Thought for today: the Frog –

In Egypt we see the Frog-headed Heket who is an Egyptian goddess of birth(ing).

As a Celtic symbol meaning, the Frog was deemed lord over all the earth, and the Celts believed it represented curative or healing powers because of its connection with water and cleansing rains.

More Western and European views focus on the Frog’s three stages of development (egg, tadpole, fully formed amphibian) to symbolize resurrection and spiritual evolution. For these same reasons it is also a common Christian symbol for the holy trinity and resurrection. It is often seen in Christian art to express this symbolism.

In China the Frog is an emblem of Yin energy and thought of as good luck. Feng Shui practices recommend putting an image of a Frog in the east window of your home to encourage child birth and/or happy family life.

Frog energy is also considered to be a link between the living and the dead. An interesting ancient Asian custom was to place a jade frog in the mouth of the deceased to insure his/her spirit would pass safely into the spirit world. This custom was believed to allow the spirit of the deceased to speak more clearly to loved ones still living.

Frogs are also good luck symbols in Japan - especially for travelers. Images or charms were worn during long voyages to assure safety (particularly across water).

- whatsyoursign.com : Link.

The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North Park after the Change

Short fiction by Kij Johnson. Excerpt:

6. One Dog Invents Death.

This is the same dog. She lives in a nice house with people. They do not let her run outside a fence and they did things to her so that she can’t have puppies, but they feed her well and are kind, and they rub places on her back that she can’t reach.

At this time, there is no death for dogs, they live forever. After a while, One Dog becomes bored with her fence and her food and even the people’s pats. But she can’t convince the people to allow her outside the fence.

“There should be death,” she decides. “Then there will be no need for boredom.”

- Kij Johnson: Link.

Via Futurismic.

Interesting idea, nicely realized. The story is a finalist for the 2007 Nebula Award — best wishes Kij!

Reminiscent of The Author of the Acacia Seeds
And Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics by Ursula LeGuin, as well as Our Neural Chernobyl by Bruce Sterling.

If you want to succeed in business, you sooner or later have to deal with trickster gods.

Loki, Hermes, call them what you will — they’re practically everywhere, whenever commerce flows and men make deals.

You may be somewhere else at the time, but if your somewhere else has any potential for dough-ray-me, you can assume that a trickster god is on the way, right now.

Trust me, these guys are relentless. Not to scare you, I’m just saying. If they want a piece of the action, might as well open the front door, because they’ve already cased the back.

But then — who can tell with trickster gods? They may not want a cut of the action. Sometimes they’re just curious. And often enough, they’re good people to know: trading on their tips can bring windfall profits.

What they insist upon is knowing about the action: knowledge is the currency of trickster gods.

PS, anyone who says “Trust me” is cutting a deal, somehow or another. Mark my words.

PPS, image = detail from coin: infant Hermes stealing Apollo’s cattle. Clever lad ….