M.J. Rose

“Chi” is something I first heard about during my acupuncture treatments. When the needle goes in, sometimes a little zap occurs – like electricity shooting up the nerve. My skeptical mind thought, well, that’s obviously just the needle hitting a nerve! My practitioner promised, no, that is the needle moving the life force, or chi, in your body, and that movement of the chi is how the healing happens. Still, I remain skeptical sometimes, and that is why when I saw this video about an amazing man called Dynamo Jack who seems to have cultivated an ancient wisdom to harness the power of chi, I was very, very intrigued…

Enjoy!

Healer Demonstrates Extraordinary Powers of Chi, Baffles Scientists

by Eliot Estep

“Life force energy, also known as chi or prana, is found in everything. This subtle and pervasive energy is said to be the vital building block of all matter and creation, both physical and non-physical. This energy flows in, through, and around the body, forming vibrant and cohesive living systems in endless forms. Many traditions believe that a steady supply of chi is necessary to sustain all living beings. By understanding the rhythm, flow, and the qualities of life force energy, a wide variety of exercises and healing practices have been developed over time to improve health, vitality, and longevity. These practices are worldwide and span across all cultures including Reiki, Qi Gong, Pranic Healing, and many more.

In rare cases, chi has been shown to produce some truly astounding effects. In the following video, a Chinese healer demonstrates some of the powerful applications of chi when harnessed and directed with mastery. These feats are clearly visible and are shocking to witness at first. This type of ability came from much training and diligent meditation, including his membership in a secret order of healers…”

Posted by Emily, blog editor.

Were the Druids as sophisticated as the Romans? A new history argues that this may in fact have been the case!

A 1570 map of Europe, from Abraham Ortelius’ atlas (detail)

The Ancient Paths: Discovering the Lost Map of Celtic Europe, review

Tim Martin has his eyes opened by an enthralling new history that argues that Druids created a sophisticated ancient society to rival the Romans

By Tim Martin

“‘Important if true” was the phrase that the 19th-century writer and historian Alexander Kinglake wanted to see engraved above church doors. It rings loud in the ears as one reads the latest book by Graham Robb, a biographer and historian of distinction whose new work, if everything in it proves to be correct, will blow apart two millennia of thinking about Iron Age Britain and Europe and put several scientific discoveries back by centuries.

Rigorously field-tested by its sceptical author, who observes drily that “anyone who writes about Druids and mysteriously coordinated landscapes, or who claims to have located the intersections of the solar paths of Middle Earth in a particular field, street, railway station or cement quarry, must expect to be treated with superstition”, it presents extraordinary conclusions in a deeply persuasive and uncompromising manner. What surfaces from these elegant pages – if true – is nothing less than a wonder of the ancient world: the first solid evidence of Druidic science and its accomplishments and the earliest accurate map of a continent…”

For the complete article click here.

Welcome to October, the month of the macabre!

Deadly lake turns animals into statues
by Rowan Hooper

(Image: Nick Brandt)

“ACCORDING to Dante, the Styx is not just a river but a vast, deathly swamp filling the entire fifth circle of hell. Perhaps the staff of New Scientist will see it when our time comes but, until then, Lake Natron in northern Tanzania does a pretty good job of illustrating Dante’s vision.

Unless you are an alkaline tilapia (Alcolapia alcalica) – an extremophile fish adapted to the harsh conditions – it is not the best place to live. Temperatures in the lake can reach 60 °C, and its alkalinity is between pH 9 and pH 10.5.

The lake takes its name from natron, a naturally occurring compound made mainly of sodium carbonate, with a bit of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) thrown in. Here, this has come from volcanic ash, accumulated from the Great Rift valley. Animals that become immersed in the water die and are calcified.

Photographer Nick Brandt, who has a long association with east Africa – he directed the video for Michael Jackson’s Earth Song there in 1995 – took a detour from his usual work when he discovered perfectly preserved birds and bats on the shoreline. “I could not help but photograph them,” he says. “No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake.”…

For the rest, and more photos, click here to go to New Scientist.