Friday, March 30, 2018

What if cows are sacred? This is where they stand in India.

Finians

Kane's Bridge

Immortalized in cave painting

Warrior Cows of Standing Rock campaign.
Calves at Paulstown service station


Millions of Hindus revere and worship cows. Hinduism is a religion that raises the status of Mother to the level of Goddess. Therefore, the cow is considered a sacred animal. The cow is seen as a maternal figure, a care taker of her people. The cow is a symbol of the divine bounty of earth.

Lord Krishna, one of the most well known of the Hindu deities is often depicted playing his flute amongst cows. Krishna also goes by the names Govinda and Gopala, which literally mean “friend and protector of cows.” It is considered highly auspicious for a true devotee to feed a cow, even before eating breakfast oneself.

Throughout the Vedic scriptures there are verses which emphasize that the cow must be protected and cared for. It is considered a sin to kill a cow and eat its meat. Even today in India, there are many states in which the slaughter of cows is illegal. That is why you can find cows roaming freely all over India, even along the busy streets of Delhi and Mumbai.

Cows provide many practical purposes, and are considered a real blessing to the rural community. On the farm, bulls are used to plough the fields and as a means of transportation of goods. Even Lord Shiva’s trusted vehicle is Nandi– the sacred bull.

Cow dung is saved and used for fuel, as it is high in methane, and can generate heat and electricity. Many village homes are plastered with a mud/cow dung mixture, which insulates the walls and floors from extreme hot and cold temperatures. Cow dung is also rich in minerals, and makes an excellent fertilizer. There is a big organic farming movement in India to return to ancient methods of utilizing cow dung to re-mineralize the depleted soil.

In such a spiritual land as India, one can find religious ceremonies taking place at any time and any place. Spiritual “yagnas” are fire ceremonies that performed to thank the Gods and receive their blessings. Cows even play a central role in these fire yagnas or Agnihotras. Scientific research has found that the ritual of burning cow dung as fuel for these sacred fires, actually purifies the air, and has anti-pollutant and anti-radiation qualities in the environment.


Ayurveda understands that some physical and emotional health crisis can not be healed by diet and herbs alone. They need the deeper and subtler healing of these types of Vedic ritual ceremonies to clear astrological past karma. The holy cow again is auspicious in healing.
Holy Cow Article

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The Meaning and Symbolism of My Art - one subject matter at a time! Pigs!

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I got a lovely review of my art show last night. She said how she'd loved the colour combinations and hearing about the symbolism and meaning of all the paintings. It would be too much to write but this one came to mind again today 


 

I learnt something new today.
Pigs understand reasoned arguments better than simple commands!
Approximately the same amount of times I have called out to the dog “On the paper’ to remind him to crap outside, I have said ‘Back! to the pigs. But they won’t go back they only go forwards. They will not be ordered and they will not ushered. However, they always welcome an invite, like ‘Come On!’ Becky will literally break into a canter at such times. And don’t doubt her motives; she is as delighted with a stroke behind the ears as a bit of carrot or a quick conversation.

It was just such a conversation I was having with Legend a minute ago. He was nudging the backdoor having seen me inside. I opened it a fraction and I said ‘This time, your approach is slightly back firing isn’t it Legend because you pushing the door makes it difficult for me to come out and say hello’. He looked at me briefly and then carefully reversed off the step and stood still there instead. So I had to go out then, didn’t I, and give him a hug and a rub. 

He reminded me that I used to write something that he specifically wanted me to articulate every day, or week at least. So I think I had better reintroduce those insights ‘From the pigs perspective’.

Pigs Have Memories

Today he wanted me to share that pigs have memories. He remembers his piglet siblings, his mum and what he and Becky got up to!  


Secondly, he said they can tell if someone eats meat still. I asked if it made him aggressive or a little scared. He said no, he is extra sociable and winning, with an eye on the bigger picture of eliciting some empathy for other pigs, going forwards.


Crikey, he’s just like me!


--> Our headline-grabbing demonstrations, events, and celebrity endorsements are keeping media and consumer attention focused on the animals we're working to help. And we're confronting the meat industry head-on. We recently mobilised thousands of supporters to help get plans rejected for a massive farm in Rugby that would have sent thousands of pigs to slaughter annually 

Imagine for a moment the absolute terror of being torn away from your family as a child, mutilated, and imprisoned in a dark, crowded shed with other children for months – no doubt you wouldn't wish that suffering on anyone. Yet that's exactly what happens to the smart, sensitive pigs who are born on massive industrialised farms.

Pigs can live for 10 to 12 years in nature, but on factory farms, few will ever see their first birthday. When piglets are just weeks old, their tails are chopped off, their teeth are ground down, and males are castrated, all without any painkillers. The animals' lives are spent in a filthy warehouse prison until they're about 5 months old. That's when they are dragged out, thrown onto a lorry, and driven off to the abattoir, where they're stunned with electric tongs, suffocated with carbon dioxide, and hoisted upside down by their back legs so workers can cut their throats. Many remain conscious throughout the horrifying process.

PETA and our international affiliates expose the misery pigs endure from birth until the moment they are violently killed at the abattoir, and in doing so, we help change people's eating habits, bring about reforms that reduce suffering, and get abusers locked up. Investigators have documented workers kicking mother sows, beating them with metal gate rods, and poking them in the eyes. Footage from one hideous facility shows a worker slamming piglets considered "runts" against the ground head first to kill them.

It's essential that PETA and our affiliates release dramatic video such as this to make a difference for animals: this case resulted in the state of Iowa's first-ever felony cruelty convictions of factory-farm workers. Tens of thousands of advocates took action after PETA Germany revealed the suffering of pigs on a farm owned by three German MPs. The poor animals could barely walk, suffered from eye infections and bloody tails, and were covered with faeces and crammed together on cold, damp concrete floors.

PETA is defending the public's right to know about this cruelty and pushing for reforms that improve animals' lives. An eyewitness on a UK farm discovered pigs with open wounds and injuries, used syringes and bottles of antibiotics strewn about, and piles of young, dead piglets simply left to rot. But as we've seen, conditions such as these are common at many of the world's abattoirs and farms, and that's why PETA works with caring local people to challenge plans to build them as soon as they threaten to spring up.

Help us spread compassion for pigs and other animals who are being exploited, abused, and killed by the millions at this very moment. The best way to spare pigs, cows, and other animals immense suffering in the food industry is to go vegan, and every day, we're persuading thousands of people to shun animal "products". Our work is making it far, far easier for compassionate people to choose vegan foods – with resources such as free vegan starter kit, mouth-watering recipes, and more. We're also collaborating with top restaurant chains such as Pizza Express and JD Wetherspoon to help them develop more vegan options.

Our headline-grabbing demonstrations, events, and celebrity endorsements are keeping media and consumer attention focused on the animals we're working to help. And we're confronting the meat industry head-on. We recently mobilised thousands of supporters to help get plans rejected for a massive farm in Rugby that would have sent thousands of pigs to slaughter annually. With your help today, we'll be able to reach more people, distribute more vegan starter kits, release more cruelty exposés that prompt consumers to make compassionate food choices, and launch more hard-hitting campaigns that improve animals' lives.


The above information is PETA's great article and work - this is the link to support them. I do every month because we have to help each other as well as the animals I reckon!

Monday, March 19, 2018

45 Paintings!

 Tellwell and Thinkerbell, The Philosopher Ponies

Abundance Arriving On Angels' Wings. Gold Frame with Glass

 Happy Family - Gold Frame With Glass
Getting Married But Still Shy. Gold Frame with Glass

 Friends and The Black Dog. Gold Frame with Glass

Portal at Kilkenny Castle Natural Wooden Frame

Leave Her Alone, She's With Me. White Frame

Wild Spray at The Lighthouse. White Frame
Evening Drinks. White Frame

Back To The Cottage. Black frame with glass

Unicorns over New York Skyline. White Frame
Home For The Summer. White Frame

 Looks Like Our Ships Are Coming In. White Frame

Ram and Ewe in the Gorse. White Frame

Destined MX5 Meeting. White Frame

 Camel Crew. White Frame

Happy Pirates White Frame

Romantic Moment, Tantra Tents. White Frame

Salsa Spins. White Frame
Giraffe Dance Floor White Frame with glass

 Dog Spirit Guides. White Frame

 Sustainable Living White Frame with glass

Lynx Moment with Dancing Ladies White Frame

Deer Family. Gold Frame with glass

 Fulmar Gulls and Seals Back of the Island. Watercolour. White frame with glass

Hen Eating 

Hen on Golden Egg

Soulmates Gold Frame
Unicorn and Dragon- White and gold inner frame

Planet Earth with Dancing Continents. Gold Frame

Windy and Magic. Watercolour. White frame with glass

Who Wants To Ride Billy Joe? Gold Frame with glass

Lovers In The Sand Dunes. White Frame with glass

Jonah, Zola and Sky

Metatron's Cube White frame

Sold

Deer of County Clare. White Frame with glass

Feel Good, Look Good. White Frame with glass

Sold

Autumn Walk. White Frame With Glass

Sold

Lioness To Water - White Frame with glass

Who Let The Dogs In

Twilight Meeting

Communing - Waiting for the farrier

How To Live As One - Cover of my book