OF SPANISH TIES
(A Sonnet)
Hilario Ziálcita y Legarda

What binds us to Mother Spain
who, in truth, loves us, her sons?
What strange force attracts us
To her people with bonds of brotherhood?

What treasures do we have of her culture,
her Christian tradition, her fervent faith,
her romantic language, its cadence,
Castilian elegance bequeathed to me?

When you circled the globe, the first
in your daring voyage of exploration,
you encountered the Philippines

Thus meriting the world’s admiration…
She, the heiress of your charms,
Thanks you with all her heart.

Manila, June 1999

From left to right: the poet Edwin A. Lozada, Don Hilario Ziálcita y Legarda, and Javier Galván (former director of the Instituto Cervantes de Manila). Photo taken on 27 June 2002 at the Casino Español in Ermita, Manila.

As a young man, Hilario Ziálcita y Legarda (b. 1913) wrote poems in Spanish and had them published in the Spanish language newspapers of the 1930s. Although he wanted to pursue a career in poetry, he took up medical studies instead. He finished high school and pre-med at the Ateneo de Manila and his formal medical studies at the University of Santo Tomás. After the liberation of the Philippines he pursued higher studies in radiology at Michigan University, at Ann Arbor, USA.

He was in charge of radiology at the U.S. Army 49th General Hospital at Fort McKinley in (sic) 1949-50 and in the U.S. Veterans Administration Office in Manila until 1959. He was the Chief Radiologist at the Chinese General Hospital. With Dr. Paterno Chikiamco, he organized the Philippine Radiology Society and was president at one time. He returned to America in 1986 and worked for the U.S. Army and Air Force until his last assignment at Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Georgia, when he retired in 1993.

Despite his busy career, he had taken time to pursue graduate studies in Spanish at San Juan de Letrán College and in English Literature at the Ateneo de Manila before going abroad. After retiring from the practice of medicine, he went back to his old love — writing poems in Spanish.

From his bilingual book, The Manila Galleon and Other Poems, published by Caridad Z. Sevilla and printed by Eres Printing Corporation, 2004)

Click here for the Spanish version of this blogpost!

Sun is the brightest star in our solar system and has always been of great significance in both religion and astrology. A major influence in any natal chart, sun takes a back seat in Horary as the all mighty Goddess in our art is Moon. However, it maintains some critical importance in delineating horary charts as, besides being a possible significator or a ruler of a house, sun also has some unique attributes based on its very nature.
The strongest and most unlucky is combustion.

Combustion is the worst possible debilitation in any horary chart. Naturally, it is one of the main considerations in Horary. Lilly wrote:

And you must know that the combustion of any planet is the greatest misfortune that can be

and he mentions Arabs insisted on the obscure:

If the Lord of the Ascendant be combust, neither question propounded will take, or Querent be regulated.

Sun is hot and dry. Excessively hot. He burns every other planet that happens to be too close, even the moon. Any planet within 8 degrees and 30 minutes the Sun, in the same sign, is considered combust. It doesn’t alter its meaning if the conjunction is separating or applying (though is somewhat more powerful when Sun “hastens in conjunction” than when it recedes. It matters if they are separated from a sign cusp; combustion works ONLY if it is happening within a sign.
Keep in mind that sometimes, if the other planet is strongly dignified and has power over the sun (like being its domicile dispositor), it softens the impact.

Any planet suffering combustion, is rendered weak at the very best, downright malicious at worst.
The combust planet is extremely weakened, or shows mischief (especially in the case of Mercury), or shows “inability to be seen or heard”, or shows death, health detriment and so on, depending on what the planet being combust signifies and what matter the question is about. The fortunes lose their power to do good and the infortunes are rendered either weak or more malicious depending on their dignities.

If moon, without being a main significator is in combustion, gives a “not fit to be judged” chart, or gives a negative answer (the later especially if it is applying). You can go ahead and read the chart but you already have a red alert that something will go south.

If the querent’s significator is combust, is in “great fear”, overpowered by someone and/or hidden. I will add that, the querent may also find themselves facing some danger or trouble and upheaval.
If we ask about someone’s ability or dignity and his significator is combust, we can judge he is not good or suitable or honest.

“Is this lawyer a good one?” with his significator combust -> No, he is too weak or a swindler.
“Is she honest with me?” with her significator combust -> No, she is hiding something.

If you care to investigate further you will find out that there is dispute on the exact degrees of combustion but here, I will use Lilly’s choice of 8º30′ degrees. You can also find articles and books about the use of combustion in natal chart delineations.

“So, what if I ask a love horary and Sun is my sweetheart’s significator and my own significator is applying a conjunction to sun? Isn’t this combustion? Am I in danger?”
Yes it still is combustion and no, no danger here, but you are burning hot about your sweetheart, rendered weak due to your love and perhaps in fear of losing him/her. If though, in addition to that conjunction, moon is in Via Combusta, I would be cautious.
Context and common sense are important.

© 2009 All rights reserved – Με επιφύλαξη παντός νόμιμου δικαιώματος

Today, the Philippines, particularly the people of Bulacán, Bulacán, commemorate the birth anniversary of the boy general of who died at Tirad Pass…

GREGORIO DEL PILAR
(1875-1899)

If the ancient Greeks had their valiant King Leonidas and the Battle of Thermopylae, Filipinos have their General Gregorio del Pilar and the Battle of Tirad Pass.

General del Pilar, youngest officer of Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary army, met his gallant death defending Tirad Pass on December 2, 1899. With only 60 men under him, del Pilar held the pass against pursuing American troops until an enemy bullet felled him, ending a brief but brilliant military career, but giving Aguinaldo much precious time to escape.

A nephew of the illustrious Marcelo H. del Pilar, Gregorio was born on November 14, 1875, in Bulacán, Bulacán, the fifth son of Fernando del Pilar and Felipa Sempio. He was a student at the Ateneo de Manila when the revolution broke out.

His exceptional feats of valor in the battles of Malíbug and Kakaróng de Sili earned him his generalship. He was only 23 when he was struck down by a sniper’s bullet at Tirad Pass. –Jesús C. Guzon (Eminent Filipinos, National Historical Commission, 1965)–

One of his men saw him killed instantly by a sniper's bullet -- but that was due to his carelessness!

Some fastidious students of Philippine History, however, treat his heroism with some doubt and a lot of questions. And with regard to Guzon’s comparison of King Leonidas to del Pilar, National Artist for Literature and historian extraordinaire Nick Joaquín has this to say:

“The wrong thing to do about Tirad Pass is invoke Leonidas and Thermopylae, because we would be invoking to our hurt another people fatally flawed with the inability to unite and organize. Besides, the parallel with Leonidas, king of the Spartans, is neither exact nor flattering: it was not Aguinaldo who fell at Tirad. Moreover, the annals of war show that in mountain warfare, especially in actions on a mountain pass, the advantage is with the defender, not the invader, and victory must be expected from the defender.” (A Question of Heroes by Nick Joaquín, Filipinas Foundation, Inc., 1977)

Joaquín went on by citing several other mountain battles which happened in other parts of the globe. And he showed that in all those mountain battles, it was the defenders who always won. And there was this particular case that happened in World War II when the British took two years to dislodge the Japanese army from the mountains of Burma.

“But Tirad Pass was taken in six hours.

“There were, you will say, only 60 men to defend it. Precisely. And that was the stupidity. Our improvidence always forces us in the end to improvise, when it’s too late even to improvise. We will not plan ahead, we will just muddle through, and then at the last hour we send men to die for our blunders, our lack of foresight. If there were any justice, it’s Aguinaldo, it’s Mabini, who should have perished on Tirad. But so that Aguinaldo can flee in futile flight, 60 men are sent to pay with their lives for the monstrous botch he has made of the Revolution. And now we read Tirad as a symbol of heroism, not stupidity.

“A few more Tirads and we’ll be the most heroic people in extinction.”

Tirad Pass: Thermopylae it is not.

And according to the diary of Telesforo Carrasco y Pérez, a Spaniard enlisted in Aguinaldo/del Pilar’s army, the boy general, who in stories was said to have died heroically and fighting to the last bullet, died due to his own carelessness:

“At dawn we saw the enemy climbing the slope and moments later the firing began in the first entrenchment, which was under Lieutenant Braulio. At around nine in the morning two Igorots climbed to the peak and told the general that the Americans had suffered losses at the first entrenchment and could not advance. Heartened by the news, the general decided that we were to descend in his company and take part in the combat.

“This we did and an hour later found ourselves where nine soldiers were defending the left flank of the mountain in the second entrenchment. Hardly had we got there when we saw the Americans climbing up, only fifteen meters away, whereupon the soldiers started firing again.

“The general could not see the enemy because of the cogon grass and he ordered a halt to the firing. At that moment I was handling him a carbine and warning him that the Americans were directing their fire at him and that he should crouch down because his life was in danger — and that moment he was hit by a bullet in the neck that caused instant death.”

But this “stupidity” is just the tip of the villainous iceberg.

In the classrooms, it is not taught that Goyo del Pilar was actually one of Aguinaldo’s high-ranking hatchetmen. The blood of assassinated general Antonio Luna’s friends is upon del Pilar’s hands. Murdered under the boy general’s helm were Luna’s allies such as Manuel and José Bernal. And some of Luna’s staff were harassed, tortured, and ordered arrested.

I wonder most of the time what the word heroism really mean in this country. Marami tayong mga bayani na hindí namán dapat tinítiñgalà. What should be the attributes of a true national hero?

As an ardent observer of Philippine History, there is one shocking fact that I’ve learned: countless villains in this country are regarded as heroes; and the integrity of the true heroes of the nation are perpetually besmirched. This will not stop until we have freed ourselves from the fetters of neocolonialism and the blind hispanophobic rage that we have against our glorious past.

That is why if only I have registered for the 2010 Philippine National Elections, I would vote for the lesser evil whom the current administration have unjustly incarcerated for six years.

Today is the birth anniversary of Lorenzo Guerrero. He’s from Ermita, Manila, belonging to the legendary ilustrado family: los Guerrero.

Guerrero was one of eminent painter Juan Luna’s teachers during the latter’s youth.

Below is a brief biographical sketch of Lorenzo Guerrero written by Héctor K. Villaroel (from the 1965 book EMINENT FILIPINOS which was published by the National Historical Commission, a precursor of today’s National Historical Institute).

LORENZO GUERRERO
(1835-1904)

A great painter and art teacher whose “primitive brush strokes found solidity and vigor in the canvases of Luna and de la Rosa,” Lorenzo Guerrero was born in Ermita, Manila, on November 4, 1835, to León Jorge Guerrero and Clara Leogardo.

He studied Latin at San José College; and painting, briefly, under different Spanish masters, like Cortina and Valdez; and, perhaps for a long period, under Agustín Sáez. At the age of 16 he started giving lessons in drawing. José Rizal described him as a “master who had virtually taught himself.”

In 1858, together with Lorenzo Rocha y Ycaza, he was appointed ayudante de naturales in the Academia de Dibujo y Pintura. Likewise, he gave drawing lessons at Santa Isabel and La Concordia colleges, and worked as a private tutor of the sons and daughters of Manila’s prominent families. Two of his students, Juan Luna and Fabián de la Rosa, won international acclaim.

As a connoisseur of music and literature, he had his house in Ermita turned to a veritable salon where Manila’s intellectuals met and exchanged views. As a gifted painter, whose delicacy of execution and handling of light and shadow was incomparable, he centered his work on two subjects — religious themes and scenes depicting native life and customs. His religious paintings that were housed and greatly treasured in the churches were “Nuestra Señora de Guía,” “Santa Filomena,” “Saint John the Baptist,” and “Santa Verónica de Julianus.” Similarly appreciated were the reproductions of local scenes, like the “Chinese Vendor of Tsin-Tsao,” “River’s Bend,” and “Scene at a Brook,” which were exhibited at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.

Lorenzo married Clemencia Ramírez in 1868 by whom he had two children.

He died rather suddenly of acute asthma in Ermita on April 8, 1904.

Delineation. A word I had never heard of and which to me seemed like something so complicated is apparently just a fancy way of saying line weight. So far I’ve done a sketch of a some strange figure that looks like it may be a very complex cheese grader or something out of The Matrix, a plan view of a house, and an elevation. Pictures will soon follow.

Furniture design. I had no idea that it was as involved a process as I am learning that it is. I have to design a table and draw a 3 view drawing, an isometric drawing, a detail of a joint, and build a model of the design. Due October 5th. I’m going to be done the sketching process by tomorrow night hopefully. As previously stated, pictures will soon follow.

Speaking of architecture and my education, I applied to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette a few days ago. After my next pay check, I am going to apply to UC Berkeley, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, The Savannah College of Art & Design, and Cal State Long Beach. My plan is to pretty much go where I’m accepted if I get into the architecture departments of any of those universities. If not I’ll either go to UL or CSULB (or Berkeley, if that is an option) for Linguistics or Computer Science.

Thats really about it for now, until the next time I feel I have reason to update, later.

This post is in response to Delineation.

“Translated into conventional and – let it be repeated – mytho-poetic language, the knowledge of Brahman is represented as the discovery that this world which seemed to be Many is in truth One, that ‘all is Brahman’ and that ‘all duality is falsely imagined.’  Taken as statements of fact, such utterances are logically meaningless and convey no information.  Yet they seem to be the best possible expression of words of the experience itself, though it is as if in the moment of saying the ‘last word’ the tongue were paralyzed by its own revelation, and compelled to babble nonsense or be silent.

Moksha is also understood as liberation from maya – one of the most important words in Indian philosophy, both Hindu and Buddhist.  For the manifold world of facts and events is said to be maya, ordinarily understood as an illusion which veils the one underlying reality of Brahman.  This gives the impression that moksha is a state of consciousness in which the whole varied world of nature vanishes from sight, merged in a boundless ocean of vaguely luminous space.  Such an impression should be dismissed at once, for it implies a duality, an incompatibility, between Brahman and maya which is against the whole principle of Upanishadic philosophy.  For Brahman is not One as opposed to Many, not simple as opposed to complex.  Brahman is without duality (advaita), which is to say without any opposite since Brahman is not in any class, or for that matter, outside any class.

Now classification is precisely maya.  The word is derived from the Sanskrit root matr – ‘to measure, form, build, or lay out a plan,’ the root from which we obtain such Greco-Latin words as meter, matrix, material, and matter.  The fundamental process of measurement is division, whether by drawing a line with the finger, or marking off or by enclosing circles with the span of the hand or dividers, or by sorting grain or liquids in measures (cups).  Thus the Sanskrit root dva – from which we get the word ‘divide’ is also the root of the Latin duo (two) and the English ‘dual.’

To say, then, that the world of facts and events is maya is to say that facts and events are terms of measurement rather than realities of nature.  We must, however, expand the concept of measurement to include setting bounds of all kinds, whether by descriptive classification or selective screening.  It will thus be easy to see that facts and events are as abstract as lines of latitude or as feet and inches.  Consider for a moment that it is impossible to isolate a single fact, all by itself.  Facts come in pairs at the very least, for a single body is inconceivable apart from a place in which it hangs.  Definition, setting of bounds, delineation – these are always acts of division and thus of duality, for as soon as a boundary is defined it has two sides.”

-Alan Watts

Does the number 1 exist?

What if, as my co-blogger once suggested – it is only an approximation?

For where can this number 1 be found?

We say, for example, “well, here is one zebra.”

But then we might say, “now it has joined with one pack of zebras.”

Well what has happened to the one?

And even one zebra, we should say, “is made up of organs and appendages, which in turn are made up of proteins and fats, which in turn are made of particles.”

This is hardly a revelation for us.  Despite the fact that the number 1 cannot be isolated, and truly said to exist, mathematics has proven its usefulness time and time again.  The approximations can help guide us through reality.

But more troubling, the abstract notion of 1 is developed further in our own character – we feel that we exist, we are a “one”, our consciousness is independent and monolithic.

Words are mere abstractions that cannot capture the wonder of a world where 1s seems to exist everywhere - isolated for moments and then lost when we refocus our attention.

Armed with fickle concepts, we fancy reality to follow in the same fashion; perhaps the flaw lies with our approach while interpreting the appearances.

Wittgenstein, who was familiar with Indian mysticism, said more or less this very thing.

Yet we still teach children that the number 1 exists, and gloss over the difficulties.  Perhaps we’re afraid to confront the brittleness of even our most rock-solid and fundamental building blocks?

Basilique St Denis: side and end views of double butress & window

Here I have posted a couple of older drawings from the nineties.  Both are scanned images of prints. The first is a sample of the types of drawings that we were making at Innova for the Basilique St. Denis located north of Paris.  We were charged to create drawings that could delineate each individual construction unit so that a stone mason could make a detailed assessment of the conditions of each, record it, and turn the whole set of documents into a work order.  Some stones were to be completely replaced, others scaled back and replaced with a new facing, many were in fine condition etc. etc.

The second image shows a print of a drawing after such an assessment was made for the terra cotta, masonry and stone cladding that compose the Ocean City City Hall in NJ.  A coding system was devised for individual construction units and linked to a data base.   This print was given to me years ago when I was based in New Haven, CT by Michael Henry of Watson Henry Associates.  While it is possible to create such a document digitally in the field with a tablet computer and so forth, I think that this methodology (making detailed drawings to be printed to appropriate scale onto paper) is still valid today.  Many restoration projects are harsh environments and approaching them with a good set of drawings in hand can be indispensable for creating an accurate record of a hands on assessment.

These paper documents also have archival value in a way that digital files do not.  I once was doing a project like this in New York City. By day I was in the field marking up sheets with a four color pen and by night I was entering my info into my lap top in my hotel room.  (This was valuable because I was able to foresee questions and resolve them the following day before returning to Virginia).  Then on a Thursday morning my hard drive did not wake up and had to be sent out for “emergency disc recovery” – a harrowing experience.  But I had my work backed up to the previous Friday so all I really lost was the data entry from my field sheets to my drawings.  I was so happy to have paper in hand to bring back and use the following week while I waited for my lap top to come back from the dead…

Ocean City City Hall - WHA

While I consider myself a professional astrologer, I feel as most astrologers do that we are eternal students, continually learning and growing, in all the different areas of our expertise.  Horary astrology is that kind of study that no matter how long you have studied, you realize there is more to learn down the road.  John Frawley is one of the many traditional astrologers around whom I would love to emulate, has taken the traditional horary studies and has made it understandable to his students, and through his books, the public.  I am on several horary yahoo groups, and I can’t tell you what a learning experience it is, and even though you think you have learnt everything, something new and exciting, always pops up.

I have noticed that although some of the questions asked have a definite yes or no answer, there always is a story behind the story.   Since the question being asked is always very important to the querent, the person is always anxious to hear the final outcome, and usually doesn’t hear the narrative.  Sad to say, but I feel if we had paid more attention to the plot and not the answer, our decisions may be different and our delineation to the question, more in tune to what the person really wants to know.  As an example of this, a person asked if the ex-partner would be at their children’s important family gathering.  In delineating the chart the reasons where quite clear why the person wouldn’t be there but the event would turn out well, if not fabulous.  As it happens I think the real question, was the outcome of the party and the people involved, not the ex.

I think it is quite similar with questions for a new job.  The description of the job and its relationship to the querent are more important then the outcome.  What would happen if it showed the individual was up f0r the job, but there seemed to be a question whether the person actually wanted this particular situation?  Or what if it shows complications to the job and it would delay the hiring until a later date.  The question then would be if the person would wait for said position, or take another one that is offered.  The background always seems to give a clearer view of what is happening at the moment, and if we can break away from the emotional involvement with the question, we might see clearer what our decision should be.

 My advice to anyone having a horary question delineated is to listen to everything being said, since a no to your question may be the right direction the Universe has for your future.  A no will lead you to other paths that may lead to greater opportunities then expected.  The narrative will always give you clues to your question, if one will look for them.  There are modern and traditional horary astrologers available for consultation, but one must choose wisely.  Remember that even knowing the outcome of the future, the future is still in our hands, and that the final choice is always ours.

http://www.picsvet.com/

©| : Dreamstime.com

Image details:

——————————————

Title: Wine glasses-Abstract

Description: Red wine and glasse over black- Abstract

Keywords: alcohol beverage bottle cabernet celebration champagne cork drink drinking fruit fun glass glasses grape grapes holiday isolated liquid liquor merlot party red taste toast white wine wineglass winery

Categories:

- Nature > Details

- Abstract > Backgrounds

- Objects > Still life

—————————

Модел фотоапарат : Canon

URL: http://www.dreamstime.com/wine-glasses-abstract-image4274106

KatharinaBeron

Gallery Picsvet Bulgaria.Fun Photo

Избрани снимки от www.picsvet.com

Пръстенът….

========================

—————————————————————————–
afar, art, attractive, beautiful, brunette, chamber, city, clean, cleared, directly, drops, evening, eyebrowes, female, fine, girl, glass, grief, hair, hairdress, hand, kind, lady, light, love, nails, natural, neck, nose, patches, person, photo, portrait, rain, sexual, sexually, sight, studio, tenderness, wet, white, woman

Едно небе и облаци пред мен, Едно небе и облаци пред мен, Едно небе и облаци пред мен, Едно небе и облаци … КРИЛЕЕЕее

………………………………..
на вятъра…

Calo!
Image details:
——————————————
Title: Sunset
Description: Black sea-Bulgaria-2008 It starts the new day. The sun punctures a road for itself in its oort clouds.
Keywords: adventure air autumn background bass beautiful blue boat bulgaria camping canoeing casting climate climb climbing clouds colorful column destination dock face fall fish fishing fly foliage geologic geological geology hiking inspiring katahdin kayaking lake landscape landscapes leaves magnificent maine mountain nature outdoors outside park pines pond recreation remote ridge rock scenery season sky sozopol spring stripes summer tourism tourist trail trailhead trees trout usa vacation valley visitors water weekend wildlife wooden
Categories:
- Nature > Sea and ocean
- Abstract > Backgrounds
- Nature > Landscapes
URL: http://www.dreamstime.com/sunset-image4351993
——————————————

Идващия ден се бори с отиващата си нощ за да изгрее слънцето отново в нашата половина на земното кълбо.19 февруари 2008