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International Day of Happiness!!

International Day of Happiness!!

FROM EMRYS AND BLAZE AT WILD KNIGHTS TO YOU, We hope your day embodied the word HAPPY! Here’s Coconut, the happiest pup we know!  

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Into Darkness

     Hello all! Apologies for the delay this past week, had a shift in living arrangements in preparation for my next Yellowstone adventure. :D  For tonight’s post, I’m going to take a mini break from animals and environmentalism. I want to look into the history and various forms of a beastie in mythology and popular culture that has fascinated me recently: 

Demons.

     Generally, I imagine that everyone knows the word, and even has a general idea of what a demon is.  The standard depiction of a demon in this day and age is of a supernatural entity, mostly malevolent, depicted in everything from religion to ancient folklore.  

      The origin of the word demon in Greek, Daimon, did not actually imply any set morality. The word itself simply meant “spirit”.  Over the ages, the word has come to mean something bad.

     In the Christian faith, a demon is considered an unclean spirit or fallen angel, capable of tempting mortals and inhabiting their bodies, requiring an exorcism to remove.  In Islam, demons are called Jinn, and their origins are quite similar to their Christian counterparts. Unlike Christian demons, Jinn can be good or evil, and being a Jinn does not imply malevolence.

      Christian demonology is the most expansive reference for what a demon is and does. Like angels, demons have entire hosts or armies and are often led by an Archdemon. In older texts,  Belial, Ashtaroth, Asmodeus and Lucifer were the names of the Archdemons in charge of the infernal host of Hell.

      The appearance of demons are extremely varied. In some cultures, the can appear like any other person, usually with features that betray their true nature. Jinn-type demons on the other hand are depicted as glowing beings of ash and smoke.  Even further down the spectrum are depictions such as the Christian lord of demons, Beelzebub, who often appeared to mortals as a fly.

    One of the most well known pieces of literature about demons (besides the Bible), is Faust by Goethe. In this famous German legend, Faust is a successful scholar who becomes dissatisfied with life, and makes a deal with a demon called  Mephistopheles for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. In this depiction, the demon is not so much the antagonist as the tool by which Faust brings about his own end. Mephistopheles is shown to be capable of great feats, but only as part of the deal he made with Faust. 

    The connection between demons and making deals has gone on well into the 21st century. "Faust" and the adjective "Faustian" imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success.  

There are sooooo many different types of demons in history and mythology, so below i’ll leave a link to an A-Z list of demons of all types from all different cultures. http://www.deliriumsrealm.com/demons/

(as for my personal favorite demon; Sebastian Michaelis from Black Butler)

Hope this post wasn’t an overload! As always leave us some feedback and let us know if you want to see any topic up here.  May your week be wonderful and your nights be Wild :D

~Emrys

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Eye of the Tiger

      Hello all!! Apologies for the week-long hiatus, it’s been a busy past couple weeks.  Luckily Blaze had a pretty great post ready to go, so all’s well!  Anywho, tonight’s post (morning post?) is going to be about one of my favorite animals, the Tiger. There are plenty of subspecies, so i’ll try to touch on a few of those as well. Without further ado......

First off, the tiger (Panthera tigris) Is the largest of the cats, with their lengths reach 11ft over their curves, and up to 875lbs of bitey cuddle-monster. They are both solitary and very sociable animals, and tend to be located in areas densely populated by humans. As apex predators in their domains, they have no real competition on the food chain, eating ungulates like deer.               

Even humans don’t stand much chance against these gorgeous cats.   The Champawat Tiger is a famous maneater tiger in nepal. This female tiger had broken canine teeth on her upper and lower jaw, preventing her from chasing her natural prey.  The Champawat Tiger swapped from deer to humans and racked up a kill count of 436 people before being killed by a hunter. Tigers are fiercely clever hunters, and will ambush their prey and sometimes even hide the bodies before they are discovered.

The sizes of tigers vary much more among the subspecies than most other animals. The Bengal and Siberian are the tallest and heaviest of the species.  Some, like the Sumatran Tiger, weigh only about 220lbs. Tigers are sexually dimorphic, with the males being significantly larger than the females. 

All tigers are endangered, with the species having lost over 93% of it’s habitat thanks to humanity. The Sumatran Tiger only has a population of about 600 left in the world, with Siberian Tigers numbering around 400. 

     ( photo: Zvi Roger)

     Tigers also have various color variations. The Bengal Tiger has a rare recessive gene that causes the fur to be white with black stripes and bright blue eyes. A Golden Tiger, sometimes called a “strawberry color, is more of a mutation than a recessive gene. The subspecies could be any of them, though they are generally at least part Bengal.

     In Chinese mythology, tigers are one of the 12 zodiac animals. The tiger symbolizes Earth, and the tiger stands opposite the dragon (symbolizing spirit) on the Yin and Yang.  Tigers are considered the greatest of beasts, even the symbol for “king” comes from the four horizonal lines on the tiger’s forehead.  

    Hope the article wasn’t too long winded. I wanted to add much MUCH more. :D

Let us know what you think in our ask box! Ta ta for now!

~Emrys

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The Spirit Bear

     Hello all and happy Saturday! Tonight’s post will be a short one since I have a bad case of procrastination. While planning a grand journey across the U.S. and Canada, I looked into some of legends and animals that I might want to search for. I came across an awesome beastie called the Kermode Bear, otherwise known as the Spirit Bear.

photo: CP/Handout/Kamloops

   The Spirit Bear or Komode Bear is a subspecies of the American Black Bear living in Central and Northern regions of British Columbia, Canada. Despite their appearance, they are not albino or related to a polar bear in any way. The off white or cream coloration is due to a double recessive gene unique to the subspecies. Despite being a recessive trait, a Black furred mother can still have a white cub. Which are adorable, see for yourself.

     The Spirit Bear is a common feature among the myths of the indigenous peoples nearby. Some tribes believe that the Creator of the universe made the Spirit Bears white to remind the people of the harsh times that came during the age of ice. 

    ©Paul Nicklen/National Geographic

    Very recently, an agreement was reached that made the home of these beauties protected from dangers presented by loggers and other parties whose interests were commercial. The Great Bear Rain Forest is now a protected 12,000 square mile area, which is the largest coastal temperate rain forest in the world.

And for your pleasure and my excitement at the upcoming movie, I present....

“Daddy.”

Tootles!

~Emrys

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Artifacts:  Ever Burning Lamps

     Hello all! This post will be a little shorter and mainly for the purpose of putting out a thought: Anything is possible.

     Have you ever heard of an Ever-burning Lamp? The concept itself doesn't make much sense. Fire requires a source of heat, an oxidizer, and something combustable. Yet these lamps or braziers are mentioned in many stories and by many different authors. Plutarch, an author from the olden days, wrote in 'De Defectu Oraculorum' about a lamp that burned over the door to the Temple of Jupiter Ammon in Egypt. According to the priests there, the lamp burned without a cover, and neither rain nor wind could ever put it out. Various stories like this exist in different eras and parts of the world. A french rabbi named Jechiele, an advisor in the 13th century to King Louis IX, was said to have a lamp that he would place on the front of his house. The lamp had no oil or wick, and when the rabbi was asked about the lamp, he replied that it was a secret.

     Sadly, many reports of the discovery of these types of lamps throughout the ages are unable to be visited currently. This is due to the fact that many people who discovered these seemingly magical lamps believed them to be the work of the devil or some other foul sorcery and were promptly destroyed. Unfortunate, but it seems to be a common practice when humans discover something extraordinary.  A side note I thought was interesting: Supposedly a Philosopher's Stone can create an ever burning lamp.

     If you are interested in this sort of thing, I recommend looking the lamps up and reading more about them so you can judge for yourself. This is just some food for thought about one of the cool artifacts from history that may actually exist. I'll probably make a few of this type of post with other famous or unknown artifacts.

 Here's to exploration and adventure! Til next time chaps!

~Emrys

[aqueductmusic]

Went to @ravennathirdplacebooks last night for a reading of The Box Wine Sailors by Amy McCullough - her & husband Jimmie's misadventures at sea. Being big Aqueduct fans, they asked me to play their Bon-voyage party many years back in #portland ...so rad to see their journey documented in a new #novel. I reconnected with these talented two during my #wildknights #kickstarter and Jimmie & Amy ended up making a #musicvideo for the song The Legend Of Kage off my new album. Check out #theboxwinesailors now and stay tuned for #thelegendofkage music video premiering soon! #seattle #austin #music #books #radness (at Ravenna Third Place Books)

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Believe In Something Great

In the spirit of re-imagining the direction of our evolution as a species, I invite you right now to imagine yourself with a mind and body that align with your passions. Take everything into account: What do you love to do? What new things do you want to try? What does your artistic and creative vision add to this design? You have to follow only one rule, and that is you have no limitations. Imagination and dreams are free, so hop to it!

…

Now, imagine that this new body is a possibility. I know plenty have tried to make wild and drastic changes before in their bodies and minds, but most usually we see this because it’s a matter of life and keeling over. Of course I’m referring to anyone who has recovered from a terminal illness, escaped a dangerous situation, or had to adapt to a new environment. I’m skipping merrily to a subcategory of healing and spontaneous remission and going to bring up the placebo effect. The rather plain text book definition usually reads along the lines of “an effect produced by an inert treatment or drug that benefits the patient and can only be attributed to the patient’s positive outlook and belief in the treatment”.  Many scientists and doctors such as Ted Kaptchuck and Lissa Rankin have performed studies and tests to discover more about the placebo effect and have proven its validity as a potential treatment for illness, both benign and severe. These particular two I brought up since they have recently given talks that explain the ideas and implications this phenomenon brings to light. I’ll leave links to those talks at the bottom of my section so you too can fill your noodle with goodness.

So, what does the placebo effect have to do with growing from the underdog to the wonder dog?  I have a theory that positive affirmations and steady footing in your belief to achieve and grow is a placebo not only for wellness, but for greatness!  Can we write our own prescriptions and gain new levels of fitness or well being? Can we possibly evolve with enough belief and passion in line with our actions?  Whether or not you believe now, I know that, once you fall in love with a vision, what choice do you have but to at least attempt to create?  

Whatever the future holds, we are the Kings and Queens of tomorrow, so try on that crown and resize the blasted thing if it doesn’t fit!

Ted Kaptchuck’s talk:   http://www.tedmed.com/talks/show?id=299407

Lissa Rankin’s talk:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWQfe__fNbs

-Blaze

P.S.For Wild Knights’ blog updates, follow me on Twitter!  Invite your friends!

twitter.com/blazemikalo

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"Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard I can feel it through your hands. There’s so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain it’s like rocket fuel. Right now you could run faster and you can fight harder. You can jump higher than ever in your life and you are so alert it’s like you can slow down time. What’s wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower! Your superpower! There is danger in this room. And guess what? It’s you." ~The Doctor The Survival Instinct. Proof that our bodies are better equipped than most people may think. A surge of raw power in times of need, fighting to keep you alive at all costs. That does sound a lot like a superpower doesn't it? That store of amazing potential is often overlooked when we consider what we are capable of doing. If we can do this without even trying, can you imagine what would happen if we pushed and trained our bodies to tap into that same power?  With training and a will to succeed, humans are capable of amazing feats of strength, intelligence, edurance, and skill. People all across the world have taken an aspect of their bodies and pushed well beyond what many believed was possible. I'm going to list a few that have made the news and some of you may have heard of them.

*David Blaine, a magician and stuntman, managed to break a Guinness World Record on the Oprah Winfrey Show by holding his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds.

*Wim Holf "The Iceman"  has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro wearing nothing but shorts. He completed a full marathon above the Polar Circle in Finland with temperatures below 4°F, still wearing nothing but shorts. He is probably best known for breaking a world record by immersing himself in ice for an hour, 13 minutes and 48 seconds.

*John Holtum, a circus strongman, could catch balls fired from a cannon at point-blank range. There are many more individuals who have pushed themselves to new heights, but it would take a long time to list them all here. There is one more I'd like to add as an example of both training your body to remove its limits, and an iron will to never give up.  At age 29, Diana Nyad attempted a 100-mile swim from Cuba to Florida. She failed. She tried again and again throughout the years, but failed to due jellyfish stings or extreme asthma. On her 5th attempt at age 64, she fufilled her dream and finished the swim in 53 hours.

The point of all this is to show what everyone is capable of. These are just physical examples of vast improvement. The possibilities for improvement are endless. We all have the potential inside us to become the very best we can possibly be. I know that my journey will never be over, because I want to always improve and evolve. ~Emrys

[aqueductmusic]

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Beautiful day for a rock show! #wildknights thanks to #thefowlers for hosting! #aqueductisgoodmusic (at Lake Sammamish)