On the 31st of October, pagan cults celebrate Samhain, the summer’s end, the third and the last harvest, the first day of winter, the day of the dead, the first day marking Witches’ New Year…

Samhain is the winter season of the ancient Celts. The Celts divided the year into four quarters: Samhain (winter), Imbolc (spring), Beltane (summer), and Lughnasadh (autumn). The Celtic year began in November, with Samhain. The Celts were influenced principally by the lunar and stellar cycles which governed the agricultural year – beginning and ending in autumn when the crops have been harvested and the soil is prepared for the winter.

The excerpt is from Samhain.com and, for more relevant details about the significance of this day, I’d recommend visiting the Celtic Spirit site, as well as the community form Wicca.com.

As I was looking for a picture (painting, drawing, even photo) of a red haired girl to insert in this entry, I’ve found out that there are some rumours that Cleopatra’s hair had actually been red, not black, fact which I found most interesting, as I had always known that Egyptians were black or dark-haired (and no, I’m not referring to the wigs that members of their high society were wearing). I’ll probably look further into this matter, it really managed to get my attention.

Leaving these matters aside, I’ve found a book that I’d really enjoy reading now: A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton. I hope I can get it as soon as possible.

P.S. The beautiful image above is a picture made by William Bouguereau, named Psamathe (c. 1880).

Categories: Art/Culture
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I’ve recently noticed that visitor counters are very trendy. Therefore, after some minor research about how they actually work and where such scripts and services can be acquired (preferably, for free), I’ve decided to get one myself.

A quick search on Google eventually directed me to BlogPatrol, who offers site counters and a few detailed statistics about the visitors who stop by. By detailed statistics I mean date & time, ip, browser, operating system, screen resolution and colour depth, as well as referrers that directed these visitors to my blog. And no, this information is not helpful for hacking and isn’t really a threat to privacy. It’s merely statistics stuff and, besides personal curiosity, it helps me test to see if my site is displayed correctly on the specific configurations.

So no, I’m not going to harm you in any way now that I know the resolution your screen has.

I know that the black border is a bit upsetting, but there seems to be nothing I can do about it. And since this is the best counter I’ve found when it comes to general aspect and colour scheme matching, which still displays the counter on the site (there were some smaller ones, pretty nice, as a matter of fact, but they only resided there stealthy, recording the statistics for later view), you’ll have to live with it. For the time being, of course. I might get bored or annoyed by it myself, so I can’t really say exactly for how long it’s going to last.

Anyway, thanks for your visits.

Later edit: I’ve changed it, the black border was annoying.

Categories: Sci/Tech
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I’m happy.

With a few things said and done lately, w/o even knowing how much they mean to me, somebody made me very happy. As it all started around my bday, I’d like to think of these things as little compensating gifts. Maybe I don’t deserve them, but I love them. And I needed them so much.

I love it when little things like this make me feel that the world could actually spin for me. I love it when I am able to smile because of them. I love it when I feel this joy given to me. I love it even more when it comes out of the blue and fits in so perfectly. It is perfect. Like beauty, perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

And when we fall, we do so in order to learn to rise up again. And keep on going.

Believe in angels, they believe in you.
Oh, spread your wings, there is more than this darkness!
Open your eyes, the horizon has no end.
You can see forever, you can know all time.
You can live forever…

Anathema – Eternal Rise of the Sun

Thank you, beloved stranger. Thank you so much.

Categories: Nonsense
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Coming back from university yesterday, I heard what seemed to be some kind of song. I thought somebody had turned up the volume to some CD player, radio, TV or whatever of the sorts and was listening to something different from the usual pop-dance music most seem to be enjoying nowadays.

But it was nothing like that. As I was walking forth, the voice became more and more tangible and, eventually, I realised that it was a child’s voice. An actual child, somewhere nearby, singing. I immediately slowed down my pace in order to accurately identify it. The tones of her voice were simply mesmerising. In that particular moment, I had the feeling that I had finally understood what one may mean when referring to angelic voices.

A couple of steps forth and I was finally able to see her – a little girl with wavy blonde hair, slowly rocking herself in a swing installed in a garden at the ground level of one of the sinister blocks of flats. The image was overwhelming – an oasis of trees with leaves painted in ruby and gold, cooled down by a bit of green threads stoically defying autumn’s artistic genius, then a large tree with that little swing attached to it and the fair-voiced girl singing there.

After crossing the street and getting close to this fairy-tale picture, I stopped. I tried to keep a low profile so the girl wouldn’t feel scared or anything. I think I stood there for about a minute, but the time seemed to have stopped, too, with me. I couldn’t actually make out the lyrics, but they were something about flowers under blue skies.

But then the dream-like state ended abruptly, as her mother caller her in for lunch. I went on, home.

I never actually liked kids very much, especially the way the new generations tend to “develop”. But this event really stirred me, even if put in words it doesn’t have the same charm.

I hope that, as a long-ago friend used to tell me, this image is going to last in my memories for at least a lifetime.

It made me happy.

Categories: Art/Culture
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Yesterday, when I woke up, mom was watching a movie on TV. Lazy as I was, I stood a little longer in bed and got to see a bit of it, myself – the ending part. It was about a couple who had been separated because of the girl’s mother and she had been sent to a monastery. At first they did everything in order for her to leave that place so they could be together, but eventually she found out the guilt that her murderous family had in her father’s death. She suffered some sort of shock, cut her beautiful long hair and decided never to leave that monastery again, as she couldn’t bear the shame she had been dragged into.

Well, nothing of the bad things above happened to me, but late last night I cut my hair, too. All by myself, all alone. And it was about 1 o’clock. After seven years of never doing otherwise, I’ve cut more that 20cm, around 50 or 60, I’d say. Half of its actual length, now it barely gets to my breasts. I don’t really know what had gotten into me, but I just felt like doing it. So I did, hoping that I won’t fully realise the gravity of what I had done until it was too late.

Well, I can’t say I regret it that much, but I do admit it is a sudden and radical change and my conservatory spirit will need some time to get used to the idea. At least now people won’t accidentally pull it and they’ll stop feeling like “OMFG fluffy long hair, I must get my hands into it!” (with disastrous results, of course).

Leaving these matters aside, I’ve just realised how much I have to catch up with at university because of the “holiday” I’ve taken for medical reasons. I hate it when that happens, but I feel so “not in the mood to…” right now that I’m afraid those things will have to wait for times when I’ll get my batteries fully recharged.

Categories: Thoughts
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