Crab Apple

Malus sylvestris
Crab apple is a small tree growing up to 10m. Crab apple likes light and space and so will often grow in hedges and clearings where a small group can stand together, self-sown with the help of birds who break up the fruits. Generally it resembles other apples, though the young leaves are only slightly hairy beneath and the young shoots are not covered by woolly down as they are in domestic apples or naturalized cider apples.

10 Quick Debt-Busting Tips

By: Colin Mc Caig

Are you really frustrated?
Does it sometimes seem like the dollars are slipping through your fingers while the bills just seem to keep mounting up?
It’s a familiar feeling for many of us nowadays.
Sometimes, though, like most things in life, taking a step back from it all and starting to get some simple things right can make a huge difference on the big picture.
If your debts have been getting you down recently, here are 10 great ways to start slashing them today:

Christ’s Role, As He Might Have Meant It: a Discussion by Crystal Kernan

It seems that organized religion has assumed the role of Christ in the dispensation of Truth, be it relating to the church itself or in the very Word of God. The Pope, when speaking in his official capacity, is considered to be the mouthpiece of God.” Many churches actually dissuade their congregations from the exploration of scripture. Many churches frown on alternative, esoteric thought. But wasn’t Christ all these things? A student?

Prayer for Protection

Thank you, O mighty ones,
for all you have done for me.
May I not forget you, though the world turn against me.
Though I fall with my enemies rejoicing about me,
it will be your presence that will comfort me,
and I will still thank you for the incomparable rightness of every moment.

Dudugera

by Dr Anthony E. Smart

 
The leg child who became the sun, in Papuan mythology. One day a woman who was in a garden near the ocean, seeing a great fish playing in the surf, walked out into the water and played with it. Some time later the woman’s leg, against which the fish had rubbed, began to swell and become painful, until at last she had her father make a cut in the swelling, out of which popped a baby. The child, called Dudgera, grew up in the village, but his aggressiveness made him unpopular with the other boys. Fearing for his safety, the woman brought her son to the huge fish, who seized Dudugera in his mouth, and swam away. Before departing with his father though, Dudugera warned his mother and her relatives to take refuge behind a great rock, as he was about to become the sun.

Geirrod

by Dr Anthony E. Smart

 
A frost giant and father of two daughters, Gjalp and Greip. He was a bitter enemy of Thor, and having captured Loki (when Loki was flying around as a hawk) received from him a promise that he, Loki, would bring Thor to Geirrod’s castle without Thor having his magic belt and magic hammer. Loki did as promised and led Thor into the trap. On the way there, though, they stopped to rest at the home of a giantess named Grid. She told Thor what was up when Loki left the room, and gave him her magic belt, iron gloves and magic staff. Needless to say Thor used each with supreme efficiency and slew Geirrod, his daughters and all other frost giants in the vicinity.

Erlik

by Dr Anthony E. Smart

 
The Siberian spirit of evil. The Altaic Tartars speak of his birth thus: once Ulgan saw a piece of mud with human features floating on the ocean. The high god gave a spirit to it, and named the creature Erlik. But the friendship of Ulgan and Erlik did not last long, for the pride of the latter obliged his banishment to the depths, where he became the lord of the dead. Erlik claimed the dead as his own, leaving the living to Ulgan. When the creator commanded the first man to bring up a piece of earth from the depths of the primeval ocean, Erlik hid a piece in his mouth, hoping to create a world of his own. When it started to expand though, like the piece Ulgan threw on the surface of the water, the evil spirit was almost choked. Seeing Erlik’s plan, Ulgan commanded him to spit out the earth, which he did: it became marshlands.

Diti

by Dr Anthony E. Smart

 
An Indian goddess. Many mythographers see Aditi as the endless sky; Diti as the earth. Both apparently come from a different source of Hindu mythology, for their children, though recognized as supernatural, were never part of the official pantheon. Diti’s children were asuras, non-gods. They were powerful beings, especially the warrior Maruts, who might have conquered the gods.

Ixion

by Andrea Higgins and Dale Grote

Though little information survives about him, Ixion is a fundamental character in Greek mythology. The most complete account of Ixion’s tale comes from Pindar in his Pythian Odes. Ixion was the son the Phlegyas, descendent of Ares, and king of the Lapiths in Thessaly. He is significant in many respects, but is chiefly known as the first human to shed kindred blood. This occurred when Ixion invited his father-in-law, Deioneus, to come and collect the price that Ixion owed him for his bride. Upon his arrival, Deioneus fell into a pit filled with burning coals Ixion had camouflaged.