Lacrosse originated among North American Indigenous communities, notably the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), as a spiritual “medicine game” and a violent, large-scale substitute for war. Known as “little brother of war,” it was used for centuries to settle boundary disputes, train warriors, and resolve political conflicts with less bloodshed than actual war. [1, 2, 3]
This video explains the origins of lacrosse as a “medicine game” and its spiritual significance:
Original Purpose: The game (often called tewaaraton or baaga’adowe) was a way to resolve tribal disputes and avoid mass casualties.
“Little Brother of War”: It was considered a sacred game, often played to train young men for battle and to honour the Creator.
The Match Structure: Traditional games were massive, often involving hundreds to thousands of players from different villages, and could last for days, spanning miles of open field.
Violence and Ritual: While a “substitute” for war, these games were incredibly intense and violent, with injuries common and death occasionally occurring, but it allowed tribes to manage conflicts without full-scale combat.
Significance: It was a deeply religious and social event rather than mere entertainment, played to heal the community and for spiritual purposes. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
The sport was first witnessed by European settlers in the 1630s, with French Jesuits coining the term “lacrosse”. [1]
“An innovative, philosophical restructuring of modern child psychology.”
Magical Child, a classic work, profoundly questioned the current thinking on childbirth pratices, parenting, and educating our children. Now its daring ideas about how Western society is damaging our children, and how we can better nurture them and oruselves, ring truer than ever. From the very instant of birth, says Joseph Chilton Pearce, the human child has only one concern: to learn all that there is to learn about the world. This planet is the child’s playground, and nothing should interfere with a child’s play. Raised this way, the Magical Child is a a happy genius, capable of anything, equipped to fulfill his amazing potential.
Expanding on the ideas of internationally acclaimed child psychologist Jean Piaget, Pearce traces the growth of the mind-brain from brith to adulthood. He connects the alarming rise in autism, hyperkinetic behavior, childhood schizophrenia, and adolescent suicide to the all too common errors we make in raising and educating our children. Then he shows how we can restore the astonishing wealth of creative intelligence that is the brithright of every human being. Pearce challenged all our notions about child rearing, and in the process challenges us to re-examine ourselves. Pearce’s message is simple: it is never too late to play, for we are all Magical Children.
For nearly half a century Joseph C. Pearce, who prefers to be known simply as Joe, has been probing the mysteries of the human mind. One of his overriding passions remains the study of what he calls the “unfolding” of intelligence in children. He is a self-avowed iconoclast, unafraid to speak out against the myriad ways in which contemporary American culture fails to nurture the intellectual, emotional and spiritual needs and yearnings of our young people. Part scholar, part scientist, part mystic, part itinerant teacher, Joe keeps in close touch with the most brilliant men and women in each field of inure relevant to his guest. He creates a unique synthesis of their work and translates the results into a common language-such a valuable contribution in these days of increasing scientific specialization.
Among the central issues of the modern feminist movement, the debate over biology and culture over sex and gender, over genetics and gender roles has certainly been one of the most passionately contested. Making revolutionary arguments upon its first publication in 1953, The Natural Superiority of Women stands as one of the original feminist arguments against biological determinism. An iconoclast, Montagu wielded his encyclopedic knowledge of physical anthropology in critique of the conventional wisdom of women as the “weaker sex,” showing how women’s biological, genetic, and physical makeup made her not only man’s equal, but his superior. Also a humanist, Montagu points to the emotional and social qualities typically ascribed to and devalued in women as being key to just social life and relationships. Subsequent editions of this book have provided additional support for Montagu’s arguments, examining both biological and social scientific data of the late 20th century. One of the most broadly renowned and read scholars of our century, Montagu brings out this fifth edition with up-to-date statistics and references. A lengthy foreword by Susan Sperling contextualizes the book within the intellectual histories of feminism and anthropology, noting the huge social and intellectual changes that are spanned in Montagu’s life and writing. Montagu’s foundational book is an important addition to the library of all gender scholars.
Books, such as The Natural Superiority of Women(1953), of Ashley Montagu, originally Israel Ehrenberg, a British-American, helped to popularize anthropology.
As a young man, he changed his name to “Montague Francis Ashley-Montagu”. After relocating to the United States, he used the name “Ashley Montagu.”
This humanist of Jewish ancestry related topics, such as race and gender, to politics and development. He served as the rapporteur or appointed investigator in 1950 for the The Race Question, statement of educational, scientific, and cultural organization of United Nations.
The landmark exploration of the ancient worship of the Great Goddess and the eventual supression of women’s rites.
In the beginning, God was a woman…
How did the shift from matriarchy to patriarchy come about? In fascinating detail, Merlin Stone tells us the story of the Goddess who reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. Under her reign, societal roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures: women bought and sold property, traded in the marketplace, and inherited title and land from their mothers. Documenting the wholesale rewriting of myth and religious dogmas, Merlin Stone describes an ancient conspiracy in which the Goddess was reimagined as a wanton, depraved figure, a characterization confirmed and perpetuated by one of modern culture’s best-known legends—that of the fall of Adam and Eve. Insightful and thought-provoking, this is essential reading for anyone interested in the origin of current gender roles and in rediscovering women’s power.
Merlin Stone is a sculptor and professor of art and art history, perhaps best-known for her feminist book, When God Was a Woman.
Biography
Merlin Stone became interested in archaeology and ancient religions from her study of ancient art. She taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo. From 1958 to 1967 she worked as a sculptor, exhibiting widely and executing numerous commissions. (According to the author’s information on the 1976 Harcourt edition of When God Was a Woman).
She spent a decade on research before writing the book published in the UK as The Paradise Papers and then in the U.S. as When God Was a Woman (1976). It describes her theory of how the Hebrews suppressed allegedly goddess-based religions practiced in Canaan and how their reaction to what she asserts as being the existing matriarchial and matrilineal societal structures shaped Judaism and, thus, Christianity.
Her other major work, Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood collects stories, myths, and prayers involving goddess-figures from a wide variety of world religions, ancient and otherwise. Stone’s hypotheses are radical and challenging to the accepted views of antiquity, and as such they remain controversial. She is the author of numerous short stories, book reviews, and essays, including 3,000 Years of Racism.
She passed away on the 25th of February 2011 in Daytona Beach after a long painful illness.
ScreamFactoryTV Feb 5, 2018 CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE: http://bit.ly/1reuGJV Follow us on TWITTER: / scream_factory Follow us on FACEBOOK: http://on.fb.me/1ojljJS The ultimate computer creates the ultimate terror in this chillingly real sci-fi suspense thriller. When electronics genius Charles Forbin creates a massive computer complex that is capable of independently regulating the national defense of the United States, it appears that no enemy will ever be able to penetrate its sovereign borders. But such a promising thought turns into a stunning nightmare when it’s discovered the Russians have built an equally sophisticated computer and that these two “doomsday machines” have linked, sharing classified information and top secrets. Desperately, Forbin and his Soviet counterparts try to stop the all-knowing “monster” computers from seizing command of the world’s nuclear missile stockpiles. Buy here: https://www.shoutfactory.com/product/… Scream Factory™ is a DVD, Blu-ray and Digital brand created to focus on notable (and underrated) horror, sci-fi, thriller films from the past that have massive cult followings. The Scream Factory brand also includes recent contemporary genre films released and distributed in the US and international territories.
“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate States and playing a major role in the abolition of slavery. Wikipedia
One of the hardest realizations in life, and one of the most liberating, is that our mothers are neither saints nor saviors — they are just people who, however messy or painful our childhood may have been, and however complicated the adult relationship, have loved us the best way they knew how, with the cards they were dealt and the tools they had.
It is a whole life’s work to accept this elemental fact, and a life’s triumph to accept it not with bitterness but with love.
How to make that liberating shift of perspective is what the playwright, suffragist, and psychologist Florida Scott-Maxwell (September 14, 1883–March 6, 1979) considers in a passage from her 1968 autobiography The Measure of My Days (public library).
A mother’s love for her children, even her inability to let them be, is because she is under a painful law that the life that passed through her must be brought to fruition. Even when she swallows it whole she is only acting like any frightened mother cat eating its young to keep it safe.
With a wary eye to the brunt of parental expectation under which all children live, well into adulthood, she writes:
No matter how old a mother is she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement. It could not be otherwise for she is impelled to know that the seeds of value sown in her have been winnowed. She never outgrows the burden of love, and to the end she carries the weight of hope for those she bore. Oddly, very oddly, she is forever surprised and even faintly wronged that her sons and daughters are just people, for many mothers hope and half expect that their newborn child will make the world better, will somehow be a redeemer. Perhaps they are right, and they can believe that the rare quality they glimpsed in the child is active in the burdened adult.
San Francisco Symphony Premiered Mar 28, 2020 The first of two episodes explores the roots of Gustav Mahler’s music. SFS Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas journeys to rural Bohemia to rediscover the inspirations of Mahler’s music, and traces Mahler’s life through the premiere of his first symphony in 1888. It shocked the contemporary audience, but as MTT and the San Francisco Symphony reveal, on location and in performance, this ground-breaking symphony contains elements of everything else that Mahler composed. Shot on location in the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, and in performance in San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall. Bonus Features: Full-length concert performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 by the San Francisco Symphony originally filmed in high-definition 16:9 widescreen and 5.1 surround sound. More information about DVD and Blu-Ray discs available here: https://www.warnerclassics.com/releas…
ARIES (March 21-April 19): When naturalist John Muir wanted to experience a storm, he climbed to the top of a hundred-foot Douglas fir and rode it for hours through gale-force winds. He later reflected that the danger, in his judgment, was “hardly greater” than staying under a roof, and that the exhilaration and sensory richness justified his experiment. I’m not counseling you to be exactly like Muir in the coming weeks, Aries. Please don’t take foolish risks. However, I would love you to explore what truths are available when you put yourself in the path of intensity.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Soil biologists say a teaspoon of productive soil may contain billions of living organisms. These bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes work in cooperative networks, generating a hidden abundance that ensures everything above ground thrives. Your immediate future has this quality, Taurus. Beneath the visible surface of your life, beneficial processes are generating fertility and possibility. You don’t need to see the miracle to trust it’s happening. Your role is simply to have faith as you maintain the conditions that allow this mysterious abundance to do its work.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I suspect you would benefit from engaging with a friendly devil’s advocate or two in the coming weeks. Your clarity and understanding will deepen in just the right ways if you converse with affectionate skeptics who like and respect you but also want to help you grow. I realize that such people may be hard to find. If you can’t locate any, you could hire one. Or do the next best thing: Argue with yourself. Entertain lines of thought that are contrary to your usual ideas. Don’t let your habitual self get away with its usual rationalizations. The benefits of this exercise will be unpredictably huge.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the Northern Hemisphere, the North Star holds a fixed place in the sky. Also known as Polaris, or the Pole Star, it hangs in almost the same spot throughout the night while other stars rise and set. Because of this steadfast presence, it has long served as a trusted marker for navigation, especially for sailors at sea. Over time, it naturally came to represent an inner compass or a guiding ideal. In your own experience, Cancerian, what serves as your symbolic North Star? What’s the steady, orienting force that helps you decide where and how to move next? Now is an auspicious moment to tend to and revitalize your bond with this central source of direction.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In the mid 1950s, researchers developed reliable methods for creating synthetic diamonds in the laboratory. Since then, advances in technology have made it possible to grow large, high-quality diamonds from small seed crystals in a relatively short time. I invite you to make this one of your operative metaphors, Leo. In the coming weeks, the forces of destiny will align with your efforts if you experiment with nurturing and expanding the parts of your life that are most like a diamond. Facilitate the development of your valuable beauty.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Scientist Stuart Kauffman theorizes that living systems are healthiest when they operate near the “edge of chaos.” There’s a critical zone between rigid order and unstructured randomness where complexity and adaptability can flourish. Too much organization creates brittle stiffness, while excessive chaos prevents coherence. Life thrives when it has some of both. I invite you to ruminate on these themes in the coming weeks, Virgo. According to my edgy analysis of the astrological omens, you’re being invited to cultivate and foster your own personal “edge of chaos” territory. Your interesting task is to create sweet spots where structure and spontaneity synergize. Locate these happy places and abide there for a while.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Choose two small and specific ways you’re going to stop pretending. One example might be how you respond when someone asks how you’re doing. Another may be an opinion you’ve been softening to keep the peace. Or maybe there’s a desire you’ve been downplaying because it feels impractical or too revealing. Here’s the name of this experiment: Incremental Precision Liberation. The key is to do it casually, with no melodrama or self-consciousness. If it’s successful, you could try another round in two weeks.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio primatologist Frans de Waal devoted years to watching chimpanzees reconcile with each other after enduring discord. He was fascinated by how they rebuilt trust through elaborate rituals of appeasement, grooming and kind gestures. Once the chimps stopped fighting, he marveled, they actively repaired their connection, which often emerged stronger than it was before the dispute. I hope you will borrow their primate wisdom in the coming weeks, Scorpio. Do your best to navigate through conflict or alienation, and then instigate generous acts of rebonding. Don’t sulk, be evasive or go silent. Be creative as you work to replenish what was damaged. The renewed relationship could be closer for having weathered the difficulties.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The wandering albatross harnesses the wind, enabling it to travel vast distances with minimal effort. There’s an initial effort that leads to big energy savings. The bird climbs into strong winds and then relaxes as it gets transported, surfing the air currents. I mention this, Sagittarius, because I suspect you’ve been trying too hard and working too much—unnecessarily so. Less strenuous exertion, more gliding, please! Ask yourself what flows are already streaming in your favor. Could you catch a ride on existing momentum? Here’s my advice: Figure out where life’s tides are already moving, then position yourself to get carried along.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Ethnomusicologists studying throat singing know that Tuvan singers can produce two or more tones simultaneously. The human voice, it turns out, has the ability to harmonize with itself. Most of us never discover this because we never try. What other multidimensional capacities are you not using because you’ve never investigated them or tested their limits, Capricorn? The coming weeks are ideal for experimentation. What unexpected capacities might you get access to if you explored possibilities you’ve assumed were beyond you? You may be able to develop aptitudes and acquire gifts you haven’t discovered yet.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Cartographer Gerardus Mercator created his famous world map in 1569, enabling sailors to plot straight-line courses across oceans. But his technique dramatically distorts the size of landmasses. Greenland appears larger than Africa, when in reality Africa is fourteen times bigger. And the truth is that every map privileges certain truths while distorting others. This is a key teaching for you right now, Aquarius. Examine the mental maps you’re using to navigate your life. Might they be hiding or warping reality in any way? Consider whether you would benefit from redrawing your inner visualizations of the wide, wild world out there.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Perfectionism has increased dramatically in recent decades. Young people are especially affected. But here’s the twist: The compulsion for perfection rarely improves performance. It’s more likely to undermine achievement by triggering paralysis and excessive self-criticism. Now is a favorable time for you Pisceans to rebel against the trend. I encourage you to cultivate a relaxed devotion to being “good enough” as you enjoy yourself thoroughly. Do you know the difference between cheerfully seeking excellence and grimly striving for perfection? Move away from what demands your obsessive rigor and focus on what requires soulful completion.
Homework: Imagine you’ve time-traveled to a favorite place in the year 2035. What do you see? (Read my newsletter: is.gd/PlsE70)
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A mother’s love for her children, even her inability to let them be, is because she is under a painful law that the life that passed through her must be brought to fruition. Even when she swallows it whole she is only acting like any frightened mother cat eating its young to keep it safe.
