Warmest Year on Record: 2023 “October—All Over”? No Chance as Angels Are With Us

WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD: 2023 “OCTOBER—ALL OVER”?-NO CHANCE AS ANGELS ARE WITH US

Bahamian Hurricane Rhyme Stirs Us Creative [sometimes Insecure] Writers from Our Subterranean Slumber, Shoots us like Goddess Pele’s Lava Fountains into Real World

“June—too soon; July—stand by; August—come it must; September—remember; October—all over”

Traditional Bahamian hurricane rhyme, now weirdly outdated by 2023 temperatures & solar activity

Coronal Mass Ejections [CMEs] Still Corrupting Earth’s Weather

If we thought the month of October would bring cooler weather—technically a month after official “fall”—autumn equinox, September 23rd—we earthlings have been proved wrong, again.

Northern hemisphere temperatures continue to blast hot days [& not-so-cool nights], even though some areas of New England and northern Scotland are experiencing the beauty of falling leaves and changing colours in coastal woodland and montane forests.

CMEs which began last month-9/11-with a direct hit on Earth September 19th, have been plaguing distraught scientists who issued warnings to stay indoors.

But magnificent #AuroraBorealis, top, has tempted viewers outside from Arctic circle [Reykyavik, Iceland] thru the British Isles, & as far as Michigan-Keweenaw Peninsula,MI above top rt. Photo l. courtesy NASA

U.S.-wide memorials to those lost 22 years ago in New York’s 9/11 attacks on World Trade Towers, 2001, were accompanied by earth-wide explosions [Marrakech prefecture Morocco where earthquakes rendered 2100 people dead, but spared the local Mosque] & floods in Greece & Turkey caused by unusual weather swings. Some southern U.S. states [Nevada, Texas & parts of CA border w/Mexico near Tijuana] also suffered, but first responders—geared up after last month’s flooding at Burning Man, at Black Rock, NV quickly restored order. Turkish/Moroccan authorities are still at work clearing rubble.

Historical Examples of Celestial Intercession bring Peace to Many

Following Hawai’i’s tragic loss of life in the August 8/8 Làhainà fires on the island of Maui—sparing the local church building—and last month’s Marrakech earthquake where the local mosque was untouched, many have compared such unusual anomalies within destruction with the horrendous bombing in WWII by the Allies of Germany’s Kölner Dom—Cologne Cathedral on the River Rhein/Rhine—below, which remained standing while all around was bombed to bits.

Begun in 13thC on a sacred site of previous Roman worship, the Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus,[Cathedral Church of St.Peter] is the highest twin-spired church in the world at 515ft/157m.

Construction began in 1248 on an edifice which was to house the reliquary of the Three Kings and also to be majestic enough for a Holy Roman Emperor. But work stopped and it was left unfinished c.1560. Attempts to complete construction began again in 1814 and a protestant Prussian overlord injected major funding in 1840s. The façade was completed to the original medieval plan in 1880.

In 1996 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Significantly, its original medieval name, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, has ties to other northern nations like Anglian Northumbria, Celtic Brittany and Kernow/Cornwall-with influence in Anglesey, Wales and Ireland. Its Prussian overlords not only injected much-needed funding to complete the building, but effectively re-translated its medieval [Roman] catholicism to protestant worship; thus keeping it more in line with original 8thC non-partisan [though aligned with Rome] Pictish kingdom of Peterkirk monarch Nechtan, who pulled his nation out of heathen darkness into Christian light with his stone “Fite” kirks.

In Ortelius’ revealing map of Scotland [Britannia Minor]! 1595-1612, mention is made of tribes Caledonii, Attacotti, Maetae and Venicones-viz. Tacitus.

By making the Grampian Mountains [Graupius mons] stretch from Firth of Tay as far N as Ross & Cromarty, however, he may have misled many historians to think Calgacus‘ battle of Mons Graupius happened in Morayshire! Some still do!

N.Britain—Roman ‘Ultima Thule’ Beyond the Wall—Back of Beyond

Historically Scotland—Ortelius’ ‘Britannia Minor’, above, and Hadrian’s Legions’ ‘Ultima Thule’ is a prime example of map-makers’ guesswork, in the absence of real on-the-ground discovery/exploration.

Tacitus, writing A.D.98 on the life and character of his father-in-law, Roman General/Governor of Britain Julius Gnaeus Agricola A.D. 77/78–83/84, described the tribes of North Britain—Caledonians—as heathen tribes of warriors in a country few of his contemporaries knew existed. At the time Caledonia was split into two divisions: Dicaledonii ruled by Pictish kings, in Moravia [Moray] and Veniconi & Taexali in Mar & Buchan [Aberdeenshire].

Solitudinem faciunt Pacem appellant
They create a Wilderness and call it Peace—

Calgacus exhorting his Caledonians before Battle of Mons Graupius AD83

Roman Walls of Hadrian & Antonine built to Control ‘Warlike’ Picts

Roman legions—with their military god Mithras leading them north into unknown territory—were quick to destroy any signs of Pictish bull-worship which conflicted with their own pagan god Mithras’ birth— Hellenic pagan Mithra born under the sacred tree of life already bearing arms, able to ride (and kill) the mythic life-giving cosmic bull whose blood fertilized all vegetation. Pictish Class-I carved bull stones, viz. Burghead‘s 32 iconic guardian stones, were automatic casualties. One remains in British Museum. Others—thrown in the harbor—are still “missing”.

One intriguing reference from Roman authors following legions’ forays into Britannia Minor was that the Pictish citadel of present-day Edinburgh Castle, Braun Hogenberg 1581-8 map above, lower l. was the Castrum Puellarum, ‘Citadel of the Virgins’ or ‘Maidens’ Castle’ c.f. Maiden Castle, Dorset, ABD Maiden Stone. While the Aberdeenshire & Dorset icons refer to P-Celtic/Brittonic Mai-duinn=morning [ABD Maiden Stone casts no shadow at noon, but acts as sundial both a.m. & p.m.], the Castle in Edenbvrg was actually used by Picts to board up their young virgins while they went into battle, because the fortress was impregnable/safe.

It was a safe stronghold for other princesses. King Malcolm III [Canmore]‘s widow, Queen [later St.] Margaret of Scotland used it for her refuge after his death, A.D. 1093.

Other notable features of the capital city are: ‘High Street’, top, now the ‘Royal Mile’- its exact length; the town gate, bottom, near ruined Abbey of Holyrood; whose guesthouse was later transformed as official residence of the monarch in Scotland—the Palace of Holyrood House.

Also of note in Mercator 1595 maps, above top l.+rt. inset, Loch Ness is clearly marked with an opening to the North Sea on Moray Firth—today only accessible to boat traffic via man-made Caledonian Canal.

With Angels & Saints in our Corner, How Can We Lose?

Even in this 21stC age of materialism where the ‘Almighty’ is the dollar on the ground, rather than a spiritual presence from ‘Above’, thankfully there are moments of personal Revelation when a door—or a new path—opens up, where we thought there was no way forward.

But we gotta believe ❤ for it to happen.

Prime example of human belief in a higher power & fortitude when all light seemed dim, three pioneers stepped into a void on a beach on the Moray Firth [now considered part of Aberdeenshire, Scotland] in 1962 to follow their dream, and the spiritual community/ecovillage of the Findhorn Foundation began.

Dorothy Maclean, 1920-2020, pic.4 Canadian gardener communicated with the Devas, spoke to sweet peas and the pea fairy while she worked, was co-founder alongside her Brit friends Eileen Caddy who meditated while on the toilet in her ‘fifties blue caravan, far rt. above, with her ex-RAF husband Peter Caddy, a WWII vet. They all shared a dream of international peace. And growing their own veggies.

When their first year’s garden produced cabbages of such enormity that they could feed an army, all three realized they’d touched base with the ‘Great Spirit’—the Angels [FF member Joy Drake’s angel cards above 2nd l.]—and Universal Consciousness.

The Universal Hall was built [lower l.above]. Dorothy returned to die there, March 2020.

And the rest is history.

Findhorn Foundation celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, 2022. Winding down its workshop syllabus was chosen by team residents after the Sanctuary burned 2021.

Resource People Around the World

While it is tragic that Findhorn’s spiritual workshop initiative & on-site teaching seminars have come to an end—its last hands-on event was September 22, 2023—the Foundation continues with help from its RPs-[Resource persons] who have spent long periods at its Ecovillage on the Moray Coast.

My first RP Gathering in 1988 as one of their worldwide network [am current RP for U.S.A.Hawai’i-Hilo] was the first where they were proud to be represented by spiritual practitioners in over 40 nations in the world. At that time I was resident in [& RP for] nearby Aberdeenshire-not too onerous a task. ❤

While this news of the Foundation’s last workshops may disappoint many, to me it seems only natural—in a 21stC milieu of extremes [poverty & riches; poisonous & organic; death & life miracles] that on one level they’re returning to the simple life in the blue caravan on the beach overlooking Findhorn Bay.

More sad news:last week iconic 300-yr old ‘Robin Hood’ sycamore featured 1991 Kevin Costner movie at Hadrian’s Wall National Trust Northumbrian WorldHeritage site was chainsawed/vandalized.

Police have held & released two suspects & continue to investigate reason for such vandalism on a special tree, beloved & visited by thousands.

One thing amid uncertainty: Nature always survives, Of that we are certain: Angels are still with us all—Creative Writers/Artists; first responders; ditch-diggers; television & movie strikers & production teams. Thank you, @SGA Hollywood for recognizing screen-writing talent; & thank you, Universe & Angels & Great Nature Spirit-we’re all still here. And we believe. @AAM @cleopasbe11 @siderealview ©2023MarianC.Youngblood

Ancient Calendar More Accurate Than Ever—Harvest Lammastide—When Nature and Heavens Sparkle & Entice

ANCIENT CALENDAR MORE ACCURATE THAN EVER—BACK-TO-THE-LAND ETHOS—MOTHER EARTH GUIDES US HOOMAN (Insecure) WRITERS, ARTIST-CREATORS, MUSICIANS, COPS, HOSPITAL & CONSTRUCTION WORKERS & esp. FARMERS

FIRST WEDNESDAY BLOGMOBILE ROLLCALL from COSMOS for WRITERS to EXIT LAVATUBE HIDEAWAY & GREET ANCIENT LUGHNASADH/LAMMAS & HER PERSEID METEOR SHOWER SHOOTING STAR PARADE

SIRIUS Summer Dog Days Predict H₂O, PERSEID & η-AQUARID Meteors💥

There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more

George Gordon of Gight, Lord Byron, died 1824 aged 36

Castle of Gight-on-Ythan original separate Gordon stronghold, part of adjoining Haddo Estate holds festive children events with blessing of Lord & Lady Haddo

August has traditionally had pride of place in European culture. Normally frozen like Juneau, AK at same latitude 58ºN, this year northerners join Mediterranean nations basking in unaccustomed warmth of Gulf Stream marvels carried relentlessly from Florida and Bermuda to reach beyond Iceland, Faroes, the Baltic, to Archangel & Nordkapp.

Sunspots Kindle Britain/Europe’s Hottest-Ever Temperatures, Pacific El Niño

An unusually large CME—coronal mass ejection—caused when a large sunspot curves round to face Earth during solar maximum—featured first week August in Washington State’s far NorthWest territory bordering Canadian Vancouver Island’s whale migration route—folk memory or consciousness trigger?

Mud Lake, WA rt., unusual Aurora latitude 47ºN—same as St.Michael’s Glastonbury tor, Newport, Bath, Somerset, Glamorgan & Roman market town Caer Gwent Chepstow, S.Wales—all with music festival Severn-estuary-related connection2 subterranean faultline hotsprings in Somerset & Brittany—seemed to send a signal last week from the Heavens—Aurora Borealis usually a feature of winter skies—to festival party-goers excited to return to mask-free music in Britain, Berlin, Monte Carlo, Miami, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Monterrey, London’s SouthBank Centre and NYC’s Central Park.

Stormy Times Call4 Stormy Measures—Can WiFi Forestry Replace Corn Dolly-Clyack Sheaf

All along Scotland’s North Coast—Aberdeenshire, Moray Firth, former Banffshire, traditional inshore fishing boats like this oak vessel in Gamrie Bay plied waters from Peterhead to Elgin, Black Isle, Highland Fault-Glenfeshie-Caledonian Canal ©G.Robertson

From birth in the Ocean on ancient Pictish Burghead Fortress’s North Shore beach, STORM is daughter of a long tradition of Clavie-burning crew of Fire Festival-every-Quarter men & youths who shoulder a burning barrel of tar, below rt. around the coast town dispensing gifts of charred oak to residents, then hoist it to Doorie fire altar on fort’s highest rock to smoulder and burn, saving one ember for next time.

STORM, the gigantic puppet robot doll made entirely of environmental waste, is THIS WEEK gracing Edinburgh’s groovy Festival Fringe with her unique presence. Joint Creators Trees for Life, Glenfeshie, Invernessshire original Findhorn Foundation spin-off guru Alan Watson-Featherstone’s 30-yr forest, and Vision Mechanics Storm’s creators, are together spreading the word on #NewAgeConsciousness & tree-planting

Sunspot Triggers Summer Aurora & Pacific Tropical Storm Stevo

Across the pond, Hawai’ians pride themselves—nay boast—of another goddess: higher-than-Everest 29,000ft Mauna Loa (calculated to snow-covered peak from deep ocean floor). She’s a hurricane-buster, famed for side-swiping every ocean impediment that comes her way—Pele-speak for local goddess’s near-miraculous ability to redirect storms north and rain south away from her unique mountain home. Goddess Pele conspires with brother El Niño & volcanic sisters worldwide to spew lava when and wherever possible over machine/mechanical devices to make us (hoomans) wake up!

Ten years ago I was able to post an El Niño video without hassle—they want premium content now 😦

Check out how Pele’s volcanic brethren either side of the Equator are holding our oceans steady in August 2022 on run-up to 8/8 Lionsgate. CMEs turn on a switch. Voilà volcanic mayhem worldwide as Stromboli, Vesuvius, Etna, Sangay Ecuador & Kyushu’s Sakurajima react to Lammas sunspot activity. Twin-sis Mauna Kea spouts from her lava tube in Hawai’i Volcanoes NPS temporarily CLOSED, hoping sunspots & Perseid meteors will slow later in month for reopening. Meantime Big Island virtual pix…

Perseid meteors sparkle to Earth from their vortex in Algol’s binary eye of Medusa clutched in heroic hands as Perseus rescues Andromeda from Cetus, the Whale, below rt. Sirius Canis major rises East to bring breathless Dog Days, the Nile bursting its banks to flood Luxor during hot rainless dry nights.

Appropriately, Guatemalan Elders have known for decades that human ascension predicted by their ancestors has already begun. Daykeeper Hunbatz Men, modern Elder of the Guatemalan Maya, foresees no apocalypse, but encourages deep meditation and generosity to trigger joy & gratitude in a thankless world. Similarly, Islam uses prayer and gift-giving as a discipline.

Signs of the [End] Times or Birth of a New Age?
Judaic scripture [Revelation uses sacred numerology and dramatic descriptions of the Rapture and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—war, pestilence, famine and death to symbolize the End of Days.

Arab sacred texts repeat the need for constant prayer by the devoted in order to be saved. The Maya believe that sharing their higher understanding handed down by their elders from the time of their Ancestors will save the human race from itself. Maya wisdom says the New Age began four years ago.

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Ailkey Brae, above bottom left, is classic example of 5,000 years squeezed into Lammas week: Aikey Horse Fair, held as recently as 1980s on the harvest stance below Aikey Brae Recumbent Stone Circle [RSC] twins with Culsalmond, at entrance to Glens of Foudland—also RSC territory—where on St.Serf’s day in July, tradition held St. Sair’s Fair on the “market stance” field of Jericho next to its [ruined] RSC. Biblical refs aside, St. Sair was patron of Colpy, sanctified annually at neighbouring Williamston well.

Burning Man, Combine Harvesters, Plant New Trees for Old Times

Meanwhile Black Rock in the Nevada Desert, two hours North of Reno, fave tent-city for Burning Man l.above, long before Covid, will run again mask-free this year August 28-September 5th-a post-pandemic event: main tickets $575—$100 more than in 2020. Tents, camping, food vendors festival materials included.

If you are shivering in goosebump land because of Jack Nicholson’s 1980 psychological thriller, The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1977 Stephen King novel, you are wise to keep head down, windows closed as your campervan screeches into high gear mounting 7,000-ft Donner Pass. Kubrick moved King’s Overlook Hotel to Washington state to avoid clash with the real Overlook, which will accommodate late festival-goers as spare camping back-up. Nightmare city!

FIRING-THE-GRID IN FEBRUARY 2023

While we’re staying cool and hydrating hourly through this heatwave, it’s good to plan ahead for a world super-togetherness event, Fire-the-Grid2 February 21, 2023. World meditation focus on that day will peak at the moment of 11:11a.m., so plan to be seated, safe in your comfort zone ready to feel joy—biblical rapture—for minimum five minutes by 11:07. The Universe is giving you four minutes to prepare.

Agriculture Adaptable to ReNew-able/ReOldie-Wayz

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Sentimental throwback time, above :agriculture eclipsing summer in winter: Kirkton of Bourtie top, farm steading in winter of 1981 later converted to posh modern (granite) house complex; lower: RSC same farmer’s field with summertime barley bales rolled like missing megaliths against midwinter sunset in S.W. Kirkton of Bourtie stone circle, glimpsed from the Old Manse.

TRADITION LINGERS IN THE OLD WORLD

Traditionalists are still rampant in Europe—nay Colonialism never died. Countries bordering the former “Silk Road” were affected by opening of the Suez Canal, Qanātu as-Suways, 1859, linking the Red Sea & Mediterranean, as 1500 years of travel became a short 120-mile ocean hop, skip & jump between the North Atlantic and southern Indian Ocean.

Egypt is main beneficiary, as water level—Nile linked to SIRIUS rising—became controlled: only loss was having to re-site iconic Abu Simbel temple to higher ground. Ethiopia, Iran and Arabian Gulf nations boomed as the Red Sea dried up.

With such history of drought & water-consciousness, it’s satisfying to watch Saudi ingenuity triumph in the desert. Snaking for 100 miles from Red Sea shoreline, construction on the wondrous temperate-climate-controlled triple level high-rise mirrored city, THE LINE has begun. Two sub-levels house train track & infrastructure, leaving street level for glass-enclosed gardens, theatres, offices, 24-hour restaurants, recreational pools, sports arenas and a 100-mile shopping complex.

No cars or trucks. Completion is due 2030.

Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 115-mile solar-mirror city as high as Empire State building 1500ft but only wide enough to accommodate 100-mile high-speed rail track-no cars or roads-for nine million residents who have a five-minute walk through mirrored gardens and orchards for their morning cup of coffee

All Stops Out for Dream Concepts & Dealing with the HEAT

THE LINE Saudi dream-city makes for interesting contrast.

Proposed as robotic-press-button permanently cool, totally-enclosed 100%-temperature-controlled habitat along a new RedSea-DeadSea highway, The LINE will bring artificial light-cum-air-conditioning where only camels plodded before. Unlike the Saudi rail link which serves Mecca from the coast during annual Hajj for Eid gift-giving after the Ramadan fast, the LINE breaks new ground, heads for mountainous terrain where shopping, walking, pool-dip coffee-klatching become the norm over minaret calls, mosques and touching prophet Mohammed’s A.D.605 Black Stone.

Veteran Song Circle/Fire Festival Traditions Bring Communities Together

STORM,robot sea goddess walking from NE Scotland’s Burghead Pictish 8thC stronghold in Moray Firth last fall’s COP26 Birmingham 2021 ecological summit; tree-planting forest walk this week to Edinburgh Festival Fringe

If the thought of camping out in mud-soaked portaloo-contaminated rain-drenched fairground conditions in Reno NV, top, gives you goosebumps, think again.

Those running the show have learned from past Music Festivals—Newbury, Glastonbury, Big Sur, Woodstock, to current Leeds, London’s LLCM Meltdown Festival & 4 Scots fans THIS WEEK Edinburgh Festival Fringe— do your own thing—be gentle with the Earth, our Mother—plant a tree yourself—Add your 21stC futurist consciousness—and a donation—2Storm & the Forest

Beyond Uranus or Back Underground in Writers’ LavaTube Hideaway

NASA’s recent launch of its James Webb telescope reveals unprecented images of Uranus, top middle left—in my oldie-but-goodie mind joining V.ger and Spock in that uncharted area beyond the Solar System called the Kuiper Belt—Spock-Speak image top middle rt. Alien Klingon ‘wessel’ ditching in San Francisco Bay, Spock in white, Scotty in charge of whales—movie Star Trek IV the Voyage Home.

If URANUS’ moons and her vertical axis [c.f. Saturn and Jupiter on the horizontal] delight and inspire you to plant another garden in the Earth—from above or below—go for it. Plant up a storm

The gardening Caledonian pine tree-planter in me wants to stay topside all the time. But my writers’ Muse is a stickler for personal discipline—that’s freedom in subterranean #lavatubespeak!

8/8 LionsGate this week & Lammas goes on for another three. Enjoy. ©2022Marian Youngblood

Survival: Celebrating Spring the Insecure Writers’ Way

MONTHLY IWSG GET-TOGETHER

Darth Vader snow sculptures help relieve ongoing weather stress

Spring has sprung
Da grass has riz
I wonder where da boidies iz—

Da boid iz on da wing—

Dat’s a funny t’ing
I t’ought da wing wuz on da boid—
Ain’t it absoid?
attributed c.1940 to Two Black Crows

Writerly Guilt
While weather is usually a poor writing subject, we may be forgiven this month for waxing eloquent on continuing and (apparently) continuous freak weather circling the globe. If my writing suffers, blame the Cosmos, IWSGers. Or alternatively pleeeeze lay blame where it is due: at door of our long-suffering Cap’nAlex.

Spectacular aurora borealis mirror accelerated CME solar activity

Were we of less hardy FANTASY Sci-Fi stock—blame that on our fearless Ninja leader, too. Space Captain Alex has a wizard A—Z challenge on Cult Classics—oooo 😉 this month—
—And I am not forgetting all my [non-sci-fi but hugely scary] fellow insecure buddies here on the First Wednesday—we might hide our heads in metaphorical sand and write on.

There are, however, unforeseen dangers in the cosmic waters ahead.

SOLAR WIND INCOMING—Man All (Earthship) Decks
Last week’s coronal mass ejection was deflected by a freak shift in our father, Sol. This week’s CME is coming straight at us.
Duck.

Last week’s CME missed us—deflected at last moment by Earth’s radiation shield. This one won’t miss. Solar Wind Incoming. Electromagnetic image courtesy SOHO

Coronal holes are places in the sun’s atmosphere where the magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape. In the extreme UV image, right, curved lines trace the sun’s magnetic field. Arrows indicate the flow of gaseous material (solar wind) out of the deep-purple coronal hole.

Because this coronal hole crosses the sun’s equator, the solar wind it spews is likely to hit Earth squarely this time—no misses. ETA: April 2nd or 3rd.

Italics and Earth Warning message are entirely those of SpaceWeather, but we might be prudent to prepare for a little more than pretty aurora ovals… just sayin’…

Nightly dose of cosmic fireballs add sparkles

Within the inner solar system, left, all fireball orbits intersect at a single point–Earth. Orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue)

And, in case we were wondering if life can throw any more at us, enJOY the magnificent total lunar eclipse, Saturday morning, April 4th, sky watchers in the USA can see a brief but beautiful occultation of the Moon. Totality will be visible from Mexico, western Canada, across the entire Pacific Ocean, Australia, Indonesia.

Earthship or Jefferson Airplane? Home is Best
When all around are losing theirs———I don’t have to repeat favorite poésie to my erudite IWSGers to capture the mood.

When in doubt, do what Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin said a long space-time ago—with Big Brother and Holding Company and many of us singing along— in a famous long-ago song:
Keep Your Head.

Thanks, as ever, Alex, for letting me “rabbit’ on. 🙂
Happy skywatching. Easter-Passover has never had it so good.
©April 2015 Marian Youngblood