Màiri Campbell ~ Seanachaidh
  • Home
  • Books
    • eBooks >
      • A Midnight Meeting
      • Aisling
      • Angel in Stone
      • Angel's Tale
      • Life Begins Anew
      • The Proposal
    • Print >
      • The Proposal
      • Tales for a Lazy Afternoon
  • Blog
  • About
  • Gypsy Kitten
    • Adult Stories
  • Contact Me
  • Newsletter
  • Crafting

Happy St. Andrews Day! 30th of Nov

30/11/2014

0 Comments

 

A History of St. Andrew

Written by Michael T R B Turnbull, author of Saint Andrew: Myth, Legend and Reality information obtained from Scotland.org
PictureImage from www.ukflagshop.com
St. Andrew is considered to be the Patron Saint of Scotland. I found a wonderful article about him on the Scotland.org website and thought I would share it here.

Saint Andrew (who is believed to have later preached around the shores of the Black Sea), was an agile and hardy Galilean fisherman whose name means Strong and who also had good social skills. He brought the first foreigners to meet Jesus and shamed a large crowd of people into sharing their food with the people beside them. Today we might describe him as the Patron Saint of Social Networking!

Having Saint Andrew as Scotland's Patron gave the country several advantages: because he was the brother of Saint Peter, founder of the Church, the Scots were able to appeal to the Pope in 1320 (The Declaration of Arbroath) for protection against the attempts of English kings to conquer the Scots. Traditionally, Scots also claimed that they were descended from the Scythians who lived on the shores of the Black Sea in what is now Romania and Bulgaria and were converted by Saint Andrew.

In the fascinating legend of The Voyage of St Rule from Greece to Scotland we can see the complicated spread of devotion to Saint Andrew - from Constantinople in modern Turkey, to St Andrews in Fife. St Rule (Regulus in Latin) and the six nuns and monks who took the long sea-journey with him, stands for the missionaries and monasteries who worked long and hard to bring the Good News to Britain. They lived in communities organised by a monastic Rule - hence the name St Rule or Regulus.

As Scotland slowly became a nation it needed a national symbol to rally round and motivate the country. Saint Andrew was an inspired choice and the early Picts and Scots modelled themselves on Saint Andrew and on one of his strong supporters, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, whose statue you can see today in York, where the he visited his father, a Roman General then trying to force the Picts to go back north.

Although a pagan who worshipped the Roman sun god Sol, Constantine later became a Christian and went on to make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

It all began near Rome in 312 AD when, on the night of a make-or-break battle against a rival emperor, he saw the symbol X P (Greek for the first two letters of 'Christ') in the dazzling light of the setting sun and then had a dream in which he was promised victory. Constantine ordered his troops to hold the Christian cross at the front of the army, and won.

In a similar way, around 500 years later, King Angus of the Picts, facing a larger army of Saxons at Athelstaneford in what is now East Lothian in Scotland, was overwhelmed by a blinding light the night before the battle and, during the night, had a dream. The message he was given was that he would see a Cross in the sky and would conquer his enemies in its name.

The following morning King Angus looked into the rising sun and saw the Saltire Cross in its blinding light. This filled him and his men with great confidence and they were victorious. From that time Saint Andrew and his Saltire Cross were adopted as the national symbols for an emerging Scotland.

The Saltire Cross became the heraldic arms that every Scot is entitled to fly and wear. However, its colour was not white at first but silver (Argent), as in heraldry white stands for silver.

The first time the colour of the Saltire is mentioned is in the Acts of Parliament of King Robert II in July 1385 where every Scottish soldier was ordered to wear a white Saltire. If the uniform was white, then the Saltire was to be stitched onto a black background.

Both William Wallace and King Robert the Bruce appealed to Saint Andrew to guide them in times of national emergency. The Saltire was flown on Scottish ships and used as the logo of Scottish banks, on Scottish coins and seals and displayed at the funerals of Scottish kings and queens - that of King James VI for example and of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. At the Union of the Crowns in 1603, London was treated to the spectacle of Saint Andrew and Saint George on horseback, shaking hands in friendship. When King George IV visited Edinburgh in 1822 he was presented with a Saltire Cross made of pearls on velvet, within a circle of gold.

There is also a wider dimension. Saint Andrew and his relics at St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh provides Scots with a special link to Amalfi in Italy and Patras in Greece (where two Cathedrals named after the saint also hold his relics). The many St Andrew Societies worldwide, set up originally as self-help organisations for Scots who had fallen on hard times, form a network of Scots who are all united under the Saltire Cross of Saint Andrew. They give Scotland a European and worldwide dimension.


0 Comments

Meet Ashleigh

23/11/2014

0 Comments

 
PictureVampire Girl Image by Little-Pip she can be found on deviantart.com
Full Name: Ashleigh Morgan
Nickname: Ash, Lady Ash
Race: Vampire
D.O.B.: May 21, 1827
D.O.D.: October 31, 1847
Age: 20 y/o when killed and turned
Weapon(s): Her feminine wiles, her fangs, her speed, and most importantly her brain.
Family: Mother: Anna died in childbirth
                 Father: Justin Morgan killed trying to protect her.
                 Siblings: None
Date of Rebirth: October 31, 1847

Killed her Master: October 31, 1927 (helped by Connie and Maryjo). 80 years to the day when her father was killed and she was turned, she finally achieved her revenge. She escapes Chicago that night and heads for Scotland.

Physical Description:
Eye Color:  Silver/Blue with a slight up tilt to the outer corners
Hair Color/Style: Dark chestnut long, little more than half way down her back usually wears it down
Skin tone: Olive complexion
Height: 5’5”
Weight: 120 pounds

Identifying Characteristics: Her eyes esp. with the dark hair and olive complexion

General Appearance: No tattoo’s, when she was growing up it was unseemly for a lady to have them, even though that word only fits her gender wise. She’s always been told that she was pretty and has always used that to her advantage. She has a few scars on her back and shoulders from falling out of a tree that she and friends used to climb to jump out of for swimming.

She likes to wear things that are form fitting and that show skin. She likes short skirts as well as cropped shirts; she also enjoys having men notice her. She will wear jeans or slacks as long as they are snug enough to hug her hips and ass.

Wears minimal jewelry necklaces and bracelets

Personality:
Strengths: Speed, agility, people are always under estimating her (esp. men)
Weaknesses: Good looking men, sunlight, the people she cares about
Likes: Men, Sex, Blood
Dislikes: Hunters, jealous women, not getting what she wants
Hobbies: Killing stupid little mortals that prey upon the wrong people (i.e. rapists and such), gardening, massage
Skills: Gardening, bartending
Reputation: Within the vampire community ‘The Master Killer’
Personality: Ashleigh is in general, pretty nice, for a vampire that is, as long as she getting what she wants, usually meaning blood, sex or to be left alone. She has no problem telling people what she thinks of them whether it’s flattering or not. She’s been called a bitch more times than she can count and only laughs at those that call her that. She doesn’t trust easily but that has kept her alive for a long time now. And once you’ve earned her trust and friendship she considers you hers and will venture to Hades and back for you.

She has a problem with most male vampires as her sire and his closest friends sorely abused her. But from that experience she also learned a wonderful way for controlling men, which with the time period she was born in she would not have known otherwise.

Friendly with most people she meets; she tries not to judge people by their looks but by their personalities and how they treat others. She has no patience for stupid people and has no problem telling someone that they are stupid. She loves getting compliments and hopes to one day find that one true love. But she is also a realist and knows that that is just bullshit.

History:
Past: Ashleigh’s mother died during childbirth and her father would not talk about her. Her father raised her as best he could on his own as he never married again. Soon after her 20th birthday she and her father were attacked. Her father was killed trying to protect her. She remembers staring into her father’s empty dead eyes, his blood soaking into her clothes as she too was killed then turned. She rebelled constantly and was beaten quite often by her sire for not being a quiet, docile female. She bided her time before killing him to avenge her father. Making sure she learned all she needed from him and the other older vampires they lived with. A couple of them, two females (Connie and Maryjo), helped her with dispatching their sire. She then left to make her own way in the world.

0 Comments

Join us for Seattle PubCamp!

2/11/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture








November 15th, 8:30am to 6:30pm. 
@ The University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture

Publish happy! Come to a one-day self-publishing conference in Seattle. Learn how to become an "Authorpreneur," exploring all the nuts and bolts of self-publishing. We'll cover everything from writing and editing your masterpiece, to building your author platform and marketing your books. Three concurrent tracks will focus on writing craft, publishing and book marketing.


PubCamp in Seattle is Writer.ly’s third in-person self-publishing conference that was developed as a way to help writers get writing, learn the craft, educate them about the business of self-publishing and book marketing and network with other writers in their community.

What some people had to say:

“Thank You, PubCamp! What a terrific conference with astounding follow-up
that shows you really CARE!”

– Mark H.

“I hope you all do this again next year! This was wonderfully informative.”
– Màiri C.

Speakers include:
Our keynote: Laurie McLean, 
Fuse Literary on why you don't need an agent
Theo Nestor, author on the art of writing your (memoir) book proposal
Waverly Fitzgerald, author on the economics of self-publishing
Northwest Editor's Guild panel on how and when to work with an editor
Among 
many other great workshops.

We're providing lunch, free parking and over $100 worth of swag for attendees!
- 20% off MOO products, shipped to PubCamp for pickup.
- Bronze Pubslush Prep Package, valued at $50
- $100 credit to spend on Writer.ly Star Services

The day will finish with our Seattle Writing Community Party and Wine Reception. You'll have the opportunity to meet with writing organizations, groups and non-profits from the Seattle area, while noshing on delicious treats.

>> View full PubCamp details here. <<

SPACE IS LIMITED AND THIS EVENT WILL SELL-OUT. 

Our Sponsors:
Moo.com
Pubslush
Booktrope
Vellum
Silkwords
Gorham Printing
Hedgebrook.org
Northwest Institute of Literary Arts
Seattle Free Lances

About Writer.ly (
www.Writer.ly)
Writer.ly is an online marketplace where authors can hire the help they need to finish their books and get them published.

#self-publishing #writingcraft #bookmarketing #writingworkshop #publishing #conference


Buy Tickets

--
Abigail Carter
CEO, Writer.ly

1 Comment

    Categories

    All
    Crafts
    David And Ragnhild
    David Callender Campbell
    Gardening
    Guest Bloggers
    Insights
    Life
    Ramblings
    Stories
    Story Posts

    Author

    Màiri Campbell lives in WA with her husband and their three dogs

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    RSS Feed

    Follow Me