chasing dancing giants...

Had another dream where I was searching for the giant dancing gods of Taiwan (performed during Taoist religious festivals). This is the second this year... the first dream was on New Years Eve 2014 and the second was a week later on my Birthday... I have not had a dream like this in many years... is it a coincidence that I will be traveling to Taiwan this April, the first time since 2008, before I had moved to Kuwait? Click on this video link to hear all the fireworks and hypnotic ritual music and to see how these giant gods dance (the photos are mine but not the video - however the video is at my favorite temple in Taipei, close to where I used to live) and make sure to see the dramatic end of the video! Also note that these photos and video are taken during the day so are clearer but most often these festivals take place at night - making them much more mysterious - in my dreams of chasing these dancing giants it is always at night)...

Open season on sandhills? Send our crazy legislators home!

 Sandhill Crane parent with child maybe four weeks old.  http://www.birdphotos.com

Lawmaker wants hunting season for sandhill crane - m.JSOnline.com

m.jsonline.com

Plain Talk: Open season on sandhills? Send our crazy legislators home

host.madison.com

Here's still another reason why we've got to return to a part-time Legislature and get these people out of town...

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE EVERYONE!

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE EVERYONE!

Japanese Sun goddess Amaterasu emerging from a cave.

Ephesus...

The Council of Ephesus decreed in 431 that the Virgin Mary be proclaimed Theotokos, literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations used by most Christians, especially Catholics, are Mother of God and Queen of Heaven (names often associated with ancient goddesses).

Is it just a coincidence that she was given these titles in the very city famed for the Temple of Artemis one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? The temple was destroyed in 401 CE by a mob led by St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, and an important Early Church Father. All that is left now is one huge pillar with a giant nest on top of it... some of the other temple pillars are said to have been taken to Constantinople and used in the reconstruction of the Hagia Sophia.

It also is a very strange coincidence that Ephesus is still a major religious pilgrimage site, but now for the so called House of the Virgin Mary.

I loved Ephesus... it was warm and welcoming after the freezing temperatures of northern Turkey. It was also full of life, from the orange trees along the avenues to abundant animal life... ducks played in the swampy water around the old site of the temple to the Lady Of The Beasts, a white horse roamed near by, and huge flocks of black birds screeched at night and swarmed from tree to tree as you walked down the streets...