The Truth of Thanksgiving
giving thanks should not be shut up in a single day
While most Americans sort of believe the picturesque story of a convivial feast between the 51 or so surviving Pilgrims and around 90 Native Americans, perhaps from the Wampanoag Nation, the truth is far more complicated and perhaps a good deal murkier.
The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans. ~ Wamsutta Frank James, Wampanoag activist
Today, especially today, we can understand that within months of the disease ravaged Pilgrims winter 1620 arrival in North America, the native population was decimated by European illnesses. In addition there is strong evidence that the Puritans set the pattern for white settlers in America by seizing Native Lands, killing and enslaving the indigenous populations. Perhaps you could check out the Pequot Massacre of 1637.
As it goes, if there was ever a Thanksgiving Feast at all there is no evidence that the Wampanoags were there, or were even invited.
Being very religious people, it is more likely that the Pilgrims were celebrating a delayed Michaelmas, a harvest festival honouring the archangel Michael, who is a symbol of good triumphing over evil. Back then Michaelmas Day was October 10th. It gets more complex than that because in the protracted switch from the Juilan to Gregorian calendar from 10 to 18 days were removed from the year. That happened in 1752 in the USA. So, only God, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Sarah Josepha Hale, and the Wampanoag peoples know when Thanksgiving happened, if it’s not just a popular myth or a political invention.
Personally I believe that any feast, festival, or religious observance at this time of year is directly related to the autumn equinox, when our ancient ancestors would bemoan / celebrate that the day and night were of exactly equal length. From then on the days would get shorter, the nights longer, the weather colder, and winter would soon come howling in.
At least our English festival at this time of year, Guy Fawkes Night, is based on hard historical fact.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Stonehenge is just a calendar
Thanksgiving
A HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ONE AND ALL
The turkey. The Sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we can all agree so vehemently about?
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Happy Thanksgiving
Songs on Saturday ~ I put a spell on you
you say ‘witch’ like it’s a bad thing…..
Some very sexually confident women are as close to being a witch, an enchantress, as most men are ever likely to meet. It tends to make for a very one-sided relationship. I should know, I’ve been exactly where Annie Lennox is singing about. After a while it stops being fun.
If you fall in love with a witch you are in for an interesting, tortured time.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
for all a man knows
a which may be lying right next to him
Feminine Strength
out of the strong came forth sweetness
Unless you are English or a bible scholar you may be unfamiliar with the above quotation, which is derived from the story of Samson and the Lion and a woman from Timnah. It’s a narrative and an allegory. Psychologically, the interesting thing is the difference between masculine and feminine strength.
Typically, masculine strength is brute force and aggression that can be measured in foot-pounds, whereas feminine strength is far more elusive and mysterious. In the biblical story the lion is an expression of male energy and sexual potency. The sweet honey is an expression of female patience, sensitivity, and complexity. Without both the story has no point at all. So, some strong warrior guy goes out and kills a lion ~ that happens all the time in the bible. That story would have little point to it.
However, if you add the feminine sweetness, and throw in the woman from Timnah for good measure, then what we have is an allegory which seeks to illustrate that unbridled strength and aggression without control is both pointless and dangerous. An out of control bulldozer isn’t anything anyone wants to have to deal with.
Many men fail to grasp that point. A lot of guys think that what it takes to be a real man is the ability to sink copious quantities of beer and then beat down on the little guy. Or drink copious quantities of beer, drive home from the pub, and treat his wife / girlfriend like a piece of meat. That type of guy tends to be unsuccessful, or an alcoholic, or a workshy petty criminal ~ or all three.
More successful men realise that feminine qualities like; acceptance, diplomacy, patience, perseverance, understanding, and the ability to communicate effectively are just as important, (if not more important), than qualities such as physical courage and endurance. Some men eschew these feminine strengths as being beneath them, or unmanly, or associated with the rainbow community. Reality says that a hell of a lot of men just find things like diplomacy, understanding, and talking, far too difficult for them to cope with.
I had to learn the feminine strengths and skills as part of my career in International Finance ~ if I wanted to make more money than my trophy wife could spend. More recently, I learned those feminine strengths courtesy of a self-confessed black widow.
Really strong men control their masculine qualities with the feminine qualities they are willing to learn and use.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
out of the eater, something to eat
out of the strong, something sweet
Armistice Day
they were young, they were pals, 744,000 of them died
~
they shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
at the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
lest we forget
Remembrance Sunday
at the 11th hour, on the 11th day, of the 11th month of 1918
the guns fell silent
The Third Battle of Ypres, also called the Battle of Passchendaele, was another of the horrific meat-grinders fought in Flanders Fields during the Great War.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
between the crosses row on row
In England today is Remembrance Sunday, many of us will wear a poppy, and remember the 887,888 dead from the United Kingdom and her then Colonies.
This song is a poignant reminder of those days.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Music ~ Lorena McKennitt
music can free your soul from the dungeon of your mind
Quite a few of my friends aren’t doing so well right now. If it comes to that, neither England nor America are doing well ~ both our nations are in the doldrums and suffering deeply. Perhaps this healing music from Lorena McKennitt can sooth all our troubled souls and hurting bodies.
Please listen peacefully, and know that someone cares deeply about you.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the ocean is mystical
I hope it will soothe your soul
Living In A Police State
remember, remember the fifth of November
treason and gunpowder plot
about the only future we have to look forward to
Once again lives are being ruined in this Sceptered Isle as Boris Johnson’s catastrophically inept government imposes yet another 4 weeks of strict lockdown on the whole country. It could be that this is the most unpopular government since that of King James 1st ~ and coincidentally today is the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, when a cadre of disaffected men were going to blow up the Houses of Parliament, the government, and the king. November 5th, 1605 could offer some lessons to all good Englishmen and true ~ for it is surely time we rid ourselves of Boris and his power-mad advisors; Patrick Vallance, Chris Whitty, and the disgraced Dominic Cummings. (Who could ever respect a nerd called Dominic?)
It’s now very clear that Boris is incapable of running a PTA meeting, but that’s OK because our Prime Minister has given up all pretence of running the country. England is now being run by a shadowy politburo of unelected officials called SAGE, (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies). Having politicians run things is bad, having scientists in charge is infinitely worse.
Because of their blinkered conviction that they are right ~ a conviction that will brook no argument ~ millions have had their lives ruined, lost their jobs, gone broke, suffered tragedies, and been arrested by the heavy handed police, who too are enjoying their new-found power to interfere with people’s lives.
My personal pain isn’t so bad. I will suffer 28 days of solitary confinement. A very important trip I had booked to Cancun will probably be cancelled. And, I will go slowly crazy.
There is no future to look forward to, this is not our finest hour.
This is not how England is supposed to be.
It’s time this government went.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
November 5th is called Guy Fawkes night
Random Jottings ~ Vampyres
loving a vampire usually ends quite badly
~
never kiss a vampire in the pale moonlight
~
when vampires go flying and bats are seen
the moon laughs and whispers
’tis near Halloween
~
she told me it was love at first bite
~
vampires embrace the moonlight shadows
~
‘I have a bloodthirsty mind, and you’re on it Darling’
~
loving a vampire ~ a short life full of draining incidents
~
every good vampyre deserves a chance to bite a virgin’s neck
~
she’s the only vampire I know who takes her phone into her coffin
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
oral sex with a vampire is interesting
COVID-19 Conspiracy
just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you
this man is not running the country
After an initial period of believing everything the government said about the alleged coronavirus pandemic I became suspicious because nothing seemed to really make sense. The numbers just didn’t add up ~ and the official story just goes on being a classic model for black propaganda. In historical terms this virus is not that serious ~ if you don’t believe me the just look up the Spanish Flu epidemic.
Life went on as normal during the Spanish Flu ~ something the government is determined will not happen during the months and years that COVID-19 can be used as an excuse to grab draconian powers over the general population. But why?
The answer is in the people concerned and became obvious when, out of the blue, Boris Johnson announced that wind farms could power every home by 2030. So why the sudden ambition to make the UK the world leader in green energy? And, why his sudden pledge at the UN biodiversity summit to protect 30% of UK land for nature as a ‘boost for biodiversity?
The main suspects are;
- Professor Neil Ferguson, the government scientist who’s deeply flawed computer model predicted megadeaths if the UK and the USA didn’t go into immediate lockdown. The philandering adulterer has a lot of previous when it comes to destroying society due to his erroneous predictions on the spread of infectious diseases.
- Antonia Staats is Neil Ferguson’s adulteress mistress and a rabid green campaigner on such issues as catastrophic anthropogenic climate change.
- Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister has no previous when it comes to climate change, (previous record in speeches), in fact his previous statements on the subject are all over the place. Historically the position of the Conservative Party on man-made global warming is that it’s a load of bull crap. So why the sudden change?
- Carrie Symonds, is Boris Johnson’s girlfriend. She is a staunch campaigner on green issues, most specifically for Oceana, a non-profit group focused on influencing governments’ policy decisions aimed at preserving and restoring the world’s oceans. Oceana specifically promotes offshore wind farms, exactly as Boris Johnson has just committed the UK to make massive investment in.
- Matt Hancock, is the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. He knows bugger all about health and social care, having read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford. From 2014 to 2015 Hancock was a Minister of State for Energy, supporting the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on such issues as carbon capture and renewable energy deployment. He is very much in favour of green energy and reducing the UK’s carbon footprint.
- Zac Goldsmith, Minister of State for Pacific and the Environment, and his connections pull all of the above together. He previously worked for The Ecologist magazine. Amazingly, (not), he is a huge fan of green energy. Zac is the son of billionaire Sir James Goldsmith. The Goldsmith Foundation focuses on such issues as climate change and the rainforests.
The more we stay at home the lower England’s carbon footprint will become. Is this just a coincidence? BTW, there is no such thing as a coincidence.
Some say that we should all stay at home to Protect the NHS and reduce the spread of COVID-19. And that we should avoid all but essential international travel. All I know is that the government’s regulations have little to do with the coronavirus, and a hell of a lot to do with the extreme green agenda.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the real reason behind coronavirus lockdowns
