mermaidcamp

mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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What is a Milagro?

June 10, 2013 — 2 Comments

Milagro means miracle, and it also means a specific symbol used to make an offering.  Offerings have meaning in the context in which they were made.  Churches around the world have tokens left in hope, remembrance, or gratitude.  In Ted DeGrazia’s Virgin of Guadalupe chapel people have left these symbols for many years.  The oldest chapel I have seen like this has many offerings from sailors that include hats.  It is in Cap D’Antibes, France.  The chapel of Notre Dame de Garoupe is enchanting as well as historic. In Tucson we also have shrines known as El Tiradito and the Virgin shrine at San Javier del Bac Mission:

An offering can be made in nature, in a chapel, or in a garden.  Altars exist in every form.  The meaning is in the heart of the person making the offering. Milagros express hope, faith, and dedication. They tell the history of people’s aspirations, tragedies, and triumphs. The spirit of the place is reflected in the objects left on the altar.  The altar assumes a collective consciousness by making space for all the offerings and their symbolic powers.  It becomes an archive of religion.

Plimouth Grist Mill

June 9, 2013 — 2 Comments

One of the most fascinating displays maintained by Plimouth Plantation is the grist mill.  A recent  acquisition, the mill grinds corn to show visitors how water powered mills made life possible in the colonies. Because the space is intimate the employees can be very helpful and informative.  I learned a lot from my brief visit, and was given some good references to lean more. They employees are very well trained and seem to enjoy working with the visiting public.

John Taylor, 11th Great Grandfather

June 9, 2013 — 2 Comments

 

Rev John Taylor

Rev John Taylor

One of the many preachers in my mother’s paternal ancestry, this reverend John Taylor seems to have helped Henry VIII solidify the Church of England.  I need to go back and study British history, just like the War of the Roses business.  If, indeed, this Rev. Taylor was in cahoots with royal Henrys VII as well as VIII, the tables of fortune turned on his son, Rowland, who was burned at the stake.  Royal and loyal did not always work out for my ancestors.  The preacher theme is passed down all the way to my mother’s grandfather who was a preacher in the Church of Christ in Texas.
is my 11th great grandfather
son of John Taylor
son of Rowland Taylor
son of Thomas Taylor
son of Thomas Taylor
son of James Taylor
son of John Taylor
son of John Taylor
son of John Taylor
son of John Nimrod Taylor
son of John Samuel Taylor
son of William Ellison Taylor
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
I am  the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor

John Taylor (c. 1480 – 1534) was Master of the Rolls of the Court of Chancery from 1527 to 1534, following a successful career as a priest and civil servant. Taylor would have been notable just for the circumstances of his birth: he was the firstborn of healthy triplets who all survived to adulthood, which was virtually unheard of in the 15th century.

King Henry VII met John and his brothers Rowland and Nathaniel in their childhood, and undertook responsibility to educate the three boys if they came to manhood; this informal act, and others like it, later inspired Queen Victoria’s Royal Bounty for Triplets which continued until the reign of Elizabeth II. There is note in the Royal Privy Purse expenses of 1498 “for the wages of the King’s Scoler John Taillor at Oxenford.”[1]

During his lifetime, Taylor donated money towards the building of St. James Church in Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire, the village where he grew up. Construction began in 1517 and was completed in 1533. The John Taylor High School, a specialty science school founded in Barton-under-Needwood in 1957, was named in his honor.[2]

In 1503, Taylor was ordained Rector at Bishop’s Hatfield, and then became Rector of Sutton Coldfield in 1504. He served as one of the Royal Chaplains at Henry VII’s funeral, 21 April 1509, and was afterwards appointed by King Henry VIII as the King’s Clerk and Chaplain-he was later one of the commissioners to decide if Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was valid. In 1511, he was made Clerk to the Parliament.

Taylor was appointed as Archdeacon of Derby in 1515, then as Royal Ambassador to Burgundy and France and Prolocutor of Convocation. In 1516, he was appointed Archdeacon of Buckingham, and was conferred the degrees of Doctor of Civil Law and Doctor of Canon Law at Cambridge in 1520. He was one of ten chaplains present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. In 1528 he became Archdeacon of Halifax.

From 1527 to 1534 he was Master of the Rolls of the Court of Chancery — the presiding officer of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal. This position was the third most senior judicial position in England (after Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice).

References· “Taylor, John (d.1534)”. Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885-1900.1. Notable Bartonians: John Taylor (circa 1480 to 1534)2. John Taylor High School

Source: John Taylor (Master of the Rolls). (2011, September 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:03, October 27, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Taylor_(Master_of_the_Rolls)&oldid=451553336

Spying with Servers

June 8, 2013 — 4 Comments

When we receive the news that servers are being used to analyze our communication there is no reason to be shocked. A wire tap by any other name would smell as foul.  The purpose of big data is big analysis.  If you think technology is virtuous, or if you think it is inherently evil you are missing the point. Every advance in technology has been tried and often improved by spies.  Think of all the magic of James Bond and his low tech super powers.  Does espionage happen because honorable people want to learn more about the activities of their neighbors?  Certainly not.  Defense includes what is classified as intelligence.  If the US declares a war on anything ( drugs, terror, etc) they ride the interstate commerce laws right up into everyone’s business. Our government protects Monsanto and their ilk without batting an eye, because that is the power that is reigning at the moment.

In the spy game everyone wants the coolest and most able spies, but that can’t be possible for every country.  Some will have current tech, and others will rely on ancient systems of corruption to procure data.  Propaganda supports spying as protection of the population.  It is more likely to be protection of a certain status quo. Politics, cartoons, and reality do overlap, gentle readers.

Thomas Armer and the Confederate Conscription

June 7, 2013 — 1 Comment

During the Civil War Thomas Armer was conscripted to serve in the Iron Works at Shelby, Alabama to make arms for the Confederacy.   After the war his entire family moved to Texas with Lucinda Jane and her husband, William Taylor, a veteran who was wounded in the war.  His widow applied for a Confederate pension, just as her daughter, Lucinda, did.  The state of Texas granted both widows pensions to help them survive at the end of their lives.  Thomas donated the land for the cemetery where they are now buried.

Thomas Armer (1825 – 1900)
is my 2nd great grandfather
Lucinda Jane Armer (1847 – 1939)
daughter of Thomas Armer
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of Lucinda Jane Armer
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor

Coniunctio Oppositorum

June 7, 2013 — 3 Comments

The reunification of opposites in alchemy is called Coniunctio Oppositorum. The material is separated in the distillation process.  In the collective consciousness imagery and music exist as powerful actors.  The opposites can be soul and spirit, Republican and Democrat, or just black and white.  Our individual dreams and psyches are influenced by all the opposites in the universe.  It is an act of magic to distill your thoughts and ethical boundaries. It is an act of wisdom to recognize that we are each as magical as the other.

Esther Williams, Feminist

June 7, 2013 — 5 Comments

This woman not only put the roof over the swimming pool, she branded swimming as a sport.  She stood for healthy, powerful female business ethics.  She had some deep understanding of the flow of commerce.  She is my idol.  Thanks, Esther, for all that you did.

Ladders in Dreams

June 6, 2013 — 7 Comments

I have had dreams lately in which ladders and levels have been featured heavily. I have climbed them, but I watch others doing it and taking big risks in most cases.  There is an MC Escher kind of set with stairs/ladders/ split levels leading in all directions.  There is a need to escape the mesh of levels in order to find daylight or reality or some better circumstance.  The dreams have a matter of fact nature, nothing scary or odd. There are different sets and casts of characters, all featuring ladder and or stair climbing.  In the dreams ladders become stairs and vice versa.

Once I noticed the dreams with steps leading up as a theme I brought this into my daytime reality to see where and when I use proverbial ladders.  I do not and did not climb any corporate ladder.  I just had no interest. I own a home with a second floor, where my yoga room and bedroom are private from the rest of the world.  Only two people regularly go upstairs. We need very big ladders to paint or repair our ceiling because of an atrium entry/living room.  I have had repairs done lately and have been contemplating other upgrades to my home that all require ladders.  I went to study soul and spirit and found that spirit is basically always upwardly mobile.  Soul lives in this horizontal earthy plane, while spirit soars or climbs the stairway to heaven. With all this in mind I believe the ladders are an emblem of both care of my path, and a Jack in the Beanstalk style note to self.  Knowing when where and why to go up a ladder is important information.

Climbing for climbing sake has not been my style in this life.  Serving as I go along is my modus operandi.  There are many paths to nowhere and stairways to nothing.  This is only part of the risk one takes when deciding to climb or not to climb.  Often I notice in these dream characters, who do not remind me of real people, the mindless will to climb is related to envy and pity.  They solicit pity for working so hard, taking abuse along the way, then alternately solicit envy for the position they have won.  I know folks who do this in real life without noticing that the ladder is two dimensional. I have unlocked no big secret here, gentle reader.  Working with dreams is a technique anyone can use.  Keeping a diary and writing the details will lead to more insight.  There is no need to analyze deeply or search for big meaning.  Dreams speak softly in very faint language.  They sink into the consciousness over time.

Triberr Makes a Difference

June 6, 2013 — 6 Comments

reflection

reflection

There are few glitches in the Triberr system that bother me. I sometimes fail to notice a problem until after it has been solved. That is why I joined Triber prime. I think the platform that synchronizes posting of blogs for tribal members is the best format/platform/literary soirée for me. Last week something went wrong with my own feed to the system, which was remedied when I noticed my posts had not arrived into he feed process. Members have the option of ignoring the posts, or even of muting all posts if there is no compatibility with the author.  I have become aware of many  bloggers through Triberr.  The fun of international sharing of blogs is a blast for me on a social, intellectual, and experimental basis.  I enjoy sharing what my tribe members have to say.  I learn new things daily from my tribe.

When Triberr is down I  have a much smaller response to my posts.  The random tweeting by my tribal brothers and sisters takes my work to readers I would not otherwise reach.  I think the $10  a month I pay to use all the Prime services is one of the best investments I can make.  It opens doors and shows me new corners of the world. I do feel the difference that the syndication through Triberr has made to my blogging and I am grateful to have the use of such a fine technology. I study my ancestors and wonder how they might have used a system like Triberr to teach and or convince.

Supreme Service

June 5, 2013 — 1 Comment

Sandra Day O’Connor is my hero.  After her long and distinguished career as TFWOTSS ( the first woman on the Supreme Court) she is now teaching and organizing civics lessons for the nation.  Her recognition of the need for this as well as her personal style of presentation make icivics the coolest thing ever.   She is now using all her skills to heal the ignorance of our youth.  She is one smart retired cowgirl.  If light overcomes darkness and wisdom overcomes deceit, Sandra Day is one of the greatest truly public of public servants our country has ever known.  I hope she will have the pleasure of knowing that her teaching has planted healthy seeds in some students’ minds.