#the colours corresponding to the bishops too is just

[joffyworld]

What a feast for the eyes oh my God

day 11 < Day 12 "Blood" > day 13

When you don't want to admit it but deeply in your heart you regret what you did

Some explanation here and here (same things happend in my modern au jsnssnjsnsjxn )

Prompt list

[rebellconquerer]

More fic snippets from my head: Porsche vs Korn? Love to see it!

"Khun Korn, Khun Porsche is here." Chaiya announces. Korn looks up and smiles at Porsche, fatherly and pleased. It makes Porsche's skin crawl.

He walks in past Chaiya who stands quietly in the corner, takes a deep breath and then seems to just stop. Blending into the background. Hmm. He makes a much better bodyguard than Porsche ever did.

Porsche slips open the button on his suit jacket as he approaches Korn who is sitting in his usual place on the roof terrace, a chess board set up in front of him.

"Take a seat," he gestures to the opposing chair. Porsche eyes the seat, then the game before sitting gracefully, back straight, his body communicating displeasure.

"You summoned me, Khun Korn?" He says, the words slithering through his mouth smooth like a serpent in the brush.

"Now, none of that, Porsche, we're practically family. Call me Uncle." Korn replies, the same smile twinkling in his eyes.

Porsche nods but doesn't answer.

"Do you play?" He asks gesturing to the board. Porsche glances down, careful disinterest colouring his features.

"I never had much opportunity to play games in my childhood, though coincidentally books on the subject keep appearing at random intervals in my office," Porsche replies cooly. Korn's smile goes slick.

"How curious. Fancy a game?"

"I'd rather not waste your time with an unworthy opponent."

"You sell yourself short, Porsche," Korn starts, moving a white pawn and then making a corresponding move of a black one. Playing against himself. There is an irony in that that Porsche doesn't even have to look for.

"But that is a problem many seem to have with you, isn't it?" Korn asks. Porsche's eyebrows go up, his face asking the question that he refuses to speak.

Korn shrugs. "I heard you dealt with the issue with the Chanthara's very well. Very creatively even."

Porsche feels his jaw clench and fights to keep the glare off his face. "I did what was asked of me,"

"Nonsense. Your insight into the matter was unparalleled. The solution you came to was… unique."

Korn glances up at him, like he's taking stock of whether his praises are landing. Porsche paints a smile on his face and hopes the expression doesn't seem too forced. He's never been the best at hiding his thoughts, a problem that is rearing its head more and more often these days. He's working on it.

"Creativity serves you well in our line of business. It's something to be nurtured. I don't think Kinn or Vegas could have done what you did."

"Well it helps to have been that poor and desperate. It makes you familiar with what it feels like to break." Porsche replies. His tone must miss the full deference that Korn prefers as he gets a sharp look for his trouble. The look coils a dark pleasure deep inside him. Korn likes to pretend he is the benevolent benefactor in Porsche's life. Like he isn't the main reason for Porsche's suffering. Porsche isn't so forgetful.

"Still, good work deserves a reward. There are certain profitable but troublesome clients that may benefit from your deft hand." Korn replies and Porsche feels his breath freeze in him, that 6th sense that is supremely helpful when he's in a fight tickles down the back of his neck. It feels like prey realizing they've been scented by a predator. Any client Korn would describe as troublesome would be above the minor family. They would be Kinn's to deal with.

"With all due respect, Khun Korn, I think Kinn has a handle on his side of the business. He has after all been doing this much longer than I have." Porsche says carefully.

Korn hums, eyes examining the chess board in front of him. His game has been progressing without Porsche paying attention. A black bishop takes a white knight. There is a small collection of black pieces at the side of the game. White is clearly winning.

"There is no shame in needing help. Do you think Kinn would mind? Why should he, he has been helping you a lot over the last few weeks, has he not?" Korn replies quietly, attention remaining focussed on his board.

Porsche flicks his eyes between Korn and the board, trying to read something from his placid expression. Kinn values his standing in the eyes of this useless spider, he would hate to have Porsche instructed to help him against his will. He's a proud creature and if Porsche knows that, Korn definitely does, so this is either a test for Porsche or an intentional dig at Kinn.

Porsche isn't sure he cares about passing Korn's tests and won't stand for the latter. His response is easy.

"Kinn is nothing if not a problem solver. If he sees utility in any skill of mine all he has to do is ask and it's at his disposal. He knows that already. If he needs me, he has me."

Korn's eyes flash, apparently that wasn't the response he was expecting. He eyes Porsche up and down, expression cooling. It's like he's revised Porsche's IQ up a couple points.

"And that pleases you? Being leashed and collared like that. Existing at his beck and call?" There is derision coloring Korn's voice now, disgust dressed as politeness drips from his teeth as he says the words 'leashed and collared' and with it Porsche finally gets his play.

Porsche isn't dumb enough to think that this whole set up, him as the head of the minor family with Kinn leading the main family, isn't exactly what Korn wanted. He just doesn't know why? Still, if this is all he thinks it takes to get him to turn on Kinn, a few well placed compliments, a promise of power and a dig at his masculinity, well he has another thing coming.

Porsche glances at the board in front of them, pursing his lips in thought. "The last year has been one of the most volatile in my life and I've made a lot of mistakes. I'm a slow learner, I admit, but I do learn." He replies softly, eyes meeting Korn. "Everything works better when Kinn and I trust each other. It has been hard won, I will do nothing to threaten it."

Korn's expression stiffens. He doesn't seem to like when his pieces think for themselves. It emboldens Porsche. He allows his posture to slacken, letting the sexuality that garnered him tips at Hum bar from men and women equally soften his movements.

"As for being collared, as long as it's Kinn holding the leash I'm happy to be brought to heel."

He ignores the small cough from Chaiya at his words, smiling slowly at an irritated Korn from below his lashes. He glances down at the chess board, he's not good at the game, but he has been reading. He moves the white queen, threatening the black king.

"Check."

He holds Korn's gaze. He's going to pay for this, he knows, but he can't bring himself to care. With that Porsche excuses himself. Korn doesn't stop him.

[lordeasriel]

The Sun never sets on the Magisterium

The reach of the Holy Church in Lyra’s world is the first and most prominent worldbuilding aspect we learn from Northern Lights. It is the most important introduction one has to this world, so vastly different than ours yet so similar still, and it is the one trait that remains constant throughout both trilogies and novellas included.

This is an analysis of the Church in Lyra’s world, so spoilers for all the books and novellas, most likely. I’ll try and make a single post about this but I’m gonna reserve the right of maybe doing two separate parts because it’s a big subject. Under the cut because you know the drill, it’s long lol

The Magisterium was founded after John Calvin’s death, who had been Pope, and had the seat of the Church moved to Geneva. Although it is never clear, the Magisterium’s religious aspects come mostly from the Roman Catholic Church, and Pullman himself said in an interview, that some of its dogma is based on the original puritans. In this world, Calvin didn’t seem to have moved forward with his reform, not needing to break ties with the Catholic Church since he had become the Catholic Church.

Despite becoming a vast collective of “courts, colleges, and councils,” the Magisterium remains rather similar to most Christian branches from our world, at least in the medieval times. They had ties with kingdoms, they had influence over colonization, as well as economic and political influence, not to mention military too.

In Lyra’s world, the Magisterium seems intimately tied to Geneva’s politics, at the very least; it gives the impression that the city is somehow independent from the rest of Switzerland, not unlike the Vatican is independent from Italy. It is however, mentioned that the Swiss War was an armed conflict between England and the Magisterium, which means that they must have a full fledged control over the entire country and not just Geneva, although like most things in these books, this is not a sure claim.

With the Swiss War happening some time around 1933 and 1935, it gives this wild and quite odd picture, of a Church actively trying to invade a country. Although not that foreign a concept, since the Catholic Church was highly involved with the colonization process of our world, they never quite invaded the countries themselves (at least during the 1500s colonizations, as the Crusades were sort of Catholics invading countries lmao), instead joining later as the Monarchs of Europe established outposts and colonies and had already subdued natives in the area.

We do not have an exact date for the Magisterium’s creation, the implication being that it was set somewhere 600 years prior to Marcel Delamare’s acceptance of Leader of the High Council in TSC, it is fair to assume that colonization was already happening in Lyra’s world’s 15th century-ish and that the Magisterium was involved with that much in the same way it was in our world: by converting people, be it by force or by persuasion.

However, in Lyra’s world, the Magisterium stopped being a fully religious entity at some point, and became a full fledge state-like organization, spread all across the globe in different shapes and names, all answering to the bigger and more powerful groups, usually stationed in Geneva: the College of Bishops during its initial centuries, then eventually the Consistorial Court of Discipline, who by NL had become an immensely powerful group, in a power conflict with the less threatening Society of the Work of the Holy Spirit. The CCD being the harshest and most powerful group in the Magisterium, at least during the events of HDM, seemed to have had a lot of power in Geneva and in nearby areas, such as France (as we learn in LBS, the alethiometrists of Paris were sympathetic to the Church, not a surprise given France’s very Catholic Background) and Germany.

With information known from LBS and HDM, the Magisterium seems to hold under its power both the Swiss Army (implied, at least, given the Swiss War being a conflict created by the Magisterium itself) and the Imperial Guard of Muscovy, which seemed to have been under the control of the CCD in particular. It is not explained exactly why the Muscovite Army serves the Church and personally, my knowledge of anything Eastern Europe is very slim, so I’m not gonna attempt to assume much, but given that in TSK it is said they were “sworn to uphold the power of the Magisterium”, it’s possible — and very likely — that the Muscovite government had some sort of deep rooted connection with the Church. Again, not a surprise for Europe, as most countries had monarchies connected to the Church very intimately.

I’m not diving deep into every single one of the Magisterium groups, especially because we know very little about most of them. During the Magisterium congress in TSC, it is mentioned that 53 delegates attended, each representing a group at least (we know both Pierre Binaud AND the President of the CCD attended and they both are part of the same group), so that alone should prove why I couldn’t possibly talk about every single one of them lmao Some of those aren’t even mentioned by name. So, before I tackle on the most important groups and what they represent, I wanted to discuss how the Magisterium’s influence in the world seems to work in a geographical way.

We know for a fact that Geneva — and Switzerland, at least implied so — is absolutely under the control of the Church. Whether they share power with a political group or they are the political branch themselves, I could not say, but at any rate, we know the Magisterium waged war on England under the Swiss banner at one point in time and it’s fairly unlikely that it changed much in less than a century; that alone proves that State and Church don’t seem separate here.

So, how I perceive the Church in Lyra’s world — not just based on preference, but also on what we see of the world, however little it is — is that the further the country and cities are from Geneva, the looser the Magisterium’s grasp is and the more different its approach to power becomes. I use the word ‘looser’ here very lightly, as I don’t think the Americas weren’t oppressed, but I think the Magisterium had a much different type of hold and influence there, and I do think the huge oceans separating Europe from Oceania and the Americas helped change the pull of the Church.

That is different from how it happened in our world, but there is also the difference in how the Magisterium operates; each of its groups work under different philosophies and dogmas and politics. They embody the same religion - Christianism - but they do not act the same way, a good example being how the faithful in Constantinople act towards the Patriarch, while England has very little respect for the CCD, instead just fearing it. In our world, the Church operated sort as an unified front, but in Lyra’s world these many groups are always and constantly fighting each other for power and influence, creating alliances and making enemies between themselves. In England alone, we see that many groups have “outposts” there, the CCD and the Oblation Board, as well as all the Priories and chapels and all that.

There is also the fact that Lyra’s world still seems to have a very independent Africa, as we see the presence of King Ogunwe, meaning that some of the areas in Africa still had independent Kingdoms. This doesn’t mean that the African colonies that did exist weren’t converted or oppressed, but it does mean that these independent Kingdoms resisted the Church’s influence and depending on what group was harassing them, they could succeed in breaking the Church’s ever growing presence. This seems a similar situation for the Americas, given how odd the borders are in Lyra’s world  — South America having way less countries than it does in our worlds and the US never being formed, instead separated into at least two regions, three depending if New France means Canada or yet another part of a possible US.

This is a very ugly map I coloured to show my point lmao The Red Areas cover most of Western Europe and some of Eastern Europe, as well as a part of Russia. All these areas are connected by roads or trains, meaning that the Magisterium’s pull could have started long before airplanes were even created; these means the influence and presence would have existed for a long period of time in most of Europe, meaning More Magisterium Strength. It also covers areas I assumed would be heavily populated areas in the colonies, most of the coastal areas in Brasil, most of the United States because they have two different countries in them  — Texas and New Denmark  — and most of Coastal Australia, although by HDM it’s fair to assume all these regions are no longer colonies, but independent states.

I didn’t go into full detail, there are countries I didn colour with red but that should be red. The Green Areas are contested Areas, places where the Magisterium would have a presence but that would create conflicts for different reasons, being other religions, an uncooperative governement or simply because the group in charge of the area is not competent or too violent to properly establish a presence. This would be the areas in the continents, especially in Africa, where in our world they were heavily colonised but in Lyra’s world they are still independent kingdoms, with military forces and political freedom. Some parts of Russia are green because in Lyra’s world there is the implication Russia is divided into at least three different territories  — Muscovy, Tartary and Siberia  —  and the tartars are considered heretics by the Church; is the territory I painted in green correspondent to actual Tartar regions? I have no idea, but I’m hoping you can forgive my geographic inaccuracy in favour of all this mega meta thing I just spurred. LMAO

And finally the Purple Areas are mostly in places where the weather would be too harsh or where population would be too small to attract the eye of the Magisterium. Ultimately, the Church in Lyra’s world does not only seek to convert everyone and rid the world of heretics, but they also want political influence, economical and military as well, and a small village in Greenland offers absolutely none of that. Some of these areas would also be found in Asia, I believe, especially the very distant and small villages where Islam would have been able to survive. I’ve written a bit about other religions in Lyra’s world if you want to read before going on.

With all that in mind  — and out of the way!  — let’s take a closer look at the Magisterium most notable groups. Starting of course, with the CCD, it’s important to keep in mind that the CCD was the first group created in the Magisterium. It wasn’t always, however, the most powerful one; in Northern Lights, it’s said they only gained notoriety in “recent years”, and we see in La Belle Sauvage that they were already active, including in England, so my assumption is that not only Pullman did a slight retcon here, but also that recent years can mean somewhere in the range of 70 to 100 years. This doesn’t change the fact the CCD became powerful and feared in the Magisterium, nor that their power in England grew considerably between LBS and TAS and then TSC. They are mostly an enforcer type of group  (this is how I refer to them, not canon: enforcer or militia for groups that can arrest, or do any type of Police/militia/army related type of work; dogmatic is how I refer to the groups that usually deal with conversion, reeducation, philosophical works - this isn’t relevant, I’m just. Trying to Make Sense lmao) and as an enforcer, the CCD is violent and ruthless and often lawless in its work outside Geneva.

Despite the fact they are known as a Church Authority, they cannot murder freely and without consequence. In England they act in the shadows during LBS, disguising Robert Luckhurt’s murder as a drowning, and not much is known about their work during HDM, but in TSC they start to openly arrest people for heresy, no doubt a change from the government after Marcel’s rise to power. The CCD seems to act all across Europe and even Central Asia, as we see some of its forces in Constantinople, although it isn’t clear if they were there simply because the Patriarch died or if they are also stationed in the city; the Sublime Porte had its own guards as well, given its status as a government base.

Not much is known of the Society of the Work of the Holy Spirit, except that they seemed less harsh than the CCD and during their quest to find Lyra, they were far more interested in not killing her. Lord Asriel mentions in TAS about his surprise in learning that Lord Roke managed to infiltrate the group, as they were considered impregnable; given Lady Salmakia’s method, and the whole attitude of the group towards the prophecy — it was assumed they weren’t going to do anything about it  — I’d safely assume they were more inclined towards being dogmatic.

Perhaps even older than the CCD, the College of Bishops was perhaps inherited from the Catholic Church before the Magisterium was born. It was known to be the most remarkable and powerful of the groups for centuries after the creation of the Magisterium. Not much is said about them, but given their counterpart in our world, I’d assume they were more inclined towards dogma than enforcer. They are, in our world, a collection of bishops who work closely with the Pope; in Lyra’s world, by the time the Magisterium existed, the Pope no longer existed, so the assumption is that the College replaced the Pope figure altogether, being led by all the bishops in the collection, probably working like a council.

Everything we know about La Maison Juste is confusing and unclear, as most things worldbuilding-wise are in these books. Their official name is League for the Instauration of the Holy Purpose, which coincides with Olivier Bonneville’s description of their work, about “accomodating the life of the world to the life of the spirit”. In other words, it means making sure that daily life can be fitted into the dogma of the Church; it’s vital for the Magisterium to adapt as progress comes. Unlike the CCD, that suppress anything that borders heresy, La Maison Juste seems more inclined towards adapting the dogma so the world can still be within the Magisterium’s expectations.

However, there is mention of La Maison Juste being a place meant to study and examine heresy; there is also a mention in TSC, by Olivier, about how the group changed under Marcel’s leadership, “being a force for good” in the ranks of the Magisterium. What that means exactly, I can’t say; it could be Marcel changed the heresy examination to something more productive and less harsh, or it could just mean he became more strict towards heresy, but that would conflict with Olivier’s description about the accomodation thing. At any rate, I do classify them as dogmatic, and we see Marcel using the CCD to go after Olivier when he flees Geneva; it’s curious because there seems to be implied the CCD outranks his group, but he still uses their forces to do anything remotely violent. There is however, a passage where Lyra lies to a guard from the Office of Right Duty about being part of La Maison Juste, and the guard gets spooked. This is curious because La Maison Juste barely seems remarkable up until the congress happens, but the mention scares the man off.

Two groups  — that we know of  — were responsibility of Mrs. Coulter. The League of St. Alexander seemed to have been created around the same time LBS happens (roughly 1986 if the timeline makes any sense, which probably doesn’t). Hannah Relf learns at some point that Marisa was behind it, but it’s never clear what was her role in it exactly. It doesn’t look like the League was a private initiative, but actually tied to the Church and it was as good a Scam as any. Marisa being behind it didn’t necessarily mean she was the active leader of the group, as they mention a man under the codename Bishop seemed to be in charge, but then again, I cannot say with certainty. They were definitely a dogmatic group, with brainwashing added to the mix, but they seemed to have mutated over time and it isn’t clear whether they only existed in England or not.

The General Oblation Board was Mrs. Coulter’s actual, proper group. It was a private initiative, under the CCD’s rule, but the nature of their work seemed to threaten the CCD’s leadership in the Magisterium. MacPhail made an extra effort to try and dismantle them, especially because he believed that Dust should be destroyed and not examined. I don’t think the fate of the group was ever disclosed, despite their losses, but by TAS MacPhail mentions them as if they are still functioning. Whether they survived up to TSC is not clear, but it’s also hard to imagine what could they have become without Marisa. It’s also interesting to think what would have happened to the Magisterium, had Marisa succeeded in taking the place of the CCD; a private initiative group as the most powerful group in the Magisterium would have caused drastic changes, and probably opened the doors to the big corporations much sooner than Marcel’s work in TSC. The GOB could be classified as dogmatic, given their interest in Dust, but they were far more into scientific research than La Maison Juste seems to be, for example. They also had their own private guards, so no need for the CCD’s enforcers.

I think these groups showcase well how the Magisterium operates. The further we see Lyra go into the East, we realise how the grip of the Church seems lighter and far more military inclined. Is the Magisterium everywhere? Frankly, I don’t think so. I think they have a substantial presence in every country with any amount of political influence or power; any country that might offer opposition. We know they tried to conquer England through an actual war, which is quite odd for a religion, but this is where the Theocracy takes it place in Lyra’s world: they become a single unified front with their country  — Switzerland, in this case  — and the countries where they have more power, they can also control. The places they can’t take by force, they take with dogma and faith, and slowly overthrow these governments by turning their people against themselves.

They are so vastly fragmented that even places with small groups are affected by their presence, no matter small and odd that can be. It’s both curious and terrifying to see a world so deeply overwhelmed by a single opponent, but then again, it’s not that far off our reality. The Magisterium doesn’t represent just faith and religion, but also the big oligarchies, and how governments bend to the will of big companies, and how these aligned forces can become oppressive over time. The Church’s hold across Europe, Africa and Asia was not fast and unpredictable; it was obvious and slow. It started with small conversions and with time, the Church become a force of sustainability for different regions; they become an important part of the enviroment, of the economy, of the security of the country. They become something to be relied on and thus removing them become difficult over time as well, as the micro societies  — the neighborhoods, the small villages  — they become reliant on the Church’s helpful groups to survive, meaning that their fear of the enforcers are overwhelmed by the help of the Chapels, and the priories.

It’s the creation of a co-dependent ecosystem that is very difficult to dissolve without harming innocent people.

[thedragonchilde]

So it occurs to me that for all the things I've drawn of my Fate/ OC Glory, I never supplied a real profile of any kind, even thought I've had one written for some time, so...

Name: Glory Marcoullides

Nicknames or Aliases: Has used nom de plume Glory Holliday, somewhat at behest of family who don’t want people recognizing the last name and asking questions. Last name alternatively spelled Markoullides.

Languages Spoken: Greek, English, French

Age: 27

Gender: Trans woman

Sexuality: Waves it off as “demi-something” or “demi-whatever”; Kinsey 2, with her tastes leaning toward beautiful men and handsome women

Features

    Eyes: Central heterochromia, blue to gold

    Hair: Red-gold, in wispy loose waves/curls, forming a halo around her face. (I have yet to correctly draw this style, so the description here is more accurate than what I've drawn.) Often wears a waist-length wavy blonde wig with braided sides, which she tends to metaphorically and literally hide behind.

    Skin: Warm tan

    Height: 6’0”

    Build: Thin and willowy

    Face shape: Narrow and angular

    Other distinguishing features: Slash-scar across the left side of her mouth; burn scar on left palm from spellwork accident; other hidden scars (some cuts, mostly burns) indicative of self-harm

Clothing style: As elegant as one can be when covering everything from the high collar down. (Some of this is certainly modesty, but a lot is down to a Mediterranean girl not adjusting well to London weather. A miniskirt and tights counts as 'covered' for her purposes, and she discovers a fondness for cold-shoulder tops.) Often wears gloves. Usually deep colours; gold accent common. Quite the collection of earrings.

-The Markoullides clan is old magic and new money, and they’ve been aggressively trying to select for Mystic Eyes/Pure Eyes, or altering magic circuits to induce them artificially; they’ve also been known to artificially increase or transfer magic circuits, to varying levels of success

-Has a younger sister (Katina, or Kiki) who was adopted out to another mage family

-Parents (Konstantinos and Chryssa) now regret this choice since their ‘firstborn son’ idea didn’t work out, and are not quiet about this resentment

-As soon as she started showing signs of being ‘different’, she was kept from formal schooling lest she embarrass the family

-As such, has taught herself quite a bit, between the eclectic family library that’s informed their flashy, experimental form of magecraft and any outside materials she could get her hands on out of her parents’ eyesight

-Did have some more formalized at-home training, mostly in the history of magecraft

-Elemental affinity toward fire, and works especially in light; appears to have some form of Mystic Eyes

-Current family situation is strained; parents are ‘willing to let [her] act this out’ so long as she finds a ‘real woman’ to produce an heir and continue the magical line

**

-Reconnected with Kiki (who was all too happy to escape her parents); the family that adopted Kiki helped Glory get out on her own/in touch with whatever meager support system they could find

-Also had ample support from Irish mage Clíodhna Mac Giolla Bhrighde [ @spoopy-lava / @ask-bishops-babies ]; the two were introduced in a matchmaking effort and instead became fast friends

-Is a writer (essayist mostly) and historian and would kill for access to the Clock Tower library/archives

-Maintaining written correspondence with Lord El-Melloi II, whose work she avidly follows, though she fears meeting in person

**

[In an alternate universe where she is involved in a Grail War, she becomes Master of Rider Don Quixote]

**

-Always has coffee on; sometimes spikes it

-Feels most comfortable when writing

-Socializing is very much “fake it ‘til you make it”

-Curious, eager to learn, clever, full of trivia, and can be quite loquacious if you get her started

-Took up smoking as a teenager; quit only within the last year or two, in order to qualify for hormone replacement therapy

-Has been known to satisfy the resultant oral fixation with cinnamon sticks or hard candy

-Has a decent hand at calligraphy

-On that note, may or may not have an ongoing project involving handcrafted paper, binding, calligraphy, and gold leaf

-Also may use those graceful strokes in her spellwork

-Ultimate goal is just to find her niche, somewhere she belongs and is wanted

*****

I've also, er, done a couple of ship questionnaires for her and Waver? Both get a little racy, but this one is more general and this one is about sex

[historytaker]

King Versus King

Within the first quarter of the 14th century, it would be forgivable to let the king of England seem profoundly on top of the world. The setbacks of his father, Edward II, were crudely mended by his mother, Isabella.  England was swelling with military, political, and thereby economic success; So much so that the population had inflated to 4 million. Equally important to the crown, Edward II had a legitimate claim to the French crown. The Capetian dynasty was a long standing rival in European politics with the Plantagenets. The Plantagenets  out-bred and out-wed the Capetians, ultimately.  What’s more, the long time enemy of the English, the Scottish, had little affinity for their king, David II. To add to the seemingly charmed hand of state, when David II was struck in the head with an arrow and duly kidnapped by the English, the Scottish refused to pay a king’s ransom and had all but formally announced fealty to Edward II. This Plantagenet wore the crown of three kingdoms and ushered in an era of chivalry, fantasy, success, opulence and unrequited love for the dynasty overseeing an economic power that had heretofore been unprecedented in Christendom, save only for the early successes of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II. The king was experiencing the apogee of an age in which the old order was in solid control of the comings and goings of the world. Bishops preached in Latin. Indulgences could be paid. Wealth buffered concerns on Earth and evidently in Heaven. For, one could compel a monastery to pray for your soul with such fervency and continuity that one’s stay in purgatory would be short, and Heaven’s bliss obtained in short order. Wealth could be and was hoarded. The lord of the manor had no reason to ever assume a change in the order.

               So sustained was the monarchy in England, Edward II felt it not at all unreasonable to fashion himself a modern Arthur at Camelot. His was a kingdom of gentlemen, of knights, of righteous conviction and marshal prowess. He started the Order of the Garter and created a round table to emulate the notion that the king was first among equals. Indeed, the top of the mountain granted a glorious view. Surprisingly, the view did not grant observation of a great encroacher, indeed a devastator of many kingdoms.  In fact, this was a king in a hurry; one that intended on conquering more than England, but the world. His march may have started in the steppes of central Asia, but by 1348, some 20 years after taking the throne, Edward II England was besieged by a rival king, King Death.

               The army deployed by King Death was, of course, the plague. It is generally believed that it was transmitted by rodents carrying bubonic infested fleas.  The Mongols took their dead infested and lunged them into the city walls of the Black Sea city Caffa. From Caffa and the Genoese merchants who ported there, the disease spread. The contagion was swift. At first, and with devastating swiftness, the cities were eviscerated. The fecal matter of the fleas could be inhaled or the bites from the bugs were death sentences. If the diseases spread to the lungs, the death would take 4 agonizing days of fitful coughs. The blood-laced sputum surely spread to those near, and in its turn spread to whomever inhaled it.

               What could Edward III do in the face of such rumors of malady in his realm? At first, not much. There were murmurs of a pestilence in the world by sea-fairing traders. Their contacts in Italy described the condition, its velocity of transmission, and naturally assumptions on what devil-worshiping cult had summoned it.  There were even numbers suggesting the dead of Venice reached 100,000. Even so, it would not be until the king’s daughter succumbed to the illness in her turn.  The Infante Pedro of Castile was to marry Edward’s daughter, Joan. But by September 2, news had reached him that she was dead from the plague. And in keeping with the stoic nature of the king, he is reported to take the news by first saying, “It is as it is.” Naturally, in a rare moment of looking behind the curtain, we can prize from his correspondence with Alfonso XI a father in morning. He laments with a piety mixed with a familiar grief that Joan had “been sent ahead to heaven to reign among the choirs of virgins where she can intercede for our own offences before God himself.” He is quick to remark that Joan had been his dearest daughter and whom “we loved best of all for all her virtues demanded.”  To underscore the pang sorrow the king was enduring and to put a point to how bereft he was of a solution he states “No fellow human being could be surprised if we were inwardly desolated by the sting of this bitter grief for are human too.” Among kings, it is incredibly rare to hear such claims to human emotions.

               So what does a king do when wrecked from the inside over a new foe as this? He reaches out to the only people who can have answers for pestilence. Naturally this meant the Archbishop of Canterbury. He needed prayers especially in the southern regions of the kingdom where this seem to be emanating from.  Alas, the plague caught him too. There was no Archbishop of Canterbury to pray for the people of Kent.  And what a perturbation it must have been when men on horseback would come into the city or village speaking of apocalyptic devastations only to then find themselves one of the dozens, or hundreds, or thousands destined for the mass graves.

               Perhaps most jarring to the people, rich and poor, man and woman, young and old, was the remarkable speed at which it worked. People pieced together the transmission method soon enough that heart wrenching moments of furtive relationships occurred. Parents abandoning children, husbands abandoning wives, all watching from a distance the quick death but slow agony of those they loved.  A welsh poet Jeuan Gerthin explained what we would have noticed among those struck down with the disease, “ Woe is me of the shilling in the armpit; seething terrible wherever it may come, a head that gives pain and causes a loud cry, a burden carried beneath the arms, a painful angry knob, a white lump. It is of the form of an apple, like the head of an onion; a small boil which spares no one. Great is its seething like a burning cinder, a grievous thing of ashy colour…an ugly eruption. They are similar to the seeds of the black peas, broken fragments of brittle sea coal…a grievous ornament…the peelings of the cockle-weed, a black plague like halfpence, like berries.”

               All told, by the end of the plague, nearly half of England would be dead and buried hastily in graves. Recent excavations from the 1990’s shown just how fast and chaotic the scene must have been. Traditionally the buried were oriented toward Jerusalem to rise from their graves upon the return of Christ triumphant. The graves revealed a final statement among the buried, jaws slacked open, limbs pointed jaggedly, a frozen protestation of the inhumanity.  As the plague meandered through the realm, it upended more than health of very much alive people from just 4 days prior, it upended the conventions and structures of society.  A Franciscan monk in Ireland, John Clynn noted with a sobering view to his own reality: “ Seeing these many ills and that the whole world is encompassed by evil, waiting among the dead for death to come, I have committed to writing what I have truly heard …and so that the writing does not perish with the writer or the work fail with the workman I leave parchment for continuing it in case anyone should be alive in the future.” With the all too familiar tone of understatement in British writing, it followed with a new hand, “Here, it seems, the author died.”

Who do the people go to if the king cannot save them? Who do they direct their frustration and hate to if the benevolent God in heaven is not manifesting through the sermons of the priest? How do people receive Christ for that matter now that there are no more priest to speak on their behalf to God? There were no bakers to bake bread, no physics to make med, no priest to receive the dead. Out of the uncertainty of the moment, truly inspired homespun remedies made the rounds. Whether by trial and error or willing a remedy, one potion is passed down to us by a herbalist; giving us a glimpse at the heavy ask but thoughtful response to what was by then considered a disease due to miasma or noxious air. It logically implies then that good smelling things were a kind of remedy. “If it be a man take five cups of rue, and if it be a woman leave out the rue, five little blades of columbine, a great quantity of marigold flowers, an egg, fresh laid, and make a hole in one end and blow out all that is within, and lay it to the fire and roast it till ground to powder but do not burn it, and take a good quantity of treacle and brew all these herbs with good ale but do not strain them – and make the sick drink it for three evenings and mornings. If they hold it in their stomach, they shall have life.”

               The booming 4 million population at the outset of the plague were still 90% agrarian. Among those who worked the land, few actually owned their parcel. And increasingly the population was fighting for a smaller and smaller share of land to fashion subsistence for themselves and their families. The plague, in some respects served as a pressure valve. But the correction was too sudden to accommodate the economic structure of England.

               The homes of the people, largely field laborers, lived in modest lime-washed structures made of wood felled from the local forest, with dirt floors. To add to the ambiance of the abode, the owners would have strewn loose straw on the ground mostly to collect the refuse of the fields and manure on their feet. The toiling masses did not have much to begin with. The world around them was hard enough before the plague, but with the plague came a psychological and physical damage that could scarcely be comprehended. Whole villages died. Naturally, the economy collapsed. Out of this collapse came the evolution of manorial economics to cash economics.  It would no longer due for the workers to simply work for a subsistence and get whatever graces the lord granted. Work needed to be done, the obligations of the lord still needed to be met, but he now had a shortage in labor. His laborers were demanding, with a level of self awareness scarcely granted to them, that the new economic reality was on the worker’s side now.

               Out of the plague did spur an opportunity for toiling folk to rise out of poverties oblivion. It was not fast, nor necessarily in one life-time. Sometimes it took generations, but generations as opposed to never at all, the working poor did have a chance. And it was this seeming conspiracy of the cosmos to upend all the structures that held the people together, their faith in the government, their financial inability to resist the rules or rulers, the unquestioning certainty on matters of God, death, hell and heaven by the priesthood, all went out the window. From the necessity of laypeople having to fill roles that were utterly foreign to their station came a new sense of capability to people who never otherwise would have ventured to change. Unwritten rules governing the village went to the wayside as power was exercised often by those who were in a position to exploit it. Meanwhile, Edward III was aging and his son and heir apparent, Edward the Black Prince, died leaving the succession in untenable uncertainty.

               Inevitably the old king died and that left government in the hands of a 10 year old, Richard II. Grant it, everyone that was anyone knew that power ultimately laid in the hands of John of Gaunt, Richard’s uncle and protector.  In fact, you might compare John of Gaunt to any of our modern day monopolist or business giants like Jeff Bezos. His wealth and holdings and influence could rival a king’s and in many cases did. Even so, the Lancaster stayed behind the scenes and guided the young Plantagenet through his early years.  Richard took to the role of king rather quickly, it seemed. His vows and all the mystique surrounding the trappings of monarchy went to his head. In the early years of his boyhood, perhaps with the structure of fixers behind the scenes, it proved useful and life saving. In time it would be his undoing. Nonetheless, the boy regent was pitted against one of the biggest moments in his career when, at last, a popular uprising threatened to upend government.

               If, as John Wycliffe supposed, people could find Christ in their own way free from the needs of the priesthood, this supposition unfettered the people from strict forms of social control or engineering. For as it was, finding Christ and following him meant a steady hand towards an egalitarian model. What concessions were made in the in-between years of the start of the plague and Richard’s reign were in-part at risk by the policies enacted by John of Gaunt. The toiling folk had definitively climbed the social ladder into the ranks of yeomen. They were solidly middle class, to borrow a later colloquialism.  By their estimation the government was keeping them suppressed and squeezing them for revenues they earned no thanks to the laxed reactions of government.  So it was no surprise that what began first as tax dodging by the villagers by shrinking into the forest soon bloomed into open hostility at the tax collectors or strongmen the king or lord would send. The usual deferential English country yokels were becoming intransigent. Dodging taxes soon became the least of it. The village leaders started violent reactions in the form of collecting the heads of those attempting to collect dues. The so-called Peasants revolt began this way. Not with a written manifesto, but with the gumption of survivors, social climbers, and increasingly self-indoctrinated Christians who took for themselves what bits they could of the point of Christ.

               The leaders, in part self ascribed and in others acclaimed to, were primarily Watt Tyler and John Ball. Who was Watt Tyler? Tyler was a charismatic man who was imprisoned for not having the money to buy his manumission. In the New Jerusalem being created in real-time, who could be a better general for this lot of revolters in the service of God and King Richard? The imprisoned Watt Tyler. John Ball for his part understood the egalitarian nature of Christ message. Our riches were not for this world but for our home in heaven. It followed then that the ostentatious life of the bishops was something to disdain and use as proof that these were not shepherds of men for Christ, but shepherds of evil and wickedness for earthly possessions. John Ball was the only bishop the people would need. He was one of them and would remain so. The movement was not to overthrow the king. Instead, with a fatal sense of deference for power and monarchy, the movement sought to save the king from his uncle and all bad advisors surrounding him. They, naturally, would save the king and advise him.

               The conflagration congregation indeed set fire to Gaunt’s holdings.  Richard beheld a terrible site. The skyline of London was ember red in the evening the group made it to the city gates. The leverage was on the side of the “peasants,” but they fully went the whole way. To his credit, Richard agrees at the age of 14 to ride out to meet them. Tyler asks and evidently receives in word the concessions of ostensibly a new kingdom with a Magna Carta written and affirmed for the common people. The overreaching by such low born and the ability to get a king to capitulate was evidently enough to drive one of the king’s retainers mad. Watt Tyler was sliced down and murdered on the spot.

               In a glorious sense of theatrics and prudent wherewithal, to allay the fears and ire of the crowd Richard rides out to them in a life-saving vague claim, “You shall have no captain but me.” It did the trick and bought the king and the other frightened aristocrats time to cut down the people one by one. The devastation was total. Upon retrieving the upperhand, when asked again by impertinent lowborn to be received as a king for them, Richard remarks with Plantagenet fury “You wretches, detestable on land and sea; you who seek equality with lords are unworthy to live. Give this message to your colleagues. Rustics you were and rustics you are still: you will remain in bondage not as before but incomparably harsher. For as long as we live we will strive to suppress you, and your misery will be an example in the eyes of posterity. However we will spare your lives in you remain faithful. Choose now which course you want to follow.”

               Evidently it worked. Richard was able to stymie the ferocity of a new social order ready to explode. Regardless if the upstarts were successful or unsuccessful, things had changed. While the plague took a century to run its course, and the slow death rattles of a dying dynasty took 100 years to finalize, and while it took 100 years for a modern sense of Englishness to take hold geographically as well as politically, the plague did bookend an epoch in the organization of labor, ideas, currency, and governance. And as with all moments of crisis and collapse, a germ of creativity can sprout into the first tree within a mighty forest of new possibilities. King Death then was the equalizer. Ultimately, it was that equality and need for it that had been festering for years before Edward’s reign even. It just took a different king to make the way and speed up the process, in this case, by necessity.

[tomasorban]

THE ZODIAC: SCORPIO THE SCORPION

Date of Rulership: 23rd October-21st November; Polarity: Negative, female; Quality: Fixed; Ruling planet: Mars/Pluto; Element: Water; Body part: Reproductive organs; Colour: Deep red; Gemstone: Opal; Metal:Steel or iron.

Attempting to make sense out of the eighth sign of the zodiac can sometimes mimic the insurmountable task of trying to answer a cosmological question as to why the universe came into being. If we could equate Scorpio with a physical object, it would be an iceberg. Why, you ask? Well everyone finds it difficult to relax and be uninhibited around an iceberg, especially when you’re on a ship and there’s simply no way of telling what lies beneath the surface of the water, how big it is, and if it will steadfast melt or simply tear a slit into your vessel and sink you. What you see or what you think you see isn’t always what you get, and that tenet is truer of Scorpio than it is for any other sign.

In equating the iceberg with the archetype of Scorpio, the part resting above the water would be the desolate, unapproachable, and cryptic exterior that doesn’t quite lend itself to close investigation for fear of judgement and ridicule, and the larger part beneath the water is the smouldering chamber of power-packed emotions and unconscious images that are left to proliferate there unchecked and are rarely, if ever, vented. Just as the iceberg severs itself from a main body and floats into territories foreign to its own nature, so too does Scorpio show the side of itself that is frequently incompatible with social rituals and codes, alienating it from the joys and benefits of social intercourse. Moreover, ice is a solid, concrete form of water and Scorpio’s watery but fixed nature indicates that it is a sign that can quickly become fixated with things. Scalding is usually associated with heat, though conditions of severe cold such as those facilitated by ice can generate analogous effects. Hence just as heat and cold can scald the skin so too can Scorpio’s behavioural extremes, brooding intensity, and fiery emotional outbursts leave people with psychic burns and scars that won’t easily be forgotten or forgiven. Scorpio, then, is the iceberg that drifts through the cosmic ocean, a block of ice that remains acutely aware of its own temporal existence, vulnerability, and composition while at the same time emanating a snow-white radioactive plume around it that alerts others to proceed with caution, or better still, stay away altogether.

The soul of a Scorpio man or woman is extremely delicate, soft, and pliable. Think of it in terms of a piece of twenty-four carat gold that can easily be bent, twisted, broken in half, amalgamated with other metals, and fashioned into material things that do not accurately express the spiritual worth of ‘gold’. Being the intuitive and proud gem that it is, Scorpio knows this and inherently feels that it’s only viable recourse is to raise gargantuan walls and set cunning traps in the immediate vicinity around itself as to thwart any foreign invasion which seeks to dismantle its bubbling motivations and innermost desires. The type and nature of defences employed by the Scorpion to ensure this never comes to pass varies from person to person, however one that exists in the arsenal of all is a belligerent, angry, and red-coloured force field that will not allow another cheap laughs at its own expense. In the mind of a Scorpio, any deliberate attempt to humiliate, threated, scold, or tease, vilify and slander either itself or a fellow conscious projection of the universe violates the most vital of moral codes and deserves shameless retaliation.

As we have thus far discerned, Scorpio possesses an innate sensitivity that renders it receptive to even the slightest changes in external temperatures and environment. Thus it seems only natural that the sign might become unnecessarily fixated on trying to control and manipulate everything around it for the sake of lessening its anxieties and maintaining harmony of its inner empire in the manner that a chess player strategically positions pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks to defend an inner sanctuary epitomized by the royal couple. Like the latter, souls incarnating under the stars of Scorpio enjoy playing games in which they can draw like-minded others into their private little worlds, identify their psychic dowry and talents as well as the positive and negative elementary characteristics of their personality, and henceforward advise them on what course of action and karmic life choices they should make. Scorpio enjoys proposing unsolicited makeovers that they believe will emphasize another’s finest characteristics, inside and out, and can be quite intrusive in prying for information that it perceives to be of utmost importance to the wellbeing of its significant other, its loved ones, and itself. Being the control freak that it is, Scorpios are aversed to and become apprehensive around obstinate and autonomous persons that will steer clear of Scorpionic manipulation, especially when the individual concerned is their own partner. Like its close cousin Cancer, Scorpio doesn’t like to be confronted about the way in which it operates or the manner in which it chooses to live its life and will often go to any length to protect its emotional security and hold onto the few momentous others that comprise its cryptic and often unintelligible chess game.

“One thing you’ll really like about me,” says Scorpio, “is the fact that I’m very understanding. I understand the conflict of interests between the outer and inner landscape that can cause one to feel like a social misfit, a reject, a loser, or simply undesired and unwanted. I don’t judge people who are different from the conforming majority; on the contrary, I embrace and honour them. I’m also really good at fixing things. I simply love to pick at something until it’s either fixed or it vanishes from the face of the earth. I’m also intensely self-aware. I’m aware of gestures, subtle energies, actions, and implications that often move in the opposite direction to that of the spoken word and might have their own story to tell. Really, I haven’t got a problem in diving down into the abyssal depths of the human soul, perusing an inner darkness that contains the carnal impulses, compulsions, instincts, and latent desires within you, and then re-emerging into the conscious light to reveal how your outer landscape will inevitably undergo a metamorphosis for the worse if you don’t confront it.

Life is about experiencing this world, but it is also about learning how to die and resurrect throughout the course of one’s lifetime in order to expand the psychic and spiritual fields of our collective consciousness. Alchemically speaking, we might say it involves a threefold cycle: necrosis, the corruption of death; leucosis, rebirth through intuition; and iosis, the conciliation of conscious and unconscious elements that leads to the much desired ruby-red state of illumination. We must all come to terms with the insecurities, hostilities, and boiling obstructions within the depths of our being that set this cycle into motion, as well as find a way of reconciling these qualities with our conscious personalities in order to attain closure. Why, you ask? Well in my search for the truth I have acquired a hunch that there are other dimensions of existence beyond our physical one, and so the plight of each human being should be to purge oneself of murky, carnal qualities that go far in inhibiting the attainment of illumination, inner purity, freedom and most importantly, unalloyed love. I, for one, come into the world karmically prepared for the emotional tribulations life will inevitably throw at me, and I know of no other sign that experiences such cheerful bliss, soaring through the boundless skies like a carefree eagle, when these obstacles are finally overcome.

Like every animal on this planet, I enjoy having sex and will often engage it purely to release tension and other psychic steam that has been collecting in the confines of my subconscious for weeks if not months. Hence, anyone lucky enough to tango with me will share in the providential gift of a mind-blowing and positively uplifting experience. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ll use sex as a method of exploitation, but one should never take me for easy, and I’m not particularly interested in dispassionate and no-strings-attached casual sex. For me, sex is extremely sacred and must involve love and intimacy between two people who care for one another otherwise the act becomes pointless and futile.”

There are two symbols associated with the zodiacal sign of Scorpio. The animal totem that represents the first of these really does correspond to the distribution of stars in the sign’s constellation, and it appears that all ancient cultures from the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Indians to the Egyptians, Hellenes, and Romans were in unanimous agreement about this. The most significant stellar body in this vivid star group was Antares, a bright eye otherwise known as the Heart of the Scorpion and inextricably linked with the war god Mars. In ancient Egyptian cosmogony, Scorpio was ascribed prominence as the constellation of Seth, the primordial god of destruction, irruption, anger and chaos. In a book by archaeoastronomer Jane Sellers entitled The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt, astronomy, archaeological evidence, and mythography come together to reveal that the eighty-year battle between the gods Horus and Seth had a precessional basis, the question being which constellation of the equinoxes, Scorpius (Seth) or Taurus (Horus), would gain the ascendency after Orion (Osiris) had been obliterated from the night skies of the northern hemisphere. Given the fervent preoccupation of our ancient ancestors with celestial events, the Predynastic Egyptians would have envisioned a harmonious balance in the annual circuit of the sun when Taurus (Horus) marked the spring equinox and Scorpio (Seth) marked the autumnal equinox. This was something of a Golden Age, a locus classicus when the v-shaped bovine head of Taurus manifested by the Hyades rose heliacally over the eastern horizon at the vernal point just before sunrise and the arachnid-like form of fiery Scorpio reappeared there exactly six months afterward to herald the autumnal equinox. According to Sellers, this Golden Age would have occurred between c. 6900-4867bce before the relentless yet subtle effect of the precessional cycle knocked it all out of allignment.    

The second, an astrological shorthand for the zodiacal sign utilized by astrologers in the creation of astrological charts, looks like the small letter “m” save for the fact that the third leg terminates with an upturned arrow. Many astrologers and symbologists have attempted to anatomically define the contemporary sigil, though it appears that none of the suggestions are wholly convincing. Hypotheses linking the modern shorthand symbol to the male reproductive organs, a severed scorpion tail, the tail of the Christian devil, the tail of a mythical dragon, and a coiled serpent have all been proposed. This particular symbol has undergone many changes through time. In Egypt, four demotic tablets were uncovered that recorded days and months in which the five visible planets entered the zodiacal signs over a twenty-eight year period. These revealed that the shorthand symbol used in ancient Egypt was a snake. Alternatively, medieval treatises show an actual scorpion.

In the northern hemisphere Scorpio appears at a time when the formative forces of Mother Nature are at their weakest, but it is also a time of turbulent change when fermentation has commenced and the scales are about to tip towards the proliferation of life energy. Evolving around the rudimentary myth relating the passions of the beneficent Osiris, ancient Egyptian belief ascertained that the latter suffered death and descent into the netherworld beneath the stars of the vigilant Scorpion. In Peri Isidos kai Osiridos, we learn that Osiris’s penis was the only body part that wasn’t found his wife, the mourning Isis, who solved the enigma of how she might conceive a son posthumously by equipping him with one hewn from a piece of wood. The myth’s preoccupation with the reproductive organs, sexuality, and resurrection fits in well with Scorpio as a spiritual archetype intensely preoccupied with the cosmic cycle of death, transformation, and rebirth.      

The Scorpion exudes an energy which works in indirect and often cryptic ways. Consequentially, this sign is one of the most misunderstood in the zodiac and will more often than not encounter hostile adversities and reactions from those that cannot comprehend the benevolent intent indigenous to the Scorpion’s nature. Having said that souls incarnating under this sign possess a psychic dowry that enables them to handle and cope with such situations, for one can be sure that the universe will never impose a blueprint onto something or someone unless it is sure that that something or someone can survive experiences and consequences that might be simulated as a result. When looking at the zodiacal image and the symbols as a whole, one intuitively feels that the poisonous stinger and sharp arrow imply sharp qualities and sentiments that cut like glass such as adroitness, cleverness, and smooth-tongued straightforwardness. They also recalls the Stygian depths of Scorpio’s psyche, a raw, windswept, and multifarious breeding ground of passion, charm, astuteness, creativity, intensity, and both sexual and romantic love. These fiery traits can be attributed to the immanence of Plutonian energy in the sign, a prominent planetary position formerly held by Mars.      

[pope-francis-quotes]

30th November >> Pope Francis leaves for Bangladesh after historic visit to Myanmar (Photo ~ Catholics wave Vatican and Myanmar national flags as Pope Francis leaves Yangon on Thursday, headed for Bangladesh - EPA) (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis left Myanmar for Bangladesh on Thursday, concluding the first part of his 21st apostolic journey. He’ll be spending three days in Dhaka, before returning to the Vatican late on Saturday evening. During his visit to Myanmar, the pope met with popular leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as the president and the top military general. He met with Buddhist leaders and local bishops, but above all he went to meet ordinary Catholics, who travelled from all over the country to attend an open-air Mass on Wednesday. As the pope departs from Yangon’s international airport, our correspondent on this papal trip, Philippa Hitchen, reports on the impact his visit may have on the Church and on the broader political context… Surprisingly for the Vatican, this visit was only announced in late August, leaving just three months to put the detailed planning, protocol and preparations in order. The announcement was the result of a meeting in May between Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Pope Francis, an encounter that resulted in the establishment of diplomatic relations between Myanmar and the Holy See. The move was widely seen as significant, not just for the country’s small Catholic community, but also, more broadly, for the Church’s efforts at peacebuilding and development among the many impoverished ethnic communities. Short preparation period Some critical voices said three months was too short a time to plan properly for a visit that could leave any kind of lasting legacy for the Church. Others, especially the organisers, believed the timing couldn’t be better. They hoped the trip would give the beleaguered Aung San Suu Kyi a much needed sign of international support, as she tries to resolve the crisis in Rakhine state, while seeking to push back against the nationalistic rhetoric of her most vocal opponents. Church's prophetic presence So what will be the impact of this first, historic visit of a pope to the “tiny flock” in Myanmar? Was it just a chance for the many ethnic minorities to show off their colourful costumes and for the Buddhist majority to provide a warm welcome to the world’s Catholic leader? Certainly, the local bishops believe it’s been a hugely significant moment for the young Church here, encouraged by the pope to step up important ecumenical and interfaith cooperation in order to be a prophetic and healing presence in the life of the nation. Support for Aung San Suu Kyi To the many strident voices asking why the pope didn’t mention by name the persecuted Rohigya people, the bishops’ spokesman Fr Mariano Soe Naing says it’s vital to see the long history of this conflict and the broader struggle for democracy in the country. Suu Kyi has had less than two years to resolve not just the crisis in Rakhine state, but the many other ethnic conflicts that plague the nation, and where the military still controls many key government positions. If Suu Kyi responds to international pressure, condemning the army and alienating popular opinion, most people here are convinced the country will slide back quickly towards military dictatorship. Unscheduled private encounters Outside the official programme of events, the pope met with the head of the Tatmadaw, or combined armed forces, possibly bringing up the Rohingya issue in that private conversation . He also met with 17 local religious leaders, including Muslims, who were reportedly “absolutely thrilled” with the pope’s public appeal for the rights of all ethnic and religious minorities. Learning about human rights With a crisis caused by so many decades of “misrule and neglect”, a local Jesuit priest told me, no-one can expect overnight miracles - not even from the pope. “We’re in a learning situation in Myanmar”, he said, “where people are learning what is a human right? What is human dignity? What is the common good?” What I believe the Holy Father has left behind here are some very clear answers to those very pressing questions.

[fashiontrendin-blog]

20 Famous Speeches That Will Make You A Better Man

http://fashion-trendin.com/20-famous-speeches-that-will-make-you-a-better-man/

20 Famous Speeches That Will Make You A Better Man

From Winston Churchill to Malala Yousafzai, history is awash with inspirational speeches spoken by great men and women. Naturally, though, not all speeches are created equal. You need only look at the orations of certain current political figures to notice that sometimes, when people speak, they really aren’t saying anything at all.

Luckily, everyone on this list not only has a point worth making, they deliver it with rare elegance, grace, and often humour. Whether you’re searching for best man speech inspiration, or simply looking to become a more rounded individual, there’s plenty here to serve as inspiration. And if your favourite speech is Mel Gibson’s pre-battle “Freeeedom!” call to arms in Braveheart, this is the list for you.

1. Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

Winston Churchill

Britain’s most popular Prime Minister (sorry Theresa) is perhaps most famous for his rousing soliloquies on defiance in the face of adversity. Naturally, the most memorable of his speeches were given during his first run in the top job, from 10 May 1940 to 26 July 1945. Inheriting a tough job just as World War II was heating up (we’ve all seen Darkest Hour, right?) Churchill delivered his “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” speech to a parliament less than convinced that he was actually the right person to lead Britain to victory.

In it, he sets out his stall and explains the make-up of his new government. The most famous bit, though, comes towards the end: “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs —Victory in spite of all terror — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.” Not bad for his first speech in the job.

The lesson: Stick to your guns, even when those around you doubt your capabilities

2. Royal Wedding Sermon

Bishop Michael Curry

A passionate African-American preacher giving the sermon at a British royal wedding? It’s sad that in 2018 this seemed so radical. But judging by the much-memed expressions of certain guests, Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon was exactly the shake-up the establishment needed. And what a sermon it was. Focusing on “the power of love” (no, we’re not talking Frankie Goes To Hollywood), Curry’s speech reminded everyone that there’s nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to the warm fuzzies and that we’d all benefit from letting a little compassion into our lives. Well, it was a wedding, after all.

The lesson: “There’s power in love” obviously

3. I Have A Dream

Martin Luther King Jr.

This 1963 speech is perhaps the most famous speech in history. As King explains, it should be “self-evident that all men are created equal.” But, over half a century later, can we really say that King’s dream has come true? With #BlackLivesMatter today equally as vital as King’s campaigns, and less inclusive reforms taking place across the West, you might argue that we’re someway off. It’s worth, then, reacquainting yourself with King’s words, and seeing what you can do to help bring about equality between men, women and non-binary people of all creeds and colours. Because, occasionally, dreams do come true.

The lesson: Love thy neighbour, and keep fighting the good fight

4. That Rock N Roll

Alex Turner

The Arctic Monkey’s third Brit Awards win for both best British Band and Best British album made them unique among their peers. It’s understandable, then, for thinking Alex Turner – a real rock star, no less – might be a trifle tired of accepting awards from the pop-promoting awards body. His 2014 speech, in which he references rock n roll emerging from the slime may have had people making jokes about “rockstars in the toilet, practising their lines”, but to mock Turner is to miss the point. And the grins his bandmates are trying to hide. Let’s have a bit more mic-dropping, and a bit less Ed Sheeran. That rock n roll, eh?

The lesson: Don’t take yourself too seriously

5. Ich Bin Ein Berliner

JFK

The US President’s 1963 address to West Berlin crowds, against the backdrop of the Berlin Wall, is often considered the Cold War’s most important speech. In it, Kennedy rallies the hearts and minds of the West against the tyranny of communism. The US will stand strong with the residents of West Berlin – a people surrounded on all sides by the Russian-held half of Germany.

So strong is JFK’s dedication that he wants to declare himself an actual Berliner. Their pain is his. And their strength is his. What he actually does is declare himself a “jelly donut” in the local parlance. Which only serves to make him seem even more likeable. Bloody Google Translate…

The lesson: Make sure you’ve got the local lingo down

6. Abolition Speech

William Wilberforce

When Yorkshire man William Wilberforce stood before the British House of Commons in 1789, slavery was still very much alive and well in the UK and her overseas colonies. It took some guts, then, to denounce the trade in human lives and freedoms as wretched and shameful. He asked for “cool and impartial reason��, and claimed that every single person in the House was guilty of compliance. Twenty years later, the Slave Trade Act of 1807 was passed, but the trade was not abolished until 1833. Wilberforce, by then retired from Parliament, died aged 76, just three days after hearing the the abolition act had been passed.

The lesson: If something’s worth fighting for, it’s worth being in it for the long haul

7. Quit India

Gandhi

India was the jewel of the British Empire, but enforced colonial rule could not last. When Britain refused to let India form its own government, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – leader of the Indian Independence Movement – sought to rally the people with this famous 1942 speech. In it, he urged the people of India to come together, and resist, without violence.

“Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a non-violent fight for India’s independence.”

A long five years later, Gandhi achieved his aims when India claimed its independence in 1947.

The lesson: Words will always be more powerful than a fist

8. The Decision To Go To The Moon

JFK

Delivered to a crowd at Rice Stadium, Houston on 12th September 1962, JFK’s address was designed to persuade the average American to support the effort to land a man on the moon. It was a resounding success, and simply historic in the scope and scale of the ambition it outlines. The payoff came on 20th July 1969, when Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to the moon, changing the game for good. A must-see for any manager or general trying to rouse the troops.

The lesson: The sky is no longer the limit

9. Barack Out

Barack Obama

A president with style, charisma and comic timing is a rare thing. Even more so these days. But, in his final speech at his last White House Correspondent’s dinner, Barry O is fantastic throughout, referencing Game of Thrones, shouting out Michelle and poking fun at his future. You’ll watch between your fingers though, as he hints that Hilary is a sure thing for the next presidency. Oh, and bill him for the mic. A masterclass in how to bow out with grace, even when everything seems like it’s going down the pan.

The lesson: Always leave in style

10. The Power Of Sport

Nelson Mandela

You might think that after 28 years in prison, Nelson Mandela would have bigger fish to fry than encouraging the youth of South Africa to take up sport. But, as anyone who’s seen Invictus knows, Mandela saw sport as a way of unifying his country, and instilling national pride in people of all creeds and colours. In this sports awards speech, he says simply that sport has “the power to inspire… the power to unite people in a way that little else does… sport can create hope where once there was only despair… it is more powerful than governments.”

The lesson: Don’t write off something that gives you happiness

11. The Fringe Benefits Of Failure…

J. K. Rowling

And The Importance Of Imagination. Good title. And J.K’s speech at Harvard University is just as inspiring as it sounds. After a round of jokes to get the audience warmed up (with only a handful of Harry Potter references, just in case you forgot) J.K. gets down to brass tacks: the importance of failure, and compromise. She talks of how her parents pushed her into a vocational degree, believing English Literature would never pay the bills. But while that turned out to be far from the case, her point is that life is difficult to control, and whatever path you set off down, you never know where you’ll end up. Magic.

The lesson: Go with the flow

12. Worldwide Access To Education

Malala Yousafzai

After being shot in the head by the Taliban, standing up and addressing the UN must be a doddle, right? Yeah, right. But, if she was as terrified as we would be, 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai did not show it for a second as she recounted her story, and asked for better education for children throughout the world so that we might welcome a more enlightened future.

The key, though, is to forgive and search for new ways to solve problems. In Malala’s words: “I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me, I would not shoot him… This is the philosophy of non-violence that I have learnt from Gandhi Jee, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learnt from my mother and father. This is what my soul is telling me, be peaceful and love everyone.”

A masterclass in bravery, and fighting for what’s right.

The lesson: Education and compassion are the key to greatness

13. Questioning The Universe

Stephen Hawking

A TED talk from Stephen Hawking? Yes, you are so lucky. In this 2008 speech, Hawking raises the biggest questions in the universe and tries to help us find answers. Are we alone in the universe? Where did life come from? And what is the future of the human race? Was there anything before the Big Bang? You’ll have to watch to find out.

The lesson: Always stay curious

14. How To Live Before You Die

Steve Jobs

In his 2005 speech at Stanford University, a very different type of genius tells three simple stories. The first is the story of his adoption, the second about getting fired from Apple – the company he started – and the third about death. Each morning, Jobs said, he woke up and asked himself if he’d be happy doing what he had to do that day if he only had a few days left. “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.” Just six years later, Jobs would indeed be dead, and it’s hard to say he didn’t live by his words each and every day.

The lesson: You have nothing to lose

15. Fall Forward

Denzel Washington

In 2011 Denzel addressed the University of Pennsylvania. His message: “Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.” According to Denz, it’s a fact that you will fail, lose and embarrass yourself – that’s inevitable. What matters is what you do after you’ve failed. In other words, keep on showing up.

The lesson: There’s no such thing as a mistake, just an opportunity to learn

16. Freedom or Death

Emmeline Pankhurst

Speaking in Hartford, Connecticut on 13th November 1913, the suffragette leader took no prisoners in her call for women to be treated as equal members of society, whatever it takes:

“We were called militant, and we were quite willing to accept the name. We were determined to press this question of the enfranchisement of women to the point where we were no longer to be ignored by the politicians… We wear no mark; we belong to every class; we permeate every class of the community from the highest to the lowest; and so you see in the woman’s civil war the dear men of my country are discovering it is absolutely impossible to deal with it: you cannot locate it, and you cannot stop it.”

Right on.

The lesson: Equality above all else

17. This Is Water Speech

David Foster Wallace

The late, great writer begins his speech with “If anyone feels like perspiring, I’d invite you to go ahead, because I’m certainly going to.” And it only gets better from there. His subject is, well, banal platitudes, and how they do, sometimes, have meaning – all told through the dissection of the traditional commencement speech. This might take a few watches but it’ll stay with you afterwards.

The lesson: We’re all part of something bigger

18. MUM Commencement Address

Jim Carrey

Continuing the trend of actors speaking to students, the comedian gave the commencement speech to the Maharishi University of Management’s class of 2014. Sure, there are some wild tangents, but the core of the speech sees Carrey at his most tender, touting the benefits of soft-serve ice cream, and the degree to which fear will have a role in your life. Most of us, he says, choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality.

But there’s no point in doing so. He talks about his father choosing to be an accountant instead of pursuing a career as a comedian, only to later be made redundant. The lesson he imparted to Carrey junior is that you may as well take a chance, because you can always fail doing what you don’t love.

The lesson: Take a chance, because you can still fail even if you play it safe

19. Commencement Address Agnes Scott College

Kurt Vonnegut

One of history’s most unique writers brings his peculiar take on life to the 1999 Agnes Scott College commencement address. What’s most touching is how thankful he is for education, and the possibilities awaiting new students: “Thanks to you, the forces of ignorance and brutality have lost again.” He also quotes from Robert Browning, “A [wo]man’s reach always exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” Beautiful words from two beautiful writers. Including the best advice of all time from Vonnegut: “Wear sunscreen”.

The lesson: The possibilities of the future are endless, if you have the courage to embrace them

20. Speech to the Troops at Tilbury

Queen Elizabeth I

Before Liz The Second, Britain had OG Liz, and some say she was the country’s finest queen. Case in point: on the eve of a decisive battle against Spanish forces in 1588, Elizabeth spoke to her troops on the front line:

“I am come amongst you… not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust… I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.”

Her willingness to fight and toil alongside her soldiers was rare enough at the time (least of all for a woman) but even more so now. A truly inspirational leader.

The lesson: Lead by example, and leave it all on the line

[foundtheworl]

New Post has been published on Found The World

New Post has been published on https://foundtheworld.com/sagrada-familia/

Sagrada Familia, World Heritage Site In Barcelona

Spain has many world heritage sites, but perhaps one of the most amazing is the Sagrada Familia, an old church with some intricate architecture which would be difficult to construct, even today. The Sagrada Familia is perhaps the most visited landmark in Spain.

This church is also noted for still being under construction, as it was never completed in its time. The key architect was Gaudi, and it was his most important work, as well as his most challenging.

Gaudi set up a plan to have the church finished in ten years. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Now it’s been almost 135 years since the first stone was laid, and construction still continues to plan.

The Sagrada Familia is quite unique from the other churches in Spain that visitors can see today. It’s well worth adding a visit during your time spent here. You may even wish to come back a few years from now to see how it’s construction has been progressing.

History of the Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia is located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It has a Roman Catholic designation. It was officially consecrated in November 2010. It has minor basilica class, so it’s not considered a cathedral, which requires a seat of bishop.

The first stone block was laid down in 1882. The key architect was Antoni Gaudi, famous for many other buildings in Spain. He was a Catalan-style architect that lived from 1852 to 1926. When he passed away at the age of 74 his project was only one quarter complete.

Its architectural style is modernism, with a mix of gothic and art nouveau, a bit different than the usual gothic facades and interiors of many of the other churches in Spain today. When viewed from afar, this church has a whimsical look to it, like it’s from a fantasy film. Yet, the church is real.

The church earned its World Heritage Site Designation in 1969 and 1984 onwards. It’s still in an ongoing phase of construction, and work will continue until approximately 2026 to 2028.

The Sagrada Familia relies largely on donations for its construction in both past and future. Its construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1939 and resumed in the 1950s. With the advent of computers, in 2010, construction went a lot faster. However, there still remains many challenges to Gaudi’s original plan. There are supposed to be ten more spires built above the building, each signifying an important biblical figure.

There has been some dispute over the centuries. People were worried it would overshadow Barcelona’s main cathedral. There was also the concern that some of the design work done after Gaudi’s death didn’t exactly follow his plans. There was also a proposal in 2007 to build a rail link beneath the church that could disturb its stability.

Continuing Construction

Another reason that construction still continues on the Sagrada Familia today is due to the damage it has suffered over the years. During the Spanish Civil War, parts of the unfinished church were destroyed. Gaudi’s workshop and some of his models for the church were also destroyed during the war.

Gaudi liked to joke that, “My client is not in a hurry,” in regards to all the delays that the church had seen. Perhaps it was lucky that he passed away prior to the Spanish Civil War and didn’t see that damage done.

Construction of the building today is done by computer-aided design. A CNC milling machine is used, rather than the stone blocks being carved by hand such as happened back in history.

Tips When Visiting the Sagrada Familia

During your visit to the Sagrada Familia, you can see a completed model of the church, and compare it with what’s already been done.

To get to the Sagrada Familia you can take the AVE tunnel in. This was completed in 2013, and is a high-speed train that runs through an underground tunnel beneath Barcelona. The train stop runs right under the church, and has never caused any damage to it, even though that was a significant concern. This stop makes it simple to visit the Sagrada Familia today.

In October 2015, it was announced by the most recent architect that the church was seventy percent completed. The final phase now consists of the last six immense towers. But travellers are still able to visit the church, as you’ll only be excluded from heading into the construction zones.

You are welcome to walk around the church and take photos, but you must visit the interior too. There is an entrance fee which covers most of the construction costs, around $25 million Euros per year. Visitor entrance fees cost from 15 to 20 Euros. You can also purchase online tickets in advance if you wish to avoid lineups and waiting times.

It’s also important to note that during the busy tourist season, from May to October, it’s possible that you won’t be able to access the Sagrada Familia without a reservation. If visiting the Sagrada Familia is on your must-see list, you should purchase your tickets in advance.

If you don’t purchase tickets in advance, you could end up waiting in lineups for hours and hours on end. And this may be right out in the heat of summer.

When purchasing your online tickets you will have three options. One is the regular do-it-yourself tour. There is also the audio tour where you get to listen to fascinating facts through your headphones. And there is also the guided tour where an expert guides you around the church and tells you notable facts.

When selecting your tickets you’ll also have the option of visiting one or both of the towers. If you want an excellent view of the ocean, check out the Passion Tower. If you want a wonderful view of the mountain ranges, visit the Nativity Tower.

When you arrive by train, choose the entrance by the Nativity Facade. This is the region that faces the park and pond. You’ll see an entrance that is set up with black umbrellas. This is the entrance for people who have purchased online tickets, so you can avoid those long lineups.

What’s Accessible to the Public

If you wish to carefully plan your visit here and not miss out on anything, you may be curious as to what exactly is open on site. Besides walking around the exterior, you can access the central nave inside the church. Inside, visitors are also granted access to the Passion and the Nativity towers.

There is also a small Museum located within the Sagrada Familia that you should definitely spend time in. There is also a shop where you can buy postcards and souvenirs.

You should note that in order to access the towers you’ll first need to take an elevator and then go on a short walk to the bridge between the towers. You can simply stop here and view the sites, but you can also access an extremely narrow staircase that has over three hundred steps. This staircase is not for those who are afraid of heights, or people with medical conditions.

What to See On Sight

The original design called for eighteen spires, but to date, there are only eight. More are in the works. You best vantage point to see the spires is from a distance. Each of these corresponds to the eight apostles.

From outside, you can also see grand facades which are located beneath and within some of the spires. These are set in three prominent locations: to the west, and to the east. The south has yet to be finished.

Besides the exterior of the church, the interior is just as spectacular. Inside are featured several brightly coloured stained glass windows. There is also intricate architecture. When you see inside this church you will never think it’s stuffy or boring. There are many colours and lights to brighten every nook and cranny. Not one surface inside is smooth—the designs, paintings, and sculptures were truly brought to life by the artists who  made them.

Inside, the church is laid out on a cross-shaped floor plan. There are five aisles. In the center is the central nave vault that expands to forty-five meters in the air. Surrounding it are side nave vaults that reach up as high as thirty meters. The columns are quite large.

The Sagrada Familia has one main organ in the presbytery, and several other organs throughout the building to make up for the shortfall in acoustics.

********************

Plan Your Visit to the Sagrada Familia Today. While you’ll be fascinated by the Sagrada Familia during your visit, you really should learn a bit more about the church before you leave home. Gaudi’s masterpiece is truly amazing. Just imagine how you’ll be able to take the train in and view this truly amazing wonder with your own eyes!

[foundtheworl]

New Post has been published on Found The World

New Post has been published on http://foundtheworld.com/sagrada-familia/

Sagrada Familia, World Heritage Site In Barcelona

Spain has many world heritage sites, but perhaps one of the most amazing is the Sagrada Familia, an old church with some intricate architecture which would be difficult to construct, even today. The Sagrada Familia is perhaps the most visited landmark in Spain.

This church is also noted for still being under construction, as it was never completed in its time. The key architect was Gaudi, and it was his most important work, as well as his most challenging.

Gaudi set up a plan to have the church finished in ten years. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Now it’s been almost 135 years since the first stone was laid, and construction still continues to plan.

The Sagrada Familia is quite unique from the other churches in Spain that visitors can see today. It’s well worth adding a visit during your time spent here. You may even wish to come back a few years from now to see how it’s construction has been progressing.

History of the Sagrada Familia

The Sagrada Familia is located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It has a Roman Catholic designation. It was officially consecrated in November 2010. It has minor basilica class, so it’s not considered a cathedral, which requires a seat of bishop.

The first stone block was laid down in 1882. The key architect was Antoni Gaudi, famous for many other buildings in Spain. He was a Catalan-style architect that lived from 1852 to 1926. When he passed away at the age of 74 his project was only one quarter complete.

Its architectural style is modernism, with a mix of gothic and art nouveau, a bit different than the usual gothic facades and interiors of many of the other churches in Spain today. When viewed from afar, this church has a whimsical look to it, like it’s from a fantasy film. Yet, the church is real.

The church earned its World Heritage Site Designation in 1969 and 1984 onwards. It’s still in an ongoing phase of construction, and work will continue until approximately 2026 to 2028.

The Sagrada Familia relies largely on donations for its construction in both past and future. Its construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1939 and resumed in the 1950s. With the advent of computers, in 2010, construction went a lot faster. However, there still remains many challenges to Gaudi’s original plan. There are supposed to be ten more spires built above the building, each signifying an important biblical figure.

There has been some dispute over the centuries. People were worried it would overshadow Barcelona’s main cathedral. There was also the concern that some of the design work done after Gaudi’s death didn’t exactly follow his plans. There was also a proposal in 2007 to build a rail link beneath the church that could disturb its stability.

Continuing Construction

Another reason that construction still continues on the Sagrada Familia today is due to the damage it has suffered over the years. During the Spanish Civil War, parts of the unfinished church were destroyed. Gaudi’s workshop and some of his models for the church were also destroyed during the war.

Gaudi liked to joke that, “My client is not in a hurry,” in regards to all the delays that the church had seen. Perhaps it was lucky that he passed away prior to the Spanish Civil War and didn’t see that damage done.

Construction of the building today is done by computer-aided design. A CNC milling machine is used, rather than the stone blocks being carved by hand such as happened back in history.

Tips When Visiting the Sagrada Familia

During your visit to the Sagrada Familia, you can see a completed model of the church, and compare it with what’s already been done.

To get to the Sagrada Familia you can take the AVE tunnel in. This was completed in 2013, and is a high-speed train that runs through an underground tunnel beneath Barcelona. The train stop runs right under the church, and has never caused any damage to it, even though that was a significant concern. This stop makes it simple to visit the Sagrada Familia today.

In October 2015, it was announced by the most recent architect that the church was seventy percent completed. The final phase now consists of the last six immense towers. But travellers are still able to visit the church, as you’ll only be excluded from heading into the construction zones.

You are welcome to walk around the church and take photos, but you must visit the interior too. There is an entrance fee which covers most of the construction costs, around $25 million Euros per year. Visitor entrance fees cost from 15 to 20 Euros. You can also purchase online tickets in advance if you wish to avoid lineups and waiting times.

It’s also important to note that during the busy tourist season, from May to October, it’s possible that you won’t be able to access the Sagrada Familia without a reservation. If visiting the Sagrada Familia is on your must-see list, you should purchase your tickets in advance.

If you don’t purchase tickets in advance, you could end up waiting in lineups for hours and hours on end. And this may be right out in the heat of summer.

When purchasing your online tickets you will have three options. One is the regular do-it-yourself tour. There is also the audio tour where you get to listen to fascinating facts through your headphones. And there is also the guided tour where an expert guides you around the church and tells you notable facts.

When selecting your tickets you’ll also have the option of visiting one or both of the towers. If you want an excellent view of the ocean, check out the Passion Tower. If you want a wonderful view of the mountain ranges, visit the Nativity Tower.

When you arrive by train, choose the entrance by the Nativity Facade. This is the region that faces the park and pond. You’ll see an entrance that is set up with black umbrellas. This is the entrance for people who have purchased online tickets, so you can avoid those long lineups.

What’s Accessible to the Public

If you wish to carefully plan your visit here and not miss out on anything, you may be curious as to what exactly is open on site. Besides walking around the exterior, you can access the central nave inside the church. Inside, visitors are also granted access to the Passion and the Nativity towers.

There is also a small Museum located within the Sagrada Familia that you should definitely spend time in. There is also a shop where you can buy postcards and souvenirs.

You should note that in order to access the towers you’ll first need to take an elevator and then go on a short walk to the bridge between the towers. You can simply stop here and view the sites, but you can also access an extremely narrow staircase that has over three hundred steps. This staircase is not for those who are afraid of heights, or people with medical conditions.

What to See On Sight

The original design called for eighteen spires, but to date, there are only eight. More are in the works. You best vantage point to see the spires is from a distance. Each of these corresponds to the eight apostles.

From outside, you can also see grand facades which are located beneath and within some of the spires. These are set in three prominent locations: to the west, and to the east. The south has yet to be finished.

Besides the exterior of the church, the interior is just as spectacular. Inside are featured several brightly coloured stained glass windows. There is also intricate architecture. When you see inside this church you will never think it’s stuffy or boring. There are many colours and lights to brighten every nook and cranny. Not one surface inside is smooth—the designs, paintings, and sculptures were truly brought to life by the artists who  made them.

Inside, the church is laid out on a cross-shaped floor plan. There are five aisles. In the center is the central nave vault that expands to forty-five meters in the air. Surrounding it are side nave vaults that reach up as high as thirty meters. The columns are quite large.

The Sagrada Familia has one main organ in the presbytery, and several other organs throughout the building to make up for the shortfall in acoustics.

********************

Plan Your Visit to the Sagrada Familia Today. While you’ll be fascinated by the Sagrada Familia during your visit, you really should learn a bit more about the church before you leave home. Gaudi’s masterpiece is truly amazing. Just imagine how you’ll be able to take the train in and view this truly amazing wonder with your own eyes!