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```*+*``` Royal Heir to be Born ```*+*```

It is with great pleasure to announce the upcoming birth in June of a Royal Heir to the Crown of Heathfield. Noirin, wife of the Crown Prince Andrew MacNeil, has found she is with child. It is on great authority that the child will be a boy. He will be named Valandil in an honored request for his Father and Grandfather. There was told of great expectations  following in his father's footsteps for the welfare of all those in Heathfield and sister castles in a future yet to be written.  --submitted by Lahoneee

```*+*``` Allied Castle Events ```*+*```

On the 15th of November, the final race for the Jewel of the Sea regatta was held in Telarus.  Captain Joseph Walsh and his crew took part in the sloop, Gypsy Queen and won second place in race that was very exciting.  His crew during the Inaugural Season of the races consisted of  Brendan O'Sionna, Flynn Harkness and Jodis Njall.  The Cup can be seen at the Thistle during the month of December.

On November 20th,  Salaria held a ball that included two contests:  a spear throwing contest as well as a grape stomping contest.  Our own lovely Princess, Henna Barrett Suex, as well as Niklas Traugott and Amory Randall took part.   To his surprise, Amory Randall won both contests.  He receive two lovely Egyptian chairs found in the ancient tomb of a Pharaoh as prizes for the events.   Niklas came in second in the grape stomping and won a replica of a Pharaoh's sarcophagus.  Henna took third and won a game called Senet with the board and pieces also found in the tomb.  The chairs are on loan and may be seen in the Heathfield Museum.    Amory, as the over all winner, was also given a surprise prize.  A camel named Clyde can be seen at the Heathfield stables where he is enjoying the attention of being a unique animal.   He's also the first to be donated in what is hoped to become a grand zoo for the people of our realm.

The final event was a  Steeplechase held in Telarus.  During the final race, a lovely black Arabian Thoroughbred named Blue Lightning was entered by Brogan Frasier.  Though he started out strong, he tied for last. This was Blue's first race so we're sure to see more of him.

Congratulations to all participants and winners of these events.  --submitted by Amory Randall

```*+*```+```*+*```   Featured Articles ```*+*```+```*+*```

Healer's Touch
by Samantha Golden

Black Cohosh - Long known among the Algonquian Indians as a treatment for gynecological complaints. This herb was named black because of its dark medicinal roots. Cohosh is Algonquian for rough, another reference to its roots. The Indians boiled black cohosh's gnarled roots in water and drank the decoction for fatigue, sore throat, arthritis and rattlesnake bite - hence one popular name for this herb - snakeroot. But black cohosh was used primarily by Indian women for gynecological problems and childbirth. It grows most profusely in the Ohio River Valley.

Healing with Black Cohosh: When used safely, this herb may play a role in healing. Because of its possible side effects, however, it should be used only with the approval and supervision of your physician. Several studies show its early advocates may have been about the herbs' potential to treat gynecological problems.

Menstrual Discomforts: Black cohosh has estrogenic effects, meaning it acts like the female sex hormone estrogen. The herb's estrogenic action may lend support to its traditional use for menstrual complaints. Estrogenic herbs must be used carefully, however. Estrogen is a key ingredient in birth control pills. Any woman whose physician advises her not to take the Pill may have to avoid using this herb as well. She should discuss black cohosh's estrogenic activity with her doctor before using this herb.

Menopausal Discomforts: Estrogen is also prescribed for menopausal symptoms, and herbs with estrogenic action can be expected to have a similar effect on these symptoms. Today in Germany where herbal healing is more mainstream than it is in other places, black cohosh is a main ingredient in three drugs prescribed for discomforts of menopause. When used to treat menopausal discomforts, estrogen by itself may increase a woman's risk of uterine cancer. Taking another female sex hormone, progesterone, minimizes this risk. Any woman considering using black cohosh for menopause should consult her physician about using the herb by itself or in conjunction with progesterone.

Prostate Cancer: Female sex hormones slow the growth of prostate tumors. Physicians often prescribe hormones similar to estrogen for men with prostate cancer. Black cohosh's estrogenic action may help manage this cancer, but men with prostate cancer should consult their physicians before using it.

High Blood Pressure: A study published in Nature shows black cohosh reduces blood pressure by opening the blood vessels in the limbs (peripheral vasodilation). The herb may help manage high blood pressure, but consult your physician before using it for this purpose.

Intriguing Possibilities: One study shows black cohosh has anti-inflammatory activity, possibly explaining its Indian use as a treatment for arthritis. Another report shows it reduces animal blood sugar levels, suggesting possible value in controlling diabetes. More study needs to be done to determine whether the herb will prove useful in treating these conditions. Other preliminary animal findings point to possible antibiotic, sedative, and stomach soothing action.

The Safety Factor: Black cohosh overdose may cause dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, visual dimness, headache, tremors, joint pains, and depressed heart rate. For some, these effects may develop at relatively low doses. In addition, the estrogen-like component of this herb may act just like estrogen itself and contribute to liver problems and abnormal blood clotting as well promote the development of certain types of breast tumors. Pregnant women should not use estrogenic herbs. Black cohosh's possible effects on the heart are most worrisome. Anyone with heart disease, especially congestive heart failure, should not use it. Black cohosh is a potentially hazardous herb that should be used cautiously. Otherwise healthy nonpregnant, nonnursing adults who do not have heart disease or estrogen dependent cancers and are not taking sedatives, blood pressure medication, birth control pills, or postmenopausal estrogen, may use it for short periods in amounts typically recommended -- but only with a physican's consent. If any of the side effects listed above develop, use less or stop using it. Consult your physician.  --Taken from The Healing Herbs by Michael Castleman

A year can seem so short when we reach the end.  The memories flood us with things that we said and did.  We recall those good times with fondness and scowl over the bad, trying to work how we should have attempted them.   It doesn't matter what we did.  We always think back at this time of year.

To the moment we vowed our hearts to the woman or man that swept us away.  Ready to forge into the world as a bonded soul.  Or if we asked to take a heart.  To make a promise that we swear to keep.  The birth of a 

child, or two, when we reaped so much heartache through life or built a shield of stoic materials around us.  Always the first year seems the grandest.  With nary a second of it forgotten and etched into our beings for all time.

Sometimes, we are not bound into that first year but, the line of many.  Be it ten years, twenty-five, or two.  The cycle of time that draws a margin around us all is marked in anniversaries and birthdays that are with us.  One year at a time.

I have been away from my love, the paper, to further my experience and bring the people of Heathfield my all.  I have new stories of myself that only increase the sympathy, joyfulness, and hope that might come across in an article that another would read.  In my absence, Heathfield garnered another year of memories.  The highlights that will echo are the marriage of Andrew and his fair Lady Noir.  The birth of twins to Julia and Vincent.  And then the marriage of Thomas Douglas, to a woman that had captured his gaze and heart for quite some time, Serafina.

Beyond the borders of Heathfield, more happened that would carve memories.  Kildare is being controlled more and more each day, to a state of greatness.  Saved from the reign of horror.  The whispers of Hedgebrier being salvaged from the fall of holdings and the scum that roam, no doubt, will be run away.  Another year to make those tracks and reach goals in life.

To all the readers, remember your years fondly.  Remember even the bad moments, to learn and laugh if they so call for it.  And take it all, one year at a time.

Life Around Here

'Tis the season to be jolly!  And so it is in Heathfield and its sister Realms.  Decorations are beginning to appear on the doors and in the windows of homes and shops all over.  With the fresh snowfall we've been having, sleighs are appearing, decorated with merrily jingling bells and some even with sprigs of fresh greens.  Many carriages are also decorated to take part in the season.  The snow is giving reason for sledding runs to be planned.  This year it seems there were be more than one or two for sledders to try.    In homes, youngsters are beginning to anticipate the arrival of Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, the Wise Men or le petit Jesu.  Some may dread the giving of coal!  Candles are lit in windows to welcome the weary travelers and give a hint of warmth and cheer.

As always, gifts were taken to those who are in need.  There will be plenty of treats for the children at the Orphanage, as well as for those who may be spending Yule in the hospital.  All the fixings for meals will be also delivered to those who have little in each realm.   The lands are a mix of many traditions and holidays and to each of you, we wish you the most Joyous Christmas, Yule and Hanukkah as well as the best New Year to come. --submitted by Sara Devonshire

Births: None this month. Marriages: None this month. Engagements: None this Month. Deaths: None this Month. Citizenship: None this Month.

Speakers of Fate - Common methods used of fortune telling include astromancy, cartomancy (fortune telling with cards), tarot card reading, crystallomancy (reading of a crystal sphere), and cheiromancy (palmistry, reading of the palms). The latter three have traditional associations in the popular mind with the Roma and Sinti people (often called "gypsies"). Various forms of fortune-telling appear throughout the world. Typical topics that fortune-tellers make predictions on include future romantic, financial, and childbearing prospects.

This is not to be mistaken with prophets.

The concept of a prophet is an old one, and is important in numerous religions. The Greek oracles were inherited from autochthonous sacred sites that preceded the Greeks' arrival in the Aegean. The Bible refers to prophets of Yahweh, Baal, and other regional deities. Christians refer to John the Baptist as a prophet of the Christian God, and Muslim's refer to Muhammad as the Prophet, the last and greatest of the prophets of Allah, or God.

The role of spokesperson for the gods is an archaic one in the Hellenic world. However, the word prophet itself derives from the Greeks, who used the word προφήτης to refer to an interpreter or spokesperson of a deity, who "utters forth." In Greek religion the interpreters of Zeus, Apollo, and other gods were the oracles, at numerous ancient sites, where the god or goddess spoke through women, sometimes identified as sibyls and the utterances, in classical times, were interpreted by men. In various Greek legends, oracles (particularly Apollo's at Delphi) spoke cryptically of the future, and their meaning was frequently misunderstood. In The Iliad the Trojan princess Cassandra warns of upcoming events, but has been cursed such that no one believes her prophecies. (Adopted the piece from various articles of information.)

OTHER LIFE FORMS

Dragons -- Formidable predators, dragons (also known as wyrns and drakes) are massive in size with fearsome teeth, deadly breath, vicious claws, and hides like stone. Dragons generally make their home in caves and mountains, far from humankind, but when they com close to people, their huge appetite is generally a source of conflict. Dragons are fond of penned livestock; in particular they love to scrape the udders of cows and drink the milk. Milk accelerates the rate of dragon's growth to an alarming degree. Their diet also includes large mammals and even big fish such as sharks. Occasionally, if driven by hunger, they will eat humans as well and have known to lay siege to whole villages.

The last recorded dragon slaying was in the eight century by the knight Sir Garrot. At that time, there were particular indicators that people used to determine if dragons were in the vicinity. These signs are still useful to keep in mind. They include a thick, poisonous vapor in the air and water that stings the throat of those who drink it or burns the skin of those who bathe in it. Dragons exude poison and this poison seeps into everything they touch. Like the snake, the dragon reproduces through laying vast quantities of eggs, few of which will hatch. Even fewer offspring live to adulthood. Dragons are solitary creatures and it is unusual to encounter more than two adults together. Baby dragons can be small enough to sit in the palm of a human hand. When young, dragons act more like animals, but as they grow, the develop the ability to speak and to reason.

Dragons spend a great deal of their lives sleeping. Like great cats, they can appear lazy when not hunting. When moving with a purpose, however, dragons are swift, both on the ground and in the air. Common the world over but especially throughout Asia and Europe, some dragons are known for their great wisdom, but reports of their guile are far more common.  -- submitted by Kathleen Frasier - from Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide. Everyone should have one!

December - Yuletide

December  is the twelfth and final month of the Gregorian calendar and the first month of winter.  It derives it's name from the Latin word decem, meaning ten, as December was the tenth month of the oldest Roman calendar.  The Latin name is derived from Decima, the middle Goddess of the Three Fates who personifies the present.

Facts from Encarta Encyclopedia:  "December is the last and most festive month in the Gregorian calendar.  It has 31 days. December was the tenth month (Latin decem,"ten") in the Roman calendar, but the name was retained in the present reckoning. The Christmas season, culminating on December 25, has taken on some of the festal nature of the Saturnalia, a Roman holiday celebrated at this time of year, honoring the god Saturn. Kwanzaa, an African American festival and the Jewish holiday Hanukkah (in most years) also occur in December."

In ancient times, both Druids and Romans hung sprigs of mistletoe in their homes and places of celebration to bring good fortune, peace and love. Yule, is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day.  Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, much celebration was to be had as the ancestors awaited the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth and made her to bear forth from seeds protected through the fall and winter in her womb.  Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.

The birth of the Persian hero and sun-god Mithra was celebrated on December 25th. The myth tells that he sprang up full-grown from a rock, armed with a knife and carrying a torch.  Shepherds watched his miraculous appearance and hurried to greet him with their first fruits and their flocks and their harvests. His cult spread throughout Roman lands during the 2nd century. In 274, the Emperor Aurelian declared December 25th the Birthday of Sol Invictus (the Unconquerable Sun) in Rome.

The Holly King, represents the Death aspect of the God at this time of year; and the Oak King, represents the opposite aspect of Rebirth (these roles are reversed at Midsummer).  This can be likened to the Divine Child's birth. The myth of the Holly King/Oak King probably originated from the Druids to whom these two trees were highly sacred.  The Oak King (God of the Waxing Year) kills the Holly King (God of the Waning Year) at Yule (the Winter Solstice).  The Oak King then reigns supreme until Litha (the Summer Solstice) when the two battle again, this time with the Holly King victorious.  Examples of the Holly King's image can be seen in our modern Santa Claus. (http://www.egreenway.com/months/) --submitted by Mary Colleen McAndrews

I Heard a Bird Sing
by Oliver Herford

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

'We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

--submitted by Mary Colleen McAndrews

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A Prayer
by Philip Appleman

O Karma, Dharma, pudding and pie,
gimme a break before I die:
grant me wisdom, will, & wit,
purity, probity, pluck, & grit.
Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind,
gimme great abs & a steel-trap mind,
and forgive, Ye Gods, some humble advice-
these little blessings would suffice
to beget an earthly paradise:
make the bad people good-
and the good people nice;
and before our world goes over the brink,
teach the believers how to think.

--submitted by Brogan Frasier

Merry Christmas
by Demitri Shostakovich

May you walk among the stars of morning,
Eden waiting silent for the dawn,
Ready to unravel without warning,
Restless with the urge to be reborn.
Years of longing pale into beauty;
Christmas is a never-realized dream.
However much devoted to your duty,
Remember that the flow is not the stream.
In my heart you wear a crown of glory
So radiant that time must turn away.
The vision rises from the untold story
More lovely than what sees the light of day.
As you can never know just who you are,
So let my love become your eastern star.

--submitted by Aelia Lascaris

A Christmas Wish for all My Friends
by Winifred Sackville Stoner Jr.

While Christmas bells are chiming, oh, may there come to you
A dear little fairy, who's always good and true;
The little happy fairy, who drives away dull care,
And makes all things upon the earth seem ever bright and fair.

She'll whisper to good Santa to bring what you most wish;
So if you have been longing for a fine pudding dish,
She will not, as in by-gone years, forget and bring to you
Something that you do not want, though beautiful and new.

--submitted by Laoise McAndrews

Did You Know?

As in Heaven, so on Earth - The Quechua Indians of Peru have oriented their village to reflect the movements of the Milky Way as it rotates above them, making an imaginary X across the night sky. The Indians of this region are the direct descendants of the Incas. Like their ancestors, they see the Milky Way as the most important feature of the night sky and believe that the activities of the Milky Way rule earthly phenomena such as rain, water and even fertility.

The Heavenly Cross - From any fixed point in the Southern Hemisphere the night sky appears to be in constant motion overhead. Above Misminay, the Milky Way appears to rotate so that its southern and northern end rise alternately every 12 hours from the southeast and northeast, respectively. In a 24 hour period, this apparent rotation seems to make two lines across the sky that intersect directly overhead. Cruz Calvario (Cross of Calvary) is the name of the point where they intersect. This way of perceiving the night sky goes back at least to Inca times. It is reflected on the earth below in the layout of Misminay: two footpaths and irrigation canals running side by side from an X-shaped cross. Their intersection is called Crucero (crossing) and its position is marked by a church. This corresponds to the crossing point of the Milky Way, Calvario, in the sky directly overhead. The Quechuas recognize some constellations that are made up of chains of bright stars, but most of their constellations are seen as dark areas in the sky. They appear like silhouettes against the brighter background of the Milky Way. These dark constellations are closely observed by the Quechuas in order to predict when it will rain, so they will know when to plant their crops. As the start of the rainy season nears, the dark clouds in the Milky Way gradually become more and more indistinct as increased moisture in the air reduces the visibility of the skies. The people of Misminay call the Milky Way Mayu which means river. For them it is a heavenly version of the Vilcanota River, which flows from southeast to northwest near their village. Their myths say that the waters of the river flow over the edge of the earth into the encircling void of the heavens and are collected in the northwest by the Milky Way. The Milky Way then carries them underground before rising in the east. As the waters are carried overhead, some of the moisture falls to earth again as rain. The celestial and terrestrial rivers thus linked in a mythical recycling of the waters, fertilizing land and sky.

Looking out from the Center - Crucero is the spot in Misminay from which the village and the horizon beyond is divided into four quarters. The Quechuas, like the Incas before them, use the intercardinal directions: southwest, southeast, northeast and northwest. Each direction has its own mythic significance, reflected in house groupings in the village and in the sacred peaks beyond. The northwest-northeast quarter, for example, is associated with the ancestors; the holy mountain visible on the distant horizon is called Apu Wanumarka (Stonehouse of the Dead).  -- submitted by Samantha Golden (taken from Earth's Mysterious Places, Reader's Digest)

RECIPES of the MONTH