"Inconsequential things that men don't really care to know....."

"....Become essential things that women find so apropos......" so goes the song by Neil Hefti and Bobby Troup from the movie Harlow.

Apropos of not very much:
#1
I noticed, in casting my eye down Wiki's list of births for this day, 13 December through the years, two names with a coincidental, inconsequential link, the kind I like best!

Born 13 December 1925: Dick Van Dyke
Born 13 December 1929: Christopher Plummer
A word linking those two actors: Nanny. A name? Julie Andrews, aka Mary Poppins and Maria Rainer (later von Trapp).

Small things...........!

#2

We're a day late and a dollar short (again) getting into TV series The 4400. It ran from 2004 to 2007. We've just watched DVDs of the first season, enjoyed it a lot.
When two actors I once blogged about as look-alikes showed up I was first confused, then surprised, when the two appeared in the same scene arguing with one another. In a post a couple of years ago, I'd exclaimed about their facial likeness, along with a third similar-looking actor. I'm adding a slightly edited version of that 2010 post below. Facial likeness of these actors still fascinates me - inconsequential things often do.

Facial features can be arranged on a human being in a limited number of ways, so it's surprising that we don't notice more look-alikes. Outside of family resemblances, which are to be expected, there aren't too many people with facial likenesses strong enough to confuse us. There are a few though - I came across an instance recently. In an episode of Boston Legal, we couldn't decide whether one of the characters was being played by an actor we knew from Eureka. "He's broader", I kept trying to convince myself...."the Eureka guy is slimmer built....but....erm...he could have put on weight for the part".

Colin Ferguson who plays the sheriff in Eureka, and Mark Valley of Boston Legal, Human Target - and Fringe were the two who originally had me confused. There's a third guy who could be added to this particular look-alike list: Joel Gretsch of The 4400.

From the top: Colin, Mark, Colin, Mark, and Joel.







Astrologically, appearance is said to relate mainly to the rising sign - though I would guess that Sun and Moon signs, or any sign heavily emphasised or strongly placed on an angle, could also influence looks. I've personally come to recognise a limited number of astrology-related facial/physical features in people I've met. Gemini:wiry or skinny, bony face; Capricorn/Aquarius/Saturn: a definite look with regular features (hard to describe in words); Cancer: round face, tending towards chubbiness; and of course the famous magnetic Scorpio eyes, and the lustrous Leo hair.

Without times of birth, without knowing rising signs and Moon placement for the three guys mentioned, it's not possible conduct a proper investigation into whether astrology has any bearing on their facial likeness.

Colin Ferguson - born 22 July 1972, Montreal, Canada.
Mark Valley - born 24 December 1964 Ogdensburg, NY.
Joel Gretsch - born 20 December 1963, St. Cloud MN.

I've compared 12 noon charts for the three and can find only one point of (almost) convergence between 28 Sag and 2 Capricorn: Colin Ferguson has Jupiter at 00 Capricorn, Mark Valley has Sun at 2 Capricorn and Joel Gretsch has Sun at 28 Sagittarius. If their rising signs were somewhere around that area it'd be amazing!

There's a non-astrological possibility for the likeness too, though I've no evidence to support it: Scottish ancestry. The look they share has a definite Scottish flavour.

And...acknowledging the song quoted at the top of this post, Julie London, wife of co-composer Bobby Troup, sings it here:

Ms Bun The Baker's Daughter

12.12.12. Today's date: a triple dozen. I shall resist an immediate urge to expound and expand upon the number 12. Instead, an offshoot of the standard dozen: the baker's dozen: 13.

I'm the daughter of a craftsman baker (I hesitate to call my father by the proper term: master baker, because it sounds uncomfortably like something else!) I ought to have known all about "the baker's dozen" and its origins, without the need for research. I didn't. I do now.

The origin of a baker's dozen harks back to 13th century England (around 1266/7) when a piece of law known as The Assize of Bread and Ale was enacted. This statute, first of its kind in England, regulated the weight, quality and price of bread and beer manufactured anywhere in England. The law was enforced in cities by licensing systems with fees, fines and punishments for breaking it; in rural districts it was enforced by Lords of the Manors at regular court sessions.

Before establishment of this law it had been relatively easy for unscrupulous bakers to short-weight customers. Bakers had garnered a rather dodgy reputation because of this, and it was at their request that a system of regulation was established Once this new law was enacted bakers needed to make certain they complied, in order to avoid harsh penalty - perhaps a session in the stocks or pillory, or a heavy fine. They came up with the idea of adding a 13th loaf to every order of 12.....an early form of insurance, I guess.

19th century laws superseded the old regulation and stipulated that bread be sold by pound weight; later that was repealed also. In 2009 a European directive abolished more than 800 years of English history. Bakers in the UK, like the French maître boulanger can now bake loaves of any size, shape, and weight.

In establishing the original bread law England was following the pattern of earlier civilisations. Early societies took their bread very seriously, it was a primary food source for many people. In ancient Egypt, a baker found to be cheating a customer would have their ear nailed to the door of their bakery. In Babylon, if a baker was found to have sold an under-weight loaf, the baker would have his hand chopped off.

My Dad, back in the late 1940s through the 1950s, with my Mother's help, ran their own small bakery and store. Very early mornings, before 5.00 AM, he would haul a huge lumps of mixture from his big mixing machine to the baking table, tear off pieces from the lump of dough, and once torn they'd be thrown onto a scale, then kneeded a certain number of times, and put in to pans on a baking tray, then into the "prover" to rise before baking. Dad would work up a well-practiced and distinct rhythm. I was amazed how accurate he'd become in pulling almost exact 1 pound or 2 pound pieces from the pile of dough. His tearing, throwing, kneeding pattern: as the dough hit the balance scale it'd clang a bit, then the dough hitting the wooden table added a different softer thump, then the kneeding action had a muffled shuffle sound....then back to the clang... The melody and beat of bread-making. I can still hear it!

(Illustration at top of post: A card from card game Happy Families as published in the 1880s by John Jacques, London.)

Brits: Seeing Y/Ourselves As Others See Us

A loose follow-up to yesterday's post prompted by what I saw as a rather cock-eyed article in Huffington Post the other day:
"A Letter to William & Kate" by Emma Jenner. Snip:
"I am an English nanny myself, with 17 years of experience caring for families in England and America. In fact, I had my own show on TLC, "Take Home Nanny," in which I showed parents the best principles of English parenting. The English are truly great at bringing up resilient, well-mannered, brave, and kind children. Too many parents -- in our own country and across the Western world -- have lost sight of what we've always done right."

The article, and comments, are overflowing with generalities, to the point of being almost laughable.

One commenter "outed" the article's author:

FinnishReader: Look up the author and connect the dots. The woman's flogging her own child-raising consultancy business (Google Emma's Children) in a nicely indirect way with a bit of "background information" about how the Brits purportedly raise their kids and the results thereof. There's nothing wrong with self-promotion, and if Downton Abbey's ratings are anything to go by, there are plenty of self-styled Anglophiles out there ready to part with their money for a touch of class for both themselves and their offspring. Just don't expect the rest of us to believe this clichéd drivel.

I often wonder whether people in the USA who have never visited Britain actually envisage that land across the Atlantic as an extension of Downton Abbey.

I found it entertaining to read the thread of comments following the piece. An exercise in seeing ourselves as others see us. A few examples, credited by screen-names with, where appropriate my own thoughts as a person of dual nationality British/USA, with over 60 years' experience of life as it is lived in the British Isles.

King 72: I'm not a fan of the Brits myself but good manners always lead to good relations. Don't be too hard on the Brits, they can't seem to help their pompous arrogance. They always use diplomacy at first to get what they want from another nation before invading them and exploiting the land and the people. They've invaded 90% of the other nations on earth. Don't let their good manners fool you.

Hmmmm - I can see where this commenter gets the impression of pomposity and arrogance - Brits who have face and voice recognition over here, the likes of Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan, Steven Fry! Also springing to mind in relation to his other points: stones and glass houses!!

BeFairNow:Well that explains a lot about what is wrong with British society - the emotional ineptitude, the stuffy cluelessness of the privileged and the relentless reinforcing of the aforementioned from one generation to the next. People only hire British nannies because they think that these attributes will allow their children to be accepted into the stuffy, insular elite but what highly paid nannies like this one never tell their cash cows is that it takes birth, not simply wealth and privilege to be considered aristocracy in a class-based society like the UK. Furthermore, the idea that Brits are good at raising children is laughable at best. Take your child to any restaurant or entertainment venue not specifically designed for children and they are treated as pariahs. Still, it's an improvement, as mere centuries ago (and trust me, a century is not considered a long time in a place with as much history as the UK) children were tightly wrapped in swaddling and suspended from pegs on the nursery walls until they were old enough to be interesting (if they survived). The royal family also has a questionable record with child rearing, judging from some of Prince Charles's horror stories, particularly about his father. The writer of this article needs to come down from the clouds of cluelessness and joint the rest of us regular folk on terra firma!

Erm.... British society? What exactly is that? There are at least couple of reasonable points made in the comment above though, highlighted.

kinopravda:I see that the British notion of cultural superiority is alive and well. The British apparently are like the French, they have not realized that their empire is gone, that their influence has waned, and that they simply are not the force that they were in just the previous century. These abominable, generic, claims to superiority strike me not only as arrogant, but as seriously flawed as well. In other words, get off of your high horse. Take a walk, you need it.

Can't resist it......stones and glass houses again.....and how!!!!

A couple of more down to earth views:

BouBou: I don't know what UK is like now, but can testify about the 50's and 60's. Education was strict, rigorous and would now be considered a little harsh. Money for gifts and luxuries was short to none.
I grew up there at that time and, yes, I am perfect in every way.
But seriously though, folks.........
My daughter is now an American and bringing up a son. If there is a difference, in the USA there seems to be a supportive, permissive tendency with extravagant praise offered up for a very slight effort or achievement. Also , the household centers around the kids with little priority for adult interactions .As a result US kids sometimes exhibit what seems to us like a confidence , assertiveness and bravura which is not always appropriate. But, hey, I'm a fossil.

AND

liveinhope: As a Brit myself and - not surprisingly - the child of British parents, let me state unequivocally that I have never read such a load of unmitigated tripe in my life. British parents - like parents everywhere else - come in all varieties. We do not have a monopoly on manners or good taste and as far as a lack of tolerance for bullying, you must be out of your tiny mind. British schoolboys - particularly when they reach they teens - have historically been some of the most sadistic and unpleasant bullies in the world.

The rest of the planet may be sinking into some kind of pre-natal, royal parenting euphoria but let's not kid ourselves, OK? Most Brits know that if you want to look at an absolutely horrible parent, you need look no further than Prince Phillip - Charles' dad who was (and probably still is) a nasty, vicious sadist whose idea of good parenting was to humiliate and berate his sons for their shortcomings.
This article is about as relevant to British parenting as Mary Poppins is to child care. In short, stereotype reinforcing, populist bilge.

CHAIN REACTION

Today, December 10, in 1936 was the date on which King Edward VIII signed the Instrument of Abdication, giving up the British throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson. Thus began a chain of events which led to the fanfare accompanying last week's announcement that Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are expecting a child - a child who might, if the monarchy survives (and no further hitches emerge to cause a different chain of events), inherit accession to the throne of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.

Had Mrs. Wallis Simpson proved less attractive to Edward, or had their paths never crossed - think life in another dimension - history could have taken many, many different turns. Diana might still be around - perhaps not as Princess Di, but out there happily raising a gaggle of kids in more than comfortable circumstances, somewhere in the Home Counties. Princess Margaret, not as sister to the heir to the throne, might have led a very different, happier and more serene lifestyle. Perhaps even King George VI, without the stress of being monarch of all he surveyed during a terrible World War, would not have died so young.

Domino effect, causal nexus......chain reaction. It's a funny ol' life!

Cue the song:

Variations on a Theme: Mankind's Further Evolution

I've recently read Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End followed immediately by Michael Shaara's The Herald (Michael Shaara was the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Killer Angels adapted for the movie Gettysburg (my post on that movie is linked).

Childhood's End and The Herald can be classed as apocalyptic/dystopian/science fiction novels. Science fiction was right in Arthur C. Clarke's wheelhouse, and though Michael Shaara's most famous book was historical (other end of the scale) he did write some other sci-fi stories and at least one other sci-fi novel - strange combination, history and science fiction!

I enjoy apocalyptic/dystopian novels and some sci-fi, though not all. Enjoying tales of dystopia is perverse of me I guess. I've tried to work out why, but can't quite unravel it. These stories don't scare me at all, or give me bad dreams as reading horror tales of zombies, werewolves or blood-sucking vampires might. The novels sell well, many from decades past have come to be called classics (think:Fahrenheit 451, 1984 The Handmaid's Tale).

I wasn't aware of it when I started reading, but Childhood's End and The Herald have loosely similar themes (apart from straightforward dystopia) : the improvement and further evolution of man, albeit by different means.

BEWARE SPOILERS.

The Herald (1981) was later re-titled The Noah Conspiracy and had a revised ending (I don't yet know how it differs from the original, but can hazard a guess). Storyline: a scientist plans to create an improved version of the human race, which will involve killing millions of people. The tale unfolds gradually, starting with the pilot of a private aircraft flying into a small US airport and finding it deserted. The reader is left, for much of the book, with the pilot attempting to find out exactly what's going on. We discover, eventually, a genetic scientist’s plan to create a "better" human race, eliminating negative traits which threaten, over time, to cause the death of the whole species. His plan will involve the mass killing of many millions of people, but will ensure survival of the race.

I found the novel a very easy read and a book I could not put down. I read most of it in one sitting (unusual for me), only stopped because it was dinner time.

The original title of the novel The Herald refers to words of
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, poet etc. An extract from his Thus Spoke Zarathustra by explanation:

Zarathustra’s Prologue:
When Zarathustra arrived at the edge of the forest, he came upon a town. Many people had gathered there in the marketplace to see a tightrope walker who had promised a performance. The crowd, believing that Zarathustra was the ringmaster come to introduce the tightrope walker, gathered around to listen. And Zarathustra spoke to the people:

I teach you the Overman! Mankind is something to be overcome. What have you done to overcome mankind?

All beings so far have created something beyond themselves. Do you want to be the ebb of that great tide, and revert back to the beast rather than overcome mankind? What is the ape to a man? A laughing-stock, a thing of shame. And just so shall a man be to the Overman: a laughing-stock, a thing of shame. You have evolved from worm to man, but much within you is still worm. Once you were apes, yet even now man is more of an ape than any of the apes.

Even the wisest among you is only a confusion and hybrid of plant and phantom. But do I ask you to become phantoms or plants?

Behold, I teach you the Overman! The Overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beg of you my brothers, remain true to the earth, and believe not those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poisoners are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying ones and poisoned ones themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them! ........................................Lo, I am a herald of the lightning, and a heavy drop out of the cloud: the lightning, however, is the Overman!"

Childhood's End first published in 1953 wasn't such an easy read, but still enjoyable. I balked a bit when the author changed his cast of characters a third of the way through the novel.

The story is told in three parts, spanning the period roughly mid-20th century to 2075. The author could have been echoing or projecting, via analogy, the troubled situation around the time of the story's conception: cold war, segregation, possibility of nuclear annihilation, uneasy years when the horrors of World War 2 were still fresh in memory.

Standard sci-fi ingredients begin the novel: huge space ships positioned over the world's major cities, ships populated by a race known as The Overlords, who never show themselves to humans, but communicate with human representatives. The Overlords were not here to take over the planet for our gold or other reserves, or to enslave the human race. Instead they seemed to be intent on saving us from ourselves. Over time they solve our major troubles: war, famine, segregation, crime and poverty become things of the past. Any resistance is quashed by direct application of CIA-style "soft power". Utopia is born. Whether that was a Good Thing is a matter for philosophical perusal - maybe a bit of astrological perusal also. Would it be possible to erase our natural instincts of aggression, greed, lust (drawn from the planetary position of Earth)? And would it be A Good Thing to deny us the ability to choose for ourselves, to choose wrong decisions, create destructive items, wreak havoc, jump to mistaken conclusions, but also to attempt to create solutions to overcome what our weaknesses had wrought?

We begin to see the outcome in the remaining two phases of the story, set in the following 100 or so years. The Overlords revealed themselves. Humans were horrified to find the alien beings looked incredibly like illustrations encountered somewhere long ago, in a far less benign role! They tell humans that their purpose is to protect them from "powers and forces that lie among the stars – forces beyond anything that you can ever imagine…. ‘It is a bitter thought, but you must face it. The planets you may one day possess. But the stars are not for man."

During the story's final phase, ten years later, Earth's children discover paranormal skills, fall into catatonia after strange dreams, and eventually withdraw from contact with parents. Overlords reveal that their job as servants of The Overmind, is to shepherd humanity into its next stage of development, though The Overlords, for unexplained reasons, cannot progress. Humanity in its current form has reached the end of its existence; the newly cultivated species will join The Overmind, Earth will be no more.

I was particularly taken by a very clever twist - the explanation of the Overlord's physical appearance.

The book can be read as a straightforward sci-fi tale, or can also be seen as a network of analogies, some more obvious than others, and, it must be remembered, seen from the viewpoint of the author in the early 1950s.

The huge spaceships forever hovering over all major cities = a world state fostering social justice. Add some prescience on the part of Arthur C. Clarke and translate them as super-sized corporations, enforcing sterility via their own opaque motivations. Interwoven, too is the ancient vision of of angels/demons hovering over mankind.

Astrologers believe that our individuality is defined, in part, by the position of the Sun, Moon and planets at the exact time and in the exact place where we were born. Whether that individuality could be so easily stripped from us, as a race, by benign means, is something this book might be asking us to consider. What did Arthur C. Clarke think of astrology? Not a lot, it seems. And that's a pity. See HERE

As far as I know, early sci-fi authors, while envisioning flying cars, alien beings and inter-galactic flight, didn't ever mention something as wildly unbelievable as The Internet, smart phones, i-pods, Facebook, Twitter. Already I'm beginning to feel that today's young generation belong to a subtly different race from the one to which I belong myself. This type of feeling can only spread, even to those many years my junior, in coming years. Perhaps this is the "shift in consciousness" some seem to expect....beginning with the end of the current cycle in the Mayan calendar?

Arty Farty Friday ~~ Michael Cheval - Illusion & Metaphor

In yesterday's post I included a couple of works by Michael Cheval. His paintings, discovered online during research, made me an instant fan. So - a little more about this fascinating artist.

Michael Cheval is the world’s leading artist specializing in Absurdist paintings, drawings and portraits. He defines "absurdity" as an inverted reality, a reverse side of logic. This doesn't come from dreams, or from the subconscious. It's more a game of imagination with carefully chosen connections to construct "a literary plot". Cheval’s paintings are "maps of his journey into illusion", often metaphorical. They require a certain level of knowledge and a sharp eye to translate often hidden allusions. These are not simply "pretty pictures!"

Michael Cheval was born in 1966 in Kotelnikovo, a small town in southern Russia. He grew up in an artistic family. His love of drawing was encouraged from early childhood by his father, a self-taught artist, and by his grandfather, Yuri Lipov, a professional artist and sculptor. His talents developed quickly and by three years old, he could already draw complex compositions.

He has lived, painted, and studied in Germany (where his love of history, literature and music further blossomed). There he led a rock 'n' roll band and for several years, composed songs, wrote poetry. Many of his paintings contain musical references.

Cheval later moved to a Turkmenistan city in the middle of the desert, near the Iranian border. Here he developed a deep interest in oriental philosophy. He began work as a professional artist. His decision to emigrate to the USA in 1997 brought a new beginning. Adding to his early inspirations drawn from Western culture, his own experience, philosophy and vision gathered from his time in the East, his work rapidly evolved and made its mark on the art world. His paintings these days command high prices, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

The artist's own website has more information and lots of examples of his work.
HERE and HERE.

I'm astrologically frustrated by not having Mr. Cheval's full birth data. All that's available is his place of birth and "1966", so a peek at his natal chart isn't possible. In 1966 Uranus and Pluto were conjoined in Virgo all year, with Neptune in Scorpio in sextile. That information alone sets a general background atmosphere of inventiveness, depth and incisive insight.

Trying to translate the symbolism in his paintings is mind-boggling at times. A few examples follow. One would have to be as well-versed and well-travelled as Mr. Cheval to catch every nuance! Titles, where available, offer clues.

Clicking on the images should bring up a slightly bigger version, to investigate important detail.

Practice of the Big Boom

Division of Prime Cause

The Truth is Always Inbetween

Official title is Lady of Hurricane. without knowing its title I saw it as Pandora opening her Box.....maybe that's the same thing!

Sunset Tango

Sounding Silence

Loquacious Blues (Many of his paintings have musical references.)

I want to go on, and on... but I'd be apprehended by copyright police - so, just one more:

Zenith of Time

Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner.

ART-FOOL

Staying with Fools again today - this time in art.

Quentin Massys 1465 - 1530
Belgian Painter, many religious subjects and portraits. See some examples via thumbnails HERE

His painting An Allegory of Folly

Hans Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a German printmaker who did his best work as an engraver, and was also a designer of woodcuts and a painter and miniaturist. He is one of the most important of the "Little Masters", the group of German artists making printss in the generation after Dürer. See Wikipedia.

Two Fools, circa 1532-1550.

'Stanczyk', by Polish artist Jan Matejko (1837-1893).
The jester is depicted as the only person at a royal ball who is troubled by the news that the Russians have captured Smolensk. This event happened in 1514.
Stańczyk (c. 1480–1560) was the most famous court jester in Polish history. He was employed by three Polish kings: Alexander, Sigismund the Old and Sigismund Augustus.

Cecil C. Collins (See more here)

Cecil Collins was born in Plymouth, Devon, England. He studied at Plymouth School of Art and at the Royal College of Art, London. For a while he was interested in Surrealism but in the later 1930s, after meeting the American painter Mark Robey, he became interested in the art and philosophy of the Far East. He taught for a time at Dartington Hall, a progressive boarding school in Devon, and published The Vision of the Fool in 1947. He frequently drew on symbolism in his work and had a special interest in the figure of the fool. This creature came to signify for him such qualities as spontaneity, purity and light, unappreciated but for the artist, in modern capitalist life. He painted some powerful faces staring out at the viewer with large sad eyes. These expressive surveys recur throughout his work and the brush strokes echo these rhythms, while pattern and detail are applied in brief dark outline. .......The fool does not see the world with the disillusioned knowingness of the scientist; rather he marvels; he looks with the eyes of a child. Collins is not a conventionally religious man: indeed he is deeply critical of the world’s established faiths. He believes that they have lost sight of this ‘vision of the fool’.............
See also HERE.

The Sleeping Fool, 1943.

The Joy of a Fool, 1944.

Michael Cheval (born Mikhail Khokhlachev, Russian: Михаил Хохлачев; 1966, in Kotelnikovo, Russia is a contemporary artist specializing in Absurdist paintings, drawings and portraits (inverted side of reality, a reverse side of logic). Amazing artist! More on him and his work tomorrow.

His painting Ship of Fool

And: Art of Diplomacy

Michael Parkes His lovely paintings often include references to a Fool motif (see my post about him and his natal chart HERE)

Finally, back to tarot representations of The Fool - variations on a theme ~~~

From the Thoth Tarot deck, painted by Lady Frieda Harris according to instructions from Aleister Crowley:

From the Quantum Tarot - The Fool, the archetypal beginning is represented by Event One - The Big Bang

The card below - of course - is from The Peanuts Tarot:

Note: Copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).

FOOLS AROUND

Still on the topic of Fools........for anyone with a hint of "woo" in their soul the first Fool to spring to mind is The Fool of the tarot deck. The Fool card is numbered "0" in the Major Arcana and represents a beginning, innocence, freshness, eagerness, impulsiveness, someone entering life without fear, preconception or prejudice. Nutshell description: the child within. Compare that with keywords for the first zodiac sign, Aries, and you'll find many a match!

Minus "woo", The Fool as we know it is said to have

..... emerged in medieval England in the13thC. The rigid social hierarchies of medieval society relied on these reality maintenance constructs which were closely related to traditional inversionary re-enactments of mis-rule to create a sense of release for and in the population. Although, ultimately the role was meant to re-affirm the hierarchy and strictness of the medeival system. "Fools" became a construct whose unique position in the community's power structure demonstrated the reality of secularized opportunism, relativism, and immoralism. The “fool” wore a subtextual connotation of evil, pretending stupidity, often opposing the figure of the wise or holy man in a culture's structure. In the moral/philosophical dimension, s/he is the negative inversionary counter-point to virtue and wisdom.

Above quote comes from History of Fools

I feel certain, though, that there must have been such figures, perhaps differently named, well beyond 13th century England, in earlier civilisations. What The Fool motif, in general, represents has always been a part of human nature, whether as the innocence of the tarot's version, or as the Trickster, Jester, Joker images which remain familiar to us today.

From a piece All the King's Fools by Suzannah Lipscomb at History Today website, comes a theory that indicates there was present in this medieval custom a dreadful streak of careless cruelty - but we ought to have guessed as much!

The popular myth about court fools and one that some historians have perpetuated is that they were simply clowns aping foolishness for a laugh. Yet my research suggests that many – perhaps all – court fools in the early Tudor period were ‘natural fools’, or what we today would characterise as people with learning disabilities and that explains much about their prominent position.

That court fools were ‘natural fools’ needs a little explaining. In 1616 Nicholas Breton defined a natural fool as one ‘Abortive of wit, where Nature had more power than Reason’. The legal term idiota was interchangeable with ‘natural fools’, who were characterised as incapable or insensible of their actions:........

Image identified by the The British Library: French. Detail of a miniature of King David in prayer, and a Fool, at the beginning of Psalm 52. Attribution: Master of Guillebert de Mets

So, I wonder whether figure of the Court Fool of Tudor times slowly evolved into the Court Jesters, who were not "natural fools" but persons of sharp wit and some wily wisdom?

Shakespeare mentioned Fools often, a list of his Fools is at Wikipedia, here. Best known are : Touchstone in As You Like It(1599), Feste in Twelfth Night,(1600), and the Fool in King Lear(1605); not forgetting Yorick, in Hamlet, the deceased court jester whose skull is exhumed by the gravedigger and evokes a monologue from Prince Hamlet on the effects of death:

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? (Hamlet, V.i)

And from Twelfth Night

"This fellow is wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practise
As full of labour as a wise man's art
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit."

SHIPS OF FOOLS ~ OLD AND NEWER

Combination of an old post of mine, from 2010 - one I particularly enjoyed preparing, followed by a few notes on more recent portrayals of our still afloat and recognisable Ship of Fools:

The term "ship of fools", as an allegory, harks back to medieval times when it was the custom to rid society of "undesirables": the mentally ill and other outcasts, by gathering them into a boat or cart and having them taken away. The origin of the descriptive phrase appears to be a book by Sebastian Brandt, 15th century German humanist and satirist. His allegorical poem/story "Das Narrenschiff" criticises the state of the church, as well as what he saw as the weaknesses and vices of his time. 15th century painter Hieronymus Bosch gave us his version of Ship of Fools, in a painting (shown below). This was originally part of a triptych, a linked 3-panel piece of artwork.

500+ years later we can still relate to humanity as a Ship of Fools....no need to go into detail here, passing readers will recognise the indications, which are many and various!

So then, if this painting presents an allegory of humanity's weaknesses, it must also represent the weaknesses, or shadow sides, of the 12 signs of the zodiac, which together make up human nature. Conveniently, coincidentally (or not), there are 12 figures in Bosch's painting - too good a chance for me to miss!

First a brief explanation of the "props" in the painting. The round object hanging between the central group is a suspended pancake. As a game the characters try to take bites from it. Traditionally all eggs and milk were eaten before lent, but the fools choose to consume them in wasteful luxury. The pitcher upside down on a pole behind a nun, and some stored barrels behind the monk symbolise consumption of alcohol. The trees used as masts are symbols of the tree of life. The figure reaching up to a roasted fowl tied to the tree represents the gluttony of the times. (The idea comes from a medieval custom of attaching a roasted fowl or ham to the top of a greasy pole so peasants could try their skills to retrieve it.) The long banner flag with the crescent moon on it as a representation of Islam. In the tree top, an owl, usually symbol of wisdom, here representing heresy, as a bird that hunts at night - dark and spiritually unenlightened - symbolic of evil and superstition in general.






Here goes then - looking for a representation of weaker sides/shadow sides of the zodiac signs NB zodiac signs in general NOT a person's Sun sign!: Some are better representations than others; some could be interchangeable. Bosch didn't consciously have astrology in mind when he painted this.

Aries (Self-seeking, arrogant) - Figure climbing mast to reach the chicken

Taurus (Totalitarian, self-aggrandising) - figure with arm in the air - at the back

Gemini (Lies, unreliable) - figure with mouth open to right of Taurus

Cancer (Self pity, fear) - figure lying down far left

Leo (Irritable & frustrated when not in spotlight) - figure dressed as Fool, sitting alone, at right

Virgo (Judgmental, vengeful) - Nun figure holding jug, to right of Cancer

Libra (Lascivious, indecisive) - Nun figure playing mandolin

Scorpio(Scheming, paranoid) - Monk figure at table

Sagittarius (Silly, greedy, overbearing) -figure directly behind the pancake on a string

Capricorn (Capitalistic, social climber) figure in water with bowl

Aquarius (Trying too hard to be different, poseur) - figure in water on right

Pisces (Addictive, lazy) - figure hanging over side of boat vomiting -at right.

(Alternative interpretations/allocations of the figures are very welcome - via comments.)

A book by Katherine Anne Porter, first published in 1962, titled Ship of Fools, was inspired by a voyage taken by the author in 1931, from Mexico to Germany. Some of the passengers she met were the models for characters in her novel, begun in 1941 it became the work of 20 years. She observed that the title of her novel symbolizes "the ship of this world on its voyage to eternity."

Passengers in the novel, and in the movie adapted from it, include a Spanish noblewoman, a drunken German lawyer, an American divorcee, a pair of Mexican Catholic priests: a crucible of intense experience, passion, and treachery, with themes of nationalism, cultural and ethnic pride, and basic human frailty, all as relevant in 2012.

I saw the movie adaptation of Ship of Fools, directed by Stanley Kramer, long ago and loved it, especially the performance of the late Oskar Werner as ship's doctor. Others within the "cross section of humanity" included Simone Signoret as a Spanish political activist, cynical dwarf called Glocken played by Michael Dunn, Vivien Leigh as an aging coquette, Lee Marvin as an hedonistic baseball player, a philosophical Jew Heinz Ruhmann, along with some of pro- and anti-Hitler passengers, Jose Ferrer playing the nastiest of them, and young lovers George Segal and Elizabeth Ashley, not forgetting hundreds of indigent Cuban deportees who are being returned to Spain against their wishes.

Whether the book or movie characters would slip into our zodiac as easily as the characters in the famous painting isn't clear. I shall watch the movie again - used VHS tape is on order. DVDs of the two and a half hour long movie, at Amazon, are ridiculously expensive for some reason....it must have become rare.

Would a re-make of Ship of Fools be a good thing? Mini-series perhaps? I'm torn on this. There could never be a better cast talent-wise - never. But to reach today's cinema and TV audiences it might help to modify, improve a few ideas and lines of dialogue that have, over intervening years, become clichéd. In the right hands I think a re-make of some kind wouldn't be a bad thing. I enjoyed, and in many ways preferred the TV mini-series of A Town Like Alice, also the mini-series of From Here to Eternity notwithstanding the loss of Sinatra! When the basic material is good, it will easily stand and benefit from updating and modern technique.

More Sensitivities : The Confederate Flag ~ Country Music

After last week's flurry of complaints and sensitivities over the Native American War Bonnet used in a fashion show by Victoria's Secret, another episode in the sensitivity wars has appeared, this one over images of the Confederate Flag.
A country singer, Trace Adkins, sported an ear piece decorated with a representation of the Confederate Flag when he took part in the nationally televised lighting ceremony of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. He apparently hit a raw nerve for some viewers. I can't find any close-up of the offending earpiece, or evidence that these are for sale (perhaps Adkins' earpiece was custom-made). Countless other items of jewellery and apparel decorated with the Confederate Flag are easily available - type the correct words into Google Image Search to see a selection.

As for Trace Adkins, I've written about him and his natal chart once before: here's a link to my 2008 post: Trace Adkins - Capricorn/Aquarius Mash-up.

The singer has responded to current complaints, via his own website :

As a proud American I object to oppression of any kind.
To me, the battle flag represents remembrance of my Southern lineage — I am a descendant of Confederate soldiers who followed that flag into battle.
I advocate for the preservation of America’s battlefields and honest conversation about our Country’s history.
To those who view the flag as a symbol of racism, that was not my message and I did not intend offense.

I think the large majority of members are people who don’t want history to forget the brave and gallant men who fought for the Confederacy,” he writes. “They’re our ancestors. Yet we as Americans have tried to erase them from our history books.

Adkins, in his 2007 autobiography A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Freethinking Roughneck wrote that he is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and states that his interest has always been historical, as opposed to some desire for the south to rise again.

From a string of comments under the relevant HuffPo article I note that to many the Confederate Flag is a representation of racism, the days of slavery and segregation. The South fought, and lost, a civil war in an attempt to preserve the right to own other humans. Among the overwhelming majority of objections to its use in a broadcast performance, even as decoration on an earpiece, the most common comment involved comparing it with a Nazi swastika. Both symbols have shameful histories, when seen in context of wars in which they were involved; but the swastika did have better symbolism centuries before Germany became involved in its use. That fact in no way diminishes the 20th century horror to which the symbol will forever remain connected. As to the flag: from infoplease

The Confederate battle flag, called the "Southern Cross" or the cross of St. Andrew, has been described variously as a proud emblem of Southern heritage and as a shameful reminder of slavery and segregation. In the past, several Southern states flew the Confederate battle flag along with the U.S. and state flags over their statehouses. Others incorporated the controversial symbol into the design of their state flags. The Confederate battle flag has also been appropriated by the Ku Klux Klan and other racist hate groups. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, more than 500 extremist groups use the Southern Cross as one of their symbols.

Flags. Strange things, flags, through the centuries, revered objects, symbols of patriotism. Flags, from their beginnings, have always had association with battle, the military, war, empire. As such, for me they fall into a category along with the Native American War Bonnet: not something to be celebrated. The Union Jack, or Union flag as I believe it's now called, carries echoes of many wrongs in its past, as well as a few good things. Likewise the Stars and Stripes, and most other national flags. All in all it'd be a very good thing if the use of national flags as symbols on clothing and other adornments were avoided completely, I'd best not say "outlawed" - first amendment stuff would be against that, I guess. Still, use of national flags would be far better limited to serious and historic ceremonial occasions....if used even then.

As for country music, my own love affair with the genre lasted for more than ten years and was, oddly enough, conducted from the UK, and in ignorance of certain nuances and connections I've since come to understand. I do still love some of the old artists and songs, those of Merle, Waylon, Willie, Kris. My interest in the genre ended soon after the time of Garth Brooks; a gaggle of new male country artists who came hard on his heels: Kenny Chesney,Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Tracy Lawrence and Trace Adkins among them, are little more than vaguely familiar names to me. We attended one country concert here in town, several years ago when Oklahoma-born Joe Diffie, performed. The only thing I recall from that is a song he sang praising and thanking "the troops". He ordered the audience to stand. I was the sole body in that theater to remained seated; "the troops" in question were not fighting in World War II, and those are the only troops for whom I personally feel gratitude.