While not magical, I am a huge fan of history and the strange and the world is a strange place where we often come across things that have absolutely no logic. One of these is a banyan tree in Pakistan, fettered in chains. Not only is it one of the most absurd things to see, but the story behind it is also just as ridiculous. Pakistan’s Landi Kotal army cantonment area is home to a huge banyan tree that is kept chained to prevent it from moving. The tree is shackled with chains, extending from its myriad branches to the ground. The tree was arrested in 1898, 122 years ago, when the offended Victorian British officer, James Squid, became heavily drunk and felt that the multi-limbed banyan tree was somehow lurching toward him. The officer became scared and due to the alcohol, decided to teach a lesson to the criminal tree. He ordered his mess officer to arrest and take the tree into custody. The tree was chained to stop it from approaching Officer Squid and has remained chained even today. Ever since then, no officer has been able to overturn the order and the tree continues to bear the weight of the oppressive colonial period after 122 years.
For many, the chained tree in Landi Kotal, a town near the Torkhan border, is a symbol of the draconian Frontier Crime Regulation — a black law that governed the seven tribal agencies and six Frontier Regions during the British Raj. Under the regulations, an officer could order the arrest of any tribesman for any reason, and the person had no right to appeal. Many in Khyber see this act of the British officer as a manifestation of a dictatorial mindset that has nothing to do with any rules, regulations or law. Historian Mubarak Ali said that trees enjoy special importance in all religions and to target a tree in such a way is to send a clear message.
According to some locals, through this act, the British signaled the tribal people that they would meet a similar fate if they went against the government. This chained, century-old tree in Pakistan is a perfect metaphor for colonialism. Whatever the reason may be, the tree in captivity has made the area popular among people who come to have a look at one of the most random acts ever.
Picture from Facebook
Despite the fact that Pakistan gained its independence from British colonial rule in 1947, a board on the tree still reads: “I am under arrest. One evening a British officer heavily drunk thought that I was moving from my original location and ordered mess sergeant to arrest me since then I am under arrest.”
Just imagine if a British officer could put a tree in chain then how were treating the locals of that era? So there it stands — rooted to its native soil, blameless yet punished, and fettered by bonds it still can’t shake. In the world of weird criminal charges, this Banyan tree’s arrest is definitely up there.
Mentioned earlier during The Epic of Gilgamesh post, the Library of Ashurbanipal was a great boon to the ancient world.
The Library of Ashurbanipal (668–627 BC)
The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal and the world’s oldest known library was founded sometime in the 7th century B.C. for the “royal contemplation” of the Assyrian ruler Ashurbanipal, named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Assyrian Empire.
Located in Nineveh in modern day Iraq, the site included a trove of some 30,000 cuneiform tablets organized according to subject matter, most of which are housed in the British Museum. Most of its titles were tens of thousands of clay tablets and fragments, archival documents, religious incantations and scholarly texts, but it also housed several works of literature including the 4,000-year-old “Epic of Gilgamesh.” The collection of Nineveh actually a collection of two different libraries. Some parts of the clay tablets discovered in 1849 in the Royal Palace of King Sennacherib (705–681 BCE). Three years later during excavation archaeologists discovered a similar “library” in the palace of King Ashurbanipal (668–627 BCE).
Ashurbanipal was known as a tenacious martial commander; however, he was also a recognized intellectual who was literate and a passionate collector of texts and tablets. The book-loving Ashurbanipal compiled much of his library by looting works from Babylonia and the other territories he conquered. Archaeologists later stumbled upon its ruins in the mid-19th century, and the majority of its contents are now kept in the British Museum in London. Interestingly, even though Ashurbanipal acquired many of his tablets through plunder, he seems to have been particularly worried about theft. An inscription in one of the texts warns that if anyone steals its tablets, the gods will “cast him down” and “erase his name, his seed, in the land.”
Part of a clay tablet, Neo-Assyrian. (Credit: Public Domain)
Ashurbanipal was one of the few Assyrian kings to have been trained in the more intellectual scribal arts by one Balasi, a senior royal scholar. He systematically built up the palace library through a variety of means. The texts were principally written in Akkadian in the cuneiform script and all the books were placed systematically in the library:
• The tablets were often organized according to shape. • Four-sided tablets were for financial transactions. • Round tablets recorded agricultural information. • Tablets were separated according to their contents and placed in different rooms: government, history, law, astronomy, geography, and so on. • The contents were identified by colored marks or brief written descriptions, and sometimes by the “incipit,” or the first few words that began the text. Multiple type of clay tablet belong to different category were discovered. • Letters. • Administrative documents, and legal records. • Literary and historical works. • Religious rituals and prayers. • Medical collections. • Compilations of terrestrial and celestial omens, with complex commentaries. Few of the most famous and important clay tablets were discovered are: • The Epic of Gilgamesh, a masterpiece of ancient Babylonian poetry, was found in the library (download ebook on Epic of Gilgamesh). • Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa” with astrological forecasts. • Bilingual Tablet of synonyms. • The Epic of Creation told, how Marduk, city god of Babylon, earned the right to rule the gods by defeating the monstrous sea Tiamat and creating the world from her body. • Another tablet telling the myth of the goddess Ishtar’s visit to her sister. • Stories such as the Poor Man of Nippur.
Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BCE by a coalition of Babylonians, Scythians, and Medes, an ancient Iranian people. It is believed that during the burning of the palace, a great fire must have ravaged the library, causing the clay cuneiform tablets to become partially baked. This potentially destructive event helped preserve the tablets.
I began with one of the most well known libraries of the ancient world but I will be delving into more of the less famous but just as incredible libraries now. Whenever someone newer to the pagan faith ask me for advice about the practice, I always say research research research! It is so important to continue researching, learning, and expanding your knowledge, views, and practice. You will find things that work, things that make sense, and things that you will immediately connect with that enhance your practice. Where does all this knowledge come from? Books. Libraries have been there for humanity for thousands of years, instilling knowledge and skills in those who seek it. Today, we have book stores everywhere. Brick and mortar, online, second hand stores, we have a lot of resources that people even 100 years ago did not have.
Throughout history, books have been a highly prized commodity. Their trade goes back many centuries to the invention of materials such as papyrus and parchment, and the creation of libraries by accumulating and copying books gave rise to collections as famous as that of Alexandria.
The Library of Pergamum
Reconstruction of Pergamon. (Credit: De Agostini/Getty Images)
Constructed in the third century B.C. by members of the Attalid dynasty, the Library of Pergamum, located in what is now Turkey, was once home to a treasure-trove of some 200,000 scrolls. It was housed in a temple complex devoted to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and is believed to have comprised four rooms—three for the library’s contents and another that served as a meeting space for banquets and academic conferences. According to the ancient chronicler Pliny the Elder, the Library of Pergamum eventually became so famous that it was considered to be in “keen competition” with the Library of Alexandria. Both sites sought to amass the most complete collections of texts, and they developed rival schools of thought and criticism. There is even a legend that Egypt’s Ptolemaic dynasty halted shipments of papyrus to Pergamum in the hope of slowing its growth. As a result, the city may have later become a leading production center for parchment paper.
Pergamum was a wealthy, developing city with a population of over 200,000 people. Culturally it was rivaled only by the cities of Alexandria and Antioch. Many important works of sculpture and architecture were produced at this time, including the Great Altar of Pergamon. Upon the death of Attalus III, son of Eumenes II, in 133 BC, Pergamum was bequeathed to the Roman Republic.
Pergamum was also an important city in the New Testament and was explicitly mentioned by St. John as one of the Seven Churches of Revelation in the Book of Revelation. The ruins of Pergamum and its library are now major archaeological sites in Turkey. Flavia Melitene, who was a distinguished citizen of Pergamum and wife of a town councillor, was instrumental in supplying the library. She also presented a statue of Hadrian to the library as a gift.
No index or catalog of the holdings at Pergamum exists today, making it impossible to know the true size or scope of this collection. The library consisted of four rooms, the largest of which was the main reading room (44.5 feet x 50 feet), lined with many shelves. An empty space of approximately 20 in was left between the outer walls and the shelves to allow for air circulation, intending to prevent the library from becoming overly humid in the warm climate of Anatolia, an early attempt at library preservation. A 10 foot statue of Athena, modeled after her statue in the Parthenon, stood in the main reading room.
Although the library of Pergamum was built roughly a century after the library of Alexandria, the two had a fierce rivalry, as libraries were often used to reflect wealth and culture. The two libraries competed for parchment, books, and even literary interpretation. Pergamum also hired some Homeric scholars, who studied the Iliad and the Odyssey. This resulted in a fierce rivalry in which each library tried to obtain copies of Homer’s works, striving to have the most accurate and oldest works. They also tried to attract better scholars by offering competitive pay. Ultimately, this rivalry forced both libraries to innovate and improve.
The Library of Aristotle
The library of Aristotle is the library which was named after its founder Aristotle who was a great philosopher and inventor of his time. Aristotle, perhaps the most famous classical philosopher along with his master Plato, was born in Stagira (now Stavros), in the Macedonian Chalcidic peninsula, in 384 BC. At the age of 17 he was sent by his tutor to study in Athens, at Plato’s Academy, where he remained for 20 years.
At Plato’s death in 347 B.C. he began a journey through several cities in Asia Minor, until in 343 B.C. he was called by King Philip II of Macedonia to become the mentor of his son, the future Alexander the Great, who at that time was 13 years old.
In 335 B.C. he returned to Athens to found his own free public philosophical school, the Lyceum. It was during this period that he began to accumulate copies, both his own and those of other philosophers, forming a large personal library.
During a 1996 excavation to clear space for Athens’ new Museum of Modern Art, the remains of Aristotle’s Lyceum were uncovered. When functional this library had more than 10000 papyrus which included both Theophrastus and Aristotle’s work as well as student research, philosophical historical texts, and histories of philosophy.
When Sulla attacked Athens, the books were shipped to Rome. Throughout their travels, one-fifth of Aristotle’s works were lost and thus are not a part of the modern Aristotelian collection. Still, what did remain of Aristotle’s works and the rest of the library were arranged, edited, translated, and widely distributed, providing much of the modern knowledge of ancient Western philosophy.
Whenever someone newer to the pagan faith ask me for advice about the practice, I always say research research research! It is so important to continue researching, learning, and expanding your knowledge, views, and practice. You will find things that work, things that make sense, and things that you will immediately connect with that enhance your practice. Where does all this knowledge come from? Books. Libraries have been there for humanity for thousands of years, instilling knowledge and skills in those who seek it. Today, we have book stores everywhere. Brick and mortar, online, second hand stores, we have a lot of resources that people even 100 years ago did not have.
Research and knowledge ARE important. Currently, we have all the world’s information just a Google search away in the palm of your hand on your phone or even on your computer. WIFI connects us! Electronics bridge that connection in a way that could not even be fathomed even 50 years ago. But what do you do when you don’t have that kind of access? We do what our ancestors have done for thousands of years. You go to a library. If we realize, true human evolution started after the invention of writing. After that people started sharing their thoughts, myths, and religious knowledge and culture with others as written artifacts were easy to carry and can be read again if required.
Gradually this skill reached from one civilization to another civilization. Gradually basic thought processes converted to philosophies, discoveries, and inventions. It is information to have access to this information in such a way that people can find it easily in one place. This led to the foundation of the first library. It was those ancient libraries where our ancestors kept all the gained knowledge of the time that is even now guiding us to understand those ancient civilizations and some of our neo pagan practices deeply. Libraries perform an important role in society. Knowledge is something which human beings value. That’s the reason social libraries are always promoted everywhere in every culture. Even today, despite budget cuts, libraries are still accessible in every school or place of learning and most every city.
The Royal Library of Alexandria, Egypt 295 BC
Recreation of the Alexandria Library
The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It is also one of the most famous libraries of the ancient world. The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion, which was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts. Following Alexander the Great’s death in 323 B.C., control of Egypt fell to his former general Ptolemy I Soter, who sought to establish a center of learning in the city of Alexandria. The result was the Library of Alexandria, which eventually became the intellectual jewel of the ancient world.
It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates believe 500,000 papyrus scrolls containing works of literature and texts on history, law, mathematics and science at its height. Later built was the Serapeum of Alexandria, where the Library of Alexandria moved part of its collection after it ran out of storage space in the main building.
The library and its associated research institute attracted scholars from around the Mediterranean, many of whom lived on site and drew government stipends while they conducted research and copied its contents. At different times, the likes of Strabo, Euclid and Archimedes were among the academics on site. Many important and influential scholars worked at the Library during the third and second centuries BC. Known scholars connected with the library of Alexandria were:
Zenodotus of Ephesus worked towards standardizing the texts of the Homeric poems.
According to legend, the Syracusan inventor Archimedes invented the Archimedes’ screw, a pump for transporting water, while studying at the Library of Alexandria.
Apollonius of Rhodes, who composed the epic poem the Argonautica.
Callimachus, who wrote the Pinakes, sometimes considered to be the world’s first library catalog.
Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who calculated the circumference of the earth within a few hundred kilometers of accuracy.
There are three main reasons by which the library of Alexandria decline happened.
From the middle of the second century BC onward, the Ptolemaic rule in Egypt grew less stable than it had been previously hence losing control over the operation pf library.
The Library, or part of its collection, was accidentally burned by Julius Caesar during his civil war in 48 BC, but it is unclear how much was actually destroyed. Due to this action, many scholars made the distance from the library and started their research or teachings in other regions.
The scholars who had studied at the Library of Alexandria and their students continued to conduct research and write treatises, but most of them no longer did so in association with the Library.
The Burning of the Library of Alexandria, 1876. Private Collection. (Credit: Fine Art Images/Getty Images)
The great library’s demise is traditionally dated to 48 B.C., when it supposedly burned after Julius Caesar accidentally set fire to Alexandria’s harbor during a battle against the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy XIII. But while the blaze may have damaged the library, most historians now believe that it continued to exist in some form for several more centuries. Some scholars argue that it finally met its end in 270 A.D. during the reign of the Roman emperor Aurelian, while others believe that it came even later during the fourth century.
I began with one of the most well known libraries of the ancient world but I will be delving into more of the less famous but just as incredible libraries in the near future.
Around the world, lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and intersex people continue to face widespread stigma, exclusion and discrimination, including in education, employment and health care – as well as within homes and communities. Many LGBT persons face targeted physical attacks and extreme violence—they are beaten, sexually assaulted, tortured and killed. In many countries, discriminatory laws criminalize consensual same-sex relations and trans people, exposing LGBT people to arrest, blackmail, extortion, stigma, and in 5 countries, even the death penalty, for consensual same sex relations. In most countries, trans people have no access to legal recognition of their gender identity, or face abusive requirements to obtain such recognition. Intersex children and adults may be forced or coerced to undergo medically unnecessary interventions, in violation of their human rights.
Global Pride Day is 27 June. LGBT pride (also known as gay pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. The suggestion to call the movement ‘Pride’ came from L. Craig Schoonmaker who in 2015 said: A lot of people were very repressed, they were conflicted internally, and didn’t know how to come out and be proud. That’s how the movement was most useful, because they thought, ‘Maybe I should be proud.
In 1970, on the first anniversary of the riots, several hundred demonstrators marched along Greenwich Village’s Christopher Street, which runs past the Stonewall, in what many consider the first Gay Pride march (though other commemorations were also held that year). Early Gay Pride events (often called Freedom Day or Gay Liberation Day) were often sparsely attended and encountered protests, particularly because of the outlandish costumes that some marchers wore. In 1978 what is perhaps the most-recognized symbol of Gay Pride made its debut at the San Francisco event: the rainbow flag. The symbol for Pride is a rainbow flag and it is used to represent gay pride all over the world.
The flag, with its eight colors (sexuality symbolized by hot pink, life by red, healing by orange, the Sun by yellow, nature by green, art by blue, harmony by indigo, and spirit by violet), was designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker and has been adopted worldwide. The following year a six-color flag, which is in common use today, appeared (with red, orange, yellow, green, blue [harmony replaced art as symbolized by blue in the flag], and purple/violet), partially because of the unavailability of some of the fabric colors.
I absolutely love that corporations celebrate pride with us, making it easier to access pride colored merchandise. It shows inclusiveness and allows everyone to be able to support members of the LGBT community. However, I do not agree to celebrate only during pride month. I feel that it should be supported year around, not just during June. Pride is not a money making cash cow. Pride is a chance for progress and people of all genders, sexuality, races, and identities to showcase their human identity despite the hate and repression that has followed their lifestyle choice for centuries and even millennia. The amount of memes making fun of corporations showcases just how many people realize they really don’t support so much as try to make a profit during pride month.
Hi yes I was flying in an airport and got stuck there for about 6 hours…. They cancelled my flight and rescheduled me for 0600, I popped one of my braces brackets off one of my teeth while eating chimken, and had to wait forever for my hubby to get released from work to pick me up 2 hours away. So of course my remedy was to go to a bar, get drunk on Long Islands, and the write about the most random thing that came to mind. I’m still currently tipsy but that is ok. I hope this post shows that you don’t have to be obsessed with witchcraft in every facet of your day to be able to enjoy other things! I don’t even enjoy running! I just was thinking about getting new shoes to go hiking with my hubby and realized I don’t know anything about choosing good shoes to avoid injuries….. I did see a woman with 4 inch platform rainbow crocs so maybe that is where this came from! Not even a joke btw…. I didn’t even know they MADE something like that!
If you are interested, proceed with reading! If not, that’s cool too! The witchyness will be back next week!
I don’t remember where I got any of my pics…. probably goodle?
In order to buy the absolute best pair of running shoes for your needs, you first have to know your feet. Not all running shoes are alike for one simple reason: Not all runners are alike and neither are their feet. Our feet come in different sizes, widths, shapes and with different sets of foot biomechanics. Running shoes are designed to accommodate these foot types.
Foot Types
There are 3 basic foot arch types. A flat foot or low arch, which can also be a fallen arch, a medium arch which is also known as a normal arch, and a high arch which can be referred to as a rigid arch. If you aren’t already aware of what type of arch you have, you can always try the wet test. Start by wetting your bare feet. Step on and off of a piece of paper. Match the imprints your feet leave behind.
One of the best ways to determine whether you overpronate or not is to schedule an appointment with a reputable sports podiatrist or biomechanist who will use high-tech video to film you running on a treadmill. The specialist will then break down the video, analyze your form and categorically determine your biomechanics (i.e., whether you pronate or not and if you do, how much you pronate). The specialist will then recommend the style of running shoe which is best suited for you. But this can be expensive. Your next best choice is to go to a good running shoe store and have one of the shoe experts watch you run and walk barefoot. Many stores have treadmills and can digitize your running form, diagnose your foot type and determine which type of running shoe you need.
Deformation of the foot
It is also important to know how your walk affects your foot to purchase shoes that accommodate that specific style. There is no one best shoe or Brand. There are many different Brands and each brand has many different shoes designed for different feet and different purposes. What is important is matching a shoe to its purpose.
How fast do you run? Do you need a shoe for long runs, recovery runs, speed work or racing? If you want a racing shoe is it for 5km races or the marathon? As your speed changes your running style should change too. To run faster you will be increasing either your stride length or your cadence or both. A shoe that is too light and flimsy may be inadequate for long slow running while a bulky soft supportive shoe may decrease your efficiency at faster speeds. Most running shoes are designed for foot paths and roads. The outsole on these shoes will be smooth to get the best traction on a smooth surface. But if you run off road on a rough dirt trail then your traction will be poor.
When you were analyzing your foot structure you should have found out where it is on the flexibility vs rigidity continuum. When it comes to picking the best shoe you need to flip that analysis. If you have a rigid foot then you need a flexible shoe and if you have a flexible foot then you need a more stable shoe. This is probably the most important factor in matching a shoe to your foot and finding the best shoe to suit you. Fit is a critical factor in choosing a shoe. If it does not fit your foot then it will not work regardless of how good it theoretically should be for your foot. Length width and depth are all equally important. It is better to have a shoe that is a little too big than a shoe that is a little small. The uppers need to accommodate for any special lumps and bumps you may have. While shoes may mold around your foot in time it is better to start out with the best shape possible.
Pronation refers to the distinctive inward collapse of your arch when it strikes the ground. Pronation is perfectly normal. It’s how your foot absorbs the shock of running which is approximately 2 1/2-3 times your body weight. Pronation is a good thing. The right amount of pronation is a natural function of human movement. This is the most common foot type. Your feet pronate, but not to excess. You have a normal arch which means it isn’t flat or high (rigid).
Overpronation—an excessive amount of pronation–is not a good thing. Often called “flat feet”, overpronators have very low (or no) arches. Their feet may be splayed out (“duck feet”). When an overpronator runs, the arch collapses so much and the feet roll inward to an extent that shock waves are sent up the legs to the knees and hips. If this overpronation isn’t reduced or limited, injuries will result. Your arch is designed to absorb a certain amount of shock, but when the arch collapses too much upon impact, the resulting shock can send torque up and down your leg. Left unchecked, overpronation—this inward twisting of the foot and lower legs—can result in all sorts of overuse injuries to your shins, hips or knees.
Underpronation is the opposite of overpronation. The foot is too rigid (often with a high, inflexible arch) which means your arch doesn’t collapse enough at impact. If that’s the case, the foot doesn’t absorb shock well at all. (Underpronation is often called “supination” or “oversupination” but neither term is accurate.) The least common foot type. Typically, an underpronator has high, rigid arches that do not collapse enough and thus, do not absorb shock well. The underpronator may be pigeon-toed (the feet are turned in). This foot type does not need any added support; less is better. What this runner needs is as much foot freedom and cushioning as possible.
Running shoes are generally categorized as one of three basic types, based on structure and function: Neutral (or cushioned), support or stability and maximum support, also called motion control. It is important to match your foot to the proper shoe type. For a flat foot with a low arch, the best kind of shoe is a motion control shoe. For a normal food arch, a stability shoe is best. Neutral, well-cushioned shoes with minimal medial (inner) support
The way your foot functions is much more significant than the static findings of the range of motion of your joints.
The answers to these questions give you a baseline understanding of what type of features in a shoe is “theoretically” going to suit you the best. If you get the right shoe for your foot type, this will go a long way in preventing common running injuries. But, an improperly selected shoe, can predispose you to an injury. The amount your foot pronates is an important criteria in selecting the right type of shoe to wear. There are other factors as well such as fit, comfort, weight and cost. But matching the right running shoes by foot type is key.
So when do you buy new running shoes?
As a shoe ages, it loses shock absorbency. Running transmits forces 3-5x your body weight through your lower extremities. It is important to buy new shoes when the outsole begins to show wear or every 400-500 miles or 6 months of consistent running (especially if you are in the military). This is roughly 15miles weekly. This way you can avoid injuries from worn out shoes.
Do
Do spend $70-$120 on running shoes
Do shop in the evening
Do have a thumb’s width between the big toe and the front of the shoe
Do replace your heavily used shoes every 4-6 months
Do wear sports specific shoes for each activity
Don’t
Don’t run >1-2 miles in “other” shoes such as basketball shoes
Don’t shop for running shoes based on price
Don’t run in soaked running shoes
Don’t put running shoes in the washer or dryer
Don’t buy knock off labels as there is no quality control or assurance that the product is beneficial to your running style
What about barefoot running?
The concept is to change your running style from landing on your heel to landing on your forefoot. It is thought that if you decrease the heel strike, you can decrease the shock through the body which decreases injuries. And for some people, this actually works. The key is to know your body and be aware of your running style. For some, it can make issues worse.
Despite this article…… I actually really don’t like feet…. they are pretty gross……..
This tablet is mainly an Akkadian translation of an earlier Sumerian poem, “Gilgamesh and the Netherworld” (also known as “Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld” and variants), although it has been suggested that it is derived from an unknown version of that story. The contents of this last tablet are inconsistent with previous ones: Enkidu is still alive, despite having died earlier in the epic. Because of this, its lack of integration with the other tablets, and the fact that it is almost a copy of an earlier version, it has been referred to as an ‘inorganic appendage’ to the epic. Alternatively, it has been suggested that “its purpose, though crudely handled, is to explain to Gilgamesh (and the reader) the various fates of the dead in the Afterlife” and in “an awkward attempt to bring closure”, it both connects the Gilgamesh of the epic with the Gilgamesh who is the King of the Netherworld, and is “a dramatic capstone whereby the twelve-tablet epic ends on one and the same theme, that of “seeing” (= understanding, discovery, etc.), with which it began.”
Gilgamesh complains to Enkidu that various of his possessions (the tablet is unclear exactly what – different translations include a drum and a ball) have fallen into the underworld. Enkidu offers to bring them back. Delighted, Gilgamesh tells Enkidu what he must and must not do in the underworld if he is to return. Enkidu does everything which he was told not to do. The underworld keeps him. Gilgamesh prays to the gods to give him back his friend. Enlil and Suen don’t reply, but Enki and Shamash decide to help. Shamash makes a crack in the earth, and Enkidu’s ghost jumps out of it. The tablet ends with Gilgamesh questioning Enkidu about what he has seen in the underworld.
The gods affirmed that no man should have life eternal. Gilgamesh was brought to stand before them. Despite his mother being the wild cow goddess Ninsun, they could not grant him eternal life. However, Gilgamesh, as a ghost in another world, would assume the role of governor of that realm. He shall rule over the ghosts in the Netherworld. He would render judgment and issue verdicts. His word shall be as weighty as that of the Gods Ningishzida and Dumuzi.
Gilgamesh commanded that his tomb be built as he had dreamed. The waters of the Euphrates were stemmed. Cracked and dry lay the floor of the river. In the bed of the river Euphrates did Gilgamesh a wrecked his Sepulcher of stone. He built its walls of stone. He made its door of stone. The threshold was made of granite. The beams were cast in gold and the floor was constructed of great blocks of stone.
His burial chamber would be cleverly concealed so that, in ages to come, no man would ever encounter it. No man who searched for the tomb of Gilgamesh would ever be able to discover its sacred location. Thus did the Young Lord, Lord Gilgamesh, establish within the confines of Uruk, a safeguarded Crypt for all time. The people of Uruk did carry the body of their dead Lord into his tomb. The door they did seal and the dikes of the river Euphrates did they breach. The waters of the Great River washed over the sepulcher and covered the tomb from view. Thus, hidden for all eternity, was the burial chamber of Gilgamesh.
Others
There are five surviving Gilgamesh stories in the form of older poems in Sumerian. These probably circulated independently, rather than being in the form of a unified epic. Some of the names of the main characters in these poems differ slightly from later Akkadian names; for example, “Bilgamesh” is written instead of “Gilgamesh”, and there are some differences in the underlying stories such as the fact that Enkidu is Gilgamesh’s servant in the Sumerian version.
The lord to the Living One’s Mountain and Ho, hurrah!
Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel with other men to the Forest of Cedar. There, trapped by Humbaba, Gilgamesh tricks him (with Enkidu’s assistance in one of the versions) into giving up his auras, thus losing his power.
Hero in battle
The Bull’s voracious appetite causes drought and hardship in the land while Gilgamesh feasts. Lugalbanda convinces him to face the beast and fights it alongside Enkidu.
The envoys of Akka
Uruk faces a siege from a Kish army led by King Akka, whom Gilgamesh defeats and forgives. In those days, in those far-off days, otherwise known as Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld, is the source for the Akkadian translation included as tablet XII in the Standard Babylonian version, telling of Enkidu’s journey to the Netherworld. It is also the main source of information for the Sumerian creation myth and the story of “Inanna and the Huluppu Tree”.
The great wild bull is lying down
A poem about Gilgamesh’s death, burial and consecration as a demigod, reigning and giving judgment over the dead. After dreaming of how the gods decide his fate after death, Gilgamesh takes counsel, prepares his funeral and offers gifts to the gods. Once deceased, he is buried under the Euphrates, taken off its course and later returned to it.
Below is a quick summary of the amazing story of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Again, I highly recommend this read to anyone who enjoyed Beowulf, Greek Mythology, or even Biblical stories
City State or Uruk from Pinterest
Contents of the Standard Babylonian version tablets
This summary is based on Andrew George’s translation.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is written in cuneiform on Assyrian and Babylonian clay tablets. 3 tablets are written in Semitic or Akkadian, which cannot be much later than 2,000 BC. In the seventh century edition which forms the main base of our knowledge of the poem, it was divided into Twelve Tablets, each containing about 300 lines.
Tablet one
The story introduces Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Gilgamesh, two-thirds god and one-third man, is oppressing his people, who cry out to the gods for help. For the young women of Uruk this oppression takes the form of a droit du seigneur, or “lord’s right”, to sleep with brides on their wedding night. For the young men (the tablet is damaged at this point) it is conjectured that Gilgamesh exhausts them through games, tests of strength, or perhaps forced labor on building projects.
The gods respond to the people’s pleas by creating an equal to Gilgamesh who will be able to stop his oppression. This is the primitive man, Enkidu, who is covered in hair and lives in the wild with the animals. He is spotted by a trapper, whose livelihood is being ruined because Enkidu is uprooting his traps. The trapper tells the sun-god Shamash about the man, and it is arranged for Enkidu to be seduced by Shamhat, a temple prostitute, his first step towards being tamed. After six days and seven nights (or two weeks, according to more recent scholarship) of lovemaking and teaching Enkidu about the ways of civilization, she takes Enkidu to a shepherd’s camp to learn how to be civilized.
Gilgamesh, meanwhile, has been having dreams about the imminent arrival of a beloved new companion. Gilgamesh arose from his slumber and went to seek his mother, Ninsun, the great wild cow goddess, to relate dreams to her and to help interpret these dreams.
Tablet two
Shamhat brings Enkidu to the shepherds’ camp, where he is introduced to a human diet and becomes the night watchman. Enkidu helps the shepherds by guarding the sheep. Learning from a passing stranger about Gilgamesh’s treatment of new brides, Enkidu is incensed and travels to Uruk to intervene at a wedding. When Gilgamesh attempts to visit the wedding chamber, Enkidu blocks his way, and they battle. Enkidu was a wild man with long hair, great strength, and one who was equal to Gilgamesh. After a fierce battle, Enkidu acknowledges and praises Gilgamesh’s superior strength and they become friends.
Not far from the city of Uruk lay the Forest of Cedars and a monstrous giant who dwells within. The forest was 10000 leagues. The monster was Humbaba. The great God Enlil appointed him to guard the Forest of Cedars and to strike terror in the hearts of men. His roar was like unto the great deluge. From his mouth spewed forth flames of fire and his breath is death. He hears every rustle of grass in the forest though it be a thousand Leagues distant. For reasons unknown (the tablet is partially broken) Enkidu is in a sad mood. In order to cheer him up Gilgamesh Gilgamesh proposes a journey to the Forest of Cedars to slay the monstrous demi-god Humbaba in order to gain fame and renown. Enkidu protests, as he knows Humbaba and is aware of his power. Gilgamesh talks Enkidu into it with some words of encouragement, but Enkidu remains reluctant. They prepare, and call for the elders. The elders also protest, but after Gilgamesh talks to them, they agree to let him go. Despite warnings from Enkidu and the council of elders, Gilgamesh is not deterred.
Tablet three
The Elders of Uruk sat at the feet of Gilgamesh as he was seated upon his throne. The elders give Gilgamesh advice for his journey. Gilgamesh commanded the smiths to craft weapons for him. They ceded themselves and crafted Mighty weapons, great axes weighing 180 lbs. Also great swords did they cast. Each blade had the weight of 120 lbs. The hilt weighed 30 lbs and each sword was inlaid with 30 lbs of gold. Gilgamesh visits his mother, the goddess Ninsun, who seeks the support and protection of the sun-god Shamash for their adventure. Ninsun adopts Enkidu as her son, and Gilgamesh leaves instructions for the governance of Uruk in his absence. Gilgamesh did command his vassals to bolt shut the Sevenfold Gates of high-walled Uruk. Gilgamesh paid tribute to Shamash the sun god for a successful return. Gilgamesh carried a great bow and fletched arrows in their quiver. In his hand a great sword and in his belt a great Axe. After both he and Enkidu equip themselves for the journey, they leave with the elders’ blessing and counsel.
Tablet four
In the space of three days did Gilgamesh and Enkidu traverse a journey of 7 weeks. Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Cedar Forest. Every day they camp on a mountain, and perform a dream ritual. “And it befell that Enkidu built for Gilgamesh a dwelling for the god of Dreams. Unto this dwelling did he a fix a door, that the wind might not enter therein. Then did Gilgamesh to lie upon the ground, so he could poor about him an enchanted circle of milled flour to cause Gilgamesh to dream.” Enkidu, who was begotten in the wilderness, knew how to interpret dreams. He spoke to Gilgamesh, his friend, and explained the meaning of his dreams.
Gilgamesh has five terrifying dreams about falling mountains, thunderstorms, wild bulls, and a thunderbird that breathes fire. Despite similarities between his dream figures and earlier descriptions of Humbaba, Enkidu interprets these dreams as good omens, and denies that the frightening images represent the forest guardian. As they approach the cedar mountain, they hear Humbaba bellowing, and have to encourage each other not to be afraid.
Tablet five
The heroes enter the cedar forest. Humbaba, the guardian of the Cedar Forest, insults and threatens them. He accuses Enkidu of betrayal, and vows to disembowel Gilgamesh and feed his flesh to the birds. Gilgamesh is afraid, but with some encouraging words from Enkidu the battle commences. The mountains quake with the tumult and the sky turns black. The god Shamash sends 13 winds to bind Humbaba, and he is captured. Humbaba pleads for his life, and Gilgamesh pities him. Gilgamesh refrains from slaying him, and urges Enkidu to hunt Humbaba’s “seven auras” (sons). Humbaba offers to make Gilgamesh king of the forest, to cut the trees for him, and to be his slave.
Enkidu, however, argues that Gilgamesh should kill Humbaba to establish his reputation forever. Humbaba curses them both and Gilgamesh dispatches him with a blow to the neck, as well as killing his seven sons. The two heroes cut down many cedars, including a gigantic tree that Enkidu plans to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil. The two heros discover the gods’ secret abode. Much of the rest of the tablet is broken at this point. They build a raft and return home along the Euphrates with the giant tree and (possibly) the head of Humbaba. The auras are not referred to in the Standard Babylonian version, but are in one of the Sumerian poems.
Tablet six
Gilgamesh rejects the advances of the goddess Ishtar because of her mistreatment of previous lovers like Dumuzi. Ishtar asks her father Anu to send the Bull of Heaven to avenge her. When Anu rejects her complaints, Ishtar threatens to raise the dead who will “outnumber the living” and “devour them”. Anu states that if he gives her the Bull of Heaven, Uruk will face 7 years of famine. Ishtar provides him with provisions for 7 years in exchange for the bull. Ishtar leads the Bull of Heaven to Uruk, and it causes widespread devastation. It lowers the level of the Euphrates river, and dries up the marshes. It opens up huge pits that swallow 300 men. Without any divine assistance, Enkidu and Gilgamesh attack and slay it, and offer up its heart to Shamash. Unto his Guardian God and Father Lugalbanda, did Gilgamesh offer the horns of the bull of Heaven, to hold holy ointments for his devotional anointment. Each horn was fashioned from 30 lb of lapis lazuli and the wall of each horn was the width of two thumbs in thickness. And Gilgamesh placed the horns of the bull of Heaven upon the shrine of his forebears. When Ishtar cries out, Enkidu hurls one of the hindquarters of the bull at her. The city of Uruk celebrates, but Enkidu has an ominous dream about his future failure.
Tablet seven
In Enkidu’s dream, the gods decide that one of the heroes must die because they killed Humbaba and Gugalanna. Despite the protestations of Shamash, Enkidu is marked for death. Enkidu curses the great door he has fashioned for Enlil’s temple. He also curses the trapper and Shamhat for removing him from the wild. Shamash reminds Enkidu of how Shamhat fed and clothed him, and introduced him to Gilgamesh. Shamash tells him that Gilgamesh will bestow great honors upon him at his funeral, and will wander into the wild consumed with grief.
Enkidu regrets his curses and blesses Shamhat instead. In a second dream, however, he sees himself being taken captive to the Netherworld by a terrifying Angel of Death. The underworld was called the house of Darkness and the queen was Ereshkigal. The underworld is a “house of dust” and darkness whose inhabitants eat clay, and are clothed in bird feathers, supervised by terrifying beings. For 12 days, Enkidu’s condition worsens. Finally, after a lament that he could not meet a heroic death in battle, he dies. In a famous line from the epic, Gilgamesh clings to Enkidu’s body and denies that he has died until a maggot drops from the corpse’s nose.
Tablet eight
Gilgamesh delivers a lament for Enkidu, in which he calls upon mountains, forests, fields, rivers, wild animals, and all of Uruk to mourn for his friend. Recalling their adventures together, Gilgamesh tears at his hair and clothes in grief. He commissions a funerary statue, and provides grave gifts from his treasury to ensure that Enkidu has a favorable reception in the realm of the dead. At the first light of dawn, did Gilgamesh arise and enter into the storehouse of treasures. He broke the seal and assayed his riches.
Gold, silver, carnelian, obsidian, lapis lazuli, and alabaster did he own. All manner of precious gems fully worked did Gilgamesh inspect. And then did Gilgamesh provide for his friend, Enkidu, for his journey unto the Netherworld, 30 weights of gold. Also did he provide for his friend 30 weights of ivory. He also provided 30 weights of silver, 30 weights of iron, a sword, the handle of which was inlaid with a thickness of gold, a longbow, which was inlaid with a thickness of gold, and a quiver with fletched arrows of ivory. He provided for his friend a battle axe, the handle of which held 40 weights of gold, and 3 cubits was its length.
“Unto Ishtar the great Queen, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a javelin of sacred wood. Unto Sin, god of the Moon, did Gilgamesh make an offering of an urn of alabaster. Unto Ereshkigal, queen of the Netherworld, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a flagon of lapis lazuli. Unto Tammuz, the shepherd, beloved consort of Ishtar, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a flute of carnelian. Unto Namtar, chief minister of the Netherworld, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a scepter of lapis lazuli and a seat of lapis lazuli. Unto Hushbisha, overseer of another world, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a neck collar of gold and silver, inlaid with carnelian. Unto Qassatabat, servant of Ereshkegal, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a bracelet of Silver and a ring of gold. Unto Ninshuluhha, custodian of the Netherworld, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a vessel of alabaster, the inside of which was inlaid with lapis lazuli and carnelian, and which displayed an image of the Forest of Cedars. Unto Bibbu, meat carver of the Netherworld, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a double-edged blade of obsidian with a shaft of lapis lazuli bearing an image of the pure Euphrates. Unto Dumuziabzu, scapegoat of the Netherworld, did Gilgamesh make an offering of a copper of alabaster, inlaid with carnelian, the lid of which was lapis lazuli. And it did come to pass that Gilgamesh ordained a great table of sacred wood be brought forth. Upon this table did he fill a carnelian bowl with honey. Upon this table did he fill a Lapis Lazuli bowl with cream. Then did Gilgamesh adorned and display these precious bowls and did offer them up to Shamash, the sun god.”
A great banquet is held where the treasures are offered to the gods of the Netherworld. Just before a break in the text there is a suggestion that a river is being dammed, indicating a burial in a river bed, as in the corresponding Sumerian poem, The Death of Gilgamesh.
Tablet nine
Tablet nine opens with Gilgamesh roaming the wild wearing animal skins, grieving for Enkidu. Having now become fearful of his own death, he decides to seek Utnapishtim (“the Faraway”), and learn the secret of eternal life. Among the few survivors of the Great Flood, Utnapishtim and his wife are the only humans to have been granted immortality by the gods. Of death and eternal life he wished to learn the secret. Gilgamesh argues with Shamash about the futility of his quest. Gilgamesh crosses a mountain pass at night and encounters a pride of lions. Before sleeping he prays for protection to the moon god Sin. Then, waking from an encouraging dream, he kills the lions and uses their skins for clothing.
After a long and perilous journey, Gilgamesh arrives at the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth. He comes across a tunnel, which no man has ever entered, guarded by two scorpion monsters, who appear to be a married couple. The husband tries to dissuade Gilgamesh from passing, but the wife intervenes, expresses sympathy for Gilgamesh, and allows his passage. He passes under the mountains along the Road of the Sun. In complete darkness he follows the road for 12 “double hours”, managing to complete the trip before the Sun catches up with him. And then did Gilgamesh behold the Brilliance of Shamash, the sun god in all his glory.
He arrives at the Garden of the gods, a paradise full of jewel-laden trees. Precious gems hung from the branches of the trees in the garden. One tree bore fruit of carnelian, hanging there for like bunches of grapes. This tree was pleasing to the site. Another tree bore leaves of a Lapis Lazuli in full bloom. There were Trees Bejeweled with fruit of Ruby, Diamond, Emerald, Agate, Sapphire, citrine, hematite, and also pearls and coral from the sea. And Gilgamesh gazed in awe at the beauty and magnificence of The Garden of the Gods.
Tablet ten
Gilgamesh meets alewife Siduri, who assumes that he is a murderer or thief because of his disheveled appearance. Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey. She attempts to dissuade him from his quest for immortality, urging him to be content with the simple pleasures of life, but sends him to Urshanabi the ferryman, who will help him cross the sea to Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh, out of spontaneous rage, destroys the stone charms that Urshanabi keeps with him. He tells him his story, but when he asks for his help, Urshanabi informs him that he has just destroyed the objects that can help them cross the Waters of Death, which are deadly to the touch. Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh to cut down 120 trees and carve them into 300 oars so that they may cross the waters of death without needing the “stone ones”. When they reach the island where Utnapishtim lives, Gilgamesh recounts his story, asking him for his help. Utnapishtim reprimands him, declaring that fighting the common fate of humans is futile and diminishes life’s joys.
“The life of a man is as easily broken as a reed in a Thicket of pain. Death All Too Soon cuts down, in their Prime, the handsome Youth and the comely Maiden. No one beholds the face of death. No one hears the voice of death. But pitiless and unyielding death cuts down all. Everything is impermanent. No distinction is there between master and servant when both have reached the end of their allotted lifespan and breathed their last.”
Tablet eleven
Gilgamesh observes that Utnapishtim seems no different from himself, and asks him how he obtained his immortality. Utnapishtim explains that the gods decided to send a great flood. The city of Shuruppak is set upon the banks of the river Euphrates. The city is ancient and gods once dwell therein. But the multitude upon the face of the Earth and the unceasing clamour and wickedness of the people aroused the Wrath of the Gods. And thus the great God’s method to tame it was to send a deluge to rain down in order to wipe out mankind.
Ea, god of wisdom, the cunning one, (in some versions it is the God Enki) warned Utanapishtim of the coming flood and told him to pull down his house and fashion a vessel there from. it was sealed with pitch and bitumen. Aboard this vessel shall he take the seed of every creature that lives upon the Earth. This boat, which he is to build, the measurement should be equal for the width and length thereof. One acre was the expanse of her deck. 120 cubits was the height of her sides. I gave her six decks, thus making seven levels and all. The inside of the ship was divided into nine parts.
His entire family went aboard together with his craftsmen and “all the animals of the field”. A violent storm then arose which caused the terrified gods to retreat to the heavens. Ishtar lamented the wholesale destruction of humanity, and the other gods wept beside her. For six days and seven nights, did the storm winds blow, the Tempest Roar, and Deluge rain down. But upon the seventh day, the winds did grow calm and the flood waters did subside. All of humanity was returned to clay.
Utnapishtim weeps when he sees the destruction. His boat lodges on a mountain, and he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When the raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell the sweet savor and gather around. Ishtar vows that just as she will never forget the brilliant necklace that hangs around her neck, she will always remember this time. When Enlil arrives, angry that there are survivors, she condemns him for instigating the flood. Enki also castigates him for sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil blesses Utnapishtim and his wife, and rewards them with eternal life. This account largely matches the flood story that concludes the Epic of Atra-Hasis.
The main point seems to be that when Enlil granted eternal life. it was a unique gift. As if to demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh falls asleep, and Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a loaf of bread on each of the days he is asleep, so that he cannot deny his failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep.
After instructing Urshanabi, the ferryman, to wash Gilgamesh and clothe him in royal robes, they depart for Uruk. As they are leaving, Utnapishtim’s wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utanapishtim took pity on Gilgamesh and revealed a secret. It is a hidden Mystery of the Gods. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that at the bottom of the sea there lives a boxthorn-like plant that will make him young again. “There is a plant very much like a thorn bush which grows deep under the ocean. Like a rose this plant has sharp thorns which will pick you. Yet, if your hand can procure this plant, you shall surely attain life everlasting.”
Upon hearing this, Gilgamesh dug a shaft deep into the ground until the abyss he did reach. He bound heavy stones to his feet and the stones dragged him down unto the depths of the sea bed. There he did a spy the plant. He seized the plant and its thorns did scratch him. Then he did Cut Loose the heavy stones from his feet and the Sea carried him upward and cast him upon the shore.
Gilgamesh proposes to investigate if the plant has the hypothesized rejuvenation ability by testing it on an old man once he returns to Uruk. With the ability to rise above the “death” that had taken even Enkidu, the voices and acclaim of the people of Uruk would have reached unprecedented level upon returning with immortality. Describing himself as being in the “rashness of youth”, vanity soon followed and he became bothered by his ragged state to which he had not spared a single thought until that moment. He wished to cleanse himself before returning to Uruk to test the fruits of his labor in perfect condition, so he rested at a spring close by to recover from the fatigue accumulated over his long journey.
While Gilgamesh rested and bathed in the cool Pond of water, a serpent smelled the fragrance of the plant, and although a panicked Gilgamesh emerged from the spring, it was too late. The serpent slithered forward silently and snatched the plant. The snake gained the property of shedding, having been the restoration of youth instead of immortality, and all that was left was its shed skin.
It is said that the snake begins its life again in a new body after shedding its skin because it stole Gilgamesh’s medicine and took it. The way snakes went about their life appeared to the ancient people as a kind of perpetual youth and eternal life that was not available to humans.
Gilgamesh weeps at the futility of his efforts, because he has now lost all chance of immortality. He returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls prompts him to praise this enduring work to Urshanabi. Marking the end of his adventures, he governed Uruk as the ruler of heroes and brought it to completion. Though he was still severe, he ruled Uruk quietly, entrusting it to the next king before going to his eternal rest without telling the whereabouts of the herb. He became humanity’s most ancient hero and the illustrious king who was the first in this world to have “become a story.”
There is much discussion of the ancient gods and goddesses of that area in this story and so for those witches who use them as their patron deity, this is an excellent way to get closer to them and learn more about them, their personalities, and their reactions to humans and monsters.
Name
Race
Gender
Presented as
Gilgamesh
2⁄3 God, 1⁄3 Man
Male
King
Shamash
God
Male
The Glorious Sun
Hadad
God
Male
God of the Stars
Anu
God
Male
God of Firmament
Ishtar
Goddess
Female
Goddess of Love
Ninhursa
Goddess
Female
Goddess of Creation
Enkidu
1⁄3 Man, 2⁄3 Beast
Male
Created as equal of Gilgamesh
Ninurta
God
Male
God of War
Nisaba
Goddess
Female
Goddess of Corn
šamuqan
God
Male
God of Cattle
Ninsun
Goddess
Female
Mother of Gilgamesh; Queen
Enlil
God
Male
Father of the Gods
Humbaba
Giant
Guardian of the forest
Aya
Bride of Shamash
Lugulbanda
God
Guardian God
Tammuz
Lover of Ishtar’s youth
Antum
Female
Mother of Ishtar
Etana
Human
Male
King of Kish
Ereshkigal
God
Female
Queen of the Underworld
Siduri
Demigod or goddess
Female
Brewer of beer at the edge of the world
Urshanabi
Human
Male
Ferryman
Utnapishtim “the Faraway”
Human
Male
King and priest
Aruru
Goddess
Female
Goddess of human creation
Shamhat
Human
Female
Temple Prostitute
“Gilgamesh was the possessor of all understanding. He had wisdom of all things. He had seen all. He all knowledge possessed. Wise is he beyond measure. He knew of the secret and of the mystery. He knew of the time before the great flood. He built the mighty Ramparts of the high walled city of Uruk and also the walls of the hallowed Temple Eanna, that sacred sanctuary. The mighty Rampart shines like copper. The temple Eanna was the dwelling place of the Goddess Ishtar. No King will ever surpass its like. The walls of Uruk have a wall. The length of one league is the city, one league is the date Grove, one league is the Clay Pit, half a league is the Temple of Ishtar. Three leagues and a half is the measure of Uruk.”
Gilgamesh was unsurpassed in strength. Taller than all others, he was Majestic and fearsome. Surpassing all Kings, renowned for his stature, Gilgamesh towered over all others. He was the hero, valorous son of Uruk. The great Wild Bull. He took the Vanguard in war, as a leader should in those days. The rear guard of his army did he likewise defend. He was a powerful force and a protector of his Warriors. He traversed the oceans and sailed the wide Seas into the sunrise seeking eternal life. Through the force of his invincible might he journeyed over a far distance to reach Utanapishtim, The Immortal one, who survived the great flood. Gilgamesh restored the sanctuary the Deluge had destroyed and brought back the sacred rites.
Gilgamesh was the son of King Lugalbanda and suckling child of the great wild cow goddess, Ninsun. Two-thirds of him was God, one third of him was man. The Great Goddess Aruru, mother of all birth, designed the form of his body. Ea, the thought of wisdom, endowed him with perfection. He was perfect in face, perfect in form, perfect in mind. Gilgamesh with stately and features and lofty in height. He was arrogant and merciless and lusted after the maidens. His lust was unbounded. Gilgamesh was a man of many moods. Mighty in manhood, his Vigor was unsurpassed. He sleeps not, neither by day nor night. His strength is great.
He ruled the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, the capital city of ancient Mesopotamia in the B.C. era. He was an ultimate, transcendent being so divine and no others in the world could match him.
“In Uruk did dwell Gilgamesh, the unvanquished. The high walled city of Uruk, where the people are resplendent in their festive attire. Each day in Uruk is a revel. Each day the lyre and the drum do sound. There are Temple harlots, most commonly in countenance, enticed great men into their beds.”
He was a despot possessing high divinity who believed he was invincible. He is not merely a legend, and is said to have actually existed and ruled during the Sumer Dynasty five thousand years ago. He was the King of Heroes who possessed all things in the world, whose tale is recorded in mankind’s oldest epic poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh which portrays Gilgamesh as a hero, destined to be king and achieve great feats, who is driven to meet his destiny, facing challenges together with his best friend Enkidu.
His title, King of Heroes, is not meant to call him a king who is a hero, but instead implies that he is the king over all heroes. He is mankind’s oldest hero, the origin of all myths and model on which heroes are based, so his story is copied within the mythologies of all the countries of the world. The heroes of various myths are derived from his legend, so his Gate of Babylon possesses all of their Noble Phantasms. Though there are numerous kings with titles such as the King of Knights or the King of Conquerors, he is the only one in all of heaven and earth crowned with the title of “King of All Heroes.”
1 in 6 Gen Z adults identify as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community? We celebrate Pride month to publicly include all members of our families and communities who in the past had to hide who they were. Pride is celebrated in the month of June, as that was the month when the Stonewall riots took place. The Stonewall riots were important protests that took place in 1969 in the US, that changed gay rights for a lot of people in America and around the world. Pride is a celebration of people coming together in love and friendship, to show how far LGBTQ+ rights have come, and how in some places there’s still work to be done. Before the Stonewall riots, LGBTQ individuals had generally not broadcast their sexual orientation or identity, but the event galvanized the gay community and sparked greater political activism.
Some common ways to celebrate can include attending a parade, doing a related art project, fly a pride flag, volunteer your time as a family to an LGBTQIA+ related cause, and any other way your family sees fit! While bringing more awareness during the month of June is important, we also want to be sure we are carrying this messaging through in our daily lives throughout the remainder of the year.
Here is some information and some definitions that may be of help. I will be the first to mention that I did not know what some of the letters or terms meant. I had to research it. You don’t know what you don’t know but if you actually realize you don’t know something, you have all the world’s information in the palm of your hand! Google it! Find out! Learn about it and begin to understand!
• Biological Sex- This sex assigned at birth describes characteristics that would naturally develop such as hormones, genitalia, body hair, the pitch of a person’s voice, the shape of the body, etc. People are typically identified as male, female, or intersex.
• Gender Identity – How you describe your gender. This could include being genderqueer, male, female, a combination of the two, two-spirit, or something entirely different.
• Gender Expression – How you present yourself. This could include the clothes you wear, the style of your hair, if your actions and tone of voice are generally rougher or softer, etc.
• Attraction- This could include romantic and/or physical attraction. Some people are attracted to males, some to females, some to both, some to none, and for some people their attraction is based on something different.
So, now that we have a loose understanding of what sexuality entails, we can talk about what LGBTQIA+ actually stands for.
L – Lesbian -When one woman is attracted to other women.
G – Gay – When one person is attracted to someone of the same gender.
B– Bi-Sexual – When one person is attracted to someone of the same gender and others.
T – Trans – When someone identifies with a gender that is different than what was assigned at birth.
Q – Queer – General term for people who do not identify as being attracted to the opposite gender and/or do not identify with their sex assigned at birth. Sometimes used as a slur, but has largely been reclaimed by the LGBTQIA+ community. The “Q” also is said to stand for Questioning- When someone is questioning where they fall within the sexuality spectrums mentioned earlier.
I – Intersex – Describes someone who is born with a more unique combination of hormones, genitalia, chromosomes, etc.
A – Asexual -Typically refers to the absence of attraction and can be used as an umbrella term for the Ace Spectrum.
Plus – Summarizes a collection of all other queer identities not represented in the acronym such as pansexual and polysexual. Please note, the term “ally” is not included in this acronym.
For just a little more information and some helpful sites that contributed to this article, visit PCAVT.ORG, Wiki, and Britanica.
This seems a very random topic for my blog, however, I disagree. Reason being, life and death have a very close and intimate relationship with religion. With this I delve into the history of last meals and their relationship to time, religion, and culture.
The choice of a final meal contains a very curious and ironic paradox: why would we mark the end of a life with the delicious nutrients that fuels it? Is it a final compassionate act or an undeserved reward? Why have we done it for millennia?
Everyone has their opinion on death and especially capital punishment which has pervaded human history since the dawn of time. No matter your stance on capital punishment, eating and dying are universal and densely symbolic human processes. As Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court, “It might be said that capital punishment is imposed because it has the potential to make the offender recognize at last the gravity of his crime and to allow the community as a whole…to affirm its own judgment that the culpability of the prisoner is so serious that the ultimate penalty must be sought and imposed.” French epicure Anthelme Brillat-Savarin suggested, we are what we eat, then a final meal would seem to be the ultimate self-expression. It’s not unusual for a prisoner’s final choice to reveal something about them. Some decline a last meal to demonstrate contempt for prison authorities or simply because fear has left them unable to face food. Others opt for old favorites, food they probably haven’t had since their arrest, perhaps as a consolation and reminder of happier times. Some order huge meals, some order small ones, some order food they’ve never tried before out of curiosity. The last meal is usually a tradition, not a rule.
The idea of giving a last meal before an execution could be considered both compassionate or perverse depending on your perspective. The last meal, though, is in some ways just an extreme example of the intimate relationship between food and death that is a part of end-of-life customs in nearly all societies. What is the point of doing it at all? As Barry Lee Fairchild, who was executed by the state of Arkansas in 1995, said in regard to his last meal, “It’s just like putting gas in a car that don’t have no motor.” Where does this concept come from historically? And what fuels it today? Daniel LaChance, an assistant professor of history at Emory University, has argued that the rituals of a last meal—and of allowing last words—have persisted in this otherwise emotionally denuded process precisely because they restore enough of the condemned’s humanity to satisfy the public’s desire for the punishment to fit the crime, thereby helping to ensure continued support for the death penalty. It’s also far more significant than being merely a kind gesture. It’s an important part of the execution ritual and has been for centuries. Barring last-minute legal action a prisoner’s last meal is usually their last chance to control anything that happens in their final hours. Depending on the time period, prisoners have often been offered alcohol just before execution, while prisoners facing firing squads have long been offered the traditional last cigarette. Both are partly a compassionate gesture, but also calm an inmate’s nerves in their final moments and make them more co-operative. British hangman John Ellis often recommended prisoners be offered a cup of brandy minutes before their execution. At California’s San Quentin Prison inmates were once allowed a little whiskey immediately before they entered the gas chamber. Nowadays American prisons allow no alcohol of any kind. When the state of Utah used the firing squad, prisoners were allowed a last cigarette but were escorted into the exercise yard to smoke it. Under Utah state law, smoking indoors in public buildings (including prisons) is forbidden because it’s a health hazard which is quite the bit of irony.
The earliest record of the death penalty is the Sumerian Code of Ur-Nammu in the twenty-second century BC, some scholars suggest the last meal may have begun in ancient Greece, and in Rome gladiators were fed a sumptuous last meal, the coena libera, the night before their date in the Coliseum.
In the New World, the Aztecs feasted some of those who were chosen for ritual sacrifice, as part of a pre-execution deification ceremony that could last up to a year. Typically, these were warriors captured on the battlefield, and in some cases, after they were killed, their captor was given much of the body for use in tlacatlolli, a special stew of corn and human flesh that was served at a banquet with the captor’s family.
Buddhists make food offerings to appease what the Japanese call gaki, or “hungry ghosts,” lest they return to haunt the living. The Day of the Dead is a large festival involving the whole family. Graves are cleaned and repainted, and offerings of special foods—tamales and moles, sweet pan de muerto, skulls concocted of sugar (historically made of amaranth seeds), and liquor—are left for the dead to entice them to visit.
In medieval Europe it had religious significance dating back to when religion played a far greater role in daily life than it does today. A mental image of Christ’s Last Supper is often referenced as a parallel to a modern-day convict choosing their final menu. It also symbolizes a prisoner making peace with their executioners, breaking bread with them in the same way that Christ invited Judas Iscariot to the Last Supper.
Religion aside, superstition once played its part. In medieval Europe many believed that well-fed prisoners could be executed without fear of their returning as ghosts. The quality of the final meal was also believed to influence the likelihood of their doing so. If the food and drink were of the best quality it was believed that prisoners would be less likely to haunt their executioners. If the meals were poor, many believed prisoners would return as malevolent spirits bent on tormenting those involved in their deaths.
The Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci. Late fifteenth century.
On January 14, 1772, in Frankfurt am Main, Susanna Margaretha Brandt prepared for her execution—she had killed her infant daughter—by sitting down to a sprawling feast with six local officials and judges. The ritual was known as the Hangman’s Meal. On the menu that day were “three pounds of fried sausages, ten pounds of beef, six pounds of baked carp, twelve pounds of larded roast veal, soup, cabbage, bread, a sweet, and eight and a half measures of 1748 wine.” Had she committed the crime in neighboring Bavaria, Brandt likely would have preceded the meal with a morning drink in her cell with the man who would later decapitate her with a sword. This shared aperitif was called St. John’s Blessing, after John the Baptist, who is said to have forgiven those who were about to behead him.
When Susanna Margarethe Brandt sat down to the Hangman’s Meal, she signaled that she was cooperating in her own death—that she forgave those who judged her and was reconciled to her fate. Whether she actually made those concessions or not is beside the point; the officials who rendered and carried out her sentence could fall asleep that night with a clear conscience. Brandt, who was twenty-five years old and is supposed to have inspired Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s character Gretchen in Faust, reportedly managed nothing more than a glass of water. If you are interested in more details of her very interesting case, click here
In eighteenth-century London, favored or better-off prisoners were allowed a party with food and drink and outside guests on the night before they were hanged. The next day, as the prisoner traveled the three miles from Newgate Prison to the gallows at Tyburn Fair, the procession would stop at a pub for the condemned’s customary “great bowl of ale to drink at their pleasure, as their last refreshment in life.” England’s noble or high-born criminals, such as Anne Boleyn and the earl of Essex, were beheaded elsewhere, often at the Tower of London; Walter Raleigh reportedly took a last smoke from his tobacco pipe before he lost his head in Old Palace Yard at Westminster.
Today, most countries that use the death penalty as part of their criminal-justice systems offer some sort of last meal. Oftentimes, an aspect of this choreographed ritual of death entailed the release of detailed reports to the public that described, among other things, precisely what the condemned had requested as his or her last meal. This gave the impression of a humane and dispassionate custodial government authority, but it also—intentionally or not—tapped into a bit of the old public fascination with executions, when a family might hop in the wagon, ride to the town square with a picnic basket in tow, and watch someone be “launched into eternity.” On October 20, 1790, a crowd of thousands watched thirty-two-year-old Joseph Mountain, convicted of rape, be hanged on the green in New Haven, Connecticut. Would he confess and repent, as authorities hoped, or would he die “game,” denouncing the sentence?
Along with the United States, Japan and South Korea are the only industrialized democracies among the fifty-eight countries in the world that employ capital punishment, and in Japan, the condemned don’t know when they will be executed until the day arrives. In the 2005 documentary Last Supper, by the Swedish artists Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström, Sakae Menda, who spent thirty-four years on death row in Japan, said inmates may request whatever they want; if no request is made, prison officials provide “cakes, cigarettes, and drink.”
Duma Kumalo, who spent three years awaiting death in South Africa, told the filmmakers that he was served a whole deboned chicken and given seven rand—about six dollars—to purchase whatever else he wanted. “What we bought before execution, it was not things that we wanted to eat,” said Kumalo, who was spared for reasons he does not explain, just hours before he was to be killed. “Those were the things which we were going to leave behind with those who would remain. Because people were starving.”
In America, where the death rows—like the prisons generally—are largely filled with men from the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, last-meal requests are dominated by the country’s mass-market comfort foods: fries, soda, fried chicken, pie. Sprinkled in this mix is a lot of what social scientists call “status foods”—steak, lobster, shrimp—the kinds of foods that in popular culture conjure up the image of affluence.
Every once in a while, though, a request harkens back to what, in the Judeo-Christian West, is the original last meal—the Last Supper, when Jesus Christ, foreseeing his death on the cross, dined one final time with his disciples. Jonathan Wayne Nobles, who was executed in Texas in 1998 for stabbing to death two young women, requested the Eucharist sacrament. Nobles had converted to Catholicism while incarcerated, becoming a lay member of the clergy, and made what was by all accounts a sincere and extended show of remorse while strapped to the gurney.
The death penalty was resurrected in 1976, after a ten-year-long, nationwide moratorium, and public interest in last meals was rekindled along with the debate over capital punishment. In 1992, presidential candidate and Arkansas governor Bill Clinton was excoriated over his refusal to stop the execution in his state of Rickey Ray Rector, a man so mentally impaired that he asked to have the slice of pecan pie he had requested as part of his last meal saved so that he could eat it later—and that morbid fact became the story’s enduring detail.
As of June of this year, governing bodies in the U.S. and its colonial predecessors had executed some 15,825 men and women since the first permanent European settlements were established. The majority of them, it seems, did not get a special last meal; the Newgate Prison parties didn’t make the crossing with William Bradford and John Carver aboard the Mayflower. There is no record of a last meal for George Kendall, believed to be the first Englishman executed in the New World, who was accused of spying for Spain and shot in Jamestown in 1608. This was a pretty typical punishment no matter the crime. The nature of criminal justice around that time was such that Kendall would also have been shot—or hanged, beheaded, or burned at the stake—for stealing grapes.
The tradition of customized last meals is thought to have been established around 1924 in Texas. What prisoners are permitted varies according to their location. In Texas, the last meal was introduced in 1924, the same year that Texas replaced the gallows with the electric chair and the State took over executions from individual counties. With one single Death Row located at Huntsville, the State of Texas centralized and standardized custody of condemned inmates which included granting them a last meal. Today, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice no longer allows last meals. Condemned inmates get the standard meal before execution. Other US States have widely-differing policies. Florida is comparatively generous, allowing a budget of $40 and the food for the last meal must be purchased locally. Oklahoma budgets only $25. In Louisiana, the prison warden traditionally joins the condemned prisoner for the last meal.
A few inmates make choices that seem bizarre to others, but make sense to them such as Victor Feguer, hanged in 1963. Feguer requested a single olive, asking that the olive pit be placed in his shirt pocket before he was buried. A strange request unless you know an olive pit is a symbol of rebirth. At San Quentin, one Jewish inmate ordered an elaborate kosher meal then requested his first ham sandwich. San Quentin inmate Wilson De la Roi turned his final meal into a joke. When asked for his choice he requested a packet of indigestion tablets. Asked why, he chuckled, remarking that he might have gas on his stomach.
In January 1985, Pizza Hut aired a commercial in South Carolina that featured a condemned prisoner ordering delivery for his last meal. Two weeks earlier, the state had carried out its first execution in twenty-two years, electrocuting a man named Joseph Carl Shaw. Shaw’s last-meal request had been pizza, although not from Pizza Hut. Complaints came quickly; the spot was pulled, and a company official claimed the ad was never intended to run in South Carolina. It’s not hard to understand why Pizza Hut’s creative team thought the ad was a good idea. The last meal offers an irresistible blend of food, death, and crime that drives a commercial and voyeuristic cottage industry.
In September 2011, the state of Texas abolished all special last meal requests after condemned prisoner and white supremacist Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a large and expensive last meal, but did not eat any of it, stating that he was not hungry. All death row inmates in Texas after September 2011 were given normal prison food
The public disappearance of state-sanctioned killing mirrors the broader segregation of death in an increasingly death-shy society. Dying, which had traditionally happened at home, surrounded by family and friends, began migrating into hospitals in the late nineteenth century, which is where most people die today.
Rituals like the Hangman’s Meal and the Aztec sacrificial feasts were anything but detached. They were concerned with the spirituality of death—forgiveness, salvation, appeasing the gods, marking the transition from living to dead. Although prisoners may still pray with clergy, the execution process has been drained of its spiritual and emotional content.
All in all, the last meal is many things to many people. To some it’s a kind gesture that should be retained as a final compassionate act. To others it’s an unnecessary offer that the prisoners don’t deserve. To prisoners themselves it can be a gesture of defiance, a chance for one final joke, a last chance to try something new, something to look forward to as the clock ticks down or simply not worth bothering with. It’s certainly far more than simply ordering from a menu.
Many people have heard of the word creepypasta and don’t necessarily know what that means. Creepypasta involve either supernatural beings or actual legendary, mythical, and folkloristic monsters. Creepypasta are essentially internet horror stories or horror related legends, passed around on forums and other sites to disturb and frighten readers. The name “Creepypasta” is a portmanteau of the words creepy and copypasta; the term was coined on the imageboard 4chan around 2006. The word “copypasta” is an internet slang term for a block of viral text that gets copied and pasted over and over again from website to website.
Creepypastas are sometimes supplemented with pictures, audio and/or video footage related to the story, typically with gory, distorted, or otherwise shocking content. Creepypasta has since become a catch-all term for any horror content posted onto the Internet. These Internet entries are often brief, user-generated, paranormal stories intended to scare readers. They include gruesome tales of murder, suicide, and otherworldly occurrences. The subject matter of creepypasta varies widely and can include topics such as ghosts, murder, zombies, and haunted television shows and video games. Creepypastas range in length from a single paragraph to lengthy, multi-part series that can span multiple media types.
The exact origins of creepypasta are unknown. Early creepypastas were usually written anonymously and routinely re-posted, making the history of the genre difficult to study. Creepypastas emerged in the early 1990s when the text of chain emails was reposted on Internet forums and Usenet groups. Ted the Caver was arguably the earliest example of creepypasta. The story, posted on Angelfire in 2001, was written in the first person from the perspective of Ted as he and several friends explored an increasingly frightening cave system. Many early creepypastas consisted of rituals, personal anecdotes and urban legends such as Polybius and Bunny Man. Early creepypastas had to be somewhat believable and realistic to be re-posted. Many of the earliest creepypastas were created on 4chan, which focused on the paranormal.
Major dedicated creepypasta websites started to emerge in the late 2000s to early 2010s: Creepypasta.com was created in 2008, while the Creepypasta Wiki and r/NoSleep (a Reddit forum, or subreddit) were both created in 2010. The websites created a permanent archive of creepypasta, which profoundly impacted the genre. Many authors started using creepypasta characters in their own stories, which resulted in the development of continuities encompassing numerous works.
The reason I bring this up is because, while creepypastas are fun to read and host a variety of magic, religion, mythical creatures, they are in no way actually related to witchcraft or actual religions. They are merely enjoyable, and often disturbing, fictional stories that are written for those that enjoy the horror genre.
Picture from Google images
In the mainstream media, creepypastas relating to the fictitious Slender Man character came to public attention after the 2014 “Slender Man stabbing”, in which a 12-year-old girl was stabbed by two of her friends. The two 12-year-old girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, lured their friend Payton Leutner into a forest and pinned her down before stabbing her 19 times in the arms, legs, and torso with a five-inch-long blade, in an attempt to become proxies of the fictional character Slender Man.
Weier and Geyser told Leutner they would find help, but they did not get any upon leaving. Leutner crawled to a road where she was found by a cyclist, and recovered after six days in the hospital. Weier and Geyser were apprehended near Interstate 94 at Steinhafel’s furniture store, after walking 4.9 mile. The knife used in the stabbing was in a bag they carried. While Geyser felt no empathy, Weier was described as feeling guilty for stabbing the victim, but felt that the attack was needed to appease Slender Man. Weier and Geyser were found not guilty by mental disease or defect and committed to mental health institutions for sentences of 25 and 40 years, respectively.
After the murder attempt, some creepypasta website administrators made statements reminding readers of the “line between fiction and reality”. Slender Man is a thin, abnormally tall humanoid Noppera-bō with no distinguishable facial features, who wears a trademark gentleman’s black suit. The character originated in a 2009 SomethingAwful Photoshop competition, before later being featured as a main antagonist in the Marble Hornets alternate reality game. According to most stories, he targets children. He abducts his children for reasons unknown, and sometimes burns down the place where he claimed his victim.
Sub-Genres of Creepypasta:
Picture is a Youtube video screenshot
–Lost episodes: Lost episode creepypasta describes supposed television episodes, typically kids’ shows, that were either never aired or removed from syndication due to their violent and grotesque content. These supposedly lost episodes often focus on suicide or imply the viewer will suffer great harm. Notable examples include Squidward’s Suicide, SuicideMouse.avi, Dead Bart, and Max and Ruby 0004.
5 Nights at Freddie’s screenshot
-Video games: Video game creepypasta focuses on video games containing grotesque or violent content; this content may spill over into the real world and cause the player to harm themselves or others. An example of this is an unknown person who buys a Pokémon Silver game and starts to realize that it is much more than meets the eyes; the player is constantly stalked by the previous unnamed owner who causes weird things to happen, such as most of the captured Pokémon being unknown that spell out mysteriously horrifying words, and the player sometimes being trapped in dark rooms.
Screenshot of Momo from Youtube
-Psychotic Killers: These creepypasta tell of people, usually a teenager, becoming a psychopath or killer, often involving a trademark disfigurement due to the effects of a bad childhood, accident, bullying, experiment gone wrong, or just supernatural menace.
Picture from Google images
-Supernatural Monsters/ Paranormal: This includes ghosts, monsters, possession, and demons. This genre also includes stories about cryptids.
I know I haven’t posted an update in a while and there is an excellent reason for that! In March, I got married and my best friend came to visit and stay with me from New Jersey for a while. That was an absolutely wonderful time and it was great for my mental health. Following that, in April I took a trip to North Carolina to roadtrip with my mother up to Pennsylvania to visit where she grew up and just adventure around in general. It was an absolutely stupendous trip that I will remember forever! That being said, I am officially back and I will have more witchy posts, DIYs, and content coming at regular intervals again. Thank you all so much for your continued support and viewing!
Although the witch’s new year is celebrated on Samhain, I still enjoy participating in the Gregorian calendar new year along with everyone else. 2020 was hard but ultimately, I ended it better than I went into it. 2021 had its own struggles as well and definitely tested my mental health but again, I ended it better than I went into it. That being said, I am sure that while 2022 is going to be full of struggles and obstacles, but just as full of blessings and incredible experiences.
Pic from Facebook
I hope everyone had an amazing and safe New Years and that you continue to support the 3 Cats and a Cauldron family!
My coworkers know very well I am a witch and I live for spooky season. That being said, on of the doctors I work with recently left a present on my desk and it made me laugh! She said she thought of me right away when she saw it. She LOVES the fact that I am a witch and randomly picks up little knick knacks for me here and there. He is such a cute little Zen zombie chilling with an air plant in his head. You can find these little guys at Lowes for, I believe, $5. I had bought the pumpkins with air plants for my bathroom last month and now my little zombie friend has joined the pumpkins. He makes me smile every time I see him because of what a sweet gift he was!
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This year was an amazing haul for beautiful items to add to my home and rock my witchy aesthetic. Honestly, I do more in person shopping during this season than any other time of the year. For some, it is just a holiday but for me, it is my life. I love adding little touches around the home to make it just that much more magical and less mundane. It’s easy to feel magical when you live in what is obviously a witch’s cottage! Everyone else may be excited for Halloween but I am excited for Samhain! And redecorating my house! Below is a list of stores I went to in search of new items for my home/ decor/ craft/ fall.
At Home Store
Home Goods
Pier 1 Imports
Pottery Barn
World Market
Big Lots
Ross
Marshalls
TJ Maxx
Michaels
Hobby Lobby
Tuesday Morning
Joann’s Fabrics
Target
Walmart
Kohl’s
Bath and Bodyworks
Bed, Bath, and Beyond
Victoria’s Secret
Family Dollar
The Dollar Store
Dollar Tree
Dollar General
.99$ Store
5 Below
Home Depot
Lowes
Pet Smart
Petco
Walgreens
CVS
H.E.B.
Commissary
BX/PX
Crackerbarrel
Crate and Barrel
Spirit Halloween Store
Party City
Hot Topic
Spencer’s Gifts
Barnes and Noble
Hallmark
Kirklands
I am sure there are other stores out there! Did I miss any stores? If so, let me know in the comments! We still have 2 months to Halloween so I still have time to go shopping!
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So sorry for my time away everyone! I had a lot going on personally, as well as having received some very devastating news. I took the time to visit my family in North Carolina and ensured they were doing alright, tested for a promotion, and took a trip back to Tucson, Arizona with my fellow witchy cousin. It was amazing and just what I needed to get back on me feet. I have quite a few posts planned out and will be back to posting regularly soon. I will also be opening my Etsy shop at the end of the month to bring you high quality items you can use in your own practice. More to come!
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I had meant to post this a few days ago but procrastination got the best of me! Exciting news at the end of this post so read on!
2020 has been a wild year what with the pandemic and all derailing the entire world’s existence but it has also afforded me quite a few opportunities for which I am grateful. A lot has happened here both in my professional career, personal life, and health, both good and bad, but I can at least say I am coming out of 2020 better than I went into it! Has this year been Jumanji Level 12? Absolutely. Did I survive? Maybe… there are a few days left of 2020 after all! But all kidding aside, I did survive! And so did you!
Work got put on hold because of COVID-19 but I had the opportunity to network with other medical career fields at the hospital and be recognized for it since we couldn’t work on patients in dental. I had extra time to spend at home with my boys who definitely became even more spoiled than they already are. Niku meows any time I leave the room now. We are going to have to work on that….. I took a lot of professional development classes because video conferences became all the rage and large numbers of people could join them without ever making contact with another human. I had a hysterotomy which has stopped years and years of bleeding and pain and mental imbalances and I have never felt so good. Recovery was smooth and I was the only surgery to happen for my doctor after the hospital opened back up before COVID-19 spiked and forced it to close again. I was in a car accident which totaled my car but now I have the car of my dreams (and the payments of my nightmares) and back pain to show for it. I even had a sleep study done for my insomnia!
This is not inaccurate
It was inconclusive but at least I don’t have Sleep Apnea! A friend of mine works at the zoo and got me in behind the scenes to pet their 2 rhinos (for free!), Opie and Neote, which was beyond amazing and cool. I got amazing pictures of the 2020 Samhain blue moon which was absolutely gorgeous. I made a ton of moon water from it too! The Geminids meteor shower and Christmas star were recently visible and I got a few good pics of those too! Although the alignment appeared on the first day of Yule……. But sure! Christmas star!
Samhain full moon. I love my camera…
Geminids meteor shower. I don’t have a tripod so my hand was shaking as I was taking the long exposure…. Still cool!
I didn’t even get to see that! It was super cloudy that night….
Picture by Mike Russel taken from the Hubble telescope! I guess it really did make a star!
And now I am finishing the year with a nose surgery on the 30th of December! I get to welcome in the new year with some plastic stints and about 2 weeks of swelling! Texas does not like me at all and I can’t breathe. Hopefully this surgery will alleviate that. Like I said, this year had both good and bad.
At least I came out of the year looking better than Harry and Marv here! Well… maybe…. I haven’t had the surgery yet after all. I might come out looking worse than them!
Congratulations on making it to the bottom of this post! As a reward, I wanted to let you know that I will be starting an Etsy shop in February. I am working on the start up things right now which will spill over into January with my surgery, but I hope to have some really cool things available for you awesome witches in February. More to come! But if there are any things in particular that you would be interested in purchasing, let me know in the comments and I will do my absolute best to accommodate!
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I’m back witches! Again! This time for real though! As I said in a previous post, I had a surgery with an organ removed and had been recovering from that. Unfortunately, just before Samhain I was also in a car accident when an extremely self centered person decided “ME FIRST!” and tried to pass me while ignoring my very solid vehicle. My car was totaled and I have been in pain and dealing with that mess ever since. But I can no longer stay away from my blog! I really want to show you all a few of the witchy things I have done around the house.
So stay tuned! I am back with plenty of updates to come!
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It was brought to my attention that some people were having issues subscribing to 3CatsandaCauldron.com. I thank this person from the bottom of my heart for bringing it up and have re-sent all of the confirmation emails out. If you are still having issues with subscribing, drop me a comment and I will do my absolute best to fix it! Thank you so much for your continued support!
