An arty visit to GUH hospital – the evils of sugar – witches

by Editor | Nov 16, 2017 | Latest Post | 0 comments

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Today Pt 2 – art and GUH hospital – the evils of sugar – witches

So as I mentioned in my previous, time for my macular examination. That’s when the layers of the eye become unattached from the retina and produced lack of central vision though long distance vision is unaffected. I could read all but the bottom two lines of the chart, so relief as I don’t need an injection this time anyway, and must go back in a month.

The art ‘gallery’ spread over two floors of corridors in the GUH Hospital provides a continuous exhibitions of 500 works that change four times a year. Most works are for sale and this helps support the arts charity at the RUH. It’s worth going to see the works even if you don’t have a patient to visit (bus 4 from city centre). Well done Hetty Dupaus, Art Programme Manager and Tony Smith, Exhibition Manager. Check out the web site

22 fish

An imaginative and engaging poster

On the way home I saw this amazing ‘hybrid’ relationship. Make of it what you will.

an alien trying to cuddle???

*****

Every sentient being should be aware that there are health dangers through eating too much sugar. Not just sugar itself but the masses of sugar in sweet drinks. Sugar and other sweeteners are everywhere. They’re hidden in a huge percentage of processed foods. They’re sold to us as a way to feel good and enjoy life more. What price are we paying for our addiction to sugar and other sweeteners? Obesity. Diabetes. Cancer.

This report for ’60 Minutes’ reveals the addictive nature of sugar and the price we pay for our overindulgence. The good news? Switching to a diet of whole, unprocessed foods can reverse the effects. You could also look at Sugar- the bitter Truth’ on Youtube, a no nonsense examination if a trifle difficult for the newcomer to understand. The video is from the USA but same deal in UK. Americans eat an average of 130 pounds of sugar per year and the UK at 72 pounds is not far behind.

*****

Back home and a quick bite. Off to the Paulton History Society which this evening is offering a talk by Prof Ron Hutton on Witchcraft and magic, taking the period between 1740 and 1940 in the UK. Prof Hutton was born in India, has studied in Oxford and Cambridge and is currently head of history at Bristol Uni.

Prof Ron Hutton

There were far too many facts to write down but there is a plethora of evidence for the ‘dark arts’. For example you could write 150,000 words of evidence from Essex and Somerset alone.
Charmers are one trick ponies, people who cure warts, indigestion, headaches
Wise Folk, or cunning folk, have a far wider range of abilities and skills such as healing, tracing lost objects and breaking curses.
Witches are people suspected of using magic to hurt others. Whether you call them white witches or black witches the effect is the same.

At the time, London was the capital of magic.
He described the actual and symbolic use of herbs – either by drinking in in an infusion or hanging them around the patient’s neck. The process of bouncing back evil to the perpetrator was accepted. A witch might take the urine of a sufferer in a bottle, place pins and needles in it and bury the bottle. This would ensure the undoing of the curse or spell.

It is Satanism not paganism that was regarded as the antithetic force to Christianity.

Cunning practitioners could continue with their work but if they were too expensive or if their spells did not work then the police would be called in and they would be taken to jail. Even this could have a publicity value.

I stood up at the end and asked if reading the professors latest book (The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present) would help me in my understanding of the topic and was told ‘no’. Instead I was recommended an earlier book published in the 90’s “The Triumph of the moon, a history of modern Pagan Witchcraft‘. I ordered this one using my mobile device.

Prof was asked what effect the curses had apart from the biological changes induced by fear. I felt he did not want to go in this direction. One of his students at Bristol, Jack Hunter, has written a PhD on Spiritualism, so that should be an interesting study if and when it emerges.

An audience of 60 is not a bad turnout for the country

*****

On the bus on the way home was a young mum together with her son in a pram. He had a sweet smile. He was given a half slice of brown bread. He put it up to his ear and began speaking to it. He must have been all of 18 months. Guess where he got the habit from. God help the next generation.

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