Thanks to Liz for her help with writing!

Every twelve years, the dragon with people legs descends from his celestial abode to grace one lucky city with his fabulous moves.

They say he taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk…

It has been a new Lunar Year since Monday and celebrations have been going on all week among Chinese communities and parades are scheduled in many areas for this weekend. My favorite part of these celebrations is always the dragon dance. If you’ve never seen it before, you’re missing out. The basic idea is that a team of people, covered by a rather excitingly colored drape and with a large crafted dragon’s head at the front, dance about the street, emulating the serpentine motions of the Chinese dragon. It’s a very important part of any celebration it appears in, but it’s especially important in 2012 seeing as it’s the year of the Dragon.

There are, of course, several varieties of Dragon Dance out there and the type of dance depends on the community performing it. For instance, there is another method that involves attaching a very similar style of cloth and head to poles which the dancers hold up and move, waving back and forth, up and down. Every version is beautiful and fun to watch in a different way.

The Chinese are well known to have great respect for Dragons. In mainland China, they have even gone so far as to ban western commercials that disrespect this sacred cultural image (something no Chinese advertising firm would think to do). This may seem strange to the west. It is, after all, one of those things that is truly different between European and Chinese culture, but it is an important distinction. To the European mind, dragons have been a thing to be feared, a thing to be conquered. They have long held a place in our literature as the ultimate monster, the last beast to be defeated before the hero can rest. From medieval literature all the way to modern classics like The Hobbit, the dragon has largely been a symbol of purest evil. The people of China, however, have had a very different conceptualization of this creature.

Dragons in China look different, they act different, if they were real creatures there would be no doubt that they would be different species entirely. The Dragon, in China, is a symbol of royalty and the divine right to rule. It is a creature inextricably linked with water and the weather patterns that water brings. It is a strong and benevolent beast that typically only enacts violence against those that deserve punishment. Everything about it is important, majestic, and beautiful. The dragon has been used as a symbol of cultural identity for the people of China for a long, long time, something that is unlikely to change any time soon. When the dragon makes his appearance, you know it has great significance.

2012, in Chinese astrology, is the year of the dragon and it comes with all the importance the dragon symbolizes. In the context of this ancient system, it is a powerful year, a year of change and luck, one that won’t come again for another twelve years. Maybe this year we’ll all experience something powerful or maybe we’ll learn something particularly significant…

…Like the fact that those dragon dancers weren’t emulating the basic look of a dragon after all but were faithfully recreating its look exactly.

Yeah, it’s probably something like that.

Are Poison Control Centers equipped to deal with the complications of incredibly expired milk and fae anatomy? I have my doubts.

Why do they even have that milk? Is it even milk anymore? Probably not. I imagine it has gone through many changes in its long existence. It has probably gone from liquid to solid and back many many times.

It is clearly not fit for consumption by anything, fae or otherwise.

In the folklore of Scotland and Northern England, there have been a great many varieties of fae-folk. One of the more beneficial creatures was the Brownie or Brounie (I’ve used the latter for clarity’s sake in the comic and I will continue with it here in the blog post), also known as the Urisk in Lowland Scotland (though the Urisk has some slightly different characteristics). When a brounie has taken an interest in one’s home it typically moves in to some unused space within the house itself, taking up residence and carefully watching the actions of the humans that reside there. While there have been some larger manors and homes that are said to have acquired brounie residents, most of them choose to live in poorer homes to help the human inhabitants with their duties and chores.

Brounies are clever creatures, typically described as being around 3 feet tall, but they have been depicted as much shorter (I chose to show them very small for the sake of the art). They are king things but with an odd streak in them. They take offense at being spoken directly to, preferring instead for humans to speak as if talking to themselves, allowing them to hear the troubles that bother men and women so that they might help. They like their privacy, never moving into rooms that are occupied by people, and some varieties (such as the Urisk) don’t even move into homes, but instead choose to live by notable landmarks in the area surrounding them, such as waterfalls, logs, and particularly nice caves. The brounie watches servants and children like a hawk and will complete any left undone, but they have been said to punish lazy individuals within the household in small ways.

For all the work they provide, brounies expect some kind of small payment, usually a bowl of milk or cream or a bit of honey. When you provide this reward, you must not call it a payment or they will take great offense and leave the house at once. Another way to lose the help of your brounie is to offer it clothes, one of the major characteristics of JK Rowling’s character, Dobby the House Elf.

One of the possible reasons that brounies don’t inhabit larger homes was that there were far more clothes lying around for the poor things to think were gifts. Poorer households in Scotland and England usually had only one or two sets of clothes.

There’s a story about a place called the House of Maxwell, that was supposedly inhabited by a brounie who was very close to the master’s daughter. When the daughter went into labor, the river nearby was flooding and the night was stormy. The loyal and courageous brounie grabbed a coat and a horse and rode off to fetch the midwife at once. He arrived safely and lead the woman, who thought him a particularly small servant on the murky night, to his mistress. As they traveled, she fearfully mentioned that they should avoid a nearby pool, thinking it the home of a brounie. Her companion laughed and said, “Have no fear goodwife, for you have met all the brounies you are likely to meet on this night!” The two made it to their destination and the master of the house and his daughter were both eternally grateful. The master, wanting to show his appreciation, offered to baptize the brounie, hoping to give him the benefit of eternal salvation. As the holy water touched the little fellow, he disappeared forever.

If your home happens to attract the attention of a helpful brounie, try your best not to offend them!

…or baptize them.

……or leave clothes out for them.

………..or feed them ancient milk.

I guess what I’m saying is, be careful in dealing with them!

2011 was a hell of a year…

As with many years, it hadn’t really started off fresh, but rather half-charred thanks to what had occurred in the previous year. That’s the funny thing about time as perceived by humans, everything is built on the past. More often than not, the New Year is messed up before it has even begun.

It’s kind of like parenting in that regard, I guess.

I’ve always found the idea of time a strange concept to grasp for some reason. I know what it is, I know how it works, we’ve all grown up with a very specific version of time and a very specific vision of what the passing of time means for us as humans. It’s a difficult thought to manage, but I often wonder what it would be like to live without constructed time. How would it affect us to not see numbers and associate them with the passing of hours? What would our society be like without time? Would we have got to where we are now without it?

One of the most important facets of dealing with human-calculated time is the New Year. All over the world, in various calendar systems, people celebrate the coming of a New Year. The idea of fresh beginnings and new starts is simply too strong for people to resist. It’s typically a time to see friends and family, to try to improve oneself in some way, or a time to make vows to let go of old bad habits.

It is, however, a difficult process.

Everything is built on the past. Whether we are talking about our individual past or the previous generations from which we have sprung, there is never a perfectly clean break. There is always pressure exerted from yesterday. If there is one thing that I have hoped to impart with this comic and blog post it is this: we cannot escape the past, we do not exist in a vacuum, we are not somehow unique and different and exempt from time.

That may sound a little depressing at a time like this but give it a moment. We, being the creatures that we are, so often choose to look to the future rather than the past and this is, quite often, a good thing. We should not dwell on the aches and pains of yesteryear, but rather look forward to the promise of the future on the horizon, but we should also not forget where we come from. We should not ignore the tens of thousands of years of shared human history that bind us together. Some of it may be painful, some of it may be downright silly, but all of it has helped to inform our societies today and our individual lives.

So as we look forward to 2012, let’s say goodbye to 2011. Let’s say goodbye to the silly, hurtful, or painful things we’ve done this year to ourselves and others and really mean it. Don’t ignore the difficult parts but rather, recognize them, let them go, and really start 2012 properly. Face the future with the knowledge that you can be just a little bit better, a little bit stronger this coming year thanks to the year before.

And let’s not forget the great things that happened either. Let’s not trivialize them or forget how wonderful those moments were. Let’s not forget that there is quite a bit of good in all of us. We have all done some awesome things this year, I’m certain.

I really truly hope you have a wonderful New Year. Thank you all for making 2011 so great for me. I hope this comic (however silly this sentiment may be) helped to make your year just a little bit better.

Much love to all of you,
Scott

The monks of Tibet are a mystical lot, known for amazing abilities like the art of Tummo, or inner fire. Unfortunately, monking doesn’t really pay the bills. What’s a poor monk to do? Drying clothes seems pretty dignified!

Tummo is one of many methods practiced within the greater framework of Buddhism to aid the practitioner in recognizing the ultimate nature of reality. Originally intended as a means of working with the energy channels supposedly present in every human body, practicing Tummo has several noticeable effects on physiology. Most well known among them, is the ability to regulate body temperature, a fact that has been scientifically corroborated by one Dr. Herbert Benson. Benson’s research has found that monks engaging in this particular activity are capable of raising the temperature of their body by around 15 degrees Fahrenheit at will (though he mentions this is skin temperature and this may only be documented at the extremities, I’m unclear on this bit). That’s pretty significant. As well as being able to moderate and change body temperature, the monks have been shown to use oxygen more efficiently while meditating, supposedly become sick less often, heal faster, and generally enjoy a healthier psychological state.

They’re like a bunch of religious Wolverines from the X-men! If only they weren’t staunch pacifists…

The ability to dry wet sheets in 40 degree temperatures (Fahrenheit) has been documented, as well, a feat that could very well kill someone not actively engaged in these practices.

There is an interesting documentary about Benson’s studies on meditation and Tummo in particular and he has been interviewed for another documentary on a Tibetan Buddhist monk who somehow mummified himself as he was dying. There’s a short clip with Dr. Benson from the latter program that you can watch here on youtube.

The most intriguing bit is that all of these effects aren’t even the primary goals of Tummo, but are supposedly side effects of a more enlightened outlook.

While regulating your internal temperature and having a better outlook may be enough for most people, here are some other cool things you can do if you ever master the mystical art of Tummo:

1. Cook cup ramen without a stove – just fill the cup with water, hold it in your hands and boil that stuff!
2. Make delicious frozen lemonade in seconds! – just lower your body temperature and enjoy!
3. Human refrigerator – do I need to say more here?
4. Avoid costly heating bills.
5. Hide in the freezer and discover who has been secretly eating your ice cream.
6. Get a tan during the winter – just set your lawn chair up on a snow bank for several hours!
7. Irritate your friends by always being comfortable no matter the temperature.

Now you have a great list of activities should you ever travel to Tibet, spend years and years in a monastery mastering this arcane skill set, and return home to modern conveniences like lemonade and cup ramen.

Happle Tea: preparing you for life since 2009.

You’re welcome, world.

He made it that far before he died! Truly a thanksgiving miracle!

Hey look at that, a ghost AND a Thanksgiving pilgrim, a holiday double whammy! Although, I’m pretty sure a fat puritan goes against everything that group would stand for, but hey, there are deviants in every community, right?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, promising food and family to all who celebrate. In America, this is typically the start of the holiday season, the time when families and friends come together to share gifts, eat together, and reconnect. It’s also a time for many people to volunteer to help others, offer up any extra resources they can to charities, and be kind to others. It’s a nice time of year in a lot of ways, though obviously not without its own problems. Dare I mention the Christmas inspired madness of Tickle-Me-Elmo? I shudder at the mere thought.

Admittedly, Thanksgiving has never really been my thing. I’m a skinny guy, I don’t eat a ton and I’ve had stomach issues for a long time, and family is great but I don’t entirely fit in with them, but I do have a deep appreciation for the true meaning of the holiday: recognition and appreciation for the things you have in your life that you may take for granted on a daily basis. I’m not entirely sure how many people truly focus on that message and ideal, but it’s a really beautiful sentiment when you think about it.

But I’ve talked about all this before, haven’t I? I believe I have.

I will just ask you (once again) to consider how lucky you are to live the life you do. Even if things aren’t perfect, I’m fairly certain they could be a lot worse. This is not to say that we should not try to improve our lives or the lives of others, we should just appreciate what we have here and now whenever possible. The universe is an immense place and we are phenomenally lucky to even be able to share the experience of living. Try to be good to yourself and others and be aware of just how precious the lives around you are.

I’d like to say thank you, once again, to all of you lovely people that continue to read Happle Tea and support me with your kind words and comments, it means the world to me. I hope you have an excellent holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Feng Shui: blocking negative energies, zombies, annoying neighbors, and illegal search and seizure from your home since 4000 BC. It’s really not surprising it has lasted this long.

The ancient art of Feng Shui is actually a terrifically complex system of geomancy, or earth divination, used to create harmonious relationships between humans and their surroundings. Or, if you’re a New Age sort of weirdo in the modern West, it’s a great way to do interior decorating!

Let’s set aside the obvious scientific questions of whether or not Feng Shui has any legitimate effect on anything for a moment.

Feng Shui has been seen as a mystical system with a great deal of potential for people outside its original sphere of influence, but like many of the other philosophies brought to the west during the New Age movement of the latter half of the 20th century, it has been significantly watered down and almost universally misunderstood. It hasn’t exactly been difficult for charlatans and swindlers to pick up on just how much people are willing to spend on this sort of thing and rake in the cash without any formal training at all. The problem is that many people here in the west simply don’t understand just how complicated the concepts behind Feng Shui are.

It all starts with Qi (pronounced “chee” in English). You’ve probably heard of it at some point, but it’s hard to know exactly what it means if you didn’t grow up with the concept. Qi is the life energy and the life force of all living things and is also seen as a kind of energy flow within the universe and the earth itself. Qi moves within and without the body. Translated literally, it means “breath” and there is a heavy focus on movement in understanding how qi works. Feng Shui utilizes this understanding of qi, of the ebb and flow of life energy, to choose “proper” locations and orientations for man made structures so as to keep them in balance with their surroundings and bring wealth and happiness to their inhabitants.

Feng shui, historically speaking, has been widely used throughout China for thousands of years to orient buildings in spiritually auspicious places. Spiritually significant structures (tombs, temples, and even homes) were given special consideration within this system. Using knowledge of astronomy, the local landscape, and often with the aid of a Luopan (a rather complex sort of magnetic compass designed specifically with feng shui in mind) it is thought that the practitioner can discover not only the proper geographical location for a building, but also the correct location in time for it to be built. There are various methods for achieving this and different schools of thought on just how such locations and times are to be calculated, that I am not really qualified to relate here. The whole thing is really that intricate.

The art of Feng Shui can be difficult to understand for the western mind. It is inextricably bound up with both the alchemical and magical philosophy behind Taoism and the very ordered thinking of Confucianism, both of which have been enormously influential on China for over two thousand years. By understanding that philosophies such as these are significant pieces of cultural heritage we can see the cause and effect behind the shaping of entire nations, and that is pretty cool if you ask me.

It is a terrible thing to blindly stumble after something ephemeral, something always moving just out of reach, only to be lead to a hideous fate you never saw coming.

I am, of course, talking about chasing the dream of secondary education and the resulting mountain of debt many people are crushed under. You thought I was talking about following the Will o’ the Wisp through the marsh? Yeah sure, that thing outright kills you, but at least it’s over quickly, right? Student Loan officers are infinitely more capable of toying with their victims, playing out their gruesome tortures over decades.

I shudder even to think of it!

It just goes to show that the best monsters weren’t all created hundreds of years ago.

Hyperbole aside, we’ve recently discussed the nature of the seemingly innocuous creature known as Will O’ The Wisp (aka, Will of the Torch, aka Jack of the Lantern, aka Them Crazy Lights in the Marsh) in one of this year’s Halloween strips. I will direct your attention there if you would like to refresh your memory or if you missed that update. Jack O’ Lantern and Will O’ the Wisp are both very similar concepts and very high up on my list of favorite mythological/folklore creations.

Yes, I keep a list of my favorites.

Yes, I am a huge nerd.

Graduation rears its ugly head in my future, as I’m sure it does for some of you. It feels both terrifying and amazing to know that I’ve actually made it through four years of school when I thought I’d never even go. Even though I know I’ve got a great deal out of attending art school (look through the strips from a couple of years ago and I think you’ll notice a difference), there are still questions over this mammoth debt I will be assuming for real in a few short months. I’m not one of those people that claims to have been mislead when I signed the papers for my student loans. I certainly knew what I was getting into. It still feels just a little bit strange at the moment, surreal somehow. Like that debt wasn’t entirely real until now.

Either way, I followed the light into the marsh, and it’s up to me to get myself out!

…or drown horribly in thick, muddy waters from which there is no escape, leaving behind grieving family and friends to carry on without me.

Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Hooray, College!

All of those great leaps in the advancement of art made by the ancient Greeks were little more than clever use of gorgon heads. The “Golden Ratio”? More like the “Gorgon Ratio”.

Don’t feel too bad if you didn’t know about this sort of thing, it’s secret art school stuff. We learn it in our first semester art history class.

The story of Medusa is a tragic one, as is the case for many of the monsters of myth, though the early tales spoken of her in Ancient Greece were more simple (they state that she was one of the offspring of marine deities, born as a monster and lived as a monster), there is a more compelling version related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. It goes like this:

At one time, Medusa was one of the loveliest young women in all the land and her hair was what she loved the most. Being such a fetching creature, she caught the attention many men, but none so powerful as the mighty lord of the seas, Poseidon. One day, whilst visiting the temple of Athena, for she was a priestess to the goddess, Medusa encountered the God of the oceans and a terrible event occurred that would change her life forever. Poseidon and Medusa lay together there in the temple, a sacrilegious act in the eyes of the Goddess of Wisdom. The enraged Athena, a strong and willful woman, decided to have revenge.

There was little Athena could do to another member of the Pantheon of gods. Poseidon was a powerful deity and a rival of hers, but this human woman who dared to enter her temple, to don the mantle of the priesthood, and to violate it with such crude acts would be punished. By the will of Athena, Medusa became a gorgon, scaled and hideous to behold, her mouth full of serpent’s fangs, her eyes would turn men to stone, and her hair, her beautiful hair that she had loved so much, became a mass of writhing snakes, each with a mind of its own, always snapping, always restless. Medusa would never again pride herself on her looks and that pride would never lead her to commit such acts before the eyes of the goddess again.

For many years, Medusa lived ashamed and horrified by her appearance. Her rare visitors were immediately turned to stone before her petrifying gaze, until the arrival of the great hero Perseus. It was he, with the magical gifts received from Athena over the course of his adventures, who ended the life of Medusa, beheading her and stuffing her head in a sack.

The story says that heroic Perseus eventually offered the head to Athena who placed it on her shield, the Aegis, and that it became emblazoned with the head of the deadly Gorgon woman.

I suppose that could be true, but maybe that head got around a little bit more, eventually making its way to the art world where it really made a splash.

You know what they say, nothing is truly set in stone.

Oh Lil K, you rascal! Where did he even get that top hat?

Lil K’s situation in this strip is one I have found myself in pretty often when conversing with other human beings. No, it’s not the fancy dinner party, it’s the issue of what, exactly, I am allowed to talk about. Nowadays, I’m not as concerned about offending people as I used to be, but it’s still something that nags at me from the back of my mind.

I feel like we live in a society that focuses heavily on the idea of contention and polarization. Republican vs Democrat, religious vs non religious, religion vs other religion, Godzilla vs Mothra and so on and so forth. The media, and our society in general, jams the idea down our throats that there are but two sides to every issue and that those issues are meant to be fought over, vehemently. When it comes time to have conversations and discourse with other human beings, however, contention is considered impolite and maybe even a little dangerous. It’s a strange dichotomy.

It often seems that we are only supposed to discuss our beliefs with like-minded individuals so that our long held preconceptions are not challenged and remolded, but rather reinforced and shoved into a narrower and narrower perspective. Where we should be able to discuss our ideas intelligently and openly, admitting flaws in our arguments as they are shown to us, we instead choose to look at only the particular facets of any given issue that strengthen those preconceptions.

By seeking only information and individuals that regurgitate the same ideas and opinions that we hold ourselves and by acting with aggression toward those that believe differently than us, we are doing a disservice to our societies and to our own minds. By seeing how others see, we get a glimpse of something we wouldn’t have come to on our own. One of my favorite personal reminders is “You can’t know what you don’t know.” It often takes a little prodding from something outside your own internal world to offer you a greater perspective on an issue or on life in general. Knowledge and insight don’t spring forth from a vacuum.

This simple concept is what has given rise to this website. I love drawing silly comics and reading about mythology but I also have this desire to offer something back to people. I could just try to be funny and make people laugh, but it doesn’t feel like enough, in my mind. By providing context for jokes and a little knowledge on life as I see it and as ancient people saw it, it’s my goal to help people think more critically about their lives and the lives of others. By showing you that there are deep connections between us, not just incredible differences, I’ve hoped to bring people together. That may be a bit much for a simple cartoonist to do, but hey, it’s my dream.

It’s important to remember that changing our views or even just recognizing the views of others as being valuable in some way isn’t turning you into a completely different person. You are who you are and the things you value today will change tomorrow. Such is life.

If you can just manage to keep learning, you will keep growing. If you can have difficult conversations with others and examine your beliefs without taking things personally, you will be a better person for it.

Or you can avoid the difficult topics and talk about genitalia at fancy dinner parties.

That is always an option!

It’s difficult buying birthday gifts for practicing Buddhists, nevermind the Buddha himself. That is, it’s tough unless you get creative with it. And by creative, what I really mean is cheap.

Or, in Lil K’s case, weirdly lucky.

It isn’t the Buddha’s birthday today (that is usually celebrated between April and May, sorry I missed it!), but it WAS my mother’s birthday a few days ago. She happens to be a Buddhist and a very difficult person to buy gifts for. I wanted to do something nice for her so this comic is dedicated to her.

When I was just a wee lad, my parents got divorced. It was kind of tough for all of us early on, but it was obviously the right thing to do as the two of them couldn’t possibly be more incompatible. What this meant was that I grew up between two houses and two families with two very different sets of ideals and beliefs. My father, a Christian, brought my brothers and I to Church a couple of Sundays a month and had us attend Sunday School while we were young. My mother, on the other hand, grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, left home and the religion at 18, and ended up settling into Buddhism when I was about 10 years old. She’s stuck with it all this time, meditating frequently, and going on retreats. It’s from her that I learned the basic ideas of Buddhism that sparked my curiosity in other religions and, eventually, my interest in mythology.

Between my two families I had two religions that I didn’t have much interest in being a part of, but which I found immensely fascinating from a scholarly perspective.

The figures of Jesus and Buddha had so many similarities and some terribly interesting stories that got me thinking about the stories of other people around the world.

The Buddha (to me anyway, and I realize this is subjective) seemed to be offering a much more complicated message than the prophets and founders of other major religions, though it isn’t wholly unfamiliar. The Buddha preached, first and foremost, the concept of mindfulness; the idea that one should strive to always be aware of the things they are doing at any given moment, that one should consider their actions and the consequences of those actions. Along with mindfulness comes freeing oneself from desire, letting go of the things you don’t need and paying attention to what is actually important (like in today’s comic!). Finally, compassion for all living things and an awareness of the suffering every creature goes through over the course of its life is immensely important to cultivate in oneself to the practicing Buddhist.

Obviously, there’s some overlap here with Jesus’s teachings. The idea of compassion for others, of giving up material goods, and the fact that they were both reforming religions that came before are all traits common to both figures. It’s interesting to note that it has been said that Buddhism is less a religion and more a philosophy and way of life. There are some people that practice both Buddhism and Christianity or Islam or whatever.

Of course, Buddhism is far more complicated than a paragraph or two can convey (as all religions are) but it’s one that seems to resonate with a great many people all around the world. Though I may not adhere to it as a practitioner, it has taught me a great deal about myself and others and for that, I’m thankful.

So to the Buddha, I say thanks for helping me find my interest in world religions and mythology, and to my mother I say thanks for helping me find the Buddha in everyone.

Happy birthday, mom. I offer you Mettā.

And to you, dear reader, I do the same.