Captured Without Sword: Symbolization in Snow White and the Huntsman

***The Golden Queen Ravenna***
Digital composite by Felicia Lujan.
Includes three movie screenshots
and one abstract design.

First a few thoughts aside from my look at the symbols in this movie… Charlize Theron was smokin’ hot- I mean with a capital “S.” Her acting was excellent, and she had the look of straight crazy in her eyes more than a few times. I could tell that she had been completely consumed by her character, which I loved. She *became* the Evil Queen Ravenna. She ruled the movie! I guess I have always been really impressed with her acting since her role in Monster (2003). Kristen Stewart did a good job as Snow White, though her hair was not black. I did have a little bit of a hard time forgetting about her Twilight roles. I think that a good actor or actress can *become* their character flawlessly. A great actor/actress is so good that we can feel their roles devour them. I give Kristen an “A” for effort. She will get to where she needs to be as an actress now that she has discovered new roles to shed Bella. Chris Hemsworth was good as the Huntsman. I did forget he was Thor, but my son didn’t! I liked that Evan Daugherty and Martin Solibakke made the Huntsman strong and masculine, but were not scared to show his vulnerable/sensitive side. This movie did have some scenes which shattered gender stereotypes, which I liked.

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There were several themes and scenes tied into the symbols I derived from Snow White and the Huntsman. Unlike other people who may have reviewed this movie, I looked at it as a stand alone piece. Though it was based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale, the writers for this movie deserve credit, and a deeper look at what their writing was intended to convey to the audience. Following are a few concepts I identified in the film- these were: valuables versus the illusion of valuables; fire and water; heart and heartlessness; kindness and hatefulness; good and evil or light and darkness; freedom and captivity; connection and disconnection; and life and death. In the same order, here are some of the things I noted (yes I took notes) with regard to these concepts.

Valuables and the Illusion of Valuables

I found it interesting that in this movie, the Evil Queen’s mirror was gold. It was not an actual mirror, tough a reflection could be seen in the large golden plate. Not only is the mirror gold in this version of the tale, but the spirit in the mirror is actually a golden three dimensional figure. I think that this fortifies the value that Ravenna has placed on superficial beauty. I believe that this is an illusion of value. Though it is nice to be beautiful, true beauty can only be felt. It can not be seen. This is why Snow remains the “fairest” in the land. When Queen Ravenna demands that the Huntsman track and kill Snow White, she says that he will be “rewarded handsomely.” The Queen uses love to convince him, but he is not easily fooled by the illusion of value. He tells her “what good is gold if I am lying dead with crows picking at my eyes?” At one point in the movie, Snow and the Huntsman end up seeking refuge in a large village of scarred women. There are no men in the village as they are all off fighting for freedom. These women have deliberately defaced themselves to avoid the venomous clutches of the life force sucking Ravenna. The women selected for these roles were beautiful, but the writers gave them scars. The scars added value to their lives, as they got to live longer because the Queen did not want them.

Fire and Water, Heart and Heartless, Kindness and Hatefulness

In the beginning, as a child, Snow White finds an injured bird and takes it to her mother. The mother tells Snow that she has inner beauty because she wishes to help the bird. She is immediately cast in the light of kindness. Also in the beginning, fire appears in the mirror when Queen Ravenna first summons the mirror spirit. This could symbolize a few things. Maybe her fervent obsession with beauty? Could it be her heartlessness and hatefulness? The fire could also foreshadow her demise. In the last scene of the movie, Ravenna is consumed by fire while she is burning with rage. At one point as a prisoner of Ravenna, Snow starts a fire in her bare hands as she says a prayer. She can be seen as the kind, spiritual, fire starter with heart. In her case, the fire could symbolize passion versus obsession. Hearts can also be connected with fire. When one is passionate about something, they are often described as “on fire.” Both are also red. Yes- the heartless and dark Ravenna eats Sparrow hearts. This act could symbolize the Queen’s ability to take life and freedom from people. The heart beats when we are alive, and flight is a symbol of freedom. Ravenna also takes the life out of the heart of a man who tries to kill her. The movie has several references to water. When Snow escapes the Evil Queen she jumps into the ocean. Water is a symbol of life, and continuance. There is also the very symbolic tears in the movie.

Good and Evil, Light and Darkness

Snow White is a historically established symbol of purity and innocence. There are the bad birds- the Ravens, and the good birds in the Sanctuary. The good birds in the Sanctuary are the same type of bird that Snow saved as a child. The mirror also tells Ravenna “her innocence and purity is all that can destroy you, but she is also your salvation.” Ravenna’s mirror tells her that consuming Snow White’s heart will allow her to live forever,” which means “immortality.” The colors black and white are prominent in the movie echoing the symbolism of good and evil/light and dark. Some of the black things included: Ravenna’s attire; the Ravens; black smoke; the black horses in Ravenna’s dark army; the apple rotting to black in Snow’s hand; and an oil like substance present when Ravenna’s powers are weak. Some of the white things included: a Stag with tree branches for antlers; a horse; birds; a dress worn by Snow White; and the snow.

Freedom and Captivity

A major symbol of freedom and captivity was Snow White’s break away from being a delicate princess. She became a lover of the sword and found freedom through strength. Snow escapes from Ravenna’s dungeon, and several birds like the one she saved as a child fly around and surround her. Again, birds and flight can be interpreted as Snow regaining freedom. When the princess escapes into water, and surfaces on the beach, she encounters the white horse. The horse carries her away to her freedom, thus it can be seen as a symbol of such. The “Sanctuary” in the movie represents freedom. It is one place where Queen Ravenna has no power. It is also the place where magical creatures live. The Sanctuary is the “home of the fairies.” Several winged things in the movie symbolize freedom- there are birds, fairies, butterflies, and fireflies. Freedom and captivity can also be seen in Snow’s love interest. She feels free to break away from Prince William, because she has been captured by the Huntsman.

Connection and Disconnection

When he is feeling bad, he seems to drink, so Snow White asks the Huntsman if he “drinks to drown his sorrows?” He drinks constantly in the movie in an attempt to disconnect from his pain. When the Huntsman begins to train Snow on how to fight with a sword, he takes her firmly and says “you stab him in them heart and look into their eyes until you can see their soul.” It was at that moment that the characters were set by the writers to fall in love. At that moment, he looked deeply into her soul and she into his. The Huntsman captured Snow White with no force. She was captured by a simple gaze. Snow White disconnects from Prince William as she begins to develop a deep connection to the Huntsman. In one scene as Snow and the Huntsman are about to be killed by a troll, she also connects with the beast and they are let be. A theme of trust is also heavy in connection. Another symbol of disconnection is when Queen Ravenna kills the King. The King’s goblet with blood red wine crashes to the floor.

Life and Death

After Ravenna killed the King (Snow White’s father) “the land died and with it hope” under her rule. Ravenna consumes the life spirit of the beautiful to stay young and attractive. This process gives her beauty and life force. It does not always literally kill the person, but it does take their life. When the Seven Dwarfs capture Snow White and the Huntsman, the eldest can sense her goodness. He says “she is of the blood,” meaning the royal bloodline. Blood is a symbol of both life and death. The dwarf says “I can see an end to the darkness.” She then tells them she is the late King’s daughter. One of the dwarfs says “you have eyes Huntsman, but you do not see.” The elder dwarf tells the Huntsman “she is life itself. She will heal the land. She is the one. Do you not feel it?” Here again you can see that true beauty is felt not seen. The poisoned apple is a symbol of death and life all at once. The fruit nourishes, but the apple has been poisoned.

In the end, when Snow dies after eating the apple, she is kissed by Prince William. It was then that the audience awaited her awakening. You had to know she wouldn’t wake, as it was not true love’s kiss. Snow did not awaken until the Huntsman visited her lifeless body. There he sat drinking by her side. The Huntsman talked to Snow about her heart and her spirit. He leaned down to kiss her, and he shed a tear on her cheek. She was awakened by the provocation of her own tears, and her deep love and respect for the Huntsman. He had taken her heart, but in a much different way than anyone had expected. When Snow White kills the Queen she tells her “you can’t have my heart,” that is so symbolic- as it is really the Huntsman who has her heart. Snow now rules the kingdom, but she will rule with a tree branch as a scepter not gold. This scepter a symbol of growth and life, and a return to roots.

Preparing Snow White for a New Hunt

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for! The movie I feel like I have been waiting for all my life will open, and of course I have tickets for opening night! I’m sure the movies will be packed, but it will be well worth it to see Snow White and the Huntsman starring Charlize Theron (as the Evil Queen Ravenna), Kristen Stewart (as Snow White), and Chris Hemsworth (as the Huntsman). I am absolutely sure that I will love the movie, and I am in eager anticipation. I started preparing this past weekend by changing my web site background to feature Queen Ravenna, and a quote from her magic mirror. Tonight I decided to look into some historical aspects of this classic fairytale to edify myself. I was so pleased to discover that Snow White has come a long, long, long way baby! Snow White was once portrayed as a timid, girly girl (sometimes in a corset) who waited for her man.

1908- San Antonio Newspaper Ad

The new day Snow women are tough and domineering yet still beautiful, and in need of a lovely touch from the men they desire. I have not seen Kristen Stewart in action as Snow, but I am sure that she will pull through in a strong and sexy role tomorrow night. The most current version of Snow was in the TV series Once Upon a Time (of course a favorite). In this series, Mary Margaret took on more of the traditional timid traits of Snow, while her fairytale counterpart was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. We can’t really understand this fairytale without looking at some historical perspectives. I was curious where this tale originated? All I knew was that it was created by the Brothers Grimm. There have been several white papers published with regard to the tale, but I wanted a fresh look.

1913- Des Moines News Ad

I was able to confirm through two scholarly sources that the Brothers Grimm did publish the first version of the Snow White fairytale in 1812. In 1977, the Journal of American Folklore published a white paper titled Initiation and Meaning in the Tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by NJ Girardot. In his paper, Girardot discusses the 1812 “classic Grimm story of Snow White.” Another date confirmation for the origin of this tale derived from Guardians of the fairy tale: the Brothers Grimm by T O’Neill. The author published his findings in a 1999 issue of National Geographic. O’Neill says that the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, “named their story collection Children’s and Household Tales and published the first of its seven editions in Germany in 1812.” The book included the tale of Snow White.

After taking a close look at newspapers from the time period in which the Brothers Grimm published their German fairytale classics, I came to some interesting conclusions. Most of the digitized newspapers I located were published in London, which is not far from Germany. There were three things I was able to establish in my research. First, “snow white” was actually used as a descriptive phrase during the time period I looked at (1812-1820). Second, Snow White as a character is highly symbolic of purity, innocence, and love. Third, though Snow White’s contemporary character has morphed into that of a capable female, the symbols which permeate the character still remain true (in my opinion with the addition of strength).

From 1812-1820, London newspapers published articles and advertisements describing many things as “snow white.” The papers talked about how to “turn sugar into snow-white powder,” and how “summits alone were snow-white.” They also described the “colour from the snow-white Limestone,” snow white doves, snow white hands, snow white dust, snow white culinary salt, snow white pages of books, parties decorated with snow white favors, snow white chenille, snow white palfrey bead, and snow white sheep. I think that since the phrase was used commonly to describe things that were pure or beautiful, the Brothers Grimm borrowed the phrase in creating the Snow White character. By 1820, there is evidence of the phrase snow white being connected to innocence.

Tickets for Snow White and the Huntsman
opening on Friday night (6.1.2012)

In some historical versions of the tale, the Queen orders a huntsman to kill Snow White and return with one of her organs as proof. There are often different organs requested from the huntsman as proof of Snow’s death. Most say her heart (yes— so very symbolic), but there are apparently some which call for the delivery of her lungs, or liver. In some versions, the Queen eats these organs though she does not realize they are not actually from Snow White, but other animals. Once the Queen’s mirror tells her that Snow is still alive, she visits the cottage where Snow is living with the dwarfs. On her visit she “laces” Snow White up, and makes her faint. It was interesting that I found some early advertisements in newspapers which featured corsets during what was called a “Snow White Sale.” Yikes- look at that waist!

1908- San Antonio Newspaper Ad

There are still other symbols to explore as part of this tale, like the poisoned comb, the poisoned apple, the magic mirror, the glass coffin, the evil queen, the brave and captivating prince, and of course the magic kiss. Since this classic has been analyzed and re-analyzed over and over again, I will provide my symbolic breakdown with a focus on the new film. I will write something this weekend once I can report my findings. Popcorn, a double flavor Icee, Ravens (my bird sign), intricate weapons, and heart stopping gazes! I can’t wait!!!

Smoke and Mirrors: My First Lucid Dream

This morning it was very hard for me to get out of bed. The second I opened my eyes, I could feel an indescribable ache in my head. I couldn’t understand why I felt so horrible? In my moment of contemplation, I realized that I was smoking in my dream. I am not a smoker, but yet I was blowing smoke like my first name was Puff (yes the Magic Dragon). But it was just a dream? Wasn’t it? I laid around for awhile. I tossed, I turned, I debated calling in to work because I literally felt sick. When I finally got out of bed, I rushed over to the bottle that I felt would give me some hope for the day. I popped an 800 mg Ibuprofen, washed it down with some caffeine, and then convinced myself that the headache would disappear. By the time I darted out the door for the day, my headache was gone. I thought about it all morning… I mean how strange is it to have a headache from smoking in my dreams? I did dream about many other things, but I knew the smoke caused my head to ache. As the day progressed, I wondered… Did I ever really have a headache at all? Or was it all in my head? No pun intended! I know in my waking life any kind of smoke often causes me to get real headaches, but can it cause a headache in the dream world as well, or did last night mark my first concrete proof of a mind-body connection?

Let Me Dream- Bookplate of Anita Herriman Vedder (ca 1870-1923)- Item No. LC-DIG-ppmsca-15533- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

The more the day went on, the more I believed that my experience was purely metapsychological. Now I know that I was likely still asleep when I believed I awoke with a headache. I know that I had the first lucid dream that I can actually recall. It was a lucid dream with something that is called a false awakening. Metapsychology is basically the psychological connection between mind and body. Many say that metapsychology is “beyond what can be studied,” but am I not studying it right now? “Meta” is derived from the Greek word for transcendence and/or going beyond something. For example… Have you ever had a dream where you were doing anything physical and then really woke up with soar muscles? Apparently I am not the only person who has experienced this type of phenomenon. There are some extreme cases out there. Some people wake up with scratches, bruises, and other serious injuries. Just look for yourself, and follow some of the subject threads available online. Since I am a woman who prefers well rounded research, I prefer to look at four things to make my own conclusion. Those four things are: my personal experience; the experiences of everyday people; scholarly approaches; and scientific studies.

In lucid dreaming, the person dreaming can control what they do in a dream. The dreams are often realistic, but are still fluid enough to be influenced by the dreamer. Maybe because I love writing and being creative, I am able to control some of the data which infiltrates my mind (to some degree)? If I was indeed having my first identifiable lucid dream, then it is highly likely that I experienced a false awakening from that dream. If this is the case then it makes total sense that I was in my own room when I opened my eyes and discovered I had a headache. During a false awakening, the dreamer almost always thinks they are awake because they are in the exact place where they originally drifted off to sleep. Some scholars would say that if I had a lucid dream last night, it would make sense that I was not even awake when I thought I woke up! I probably actually woke up just seconds before I actually got out of bed.

A Study in butter the dreaming Iolanthe- butter sculpture of sleeping woman by Caroline S. Brooks (c1878)- Item No. LC-USZ62-93747- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

In 2007, the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association published a white paper by Peter Fonagy and Mary Target. The paper examined Theory and Psychoanalytic Thought, and was titled The Rooting of the Mind in the Body: New Links Between Attachment. Fonagy and Target studied “the relationship between psychoanalysis and attachment theory” and they described that relationship as “complex.” The scholars researched the “whole idea of the mind comprehensively expressing itself exclusively through bodily referents,” and state that this expression derives from Sigmund Freud’s studies of the “ego” and “body-ego.” According to the paper, “any separation between cognition and physical manifestations at the level of brain, bodily sensations, or actions is an artifact of the cognitivists’ computer metaphor, which implies that cognitive processes can be independent of the body, just as software exists more or less independent of hardware. In general, it is the link of brain and body that generates mind and consciousness. Emotion, mood, and motivation act in concert with cognition, primed by evolution to ensure the survival of the person as a whole.”

Dr. Donald DeGracia published his study in 1997 out of Wayne State University titled Paradigms of Consciousness During Sleep. In his study, Dr. DeGracia attempts “to conceptualize conscious sleep experiences.” His paradigm research confirms that “the most common conscious sleep experience is dreaming.” The paper goes on to say that “dreams are a form of conscious awareness during sleep, and that “when we dream, we are consciously aware of visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic and emotional content, as well as thought (both cognitive and metacognitive) and to lesser extents smells, taste and pain.” Hum?? Very interesting. This PhD has discovered that “in a lucid dream, the brain undergoes some kind of change that gives the dreamer metacognitive access to their waking memories. Hence, it may be that a lucid dream is a dream in which the dreamer can compare their present condition with their waking life. It is this ability to compare the dream experience to waking experience that really appears to distinguish lucid dreams from nonlucid dreams.”

The dream of Pilate's wife by Alphonse Francois (c1879)- Item No. LC-DIG-pga-01296- Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

So here is my conclusion… I am 99.9% sure that I had my first recognizable lucid dream. Amazing… It seems that I may have been dreaming I had a headache because I was tapping into latent memories of my experiences with things that cause my head to ache! I had a headache because my mind caused my body to believe it should. I would even go as far to say that muscle memory could have been at work here. I can thank the long gone love of my life, Sigmund Freud for a few things today. Some of those things include: his beautifully sexy brain; the ability of his once lively mind to spark my contemporary mind; his amazing breakthroughs in 1895 relative to the philosophical study of the relationship between the body and the mind; and his still unmatched 1899 study on the Interpretation of Dreams.

Sources:

Theory and Psychoanalytic Thought,
The Rooting of the Mind in the Body:
New Links Between Attachment (2007)
Peter Fonagy and Mary Target
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association

http://apa.sagepub.com

Paradigms of Consciousness During Sleep (1997)
Donald J. DeGracia, PhD
Wayne State University
www.med.wayne.edu/degracialab/metaphysics/paradigms.pdf

Star Crossed: Research into the Death of Marilyn Monroe

Small poster of Marilyn Monroe I got on Friday (since I didn’t find the book I wanted)…

I have recently been intrigued by the life and death of Marilyn Monroe. It seems she has forever been an iconic face worldwide, but I actually believe she was more than that. I hate stereotypes, and frankly I think that stereotypes played a major role in her ultimate demise. I am on a mission to uncover more. I want to track down actual primary source documents relative to Mz. Monroe. If I can find archival collections, I would like to derive my own conclusions, and write about what I conclude.

Letters and diaries would be a great source of first hand information. If you look around online or in books, you will notice that her story is often rehashed with no primary source document citations. Where are the records? Are there any? Are they in private hands? There must be something…

I know Mz. Monroe was likely deeper than people thought she should be. Unfortunately, a beautiful woman must fight for the respect of intellectuals. Who can blame Mz. Monroe for playing into those stereotypes which the entertainment industry still so foolishly projects? Money talks, and with her outstanding body, and stunning beauty she was desired by both men and women. No doubt, movie producers and media moguls could taste the high finance that would bring.

I would like to learn more about Mz. Monroe when she was a student. At one time she had her heart set on the study of art and literature. In the early 50s Monroe was enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This will be the first place on my list to search for archival collections. Why did she leave education behind? There is also a 2004 book by Marie Clayton titled Marilyn Monroe: Unseen Archives that I will attempt to track down.

I love a good mystery, so I am particularly interested in some key figures in conspiracy theories surrounding her death. She had what appears to be a clearly unclear relationship or non-relationship with President John F. Kennedy. It is all so fascinating. Some say she was simply his play toy, and that he didn’t feel she “was First Lady material.” Hum? Why not? Oh yes— because she was sexy. Thank God for women like Michelle Obama who can rock non-First Lady like attire, fit arms, sex appeal and still get respect.

After work on Friday I went to look for a new book. Of course Hastings was sold out!!! Recently I watched an interview with Clint Hill on his book Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir. Hill was the former Secret Service Agent and “special” friend of the First Lady Mz. Kennedy. USA Today reported that it was “clear from his book that Hill (who was married) loved” the First Lady. So while JFK was with Mz. Monroe, apparently his First Lady was with her Secret Service Agent.

A few months after singing a very public birthday song to Mr. President in 1962, Mz. Monroe was gone. On August 5, 1962, a star faded when Monroe’s lifeless body was discovered. She was not even 40 years old. Was Mz. Monroe killed by: mafia hit men; the CIA; the Kennedy brothers; a jealous First Lady and-or her possible Secret Service lover; or was it simply by her own hands? At first I thought Mz. Monroe was killed by the Kennedy brothers. The problem is that her lover (Mr. President) was assassinated (November 22, 1963) not long after her questionable death. Strange… It has been reported that the last person Monroe spoke to before her death was the President. Where are the records, or is that final conversation between star crossed lovers simply hearsay?

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Hunt for the Shapeshifter

Tonight in Once Upon a Time, Red Riding Hood (Ruby) was revealed as the she wolf.

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“We humans fear the beast within the wolf because we do not understand the beast within ourselves”
>»>Gerald Hausman

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“The gaze of the wolf reaches into our soul.”
>»>Barry Lopez

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It was the story of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf tonight on Once Upon a Time. The episode was a good one, and did leave me wondering who the wolf really was??

This fairy tale was first published by Perrault sometime before the 1700s. It has always been an interesting tale. There is so much symbolism in the classic as well as tonight’s tale, but it could take me all night to explore that. In short, the most symbolism can be derived from: a beautiful woman; a wolf; a red and enchanted cloak; forbidden love; a human heart (in a box); chains; and the dangerous and dark forest. The episode was titled Red-Handed. This was a perfect fit.

In the beginning, Snow White assists the love sick Red Riding Hood on her quest to seek our and kill the wolf. Red’s grandmother had been keeping she and her lover apart, and she believed it was because of the dangerous wolf. The duo believes that the wolf is Red’s lover Peter, and so he asks to be chained so that he will not hurt her. As it turned out, Red was the she wolf. She descended from a long line of shapeshifters. This revelation by Red’s grandmother to Snow, came much to late. In her wolf form, Red had already devoured her chained lover.

Questions and answers are faced between lovers in the fairy tale world, and in Storybrooke. David also faced questions about Kathryn’s disappearance (and at first he may be seen as a symbolic wolf). When a human heart is found hidden in a decorative box (which likely belonged to his wife), the prints match Mary Margaret (Snow White). His lover is no she wolf, and so this was likely a setup by her Evilness, the wicked mayor.

If you haven’t seen this series yet. Tune in… You will be pleasantly surprised.

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Dreaming of Diamonds with a Handful of Coal…

Heart Shaped Diamond

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Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

………..Edgar Allan Poe

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Tonight, the new episode of Once Upon A Time was about one of the Seven Dwarfs and his love pains. The Seven Dwarfs are miners of coal and diamonds in the Snow White fairy tale. We all know fairy tales are simply improbable stories, so of course it was unfortunate that the little miner landed coal instead of a diamond. Symbolically, the episode was about darkness and light, which is typical of the series. I love all of the symbols these screen writers incorporate. The episode was riddled with symbolism (as they all are).

The Dreamy episode was about dreams coming true and not coming true. The writers used dark and light to convey the language of dreams. The story was about how Grumpy got his name. His name was Dreamy during the time when the woman he loved told him “you can do anything, as long as you can dream it,” and he believed it. What else would the woman’s name be but Nova right? She was a fairy for God’s sake! In her human form, her name was Astrid, which also has meaning. He smiled for a bit as he basked in the light of love, but quickly submitted to his familiar darkness once he realized his dream was impossible. When he accepts failure, he tells Mary Margaret (Snow White) that he was “just dreaming” anyhow.

Since Dreamy/Grumpy was a miner, he was accustomed to the darkness of the mine. He spent his days mining coal and diamonds to grind into fairy dust. I see coal as a representation of dark and disconnection. I see diamonds as a representation of light and the connection to something precious. Coal and diamonds are both carbon based, with the breathtaking gem coming from a rearrangement of atoms under high pressure and heat. Hum? Sounds a bit like love ha? To the ancient Greeks, the word diamond meant unbreakable. A diamond is also capable of capturing and dispersing light. Can a lump of black coal do that? I think not!!

Maybe the most powerful scene was when Mary Margaret’s (Snow White) candle is blown out. She walks alone, and sad in the dark. She may feel that hope is lost until a friend comes along with a smile, and uses another candle to give light to the darkness. Maybe the lesson in this episode is that when someone takes your light away, you need to relight your candle, and hold on to your dreams. It is a symbolic move from darkness to light.

Since I could write a dissertation about those things which intrigue me, I will keep it simple and look at the symbolism in list form. Following are those symbols I was able to derive from the Dreamy episode…

Symbols of light and connection:
**love
**diamonds
**dreams coming true
**fireflies (nocturnal insects emitting light)
**candles (light/fire)
**surface (vs. the mine)
**the name Nova (a nova is the nuclear explosion of a star)
**the name Astrid (the name means beautiful Goddess)
**decorative lights for the Miners’ Day event

Symbols of darkness and disconnection:
**lost love
**coal
**the color of coal (black)
**dreams not coming true
**the mine
**Leroy (Dreamy/Grumpy) smashing the electrical transformer and taking the lights out

Symbols of flight/freedom, dreaming, and heavenly things:
**sailing
**water
**boats
**fairy wings
**the wings of a firefly
**fairy dust
**white clothing

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Amulet,Talisman,Trinket: The Lore of Blood Coral

Every morning as I drive to work, I am reminded of my maternal grandmother. Right before I had my one and only child, a son, she gave me a special gift. At the time, I never understood just how special the gift was. It must have been around July of 2005 when my grandma’s warm hand opened mine. She placed an odd shaped piece of coral on my palm. I looked at the red natural gem for a moment, and then asked “what should do with it?” She said that I needed it for protection, and after I gave birth that I should “pin it on her grandson.” My grandma told me that there would be people jealous of the baby and the attention he would get, so that I should be sure he used the coral. My grandma Corine did many things that I would never get to fully understand until I became a woman. What she believed we needed protection from was mal ojo or the evil eye.

As a child, I soaked up many of her traditions and beliefs, often unknowingly. I never took the time to learn more than that. I did know that all children were gifted with coral so of course I saved it. I made Daryn a pin, and he would wear it. I can’t remember when he stopped wearing the pin, but my grandmother passed away a little over two years after my son was born. I have only one photograph of her holding him in her arms. Naturally, I saved the precious piece. I made it into a necklace for me, and would wear it and think of my grandma. Later I decided to hang the necklace from the mirror in my vehicle. Maybe for protection? It still hangs there almost 5 years since my grandma died. For a few weeks, I have been wanting to look into the lore of coral. I finally took the time to do so this week. I was shocked to learn that the practice of gifting a child with red coral is not specific to New Mexico, yet alone to one culture.

A piece of red coral given to me by my maternal grandmother was used to make this necklace. The "horn" or "branch" was much longer at one time, but a piece broke off a few years back. Before it was a necklace, my son would wear the gem as a pin for protection. Now this necklace is hanging from the mirror in my vehicle for protection on the road.

According to Bussoletti, Cottingham, Bruckner, and Roberts, in the Mediterranean, a coral amulet has “distinctive characteristics.” These characteristics stem from “the complex mythological content that surrounds it, tying it to the blood of the head of Medusa that Perseus decapitated, blood that would color and petrify the sea.” They published these ideas in Red Coral Science, Management, and Trade: Lessons from the Mediterranean. In Documents of British Superstition in Oxford, by Ettlinger, the author concluded that folklore of coral declared the gem “one of the most popular amulets by reason of its red colour-since a white coral has never been used as an amulet.”

I also located something called Chinese Charms: Hidden Meaning of Symbols and there it is said that “red coral is considered particularly auspicious.” In Italian Folklore of Italy, red coral was “used to protect mothers and their babies, and trees that bear fruit.” In the Important Symbolism of Middle Eastern Jewelry, “a talisman which is used for the elderly, women, children and babies,” often utilized “antique Mediterranean red coral and amber beads.” Roman Sexualities by Hallett and Skinner said that “women are vigilant in protecting the babies once they are born.” Some “baby amulets” included “branches of coral.”

Thomas Forbes with the Yale University Departments of Anatomy and the History of Science and Medicine published a paper titled Chalcedony and Childbirth: Precious and Semi-Precious Stones as Obstetrical Amulets. In a section titled Gems of Biological Origin, Forbes wrote that “one of the most interesting was coral,” he called the gem a “protective charm,” and said that it was “recommended a piece of coral hung about the neck as a birth charm.”

I did locate a vast amount of information about the mythology of coral, and the origins of these beliefs runs way, way back. One of the most interesting pieces I located was a paper titled The Evil Eye in Italian Art by S.A. Callisen. The paper was published in 1937 in The Art Bulletin (Vol. 19, No. 3). In a nutshell, Callisen mentions some of the following: peoples of the earth have feared the power of the evil eye, and an earnest faith in its malign potency can be traced to the dawn of folklore; in paintings and sculptures a branch of coral can be seen hanging from the Christ Child’s neck; a branch of coral, hung about the neck of an infant, is a protection from harm as a prophylactic against the evil eye; writers on magic were insistent that an amulet of red coral was much the most potent; and some believed that the coral branch was similar to a Roman phallic charm. There are references to coral and color changing. It is said that when the wearer is ill, the blood coral will change from red to a “pale” color.

In Women’s Tales from the New Mexico WPA: La Diabla a Pie, there is a story titled Remedios that is from the 1940s. There it is written, that “babies were harmed by mal ojo (evil eye). It was said that some persons could hurt babies with evil eye or mal ojo unconsciously. When baby was made sick by anyone who had mal ojo.” It is believed that “to protect little children from mal ojo, strings of coral beads were tied around their necks.” So yes- there are local stories, however, the lore of coral is cross-cultural and much deeper than I anticipated.

In the future, I would like to study what I see as the symbolism of coral, as water is one of my power symbols. That is a whole other topic for another long night. For now, if you would like to learn more about the lore of this biological gem, you should read The Evil Eye in Italian Art by S.A. Callisen. There was a great amount of scholarly research that went into that piece. The link is below. That paper is mind blowing! It turns out, there was a significant amount of history rooted in my grandmother’s beliefs about coral and children. It just takes a little looking…

Sources:

Various online sources.

The Art Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 3 (1937, pages 450-462)- The Evil Eye in Italian Art by S.A. Callisen- http://www.jstor.org/stable/3045692

Women’s Tales from the New Mexico WPA: La Diabla a Pie (page 29)- Edited by Tey Diana Rebolledo and Maria Teresa Marquez

The Perplexing Concept of Identity

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This weekend I attended a lecture in Albuquerque sponsored by the New Mexico Genealogical Society. The lecture was on Saturday, February 25, 2012, and was focused on the New Mexico DNA Project. This presentation was delivered by Ángel de Cervantes, who now resides in Albuquerque, but was originally from Las Vegas/Montezuma, New Mexico. Ángel is the New Mexico DNA Project Administrator, and is also part of the Iberian Peninsula DNA Project. Ángel is currently a History Instructor, however, he was once a archivist with the State Archives. Since he was once an archivist, he understands the importance of primary documents relative to research, and encouraged the audience to “take the time to do the research” and not just do “the online thing.” The lecture was Part 1 in a series, and was titled Castas, DNA, and Identity: Who are we? What did our ancestors say about themselves? What does DNA tell us about Identity? Ángel explored “the connection of the Castas system in colonial New Mexico” and discussed how “DNA studies compare to the Spanish Castas system and the ramifications on modern identity.” So following is what I have come away with…
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Identity… What is identity? Some online sources define identity as: the condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the sameness of essential or generic character in different instances, and all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing; and the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. What does that mean? Well… I think identity is very complex. It is rooted in: psychology; oral, familial, and social history; and of course genetic connections. How do you see yourself? Where do you stand in society- socially, economically, and from a religious perspective? How do others see you? It is all complicated. If it was up to me (and it is not), I would say that none of it really matters. Well maybe how we see the man in the mirror is important? The notion of a “correct analysis of identity over time” is critical according to the Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The encyclopedia also mentions a “notion of identity across possible worlds.” But what are “worlds?” Is there more than one world we live in? No, but I think it is referring to the multiple worlds that we can socially and psychologically place ourselves in. Of course our familial ties, and oral histories play a major role in the identity we choose to seize.

Ángel de Cervantes delivering a lecture on DNA and identity. He is the New Mexico DNA Project Administrator, and is part of the Iberian Peninsula DNA Project. Ángel is currently a History Instructor in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I have taken a look at the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society put forth by Hartford Institute for Religion Research. According to this encyclopedia, “identity is a characteristic defining one’s sense of self,” and the term was “popularized by Erik Erikson” through the 1950s and 1960s, “as a central psychoanalytic concept.” Some of this definition, incorporates “a sense of uniqueness” or “completeness” with regard to identity. Ángel de Cervantes opened his lecture with a clip of Jessica Alba. Alba was a special guest on George Lopez Tonight in 2009. For his show, Alba and her father both agreed to take a DNA Test. Alba submitted for an mtDNA (maternal) and her father for both Y-DNA (paternal) and mtDNA. I think it was a great clip to open with because Ángel set the scene for his lecture on the historical and contemporary problems each of us have faced, or face with regard to identity. As an advocate of DNA testing he said that one reason he likes Y-DNA testing is because “it is what it is if you like it or not.” Alba’s test results were returned to her by Lopez with percentages of 87% European and 13% Indigenous or Native American. You can see that even she did not fully understand her “identity” in that moment.

Artwork on Cuadro de Castas or a Historical Caste System

So what does “casta” mean in terms of identity? A caste system is comprised of an intermixture of race and social class (ethnic, economic, religious). My tiny New Webster Dictionary defines caste as “an inherited socioreligious rank.” Really? Rank? Funny… Personally, I feel that this was more of the case in the Colonial caste system, and not in the contemporary. In 1995, Stuart B. Schwartz published a paper titled Colonial Identities and the Sociedad de Castas in Colonial Latin American Review (Volume 4, Issue 1). In his paper, Schwartz “framed” castas “in terms of race and class” for “multi-racial and multi-ethnic societies of colonial Latin America.” This may still be the case today, though I am not sure that caste is always maintained by an individual even if it can be seen as inherited and ranked? Maybe a number 1 on the ranking system would see me as a number 10? But since I don’t care what others think of me, it would be irrelevant. The Spanish doctoral program in the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a website with pictures of the historical castas or caste system called Cuadro de Castas. The images provide an interesting look at the system.

Some of my notes

Ángel’s study of New Mexico records, as well as the records of the Archivos Enpañoles, allowed him to put together a list of the Spanish Castas he has been able to identify. Some of the castas in Spanish genealogical records include: Chino; Español Criollo; Mestizo; Pardo; Prieto; Negro; Mulato; Tresalvo; Trigueño; and Zambo. Each casta has applicable fractions of race, and may include one, two, or more mixtures. I found it funny when Ángel talked about how his grandmother from Las Vegas called the “dark complected kid in the neighborhood” a “trigueño.” The audience was at odds over that title, and what it means, but that is always the case when dealing with scholars, historians, and genealogists.

So even if I find caste systems irrelevant to my identity today, why should it be important to me as a genealogist and a lover of history? Well of course the main reason is because it is part of history. It is also important because a caste can reveal the status of a person in his or her community at a given point in time. A person in what was a historically higher caste may have: been more educated; could have owned more land; may have traveled more; or may have had royal blood. I think a down side to this is that some of those individuals from a higher caste likely married only those in the same caste, or of a higher caste to stay elite. So much for real connection!? Maybe poor folk married for the right reasons ha?

To sum it all up, I guess I learned that identity really can’t be defined or bottled. I believe identity can be explained to a certain extent, but will always remain a perplexing concept. Since we are humans, we are constantly changing, evolving, growing, learning, and so our identity changes. Identity changes or morphs with time. Personally, I do not wish to be pegged by caste systems. In the end, I know that others will likely classify me with no regard for those complexities which truly define my identity whether I like it or not.

An Archive of Memories: Healing After Repressing Loss

In my book Animal-Speak by Ted Andrews, a bird is very symbolic. Birds are often seen as angels, and flight represents “leaving the earth and rising to the heavens.” The color yellow has long been a symbol of friendship.

Over the years I have combed through historical records on anything and everything. It is rare that I become sensitive in regard to most. Recently, I learned about the early death of two young boys. The boys did not die together, and I read about both of them on the same day. They both died many years ago. One was a teenager who froze to death while lost in the mountains, and the other was a nine year old boy who was run over. The nine year old child died at such a young age, leaving behind his family and friends. Thinking about his death, and considering those left to deal with the loss made me sad for several reasons.

How do children deal with loss? It is complicated. How do adults deal with explaining that loss and comforting their children? Sigmund Freud was an expert in this field. As one of my favorites, he was a master of dreams, healing, and the analysis of the mind. Not long ago, Chris VerWys presented a paper on the Freudian Levels of Mental Awareness. VerWys presented his research as part of the Department of Cognitive Science with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In his paper, VerWys identified the three levels associated with Freudian theory.

These levels were: conscious or what we are aware of; preconscious or memories which are easy to access; and the unconscious. The unconscious includes “censored and repressed memories.” Hum? Maybe the unconscious is an archive of memories with restricted access? Maybe the inner vault of the mind? VerWys says that “our earliest childhood memories may be locked in the unconscious, yet might still influence our everyday behavior.” He also said that Freud believed that “understanding the memories trapped in the unconscious” was critical.

In 2003, Nancy Weitzman published a paper titled The Three Stages of Grief. The paper was published online by Suffolk County Community College. In her study, Weitzman identified “three stages of grief that are experienced by” those “left behind.” She said that “these stages include many emotions.” “Each stage” (such as “numbness, disorganization and reorganization)” needs “to be felt and lived through in order to successfully proceed to the next stage.”

The research says that for most “there is no formalized way to sever the relationship you have maintained with the deceased.” I assume there are various forms of closure? What if a child does not attend the funeral? For that child, “the body may be buried, but the emotions of those who love the deceased continue to survive.” Weitzman’s research concludes that “recovery from grief will happen most quickly and successfully if you allow yourself to feel everything you feel and do not repress your fears, your panic or any of your emotions.” If the grief is unresolved emotionally, it is difficult for healing to begin. According to the paper, “unresolved grief will turn into delayed grief.” In children, this can apparently be tricky. Here is what she had to say about children coping with loss.

*****”Children can read their parents usually quite well.  They know when their parents are upset, angry, confused or lying to them.  Deception can harm a child and should never be considered acceptable when dealing with your children for any issue.  When the parents have difficulty facing a death, it will be difficult for the children as well.  When the parents can accept a death and their feelings about the death, the children will begin to come around and be more comfortable with it as well.” 

*****”They should always be told the truth and they must know that their deceased loved one is not coming back to them for any reason.  The death is final.  Should the child attend the funeral, it is helpful for them to know that the deceased is buried in the earth – the finality is clearer for them when they witness a burial.”

*****”Encourage the child to write a letter to the deceased.  Keep pictures around of happy times and of visits to places that were enjoyed.  It is important to have reminders around for the child and for the entire family.  When a cemetery visit is planned, take the child with you and read the gravestone to them.  Help them understand the meaning of remembering their loved one.”

I think these seem like great steps toward healing old wounds, and getting access to the archive of repressed memories. Writing a letter to the person you lost, visiting their grave site, sharing happy memories with others who loved them. We need to remember…

SOURCES:

Sigmund Freud by Chris VerWys- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)-Department of Cognitive Science
http://homepages.rpi.edu/~verwyc/FREUDOH.html

The Three Stages of Grief by Nancy Weitzman- Suffolk County Community College
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/pecorip/scccweb/etexts/deathanddying_text/Three-Stages-of-Grief.htm

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Organic Connection, Soul Searching and Linear Minds…

Jake and Neytiri near the Tree of Souls. A scene from the movie Avatar.

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“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
*****Carl Jung
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This morning, Psychology Today published an article titled Mind and Heart: Who Am I, by a doctor named Marilyn Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell believes that Western culture has been cultivating “linear” minds. This was an interesting concept to me because I think it is sad and true. We fall into the habit of being one way, thinking one way, acting one way, loving one way, learning one way, but there is so much more. Life is not a straight line, and is not one-dimensional. That doctor feels that this kind of linear thinking hinders us from developing the “expansive resources within us,” because “we often identify with our minds, that voice running in our heads.” So her article is a challenge of sorts. She says “there is a deeper part of our being that is our True Self,” and then she goes on to peg Carl Jung, Einstein, poets, and mystics as those who have tapped into the Inner Self. Without a doubt the Inner/True Self allows for our growth and awakening in ways that we may never fully comprehend.

The best concrete pop culture example I could think of tonight with regard to this ideology comes from the movie Avatar. In that movie, the characters are able to use an organic form of connection to reach and share the world around them. This connection is deep, and arguably comes from within. It can be interpreted as not only the ability of the characters to tap into their True Self, but also the ability to extend that connection beyond themselves. Through the course of the movie, Jake Sully learns how to go within, and he is eventually able to connect himself with nature, and Neytiri using the neural queue braid or Na’vi. Most who have written about the characters call this connection “total.”

Jake and Neytiri connect using the neural queue braid or Na’vi in the movie Avatar.

In Chapter 11 of my book the Handbook of Dreams (page 343), Susan Knapp contemplates the “core systems” of the self. In her chapter on dreaming, Knapp explores the “core systems” of the self favored by Karen Horney, a German psychiatrist. Trained in Freudian psychoanalysis, Horney described the core systems as: “the real self, a central inner force which represents our deepest source of growth;” and the “real self-dynamism or the integrating system.”

Sometimes it is just so funny to think we are much like computers. We have “core systems” and invisible Na’vi neural queue braids for connections. Yes- we are similar, but still we are different. To reach our full human potential, we must break out of the linear neural systems into the unknown. We need to search our souls, and feel with our hearts.

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Iris: Divine Rainbow Goddess and Messenger of the Olympians

*****Digital composite by Felicia***** My representation of Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow consists of five images and was created using layers and masks. The representation also incorporates my spiral symbol.

Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.
*****Lord Byron

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.
*****John Vance Cheney

Iris the divine Rainbow Goddess was a messenger of the Olympians. She was fast and reliable. The goddess served and delivered messages for both Zeus and Hera. Some myths depict Iris as the personification of the rainbow. In other myths, Iris is the mother of Eros, the God of Love. If it was indeed she whom birthed Eros, it is not surprising that she was usually portrayed as loving, kind, and helpful. The sightly Iris is said to have used water from the River Styx to assist other immortals in the renewing of their vows. After filling their cups she delivered messages, ambrosia, and nectar. With her gifts, she replenished immortals. In her mortal and divine forms, the mythical Iris was breathtaking. Her picture of divinity is often rendered with a gold caduceus in hand, and magnificent golden or rainbow wings. The goddess was able to use the rainbow as a portal between Heaven and Earth. Iris was given the gift of flight to aid in the swift delivery of messages to other immortals, as well as to mortals on Earth.

A rainbow is often formed following a storm, and is also associated with golden treasure; therefore Iris and her instrument can be seen as signs of hope and prosperity. Iris and the rainbow embody a symbolic move from darkness to light, and the bow offers an intense spectrum of color as such. In 1984, Julia L. Epstein and Mark L. Greenberg published a white paper titled Decomposing Newton’s Rainbow in the Journal of the History of Ideas (Vol. 45, No. 1, pgs. 115-140). The paper was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, and revealed some research connecting rainbow myth with scientific studies. “Clearly, Newton investigated natural phenomena-light, vision, color-that had for centuries been invested with symbolic mystical and religious significance, and had also attracted serious scientific investigators from antiquity on. Yet a key answer to this question lies in understanding that, although Newton’s exposition of light’s properties, for example, was not itself figurative or laden with rhetorical invention, a great part of its appeal to poets lay in its power to evoke images and metaphors.”

“This attempt to forge a language in which words are equivalent to things, of course, represented a linguistic ideal. Language was to annihilate metaphorical modes of expression, according to these new standards, through reduction to a pure sign system in which metaphor would be literalized. The universal language philosophers of the period sought for was a symbolic representation of discoveries in natural philosophy that would be wholly adequate to the processes of the material world.” Epstein and Greenberg acknowledged that the ultimate goal of Newton and poets was “to record the evanescent, to translate light and color into language,” and “to portray the arc and texture of a rainbow.” As Henry David Thoreau once said “the true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.” After learning more about Iris, may we continue to grasp at least a part of our metaphorical rainbow, and in turn satisfy our soul.

Using Connections to Reveal the Authentic Self

This is a great article!
DeGraff has it down…

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*****Growth requires synchronizing the key forces within and beyond us.*****

Connect the Dots
by Jeff DeGraff, Ph.D.
Originally published on December 12, 2011 online by Psychology Today

“And if there had been more of the world, They would have reached it”
*****Luis de Camoes

It is an old saying that innovation happens at the edges of disciplines. Within any field of inquiry the rules of investigation and experimentation become tired and rigid as they focus more on efficiently self perpetuating a line of thought than exploring the dark places where the undiscovered hide. Crossing boundaries and building bridges is an essential aspect of making growth operational. It is in conjoining that which is most diverse that novel hybrids are born. We too must overcome the challenges of our compartmentalized portfolio lives: The Nurturing Mom, the Dutiful Wife, the Competent Boss and the Closet Poet. To maintain order, we keep our roles separate and miss out on the emergent opportunities and creative fecundity that these improvisations may bring us. Growth requires spontaneously synchronizing key forces both beyond and within us.

Aligning one system that exists at the same level and time as another system, such as simultaneously installing the electricity and plumbing in a new house, is fool’s holiday without the aid of a blueprint that represents how they interrelate. From the human genome to meridian maps, we seek our destinations from a higher point of view where we can make sense of where things intersect and take appropriate action. While we are accustomed to representing the relationships of processes via figures and lines, purposeful connections are only made by people. In every organization there are those individuals that serve as conduits that pulse and teleport ideas and initiatives across boundaries. While we know this to be true, we seldom take their amplifying or dampening affect into consideration. While transmission to reception relationships are seldom linear and progress seems to favor the circuitous route, those who enable and imbed it are nonetheless revealed by the degree of momentum they create or impede. Bet on people; not processes to connect the dots.

Boundaries are made as much from convention as they are from perception. We deify those that we identify with and demonize those that we do not. Nothing illustrates this point more than a “polite” discussion on politics, religion or football. Good and bad are often no more than a projection of type and associated affiliation: Republican or Democrat, Muslim or Christian, Buckeye or Wolverine. Ironically, dots are often connected unintentionally by seemingly oppositional forces. For example, Christianity was once the spiritual solace of the Roman slaves but followed the very empire that sought to put it out around the world. Tolerance of diversity is a required aspect of our development for we grow through the constructive conflict with those which we are unlike and by productively assimilating our own idiosyncrasies into our character.

What we believe and why we behave the way we do is a complex question with multiple perspectives on the issue emanating from various disciplines of inquiry. Well-established descriptions of type include everything from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality inventory based on the typological theories originated by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, to the Enneagram, a map of personality interrelationships organized around an ancient symbol of perpetual motion by Armenian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff, to astrology, which exists in some form in almost all cultures. The point being that the classification of type is somehow fundamental to how we characterize the attributes and dynamics of our world. While there may indeed be simplicity on the other side of complexity where all is one, decisions are fundamentally based on our ability to make distinctions – Will you be having the chicken or fish?

As reasonably healthy and productive people, we typically experience ourselves as continuous and essentially integrated beings, with minor variations to suit the mood or occasion. However, we may appear to others to exhibit a distinct type, preferences and tendencies, in the course of a single encounter. Assuming that one doesn’t have a multiple personality disorder, we might think of our lives as an ensemble of characters with a variety of roles we may competently perform. These are not false fronts; rather, the variations of the Authentic Self in costume. We stand between that which is foreign and familiar and translate that which is strange into the ordinary. Boundaries are spanned; meaningful connections are forged; and dots are connected through our widening range of interpretations and ambidextrous actions.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/innovation-you/201112/connect-the-dots

A Christmas Star Explosion: Neutron Star Spirals Into the Heart of a Companion Star

My friend Norma works with the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Project – Los Alamos National Laboratory. Yesterday she sent me a super cool email with this small article from the lab, and I wanted to share it… I loved this- so very interesting! Computational science, code, stars, spirals, what’s not to love? Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to the LANL news release on this study because it required a login, but I will ask one of my parents to look this up for me. I want to see if there is more information on the computational code used to study the star collision. Hummm?

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Christmas Burst Reveals Neutron Star Collision

December 6, 2011

***********Christmas Burst, GRB 101225A; NASA*********** Goddard Space Flight Center

Old model, new data: a match made in the heavens. A strangely powerful, long-lasting gamma-ray burst on Christmas Day, 2010 has finally been analyzed to the satisfaction of a multinational research team. Called the Christmas Burst, GRB 101225A was freakishly lengthy and it produced radiation at unusually varying wavelengths. But by matching the data with a model developed in 1998, the team was able to characterize the star explosion as a neutron star spiraling into the heart of its companion star. The paper titled, “The unusual gamma-ray burst GRB 101225A from a helium star/neutron star merger at redshift 0.33,” appeared in a recent issue of the journal Nature. Christina Thöne of Spain’s Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía is the lead author, and Los Alamos computational scientist Chris Fryer is a contributor. Fryer, with the Lab’s Computer, Computational, and Statistical Sciences Division, realized that the peculiar evolution of the thermal emission (first showing X-rays with a characteristic radius of ~1011 cm followed by optical and infra-red emission at ~1014 cm) could be naturally explained by a model he and Stan Woosley of the University of California at Santa Cruz had developed in 1998. “The Helium Merger Model explained all the properties we were seeing,” Fryer said, although he noted that proving this required a series of additional computational models by the international theory team studying this “Christmas burst” and the work is still under way. Fryer is working with Wesley Even of the Los Alamos X Theoretical Design Division, using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Simulation and Computing Codes to study the emission of this burst in more detail.
For more information, see the LANL news release.

The Palm Lines…

Interesting… I had to draw the dots on my hand last night to snap a picture of my thought process relative to my post from yesterday titled “Living in Fragments or Connecting the Dots?”
*****http://myvoyagethroughtime.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/living-in-fragments-or-connecting-the-dots/
Overnight I had a dream about my palms and the lines on my palms, but had no clue about how palm lines work?? So of course this morning I looked up a chart about the palm lines. It turns out the first two dots I marked were between heart and head. Also turns out that I’m not as famous as I thought after all! Damn!! Haha…

The Palm Lines

Origins of my Familial Y-DNA for Haplogroup R1b1a2

Thomas, Isaiah, & Gilbert Lujan (these men contain my familial Y-DNA- my brother, my nephew, and my father)

Near the end of June 2011, I posted about the test results of my exploration into the Y-DNA (paternal) of my family. In the last week, I received three electronic notifications regarding our DNA. A new person has been connected through the New Mexico DNA Project. Once each new test is complete, a notification is sent out to all the individuals the test has been linked to. In other words, I got an email at 12 markers, 25 markers, and then 37 markers for the new person. The project site will say when the last connection was made, and to what degree, but the list of individuals does not have a date.

Unfortunately I had no record saved of those individuals listed in June, so it is difficult to say who the new guy is? I have learned it may be a good idea to keep a running spreadsheet of data on the test results, so I have created one. At this point, I have only documented the Y-DNA for Haplogroup R1b1a2. Keeping a working document makes more sense because it will allow me to further manipulate the data for a closer analysis of these connections. I originally created the spreadsheet in a proprietary Excel format, but will manipulate the data using OpenOffice Calc since I adore open source. I have created the following tabs for my data sheets: Sort by Type of Match; Sort by Surname; Sort by Individuals; and Sort by Exact Matches. Each sheet has been color coded and somewhat altered so that I can easily see relationships.

In June, I informed everyone that our Y-DNA was connected to the Aragón surname (probably a connection to Ignacio de Aragón). At that time, there were 13 matches within the New Mexico DNA Project. Now there are 18 matches which likely point to Spain as the country of origin. The Project Administrator said my ancient forefather was likely a Celt-Iberian. These Celtic people were living in the Iberian Peninsula in what is now north central Spain. As of today here are some of the statistics I can derive from the data I have manipulated.
*****There are 18 total matches for the 12 marker, 25 marker, and 37 marker Y-DNA tests for Haplogroup R1b1a2.

*****There are 11 Aragóns, 1 Archuleta, 3 Bacas, 1 Garcia, 1 Lozano, and 1 Salazar.

*****Out of 18 people, the highest number of connections can be made to 2 men- 1 is a Baca the other is an Aragón.

*****10 of the 18 individuals came up as “exact” matches.” Of those 10, 7 were Aragóns, 2 were Bacas, and 1 was a Garcia.

As more people begin to participate in the New Mexico DNA Project, the picture will change. At this point, after conducting my own mini study, it is safe to say that although I am a Lujan, my paternal DNA is indeed historically rooted in the Aragón surname.