Yew Tree: The Tree of Death, and New Life, and Immortality

The Yew is an ancient tree species that has survived since before the Ice Age.  Recently, fossils of the Yew have been found from the Jurassic era, 140,000,000 years ago.  That's a looooooong time ago.  Some English Yews are as much as 4,000 years old.  This is why the Yew is associated with immortality, renewal, regeneration, everlasting life, rebirth, transformation and access to the Otherworld and our ancestors.  Whew.

Because the Yew is a slow-growing tree, it has tight-grained wood, tough and resilient.  In the past the wood was used for spears, spikes, staves, small hunting bows and eventually the famous longbows of the Middle Ages.  The arrow were tipped in poison made from the Yew.  Druids loved to use Yew wood, and they used Yews in sacred groves and to indicate the location of blind springs.

The entire tree is poisonous:  wood, bark, needles, seed and dust.  This is one major reason why it is known as the death tree or the Tree of Death.  Yew has long been part of funerary customs.  They mainly involve carrying sprigs of Yew which are thrown in the grave under the body or of being thrown in on top of the coffin.  The Yew can teach us to see death as a form of transformation and that death is never final.  It can help us overcome our fear of our own death.  Death is a new beginning, hope and future.

Was Today's Funereal Gucci Fashion Show A Funeral For The European Economy?

At today's Gucci show in Milan, morose-looking models walked down a bruise-colored carpet in heavy, sinister makeup.  The lighting was dim, the backdrop was dark, and the clothes were almost all black.  Many said the mood of the show reflected the European economy.  Frida Giannini described the collection as "a dark glamour."  The clothes may be cheerless but they are certainly chic, and expensive.  Europeans may not buy these clothes but the Chinese probably will.  (per Charlotte Cowles at New York magazine)

Rudolph Valentino Lives, Forever

The ghosts of Hollywood live forever in Hollywood Forever Cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard. Founded in 1899, the cemetery is the final resting place to more of Hollywood's founders and stars than anywhere else on earth.  Paramount Studios was built on the back half of the original Hollywood Cemetery, where the studio is still in operation today.  It is open to the public and many Hollywood greats are buried/entombed there:  Fay Wray, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks(Sr. and Jr.), Cecil B. De Mille, Jayne Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Don Adams, Mel Blanc, Peter Lorre, John Huston, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, etc., and Rudolph "Rudy" Valentino (memorialized as Rodolfo Guglielmi Valentino, 1895-1926, entombed in a crypt).

Valentino is perhaps the most legendary member of the cemetery.  He was the first great matinee idol, pop icon, and a sexual symbol of the 1920's.   He died tragically of peritonitis, etc. in 1931.  He collapsed on August 15, 1926 at the Hotel Ambassador in New York City and died 8 days later.  His death caused mass hysteria across the country.  Every year on the anniversary of his death there was and is a memorial service which is still attended by 100s of people.  One or two of his silent movies are shown.  There are speakers, historians, performers, people with some connection to Valentino and admirers.  His is the first big movie star death cult.  If you look closely at the frontispiece of his crypt you'll see some darkish stains. They are the result of women kissing the crypt with lipstick on.  Who knew!!

Whitney Houston Funeral Crowning Moment / Casket

Whitney Houston's funeral service at New Hope Baptist Church lasted nearly four hours.  It was moving and must have made a lot of people think a lot about her and God and Jesus and church and faith and religion.  Ultimately the service came down to one moment really:  The sound of her own voice.

At the end of the service the strains of her biggest song, "I Will Always Love You," filled the church and the TV screen.  You couldn't help but be deeply moved and wonder-filled.  Then six men smartly assembled next to her casket, 3 on each side.  Suddenly and very dramatically they lifted the casket up on to their shoulders and then started the procession out of the church,  the casket sitting on their shoulders with their hands at their sides.  The casket itself was a strikingly beautiful shiny silver-and-gold one.  Her mother, gospel singer Cissy Houston, followed immediately behind the casket, her face framed by a large stunning black and white feathered (?) neckpiece.  She was held up by two women and wailed, "My baby!  My baby!" as she was led out of the church.  Slightly behind her was the pop icon's daughter, Bobbi Kristina, crying uncontrollably.

Death is an OPTION.?! (Healthcare)

We all talk and worry about the future of healthcare:  quality, cost, availability, technology, etc.  It's been a national / international issue for a long time and it will continue to be in the future.  Medical technology and care and pharmaceuticals and biotechnology always gets better and better.  And they always get more and more expensive.  Should the "government" fund all of this?  But isn't the "government" you and me and all of our tax dollars.  Populations are increasing and people are living longer and longer.  Can we afford the increasing cost of healthcare.  Evidence.  Look for evidence.  People have always talked about saving money through efficiency.  But is that really possible?  And how much will it help control medical prices.  Will we have to ration healthcare?  Isn't it an expensive and scarce resource?  Supply and demand.  If supply is scarce prices will go up, and up.  And who will pay for all of this?  Who will be able to pay for all of this?

In America we all consider death to be an option, not an inevitable event that we all must participate in, especially when it comes to end of life healthcare.  We want everything possible to be done medically for our parents, grandparents, etc. no matter what the cost is.  Avastin is $100,000/month and is said to prolong life no more than 3 months.  Have any of us said STOP.  I am sick and I am dying so do not prolong my life with expensive healthcare?  Not many Americans say this.  Eventually we may have no option but to accept that it sure is difficult but the time has come to cease funding palliative care of very sick and dying loved ones.

The Epic of Gilgamesh (His Search for Eternal Life)

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Mesopotamia.  Gilgamesh was the king of Uruk (modern day Iraq) around 2500 BC.  The earliest version of the poem was written around 2200 BC.   A number of similar stories found in the poem are found in the Bible.  Gilgamesh was allegedly two-thirds god and one-third man.  Because he was not 100% a god he would have to eventually die.  This upset him dramatically.  So he sets out on a journey to figure out how to become immortal and to live an eternal life. This has struck a chord currently and Gilgamesh has become an icon of modern popular culture.  Most of us think of our own mortality and wish at times that we could be immortal.  Gilgamesh learns that "the life that you are seeking you will never find.  When the gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping."  So he fails to find the secret of eternal life.  Time and time again people have tried to find the Fountain of Youth.

Gods and Death per Christopher Hitchens

"We are unlikely to cease making gods or inventing ceremonies to please them for as long as we are afraid of death, or of the dark, and for as long as we persist in self-centeredness.  That could be a lengthy stretch of time."

-Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011, an atheist and an antitheist, a columnist and literary critic, an author, essayist and journalist.