Ongoing Correspondence with Jacqueline Lichtenberg

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I find it very interesting that Jacqueline Lichtenberg has responded once more to a post of mine with respect to her Sime-Gen novels. I shouldn't be surprised, however. It actually is very much 'in character' for her to do so. She always has reached out to her readers and other potential writers alike, not so much in order to promote her own work but to inspire others to write and create, to JOIN her in her creative efforts.

I am copying her response below, but I will answer her question here. I believe in the power of the printed word and if anything, the internet and the technology of the personal computer (and related systems) has empowered writers in a way that hitherto was impossible to all but the rich or those with a source of funding.

Book publishing no longer is monopolised by a few firms who specialise in printing and distribution. ANY ONE can publish a printed book now. 'Printed book' in this context should not conjure forth visions of pages organised in an amateurish binder similar to that created for a thesis at University. I am speaking now of REAL books, with proper bindings, some of which are well-illustrated.

The 'Kindle' is an interesting toy, in my view. Like any other system of its nature, it will become outdated quickly. The owners either will be forced to update frequently or actually buy a new system within a year or two. I have considerable experience with gaming platforms and have seen how the GBA was replaced with the GBA SP, then the DS, the DS Lite and now, the DSI. Nintendo, who created ALL those systems, has had the grace and decency to make them 'backwards-compatible' until now. With the DSI, finally, they have broken with their own tradition, sad to say. Any one who buys the new system will not be able to play old games on it.

Individuals who are not involved with gaming may have had comparable experiences with their IPods or Zunes. Constant updates and 'improvements' force consumers to purchase new versions of these systems.

The Kindle is a transient platform. A book is as permanent a format as we have in our society, apart from carving words on stone or marble.

I worked in the field of book publishing in London and in the States, but writing game guides has taught me something else about contemporary publishing. We who use the internet constantly tend to exaggerate its sphere of influence. Having written over 100 game guides published by IGN (Fox) on the internet, I sometimes lose sight of the limited reach that these guides have. Yes, I have readers from every continent and received hundreds of emails daily from gamers, but these players only represent a percentage of the total number of gamers. That is why printed 'Official Strategy Guides' continue to sell. Furthermore, the printed guides will outlast all of the internet guides I have written unless some one converts my guides to print.

It is easy enough to tell some one to download and print a document from the internet, but that requires a printer, paper, ink AND time. Nonetheless, people tend to prefer printed words to the words displayed on a screen. Furthermore, at the end of the day, I believe that any one who wishes to have a permanent copy of a book would prefer to pay for that book to be bound properly.

That having been said, I know quite a few writers who have published their own books in professional format. Amazon and other outlets actually organise the printing and distribution. The writer simply sends the material in the format desired. I would urge Jacqueline Lichtenberg to consider something of this sort rather than relying upon the Kindle or any internet link that offers a download to prospective readers.

Yes, computers in the home are far more prevalent than they were a decade ago, but a large percentage of those who have computers at home use them only for email or for their accounting. They do not download books. Many of them wouldn't have a clue how to go about it.

As far as the 'next generation' of readers is concerned, computer literacy is taught in every school now, but all of the teenagers I know read printed books and use their computers for IMs or school research. They do not WANT to read books on a screen...

One need only recall the incredible success of the very lengthy Harry Potter novels with readers of ALL ages to realise that printed books STILL are a desirable commodity. Children, teens and adults queued up outside bookshops hours before a new Harry Potter novel was due for release in order to buy a copy on the very first day. They were hardcover, expensive novels and they SOLD. In similar fashion, the 'Twilight' series by Stephenie Meyer and Erin Hunter's 'Warriors' series have sold very well in hardcover form.

Use the internet by all means to promote the Sime-Gen series and network with other writers, but find a way to PRINT the books at a reasonable cost. If you do not wish to organise that aspect of it yourself, I would expect that there are countless writers' groups and small publishers who would be more than pleased to assist in this project if the behemoths of the book-publishing world are too short-sighted to involve themselves. The reputation of any small publishing venture would be enhanced greatly if it were to produce a new edition of these Classics as well as new novels in the series.

Finally, if you could sell a concept for a film based on the Sime-Gen series, the world would be your oyster in terms of re-publishing existing novels as well as publishing new novels. The time really is right for a Sime-Gen film but you should be in charge of the screenplay. Of existing novels, I would recommend 'First Channel' as the book most likely to capture the interest of a general audience. Of course, in writing for the screen, you could combine aspects of more than one novel or even create something entirely new.

In a film, the scientific aspects of the mutation could be explored (as you probably would like them to be!) without becoming tedious to non-scientific minds and at this point in history, technological advances in computer-generated images as well as the ability to create almost ANYTHING in a realistic fashion would allow the mutation to be presented very elegantly on the screen. The Sime tentacles would look REAL and the entire selyn exchange could be intensely erotic and romantic... as well as utterly terrifying when the Gen is unwilling. In fact, the film could begin with a scene of that... quite shocking, attention-grabbing... and then, as the story unwinds, selyn exchange would be shown in its most powerful positive manifestations.
As with the book publishing industry, film no longer is the monopoly of a few. Although I believe you could sell a good screenplay to any of the 'big name' producers, there are a host of talented independent film makers who could do justice to your work as well.

And then, of course, there is the potential for a game based on the series...

Jacqueline Lichtenberg said...
Freyashawk:

Oh, YES we have MUCH new Sime~Gen to present - but where and from whom and in which formats, that's the question.

Freyashawk wrote:
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Had Jacqueline Lichtenberg asked me the question I wished she had posed, I would have answered that I would welcome new novels about the period prior to Zeor's founding, the period when the mutation still had not been studied scientifically, when Simes viewed Gens unconditionally as a source of sustenance and Gens lived in terror of the 'unnatural' Simes. This dynamic, I believe, would appeal strongly to a new generation of teens, the same readership that follows Stephanie Meyer's saga of Edward and Bella with almost obsessive interest.

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Jacqueline Lichtenberg: And that is exactly where 2 new novels and a screenplay are set - WAY before things get technically complex.

On the divided focus between Jean and me, Jean's degree is in English and mine is in Chemistry.

Sime~Gen is an example of the modern breed of "mixed genres" that is emerging, and it is a "universe." My ambition is to have a novel in the S~G Universe that can be identified as belonging to each genre. One unpublished by Jean is a Romance which would today be classed as a Futuristic Romance - maybe a bit on the Paranormal side.

I've completed the novel on the years before the founding of the House of Zeor (when they knew almost nothing and had no customs to speak of). It's got a lot of Paranormal in it at the insistence of the publisher who commissioned it (then went bankrupt owing us tons of money).

The unpublished material is sitting there. We have a number of options available, but would love to know what you and your readers would prefer - paper, ebook, downloadable, fictionwise, amazon Kindle, some other publisher. I hadn't considered CD delivery, so thanks for mentioning that.

Paper is possible, but expensive. What is your price-point for a paper copy?

Collectors drove the price of my Vampire Romance, THOSE OF MY BLOOD and it's companion volume DREAMSPY over $400 before a publisher picked it up for a new Trade paper edition. Collectors have had a copy of just one of the volumes the Mass Market trilogy DUSHAU over $70 - but now you can get it on Kindle. And read free chapters (see http://www.jacquelinelichtenberg.com

I've been watching the Amazon price of the Sime~Gen omnibus THE UNITY TRILOGY climb.

We ought to make a move on this soon, but in which direction? We need input.

And thanks for the flattering comparisons. I actually like TWILIGHT!!!

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.jacquelinelichtenberg.com

'A Jar of Dirt'

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To me, as Winter approaches, when the Trees begin to lose their leaves and perennials die in order to sustain hidden life beneath the soil, the presence of a few living plants inside the house is a symbol of hope and life. Once, I would have assumed that every one felt the same, and that the sight of a thriving plant, whether or not it bore flowers, would excite feelings, if not of excitement, at least pleasure.

Plants in the house give benefits to human beings in terms of oxygen. I believe that they clean the air to some extent, recycling it. House plants are recommended by doctors for that reason. And yet, I was shocked to discover that there are those who look at a plant inside the house and simply see 'dirt'. 'Dirt' in this sense is not 'soil' but filth. To me, soil is not filth. It is the foundation of nature and the cradle of plant life.

Fuchsias may not survive a Winter of freezing temperatures. For that reason, I try to bring the Fuchsia into the house before the first frost. This year, I worried about the plants so much that I decided to bring them indoors a little earlier and was rewarded with new blooms. It gladdens my heart to see the flowering plant at a time when most of the plants in the garden are dying.

When I hear any one ranting against the presence of a living plant in the house, I think of Jack Sparrow in 'Pirates of the Caribbean' with his wonderful speech about his 'jar of dirt'. 'I have a jar of dirt!' he crowed ecstatically... The jar of dirt there was supposed to contain a living, beating heart. Dirt in itself is a living organism, even when not invested with fairytale magical significance. In fact, in times of desperation and starvation, human beings actually have survived temporarily on dirt.

Similarly, although ice and snow in Winter can be bitterly cold and difficult even for humans to survive, without Winter, leaves never would turn colour and fall from the trees. It is the anticipation of dying that lends extraordinary beauty to the Trees. Fallen leaves can be a nuisance in our gardens, but at the same time, they are Nature's exquisite tapestry, a declaration of the incredible variety that exists in plant life.

In Second Life, I often was a little disappointed in the predominance of tropical beaches and palm trees. Yes, warm beaches are lovely and they can give a welcome illusion of Summer to those who are experiencing Winter's grip in the real world, but to me, it is the change of seasons and the variety between the four Seasons that is most magical. The sight of a rocky cliff and evergreens hugging a wild Northern coastline is equally inspiring.

Perception can be a shield against the darkness or it can be a sword turned against the heart. Those who perceives house plants as nothing more than 'dirt' or 'filth', having no right to exist within the home, have chosen somehow to cut themselves off from life. They wage perpetual psychic war against Nature, against anything that threatens their control over the universe. That is what it has to be, the defence of a person who feels impotent all too often and who therefore takes his/her war to every object or entity that he/she has not chosen to allow in his/her world. The same person who raves against house plants is filled with incandescent hatred of squirrels and mice. Any 'rodent' is vermin, just as soil is 'filth'.

I have experienced an invasion of mice in the past that caused terrible havoc with my books and keepsakes but I do not hate them as a species even now. Were all human beings to declare unconditional war against 'rodents', Beatrix Potter never would have created her incredible world. How could one envision a world devoid of Peter Rabbit and Squirrel Nutkins? She had the imagination and love of Nature required to perceive the little 'invaders' into her realm as a source of creative inspiration.
Again, all a matter of perception.

Dionysius as one of the Seven Sleepers

Some refer to individuals with a wide range of interests as 'Renaissance men' (or women?) but others liken us to magpies who collect anything that glitters or shines. I have found my intellectual curiosity to be both a blessing and a curse. It means that I never am bored and always am excited about something new, but in reality it has prevented me from having a single unswerving path that leads to any successful lifelong goal.

Two days from the release of Sunshine Islands means two days basically for me to put my Guides for the game into a coherent and somewhat completed form... and yet, here I am, looking for a verse from the Qur'an in support of my own conviction that human beings are nothing more than 'guardians' of this Earth, having supported my thesis previously with a well-known Latin maxim.

Instead of finding a copy of the Qur'an, I did what many of us do nowadays and searched online for the verse. In the process, I found one of the many sites that publishes 'magic' verses for every conceivable purpose under the Sun, whether it is liberty from false imprisonment or a restoration of spousal affection.

Always fascinated by magic, I began to read through the various spells and found the following:

'It is written in Biharul Anwar that in order to create love between man and wife, write the names of ashab al kahf (the people of the cave) and then the name of your spouse with his or her mother’s or father’s name, then wear it as a ta’wid on the right arm. The names of seven sleepers (followers of Prophet Isa) in Christian books are given as:

Constantine
Dionysius
John
Malchus
Martinian
Maximiam
Serapion

According to Hafiz Farman Ali Sahib the Sleepers were six and the seventh was a dog. Their names are given as:
Kimsilmina
Martunus
Sarnivilus
Ninivanus
Tmlikha'

END OF QUOTE

This spell is intriguing for many reasons, only one of which is the way names are altered or garbled when converted to other languages. To me, however, the most interesting part of this spell and the sole reason that I publish it here is the addition of 'Dionysius' to the list. Admittedly, it could refer to a man named Dionysius, of which there were many in ancient times, but I think it refers to the old pagan God.

The concept of the 'Sleepers' is found in many different myths throughout the world. There are 'Sleepers' in England and in Germany... and I believe there are tales of Sleepers in a Cave in India and China as well. These 'Sleepers', like Sleeping Beauty when pricked by the spindle only appear to be dead but await a fateful moment when they are roused from their long slumbers. Whether by the call of a special horn or other method, their promised future awakening usually is linked to a particularly dire emergency in the land. I don't think any of them have awakened yet, despite historical pestilences, genocides and the unleashing of atomic destruction in this world... Nonetheless, Dionysius somehow was added to the list of 'Sleepers' in the Cave not too far from Makkah or Mecca by some one at some point in the early history of Islam.

A Filly Beats all the Boys in the Classic

Zenyatta won her 14th consecutive Race today in the Breeders' Cup Classic, running against a field of males. She began the Race on the wrong foot at the very back of the pack, but managed to beat all contenders.

Afterwards, the announcer asked her jockey, Mike Smith: 'Is she Horse of the Year?'

Mike Smith's response: 'She's 'Horse of the Decade'!'

The crowd went wild when she finished first. She had enchanted every one with her little dance steps in the paddock and on the way to the gate. Where other horses might be nervous, she obviously thrived on the attention of her audience and evidently this is always the case where she is concerned. Hundreds of pink placards declaring 'Girl Power!' lined the fence, their bearers cheering her on.

I myself was a little skeptical, although secretly I wanted her to win as well. After all, I am a Girl and I always like to see a female prove herself the equal of any male. In the past, however, far too many horses promoted as the upcoming 'Horse of the Year' before the Breeders' Cup proved to have feet of clay on the course.

It is not the horse alone who wins the race and Mike Smith was a perfect companion for this spirited filly, leading her to victory with consummate skill, but what impressed me most was his obvious affection for his mount.

Zenyatta has proven herself conclusively today at Santa Anita. If she never runs another race, she has claimed a place in the hearts of her audience.

'Camel Jockey' Ahmed Ajtebi wins Breeders' Cup Race

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Watching Ahmed Ajtebi ride the 'Vale of York' to victory at 30-1 odds a few moments ago, made it worthwhile for me to follow the Breeders' Cup races today. Ahmed Ajtebi is the first Arab jockey ever to win a Breeders' Cup Race. The horse was trained by Saeed bin Suroor and is owned by Godolphin Stables of the ruler of Dubai.

How I always have hated the ethnic slur of 'camel jockey' for more than one reason! For a start, I believe that the camel is one of the noblest, most beautiful and elegant creatures on this planet. Secondly, the art of riding, whether camels or horses, was perfected by the people of the Arab Nation and it is no accident that thoroughbreds are known as 'Arabian thoroughbreds' because of their original ancestors. Finally, Ahmed Ajtebi WAS a true camel jockey in his early youth and his experience with camels only enhanced his ultimate talent and ability on horseback.

From now on, perhaps Americans will have a healthier respect for 'camel jockeys' and it will be known as a title of honour rather than a perjorative ethnic slur.

The Breeders' Cup Races are publicised as 'international' in the number of horses they attract from other nations. I think it is an error on the part of the official announcer to refer to the winner of the Grey Goose race as a 'European', however. The world is not divided, even in horse-racing, between 'Europe' and the 'United States'. Dubai is not part of Europe. Rather than proclaiming 6 winners for the day so far by Europeans, he should have declared 5 European winners and 1 winner from the Arab Nation.

The official Godolphin website declares that: 'Godolphin is the Maktoum family's private horseracing stable and was named in honour of the Godolphin Arabian, who came from the desert to become one of the three founding stallions of the modern thoroughbred.

'His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s love of horses is renowned. Descended from one of the most notable tribes in Arabia, Bani Yas, horses have been part of his life since childhood. His Highness, born on 15 July 1949, is the third son of H.H. Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

'Bedouin culture and traditions are central to his heritage. The desert is a challenging, often harsh, environment so the ability to live in harmony with nature is vital to the people of the region. As a boy, Sheikh Mohammed learned to read the desert sands, to identify a single camel’s footprint in a herd of hundreds and to understand the rhythm of nature so as to be at one with the creatures of the desert,'

How does this translate to 'European'? Give credit where credit is due. The Arab Nation won one today with an Arab jockey. Without subscribing to any view of the nobility of Dubai as representative of the Arab Nation as a whole, they nonetheless ARE Arab and the victory on the course today by Ahmed Ajtebi has to be recognised as significant. After all, an individual with enough money from any nation can buy a superb horse and enter it in a Stakes race, but it takes true talent and skill to ride the steed to victory.

'Safety a Priority in this Sport Now'

Horse racing has been accorded the title of 'The Sport of Kings' and I always found it exciting until the drama in the great stakes races proved to include more fatalities than thrilling wins. I began to dread the Triple Crown Races and the Breeders' Cup Races whenever I watched them. I almost would hold my breath until every horse had made it past the finish line, praying none would buckle or fall.

I was at Belmont when 'Go for Wand' broke her ankle during the Breeders' Cup Distaff. In fact, from where I was seated, my view of the tragedy was unimpeded. I watched in horror as her life was taken then and there on the course. Perhaps the worst part of it was her incredible courage and determination in the face of her injury. With a broken ankle, she actually FINISHED the race before she was forced down again. There are those who argue that animals should not be raced at all for the amusement of human beings but in this world of ours, animals and humans still live and work in partnership. Animals thrive on human care and love as much as humans respond positively to the love and loyalty of animals. The sight of a thoroughbred running like the wind is one of the most thrilling experiences. If it had been an isolated incident, my pleasure in horseracing would have been restored in time. As it was, however, each year's high stakes races produced more fatalities.

Now, finally, new practices have made fatalities less of a risk as each horse who participates in a Breeders' Cup Race is examined thoroughtly by a veterinarian at least three times during the week prior to the Race. Many horses have been forced out of the running by these stringent new tests, but at least they continue to live!

Perhaps we will see our second year of Breeders' Cup races without a terrible fatality...

Meanwhile, I need to research an answer to an old question of mine: Why do the Horses in the States run 'widdershins', against Nature? One would expect them to run the course clockwise rather than anti-clockwise.

Sime-Gen Author's Query

Some time ago, I wrote an article about a series of books that impressed me deeply when I first read them. They were novels about the Sime-Gen universe, created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg who, with the collaboration of Jean Lorrah, then proceeded to weave an elaborate tapestry depicting an alternate future of the human race based on a strange mutation.

Rather to my astonishment, Jacqueline Lichtenberg read my article and responded with a comment a few days ago. She wrote:

'Thank you for the nice words about the Sime~Gen Universe novels.
Please let us know what format you'd like to see these novels in next.'

Initially, in my excitement at receiving a communication from her, I misconstrued her question, and conceived a hope that she was interested in continuing the series. Now I realise she probably was asking about preferences between printed books and 'e-books' or Kindle publications.

I re-read the entire collection of Sime-Gen novels and stories last year, after recommending them to some one else who, like most of her peers, was infatuated with the 'Twilight' series. To me, the Sime-Gen universe depicted the same sort of social conflict that occurred between vampire and human, with concepts of prey and predator being turned upside down by love. Re-reading the books, however, I began to see that Lichtenberg and Lorrah each had their own focus. Jacqueline Lichtenberg appeared to be fascinated by the scientific workings of the Sime-Gen mutations, and each successive book delved more deeply into this aspect of the alternate future of humanity. Jean Lorrah, on the other hand, appeared to share my own focus on personal relationships and the power of emotion and faith in changing philosophies and society's prejudices. To define the two writers in this fashion is overly simplistic, of course, because Jacqueline Lichtenberg based her own exploration of the Sime-Gen Universe fundamentally on the stories of individuals and their own relationships and struggles. Even so, I noted her painstaking creation of complex scientific foundations for each aspect of the mutations.

Had Jacqueline Lichtenberg asked me the question I wished she had posed, I would have answered that I would welcome new novels about the period prior to Zeor's founding, the period when the mutation still had not been studied scientifically, when Simes viewed Gens unconditionally as a source of sustenance and Gens lived in terror of the 'unnatural' Simes. This dynamic, I believe, would appeal strongly to a new generation of teens, the same readership that follows Stephanie Meyer's saga of Edward and Bella with almost obsessive interest.

I believe that vampires have attained a new level of popularity partly because they represent the individual who cannot be assimilated into society's ruthless quest for universal conformity. They are the ultimate 'outsiders', fueled by a substance that is taboo to the rest of humanity. 'True Blood' is another enormously popular series and one that endeavours to show a vampire society that CAN assimilate with 'ordinary' human society and how, even when doing so, fear and prejudice undermine the attempt. What both the Sime-Gen novels and 'TrueBlood' demonstrate is the fact that we divide ourselves into predator and prey. Those who have extraordinary special talents or needs are not necessarily a threat, as with that special power is an in-built weakness. The Vampyre requires blood; the Sime requires selyn.

Note that 'True Blood' is a television series based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels. Which brings me rather indirectly to Jacqueline Lichtenberg's question. 'In what format would I like to see the Sime-Gen Universe next published?'

I actually have answered this question in general terms previously in articles I have written for this site. I am a great believer in the power of the printed book. It outlasted the rise and fall of Empires throughout the thousands of years that humanity has committed its thoughts and history to some form of 'paper', 'scroll' or 'tablet' and it will outlast the ever-changing, transient world of cyberspace. Furthermore, the printed book can be passed from person to person, generation to generation. It can be lent, sold, or inherited. It can be copied and reprinted. It can be taken ANYWHERE.

The Kindle may have revolutionalised life for many readers but I personally do not like reading literature on a screen. I like the tactile pleasure that a book provides as well as the fact that it can be read almost anywhere. Having extensive experience with hand-held systems such as the GBA and DS, I have discovered again and again that certain types of lighting can be almost fatal to the ability to see the screen, however well-lit. Books do not give me the headaches that a computer screen can give... nor do they have to be held at a certain angle.

I prefer CDs and DVDs to downloads. I prefer permanent records to transient files. If I care enough about a book to want to read it again, I would like to have it in printed form.

Having stated this, I nonetheless applaud the efforts of various organsiations and individuals to make classics available on the internet. Those of us with access to the internet often can find an obscure ancient text somewhere in cyberspace where it would require herculean efforts and a great deal of money to obtain the same text in printed form. It is a wonderful, invaluable on-going project for humanity but it should not persuade any one to render printed books obsolete.

Finally, the new trend towards self-publishing is to be encouraged. The fact that ANY writer can place his/her work on Amazon.com for the general public to see is incredible. It is tantamount to the freedom that the weblog has given to writers of every kind. Publication now is not the province of an elite business, jealously guarded. It is open to any one with energy and determination.

On the subject of Jacqueline Lichtenberg and writing in general, the Official Sime-Gen site encourages writers and aspiring writers to follow their dreams. Like Marion Zimmer Bradley, who created the marvelous universe centred on Darkover and then encouraged fans to write about it, Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah promoted fanzines about the Sime-Gen Universe.

'Everything on simegen.com is about storycraft and its function in the world.'
-- Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Here is a link to the site:

Official Sime-Gen Site

21st Century Dreams of Electric Sheep

Philip Dick made a profound impression on me. I was introduced to his work, not through the avenue of science fiction but the closest that he came to writing mainstream fiction in the form of 'Confessions of a Crap Artist'. There is no one quite like Dick in any genre or in any century. Slightly bemused, I sought more and found the treasure trove of his science fiction outpourings.

Philip Dick was an extremely prolific writer, brilliant, undisciplined, 'uneven' in his prose, even self-indulgent where his pet theories were concerned. He was driven to write as a sort of spiritual exploration of his own soul and the collective unconscious. He was neither happy nor content with life. He attempted suicide many times and was incarcerated in mental hospitals more than once. He experimented with drugs in a very dedicated fashion, one of those who felt a compulsion to strip away the veils of multiple realities. His autobiographical 'Valis' trilogy is his ultimate dissertation, embodied in the curious mixture of religious and philosophical theory and science fiction that distinguishes most of his work.

Philip Dick wrote many brilliant novels and short stories but it is an aspect of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' that continues to haunt me to this day. In a post-apolcalyptic world where natural animals have become almost extinct due to poisons in the atmosphere, electronic animals have taken their place to some extent, both as a social status symbol and as surrogate pets on which to lavish affection.

The story was written in 1968, long before the concept of Gigapets or Furbies were even a gleam in the eyes of their creators. Philip Dick's prophetic visions were more astounding for their time even than those of William Gibson. In the 21st century, when virtual realities are commonplace and people think nothing of creating 'avatars' of themselves, Philip Dick's visions of Perky Pat and virtual pets have proven themselves uncanny.

It is not so much the concept of electronic pets, however, but the religion of Mercerism that continues to haunt me. Mercerism was a cult that appeared in the world of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'. William Mercer lived before the last World War that essentially destroyed the natural environment of the Earth. A saint-like figure to his followers, he allegedly had the power to revive dead animals. Rather than seeing this as a gift, however, the government used chemicals to nullify the section of his brain that controlled this amazing ability. This was to prove extremely ironic, in view of the subsequent semi-extinction of natural animal life but governments, according to Philip Dick, seldom are as concerned with the true welfare of the earth or their constituents than they are with protection of their own power at any price.

Mercer's powers having been eradicated, he nonetheless became a cult figure and the 'Black Box' is the means for 'Communion' of his followers with one another and with the object of their devotion. When the handles of the Black Box are gripped, the user becomes fused with Mercer himself on a mythic journey as well as with any one else who happens to be in contact with a Black Box at the same time.

In union, then, Mercer (and all the users of the Box) undertake a difficult and agonising journey up a steep hill. Each step is a struggle and as Mercer ascends, sharp rocks and missiles are thrown at him. The pain is felt acutely by any one in contact with the Black Box. Rather like the Christian Stations of the Cross and empathy with Christ as he stumbles, falls and takes up his cross anew, bleeding from the Crown of Thorns and the wounds of his scourging, the participants in the mystery rite of Mercer are one with him in suffering as well as their determination to reach the top of the mountain.

The ultimate cosmic cruelty in the Mercer rite, however, is that Mercer never reaches the top of the hill. Like Sisyphus who is condemned to push a boulder uphill only to have it roll down again and again, Mercer must continue to climb forever. The power of the rite and the experience in the journey not in the goal.

Sometimes, when I explore a new Harvest Moon game, I am reminded of the Black Box and Wilbur Mercer. The experience with the Black Box was an exercise in empathy, a means by which human beings remained in contact with that essential wellspring of humanity. In a world where nothing but the lack of empathy distinguished the true human from the android, the religion of Mercer represented a means by which empathy was validated as the ultimate spiritual experience.

In Harvest Moon, it is not wealth that determines success but the player's relationships with others, whether other villagers, prospective spouses, magiccal creatures, ranch animals or pets. Some players complain that it is tedious to meet and greet villagers or to care for animals daily. Others complain about the repetitive quality of farming. To me, all of these activities are a spiritual exercise, akin to the journey of Wilbur Mercer up the mountain. Typhoons may destroy crops in Harvest Moon but your ultimate success is measured not in monetary totals but in Heart/Friendship Levels and in 'staying the course'. The player who picks up a new Harvest Moon game and plays through a season or two or even a single year will not reap the best rewards. Often there are events that cannot be experienced before the fifth year but these events usually have friendship requirements as well.

You can spend hours tilling your field, planting your crops and watering them regularly only to have a Typhoon wipe out a good portion of them in a single day. You can explore a mine for hours in one journey and reach a floor only to discover that you can go no further as it has neither stairs nor a pitfall... If you are defeated by setbacks like these, you have no business playing the game. The lesson teaches determination and patience. You have to clear your field of the debris that the storm has caused and rebuild any collapsed buildings. You have to make a new journey to the mine and again strive to go lower...

As with Mercer's journey up the mountain, there usually is no final point in Harvest Moon where you can state that you have 'won' the game any more than real life has any definitive moment, apart from death, where you can pronounce your struggle finished.

Another point of similarity between Harvest Moon and the universe of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' is the emotional investment that we make in virtual realities. The crops you grow and the animals you raise in Rune Factory or Harvest Moon ask for a real investment in time and emotion. Is it a form of weakness or delusion to weep for the death of an animal or character in a game, or does it represent an enlightened sense of empathy? There are those who kill off characters and animals in games and find it amusing to do so, believing that it is a 'safe' way to vent frustrations in life. Perhaps that is so, but I feel there is spiritual value in caring for characters and creatures in virtual realities as well. It is no substitute for THIS world and its creatures but perhaps it keeps us in touch with the divine wellspring of love and compassion in some way.

Seax from the Mercian Hoard and Rune Staves

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As a few dazzling images of items found in a farmer's field in modern Staffordshire circulate internationally, collectors of edged weapons are intensely interested in the finds, which represent some of the most exquisite workmanship in Anglo-Saxon weapons and equipment.

One of the items is a gold hilt from a knife or seax. The seax or scramseax is the most common short edged weapon found throughout Europe in the second half of the first millenium. The word really could translate simply to 'knife' as the form and shape of the seax as well as its size varied tremendously. Although the object found in the Mercian hoard is described as the 'hilt' for a 'seax', many of the ancient seax knives had no hilt at all.

The most famous English seax probably is the one found in the Thames which is engraved with the entire Futhark or Rune Alphabet as well as the name 'Beagnoth', probably the name of its owner. In the old Anglo-Saxon culture, letters as well as words often were considered to contain magical potency both among pagans and Christians. Runes, either individually or in magical formulae such as 'alu' or 'aluwanda' were engraved in stone or wood and upon metal. In fact, one of the powers that belonged to Odhinn, described in the Havamal is that of carving runes. The challenge given there: 'Do you know how to carve them, how to stain them?'

In Scandinavia, Runic perpetual Calendars were made in the form of Rune Staves known as Primstavs. I have included an image of a Swedish primstav that shows how close these carved wooden calendars are to the ancient form of the Seax.

In the old Northern cultures, a wooden wand carved with runes could be as powerful a weapon as a metal dagger if it had magical potency. The Northern civilisations were not alone in such beliefs. Romans commonly buried lead tablets with curses engraved upon them in lieu of using a traditional weapon to cut an enemy's throat.

Engravings with magical power can be either offensive or defensive in nature. As discussed in an earlier post, one of the Mercian hoard items is a strip of gold engraved with a verse from the Vulgate Scriptures that calls for the power of God against the wearer's enemies.

The images shown here include three contemporary seax reproductions. As you can see, one has a hilt and the other two have none.

Other images show the seax that was found in the Thames with a close view of the runic engravings of the Futhark and the name of Beagnoth.

Treasures of Sutton Hoo and Caedmon

Here are two photographs of some of the famous items found in the Sutton Hoo ship burial for comparison with the treasure trove newly discovered in old Mercia. The pair of shoulder clasps are from the East Anglian Sutton Hoo burial and the sword bosses are from the Mercian trove.

Here, for those who are not familiar with the brilliance of native Anglo-Saxon Christianity as embodied in poetry, are some verses from Caedmon about the creation of the world:

'Raise we the Fashioner now of Heaven's fabric,
The majesty of his might and his mind's wisdom,
Work of the world warden,
Worker of all wonders,
How he the Lord of Glory everlasting,
Wrought first for the race of men Heaven as a rooftree,
Then made he Middle Earth to be their mansion.'

For those who prefer the original with a close translation of each verse:

Nu we sculon herigean heofonrices weard,
Now we must praise the Protector of the highest ward of heaven,
meotodes meahte and his modgeþanc,
the might of the Measurer and His mind purpose,
weorc wuldorfæder, swa he wundra gehwæs,
work of the Father of Glory, as He for each of the wonders,
ece drihten, or onstealde.
the eternal Lord, established a beginning.
He ærest sceop eorðan bearnum
He shaped first for the sons of the Earth
heofon to hrofe, halig scyppend;
heaven as a roof, the Holy Maker;
þa middangeard moncynnes weard,
then the Middle-World, mankind's Guardian,
ece drihten, æfter teode
the eternal Lord, made afterwards,
firum foldan, frea ælmihtig.
solid ground for men, the almighty Lord.


Another great early Christain Anglo-Saxon poem is the famed 'Dream of the Rood':

The poet speaks here first of his vision:

'I, lying there a long while, beheld, sorrowing, the Healer's Tree
until it seemed that I heard how it broke silence, best of wood, and spoke:
'It was long ago.
I still remember,
back to the holt where I was hewn down;
From my own stock I was struck away,
dragged off by strong enemies
wrought into a roadside scaffold.
They made me a hoist from wrongdoers.
The soldiers on their shoulders bore me
until on a hill-top they raised me.
Many enemies made me fast held there.
Then I saw, marching toward me,
Mankind's brave King.
He came to climb upon me.
I dared not break nor bend aside
against God's will, though the ground itself
Shook at my feet.
Then the young warrior,
Almighty God, mounted the Cross,
in the sight of many.
He would set mankind free.
I shook when his arms embraced me,
but I dared not bow to the ground,
stoop to Earth's surface.
Stand fast I must.
I was reared up straight and high, a rood.
I held the King, Heaven's lord, I dared not bow.
They drove me through with dark nails: on me are the wounds,
Wide-mouthed dents of hatred...
All creation wept,
keened the King's death.
Christ was on the Cross.'

One always must make clear distinction between political religious propaganda and the beauty inherent in the actual religion. Unfortunately, written accounts by monks in early England tended to be filled with anti-pagan propaganda and yet, the beauty of Christianity is there as well... Bede was a talented writer and his visions could soar to heaven at times when he was not spitting forth his disapproval of non-Christians.

Astounding new Anglo-Saxon Mercian Treasure Trove

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Since earliest childhood, I have been captivated by the idea of buried treasure. Like the Bastable children in E. Nesbit's books, I dreamed of finding some kind of talisman, amulet or hoard of coins. When, in childhood, I first saw the treasures of Sutton Hoo, my concept of the perfect treasure trove crystallised... The great ship burial was awe-inspiring beyond belief and left an indelible impression on me.

Loving Tolkien and our Northern heritage, the label of the 'Dark Ages' made me indignant long before I actually had an academic foundation for my dislike. In fact, my childish loyalty towards old folk heroes such as Hereward the Wake grew into an adult respect for a culture that was as multi-faceted and rich in artistic expression and legal sophistication as any that pretended to improve upon it. The monks who gave 19th and 20th century historians their written sources for the period were prejudiced against the pagans and made no secret of their desire to advance the interests of Christianity even at the cost of truth. Ironically, although Christianity always was a strong influence in Anglo-Saxon England, somehow the pagan invaders who settled after Rome's power was broken became known as barbarians who had to be converted to civilisation rather than being recognised as the bearers of their own rich cultures. Archaeology, that silent yet eloquent advocate, gradually has eroded the wall of ignorance that obscured our vision of the old Northern civilisations. A new discovery from the old kingdom of Mercia may yield a wealth of information to further popular understanding of the Anglo-Saxons.

A hoard of more than 1500 pieces of gold and silver dating from the 7th century has been found buried in a field in Staffordshire and has been dubbed the 'Staffordshire Hoard'. I would like to thank David Harthen for bringing this discovery to my attention.

The image at the top shows how close these treasures were to the surface when found. It is truly amazing to think of all the ancient treasures that still remain undetected by us in the womb of the Earth.

Duncan Slarke, finds liason officer for Staffordshire declared that he was 'virtually speechless' at the first sight of 'boxes full of gold, items exhibiting the finest Anglo-Saxon workmanship.' So far, the amount of precious metals has been assessed as more than 5kg of gold (650 items) and over 1kg of silver (560 items). Among the treasure are exquisitely wrought sword pommels and fittings inlaid with precious stones. Far beyond any value in terms of the actual metals and gems, naturally, is the value in historical terms.

Mercia was known as a rich kingdom in the 7th century, so it is logical that a treasure of this magnitude would be buried in the heart of Staffordshire. Penda, one of the great Mercian kings of the 7th century, was a pagan but allowed free rein to Christian missionaries in the kingdom. (Despite his liberal attitude, he was reviled by the 'Venerable' Bede for being a pagan.) A gold strip bearing a verse derived either from Psalm 67 and/or the Book of Numbers has been found in this hoard, bearing witness to the presence of Christian influences in the kingdom. It is a 'protective' verse, asking for the help of the Lord in dispersing the wearer's enemies.

In fact, the inscription appears to read:

'surge dne disepentur inimici tui et fugent qui oderunt te a facie tua'

This would translate as:

'Arise, Lord, let your enemies be scattered and let those flee from before you who hate you.'

Scholars are arguing about the precise derivation from the Vulgate edition for this talismanic engraving.

Psalm 67, v. 2:
'exsurgat dus et dissipentur inimici eius et fugiant qui oderunt eum a facie eius'

Numbers 10, v. 35:
'surge dne et dissipentur inimici tui et fugiant qui oderunt te a facie tua'

In my own view, the actual precise derivation is irrelevant and probably was unknown to the engraver. As with runic inscriptions from the same era, the efficacy was believed to reside in the words as copied from OTHER TALISMANS usually rather than any primary religious source. Throughout England and the North, when knowledge of the runes decreased, they nonetheless continued to be used in protective engravings on weapons as well as stones. Often runes were mis-engraved, rendering an original protective word or phrase pure gibberish and demonstrating the fact that the engraver did no more than copy what he believed to be a potent talismanic device.

In terms of early Anglo-Saxon Christianity, few other than the monks themselves could read or write Latin and it is extremely unlikely that it was the Monks who engraved weapons or weapon parts. In other words, any misspellings or deviance from an original Vulgate verse would be accidental, thereby rendering fierce academic arguments about such derivation rather meaningless in the circumstances.

The most famous king of Mercia may be Offa who built a barrier between Mercia and Wales that came to be known as 'Offa's Dyke'. Mercia in fact was one of the dominant powers in early England and it was only after it was split in half after the Viking invasions in the latter half of the 9th century that its power and identity was broken. Wessex was in the ascendant and Mercia became subordinate to its influence in the West and in the East to the Danes.

To me, the original Anglo-Saxon form of Christianity in its most vibrant form was represented by the Heliand, an alliterative poem about the life of Christ that casts Jesus Christ in the role of a traditional Northern hero. Caedmon's wonderful poems expressing his faith embody the old Northern Christian spirit as well. This spirit has been resurrected by contemporary 'Celtic Christianity', a form of modern religion that attempts to synthesise all that is best both in the old Celtic (and Northern) religions and in Christianity.

As in any case where Religion is made an excuse for political aims, both Christianity and 'Pagan' Religions played nefarious roles on occasion in Anglo-Saxon England. Christian monasteries held an immense amount of wealth irresistable to Vikings and other invaders and thus, the sacking of English monasteries became the propaganda image that represented the Vikings. At the same time, little was written about sometimes terrible massacres of pagan populations who refused to convert to Christianity at swordpoint. As always in history, genuine religious fervour combined with greed, empowered by weapons and a 'need' for conquest devastated the countryside of England for centuries.

This state of affairs, however, is not restricted to the first millenium in the history of England and does not justify the slur inherent in the term that describes this period as the 'Dark Ages'.

Objects in the Sutton Hoo ship burial displayed both pagan and Christian influences and beliefs. It is possible that, as more items in the Mercian treasure hoard are studied, both pagan and Christian influences will be found co-existing side by side as well.

The inlaid garnet, glass and enamel cloisonne work on the items found in the Mercian treasure hoard is quintessentially Anglo-Saxon. Exquisite Cloisonne work is the hallmark of the Northern 'barbarians' and there is no jewelry in the world that can surpass the beauty and quality of the shoulder clasps of Sutton Hoo.

The ship burial at Sutton Hoo contained an extraordinary variety of items, from musical instruments to furniture, weapons, household items and jewelry. What has been revealed of the Mercian treasure trove so far primarily are items relating to war. It will be fascinating to watch the progress of this investigation into our noble past.

No doubt, further study of these treasures will yield more definitive information with respect to their place in Mercian history.

Thoughts on the Wheel of Life and Death

Humanity through the ages did not fashion its religions and philosophy from thin air but from experience both of life and death. 'Life is cruel', 'Death is kind', 'Life and Death are but two sides of the same coin' and 'The Wheel of Life and Death is ever-turning' are only a few well-known axioms that embody much that is delineated in more detail in religion. 'The greater the Sacrifice, the greater the Magic' is another.

In ancient Carthage, the place where the Punic culture flowered, arguably one of the truly great civilisations in history, families sacrificed their first-born sons to the gods. This practice is one of the contemporary slurs often thrown at the descendants of Carthage as though it represented less love and a less valid religion than one where the 'one true God' demanded the extermination of every member of a native population, INCLUDING all children, mothers, fathers and elders in the name of a divinely directed invasion and takeover of the land.

In fact, the tears of the parents when the first-born were sacrificed was as much dedicated to the Gods as the bodies and souls of the infants. And where life is cruel, and death is the portal to a life in the embrace of the divine, such a sacrifice can be understood. The parents wept at their OWN loss and smiled for the GAIN of Heaven for their infants. Many contemporary cultures have legislated aggressively for the 'protection' of life against death AT ANY COST, but could this not be crueler than an acceptance of a philosophy that places life and death in balance and recognises Death as a destination of Peace and Rest after the endless travail and pain of Life?

Contemporary Western cultures in particular often legislate against 'Mercy killing' and force a patient who is existing in a twilight zone of unremitting agony and helplessness to continue that poor parody of life, deeming 'assisted suicide' to be a crime AGAINST the Divine. How can that be so, when the Divine made 'Death' the portal to 'Rebirth'? Even for Christians, Death is SUPPOSED TO BE the prelude to 'Life Everlasting'.

One of the questions that the Qur'an in Islam levels against those who are not Muslims is 'Why are you so afraid of Death when Death is the place where your God and Creator supposedly meets you?' It is a valid question, actually.

No doubt I will be unpopular for writing this, but so be it. I never have been 'politically correct' when to be so would be to fly in the face of all logic and instinct and to adhere to some one else's code rather than my own.

In the very core of life is the instinct to struggle, mindlessly sometimes, for survival and that is as it should be. If every one surrendered life at the first sign of discouragement, pain or trouble, there would be no life on this planet. On the other hand, to force life to continue BEYOND logic, BEYOND real consciousness is unnatural AND selfish.

Furthermore, the paranoia about Death that is part of the very fabric of contemporary Western society is not healthy, especially when one must acknowledge that Death is an unavoidable destination.

I am writing this in the aftermath of personal loss, where I struggled day and night to keep two little creatures alive, despite the odds. When I failed, I was devastated. I am human, after all. At the same time, when I bade them farewell, I began to realise that I need to set aside my selfish feelings of loss and remember that Death IS peace. Sometimes, birth occurs without the necessary accessories for sustaining life. There is nothing wrong with the fight to give those accessories and tools to one who does not have them naturally, but if the battle is lost, one should be able to accept it and understand.

Even Christian philosophy holds that there is 'a time for everything under the sun, a time for life and a time for death', while so-called Christians often violently act against those who live according to a belief that both life and death are equally valid.

I would not presume to force any one to adhere to MY personal beliefs. I would not condemn any one else to live with the results of an act of hideous violence at any cost, in the interests of 'protecting life'. I would not condemn any one else to watch a loved one suffer day after day, month after month, if there was no hope of a recovery from an illness... I would not choose the life of a child over the life of its mother, nor would I choose the life of the mother over the life of the child. That decision should belong SOLELY to the mother.

Although I personally cannot imagine being able to sacrifice a loved one voluntarily to meet the requirements of any religion, I can understand and respect many of the civilisations that embraced those rites. There was a time when Western cultures valued Death more, espousing such concepts as a 'martyr's crown' or a 'hero's death' when it was said that 'there are far worse fates than Death'.

When loved ones die, I have fallen apart completely on occasion, and the road back to life for me has been a struggle, but... BUT in the end, I recognise that it is selfishness that is at the foundation of my sorrow and agony. I do believe that Birth leads to Death and that Death leads to Rebirth. That is the cycle of Nature. Why should it not be the truth at the foundation of all things?

Many laugh at 19th century depictions of 'Heaven', of the rather sentimental art that was promoted as 'visions' of the afterlife, but it is wrong to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Depictions of spiritual truths can be nothing more than a combination of symbol and personal desire, with a bit of the collective unconscious thrown into the mix. That should not affect the actual validity of an afterlife.

There are many who embracing 'Darwinism', began to elevate 'Science' to the throne of the Divine. To me, Science is only one part of the manifestation of Divinity, and Divinity CANNOT be defined, nor comprehended by any human being. What constitutes Divinity is by its very definition NOT human, nor encompassed within human understanding. Religions offer nothing more than fleeting glimpses of spiritual truths.

The Goddess Kali is a personification of creative energy. Once she became so totally immersed in the dance of destruction that she almost destroyed her consort Shiva. It was only when she discovered that she was trampling him beneath her feet that she was able to halt the whirlwind dance that would have sent the very world into oblivion.

Almost every religion has its Ragnarok or event that obliterates the world. Beyond that, however, is a new world. The new world always is built upon the foundation of the old. Likewise, death always leads to rebirth. Even in Christianity, the death of Christ upon the Cross was the act that created the portal of rebirth for humanity.

The people of Carthage offered their firstborn to the Gods. It is said that the ancient Druids offered their best and greatest to the Gods in similar fashion. The old Northern people offered their best WEALTH as well as human beings to the Gods, throwing all into deep bogs and lakes rather than promoting money, profit and life above all things.

Are we more compassionate, any wiser than they? We may legislate for life but we allow the homeless to wander the streets, allow ghettos to exist, make wealth and the wealthy our Gods while multi-millionaires continue to expand multi-national corporations that do NOT benefit the world in fact. Is capitalism a more compassionate philosophy than socialism or communism? I think not! Is Christianity IN ITS PRACTICE more compassionate than other religions? I think not. Was Jesus Christ more compassionate than other men? Absolutely, but few who call themselves Christians walk in his footsteps. Religons are only as good in practice as the human beings who pretend to be in charge of God. In the Middle Ages, Islam gave women rights when Christianity promoted the concept of women as chattels. Islam in its organised form then calcified and went backwards. Christianity in its organised form did not move forward, meanwhile, regrettably. It was human beings in the West who forced recognition of the rights of women at the end of the day.

When you look at the course of human history and civilisations throughout the globe, we are a species who makes mistakes again and again. Why then should any human being dictate the 'Truth' of all things to another? Why should ANY ONE have the right to call himself/herself or his/her beliefs superior?

'Intervention' has become a very popular concept in the Western world. We organise 'interventions' against family members, against loved ones, against friends and against OTHER NATIONS, deeming ourselves superior and in a position to dictate a better way... Interventions send individuals to 'rehabilitation', to regimes of heavy 'anti-depressant' or 'anti-whatever' medications that turn active individuals into zombies in the name of 'progress' or 'doing the right thing', sign over loved ones to insane asylums, send individuals to prison even for having exercised their own judgement concerning drugs of one sort or another... mount invasions of foreign nations, devastating them in the illusive name of FREEDOM, while giving those nations no freedom to 'just say no' to the invaders.

This is not the article I intended to write, oddly enough. I began to write today in order to make sense of a personal tragedy in my own life. Having experienced many Deaths of loved ones, one might imagine that each successive loss would hurt a little less. That never is the case for me.

There are those who become 'inured' to death. In fact, I have watched the process in others. I have seen how some one who was devastated by loss once or twice then creates a wall of protection against hurt by refusing to become entangled in love again. For me, that is impossible and I will continue to dissolve any walls that my psyche attempts to erect against the pain of loss because at its foundation, a shield of that sort is a denial of love itself. The argument, whether conscious or not is that Love involves pain. Ergo, if one does not love, one will not feel pain when the inevitable loss occurs. Love, however, is Life and if we distance ourselves from Love, we may protect ourselves from the pain of loss, BUT we cannot erect any wall that will protect us from Death. The loss will occur, whether we involve ourselves emotionally in it or not. By cutting ourselves off from Love, we cheat ourselves of the beauty and joy that it encompasses. The pain of loss, however great, truly is a small price to pay for all the joy and incredible beauty and complexity of every moment of a life that embraces love.

If one cannot acknowledge Death, one cannot move forward. Rebirth is as mysterious to us as Death. We cannot know what it signifies or how it is manifested in terms of our own selves or any other creature. We can see how the death of a plant can allow rebirth in the form of a new plant but this is not quite the case with respect to animals and human beings. The actual transitions are concealed from us. The discovery and study of DNA has given us a window into the validity of rebirth in terms of animal and human life but it represents only a part of the story.

Meanwhile, it has been said that the life of any creature or human being is preserved in our Memory. As long as a person or creature is not forgotten, he/she lives on. That is our comfort as well as a source of pain. In remembering a loved one, we often are flooded with renewed emotions and consciousness of the loss sustained when life ended. Everything in our existence has its price. The price of remembrance is pain and yet, with that pain is the gift of the continuing existence of the loved one in our consciousness. Memory may be a two-edged sword, but like a sword, it offers protection as well as the potential of hurt.

So I will surrender to the pain in order to preserve the memories. I will continue to love and in doing so, continue to embrace Life, both at its inception and at its end. Or at least I will try to do so while any spark remains in my body.

Images of an ancient tear bottle and a stela from the Tophet in Carthage dedicated to the Goddess Tanit.

British Fumsup or Touchwood Dolls

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Always interested in dolls whether contemporary, vintage or antique, I only now discovered a charm that could be considered a doll. This is the 'Fumsup Dolls' from the era of the First World War, worn by British soldiers as protective amulets in battle.

The little charm was a figure with solid silver body and a wooden head. The arms were moveable, in order to be able to give the 'thumbs up' signal. 'Fumsup' would be the Cockney pronunciation of this and this probably was why the dolls were given the name of Fumsup. They were called 'Touchwood' dolls as well, as the head, being made of wood, could be rubbed for luck. (To 'touch wood' quickly is an old method of averting evil.)

If you look closely, you can see the thumb cocked to give the 'thumbs up' signal when the arms are lifted.

Victorian Social Propaganda and the Bizarre World of Antiques

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Perhaps there is something fundamentally wrong with my psyche, but I have to confess that I am fascinated by human nature as it is manifested in the more bizarre antiques.

Charms tend to be one of the areas where both men and women often have chosen unique, often terrifying objects to own or wear. Many of these, of course, were believed to have magical powers or at least the power to ward off evil.

In 19th century England and at the turn of the century, the wide scope of the British Empire had brought fashion into contact with civilisations across the globe. Academic interest in ancient folklore and fairytales inspired the creative artist in diverse ways.

Here are two examples of solid 9k. fobs or charms made at the turn of the 20th century. They are probably 'Temperance Charms' designed to remind the wearer of the 'evils of drink'. When the lever is activated, a bizarre character pops out of the top of this tankard. In one case, it is a creature with horns and wildly uneven eyes... In the other, made of horn or ivory rather than glass, the skull-like demon's head leers crookedly...

At first, I had thought these could be protective amulets or else an artistic jest. Then I discovered that there are many such charms depicting a demonic creature who pops out of a tankard at the touch of a lever!

It definitely could be a fertile source for a Gothic novel or short story, even knowing that it was designed to be a piece of social propaganda. It is positively terrifying and the fact that it pops out of a rather, prettily engraved innocuous cylinder adds to its potency.

I cannot imagine what sort of person would wear an amulet or charm of this sort. It must have been a political and social badge promoting 'prohibition', equating alcohol quite clearly with the devil but these little demon-filled tankards are frightening, albeit cleverly designed. I wonder if they made something similar for opium eaters with a demon issuing forth from a pipe.

Unfair Bad Rep for Dionysus in True Blood

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Always rather annoyed by the way that Dionysus is represented by contemporary artists or 'alternative life-style' groups, I have become absolutely incensed by a popular series on HBO named 'True Blood'. Based on the bestselling 'Sookie Stackhouse' novels by Charlaine Harris, the series focuses on a situation wherein vampires are real AND are given legal status in the U.S. in the near future. It is a very original and compelling foundation for a series and although the sexual scenes and violence could be rather difficult for the weak-stomached viewers, it is compelling stuff.

I myself am a fan of 'True Blood', apart from one very infuriating new twist. A Maenad has been introduced to Bon Temps where she wrecks havoc in the name of Dionysus, her Lord and Master.

The Dionysian cult in 'True Blood' has been sucked dry of any profound or mystical significance and beauty. It has been equated with simple hedonism in its worst manifestations. Orgies are mindless events orchestrated by the Maenad who herself has no particular philosophical or religious beliefs. Furthermore, they are daily events, which completely goes against the basis of the Dionysian religion.

Any 'mystery religion' is based on profound psychological and spiritual beliefs and the worship of Dionysus is one of the most ancient and complex mystery religions. Much of what today is known as Christianity has its basis in the Dionysian religion. He was Lord of Birth, Life, Death and Rebirth, combining both Male and Female, fertility and sterility. The wildness of the Dionysian orgy was designed to RESTORE balance to the world and was performed seasonally. In some cultures, it was performed only one every TWO years. It brought the god back from the underworld as well as marking the point where the wine became ready. Dionysus was lord of the vine and, like Christ on the Tree of Life, was sacrificed in the cause of Life. The holy rite of 'communion' originally was a Dionysian rite.

To find all of this disregarded in 'True Blood' in favour of equating Dionysus purely with evil and brainwashing is infuriating. Yes, the writers did their research in terms of establishing some of the ancient chants, such as the call to the Lord 'Bromios' but the spirit of Dionysus is noticably absent from ANY of the acts performed in his name in 'True Blood'.

There are elements of great terror and darkness in any mystery religion but they are accompanied by great beauty and profound glimpses of light. It is a pity when sensationalism reigns... No doubt the wholly negative portrayal of the Maenad and her demonic nature in 'True Blood' will be the only view of the ancient mystery religion that many of the viewers ever will be shown.

19th Century depiction of a Bacchante by Edith Corbet

Ramadhan Mubarak and the Call to Prayer

With the start of the holy month of Ramadhan, my thoughts turned to the prayer rug and I realised suddenly how it always has been a fundamental part of my psyche.

When I was a child, I read of magic carpets that enabled one to fly, not only through space but often through time as well. One of my favourite books was 'The Phoenix and the Carpet' by E. Nesbit. Although I have a number of beautiful prayer rugs now, I did not make a clear connection between the prayer rug and the magic carpet of my childhood fantasies.

Yet I should have recognised the link instantly. A prayer rug creates a sacred space in the same way that a pagan delineates a sacred circle with ceremonial athame or salt. A prayer rug takes the worshipper to a state of consciousness that is outside time and space. It is a 'ladder to heaven', a means by which the deity is approached.

Non-Muslims often perceive the five mandated daily prayers of Salat as being onerous or tedious but they should be seen as blessed opportunities to break free of the restrictions of ordinary mundane life and its anxieties. Christianity and Islam share a common source and I find it rather odd that Christianity never adopted the prayer rug as an accessory or aid to worship. Rosaries are common both to Christians and Muslims but the prayer rug usually is restricted to Muslim use. What a pity this is! Even those who reject organised religion could find in the prayer rug a blessed oasis from stress and anxiety.

Breakfast at Tiffany's...or not, from a Computer Terminal

The entire subject of 'designer labels' in fashion perhaps should be consigned to a circle of Hell reserved for capitalists and those for whom luxury consumerism is a way of life. When one struggles to meet bills and obtain the very necessities of life, the allure of a scarf by Hermes, a Burberry bag or a bracelet from Tiffany & Co. should be nil. Nonetheless, we sometimes will pursue dreams for loved ones when we no longer would do so for ourselves... In that spirit, I began to look at options where Tiffany's was concerned.

Although half of the mystique of Tiffany's is its 5th Avenue shop in Manhattan, it came as no surprise to discover that Tiffany & Co has a thriving internet site where one can purchase almost every item made under its label. The site is elegant and the items are beautifully displayed. To take the illusion one step further, the prices are the same as they would be in the actual shop. There are no discounts for shopping online. In fact, with very high shipping costs unless the item purchased is over $300.00, the price of shopping online at Tiffany's rather exceeds that of a visit to one of their shops.

The logical next step would be Ebay, where often designer items are sold at greatly reduced prices. Tiffany is one label that is sold ONLY at Tiffany's, however, which means that any items offered as 'New' on Ebay would be suspect. Having expected a fairly straightforward exploration of a few 'gently used' items, I was drawn into a veritable morass of counterfeits.

Counterfeiting, whether of coinage or art, is as old as humanity, but counterfeit items purporting to be made by Tiffany & Co. are more prevalent than most other designers. Even off-Ebay, one need only do an internet search for Tiffany to call up at least half a dozen sites that sell counterfeits while never stating that the items are anything less than genuine.

Here first is a link to the official site for Tiffany & Co. where only the genuine articles are sold obviously:
Welcome to Tiffany & Co.

Here now are some links to sites that offer knock-offs but never actually state as much. None of these are affiliated with the legitimate Tiffany & Co., nor are the items that they sell made by or for Tiffany & Co.:
Tiffany Jewelry

My Tiffany Online

Tiffany Sale

These are only a few of many sites offering 'Tiffany Jewelry' direct to the consumer. If you go to Ebay instead, however, the web of deceit thickens, whether in deliberate misrepresentation or innocent misrepresentation. Although any item sold as 'new' on Ebay definitely is a knock-off, buyers who mistakenly assume that any purported item of jewelry stamped 'Tiffany & Co.' would be a genuine Tiffany article are sadly in error.

With more than half the world existing in adject poverty, struggling for food and shelter, does the question of whether a luxury item is genuine or not matter? It only matters because it deals with the question of honesty and trust. Being interested in a style that looks identical to a genuine Tiffany & Co. piece but is being sold at a fraction of the price is quite different from selling an item that is not genuine to some one who believes it is. There are more complex ethical questions as well. When that item is intended as a gift to some one, is there an onus on the person giving the gift to make it clear whether the item is a genuine designer piece or not? The innocent recipient of a knock-off who later sells it on Ebay as 'genuine' is extending the fraud unwittingly. One may argue that a gift should not be sold, but relationships often go sour and it no longer is considered mandatory to return all expensive gifts when they do.

One of the most famous cases involving counterfeit jewelry and one that played a part in toppling the French monarchy is the 'Affair of the Diamond Necklace' celebrated in novels and films. It began with a genuine valuable diamond necklace commissioned by Louis XV for Madame du Barry and crafted by premier French jewelers Boehmer and Bassenge. Unfortunately, the jewelers were not paid in advance for the commission and the king died before the necklace could be completed and sold to him.

The jewelers were in danger of bankruptcy, as the necklace was worth a 'Queen's ransom'. They decided to try to sell it to the new King for his wife, Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette initially declared, however, that she wanted no part of an item originally designed for her father-in-law's Mistress. From this point, the 'affair of the necklace' descended into the murky alleys of political and social scheming... A very clever confidence artist named Jeanne de la Motte, remotely connected to the royal house through marriage with an illegitimate scion of the house of Valois, conceived of a complex plan and executed it. She first ensnared the Cardinal de Rohan in a clandestine bogus relationship with the Queen (played by a prostitute)and then persuaded him that Marie Antoinette had changed her mind and now wanted the extraordinary diamond necklace she publically had refused twice when her husband tried to buy it for her. Rohan was persuaded to act as an intermediary in the transaction, convincing the jewelers that the Queen would pay for the necklace in installments. He then took possession of the diamond necklace and gave it to Jeanne's husband and accomplice, in his supposed role as the Queen's valet. He promptly took the necklace to London, where it was taken to pieces and the diamonds sold individually.

Ultimately, when the jewelers were not paid, the entire sordid affair was made public. Rohan was sent to the Bastille. Jeanne, the prostitute and the man who had forged Marie Antoinette's signature, were convicted and her husband sent to the galleys. In fact, Jeanne de la Motte was able to evade justice to some extent. Her sentence included a public flogging and branding, never carried out and, disguised as a boy, she managed to escape from prison and flee to London where she published her scandalous memoirs. The Cardinal was acquitted by the Parlament de Paris. Vilette, the forger was simply banished.

To add to the high drama of the affair, Cagliostro became implicated. The Count de Cagliostro, aka Joseph Balsamo was one of the most sensational figures in France at the time, as one who dabbled in the 'black arts' and Freemasonry and managing to secure entry into the Knights of Malta as well as appearing at almost every court in Europe. (He finally was arrested by agents of the Inquisition and imprisoned in the Castel Sant'Angelo.) He was one of the most brilliant,enterprising and ruthless men of his time, expert at chemistry, medicine, magic, legerdemain and forgery, inter alia. Incidentally, although he is one of the main characters in Dumas' series and never quite was freed of the taint of the Diamond Necklace scandal, it was one affair in which he actually was innocent in reality.

Although Marie Antoinette was innocent as well and probably had absolutely no knowledge of the frauds perpetrated in her name, as with any scandal involving very public and high-ranking individuals, the masses refused to believe the facts and the affair was very instrumental in fomenting the public disgust with the monarchy that ultimately led to the French Revolution. Alexandre Dumas' series of novels about the Diamond Necklace were among my favourite books as a child.

As some one moreover with a background in Law, the subject of legal misrepresentation always fascinated me and continues to hold an interest. Any one who is expert at misrepresentation is a wordsmith and words always fascinated me as well.

On one of the Tiffany knock-off sites, items are given the following 'guarantees':

'All of our items are 100% sterling made guaranteed. We are a professional jewelry dealer offering all kinds of sterling silver jewelries from Tiffany & Co. at the best prices. One-stop shopping for beautiful Tiffany & Co. necklaces, bracelets, pendants, rings, earrings, accessories, 300+ styles for choice, fantastic gift ideas for wedding and other special moments.
'To retail Tiffany Rings ,Bracelets,Necklaces,and so on, we specially set up retail Tiffany Jewelry website for people all over the world seeking for the most worthy Jewleys.Tiffany Sale is your best Tiffany & Co sliver jewelry and diamonds provider. Our mission is to provide the best Tiffany & Co sliver jewelry products and service to our customers at the lowest prices possible. We have about 200 Tiffany & Co Sliver Jewelry and Diamonds on sale. Tiffany Sale is your tiffany silver jewelry online store.'

Note the misspellings here. Note that the only guarantee is that the items are 100% sterling.

Here is another FAQ from a knock-off site:
'The material used are genuine 925 sterling silver and genuine 18K gold. Our jewelry selection includes necklace, bracelet, ring and earring for today's designer jewelry fashion at discount prices. Our team of buyers search throughout the fashion world to provide you with terrific merchandise and values. You can often find the same items we currently sell on our site in department stores, boutiques, and within the pages of your favorite magazines at full price - yet we offer you much lower prices. Sometimes, we do not purchase directly from the designer; instead we go to reputable resellers for a discount on wholesale prices. This allows us to pass on the savings to you.'

Again, the only guarantee is to the effect that the item is 'genuine 925 sterling silver.' What is particularly interesting about THIS site is the fact that they sell every 'Tiffany' piece with 'Free Tiffany & Co. blue pouch, box and gift bag.
+ Free Silver Polishing Cloth, valued at $8, limited time offer'

From this site, offering discounts on discounts, the 1837 Lock Bracelet and Necklace Set, originally priced $259.00 has been discounted AGAIN to $239.00. At the REAL Tiffany & Co. site, the 1837 Lock Necklace alone costs $375.00 and the matching bracelet costs $265.00, making the total price for the 'set' almost $650.00. Incidentally, a free silver polishing cloth is NOT included with purchases from the official genuine Tiffany site. If, therefore, you see any purported 'authentic' or 'genuine' Tiffany & Co. item/s being offered on Ebay with a silver polishing cloth as well as pouch, box and gift bag, you can bet your boots that it is counterfeit.

When all stamps on the counterfeits match those of the real Tiffany & Co. items, how on earth can one know whether or not an item offered on Ebay or any other site as used is a genuine item FROM Tiffany & Co. is truly genuine? I would imagine that the ONLY easily definable difference is the weight. If a seller attests that he/she has weighed the piece and the weight equals that of the item sold by Tiffany & Co. and further that the item was purchased from a specified Tiffany shop, any 'used' item he/she has for sale probably IS genuine. If, however, the seller directs you to the official Tiffany site for weight and other specifications, he/she at best is careless and indifferent or at worst fraudulent. (If the item originally was a gift from some one else, ask the recipient to weigh it before you bid on it...) If the photographs that accompany the item being sold on Ebay or elsewhere are stock photographs from the official Tiffany & Co. site, you probably should steer clear of it.

There is an old axiom (complete with dangling preposition) that 'you get what you pay for.' It usually is true. If items being sold as 'new' sterling silver items from Tiffany & Co. are half the price of the real article, they probably are LESS than half the weight as well... Why would a factory in China use more silver than necessary to churn out counterfeits that cost them more to make than they will net from the purchase?

Is the 'value' placed on a designer label artificial? Of course it is. Is there any reason why an individual should not be happy with a sterling silver bracelet that is not a designer piece? No, of course not. On the other hand, for any one to use the stamps of a designer on their own pieces and then to offer them as the genuine articles is misrepresentation and fraudulent, even if the actual wording does not constitute legal fraud.

What I find rather loathesome about Ebay currently is the way 'keywords' are allowed that have absolutely no relationship to the article being sold. For example, if a seller has a Tiffany round charm for sale, he/she can use keywords such as 'toggle' and 'Tiffany heart' 'lock' even if the charm is NOT heart-shaped, is NOT a lock' and does not have a 'toggle' clasp! It's a puff, designed to hook the buyer and persuade him/her to look at the item being sold.

Why did I write this post? Well, having done far more research on Tiffany internet sales and counterfeits than I ever wished or expected to perform, I felt I could not waste all that knowledge. Perhaps it can educate potential buyers and help them avoid counterfeits. Knowing human nature, however, it is far more likely that more people will use the links included in this post to access the counterfeit sites to purchase cheap knock-offs than to proceed to the official Tiffany site to purchase a truly genuine item.

Glam Rock and the Velvet Goldmine

The movement that sometimes has been christened 'Glam Rock' and includes such groups as Sweet, Slade and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebels engendered a storm both of social outrage and wild enthusiasm in the 1970s. It had a permanent effect on popular music and artists as disparate as David Bowie, Adam Ant and even Michael Jackson owe a great deal to the tongue-in-cheek excesses of the Glam groups.

A film entitled 'Velvet Goldmine' attempted to capture the essence of the movement by following the career of a fictional artist named Maxwell Demon. The film, albeit pretentious, includes fabulous music, great costumes and a clever plot that allows the frequent intrusion of such literary lights as Oscar Wilde and Jean Genet, weaving a tapestry of symbolist and decadent influences spanning centuries.

Watching 'Velvet Goldmine' a few nights ago reminded me of many of my old musical favourites. Although I frequently listen to many of them still, I hadn't heard any of Steve Harley's songs for a long time. I went to YouTube to find an original version of 'Make Me Smile'... in watching that, I realised how perfectly Steve Harley captured the heart and soul of 'Glam'. It wasn't based on elaborate costuming or oblique references to 19th century effetes. It was his wonderful sense of humour and his own cocky performance that are both his own personal trademark and epitomise the best in Glam Rock at the same time.

Here is Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel performing the classic hit, 'Make Me Smile'.
As a side note, I detest chewing gum and find the habit disgusting and almost obscene. Yet, here is a musician who chews gum during his performance and makes it sexy...

Of course, that is part of the whole 'Glam' message, an 'in your face' rebellion against social mores both trivial and profound. His eyes are so expressive, his energy so boundless. He certainly has the power to make me smile, to lift my heart in a dark moment.



The film 'Velvet Goldmine' can stand on its own merits, although it does follow its own artistic agenda rather than being a straightforward study of the incredible phenomenon that was 'Glam'. It is as much an expose of the music industry as a portrait of Maxwell Demon, a character who is fictional and cannot be equated to any single musical star. Although some critics have claimed that Maxwell Demon is David Bowie, I would disagree with that. Bowie belongs in a class of his own in a sense, transcending any single movement. Maxwell Demon evoked Sweet, Marc Bolan and T-Rex far more. Other favourites of mine from this era are Gary Glitter and Lou Reed but I don't see Gary in the character of Maxwell Demon. The Velvet Underground definitely features in the inspiration for the 'Velvet Goldmine' but I still would equate the film more with Sweet, a group that took musical flamboyance and transgender hints to the limits. I think the influence of 'Sweet' often is underestimated. Their concerts were performance art at its best as well as providing music that had the power to rev emotions to ecstatic 'highs'. Unlike Bowie and Reed, Sweet's music was not particularly intellectual but it did have incredible energy and power. It was the Glam equivalent of jungle drums in the night, quickening the pulse and injecting a fever into the blood.

Although I perceive the influence of Glam in the late Michael Jackson, I am no fan of his. For me, it was artists such as Bowie, Lou Reed and Marc Bolan who inherited the mantle of the 19th Century 'dreamers of decadence' and musically extended the Symbolist movement in the arts.

Sexual Depravity and Religion

For some reason, I feel that we are missing a central piece of the Dionysian puzzle in terms of our comprehension of this ancient religion. Obviously, governments considered it antisocial and anarchistic to the point of outlawing it in Rome at one point... but was it really?

Nowadays, many 'alternative' lifestyles have taken their concept of 'Dionysian mystery' and made it a blanket for every type of sexual activity including general orgies, but that was NOT what Dionysus represented. It was carefully-planned, carefully-limited depravity and anarchy that was one of the cornerstones of the Dionysian mysteries.

Essentially, Dionysus represented another aspect of the 'Lord of Misrule' traditions where, at the end of a year, some one from the very lowest rung of society's ladder was crowned king and allowed to dictate to EVERY ONE for a few days.
Turning society upside down was the beginning of a general rite of purification and cleansing before one embarked upon a new year.

I think that the Dionysian mysteries in their orgiastic component were much the same. They did not occur constantly. In fact, in some societies, it has been argued that the rite occurred only once every TWO years.

Many societies embraced the concept of taboo. Most taboos were actions that were utterly forbidden most of the time BUT were allowed on a single ritual occasion. Whether it was cannibalism, incest, human sacrifice or the eating of pork, the forbidden actually was mandated at a specific time and place.

This is where the ancient reports of Jews eating pork by moonlight fit. Pork, forbidden in the Jewish religion, HAD to be consumed at a specific time and place, evidently, in one society at least. Sir James Frazer speaks of this at length in the Golden Bough.

Did Dionysian initiates murder human beings with their bare hands and teeth and consume the flesh raw? It is possible that 'The Bacchae', the play on which MOST of contemporary comprehension of Dionysian rites is based, was as much a piece of fictional sensationalism as 'TrueBlood' is now! Obviously, the audience who watched the play originally knew where fact ended and fiction began.

Ancient myths were morality tales as well as a mixture of religion, history and inventive drama. Certainly the death of Penthius has its basis historically AND religiously in the annual rites of Attis. Kings were sacrificed ritually on trees and indeed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ probably was a ritual act in an ancient tradition, rather than being something utterly new. That does NOT make the crucifixion of Christ LESS of a powerful mystery but MORE of one.

Did Bacchantes run wild in the sacred rite killing humans and animals with their bare hands and teeth and eating the flesh raw? That they consumed raw flesh is undeniable... in the rite that preceded the omophagia, the ritual sacrificial animal probably had to be torn rather than cut, probably with the aid of cords and ropes rather than the strength of bare hands. It may have begun with a ritual hanging much like the hanging of Attis or Odhinn.

These are but details that now are the subject only of conjecture but Frazer operated according to the most logical premise, that ALL myths and practices are derived from the same original source and by studying one in his age, the scholar could discover the basis of others lost in the obscurity of time.

So it is with the mysteries of Dionysus. The three elements that occur again and again in literature and visual representation are the oreibasia, the sparagmos and the omophagia. Mind you, this is only ONE of the mysteries but it appears to be the only one of interest to contemporary society. Others included the making of sacred wine and the feeding of it to the spirits. Oreibasia is the energetic dance to the heights of the mountains, rather like a marathon of long-distance running. That was the preliminary to the sparagmos or rending of the sacrifice into pieces in ritual fashion. The omophagia was the 'holy communion' rite in which the sacrificial raw flesh became the flesh of the god.

In contemporary Western society, however, it is the sexual aspect of the rite that has been embraced without reference to any of the mystical rituals that preceded it in the ancient religion.

Sexual depravity WAS a component of the Dionysian rite but only in combination with the other aspects of the tradition. There were specific days when these mysteries were enacted. It was NOT a general lifestyle.

As previously argued, I believe that the sexual licence was on a par with the 'Lord of Misrule' celebrations. In ancient Egypt, five days were set aside at the end of every year and dedicated to the god Set who represented the Lord of Misrule and Anarchy. The killing of Osiris actually is very similar to the sparagmos ritual. The body of Osiris was divided into a number of pieces and thrown into the Nile. In Egypt, however, the rending may have involved a ritual knife.

This brings me to the final piece of my puzzle which is the unattached phallus taken from Attis, from Dionysus and from Osiris. It figured largely in the women's rites behind closed doors while the men paraded outside in the city streets carrying huge phalli in procession. Although these mysteries were secret and therefore never committed to writing, there are sufficient hints in other mystery religions to argue that they involved an act of copulation with an artificial phallic member who represented the god. This did not constitute self-pleasuring in a casual, carnal sense but rather a transcendental religious experience wherein the women were visited by the god and achieved another state of consciousness.

Orgasm is another state of consciousness and by divorcing it from any mortal partner on this particular day, it probably allowed the women to achieve a truly spiritual experience of divine visitation. It was a SPECIAL rite, and it was restricted to one night. It was not a general invitation to what Roman Catholicism terms 'self-abuse' and indeed was the very opposite of self-abuse. It was not a solitary pleasure. It was a holy communion with the god from whom the twin rivers of life and death flowed.

The phallus was cut from the god himself and then became available to humankind. In a different mystery dedicated to the Earth Mother, a basket containing a mystery was uncovered and contained the phallus of the god. Dionysus is the 'green ear of corn harvested' and the liknon contained that 'green ear of corn' or phallus. Attis sacrificed his phallus to the Earth Mother Cybele. All of these mystery religions contain the same central potent symbol. It is the phallis. That is why there are museums in Europe crammed with phalli.

The liknon in fact is a winnowing fan. In the ancient epic poem describing the struggle between Baal and Mot, the Goddess after killing Mot (Lord of Death), places him in her winnowing fan and winnows his remains. This was a ritual enacted every seven years.

Mot in the ancient poem declares to Ba'al: 'Because of you I have experienced splitting with the sword, Because of you I have expeirenced burning with fire; Because of you, I have experienced grinding with millstones; Because of you, I have experienced winnowing with the basket; because of you, I have experienced sowing in the field; because of you, I have experienced scattering in the sea'... His remains ultimately are scattered and eaten by birds.

This is interesting for a number of reasons as it is a rite that is echoed in many future religions, including funeral practices in India and Tibet where a corpse must be cut into pieces and placed in a high place to be devoured by vultures. Although it has been argued that the 'death' of Mot is nothing more than a description of ancient agricultural practices of preparing and sowing seeds, it is far more, just as the rites of Dionysus involve far more than a method of making wine from grapes.

The most important 'part' of any male god is the phallus. It is the phallus that is placed in the winnowing fan or liknon and uncovered at the strategic moment in the sacred rite.

When I visited Malta, I saw both the ancient female goddess figures and the phalli carved of stone. They cannot be considered separate. Dionysus gives his manhood to the Earth and to humanity.

At the Last Supper, Christ dedicated his body and blood to humanity, clearly commanding his followers to eat of his body and drink of his blood. The sexual component of his life is shrouded in total mystery. It is possible that he deviated from the ancient tradition in that respect, but unlikely. His later disciples, especially Paul, who never even MET Jesus, were the ones who were consumed with the idea of 'chastity' and 'denial' to the point where they rewrote the religion and made sex synonymous with the devil.

This was nothing new either, as in the Orphic tradition, humanity was made both of the element of Earth (the dross of the Titans) and of the element of Heaven (pure). Get rid of the body and what remains is pure in the form of the soul...

In conclusion, Dionysus does NOT represent complete licence and sexual depravity or self-indulgence. He represented many different elements in the journeys between conception and resurrection, both the life-force and the death-force and his rituals, including those of the Bacchanals, were cyclic in nature. Any one who would like to think that by calling themselves followers of Dionysus, they are given total licence to commit any and every act under the sun and moon in the pursuit of mindless pleasure are sadly mistaken. The rites of Dionysus were sacred mysteries and were committed for the Earth and humanity, in the cause of fertility. They were as far from acts of 'self-abuse' as the Earth from the Sun.

Why I Hate the World of 'Business'

YouTube is a place where ordinary individuals of every age in every country can share their interests and their creativity by making videos about any subject under the sun. Some people are musicians but others are not.

Most of the videos I have made for YouTube have been game tutorials for Harvest Moon, Rune Factory and Animal Crossing. I made a couple of personal videos about cats.

In three cases now, my videos have been challenged for 'copyright' on the basis of the music I chose. Note that NONE of the artists who actually wrote or performed the songs took exception to the use. In fact, I consider it simply as a tribute to the artist if his/her music is used for a video for which I receive absolutely no financial benefit.

In the case of the cat video below, the music actually has been MUTED at the order of WMG, a huge conglomerate. It was one of my favourite songs by Iggy Pop, actually. The little cat video does not represent any threat to the interests either of Iggy or of WMG. As a matter of fact, individuals have contacted me on numerous occasions to ask for the name of the song used so that they could purchase it elsewhere!

In the other two cases, the copyright claim was made by UMG. They took a more commercially sound approach and rather than muting the music, added an advertisement to the page giving a link to a download of the song.

Apparently, there actually are people employed by these companies to creep on YouTube searching for music to which they can lay claim. Yes, WMG, you successfully disabled my little video tribute. I hope you are proud of yourselves. I could understand if I were attempting to MARKET this little amateur piece but really!!! It was only a little video about two cats who are NOT for sale at any price!

I have no idea if I kept a copy of the original video. The amount of time and energy that would be required to create a NEW video with different music would not be worth the effort. After all, I am not getting paid for this, nor do I derive ANY financial benefit from any video I ever made.

I'm afraid that I have a profound contempt for the business world based on practices such as this. I am a staunch defender of copyright where games are concerned, and have been very vocal about my utter disapproval of emulators that take income from the people who actually MADE the games. Where videos that are not made nor shown for profit are concerned, however, I cannot see any justification for an action such as that taken by WMG. In fact, if I can summon the energy and time, I may contact them directly to ask them to reconsider their policy. Perhaps I should start a petition... Or perhaps I should have a word with Iggy himself...

How to Make Nail Broth

When I was six years old, I read a folktale that I was determined to follow in my own life. Most children have literal minds and I was no exception. It was a tale about a starving peddlar who could not persuade any one on the road to give him even a crust to eat. He was traveling and the people he encountered were deeply suspicious of strangers as well as ungenerous by nature.

The peddlar then decided to use his 'magic' to win his dinner. To the next woman he encountered, he asked not for food but simply for the use of a cooking pot and some water. She was reluctant to oblige, but when he assured her he wanted NOTHING more, she lent him a cauldron and allowed him to take some water from her well.

He then made a fire, set the cauldron over it filled with water, took a single object from his pocket, dropped it into the pot and began to stir.

He did not stir the pot casually but looked at it appraisingly every few moments, tasted the broth repeatedly, shook his head occasionally, returning afterwards to his stirring.

The woman who had lent him her cauldron became curious as to the meal he was preparing. She watched him from a distance, unwilling to let him know that she was interested at first, but finally could not contain her curiosity.

'What are you making?' she asked.

'Oh, this is 'Nail Broth', he replied. 'I have an object that contains great magic here, passed down for generations in my family. To the ignorant, it may appear to be nothing more than a common nail, but it contains the power to create a healthy, delicious broth from nothing more than water.'

A peasant woman, her native common sense and a fundamental belief in the existence of magic warred within her.

'May I taste it?' she asked, determined to get to the truth.

'Oh, of course,' he replied, bowing slightly to her with deep courtesy. 'After all, you lent me the pot that made it possible for me to eat tonight, and I am deeply indebted to you. How could I not ask you to share the most delicious soup you ever will eat in your life?'

'Well, then...' she said.

'Oh, but not yet, madam,' he urged her. 'It has not cooked long enough. The magic takes some time to work. We must wait, I fear...'

She waited with him, watching him stir the pot periodically, and go through an elaborate ritual of tasting and head-shaking. She became a little impatient.

'Surely it is done NOW,' she said.

'Well, it might be,' he replied, 'But you know, I hate to think of you tasting my magical broth and it being anything less than a taste of paradise. It will be wonderful, but it could be improved ever so slightly with one addition.'

By now, she had invested her time in the experiment, and wanted it to be the best soup she ever had tasted.

'What do you need?' she asked.

'Well, you must be an excellent cook yourself and you know soups,' he responded. 'There isn't a soup in the world, even a magical one, that wouldn't benefit from an onion. But I couldn't ask you for one... You have been so generous with the pot.'

The woman begged him to add one of her onions to the soup. After all, it would be a meal to remember and she would be able to tell the entire village about the night she partook in a magical meal.

The peddlar cut the onion and threw it into the broth, then began his ritual once again, stirring and tasting and shaking his head.

The scent of the onion now wafted through the air, making the peasant woman aware that she hadn't had HER dinner yet.

'Surely now?' she asked.

'Well, I expect one could eat it now,' the peddlar replied slowly, 'But I have been thinking. When my father had this magical nail, he told me about the best 'Nail Soup' he ever made. Yes, an Onion was used to flavour it but there was one other ingredient. It is of little consequence, of course. The Nail Broth will be incredible now, but as I have a guest tonight and I would like to reward you for your generosity, I keep thinking about that one little ingredient, all that keeps us from enjoying the perfect Nail Broth.'

'What could that be?' the woman cried. 'Surely I must have it in my garden! Please tell me, sir!'

The peddlar was reluctant at first, forcing her to beg, but finally divulged the nature of the item that would perfect his Nail Broth. All he needed was one or two sprigs of parsley.

'For, of course, parsley is an ingredient that you, madam, use in all your cooking!'

She brought the parsley to him with trembling hands. In her life, she had not experienced anything as exciting as an evening watching a stranger prepare a magical meal for HER.

The odour of the parsley and onion made her dizzy with hunger, but the peddlar still professed himself unsatisfied. As the evening wore on, the woman brought him first a potato, then a cabbage and finally killed a chicken she was saving for the next festival, assuring both herself and the peddlar that a once-in-a-lifetime experience such as this merited every possible ingredient she could give to him.

Each time he suggested another ingredient, she would respond with alacrity that SHE had it and would be delighted to give it to him for his magical stew. He would refuse initially, forcing her to beg.

At last, however, when the meat had cooked fully, the peddlar pronounced the meal ready.

And lo and behold! It proved to be the best dish she ever had eaten!

At the age of six, I didn't understand the psychology of the tale. I thought it WAS the nail that made the stew superior to all others. I begged for a nail and begged for the chance to recreate the recipe.

I therefore made 'Nail Broth' or rather 'Nail Stew' at the age of six and I have to admit that it was the WORST meal I ever had tasted because the broth was permeated by the flavour of METAL!

Throughout my life, this tale has remained a favourite, but I realised suddenly that it is more than a story about a clever psychological trick by a vagabond. It represents a method by which one can infuse life with magic.

During the worst times of my life, I have been able to find one small detail that is magical and make that the centre of my day. Even if it is nothing more than the unexpected appearance of a dove building a nest on a tree outside the house or a wonderful passage in a book, it allows me to rise above the host of problems that face me. It does not SOLVE the problems, and one still must face them, but it does give one a little extra strength and later, when it is in the past and nothing more than memory, those magical moments are what remain most vivid in the mind.

Some experiences are pure magic, and experiences on trips to new places usually rank very high in my memories. Those experiences may stand alone initially, but as time passes, they are linked to other lesser moments to become a powerful magical memory. The full moon in the sky in the rather dangerous and unpleasant town in which I live now will take me back to the memory of the full moon over a castle outside my bedroom in Dolceacqua in Liguria... and then back farther to a night when I walked along the beach on Christmas Eve with my best friend and was half in love with him. Emotions, breathtaking beauty and intangibles such as the scent of the jasmine outside our house are combined in my own personal 'Nail Broth', giving me hope when hope appears lost. Rather like the peddlar on a hostile road, one must find ways to persuade life to continue to give sustenance... and one always can.

Note: I wrote this to give myself hope after the death of my lovely Oranda Cybele.

Love and Heroism in a Fish Tank

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I am guilty of bigotry and social discrimination, even of racism, I suppose, where the Animal Kingdom is concerned. I always have chosen the most beautiful, most graceful creatures as pets, especially when they are aquatic in nature.

My favourite 'garden variety' fish are Orandas and Ryukin, those gorgeous 'goldfish' with incredibly long tails and fins who remind me of graceful traditional Japanese dancers in flowing kimonos. Whenever I have obeyed the call of my desires to restock an aquarium or fish bowl, it usually is with an Oranda or Ryuken.

Last summer, I bought an Oranda but was persuaded to introduce one of the varieties of fish I dislike most into the tank with her. It was one of those black 'pop-eyed' fish that resemble a 'fancy' goldfish in all but colour and eyes. It is not the colour that I dislike, as black always has been a favourite of mine. It is the eyes, that are over-large and almost appear to be on stalks, making me think of the Psammead of E. Nesbit, that I find very unappealing, even disturbing.

In mitagation of my bigotry, I hasten to add that my house in Animal Crossing contains both varieties of goldfish, each in its own fluted fishbowl. I caught them myself and they are rare enough to cause a little frisson of excitement each time one appears on the end of the fishing rod.

Beauty may be in the eyes (and ears) of the beholder but in my view, the undesirability of this pop-eyed fish was compounded by the name by which he was christened: Murdoch.

Murdoch, to me, conjures thoughts of a contemporary tycoon chiefly known for his greedy and ruthless nature, a lack of honour and an unsavoury political agenda. Murdoch may not have been a favourite name ever, but Rupert once was, as that name represented a dashing prince with a sweet devotion to his dog. Rupert of the Rhine as well as Rupert the bear now have been overshadowed by a despicable modern Rupert who straddled the known world like a malignant Colossus.

Be that as it may, the pop-eyed goldfish may have redeemed the name forever by his incredible behaviour. This, rather than a diatribe upon the ugliness of pop-eyed fish and the negative connotations of the name Murdoch actually is the topic of this post.

The names I give to pets tend to be classical, resonating with heroics and the stuff of legends. I probably would have given Murdoch a name like Odysseus or Thor... My beautiful Oranda became Cybele. Cybele never had the fortitude or sturdiness of Murdoch but they lived together in apparent contentment in the tank for almost a year.

This morning, I noticed that Cybele was exhibiting the behaviour of a fish who is ailing. Her movements were weak and her balance uncertain. She did not come to the surface for her food. Murdoch, as hearty as ever, exhibited his usual appetite to the point where I feared he would overeat, as I had given a portion for two fish, not one.

It was then that I witnessed something extraordinary. Murdoch went underwater, beneath Cybele, then began to push her towards the surface and the food. He did this again and again, almost like a sheepdog herding sheep or geese towards a gate. There was no doubt about his motivations. He wanted her to eat!

Murdoch now has become my hero of the day. By his actions, he has become utterly beautiful and noble to me. I never will view a pop-eyed goldfish in the same light again.

Note: I tried to take a photograph of Murdoch performing his amazing action, but it was almost impossible. The water actually is quite clean but looks extremely murky in the photographs. If any one actually reads this post, I hope he or she will say a little prayer for Cybele.

Is History Guts and Glory?

I admire Bernard Cornwell's sheer industry as well as his apparent determination to cover many of the important 'watershed' periods in the history of the English-speaking world, but now that I have read quite a few of his novels, it is clear to me that his focus always is battle and killing. His research of the various killing methods is impeccable and his grasp of battles and the conflicts that led to them is sound but it is killing and more killing that definitely is at the heart of every book I have read.

Does he glorify the hero in his persona as a 'killing machine'? Oh, most definitely. Although he includes graphic descriptions of the less romantic aspects of battle from excrement to spilled brains and entrails, he does 'sing' of the glory of killing, the sweet ecstacy of rising beyond humanity to become nothing more than an instrument of death. In doing so, he is continuing an ancient tradition that can be found in Western classical literature from Homer to Beowulf and many other Northern epic poems. Heroes in the history of our Western culture are killing machines for the most part. The introduction of Christianity 2000 years ago did not change that. In fact, Christianity was altered to promote killing programmes such as the 'Crusades' and the 'Inquisition' although the message of the Christ most definitely was in complete opposition to any of that.

Christianity itself is based on ancient mystery religions of death and rebirth. Without death, there can be no rebirth, but the art of killing is not embraced at all in the Christian philosophy. Judaic history and religion, on the other hand, embraces slaughter and advocates the obliteration of any obstacles that might block the path of the 'Chosen' and Christians who wished to promote political agendas looked to the 'Old Testament' for religious justification. The actual message of Christ at the heart of Christianity was based instead on the concept of life through death, making a sham of any worldly conflicts and political ambitions.

That aside, the history of Western civilisation, like most civilisations, is a long litany of conflict and killing and Bernard Cornwell is adept at describing pivotal periods in the timeline of his and our own ancestors.

As I read the account of the battle of Agincourt this morning, however, I had a small epiphany about his work. Bernard Cornwell's prose in terms of battle and killing embodies a very ancient religious mystery probably known best in contemporary culture as the Goddess Kali.

Hindu deities take many different forms, with diverse names and legends. They have many manifestations and attibutes, some of which may appear initially to be in fundamntal opposition to one another.

The primary tale of Kali herself has very diverse forms but the one that has the most parallels in other mythologies and religious systems is that of the Goddess summoned to the battlefield who wins the battle against evil and yet, drunken with bloodlust and battle-frenzy continues to destroy until the very world was poised on the edge of utter annihilation. In totality with the very spirit of death and destruction, she finally unwittingly danced upon the body of her own lover and consort, the lord Shiva. It was only when he forced her back to ordinary consciousness and made her recognise him that she was able to cut short her all-consuming path of total obliteration. In another version of the tale, Shiva appeared on the battlefield in the form of an infant, exciting Kali's maternal instincts and thus ending her path of total destruction of the world.

The powers of creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin and both can be equally dangerous to the welfare of others. The various diseases known collectively as 'Cancer' could be perceived as an overabundance of creation where cells proliferate wildly, destroying the balance of the organism in which they are housed. Too much creation can choke an environment, whether it is a large city or a great forest. Nature, in both her generative and destructive aspects is terrifying and her power must be respected and recognised.

Bernard Cornwell, in describing the slaughter of the battlefield, is describing the dance of destruction, the human component of the ecstacy of Kali. It is only when the warrior surrenders completely to the lust of battle that he is able to do his job properly and indeed survive the encounter. Human beings are born with kill-lust and it is a gift of instinct to aid self-preservation. Undifferentiated killing is not to be tolerated, but society always has directed the killing instinct into political avenues, sending human beings into battles throughout the globe in order to advance economic or social agendas that are promoted as somehow being more noble or justifiable than the actions of a serial killer or gangster. Legalised killing is a fundamental part of civilisation in almost every culture.

The political and social philosophy of legal homicide basically is as follows: If we are born to kill as well as to create, let some one harness that drive to cleanse the earth of undesirable elements. Bernard Cornwell's books actually clearly denote the fallacious underpinnings of every war in which his heroes fight, and he therefore could not be considered primarily as a propagandist for any specific cause, although he writes usually from the vantage point of a soldier fighting for the British Empire or its predecessor in the form of the Kingdom of England. He does revel in the kill-lust of the battlefield, however, in those moments when the hero transcends his own identity and throws off the constraints of civilisation to become a superior killing machine, acting solely upon his martial training and instinct.

Is this troubling in moral terms? On reflection, I came to the conclusion that it actually is no more than an honest appraisal of our history as human beings. Surrender to kill-lust is the fuel of any 'hero' of any battle or war. It is an integral part of our nature as human beings as well. Few would argue against the basic premise that it is right and proper to defend our own lives and the lives of our loved ones. Nor would I. What I decry is the propaganda of governments to create an illusory threat to our own lives and the lives of our loved ones in order to propel an invasion such as the invasion of Iraq. Wars fought in the name of 'democracy' are fueled by as much economic greed, deceit and selfish interest on the part of the governments that instigate them as any other wars.

Killing, however, IS a fact of life and human nature. Bernard Cornwell writes about the past and he follows an ancient tradition of poets and novelists in describing heroes and their actions. For the most part, he does not attempt to argue in favour of one war against another or one side in any conflict against another. Ordinarily, he simply follows the career of one killing machine as that finely-trained tool of destruction moves from battle to battle, reverting to his own personality, thoughts and desires when he is at rest. Every story he tells is a tale of conflict that focuses primarily on the story of one warrior. The fact that his most lyrical descriptions inevitably involve transcendantal bloodlust, killing fields and slaughter simply demonstrates a devotion (unwitting or not) to the mysteries of the force of Death and Destruction whether given the name of Kali, Odhinn or unnamed.

The Tactile Beauty of a Hardcover Book

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With Amazon busily vaunting the superior nature of the 'Kindle', a personal 'virtual library' and so many books now available on the internet, many people tend to disregard real books completely. The 'book' as we know it is itself a mutation from older 'scrolls' made of lambskin or papyrus, rolled and tied, then set into cubbyholes for storage. The printed book is even a mutation from the original older hand-lettered works available only to the rich or to the Church in Europe. When the printing press went into action, there were those who mourned the end of the era of the hand-lettered work of art.

I hope we are not living in an era that will witness the demise of the printed book. Although I use a computer constantly, I do not like to read long works of fiction on the screen. A book has a tactile magic to it. It is a private world, hidden behind the 'gates' of its covers. Open the cover and you enter into another universe, the limit to which is set by the power of your own imagination and the ability of the writer.

I have been reading Bernard Cornwell lately. He is most famous perhaps for the 'Sharpe' series about an Irish soldier during the Napoleonic wars, a series that was translated to cinema. I have watched the films but have not read the actual books yet, mainly because my sympathies tend to be, rather treacherously, with the other side in the conflict. I had no problems with his Anglo-Saxon series, however, and enjoyed it immensely.

The internet is an incredible boon to serious readers, actually, as one has the world at ones fingertips when it comes to a search for a hardcover book at a good price. When I lived in Manhattan, I haunted the 'Strand', an enormous bookshop that sold remainders and other hardcover books at reduced rates. The 'Strand', however, is nothing compared to the internet. I was able to find a copy of Bernard Cornwell's 'Agincourt' absolutely untouched for less than a quarter of its listed price.

A new book can have a magic of its own, when the book is made well using superior paper and binding. When I opened 'Agincourt', I was overcome by the scent of the paper, sending me back to my happiest days in childhood, when my favourite Christmas or Birthday gifts always were books. The edges of the pages are deckled, which further assists the tactile enjoyment.

Oddly enough, one of my most magical memories involves a set of books I did not even own. When I was a child, I accompanied my mother to the local university library where I found a complete set of the hardcover works of Alexandre Dumas. Dumas set himself the enormous task of constructing the history of France from its inception in the form of novels. He had a 'factory' of writers to assist him, actually, but his accomplishment remains extraordinary. There are more than one hundred novels in the series. I was able to read all of them, book by book.

The series was leatherbound, I believe, and printed on superior paper. What made this experience truly legendary for me was the fact that at least two-thirds of the books had uncut pages. I had to find a penknife to cut each page before I could read it! I felt like an explorer in a virgin forest.

I am not a time-traveler. I was not born in an era of printed books with uncut pages. The edition I read had to be almost contemporary with the writer himself. It probably was the first English edition of many of the novels.

In any case, reading 'Agincourt' by Bernard Cornwell transported me back to childhood, when I viewed a new book with almost as much excitement as a plane ticket to another country.

Here it is necessary to comment upon the shoddy quality of many contemporary printed books, even books that are printed in hardcover editions. The paper and bindings often are cheap, although the price usually is the same as it would be for a superior edition. That is where Harper Collins should be applauded for maintaining the highest of standards for so many of its editions, from 'Agincourt' to the 'Warrior' series by Erin Hunter. Both may become classics one day and the owners of these editions should be able to enjoy them as much in a decade or three as they do now, unlike so many contemporary hardcover books of equal price.

I think it is wonderful that so many classics have been uploaded to the internet but I should hate to think that the printed book will become obsolete.

The Wave of the Future: Games as Novels

I have remarked in the past on the fact that Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games actually resemble interactive novels, but with the recent Rune Factory 2 and Rune Factory Frontier games, it is obvious to me that the genre indeed has reached a point where a game can be considered to be the equivalent of a novel in every respect.

Rune Factory 2 contained over 420,000 words of dialogue. Rune Factory Frontier must include at least as much text. In fact, a player wrote in disgust to me that he didn't like Rune Factory Frontier because there were too many Events and too much reading to be done!

A player who is looking exclusively for slash and stab action is NOT going to like ANY Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game. At the same time, a player who never wishes to wield a sword or weapon will be unhappy with the Rune Factory series as it extends the Harvest Moon traditional activities of farming, ranching, mining, fishing and social interactions to include combat and adventures as well.

It seems to me, however, that the Rune Factory series is an incredible achievement in terms of embracing ALL the best aspects of gaming while emerging as a true embodiment of the concept of interactive fiction. Furthermore, all Rune Factory games are interactive novels as opposed to short stories. Of the three existing Rune Factory games, it is the two most recent additions that represent a perfect acihevement in this. The original Rune Factory appeared to be driving towards it, but it is only in the two games that followed that dialogue and Events reached a point where they could be considered to constitute a real novel in interactive form.

As some one who has attained a small measure of notoriety as 'Mistress of Harvest Moon' even internationally, I tend to receive hundreds of emails from players on the subject of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory and therefore have some knowledge of the type of player who has become increasingly involved with the genre. To the general public who may have been influenced by negative portrayals of gaming in the media, I can offer proof positive that players of games such as Harvest Moon and Rune Factory are educated individuals of all ages, actually read prolifically and find intellectual and spiritual stimulation in both the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory series.

Marvelous Interactive and the creators of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory should be added to the league of great contemporary novelists. Note that the original versions of all Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games are Japanese, a language in which I am not proficient, very sadly. Natsume, the company who brought these games to the English-speaking world, deserves eternal gratitude and social recognition for its accomplishment. More recently, XSeed has joined the list by making the first Rune Factory game for the Wii available in English.

I would like to challenge any individual who considers himself/herself to be a superior judge of the written word to explore either Rune Factory 2 or Rune Factory Frontier and find it less than worthy of his/her regard. Furthermore, these games offer a very detailed education in farming, fishing, mining, ranching, cooking, business and social interactions. Above all, they force an individual to become proficient in the art of multi-tasking and budgeting time. The latter are skills required of any person who lives in the 21st century and both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory offer the opportunity to improve these skills significantly. The fact that the games have incredibly detailed characterisations that can be poignant and very humourous at turns is a bonus.

On a spiritual level, more than one player has remarked upon the 'zen-like' quality of daily routines in Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. There is an opportunity for the soul to achieve a state of peace when tilling a field, growing a crop and ultimately harvesting it. Clearing a field of weeds, stumps and rocks, then watching it flourish, even if only in a virtual reality, does give an individual a sense of accomplishment and the attitudes of the villagers reinforce the idea that harmony with the earth in creating bounty for humankind and animals is a worthy goal.

Every character in these games possesses depth and individuality. It is not like a classical RPG where you simply speak to a character in order to obtain a clue to unlock a new option. Not at all. You speak to a character in order to gain more knowledge of that individual's personality, history and an increase in friendship or love. Humour is very much a part of these games and laughter eases the heart and soul. Lest any one attempt to argue that games like these foster unrealistic expectations of utopia or an existence unmarred by loss, this certainly is not the case. These games do recognise the inevitability of death and a player will experience the heartache of age and loss. On the other hand, the worlds of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory do represent 'better' worlds in a sense as good actions receive rewards and friendship is not met with betrayal.

Unlike some 'virtual reality' games, Harvest Moon and Rune Factory teach a philosophy that places friendship and loyalty above financial benefit and personal gain. Although the message usually is oblique, a character in Rune Factory Frontier states it very clearly:

Lara: Money is necessary to live, but obtaining more than necessary will only cloud your heart. Please don’t be too attached to money, Freyr.

Both sides of the coin are true in any Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game. 'Money is necessary to live' and your character will struggle at the start of his/her life on a dilapidated farm, with very few initial resources and yet, hard work is rewarded ultimately with prosperity not only for oneself but for the entire village. It is by spending money and sharing the bounty of nature that one achieves true success in any Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game. Patronising local merchants allows them to feed their families. In participating in festivals such as the 'Harvest Festival' or 'Year-End Festival', one is reminded of the value of community spirit.

On a side note, I never knew much about fishing until I began to play Harvest Moon. Becoming aware of the varieties of Fish in different habitats is very much a part of both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. Being able to cook offers an opportunity for greater knowledge of crops, fish and wild plants. The addition of a few bizarre recipes in every game simply adds to the enjoyment.

Working at a forge always has been a dream of mine but it is only in Rune Factory that I have been able to achieve that goal. Forging a blade or farm tool really does offer a measure of real satisfaction. It is far more fulfilling than placing an order with the local bladesmith!

Finally, although Rune Factory does include combat, killing plays no role whatsoever in these games. Defeating an enemy simply returns that enemy to its own world. Often a human enemy, once defeated will become a friend or even potential life partner.

The landscapes both in Harvest Moon and Rune Factory are utterly breathtaking. Although any good reader can imagine the landscapes created by a novelist, actually being able to move through a fictional universe as incredibly beautiful as those of Harvest Moon or Rune Factory is an experience that becomes a valued memory. A virtual memory, after all, becomes as much an integral part of the soul as any 'real' experience.

There are those who believe that too much imagination can be a negative or corrupting influence, especially for children. Some religions preach avoidance of 'fiction' for that reason. I personally feel that imagination is the equivalent of wings for the soul, and that it is a privilege to be allowed to experience another person's world of the imagination.

While Amazon has made the concept of a virtual library a reality in the form of the 'Kindle', Harvest Moon and Rune Factory have extended the form of the novel itself. The trend towards acceptance of virtual realities in general increases daily. Speaking of Second Life, one individual predicted that having an avatar soon would become as essential as having an email address. Perhaps the concept of entering into fiction in order to 'read' a book will become as much a part of every one's ordinary expectations as well. Certainly it is the stuff of which dreams are made and it has achieved reality both in the Harvest Moon and the Rune Factory series.

N.B. The photographs are screenshots from Rune Factory Frontier. 'Monsters' who are tamed with a Petting Glove will serve as transport, farm workers or allies in combat. Here, in one screenshot, you see an 'Elefun' watering crops while the main character rides a 'Unico' through the village. In the other screenshot, it is sunset at the Beach. Two of the 'Eligible Girls' (characters you can court and marry) fish on the pier as the sun sets over the beach.