throne of the prince and bowed her body before him…

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Bottled Emotions

From Pete

countingducks

Things could have been worse for “Threadbare” Jo, and how often is that true: his morale was protected by his poor understanding of his situation, but even he knew he lived in an affection free zone. Thus it was that our Jo, walked into “The Shop of Love” to see if, emotionally at least, he could re-equip his circumstances and experience a moment of living in the promised land.

This was no sleazy joint where women leaving the gentle slopes of youth might squeeze one last ingénue pose out for the camera, or men with more desire than aura were old enough to cause unsettled comments when they entered a nightclub. No, this was a shop offering the ultimate in emotional experience, if only for a while or possibly just a moment , captured in a corked bottle which could be opened and enjoyed within the privacy of your own…

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Sennedjem; An Extraordinary and Highly Valued Artisan.

More facts from Ancient Egypt

lampmagician

I know I have posted some articles about Sennedjem before (here, here and here), but I believe it is worth returning to this artist of divine Gods and Goddesses again.

One of the most glorious and revealing galleries in Ramses the Great and the Gold of the Pharaohs is the one that holds a single object. It is the outer coffin of the ancient Egyptian artisan Sennedjem, who lived in Deir el-Medina (in Egyptian, Set Maat or “Place of Truth”) during the reigns of Ramses II and his father, Seti I. He was part of an elite group of skilled craftspeople and artists who lived in this walled village on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes and worked primarily in the tombs in the nearby Valley of the Kings. Sennedjem held the title of “servant in place of Truth,” indicating that he was one of…

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Gossip, Rumour, and Innuendo

More from Tallis

Tallis Steelyard

One of the banes of my existence is gossip. At times it feels like the sea in which I struggle to stay afloat. Even if I wanted to stay abreast of the talk there is no way I can commit to memory these ridiculous stories as quickly as others invent them. In the course of an afternoon I was informed that one lady had secretly married to a man half her age, and had been spotted cavorting naked in front of the shrine of a minor demon. Now both of these are possible. Indeed it is even possible that they happened in this order. But I can vouch for the fact that the lady is still married to her husband of thirty years, and that the shrine was demolished two decades ago and the site is now used by the city to store wheat.

Strangely enough, and this may be…

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Federico Fellini in Search of his Shadow and the Collective Unconscious.

My friend Aladin on Frederico Fellini

lampmagician

Honestly, it was a great surprise for me to know that Federico Fellini, the great master of surrealism in movies, was interested in connecting to a psychologist and analysing his psyche. And as Dr Freud’s famous dream analysis was considered, he met Jungian psychotherapist Ernst Bernhard to learn more about himself.

At the beginning of the nineties, in contrast with the academic environment that considered Freud’s thought scientific while rejecting that of Jung, I undertook a study on Jungian thought in Italian literature. An essay was dedicated to Andrea Zanzotto‘s “Mother-norm”. I got in touch with the poet, who told me about the psychotherapy he had undergone for years, and when my book came out, he suggested that I send a copy to Federico Fellini, to whom I had dedicated a few pages. Ernst Bernhard

A major discovery for Fellini after his Italian neorealism period (1950–1959) was the…

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Why do you expect to eat salad in February anyway?

More from ‘You Know Who!

Jim Webster

There is a shortage of salad vegetables in the UK at the moment. Given it is February I suspect my Grandmother would not have been particularly surprised by this. But a modern, environmentally conscious, and wealthy population expect to get everything, all the time.

The problem is that the consumer expects it to be cheap. And this is why we have run into trouble. Before Christmas the big producers (think the Lea Valley Association which produces cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, aubergines, and lettuce in 3,450 acres of glasshouses) had discussions with the supermarkets. The discussion went something like this.

Food producer. “We need to plant now to harvest in February. If we plant now we will need to use £x (where x is a ridiculously large number) worth of gas to produce the crop. Thus the crop will cost £y.”

Supermarket. “Far too expensive, cut the price or we’ll just buy…

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East Wind – Chapter Eleven

11

One morning in early spring Bill awoke up with a single thought on his mind,“I need to go back home my darling,“ he said to a still sleepy Katya, who ignoring Bill’s declaration, shifted her position to straddle him. As she brought him to orgasm as only a member of the transgender sisterhood could, she said nothing in reply. This was when their love for one another was reafirmed, whenever East Wind was at anchor. Nothing else mattered at this precise moment in time to her way of thinking.

An hour or so later while she cradled him in her arms she asked, “Why Norway liebling, why now?“

“All I know is I must return home. But I’m not going without you, Tilde, Buppha and Miki. What do you think?“ Even Bill’s first love, East Wind, creaked in agreement. She wanted to go home as well.

~~~

After rounding the southern tip of the Spanish Peninsula, East Wind heading north to Vigo in the west of Spain, north of the border with Portugal. While Bill and Miki prepared East Wind for entering the notoriously unpredictable waters of the Bay of Biscay, Katya, Buppha and Tilde went ashore for much needed supplies. When they returned, the girls prepared a sumptuous spread, followed later after Tilde had gone to bed by a sight that delighted both Miki and Bill.

Both women entertained their men by dancing intimately together. Each one taking it in turns to be the submissive, allowing the other to briefly explore parts of her body by peeling back a shoulder strap to briefly expose a breast, or by spinning the submissive around, then after lightly spanking her, raising the hem of her dress with one finger to reveal a tantalisingly brief view of what delights lay hidden beneath. Once again they demonstrated to their men who was really in charge of their relationships…

~~~

All aboard breathed a sigh of relief after crossing of the Bay. East Wind’s first port of call was Biarritz in south-western France. From there they sailed north along France’s Atlantic coast to Brest, France’s most westerly port, before rounding the cape that marks the western most point of Brittany and on to Cherbourg. By the beginning of June, East Wind was negotiating her way north via the English Channel and the North Sea.

Vertigo Strikes Again

Wish Pete well

beetleypete

As anyone who suffers from Vertigo will tell you, there are good days and bad days. I have had more good ones for a long time now, as long as I remember to not lie flat on my back in bed, or in the bath. Also to avoid ladders, and anything else that requires looking up for some time, like clearing gutters, or cutting hedges.

Whilst out walking with Ollie earlier, I felt really good. The sun was out, and a cool breeze made walking very pleasant. I decided to finish the walk by going through the woodland, and Ollie was trotting on ahead of me. Something caught my dog-walking stick, and it slipped from my hand into a pile of leaves behind a fallen tree. It seemed simple enough to just lean over the tree and pick it up.

But the next thing I knew, the leaves were in…

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The Far Right In Britain: Fascism and Racism

Mosley’s Blackshirts

beetleypete

In the early 1930s, aristocrat and member of parliament, Sir Oswald Mosely, formed the British Union of Fascists, the BUF. He was attracted by the success of Mussolini and Hitler in Italy and Germany, and disillusioned with democratic politics in Britain. A member of The Labour Party at the time, he did not stand for re-election in 1931, instead forming his neo-Nazi party.

They wore black shirts, and uniforms similar to those seen in Germany. Mosely was a skilled orator, also adopting the straight-arm Nazi salute for hs party, and organising mass rallies and marches that were deliberately confrontational.

Their flag was comparable to some Nazi insignia.

Following the outbreak of WW2, the BUF was banned in Britain, and Mosely spent three years in prison for advocating pro-German sympathies.

By 1958, immigration was becoming a contentious issue in Britain, and the White Defence League was formed, basing its ideology on…

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Showing a leg

More from Tallis

Tallis Steelyard

I love the way that a community will gather round to help when somebody needs support. Thus, when Maljie started experiencing problems with her knee, she was never short of advice and even practical assistance. Certainly there was a general feeling that she ought to have it looked at. Indeed we went so far as to encourage Mord Filch to take an interest in her case. Mord is a damned fine doctor as well as a fine human being. I suppose he has, in some manner, retired. But this merely means he rarely makes house calls and those who knock at his door are never turned away, and he somehow neglects to charge them.

But in Maljie’s case, Mord was happy to make a house call, and expressed a view that there would have to be an operation. Obviously our concern knew no limits. Until this point one or two…

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