Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Another Show Coming Up!



I have another show coming up in December.  I can't wait to get out there and meet people and sell books.  I hope I can make it to Chicago's Printer's Row next year.  The little guy with me is my 15,000 year-old leprechaun friend named Liam.  Read more about him in The Library Kids book series.

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)



Monday, November 26, 2012

Paul Bunyan




Paul Bunyan was a legendary giant lumberjack said to live in North America.  He had a blue cow named Babe, who was his friend.  Some say the French Canadian lumberjacks gave birth to the legend when they were revolting against the English monarchy during the Papineau Rebellion of 1837.

However, as I mentioned in my books, The Library Kids, the tales of giants was universal across the globe.  Perhaps, there really were giants of old.


by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan

Bigfoot DNA Has Been Sequenced In Texas





DNA from samples taken at sightings of Bigfoot have been sequenced in Texas.   The scientists have concluded that Bigfoot is a hybrid human and should be treated as a fellow part of the human family.  The article includes the following:
 
Nov. 24--A team of scientists can verify that their 5-year long DNA study, currently under peer-review, confirms the existence of a novel hominin hybrid species, commonly called “Bigfoot” or “Sasquatch,” living in North America. Researchers’ extensive DNA sequencing suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.
The study was conducted by a team of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and
pathology, led by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, TX. In response to recent interest in the study, Dr. Ketchum can confirm that her team has sequenced 3 complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes and determined the species is a human hybrid:


Bones and teeth from sites in China as well as sites in Vietnam included massive humanoid jawbones and teeth,  prompting anthropologists to define a new species called Gigantopithicus.  Could the Bigfoot of today be related to these anthropological finds?  Could Bigfoot really be some sort of hybrid from a long ago time or is Bigfoot one of the original humans that was on this planet before the current human? 

The great apes of today all have 48 chromosomes (includes gorilla, chimpanzee, orangutan, and bonobo); however, the human only has 46 chromosomes.  The obvious difference between humans and other apes include the ability to walk upright, speech, brain size, muscle strength, teeth, and body hair.  I have placed a call in, to the Dallas scientists asking what the chromosome count was for the Bigfoot samples.  They have not released this information but rather anticipate another paper release in the coming weeks.  I will update this site with information when I get it.

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Sources:

http://www.dnadiagnostics.com/press.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigantopithecus

http://www.livescience.com/467-gigantic-apes-coexisted-early-humans-study-finds.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhoukoudian

http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gigantopithecus_blacki_mandible_010112.jpg

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Eye of Kanaloa




Kanaloa was a Polynesian god of the underworld and of magic.    From Wikepedia:

In the traditions of ancient Hawaiʻi, Kanaloa is symbolized by the squid or by the octopus, and is typically associated with Kāne. It is also the name of an extinct volcano in Hawaiʻi.
In legends and chants Kāne and Kanaloa are portrayed as complementary powers (Beckwith 1970:62–65). For example: Kāne was called upon during the building of a canoe, Kanaloa during the sailing of it; Kāne governed the northern edge of the ecliptic, Kanaloa the southern; Kanaloa points to hidden springs, and Kāne then taps them out. In this way, they represent a divine duality of wild and taming forces like those observed (by Georges Dumézil, et al.) in Indo-European chief god-pairs like OdinTýr and Mitra–Varuna, and like the popular yin and yang of Chinese Taoism.
Kanaloa is also considered to be the god of the Underworld and a teacher of magic. Legends state that he became the leader of the first group of spirits "spit out" by the gods. In time, he led them in a rebellion in which the spirits were defeated by the gods and as punishment were thrown in the Underworld.
However, depictions of Kanaloa as a god of evil, death, or the Underworld, in conflict with good deities like Kāne (a reading that contradicts Kanaloa and Kāne's paired invocations and shared devotees in Ancient Hawaii) are likely the result of European missionary efforts to recast the four major divinities of Hawaiʻi in the image of the Christian Trinity plus Satan[citation needed]. In traditional, pre-contact Hawaiʻi, it was Milu who was the god of the Underworld and death, not Kanaloa; the related Miru traditions of other Polynesian cultures confirms this.
The Eye of Kanaloa is an esoteric symbol associated with the god in New Age Huna teaching, consisting of a seven-pointed star surrounded by concentric circles that are regularly divided by eight lines radiating from the inner-most circle to the outer-most circle.
 

He may also be associated with the Maori god of the sea, Tangaro. From Wikipedia:


In Māori mythology, Tangaroa (also Takaroa) is one of the great gods, the god of the sea. He is a son of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, Sky and Earth. After he joins his brothers Rongo, Tūmatauenga, Haumia, and Tane in the forcible separation of their parents, he is attacked by his brother Tawhirimatea, the god of storms, and forced to hide in the sea.[1] Tangaroa is the father of many sea creatures. Tangaroa's son, Punga, has two children, Ikatere, the ancestor of fish, and Tu-te-wehiwehi (or Tu-te-wanawana), the ancestor of reptiles. Terrified by Tawhirimatea’s onslaught, the fish seek shelter in the sea, and the reptiles in the forests. Ever since, Tangaroa has held a grudge with Tāne, the god of forests, because he offers refuge to his runaway children (Grey 1971:1–5). 
Tagaloa is one of the oldest Polynesian deities and in western Polynesia (for example, Samoa and Tonga) traditions has the status of supreme creator god. In eastern Polynesian cultures Tangaroa is usually considered of equal status to Tāne and thus not supreme.
  • In Samoan mythology, Tagaloa is the father of Losi and Fue.
  • In Rarotonga (Cook Islands), Tangaroa was the god of the sea and fertility. He was the most important of all the departmental gods. Cult figures made from wood carvings were very popular in pre-Christian times and are still popular on the island today.[2]
  • In Mangaia (Cook Islands), Tangaroa is a child of Vatea (daylight) and Papa (foundation) and the younger twin brother of Rongo. Rongo and Tangaroa share food and fish: Tangaroa's share is everything that is red (the red taro, red fish and so on). Tangaroa is said to have yellow hair and when Mangaians first saw Europeans they thought they must be Tangaroa's children (Gill 1876:13, Tregear 1891:464).
  • In Manihiki (Cook Islands), Tangaroa is the origin of fire. Māui goes to him to obtain fire for humankind. Advised to reach Tangaroa's abode by taking the common path, he takes the forbidden path of death infuriating Tangaroa who tries to kick him to death. Māui manages to prevent that and insists that Tangaroa give him fire. Māui kills Tangaroa. When his parents are horrified, Māui uses incantations to bring him back to life (Tregear 1891:463-464).
  • In Hawaii, Kanaloa is associated with the squid or heʻe.
  • In Tahiti, by the goddess Hina-Tu-A-Uta, Ta'aroa is the father of 'Oro.
  • In the Marquesas Islands, the equivalent deities are Tana'oa or Taka'oa.
  • In Tonga, the Tangaloa family of gods resided in the sky and were the ancestors of the Tuʻi Tonga kings.
  • In Rennell and Bellona Islands (Polynesian cultures in the southern Solomon Islands) Tangagoa is a sea god which stayed on the coastal cliff of east Rennell known as Toho, and flew in the night with a flame in the sky. Tangagoa was believed to take spirits of the dead, so when someone was near death, the sparkling fire would be seen at night. Some can still recall the time when this god appeared in the night as a flame in the sky, and have many tales of it. Tangagoa started to disappear in the 1970s and early 1980s when Christian missionaries visited the cliff and cast him out.
  • In Raiatea a legend reported by Professor Friedrich Ratzel in 1896[3] gave a picture of his all-pervading power.

Please enjoy the following song from Tiki Taane on what appears to be his youtube channel:






by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Sources:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanaloa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangaroa

http://www.huna.org/html/ekanaloa.html

http://www.hawaiianlife.com/content/eye-kanaloa-0

http://openclipart.org/detail/166482





Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Dole Mansion




I just finished a visit to the Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake, Illinois.  The house was built by Charles Dole.  He was not the same Dole who started the Dole Plantation in Hawaii, but rather he was an early member of the Chicago Board of Trade as a grain merchant and partner with his brother James Dole in the Chicago-based Armour, Dole and Company.

The house was built during the Civil War period and was used as a summer home for the Dole family.  The estate had over 1,000 acres of land overlooking the lake.   The mansion is a 3-story Italian villa with a tower on top.  Charles Dole imported European craftsmen to lay unique floors in the mansion.  Each room had a different wood layout.  There are many fireplaces throughout the house as the fireplace was used to warm the house in those days.  Construction costs were over $100,000 which was a lot of money in those days.  Mr. Dole also had a racetrack for horses on his property.  There are also many carvings of wheat in the wood and ceilings because of the work that Charles Dole did as a grain merchant.

Mr. Dole was married to his wife Julia and they had 3 children.  His mother-in-law lived with the family.  The Dole family lived in the mansion until the late 1890's when he sold the home to his son-in-law.  The house was later sold to Mrs. Ringling who was the widow of the oldest Ringling brother of the Ringling Brothers Circus.  It was then converted into a country club until the stock market crash of 1929.  It was then converted into a Catholic seminary in 1945.  It is now owned by the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park that has converted the mansion into two art galleries, artist studios, and a cultural center that offers classes and art/music shows. 

It is said that the mansion may be haunted.  I did not see anything out of the ordinary, but on the 3rd floor my camera malfunctioned and would not take a picture near an original sink until I moved backwards.

Here are some of the pictures of the mansion:



 



 








 
The woodwork in the mansion is the original wood.  Some of the furniture on the 2nd floor (the armoire and sink) are original; however, much of the furniture has been brought in to show what the furniture of the time would have looked like.



 
 
Much of the 2nd and 3rd floors still need to be rehabbed, but hopefully it will be done down the road. 






 
 

 
 
 
 
All pictures copyrighted to Rita Jean Moran
 
  
By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Links:

http://www.lakesidelegacy.org/

http://www.lakesidelegacy.org/charles-dole.html



Saturday, November 17, 2012

The History of Thanksgiving

 
 
Thanksgiving is a time in America to remember the pilgrims coming to America and learning how to survive with the help of Native Americans.  Below is a great video regarding the origin of Thanksgiving.

 
 

 
 
 
by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)
 
 
 
Links:
 
 
 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Baal and Osiris?

I've read some literature regarding the Baal-Mot rituals of ancient Mesopotamia.  Mot kills Baal during the dry times of the year and Baal is reborn when the growing season comes back.  Could Baal have been another name for Osiris and Mot for Set?

Another clue from the Chicago Oriental Institute is the Baal statues from ancient Mesopotamia.  Compare the headgear of Baal to that of Osiris. It is the same except feathers were added to Osiris (the feathered serpent?).





Statues of Baal from ancient Mesopotamia.



Osiris Statue


I have coined a term called M.U.T. (copyright Rita Jean Moran) which stands for Mythological Unification Theory (copyright Rita Jean Moran).  I am writing about this now; however, I touch on this subject throughout The Library Kids series that all ancient mythologies from around the world are about the same story and that story was that of Osiris, Isis, and Set as well as the gods/goddesses who came before them.  This story was tweaked to coincide with the seasons of the planet and the rituals associated with these mythologies were used to remember the ancient ones as well as to remember the seasons of the planet.  Each culture had/has their own names for these gods/goddesses of old, but they are all the same with slight changes to the story as well as possible exchanges of female goddessess for male gods and vice-versa.

The priests/priestesses of old were the most intelligent people of the tribe who were entrusted with these stories and rituals in order to maintain a planting season that would sustain their people.  Unforutnately with power came corruption.  Some where along the way, cannabalism and human sacrifice were introduced into these rituals when it was not meant to be a part of them.  The story of Isis/Osiris is that they went around the world to teach humans civilization after a great war had sunk the human race into the dark despair of cannabalism and hunger and chaos.  It would not make logical sense that these stories and rituals would include these abominations when Osiris/Isis had worked so hard to eliminate bad ways and introduce farming and knowledge to the world.

I will be looking at my theory of M.U.T. in the next couple of books that I am writing and I will correlate the ancient past to the modern day.  The language of symbols contains much of the ancient past as well as the knowledge of science, math, biology, astronomy, and medicine.  The myths and rituals include the knowledge of planetary cycles and time itself.  It will take time,but I hope to prove out the time line of the past and identify the possible individuals involved in an ancient war that included nuclear and laser weaponry on this planet around 50,000 years ago as well as the re-building of civilization itself.  Stay tuned as the saying goes.


by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

The Mighty Mississippi

Here are some pictures of the Mississippi River at the Illinois-Iowa Border:




 
 
by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)
 
Links:
 
 
 
 

Pazuzu

I took an interesting photograph of some statues from ancient Mesopotamia at the Oriental Institute of Chicago. It included the figurines of Ishtar, Pazuzu, and an elder male god.  What struck me was that the middle statue of the demon Pazuzu had a hand gesture of "as above so below" which is what was attributed to the Egyptian god, Thoth.  Perhaps, things need to be re-examined for connections.  By the way, the demon Pazuzu was the demon that the priests had to deal with in the movie series The Exorcist.  Could Pazuzu really have been Set who re-made himself into the god Thoth through his priests?


 
 
by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)
 

My Photography

I've taken many pictures over the years and have put some of them out on www.fineartamerica.com for sale under Rita Moran as the artist name.  I also paint in acrylics, oil, watercolor, and pastel chalk and may put some of my art online, someday.  But for now, here are some of the photos for you to see how beautiful mother nature can be:



 
Cave of the Mounds in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin
 
 
 
Wisconsin Dells in Wisconsin
 
 

Lake Geneva, Illinois
 
 





Oahu, Hawaii
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright Rita Jean Moran
 
 
 
by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)
 


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Veteran's Day 2012

Today, I attended a very special Veteran's Day.  I went to an old cemetery on a side road that had the remains of veterans from the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Mexican-American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.  The cemetery was Fairfield Cemetery in Ela Township of Lake County, Illinois.  Archaeological research had been done on the cemetery in 2009 to verify and complete records for 760 gravesites with 432 of them identified.

Several speeches were given by various community leaders and a Naval officer.  What struck me the most was the number of veterans from all of those wars in that small cemetery.  If I remember correctly from the speech, one of the veterans had been 16 years old when he went to the Korean War.  It was also noted that this is the 200th year anniversay of the War of 1812.  It was noted by the Naval officer that the saying "wooden ships and men of iron" referred to the actual wooden ships of the time period and the stamina, bravery, and resolve of the men who fought for our country.  He mentioned one July battle that went on for 52 hours straight.

Much has been given to establish this country and ensure our rights and prosperity.  Much has been given to protect our borders (all though our south border has some issues, today).  Many other graves of mothers and fathers and daughters and sons were with those veterans. 

Many Americans today are very concerned about the state and direction of where our country is and is going.  But I remember talking to a Vietnam vet awhile back with the same concerns and he told me, "you will have America as long as you want it and are willing to fight for it."

Here are some pictures from the ceremony and from the American Legion Post 964 and VFW Post 11020:




 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 



 

 

 


 
 

 

 
 
 
by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)