Tag Archives: archons den

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’26 A To Z Challenge – A

The Advent Of
Archon

The basis of my Archon alias is lost in the mists of history – literally.  My Grade 11 Greek history text had a story about the king of Sparta dying in battle.  His only son was just 12 years old, and the law insisted that he had to be 18 to assume rule.  Seven of the king’s closest friends and advisors formed a group of mentors called The Archons, who protected and trained him until he became of age.

That seemed to be the type of person I wanted to be, so I dragged the term with me through my life, applying it here and there, instead of my all-too-common and easily-confused real name.  When I registered with LinkedIn, it was as The Sage.

Later, I found that the term and concept also applied to other, and older, situations, especially among the fervently religious.  The name comes from the Greek, Arch – first, most powerful, most important.  My Bible with a concordance, says that there are 13 references to Archons, but they all speak of clan elders, city rulers, or chief Rabbis.  I cannot find the word Archon in the Bible.

Opinions are like assholes – everybody’s got one.  Some of the more-zealous Bible-thumpers think/believe that the Archons were the Nephilim – the giants who lived on the Earth before man was created.  Other equally-gullible convinced, feel that they are the seven arch-angels.  Another – just-as-sure and just-as-wrong – group insists that they are the seven major demons.  I found this bunch when I made negative comments on Christian blog-posts, and had them dismissed because I was obviously an agent of Satan.

There is only one Archon©™, accept no substitutes.  My super-hero name is much better than my secret identity.  Under it, I have had a paroled convict check in by phone – at 2 AM.  We finally listed the phone under the wife’s initials.  It helps sort out the scammers who want to talk to MR. J. T. Smith.

A teacher at the local Community College where I once attended, and worked for three months as a substitute teacher, has the same name.  I’ve been sued because a contractor from 50 miles away, cut down a tree to build a house further up my street.  I’ve been threatened – by phone – because somebody’s transmission fell apart.  The bank bounced three rent checks, because they couldn’t keep two accounts straight.  I got someone else’s dental anesthetic – and then I got my own, and my face fell off for the rest of the day.  Recently, I received mail for a guy who lives four miles away, in a different voting district.  I’m trying to find how the sender got my address.

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Auto Prompt – Knowledge Challenge – Combermere

It all started so innocently, as most of them usually do, though this one was unusual, because it involved my often less-than-innocent Scottish ancestors.

Scottish Flag

I needed a four-letter crossword solution for ‘sea’, starting with M. Five minutes later, working sideways, I had ‘mere’? 😕 Quick Archon, to the dictionary. I soon found that the Scots, through a mouthful of oatmeal porridge, had turned the French word ‘mer’ into ‘mere.’

Through my Scottish heritage, I knew that there was a small Southern-Ontario town named Combermere, and one back in the UK. The word ‘comber’ has two pronunciations. There is the usual English Coe-mrr, which is a person or device which combs. Also, a large, long wave, which can strip (comb) things off a beach as it crashes ashore, is a comber. Then there is the Scottish Comm-Brrr, which is used for personal and place names. I once heard two women refer to a man, whose name of Comber they’d read but not heard, as Coe-mrr. As a Scot, I knew better. What did those old kilt-wearers mean when they put those two words together?

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I quickly learned that the mere was no vast sea. It was merely a wee mountain lake – a tarn. The ground around it was too rocky for agriculture, so sheep were raised. However pronounced, the word comber had the same meaning. Once the sheep were sheared, and before the wool was spun to thread and woven into bright Tartans, it was combed (carded), whether by hand, like the hand-carders above, from my Gadgets post, or with a hand-cranked, mechanical device.

The shearing of hundreds of sheep produces a lot of fleece. While the men were busy tending to the now-nude creatures, the women combed, and combed, and combed. Combermere became the name for a pastoral little village which grew up at the lower edge of a Scottish lake, renowned for its yarn and woven cloth.

Don’t look for it there now. Time, and society, and politics changed over the centuries. All that’s left is the Combermere Abbey, in England, near the northern border of Wales. It was named for an Earl of Combermere, which title was given to an Englishman, after James VI of Scotland became James I of England.

If you’re interested in some hand-carded fleece, or hand-spun yarn, or hand-knitted or crocheted apparel, join the daughter, Ladyryl, at her blog, or at http://www.facebook.com/frogpondcollective. She’ll show you how it was done in the Goode Olde Dayes.