Big Ben Re-strikes for New Year 2022

I have often wondered about the metaphorical significance, if any, of the shrouding and renovation of 'Big Ben' in the recently named 'Elizabeth Tower'. It is due to be re-commissioned this week in readiness for striking in the new year.

The original colours of the clock face - white, blue and gold - have been returned. Interestingly only the face facing the Thames is to be illuminated for the event. This New Year’s Eve, Big Ben will strike 12 times to mark the start of 2022. People have been advised to stay away as part of Covid policy.

"On Wednesday 30 December at 12:00, 22:00, 23:00 and midnight, the bell will sound. On Thursday, 31 December (New Year’s Eve), Big Ben will strike at 12:00, 16:00, 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and finally, midnight on 31 December 2020." Except of course Thursday is NOT New Year's Eve - Friday is. An obvious error for the UK Parliament web site to make.

How to make sense of the sequencing from Thursday to Friday? Are the first five times on Thursday and only the midnight chimes on Friday or is the sequence to run on both days? Am I the only one to be confused? No explanation is given for the numbers chosen. Do they symbolise anything more than the time?

"The four-and-twenty elders stand clothed in white before the great-white throne, and the Holy One that sitteth there white like wool which strikes more of panic to the soul than that redness which affrights in blood, to heighten that terror to the furthest bounds." "Bethink thee of the albatross, whence come those clouds of spiritual wonderment and pale dread, in which that white phantom sails in all imaginations? Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God’s great, unflattering laureate, Nature."

These quotes from Moby Dick were employed by the Radio 3 programme 'Words and Music' this evening (29th Dec. 2021) that took as its theme the Chess board and the topical subject of 'black and white'. Of course the chessboard is also the symbol of Masonry as are several of the numbers referred to above. I have referenced the significance of eleven and its multiples many times.

The Herman Melville quote is of course rooted in Revelation Chapter 4 which reads as follows (KJV):-

1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

                

Needless to say efforts have been made to afford meaning to these mystical writings by John the Divine on Patmos, not least because it is a tenet of the Christianity that they are divinely inspired prophesy were they to be understood. Notwithstanding this, as the Melville quote proves, they lend themselves to the literary, allegorical and imaginative landscape and may be reapplied at any time to notable current events as signals or mystical signposts. 

We may make our own interpretation of the twenty four elders; of the 'four beasts full of eyes' - the lion, calf (or bull), eagle and face; before a sea of glass; a door opened into the heavens; an emerald rainbow around the throne; from which proceeded lightenings and thunderings.

Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower certainly possess a symbolic meaning and importance to the nation beyond that of a mere architectural gem of a building, be it jasper, sardine stone or emerald. It has been shrouded for four years dominated by 'terror attacks' and Covid 'plague', of the death of the Monarch's Consort and a amateur, bungled alleged attempt on her life, let us hope the return of Big Ben does not presage further horrendous outrages.

A Christmas Day Missive from Yesteryear.

Standing outside before making my cup of tea, I took in the Christmas Morning. A vivid red glow in the south eastern sky presaged the rising sun, whilst the sky was a layer-cake of shades of grey and pink and custard yellow. There is a special sort of silence about Christmas Morning and this is no exception, wonderfully devoid of human mechanical sound. No cars, no boats, no trains, no planes. Peace and goodwill to all the earth. The twitter of distant birds but no dawn chorus this. So silent is the air, a faint illusive hum can be detected, perhaps the remnant sound of the planet hurtling through empty space or the mysterious music of the spheres? Despite my solitary and stationary presence, observing, listening, it still startles several pigeons from their night time reverie, smacking their wings to a further perch. As if taking the hint, a brace of Pheasant swoop down out of their Cyprus tree hide, into the green meadow, squawking in protest that their privacy has been disturbed surprising as much me, as I them! In this time of naked boughs, when nature pretends to sleep, the ever-greens, the Holm Oaks, the Pines provide a camouflaged resting place for birds of the air - the angelic winged messengers of heavenly sound. Surrounded by such a cloud of barren branches, the defiant Camelia remains glossy green, bedecked in gaudy blooms, incongruous, like a loose woman with rouge red cheeks, tempting and dangerous. Yet reminiscent of those exotic gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh - immutable, perfumed, cherishing. Preserving the divine myth of "God with us". Or perhaps not a myth? Perhaps he, she or it really is in the air? In the sap? In the synapse? In the blood? In the vital spirit? In the crib? In the flap of the pigeon's wing and the squawk of the pheasant disturbed? Now as the sun rises, black bark turns ochre, the clouds turn white, the sky turns blue. The day is born anew. Jupiter and Saturn aligned, have set, as they did two thousand and thirteen years before, over an Arab byre, announcing a special birth to divide humanity. Not that every birth is not a miracle, much taken for granted, except for the Mary and Josephs of the world. A bright point of light bring east and west together, before the blazing sun in all its glory, rises on another Christmas morning. The beginning of all genius and misery starts here. How many more before humans awaken to the mystery; desist from all desire, deceit, discontent and slaughter of the innocent? Ibrahim Colak(1) tweeted, "He had tried to be good but could not succeed." Yulia Galyamina(2) is to be sentenced on Christmas Day for waving the flag of freedom. How hard is it to be good? Living is hard. Good people can be crucified because of it. The seed of the end is always in the beginning. Salvation is in the story. So let us eat, drink and be merry, casting care to the wind, for tomorrow we die. We must celebrate both beginnings and endings, and let love reign, especially on a day such as this. "Glad tidings of great joy"?

An up-date from this:

Christmas as a festival will survive, because despite everything, it speaks of hope and forgiveness. It is an eternal message with very deep roots. The life and death of a man over two thousand years ago, is at its core. He acts as both an unobtainable objective and mirror into which we dare not look. An exemplar and yardstick against which we will be judged. An inexplicable conjunction and combination of the human and divine. 'Tempted in all things as are we, yet sin apart.' Of course we all know the sequel to 'the hopes and fears of all the years'. Hope is inextricably entwined with disappointment. Happiness with sorrow. Fear is endemic even when it is not deserved. 'Perfect love', we remember, 'casteth out fear'. We are faced with the painful reality of the world in which joy is mixed with tragedy, Christ's gospel of love being cruelly rejected, yet somehow triumphant, for in the end we know it is the only worthwhile goal, the only lasting treasure. That the accretions of wealth and glamour are only passing baubles that hang metaphorically on the tree. Despite the festive decorations it has a much darker symbolism of how secular power and wealth are antipathetical to the Christian message of selflessness and caring. That we all fall foul of fear in the face of evil, how we all like Peter deny Christ when faced with the consequences of owning him. The cock still crows. So what is the essence of Christmas in this post-Christian age? As never before technological and political clouds gather that threaten the very integrity of mankind and its spiritual dimension? Faith is never easy. Swimming against the propagandist tide is draining and dangerous but it is necessary. Although Christmas ritual can be reassuring and aesthetically pleasing, we must not let it obscure the moral power of the Man on a mission, to rescue man from himself and to create a route-map, whether temporal or eternal, personal or social, to an experience of heaven, without which life profoundly loses its meaning and purpose. Of these basic articles of 'faith, hope and charity', we are reminded every year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VOMFjQfJ8w

The Aspen Institute

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Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history’s most influential and enigmatic figures by examining Jesus within the context of the times in which he lived: the age of zealotry. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against historical sources, Aslan describes a man of peace who exhorted his followers to arm themselves; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity secret; and the seditious “King of the Jews,” whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his lifetime. Aslan explores why the early Church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary and grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself. Speaker: Reza Aslan

 It's always good to know the sun is 'returning' isn't it which of course is the significance of the winter solstice? People existed on earth many thousands of years before Christ. They all had brains and therefore mental processes and resultant beliefs trying to make sense of themselves and their surroundings. Not until relatively recently - around five thousand years ago - do these start to become discernible to us in what we recognise as 'civilizations' for which heavy reliance has to be placed on surviving archaeology in structures and written script. The above is a remnant of a largely extinct 'Celtic' one that in pre-Roman times appears to have dominated swathes of Europe. Sadly because it was largely verbal, what the Celts believed has to be inferred from the artefacts and structures that remain, such as the one above. We have the Romans to thank for obliterating it, notably in France with the campaign against the Gauls in Julius Caesar's Gallic wars around 50 BC and in Britain against the Druids post invasion culminating in the Anglesey massacre in around 60 AD. A contemporary account states, "A force was next set over the conquered, and their groves, devoted to inhuman superstitions, were destroyed. They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails." The effect was to destroy the Priestly Class and with it the verbal history, so we have to surmise their beliefs from what remains but I think it reasonable to infer that much may have been shared with other, principally Egyptian, civilizations of the time. The sun and moon dominated the night sky and were afforded divine characteristics. The return of the sun, on which survival absolutely depended was not a given, hence the importance of the Winter Solstice, which marked the end of the retreat and hopefully the point of return. Fire was the nearest thing to the heat of the sun, and so it was encouraged to return with much feasting and celebration no doubt around huge blazes. Evidence of this has been provided at Stonehenge for example as is the structure referred to in the photograph. With the arrival of the Judean/Christian religion elements of the old were adopted and built on, both in structures - many churches are on pre-Christian holy sites - and in the ritual and ceremony of the Church. Even the return of the Sun is replicated in the return of the Son of God with its roots in Egyptian mythology of  the sun god Ra and the struggles of the gods Osiris, Isis and Horus against the disruptive god Set. Yes both the winter solstice and the celebration of Christmas as we know it, have very deep and profound psychological and cultural roots.

 A Covid Conversation!

More sudden deaths of sportsmen.

Funny how no one seems to notice 'Omicron' followed the mass Corona vaccine roll-out. Or how the testing rules have crippled the public services unnecessarily. Or how 'adverse effects of the vaccines have affected hundreds of thousands. Or how one or two jabs now need 'boosters' to work as promised. Or how the drug companies are now producing pills to counter the adverse effects they have produced in the people persuaded or coerced into taking the jab. Or how a new generation of vaccines have been marketed to imitate the human anti-bodies. Or how billions of pounds have been utterly wasted on hair-brained schemes that didn't work that could have been better spent on patient care. Or the utter irrational pointlessness of all the lock-down measures - masks! Oh really! Or how sportsmen have been dropping down dead from the very causes predicted. Or how drug companies have run off into the night rubbing their hands with glee over the billions they have made in profits from the government's stupidity. Adding two and two will never again make four.

Reply to Keven Brochu: The study referred to (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa2034577?fbclid=IwAR17T6Zjb_bq7ruF0J5bz1qRGgAkoKsHZalDMnWvOx6KmWySWge5qPNjgoU ) bases its conclusion on the difference of 8 and 162 cases of severe covid seven days after the second dose out of 43,000 in the study a difference of a mere 154. The reasons for this could be numerous. At any event it depends on less than a mere 0.35% of the total, hardly a reliably basis on which to base a roll out to everyone. In addition although it states that there will be a two year follow-up, this is then contradicted by the statement that the placebo group would not remain so and so could not be followed up over time. It states: "Therefore, both the occurrence of adverse events more than 2 to 3.5 months after the second dose and more comprehensive information on the duration of protection remain to be determined." More accurately, cannot and will not be determined. Again to base results of a speculative and experimental treatment on such a short period of months might be regarded as reckless. Although there were no deaths from covid in the groups there were deaths from circulatory issues. There were also significantly more severe systemic adverse effects in the vaccine over the placebo groups. This is passed off as non significant. The study was funded by the company that has subsequently more than doubled its profits to 42 billion which for most people would raise serious issues of conflict of interest and the susceptibility to bias in the interpretation. Of course this has recently been borne out by revelations about methodology and interpretation. (See: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33652582/ and https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2635 ) But perhaps even more importantly, the complacent conclusion of the research must be contrasted with two significant far more reliable real life facts: first the results of the 'Vaers' and 'Yellow Card' adverse effects systems in respectively the USA and UK (20,000 and 1600 directly related deaths respectively plus literally millions of other adverse effects); the second being the evidence of infection rates after one and two injections, and the stated need for a booster, which is living proof that the much vaunted vaccine is neither safe nor effective.

Who has shares in Pfizer I wonder?

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Mark

Looks like Boris is also getting rid of old stock. There will be a new vaccine ready for march no doubt.

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It's meant to have limited life. No one really knows what is going into their arms. Some could be placebo. That would be very useful in a scientific experiment to produce reliable adverse effects info. for the manufacturers. Of course they have incredibly been given legal imunity

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Dec 14, 2021, 10:37 am

Mark

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Mark

Just had this text message from my doctors. I guess it's live and let die then!!

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Dec 14, 2021, 1:26 pm

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Outrageous isn't it? To roll out a killer/dangerous/useless covid jab programme, real diseases and health problems are being ignored. MADNESS!

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Sat 8:57 pm

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siv5zdtz8mI

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1:50 pm

Mark

BREAKING: Football star dies after collapsing during warm-up. Another young player suffering a heart attack! 😔 Full Story: LINK IN COMMENTS 👇

Football Hunting Grounds

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Mark

Another one

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People just will not listen.

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I have tried my best in my limited way. Most just laugh.

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Mark

To scared of finding out the truth.

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Karen my Leeds friend double jabbed and boosted now says she has covid.

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Mark

Yep just coincidence. Or it's always happened before, just people were not looking for it then! Is another saying

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Mark

Yes there's a lot of that. People getting jabbed and then tested positive 2 days later. There saying they must of caught it at the test center

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i posted a recent statistic of number of athletes who had died compared to recent averages. It's astonishing. The thing is if it was just a fluke it wud be one thing. But the cause conforms to the micro biological prediction. A likelihood blood platelets will coagulate to form blood clots. Here you have a conjunction of theoretical models and predicted outcomes. That's pretty conclusive of cause and effect in my book

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Mark

Yet there still trying to pump the stuff into anything that moves

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the excuses and get outs are mind blowing. Ppl don't want to admit they've been misled. Something called cognitive dissonance. Nor will they accept the obvious explanation called occam's razor.

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It's not only crazy it's CRIMINAL and particularly as regards children. I can't credit it. It's outrageous. When will the population say enough is enough of this nonsense?

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We are being controlled by maniacs for whatever reason

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Mark

Pressure from all angles to get the vaccine is immense at the moment! Just wondering how a far the government are going to go?

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Mark

This vaccine has to be a primer agent for the next thing the micro chip I can't see any other thing.

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Absolutely. Spot on. Small step from dogs to people as i said at the time. Have you seen that swedish advert? Oh the convenience of an implanted micro chip!

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the covid pass the first step

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the all-knowing, all-controlling state

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oka "communism"

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Mark

Yep scary world for the kids to grow up in!

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only knowledge and wholesale rebellion will stop it i fear

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we must remain realistic and optimistic!

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Mark

I don't think it will be stopped now!

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Mark

Anyway you staying at home tomorrow?

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Yup. Hope you have a happy christmas with your family. Don't drink too much. lol

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Do you have any objections to me posting this conversation? I can delete your name if you would like me to?

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It has some useful info in it?

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Mark

Yeah post it no problem Hope your day goes ok. Abit short notice but your welcome to come to ours tomorrow if fancy a drive up the M5