It’s almost as if the stories we’ve been told our whole lives were nothing but lies. Did we do this to ourselves? The Mandela Effect seems to be operating here.
Almost every other day, a new YouTube video or Facebook posting tells us that the person we thought we knew as a saint was actually a vile, nasty person. Do these things change our perspective? I think so.
In Wicked, Glinda comes across as a saint, according to the people of Oz. In the same story, Elphaba is painted as the ‘evil’ one. However, the story shows that both witches were actually something far different than their perceived histories. That makes the whole exercise one of a revisionist history.
I was surprised to see this film on terrestrial TV so soon, but I guess it’s because the second part, “Wicked For Good” is being released in theatres this American Thanksgiving weekend and they want to make sure that everyone’s seen the first part.
The idea of showing an origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz movie (1939) puts the story on its head. When the stage musical was first produced, critics and audiences alike loved it. In the age of the underdog, we tend to cheer for the outsider, no matter what their colour or stripes.
Elphaba was born green. That sets her apart from everyone else, including her family. However, her temper brings out the worst (best) of her. She, in the first part, does not yet have control over it. She feels utterly alone. And then the teacher of magic decides to tutor Elphaba as her only pupil. And then things begin to change. She shares Glinda’s room, and little by little they become friends. Sounds like normal university life, doesn’t it?
Glinda (originally Galinda) is a very self-centred girl. Anything she does ‘for good’ has an egotistical edge to it. The contrast of her with Elphaba couldn’t be more extreme. Elphaba is an activist, also for the underdog (or lion cub, in this case).
Hogwarts couldn’t have been better served as a school (Shiz) of higher learning. It’s the equivalent of a High School Musical, so teens of the female persuasion would be the best fans of this film. But the prejudice and privilege on display are hard to watch at times. Glinda doesn’t come out looking as good as she thought she was. Elphaba doesn’t come out as the villain the Wizard’s propaganda would suggest.
There are life lessons here. Hopefully, people are paying attention.
Sometimes, it seems that the main stream media are really obtuse. They don’t appear to understand that he hasn’t really changed his mind, just his tactics. After a campaign to get Republicans in Congress to vote ‘no’ about releasing the Epstein files, he realized that it will be a slap at his presidency if the vote succeeds. So, he decided to instruct the Republicans to support the ‘yes’ vote instead. His pride will then allow him to claim victory. (“It’s a Democrat hoax.”)
But there’s another aspect to this 180° turn: he’s hoping that the rebel faction in his party will take what he says, at face value, and vote the other way, just to spite him. Then he will have changed their minds while not really changing his own. But, unfortunately, he hasn’t understood that negative hypnotic suggestions are the true motivators in reverse psychology. The rebels will think he truly has capitulated and will vote the way they were going to, anyway.
Strange title, to be sure, but is attributed to James Garfield, when asked if he was worried about being assassinated, like Lincoln. His answer was that it’s unlikely, like “Death by Lightning”.
I must admit that I knew nothing about the 20th United States President’s life or death. So, I suppose, this Netflix series has done its civics duty in giving us this story. *Spoiler alert*
This birth chart was already on my computer program. Just looking at the inconjuncts, it is obvious what motivated the man: the Sun/Mercury conjunction linked to a Gemini Midheaven; Mars inconjunct Pluto; and the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction linked to Saturn. To say that the odds were stacked against him is an understatement. Pluto (in Aries) in the 7th House (of open enemies) represents his killer, Charles Guiteau. Like Garfield’s wife, I’m not going to glorify the assassin by publishing anything about him.
Because it took almost 80 days to die from the infection that resulted from the lack of sterilization of the medical equipment used to try to retrieve the bullet, Garfield’s actual death chart doesn’t show us too much, except that Mars was transiting the Ascendant at the time of death (10:35 pm local time). Says it all, really.
Epstein emails have been released. One side cherry picks. The other side claims a hoax. Hmm.
What I am seeing is a long game of fraud coming to an end. In amongst the emails is ‘something’ about Epstein perhaps helping the Russians understand Trump. Now we’re getting somewhere. For the longest time, there have been rumours that Putin has ‘something’ on Trump, which he has used to blackmail him.
In reality, a politician can be undermined by how things appear, not by how they really are. Trump’s in a bind, now. He wants to completely deflect attention away from himself, so he’s telling his DOJ to investigate Bill Clinton’s connections with Epstein, instead. This will backfire spectacularly.
The Democrats don’t care. This will not stop the probe into Trump’s connections with his pal. Even if Trump is completely innocent, his actions seem like he has ‘something’ to hide. It doesn’t matter what it is: his secret guilt is on constant display. Could it be because he never ratted on his friend, and is therefore complicit in his crimes? Perhaps.
I call myself a Gnostic Christian. It sounds like it’s oxymoronic. But, really, it’s not.
Jesus showed us a way to the Godhead. But religion (orthodox) deflected us away from that path in order to maintain control over the masses. That control is coming to an end. Do you doubt me?
Ordinarily, I wouldn’t bother with a gothic horror film, but something about this one was different.
The essence of the story is told in this trailer. It’s a serious business, creating life. And when it’s done too well, the creature cannot die, and so it must live for eternity. It’s an allegory of our lives here on earth.
Here’s an image from the film, where the creature is contemplating the skull of a dead soldier, before it puts on his coat. This picture reminds me of Paul Bettany as Vision in the film “WandaVision”.
Over the years we’ve seen different versions of Mary Shelley’s story. Supposedly, Kenneth Branagh’s version was closest to her original book, but I think Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining is superb. And the interplay between the creature and Elizabeth is special,, too (shades of “The Shape of Water”).My first thought was “Beauty and the Beast”.
We have come a long way from the original film starring Lon Chaney. I think we have more sympathy for the creature now. And the true monster is the creator.
When Dylan secretly married Sara, she was pregnant with their first child together. This event proved to be the start of domestic obscurity for Dylan. So, who was Sara?
I randomized her chart, which came out as close as could be expected to noon. The Yod pointing at Saturn (conjunct her South Node) is formed by inconjuncts to Mercury and Neptune. That configuration seems to agree with descriptions of her.
Dylan biographer Robert Shelton, who knew Dylan and Lownds in the mid-1960s, writes that Lownds “had a Romany spirit, seeming to be wise beyond her years, knowledgeable about magic, folklore and traditional wisdom”.[10]
His first song about her was called “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”. Lowlands was a reference to her last name at the time, Lownds.
Their Marriage (November 22, 1965)
If you want to understand why Dylan was so connected to Sara just see how the slow moving planets Neptune and Pluto are very closely connected, in spite of the 17 month difference in their ages. There are other connections between them, such as Dylan’s South Node is conjunct Sara’s Jupiter and Dylan’s Moon is conjunct Sara’s Uranus. These connections feel karmic.
Since the full extent of their marriage occurred during his withdrawal from the public glare of publicity after his accident in 1966, I can only surmise that this period was important for his healing.
cdsmiller17 