Greetings at the start of summer from a mountain top oak forest in New England!
Spring is very late in this neck of the woods. My hawthorn tree, planted from a seed I brought back from Uisneach, Ireland, some 20 years ago, usually blooms mid-May. It finally opened its blossoms on May 30. I have been watching the tree carefully for signs of bees, I haven’t seen any; no wild bees or honey bees or bees of any kind. In the past few weeks I did see two bumble bees in the garden, they were visiting the dandelions, pulmonaria and daffodils. I don’t even see those anymore!
I did find a bear paw print in the mud next to the house, which is eerily comforting.
I am proud to live in a small New England town that still make decisions by town meetings. We recently had our annual meeting and here are some of the things that were covered;
First, a new solar bylaw was passed to better control the placement of solar panels in town. It streamlines the approval process for safe projects, facilitates approval of solar arrays in sensible places rather than in locations that are a detriment to the town as a whole, provides standards to protect health, safety, welfare of residents, wildlife and natural resources, protects the town from speculative developers, staves off lawsuits by having clear and comprehensive guidelines, keeps control of solar development in the hands of the town, rather than state courts, nonresidential developers and investors.
Secondly, we voted to approve the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
“The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) includes a comprehensive set of prohibitions on participating in any nuclear weapon activities. These include undertakings not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. The Treaty also prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons on national territory and the provision of assistance to any State in the conduct of prohibited activities. States parties will be obliged to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited under the TPNW undertaken by persons or on territory under its jurisdiction or control. The Treaty also obliges States parties to provide adequate assistance to individuals affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons, as well as to take necessary and appropriate measure of environmental remediation in areas under its jurisdiction or control contaminated as a result of activities related to the testing or use of nuclear weapons.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted by the Conference (by a vote of 122 States in favour (with one vote against and one abstention) at the United Nations on 7 July 2017, and opened for signature by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 20 September 2017. It will enter into force 90 days after the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession has been deposited.”
The United States is, of course, unwilling to sign the treaty and are trying to prevent NATO allies from signing, even though according to General Colin Powell nuclear weapons are “militarily useless”. Belchertown voted to call our Select board to support the TPNW and also calls upon federal leaders to sign and ratify it. We ask the state of Massachusetts to pass Bills HD 3477 and SD 1688 which call for a Commission to take the steps to bring Massachusetts into compliance with the TPNW.
NuclearBan.US has more information on how towns and individuals can get on board.
Below you will find the usual past Moonth’s roundup of book news, archeology, nature, herb, health, Celtic, Fairy, religion and ethics news.
*Reminder! You can purchase books signed by the author and get a personal note from this website *
BOOK, MOVIE AND PODCAST NEWS
- I recorded my very first audio book last week. It’s the audio version of THE SACRED HERBS OF SAMHAIN which will be out in August and can already be pre-ordered here.
- A recent radio show and podcast
- We are making progress towards the film based on Priestess of the Forest. The script is almost done. You can help make it all happen by joining the crew – and get your name in the credits!
NEWS YOU CAN USE
ELECTION UPDATE
- Please consider making at least a $1.00 donation to the candidate of your choice. Democratic candidates have to show 65,000 donors to even qualify for the debates. I am supporting Sanders, Warren, Harris and Yang, so far.
FOREST NEWS
- Philippine law: every student must plant 10 trees in order to graduate (brilliant!)
- Rainforests are in peril – here is what needs to be done
- Trees speak a language we can learn, say biologists
- A 2,600 year old Bald Cypress found in North Carolina
- Tree species are moving north and west in the USA, due to climate change
- Eastern US forests shaped more by Native Americans’ burning than climate change
- Thailand is bombing its devastated forests with “seed bombs”
- The film “Call of the Forest” – available on Vimeo on Demand!
- Vandana Shiva: Everything I ever needed to know I learned in the forest
- The famous Glastonbury Thorn in England has been chopped down again. I think this explains why the tree was killed.
ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS
- Misconceptions about Neanderthals (video)
- 7000-Year-Old Skeleton Found In Bulgaria
- Exploring the origins of the apple
- Early humans deliberately recycled flint to create tiny, sharp tools
- Humans used northern migration routes to reach eastern Asia
- Scotland’s earliest known Pictish fort (video)
- Temple Wood stone circle, Scotland (video)
- The Neolithic farmers who built Stonehenge
- The Celtic queen who defied Rome: Boudicca
- Hamlet’s Mill: precession of the equinoxes and ancient Irish astronomers (video)
- The Antonine Wall, the true northern edge of the Roman Empire
- The Meherrin, Native American peoples living NC and VA in 800 CE
- Things that Vikings “imported” (ahem) from the Celts
- Prehistoric life at Star Carr
- Ancient seat of the Lord of the Isles virtually reconstructed
- An Iron Age bark shield found
- Temple Wood circle, Scotland (video)
- Researchers wonder if ancient supernovae prompted human ancestors to walk upright
- A High-Heeled Dinosaur?
- Researchers probe 2,000-year-old killings on uninhabited Spanish islet
- Archaeologist to German Ambassador: Nefertiti belongs to Egypt
- A head of Dionysus found in Rome ? (looks like Aphrodite/Venus to me) More…
- Mysterious ancient burial mound in southwest France used for 2,000 years
- Thai dinosaur is a cousin of T. rex
- Ancient Egyptian Jewelry
- Findings in Cova Foradada change map of Iberian Neanderthal cultures
- Declining fertility rates may explain Neanderthal extinction, suggests new model
- Farmers have less leisure time than hunter-gatherers, study suggests
- How One Catholic Priest Destroyed the Entire Mayan Written Language
- An early Christian Anglo-Saxon royal tomb
- The Celtic Evil Eye
- Newly discovered fossil footprints in Grand Canyon force paleontologists to rethink ancient desert inhabitants
- Sarmatian warrior tomb discovered in southern Russia
- Temple of Nemesis found under remains of ancient theatre on Greek island of Lesvos
- A hunt for Witch Bottles in the UK
- High-quality jadeite tool discovered in underwater ancient salt works in Belize
- A Temple of Hecate to be restored in Turkey
- New research reveals what was on the menu for medieval English peasants
- Analysis of the Paleolithic diet shows no social divisions in food consumption
- Ancient proteins offer clues to the past
- Israeli scientists resurrect yeast from ancient beer jugs to recreate 5,000-year-old brew
- Genetic studies shed light on social structure of Catalhoyuk inhabitants
- Gundesrup Ghosts – hidden images on the cauldron
- Scottish and Irish Y DNA shows the Gaels came from Germany
- Stonehenge tunnel dig finds examined by archaeologists
- Italy’s Culture Minister asks Getty for four works
- Roman Legionnaire Camp Found In Germany
- Dolphin ancestor’s hearing was more like hoofed mammals than today’s sea creatures
- 3,500-year-old cave burials found in Western Pyrenees
- Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago
- Using computer simulations to discover where Neanderthals lived
- Ancient fish ponds in the Bolivian savanna supported human settlement
- Baalbek: Were the megaliths put in place under Herod?
- Quantum physicists shining new light on cave art
- Academic cracks Voynich code, solving century-old mystery of medieval text
- How to make a Celtic torc (video)
- Coastal Organisms Trapped In 99-Million-Year-Old Amber
- First Birds: Archaeopteryx Gets Company
- Traces Of Crawling In Italian Cave Give Clues To Ancient Humans’ Social Behavior
- The six pointed star – an ancient symbol
- Metal detectorists find largest Roman coin hoard in Britain
- French village offers reward to decipher mysterious stone inscription
- A Bronze Age sword found in Denmark
- Mesolithic Doggerland is being mapped for the first time
- Facial reconstruction breathes new life into ancient citizens of Sagalassos
- Possible migration route of Homo erectus from Africa discovered
- Getty Museum acquires collection of ancient engraved gems
- Abrupt climate change drove early South American population decline
- Ancient DNA suggests that some Northern Europeans got their languages from Siberia
- Neolithic Petroglyphs Discovered In Egypt’s Aswan
- Cannibalism Was Profitable For Homo Antecessor
- Wheat, wine and wool: What old account statements reveal
- Roman Gaming Board Discovered At Vindolanda
- More cracks found in 1000-year-old Viking ship
- Statistical study finds it unlikely South African fossil species is ancestral to humans
- DNA analysis of remains in Neolithic mass grave in Poland shows victims were related
- Roman mining activities polluted European air more heavily than previously thought
- Origins of cannabis traced back 28 million years to Tibetan Plateau
- Aztec allies ritually disfigured captured Spaniards’ remains
- Sphinx Room At Domus Aurea Re-Emerges
- Reconstruction of Parthenon Cella given green light
- Culloden battlefield under threat from development
- An important Anglo-Saxon burial found More: Anglo-Saxon princely burial secrets revealed in new research
- Alaska’s thaw threatens prehistoric sites once frozen in time
- New 3-Foot-Tall Relative Of Tyrannosaurus Rex
- Ancient ritual bundle found in Bolivia contained multiple psychotropic plants
- Freshwater mussel shells were material of choice for prehistoric craftsmen
- Bronze Age Canoe Discovered In Wales
- 5,000-Year-Old Stone Tools Found In Philippines
- Exploring 3D technology in pottery studies: ‘It is the future’
- A missing piece of Stonehenge returned
- The future of Nikwasi Mound, North Carolina
- A genomic tour-de-force reveals the last 5,000 years of horse history
- Ice Age fossils found in Mexican underwater cave
- The quiet loss of knowledge threatens indigenous communities
- 4,000-year-old coffin burials, furnaces and other artefacts unearthed at Sanauli
- Chinese Archaeologists Find 5,000-Year-Old ‘Mysterious Tomb’
- Archaeologists find 10th century settlement under former parking site in Brussels
- Divine symbols and adored pets in ancient Greece
- Blue whale fossil found in Italy is largest skeleton ever discovered
- Old Kingdom tombs discovered on Egypt’s Giza Plateau
- The 5th Century BC Celtic Chariot Burial from Newbridge, Scotland
- Indigenous Australians may be the most ancient civilization on Earth
- Italians try to crack Leonardo da Vinci DNA code with lock of hair
- Apophis is coming but all is well
- Rare life-size stucco sculpture unearthed in India’s Suryapet district
- Brain, Shape And Fossils
- First examples of Iberian prehistoric ‘imitation amber’ beads at gravesites
- Chewing versus sex in the duck-billed dinosaurs
- Dwarfs under dinosaur legs: 99-million-year-old millipede discovered in Burmese amber
- New reading of Mesha Stele could have far-reaching consequences for biblical history
- Were humans in the Americas 130,000 years ago?
- Flowering plants, new teeth and no dinosaurs: New study sheds light on the rise of mammals
- First hominins on the Tibetan Plateau were Denisovans More…
- Ancient sculptures from Guatemala made from magnetized rocks struck by lightning
- 3,500-Year-Old Petroglyphs Found In Gansu, China
- Petroglyphs from Iberia
- Climate, grasses and teeth: the evolution of South America mammals
- Human ancestors were ‘grounded,’ new analysis shows
- Middle Pleistocene human skull reveals variation and continuity in early Asian humans
- Details of the history of inner Eurasia revealed by new study
- Sea serpent sightings influenced by ancient marine reptile fossil finds
HERB NEWS
- Elm trees on the rise again with a variety that resists disease
- Minnesota will pay home owners to turn lawns into bee gardens
- 8 Non-Cannabis Plants That Contain Therapeutic Cannabinoids
- Elderberries! A monograph
- On peonies and ants, why they need each other
- Dandelions are not “weeds”, they are food, medicine
- 11 reasons a clover lawn is better than a grass lawn
- Balloon Flower – benefits and uses
- CBD for PTSD
- Pineberries!
- Beltaine and Rowan trees
- Edible Weeds are delicious!
- The Paw Paw, a forgotten fruit
- An Iris that depends on sleepy bees for pollination
- Mayan bee keepers in Mexico win a victory against Monsanto
HEALTH NEWS
- Women without children or spouse are happiest, live longer, study finds
- Irish dancing can cure Parkinson’s disease
- Interview with a traditional Mexican “Curandera”
- Watch Ocasio-Cortez Ask Pharma CEO Why HIV Drug Costs $8 Overseas But $1,780 in the US (video)
- Scientific American: It’s time to end the war on women’s health
- Study: the more you hug your baby the more their brain develops
- A possible cure for Lyme disease is in the works
- Protect your pancreas by eating less saturated fat
- Manuka honey found to kill bacteria, MRSA
- An Aboriginal approach to mental health
- The end of AIDS may be in sight
CLIMATE AND NATURE NEWS
- Domino effect of species extinctions also damages biodiversity
- Fossil zooplankton indicate that marine ecosystems have entered the Anthropocene
- Africa’s elephant poaching rates in decline, but iconic animal still under threat
- Trump administration hardens its attack on climate science
- Climate crisis brings delay to planting season, higher prices for consumers
- Black, hot ice may be the most common form of water in the universe
- Meet the money behind the climate denial movement
- Widespread permafrost degradation seen in high Arctic terrain
- How corn’s ancient ancestor swipes left on crossbreeding
- Scientists discover ancient seawater preserved from the last Ice Age
- Massive Martian ice discovery opens a window into red planet’s history
- Glamour photos of bees
- Ravens seem to share emotions, empathy
- Oklahoma Native Americans tame twisters with ancient rituals
- Antarctic ice sheet now thinning inland
- Native American farmers are saving rare and endangered cops from extinction
- 2-metre sea level rise ‘plausible’ by 2100: study
- Earth’s Evil Twin
- Koala Bears now functionally extinct in Australia
- New Water Cycle On Mars Discovered
- A family of comets reopens the debate about the origin of Earth’s water
- Comparison of global climatologies confirms warming of the global ocean
- Climate change is giving old trees a growth spurt
- 2/3 of France’s birds now gone due to pesticides, a catastrophic loss
- Sperm whales trying to communicate with divers using clicks (video)
- Indigenous Australians are losing their land and culture due to climate change.
- The ‘forbidden’ planet has been found in the ‘Neptunian Desert’
- USA a hotbed of climate change denial, poll finds
- Radioactive carbon from nuclear bomb tests found in deep ocean trenches
- Dragonflies are our friends – they can eat 100s of mosquitos a day
- Nothing compares to the coming catastrophe
- Hubble Spots A Stunning Spiral Galaxy
- Nature’s dangerous decline ‘unprecedented,’ species extinction rates ‘accelerating’
- Genetic Adaptation To Climate Change
- Impossible research produces 400-year El Niño record, revealing startling changes
- US objections to wording on climate change prevented Arctic nations signing a joint statement at a summit in Finland, delegates said.
- Formation of the moon brought water to Earth
- Water Formation On The Moon Demonstrated
- UN Report: humans are driving 1 million species to extinction
- Many more amphibian species at risk of extinction than previously thought
- Ravens are so smart one hacked a researcher’s experiment
- Skip the insecticides and get a bat house to fight mosquitos
- Pushy Bonobo mothers help their sons find mates
- Hubble astronomers assemble wide view of the evolving universe
- Pinpointing Gaia to map the Milky Way
- Puerto Rico’s bees may hold the key to saving bees worldwide
- Every animal pulled from deepest ocean trenches had plastic in its gut
- Chimps can navigate social media, computers
- 2,000-year-old remnant of a nova first described by ancient Chinese astronomers discovered
- New research sheds light on the possibility of past life on Venus
- Almost half of World Heritage sites could lose their glaciers by 2100
- New giant virus may help scientists better understand the emergence of complex life
- Fukushima is still an ongoing nuclear catastrophe
- Tree planting with drones proven successful
- Are hurricanes getting stronger?
- Harvard scientist says we have 5 years to deal with climate change
- Spotted owls bred to save them from extinction in British Columbia
- Astrophysicists simulate the sounds of stars to reveal their secrets
- Geoscientists find new fallout from ‘the collision that changed the world’
- Rapid melting of the world’s largest ice shelf linked to solar heat in the ocean
- Research examines new links between retreating glaciers and global warming
- The Last Chance For Madagascar’s Biodiversity
CELTIC NEWS
- The Irish language and the hidden magic within it
- A NY conference on Celtic art and history
- Ben McGrady “the last Druid” ? (video)
- Hear and read an Old Irish poem (video)
- The two most famous Irish warriors, Cu Chulainn and Finn MacCumhail, were both trained by women
- Beltaine at Uisneach, May 5 – photos
- May Day Fire Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland (pictures)
FAIRY NEWS
- The music of the Sidhe (Fairies)
- The Fairy King’s advice on trees
- Looking at Fairies on the farm in Galway, Ireland
PAGAN NEWS
RELIGION NEWS
- Slavic Paganism is returning
- Christians have more abortions than any other religious group, study finds
- Vatican sponsors conference on exorcism, sparks renewed international interest (Whats next? Witch burnings?)
- Dalai Lama: women are the leaders of the future
- Brighid Goddess and Saint (video)
- Elen of the Ways – the ancient horned Goddess of Britain, Scythia
- Pagans react to new abortion bans
- Why every tree is a church for a Druid
- Pope Francis: indigenous people must have final say about their land
- Dalai Lama: we need education of the heart
ARTS NEWS
POLITICS AND ETHICS
- USA will be majority non-white by 2045
- 13 million US kids live below the poverty line
- Chomsky: how Progressives can beat Trump
- The US spends more on fossil fuel subsidies that on the Pentagon
- We are a third world country now in terms of homelessness
- Migrant camps at the US border in pictures (chilling)
- State by state the electoral college is fading away
- Elizabeth Warren just upended the abortion debate
- The Statue of Liberty was created to celebrate the end of slavery, not immigrants