Mercury-Pentacle

Hello there,

My friends, in the very first, I hope that you are all well, keeping as you like, and are making the best of a summer that is indeed hot, in places demanding and certainly overly so too. In that light, I would like to hope that you keep cool, happy and enjoy the brighter, hotter seasons for what they are meant to be, and quite so.

And indeed, it's my great pleasure to bring some very special and very interesting news to you, and to the community today...

Elsewhere in the community, a friend and respected contributor has been considering and planning recently, and has just emerged with a new, and very promising project which I think will draw and hold the interest of many, many here.

The Astonishing Tales of Dr. Jekyll & Dr. Hyde

The early 2000's...

Dr. Jekyll is a man apart, and indeed, in more ways than one. Somewhat eccentric, and coming from a long, if distinguished line, his current forays into the radical and esoteric have brought him to the very door of a long held, long sought yearning. The desire for vitality, youth and beauty. After some time of lingering and seeking amid this shadowy field of the arcane and the alchemical, the good doctor happens upon a concoction that seems to promise just that, though at this last step he ponders... Asking of his colleagues, he entertains the whimsical suggestion of a certain Dr. Walsh when he whimsically remarks...

"Perhaps he should hire an escort... or test it on himself!"

And so, with a swell of courage, Dr. Jekyll tests his serum on himself, and indeed - the results are astonishing. For her...

Transformed into a voluptuous, coquettish and auburn crowned beauty, this new alter-ego soon styles herself as nothing less than Dr. Edriana Hyde - Eddi to her friends, and Dr. Jekyll's obscure cousin.

A success, and a plunge into the world of soul shaking duality, Dr. Jekyll soon may find that his unleashed and sensual feminine side may get the better of him, as Dr. Hyde finds far more release, licence and life than her formerly male, withdrawn self ever could...

And indeed, the good, worldly Dr. Hyde is always willing to entertain even the most candid complaints and obstacles to better oneself. Indeed... always forthwith in her opinions and appetites...

The work of a diligent, imaginative and canny creator in the community, "Hyde Creator" is producing nothing less than a fully fledged comic book to tell their story and not only has it gone from strength to strength, but with work continuing consistently and with much promise too for a multi chapter story of gender bending shenanigans and psychodrama in the best, shadowy tradition of Jekyll and Hyde...

In that, I would highly and earnestly recommend the creator's Patreon to you, and to the community - to enjoy the perks and in support of their diligent, compelling work which will go in some very interesting directions. Indeed, for fans for strange tales, transformation and with a splash of gender bending too.

The Comic creator's Patreon can be found here for all curious and interested, with modest options for all, towards a great end.

https://www.patreon.com/hydexreator

Thanks again,

MP.

Hello there,

As always, my friends, I hope that you and yours are doing well, this Spring, and that with the the vernal green, sprouting colours and clearer days we might gather ourselves from the stresses and trials of winter passed and look forward to a new Summer, as can be, and the promise and potential thereof. Indeed, and more so, my best wishes to you and yours, these coming weeks.

Carrying on with a particular and popular theme of my journals, I would like to once again take us back to the world of card magic and indeed, one of the most universally lauded and celebrated of card tricks. And more - not simply this trick, but one of the most refined and remarkable renditions of it, revealing its full potential to astound the spectator. In my personal experience, I have yet to see such a full and colourful realization of the "Chicago Opener" by any other artist than the performer so depicted.

In turn, I wish you a very, very happy Spring and please do enjoy the "Chicago Opener" by Gaffer.

Thanks again,

MP.

Hello there,

As always, and sincerely so, I hope you and yours are doing well as February begins to close and indeed, we may begin to snatch and see the first blinks of colours and the first stirs of Spring to come. With a fresh birdsong and some spruces of colour about wild gardens, it's been my brisk pleasure of late. And indeed, all the more so given a very, very trying and tiring month on my side of things. Unseasonably so, though we can't always predict or parlay our trials when they decide to avails themselves of us. And how... Things a little calmer, quieter and improved now, I hope that the month and the season ahead is to your liking.

Apropos, in keeping with the tone I started with in the first days on the month, I would like to share with you another fine little glint of magic, which I think will hold a little for some here - indeed, if the future could be predicted to our benefit, and to raise a smile along the way, if there was such a thing, as could be.

Still, as performed by the late, great Daryl Easton, please do enjoy his rendition of the "Business Card Prophecy" trick, first created by one Bill Simon. Indeed, an uncanny card trick in which both magician and spectator predict the future...

Thanks again,

MP.

Hello there,

As we stroll into February - albeit, perhaps not as unworried and given to distant thoughts, as I know that some may be - it's still my hope that you are having a good month, and that 2024 is shaping up to be a promising year for you, as can be. Indeed, given the challenges and travails of the last, 2024 has potential for all of us, I would like to think.

Now, with this in mind, and a busy month on the horizon, I would like to proffer - as I am sometimes want to do - some magical fun with a fine and remarkable card trick, with some transposing curiosity.

Indeed, please do enjoy "That's Not Possible" as performed below.

Thanks again,

MP.

Hello there,

Friends, watchers, companions and acquaintances, given we are some hours from the new year of 2024 to come, I would like to wish you, one and all wherever you may be this hour, a very, very happy new year! Indeed, my hopes that this may bring some promise, fulfilled potential and new, better horizons for you all, given the travails of the year past. Truly, a time of challenges, difficulties and sometimes arduous depredations for many, let's do hope that the year to come surpasses these and that what comes realizes much of the promise so many can bring, if not overly hindered, distracted or otherwise manhandled by circumstance, so to speak.

In turn, we deliver 2023 into the hands of posterity, raise a toast to what has been done and what could be, and welcome 2024 with hopefully a smile and open arms.

Happy New Year to you all in 2024, and my thanks again!

MP.

We three kings of orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar!

Hello there,

In the first, I would like to wish you and yours, my friends, watchers and community a very merry Christmas and a very merry day indeed. As said before, in a year that has proven challenging, difficult and full of travails, I would hope that this day is a good, memorable one and that holds the best for you and your loved ones too, as it should!

Keeping in the spirit of the day, I would like to proffer a little something for your curiosity - indeed, maybe a little piquancy after a sip of something and a bite of chocolate or pie to pique your taste for the deep, remarkable and often mysterious origins of these traditions we now hold dear, across the world. In this, I would like to evoke the compelling, albeit mysterious figures of the three wise men - indeed, in some cases four - who came from afar to attend the newly born Christ, and bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, myrrh and, as said, in the fourth respect, pearls and jewels too. Known by many epithets, depending upon culture and tradition, these are the three kings, the three wise men, and of course the magi - Balthazar, Melchior, Caspar and, in some descriptions, the fourth in Artaban too.

According to religious and traditional accounts, the magi were a mysterious, erudite and learned conclave of men who came from the Chaldean tradition of mysticism, esoterica and star gazing, with its origins in Babylonia, and the spirituality of Zoroastrianism (an ancient near eastern faith, mirroring aspects of Abrahamic religions). According to tradition, it was this learned body of men who divined the meaning of a splendid star or celestial light and followed its course in the night sky until it led to Bethlem, and the newly born Christ. And indeed, given in adoration, gifted the holy family with their offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh (tokens of kingship, divinity and sacrifice). And indeed, in other traditions, it is held that while his peers dedicated to this, Artaban's offering of three great pearls (signifying purity and wisdom) were used in other heroic endeavours and good deeds.

The Magi then returning to the shadowed history and half remembered traditions of their beginnings, I would like to offer to you this merry Christmas day an intriguing documentary, for your enjoyment and edification, on the history, the origins and the significance of these personages and their nature in the ancient and modern world today.

I wish you a merry Christmas and my thanks again,

MP.