Tuesday 21 October 2014

Pills, Potions And Piety

The Guardian
The remnants of Gonzalo landed on these shores last night and today. It had long blown out its destructive fury across the other side of the world and the gales and rain storms it brought our way were unpleasant but not deadly, although a woman was killed when a tree fell on her.

Sitting in the conservatory this morning,  looking out at the high winds playing with trees and shrubs and listening to small twigs, beech mast and leaves cluttering on the glass roof, I felt snug and warm and safe. Breakfast over, but the day not fully begun I was counting out pills and capsules - all supplementary vitamins, minerals, fish oils, plant sterols, glucosamine and chondroitin, etc. etc. for the next twenty days, thinking how soon daylight will end at four pm again and I will once again struggle to cope with SAD.


It’s my name day today, Oct 21. I don’t celebrate it as I would in Germany, in fact, I usually forget it. Ursula was adopted as a Christian saint and a great embroidery of innocence, piety and sacrifice was stitched around her in a long, involved and frequently changing legend, (depending on who is telling the story).

A more interesting story can be read in a 6000 year old script, 'Old Europe Script’,  symbols invented by ancestors of the Celts,  seen by some as the earliest proto-language. which refers to the ‘Bear Goddess’ : The Bear Goddess and the Bird Goddess are the Bear Goddess indeed. It could mean that the bear goddess and bird goddess merged into a single goddess.  Some archaeologists have claimed that the bear is the oldest European deity. I like this historically equally unproven story better than the legend of the holy maiden who was martyred for her piety.


Looking into the Perpetual Almanack for inspiration I found this short entry for Oct 22:

**By Tradition, the anniversary of Creation:

“In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth. Which beginning of time, according to our Chronology, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October, in the year 4004 before Christ.”

James Ussher  -  The Annals of the World 1658**


I thought that William Blake’s work “Europe a Prophecy"
The Ancient of Days, copy K from the Fitzwilliam Museum, would be a fitting end to Ussher’s pronouncement and to this rather cobbled together blog post.

It’s been one of those days.


38 comments:

  1. SAD. Such a dreadful annual happening. I can feel its tendrils even with an antidepressant and a GABA supplement. We leave for the Arizona sun in six weeks.

    Best to you in these darkening days.

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  2. My son has a degree of SAD. I finally bought him one of those lights that simulate sunshine, and he seems to think it helps him.

    I like the idea of celebrating a name day. That's not customary in my culture, but I wish it were!

    =)

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  3. Happy name day Friko. It's a funny thing I always in my mind 'think' of you as Ursula.

    A few days ago I wished madly for you that the warmth and sunshine would go on for you.

    I find wind, to the most unsettling of all the natural elements. It really churns me up and there's no pun intended.

    Thinking of you in the coming days.

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  4. No name day for me, either - but that's because I've never been Catholic in the first place.
    I like to learn something about the ethymology of names (places and people alike), and although I'd known it a long time ago, I had somehow forgotten (or, rather, not thought of it in a long time) that Ursula actually has that origin. You are right, the Bear Goddess story is much better than the one with the holy maiden.

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  5. Cobbled is good. Love the old stories best. Bears are such wonderful animals, and doing better in Yosemite, thanks to the wolves. Heretofore, the overpopulated elk herds had been stripping the shrubs bare and leaving them empty of berries beloved by bears. Wolves eat elk, and you know the rest. Mother nature, who was probably a bear, will have her way. Seeing you in the stars Ursula ......

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  6. I do those supplement and vitamin things once a week, and sometimes it gets old but I always continue it. A habit you might say. Congratulations on having an actual name day; I don't think there is anything like it for my name.

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  7. I need light - a house with lots of windows and even in winter, enough sunshine. Luckily, where I live provides sun even in snowy winter. I, too, count out my supplements every 2 weeks - as long as I feel well, I continue what seems to work. Your parents had high hopes for your pious nature!

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  8. I have always thought it would be wonderful to live in house with a conservatory, and maybe a library. But I don't think that I could cope with 4:30 sunsets. The 5:00 sunsets that we experience pound me quite enough. Have you ever tried the artificial lights? It has been recently suggested to me. I would like to know what others think abut them.

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  9. I wonder how a tree falls on a person. Wouldn't one hear it coming down and run? Maybe it was a very large tree and she couldn't move fast enough. I don't suppose a name day for Janie exists. At least I've never heard of it, but we don't celebrate name days. I'm sorry you have SAD. That's a very early sunset. I wonder, as Lisa says, if you've tried the artificial lights that are intended to ease SAD.

    Love,
    Janie

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  10. When I'm good, I put my pills in those days of the week containers. When I'm not good, I take them out of the bottles, and I sometimes forget to take them at all.

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  11. How come one of those days for you is always more interesting than one of those days for me?! Your pill photo reminds me that tonight is the night to count out mine. Or in the morning. Not sure I can stay awake much longer -- even Lizzie has snugged up on her blanket by the computer and is purring -- or is it snoring?

    I'm surprised you got so much of the hurricane. Poor woman. Does your conservatory have a lot of light? Seems like that would come with the territory and be a good spot to hang out in the dark days. My whole house is dark. I wonder if those lights might work for me?

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  12. Oh yes. The pills in their little cages, morning and night, day after day. I'm not yet into supplements, but I'm heading that way. Already started, if you count the apple cider vinegar. I believe turmeric will be the next addition.
    I'm trying to believe that I will be all right this winter. Maybe if I believe hard enough it will be true.

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  13. I meant to say that I adore these Olde Englishe stories of yours.

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  14. You have inspired me to discover that my name day would be November 25th! The breadth of your subject matter is awesome -- from names to legends to vitamins to SAD -- well done!

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  15. Happy Name Day. I too am feeling snug after dodging a hurricane (Ana). Wish I could send you daily sun - I know how glad I was to have some after a mere 3 grey days. Your familiarity with these antique texts fascinates me always!


    Warm ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^= . <3

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  16. As the days become shorter and night falls faster, I think of other things to do. I guess growing up in an area which has 4 seasons kinda helps prepare us for the long dark nights and late morning light. I guess I never really think about it much - just accept it. You have a conservatory in your house - now, that sounds just delightful to me. In the meantime, I have dug out winter clothes, polished up my skates, got my snowshoes ready and have a pile of books to read and poetry to write. Winter might pass by faster this year, unless Mother Nature lashes out at us more than usual. Cheers.

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  17. Hi Friko - I went down to the shore by the sea yesterday ... and the sea was heaving with a very heavy swell - bashing our groynes and grave beach ... poor woman in Knightsbridge - we don't think of central London being a place to die by a tree. The trees rocked and rolled here and Linda from Seaford said there was debris along the A259 and delays ...

    Happy Name day for yesterday - I love the different traditions in our nation states ... cheers Hilary

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  18. May I wish you a Happy Name Day...just a bit belated. I am enjoying thinking about how much I enjoyed meeting you just a year ago! Remember all that rain? And wind?

    Funny thing is that we've got the very same sort of weather here today in New York. An October tradition, I guess.

    xo

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  19. that's a lot of pills. I only take one a day and that's for my thyroid. various doctors have wanted me to take cholesterol meds and osteoporosis meds but I declined. I'm lucky to be in relative good health for my age.

    our old house in the city which we finally sold this past summer was strong as an ox built as it was with first cut timber cut to full dimension and the walls all had shiplap and all the wood was hard as a rock, had to drill a hole and then hammer in the nail, otherwise all you were going to do was bend your nail. we rode out three direct hits from hurricanes in that house and while the trees were slashing around that old house didn't even creak.

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  20. So glad you are safe and sound. When I lived in Illinois, we were always aware of tornadoes, but I was never in a direct line.

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  21. I'll try again!
    Happy Name Day for yesterday:) And I'm with you, give me a bear over a pious maiden any day.
    Re SAD I don't know if you have tried this but I suffered from it really badly for years. I tried light lamps but they only gave me crippling migraines: then I introduced large amounts of omega 3 and a VitD3 a day into my diet one January day and within a week it had lifted never to return. I say this somewhat hesitantly as it is only rubbing salt into the wound if it helps me but not you.

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  22. October 23rd does sound rather arbitrary and it would seem in the Northern Hemisphere more logical to think of the world beginning in February when the days start getting longer .
    He wasn't an early Australian , surely ?

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  23. That did look like a lot of pills, Friko. But I've heard that SAD is awful and if it helps, you do what you have to do. I'm very against taking anything unless it's absolutely necessary, but that's because I tend to have bad reactions to meds. I'll be 70 in 2015, and so far... take nothing but an occasional Tylenol if a Migraine persists. Don't know how long I'l be able to abstain, but plan to as long as I can.

    Is name day the same as birthday? My son's birthday was yesterday (Oct. 21)... but I'm thinking that maybe name day in Germany is different than birthday?

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  24. I don't even know what a name day is. Sounds interesting, though.
    Glad the storm wasn't bad by the time it arrived your way.
    I've heard those lights can help with SAD, too. Winter is coming. Our days get very short up here, too.

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  25. I hope your name day was at least passable. It's rainy here today, though not windy, and the light comes later and later in the morning and leaves earlier and earlier at night. Fall I love; what comes next, not so much. All the best to you both, and Millie, too.

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  26. I am not sure my comment just went through as WordPress always makes me log in with another password! Any way, I also suffer from shorter days and try to get as much sun as possible.

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  27. Whether 22 October is the eve of creation I can't say, but it surely is the eve of of my birth. Even without a name day, the birthdays keep rolling around, and I'm happy for it. So far, so good, as they say. Apart from my little eye trouble, I'm in pretty good form: no other physical problems, no pill-counting, no SAD. I'm just sure that working outdoors every day is at the heart of my health. Fewer germs, more sunlight. It's a winning combination.

    Until this post, I'd not stopped to think of hwo much ursa pervades our language and our world. Ursa Major and Minor. The Ursaline order. The Ursa Astronomical Association in Finland (est.1921). I could keep going with the list, but I'm not sure you could bear it.

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  28. I don't meet the clinical definition of SAD but I loathe the dark of winter and would love to be able to just hibernate until spring rolls around.

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  29. Do you leave all those pills exposed to the air like that? That can't be good for them, they'll be absorbing moisture from the air etc.
    I don't know my name day or even if I have one. Am I right thinking it is only for Catholics?

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  30. Sorry to read about SAD. I really am. I didn;t know that in Germany they also have a name day. We used to have it in Cuba before the Revolution. My late nan used to celebrate hers as well as my mum auntie's (we all lived together). I should have had one but because both my parents raised me an atheist and my dad was one himself (although he is also a freemason. Run that one by me again!) I never got the chance to have two birthdays, the dya of my birth and my saint's name.

    Greetings from London.

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  31. I sometimes wonder how humans managed to evolve to suffer from SAD. Maybe they just went to sleep after dark in the old days when the sun set!

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  32. We had a storm here too ! And lots of rain ! I never celebrated my name's day, my parents were protestants and I think there isn't a saint with my name either !

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  33. I know the pill routine, and it gets worse as it gets older. There are more pills and more instructions -- take after food -- take in the morning -- in the evening -- before bed -- take 2 house before eating -- and so on. No wonder one gets SAD. May you have many more name days and may the pills keep you going for a long time!

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  34. I hadn't realized a woman had died in the storm - that's tragic. I must have missed it in the British press and on BBC World News. I sit here in the West Indies, a British expat and thankfully never have to think of SAD. I am so sorry that you have it. When I lived in England, I dreaded the winter months - that clock going back. Especially when I got older. I did not like finishing the school run in the dark.

    I know about the tablets too.

    I too have a Name Day, (Namenstag), 4 December and it was such fun as a child because it was celebrated with much happiness. My mother was Austrian, I was born in Austria and did not go to England until I was three. After that it was a move every two and a half years. The early dark nights in Africa, Middle East and Far East did not have the same effect as that of a UK November afternoon. Blackness came in an instant around 6pm. Here in Trinidad, this time of the year, sunset is now about 6.00 pm. As I write at 6 it is almost dark but the difference is that even after a very rainy day as it was today, I have the windows open and the cool breeze is blowing through the apartment. The downside is, as there always is. the mosquito invasion!!

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  35. Name day. Is that the same as a birthday here in the US? As in, is that the day you were born, or what does it signify? I don't know a thing about it.

    I never cease to be amazed at how much you KNOW, Friko. You are always sharing interesting literary tidbits and such, and I just wonder what kind of life you must have led to have gleaned all of this knowledge. It fascinates me.

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  36. Oh yeah, and I totally sympathize on the pills and such. I have a nice oversized pill organizer for home, and a smaller one with detachable rows of containers, one row for each day that I use for traveling. My pill consumption has risen and fallen through the years, but at this point I think the supplements and the prescription meds are about even steven. Used to be that it was about 6 or more prescriptions with 1 or 2 supplements.

    I'm sorry to hear that you deal with SAD. I've heard it can be very nasty. Have you purchased one of those natural light thingies that helps to combat it? Blue light or something like that… My sister gets SAD as well, and she just moved with her husband to one of the rainiest states, go figure. You should move over here where I'm at-- we get an average of 313 sunny days here with 90% amount of sun ( the percentage of time between sunrise and sunset that sunshine reaches the ground).

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  37. Name day is not the same as a birthday, A name day is associated with countries in Europe and Latin America. It celebrates the day of the given name. The custom originated with the Christian calendar of saints e.g. the Feast of St Barbara is on the 4 December so that's my name day!

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  38. Cobbled together it may have been, but I found this post quite interesting on several levels. I am not sure I could swallow all of those pills and potions. I only take a few vitamins and such myself. Perhaps I should take more. Thankfully, I don't suffer from SAD, but most of my family members do. I know that these days without light are so difficult for them. Even as I type these words, I look out my window on a what has been a bleak morning and am grateful for the blue sky I see coming into view on the west. I know it won't last long. They say a storm is coming.

    Your musing on your name day was fascinating.

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