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University Of Hermes
Friday, October 30, 2015
Samhain
As October turns to
November, thousands of Witches, Wiccans, Druids, and other Pagans across
America, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere observe the sacred time of Samhain.
Samhain is a festival of the Dead. Meaning "Summer's End" and
pronounced saah-win or saa-ween, Samhain is a celebration of the end of the
harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year. For many practitioners,
myself included, Samhain also is the beginning of the spiritual new year.
Originating in ancient Kemet, brought to Europe by the Moors, as a Celtic Fire festival, Samhain is now celebrated worldwide. The
timing of contemporary Samhain celebrations varies according to spiritual
tradition and geography. Many of us celebrate Samhain over the course of
several days and nights, and these extended observances usually include a
series of solo rites as well as ceremonies, feasts, and gatherings with family,
friends, and spiritual community. In the northern hemisphere, many Pagans
celebrate Samhain from sundown on October 31 through November 1. Others hold
Samhain celebrations on the nearest weekend or on the Full or New Moon closest
to this time. Some Pagans observe Samhain a bit later, or near November 6, to
coincide more closely with the astronomical midpoint between Fall Equinox and
Winter Solstice. Most Pagans in the southern hemisphere time their Samhain
observances to coincide with the middle of their Autumn in late April and early
May, rather than at the traditional European time of the holiday.
Samhain also has been
known by other names. Some Celtic Wiccans and Druids call it Calan Gaeaf, Calan
Gwaf, Kala-Goanv, or Nos Galan Gaeof. In Welsh, it is Nos Cyn Calan Gaual. It
also is known as Oie Houney. A medieval book of tales, the Yellow Book of
Lecan, reports that common folk called it the "Feast of Mongfind,"
the legendary Witch-Queen who married a King of Tara in old Ireland. In the
ancient Coligny Calendar, an engraved bronze dating from the first century
C.E.and dug up in 1897 in France, Samhain is called Trinouxtion Samonii, or
"Three Nights of the End of Summer." Variant spellings of Samhain
include Samain, Samuin, and Samhuinn.
With the growth and
spread of Christianity as the dominant religion throughout Europe, Samhain time
took on Christian names and guises. All Saints' Day or All Hallows on November
1 commemorated Christian saints and martyrs. All Souls' Day on November 2 was a
remembrance for all souls of the dead. With the coming of Christian Spaniards
to Mexico, the indigenous customs of honoring the dead at this time of year
mixed with Roman Catholicism and gave birth to the Day of the Dead, Dia de los
Muertos, in early November. Samhain shares the ancient spiritual practice of
remembering and paying respects to the Dead with these related religious
holidays of Christianity.
Halloween, short for
All Hallow's Eve, is celebrated on and around October 31. Although occurring at
the same time of year and having roots in end-of-harvest celebrations of the
ancient past, Halloween and Samhain are not the same, but two separate holidays
that differ considerably in focus and practice. In contemporary America and
elsewhere, Halloween is a secular folk holiday. Like its cousin, Thanksgiving,
it is widely and publicly celebrated in homes, schools, and communities, large
and small, by people of many paths, ethnic heritages, and worldviews.
Furthermore, Halloween has evolved to be both a family-oriented children's
holiday as well as an occasion for those of all ages to creatively express
themselves and engage in play in the realm of make-believe and fantasy through
costumes, trick-or-treating, storytelling, play-acting, pranks, cathartic scary
place visits, and parties.
DSC 8619In contrast,
Samhain and its related Christian holiday counterparts continue to be religious
in focus and spiritually observed by adherents. Although observances may
include merry-making, the honoring of the Dead that is central to Samhain is a
serious religious practice rather than a light-hearted make-believe
re-enactment. Today's Pagan Samhain rites, while somber, are benevolent, and,
although centered on death, do not involve human or animal sacrifices. Most
Samhain rituals are held in private rather than in public.
Samhain's long
association with death and the Dead reflects Nature's rhythms. In many places,
Samhain coincides with the end of the growing season. Vegetation dies back with
killing frosts, and therefore, literally, death is in the air. This contributes
to the ancient notion that at Samhain, the veil is thin between the world of
the living and the realm of the Dead and this facilitates contact and
communication. For those who have lost loved ones in the past year, Samhain
rituals can be an opportunity to bring closure to grieving and to further
adjust to their being in the Otherworld by spiritually communing with them.
There are many ways to
celebrate Samhain. Here are a few:
Samhain Nature Walk.
Take a meditative walk in a natural area near your home. Observe and
contemplate the colors, aromas, sounds, and other sensations of the season.
Experience yourself as part of the Circle of Life and reflect on death and
rebirth as being an important part of Nature. If the location you visit
permits, gather some natural objects and upon your return use them to adorn
your home.
Seasonal Imagery.
Decorate your home with Samhain seasonal symbols and the colors of orange and
black. Place an Autumnal wreath on your front door. Create displays with
pumpkins, cornstalks, gourds, acorns, and apples. Set candles in cauldrons.
Ancestors Altar. Gather
photographs, heirlooms, and other mementos of deceased family, friends, and
companion creatures. Arrange them on a table, dresser, or other surface, along
with several votive candles. Kindle the candles in their memory as you call out
their names and express well wishes. Thank them for being part of your life. Sit
quietly and pay attention to what you experience. Note any messages you receive
in your journal. This Ancestors Altar can be created just for Samhain or kept
year round.
Feast of the Dead.
Prepare a Samhain dinner. Include a place setting at your table or at a nearby
altar for the Dead. Add an offering of a bit of each beverage being consumed to
the cup at that place setting, and to the plate, add a bit of each food served.
Invite your ancestors and other deceased loved ones to come and dine with you.
To have this as a Samhain Dumb Supper experience, dine in silence. After the
feast, place the contents of the plate and cup for the Dead outdoors in a
natural location as an offering for the Dead.
Ancestor Stories. Learn
about family history. Contact one or more older relatives and ask them to share
memories of family members now dead. Record them in some way and later write
accounts of what they share. Give thanks. Share what you learned and have
written with another family member or friend. Add names of those you learned
about and wish to honor to your Ancestors Altar.
Cemetery Visit. Visit
and tend the gravesite of a loved one at a cemetery. Call to mind memories and
consider ways the loved one continues to live on within you. Place an offering
there such as fresh flowers, dried herbs, or a libation of water.
Reflections. Reflect on
you and your life over the past year. Review journals, planners, photographs,
blogs, and other notations you have created during the past year. Consider how
you have grown, accomplishments, challenges, adventures, travels, and
learnings. Meditate. Journal about your year in review, your meditation, and
your reflections.
Renovate. Select an
area of your home or life as a focus. Examine it. Re-organize it. Release what
is no longer needed. Create a better pattern. Celebrate renewal and
transformation.
Bonfire Magic. Kindle a
bonfire outdoors when possible or kindle flames in a fireplace or a small
cauldron. Write down an outmoded habit that you wish to end and cast it into
the Samhain flames as you imagine release. Imagine yourself adopting a new,
healthier way of being as you move around the fire clockwise.
Divinatory Guidance.
Using Tarot, Runes, Scrying, or some other method of divination, seek and
reflect on guidance for the year to come. Write a summary of your process and
messages. Select something appropriate to act upon and do it.
Divine Invocations.
Honor and call upon the Divine in one or more Sacred Forms associated with
Samhain, such as the Crone Goddess and Horned God of Nature. Invite Them to aid
you in your remembrance of the Dead and in your understanding of the cycle of
life, death, and rebirth. If you have lost loved ones in the past year, ask
these Divine Ones to comfort and support you.
Transforming
Expressions. If you encounter distortions, misinformation, and/or false,
negative stereotypes about Paganism and Samhain in the media, contact the
source, express your concerns, and share accurate information. Help eradicate
derogatory stereotyping with courteous, concise, and intelligent
communications.
Community Connections.
Connect with others. Join in a group ritual in your area. Organize a Samhain
potluck in your home. Research old and contemporary Samhain customs in books,
periodicals, on-line, and through communications with others. Exchange ideas,
information, and celebration experiences. Regardless of whether you practice
solo or with others, as part of your festivities, reflect for a time on being
part of the vast network of those celebrating Samhain around the world.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Uber’s Surge Pricing May Not Lead to a Surge in Drivers
Uber has long stirred
controversy and consternation over the higher “surge” prices it charges at peak
times. The company has always said the higher prices actually help passengers
by encouraging more drivers to get on the road. But computer scientists from
Northeastern University have found that higher prices don’t necessarily result
in more drivers.
Researchers Le Chen,
Alan Mislove and Christo Wilson created 43 new Uber accounts and virtually hailed
cars over four weeks from fixed points throughout San Francisco and Manhattan.
They found that many drivers actually leave surge areas in anticipation of
fewer people ordering rides.
“What happens during a
surge is, it just kills demand,” Wilson told ProPublica. “So the drivers
actually drive away from the surge.”
When contacted this
week, Uber said that their own analysis has shown that surge pricing does, in
fact, attract more drivers to surge areas. “Contrary to the findings in this
report — which is based on extremely limited, public data — we’ve seen this
work in practice day in day out, in cities all around the world," Uber
spokeswoman Molly Spaeth wrote in an email.
The researchers also
uncovered a few tips about how to avoid surge prices. They found that changing
your location, even by a few hundred feet, can influence the price you get.
They also discovered that you can often get back to normal fare levels by waiting
as few as five minutes.
“The vast majority of
surges are short-lived, which suggests that savvy Uber passengers should
‘wait-out’ surges rather than pay higher prices,” the authors wrote in a new
study they are presenting at a conference in Tokyo on Friday.
The Northeastern
scientists found that Uber’s price scheme divides cities into “surge areas” and
calculates prices for each one independently. The boundaries are not known to
consumers. “[T]wo users standing a few meters apart may unknowingly receive
dramatically different surge multipliers,” the scientists wrote. “For example,
20 percent of the time in Times Square, customers can save 50 percent or more
by being in an adjacent surge area” a block or two away.
Mobility Isn’t Just a Technology, It’s a Mindset
Ready or not, here it
comes.
That’s essentially the
position businesses find themselves with regard to mobile technology and its
influence on not just IT but all aspects of their organizations. The confluence
of smartphones, tablets and cloud-based computing services, along with a
growing percentage of millennial and Gen Y employees, is leading to a
fundamental shift in how businesses are contemplating all things mobile.
There’s a growing sense
of inevitability about this mobility trend. Everyone knows it’s going to
happen. However, on the map to a mobile-optimized organization, not only is the
route unclear, it’s also not at all obvious what the final destination is. This
makes navigating the path from the present to an ill-defined future a
particularly challenging task.
Can Your Facebook Profile Really Hurt Your Credit Score?
You already know to
think twice before posting pictures and stories about your wild Saturday night
to Facebook. Recent headlines like this one in The Financial Times might have
given you more reason to hold off:
.
Not so fast, says FICO,
the most widely used credit score.
What it and others in
the industry are doing instead is looking at alternative data, such as phone
and utility bills and property and other public records, in addition to the
traditional sources used to determine a credit score, like credit card,
mortgage and auto loan payments.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Disney’s ‘Zootopia’ Cages Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Octavia Spencer & Others
http://deadline.com/2015/10/zootopia-cast-idris-elba-j-k-simmons-octavia-spencer-bonnie-hunt-tommy-chong-1201594498/
Disney today unleashed
the full list of actors, characters and some new images of the denizens of
Zootopia, the animated tail, er tale, of a “modern mammal metropolis” where
animals from across the food chain coexist. Idris Elba and Oscar winners J.K.
Simmons and Octavia Spencer are among the newly announced voices for the
project from Walt Disney Animation Studios, along with such familiar names as Bonnie
Hunt, Tommy Chong, Alan Tudyk and Jenny Slate.
Exclusive: Jared Leto Talks Suicide Squad’s The Joker
Glimpsed on Instagram,
teaser in the trailer and much discussed online, Suicide Squad's Joker has
remained tantalising unknowable - up to now. The new issue of Empire pokes
through the bars of Arkham Asylum and lays bare the nuts and bolts of Jared
Leto’s wild-eyed reimagining of DC’s supervillain. Nuts, of course, being the
operative word for this character.
Sega Considering Re-Release For Shenmue And Shenmue II
A Sega marketing
director has said the Japanese publisher is looking for ways to re-release the
original two Shenmue titles. Originally launched as exclusives for the
Dreamcast, Shenmue and Shenmue II, all we’ve seen of this pair since is the
latter making the jump over to the original Xbox.
Having witnessed the
hype generated by Sony’s Shenmue III E3 announcement and the ensuing record
breaking Kickstarter campaign, Sega is hunting for ways to capitalise on this
success. Perhaps most excitingly, marketing man Jon Rooke cites a return to the
sort of gaming Sega used to stand for back in its console days.
“Yes, we want to
innovate and back smartphones and virtual reality but our key purpose is to go
back to what the brand used to stand for,” said Rooke. “I think the buzz around
Shenmue 3 shows that people love our legacy.
“Over the next few
years, we want to use engaging content and marketing to remind the public why
they fell in love with Sega in the first place.”
ESPORTS 101: A GUIDE TO THE BOOMING BUSINESS OF COMPETITIVE GAMING
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2015/10/27/esports-101-a-guide-to-the-booming-business-of-competitive-gaming/
The internet generation
doesn’t have drunken punch-ups; it has forum “flame wars.” Millennials don’t
watch television; they watch “streams” and “VoDs.” Instead of protesting in the
streets, they engage in hashtag activism. And when it comes to sports, yes,
they have their own as well: competitive gaming, or, for the initiated,
“eSports,” where the very best players come together to compete for prestige
and prize money. A lot of prize money.
You’ll be familiar with
the stereotypes surrounding hardcore gamers. The phrase conjures an overweight
basement-dweller, replete with furry neckbeard, shrouded in body odour. While
no stereotype can exist without at least a grain of truth, in my experience as
a veteran eSports reporter a hardcore gamer these days is just as likely to be
an image conscious gym-nut as anything else.
Google Brings Podcasting to Play Music, Swinging at Apple’s Dominance
http://recode.net/2015/10/27/google-brings-podcasting-to-play-music-swinging-at-apples-dominance/
From their earliest
days, podcasts were linked closely to Apple. Their very name came from an Apple
product: iPod. Apple included podcasts in its music app before spinning out a
separate iPhone app in 2012, then made it un-deletable last year, just in time
for a boom in the format thanks to the wildly popular “Serial” series from This
American Life.
It’s Google’s turn now.
The Alphabet company is getting ready to open a dedicated home for podcasts on
its Google Play hub. Today the company is letting podcast creators upload shows
to Google Play Music, its streaming service; it says listeners will be able to
listen to those shows “in the coming months.” It will be, remarkably, the first
native app for podcast listening on Android in the content market where Apple
carries disproportionate weight.
The Japanese Gamers Who Prefer to Date Videogame Characters
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/loulou-daki-playing-for-love/
ONLINE DATING HAS lost
its stigma. You’d be hard pressed to find a single 20-something who isn’t on
Tinder, OKCupid, Happn or any one of countless dating apps. You can debate the
impact this has had on love and relationships, but what happens when you make
courtship an actual game?
According to The Japan
Times, 37.6 percent of those surveyed by the government said they had no
interest in a romantic partner, and most of them cited “bothersome” as their
biggest reason for shunning relationships. But virtual relationships are
another matter entirely, and some Japanese men favor virtual companions like
Rinko, Nene and Manaka of Konami’s Love Plus.
Using a Nintendo
console or an iPhone, Love Plus players can adjust the girls’ moods and
personalities to suit their preferences, exchange romantic emails and buy gifts.
In 2010, players could even rent rooms for themselves and their consoles during
a promotion between Konami and hotels in Japan’s Atami resort town.
Walgreens Boots Alliance to buy Rite Aid in $17.2bn deal
If approved by regulators,
the deal would see two of the biggest US drug stores combined.
Walgreens Boots
Alliance was created when UK High Street chemist Alliance Boots merged with the
US drugstore Walgreens last year.
Rite Aid is expected to
initially continue operating under its own name.
The Pennsylvania-based
company, which has been in operation since 1962, saw its shares soar more than
40% on Tuesday after the Wall Street Journal reported that a deal may be in the
wings.
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Scottish and Japanese fusion whisky launched
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/angus-the-mearns/scottish-and-japanese-fusion-whisky-launched-1.907131
An Angus man launched
what is thought to be the world’s first fusion of Scottish and Japanese
whiskies.
Jim Millar, a former
Arbroath councillor who has won several awards for his work in promoting the
relationship between Scotland and Japan, launched The Glover in simultaneous
ceremonies in Tokyo and Aberdeen.
The whisky is named
after Thomas Blake Glover, a Scot who had a profound impact on the
modernisation of Japan in the 19th Century.
Among his many
achievements, he founded what would later become global giant Mitsubishi, and
his former home in Nagasaki still attracts up to two million visitors each
year.
Japanese cartoonist is slammed for portraying men as house husbands
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/27/japanese-cartoonist-is-slammed-for-portraying-men-as-house-husbands/
TOKYO — It’s not just
that Japanese women have a hard time leaning in. It also turns out that it’s
even harder for Japanese men to lean out.
Or that’s a conclusion
that could be drawn from the controversy over "Himozairu," a
short-lived Japanese cartoon that revolved around unemployed young men who try
to make themselves more attractive to professional women by teaching themselves
how to do housework.
Akiko Higashimura, a
well-known Japanese manga artist, has withdrawn her new series after only two
installments, because of criticism that the comic was demeaning to men.
Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez to Divorce After 2 Years
Halle Berry and Olivier
Martinez (WireImage)
Halle Berry and Olivier
Martinez are divorcing after two years of marriage.
“It is with a heavy
heart that we have come to the decision to divorce,” the couple said in a joint
statement to People. “We move forward with love and respect for one another and
the shared focus of what is best for our son. We wish each other nothing but
happiness in life and we hope that you respect our and, most importantly, our
children’s privacy as we go through this difficult period."
There doesn’t appear to
be a specific incident that prompted the divorce, though the couple’s two year
marriage has been peppered with legal troubles. Just last week, an employee at
LAX airport sued Berry and Martinez for $5 million dollars, after Martinez
allegedly hit him with a baby’s car seat.
There is also, of
course, the Thanksgiving Day brawl of 2012, in which Martinez got into a nasty
fight with Berry’s ex, Gabriel Aubry, after he came to drop their daughter
Nahla off at Berry and Martinez’s home. Both Martinez and Aubry had to go to
the hospital after the fight and Aubry was issued a restraining order after the
fight.
This will be the third
divorce for Berry; after her second, in 2007, Berry said she would “never,
never get married again.”
There is no word on a
custody arrangement for the couple’s two-year-old son, Maceo-Robert, but the
couple reportedly does have a prenup.
Taiwan moves to classify eSports under sporting authority
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/taiwan-moves-to-classify-esports-under-sporting-authority/0158077
The Taiwanese
government met with development and eSports board members yesterday in talks to
become the sixth country to recognise competitive gaming as sport.
Taipei's Department of
Economic Development and the Taiwan eSports League submitted an appeal to the
country's Ministry for Education last week to discuss classifying the activity
as an 'indoor sport'.
The proposal, put
forward by Economic Development Commissioner Lin Chung-chieh and TeSL chairman
Huangbo Hong, would allow eSports ventures to secure government funding under
the sports administration.
Last month, Lin invited
20 players, developers and talent agents to Taipei to discuss how the city
government could aid eSports growth.
Russian eSports could bring billions of dollars to investors
http://rbth.com/business/2015/10/27/rusian-esports-could-bring-billions-of-dollars-to-investors_534365
Billionaire businessman
Alisher Usmanov is to pour $100 million into Russia’s largest eSports club. The
funds will be used to create new arenas and tournaments, among other things.
Observers believe that the undervalued Russian market may bring investors
billions of dollars in the future.
Sony set to launch esports league platform
http://www.irishexaminer.com/technow/games/sony-set-to-launch-esports-league-platform-361621.html
Sony looks set to
embrace the notion of competitive gaming with the launch of its own esports
platform called PlayStation Plus League.
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