What's your most memorable trip, and why?

[Maia]

I climbed a mountain solo in Wales, August 2023, I was a mere boy of 69. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mynydd_Garnclochdy Anything over a thousand feet is a mountain in Britain. Not much eh? The weather turned from brilliant blue sky to a black wall of water. I had to keep moving. It was absurdly exhilarating. My daughter and I failed to do it the year before. And the intrepid guy, 8 years younger, whose cottage we rent, had never done it : ) Bucket list! Followed by a surprisingly memorable night at the Goose and Cuckoo.

There's a mountain in North Wales called Penmaenmawr, not far from the coast, which I climbed in December 2016 as part of a solo walking and camping trip. Perhaps climbed is a bit of a misnomer, as it was mostly walking up fairly steep paths, often of gravel, starting out from the village of the same name at its base. At the top, some way along a path, there's a Neolithic stone circle called the Druid's Circle, which is what I was aiming for, though it obviously predates the Druids by about two millennia. I was considering camping there, inside the circle, but on checking the ground I found evidence of a fire in the centre, ashes and bits of wood, long cold, so decided to move on, just in case I was intruding.

[Martin Peter Clarke]

I climbed a mountain solo in Wales, August 2023, I was a mere boy of 69. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mynydd_Garnclochdy Anything over a thousand feet is a mountain in Britain. Not much eh? The weather turned from brilliant blue sky to a black wall of water. I had to keep moving. It was absurdly exhilarating. My daughter and I failed to do it the year before. And the intrepid guy, 8 years younger, whose cottage we rent, had never done it : ) Bucket list! Followed by a surprisingly memorable night at the Goose and Cuckoo.

There's a mountain in North Wales called Penmaenmawr, not far from the coast, which I climbed in December 2016 as part of a solo walking and camping trip. Perhaps climbed is a bit of a misnomer, as it was mostly walking up fairly steep paths, often of gravel, starting out from the village of the same name at its base. At the top, some way along a path, there's a Neolithic stone circle called the Druid's Circle, which is what I was aiming for, though it obviously predates the Druids by about two millennia. I was considering camping there, inside the circle, but on checking the ground I found evidence of a fire in the centre, ashes and bits of wood, long cold, so decided to move on, just in case I was intruding.

Superb. Spine tingling. 'Be it down to Gehenna, or up to the throne, he travels best, who travels alone'.

[Maia]

As my regular readers may recall, I was supposed to be going to a Pagan festival and camp this weekend at a place called Meriden, but had to cancel as I couldn't get all the days off work. Instead, yesterday, my fella decided to drive us to Malvern, just for one night. We stayed at a lovely hotel called the Foley Arms, which also happens to be a Wetherspoon's pub. I've talked about Malvern many times here, as it's something of a sacred place for me, though I don't think I've mentioned the town much before, just the hills. The town is really nice too, built on a steep slope. It includes, for example, a traditional sweet shop, with an amazing choice of different sweets that you pile into a paper bag using little plastic shovels, and then they weigh it.

We also, of course, walked up the hills, and made a very interesting discovery. About half way up the path from the town to the top of the Worcester Beacon someone had set up a statue on a plinth, at an intersection of paths, about half my height, in bronze, I believe, with a patina on the surface, as if it had been out there for years, though since it definitely hasn't been, I assume it's been moved from somewhere else. The plinth was stone, on a rectangular stone base, which definitely felt new. The statue was of a woman, wearing an ornate headdress with antlers and intertwined leaves, very Pagan, in fact, and wearing little else other than a short skirt, with a layered, scalloped pattern and a large jewel, of some sort, hanging from a belt. She wore a necklace and anklets, and was barefoot, but had no arms, which just ended at the shoulders, sticking out on either side. They weren't broken off or anything, and this was clearly part of the design.

Was it a goddess of some sort? It certainly seemed very Pagan, anyway, but try as I might, I could find no hint of any inscription anywhere on the statue or base, and my fella said he couldn't see anything, either. I love a good mystery, and this is exactly the sort of thing that intrigues me beyond any reasonable measure, but, right at the moment, I don't even know where to begin trying to find out who she is, and who put her there. But rest assured, I very much intend to.

[Impenitent]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafY6sZt0FE

"...what a long strange trip it's been..."

-Imp

[Maia]

According to Grok, the fount of all human knowledge, the statue is probably of a goddess named Elen of the Ways, mainly because of the antlers.

Anyway, there's another moot on Friday, and the talk will be about chakras, which is not a subject that I'm overly familiar with.

[Maia]

Have I been botted?

[Maia]

The moot had around fifteen people at it last night, a significant improvement over last time, and this despite the fact that the couple you usually run it were on holiday. The guest speaker gave a talk about chakras, and went into great detail about their various colours, and how in the original Indian system the colours were different to how they are now imagined in the West. Did you know, for example, that the base chakra is supposed to be pink? I must admit that I certainly didn't, and its difficult to convey just how much a don't care, either, colours not really being my thing. I was expecting this, to be honest, and it's probably why the subject of chakras has never interested me, but when we came to do the pathworking, or guided meditation, we all, in unison, chanted the various words associated with each chakra, which was a bit of fun, if nothing else.

[Phil8659]

The moot had around fifteen people at it last night, a significant improvement over last time, and this despite the fact that the couple you usually run it were on holiday. The guest speaker gave a talk about chakras, and went into great detail about their various colours, and how in the original Indian system the colours were different to how they are now imagined in the West. Did you know, for example, that the base chakra is supposed to be pink? I must admit that I certainly didn't, and its difficult to convey just how much a don't care, either, colours not really being my thing. I was expecting this, to be honest, and it's probably why the subject of chakras has never interested me, but when we came to do the pathworking, or guided meditation, we all, in unison, chanted the various words associated with each chakra, which was a bit of fun, if nothing else.

I once found a book in the base library. Yoga, by Patanjali. Now, I noticed right away, certain words were given a different number of translations. I became interested in the book because I recognized one passages as true, but for some reason, the majority of it was gibberish. So, I kept the book, and some years later, when the Sanskrit Dictionary because available online, I attempted to translate it myself.
I found that three passages ended just like a Greek proposition which was being proved.
Patanjali was a Grammar teacher, who taught Sanskrit. So, mythologers invented a second Patanjali and freely translated his work into gibberish.
Patanjali lived in India at the time Plato was on his great adventure of travelling. I do not know if it is related or not. But Patanjali was trying to teach the pairing, of grammar to perception. The name Patanjali itself breaks down to Parallel Walking.

[Maia]

The moot had around fifteen people at it last night, a significant improvement over last time, and this despite the fact that the couple you usually run it were on holiday. The guest speaker gave a talk about chakras, and went into great detail about their various colours, and how in the original Indian system the colours were different to how they are now imagined in the West. Did you know, for example, that the base chakra is supposed to be pink? I must admit that I certainly didn't, and its difficult to convey just how much a don't care, either, colours not really being my thing. I was expecting this, to be honest, and it's probably why the subject of chakras has never interested me, but when we came to do the pathworking, or guided meditation, we all, in unison, chanted the various words associated with each chakra, which was a bit of fun, if nothing else.

I once found a book in the base library. Yoga, by Patanjali. Now, I noticed right away, certain words were given a different number of translations. I became interested in the book because I recognized one passages as true, but for some reason, the majority of it was gibberish. So, I kept the book, and some years later, when the Sanskrit Dictionary because available online, I attempted to translate it myself.
I found that three passages ended just like a Greek proposition which was being proved.
Patanjali was a Grammar teacher, who taught Sanskrit. So, mythologers invented a second Patanjali and freely translated his work into gibberish.
Patanjali lived in India at the time Plato was on his great adventure of travelling. I do not know if it is related or not. But Patanjali was trying to teach the pairing, of grammar to perception. The name Patanjali itself breaks down to Parallel Walking.

I'm actually pretty good at Gibberish, though it obviously depends on the dialect. As proof, I'll offer the ridiculous typo in the first sentence of my previous post, which I only noticed when you quoted it.

[Phil8659]

The moot had around fifteen people at it last night, a significant improvement over last time, and this despite the fact that the couple you usually run it were on holiday. The guest speaker gave a talk about chakras, and went into great detail about their various colours, and how in the original Indian system the colours were different to how they are now imagined in the West. Did you know, for example, that the base chakra is supposed to be pink? I must admit that I certainly didn't, and its difficult to convey just how much a don't care, either, colours not really being my thing. I was expecting this, to be honest, and it's probably why the subject of chakras has never interested me, but when we came to do the pathworking, or guided meditation, we all, in unison, chanted the various words associated with each chakra, which was a bit of fun, if nothing else.

I once found a book in the base library. Yoga, by Patanjali. Now, I noticed right away, certain words were given a different number of translations. I became interested in the book because I recognized one passages as true, but for some reason, the majority of it was gibberish. So, I kept the book, and some years later, when the Sanskrit Dictionary because available online, I attempted to translate it myself.
I found that three passages ended just like a Greek proposition which was being proved.
Patanjali was a Grammar teacher, who taught Sanskrit. So, mythologers invented a second Patanjali and freely translated his work into gibberish.
Patanjali lived in India at the time Plato was on his great adventure of travelling. I do not know if it is related or not. But Patanjali was trying to teach the pairing, of grammar to perception. The name Patanjali itself breaks down to Parallel Walking.

I'm actually pretty good at Gibberish, though it obviously depends on the dialect. As proof, I'll offer the ridiculous typo in the first sentence of my previous post, which I only noticed when you quoted it.

Unlike most people here, I knew what happened, and I am not a nit picker.
The name Patanjali, Parallel Walking, is the concern of every good grammar teacher, how to pair perception, to standardize that pairing, as social communication. That is what Plato defined as Philosophy, the correct use of names.

Literacy is the only power a mind has, when you throw it away, you have simply shit canned your own life.

[Maia]

I once found a book in the base library. Yoga, by Patanjali. Now, I noticed right away, certain words were given a different number of translations. I became interested in the book because I recognized one passages as true, but for some reason, the majority of it was gibberish. So, I kept the book, and some years later, when the Sanskrit Dictionary because available online, I attempted to translate it myself.
I found that three passages ended just like a Greek proposition which was being proved.
Patanjali was a Grammar teacher, who taught Sanskrit. So, mythologers invented a second Patanjali and freely translated his work into gibberish.
Patanjali lived in India at the time Plato was on his great adventure of travelling. I do not know if it is related or not. But Patanjali was trying to teach the pairing, of grammar to perception. The name Patanjali itself breaks down to Parallel Walking.

I'm actually pretty good at Gibberish, though it obviously depends on the dialect. As proof, I'll offer the ridiculous typo in the first sentence of my previous post, which I only noticed when you quoted it.

Unlike most people here, I knew what happened, and I am not a nit picker.
The name Patanjali, Parallel Walking, is the concern of every good grammar teacher, how to pair perception, to standardize that pairing, as social communication. That is what Plato defined as Philosophy, the correct use of names.

Literacy is the only power a mind has, when you throw it away, you have simply shit canned your own life.

Speaking with my historian's hat on, just for a moment, if his name means something relevant to what he's famous for, could this be evidence that he never actually existed? Or at the very least, that we don't know his real name?

[Phil8659]

I'm actually pretty good at Gibberish, though it obviously depends on the dialect. As proof, I'll offer the ridiculous typo in the first sentence of my previous post, which I only noticed when you quoted it.

Unlike most people here, I knew what happened, and I am not a nit picker.
The name Patanjali, Parallel Walking, is the concern of every good grammar teacher, how to pair perception, to standardize that pairing, as social communication. That is what Plato defined as Philosophy, the correct use of names.

Literacy is the only power a mind has, when you throw it away, you have simply shit canned your own life.

Speaking with my historian's hat on, just for a moment, if his name means something relevant to what he's famous for, could this be evidence that he never actually existed? Or at the very least, that we don't know his real name?

Let us take a parallel case. Why did certain monks take on the name of Clark, meaning a clerical worker? Or it may be possible, that a work that has a style of a Greek Work, the phrases were, this is a given. Did Plato attempt the work in Sanskrit? I don't know.

Every formal work start with givens.

[Maia]

Unlike most people here, I knew what happened, and I am not a nit picker.
The name Patanjali, Parallel Walking, is the concern of every good grammar teacher, how to pair perception, to standardize that pairing, as social communication. That is what Plato defined as Philosophy, the correct use of names.

Literacy is the only power a mind has, when you throw it away, you have simply shit canned your own life.

Speaking with my historian's hat on, just for a moment, if his name means something relevant to what he's famous for, could this be evidence that he never actually existed? Or at the very least, that we don't know his real name?

Let us take a parallel case. Why did certain monks take on the name of Clark, meaning a clerical worker? Or it may be possible, that a work that has a style of a Greek Work, the phrases were, this is a given. Did Plato attempt the work in Sanskrit? I don't know.

I think it's unlikely that Plato knew any Sanskrit. Not completely impossible, since we know that Indian ideas had made their way to Greece, even before the time of Alexander, but still very unlikely.

[Phil8659]

Speaking with my historian's hat on, just for a moment, if his name means something relevant to what he's famous for, could this be evidence that he never actually existed? Or at the very least, that we don't know his real name?

Let us take a parallel case. Why did certain monks take on the name of Clark, meaning a clerical worker? Or it may be possible, that a work that has a style of a Greek Work, the phrases were, this is a given. Did Plato attempt the work in Sanskrit? I don't know.

I think it's unlikely that Plato knew any Sanskrit. Not completely impossible, since we know that Indian ideas had made their way to Greece, even before the time of Alexander, but still very unlikely.

Then you must explain why, no such formal work came into existence after it? The style is not indigenous to India.

[Maia]

Let us take a parallel case. Why did certain monks take on the name of Clark, meaning a clerical worker? Or it may be possible, that a work that has a style of a Greek Work, the phrases were, this is a given. Did Plato attempt the work in Sanskrit? I don't know.

I think it's unlikely that Plato knew any Sanskrit. Not completely impossible, since we know that Indian ideas had made their way to Greece, even before the time of Alexander, but still very unlikely.

Then you must explain why, no such formal work came into existence after it? The style is not indigenous to India.

It's just the extreme improbability of it. I doubt if anyone at all in the Greece of Plato's time spoke Sanskrit, and would have no way of learning it, even if they wanted to. Only a very short time later, with the conquests of Alexander, that would change, but not in Plato's day.