The Etruscan Runes to the Lombard Othala

Websters dictionary describes Runes (or Rune Stones) as: "any of the characters of any of several alphabets used by the Germanic peoples from about the 3d to the 13th centuries"

According to the Serena Powers website: "Runes originated with the ancient Etruscans and Cast upwards throughout the Alpine regions to Northern Europe via the trade routes. The Germanic tribes took them and adapted them to their own needs and uses. The oldest and most widespread of the Germanic runes are the Elder Futhark or Common Germanic Runes. The word rune, which occurs in various forms in Germanic and Celtic languages, means "a mystery" or "holy secret" that is "whispered. Runes were traditionally carved into bone, wood or stone which accounts for their angular shape. The lack of curves made it easier to create the shapes in either hard wood or stone."

This further reinforces our cultural claim to the flag of the Kingdom of the Lombards (see above left) as truly a symbol of the Lombardian-Tuscan people. Our soul is Etruscan, but our cultural symbol is Lombard; and now we see that even our flag symbol has a partial Etruscan origin. To digress, you can see the red Othala in the middle of the black eagle.

Naturally the Lombards brought the Runes with them into the Po Valley. However, apparently, the Runes were just going back to where they had been originated in the first place. They may have been altered somewhat over the many centuries. It was a full millenium from the end of Etruscan civilization, to the time of the Lombard invasion.

Somewhat tied into this is the fact that the Lombards, although Arian Christian in faith when they arrived in the Po, had been Odinists for centuries. Arian (not Aryan in this definition) Christianity seems to have been a pagan-barbarian type of Christianity. The Lombard Queen, Theodelinda, converted the Lombards to Roman Christianity during her reign.

There's so much history here that I wish I could go on further. We'll have to cover items in small bits and pieces for now. There's a lot on the web about the Runes. Below are a few links which are related to the subjects covered today:

Casting the Runes (SerenaPowers.com)

Odal Rune (Wikipedia)

Comunita Odinista (international)

Comunita Odinista - Vinland (North America)

Niccolo di Conti and the Chinese Discovery of Australia?

I had posted this item in our Yahoo Group some years ago. I'm glad that I did because I'm not able to find this text anywhere online now. It was written by someone in anticipation of the release of Gavin Menzies' 2004 book '1421: The Year China Discovered America.' Apparently a much better account of this is within this book, but I just wanted to make an entry for it here now, and perhaps we can look into this further sometime. I have some definite opinions around the basic information in the book, but I don't want to get offtrack right here. Niccolo di Conti may not have been one of the great explorers, but he likely did witness something important.

Niccolo di Conti (ca.1395-1469) - Venetian Merchant/Explorer

Nothing is known of his early life. Determined to further open up trade with the east, he left Venice in about 1419 and took up residence in Damascus, where he studied Arabic. From Damascus, and for the following 25 years, he embarked on a number of journeys in Asia. Like earlier Venetian Marco Polo, he made the trek overland before the European powers had rounded the tip of Africa. He first crossed the desert to Baghdad and sailed down the Tigris to Basra. After sailing through the Persian Gulf he touched at Colcus and Hormuz, then continued along the coast of Iran via Calacatia (where he learned Persian) to Cambay (in Gujerat).

He then preceded along the west coast of India to Pacamuria and Helly, moved inland to Vijayanagar (which was until its destruction in 1555 the capital of the principal Hindu state of the Deccan) and crossed to the east coast at Maliapur, where he visited the tomb of St. Thomas (the biblical Thomas who according to certain traditions had founded a Christian community there). In about 1421 he crossed to Pedir (north Sumatra), where he spent a year, gaining knowledge of its cannibalistic natives, camphor, pepper and gold. The account of his travels refers to this island as Taprobana, called by the natives Sciamuthera.

He was the first European traveler who distinguished Ceylon from Taprobane and identified the latter as Sumatra. He then continued (by a stormy passage of 16 days) to Tenassarim on the Malay peninsula, sailed to the mouth of the Ganges, visited Burdwan (in Bangla Desh), then passed overland to Arakan (in Burma). He then passed to the Racha River (in Burma) which he ascended, crossing the mountains to the River Irrawady at Ava, and returning to Panconia (in Pegu), from where he sailed to Java. He later described the Kingdom of Ava and it's King riding on his white elephant adorned with golden necklaces set with sparkling gemstones.

There he spent nine months before continuing to Vijaya in Champa (northwestern Vietnam). He sailed back to Coloen (c. 1440), then to Cocym, Calicut, Cambay, Sechutera (Socotra, which he described as inhabited by Nestorians), Aden, Barbora (in Somalia), Jidda and Aydhab (on the Egyptian coast), from where he traveled overland via Mt. Sinai to Cairo. He returned to Venice in 1444, where he remained as a respected merchant. As a penance for his compulsory renunciation of Christianity during his wanderings, Pope Eugenius IV ordered him to relate his history to Poggio Bracciolini, the Papal Secretary.

Conti's name-forms, often Latinized by Poggio to a point beyond recognition, make some aspects of his route difficult to identify, but his narrative remains as the best account of the East by a 15th century traveler. UPDATE APRIL 2002: Did Chinese sailing vessels reach Australia 350 years before Captain Cook? The evidence includes the travel manuscripts, including maps, written in 1434 by Niccolo di Conti, who was aboard one of the Chinese vessels. The Venetian wrote that he sailed from China to a great land mass to the south. A soon to be published book by Gavin Menzies will present evidence that this was the continent known today as Australia.

Menzies believes the maps were taken to Venice by di Conti, who had joined one of the Chinese junks in India. In his travel book published in 1434, da Conti seems to have sailed to China via Australia - 350 years before Captain Cook. Menzies argues that, on his way through Venice in 1428, the King of Portugal's eldest son obtained the salvaged maps and incorporated them into a map of the world. The most controversial part of his theory is that copies of parts of this mappa mundi were used by da Gama, Magellan, and Cook. Some of these still survive in museums: Patagonia (1513), North America (1507), Africa (1502) and Asia and Australia
(1542).

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I thought it was also worth mentioning that although the Chinese vessel on which di Conti apparently sailed, was a traditional Chinese "junk," Chinese builders did once construct a massive ship, apparently using the Western European model. However, it was much bigger, probably to the point of being impractical. They once sailed all the way to Kenya, but didn't colonize it. It would seem logical that they would have at least attempted to colonized Australia if they knew it was there, being that it's so much closer than the Americas or Africa, and was very uninhabited.

I came upon some 3-D images of a Venetian merchant ship, of a much different make than Venetian naval vessels I presume. Even though this type of ship was not used in di Conti's apparent voyage, I still wanted to put a link to it here:

3-D Model: Venetian Merchant Ship

Genoa also long possessed a trading empire and a very strong navy, and had competed with Venice for centuries. That's also something that we need to take a look at. In the nineteen century, Genoese sailers (Italian nationals from Italy, not California), on merchant ships, were traveling as far as San Francisco. Perhaps by coincidence, some of the ports that they traveled to then were the same ports which many Genoese/Ligurians migrated to (San Francisco, New Orleans, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo). As usual, I'm all over the place here, but we'll get to all of these subjects eventually.

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7/26/08 - I wanted to add a link to the website The '1421' myth exposed. I had heard some of the rebuttals to this book, but this website really lays them out. I think we need to look at all the evidence regarding anything, and continue to sift through it. There are some countries in the world, and even in the West, in which people have been imprisoned for merely saying that.

Lombard Kingdom WAS "Padania"

I just began to read 'History of the Lombards', written by Paul the Deacon in the eighth century, and I would like to post a quote from the book here now:

"By the middle of the eighth century, with the fall of Ravenna and the increasing Lombard pressures on Rome, the Lombard kingdom wholly dominated the north of the peninsula, while the Byzantine forces held the south. This division survived Charlemagne's conquests, the raids of the Arabs in the ninth and early tenth centuries, and the Norman invasions of south Italy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In addition, it played an important part in the later history of Italy, contributing to the many differences between the north and the south and shaping the culture out of which emerged the Italian communes of the north in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries."

--'History of the Lombards'; 'Introduction I' by Edward Peters; pages ix to v; exact and continuous quote

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Addition [12-2-08]: It was under the leadership of the Lombard King Alboin, that "Langbard" (Kingdom of the Lombards) was first established. However, it was not until his successor's reign, that all of Northern Italy was conquered. The following is the Wikipedia entry for "Cleph.":

"Cleph

"Cleph (also Clef, Clepho, or Kleph; in Italian, Clefi) was king of the Lombards from 572 or 573 to 574 or 575.

"He succeeded Alboin, to whom he was not related by blood. He was a violent and terrifying figure to the Romans and Byzantines struggling to maintain control of the peninsula. He extended Lombard dominion over all of northern Italy, finishing the conquest of Tuscany and bringing Lombard authority to the gates of Ravenna. He was assassinated after an 18-month reign by a young guard, a slave whom he had mistreated. His death was followed by a ten year interregnum, known as the "Rule of the Dukes" because the territorial dukes were supreme. His son, Authari, eventually took the throne in 585."

So for all who insist that "Padania" was never a nation... well, it was! It was called the Kingdom of the Lombards or LANGBARD.

Julia Mancuso: Superstar in the World of Alpine Skiing

During the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006, one veteran gold medalist Alpine skier, working as a commentator, stated how she was really unimpressed with the current crop of U.S. woman skiers. That they left a lot to be desired, and something about their lack of maturity.

As what often happens in sport, one skier rose from out of the pack and delivered one of the greatest performances of all time. A 21 year old from Nevada/Northern California named Julia Mancuso. She won the gold medal for the woman's Giant Slalom.

Since that time, I thought we could cover her much more than we have here. She has, however, just for the record, arrived as a bonafide superstar in Alpine Skiing. Because of her personality and good looks, she has also been very marketable as, lets face it, a sexy young American athlete.

She's very active, both as an athlete, and in other endeavors. Recently she took up surfing, which was amusing since surfing is the polar opposite of skiing. Last month she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro for charity. She's currently raising money for the World Wildlife Fund, and a lot of other concerns. She's really an amazing young woman, and it seems to come natually for her. I think many people have taken to her because she is so genuine.

There are so many great bios about Julia that I think it may be a little too long winded to place all of the text here. Also, there are so many great photos of her. For example, the Kilimanjaro climb, which she seemed to take a little lightly and had to pull it together. That is one giant mountain. Anyway, I just couldn't place all of her images here now, as there are just too many of them. There are also a lot of excellent video streams of her at YouTube. I have many links to look at below.


Again, like always, I feel that I haven't even begun to do this justice, in this little space here now. Hopefully we can follow Julia better in the next two years, towards the Vancouver Winter Olympics of 2010! That should really be something, up in "British California," as some call it. Lastly, you might want to read her account of the Kilimanjaro climb from the link to her blog below.

Julia Mancuso - Official Site

Kilimanjaro: Pain and Riches [from Julia's blog]

Bio from USSkiTeam.com

Julia Mancuso [Wikipedia]

Julia video streams on YouTube

Julia interview from 'Outside' magazine [11/07]

Julia gallery from 'Outside' magazine photo shoot

Christopher Columbus and the Lunar Eclipse

Christopher Columbus and the Lunar Eclipse

Kathy Miles, Author, and Chuck Peters, Systems Administrator (starryskies.com)

About 500 years ago, Christopher Columbus was on his fourth voyage to the New World. His earlier voyages were the stuff of legends. Unfortunately there's an end to every good luck streak and on this voyage, bad luck would strike in the form of worms. In the days of wooden boats, worms would attack and bore holes in the wood which eventually would cause leaking and ultimately sinking if repairs were not made. Columbus had no choice but to beach his leaky ship on St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica, and make repairs. Chris and his sailors spent over a year there, most of it waiting for his lieutenant's ship to come and help him.

The local Jamaican natives were quite fascinated with Columbus and his men and were very nice to them. They provided Columbus and his sailors with food and other supplies and helped them build shelters. In fact, the Natives treated Columubs better than his own men treated him. The sailor's on this voyage were a pretty rough bunch and had repeatedly argued with Columbus, coming close to mutiny on several occasions. Unfortunately, the sailors gave no better treatment to the Jamaicans, and took advantage of them whenever they could, even cheating and stealing from the Natives.

Eventually the Natives grew tired of being treated so badly and decided to make a point and cut off the food supply to Columbus and his crew. The sailors were more than willing to try and fight with the natives to get what they wanted and they even argued with Columbus about it. But Chris thought there was a better way to deal with these issues and he asked the native chiefs to attend a meeting with him just before sunset on February 29, 1504.

Columbus opened the meeting with a somber announcement, "The Almighty was unhappy, He didn't like the way the natives were treating Columbus and his sailors. The Almighty would now show his disapproval by removing the Moon from the sky." One can only imagine the natives sniggering over this announcement. No one, in their opinion, could control the sky. Shortly thereafter, the full moon began to appear over the eastern horizon. As the Sun set, the full moon rose, and the sniggering probably continued.

And then, ever so subtly, the moon began to change. Sniggers were replaced by an uneasiness. The Moon began to dim and turn a blood red colour. Soon all eyes were riveted on the dimming orb. Clearly, as it rose, there was something wrong. Not only was the Moon the colour of blood, by the time the lunar disk was completely above the horizon, the lower half of the Moon was missing!

Over the next few hours, little by little the Moon became harder and harder to spot. A dim red orb hung in the sky where once the brilliant Moon had bathed them in moonlight. It looked as if the Moon had been reduced to a dim ghost of its former self.

Supposedly, the natives were terrified. It is doubtful that they had never observed a lunar eclipse before, but they likely believed the gods controlled such events, and now, here was a mere human who could not only communicate with the gods but could predict his actions as well! Clearly they were frightened by this display of power.

The natives pleaded with Columbus to return the Moon to its former self. They promised food and anything else Columbus or his men wanted. They begged for forgiveness with high drama, old Chris told the natives he would just nip inside and seek a bit of counsel with the Almighty and see if he was in the forgiving mood. In this particular case, "the Almighty" was most likely an hourglass clever Chris was using to time the 48 minute duration of totality.

Strolling casually back out from his ship, Columbus reappeared just before totality ended and announced that the Almighty Power was indeed in a forgiving mood and if the natives would thusly promise to provide food for Columbus and his crew, the Almighty Power would have the Moon reappear. Of course the Natives agreed and with much nodding, smiling and posturing, the deal was sealed and quite soon thereafter, the Moon was its former brilliant self.

Thereafter, it is doubtful that Columbus had much trouble with the Natives. He probably even gained a bit more respect from his sailors but one thing is for sure, Columbus did have a good bit of knowledge from Persian, Greek, Islamic and European science. He reportedly had an almanac which he used to schedule the meeting with the Natives based on eclipse times!

Christopher Columbus and the Lunar Eclipse (article link)