Fire and ritual: is it ever good for the environment?

Here in Australia, burning off areas of land is a natural process required to help particular flora germinate into the next season - so long as the fire is controlled.  That was certainly much easier for the Australian environment to take before the bulk of its landscape - particularly here in Victoria was deforested.  Before Europeans settled in Australia, the aboriginal people used to burn off areas of land in order to easily track down animals to eat and thus, fire was part and parcel of how the environment rejuvenated itself each year.  Seeds would benefit from this heat and then germinate in the ashen soil.  Naturally, with the environmental concerns of releasing carbon into the air that we don't need I will - on occasion - find myself guilty of just wanting a good old fashioned bon fire to celebrate a Sabbat.  So: do I post this article to make me feel better about burning a good fire and even a candle?  Maybe a little bit!  It has to make you wonder about the magick of ritual and whether we did use this over the years across cultures to 'put heat under' the germination of our seeds for our crops and trees.

A 4,000 year old fire ritual conducted in the remote village in Kerala in April this year has a positive impact on the atmosphere, soil and other environment effects, according to scientists who are now ready with their findings.

The “Athirathram” ritual held on April 4— 15 at Panjal village in Thrissur district was the focus of a detailed study by a team of scientists led by Prof V P N Nampoori, former director of the International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology.

The scientists had focused on the fire ritual’s scientific dimensions and impact on the atmosphere, soil and its micro—organisms and other potential environmental effects.

The yagna seems to have accelerated the process of seed germination and also the microbial presence in air, water and soil in and around the region of the fire ritual is vastly diminished, according to a statement released by the Varthathe Trust, who organised the ritual.

Read more at The Hindu

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking on SBS1 tomorrow night (8.30pm)

Time Travel - The promise of time travel has long been one of the world's favourite scientific 'what-ifs?'. With the aid of stunning CGI, Stephen Hawking explores all the possibilities, warping the very fabric of time and space as he goes. From killing your grandfather to riding a black hole, we learn the pitfalls and the prospects for a technology that could quite literally, change everything we have ever known. (From the UK) (Documentary Series) (Part 2 of 4) G CC


I believe you can still watch the episode several days after it has aired here

To add to Bird of the Week II - The Hummingbird & How they Feed (new discovery)

 


New high-speed videos of hummingbirds overturn nearly two centuries of conventional wisdom on how they drink.
Researchers previously thought tube-like channels in their tongues sucked up fluid by capillary action. But the new analysis shows that their tongues actually trap nectar by curling around it.
Via Derren Brown Blog
Original Source: Wired

Herbal remedies face licence rule in Europe

I actually think that this is very fair.  The only herbal products that will remain are scientifically proven to be safe, and even then, I managed to buy St John's Wort tablets several years ago without a prescription only to find out much later that it interferes with the contraceptive pill.  No such note was to be found on the bottle itself.  For years we used ginseng to help our memory, but recent scientific findings reveal that it does nothing at all for the memory - so how did it get on the counter in the first place?  At the end of all of this 'the label still will not be able to tell customers if they can be shown to work' which at least is eradicating harmful quantities which are not measured properly.

“Hundreds of traditional and imported remedies on the shelves of health food shops and herbalists are set to be banned under new licensing rules.  The EU directive aims to protect users from any damaging side-effects that can arise from taking unsuitable medicines.  Only high quality, long-established and scientifically safe herbal medicines will be sold over the counter.  Some traders who sell products imported from outside the EU say their business will be hit.  Herbal medicines – with names such as Cascara Bark and Horny Goat Weed – have become popular.  But from the first of May an EU directive will be enforced, under which all such products must be licensed, following fears that some products could cause harm."

Read more at BBC News

via Derren Brown Blog

Saturn's aurora captured on film

A spectacular light show seen dancing across the atmosphere of the planet Saturn is helping scientists understand one of nature's most beautiful and mysterious phenomena on Earth – the northern lights.
See and read more at the Telegraph

The moon is shrinking

Whilst the Earth is warming the moon is cooling from its interior, but this article doesn't state why that may be.  There's no need to worry, the cracks that are forming in the moon won't have it breaking into a million pieces any time soon!

'Like a deflating balloon, the satellite is contracting as its interior cools, scientists believe. The cooling has reduced the radius of the Moon by around 100m in the relatively recent lunar past, evidence indicates.'

Read more at the Telegraph

The most amazing science/humanities website EVER for documentaries!

Steaming Madness have the most incredible documentaries - and the link there takes you to one about the scientific research behind the possibility of a 'divine creator' - too interesting!!!

Interesting article on ESP

There are two truths universally acknowledged about extra-sensory perception (ESP). The first is that the anecdotal evidence is often fun and fascinating to read, whereas to peruse the experimental evidence is as boring as batshit, as our antipodean cousins say, and the investigative methods generally employed would for most of us banish insomnia for all time. We can’t avoid discussing these methods and their results in these entries, but we do promise to be brief and to strive personfully not to ruin your reading experience.


The other truth, which psychical researchers do not deny, is that the term ‘extra-sensory perception’ covers a multitude of apparently paranormal manifestations that are nearly impossible to disentangle. The basic labels are telepathy (literally ‘feeling at a distance’, usually translated as ‘thought transference’); clairvoyance (sometimes called ‘remote viewing’), or psychically seeing things occurring at a distance; precognition, gaining knowledge of something that will happen in the future; and retrocognit­ion, psychically perceiving events in the past, usually revealing details otherwise known to only one or two witnesses. Or to none that are living. Psychically discerning the fate and present whereabouts (if any) of the Ark of the Covenant would count as retrocognition...
 
Read the rest of this article here in the Fortean Times
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More on the Akashic records as mentioned in this article

Smell of jasmine 'as calming as Valium'

"Laboratory tests found the fragrance and its chemical substitute dramatically calmed mice when their cage was filled with it, causing them to cease all activity and sit quietly in a corner. When the air was breathed in the scent molecules went from the lungs into the blood and were then transmitted to the brain.

Feeling stressed? Then go mow the lawn, claims researchBrain scans showed the effect on a chemical called GABA on nerve cells was enhanced by the fragrances and helped soothe, relieve anxiety and promote rest. Professor Hanns Hatt said the results published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry can "be seen as evidence of a scientific basis for aromatherapy"."

Read the rest of the article here.

Evolutionary findings of the week II: Bizarre Deep Sea Creatures found

"The scientists believe some of the colourful and transparent creatures could provide the missing evolutionary link between backboned and invertebrate animals."

Due to copyright restrictions, all images of the amazing sea creatures can only be viewed via this link

A star is born - literally

The pictures of the Carina constellation were taken by the Hubble and were described by experts as looking like a "July 4 fireworks display". It shows a new star being born from within an existing star cluster.  This Hubble Space Telescope image was captured in August 2009 and December 2009 with the Wide Field Camera 3 in both visible and infrared light, which trace the glow of sulfur, hydrogen, and iron.

To read more go to The Telegraph (UK)

New evidence that Cleopatra took her own life instead of snake bite myth

The Queen of the Nile ended her life in 30BC and it has always been held that it was the bite of an asp – now called the Egyptian cobra – which caused her demise.  Now Christoph Schaefer, German historian and professor at the University of Trier, is presenting evidence that aims to prove drugs and not the reptile were the cause of death.  Hope for blind after scientists turn skin into eye cells"Queen Cleopatra was famous for her beauty and was unlikely to have subjected herself to a long and disfiguring death," he said.
He journeyed with other experts to Alexandria, Egypt, where they consulted ancient medical texts and snake experts.

"Cleopatra wanted to remain beautiful in her death to maintain her myth," he says on the Adventure Science show screened by the German television channel ZDF.
"She probably took a cocktail of opium, hemlock and aconitum. Back then this was a well-known mixture that led to a painless death within just a few hours whereas the snake death could have taken days and been agonising."

Cleopatra reigned from 51BC to 30BC and was the last person to rule Egypt as an Egyptian pharaoh. After she died, Egypt became a Roman province. She was an ally of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, and established a relationship with the Roman General Mark Anthony. They had three children together and there are letters that suggest she married him, although both were already married; she to a brother and he had a wife in Rome. In 44 BC, after the assassination of Caesar, she aligned with Antony in opposition to Caesar’s legal heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian.

After losing the Battle of Actium to Octavian’s forces, Antony committed suicide. Cleopatra followed suit, aged 39 on August 12, 30BC.

Text from The Daily Telegraph - posted 29th of June 2010
Image from Full Issue

Evolutionary findings of the week: 'Fossils push back life by 1.5 billion years' - major scientific discovery & Leviathan whale with teeth

TAKING BACK EVOLUTION A FURTHER 1.5 BILLION YEARS

Why not just ad an additional 1.5 BILLION years to evolutionary history upon finding these little creatures which look like miniature brains.

A virtual image from the fossil (left) of what this creature may have looked like

Read the whole article here

LEVIATHAN WHALE DISCOVERED IN PERUVIAN SEDIMENT

An ancient whale the same size of a sperm whale has been discovered of late with huge teeth which could have been an incredible predator capable of eating other animals the size of dolphins and seals.
For more on the sea monster, click here for the BBC's link.

3D image of the moon

I can't get this happening - because I can't 'defocus' my eyes all that well - read the instructions below.

Remember the 1990s craze of Magic Eye posters? Just like those, the spectacular space pictures in this gallery can be brought to life in 3D when viewers use a trick of the eye - with no need for special glasses. Stare into the screen and allow your eyes to defocus. You will get double vision as each eye sees the L & R images separately. Move your head towards and away from the screen until the two middle images overlap. The single overlapping image should be in 3D


via Derren Brown Blog
Originally from The Daily Telegraph

The sound of planets singing

I'm technically challenged and can't get this particular kind of video up!

“This music was recorded by Voyager I and II as they crossed paths with Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. They weren’t captured with a microphone: Audible sound can’t travel through space, so Voyager was listening to the electromagnetic waves around the planets and moons. Waves produced by space phenomena, like the planet’s magnetospheres interacting with the Sun’s radiation.”

It makes for the most beautiful meditation music I've ever heard.

Listen to it by clicking here

Via Witch Child

Ye olde moon

via Bewitching

Druidic Dawn - what is happening to the land with each Sabbat?

This is a really interesting website, where I made a Google search for "Melbourne Beltane" and it came up with

www.druidicdawn.org

This website can tell you what is happening to the land and weather around this time and, well, you can read:

Beltane In Melbourne, Australia - Southern Hemisphere

Sat, 10/20/2007 - 15:29 — Elkie Synopsis:

WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE DURING THIS TIME?

According to the 6-Season Calendar proposed by Alan Reid and modified by Glen Jameson, October is classified as 'True Spring'. This classification continues throughout November, gradually becoming 'High Summer' as December approaches. On the seven-season calendar based on the observation of local wildlife, November is classified as 'Grass-Flowering Season' (see examples below*).

The Skies

Days
Although we get the occasional downpour and some strong winds, the days are mostly mild, with soft showers and gentle breezes. The temperature can climb into the 30’s or sink as low as 10 degrees Celsius, but it’s more often in the 20’s.

Nights
We look North to see Pisces becoming increasingly clear as summer approaches. It actually looks more like a bird than a fish from our hemisphere.

Indigenous flora and fauna

Flowering
*Flowering grasses include Kangaroo Grass, Wallaby Grass, Spear Grass, Tussock Grass and the Common Reed. The Narrow-leaved Peppermint (Eucalyptus radiata) flowers from October to January. This tree, which grows up to 30 metres in height, gives off a strong peppermint fragrance, hence the name. It has thin, weeping leaves, white flowers & small cup-shaped fruit. Then beginning in November the Victorian Christmas Mint Bush (Prostanthera lasianthos) exhibits its white flowers, which are spotted with orange and purple. (We have one near our Grove). Blooming through spring to late summer is the Black Wattle, with its pale yellow blossoms and also the Rainforest and Soft Crane's Bill. The Common Raspwort, Astral Brooklime, Yellow Wood-sorrel, Slender Knotweed and Water Pepper flower through to autumn. Tall Lobelias flower from November to March in damp areas. Blanket-leaf daisies flower in November & December and can be seen in cool forest gullies.

Animals and Fish
Holes appear as bandicoots dig for grubs and echidnas search for ants.
As in days of old, fishermen use the flowering of the Coast Tea-tree in early November to mark the entry of the Snapper into the Bay.

Birds
White-browed scrub-wrens with their harsh, raucous calls can be seen and heard at our local Reserve along with Rufous Whistlers and Crimson Rosellas. Baby rosellas are losing their green birth feathers, as their chests redden. Many birds are moulting. Gangs of cockatoos roam the area. Shortly after the Spring Equinox, the pair of ravens that share our part of the world, bring their babies down from the forest. Then for the remainder of the year, we are entertained with the antics of these youngsters. Powerful owls hatch around Beltane.

Reptiles & Insects
Snakes & skinks are becoming more active. Imperial white butterflies fly around the mistletoe, and scarab beetles cluster around the streetlights.

Compiled by Elkie