Matters spiritual and practical

There is no spiritual matter that does not have a practical dimension.

There is no practical matter that does not have a spiritual dimension.

(And so although a well run church will have elders and deacons, the elders being the spiritual leaders and the deacons dealing with practical matters, the intermingled nature of things will always be borne in mind)

Dreams

No-one can be held responsible for what they do in someone else's dreams but there is surely a measure of responsibility upon as to what we do in our own dreams.

10 Words from Alchemy

I have been reading about alchemy recently. It has its own vocabulary and here are ten words it uitlises

1. Adept. A highly experienced alchemist, often specifically one who has successfully prepared grand arcana like the philosophers' stone.

2. Alembic. An alembic (from Arabic: al-inbīq becoming ambix in Greek and Latin, 'cup, beaker') is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, used for distillation of liquids.

3. Alkahest. A solvent described by Van Helmont that is supposedly able to divide all substances into their component ingredients and then reduce these further into their primordial water.

4. The philosopher's stone. More properly the philosophers' stone (Arabic: ḥajar al-falāsifa, Latin: lapis philosophorum). A mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy. It was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolising perfection at its finest, enlightenment and heavenly bliss.

5. Chysopoeia (from Greek khrusopoiia, "gold-making") refers to the artificial production of gold, most commonly by the alleged transmutation of base metals such as lead. A related term is argyropoeia (arguropoiia, "silver-making"), referring to the artificial production of silver, often by transmuting copper. Although alchemists pursued many different goals, the making of gold and silver remained one of the defining ambitions of alchemy throughout its history.

6. Charlatan. A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame or other advantages through pretence or deception. Synonyms for charlatan include shyster, quack or faker. Quack is a reference to quackery or the practice of dubious medicine, including the sale of snake oil, or a person who does not have medical training who purports to provide medical services. In connection with alchemy, it would be anyone who claims succcess in the things alchemy aims at.

7. Magnum Opus - The Great Work (Latin) is an alchemical term for the process of working with the prima materia to create the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical colour changes, used as a model for the individuation process and as a device in art and literature.

8. Puffer. A Puffer is a nickname for an alchemist who is preoccupied with transmuting base metals into gold or silver and who ignores the spiritual or philosophical side of Alchemy. Puffers earned their nickname from their penchant for the use of bellows and forges. They were scorned by “true” alchemists; however, their experiments sometimes led to discoveries in chemistry.

9. Distillation. Distillation is a process used to separate mixtures and purify liquids that was used by alchemists and natural philosophers to experiment in hopes of making gold, the Elixir of Life and a range of medical cures. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries some elite households had stills for making medical waters, which were used to combat indigestion and low spirits.

10. Panacea. In Greek mythology, a goddess of universal remedy, the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. She and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's art: Panacea (goddess of universal health) Hygieia (goddess/personification of health, cleanliness and sanitation) Iaso (goddess of recuperation from illness) Aceso (goddess of the healing process) Aglæa/Ægle (goddess of beauty, splendour, glory, magnificence and adornment). Panacea also had four brothers: Podaleirus, one of two kings of Tricca and skilled in diagnostics; Machaon, the other king, who was a master surgeon (they fought in the Trojan War until Machaon was killed by Amazon queen Penthesilea); Telesphoros, who devoted his life to serving Asclepius Aratus, Panacea's half-brother, a Greek hero and the patron/liberator of Sicyon. However, portrayals of the family were not always consistent; Panacea and her sisters each at times appear as Asclepius' wife instead. Panacea may have been an independent goddess before being absorbed into the Asclepius myth. Panacea traditionally had a poultice or potion with which she healed. This brought about the concept of the panacea in medicine, a substance with the alleged property of curing all diseases. The term "panacea" is also used in the figurative sense, something used to solve all problems. A panacea was sought by alchemists in connection with the elixir of life.

Like Blackpool Illuminations

If either of my parnets came home adn there were too many lights on they might say "What's going on? It's lke Blackpool illuminations here!" Not sure where they would have picked the phrase up. I don't think either had ever been to Blackpool, although we all knew about them.

Daresn't

You Daresn't (1905)
Arthur John Elsley (British, 1860-1952)
 oil on canvas, 90 x 64.5 cm

Daresn't is a pretty transparent variant on "daren't" both meaning dare not, as in "You daresen't go out without a coat, you'll catch your death" or "I daresn't tell you what he said". Merriam-Webster suggests it is partly a contraction of (thou) darst not (from Middle English), and partly of (he) dares not.

Ghost of the goalie

Lots of talk aboit ghosts at this time of the year. When I was a kid you soetimes ended up in a situation where for a kick about you would have a few kids passing and shooting at the goal with one kid as goalkeeper. If there were enough of you, one could go behind the goalie (rarely a net up in those days) and try to save any shots he coudn't save. We'd call that boy the ghost of the goalie. There was no spooky element there, just a way of referring to the second character.

Murenger

When I was a child I used to see in Newport a pub called (if I remember correctly) The Murenger Arms. I beleiee there was a picture on the board making clear that a murenger worked on the walls and older people woold confirm that for you. Ye Olde Murenger House (Grade II listed since 1951) is actually a 19th-century pub with a mock Tudor front on the High Street. It apparently replaced a 17th-century pub, the Fleur de Lys, on the same site. A murenger was a medieval worker who collected tolls (murage) for the repair of the town walls.

A building on the site was first mentioned in 1533, a town house for the Herbert family of St Julians Manor. By the 17th century, it had become a pub. According to Cadw the original building was a single-storey stone structure, which was demolished in 1816 and replaced by the current public house, established in 1819. A photo taken around 1900 shows the distinctive mock Tudor jetties did not exist at the time and these were added later. It fell into a poor state in the seventies but was re-opened in 1983.

10 Royal Words

1. The crown

This is a lot more than just the Queen’s headgear. In official contexts, the term is typically used to represent everything the current crown-holder herself represents - namely, the UK (and sometimes the Commonwealth) plus collectively all of its governments.

2. Household

It’s easy to presume that references to “the royal household,” must be to the Queen’s immediate family or staff. In fact the term refers not just all the individuals who support the monarch on a day-to-day basis (ladies-in-waiting and other personal attendants) but all of the institutions, organisations and departments that support her and her work as sovereign, too. As a result, it includes the likes of the Queen’s Lord Steward, the Lord Chamberlain, private secretaries and financiers; representatives from the church and the military; the current Poet Laureate, Astronomer Royal and Master of the Queen’s Music; and countless other honorary positions handed out to favoured musicians, writers, scientists and artists.

3. Consort

The wife of a king is properly called the queen consort. The husband of a queen is also consort. Camilla is the new Queen Consort; Prince Philip was the Prince Consort.

4. Heir Apparent

Whoever stands first in line of succession to the throne is usually classed not just as an heir but as heir apparent. That specific designation implies that not only are they first in line to succeed the current monarch on their death but that no one else can challenge their position at the top of the list. Prince Charles was the heir apparent. Now he has succeeded Queen Elizabeth II, it is his son, Prince William.

5. Heir Presumptive

The opposite of an heir apparent is an heir presumptive, which is someone whose position at the top of the order of succession has the potential to be lost or challenged by the birth of a more eligible heir. This is a state of affairs increasingly unlikely since an Act of Parliament of 2013 removing gender from the order of succession. Before then, it was the case that sons automatically outranked daughters, regardless of who was born first.

6. Succession

Succession itself is the automatic replacement of one monarch by their heir when they die or step aside. Hence the formal list of all those in line to throne (ranked in order of eligibility, taking into account the fact that first-born children always outrank their siblings) is the order of succession.

7. Accession

Succession is different from accession, which is the legal process or mechanism by which a king or queen rises from the order of succession to take to the throne. One monarch is said to succeed another, while whoever that successor happens to be is said to accede to the throne.

8. Abdication

Abdication is the process by which a monarch relinquishes their royal authority. Probably the most famous was that of Edward VIII in 1936. There have been a handful of others in Britain’s long history.

9. and 10. Regnant and Regent

These two similar terms are related, but in practice have very different roles. The current reigning monarch is said to be the king or queen regnant. If that regnant monarch is unable to rule in a personal capacity for any particular reason, then it’s often the case that someone related to them steps up to take over the duties of the head of state without becoming head of state themselves. In that case, they are styled as the regent.

(11. Fount of Honour. The term fount or fountain of honour is used to designate an individual who has the right to bestow peerages, titles of nobility, orders of chivalry or similar honours, or else nominate someone else to do precisely that on their behalf. In the UK, the Monarch alone is the sole fount of honour.

12. Privy Purse, The private income of the monarch is known as the privy purse. Today, most of the the monarch's personal income is derived from ownership of the Duchy of Lancashire, a vast portfolio of land and property established in the late 1300s. As part of the Duchy, the monarch owns castles, estates, and farmsteads across the UK, as well as more than 18,000 hectares of land, and, minus some bits they’ve sold off, all the foreshore from Liverpool to Barrow in Furness.

13. Sovereign Grant. Since 2012, in addition to her private income, the Queen has also received an annual payment from the British government known as the sovereign grant. The payment, intended to cover the costs of the monarch’s official duties, based around a proportion of the profits from the British Crown Estate and its holdings, and typically comes in at around an astonishing £80 million per year. The argument is that the Royal Family contribute billions to the UK economy.)

Lanugo

It's nice to come across a new word. Lanugo is the word for a type of body hair a foetus develops in the womb for protection and warmth. Babies typically shed lanugo before birth; however, some don’t shed it for several weeks after birth.

It is a soft, fine hair covering a foetus that usually falls off shortly after birth, but can develop in people with eating disorders or certain tumours.

Some newborns have lanugo covering their bodies at birth, especially if they’re born prematurely. 

Unborn babies develop lanugo between 16 to 20 weeks gestation. It covers their entire body except for places without hair follicles. Areas without hair follicles include their lips, palms, nails, genitals and soles of the feet. If a baby is born with lanugo, it should disappear on its own.

Children or adults with an eating disorder can develop lanugo hair. Experts believe this may happen because their body has difficulty keeping warm. It may be a sign that the person is extremely malnourished.

Some people with teratoma develop lanugo hair. Teratoma is a rare type of germ cell tumour. There have been a few cases of someone developing lanugo due to cancer.

What does lanugo do?

In the womb it plays a critical role in protecting the baby's skin and keeping them warm. Lanugo helps vernix (the waxy, cheese-like substance that covers the fpetus) stick to the skin. Vernix helps protect a fpetus’s body from amniotic fluid inside the womb. Amniotic fluid could damage their delicate skin without lanugo and vernix. When vernix is held in place by lanugo, it helps insulate the body and protect the skin. Lanugo also helps the baby stay warm and regulates their temperature until they develop enough body fat to serve this purpose.

It also helps the baby grow. This occurs because the lanugo hair sends vibrations to the baby’s sensory receptors when it moves. These receptors stimulate the baby’s growth. When lanugo falls off, the stimulation stops, and the baby’s growth slows down. Experts are not entirely sure how this happens, but continue to study this and other hormonal effects of lanugo.

When does lanugo fall off?

Most unborn babies shed lanugo shortly before birth. About 30% of all full-term babies are born with some lanugo. If your baby is born premature (before 37 weeks), they have a greater chance of having lanugo. It may take several weeks to go away, but lanugo will fall off on its own.

Lanugo typically falls off in the last eight weeks of pregnancy. Once it’s shed from the skin, it mixes in with amniotic fluid. Because your baby swallows amniotic fluid in the uterus, lanugo becomes part of the baby’s first food. They will pass the tiny hairs in their first poop at birth, called meconium.

After the baby sheds lanugo, it develops vellus hair, a fine, peach-fuzz-like hair. The vellus hair continues to help regulate temperature until adult hair (terminal hair) grows in.

Why do people with eating disorders get lanugo?

Lanugo is one of the side effects of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders in adults. It can indicate poor nutrition and malnourishment. Healthcare providers believe lanugo grows when a person doesn’t have enough body fat to keep them warm. In response, their body grows lanugo to help insulate the body.

What does lanugo look like?

Lanugo hair is soft, thin and feathery. If your baby is born with lanugo hair, they may look like they're coated in a layer of delicate fur. Lanugo can grow everywhere except the palms, lips, genitals, nails and soles of the feet. It’s easiest to see lanugo on your baby’s back, shoulders or tailbone, but it can grow anywhere there is a hair follicle.

What colour is lanugo hair?

Lanugo hair can range in colour from very light to dark. Your baby’s genetics play a role in how light or dark the hair may be. For example, if your baby has darker skin, lanugo may be more visible than in a baby with fair skin.

How do you treat lanugo on an adult?

Treating lanugo in adults involves treating the underlying condition. If a tumour causes lanugo, your healthcare provider will typically remove the tumor.

Should you remove lanugo hair?

No, you shouldn’t wax, shave or remove lanugo hair from your baby. This will irritate your baby’s highly sensitive skin. If you're an adult with lanugo, shaving or waxing may be an option. However, it will continue to grow back until the underlying condition is treated.

At the right hand of God

The truth is that these words (in Psalm 110) cannot have been spoken about any ordinary man. The saints will sit down together with Christ, their head and representative, and will be on the throne with him in glory, but they are never said to sit at God's right hand. It cannot be an angel either. The writer to the Hebrews rules this out when quoting it (1:13). “To which of the angels did God ever say” such things? Rather, angels and powers are subject to him who is at the right hand (1 Peter 3:22).

From my book What Jesus is doing now, p 60

10 words for your face

1. Face
2. Countenance
3. Visage
4. Physiognomy
5. Mien
6. Profile
7. Mug
8. Mush
9. Boat
10. Features

Like sponges

My mother used to say of young children "They're like sponges at that age", I think the idea was to stuff them full of facts while you could. It is a common enough phrase. Eg "They're like sponges at that age. They absorb so much information from the world around them that I am eager to make sure that they have great opportunities to learn." There seems to be some truth in the idea.

Maths comes into everything

My dad used to say this. "Maths comes into everything". I was a bit sceptical at first but I think he's right. I was thinking of the phrase the other day as I was preparing a verse of the day spiritual comment for broadcast and working out how many seconds the recording needed to be. I think the prase was original with my dad rather than a quote though many have said it. Obvious examples of where maths comes into every day life are construction, cooking, shopping, travel, making clothes, interior design, sports, board games, etc, etc.