Buffy's Salon

Ethical Products

Turtle Bag

Why:Plastic bags end up traveling along streams and rivers out into the sea where turtles, birds and seals mistake them for jelly fish and other food sources.   A recent study of 560 seabirds found dead in countries around the North Sea found 95% had plastic in their stomachs; an average of 44 pieces in each.  Plastic bags are an environmental hazard and eyesore, they cannot biodegrade so they have to be incinerated. Use turtle bags instead!

Benefits:100% cotton and very strong, available in several colours.

Price: £4.50 each

 

Ladybird Tower

Why:Fight the aphids in your garden without using chemicals by providing a natural habitat for ladybirds and other insects.  Can easily be moved to wherever the aphid menace lurks.  While you're at it sort out slugs with your hedgehog home.

Benefits: Your roses are safe and you're not exposing yourself to toxic chemicals.

Price: from about £10

 

Mooncup

Why: This reusable cup made from soft silicone rubber replaces tampons.  Clean and reuse.  Where do you think all those used towels and tampons end up?

Benefits:You don't need to change as often as with other sanitary products.  Much healthier for your body than tampons because it doesn't interfere with your internal cleansing and defense mechanisms.  Works out cheaper because it is reusable.

Cost: £19.99 (Another version in the US is softcup.)

  

Plant Me Pets

Why:Satisfy children's desire for bright collectible toys with plant me pets.  Bizarrely, when children get bored with them you just bury them head first and grow some vegetables.  (The pets, not the children!)  Biodegradable.

Benefits: Beauty and utility is a hard combination to pull of.  Great gifts for all ages.

Price: from about £15

 

Green Beauty Bible

Why:This book reviews the various natural, organic and botanical toiletries that are available for women.  The products are all tested by groups of women who then report back.

Benefits: No more leaping in the dark or wasting your money when you try out new "natural" products.

Price:RRP £25 but discounted at Amazon

I hope this post will be an ongoing feature as I spot more products that are ethical. 

God's Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Morning Meadow

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs --
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings

Gerard Manley Hopkins had a very troubled life, struggling with ill health and depression as well as the backlash of his conversion to Roman Catholocism from the Anglican faith of his parents.  Sadly he was unable to reconcile his desire to be a poet with what he considered to be his religious obligations as a Jesuit priet.  His poems were never published before his death, and we only have them because a few of friends appreciated them enough to make sure they were not forgotten.  Despite a life of inner pain he never lost his faith in the ultimate goodness of God, as is apparant from the poem above which ends on a note of real hope.

Through its biblical imagery, the poem manages to conjure up, at various points, images of the Creation, the Fall, Christ’s Agony and Crucifixion, man’s continuing sinfulness and rebellion, and the continuing presence and quiet work of the Holy Spirit. These images combine to assure the reader that although the world may look bleak, man may yet hope, because God, through the sacrifice of Christ and the descent of His Holy Spirit, has overcome the world.  Read more.

Sisters & Brothers

Cain Leadeth Abel to Death

A recent BBC article reported that researches found that families with sisters have a greater chance of being happy than those without, whereas those who grew up with brothers were more likely to suffer discord within the family home.

On the surface this could be seen as just another negative comment about boys.  However, remember some of the key stories in Genesis, written over two thousand years before this study took place:

• the story of the first brothers in history, Cain and Abel, ends in fratricide when Cain murders Abel because the latter's sacrificial offerings were more pleasing to God 
• several generations and a flood later, Jacob steals the birthright of his brother Esau and then has to go on the run to stop Esau murdering him in revenge

• in turn, Jacob's older sons plot to murder their younger brother, Joseph, but instead throw him down a pit and then sell him into slavery

The motive in all these brotherly crimes, of course, is jealousy.  Sometimes when reading Genesis I think it nails all the worst and most fundamental human flaws and failings. 

It's not a great leap to think that brothers are biologically more inclined than their sisters to be competitive at best and destructive at worst.  I can't think of any stories of sisters in the Bible causing this kind of upheaval for the family.  Of course, according to the research sisters create more cohesion and communication within a family, binding it together rather than breaking it apart. 

The difference is particularly marked if the family splits up; as if meltdown can be avoided by having sisters to share your feelings with and hold everything together.

Of course, this is more evidence for the natural difference between men and women and it also implies that women's have a greater natural talent for family than men do.  This is not, of course, to suggest that men and boys should not be part of a family but that their inborn independence and aggression, which is of no use for spreading happiness within the family unit, is put to better use in the harsher world outside.  At this point we are close to saying that the traditional roles of women being responsible for the home and family and men for dealing with the outside world are the ones we are naturally suited for.  I daresay the researchers were not expecting to provide evidence for anything so controversial, but it seems the natural conclusion.

Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday passes by almost unnoticed in the UK these days, although the name Maundy originates in England and is a Protestant name for what Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox Church call Holy Thursday.

There are different explanations for this name for the Thursday before Easter, when we remember Jesus washing the disciples feet, the Last Supper and the establishment of the Eucharist, and the agony and betrayal of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The most commonly accepted explanation is that it is derived from the old English Mande (pronounced Maundy) meaning commandment.  During their last evening together before the Crucifixion, Jesus said "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Over the years in England it became the tradition for the monarch to give alms to the elderly on Maundy Thursday.  At first only pensioners of the same gender as the monarch received coins, but in the 1700s this was changed to equal numbers of men and women as the monarch has lived years (83 this year!).  The giving of Maundy money is still done today, although another tradition, of the monarch washing the feet of the poor, ceased some time ago!

Many churches hold a gathering for the Eucharist on the evening of Maundy Thursday and some have their own traditions, two of which might be the pastor washing the feet of his flock or "stripping the altar" i.e. the congregation remove the altar decorations and coverings to symbolise the humiliation and abandonment of Jesus following his arrest, and also the clear the way for the new life that comes with the resurrection.  Some congregations will sit and eat a simple meal together after the service.

Unlike Good Friday and Easter Monday, Maundy Thursday is not a bank holiday in the UK and it's easy for it to pass by almost unnoticed as we go about our daily work.  This is pretty much what happened to me until bedtime when, courtesy of an article in the Radio Times, I read an article by Waldemar Januszczak about Caravaggio's The Taking of the Christ, which you can see at the top of this post.

We are in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before the Crucifixion.  Jesus is being arrested.  Tomorrow he will die....torches are flickering.  Everybody is moving.  Something important is happening.  But the fact that Judas is betraying Jesus with a kiss is, initially, almost incidental.  The first impression is of chaos, violence and action.  Identifying the various characters in the scene is by no means straightforward.  The chaotic mood that Caravaggio is deliberately creating is so successfully evoked that even the identity of Jesus himself is not initially obvious...Caravaggio is making you work things out.  He is deliberately involving you in the action.

The bearded figure on the far right, holding a lantern, is a self-portrait.  Why would Caravaggio place himself at the scene?  For two reasons.  One is to vouch for the authenticity of the picture.  I was there.  This is what happened.  But by being there, Caravaggio is also taking a personal share of the blame for Christ's arrest.  He was there, but did nothing to stop it.  That, of course, is the essence of the Christian message at Easter.  All of us let down Christ.  He died to save us.

April's Challenge

Spa Setting III

Spring is finally here, and all that extra light shines into the dark corners of our winter lives, providing an excellent opportunity to consider those areas that could do with a clean out. 

The challenge is to read through the bullet points and pick one area where you can make a positive change.

Detox your body

• Start the day by drinking half a lemon squeezed into warm water.
• Review your diet - do you need to cut down on sugar, coffee, processed food, red meat or alcohol?
• Try dry skin brushing before your shower.
• Have a pedicure - it's time for your feet to emerge from their winter hibernation.
• Walk outside for 10-15 minutes five days a week to get some fresh air and soak up the light
• Drink 2 pints of water throughout the day, on top of your regular drinks.
• Do some simple stretching exercises every day.

Detox your home

• Open the windows and let some fresh air in (including at nighttime).
• Start taking your shoes off indoors.
• Throw out one chemical cleaner in your home and replace it with a more natural, traditional cleaner.
• Wash your bed linen on hot to kill of dust mites, then vacuum your mattress.
• Replace chemical air fresheners with aromatherapy oils, scented candles and fresh flowers.

Detox your mind & emotions

• Let go of any negative emotions you're holding onto; the Bible tells us "fear not", "forgive as the Lord forgave you", "do not let the sun go down whilst you are still angry", and "do not be anxious about anything".  How many of us can honestly say our minds are tranquil and trusting?

 

The Ultima Test of Virtue Quiz

Rather a fun quiz based on the The Ultima computer games (which I have to confess I have never played).

The Bard (Compassion)

57% Honesty, 14% Valor, 86% Compassion, 43% Honor, 57% Sacrifice, 43% Justice, 43% Spirituality and 57% Humility!

Of the eight virtues, thou art most aligned with Compassion.

Compassion is the ability to be sympathetic to the feelings and sufferings of others. To share their pain, and, to do what thou can to ease their misery. Show compassion in all thy dealings, lest thy heart grow hard and cold.

Take The Ultima Test of Virtue