Django Web Framework a Favorite With Developers

Django is a web framework written in Python programming language that enables the rapid development of complex applications. It was developed by programmers who worked for the Lawrence Journal-World Online to overcome common programming challenges in web development which are the need to meet demanding deadlines with a minimum amount of repetitive code. The Django code became a community project when it was released under an open source BSD license and is now used to power thousands of sites, including The Washington Post.

Django was named after virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt. The French Gypsy musician invented a new jazz guitar technique, often called "hot" jazz guitar, that was distinguished by his dazzling improvisations that he brilliantly performed despite an injury that left two of his left hand fingers paralyzed. This wonderful example of elegantly doing more with less makes the Django web framework a fitting namesake to this great artist.

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With repetitive work done by the Django framework, simple execution with less code allows the programmer to put up a functioning website easily and quickly. A few lines of code are all that are needed to create a wide range of applications, such as a gallery, blog, or content management system for a website. It is not a content management system itself, but rather a tool used to build a CMS that the Django developers describe as a model, template, and view framework, or MTV. Its structured system templates, extensive documentation, and overall simplicity make the Django framework a favorite among web developers.

Django Web Framework a Favorite With Developers

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Tennessee Flea Markets

Vicinity where sellers assemble to sell their products is called as a flea market. This is also called as swap meet. The products that are sold here are cheap and good. They vary depending on various features. The Tennessee flea markets also are a good place for sellers to trade. You would find almost all products in the Tennessee flea market.

Good like safety lights, guns, cameras, pinhole, tasers, voice changers, pepper sprays, child safety equipments, video cameras, surveillance equipments etc can be found in the Tennessee flea market. There are enough malls and shops here. Each one of the shops has a variety of things on display. You can select any one of them.

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The Tennessee flea market is open on certain days and has particular timings. So it is better to be informed of the days and timings before going there. We shall see some of the Tennessee flea markets. The Shady oaks market is a good place for shopping. It is open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Here you can find items like antiques, farm equipments, craft items, etc. There are enough places for parking and would make you shopping enjoyable.

The Baxter flea market is also a fine Tennessee flea market. Here you can find products like antiques, art works and all kinds of imported items. There are also animals on sale. They have a place allotted specially for this. Another good mall is the Ole sun flower market. Antiques, memorabilia, and other such items can be found here. There are restrooms also available. So you can take a break from your shopping.

East Ridge market is open on Saturday and Sunday. The timings are from nine in the morning to six in the evening. They have enough parking place. Items like antiques, art crafts, etc can be purchased here. They also have restaurants so that you can have a drink or eat something when hungry. The Kraft Street market is also a fine place for shopping. Here you would find furnishings, sports items, things to decorate, items that are imported and other collectibles. This market is open of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Some other Tennessee flea market are Dixon flea market, Dyer County flea market, Highway 41 market, Carroll Country Flea market, friendly Franks market, Indian Mound market, etc. all these markets are worth visiting and shopping. The timings of these markets differ. So it is advisable to check out the timings and days of visit when going there.

Tennessee Flea Markets

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What Is the Right Software Development Language for Your Web 2.0 Startup?

Recently, I wrote an article about Rapid Java development and how grails compares to other languages such as php and ruby. At a networking event someone approached me and talked to me about that very article. She asked me what software development language and framework I'd choose for a Web 2.0 application.

Interestingly enough when you perform a Google search on this topic you'll find plenty of answers to this question. However, most of them are ideologically charged, so it's hard to get an objective answer. Do not get sucked into these kinds of discussions among your team members, as in my experience they will lead you nowhere. Actually they do lead you somewhere; and believe me, you don't want to wind up there.

Grails

I'm of the opinion that most software development languages give you a similar kind of functionality. If you are a startup and have a great idea for a web application there is one single thing I would consider: What is the fastest way to build a working prototype that gets your investors on board?

The choice of programming language should be only based on this single goal. From the top of my mind I can think of a couple of categories you may want to evaluate to come to a decision.

Experience:

Do you or your team have experience in a software development language? E.g. In case you and/or your team are wizards in C#, stop reading right here, drink a six-pack of Red Bull and start cranking out that ASP.NET application. Same goes for any other mature software development language as well as the chosen energy drink.

Framework:

Use development frameworks when possible. Development frameworks such as CakePHP or CodeIgniter for PHP can really speed up your development. Most of them follow the convention over configuration pattern and can increase your productivity tremendously. You will have to write less code, which generally translates into fewer bugs and you can focus on what differentiates your application from others faster, namely your business logic. On top of that you can leverage plenty of plugins developed by other users which will increase your productivity even further.

Maturity of web development framework:

Choose a well-established language and framework. Yes, you can develop an ASP.NET application on Linux using Mono or use Lisp to code the next generation version of Facebook, but this is certainly not the fastest way to get things done. There are a couple of points that say something about the maturity of a language and framework.

Community

How large and active is the community: Grails, RoR, Symfony, Zend, CakePHP, ASP and Django all have thriving communities. Should you ever have a question, you can simply go to one of their forums and get an answer within hours, sometimes even minutes. That will help you not to get stuck in your development.

Plugins/Code stubs

The more code you can reuse, the better. No need to write a PayPal integration from scratch when someone has already done it before and this very code has been thoroughly tested by thousands of users. Make sure the framework you choose has plenty of this kind of community generated extensions you can choose from.

Tooling

The goal behind development environments is to increase your productivity. Syntax highlighting is a very basic example of that, other environments such as the J2EE environment in Eclipse, IntelliJ Idea, Visual Studio or XCode even help with refactoring your code and deployment of your application. If possible you want to leverage these tools and not fall back to notepad or vi (sorry if I offended someone) just because you want to program in an exotic language.

Reuse existing systems where possible:

Let's assume you want to build a social networking site similar to LinkedIn or Facebook. You could start from scratch using one of the aforementioned frameworks or leverage existing solutions such as Drupal, Joomla or DotNetNuke. Yes, it will depend on your requirements whether this is possible, but from my experience chances are, it is.

Remember, the goal is to get your project out of the door as fast as possible to attract customers and investors. It doesn't mean you have to have everything in place from the get-go to scale to a billion visitors per day. Don't go for perfection, go for good-enough.

This is an extended version of my answer I gave that evening. In case you are still lost and don't know the right approach, don't worry. You don't have to be a techie to create a successful web-based startup. There are plenty of software development outsourcing organizations out there that can assist you in getting things done, one of them being us, IKaru.

I always enjoy getting feedback, so do leave a comment when you find the time.

What Is the Right Software Development Language for Your Web 2.0 Startup?

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Forex Trading - Is Forex Advisor Necessary For Success?

After plunging into real trading, a newbie in forex trading might face the undeniable reality of not being very successful the first month or so. A swing from overconfidence to feeling inadequate about the losses may fabricate the idea of getting a mentor, a so called forex guru, to magically lift the unlucky spell off the fruitless trading decisions. Can forex advisor really get you out of misery and are these forex gurus worth the money spent?

Being self-taught forex trader has both advantages and disadvantages, but at the end you learn the culture and pick up the trading skills along the way. Shortcuts sometimes lead to lapses in knowledge and that should be avoided at all cost. After all, forex trading requires 101%.

Grails

A good forex advisor might be able to give insightful explanations and therefore shorten the self-learning curve immensely. You might be able to make sense of forex trading faster with a help of a third party.

A professional forex advisor can fit the puzzle pieces into a whole picture. The essentials that take ages to lean, such as "whats", "hows" and "whys" of currency reverses, market trends and timeframes, can be conquered faster with a help of good mentor.
Forex trading indicators are widely used by forex trader, but unfortunately there are only few situations the indicators can be relied upon completely. A good forex guru will be able to explain the deeper meaning of indicators, as opposed to what they say now theoretically.
In my opinion, though, forex trading is a profession based on a real experience. Once you have the precious experience stored away, you will become a free bird in forex market sky of endless possibilities.

Forex trading, like every other profession, has its own ways, rules and culture. It is the world possessed with greed and sharp claws, and you better learn, learn and learn some more before you enter the real trading coliseum and attempt to prove yourself. The gladiators of forex trading will not spare the weak.

Whatever you learn, whatever you hear from others, read off forex books, search up over the internet, hear from professional traders - you still should develop your own means and experience. Technical indicators, special techniques, forex strategies - the so called holy grails of forex - may help tremendously if you know how to use them and how to apply them to analyze the market.
Who is this forex guru anyway? Is he successful enough to be trusted? Is he making enough money to support his family? Can you really prove that the person you about to pay hundreds of dollars to will deliver?

It is always desirable to enter the mind of someone who is in the position you wish to be and is willing to give you a helpful hand to get you there. However, a good forex advisor is hard to find. There are many ways to learn, but having a teacher is undeniably one of the productive ways. After all, we all learn a lot from one another, passing on information from one generation to another. If you consider getting a paid forex advisor services, make sure to check this person's credibility before putting your trust into his possession. Keep in mind, though, that at the end your forex success lays in your own hands.

Forex Trading - Is Forex Advisor Necessary For Success?

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The Perfect Rental Property Due Diligence Plan

Perfectly performing and delivering due diligence is one of the holy grails of the industry. The fact is there is no such single item. However, for a specific type of investment maybe this is possible or approachable. We can probably agree on a few points. Perfect should include a strong consistent return profile, simple operation and management, and a very low risk profile.

Underlying these characteristics, a project will need to offer consistent long term demand, provide a scarcity that will push value up over time, and be part of environment that can successfully avoid significant cyclical economic weakness.

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Considering consistent long term demand implies a location that:

· Offers high traffic currently and that characteristics of the location will keep the traffic high over the course of time. Major arteries in major cities, cross connections of Interstate roads, or locations near airports and rail centers can offer this feature. Also, locations near walking shopping, malls, major sites, or large entertainment venues often provide this factor;

· Provides easy access to employment, shopping, sites and entertainment. Frequently, this is characterized by being on public transportation, within walking distance, or easy access to high speed roadways; or

· A perceived "high value" address such as the Sand Hill area in San Jose, Park Avenue in New York City, or the waterfront in Washington, DC and other similar areas the world over.

Scarcity is created by constraints. For instance, in Washington, DC, the city limits building height and the federal government owns a large percentage of land preventing development. Or, in New York City, Manhattan is not getting any larger and even the weaker areas have become high demand locations. Waterfront locations near popular beaches are good examples of this phenomenon also. Essentially any area with constrained development because of other area factors can experienced enhance value by the scarcity effect.

Certain locations are so strong that even when the economy weakens or other factors disastrous for other properties occur, these locations continue to remain strong. For example, locations on Wall Street are always in high demand, frequently national capitals demonstrate this because of counter cyclical stimulous that occurs in these areas. Some areas in the San Francisco area have demonstrated this as these locations rebounded strongly even as the housing crisis lingers on.

With these points in mind, the key to near perfect due diligence is in correctly targeting the right areas to assure underlying strength even when faced with a range of economic, social, and business issues.

The Perfect Rental Property Due Diligence Plan

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Forex Secret - Role Of Trading System In Successful And Profitable Work At Forex

Any trader must develop a trading system of his own. I is the principal condition for the regular and stably-profitable work at Forex. Every successful trader whom I know does hold this opinion. That is, such system must clearly and impartially indicate points of the entrance into the market and the exit from it. The lack of a systematic method results in the loss of the trader's deposit. The work according either to an imperfect trading system or to the traditional one does not save the situation. It can just prolong the distance from opening of the trading account to the inevitable loss and nullifying of this account.

Let us again dwell on T. DeMark viewpoint (he is the analyst, financial consulter and adviser to the biggest market-maker banks at Forex). According to his opinion, there are three different approaches to giving analysis to the charts. The first one is superficial and subjective. Mainly it is based on intuition. To put it briefly, this approach is a common "guessing". In this case, neither a strict analysis nor grounding is required. This is why the majority of traders restrict themselves to working at this elementary level. For pity, such traders sacrifice logic and consistency to the simplicity and convenience. As regards the second approach, it implies the development of certain market indicators. The latter help detecting the condition of overbought/oversold at the market. Many traders make use of the analysis of this type - at least, partially. However, as a rule, traders use just the most well-known indicators and stick to the generally-accepted means of their interpreting. In other words, the total lack of a creative approach is evident. Such traders do not try either to develop indicators of their own or to improve the ones already available. Besides, dealing with these indicators, such traders relay on them too much. They do not pay attention to their drawbacks.

Grails

The third approach is the most effective and valuable. It consists in the development of the systems capable of generating signals for "by" and "sell". However, not every analyst has reached the necessary degree of education. Many of analysts are rather inexperienced and they do not want to continuously perfect their skill.

After mastering this system to perfection, you will become independent of numerous advisers. You will know the newest achievements in the area of the technical analysis. Thus, you will be capable of being totally responsible for actions and solutions of your own.

Searching for a trading system

I wonder how many trading systems (TS) one can find at Forex sites! As a friend of mine joked, "the number of so-called profitable TS had exceeded the number of successful traders for a long time in advance".

This situation is perfectly clear to any skillful trader. However, how a beginner (a novice) can resist such a powerful (intensive) flow of advertisings of miraculous TS and wonderful Grails?

However, the process of coming into existence of such TS and their advertising is purely logical and natural. You can compare the information obtainable via Internet with the potentialities inherent in PC technologies that continuously increase. That is, any programmer, incompetent even in the fundamentals of Forex, can take the list of all indicators, available in Internet. Such an individual can create the database of his own, issuing from several hundreds of indicators. He develops a mechanical TS (MTS) on the basis of an arbitrary combination of two or three indicators. After this the "author" claims that due to points of their intersection the program will depict the points of output from the market and input into it. What do we get finally? - Just millions of wonderful "black chests"!

Let us put on trial these "black chests". Our aim is to trace out how this programmer has managed to earn larger-than-life sums of money at Forex due to his MTS. For this purpose, we use large-scale time charts and volatile currency pairs. With the help of PC, we pick out those MTS which have yielded the positive results more than in 50 (70) % of deals made during several past years. As the evidence, we can submit the account history. In Internet, this service costs -20 - for those who do not want to do this work by themselves (or cannot). Now let us compare this account history with the given MTS testing history during several past years.

Can you imagine the number of individuals who would be eager to buy such a MTS from you? In addition, how many naïve investors will want to invest their money into your business? Any way, the risk of your exposure is equal almost to zero.

Now let us scrutinize the situation.

a). For buyers of MTS: It is almost impossible to dispute the fact of testing MTS with the help of the transaction history during several years. Therefore, such a proof, in practice, cannot be contested. And what is more, the author of MTS can "improve" its parameters. He can adjust them to the best results in the course of the transaction history. Such authors do not care how their systems will work in future.

b). For investors: Your dealer can come to an agreement with your investor that the loss would not exceed 25-30% of the investment deposit. Naturally, this item of the agreement will be observed. The author of MTS and the dealer can divide this 25-30% of "the lost money" between themselves. To the investor, they can explain that "the market is unpredictable and we, being decent people, have let you know about this fact in advance".

And now you do imagine the profits, potentially obtainable due to dozens and hundreds of such MTS. Their parameters can be adjusted to the history of transactions at Forex. Besides, such MTS can be sold by various physical and juridical persons if you work together with an unscrupulous Forex Brokers.

This very idea is expressed by other traders. For instance, D. Cyplakov, the author of digital indicators ( Finware Technologies LTD), states the following. One must keep in mind that such systems are rather precisely adjusted to the bygone situations at the market (curve fitting). At present, it is impossible to prove their reliability at the real market, directed at future.

The reliability of the results obtained with "black chests" makes another problem. A trader who works with a given TS must be really confident in his system technique. This confidence permits maintaining the trade discipline for a long time. Surely, it is difficult to follow the instructions prescribed by a program if its logic is obscure - especially, when the fortune has turned away from you.

At what stage in the trader's work at Forex the study of the corresponding literature is harmful to the development of one's own trading system

I can tell a paradox. Reading dozens of thousands of traders' letters, I can clearly trace out the same tendency. It is well-known to me because of my own experience.

After first failures in working with real accounts, the trader starts with zeal to read books about Forex, one by one. He tries to find out the reasons of his losses. The more this trader reads, the more he becomes perplexed.

Such an individual becomes muddleheaded. I hope that the reasons of this are clear to the readers.

a) There are a lot of various techniques (TS) of work at Forex.

b) The majority of these TS have become out of date - even at the time of the writing. For instance, this has happened to "Trading chaos 2" by B. Williams. Other editions are reliable just partly. Otherwise, the authors just retell truisms concerning divergence, the classical reversal figures and the trend prolongation.

c) There exists neither a general technique nor TS that could logically synthesize a large number of indicators into a single whole.

Thus, a beginner (a novice) at Forex tries to choose data for his TS, systematize and aggregate them. However, thousands of analysts did not succeed in doing this earlier. You can guess what will remain in the mind of a trader-beginner after the reading of dozens of books (especially, as the majority of them are written by traders-losers (the so-called analysts))! Surely, it will be just a mess of bits of information!

After the very first failures, a beginner should do the following:

1). to refuse from the work with real accounts;

2). to give analysis to the reasons of the failures.

Let us suppose that you do relay on your TS and you can trace out the logic of the currency movement up to 1 point - as many traders who graduated from Masterforex Trading Academy can do. The incessant study of quotations given by the Main Computer at Forex indicates that you work not against other traders but against Computer - Organizer of this game at Forex. In this case, you should search for the reasons of your failures in the realm of the trader's psychology.

Maybe you cannot clearly see the logic of the currency quotations at Forex. In this case, the psychological complications will be postponed till future. At present you must develop profitable TS of your own. It is no use for you to read books one after another. First, you must thoroughly master one of all TS. The aim is to perfectly understand this system and practice it for second nature. One must start with the demo account. Later on it will be possible to proceed to real accounts at Forex. After this, you will see any literature from completely another viewpoint. New information will be ranged seriatim - instead of the previous "muddleheaded" state of mind.

Fundamentals of developing a profitable Masterforex -V TS.

First of all, let us develop the concepts, to which TS must correspond from the viewpoint of a working trader. This system must meet the following demands:

· It must be perfectly logical and clear to a trader. It must contain various simple elements. Points of their intersections must indicate the points of input into the market and output from it.
· The system must be equally efficient in any time intervals - to start from minutes and up to weekly charts. The difference consists in gained profits and the duration of opened positions at Forex.

· The system must be applicable to any of currency pairs, the quotations of which are given at Forex.

· To a trader, the system must indicate correlation between the tactic and strategy. Generally speaking, the strategy in a shorter chart corresponds to the tactic in a longer one. For instance, by the strategy in the chart M1 one can trace out the tactic in M5. Analogously, the strategy in M5 (10) depicts the tactic in M15 (30) - and so on up to weekly and monthly charts.

Developing one's own TS for the successful trade at Forex.

1. You should not "invent a bicycle" anew. As the basis, you take a TS developed by an expert at Forex. You must study this system up to perfection. You must clearly distinct the weak points of this system from the strong ones. Briefly to say, you must reach the level of the automatic opening and closing deals according to this system.

2. Criteria of the trader's skill at Forex : there are at least 3 degrees (levels) of knowledge.

· A trader needs accessible means for demonstrating his viewpoint at the situations at the market. These means are books, sites, etc. There he can present his logic of the analysis of the market and a part of his techniques (TS elements). Any individual can study and use them.

· A paid educational system is necessary as well. It makes the logical development of the first degree (level) of the skill and knowledge. In practice, every experienced and well-known in Internet trader is the author of a paid system of studying Forex (e.g., A. Elder, B. Williams, L. Williams, etc.).

· There is the third degree (level) of skill and knowledge. Naturally, any author never completely reveals his secrets and tricks (the reasons are evident). The criterion of achieving this level is the trader's ability to explain any change in the movement of any currency pair from the viewpoint of the trader's own TS.

3. After mastering TS developed by any of Masters, you must "feel" it as your own.

· Your work with demo accounts must be perfected to automatism. You must also work through all variants of input into the trading and output from it. For this, it is necessary to "exploit" your TS up to the limit. That is, during one trading session you must arrange dozens of deals - with different currency pairs simultaneously.

· After mastering the work according to a given technique up to perfection, a trader can clearly detect the following:

- The out-of-the market flat;

- The intra-session trend; its evolution in immediate several hours and the currency corresponding positions;

- The intra-session flat correction;

- A new wave over the trend; possible variants of the currency pair movement;

- The trade reversal.

· Accommodation of your TS to your personality. That is, someone is satisfied to regularly gain 20-30 points per a day working with one currency pair. This person does not arrange long-term deals. On the contrary, someone prefers to work with a weekly trend, etc.

· Self-perfection and analyzing of your work according to your TS every day after the end of trading.

- You must see how many items of profit you have earned.

- You must understand when you have opened the deal correctly, where you were late, and when you were afraid of adding a deal in the intra-session trend, etc (the analysis of your work on closing the deals is analogous).

- You must estimate your work during the given intra-day trading session by yourself. That is, if you have gained 50%-profit during the trading session, your mark is " 5". If the gained profit makes 40%, the mark is " 4" and so on.

Dwelling on elements of Masterforex Trading System

I have discovered the following:

· More than two dozens of new elements of the analysis are found out. They can help us to predict the tendency in currency pair movement at Forex. This discovery is principally new. It has no analogies in the literature concerning TS at Masterforex -V.

· A different approach to the essence of the moving average combination. That is, not figures themselves are important but the principles of their movement.

· New Fibonacci levels and technique of their application.

· The "stock reserve" of the currency pair movement in the trading session.

· The difference between true and false breaking through the levels of support and resistance.

· The new classification of trends. The intra-session and weekly trends are the most important for the trader's work

· Criteria of the beginning of intra-session and weekly trends.

· The principles of a false attack (lunge) of the trend and its intensity (potential).

· Trends and flats in the currency pair movement; the trader's tactic in each of these cases.

· Criteria of the trend end and beginning of the correction.

· Criteria of the trend reversal and replacement.

· Specificities in the currency pair movement in the cases of the coincidence of intra-session and weekly trends and discrepancy between them.

· Specificities in the movement of EURO/USD and GBP/USD pairs in the cases of coincidence of their group movement and discrepancy between them.

· Currencies-allies as indicators for work with 2 or 3 currency pairs (I work with GBP/USD, EURO/USD and, additionally, with USD/SWISSI).

· Specificities in the work with currency pairs after the issue of news.

· The correlation between the edited news statistics and the trend characteristic.

· The development of a simple and reliable indicator of the "noise" (rumors) at the market. This index helps us to explain the movement of any currency pair up to 1 point.

· The methods of replacement of "stop-losses" with the lock and techniques of termination of each deal.

· The method of study (scanning) of TS developed by other traders.

· The principally new methods in solving the traders' psychological problems (the fear, diffidence, etc.).

· Compatibility of elements of my TS with any other TS (3 shields developed by Elder, sloping (slanted) channels elaborated by DeMarque, Fibonacci standard levels, etc.). As the result, each element of any of world-known TS gives prompts to a trader and supplements TS in the real trading.

· The system of educating and training of traders, based on the principally different theoretical fundamentals. It includes the free-of-charge basic course in School of Trading for beginners (see http://forum.masterforex-v.su/). Besides, one can practice in Masterforex-V Trading Academy. A student also gets the opportunity to communicate with traders from more than 40 countries. An individual can learn the more experienced traders' opinion and receive answers concerning daily trading. In addition, the communication via Internet at the closed forum (http://forum.masterforex-v.su/) is much more convenient. It positively contrasts with various other seminars and training systems. The latter require maximal costs and yield minimal opportunities of acquiring the knowledge and skill, necessary for a trader.

If you wish to be trained on Trading System Masterforex-V - one of new and most effective techniques of trade on Forex in the world visit http://www.masterforex-v.su/

Forex Secret - Role Of Trading System In Successful And Profitable Work At Forex

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The Mysterious Head of St Teilo: An Untold Tale With Far Reaching Implications

A traditional story relates how one fine day a group of monks were transporting the bones of a Dark Age Welsh Saint from one shrine to another. Having grown weary, the monks rested at a house along the way. One of the other residents of the house was moaning pitifully in pain and so the good prior took some water and blessed it solemnly.

Then most strangely the Prior took a little of the "earth" he found in the skull of a saint and "caused the party to drink it; which was no sooner passed downe into the sicke mans stomack, but he fell soundly asleep, and when he awaked, found himselfe of his daungerous and painefull infirmity perfectly recovered."

Grails

This little story reveals succinctly the existence of a perception that the skull or head of a holy or blessed person could heal - or at least, the contents could. It is also part and parcel of the 'skull and well' phenomena, which has perplexed scholars for decades. No distinct idea has come through all the research and scholarly reasoning to clearly explain the reason for the link between the well and the skull or head. So let's just turn to Skull Cups for a moment and see if there is anything peculiar to help us on our way.

Skull Cups

In Sanskrit these mysterious objects are known as kapala (hence cap and cuppella for cup[1]) and they are generally formed from the oval section of the upper cranium. They served as libation vessels for large numbers of deities, which were mostly wrathful. However, these skull cups are not always associated with wrathful deities, they are also seen with gods such as Padmasambhava who holds the 'skull cup' described as holding an ocean of nectar (Elixir) which floats in the longevity vase.

The selection of the right skull is paramount and the users were looking for Tantric powers. Therefore a violent death would always be better, such as decapitation. The symbolism of the Tantric Skull Cups is very similar to the Grail in that they are symbolic of immortality. Even some western alchemical writings advise the use of skull cups in the process of the "great work." Whereas the Chinese alchemists used cups or vessels made from the "gold" of the great work.

In Old German skull is Scala, which is also a seashell; the symbol used by pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. James in Spain - a symbol of life. Old Norse it is Skel, which means, "to have scales" or be "scale-like." The word skoal, now a fairly common drinking cry is also closely related and means to "toast from a skull." This alone shows the deep-seated element of the skull in Western Europe of the use of a skull for drinking, as skoal was also used to refer to chalice! (The Ukranian word Cherep refers both to skull and chalice.)

We must not forget the Christian Messiah was also crucified at the 'place of the Skull,' Golgotha. That is, his blood was spilt into the skull! But there is more to this than meets the eye.

This place, Golgotha, is also connected to the sign Capricorn - the half-goat, half-fish or serpent. Capri is from Latin, meaning "goat" or "head," and corn is "horn." This then, is the 'horn of the head' or 'goat' - the Golgotha.

So Jesus spilt his blood into the secret Grail on that fateful day - the secret Grail being the horn or cup of the skull.

Like the serpent blood is found in the Skull Cups, so too is the blood of Jesus.

Now we can see why the Baphomet head of the Templars was seen as a skull AND a goat; it was a hidden mystery; a mystery which has been misunderstood ever since. The Brazen Serpent, the healing snake, Christ, was lifted up at the place of the skull and his offering of blood was collected - the ultimate sacrifice on the tree of life for the ultimate prize of immortality.

The Tantric skull cups are said to parallel the clay pots of the Vedic sacrifices and the begging bowl of Buddha, which we found in one myth contained the serpent. It is there to serve as a constant reminder of death. The contents of which are often blood, but also the blood of Rudra - the 'Lord of wild animals' like Cernunnos.

Rudra's etymological origins are uncertain. It could mean "the red one" or "the weeper", or as we have seen previously Rhad means serpent. In other areas it also means the removal of pain or healer. Rudra is identified with Siva and he is the divine healer and we know that Siva is seen as a 'horned god' and is connected with the serpent worship. Both Siva, and 'Siva in the form of Rudra' are seen in their dynamic aspect as being entwined with serpents. These are serpent deities of old and are connected here with the cup of the head, bringing several disparate elements together - probably because of their being closer to the origin. They have the element of being associated with serpents and they are regenerative serpent deities offering longevity via their blood within a cup.

Livy in Historae mentions a similar Celtic operation from the 3rd century and simply must be connected to the Indian skull cups. Apparently the Boii tribe when they got hold of a victim "cut off the head, and carried their spoils in triumph to the most hallowed of their temples. There they cleaned out the head, as is their custom, and guilded the skull, which thereafter served them as a holy vessel to pour libations from and as a drinking cup for the priest and the temple attendants."

The sacred water used in the skull cups was often taken from a holy well, where we have established were places linked intrinsically with the worship of the ancient serpent - the idea here is that this ritual practice goes back beyond even the total memory recall of the Celts to a time when the cups employed the real power of the serpent, not just symbolic water. And this is where the story of the serpent and that of St Teilo merge and fuse into one.

As we have already seen the Tricephalic deity heads of Celtic times were hidden, or lodged in wells and watery holy places. The same is true of many cultures, from across the world and across time. Why?

There seems to be a pattern of the offering of heads and skulls of "special people" into a well or spring, followed by the drinking of the water of the well, or indeed the immersion of the body or parts of the body within the water. This placing of the head was not necessarily therefore an offering - more a medical practice . . . the giving of a sacred head, in exchange for health benefits. A votive offering of the most important part of the sacrificial human - like the head of the Baptist on a plate - but which was then altered into items that were human made in similar fashion as we got a little more civilized.

This process became even more direct when the drinking of the water straight from the skull was initiated. We had to wonder, just how far back did this practice go? Especially as we were to discover the practice was universal, with the previously mentioned Tantric Skull Cups also being found in Hindu cultures and similar practices in the Middle East. The question remained however, was it the skull, or the water, which was the healer? And, although it is fairly obvious that neither can heal, what origin did these strange practices point back to?

Back to St Teilo

As far back as the Roman period, Livy - writing in around 17 AD - described how Celtic warriors decorated skulls with gold and used them for drinking cups and for offerings to their gods. It is believed that this was the origin of such practices as those seen not too long ago with the famous St. Teilo's skull.

St. Teilo's well is in Wales, at Llandeilo Llwydarth, where the water is renowned the world over for its healing abilities. The skull, Penglog Teilo, is said to be the oldest surviving Welsh skull, still used for healing purposes - indicating the fact that there were indeed many others. At Carmarthen the skull of Ffynnon Llandyfaen was used in the same way - as was the skull of a Welsh nobleman named Gruffydd ap Adda ap Dafydd.

In a paper published in 1893 Sir John Thys cited the examples of Ffynnon Elian and Ffynnon Deilo as remnants of the priestly caste of 'well keepers', which had survived into modern times. But why would this practice have occurred? Why would it be so widespread and so ancient?

The answer is to be found in several places but firstly, and as we discovered in The Serpent Grail [2] - the wells and springs of the world are almost entirely linked with the serpent - especially in the healing aspect.

In cultures around the globe the Elixir of Life is hidden beneath the seas and is guarded by the serpent. In the Celtic culture the water is the hiding place and realm of the 'serpent goddess.' It is an ancient and wide-ranging association. But, why is the head also associated with these healing waters?

The answer to this one has been made increasingly more difficult with the inception of the Christian church. The church simply could not put up with the paganism found at these places, and, unable to stop the beliefs, which were thousands of years old, they simply hijacked them. Now there are wells across Europe, which are known as the 'wells of the saints.' The local pagan cult (which was more universal than local) was adopted into the fold of the Christian church and a "local" saint reinstated in its place. The most common Celtic goddess associated with the serpent and the wells was Brigid, who rapidly became St. Bridget.

Now, scraping back the years of Christian mold which has overgrown the true meaning of the wells and heads is ever more difficult, but not impossible. In-order to do this we decided that we needed to go through some of the stories for ourselves.

Although we in no way agree that there was a head cult as such, it can be easily seen, why some scholars have gone down this path. Take St. Julian for example: From Brioude in the Auvergne, his cult is first mentioned by Gregory of Tours in the sixth century - the same period that Arthur Pendragon is said to have lived. St. Julian is said to have been beheaded next to a spring and later this spring is then said to begin to heal people. None of this is necessarily true in a literal sense. What it may indeed be is a survival of a much older folktale, stolen once again by the church and therefore almost losing its original meaning. But, we can still see the skull or head being associated with the healing waters of the serpent deity. We were amazed to discover that virtually the same story is to be discovered in the stories of the founding Saint of the Sinclair family - the same family intricately linked with the Templars, the Holy Grail, Rosslyn Chapel and the Masons.

The name Sinclair comes from the hermit St. Clare or St. Clere who lived in the town, which is now known as St. Claire sur l'Epte and is located to the northwest of Paris. The area is now known as Normandy, after the Norse invaders, some of whom would later become the actual Sinclair's.

Clare was born in Kent, England, to a noble family in the ninth century. It is said that his father wanted him to marry a rich heiress. But Clare was austere and aloof. He was too holy to be considered for such things. The lady however took no notice and pursued him with her wily charms. Finally Clare escaped her clutches, but she promised revenge and he had to run to Neustria (Normandy) where he began to live as a hermit.

Eventually the healing abilities of this Buddha like character made him famous and people flocked to him from far and wide. Moving his hut from first 'this place' and then 'that,' there was no escaping the people seeking cures.

Clare's past was about to catch up on him however, as the rich heiress, seeking her revenge sent her agents to France to find him. On the 4th November 884, Clare was found in his hut at the side of the River Epte. He had been beheaded. This became the symbol for St. Clare, as it was for St. Denis - the figure of a man with his decapitated head in his arms. And St. Clare's head and bones are said to reside in the local church, separated by the Altar.

It is said that the blood flowed from his neck in gushes and that a new spring emerged from the ground where the blood had flowed. The hut was transformed into a chapel, the chapel into a church and eventually the quiet, remote hermits dwelling place became the town of St. Clare sur l'Epte. Now the Salle de Fete (Town Hall) at St. Clare sur l'Epte is built entirely of wood from Norway, with the gables being marked with dragon's heads.

The whole idea that a spring should emerge from where the blood of the dead healer fell is obviously nonsense. It is just not possible, and so, it must be a creation of symbolic element. The wells and springs of the day, and as far back as man can go, have been seen as places of healing and associated with the serpent. That this holy healer, who resided sometimes in caves, had his head chopped off and his blood creating holy water is full of clues. It is not, however, an unusual occurrence.

St. Julian of Brioude in the Auvergne was beheaded at the side of a spring, and later this very same spring was said to be able to cure. St. Juthware's Well at Halstock in Dorset was created where the head of the saint came to rest - strangely right beside a sacred and so called miraculous Oak Tree. St. Thomas's Well at Windleshaw was risen where the priest was decapitated during the persecution of Catholics, and there are many more.

The person said to be responsible for the death of St. Clare though was a woman; a similar tale to the Arthurian tale where a lady has a knight decapitated in-order to gain healing power. We also find that the patron Saint of the Sinclair's is actually St. Katherine, who is often pictured holding the sword, which severed her head!

There is a real reason that the Sinclair's found their origin in this place. The legacy was theirs to take, or so they believed. But just how did the Sinclair's come to claim the legacy of the healing saint?

During this ninth century period the swift ships and navigational skills of the Vikings were making life difficult for many Europeans. They were able to swoop down onto a village or town - and although outnumbered by the townsfolk - it is by their speed and surprise that they are able to pillage the area. No sooner had the people realised what had occurred than their attackers were off, back to sea.

What helped them of course was also a difference of religion. The Christians would not attack churches. The Vikings on the other hand seem to relish the prospect, as they were themselves pagans - their religion based around many gods, including the large element of dragon lore.

However, one of these Viking rulers became Christian, Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, and it is he who became the first in a long line of Sinclair's, right down to, and beyond, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel - which has the largest collection of Green Men, heads, serpents and dragons we have ever seen in one confined space. This place is linked so deeply with the story of the Holy Grail, that it is therefore no surprise to see it linked-in with the initial stages to the 'cult of the head' - as if to see the Sinclair's associate themselves with it, and then later to hide it.

Rollo, as the first Sinclair, became known as Sanctus Clarus, the 'Shining Light' and it is this shining light, which was to become one of the biggest clues in the search for the real Holy Grails. The book, Head of God by Keith Laidler claims that the head of Jesus is in Rosslyn, however we checked with the Rosslyn Templars in-order get their opinion on the matter, the response very kindly came forward "The official position regarding the possibility of the embalmed head of Jesus Christ being at Rosslyn Chapel is that no one knows what is below the chapel. The other 'official' position, from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, is that the head of Christ is not at Rosslyn Chapel." (Email received on 23rd May 2003.) Even though there are several attempts to find something at Rosslyn, to date, nothing like the Grail or the Head of Christ has been found.

The truth of all this? The link between the head, the water and the serpent is now simple to comprehend and once thus understood the "shining" element of Sanctus Clarus will become also apparent. You see, the serpent is a world-wide archetypal image from the Other Realm [3] of existence, the place where the ancient shaman, witch, priest, whatever, would go to on our behalf for healing and to converse with the spirits. There are many aspects to this serpent, some beneficial, some terrifying - but it is universal. Water on the other hand was the abode of the serpent as it was the access to the Other Realm. Those who could "walk on water" were adepts at holding the position between this world and the next. We cannot live beneath the waves and so it must be the place after death. The skull is the container wherein lies our consciousness and our connection to these Other Realms. All three aspects come into full union when we access the part of our mind, which induces altered states of consciousness and we become fully enlightened. The gateway to this place is known as the hpnagogic or hypnapompic, between falling asleep or waking, between this world and the next, walking on water.

This ability was special and only the "Baptist" which means to submerge in water, could access this place and therefore his head was special. For this reason the heads of those who were able to access the Other Realm became special to us and we offered their heads to the water deities or indeed upturned their skulls, gilded them and drank from them. We were then ingesting the Other Realm powers within our very selves. Simple really!

Notes

1 The A in cAp covers from above, the U in cUp is a receptor for fluid and these are shapes that have pictographic meaning.

2 The Serpent Grail by Philip Gardiner with Gary Osborn, Watkins, 2005.

3 When we say Other Realm it is simply cover all the myriad names for such a places, which differ slightly across the globe.

The Mysterious Head of St Teilo: An Untold Tale With Far Reaching Implications

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