Author: Christina

The Mighty Pen, Symbol of Reason

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Twelve people at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were gunned down on January 7. In the same week, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi received the first 50 lashes of his 1000-lash sentence for blasphemy, ironically, an echo of the Charlie Hebdo cover that caused such offense in 2011 — “1000 lashes if you don’t die laughing”. Not to mention the on-going incarceration of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayad in Saudi also, for blasphemous verses. Islamofascism (still apparently a contested term, but loosely defined as a political ideology based on Islam) has been gaining in strength for decades, but its […]

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Oh Hygeia

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The goddess of nursing clearly decided she needed a personal word with me after that last post: I broke my wrist ice skating yesterday and spent the rest of the day at A&E! Hygeia turned up in the shape of a sweet bearded doctor. More later, I am off for round two.  

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Charlie Hebdo

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Today 12 people were gunned down in a magazine office in Paris. Charlie Hebdo is a well-known satirical magazine, the equivalent of, say, Private Eye or National Lampoon. Two, or maybe three, murderers shouted Arabic slogans as they left the building. Charlie Hebdo has a history of pissing Islamists off, so it’s assumed that this is yet another attack on Europe by fundamentalist muslims. Laughter is central to freedom: they have struck at the heart of our culture. And they were right: ridicule is the best weapon against fascism. Here is a chart of the attack. Time is approximate. I […]

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Hygeia, The Asteroid of Health

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The image of Hygeia is a constant in modern times. Although we do not always recognise her for the goddess that she is, perhaps there are more images of her in the media than any other Greek goddess except Aphrodite. In the Greek pantheon, she is one of the daughters of Aesculapius, the doctor. One sister is Panacea “cure-all”, another is Iaso (recuperation) and she is, of course, the goddess of hygiene — which frankly sounds rather dreary. However, the Greeks didn’t think so. They probably did not mean OCD style disinfection, after all no one really knew about germs […]

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Five Things To Do in 2015

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Happy New Year! I hope the holiday season was a pleasant one for you. As of today we are into the swing of the new year: already the bulbs at the end of the dining table — paper whites and hyacinths — have bloomed and their sharp green leaves are an augury of spring; my youngest went to school this morning with her apple polished and (most of) her homework done; and D (Jupiter in Pisces) has bought himself two pairs of shoes in the sales. So it really is time to think of the year ahead, and leave behind what we can’t fix […]

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January Horoscopes: Riding The Bear

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  The White Bear said: “Are you afraid?” “No, that I am not,” said she. “Keep tight hold of my fur, and then there is no danger,” said he. And thus she rode far, far away, until they came to a great mountain. Then the White Bear knocked on it, and a door opened, and they went into a castle where there were many brilliantly lighted rooms which shone with gold and silver… You may have read a fairy tale called East of the Sun and West of the Moon in which the beautiful girl is sold by her father […]

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Neptune At The Movies

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It’s Boxing Day, a perfect day for slothing on the sofa and succumbing to the magic world of the movies. I’ve noted before that I think this period of Neptune in Pisces (2011-2024) should be great for the moving image. One thing that’s already clear is that we’re going through a wonderful period for TV drama. Now that we watch episodes back to back, we’re diving right into that ocean of imagination in just the way our ancestors immersed themselves in those huge novels back in the 1850s, last time Neptune was in Pisces. In this country at any rate, something else […]

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Solstice

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The darkest night of the year is almost upon us. The nadir, the bottom, the grave, the tomb — and the womb. We are sliding gently into this zero hour, lighting our candles and fireworks to keep away the creeping shadows. Christmas is a beautiful celebration, and a deep understanding, of the light within darkness. There is no greater light than a new life. Much of our Christmas — the tree, the reindeer, the candles, the Yule log — was imported from Germany and Scandinavia. And many of their Christmas traditions have their origins in the not very distant pagan past. One such […]

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A Bit Of Shakespeare And Some Bean

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  “The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre Observe degree, priority and place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Office and custom, in all line of order; And therefore is the glorious planet Sol In noble eminence enthroned and sphered Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil, And posts, like the commandment of a king, Sans cheque to good and bad: but when the planets In evil mixture to disorder wander, What plagues and what portents! what mutiny! What raging of the sea! shaking of earth! Commotion in the winds! frights, changes, horrors, Divert […]

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