Pholus & Blessed thistle


First big Watercolor painting

size 44 1/2 by 22 1/2

Took some time a month or so..

An Interesting character Pholus …

And not only a centaur but a centaur-mantis.

“He was shy. He did not talk much. We three sat together.

Saturn said that Pholus was pleased with my painting of him. Then Pholus kindly spoke,

“I often sit in my garden like you and watch the praying mantis.”

He told me the name “mantis,” has great value and meaning to him.”

“Small acts can unleash far-reaching consequences,”


7/3/2026

I had an active imagination last night. I imagined a female voice announce that Saturn would like to see me. I had turned him down a couple of days ago. Had a tough week. Yet last night I agreed. So, the lovely white horse with wings was waiting- then zoom I saw the rings of Saturn.

“How fast,” I thought.

We landed and I gave the horse some barley and oats. I tickled his whiskers on his nose.

I walked up to the large open ballroom with rounded door. I was given a lovely white dress to wear. Feeling silly I asked if I could just be in my regular clothes.

“You mean your bitchin’ pants and t-shirt.”

I turned around and there was my beloved Saturn.

He escorted me to an upstairs room. He told me there was someone who wanted to see me. He introduced me to Pholus.

Pholus held out his hand and I said,

“Hello.” I touched his hand.

He was shy. He did not talk much. We three sat together.

Saturn said that Pholus was pleased with my painting of him. Then Pholus kindly spoke,

“I often sit in my garden like you and watch the praying mantis.”

He told me the name “mantis,” has great value and meaning to him.

Pholus told me gently that he has a healthy healing potion for my foot cut. So, Saturn was there to help him put a small, exceedingly small drop on my cut…

I fell asleep.

Later in the morning I remembered the experience and softly said,

“Saturn and Pholus I am sorry I fell asleep. But I assume Saturn brought me back as usual.

In reflection:

Pholus was in the shadows, soft spoken, gentle, and filled with a goodness that was a wonder for me to behold. He asked if I would finish the right of the painting with yellow. I hope I got that right.


Laura, you have one tragic weakness.

What’s a book, movie, or TV show that you wish you could experience again for the first time?


“Love is eternal. It has been the strongest motivation for human actions throughout history. Love is stronger than life. It reaches beyond the dark shadow of death.”

The film noir thriller Laura.

As many film noirs this one is always an amazing adventure.

Characters change, where good guys become bad guys, and bad guys become good guys.

Dana Andrews, Vincent Price and Gene Tierney were just a top selection of actors that I was beginning to know.

The first time! Every time!

Laura is always a deep wonder of shadows and delights.

The soundtrack pulls this whole film together.



I love a good detective film. Love and betrayal and overall, a deep side kick of audacity!

“Laura, you have one tragic weakness. With you, a lean strong body is the measure of a man. And you always get hurt.”




Cimaruta and Rue

No truth so sublime but it may be seen to be trivial to-morrow in the light of new thoughts.— Ralph Waldo Emerson



Magic courts us and surprises us sometimes.

A place where it comes into your life.

When the time is ripe.

A past life comes a calling.’

When an old myth advances her head?

As it did for me

Materializing history and beauty

In my home

My oasis.

I was studying the idea or symbol of a key. I had a dream where Saturn gave me a key to study. It took me on a real-life journey of study. Books, myths, histories, and ChatGPT. All the older and modern tools of education, information, reflection, and human discernment.



Forming ideas and written words in my soul, mind, and feelings.

I came upon a charm with a key on it. It is called a Cimaruta.

I ordered a book and then the necklace. The day the book came I was out with the cats in my backyard. It was a moist morning with some intense clouds in the sky. I looked up over my home due west. I saw a perfect thunder bolt come down from the sky. It was amazing.

Then within a few hours the book arrived. While reading I looked outside and saw the strangest thing. Black kittens coming down from the back fence. Four black kittens and two black acting mothers. They have since adopted us.

Wild like the wind they are. Yet we do make love eyes.


“Beginnings are always delightful; the threshold is the place to pause.”

~ Goethe



The story of these black cats is years ago someone abandoned a mother cat and her babies. I have seen them roaming the neighborhood now and then. Yet we were not close, and they rarely came to my yard.

It seems as if now since I received this charm, it has become a part of their and my mythology, intertwining our stories in a way that feels both profound and magical. This charm carries with it whispers of ancient tales and forgotten secrets, reflecting not just my own experiences but also the shared narratives of those before me. I believe more than this too; it serves as a tangible connection to the past, a reminder of the bonds we forge through belief and the powerful symbols that shape our lives. Each time I touch it, I feel the weight of history and the possibility of new adventures, inspiring a deep sense of purpose that transcends the ordinary.

Receiving this Cimaruta—a potent Italian folk charm is a wonder to me. It is associated with protection, feminine power, and magic. To get it on the same day as the black feral cats indicates a notable synchronistic alignment. It appears that the forces invoked by the Cimaruta were making their presence known.



The key on a Cimaruta has been associated with unlocking mysteries, revealing truths, or opening portals to hidden knowledge, particularly knowledge related to lunar or feminine symbolism. It may also be interpreted as representing a threshold, suggesting that something in one’s life may need to be opened, entered, or addressed.

“I embrace the ancient crossroads,

Sacred throughout all time,

And the teachings there once told,

I claim and now make mine.

I hear the call of light,

That dissolves the dark of night,

Phantoms flee with harm’s intent,

From rays of light like arrows sent.


Once while outside before they ran away. The two mothers and four kitties were there before me. The kittens four were formed into a perfect mandala. Weaved together with four faces looking up at me. The sweetest thing I ever saw. I will try to catch my mind’s image in a watercolor painting,



Strong Women Poster T-Shirt

The times we are living in is a crazy time. A woman’s right to choose was our first blow, an alarming signal of the eroding freedoms we once took for granted, and now we face terrible violations of our rights that seem to multiply by the day.

Across the globe, women are rising up, reclaiming their voices in a world that tries to silence them. From the streets to the digital platforms, they demand equality, respect, and justice.

Each story shared fuels a collective fire, igniting change and inspiring hope, reminding us that we are not alone in this struggle.

Yet, amidst the chaos, there are still some women that whisper in my ear for justice, their strength echoes in my heart, serving as a reminder that resilience and courage can pave the way for a brighter tomorrow.

“And lend your voices only to songs of freedom
No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from
Free your mind of mental slavery and you shall lead a life uncommon.”


For Sale at Tee Public … just click on image.



Compassion, unfathomable galaxy

I do not often show my religiosity training. Be it from university or experience or the blending of the two.

In the 1980s I had a long correspondence with the Poor Clares of Long Island New York, who led me from the Anglican Church to the Episcopal Church. Yet in my heart I was hearing a call from the Franciscans who are members of a Catholic religious order.

I explored the concept of Episcopal women serving as Priests after reading “Womanpriest: A Personal Odyssey” by Alla Renee Bozarth.

I liked them all in their essences of spirituality and integrity of faith, believing in something beyond themselves. Yet it is always the dogma of the church that makes me wonder off.

Professor Hap at university was an Episcopal Gay Priest who would talk about synchronicity and Fellini’s Satyricon with an odd look on his face. We both knew, recited and prayed the Rosary.

Yet my esoteric past held me at a place that could not be bound by dogmas.

“So nigh is grandeur to our dusk,

So near is God to Man!”

~ Ralf Waldo Emerson

“Though the individual fact there ever shone for him the effulgence of the Universal reason. The great Cosmic Intellect terminates and houses itself in mortal men and passing hour. Each of us is an angle of its eternal vision, and the only way to be true to our Maker is to be loyal to ourselves.

“O rich and various man!”

he cries,

“though place of sight and sound, carrying in the senses the morning and the night and the unfathomable galaxy; in thy brain the geometry of the city of God; in thy heart the bower of love and the realms of right and wrong.”

Pg. 1121, Address at The Emerson Centenary. William James.



“In thy heart the bower of love and the realms of right and wrong,” and this is what she calls to all of us, it is the ability to discern the willingness of compassion or the lack there of. I think so.

We need more of “the effulgence of the Universal reason.” Effulgence means radiant splendor or brilliance. It can also refer to the state of looking exceptionally beautiful or being full of goodness!

Compassion is the “splendor of brilliance.”



“But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”


In the late 1980s I read “Womanpriest: A Personal Odyssey by Alla Renee Bozarth.” Alla talks about her triumphal cry and about her courage… she had to go on in life after great loss. A lovely biography and what was special is how she said she danced to this song barefoot… it was her song of liberation… let’s hope for the liberation of all who are struggling right now around the world… and hope for the good hearts of our leaders to grow stronger with compassion and mercy in the dim times that we now face.


Dark Burgundy Dream


I was driving in a kind of bumper car. I was entering a one-way road with a small entrance. I did not know if it was an arrow in or out. I asked someone. I got out of my car and entered the opening.

There were people gathered there looking up at a descending being who was tall glowing in white gossamer clothing.

Singing prose, the being was walking down. I became terrified of what I saw. I lay down and rolled out of the open outdoors room next to the curtain that embraced lightly the event. Dark burgundy.

I did not know what I carelessly walked into. Yet I knew that once I was there, I was known also and even if I tried to race away in my bumper-car to hide under a tree, I felt I could not get away.

I thought of a quote from the Bible,

“can I go from your Spirit?

    Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

    your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

    and the light become night around me,

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

    the night will shine like the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.”

Then also I thought about two films I saw that had the same feeling of that other worldliness of this being.

Such as in the film The Ghost Busters when Gozer, Sigourney Weaver, also known by her alternate title of Gozer the Gozerian asked,

“Are You A God?”

Or as from the film Prince of Darkness where one of the thirteen academics, Kelly, attempts to summon the Anti-God through a dimensional portal using a makeup compact mirror.

I awoke from this dream feeling deeply scared, dark and looked around the room. Dark and looming darkness. Was this a Demigod, maybe demonic?

Then after some thought I realized it was my fear of what I saw that influenced me. Fear of seeing such a being.

Feeling the awesome presence and hearing that prose singing that is somehow still resonating through my being.

I just don’t know what was or is happening.

I surely know this now,

“Surely the darkness will hide me,

    and the light become night around me,

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

    the night will shine like the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.”


A reflection on a song

A reflection on a song, but more of a motif of how I feel about many songs that once inspired me to something beyond myself, a punk scene.

Gotta gotta gettaway, gotta gotta gettaway

You know there ain’t no street like home

To make you feel so all alone

Plenty of folk to tell you what to do

But they don’t speak the same language as you

()

They wanna have me here

Have me and hold me near

Hold me down fasten and tie

But the cars are all flashing me

Bright lights are passing me

I feel life passing me by

The fuss is buzzing in my head

My father argued and my mother begged

It’s not their words ain’t tugging at me

But gotta stretch them break them get myself free

()

Gotta gotta gettaway, gotta gotta gettaway

I’m leaving home

Funny Stiff Little Fingers played in Los Angeles. In the past I would have done about anything to be there. As a long-time fan who loves their songs.

Yet today out in my lovely garden filled with beautiful tubular purple blossoms, Dionysian Hollyhocks, Excited Jasmine and more, I realized the lyrics don’t appeal to my nature anymore.

I no longer need to “get myself Free.”

“But the cars are all flashing me

Bright lights are passing me

I feel life passing me by,” are not my concern anymore.

“You know there ain’t no street like home

To make you feel so all alone.”

This is in direct opposition to how I feel now.

Because now ‘my street and my home’ is the place where I do not feel alone.

Because being alone or by myself is where I find myself… happy.

I reflect, create, and have made a home that is loving and where I am loved.

This rebellious song of my youth does not hold up for me now.

So, I still love the bands, my youthful rebellion but I am not the young punk anymore. Oh, ya that little punk chick comes out to claim her identity now and then. What a bitch.

Yet a lot of what I hated then I have learned to love now.

Because my home speaks the same language as I do!

For me there is no place like my home.

I love my home.

It is my bliss.


“Prometheus” a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.




Cover Your heavens, Zeus,

With cloud vapor

And try Your strike, as a boy

Beheading thistles,

Against oaken tree and mountain height;

You still must leave me

My Earth standing

And my hut which You did not build,

And my hearth, home’s glowing

Fire which You begrudge me.

I know of nothing poorer

Under the sun than You gods!

Indigently You feed

Your majesty

On proffered sacrifice

And breathfuls of prayer.

You would starve to naught

If children and beggars

Were not such fools full of hope.

When I was a child

That knew not its way in the world

I would lift my deluded eyes

To the sun as though out beyond it

There were an ear to hear my complaints

A heart like mine

That would take pity on my oppression.

Who came to my aid

Against the Titans’ and their insolent rage?

Who delivered me from death,

From slavery?

Was it not you, sacred heart ablaze,

Who achieved it all?

And, swindled in your youth and good will,

Did you not glow, with thanks fit for a Savior,

For that mere Sleeper on high?

I should honor You? For what?

Did You ever gentle

The ache of my burden?

Did You ever dry

The tears of tribulation?

Was I not forged to manhood

By Time Almighty

And Eternal Destiny,

My masters and Yours?

Perhaps You believed

I should find life hateful,

And flee to the wilderness

Because not all my blossom-dreams

Reached ripeness?

Behold

Here I sit, fashioning men

In my own image,

A race after my likeness,

A race that will suffer and weep,

And rejoice and delight with heads held high

And heed Your will no more

Than I!


Jupiter-Uranus Conjunctions in History, with Richard Tarnas

April 21, 2024

https://theastrologypodcast.com/2024/04/21/jupiter-uranus-conjunctions-in-history-with-richard-tarnas


Active Imagination

“Active imagination refers to a process or technique of engaging with the ideas or imaginings of one’s mind. It is used as a mental strategy to communicate with the subconscious mind. In Jungian psychology, it is a method for bridging the conscious and unconscious minds. Instead of being linked to the Jungian process, the word “active imagination” in modern psychology is most frequently used to describe a propensity to have a very creative and present imagination. It is thought to be a crucial aid in the process of individuation.”



Individuation



I am having a challenging time with this Mercury Retrograde. So, I decided to take some skills I have learned over the years with “active imagination.” I did engage in communication with the planet on various levels. As a planet, an intellectual being (very Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,) astrology and astronomy.


I came to an interesting dialogue with the simple ideas of; don’t force things, go with the flow, and enjoy reflection with an awareness of what lessons are essential to learn.


The most interesting thing came the next morning when my geophysics son explained to me how things move in space.

When rockets leave the earth, they do not travel in a straight line but in a circular one even a spiral. And gravity in space can be used as an advantage or as a good kind of disadvantage in space travel.


Again, he told me some things about Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. I did not realize that it is smaller than our moon and of course has no moons of its own.


Mercury based on Mercurius, that is a lot to learn here, is always open to this type of intelligent awareness and dialogue. You should try it. Be astounded by Mercury Retrograde’s curious responses.


February 11th memorial.. UCLA Center for Musical Humanities 2018

Punk Rock Historian, Colleague & Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside


Individuation


The archetype of the success of the alchemical work was the androgyne, the balanced co-mingling of opposites. As we have seen, Ariadne’s own animus is activated positively, while Dionysos himself, blends the features of both sexes, along with being in positive relationship to the Earth Mother and the feminine. Each thus represents a balance of masculine and feminine within themselves and together they form two wholes in harmonious union, rather than two incomplete halves to one whole. Ariadne, a whole, rather than half, psychologically illustrates the Jungian goal of Individuation.


In my neighborhood I know of a place



There are times in life I think my heart should die

But why does it keep on beating

The worst of my fears are happening today

The sacred place is being raped and cut down.

The cold hateful machine razor sharp

To all the bees and sweet animals

Something sacred will be gone

How sad life is for me

Yet I did capture you

A video memoir worth sharing today.

Hudley 6/11/24


I know of a place,

In my neighborhood,

Where the Goddess is.

A tall cypress tree,

Taller than a mature,

California Palm tree.

It’s tip top,

Into the heavens,

As I perceive also,

The God Attis plays,

As the fulfillment of nature.

Freedom and beauty,

As you look up up,

From a distance.

Dark sparkling perfume,

Glowing green,

Weaving and mingling,

With the wild ivy,

Filled with blooms,

Small blossoms,

Circular and pointed,

Illuminated and clothed by bees,

Humming is the swarm,

Of their glories,

Their love bees.




GO To The Garden


New category for posts that concur with the many film-doodles I do.

Film Doodling by Hudely Flipside

It is the creative endeavor that is real and mine to share.  

I love my garden and am so close to the ways of nature. Yet as a human being I endure the other man-made things. It is a life I was born to. Yet I think we can learn the power of nature by listening and hoping for the best to inspire us to be better human beings.

I think there is a relationship with how nature is and us in general. Our feelings and emotions.

Yet often even though nature speaks to us we don’t listen.

As I am a listener and follow the ways of ancient traditions I like to share.

Creatively embracing and helping for a better world.

Wild ways, music and nature are how I endure and so it goes.


The good bridge of balance


I was born with foresight. It was a natural part of my DNA, and it cursed me because no one from my family explained it to me. I found the answers through books, TV and others with this value of seeing life.

A curse because there are things in our lives that hold certain degrees of pain that cling to us. For me it was foresight. Knowing things before they happened. An intuitive knowing that plagued me without being able to put words to what it was.

Then in time I learned to hold on to my foresight. Waiting for found explanation to my confusion. Other friends and family looked at me cross-eyed with wonder or doubt.

Now that I am 65 years old, I see it as a gift of foresight, for that is what it is now, it reveals to me that I was OK.

I can use my active imagination to go back and be the person that listens and tries to understand. Because the youthful me needs to be heard.

It has come around to be a blessing that I will confirm as good. Now is a time to reap what I have sown. Building on this magical nature that many of us share.

It is my Cornish character, maybe. I hope to encourage others here to listen to their foresight. It is so human and feminine. An honorable part of who we are.

To bend back and embrace all the past, present and future.

The good bridge of balance.


Pallas Athene

Tempering The Energy of Mars.

These asteroid Goddesses are positive parts of our female psyches. Health, strength, and the ability to fight for the integrity of all life. The right to choose. A right to justice and equality. A rich part of history and mythology which shine through us all.

Focusing on libido as psychic energy flowing with the energy of desire, will, interest and passion and tempered with love is how this warrior walks the footpath with Mars. Directed by the authority of power named as justice and equality.






Approved by D. Ecstasy


Weeping Tears of Animus!

Raven in my front yard !

Tonight, wee hours of morn… I have been spending time awake with my animus!

A cup of coffee my ambrosia

kneading kitty on my lap

Happy happy

Thinking of male figures in my life

Who I admire and love!

Tonight I,

Acknowledge the male within me

You have not lost me

I embrace you

And let you cry

honey let it out

Weeping weeping wet tears

My night with animus!

Heal the headache, tears

Heartache and trauma.

The earth and sky

Jupiter and moon .


A Ghost Mantis holding a Thyrsus

In Greek religion, the staff was carried by the votaries of Dionysus. Euripides wrote that honey dripped from the thyrsos staves that the Bacchic maenads carried. The thyrsus was a sacred instrument at religious rituals and fêtes.


Light and shadow magic comes to visit at different times in life.

The wind was strong and pushed over my angel solar light. I just got home from shopping as I was looking up at Jupiter and the waxing moon.

I have been changing my routines a bit. I go shopping at dusk now and take my showers in the morning or in the middle of the day.

Taking morning walks is something different too.

When I saw the angel at an angle, I ran to fix it when I noticed the shadow playing on the wall behind it.

I said aloud, “A Ghost Mantis holding a Thyrsus.”

I will let the angel be.

I took a picture and played with the image on Adobe Photo Express.



A reflection of making it through Covid-19 from a more esoteric and psychological perspective.

Eve Tempted by the Serpent

William Blake (1757–1827)


“There are two things’ children should get from their parents: roots and wings.”

    ~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe



    “E: I have already uttered the words, The image that I saw was crimson, fiery colored, a gleaming gold. The voice that I heard was like distant thunder, like the wind rearing in the forest, like an earthquake. It was not the voice of my old God. It was a thunderous pagan roar, a call my ancestors knew but which I have never heard. It sounded prehistoric, as if from a forest on a distant coast; it rang with all the voices of the wilderness. It was full of horror yet harmonic.”

    Pg. 237 [v.6] C.G. Jung The Black Books.


As a student of esoteric studies, and lay person of depth psychology, I learned about our vital bodies. We have our physical body, our vital body and our desire and mind body. Four bodies superimposed on us as we are awake living our lives.

At night, I have learned, when we go to sleep something amazing happens to us. Our desire and mind bodies disengage from our physical and vital bodies. All bodies are connected by sturdy life threads. Life sustaining.

It is at this time in sleep the physical body is free from desire body and mind body engagement so the vital body can heal our physical body. The mind and desire bodies float above us like balloons on long strings as the vital body does its healing panacea. Assimilating, regenerating, and eliminating is the work of our vital body.

We are like trees, often unconscious, reaching deep with our roots into our earth mother and reaching up to the sun and the cosmos bringing in sunlight. This is when we learn about the wonderful relationship we have with other planets. But mostly our bodies recover from the damage incurred throughout the day by simply living our life.

Having Covid-19 I have experienced the powerful work of my own vital body. It is so important to sleep when one has Covid-19.

It was hard to sleep for me. The pain, the fever, the fear was overwhelming. Yet when I did, I felt like a tree and the power work of sleeping happened. Waking up many times as if I went for a swim. And after such nights when I did sleep, I felt better.

Once I experienced a kaleidoscope of coughing over and over with visions of myself… it was how the world outside of me and inside of me merged. There was a battle going on. And for those of us who shared this battle you know this experience as well.


    “The vital body, on the other hand, has no other interest than the preservation of the dense vehicle. By way of the spleen, it specializes in the colorless solar energy which pervades space, and by some strange chemical process transforms it into a vital fluid of a beautiful pale rose color, sending it along every nerve and fiber of the body. The vital body ever aims to husband the energy it has stored in the dense body. It is constantly concerned in rebuilding the tissues when they are broken down and destroyed by the powerful onslaughts of the rampant desire body.”

    ~ THE VITAL BODY BY MAX HEINDEL


The spleen is the largest organ of the lymphatic system. Located in the upper left region of the abdominal cavity, the spleen’s primary function is to filter blood of damaged cells, cellular debris, and pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. Like the thymus, the spleen houses and aids in the maturation of immune system cells called lymphocytes. Lymphocytes are white blood cells that protect against foreign organisms that have managed to infect body cells. Lymphocytes also protect the body from itself by controlling cancerous cells. The spleen is valuable to the immune response against antigens and pathogens in the blood.


Having all the vaccines I chose not to get the PAXLOVID. I don’t do well with side effects.

At this time of the year the veil between the living and the dead is so thin. Dreams are intense yet with Covid-19 my mind is weak. Yet last night I do remember the end of my dream.

I was in a large, lovely field. Maybe the place of my ancestors, Cornwall, England. It was dusk or maybe the sun was just rising. A slight mist was in the air. I was waiting to catch the vampires. I got to see them outside of my body. We stood there all looking at each other and aware.

I saw at least three or four hovering, lingering in this vast open field. I was there to conquer them.

I awoke.

Today I feel much better. I only share the feelings left of a body that battled and won. A sore back and chest. A sore throat that once was tight with heat. And then signs of a cold are slowly disappearing. Fatigued but here to live another day.

I think of all the cowboy fights I watch on my favorite show Gunsmoke. Right after a fight of getting his ass kicked, a cowboy walks up into the bar and orders a whiskey. Then powers it down, walks out and gets on his horse and rides away. No problem!


Didymos Dimorphs


    “As above, so below; as below, so above.”

    ~ Hermetic axiom



 “The Greek god Dionysos was dismembered into countless pieces by persecutory enemies, the Titans. Yet he remained a figure of many guises and pursuits. He was called the Divided/Undivided, the Loosener, the Lord of Souls, the Lord of Wild Beasts. His realm was outside the conventional constraints of the city; his dances took place on hillsides near woodlands. In the city he ruled the theater, both comic and tragic.”

 ~ Hillman, James. The Force of Character: And the Lasting Life . Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.


On Monday, a NASA spacecraft will deliberately slam into an asteroid called Dimorphos. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission, or DART, aims to see if this kind of kinetic impact can help deflect an asteroid posing a threat to Earth.

Dimorphos is a small asteroid moonlet orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. The asteroid system poses no threat to Earth, NASA officials have said, making it a perfect target to test out a kinetic impact — which may be needed if an asteroid is ever on track to hit Earth.


Now for names, mythology and more including our psyche. I understand the scientific need to join with other countries to protect this planet. Yet I also feel the need to question how this will affect us too. I am happy to say it is a “mixed blessing,” or “swiftness and cunning,” and “dual-formed.” I am amazed how well this all addresses the wonder of a profound mystery. A lovely one I am beholding to.

Didymos

Didymos was a mythological Greek hero from Athens. One day, while attempting to perform a sacrifice to the god Dionysus, a white dog snatched the sacrificial animal from him.

Didymos went on to create the Garden of Kynosarges in honor of the dog’s swiftness and cunning. He later built a temple in honor of Heracles, his mother Alcmene, and his nephew Iolaus.

The Garden of Kynosarges was a garden located outside the city of Athens, Attica, Greece during the 5th century BC.

Dimorphos

So Dionysos is an ambivalent deity (one of his cult epithets is dimorphos, ‘dual-formed’). He is associated with the seasons, the unruliness and vitality of unchecked growth, the cyclical rebirth of green vegetation, but also with the danger present in all of this. Wine, Dionysos’ gift to humankind, is a mixed blessing. It promotes social bonding but can be destructive if drunk undiluted or in excess.


https://abc11.com/asteroid-dart-mission-nasa-2022/12267967/