Leonidas Kazantheos

The Month of September

We all no doubt recall the well-known rhyme that helps us to remember the number of days in each month: Thirty days hath September,April, June and November;February has twenty eight aloneAll the rest have thirty-oneExcept in Leap Year, that’s the timeWhen February’s Days are twenty-nine. Like many other months in our year September derives itsContinue reading “The Month of September“

An “Upstart Crow?”

In act IV of Timon of Athens, Timon leaves his home in Athens while his faithful steward, and other servants lament his departure. He goes to live in a cave in the woods, collecting berries, and digging up roots in an attempt to assuage his hunger. When Timon rejects the beastliness of men nevertheless hisContinue reading “An “Upstart Crow?”“

Shakespeare’s Coat of Arms

As early as 1576 soon after John Shakspere’s “wool-brogging” business failed he applied for a coat of arms but was subsequently rejected as the manuscript illustrates with the words, “Non, sans droict”. Ten years later in August 1596 the young son of the actor William Shakspere was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon and within 2 months theContinue reading “Shakespeare’s Coat of Arms“

“Shakespeare On Deformity”

In 1623 when publishing the Shakespeare Folio, the publishers John Heminges and Henry Condell, wrote: “To the Great Variety of Readers”“Whereas before you were abus’d with diuerse stolne, and surreptitious copies, maimed, and deformed by the frauds and stealthes of iniurious impostors, that expos’d them: euen those, that are now offer’d to your view cured,Continue reading ““Shakespeare On Deformity”“

August, the Harvest Month

Of this time, the Roman Boethius writes: “The world with steady trust,Changes in regular seasons.Seeds that struggle out of earthKeep to pre-determined bounds.Daily the golden SunLeads with his chariot the rosy dawn,And nightly the evening starLeads out the Moon to rule the sky.The greedy surging seaIs kept to certain limitsLest our uncertain worldBe swamped withinContinue reading “August, the Harvest Month”

“A Rose By Any Other Name…”

During Shakespeare’s time even a theatre was constructed on Bankside entitled “The Rose” and in previous years Henry VIIIth had a warship built called the Mary Rose which sank in the English Channel during a conflagration with the Spanish. “Oh! But what’s in a name?” Thus wrote the Bard in Romeo & Juliet adding: “AContinue reading ““A Rose By Any Other Name…””

Gurdjieff’s Psychodynamics

G.I. Gurdjieff was alive when the new psychology and the psychoanalytic schools of Sigmund Freud and Carl, Gustav Jung were born among intellectuals in Europe; although Gurdjieff was not especially fond of the psychoanalytic method dependent on the delicate relationship between psychiatrist and client. Comparing Gurdjieff’s writing with that of Carl Jung, the writer VrasidasContinue reading “Gurdjieff’s Psychodynamics”

“Midsummer Madness”, the Month of July

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,Who countest the steps of the Sun?-Seeking after that sweet golden climeWhere the traveller’s journey is done. Where the Youth pined away with desire,And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:Arise from their graves and aspire,Where my Sun-flower wishes to go. (William Blake, 1794) In the British Isles counting rhymes are theContinue reading ““Midsummer Madness”, the Month of July”

The Mnemonics of Gurdjieff’s Trilogy

Much of Gurdjieff’s teaching or “philosophy” was ostensibly an oral process of transmission, but after his accident he decided rather reluctantly to delineate its essence for mankind in the form of 3 written volumes. The First volume entitled “Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson” or “All & Everything” is composed of three books or sections. TheContinue reading “The Mnemonics of Gurdjieff’s Trilogy”

“Shakespeare’s Nemesis”

Lady Elizabeth Russell (Dowager Countess of Bedford) A semiotic analysis of Elizabeth’s striking appearance in this portrait suggests, at least from the voluminous white-laced hood that she has the ears of a dormouse, her complexion has all the qualities of the Dog Rose (Rosa canina), and a plain yet feisty expression. It’s true that sheContinue reading ““Shakespeare’s Nemesis””