waldo_jeffers

Hi folks

First things first, it is time for a bit of music. Back when I was in my late teens I was introduced to the music of Black Widow. Black Widow were a progressive rock band back in the late 1960s through into the 1970s and their music had a decidedly Occult theme. They became notorious for their stage performances (acting out rituals on stage) and for inviting Alex Sanders along to help out if anything freaky happened (Alex Sanders was one of the leading figures in the revival of Wicca during the 20th Century, he founded in excess of 160 covens in the 1960s and was voted Witch King by them; these days his brand of paganism is called Alexandrian Wicca). During one performance it is said that, one of the band members became possessed by Astoreth and had to be exorcised by Mr Sanders. Their "Sacrifices" album is a concept album dealing with the theme of a powerful magician from ancient times reborn in again in modern times. As he relearns the Occult Art, he longs to be united once more with his beloved Astoreth and conjures her (Astoreth was actually a goddess in the ancient middle east but with the advent of monotheism, she was recast as a demon and she appears as such in magical texts known as grimoires). However, as he seeks more power he performs questionable deeds (sacrificing animals and eventually sacrificing his lover).

In Ancient Days
Way To Power
Come To The Sabbat
Conjuration
Seduction
Attack Of The Demon
Sacrifice


I have decided to have another go at reading The Canterbury Tales. I first started to read The Canterbury Tales when I was in my teens but I found it somewhat boring. However, 20 years later, it seems much more interesting. In case you are not familiar with The Canterbury Tales, it consists of a collection of stories written in verse. The tales are linked together using the theme of a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury keeping themselves occupied by taking turns to tell stories. During the Prologue, Chaucer describes each of the pilgrims and then sets the scene for the rest of the book by describing how the pilgrims agree to take part in a story telling competition. Each pilgrim was must to tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back after which the group has to decide who told the best stories and buy them dinner. However, Chaucer did not complete The Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales was written in fits and starts in the late 1300s and given the day and age in which it was composed, it is interesting to note just how lewd and crude many of the stories are and how cynically Chaucer portrays the Church. Throughout The Canterbury Tales, for example, friars are seen as God's conmen, relieving gullible peasants and nobles alike of their money, food and drink while scamming them with false promises to pray for the souls of deceased relatives. In The Summoner's Tale we learn of a friar who, while visiting a man who is in his sick bed, attempts to beg from him. The sick man tricks the friar into allowing him to fart into his hand. However, perhaps my favourite line from The Canterbury Tales comes from the description of the Summoner in the Prologue, "He was as hot and lecherous as a sparrow".

Meanwhile, I recently went down the woods to assist some ramblers with mushroom identification on a fungal foray. It was bags of fun and we lots of interesting mushrooms, bracket fungi and coral fungi.

Well, that's all for now.