mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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One Step at a Time, Self Image
February 11, 2013
— 5 Comments
Typically people want more of everything. Your ability to estimate is very closely related to your ability to execute. Risk has many faces. In the quest to be fit and healthy the biggest risk is burn out. I can say that with assurance because I have observed people in the earnest pursuit of better health for decades. Over this time the offers to remove symptoms have become overwhelming. Drugs, frozen prepaid meal plans, personal coaching, and one of the oldest, but still happening trends, the weight loss shake, are everywhere to assist the starving, overweight population.
In an effort to bypass the moment all systems are switched into deprivation mode. Suffering and tofu must follow as punishment for wild times at the Dairy Queen on the weekend. The disconnect between self image and soul is now almost complete. Confession and penance are the rituals that surround food and eating now. Joy, creativity and community are not in the food pyramid for many people because diet is presented as obsession, and denial of pleasure. The ancestors had to grow, gather, kill, render, store, dry, milk, and otherwise do something very basic in order to eat. They did not concern themselves with the calories contained in the food as much as they did with starvation. They were all constantly involved with the original exercise known as work. They did not drive to a gym or change outfits to do it. They picked up the tools of their various trades and worked physically. If they had a treadmill it was to run something, not to be run by it.
Stephen V Hungary, 21st Great Grandfather
February 10, 2013
— 2 Comments
Crown of Hungary
Royal intrigue was running rampant as the Hungarians worked on keeping the Mongols out of Europe. My 21st great-grandfather was a child king of Hungary. He married the daughter of a Cuman chieftain as had been agreed by the parents. Marrying to secure empire is one of the oldest tricks in the book. The Austrians employed it to great advantage, perhaps picking it up from the Hungarian/barbarian alliances that secured territory and made peace. They royally ran all over the place marrying very well.
King of Hungary Stephen V (1240 – 1277)
is my 21st great grandfather
Daughter of King of Hungary
Daughter of Marie
Daughter of Marguerite
Daughter of Jeanne
Son of Philippa
Daughter of John of Gaunt – Duke of
Daughter of Joan
Son of Duchess of York Lady Cecily
Son of Henry
Son of Henry
Son of John
Son of Francis Gabriell
Daughter of John
Son of Elizabeth
Son of Richard
Son of George
Son of George
Daughter of David
Daughter of Minerva Truly
Daughter of Sarah E
Son of Lucinda Jane
Daughter of George Harvey
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee
Stephen V (Hungarian: V. István, Croatian: Stjepan VI., Slovak: Štefan V) (before 18 October 1239, Buda, Hungary – 6 August 1272, Csepel Island, Hungary), was King of Hungary [1] from 1270[1] to 1272.
Early years
He was the elder son of King Béla IV of Hungary and his queen, Maria Laskarina, a daughter of the Emperor Theodore I Lascaris of Nicaea.
In the second year following his birth, on 11 April 1241, the Mongolian troops defeated his father’s army in the Battle of Mohi. After the disastrous battle, the royal family had to escape to Trau, a well-fortified city in Dalmatia. They could only return to Hungary after the unexpected withdrawal of the Mongol forces from Europe.
Junior King of Hungary
In 1246 Stephen was crowned as junior King and his father entrusted him with the government of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, but the three provinces were de facto governed by the Ban Stephen Gut-Keled. Stephen’s father, attempting to bind the powerful but pagan Cuman tribes more closely to the dynasty, arranged for Stephen’s marriage, as a youth (about 1253), to Elizabeth, the daughter of a Cuman chieftain Köten.
In 1257, Stephen demanded that his father divide the kingdom between themselves and recruited an army against the senior king. Finally, in 1258, King Béla IV was obliged to cede to him the government of Transylvania.
Duke of Styria
Stephen took part in his father’s military campaign against the Styrians, who had rebelled against the rule of the King of Hungary, in 1258. After the successful campaign, King Béla IV appointed him to Duke of Styria.
His government, however, was unpopular among his new subjects, who rebelled against him with the support of King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Stephen and his father started an attack against Ottokar’s lands, but their troops were defeated on 12 July 1260 in the Battle of Kroissenbrunn. Following the battle, the two Kings of Hungary ceded the Duchy of Styria to the King of Bohemia in the Peace of Pressburg.
Struggles with his father
Shortly after the peace, Stephen took over the government of Transylvania again. In 1261, Stephen and his father conducted a joint military campaign against Bulgaria, but their relationship became more and more tense, because the senior king had been favouring his younger son, Duke Béla of Slavonia and his daughter, Anna, the mother-in-law of the King of Bohemia.
Finally, with the mediation of Archbishops Fülöp of Esztergom and Smaragd of Kalocsa, Stephen and his father signed an agreement in the summer of 1262 in Pozsony. Based on their agreement, Stephen took over the government of the parts of the kingdom East of the Danube. However, the two kings’ reconciliation was only temporary, because their partisans were continuously inciting them against each other. In 1264, Stephen seized his mother’s and sister’s estates in his domains, but his father sent troops against him. Stephen’s wife and son were captured by his father’s partisans, and he had to retreat to the castle of Feketehalom. However, he managed to repel the siege and to commence a counter-attack.
In March 1265, he gained a strategic victory over his father’s army in the Battle of Isaszeg. After his victory, he concluded a peace with King Béla IV. Based on the provisions of the peace, he received back the government of the Eastern parts of the kingdom. On 23 March 1266, father and son confirmed the peace in the Convent of the Blessed Virgin on the Nyulak szigete (‘Rabbits’ Island’). Shortly afterwards, Stephen V led his army to Bulgaria and forced Despot Jakob Svetoslav of Vidin to accept his overlordship.
In 1267, the “prelates and nobles” of the Kingdom of Hungary held a joint assembly in Esztergom, and their decisions were confirmed by both Stephen and his father.
To secure foreign support, he formed a double matrimonial alliance with the Angevins, chief partisans of the pope. The first of these was the marriage, in 1270, of his daughter Maria to the future King Charles II of Naples[2] The second alliance was the marriage of Stephen’s infant son, Ladislaus to Charles II’s sister Elisabeth.
King of Hungary
After his father’s death (3 May 1270), Stephen inherited the whole Kingdom of Hungary, although the deceased senior king had entrusted his daughter, Anna and his followers to King Ottokar II of Bohemia in his last will, and they had escaped to Prague before Stephen arrived to Esztergom.
Before his (second) coronation, Stephen granted the County of Esztergom to the Archbishop. In August 1270, Stephen had a meeting with his brother-in-law, Prince Bolesław V of Poland in Kraków where they concluded an alliance against the King of Bohemia. In September 1270 he visited the village Miholjanec, where was discovered an unknown ancient castle and a sword, this sword he got as a gift, in which he and his priests acknowledged the “Holy War Sword of the Scythians” and he saw that he was determined to master the world. He attended the place of the find, where he met a hermit who told him: “Scourge of God”. Stephen also had a meeting with Ottokar on 16th October on an island of the Danube near Pozsony where they concluded a truce for two years.
However, following smaller skirmishes on the border, the war broke out soon after and the King of Bohemia lead his armies against Hungary. Stephen was defeated in two smaller battles, but finally won a decisive victory on 21 May 1271 over the Czech and Austrian troops of Ottokar II of Bohemia. In the subsequent peace the King of Bohemia handed back the fortresses occupied during his campaign, while Stephen renounced his claim to the Hungarian royal treasury that his sister, Anna had taken to Prague after their father’s death.
In the summer of 1272, Stephen left for Dalmatia, where he wanted to meet King Charles I of Sicily, when he was informed that Joachim Gut-Keled had kidnapped his infant son, Ladislaus, and hid in Koprivnica. Stephen was planning to raise an army to rescue his infant son when he died suddenly.
Marriage and children
In about 1253, he married Elisabeth (1240 – after 1290), daughter of a chieftain of the Cuman tribes, they settled in Hungary and had the following children:
Elisabeth (1255 – 1313/1326), wife firstly of Záviš of Falkenštejn and secondly of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin of Serbia
Catherine (1255/1257 – after 1314), wife of King Stefan Dragutin of Serbia
Maria (c. 1257 – 25 March 1325), wife of King Charles II of Naples
Anna (c. 1260 – c. 1281), wife of the Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos
King Ladislaus IV (August 1262 – 10 July 1290)
Andrew, Duke of Slavonia (1268 – 1278)
Ancestry [show]A ncestors of Stephen V of Hungary [ edit] Titles
King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria; Duke of Styria (1258–1260)
I have always loved paprika and the Danube.
Aphrodite, Cupid’s Mother
February 10, 2013
— 17 Comments
Aphrodite
The Greek goddess Aphrodite was born from the sea near Cyprus. Some claim she had parents (Zeus and Dione), others say she sprouted up in the vicinity of the severed genitals of the Titan sky god Uranus. She walked ashore where she encountered the seasons who were beautiful, but had nothing to compare with the loveliness of Aphrodite. She was taken to meet Zeus at Mt Olympus who recognized her striking beauty and the power she wielded with it. He insisted that she marry immediately, and arranged a marriage to his son Hephaestus, blacksmith of the gods. He made her jewelry and even a fabulous girdle that made her even more desirable. She was pure attraction and her husband was busy making all the weapons for the gods, so she had several affairs with gods and mortals.
The Olympian gods took power from the Titan gods. Kronos, the son of Gaia and Uranus (Titans) removed his father’s genitals at his mother’s request and threw them into the sea. The ambiguity about the birth circumstances ( Did she spring up on the scallop shell as an (un?)intended consequence of the disposal of Uranus’ genitals ?) cloud her relationship to the gods of Mt. Olympus. Her full-time job is love, desire, and the attraction that draws people together. This naturally lead her to attract Ares, the god of war, to her bed. She had many children, but none with Hephaestus. Her most well-known child is Eros, also known as Cupid. He too has parentage issues, but some say he is the son of Ares. It reminds me of all those WWII movies in which they are at war, so they fall in love.
Get your red dress out for Valentine’s Day , but give a nod to the mother of all desire. Consider wearing some very sexy sea foam green panties as your foundation.
Lunar New Year in China
February 9, 2013
— 2 Comments
The official political message this year of the Communist leaders of China is curb waste and conserve air quality this lunar new year. Banquets and fireworks are under fire for waste and pollution. The ancestors are featured heavily in celebrations of this holiday in China. The festival begins on the new moon, this year 10 Feb, 2013, and lasts for 15 days. Many Chinese people travel great distances to be at home for this time of year. Fireworks are central to the family party. I am a huge fan of pyrotechnics. I am not attracted to witness displays in China because frequent fires and accidents are the result of unregulated manufacture and distribution.
The practice of making noise to scare away evil spirits is ancient. China produces 90% of the fireworks in the world after inventing them. The original firecrackers were chunks of wet bamboo thrown into a fire. The invention of gunpowder in China around 600-900 AD changed everything. The public and private parties to welcome the Year of the Snake will last for a month. If you want to party with the Snake, clean your house, wrap even numbered dollar amounts in red paper and give them to your family, and do not wash your hair or sweep your house on the first day. You may be able follow up with Lion dancers in your community, and if you are lucky, some fireworks to scare away the evil forces in your life. Good to go.
Moon Dance
February 8, 2013
— 3 Comments
The moon, the way we view it ,and the power it holds have been studied for all of history. The phases of the moon are significant in agriculture as well as business. Lunar calendars were used to measure time until the Catholics went Gregorian on the Euros. Since the Julian calendar , created by Julius Caesar in 46 BC was inaccurate in terms of the planets, the Pope became concerned that Easter was sliding into summer. Catholic calendar year is key to the liturgy practice and costuming. The whole system supporting the Easter Bonnet was slowly slipping away with each new year. Astronomers were hired to deal with the issue. The Greek Orthodox religion uses the Julian calendar now, as do the Berbers, the Ethiopians, and others concerned with historical continuity.
The Pope as a symbol was resisted by the Protestants. The idea that Pope Gregory would now change the way they counted time was not going to go over with the new religions that sprung up precisely to combat Popery. At his death the Vatican treasury was empty, but Gregory XIII had left his mark on time. For this reason the Gregorian style was not adopted at the same time. The Swiss used both calendars simultaneously for more than 100 years. The Catholic cantons adopted it when they got the bull from the Pope in 1582. The Protestants kept the Julian style rather than agree with a Catholic concept. The Protestant cantons gave in to the new calendar in 1700. The canton of St Gallen was the last hold out, continuing on the lunar side of life until 1724. The Chinese succumbed in 1949, but they still use their own lunar calendar.
News from Pope Gregory XIII
Gregory XIII in elaborate Easter Bonnet
Ousameequin Wampanoag, 11th Great Uncle
February 7, 2013
— 7 Comments
Ousameequin Massasoit
The Wampanoag tribe answered to a supreme sachem known as massesoit. When the Pilgrims landed the in 1620 this title was held by my 11th great grandfather. His son known as King Philip waged war with the English between 1675 and 1676. Before King Philip’s War the villages of the Wampanoag Nation stretched from Rhode Island east to Cape Cod and north to Gloucester, MA. After the violent battles were won by the Brits, Mashpee on Cape Cod became the center for native people from the area. In 1685 Plymouth Colony recognizes a deed that stipulates Mashpee as a reservation. Through a series of legal battles the Wampanoag tribe won status from the United States government as a tribe in 2007.
Ousameequin Massesoit Wampanoag (1581 – 1661)
is my 11th great grand uncle
Father of Ousameequin Massesoit
Son of Wasanequin Great Sachem
Daughter of Quadequina
Daughter of Margaret Diguina Oguina
Son of Ruth
Daughter of John
Daughter of Abigail
Daughter of Martha
Daughter of Grace
Son of Sarah
Son of John Nimrod
Son of John Samuel
Son of William Ellison
Daughter of George Harvey
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee
The First Thanksgiving, 1620, was a time of warm feelings and friendly relations between the Plymouth Colonists and the Indians of America. On March 22, 1621, Samoset, an Indian who spoke English appeared on the scene. He once had been kidnapped and taken to London where he learned pigeon English. He helped the Colonists to sow seed and manure the land with fish for a bountiful harvest. He then arranged a meeting between Massasoit, the revered chief of the Wampanoags, a tribe of the Algonoquin Indians, and the leaders of the Plymouth Colony and a Peace Treaty was signed. The Colonists, as hosts at the First Thanksgiving, could speak no Algonguian, the language of the Indians, and the Indians, except Samoset, could speak no English. There must have been much smiling, nodding of heads, pats on the shoulders, and hearty grunting. Of course a three day party where the English shared their new supply of beer certainly was expected to engage many friendships. It is particularly significant that the peace treaty drawn during the feast was never broken during the remaining forty years of Massasoit’s life! From the writings of two of the settlers, Govenor William Bradford and Edward Winslow, as compiled for “The Pilgrim Reader” by George F. Willison: “Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor sente four men out fowling that so we might, after a more special manner, rejoyce together after we had gathered the fruit of our labours. These four, in one day, killed as much fowl as, with a little help besides, served the company almost a week, at which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised out armes, many of the Indians coming amonst us. And amongst the rest, their greatest King, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom, for three days, we entertained and feasted. And they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the Plantation, and bestowed on our Governor and upon the Captaine and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet, by the goodness of God, we are so farr from wante that we often wish you partakers of our plentie.” 2. Various chroniclers at the time of the First Thanksgiving described Massasoit as being very tall and slender, typical of the Wampanoags, “a very lusty man in his best years, an able body, grave of countenance, and spare of speech”. His clothing, or lack thereof, did not differ from that of his followers, “only in a great chain of white bone beads about his neck” and “Behind his neck hangs a little bag of tobacco, which he drank and gave us to drink; his face was painted with a sad, red like mulberry, he was oiled both head and face and looked greasy, a long knife hanging on a lace at his breast was his only weapon”
After such a warm welcome, things went sour for the tribe. Today they want to build a casino, so the legal battles continue for the People of the First Light.
New Age Chakra Dude Teaches Swimming
February 7, 2013
The New Age Crystal Healing People are in Tucson right now for the Gem Show. There are magic wands and crystal bowls of every kind. Miners party with geologists who party with aura photographers. It is a gathering like no other. Between 80-90% of all colored gems in the United States at this moment are in Tucson, AZ this week. Book venders, scarf sellers, and rock hounds are swimming in opportunity to connect at the right level with some merchandise. To connect to the entire show would be like connecting with the entire chakra system in balance. It would blow your mind, and may be impossible. For a taste of all that is New Age travel on over to the Howard Johnson’s on the freeway and go to town. Everything from ethnic clothing to crystal massage wands to magic amulets awaits the diligent shopper.
Valentine for Kali Maa
February 7, 2013
— 3 Comments
The Hindu goddess Kali has protection on her mind at all times. She is one heavily armed vigilant benevolent mother. She has a red tongue to represent our carnal desires, and she prefers red flowers as an offering. Remember Kali at Valentine’s Day because she is the ultimate power ranger of tough love. She can and will make or break you. Understanding the Hindu pantheon will not conflict with your religion, and may bring to light your own relationship with the wrathful mother. You do not have to call her Kali to know who she is.
Kali is the destroyer. Her name is based on the word time. Nothing escapes time. Her job is to shatter illusion. She shows up all blue and naked with weapons and multiple severed heads and arms. She herself has four arms to administer justice. She is intent on the destruction of evil, and like all mothers, teaches her children about evil in doses they can handle. Her protection is essential for the continuation of the universe, but she gets a bad rap. Destruction is only the other side of creation. The birth and death cycle is inevitable. To grasp the power and the glory of Kali you need to see that time is at least as powerful as space. Mother Earth is the ultimate judge. This too shall pass. This year dedicate some red flowers to the eternal protective mother.
Feasting
February 6, 2013
— 1 Comment
Feast is the perfect place to eat an early lunch on Saturday.
Feast in Tucson
Hungry Girl
Quiet table with a view of the mountains
Indochine cocktail
Tasty fresh cocktail with ginger cilantro and whiskey
Kale brussel sprout salad
Krispy kale, sliced brussels sprouts, dates, fried shallots, and more in super salad
Leeks and peppers
I enjoyed the full flavored leeks with a variety of peppers, both hot and sweet
asparagus mushroom waffle
The combo of the garlic crisp waffle with the creamy mushroom asparagus sauce was terrific
Seafood Chowder
Bob enjoyed his creamy chowder.
Shank of lamb
His lamb was cooked perfectly and served beautifully.
no room for dessert
Classy Tucson Dining
The menu changes seasonally so you will always find a new treat in store. A gourmet delight!!
Dream Travel
February 6, 2013
— 3 Comments
Remembering and studying dreams can bring insight directly, and later through contemplation. Flying dreams are interpreted as liberation, although Sigmund Freud considered the flying to be representative of sexual release. Floating dreams are indicative of a total acceptance. Floating is representative of great success through calm and unresisting nature. Struggling to stay afloat either in dreams or in waking life has the effect of disturbing the surface of the water, indicating problems.
I have seen confidence grow significantly when fear of water is conquered and the skill of floating is mastered. Knowing how to stay afloat in water essentially improves our chances of survival. Appearing in dreams floating serenely is a powerful vision of stress free living. We only dream about people we have seen in our lives, although the circumstances may not be similar in our dreams. The content is very ephemeral and quickly evaporates as soon as we wake and begin to move or interact. To capture and study dreams it is necessary to record the memory immediately upon waking. The notes taken upon waking can be used as the subject of meditation or simply reviewed to find trends. With regular practice and the book right next to your bed it is possible to make significant progress into remembering more details as you keep the journal.
Artemisia Vulgaris is an herb used to improve the quality of lucid dreaming. I have used the essential oil for the purpose with good results. A combination of tea and smoking dried mugwort (one of the common names of this herb) before retiring is a traditional blend for inducing lucid dreaming. This herb has been used for centuries to enhance the dream state. The video above mentions a vinegar tonic easily created by soaking the plant in apple cider vinegar. Anyone can make use of these techniques to learn more about unconscious and archetypal players in our personalities.
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