King Solomon's Mines

Jews worshipped in tents on the top of mountains, where god appeared or where his voice was heard, until the first temple was built on a threshing floor where the wheat was sifted from the chaff! This was the citing of the first temple, Solomon, the wisest and richest king of Judah, and the temple had two pillars and it contained 3 rooms, the farthest of which was the Holy of Holies. 

     We know of Solomon’s great wealth, and the mines of gold found in Ophir, of three days travel. The box called the Ark of the Covenant and the golden menorah were said to be just two of the great ancient treasures. The Ark was said to be able to miraculously bring success in war. Maybe at the time of the first temple conquest, it was abandoned, or perhaps taken to Babylon in 586BC. The great magical Ark that brought success in war did not always provide success and Solomon’s Temple was destroyed! Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return to their homeland to rebuild their precious Jerusalem Temple.

This second temple contained the menorah which is said to have been taken to Rome in 70AD when this temple was destroyed and the Jews dispersed. 
How can we investigate these temple sites because there is no evidence for the Temple of Solomon! 

It has been suggested that there was a huge mistake in the names of kings and the dates of this one great building. Amenhotep III was a great 18th dynasty Egyptian king who embarked on a great building spree. The description of Medinet Habu sounds identical to Solomon’s Temple! He built it in Canaan, and he is known to have built on Temple Mount in Jerusalem. 

And here we come to ahi ram of Tyre, the place where the great cedars of Lebanon grew. The Melqart Temple also had courts and two pillars, one of gold and one of green stone. What is most surprising is the cherubim were depicted on the Ark and all over the Temple building, however the Jews are not allowed to reproduce the human form. 

The 10 Commandments were originally thought to have come from Egypt, and many of David’s psalms are almost identical to those from Egypt. 

Was the entire Jewish Bible a fabrication, a jealous god wanting what Egypt had in abundance. 

Charlie Kirk

Hi, this is a stream of consciousness, having watched a good part of the memorial service for Charlie Kirk late last night. It was a mixed bag. Firstly, my criticisms: I feel uncomfortable with religion mixed with politics. Politics adulterates religion and I suspect the manipulation of minds. Sadly, it became a political rally as they used every opportunity to be salesmen for the masses who were there and those watching across the world! There are times when I felt that Charlie Kirk (who as a human being was not perfect - we are all found wanting in the sight of God) yet it was alluded to several times that there were comparisons between Charlie Kirk and Jesus Christ - an exaggeration that is tantamount to hubris, and  adulation. The speakers were trying to outdo each other to praise him in extreme ways. 

The Grail -Two

Extract from The Grail Legend by Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz.

“ The fact that the Grail was considered to be a real object engendered the very widely held belief that it was identical with the vessel known as the Sacro Catino, a bowl, believed to be made of an emerald, brought back as plunder and payment by the Genoese after the seige of Caesaria in 1101. A 16th century Genoese Chronicle in the library at Berne says that the exceedingly precious bowl was called the Saint Graal and that according to some it was a platter Christ had used at the Last Supper with his disciples but that others thought was the vessel from which King Arthur ate, very devoutly at important ceremonies, with the companions of the Round Table. Napoleon took it to Paris, where under expert examination, it was found not to be made of emerald stone at all, but simply moulded glass! 

December Oracle Card Reading

For this month, I have chosen a card from Nature-Speak Oracle by the late Ted Andrews. It is the card of Ice and Frost. It is common for us to lack energy when the weather is cold and this card shows a time of reckoning and preparing for times to come. Patience is required but within this incubation period, a great deal of inner activity is taking place. It might be a day, a week or a month, however long it takes, within time, the ice melts, movement begins again!

Next from Ancient Feminine Wisdom of Goddesses and Heroines by Kay Stevenson and Brian Clark. Her name is Eurynome and she is the powerful Aegean Goddess of Creation who arose out of Chaos. She separated the land from the sky and laid an egg from which all life arose. She heralds the birth of a new order. The serpent that surrounds her body is an omen of renewal. Something can arise from nothing and creative potential often arises from the darkness.



Next is LeGrande Circle & Sideshow Tarot by Joe Lee with the card of the Wheel of Fortune. A card of challenge! Even the most accomplished wheel acrobats must eventually stop rotating and come to balance and rest! We must use the skills we have learned to ride the ever spinning circle of fate and circumstances. Navigate the dizzy turns by enjoying the ride without expectations. Recognise our patterns! The best learning is to see our repetitive behaviour and where it is undesirable, change it for the better. Sometimes, the wheel is spinning so fast, we are unable to see where we are, and unable to make good judgments or come off the wheel when required. We are invited to slow down, assess more, avoid taking uncalculated risks!

Lastly, but not least, a practical card from Magical Messages of the Fairies by Doreen Virtue. The card insists: Get Some Exercise! This is about getting your body strengthened for the year ahead and exercise reduces stress. The fairies dance, run, jump, play and are always active. They keep themselves in good physical shape. It means they sleep well when they are finished with the day. Exercise and good sleep improve every area of life, ie relationships, career, hobbies, etc. You are invited to do physical work today, such as housework, walking, dancing, swimming, yoga, sports! 
Reading by Wendy Stokes visit: https://wendystokes.co.uk

Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind

Mind Body & Soul book post: Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind - The Zen Journal and Letters of an Irish Woman in Japan by the late Maura Soshin O’Halloran, published by her mother upon her early death. 

At a time when female monks were rare, Maura having gained a very good degree at Trinity College, Dublin, studied Zen in Japan and wrote this remarkable and moving journal. Her mother published the journals after her daughter’s death. The name that Maura was given, Soshin means Pure Heart. Waking up to enlightenment requires intense chanting meditation known as zazen. The privations amount to malnutrition, being cold and uncomfortable.She became second in command of the Buddhist Temple and she tended the gardens. Begging was an important spiritual practice for a once a day meal.

Praying the 'Hours'

 Praying The Hours - An Introduction

Praying The Hours provides a rhythm for our days, establishing a rhythm in order to connect with the sacred. Bee is speaking about the Catholic way of praying the hours. The Liturgy of The Hours has changed over time and is sometimes called The Divine Office and within that are the canonical hours (hours that mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals). A book known as a ‘Breviary’ containing weekly cycles of psalms, prayers, hymns, antiphons, and readings which changed with the liturgical season is commonly used.

Bee will be making her own book of hours and is collecting quotes and images that are meaningful for her. In Bee’s favourite book about praying the hours there is a wonderful quote- Meister Eckhart says,

 ’If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is Thank You, it will be enough’

If we just stop what we are doing to say thank you, if we come out of clock time/calendar time to move into sacred time then we’ve done it. A pause is enough.

‘Pete Greig says the reason for praying the hours is to get to know the creator of a hundred billion galaxies’

Let Me Go - A Poem

When I come to the end of the road, And the sun has set for me,

I want no rites in a gloom filled room Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little, but not for long, and not with your head bowed low, 

Remember the love that we once shared, miss me but let me go. 

For this is the journey we all must take and each must go alone.

It’s all part of the master plan, a step on the road to home. 

When you are lonely and sick at heart, go to the friends we know. 

Laugh at all the things we used to do, miss me but let me go.

Convergent & Divergent Thinking

 

There are two types of thinking:

Convergent thinking focuses on arriving at a single well-established answer to a problem. Convergent thinking is used as a tool to problem-solve. When someone uses critical thinking to solve a problem, they consciously use standard probabilities to make judgements. This contrasts with Divergent thinking where several possible solutions are sought.

First Force Field Analysis

Hello! The light in me bows to the light in you! Here are some life tips taken from my old diaries!

Be specific with the following questions. Write the answers down and refer back to them after 1 month:

What one thing would add to/improve/enhance your life?

What are you prepared to do to achieve this?

Is it within your control to get it? What might be the obstacles or not within your control?

How could you sabotage yourself from getting it? 

Will others know you want it?  Will they know when you get it?

Is it in keeping with your standards, judgments and ethics?

Rules for Debate

10 Commandments of logic and debate

1 Thou shall not attack the person’s character but the argument (ad hominem)

2 Thou shalt not misrepresent or exaggerate a persons argument in order to make them easier to attack (straw man fallacy)

3 That shall not use small numbers to represent the whole (hasty generalisation)

4 Thou shalt not argue that position by assuming one of its premises is true (begging the question)

5 Thou shalt not claim that because something occurred before, it must be the cause (post hoc/false cause)

6 Thou shalt not reduce the argument down to 2 possibilities. (false dichotomy)

7 Thou shalt not argue that because of our ignorance, the claim must be true or false (ad ignorantum)

8 Thou shalt not lay the burden of proof onto him that is questioning the claim (burden of proof reversal)

9 That should not assume ‘this’ follows ‘that’ when it has no logical connection (non sequitur)

 10 Thou shalt not claim that because a premise is popular, therefore it must be true (bandwagon fallacy).