No war in Iraq!

 

 

 

 

Fellow human beings,

 

The government of my country, Australia,

and several others apparently, are planning

an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation.

 

They are trying to convince the world
that war is the only way to depose the tyrant Saddam.

 

A decade ago a coalition of nations

did the same thing, and a suborned media

had most of us believing that very few human beings were being killed.
We remember the graphic images of 'smart bombs'

--  a well-documented hoax.

 

Today we know that upwards of 150,000 
men women and children were killed by a lying military

and God knows how many live now with broken and burned bodies.

 

The war is being driven by huge multinational
armaments corporations that are bigger and more powerful
even than small countries like mine.

 

Mr Howard, Mr Bush:

we can keep your stinking war.
Wilson's Almanac will oppose this war
amidst a growing groundswell of public outrage.

 

Outside the USA especially, alarm is growing.
European and other journals are expressing outrage.

 

We know that war is obsolete.

 

Compassionate and reasonable
men and women of 190 countries
demand their 'leaders' spend money
on searching for other solutions.

 

 

 

 

 

3114 BC The Mayan calendar’s starting date.          

 

 

1100 English King William Rufus was killed by an arrow while hunting.

 

 

King William Rufus –  sacrificed king?

It is possible he was killed by his younger brother, who became Henry I. Tradition has it that his bleeding body was taken by a charcoal burner named Purkiss, to Winchester Palace, and for his kindness he was rewarded with an acre or two of land. It is interesting to note that a charcoal-burning family named Purkiss still lived on the same land at least as late as the time of the folklorist Robert Chambers (1880s).

It is widely believed amongst neo-pagans that he and other kings who died violent deaths on or near Celtic cross-quarter* days, such as Lammas, August 1 were victims of sacrificial kingship. This ritual of pre-christian times in Europe was realted to giving thanks to the sun for a good harvest, as Lammas, or Lughnasadh (see yesterday’s almanac)  falls at harvest time. (Compare with Olaf of Norway; also, apparently sacrificial kingship is also known in Africa.) William Rufus might have been the last pagan sacrifice of a king, and his death disguised for the Christian authorities as a hunting accident.

William Rufus was a son of William the Conqueror. His elder brother, Richard, had also died in the New Forest. The preceding night, William Rufus dreamt of his blood reaching to heaven, darkening the sky. The same night a monk dreamt that Rufus entered a church and picked up a crucifix; he gnawed at Christ’s arm, then the figure kicked him, making him fall backwards, and smoke and flames came out of his mouth. The king dismissed all this.

Some of the clergy hated Rufus and saw his death as divine judgment. Contemporary accounts said he was accidentally shot by his friend William Tirel.

* Cross-quarter days: those days that fall halfway between the solstices and equinoxes, four in all. With the solstices and equinoxes, they comprise the eight stations, or sabbats, of the Wheel of the Year.

 

 

"'at Pentecost blood was observed gushing from the earth at a certain town of Berkshire, even as many asserted who declared that they had seen it. And after this, on the morning after Lammas Day, King William was shot.'
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle   Source

There are no known portraits of King William Rufus,
but an artist’s impression is here. 

 

“…sacrificial kingship, known in ancient Ireland and Europe. It has strong connections with the self-sacrifice of Odin in Norse mythology, and is thematically connected to the Christian myth of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The ancient world abounded in death and resurrection myths and cults, as death and rebirth are an essential feature of human life.”   Source

 

“Lughnasadh (a Celtic festival for several days beginning on the eve of August 1 – PW) is the first of the three harvest Sabbats, Mabon and Samhain being the other two, which celebrates the ripening grains and corn. With the harvest so prevalent, Pagans see the theme of the sacrificed god motif emerge. His death is necessary for rebirth of the land to take place. Called by many names, “Green Man,” “Wicker Man,” “Corn Man” or just the “Spirit of Vegetation,” his essence begins to merge with the harvested crops, a sacrifice that will be realized with the new growth in the spring.

In old times, it was the duty of the King to sacrifice himself for the land, an idea that has been seen in the many legends of cultures both new and old, throughout recorded history. The gathering of the first crops of the year is also used to symbolize the success and extent of the power raised from the Beltane rites when the Sacred Marriage of the Lord and Lady took place. The theme of sexuality and reproduction is carried over into Lughnasadh as well to ensure the remainder of a good harvest.”   Source

A neo-pagan Lammas ritual

 

Celebrating Lammas

 

 

 

1589 France's King Henry III died, having been stabbed the previous day by Jacques Clément.