Black Widow Martini
Prep Time10 MIN Total Time10 MIN Servings1
Do you dare to try this devilishly spirited cocktail? Black rum and crème de cacao, plus a bit of black food coloring, combine for a darkly delicious drink.
Recipe by Angie McGowan
Ingredients
1 1/2
oz black rum
3/4
oz crème de cacao
1
cup ice
Black food color
1
tablespoon brown sugar
Directions
1 Add black rum, crème de cacao, ice and 1 or 2 drops black food color to a martini shaker.
2 In small bowl, add brown sugar and 1 drop black food color. Mix with fork until all sugar is black. Wet rim of martini glass with water. Dip rim into sugar.
3 Strain martini into glass, and serve.
Vampire
By RecipeNut 4.5 (6)
TOTAL TIME
1min
PREP 1 MIN
Dark & sweet
INGREDIENTS
SERVINGS 1 UNITS US
1 ounce Chambord raspberry liquor
1 ounce vodka
1 ounce cranberry juice
DIRECTIONS
Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice.
Serve as shots in a highball (rocks) glass.
https://sites.google.com/site/tribesofatlantis/Home/wisdom-of-the-first-book-of-atlanteans
The poison tides came in one burnt evening in late summer, and everybody knew it was time for the princess to be sacrificed.
Princess Mede knew it as well. She had learned at her old Nurse’s knee to count the seconds of summer as they slipped by, to measure the growing chill in the air until the day arrived when the tide rushed on the shore like an invading army, black as ink and filled with stinking debris. Those who dared go down onto the black and ruined beach reported seeing things as strange and disparate as swathes of rotted silk, dead dogs with bloated bellies and dolls’ heads. The waters brought death to everything they touched.
The princess had to be sacrificed or the tides would keep coming and the harvest would be lost.
Mede was quite looking forward to it. She’d never been sacrificed before.
On the morning of the day when she was due to be sacrificed, Mede almost forgot all about it. She wasn’t used to being the princess. She’d always been a princess, of course. Her parents were the king and queen, she lived in the palace and Nurse called her ‘Your Highness’ in an accusing tone whenever she caught Mede daydreaming.
Her sister Genia had always been the princess, the one who people meant when they said ‘our princess.’ The courtiers dressed up in hunting robes and hid in the gardens around the palace in order to catch a glimpse of Genia without blinds and folding fans in the way. Genia was effortlessly gracious, wrote flawless poetry on blossom-white paper and had a sad, noble beauty that people always remembered. They carried a picture of her face away in their minds and woke to thoughts of beauty in the night, so she was far more beautiful in memory than in reality.
Mede was younger and much less impressive, which meant she was free to spend her time in the gardens without many people asking for her. She sometimes resented Genia and sometimes admired her, and usually loved her. Now Genia was in a far country married to a king rich and important enough to deserve her beauty, Mede missed her.
As a child she’d dreamed of miraculously becoming more important than her sister, of being the princess who unveiled and rode in parades. Now she was that princess, and the parades bored her.
Mede was able to lose all Genia’s former ladies-in-waiting and escape over the crest of one green hill. She was pruning a hedge when she looked up through the tiny leaves, veiling her vision like soft green lace, and in the distance saw the sun blazing high over the sea. That was when she remembered she was due to be sacrificed that afternoon.
She picked up her skirts and ran, worried that she was going to be late, and Nurse told her off as she scrambled into her golden gown. The ceremonial dress was gold-embroidered and the iridescent sleeves fell to her feet in layers that gleamed with all the colors inside a seashell. It did not flow over her body as it had over Genia’s but stayed in stiff folds, as if it was not used to her and could not get comfortable.
When it was time to go Nurse was still trying to put her hair up in the elaborate gold combs without wisps escaping. Mede was trying to remember everything Genia had told her about the ceremony.
It wasn’t meant to be very difficult. Her father would say the ceremonial words, offering his virgin daughter as a living sacrifice to the sea. All Mede had to do was agree and climb into the boat, then wait to be drifted back to shore. It was just a symbolic offering and for some reason it made the poison tides stop. It was nothing.
It was the first useful thing Mede had been asked to do for her country, a chance to be a real princess. And she was already late.
Everyone was gathered at the harbor, wearing bright clothes and standing solemn as if they were in the temple. Her father looked relieved when she appeared and her mother gave her a kind smile directed slightly to one side, as if Genia was still standing next to Mede and she felt she should divide her smiles equally.
Mede stood between her parents and smiled around at her people. They filed past her one by one, acting as witnesses. An old woman Mede bought seeds from gave her a kiss.
“Bless your sweet face,” she said.
Mede crushed down the uneasy urge to hide behind her fan and smiled for the crowd.
The vague idea she had of her people coalesced into the sight of these faces, some familiar, all approving. Beyond them the sea stretched in a glittering sheet of light. The sun made her gown sparkle so it looked like she was wearing a piece of the sea.
Her father took the golden cord and wrapped it around her wrists, tying them tight.
“In the sight of my people and for the love of my land, I hereby commit our princess to the sea.”
He gave her bound hands a reassuring shake, teeth gleaming in his beard, a private smile. As he continued the ceremony Nurse took a firm grip on Mede’s shoulders and corrected her posture as she had done a thousand times.
“Remember you’re a princess,” she said. “Do this with a little grace.”
Her father turned to her again. “My daughter, do you go a willing sacrifice into the sea?”
Mede held her bound hands out to the people and bowed her head. “I do.”
Her mother bent close, perfume sweet and breath warm against Mede’s face. “You’ll be home before teatime, my darling.”
Her father led her to the boat and helped her lie down on the bottom, head fitted inside the curved prow. The shape of the boat cradled her, the planks sun-warmed and time-worn beneath her. She felt the surge of the waves beneath the boat and the impact as it was launched.
She heard the cheers of her people like music or the sound of bells, distant already, the sound rising clear into the sky.
Then there was nothing but the shushing noise of waves as they lapped the small boat. Mede lifted her head, tried to snatch a last look at the harbor and home, but all she saw was the dazzling movement of light on water. She rested her head back against the bottom of the boat, closing her eyes. Afterimages of that light lingered in buttery streaks against the blackness behind her eyelids.
She crossed her hands over her breast and let it all wash over her, the light of the sun, the rocking of her boat and the sound of the sea all coming together in one great rush of sensation. She turned her head, resting her cheek against the warm wood at the bottom of the boat, and was lulled into drowsiness by the peace and the thought of going home having achieved something, served her people, been a true princess. Like Genia.
Everything was calm.
#
Mede woke and everything was chaos.
She sat bolt upright and grabbed for the side of the boat, feeling the lurch and hearing the rasp of the bottom against rocks. She’d woken sick and breathless, she must have been shocked out of sleep when the boat hit—
Splinters pierced her palms as she clung to the side, the wind freezing and the sea spray stinging her eyes. The sound of the waves had become a threatening roar and she could see nothing.
Her hair was in her face, a sodden veil that obscured the world. She blinked frantically, trying to focus, but then she felt the crunch of the helm against stone, felt the terrible tip of the boat and knew that it was too far gone.
The boat flipped and she hit the water with a smack, knowing nothing but icy shock for a moment before she realized that she was not drowning but on her hands and knees among the rocks.
The sea was stinking and the water felt oily, clotted with filth. Disgust dragged her up, so she was on her feet and staggering onto dry land before she could see.
Mede splashed through the water and stumbled onto dry land. Only when her knees buckled did she realize she had torn them open on the rocks earlier. She staggered but stayed on her feet and pushed the hair out of her eyes. Her hands stung as she did so and she stared down at them: the first thing she saw in this strange land was her own blood.
The rocks must have ripped the skin off her palms too. She curled her fingers over the open wounds and stared around. For a moment all she could see was blackness. Then she blinked a few times and began to piece the nightmarish fragments she could make out into some kind of sense.
The heaving darkness behind her was the sea and the darkness filled with pale wisps like ghosts torn to shreds must be the sky. In front of her loomed a still and unrelieved darkness. For a moment she took it for cliffs, but the shapes were wrong.
They were buildings. No matter where she had washed up, on what filthy poisoned shore, there must be some help to be found.
Mede strode forward and felt one of her wet, trailing sleeves catch on something. She did not stop to wrestle with the material, just let it rip away. The silk unraveled layer by layer past her elbow, leaving one arm naked, filthy and bleeding. She shivered in the cold and strode forward, and thought grimly that nobody would ever believe she was a princess.
#
The wind ceased howling as soon as she left the shore. Mede found herself on a broken road, breathing dead air.
The air smelled as horrible as the water, stinking as if the whole city was dead.
The city looked dead. The curving road looked like a smile full of broken teeth. Mede stumbled through the gaps and gazed desperately into every window she passed. They were all dark. There was no sign of light or movement in the entire city.
The buildings were porous stone, covered in a screen of slick black filth until they looked like they were made of rotting mushrooms. The silence seemed to lend the foul air a dense quality: Mede found it hard to take proper breaths, and even harder to see why she kept walking through these streets.
There was no hope to be found here. Nobody could live in this city. She was walking through a wasteland.
She did not turn around because there was nowhere to go but back into the sea. These deserted, crumbling buildings were no good to her, but up ahead there were the looming dark walls of a palace.
It was nothing like the palace back home, no graceful structure with curving roofs and surrounding gardens. It was a vast pyramid-like mass squatting like a giant black toad in the ruined city. The walls were covered in the same patina of dirt as the other buildings, but they were whole and promised shelter. She could rest there until morning came.
The gates to the palace were open. One gate was so open it was lying on the ground, half-hidden beneath the enveloping dirt. As Mede walked in she stood on it and the iron was so rusted that it crunched into something like ash beneath her feet.
The door to the palace was open too. It was a long narrow rectangle that made her think of a coffin.
She stepped inside and was engulfed by the stench of death.
The domed hall of the palace and the wide staircase might have been impressive once, but now it was all covered with the same greasy filth as everything outside. Now the hall looked like a dark cavern and the staircase like a pile of blackened bones.
All around her was that terrible smell, as if she was in the belly of some dead beast.
Mede touched her face and felt an unpleasant layer of coolness on her skin. The stone of this city was corrupt: what would happen to flesh and blood in this stinking air?
In that air a sound rang out, making Mede spin and almost fall. She clenched her fists and told herself not to be stupid. A sound was a good thing. It meant there might be help, even here.
The noise rose from a dark opening which Mede looked at and thought vault, and then told herself no, cellar.
The steps down to the cellar were dark and narrow. She tried to go down carefully, but when she missed her footing and grabbed at the wall to support herself her hands slid and found no purchase on the stone. She landed on her face in wet rubble, pulled herself up on her hands and knees and saw a rat scurrying away under a pile of fallen rafters and stones.
A rat. Mede gave a dry little laugh, strangled as soon as born.
“So,” she said aloud. “You and I are the only ones alive in this place.”
“That’s not quite true,” said a voice behind her.
Mede scrambled to sit up, to turn and see who was speaking, and her movement must have startled the rat. It streaked out of its hiding place and Mede saw its left side for the first time: saw the fur hanging like an open coat to show a flash of bone, the empty twisted blackness where an eye should have been.
The voice was dark and low, like polluted water running underground.
It said: “The rat’s not alive.”
#
Mede reached out in the oily water and grabbed a rafter. She stood with the rotten log grasped in both hands, and turned ready to swing.
He was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
When he moved she fled, running through the water to the wall. She braced her back against the stone and told herself she’d moved because she couldn’t leave herself unprotected on all sides.
The real reason was that she couldn’t bear for him to come any closer.
He moved in a terrible, liquid way, as if he no longer had muscles and sinews. He reminded her of an eel winding through mud.
He was more or less the shape of a boy, though all the details were wrong.
With every smooth, boneless step he took towards her, the smell of corruption grew stronger. She wanted to be sick, and then cry.
“You’re planning to hit me?” he asked softly.
Mede tried to sound braver than she felt. “Not if you leave me alone!”
“So I’ll leave you alone,” the monster said. “Then what?”
He sounded mildly curious. Mede swallowed, tasting bitterness.
“I don’t—I don’t understand.”
“You’ll be alone,” the monster said. “The storm will go on. There will be no way home. We’re all being quiet for you now, but once I tell them you won’t even speak to me my people will begin to stir. You will sit in this cellar alone and alive, listening to the sounds of the dead moving among you. No food grows in a dead land. You’ll starve here. Maybe you will go mad before you die. If I leave you alone.”
She thought she might go mad if he didn’t leave, that she might prefer to die alone rather than look at his face for another second.
He was talking sense, though. Even coming from the lips of a monster in a nightmare city, Mede could appreciate that.
“If you don’t?” she asked. “Then what happens?”
He coughed, a terrible sound that made her think of the possibility of—things wriggling, dislodged, in his lungs.
“Listen to what I have to say. Then the storm will pass and you can go home.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?” she whispered.
“I don’t lie!” he shouted, storming towards her, and his hideous eel-like grace and every dead, discolored detail of his face filled her vision, hit her like a punch to the stomach, knocked her down so she was crouching, sick and trembling, in that cold water.
She was still holding onto the rafter. She’d hit him if he tried to grab her, she thought with a kind of mad calm. She’d hit him and hit him until he was dead twice over.
She waited for the monster to try.
The monster said, a little awkwardly: “I’m—sorry.”
Mede froze, staring at the greenish black color of the hand at her eye level. Rotted lace hung across the back, like an old wet spiderweb.
“I lost my temper. Doing this again… It’s not your fault.”
“I want to go home,” Mede said, very low.
He sounded angry again, though trying to control it, as he answered: “You will.”
“Then I’ll,” Mede swallowed. “I’ll listen to what you have to say. I’ll—trust you.”
“You can,” the monster told her almost gently. “Your sister came back every time, didn’t she?”
All the breath left Mede in one quick, shocked gasp.
“Genia! She never said—”
“She wouldn’t have.”
The monster offered Mede his horrible hand. It was so clearly a courtier’s gesture, a gentleman ready to help a lady to her feet, that Mede was more startled than horrified. She stared at him with her mouth open and he snatched his hand away.
He stepped back, and she thought that was truly gentlemanly. He could see she did not want to be close to him and he was obeying her wishes without a word or a look of reproach.
Mede hesitated, then uncurled her stiff fingers from around the rafter and let it slip away into the water. She rose and stood unarmed before the monster.
“Come with me,” he said.
#
The monster led her into the domed hall and then up a winding staircase. There was an iron railing fixed in the stone wall that might once have been beautiful, a rendering of an iron vine trailing tiny iron flowers, but now it was blackened and parts were missing. Mede did not touch it. She just took care as she climbed.
Looking at the monster’s back was much better than looking at his face. One shoulder was higher than another and his hair hung in lank damp locks, but that wasn’t so bad. If it hadn’t been for the smell, she could have pretended he was alive.
“What’s your name?”
“Mede,” she said cautiously.
“That’s a nickname like Genia. Is it short for Medea or Andromeda?”
Mede actually had forty-seven names inscribed on a scroll in carmine and gold. She tried to visualize it, but it had never seemed very real to her. She did not need a piece of paper to tell her what her name was.
“I don’t know. Does it matter?”
“It might,” the monster said quietly. “The names belong to very different stories.”
Mede did not care about stories. She cared about her sister.
“Genia,” she said hesitantly. “Why would she not have warned me?”
“Because she is ashamed of her country and ashamed of herself,” the monster answered.
“Because she knows why the poison tides come in.”
They reached the top of the stairs and Mede found herself facing a huge window. Outside the barren lands spread black and ruined before her sight, the city of roads like shattered teeth and broken towers like stumps where limbs should have been. The lands beyond might once have been fields and were now a putrid swamp.
She clung to the crumbling windowsill. “What happened?”
Mede was desperate enough to look directly at the monster. He was standing to one side in the shadows, looking out the window. His head was slightly bowed, his face in profile: it was not so bad.
“There was war between our countries, once,” he said. “We were alive then, and your country was different too, young and fierce. It was all—so long ago. I don’t remember what it was about. All I remember is that both our countries were weak and ruined by war, and there seemed no way for either side to win.”
He inclined his head and Mede was shocked again by how courtly the gesture was. She might have been standing on a palace balcony with a noble who knew her well enough to make his ‘Shall we go?’ a silent question.
She went with him down a long gallery, the walls lined with frames that seemed at first to contain dark mirrors.
On closer inspection, they were portraits. This was a royal gallery, like a sad ghost of the one at home. Mede studied the pictures as they passed rather than looking out the windows. She was dreading the end of the story.
The monster did not seem eager to continue, either. He stopped and looked at the picture she was looking at. It might have felt like she was a guest being shown around a strange palace, if she had shut her eyes.
She glanced at his shoulder, not able to force her gaze up to his face, and nodded at him.
“A peace treaty was drawn up,” he said softly. “A marriage was arranged.”
Mede had expected an account of a cataclysmic battle, the blood-soaked conclusion to the story. She almost laughed with relief.
“Oh, a marriage!”
The monster’s voice sounded a little startled by her laugh, a little relaxed by it. “Yes, between the crown prince of my land and the eldest princess of yours. The princess was very beautiful,” he added, as if wishing to be fair.
It was a small thing: that the story was turning out well, that the monster was prepared to be pleasant, but it felt as if someone had opened a door a chink and let light in on utter darkness.
Mede was so glad she felt a little silly.
“What was the prince like?”
“Oh.” It was strange hearing a monster laugh. “He wasn’t so bad.”
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw him nod towards the picture before them. Mede examined it more carefully and saw that it was a young man.
The painting wore a veneer of filth and a tracery of fine lines, but under the veil of time and decay she was just able to make out a face.
He had shadowy eyes and rather a sweet smile. The artist must have been good, Mede thought, to have captured a face that usually kept its secrets in an unguarded moment and left an impression of how fleeting that moment had been. The details of the scene were lost, but the prince seemed to be striding long-legged through a green wood with a peregrine falcon on his wrist. The falcon’s wings were spread open, ready to fly, and the prince’s long dark hair had fallen curved across his face, lifting in a long-gone wind as if it was a wing too.
“He wasn’t so bad,” Mede agreed. “So what came next? Tell me what happened to the prince.”
The monster leaned in a little too close. He was not near enough to be inappropriate for a gentleman but too close for a monster, his cold cheek almost brushing hers and sending shocks of horror down her spine.
There was no more laughter between them now. He whispered in her ear, his voice chilly and terribly gentle, so low it seemed intimate. It gave her the feeling of a dead hand stroking her hair: it tied her stomach in knots.
“Should I?” the monster murmured caressingly. “Do you really want to know?”
Mede looked up at him in fear, and knew.
It was some trick of dim light or moving shadow cast by the tattered, tossing clouds in the stormy sky. It smoothed the monster’s straggling hair and his rough skin, cast a faint gleam on his dull dead eyes. Under the puffy, discolored skin she could make out high cheekbones, and a look: all hope lost and all secrets kept. She recognized a certain tilt to his unsmiling mouth, the curve of his face.
“Oh no,” Mede pleaded.
“Oh yes,” said the prince.
Mede turned away from the picture and the monster, leaned against the stone wall and swallowed a few times, her throat aching with no way to ease it. She knew what she should have realized from the start, that the monster’s story could have no happy ending.
“The princess,” she said, her mouth dry. “What happened to the princess?”
“Come. I’ll show you.”
Mede looked around and saw he had stepped back all the way across the room, and pushed open a door. A dark flight of steps lay beyond it.
He gestured toward the door and she was surprised for a moment without knowing why. Then it came to her: a gentleman would have held the door for her and ushered her through. He had offered her his hand in the cellar, shown her into the gallery. She had come to expect he would act like a gentleman.
He obviously knew what a violent contrast his portrait presented. He’d seen the knowledge strike her like a blow.
Like a gentleman, he was holding aloof so as not to distress her further.
Mede looked at him directly, and did not look away. He was staring at the floor and there was no light softening his face, but she kept looking and pieced together the fragments of what he had been: a knife-bridge nose, hooded eyelids. He’d been well-made once, and was still tall.
Pity went through her like a blade, scything away horror.
“Won’t you,” she said, the words tumbling suddenly out of her mouth. “Won’t you give me your arm?”
His eyes snapped up to her face. She thrust out her hand abruptly, before she could lose her nerve under that dead gaze, and gave him an encouraging nod.
“If you please,” she said breathlessly.
He straightened up and smiled at her, the smile from the portrait undimmed by horror or the years. It was slow and bright, a little crooked, tentative more than shy. It lit up his face like sunlight turning a ruined city to gold.
“Of course, my lady,” said the prince.
He made her a sweeping bow and offered her his arm. She took it at once, not allowing herself to hesitate, and held it tightly. She refused to let herself flinch.
It was not like touching living flesh, but his shoulder was a broad solid support behind hers.
There was comfort as well as terror in this.
They climbed the stairs of the tower together.
#
At the top of the tower there was a room, and in the room there was a bed, and on the bed there was a princess.
The room was high above the dead city and untouched by its corruption. The walls were white and softly curved: pearly, and the bed was draped with gauze and silk flowers. It was a boudoir for a royal bride, and amid the veils and roses the royal bride lay sleeping.
The dust of years was grey on her face. There would be no waking from this sleep.
“She looks like—my sister,” Mede whispered.
“Yes.”
The prince moved to the window, gazing out at his city. He didn’t seem much interested in the dead princess. Of course, he would have had his chance to look his fill at her.
“The heralds said she was beautiful,” he remarked, and Mede understood him a little better.
The indifferent lounging against the window was about as real as his careless stride towards her in the cellar. His shoulders were hunched in a little, his face averted because he did not want to look at the princess.
This mattered to him.
“I was happy to hear it. I was—nervous about the wedding, about being tied to someone who had been brought up to hate my people, but I liked the idea of a beautiful barbarian princess.”
The short, cynical laugh was obviously forced. “I wasn’t half as nervous as I should have been.”
“What happened?” Mede asked. “Tell me the end of the story.”
The prince slanted a look over his shoulder at her, secretive and almost amused. She could not tell if there was any possibility of sympathy in that look.
“Oh, like all good stories, it ends with a wedding.”
“Oh, you—you married her?” Mede said. “Oh.”
The prince hesitated, and then used her name for the first time. “Yes, Mede. I married her.
“I said that she would be part of my country and that watching over her would be the duty of everyone in the land, and my duty most of all. She promised she would be part of my country and that as she prospered or failed, so would the land. She kept her promise. We went up to our wedding bower and—I remember the precise moment. My people were cheering outside the window. There was blossom in the air. She was lying on the bed. I was—unlacing my shirt. She said a spell. She damned herself and my country with her. She killed herself and left my people, dead, to watch over her, dead. She spoke words I did not understand and suddenly everything was death. And since then, every day, everything has been death. Nothing has ever changed.”
Mede looked out at his city of the dead and then back at the princess’s still, lovely face.
Genia had returned from her first sacrifice more beautiful than ever, as if her beauty had been through a fire of pain and come out tempered into something finer. Mede thought she understood that now.
“We sent our princess to destroy your people,” she said slowly.
The prince inclined his head. “I used to hate you all for that. But it was all so long ago. Your country was different, then. It’s beautiful now, isn’t it?”
Mede thought of the light through the leaves in her garden.
“It’s beautiful. But the poison tides still come.”
“Everything changes in time,” said the prince. “Everything but us.”
“Because of us,” said Mede. “And every year the tide comes from your country to mine to—to claim a sacrifice who will hear the story and bear the shame for her people?”
The prince held her gaze in silence and, at last, shook his head.
“Why would we need a princess as an audience? The tides come to claim a promise. They come to claim me a true bride.”
Mede stared at his face, feeling horror flood her as if she was seeing it for the first time.
“You?” she whispered. “A bride?”
“Me,” the prince whispered back, in a faint terrified voice that was a bitter mockery of hers.
Then he looked down, the corner of his mouth turning down too. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh no, it’s not—” Mede began, and stopped. Her only alternatives were to insult him or lie.
“What use would a bride be?”
The prince coughed, a wet rasping sound that made her uneasily aware of all the decay within him. She wanted to laugh at the sheer macabre idea of it, a bride, for something like him. She wanted to cry.
“The theory is that a true bride would break the spell. Make these dry bones live,” said the prince, and stared at his slimy cuffs. “Or make sure the city sinks under the waves and never rises again.”
“Those are very different things!”
“I don’t know. Life or death. Either one would be an answer.”
“It would be a help if you knew which one was the r-right answer!”
The prince gave her a single look. There was a quality of stillness about him, like one of the artificial pools in her garden. She hung lanterns over those pools, and nothing living ever disturbed the smooth bright surface of the waters.
His look held her still too.
“Why?” he asked. “Would you be willing, if you knew which it would be? Every year the tides come to you, and a princess comes to us, and every year a princess turns away.”
“My sister,” Mede said. “She always did the right thing.”
“She always said the right thing,” the prince said. “She looked the part, but she couldn’t play it. She was just like all the others: she came, and she saw, and she did nothing!”
“Have you,” she started, and her voice cracked and broke on her dry tongue. “Have you ever been tempted to keep one by force?”
“Yes,” murmured the prince.
His voice was soft, at a safe remove, but in one swift terrible movement he came toward her. He seemed to be faster than sound for an instant, so his voice was still pleasant and distant while his face was inches from hers and his cold hand was clamped on her wrist.
“We have been betrayed. We have been doomed to a rotting eternity. And every year I have to watch girls like your sister turn away!” The prince’s eyes burned: they almost looked alive.
“So yes,” he whispered. “I’ve been tempted.”
His grip on her wrist tightened. She felt the chill of his fingers deep in her bone. She wondered, thought balanced on the edge of panic, what he was going to do to her.
He lifted her trapped hand and bowed his head over it. “I do not have much. But I like to think I have some honor left.”
He released her wrist and stepped back.
Mede took a faltering step towards him, then bowed from the waist. “I beg your pardon!”
“I’m sorry,” the prince said. “You have been very courteous to me. It was unforgivable of me to scare you.”
They stood for a moment silent and apart. Mede looked at the prince and thought about her sister, Genia the beautiful and noble, the one true princess. She had heard his story and turned away.
A princess of Mede’s own country had sworn an oath and broken it, and the poison tide came to them because of that. The tide would keep coming, tainting their land with death and dishonor every year. She thought of her beautiful serene country, of her rolling hills and perfectly designed gardens. The evening glory was dying in her garden now, but there would be firebushes throwing out blazing colors soon.
Her country would never be free of shame because no princess would be true. No princess would make a real sacrifice.
“You can go home now,” the prince said. “The storm is dying. The boat will be waiting.”
Mede thought of the calm safe promise of harbor and home, and thought she understood Genia. All she had to do was walk away. Nobody would ever know, except her and the dead.
Everyone would welcome her home and tell her she had done her duty.
It would be a lie, though.
“Wait,” Mede said, and found her voice was too shaky to go on. She felt as if she was trying to stand up in her boat during a storm, already dangerously unsteady and about to be knocked off her feet and hurled into dark waters. She took a deep breath and tried to find a calm center, a place in the storm of her own fear where she could stand and think.
There was no such place. Her voice was still wobbly when she went on: “I haven’t given you an answer.”
The quality of the prince’s silence changed. It had been the quiet of obviously familiar despair, but suddenly there was no possibility of gentleness about him. His body was tense, his gaze hooded and intent.
“The poison tides would never come again. And we—we might live.”
The prince nodded once, carefully as if she was a wild animal who might bolt at a sudden word.
Mede took a deep breath of bitter air.
“Then for the love and duty I owe my land, I come to you a willing s-sacrifice.”
She had meant to sound so dignified and resolute. She hated herself a little for the way her voice trembled on that last word.
The prince hesitated, hair fallen in his face, and she saw his lowered eyelids, heard the quick intake of breath and realized he was shy. She moved towards him before she remembered he was a monster.
“You could go now,” he said, speaking very quickly. “You could go and live and—you could come back next year. You’re very young. You don’t have to do this now.”
The idea of going home was like a drop of honey spilled on her tongue, filling her mouth with sweetness and her mind with longing. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined her garden.
“If I turn away once,” she said, very low. “I won’t come back.”
Mede thought of her sister’s sad face. Perhaps Genia had meant to return and do the right thing.
She opened her eyes and the vision of her garden was lost. The monster’s face was before her. She thrust out both her hands.
“I am for you,” she said. “Tell me what I have to do.”
The monster did not touch her, but there was a look on his face that she thought might mean he would have liked to.
“Wait,” he said, and turned away.
He walked towards the bridal bed where his sleeping princess lay and Mede watched with a strange feeling in her chest she could not quite make sense of. Surely it was impossible to be jealous of the dead, and ridiculous to be jealous about the dead.
The prince stooped over the bed, brushing back a tress from the princess’s face gently, as if he was afraid she might wake. He slid the ring from her finger as he touched her lips with his own. Once he had taken the kiss and the ring he drew back just a fraction and watched her as if at some time, long after death, bitterness had suffered a sea change into something painful and patient.
“Goodbye.”
Under the weight of their stares the princess crumbled to dust. Soon all that was left of her beauty was the dull shine of dust on her bridal bed and the gleam of a ring in the prince’s dead hand.
There were three cups on the end of the bed. The prince picked up the tiny tray and brought it to her. There had probably been sake in these cups once, but now there was nothing but dust.
There would be no priest to perform a purifying ritual for them, shaking his staff over all present. There would be no chance to present offerings to the sacred tree. It was just the two of them in this dead city. It felt like a nightmare of two children pretending to get married.
She pretended to drink three times from each cup, and so did he. The taste of dust clung to her lips.
The tips of their fingers almost touched reaching for the cups, but not quite.
She held herself braced for his touch, feeling like a soldier going into battle, determined not to betray her country. A soldier should not show fear. A bride must not show disgust.
She expected his skin to be as slimy as the castle walls but his hands were dry, if rough. His touch felt as impersonal as the slide of the metal ring onto her finger.
She crooked her finger to keep it on and looked up to find him still bowed over her, and felt a jolt in her chest when she realized what was about to happen.
When he touched her again, it did not feel impersonal. He held her arm where it was covered with cloth, still being a gentleman, and the fact she could rely on him to be courteous made her relax. She put her hand on his shoulder, feeling her face grow a little hot. She had never been this close to a man not related to her before.
He lowered his head very slowly and she knew he was trying to be polite, that he pitied her and she pitied him too. She thought the mutual pity had formed a connection between them, had become warm enough to be called sympathy. She turned her face up to his and met his lips, shivering at the thought of the monster stalking her in the cellar, the prince smiling in his picture frame, the smell of corruption in her nostrils and the comfort of his supporting touch on the dark stairs to this room. And this touch, now.
He did not have to breathe, but she did. She came to the realization that she needed air at the same time that she realized that her arms were around his neck.
She stepped away quickly. He did not try to stop her.
“Is that—all?” she asked. She could not look at him, this time out of shyness rather than horror. “Are we—”
“I think so,” the prince replied, and hastily added: “Thank you.”
She had never heard him sound so young. It made her smile.
She stopped smiling as she asked: “When will we know if—what’s going to happen?”
“Sunrise,” the prince said. “It shouldn’t be long.”
“Oh,” said Mede.
She remembered Nurse’s stories of monsters and brides and curses. It occurred to her that these stories never mentioned a long wait, or the awkwardness of being newly married to someone very strange.
Mede did not feel entirely steady on her legs, so she went and sat on the bridal bed. She froze amid dust and lace when she thought of how that must look.
He was still a gentleman. He sat on a chair by the bed, and they looked at each other a little desperately. Looking at him from a distance and dispassionately, she could not quite believe what she had done.
She looked down at the embroidery on the bed, and curled the fingers that had clasped his neck into her palm.
“What things did you like to do when you were…” she began.
The question seemed ridiculous, but she had to ask. She’d married him, after all, and if everything went well the country would be healed and he would be beautiful and what, oh, what would they talk about?
“I had a falcon,” the prince said slowly, as if trying to remember. “I liked to go hunting. Not to go hunting—not to kill—but to have some time on my own, to be quiet. If—I could show you how to carry a falcon on your wrist.”
Mede’s hand was restless on the embroidered sheets, moving across the silk without her own permission.
“I like gardening,” she said. “If I’d been a man and not a princess, a master gardener told me, I could have been apprenticed and designed my own. I know the names of every plant in my garden.”
The prince saw what she was trying to do. He reached out and lightly took her hand.
“You might like to help rebuild the gardens here,” he said. “We could go out to be on our own. You could teach me all the names.”
Mede smiled without looking up. “I might like to carry a falcon on my wrist.”
He told her, his voice still slow with the effort of recollection but becoming faster and more certain, about takagiri and tiercels. She told him about the crape myrtles still flowering at home, about how she always looked forward to winter and plum blossoms. They held on to each other’s hands and she had the thought, small and hopeful as a blossom in winter, that there might be a happy ending to this story after all.
The first pale fingers of the rising sun came through the window as they were talking, and Mede looked up at his face.
She was braced to see someone she did not know, to see the prince from the portrait, and for a moment she was relieved to see her prince’s familiar face. Then she realized what that meant.
They held hands more tightly than before as they looked out of the window at the rising waters. The sunrise was tinting the waves and the black ruins of the city were transformed under the glittering ocean: the city was turning into gold.
The city would lie at the bottom of the sea forever now, all the nightmares washed away. The dead would become pearly bones and the palace would be a shadowed cavern full of treasures and mysteries. The poison tides would never come again.
Mede was so scared.
“Your parents,” she whispered, thinking of her own parents, of leaving the harbor and her mother telling her she would be home in time for tea. “Do you want to say goodbye to them?”
Her prince’s voice did not waver. It stayed to the end a gentleman’s voice, promising protection and keeping his promise.
“Do you think I would leave you here alone?”
“No. Thank you,” she murmured, her ears full of the whispering of the waves, her eyes almost blinded by gold.
This was being a princess: paying the price of someone else’s treachery, making the best of a strange marriage, going down with a city.
Remember you’re a princess, said Nurse’s voice in her mind. Do this with a little grace.
Mede reached out and took hold of her prince’s arm, tugged him towards her and onto the bed. She sat leaning against him for a moment, breathing in and finding a moment of peace. She could accept this.
She spoke quietly, her voice almost drowned by the sound of the sea.
“It’s our wedding day,” she said. “Kiss me again.”
Sarah Rees Brennan is the author of the acclaimed Demon’s Lexicon trilogy, which concludes with The Demon’s Surrender in 2011. She was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it’s not called Gaelic), but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. After living briefly in New York and doing a creative writing MA and library work in Surrey, England, she has returned to Dublin, Ireland, to write. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.
10 Lost Underwater Cities of the Ancient World
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We’ve all heard of the legend of Atlantis – the once great city, submerged under water, unseen yet eerily compelling. But unlike this fictional island there are several real lost cities buried under layers of water waiting to be discovered. Today we bring you 10 lost underwater cities of the ancient world that were once lost in time but has been discovered and are being explored.
10. Canudos, Brazil
Canudos, Lost Underwater Cities
This small Brazilian town has got a quiet a history. There were suspicions that a preacher named Antonio the Counselor was organising an uprising with poor farmers and slaves against the government. After about a year of struggle with a few successes impressive resistance, when the uprising came to an end on 5th October 1897, story goes that there was only one child, one old man and two adults left. Decades later a dam was built near the town to deal with droughts but in the 1970s it ended up flooding what remained of the place. Today the revolutionary town lies at the pit of a man-made lake.
9. Tyno Helig, UK
Tyno Helig, Lost Underwater Cities
Regarded as Wales’ Atlantis, Tyno Helig is sometime considered part legend and part of it is based on reality. The story goes that a lord’s daughter fell in love with a common man. The man wanting to be with his love and he made a plan. He stabbed a nobleman on his back and stole his gold collar. He came before the lord and told him that he won the collar in a fair fight and married the woman he loved. On the night after the wedding the noble man’s ghost came and cursed the couple. Generations later the curse started to take effect when the waves slowly gulped the castle where they lived. Today some say the castle tops are sometimes seen peeking out from the water.
8. Willow Grove, USA
Willow Grove, Lost Underwater Cities
Located in the murky depths of Dale Hollow Lake, the once thriving town – Willow Grove got its name from the trees that bordered the area. The town had everything you’d expect to see in a town, church, grocery store and apparently one of the largest schools in the area. During the World War most of the men went to the frontiers and died. Soon the government set their eyes on the picturesque place and began building dams. Later the area got flooded and today bows the Willow Groves sit in the bottom of a crystal clear lake.
7. Dunwich, England
Dunwich, Lost Underwater Cities
Dunwich was a port city and was once a religious centre where Christians came to set off for the Crusades. Now a tiny fishing village with only over a 100 people, Dunwich was once the 10th largest city in England almost as big as London today. For long the city had been dealing with rough weather and at one point it resulted in serious erosion. By the 15th century the once thriving city with its cathedrals, houses, and port structures was washed under water.
6. Doggerland, North Sea
Doggerland Lost Underwater Cities
In ancient times, the Doggerland was home to Mesolithic tribes in the North Sea. Now a mere speck, once they were a continuous mass of land joining England with Europe about 20,000 years ago. Historians call the Doggerland the north’s Garden of Eden where life (both human and animal) was on its full swing, until the sea level started rising and swallowed large chunks of the land masses. Before the flooding, Doggerland was largely occupied with fishermen and hunters.
5. Baiae, Italy
Baiae, Lost Underwater Cities
An ancient Roman city that was something like the vacation homes of the rich and fabulous. Sitting on a series of volcanic vents, the city had a number of hot springs and this constant source of water was partly responsible in making the place popular. When the water started to rise, fate of Baiae kind of became inevitable. Its visitors found new cities to splurge their golds on. A great number of ruined monuments are found including the Pisonian villa which Emperor Nero had seized in the first century BC from a family who had been plotting to kill him.
4. Atlit-Yam, Israel
Atlit-Yam, Lost Underwater Cities
A number of Neolithic settlements located along the Carmel coast are called the Atlit-Yam. A sprawling site built between 7,550 and 8,000 years ago there still remain foundations of houses and roads and wells. The city was wiped out when a sudden Tsunami caused by a volcanic eruption swept the whole city away. In the middle of the city there is a devotional place where supposedly the water spirit was worshipped. Around 65 skeletons an remains of men, women and children who died from tuberculosis which is believed to be one of the first mass deadly disease to sweep the ancient civilisation.
3. Gulf of Cambay, India
Dwarka Gulf of Cambay
A fairly recent discovery, the Gulf of Cambay was discovered quiet accidentally when an organisation was testing water bodies for water pollution. Following its discovery historians are rethinking if this is the oldest city on Earth, older than the Harappan and Mesopotamian city. Human skeleton and teeth had dated the Gulf of Cambay nearly 9,500 years old. Some even believe that the founder of Harappan civilisation were actually descendants of Gulf of Cambay who left the city before it went under the sea.
2. Pre-Incan Ruins in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
Lost Underwater Cities
Lake Titicaca has got quite a mysterious air about it and many locals consider the place sacred. Sitting at the bottom of the lake among other things is a temple, terraces, roads around 1,500 years old pre-dating the Incas. According to Incas lore the city was called Wanaku and was kind of a deposit bank for stolen gold and treasures by Spanish kings but the treasures were lost in time. After making around 200 dives, the divers from the Akakor Geographical Exploring have recovered several artifacts like stone statues and vessels, gold fragments, bones etc.
1. Shicheng, China
Shicheng, Lost Underwater Cities
The foundation of the city was laid over 1,300 years ago and the place thrived for the next three hundred years. The city is believed to have belonged to the Ming and Qing dynasties who started ruling China from 1368. Interestingly the city began to decline after efforts were made towards progress. After the Xin’an Dam and a huge hydroelectric power station were installed. Today sitting beneath 40 meters of water the city walls, gates and statues are magnificently well preserved.
Slow down you're thinking too fast. Can you relate to "thinking too fast" or maybe "thinking too much"? Sometimes it seems like we just have to talk or our minds will explode, and often the need to talk happens while someone else is already explaining or sharing what's important to them.
Ask yourself am I really listening, am I really understanding what the other person is saying? Is it more important for me to be heard than it is to hear others?
1 Using silence as a communication tool
Have you ever heard the expression "You have two ears and only one mouth so you should listen twice as much as you speak"? What about "Silence is Gold"? It doesn't matter if you have never heard these expressions, you will still be able to take advantage of this under-utilized ability.
2 Silence is one of the great arts of conversation
What does that mean? To me, it basically says "Shut up already!" We know that you can't have a conversation with both (or all) of the people talking at the same time. So somehow we have to take turns. There are some social conventions that help with this turn taking, but it doesn't always work as well as we might hope.
3 Reflection Is the Most Important Part of the Learning Process
The results reveal reflection to be a powerful mechanism behind learning, confirming the words of American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey: “We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.” … In fact, these beneficial effects seem to be lasting.
4 The Benefits of Silence
In the August issue of Ode magazine, Tijn Touber wrote, "Being silent means more than just holding your tongue. It means listening for the softest, most subtle sound of all - the sound of the soul." Last April, I was forced to keep vocally silent for a week after minor surgery on my vocal chords.
5 Quiet Calm Consideration will Untangle Every Knot
At the end of this post I'm hoping that I will have convinced you to view a video of a song from the Gilbert and Sullivan, Comic Opera, 'The Gondoliers'. Not generally my everyday listening, but please persevere. Recently I listened to Tony Quinlan from Narrate talk about how the patterns we have established in...
6 10 Ways to Embrace the Power of Silence
"Let your beauty manifest itself without talking or calculation. It says for you: I am. And comes in meaning thousand fold, comes at long last over everyone." From the moment we rise in the morning, we are engulfed in external noise - the alarm clock buzzing, music blaring, coffee pot beeping.
7 Tactic: Silence is Golden When Negotiating
We are not used to quiet. Your cell phone rings and chirps with calls, emails, texts, and social media updates. Your office is a constant whir of people tapping on their keyboard, conversations, and the hum of the ever so pretty fluorescent lights. Your home has the fridge running, the washing machine churning, the dishing...
8 Solitude: Where Your Life is Waiting
"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world found." - Hans Margolius - It's no secret that we are bombarded everyday with countless messages. In America alone, advertising is a $412 billion/year industry that is constantly telling us what to watch, where to go, and what to purchase.
9 The One Thing You're Not Doing That Will Completely Boost Your Focus
For many of us, true silence only comes when we close our eyes and turn in for the night. Even when we're "listening," our minds churn an inner dialogue: We're deciding what we'll say next, contemplating the way the speaker's mouth is moving, thinking about what's for lunch.
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If you have ever thought about taking a vow of silence and wondered what you might need to consider, then you've landed on the right heli-pad. So let's jump right in, shall we? First things first...Why would anyone want to stop talking?The answer is simple: to awaken awareness.Most of us fall through our days in a kind of trance-like state.
If you are a single woman in her 40’s, 50s or beyond, I have a question for you: When you look at yourself today, are you the same person you were in your 20s or 30s? Have many of your priorities changed? Has experience taught you new life skills and shifted your perspective on things you previously held as absolute truth?
And what about when it comes to dating and relationships? Have you updated your “checklist” for the 55 year old men you are dating; choosing not to judge them like you did 35 year olds? Have you learned that your worth is far more than whether a man wants you, and that you are okay with yourself; whether or not you have a partner?
If you’re like me, the answer is probably a resounding “yes” to these questions. You’ve probably opened your mind to new ideas, and perhaps closed your mind to others. You’ve learned life skills that have brought you success, both at work and at home.
In fact, you’re probably feeling damn smart at this point in your life. And you should! You have achieved a lot, and gained a ton of knowledge and skills over the years. Together, this has rendered you one wise woman.
Well, like us, men change and evolve. I can hear you shout “I know that!” (I’m even tempted to throw a “duh” in here.) But in my work as a Dating and Relationship Coach for Women over 40, I often help women who say they know this, yet still tend to make assumptions about men based on stereotypes and expectations that originated in their teenage years and lingered.
Like you, men in midlife and beyond have experienced, matured and created good lives for themselves and these men can make fantastic partners. Yes, there are some outliers, just like there are women dating like they are still in their 20s. But if you make the mistake of assuming all men are childish, it’s likely the grownup good guys are going to pass you by.
Here are three common misconceptions about men that are based on when we were dating boys:
Misconception#1: Men love to chase.
Even if they once were “that guy,” most grownup men — especially the confident, accomplished guys you want to date — no longer see the value and have dumped the challenge of a chase as a hobby. Why? First, the woman-to-man ratio is now in their favor and they don’t have to compete like they did in their 20s. Also, their hormones have mellowed and they have broadened their vision of themselves; reducing the need (and sometimes ability) to rack up sexual conquests.
Finally, the grownup men who have achieved success in life know how to how to get what they want. If they think you are unattainable, uninterested or you don’t have space for them in your life they will move on. They won’t waste their time on something (or someone) they can’t win. Would you?
What that means to your grownup girl: When you meet a man you are interested in, you need to let him know! It’s not about being aggressive like asking him out or jumping into bed with him. It’s simply about giving him a clear signal that, if he asks, you will say Yes. It’s giving him a “come hither.”
Tell him you very much look forward to talking with him again sometime. Tell him that you had a great time and would like to do it again. Look him in the eye and smile. Ask sincere questions about things he’s interested in. Compliment him. Receive graciously. Have fun with him. Laugh. These are all ways to show clear interest.
“The rules” is out, sister. Making him chase you not only doesn’t fly with grownup dating, it turns off the smart, commitment-minded men you are probably trying to meet. These men are not into playing games or climbing your wall of “I dare you.” They just want to meet a nice woman, have an easy time getting to know her and hopefully meet a wonderful partner to share the rest of a great life.
Misconception #2: Men won’t/can’t communicate their feelings.
Like you, men have many years of professional and personal circumstances that required them to develop effective communication skills. You can talk to men and they will talk back; and even listen! This is good news.
What that means to your grownup girl: You can be open, honest and direct with the men you date and have relationships with. There is no need to play games. Tell him what you want, what you don’t want and your true feelings. When you do so with loving kindness, good timing, and effective communication (the opposite sex does require a special language), you will find that this actually this strengthens a good relationship. If he’s the right guy for you he won’t run away like the uninterested, unwilling, scardey cats you dated twenty years ago.
Just remember that he may be willing but unable to share his needs and feelings and mistaking the two can be fatal. Unlike us, most men don’t have experience puking out their feelings or sharing their trials and tribulations. You may have to help him, but the right man will be willing to learn.
Misconception #3: Men will pick you because “you are there” and they can get sex.
The ego and libido of a man can be very powerful, indeed; especially men in their 20s and 30s. However, for the most part, the men you’re dating today have figured out that being with the wrong person is way worse than hanging out with themselves.
Make no mistake: men want sex! But not so much as to play the games they used to play to get us in the sack. Like you, most grownup men want intimacy with the right person. If Halle Berry showed up at their door naked would they say “no?” No way. But the days of trolling for sex are over. Grownup men want companionship, support and acceptance for who they are…just like you.
What that means to your grownup girl: If you meet a man that seems to enjoy you yet you don’t hear from him again, don’t take it personally. It’s likely that he knew something about himself or his life that meant you weren’t meant for each other. He’s probably doing you a favor.
With respect to sex, no need to feel pressure to “give him what he wants.” If you seem like the right woman, most men will be patient (as long as they know it will happen sometime). Most of all, drop the “all men want is sex” nonsense. It only serves to make you mistrust men. Inevitably that creates a wall between you and the men you meet which never results in good relationships. (Or even second dates for that matter.)
If finding love with an adult, interesting, committed man is on your dream list, consider opening your mind to see him as such. If you like him, show him, and let him know there is room in your life for the right man. Help him understand what you want and need so he can make you happy. Trust and honor him for the mature man he is. Do that, and the right man will love you for it. And you just might love him back!
Visitors to Elite Daily are generally in pursuit of something more – something greater than their current state. Its loyal readers are searching for a spark to ignite the passion that it takes to succeed. We are each on a personal path with destination unknown, and often times there are decisions that need to be made along the way, but one rule remains constant: never settle for less.
These decisions will set the course and it is important to consider something before committing: do not settle.
There are various areas of life that will tempt you to choose the easy option. The first that comes to mind is what we encounter when choosing whom to date. When romantic relationships and experiences build, a picture is continually painted of what is attractive and what is not. A time will come with a significant other that you must ask, “Is this person really worth my time and energy?” Do not settle.
We all hope the answer is yes, but carefully consider any doubt that enters your mind. Encourage trust in your instincts. It is perfectly natural to side with normality and avoid the fear of the unknown. Remember, though, that a person never fully grows without venturing outside of their comfort zone.
No one will be able to fulfill your every need and if you remain in a relationship because it is the easier of the two options, the long-term implications could be much worse. Do not allow yourself to ask “what if?”
A second area to consider is how we make a living. This, arguably, is more complicated than being in a romantic relationship because money is involved and there is increased pressure to adapt and conform quickly.
The goal after college is to pursue a career path that interests you, convince someone to pay you to do it, and start a life you can call your own. So often we see young, ambitious job seekers jump at the very first offer that comes their way.
The idea that someone is interested in your value and potential is positive feedback, but ask yourself: is it a good fit? Is it the right choice? Do not settle.
Finally, there is the idea of housing and relocation. You get to know someone best while working with them, but living with a person will paint a pretty clear picture as well. Be sure you are choosing a roommate and taking on rent for the right reasons.
There are few people who regret saving enough to eventually purchase a home. The point is to consider all options before jumping at the first prospect that crosses your path.
Likewise, it is easy to come back home. Whether that means the house where you grew up or the city at large, there is comfort in familiarity. If the chance to venture to another city for the right opportunity ever emerges, take time to seriously consider it. The idea of moving may terrify you, but courage overcomes fear and builds character.
If uprooting is exactly what you had in mind, use that as motivation to find a place that you will want to call home for years to come. It could be the best decision you have ever made.
No one strives for second best. Those in search of true accomplishment will be able to recognize and react to settling for less. There is a line in Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” that speaks volumes to the message I hope to convey in this article: “Did you exchange a walk-on part in the war / for the lead role in a cage?” Did you take the easy way out? If the answer is yes, I hope you at least learned something from it.
Brendan Marshall
Are you going out with the girls or hosting a party of your own? Then this post is for you! Here are my 13 all time favorite cocktails you've simply got to try (if you haven't yet - you've been missing!).
The flavor, the aroma, the colors - you'll love them for life! But before you try these heavenly drinks, make sure you've eaten something too, otherwise, you won't be able to try many of those :))
For a party I'd suggest you stock on Baked! Lay's and Smart Food Popcorn Clusters (as both are delicious, light on calories and have 0 grams trans fat). And if you are heading for drinks straight from work, snack on some Sun Chips on your way. I just love their taste and how easily they fit in my purse. Oh, and did I mention those are only 100 cals per pack?
Well, enjoy yourself, Ladies!
1. THE COSMOPOLITAN
Also known as the Cosmo, is an established leader among top-ranking alcoholic cocktails. It is believed that the Cosmopolitan first gained approval among the posh party-goers of South Beach, Florida, and was further popularized by the stylish women of television's "Sex and the City".
The main ingredient of the Cosmo is vodka, preferably, a high-quality variety (my personal choice is Finlandia). Take 2 measures of vodka, add 2 measures of cranberry juice, 1 measure of Triple Sec liqueur (the best is made of sun-dried skins of oranges and my advice is to use gourmet Cointreau made in France), and a generous squeeze of lime or lemon juice. Mix the ingredients well and serve in a large martini glass "straight up" - without ice. Garnish with wedges of lime or lemon.
2. MARGARITA
The sharp and delicious, Margarita is the best known tequila-based cocktail. To make it, you will need good tequila (I recommend Añejo, which is an aged variety with a rich and distinctive taste), Triple Sec liqueur (always keep some of it in your cocktail drawer alongside with wines, vodkas, flavoured liquors, chocolate, and other yummy goodies to indulge in during long autumn nights), and fresh limes or lemons (limes go better). A good rule of thumb is to mix 7 parts of tequila with 4 parts of Triple Sec and add at least 3 parts of lime juice. Enjoy your Margarita in a large cocktail glass with a salt rim around the edge, either blended with ice (a "frozen Margarita"), on the rocks, or just with some ice cubes added.
3. THE MOJITO
The Mojito is a tropical cocktail that is extremely popular at sunny resorts and exotic vacation destinations around the #world. On a cold and gloomy fall evening, mix strong Cuban or Philippine rum with sugar cane juice (brown sugar will go, too) and club soda, and finish with freshly squeezed lime juice and some mint sprigs. Pour the mixture into a tall glass with a few ice cubes, and pretend you are on Laguna Beach... If your Mojito is strong enough, it can really work! ;)
4. THE PEAR MARTINI
The Pear Martini is a real delight and is one of my own favourite cocktails. Take about 2 oz. of a good quality pear vodka (Swedish Pear Absolut is the best), a splash of fresh grapefruit juice, and a squeeze of lime juice. Mix all the ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish your Pear Martini with lime peel and a slice of dried pear. Enjoy!
5. THE MADERA EGGNOG
This hot and deliciously rich cocktail is ideal for chilly autumn or winter nights. Although it takes some time to prepare, the cozy taste of the Madera Eggnog is well worth the effort! In a saucepan, whisk together 1 egg, 2 tbs. of sugar and a cup of milk, and bring the mixture to a boil. Add 2 oz. each of Madeira and brandy; do not boil. When frothy, pour into a mug, sprinkle with grated nutmeg, and serve hot. It's the best! :)
6. STRAWBERRY DAIQUIRI
The daiquiri is a very popular drink in many restaurants that can be made with many different flavors. Strawberry daiquiris are a hit during the Summer and can be made at home with non-alcohol mixes that can be found in the grocery store. They are so easy to make; just add rum, blend it up and you're ready to party!
7. SEA BREEZE
When I turned 21, the Sea Breeze was one of my favorite drinks. I asked the bartender what was fruity and popular and in two shakes I was drinking a sweet, flavorful cocktail. What's great about this drink that most women love, is the calorie count at only 180, compared to drinks like the daiquiri and margarita that can add up to 300 #calories! If you have cranberry and grapefruit juice in your fridge then you have half of this drink made already! Just add vodka and you're good to go.
8. SANGRIA
If you're hosting a big party this cocktail is a great one to mix up that everyone will enjoy. You can serve Sangria right away, but if you really want to boost the flavor, have it sit overnight so the fruit wedges get a good soaking. For this recipe you'll need a bottle of red wine, a shot of brandy, 1 lemon cut into wedges, 1 orange cut into wedges, 2 tbsp of sugar, and 2 cups of ginger ale or club soda. You'll pour the wine in a pitcher, add the wedges after squeezing the juices from them, add in the brandy and sugar, and let it chill overnight. If serving right away you'll add in the ginger ale or club soda, though if you do let it chill, don't forget to add in this last ingredient before serving.
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9. MALIBU BAY BREEZE
The Malibu Bay Breeze is another favorite drink of mine, it's fruity and easy to make just like the Sea Breeze cocktail. If you're in the mood for a good Summer drink then you'll love this cocktail too. Pick up some pineapple (2 ounces) and cranberry juice (2 ounces) plus some coconut rum (1 1/2 ounces), add to a glass of ice and enjoy!
10. MUDSLIDE
Are you looking for a thick and smooth cocktail that will #compliment a slice of chocolate cake, then you need a mudslide! Take a 1/2 ounce of Kahlua, 1/2 ounce of Baileys Irish Cream, 1/2 ounce of vodka, and 1 ounce of milk, pour over ice, stir, and well you know rest! If you're vegan, use coconut milk and Jameson Irish Whiskey instead.
11. PINA COLADA
Well this popular cocktail couldn't be any more perfect for a great Summer taste! If you love coconuts and pineapple juice then you'll really enjoy this fresh drink. For this #recipe you'll need 2 oz of rum, 2 oz of pineapple juice, 1 1/2 oz of coconut cream, plus a pineapple wedge and cherry for garnish.
12. MINT JULEP
Mint is not just a popular color that is trending on the runway, it's also part of a popular Southern drink! To really make this cocktail pop use fresh mint leaves in the drink and extra leaves for garnish. Take the mint leaves from 4 sprigs, 2 sugar cubes, 2 1/2 oz of bourbon, and muddle the mint and sugar together, then add the bourbon and ice for a refreshing drink.
13. IRISH COFFEE
I made the mistake of ordering an Irish Coffee before I really knew what it was! If you really need a strong cocktail that will put some buzz into your day, then try this, "Wow this isn't just coffee" drink! Mix together 2 oz of Bailey's Irish Cream, 6 oz of hot coffee, and Irish Whiskey for a mid-day wake me up.
14. THE MIMOSA
Sure this is seen as a brunch drink, but I love them any time! They're so delicious and easy to make that it's a no brainer that you'll want to drink them when you want them, not just in the morning. It's best to use equal parts champagne and orange juice, but make sure that you pour the champagne first and then the juice. Of course you can alter it depending on how much alcohol you plan on consuming.
15. THE DIRTY SHIRLEY
How much did you love Shirley Temples when you were a little girl? They were absolutely delicious and now you don't have to give them up! If you're craving something delicious, nostalgic, and that will give you a buzz this is the drink for you. All you need is 1 oz of vodka, 5-6 oz of Sprite, and just a dash of grenadine syrup. It'll be delicious and has a nice kick to it.
16. APPLE MARTINI
I remember the first time I had one of these, I was shocked by how delicious and strong this drink was. What you'll need is 1.5 Oz Apple flavored vodka, 1 Oz Sour apple liqueur or apple flavored schnapps, Dash Midori, 1 Oz Pineapple juice, 1 Oz Apple juice, 8-10 Ice cubes, and a shaker. Pour all of the ingredients into your shaker and shake them together well. Once you've done that strain your drink into a glass and enjoy! Trust me, you'll enjoy it.
17. NUTTY APPLE COCKTAIL
This is the perfect Fall drink, but can be enjoyed at any time of the year! You'll need 1 ounce Frangelico Hazelnut Liqueur, 1 ounce Butterscotch Schnapps, 1 ounce Kahlua Coffee Liqueur, 1/2 ounce 99 Apples Liqueur, 2 1/2 ounces International Delight French Vanilla Creamer, and ice. Mix your ingredients together in a glass and enjoy the delicious Fall flavor in your mouth any #time of the year.
What are some of your favorite cocktails, did they make our list?
This article was written in collaboration with editor Lydia Sheehan and Only in a Woman's World.
A decade ago, a revolutionary paper showed that a hormone called oxytocin can actually make us trust other people. This spawned a flurry of research that revealed oxytocin’s potential to boost social interactions. Now a new study has shown that the hormone is actually very similar to alcohol, a well-known social lubricant. However, just like alcohol, it has a dark side.
In the first study, published in 2005, volunteers were asked to invest money in an anonymous trustee whose honesty could not be guaranteed. People who received a dose of oxytocin chose to invest more than those given a placebo – they were more trusting. Subsequent experiments have shown that oxytocin also leads people to become more empathetic, generous and cooperative. They become better at reading social nuances and facial expressions, believe others to be more approachable and become less fearful and anxious in social situations.
Not only this, it seems that oxytocin may help to promote fidelity. Evidence for this comes most clearly in two intensively studied and closely related rodent species. One, the prairie vole, is monogamous; mated couples form close pair bonds and share nest-building and parental duties. In the other, the meadow vole, males leave the female with the babies and will try to mate again.
The two species vary in their sensitivity to oxytocin. However, experiments that increase the effective sensitivity to oxytocin by increasing hormone dosage or blocking receptors in the brain can actually change pair-bonding behavior, making it easier for female prairie voles to choose a partner and turning previously promiscuous meadow vole males into monogamous, caring dads.
Oxytocin in Humans
In our own species, oxytocin has been shown to inhibit men already in relationships from approaching other attractive women; enhance activation of the brain’s reward systems when they see their partner’s face compared to other attractive women and help couples deal positively with conflict.
Along with other functions, mainly in the formation of mother-infant bonding, the rosy glow of the “love hormone” seems to know no bounds – and its potential application for helping to cement and maintain loving relationships is clear. Its effects on facilitating social interaction have made it an appealing possible therapeutic tool in patients who struggle with social situations and communication, including in autism, schizophrenia and mood or anxiety disorders.
Even better, it is very easy to use. All the human studies on it use intranasal sprays to boost oxytocin levels. These sprays are readily available, including through the internet, and appear safe to use, at least in the short term – no one yet knows whether there is any long-term harm.
Adverse Effects
In the past few years, however, concerns expressed by some researchers have begun to rein in the enthusiasm about the potential applications of oxytocin as a therapeutic tool.
Recent studies are showing that the positive effects can be much weaker – or even detrimental – in those that need it the most. In contrast to socially competent or secure individuals, exposure can reduce cooperativeness and trust in those prone to social anxiety. It also increases inclination for violence towards intimate partners. Although this is seen only in people who tend to be more aggressive in general, these would be the same people who might have most to gain from such a treatment, were it available.
These apparently paradoxical effects are hard to explain, particularly since the brain mechanisms responsible are still poorly understood. But a new study may help to provide the answer. A team from the University of Birmingham decided to tackle the issue by comparing studies on the effects of oxytocin with those of alcohol and were struck by the incredible similarities between the two compounds.
Alcohol and Oxytocin
Like oxytocin, alcohol can have helpful effects in social situations. It increases generosity, fosters bonding within groups and suppresses the action of neural inhibitions on social behavior, including fear, anxiety and stress.
But, of course, acute alcohol consumption also comes with significant downsides. Aside from the health implications of chronic use, it interferes with recognition of emotional facial expression, influences moral judgements and increases risk-taking and aggression. And as with oxytocin, the increase in aggression is limited to those who have an existing disposition to it.
The researchers argue that the striking similarities in behavioral outcome tell us something about the biological mechanisms involved. Although oxytocin and alcohol target different brain receptors, activation of these receptors appear to produce analogous physiological effects. Indeed, they also note similarities with how other compounds work, including benzodiazepines, which are commonly used to treat anxiety. Our understanding of how one chemical elicits its effects might thus help us to understand the action of the others.
But, if this new interpretation is correct, it may presage further bad press for the love hormone. It may be that the darkening clouds that threaten to tarnish its reputation are only just beginning to gather. At the very least, it should give us cause for careful evaluation before we rush into using it as a remedy.
When two people start falling in love, they feel that it would never be possible to run out of things to say to each other. But sooner or later, a time comes when even the most devoted of couples may begin to wonder what else to talk about. Which is a pity really, since conversations are one of the most natural ways to know more about each other. So if you are raring to discover more about the new person in your life or simply need to break the monotony of years of marriage, here are a few conversation topics to get you started.
Go back to the early days of your relationship and rediscover what drew you to each other. If you were the one to ask your partner to a date, ask your girlfriend or wife what made her say yes. Or if you were the one to agree to the date, ask what prompted him to choose you to go out with.
TIP: According to a recent UK survey published in The Guardian, falling out of love is the single most important reason for divorce. Having interesting and stimulating conversations greatly contributes to the strength of a marriage. The path-breaking book from Amazon, 'Tell Me Honey...2000 Questions for Couples' has 2000 questions across 75 categories including love, romance, sex and relationships that couples can ask each other, to come closer and keep the marriage strong. Reading this book will keep the magic alive as you discover new sides to each other. It's also available as an instant download ebook.
Hobbies are one of the most dependable topics of conversation, no matter how long you have known each other. If you are new to the relationship, discuss hobbies that your partner loved as a child. On the other hand, if you have been married for several years, explore the possibility of doing something new with each other – like going for a hike on Saturdays or taking a salsa class for couples every Wednesday night. Pursuing mutual interests may help you to come closer to each other while doing something fun at the same time.
Vacations comprise one of the most remembered memories among humans. Ask your partner what was the best vacation he/she took before meeting you and why it was fun. You may be surprised to know that some of the most enjoyable vacations may have been weekend trips and not necessarily spent at exotic destinations. Moreover the conversation might offer you valuable pointers on what your partner likes doing best on holidays.
If you are taking a walk at the park, discuss the possibility of having pets someday and if you may, what would you choose to keep. Again if you are already the proud owners of a Labrador or an African parrot, you may think aloud on how having a pet has made a difference to your lives. The topic might seem mundane but it really sounds out issues of home, commitment and role of family in your lives.
Ask about your partner’s day after he/she returns home from work. They may be too tired to say much but the very fact that there is somebody to ask after them may speak volumes of your love and support.
Discussions on future make very interesting conversations, though you may need to tread lightly on touchy issues like kids or finances. Rather ask your partner to name five new things he/she would like to learn before turning forty/fifty/sixty and so on.
If you share common culinary passions, you are unlikely to ever run out of delicious things to say to each other. Discuss a new recipe that you may have come across a magazine or vow to try out the new Lebanese-themed restaurant in town on your next date.
Pore over old albums with your partner and you are certain to have a lot to talk about. Pick up clues from your partner’s attitude on what photos bring back happy memories and then ask him/her to tell you more about the time it was taken.
Choose one aspect of your partner’s physical make-up and compliment him/her on it. If you love the way dimples form on her cheeks when she laughs, say so. Or if your find the small arch of his lower back insanely attractive, tell him that. Your partner will not only be pleased with your words but the conversation could veer to what else you love about each other – something of which no couple can ever have enough.
Inject some fun into your conversations by having him/her tell you about the yuckiest thing they ever had to do. It may be something from their high school chemistry class or the first time they got completely sozzled with friends.
Invite your partner to talk about his or her family. Most people will fondly remember an autumn fishing trip with dad or counting starts on a late summer evening with mom. However if you know that your partner had an unhappy childhood, steer clear of this topic.
Ask your partner about the best teacher he/she had and why. It could be because the teacher could make the subject come alive like no one ever did or because the teacher taught the most important life lessons your partner ever came across.
Spice things up between you two by discussing an erotic fantasy or a crazy thought. However remember to keep it light and fun and don’t bring an element of stress by expecting the other person to act anything out.
Sharing pleasant memories about childhood can also make great conversation between couples. Tell your partner about the first time you spent a night away from home and whether it was a sleepover at a friend’s place or a school trip.
If the two of you could just drop whatever you are doing and do something fun, ask your partner what would it be. This would be an interesting way of knowing what your partner enjoys doing most, especially in your company.
Life goals and values evolve over time and something or someone which you thought your partner considered important may not be so any more. So ask your partner if there was one historical event that he/she could change, what it would be. If this is not the first time you are asking this question, you may be surprised by a different answer compared to the last time.
Talk about what you need to do more to make your partner feel loved and valued.
If you are sharing a home, discuss what material things are important to each of you. Prioritizing future purchases, especially expensive ones, might not seem a very romantic topic of conversation between couples but its lack can create problems in a relationship. So tackle these issues when there is still time.
If you want to know more about the values and ideals your partner holds high, ask about the kind of causes he/she would like to support and why.
Finally, don’t forget to tell your partner how much he/she means to you and about all the ways their love and mere presence has enriched your life.
Normally I do not speak of personal things, but once in a while I feel i must share. Tonight is one of those nights...
While walking my pup tonight, I felt the uneasiness of the Clouded Moon, and every sense I have is on full alert...
There are many spirits and entities on the move tonight... all with a sense of urgency. The anxiety in the air is almost electric with charge, and I am not the only one who feels this. Pull strength from yourselves this night, protect yourselves while you rest this night and place protection on your loved ones. I feel a major shift tonight, perhaps even a connection from the mist to this plane. It is nights like this that I am thankful I am not working in the Emergency Rooms. They will be packed.
Protect yourselves and loved ones...
From my Hearth to yours,
Morganna777
http://list25.com/25-crazy-rites-of-passage/
At the heart of the modern crisis of manhood is the extension of adolescence, a boyhood which is stretching on for a longer and longer period of time. Once thought to end in a man’s 20s at the latest, men are extending their adolescence into their 30’s and in some especially sad cases, their 40’s.
But in some ways it’s not their fault. It’s the fault of a culture in which rites of passage have all but disappeared, leaving men adrift and lost, never sure when and if they’ve become men. Today’s men lack a community of males to initiate them into manhood and to recognize their new status.
Across time and place, cultures have inherently understood that without clear markers on the journey to manhood, males have a difficult time making the transition and can drift along indefinitely. Thus, rites of passage were clearly delineated in nearly every culture as one of the community’s most important rituals.
While almost every culture had a rite of passage ritual, there existed a great diversity in what these ceremonies consisted of. The common thread was an experience that involved emotional and physical pain and required a boy to pass the test of manhood: to show courage, endurance, and the ability to control one’s emotions.
The following are a few of the interesting (read:insane and crazy) rite of passage rituals that existed (and in some cases still exist) around the world. While they be quite offensive to our modern, Western sensibilities, each was born of different cultures’ beliefs of what made a man, a man. And you thought your Bar Mitzah was stressful.
Vanuatu Land Diving
Vanuatu Land Diving male rite of passage
Bungee jumping is for wusses… at least compared to the men who live in Vanuatu, a small island nation in the middle of the South Pacific. Here the men take place in a yearly harvest ritual called Land Diving.
Around April or May, villages will build crude wooden towers reaching heights of 100 feet or more. After the tower is completed, a few men will volunteer to scale it. The men then tie a vine first on a platform on the tower and then around their ankles. Summoning all the courage they have, the men dive from the platform headfirst. The divers reach speeds of 45 miles an hour as they plummet to the ground.
The goal of the jump is to land close enough to the ground that the diver’s shoulders touch the ground. Any miscalculation on the length of the vine means either serious injury or death.
Land diving among the Vanuatus goes back nearly 15 centuries. The purpose of the ritual is twofold. First, it’s performed as a sacrifice to their gods to ensure a bountiful yam crop. Second, it serves as a rite of passage to initiate the tribe’s boys into manhood. Boys as young as five years old will take part in the ritual which is often preceded by circumcision. The boys start out jumping low, but will work their way up as they get older. The higher a man goes, the manlier he is considered by the tribe.
Watch the divers make their plunge into manhood:
Mardudjara Aborigines Subincision
Mardudjara Aborigines Subincision illustration male rite of passage
The rite of passage from boyhood to manhood of the Australian Mardudjara Aborigines consists of two parts: circumcision and sub-incision. Don’t know what sub-incision is? Read on. You’ll be wincing in pain.
When an Aborigine boy comes of age, usually around 15 or 16, the tribal elders will lead the boy to a fire and have him lie down next to it. Tribal members surround the boy while singing and dancing. Another group of men, called the Mourners, wail and cry while the circumcision is performed.
The tribal elder in charge of the circumcision sits on top of the boy’s chest facing his penis. He pulls up the foreskin and twists it so it can be cut off. Two men take turns cutting away the foreskin with knives that they’ve imbued with magical qualities. The boy bites down on a boomerang as the operation takes place.
When the circumcision is complete, the boy kneels on a shield that’s placed over the fire so the smoke can rise up and purify his wound.
While the boy sits there dazed and in pain, the tribal elders tell him to open his mouth and swallow some “good meat” without chewing it. The “good meat” is actually the boy’s freshly removed foreskin. After he’s swallowed a piece of his own wiener, the boy is told that he has eaten “his own boy” and that it will now grow inside him and make him strong.
Now comes the second part of the initiation- the sub-incision. A few months after the circumcision, the tribal elders take the young man again to a fire. An elder sits on the boy’s chest and takes ahold of the boy’s penis. Again, there are singers and men mourning at the ceremony. A small wooden rod is inserted into the urethra to act as a backing for the knife. The operator then takes a knife and makes a split on the underside of the penis from the frenulum (underneath the head of the penis) to near the scrotum.
After the sub-incision, the boy stands above the fire and allows his blood to drip into it. From now on the boy will have to squat when he urinates, just like a woman. In fact, some anthropologists posit that the sub-incision ceremony is done to simulate menstruation, allowing men to sympathize with the females of the tribe.
The ceremonies of the Mardudjara have slowly disappeared as contact with the modern world has increased and each successive generation becomes less willing to make a snack of their foreskin.
Hamar Cow Jumping
hamar cow jumping photo male rite of passage
Imagine sitting down with your girlfriend’s dad to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. You’re nervous. Sweat gathers on your forehead. You make small talk, but finally manage to get the question out while your voice cracks.
The dad responds, “Sure! But you’ll have to jump over some cows first.”
If you’re a man living in the Hamar tribe of Ethiopia, this is exactly what you’d have to go through before you can get hitched. To become a man, you’ll have to jump over a herd of cattle.
The ceremony starts off with the tribe’s young girls jumping in unison. Usually these girls are relatives or good friends of the boy who is about to be initiated into manhood. Their metal jewelry clinks and clacks in a rhythmic beat. The girls will jump towards the maza — men who have already gone through the rite of passage — and hand them a green stick. The men use this green stick to lash at the backs of the girls while they continue to jump up and down. The lashing continues until blood is drawn. When the men are finished, the girls bow to them and jump away. The scars that form show that the women endured pain for the initiate during his passage into manhood.
After the whipping ceremony, the tribe forms a circle around a herd of cattle. Singing and chanting fills the air. Four of the biggest bulls are lined up side to side. In order for the ceremony to be valid, the bulls must be castrated. The initiate is brought to the cattle, naked except for a few cords he wears around his chest. The boy must jump onto the first bull and then run back and forth across the backs of the cattle three times. When he’s done, a shout is given and the boy is a maza, or man.
The Ancient Spartan Helot Killing
Ancient Spartan Helot Killing male rite of passage
For ancient Spartans, becoming a soldier was the only way one could be recognized as a man. Military training began at age seven when boys would be taken from their families and placed in the Agoge system. For the next 10 years Spartan boys learned the skills necessary to become a trained killing machine.
When a Spartan youth turned 18, he completed his training. To graduate and be recognized as a man in his community, the boy had to undergo a cruel rite of passage called the krypteia. The young man would be sent to the countryside with only a knife and his wits. His object? To kill as many state-owned slaves, called helots, without being detected and return to his school in one piece. The young men would often hide during the day and make their attacks at night. In order to complete this rite of passage successfully, the young man had to call on all the training he received in the Agoge.
After successfully completing the krypteia, a Spartan man was expected to marry and continue killing for the state.
Satere-Mawe Bullet Ant Glove
Satere-Mawe Bullet Ant Glove male rite of passage
Deep in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon lives the Satere-Mawe tribe. To become a man in the Satere-Mawe, a boy must stick his hand in a glove woven with bullet ants and withstand their stings for over 10 minutes without making a noise.
According to the Schmidt Sting Index, the bullet ant has the most painful sting in the ant world. It’s described as “waves of throbbing, all consuming pain” that continues for over 24 hours. In fact, the locals call the ant, hormiga venticuatro because the pain from the sting lasts 24 hours.
Now if the sting from one bullet ant is that painful, imagine the pain you’d experience if you put on a glove made entirely of pissed-off bullet ants.
To make the glove, the tribesmen will knock out the bullet ants with a natural sedative. While the ants are docile, the elders proceed to make their torture device by weaving the ants into a glove made of leaves with the ants’ stingers facing inwards.
When the ants regain consciousness, the boys put on the gloves and face 10 minutes of pure, unadulterated hell. The copious amounts of venom the boy receives during the ordeal will temporarily paralyze his arm and leave him shaking uncontrollably for days.
This isn’t a one-time deal, either. A young boy may have to stick his hand in the bullet ant glove several more times before he’s considered a man. Each time he experiences the ordeal, the object is to remain as quiet as possible. It’s a test of manly endurance and stoicism that’s necessary to be effective warriors for the tribe.
Watch it in action:
Maasai Warrior Passage
Maasai Warrior boys male rite of passage
The Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania have a series of rites of passage that carry boys into manhood. Every 10 or 15 years a new warrior class will be initiated into the tribe. Boys between the ages of 10 and 20 are brought together from all across the country. Dozens of houses are built that will serve as the place of initiation. The night before the ceremony, the boys sleep outside in the forest. At dawn, they return to the little makeshift homestead for a day of singing and dancing. They drink a mixture of milk, cow’s blood, and alcohol and eat piles and piles of meat. After the festivities, boys who are of age (12-16) are ready to be circumcised.
The Emuratare is the most important ceremony in the life of a Maasai boy. Once circumcised, the tribe will consider him a man, warrior, and protector of his village. As the young man makes his way to where the elders will circumcise him, friends and family members will taunt the boy by saying things like “If you flinch, we will disown you.” The Maasai value bravery in their warriors and the circumcision is a boy’s first way to prove his courage even in the face of severe pain. It takes about 3 months for the circumcision to heal and during that time the young men wear black clothing and live in huts built by the women of the villiage. The Maasai boy is now warrior.
For the next 10 years the young men live together in an Emanyatta, or warriors camp. There they learn fighting, oratory, and animal husbandry. After 10 years, the young men take part in the Eunoto ceremony that marks the transition from warrior to senior warrior. After a Maasai has passed through the Eunoto, he can marry. The ceremony is basically several days of festivals, which ends with the initiate’s mother shaving his hair.
Mandan Hook Hanging
Mandan indians Hook Hanging male rite of passage
Native American tribes each had their own unique coming of age rituals for the men in the tribe. But few were as intense as that of the Mandans. Before his rite-of-passage, a Mandan boy fasted for 3 days to cleanse his body of impurities. Then, on the day of the ritual, elders of tribe would pierce the boy’s chest, shoulder, and back muscles with large wooden splints. Ropes, which extended from the roof of a hut, were then attached to the splints, and the young man was winched up into the air, his whole body weight suspended from the ropes. Despite the pain, the boy was not to cry out in pain. While hanging in the air, more splints were hammered through his arms and legs. Skulls of his dead grandfather and other ancestors were placed on the ends of the splints.
Eventually, the young man fainted from the loss of blood and the sheer pain of the torture. When the elders were sure he was unconscious, he was lowered down and the ropes were removed. Yet the splints were left in place. When the young man recovered consciousness, he offered his left pinky to the tribal elders to be sacrificed. He placed his finger on a block and had it swiftly chopped off. This was a gift to the gods and would enable the young man to become a powerful hunter. Finally, the young man ran inside a ring where his fellow villagers had gathered. As he ran, the villagers reached out and grabbed the still embedded splints, ripping them free. The splints weren’t allowed to be pulled out the way they had been hammered in, but had to be torn out in the opposite direction, causing the young man even greater pain and worse wounds. This concluded the day’s ceremony, and the boy was now a man.
Sambia of Papa New Guinea
Sambia Papa New Guinea male rite of passage
In the small country of Papau New Guinea, over 1,000 different culture groups exist. Among them is the Sambia tribe, a group with perhaps the most insane rite of passage into manhood in the world.
The initiation begins at age seven with the separation of the boy from the mother. The boy will spend the rest of his young life only in the presence of men in an all male hut. The gender separation is taken to such extremes that boys and women use different walking paths around the village.
After being separated from the women, the young boy is subjected to several brutal hazing rituals. The first involves ceremonial bloodletting from the nose. The procedure is crude, but effective. The boy is held against a tree and stiff, sharp grasses and sticks are shoved up his nose until the blood starts flowing freely. Once the elders see blood, they let out a collective war cry. After the bloodletting, the boys undergo severe beatings and lashings. The purpose is to toughen up the boys and to prepare them to live as warriors.
As we’ve seen, ritual bloodletting is par for the course when it comes to male initiation. What sets the Sambia apart from other groups is the second part of their male rite of passage: semen drinking.
The Sambia believe that both men and women are born with a tingu. The tingu is a body part that allows for procreation. A woman’s tingu is ready for reproduction when she first menstruates. A man’s tingu is born shriveled and dried and the only way to fill it is to drink the “man milk,” or semen of other sexually mature men. They believe that by drinking the male essence of other men, the boys will become strong and virile. Done in the privacy of the forest, a boy will perform fellatio on young, usually unmarried men between the ages of 13 and 21. The boys are encouraged to “drink the male essence” as much as possible in order to become strong.
Around age 13, a young man has started puberty and another stage in the initiation begins. Another ritual nosebleed takes place along with some beatings to purify the young man. The boy is now considered a bachelor and will now provide the “man milk” to young boys just starting down the path of manhood.
Around age 20, a Sambia man is ready to marry, but before the nuptials take place, the tribal elders teach the young man the secrets to protect himself from the impurities of women. For example, when having intercourse, a man should stuff mint leaves in his nostril and chew on bark in order to mask the smell of his wife’s genitals. Moreover, when a man has sex with his wife, penetration shouldn’t be too deep as this will only increase the chances becoming polluted. Finally, after intercourse, a Sambia man must go bathe in mud in order to wash away any impurities he may have contracted from his wife. Even after marriage, a young Sambia man doesn’t spend very much time with his wife, but instead continues passing the time with the other men
The final rite of passage in the life of Sambian man is fatherhood. After his wife gives birth, a Sambia man is considered to have the full rights of masculinity.
The transition from childhood to adulthood -- the “coming of age” of boys who become young men and girls who become young women -- is a significant stepping stone in everyone’s life. But the age at which this happens, and how a child celebrates their rite of passage into adolescence, depends entirely on where they live and what culture they grow up in. Looking back, we'll never forget the majesty that was prom, or the excitement of hitting the dance floor at our friends' co-ed Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties, and why should we? Embarassing or amazing, they were pivotal moments in our lives that deserve remembering. On that note, here are thirteen of it the world’s most diverse coming of age traditions.
1. Jewish Coming of Age Tradition: Bar and Bat Mitzvah
Around the world, young Jewish boys and girls celebrate their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs at age 13 and 12 in order to demonstrate their commitment to their faith and recognize that they are now responsible for following Jewish law. After the religious ceremony, a reception typically ensues to celebrate the young person’s hard work and accomplishment, as they have often spent weeks learning and preparing for this day.
2. The Sateré-Mawé Coming Of Age Tradition: Bullet Ant Initiation
Infinitus Possibilis
In the Brazilian Amazon, young boys belonging to the indigenous Sateré-Mawé tribe mark their coming of age when they turn 13 in a Bullet and Ant Initiation. The tradition goes as so: they search the jungle for bullet ants which are sedated by a leader who submerges them in an herbal solution. The ants are then weaved into gloves with the stingers pointed inwards. An hour or so later, the ants wake up angrier than ever, and the initiation begins. Each boy has to wear the gloves for ten minutes.
Enduring the pain demonstrates the boys’ readiness for manhood -- so few cry out as doing so would demonstrate weakness. Each boy will eventually wear the gloves 20 times over the span of several months before the initiation is complete.
3. Amish Coming of Age Tradition: Rumspringa
Wikimedia Commons
In Amish tradition, Rumspringa marks the time when youth turn 16 and are finally able to enjoy unsupervised weekends away from family. During this time, they are encouraged to enjoy whatever pleasures they like, be that modern clothing or alcohol. The purpose of this period is to allow Amish youth the opportunity to see and experience the world beyond their culture and upbringing. In this way, returning to their community and way of life thus is entirely their choice. Those who return are then baptized and become committed members of the Amish church and community, marking the end of Rumspringa (but they must do so before turning 26).
4. Hispanic Coming of Age Tradition: Quinceanera
Flickr: Christopher Michael
In many parts of Central and South America, young girls celebrate their Quinceanera when they turn 15 years old. The coming of age tradition typically begins with a Catholic mass where the girl renews her baptismal vows and solidifies her commitment to her family and faith. Immediately following the mass is a fiesta where friends and family eat and dance.
5. American Coming of Age Tradition: Sweet 16
Flickr: Kris Krug
While less rooted in tradition, the 16th birthday is nonetheless an important one for American youth, as it marks the time when they are legally permitted to drive a car (and with driving comes big-time freedom). For some lucky teens the day is celebrated with an over-the-top party and potentially a new car, as documented on the the MTV show My Super Sweet 16.
6. Inuit Coming of Age Tradition: North Baffin Island
Wikimedia Commons
In North Baffin Island, Inuit boys have traditionally gone out to the wilderness with their fathers between the ages of 11 and 12 to test their hunting skills and acclimatise to the harsh arctic weather. As part of the tradition, a shaman would be called to open the lines of communication between men and animals. Nowadays, however, this tradition has been extended to young girls as well, as “outcamps” are established away from the community in order for traditional skills to be passed down and practiced by the young men and women.
7. Khatam Al Koran Coming of Age Tradition: Malaysia
Flickr: CPS Brunei
In Malaysia, 11 is a special birthday for some Muslim girls, as it marks the time when they can celebrate Khatam Al Koran, a prestigious ritual that demonstrates their growing maturity at their local mosque. Girls spend years preparing for this day, reviewing the Koran so they can recite the final chapter before friends and family at the ceremony.
8. Maasai Coming of Age Tradition: Tanzania and Kenya
Wikimedia Commons
The Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania have several rites of passage that carry boys into manhood. Boys between the ages of 10-20 come together to be initiated as the new “warrior class” of the tribe, placed in dozens of houses built for the occasion. The night before the ceremony the boys sleep outside in the forest, and at dawn they return for a day of singing and dancing. They drink a mixture of alcohol, cow’s blood, and milk, while also consuming large portions of meat. After these festivities they are ready to be circumcised, making the official transformation into a man, warrior, and protector. Similar to other rites of passage the boys cannot flinch, because doing so would shame their families and discount their bravery.
For the next 10 years the boys will stay at a warrior’s camp where they learn various skills. After the ceremony takes places, marking their transition from warrior to senior warrior, they are entitled to marry the woman of their choice.
9. Ethiopian Coming of Age Tradition: Hamar Cow Jumping
Travelblog.org
In Ethiopia, some grooms-to-be have their own “bachelor party” of sorts- a rite of passage they must complete prior to being able to marry. Participants must successfully jump over a castrated, male cow four times while naked, symbolizing the childhood they are leaving behind them. If successful, they will now be considered one of the Maza- other men who passed the test and spend the next few months supervising these events in villages throughout the Hamar territory.
10. Vanuatu Coming of Age Tradition: Land Divers
Wikimedia Commons
Bungee enthusiasts will enjoy this: in Vanuatu, a small island nation in the middle of the South Pacific, young boys come of age by jumping off of a 98-foot-tall tower with a bungee-like vine tied to their ankles, just barely preventing them from hitting the ground. The catch? Unlike a bungee cord, the vine lacks elasticity, and a slight miscalculation in vine length could lead to broken bones or even death.
Boys initially begin jumping at around 7 or 8, although they are permitted to jump from a shorter tower. In their first dives their mother will hold an item representing their childhood, and after the jump the item will be thrown away, symbolizing the end of childhood. As boys grow older they will jump from taller towers, demonstrating their manliness to the crowd.
11. Japanese Coming of Age Tradition: Seijin-no-Hi
Wikimedia Commons
In Japan, the second Monday of January marks a special day- the day in which 20 year olds get to dress up in their finest traditional attire, attend a ceremony in local city offices, receive gifts, and party to their hearts’ content amongst friends and family. It’s their Coming of Age Festival, otherwise known as Seijin-no-Hi.
The tradition started nearly 1200 years ago and recognizes the age when the Japanese believe youth become mature, contributing members of society (it’s also the time when they get to vote and drink).
12. Confucian Coming of Age Traditions: Ji Li and Guan Li
globaltimes.cn
In some parts of China, there has recently been a resurgence of the Confucian-forbidden coming of age ceremonies Ji Li (for girls) and Guan Li (for boys). The ceremonies typically honor youth who have turned 20, and provide a fun opportunity to wear traditional dress. For the girls, this is also an opportunity to follow typical Ji Li practices such as making hair buns, attaching hair pins, and paying tribute to Huangdi, a Chinese ancestor.
13. Apache Coming of Age Tradition: Sunrise Ceremony
allthatisinteresting.com
There’s no room for shyness among young Apache girls. While this ceremony is rarely practiced today, traditionally all girls were required to complete the sunrise ceremony, also known as Na’ii’ees or the puberty ceremony, during the summer following their first menstruation. During the 4 day ceremony the girls must abide by certain rules, preventing them to wass or touch their skin, or drink from anything other than their drinking tubes. They must also reenact the Apache Origin Myth drawing each female participant closer to the first woman, known as White Painted Woman, Changing Woman, or simply Esdzanadehe. In doing so they obtain her power during this special time.
There are currently 1.8 billion young people around the world. That’s a quarter of our population who is currently making the leap to adulthood. Yet, young people can’t mark their smooth transition to adulthood if they don’t have the opportunities to do so -- such as going to school or seeking employment skills.
We must invest in youth because their human rights matter, because their needs matter, and because unlocking their potential is needed to create a sustainable future. Now is the time for governments everywhere to act to ensure a healthy and prosperous future for all young people.
A rite of passage is a ceremony and marks the transition from one phase of life to another. Although it is often used to describe the tumultuous transition from adolescence to adulthood, it does refer to any of life’s transitions (Births and Beginnings, Initiations, Partnerings, and Endings or Death). There are many passages in our lives if we choose to mark and celebrate them.
Journeys is most concerned with initiatory rites of passage. Initiation is defined in the dictionary as, “the rites, ceremonies, ordeals or instructions with which a youth is formally invested with adult status in a community, society or sect.” We extend that definition to include rituals and ceremonies that help adults transition to new life roles along the path of adulthood – all the way into meaningful elderhood.
When we design rite of passage experiences, we work to assure that initiates come out of the experience with a new and empowering story that helps them take responsibility for the decisions that set the course of their future. We help initiates create the story of who they are and the kind of life they want to build based within the exploration of their own personal values. We also help them find the story that connects them to their community. Through this self-exploration initiates emerge with a stronger sense of personal responsibility to all aspects of their lives – stretching all the way out to the larger world of which they are a part.
In this way both the community and the initiate benefit from a rite of passage. An intentional rite of passage experience provides the space for the community to transmit its core values and confer the role responsibilities appropriate to the initiate’s stage of life, thus insuring cultural continuity, a sort of knitting together of the generations.
10 Ways to Spot a Narcissist
Who’s your favorite narcissist? Kim? Justin Bieber? The Donald? And who can forget Kanye? Imma let you finish, but first, what exactly makes a narcissist? Savvy Psychologist explains, plus offers 10 tips on how to spot a narcissist.
By
Ellen Hendriksen, PhD,
Savvy Psychologist
March 6, 2015
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Episode #060
Page 1 of 2
Aside from the dead giveaway of a selfie stick, otherwise known as “the wand of narcissism,” there are lots of clues you’re dealing with a narcissist. Today we’ll cover the features of narcissistic personality disorder, plus 10 giveaways that you’re dealing with a narcissist.
The foremost feature of narcissism is grandiosity, which means a narcissist think she’s more attractive, intelligent, and important than others. She’ll exaggerate her achievements and abilities and has a big ego, often without being able to back it up. The narcissist’s own needs always come first, and when others express needs, she sees it as a sign of weakness. She may be generous and beneficent in front of the camera (only for the admiration - it’s not genuine), but goes cold once no one is watching.
A narcissist also thinks he’s entitled - to a buzz of attention when he walks in the room, to the deference of others, or to preferential treatment. Waiting his turn is torture. Exploiting the intern or blaming the waiter is typical. He’s a victim entitled to better and is contemptuous of the successes of others
(See: Kanye’s rant against Taylor Swift, Kanye’s rant against Beck, Kanye's general persona...do I sense a pattern here?)
How many of them are out there? Narcissists comprise up to 6.2% of the population, but it often seems like more because they’re frequently found in highly visible positions of power, leadership, or celebrity. The majority of narcissists are men, but women make up somewhere between 25-50% of this self-loving bunch.
And what a miserable bunch they are: Narcissism has been linked to everything from child conduct problems to exercise addiction, not to mention the usual suspects of depression and anxiety.
A narcissist is like porn: you know it when you see it. But there are clues; here are 10 giveaways you're dealing with a narcissist:
Giveaway #1: They Name Drop
A narcissist will rarely mention other people except to blame them for something (remember the intern and the waiter?), or to name drop. Why the latter? They want to associate themselves with power, beauty, or fame. And it’s not limited to people - prestigious institutions, name brands, and exclusive events all get mentioned by narcissists with unmistakable frequency.
Giveaway #2: They Edit Selfies
A 2014 study of 1,000 men across the country who use social media found that those high in narcissism did three things: they spent more time overall on social media, posted more selfies, and edited their selfies, like cropping out unflattering parts, using filters, or using Photoshop before posting.
While it’s not necessarily surprising to find that narcissists do this, it is the first time that a study actually confirmed that, contrary to Meghan Trainor, it’s not just the magazines working that Photoshop.
Giveaway #3: They Inflate Themselves and Devalue Others
Narcissists get particularly bitter if they sense they haven’t been adequately recognized for their talent, performance, or general awesomeness. As a result, there are a lot of bitter narcissists out there; they think their time to shine is long overdue and genuinely wonder why they’re not on the red carpet or the A-list.
Giveaway #4: They Want to Be Idolized, But Don’t Care if You Like Them
You can call a narcissist an a-hole and they won’t care. But tell them they’re plain or boring (or at least not the greatest ever) and they’ll go nuts. Criticism or losing (Hello, Richard Sherman!) leaves them empty, humiliated, and angry.
Giveaway #5: They Need the Best of Everything
They insist on seeing only the “best” doctor, lawyer, personal trainer, or hairstylist. Working for the most prestigious company, driving the most luxurious car, sitting at the best restaurant table, and going to the hottest bar.
Giveaway #6: They’re Charming and Attractive...at First
Narcissists know how to work it. They’re very seductive, are often physically attractive, and their confidence draws people to their flame. They’re magnetic, until you get to know them. Which brings us to…
Giveaway #7: They Start Many Relationships
Narcissists often start out in a relationship with an inflated, idealized view of their partner. But the partner quickly falls from the pedestal for three reasons: 1) getting to know the real partner, not just the image, lets the narcissist down, 2) the risk of actual intimacy is too threatening, or 3) someone seemingly better comes along. Which bring us to...
Giveaway #8: They’re Always Looking for the Next Thing
A 2002 study found that narcissism is negatively linked to commitment. Narcissists always think they can do better, so they are more likely to attend to what researchers call “alternatives” (that is, the hottie down the bar).
Giveaway #9: There’s No Core of Self-Loathing or Insecurity
A team of researchers at the University of Georgia did a study in 2007 that was actually titled “Do Narcissists Dislike Themselves 'Deep Down Inside'"? It was an ingenious study that used implicit associations to measure how narcissists saw themselves. And contrary to the popular belief that narcissism covers up insecurity or low self-esteem, it turns out, through and through, narcissists really do think they’re all that. Sound like someone you may know? (Cough, Gwyneth, cough).
And finally...
Giveaway #10: They Totally Admit it
In 2014, a study found that narcissists can be identified by asking this one simple question:
To what extent do you agree with this statement: “I am a narcissist.” (Note: The word “narcissist” means egotistical, self-focused, and vain.)
The study was rigorous - the researchers tested the question in 11 separate experiments and the results showed that people’s answers were accurate. Despite having lousy empathy and commitment, at least we know narcissists have accurate insight.
To wrap up, remember the original narcissist, Narcissus, searched and searched for the ideal romantic partner until he found the one person who was flawless and perfect enough for him: his own reflection in a pool of water. We also know that didn’t go so well: he drowned in that very pool. If only they had selfie sticks in ancient Greece.
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/mental-health/10-ways-to-spot-a-narcissist?page=1
Chances are, you’ve encountered a narcissist. You know, that friend who somehow manages to revert every topic of conversation back to himself; the colleague who is always bragging about having the latest, greatest ____; the family member who thinks she is hotter, smarter and just generally better than you at everything.
But sometimes the signs of narcissism are a little more nuanced. They’re not always as obvious as media depictions would have you believe. And yes, it’s possible to have some traits of narcissism without having full-blown, clinically diagnosed narcissistic personality disorder, which is when narcissism starts to have a serious, negative impact on everyday life and relationships.
“People are on a continuum — there’s a range of narcissism,” W. Keith Campbell, Ph.D., head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, explains to HuffPost. “Most people are sort of in the middle, though some are more extreme than others.”
When you think about the people you come into contact with every day — whether it be a friend, romantic partner or colleague — do any of the following seem to ring a bell? If so, you may be dealing with a narcissist.
narcissist
1. They’re likable — at least, at first glance.
Narcissists tend to be great at first impressions, coming across as very charismatic and personable, which is also why they can perform quite well in job interviews. “Often the image you see of someone who is narcissistic at the beginning could be very positive, but over a longer term, it turns out to be more negative,” Campbell says. “So that’s where the surprise comes in — it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the person I just hired, and now look at what I’m dealing with.’”
2. Not all narcissists are loud and proud. In fact, some are quiet and shy.
While the loud and braggy types are the ones people usually picture when thinking about narcissists, they can actually be quiet and reserved. Zlatan Krizan, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University, explains that there’s actually two kinds of expressions of narcissism: grandiose, which is where the bragging and showing off is exhibited, and shy, where a person may not be as forthright “or be out there with a bullhorn, but is sitting in the corner, fantasizing about when their day will come, and resenting others.”
That’s not to say that narcissists are always either grandiose or shy. In most people, there’s elements of both shy narcissism and grandiose narcissism. “We like to put people in a box,” Krizan says, “but when you look at how these personality traits present themselves, you see separation only at extreme levels.”
3. They can often be found in leadership roles.
boss nametag
Not that that makes them good leaders, notes Jean Twenge, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychology at San Diego State University and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic with Campbell. But narcissists often find themselves in leadership positions because “people who are narcissistic want to be leaders. They don’t necessarily make better leaders, but they want to do it, so they’re more likely to end up in those positions.”
4. They always manage to make the conversation about themselves.
“You could start talking to a person about how you have cancer, and pretty soon you’re talking about their new car,” Campbell explains.
5. They’re also guilty of name-dropping.
It’s all in the name of self-promotion and making themselves seem better — which includes the tactic of name-dropping, Campbell says.
6. Not every story a narcissist tells is one of victory. But even in the stories of tragedy or failure, there’s an air of entitlement and victimization.
Narcissists will often tell stories about themselves — sometimes repeating the same story over and over again — and many times, the story will be about an instance of personal heroism or an exploit. But even when a story is of something negative that happened, it’ll never be the narcissist’s fault. There’s “more emotional victimization,” Krizan explains. There’s still an air of self-reference “about not being understood or people not recognizing your value. It’s about me and how I’m great,” but others aren’t realizing it.
7. They like nice things.
shopper
Now, we’re not saying that all shopaholics or materialistic people are narcissists, or that all narcissists are also shopaholics. But one of the hallmark traits of narcissism is the desire to display high status, and this is often done with material items, Twenge says.
“One place to differentiate it is that sometimes the shopaholic will tell you what good a deal she got on something, and the narcissist is more likely to emphasize how prestigious or status-oriented the thing is,” she says. “The really prototypical example: They drive up in a Ferrari, but they won’t tell you what a good deal they got on it.”
8. Appearance is everything to them.
Narcissists are not necessarily more attractive than other people, but they “do take care of their appearance and place an importance on looking physically attractive,” Twenge says. Not everyone who makes a point to take care of their appearance is a narcissist, she adds, but “well-applied nails, hair and so on would be an indicator.”
9. On Facebook, they have lots of friends — and not a single bad picture.
facebook logo
“People who are narcissistic use it to maintain status, and so what they do is they tend to have more attractive photos, and more self-promoting, broader networks — more ‘friends’ — on Facebook,” Campbell explains.
10. They are strongly averse to criticism.
While no one can honestly say they like receiving criticism, people with narcissism are hyper-sensitive to it, Krizan says.
11. Excuses are a narcissist’s best friend.
Narcissists tend to externalize blame, pinning the blame on everyone but themselves. “They’re good at making excuses and not taking credit for mistakes they make,” Campbell says.
12. They leave a trail of wreckage behind them.
Does this person have a history of bad relationships and work experiences? Consider that a red flag. With narcissist CEOs for instance, you’ll see that “that they’ve gone into companies, kind of wrecked them, then moved onto something else,” Campbell explains. “In relationships, they may have infidelity, which destroys that relationship, and then they’ll move on to another one.”
13. And in that vein, they may be more likely to cheat.
infidelity
That’s because a narcissist won’t put the feelings of the partner above his or her own. There’s also the undeniable self-esteem boost that comes when you find out another person — even if that person is not your partner — is attracted to you. Together, these two elements help to explain why infidelity may be more common among narcissists, Campbell says.
14. Everything is personal.
Particularly in the quieter narcissists, there may not be signs of overt self-reference and promotion. But there is defensiveness and reactive anger if they are not recognized or if they can’t get their way. “If you do something to [the narcissist] that he doesn’t like, it means you’re against him or you don’t understand him,” Krizan explains.
15. A narcissistic person probably has no idea he or she is a narcissist.
“Narcissism in itself is sort of a double whammy, not just because you have disturbances or believe you’re special in some way more than others, but because those things in themselves will prevent you from seeing that you have these problems,” Krizan says. In the more shy narcissists who may also experience symptoms of depression or anxiety, those other things may spur them to get professional help. But “the grandiose people, because they feel superior or because they may even have initial success, they’re very unlikely to seek treatment,” he explains. “It would only be after they develop so many problems where they ask themselves, ‘I feel so great, I know I’m awesome, but why did everybody leave me?’”
16. You find yourself resorting to flattery just to maintain the peace with a narcissist.
While the best way to deal with a narcissist is to just cut the cord and run, there are certain circumstances where you have no choice but to deal, Twenge says. Maybe the narcissist is a family member, or maybe it’s your boss. In these cases, flattery is the best way to avoid conflict.
17. Narcissists are not low in self-esteem.
high self esteem
A common belief is that people who are high in narcissism are secretly low in self-esteem — but this just isn’t true. As far as narcissists in a typical population are concerned, “they have a very high self-esteem and don’t have a deep-seated insecurity, as far as we can tell,” Twenge says. Indeed, Campbell adds that narcissists seem to be confident through and through.
18. Men are more likely to be narcissists than women.
And the level of narcissism is higher among today’s millennials than previous generations at similar ages, Twenge adds. As far as whether some professions or cultures have more narcissists than others — more research needs to be done to determine that.
The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft in Holmavik houses the only known intact pair of necropants
In order to make the necropants, or nábrók, an individual had to get permission from a living man to use his skin after his death
According to legend, the trousers brought their wearer wealth and luck, but had to be passed on to a future generation before his own death
By SARAH GRIFFITHS
PUBLISHED: 07:33 EST, 25 October 2013 | UPDATED: 19:55 EST, 31 January 2016
Many people will be planning scary costumes for Halloween, but nothing is likely to compare to this pair of macabre trousers.
In 17th century Iceland, sorcerers wore 'trousers' made of a dead friend's skin that were said to bring them wealth.
According to legend, a morbid deal was struck between two friends to arrange who became the trousers or 'necropants,' which were used for purposes of traditional magic at the time.
Scroll down for video and an audio explanation of the trousers...
The only surviving pair of Necropants (pictured). They were made by skinning a dead man and according to legend, were worn by a friend to bring him wealth and luck. The coin and piece of paper with a magical symbol drawn upon it is shown to the right of the 'trousers'
The only surviving pair of Necropants (pictured). They were made by skinning a dead man and according to legend, were worn by a friend to bring him wealth and luck. The coin and piece of paper with a magical symbol drawn upon it is shown to the right of the 'trousers'
The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft in Holmavik, Iceland, houses the only known intact pair of necropants, that were meant to be worn day and night by their owner.
In order to make the necropants (called nábrók in the naive tongue) an individual had to get permission from a living man to use his skin after his death.
The surviving member of the pact had to dig up his dead friend's body and peel off the skin of the corpse from the waist down in one piece without any holes or scratches, to make the magical trousers.
nábrókarstafur
The wearer of the pants had to steal a coin from a widow and place it in the scrotum of the trousers, along with the magical sign called nábrókarstafur, (pictured) drawn on a piece of paper
As soon as they stepped into the pants, the skin of the corpse stuck to theirs own, according to the museum, which documents 17th century occult practices.
A spokeman for the museum told MailOnline: 'They would immediately be stuck with your own flesh and be part of your body.'
To make the grim garment, the wearer of the pants had to steal a coin from a poor widow at Christmas, Easter or Whitson and place it in the scrotum of the trousers, along with the magical sign called nábrókarstafur, which is drawn on a piece of paper.
The coin is a 'tool to gather wealth by supernatural means,' according to the spokesman.
It drew money into the scrotum from living people so 'it will never be empty' as long as the original coin is not removed, according to folklore.
The spokesman told MailOnline the wearing of the necropants was 'unusual behaviour' and reports are 'pure folklore' but the stories say that people could wear them for as long as they lived - but had to pass them on to a willing recipient before they died.
If the sorcerer wearer of the pants did not pass them on before his own death, it was said that his body would be infected with lice as soon as he passed away, but if the trousers were passed on, they could bring wealth to future wearers.
To ensure the transmission of fortune, the future wearer of the pants had to put his leg into the right leg of the necropants before the original owner stepped out of the left one.
According to the legend, the necropants would keep the money-gathering nature for generations and produce an endless flow of coins.
HOW NECROPANTS WERE MADE
An individual was granted permission from a living man to use his skin after his death
The surviving individual dug up his dead friend's body and peeled off the skin of the corpse from the waist down in one piece
He stepped into the necropants, which stuck to his own skin and then stole a coin from a poor widow to keep in the scrotal area of the trousers, along with a piece of paper bearing a magical sign
It was thought the 'trousers' brought their owner luck and prosperity
A reading of the legend of the necropants.
The spokesman said: 'People would be able to use them as long as they lived, but they would have to get rid of them before they die. If they would find someone to take them over the could last forever.'
17th century Iceland was a tough place as it suffered harsh trade restrictions from Denmark as well as natural disasters including a huge volcanic eruption that killed half of the country's livestock in years that followed and led to widespread famine.
Coastal settlements were also raided by pirates, locals sold into slavery in the Arab world, while a giant smallpox epidemic in the 18th century wiped out a third of the struggling population.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2476512/Are-terrifying-trousers-The-17th-century-NECROPANTS-corpse-legs--supposed-lucky.html#ixzz43aayOqjr
There is certainly a time and place for asking for forgiveness, and women can show strength by being humble when needed. Asking for forgiveness when we make a mistake is a positive character trait, whereas over-apologizing can be seen as a sign of weakness.
“I’m sorry” can roll off of the tongue so easily that it can leave you wondering if you did anything that was really worth apologizing for. When an apology is called for, a strong woman does the right thing, but there are at least 8 things that she should never feel that she has to apologize for.
8 THINGS A STRONG WOMAN SHOULD NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR
1. MAKING CHOICES AGAINST CONVENTION
Even women who consider themselves liberated from social conventions feel that they will be judged for going against the expectations that others have for women, even though that expectation has changed over time.
Choosing to focus on her career, choosing not to have a career, choosing to not get married, choosing to have a traditional family; women make choices that are right for them and they should never apologize for that.
2. PUTTING HERSELF FIRST
A strong woman knows that she can’t be her best for others unless she is already at her best. By taking care of her own needs before helping her family, boss or community, she is able to do more for them.
But first she has to be healthy, financially secure, and mentally strong. Strong women don’t apologize for prioritizing their to do list with taking care of her own needs.
3. MAKING PLANS WITHOUT DEFERRING TO ANYONE
In the 1970’s a study found that prior to learning about women’s liberation, women felt the need to defer to men when making a decision. The need to ask permission of the men in their lives left them feeling resentment and anger.
Today, a strong woman knows that she is her own boss. She can make her own decisions about her future financial security, career, education, family or health. She doesn’t need to ask permission from anyone.
4. BEING COMFORTABLE WITH SEX
Consensual sex is healthy and natural to both men and women, but it’s only women who feel like we should hide the fact that we both have, and enjoy sex just as much as men do. A strong woman knows that she has control over her physical enjoyment and has a choice of whether or not to have a partner.
A strong woman rejects the negative labels that have been given to women who have sex frequently or outside of marriage. What she does with her body and with whomever she wants to is none of your business.
5. SPEAKING HER MIND
Words have power and a strong woman uses them to her advantage to communicate effectively. Strong women should never apologize for using language to express themselves; even if that includes swearing, raising her voice or saying unpopular things.
6. SAYING NO
‘No’ is a powerful word, and strong women will not apologize for using it liberally. A strong woman will decline to overextend herself so that she has more energy to devote to people and activities who are a priority.
Although it can be tempting to apologize for skipping your party, a strong woman knows that she’s not doing anything that needs your forgiveness. If you are upset that she can’t attend your event, that’s a negative emotion that you put on yourself, not something that a she has caused you to feel. Apologizing for someone else’s negative emotions is not what a strong woman will do.
7. HAVING STRONG OPINIONS
A strong woman will not apologize for having and expressing her own unique thoughts, even if they are different from yours. She also has no need to apologize for holding seemingly conflicting beliefs. For example when she expects a gentleman to hold the door for her, while still expecting him to treat her as his equal.
Strong women are aware of the convention of devaluing traditional female roles and segregating gender in the workplace and they do not apologize for expressing their dissatisfaction with this. Strong women will not apologize for expecting equal pay for equal work, equal treatment by the law and evolving gender roles.
8. EXPECTING MORE
A strong woman has a list of accomplishments that she wants for herself but she also knows that she is capable of much more. She not only expects herself to achieve, she expects the same of others. A strong woman knows what she wants to change and how to achieve it.
A study in Psychology of Women Quarterly found that when it comes to breaking gender barriers, women’s own expectations for their success were important to their sense of achievement. Since gender discrimination still exists in the workplace, women bear a psychological and economic burden that men do not.
https://www.powerofpositivity.com/8-things-a-strong-woman-should-never-apologize-for/?c=daw
21 Creepy Wikipedia Pages That Will Have You Locking Your Doors Tonight
Chrissy Stockton 64 Comments
98.3k
1. Villisca Axe Murders
Villisca Ax Murder House Facebook
Villisca Ax Murder House Facebook
In 1912 in a sleepy town in Iowa (population around 2k), someone took an axe to a family of six and their two house guests. A hundred years later the case remains unsolved. No one knows who murdered these people or why, or even how all the people (save one, maybe) remained asleep while other people in the house were bludgeoned with an axe.
Now the house is reportedly super haunted and since you can stay at the house and do your own ghost hunt, and I heard a particularly terrifying recording of an EVP on this radio show. Warning: it is not for the faint of heart.
2. Spontaneous human combustion
dark_ghetto28
dark_ghetto28
Spontaneous human combustion is a phenomenon where you could go up in flames suddenly. Like, right now. With no cause (hence, ‘spontaneous’).
Example:
Henry Thomas, a 73-year-old man, was found burned to death in the living room of his council house on the Rassau council estate in Ebbw Vale, south Wales, in 1980. His entire body was incinerated, leaving only his skull and a portion of each leg below the knee. The feet and legs were still clothed in socks and trousers. Half of the chair in which he had been sitting was also destroyed. Police forensic officers decided that the incineration of Thomas was due to the wick effect. His death was ruled ‘death by burning’, as he had plainly inhaled the contents of his own combustion.
No thanks.
3. Bloop
Bloop is an extremely low-frequency and extremely loud noise heard in the ocean. It sound like a noise an animal would make, but it does not match the sounds of any known animal, AND the volume is way louder than the loudest known animal (the blue whale).
Here’s a journalist paraphrasing Dr. Christopher Fox who works for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration talking about the Bloop:
Fox’s hunch is that the sound nicknamed Bloop is the most likely to come from some sort of animal, because its signature is a rapid variation in frequency similar to that of sounds known to be made by marine beasts. There’s one crucial difference, however: in 1997 Bloop was detected by sensors up to 4800 kilometres apart. That means it must be far louder than any whale noise, or any other animal noise for that matter. Is it even remotely possible that some creature bigger than any whale is lurking in the ocean depths? Or, perhaps more likely, something that is much more efficient at making sound?
Other scientists believe the sound is made by icebergs, but come on, listen to the audio above. It’s totally an extremely large, secret ocean monster.
4. Chelyabinsk meteor
This was the 2013 meteor that hit Russia. 1,491 people were injured and there’s basically nothing stopping another from hitting your city. Or a bunch of them falling everywhere like the apocalypse making it rain.
5. The Lottery
The Lottery is a short story by Shirley Jackson that originally appeared in The New Yorker in 1948. The story itself is creepy, but not terrifying (it’s basically the OG Hunger Games). Reading the Wikipedia article, however, makes you reflect on the themes of the story and how realistic it is that our society could end up doing something like this. It’s too real.
6. Armin Meiwes
Hannibal
Hannibal
Armin Meiwes was a German cannibal who found someone who voluntarily let him kill and eat him on the internet. Before the victim died, Meiwes severed the guy’s penis and they shared it.
Meiwes has since become a vegetarian but claims there are “about 800” cannibals in Germany.
7. Murder of Junko Furuta
This is also known as the “Concrete-encased high school girl murder case.” The Wikipedia article basically tells the real life story of a 17 year old Japanese girl who was abducted and held for over 40 days while being tortured. You will call your mom just to tell her you love her after reading this.
8. Hinterkaifeck
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
In 1922 a family of six was killed on their farm by someone with a pickaxe-like tool.
More details:
A few days prior to the crime, farmer Andreas Gruber told neighbours about discovering footprints in the snow leading from the edge of the forest to the farm, but none leading back. He also spoke about hearing footsteps in the attic and finding an unfamiliar newspaper on the farm. Furthermore, the house keys went missing several days before the murders, but none of this was reported to the police.
Six months earlier, the previous maid had left the farm, claiming that it was haunted; the new maid, Maria Baumgartner, arrived on the farm on 31 March, only a few hours before her death.
Exactly what happened on that Friday evening cannot be said for certain. It is believed that the older couple, as well as their daughter Viktoria and her daughter Cäzilia, were somehow all lured into the barn one by one, where they were killed. The perpetrator(s) then went into the house where they killed two-year-old Josef who was sleeping in his cot in his mother’s bedroom, as well as the maid, Maria Baumgartner, in her bed-chamber.
9. Carl Tanzler
It’s a classic love story: Doctor falls for patient, patient dies, doctor lives with corpse chillin in his house for seven years…
10. Gloria Ramirez
In 1994 Gloria Ramirez had advanced cervical cancer when she went to the emergency room. The home remedy she was taking for her cancer formed a poisonous gas after her heart was defibed and made several of the hospital staff sick enough that they passed out.
11. List of reportedly haunted locations in the world
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
If you’re looking for a way to Wiki your entire day away, this would be the place to start. Research all the haunted houses in the world. Search for ones in your area. Sink deeper into this creepy-ass k-hole.
12. Dnepropetrovsk maniacs
This selfie was taken by the killers.
This selfie was taken by the killers.
The Dnepropetrovsk maniacs are two 19 year-old psychopaths in Ukraine who killed a bunch of people, some in broad daylight. They made videos of the murders and put them on the internet. A motive for the killing spree was never established. It was hypothesized that they planned to make money from the murder videos they made.
Deputy interior minister Nikolay Kupyanskiy said “For these young men, murder was like entertainment or hunting.”
13. H. H. Holmes
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Known as ‘Dr. Henry Howard Holmes,’ this guy built a hotel specifically as a playhouse for him to murder people in. He is suspected of murdering up to 200 people. The murder hotel contained, “a maze of over 100 windowless rooms with doorways opening to brick walls, oddly-angled hallways, stairways to nowhere, doors openable only from the outside, and a host of other strange and labyrinthine constructions.” There was also a “corpse chute” that allowed Holmes to drop bodies from the hotel into the basement.
14. Elizabeth Báthory
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Elizabeth is maybe the most prolific female serial killer ever, and is known as the “Blood Countess.” She tortured and murdered up to hundreds of young girls in her castle with the help of her servants.
15. Killing of Tim McLean
A guy was stabbed and eaten in public, while riding a Greyhound bus in Canada. Here’s the witness accounts:
Garnet Caton, a 26-year-old seismic driller who sat one row ahead of McLean, described hearing “a blood-curdling scream,” saying, “I turned around and the guy sitting right behind me was standing up and stabbing another guy with a big Rambo knife…. Right in the throat. Repeatedly.”
Caton added: “I got sick after I saw the head thing. Some people were puking, some people were crying, some people were shocked. [The attacker] just looked at us and dropped the head on the ground, totally calm.” A police officer who was at the scene said the attacker also cut off parts of the victim’s body and ate them.
Another passenger, Stephen Allison, stated that McLean fought his attacker, providing other passengers with the opportunity to get off the bus.
16. Roanoke Colony
Who wasn’t fascinated by the Roanoke Colony when they learned about it in elementary school history class? An entire colony disappears after being left alone for three years with only a small clue, the word “Croatoan” carved into a tree. Tell me this isn’t one of the most interesting Wikis out there.
17. Albert Fish
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Fish was a child killer from the early 1900s who raped and ate some of his victims. He was only convicted of three murders, but he claimed to have committed over 100, and that he had a “child in every state.”
It should also be noted that his face is way creepy. :(
18. Boy in the Box
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
The boy in the box is a child murder victim who was found naked and beaten in a box. He has never been identified.
19. Murder of Shanda Sharer
Honestly, this is probably the sickest thing I have ever read on the internet. Four girls tortured and killed a 12-year-old girl, eventually burning her alive. They then went to McDonald’s and ate breakfast, joking about how she looked like one of the sausages they were eating.
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20. List of people who disappeared mysteriously
This is the k-hole that keeps on giving. The princes in the tower, Amelia Earhart, Natalee Holloway–and probably about a thousand people you’ve never even heard of.
21. Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter
In 1955 two families report seeing green men and UFOs. Sounds super made up, right? There were over 20 witnesses, including policemen and a state trooper.
Even creepier are the actual activities of the creatures:
The seven people present in the farmhouse claimed that they were terrorized by an unknown number of creatures similar to gremlins, which have since often been referred to as the “Hopkinsville Goblins” in popular culture. The residents of the farmhouse described them as around three feet tall, with upright pointed ears, thin limbs (their legs were said to be almost in a state of atrophy), long arms and claw-like hands or talons. The creatures were either silvery in color, or wearing something metallic. Their movements on occasion seemed to defy gravity with them floating above the ground and appearing in high up places, and they “walked” with a swaying motion as though wading through water. Although the creatures never entered the house, they would pop up at windows and at the doorway, waking up the children in the house to a hysterical frenzy.
Untreated, a person who comes out of a vampiric coma will have undergone a number of major physiological changes affecting the various systems of the body. The information included below is only a short overview; for a more detailed account, read Robert Lomax's extended pages here.
Brain & Nervous System
A vampire's nervous system is similar to humans and has proven to be their Achilles' heel: injuries to the spinal cord and brain can be devastating for them. While a vampire's spinal cord and nerves work as before transformation, a number of changes take place in the brain, and that altered brain chemistry goes a long way toward understanding vampiric behavior.
The normal brain (left) shows much more serotonin activity
than the vampiric brain (right).
Serotonin: Vampires have much lower levels of this neurotransmitter. Serotonin acts as an inhibitor against violent, aggressive and impulsive behavior, which also explains why criminals such as murderers and rapists have so little of it in their brains.
Dopamine/Endorphins: These neurotransmitters induce feelings of euphoria, and are released in a vampire's brain when it feeds. Neural pathways activated in feeding vampires are much like those found in drug users.
Circadian Rhythms: Chemical changes in the brain that help us "rise and shine" with the morning light are reversed in vampires.
Sense Organs
Powerful sense organs give vampires an advantage in both hunting and eluding capture. Sneaking up on them is virtually impossible, as they are aware of your presence long before you are aware of theirs.
A normal eye compared with a vampire's
Sight: In vampires, the iris in each eye becomes hyperdilated, giving them what appear to be black eyes. In addition, the retina now reflects more light into the rod cells, causing the eyes to shimmer in the dark. While all this gives vampires excellent night vision, it renders them effectively blind in daylight. They also experience extreme vasodilation of the sclera, making the whites of their eyes appear red.
Smell/Hearing: Both senses are extremely acute: thanks to a combination of enlarged brain tissue and additional receptor cells, hearing range is tripled while smell is tenfold.
Hair, Skin, Teeth & Nails
Part of the terror of encountering a vampire stems from dramatic changes to their outer appearance. Some of these changes are functional, while others are simply the result of various chemical imbalances.
As you can see, the upper fangs are quite straight
compared to the curved lower fangs.
Teeth: During the latter half of the vampiric coma, the upper and lower eyeteeth experience rapid growth as additional enamel is deposited on the crown of each tooth, creating sharp fangs. Many vampires will file these fangs to make them sharper for easier feeding—though they'll have to do this about once a week as vampire fangs are capable of regeneration, even when pulled out.
Skin: A newly-transformed vampire has a sickly, pale-yellow skin tone that fades to a ghastly bluish color over the next few days as its circulation slows. Over a matter of years, the skin becomes more and more translucent as its fat and water stores shrink away, revealing a fine network of veins underneath.
Nails: Both fingernails and toenails thicken and grow at a more than doubled rate. To prevent tension on their nail beds, vampires will generally keep their nails within a centimeter in length, and also quite jagged or pointed to help them grab victims and injure opponents.
Hair: Hair growth slows down substantially in order to feed the accelerated nails. Not only that, once a follicle reaches its terminal length and falls out, each regrowth will become smaller and lighter until it's gone for good. Within ten years of transformation, a vampire's entire epidermis will be completely bald, with not even a hint of peach fuzz.
Muscular & Skeletal System
Adaptations in their skeletal and muscular systems give vampires significant advantages over humans.
Muscles/Connective Tissue: About 90% of vampiric muscles are of the fast-twitch variety (compared to 50% for the average human). This brand of musculature enables short bursts of maximal force, ideal when hunting prey. However, unlike typical fast-twitch muscles, vampiric muscles are highly resistant to fatigue, thanks to a drastic increase in myoglobin and mitochondria. Ligaments and tendons thicken in response to the workload imposed upon them by the muscles.
Skeletal System: Osteoblast production causes a vampire's entire skeleton to harden and thicken, both during the coma and after each feeding. As a vampire loses its fat and water stores, its spine will curve into a hunchback, a condition known as kyphosis.
Cardiovascular System
The most profound differences between our species are found in the circulatory system, as they enable vampires to survive injuries that would kill a human being.
A drop of human arterial blood compared
with that of a vampire
Blood: Vampire blood is called ichor (pr. ik-er), and appears black due to an increase in iron levels, allowing it to carry more oxygen and clot faster.
Heart: Vampire blood is pumped via the contraction of skeletal muscle rather than the heart, which eventually atrophies from disuse. At rest, these contractions are mostly involuntary and take place in the limbs, emanating from the furthest extremities inward, like a wave. BPM for each contraction tends to be much lower than the average human heartbeat.
Adrenaline: This "emergency hormone," produced by the adrenal glands, is released in consistently large amounts in vampire blood during "fight-or-flight" situations. This quickly raises a vampire's sluggish metabolism by increasing blood flow, dilating air passages and accelerating the production of clotting factors. Along with changes in muscle, bone and connective tissue, this ability to release adrenaline only adds to a vampire's extraordinary power.
Body Temperature
Like a reptile (or corpse), a vampire's core body temperature depends largely on its surrounding environment. They aren't completely cold-blooded, however, as they'll still shiver and produce heat to keep their temperature at a bare minimum of 60 degrees Fahrenheit (compared to 98 for humans). This proved to be a great help for modern vampire hunters, as it made vampires easily distinguishable from humans when viewed through infrared imagery.
Aging & Life Expectancy
While no vampire on record has ever died of natural causes, vampires do undergo an aging process—just not in the same way as humans. Vampires do not age on a molecular/genetic level, but their life of hunting and eluding capture creates tremendous wear and tear in the form of injuries to bones and tissue.
A 125-year-old vampire
photographed in Spain; 1901.
Note the curved spine, lack of hair
and emaciated frame.
Because they presented such a danger to society, most vampires were destroyed long before the outer limits of their lifespan were determined. Ancient history offers some clues, however. In ancient China, there was said to be one vampire in the Emperor's court through the entire Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which would put his age at 550. More accurate modern records have certified vampires of over 300 years old.
Contrary to the opinions of many theologians, vampiric longevity is not the result of some pact with the Devil, but rather an ability to ward off the DNA damage that occurs during cell division in normal humans. Specifically, the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes (known as telomeres) become chewed up over time in humans, but not vampires.
Though their DNA may have the ability to resist aging, mutations that take place during the initial coma cause a vampire's appearance to change dramatically within the span of a decade. It will lose all of its hair as its fat and water stores shrink away, causing its skin to become thinner and more transparent. This gives it a distinctly withered and dried appearance, with smaller muscles and a pronounced curvature of the spine.
Despite their rather feeble appearance, older vampires are still extremely powerful and agile. Many a vampire hunter has made the mistake of underestimating them.
In many societies there are prophecies foretelling the time of the last great battle of good against evil. The Vampires have such a legend as well, here are a few of the Prophecies which foretell a time of ending, which begins this, the last war of good against evil, to take place in the modern-day world of the viral vampire.
And now here are only a few of the prophecies that foretell this time of ending and beginning. The words are taken from Paladin as said to her by Azraeyel and also taken from other verbal Vampiric Sources.
And there grows near the foretold time.
A time when the truth breaks forth, like a chicken from its shell, at the moment of birth, into the world. The truth is upon the wind and the wind becomes a gale.
Once set free, the truth travels and releases the knowledge. And there shall be those on both sides who do not wish the truth known. And yet shall it become known to all.
On that day, shall human turn against human, vampire against his own kind and brother shall slay brother and friend shall kill his friend ... in the name of truth.
Then he shall have been the first, but his truth shall go unheeded, and the children shall betray him.
One of his own shall bring forth the tempest.
And the child shall lead and so shall he become the first and be the last.
In the end, there shall be only two kinds of humans: those who believe and understand, and those who fear.
The truth is upon the wind, and the wind becomes a gale, and shall blow across the land to devastate all within its path.
The wind shall blow ill. And so doth the time of ending become a plague upon all the land.
The messenger rides forth alone.
The wall of stone is false and 'tis but made of clay which shattered as the balance is shattered.
They who speak this truth are the first to die.
The Messenger carries forth the divine truth unto the masses.
The death is accomplished by the hand of evil which is mistaken for the Sword of Right.
But though the lips are silent, the heart screams and the words rise as the Phoenix to herald the end of the beginning.
As the storm grows more ponderous, THEY shall hear the windsong.
And what was fantastic will be reality, and reality shall be proven.
He who is the first, he who is the last, shall know the truth.
And as they do, so shall all, and the tempest subsides leaving only the destruction, a memory ... the voices an echo, and the truth evident.
And Brother kills his Brother, and Friend lies to Friend. and loves are lost as friendships die and the wind blows cold.
The Silent Battle rages, the Balance is no more, and yet doth the end come slowly ... with promise of renewed Light.
As with humans there is, and has been for centuries, a foretelling of a Time Of Ending; a time of a great and awful war which would put an end to things as we know them. A war that would tear families apart, that would turn friend against friend and bring destruction, devastation, and death in its wake.
This was/is not exactly religious in nature, but there are parallels. And, as with the Second Coming and the Armageddon, this Ending Time has its own legends and prophecies.
These legends are known mostly only to the vampires and those close to them. But the rumors of such a time have endured for centuries, told by word of mouth from one to the other.
There are several groups of vampires, and those who have an interest in them, who have very similar prophecies. A word or two different, a piece of information missing or added to the puzzle.
But they all agree the battle, as with humanity and Christians, will be a battle of great good over great evil. A fight on a planetary scale to include both humans and vampires.
No more secret, no more underground; no longer limited to just the vampire communities.
The battle is to be for balance, protection and survival.
In today's world, there are many different vampire groups and communities; they all belong to a loosely associated organization. An alliance of sorts, which basically keeps the peace. The alliance members are world wide; they abide by an ancient treaty, a treaty with many sections governing such things as conduct, relationships with humans, territorial ties and disputes, political and environmental issues. Laws and rules by which all are governed.
This treaty is ratified and added to, every so often in large meetings held in Europe, Asia and the Orient, and yes, here in America as well. Those who run the world and govern themselves and others have their own political structure and substructure.
You could compare it to a senate made up of many different councils, committees and other formations which unified the members. All going their separate ways and breaking off into smaller groups. To help understand the treaty concept, think of the alliance and treaty as a whole country, such as the United States, and think of the councils as the individual states, all unified for a common good. Unified to form a uniform policing force and laws that govern and benefit all.
Now think of each member state as an individual, different in modes of conduct. Just as we all are. But in this case, the German, French, American and Asian members all differ within their own location as well ... that way being unified as a member of the treaty, these organizations differ greatly in political beliefs and what they consider to be lawful.
Then, as in America, there is a comparison of the old beliefs, rules and laws, with the new and modern; the natural separation of the very young, the middle aged and the old. But with vampires, the age differences are greater. But young and old are not restricted to age but the length of time one has been a vampire, and which kind of vampire.
In this world, old could mean 800 years and young could mean newly transformed only a day or a week. A Classical vampire may be a week old, even though the 'actual' age of that newly transformed Classical could be over 50 years old or barely 18 years old. Compliance with the treaty originally, and the councils and committees which ran them, is what (in part) had kept the balance.
As with vampires everywhere, many disagree.
Some feel that humans should be shunned and will have no part in human affairs, others cherish human friendships. Some feel humans are cattle and nothing more. Whereby, there are vampires who feel humans are going to be the surviving animals and, as such, are responsible for the safety of the planet.
Other vampires feel THEY are the highest life forms and humans are not necessary and should be gotten rid of by any means possible. Then there are the vampire rogues, the independents who also adhere to the treaty.
The treaty keeps the balance ... as well as the balance of nature, between man and nature; between man and vampire.
There is a series of people who govern this treaty ... although the title seems religious, it is not so, not in the same sense as in Judeo-Christian systems ... included in this maze of interlocking different issues is also that of magick ... the old and the ancient, things you have no idea exist ... things of physical and psychic natures ... also dependent on the balance of the cosmos and the universe.
Just as good and evil and life and death are all balance and discipline, so is the treaty dependent on balance ...
For centuries there have been rumor's of this Ending Time. A time when the treaty would be no more ... when the old proven ways would no longer be followed. A time when the balance was disturbed and this would begin before the Christian Armageddon.
It would at first begin with only vampires but would soon spread to their human associates. A war unlike any other which would prove the existence of vampires to the world. There are many truths involved here and a few more important than all the rest.
Vampires have always been safe because of the myths. As long as the myths were believed, the actual vampire remains safe and able to function freely amid the disbelief of mankind. They are safe because they are uniformly not believed in by the masses. But the truth about vampires, by its very definition, will change the balance of nature.
Will humans want the benefits?
The longer life span, the more years of health and strength and beautiful appearance?
Would they feel the real vampire was a threat due to his strength, psychic abilities, longer work history which permits him to gain greater education and wealth?
Would that be considered a threat?
So many issues, so many reasons for the truth to be hidden?
But a few major reasons for the truth to be told.
The major reason ... Death to humans on a massive scale from ... err ... lets call it natural causes.
If one can consider AIDS a natural cause, that is. Deaths of millions of humans over the next 75 to 100 years. That death would also disturb the balance of nature.
What happens to the planet and the vampires, if the humans die? Some vampires feel it is natural selection ... just let it happen. But others feel, 'No, humans must survive. It is necessary to the survival of the planet.'
Now, just suppose that the vampires could insure the humans' survival, but in so doing perhaps end their own existence.
This would cause a rift in the vampire communities with some saying, 'Let them die. They caused it themselves. We can and will survive and so will the planet ... do nothing. Do not endanger us for them.' But others feel humans can be saved but in so doing they would learn a new truth: that vampires exist. And once this is proven to them, the vampires will be at risk as they lose the safety of pure myth.
Humans have always feared what they do not know or understand, and they tend to destroy what they fear. The hatred for vampires is ingrained due to the myths and lies of religion. So, the struggle between the two factions begins; those who wish to keep the treaty, the balance, intact, with those who wish to help humanity survive pitted against those who do not.
Those who feel the time is for change, the new ideas over the old, the young and new over the old ways. A change. Let the stronger vampires prevail.
What could happen if this actually occurred? If the treaty was disbanded? If the alliance fell apart?
The Civil War that would begin the 'Ending Time.'
Some vampires feel they could and should control the world governments by themselves instead of in the partnerships they now find themselves with humans counterparts. They do not wish any truth known ... especially that they exist. These factions would be pitted against those who disagree.
At first this war is confined to words, then actions only within the vampire communities. Later it would spill over into the human friendships, then fully into the human communities.
He, who is venerated for maintaining the Old Ways,
is called the Pope of Balance.
But he is only one of many. He is an ancient; sort of a figurehead, one of the symbols of the treaty and what it stands for: peace, right, balance, life.
He is believed to be a man of ancient honor who had taken vows to uphold this balance and more.
He is, and has always been, a target and so too are any who ally with him. His family, his friends, his associates ... just in knowing him they are a part of a struggle not many even realize begins.
In the end it is believed he will die sometime near the end of the war. He accepts this and is resigned to it. However, some think the event of his dying before the end of the war is a misreading of the ancient texts.
Some of us know our fate and know a truth ... it cannot be altered.
Just as the Christian time was foretold, accomplished and not able to be changed by any of its counterparts, so to is this Civil War predestined. Due to happenings during the past few years, such as the disturbances in California where several vampire groups began to openly argue about general policy and some even got into public fights ... these occurrences of serious argument began spreading to other states and countries.
In late 1997 there was a hectic meeting in Germany where several members of the Inheritor hierarchy walked out of the meeting on ratifying the additions to the treaty. This was followed by a general walkout by the younger Classicals.
A while later, in Paris, a high ranking Inheritor was attacked and badly injured by a young Classical. Also during 1997 a Night-Timer who is responsible for a good quantity of the truth reaching the public was stalked, threatened, had property destroyed by vandals and serious death threats. This act of terrorism and destruction was seen as an attempt to prevent information, such as found in the Vampiric Studies Course on the web site and such as is taught in this class, from being given to the general public. Twice the enemy has successfully been able to bring this site down, that will never happen again.
Due to these and other happenings within the vampire communities it is believed that the time line toward the Ending Time has begun and forces are now in play leading to the inevitable.
It is important to note that this Ending Time which is the beginning of the Civil War will, in its earliest stages, appear to the human community as human 'gang fights' but in actuality will be severe, ideological and territorial disputes which at first will be confined to the vampire communities. These disputes, however, will not be secret and will, in these early stages, be played out within a public background.
The War of Balance which is the beginning of the Ending Time.
RUMORS OF THE WAR:
August 2005
However, it is only rumor because no one I know will confirm or deny this information.
I was told some time ago by the editor of my Spanish speaking site in Spain that a new Classical, who's home is Spain, has stated in an international forum originating in Spain, that he was now vampire leader of the east coast of the United States. He spoke quite a bit about himself and how he was now ruling the east coast from Maine to Florida. I wrote every vampire I could think of to see if this was accurate, even sent a hard copy of what was sent to me, but I received no reply from anyone. Shortly thereafter, I learned that ImortalN has told other people quite different things than he has told me, including the fact that I made up the entire site. So no one will respond to me. Any of you who wish to communicate with the Spanish vampire, let me know and I'll provide you with his name and email address in Spain, he speaks only Spanish, and most likely won't answer you, but the information is here if you want it.
Based upon the bits and pieces of information I DO have, I feel the war is either over or they have come to an agreement. But that is unofficial.
Classicals, also known as Classics, are what most people visualize when they think of a Vampire. In movies and literature it is said that Classicals have been 'Brought Across', meaning brought across the threshold of death; or having been 'turned', meaning transformed from a living human into a not living Vampire. This is of course a fictional vampire, real Classical Vampires are NOT dead or undead.
Fictionalized versions of Classicals are the kind of Vampires you see portrayed on 'Forever Knight', and in Ann Rice novels. Dracula, in all of his incarnations, was supposed to be this type of Vampire, purely from Bram Stoker’s imagination.
We all know that Vlad Tepes was given the name of Drakul, which meant Dragon. Vlad's' father was known as The Dragon due to his leading association with an order called The Dragon. Vlad inherits the name, and an 'A' is added, meaning 'Son of', thus Dracula = Son of the Dragon. He may have been a bit mad, but he is still considered quite a hero in his home land.
Another meaning for the word Drakul is 'Devil'... given by the church at the time, for the inhumanity of the acts committed. As you all know, his name -- Vlad, the Impaler -- came about from his impaling both his own people that he felt to be traitors and the soldiers of opposing armies. He impaled them on large stakes. This line of impaled bodies stretched for miles from the battlefield leading into his town. The impaling was done, in an effort to appall and terrorize the attacking armies, despite the fact that they had Vlad vastly out-numbered. Not too surprisingly ... it worked. They felt he was insane. Horrified by the inhumanity, they simply retreated, with Vlad's army close behind in pursuit.
As to Vlad's drinking blood, I personally think he or his men started that story to frighten all who opposed him. However, it was the forbidden of the times to partake of the blood or heart of he whom you had vanquished; providing you believed him to be brave and strong. It was a common practice. It was believed that Vlad made a pact with Satan on the death of his love. That is why Classicals are still believed, in some places, to be servants of the devil and to have come from hell.
The pale, gaunt appearance of Classicals, in film and press, is purely fiction brought forward from the beliefs of the day. If you were dead, you shriveled up and lost weight. If you had no blood and were dead or newly dead, you were pale; as in 'Pale as a Corpse', etc. It was once believed a Classical had to drink blood, not only for nourishment but to replenish his blood supply, which he did not have because he was believed to be dead.
A Classic, having fed well, is believed to look quite human; rosy cheeks, bright eyes, etc. But when the blood began to dissipate, the corpse-like appearance returned: sunken eyes, gaunt, drawn and with pale skin. The red or yellow blazing eyes comes from the church view that vampires are Minions of the Devil and are from hell. It was believed that Vampires, Classicals especially, could change to any animal, including: large cats, such as tigers, black leopards and black pumas, as well as dogs, wolves, bats or rats; not to mention fog and smoke. After all, they are Demons and can do anything, can't they? Of course not, but that was church view.
Real Classicals can only be infected by one who is already infected. The ones who claim to be undead (a fictional term) say they are killed by the draining of blood unto death and then revived into the undead state. This is purely fiction.
An newly infected Classical needs to feed immediately, i.e.: to ingest fresh, living blood to restore health, vigor etc. Young ones - newly infected ones, usually have a hard time dealing with the rush of new emotions, strength and mental capabilities. Most do desperately try to maintain at least some of their humanity and it is always a struggle.
The real medical evidence suggests that today’s Classicals are infected by the mixing of bodily fluids or blood with the Parent i.e., the Father or Mother who infected them. (Father or Mother does not mean the biological parent, rather it means the Vampire who spread the infection). This causes either a genetic imbalance, because of the mixing of affected DNA, or the effects of enzymes or viruses which slowly affect the changes noticed.
Sometime, long ago, a human was infected with the Inheritor retrovirus containing the mutagen. This human's ability to be infected was due to his or her possibly unique body chemistry, or maybe the specific Inheritor's retrovirus had mutated further. This human became the first Classical Vampire. Old writings even speculated that after this human was infected, he/she became ill, as the altered mutagen tried to adapt to the alien body chemistry. But, instead of dying, the first Classical was born.
The highly volatile nature of the new mutagen meant more blood was necessary. As the old retrovirus mutagen began reshaping, the human's own unique chemistry adapted the mutagen. Thus, a new breed was born. This may account for the difficulty in creating new Classicals. Perhaps it is only the rare individual with the correct body chemistry who can be infected.
As far as infecting children and babies ...
As for babies, I think it is not done for several reasons. One is practicality. An adolescent or baby Vampyre is a pointless creation. But mostly because it is impossible. It is believed that certain testosterone or estrogen levels are needed as a catalyst for the retrovirus to infect. Children, before the onset of puberty, lack the appropriate levels.
Classicals, like Inheritors, must ingest blood. It is a biological need, not a psychological one. The criticism here is that blood cannot be digested through the human stomach and broken down into proteins and other nourishments. This is indeed true and a medical fact. It is one of the chief reasons why the existence of vampires is disbelieved, as such. However, the point to remember here, is that blood is not broken down into its nutrients in the 'normal human stomach'. Those persons with what medicine calls today, 'The Physical Vampire Condition' do break down the substances. We are not speaking of Porphyria, the illness, here just yet.
The Physical Vampire Condition is the term for today's real Classicals, Inheritors, Nighttimers and Genetics. If these people do not ingest blood for real food ... nourishment ... they get progressively weaker, feel ill, experience aches and pains. Even though real Vampires can and do eat regular food as well, if they do not ingest blood, persons with the Physical Vampire Condition will die without blood transfusions. It is a VERY SERIOUS MATTER.
Attributes And Problems
Almost all true Vampires have the same or quite similar problems, including sensitivity, in varying degrees, to light, heat and sun; even indoor lighting and the lights in night clubs maybe bothersome. Some blister very badly, some deeply burn, some pass out, others suffer heat stroke. Most have Day-Glare Blindness, similar to humans who experience snow blindness or night blindness. Most CAN go out into the day, but really would rather not. All tend to feel ill and weak during the day and better and stronger as darkness descends. And I have known Vampires who have trouble driving at night due to the intensity of oncoming headlights.
In truth, real Vampires try to live as normal a lifeforbidden as they can. And most real Vampires keep away from humans and human affairs, as much as they are able.
FEEDING
Ahem ... now we get into touchy realms. Real feeding is mostly by bite, but not in the neck. With the nerves, muscles, arteries, and veins it is really dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. The reason for the fictional biting of the neck originated with the true belief that the carotid artery in the neck, where the pulse is normally taken (as opposed to the radial pulse, in the wrist) is the direct arterial link to the heart. It is not a vein, but an artery.
The main difference being, when an artery is severed, it will continue to spurt the blood out of the wound with each heartbeat and is very difficult to stop. A vein is smaller in nature, does not spurt with each heartbeat, but flows steadily and will in most cases, stop bleeding on it's own. If direct pressure is applied, or a tourniquet used, it will stop the bleeding fairly quickly. NOT so for an artery, which will pump the blood out of the body with every beat of the heart. This is a much more effective scene for a film, or a play, and easier to access if you want to kill someone quickly. (However, it would be neither advisable, nor practical, to attempt to apply a tourniquet around someone's neck!)
Some real Vampires, such as Classicals, and many Inheritors, feel protective toward human friends, mates and feeding sources -- known as 'Sources', 'Donors' or 'Victims'. Most Vampires do not kill their Sources, but do become very territorial about them. They feel possessive, as if they have pure and simple ownership. However, to be fair, many Inheritors do not feel ownership, but perhaps protective and territorial about their human friends and charges.
MOST real Vampires consider humans to be food, period. You do not play with, befriend, or have sex with, your food. My husband has said ... 'Having sex with your human Source is like a human having sex with a cow before eating a hamburger.' It is simply not done. However, I know of many who disagree. Today there are rarely real victims. But indeed there are a few. A victim is said to be anyone who is used as a food source without their consent.
Donors, or as we call them -- feeding partners -- come out of the woodwork if they know a Vampire or bloodist wants a donor. There is no reason to kill donors. There are alternate ways of feeding, such as, getting your blood from blood banks, by buying it, or stopping people waiting to go in and asking them if they will sell it to you instead. It is not against the law in this country to buy, sell, or ingest blood. But this way you risk AIDS and other nasty things if you are NOT an actual vampire.
Animal blood is easily gotten. Any butcher will sell you animal blood; Pig, cow, chicken, sheep, horse, etc. You have to take steps to sterilize it if you are not a true vampire, as you could become ill by contamination. But it is available.
If you eat meat, even very well done, you ingest animal blood. A sizzling steak, roast or hamburger -- the sizzle comes from body fat, body fluid, water, and animal blood. Plain and simple. Even if it is cooked to 'leather' the blood is in the cells of the flesh.
You eat it, no big deal ... get over it.
LONG LIFE
All Vampires live much longer than humans. Classicals, and Inheritors as well, have more physical strength. More efficient nutrient consumption probably leads to this factor. Almost all Vampires are psychic. Not to be confused with Psi~Vamps, i.e. Psychic Vampires. Night-timers and humans are also psychic. Being psychic helps, but it is not really fun. More on this in later lessons.
TEMPERAMENT
Vampires, (no matter how nice they appear to be) if they are REAL, are killers. Killers who choose not to kill. But they are very UNPREDICTABLE and extremely strong. Even if you love a Vampire or befriend one, or they befriend or love you, remember always that Vampires are not human. You must never forget with whom (or what) you're dealing.
EGOS
Some Vampire's egos are worse than actors' egos. It comes with the territory. Many, but not all, have an arrogant, elitist attitude. Again, it’s just part of their nature, even if they do not consider themselves to be an elitist or superior. Many are devoted and loyal friends and spouses. Many delight in their lifeforbidden, others hate it. As with humans ... to each his own.
THE NEW HUNGER
For the youngest and newly infected ones, they have a condition called 'New Blood' or 'New Bloods'. The surge of developing senses is overwhelming after being infected. The power and temptation to do something to take advantage -- JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN -- is very strong.
With sudden surges of strength and psychic ability, many young ones (newly infected vampires) go a little crazy until things level out in their brains and bodies. It is very easy to accidentally injure or even kill someone when one suddenly finds that they literally 'Don't know their own strength.' That is why a newly infected real Vampire is never left alone but constantly guided into the world he has just entered.
Classical Vampires all have the same problems and strengths, but Inheritors do not have these problems. Immortal and Eternal. There is really no such thing as immortal. All Vampires can die. Their lives, their existence (whatever you wish to call it) can end. If you drop a safe on a Vampire from a tall building he will probably die.
But Vampires do tend to survive bad injuries, regenerate and re-grow some organs and limbs, as well as teeth. It takes huge amounts of fresh, living blood to keep a severely injured Vampire alive -- in other words, lots of donors. This is true for all Vampires, Classicals and Inheritors alike.
And now I am going to let you all in on a private joke of sorts. Within the world of the Classical there is an in joke, probably begun by the Inheritors, anyway they began calling the Classicals 'Pales.'
Why?
The original mythological connection to the Undead myth. A vampire was either dead and just stayed that way or, Undead, given some unholy life by Lucifer. Of course, if you where dead, you where pale, hence the name. Today most Inheritors still refer to Classicals as 'Pales' and many Classicals have taken or adopted the title as their own.
It is the 'in' joke of most real Vamp communities. But we must remember, Classicals are not undead, but are living beings.
Another in joke, is the term used to distinguish extremely old Classical Vampires. Who are believed to have lived so long in time that they have gone insane.
The age of these vampires is unknown, but believed to be older than the oldest Inheritor. The term for this type of vampire is Gaunt. Again, a play on old films and books.
The ancient vampires, such as portrayed in the film Nosferatu, are very old and very ugly, unlike the Classicals portrayed in Dracula films by Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee who were more seductive and romantic figures.
The age of gaunts is not readily known, it is said they live exceptionally long, thousands of years. But there is no vampiric record, either by Inheritors or Classicals, of what age one might reach.
The extreme age, you might say, is likened to older humans who have Alzheimer's and were in past days thought of as being demented or insane. Gaunts are believed to be insane and exceptionally strong.
There are several vampire communities, in New York City, who believe there to be at least one Gaunt living deep beneath the subway tunnels of Manhattan. Whether or not this is Urban Legend, I do not know.
By Matt Dolloff
They’re real, they’re haunted…And they’re in your backyard! Well, they could be close.
Massachusetts has plenty of Halloween history, and lots of supposedly haunted buildings to tell the story. Fake haunted houses with goblins & ghouls chasing you around are fun enough, but if you want to get a real thrill? Visit one of these places. If you dare.
Here’s ten of the most notable Massachusetts landmarks bugged by stories of the supernatural. Or so they say…
Just don’t visit these places after dark…unless you feel like a brave little hooligan…which we would not recommend.
Shelton Hall at Boston University
Shelton Hall at Boston University (CBS Radio Boston Web Staff)(CBS Radio Boston Web Staff)
The building was constructed in 1923 as one of the first Sheraton hotels, but was later purchased by BU in 1954 to become a residence hall. One year prior, Playwright Eugene O’Neill died in room 401, now it is said he haunts the floor. The elevator stops on the floor for no reason; students hear knocks on their door but nobody is there when they open. Temperatures on the floor can fluctuate wildly, but it doesn’t on other floors. The floor is currently reserved for Creative Writing majors.
Taunton State Hospital
Taunton State Hospital (Photo: Jack E. Boucher/Historic American Buildings Survey)(Photo: Jack E. Boucher/Historic American Buildings Survey)
Formerly known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton, the Taunton State Hospital was abandoned in 1975. Rumored to be a Satanic Cult during the 1800s, staff members would allegedly take patients into the basement to conduct rituals, and even sacrifices. Many years later, staff members told stories that they would descend the stairs only to find something physically blocking them from reaching the bottom step…Only there was nothing there. There are allegedly still unexplained markings on the walls of the basement.
Quaker Cemetery in Leicester
Quaker Cemetery in Leicester (Photo: janhatesmarcia/Flickr)(Photo: janhatesmarcia/Flickr)
Quaker Cemetery, often referred to as Spider Gates Cemetery, has eight gates, each is said to be more haunted than the last. At the first gate, some hear whispers and see leaves flying around even when there is no wind. By the eighth gate, people allegedly feel people brush past them. Throughout the cemetery there are sightings of people walking aimlessly through the rows of graves, or even ghosts sitting on top of their grave markers. Think that’s just like any urban legend about a cemetery? Sounds like a dare…
Orleans Inn on Cape Cod
Orleans Inn (Photo: ToddC4176/Wikimedia Commons)(Photo: ToddC4176/Wikimedia Commons)
There is a story of the Inn receiving a call from a passing driver saying that a woman was dancing naked in her room on the 5th floor with the window open and was in full view from the street, only there were no guests on the 5th floor that night. Was the driver simply seeing things that aren’t there, or is there something more supernatural at work? It drew the attention of Ghost Hunters (a paranormal research show on the SyFy channel) a few years back. The name of the episode? Inn Of The Dead.
Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham
Metropolitan State Hospital in Waltham (Photo: Crash575/Wikimedia Commons)(Photo: Crash575/Wikimedia Commons)
The Met is an abandoned mental institution in Waltham, famous for a cover-up involving the murder of a patient by a fellow patient. The spirit of the murdered patient is said to haunt the grounds and the adjacent cemetery, which has several unmarked graves. There is also a series of underground tunnels that run from building to building, where people have heard unusual voices and sounds echoing throughout. Closed in January of 1992, the only remaining building on campus is the one pictured above.
Joshua Ward House in Salem
Joshua Ward House in Salem (Photo: Swampyank/Wikimedia Commons)(Photo: Swampyank/Wikimedia Commons)
Associated with the Salem Witch Trials – of course! Sheriff George Corwin is supposedly buried in the cellar and haunts the house every night. Lights turn on and off on their own, doors open and close by themselves, and gusts of wind blow through the house even when no windows or doors are open.
Fort Revere in Hull
Fort Revere in Hull (Photo: John Phelan/Wikimedia Commons)(Photo: John Phelan/Wikimedia Commons)
There have long been reports of whispering and the sound of footsteps in this abandoned U.S. military fort that is now a local tourist attraction. Shadows pass under doorways as if people are walking past on the other side of the door, when there is actually no one there.
Danvers State Mental Hospital
Danvers State Mental Hospital (Photo: Xnatedawgx/Wikimedia Commons)(Photo: Xnatedawgx/Wikimedia Commons)
Also known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, the buildings (which have since been leveled) were abandoned with no electricity, but there were reports of lights turning on and off and candles appearing in open windows. The hospital was demolished and apartment complexes were set to be built, but a mysterious fire in 2007 burned down several of the under-construction buildings. The hospital is the subject of the supernatural horror movie Session 9. The only thing that remains of the asylum is the cemeteries.
Lincoln Mill in Scituate
Lincoln Mill in Scituate(Photo: treasuresthouhast/Flickr)
A girl who drowned in the pond next to the mill reportedly haunts the abandoned building, appearing bloodied in the windows and watching people as they pass by. Passersby have also heard screams for help both in the mill and by the pond, when seemingly no one was around. Having once served as an antique furniture store, the building has fallen apart in recent years.
Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College
Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College (Photo: takomabibelot/Flickr)
(Photo: takomabibelot/Flickr)
Built in 1903, the venue opened and closed its doors on numerous occasions before Emerson College purchased and restored it in the 1980s. There are supposedly spirits that live in the theater, but they are more mischievous than haunting. There are reports of spotlights moving with nobody touching them, seats in the balcony never collecting dust as if people are sitting in them regularly, even though the balcony is not open due to the narrow rows being deemed fire hazards.
Andrew Celani & Matt Dolloff — WZLX.com
Just because something is natural doesn't make it safe. Always check with your doctor before taking supplements, particularly if you're taking these 4 types of meds.
St. John's Wort
Skip if you take: Antidepressants
If used with certain other depression drugs, SJW may cause serious side effects, including serotonin syndrome (a buildup of the brain chemical). It also interacts with many other drugs.
Smart swap: Fish oil supplements. Omega-3 fatty acids may boost mood and help mild to moderate depression.
Licorice
Skip if you take: Diuretics for high blood pressure
Indigestion sufferers turn to stomach-soothing licorice root capsules, but when combined with diuretics or laxatives, this remedy can cause a dangerous dip in potassium levels.
Smart swap: Ginger tea to ease stomachaches. Avoid aggravating foods like chocolate and citrus, or any drinks or foods that contain caffeine.
Feverfew
Skip if you take: Blood thinners
This migraine remedy can slow clotting. It may also cause reactions if you have allergies to daisy family plants, like ragweed and chrysanthemums.
Smart swap: Get enough magnesium. Research shows that people who are deficient are more migraine prone. Use a diary to track triggers like caffeine, alcohol, and certain foods.
Turmeric
Skip if you take: Blood thinners
Some research has shown that the spice turmeric can help reduce inflammation and consequent pain from arthritis, but it may interact with Coumadin (warfarin) and other meds, which increases the possibility of bleeding.
Smart swap: Antioxidant-rich juices like grape, pomegranate, or tart cherry, all of which may be able to ease the symptoms of arthritis.
Source: Joe Graedon, pharmacologist
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