Tara Calaby

When I was doing my undergrad, research involved a lot of sitting in a library basement physically paging through academic journals in the hope of finding relevant information. There were databases, sure, but they were in a nascent form that wasn't anywhere near as reliable as going through the yearly indexes of the journals most relevant to your discipline. (Shout out to all those dark green volumes of Greece & Rome at Melbourne Uni.) If you wanted to actually work in Classics academia, you really needed to know French and German as well as English, Latin and Ancient Greek, because a lot of the important articles would be published in German or French.

Today, I followed up on a reference in an academic article I read online through Ovid and was able to find the full German text of a 1903 treatise on women's "physiological feeble-mindedness" online and instantly translate it into very readable English. The only downside was actually a hilarious upside, in that German word for "feeble-mindedness" can also be translated as "bullshit" and often was throughout the treatise.

It's so easy these days. And yet undergrads are using bloody ChatGPT to feed them a combination of correct information and hallucinated Schwachsinn (guess!).

Last night, I finished the first Baldur's Gate 3 play-through of what will undoubtedly be many. I played as a high elf bard (which totally made me want to play as a bard if I ever get to play d&d again) and romanced Gale because DUH he has the same name as my wife.

Totally lived up to the hype.

From The Everlasting Circle of Fate (Anonymous, 1840)

A mole against the heart, denotes undoubtedly wickedness.

A mole on the belly, signifies a glutton.

A mole on the bottom of the belly, signifies weakness.

A mole on the knee, signifies obtaining a comely, wealthy wife.

If a woman have a mole on the right knee, she will be honest and virtuous; if on the left she will have many children.

If a man have a mole athwart the nose, he will be a traveller.

A mole on a woman's nose, signifies she will travel on foot through divers countries.

A mole on a man's throat, shows that he will become rich.

If a woman have a mole on the lower jaw, it signifies she shall lead her life in sorrow and pain of body.

A mole in the midst of the forehead, near the hair, denotes a discourteous, cruel mind, and of unpleasant discourse.

A mole on the right side, about the middle of the forehead, declares a man to abound in benefits by friendship of great men. A woman having this shall be fortunate in all her actions; but if black, beware of her tongue.

A mole on the left side of the forehead, near the hair, predicts misery, and abundance of tribulation to a man by means of his own misconduct. To a woman it indicates her needy; if black, unfortunate in every undertaking.

A mole on the left side of the forehead about the midway, threatens a man with persecutions from his superiors. If a woman, it threatens sorrow by the perfidy of some man.

A mole on the left side of the forehead, denotes excellent wit and understanding. To a woman it signifies justification of innocence.

A mole appearing on the right temple above the eye, denotes a long life and good fortune. To a woman it signifies good and happy fortunes and marriage, as she will be of careful conduct.

A mole on the right temple, inclining towards the neck, promises ingenuity, riches, as also long life.

A mole on the left side, towards the upper part of the corner of the eye, signifies sickness. To a woman, moderate health, loss of favour of friends, perverse children and enemies.

A mole on any part of the lip signifies a great eater or glutton.

A mole on the chin signifies riches.

A mole on the ear signifies riches and respect.

A mole on the neck promises riches.

A mole on the throat denotes riches, and beauty in marriage.

If either in a man or woman's hand a mole appears, it denotes great prosperity and enjoyment of children.

A mole on the right breast threatens poverty.

A mole on the left side of the stomach denotes a luxurious person.

A mole on left shoulder near the arm denotes strife.

A mole on the middle of the stomach denotes dangerous disease.

A mole on the left corner of the eye denotes melancholy.

A mole on the lower tip of the right ear threatens drowning.

A mole near the bottom of the nostrils is lucky.

A mole on the left side of the belly denotes afflictions.

A mole on the right foot denotes wisdom.

A mole on the left foot denotes dangerous rash actions.

A mole on the eyebrow means marriage and a good husband.

A mole under the left arm-pit shows untimely death.

A mole on each side of the neck threatens the loss of life.

One on the centre of the breast, with a black hair, shows the party given to poetry.

One under the hollow of the right eye signifies the party to be furious.

A mole on the wrist shows an ingenious mind.

If many moles happen between the elbow and wrist they foretell many crosses towards the middle of life.

"The Magus, Magician, or Juggler, the caster of the dice and mountebank, in the world of vulgar trickery. This is the colportage interpretation, and it has the same correspondence with the real symbolical meaning that the use of the Tarot in fortune-telling has with its mystic construction according to the secret science of symbolism."

"A youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the countenance of divine Apollo, with smile of confidence and shining eyes. Above his head is the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming the figure 8 in a horizontal position ∞. About his waist is a serpent-cincture, the serpent appearing to devour its own tail. This is familiar to most as a conventional symbol of eternity, but here it indicates more especially the eternity of attainment in the spirit. In the Magician's right hand is a wand raised towards heaven, while the left hand is pointing to the earth. This dual sign is known in very high grades of the Instituted Mysteries; it shows the descent of grace, virtue and light, drawn from things above and derived to things below. The suggestion throughout is therefore the possession and communication of the Powers and Gifts of the Spirit. On the table in front of the Magician are the symbols of the four Tarot suits, signifying the elements of natural life, which lie like counters before the adept, and he adapts them as he wills. Beneath are roses and lilies, the flos campi and lilium convallium, changed into garden flowers, to show the culture of aspiration. This card signifies the divine motive in man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its union with that which is above. It is also the unity of individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought, in the fixation thereof. With further reference to what I have called the sign of life and its connection with the number 8, it may be remembered that Christian Gnosticism speaks of rebirth in Christ as a change "unto the Ogdoad." The mystic number is termed Jerusalem above, the Land flowing with Milk and Honey, the Holy Spirit and the Land of the Lord. According to Martinism, 8 is the number of Christ."