Western esoterism : Ultimate Sacred Postulates and Ritual Fields

The greater part of Western Esoterism holds beliefs in five important matrices. This branch of esoterism, rooted in a Hermetic milieu, is labelled dialectical esoterism because of the dialectical relationship between the ‘lower’ (man, earth) and the ‘higher’ (heaven, the divine, God). These five matrices are: I: Purpose (pronoia), rather than karma or sin. II: The dialectical relationship between Man and God (or the divine), including the healing of other people, society and/or the Earth. III: The inter-dependency of Dualism and Monism, including the mind and/or the world as a stairway to heaven. IV: Scientific laws are synonymous with spiritual principles. V: The holistic cosmos, including the concept of ‘sympathy’ between its parts. The aim of this thesis is to make clear that Western Esoterism is unique because of the presence of the five matrices and deals with both ‘beliefs’ (recognition) and ‘doing’ (religious practices, e.g. astrology, alchemy, magic and clairvoyance). As a consequence it is also demonstrated that foreign religious ideas and practices can be assimilated because they are transformed and hence adopt new meanings in order to fit the important USP of Western Esoterism

Quantification of root fungi using signature fatty acids

Both deleterious (pathogenic) and beneficial (mycorrhizal) fungi inhabit plant roots with strong impact on plant growth and health. Various methods have been used to quantify these fungi, such as indirect measurements of plant parameters, disease index, staining techniques and serological/genetic/biochemical markers. The objective of this work is to evaluate the possibility of using signature fatty acids to quantify root-inhabiting fungi in planta and in soil. Different fatty acid-based methods can be used to quantify fungi. Phospholid fatty acids (PLFA) can be used for biomass estimation and neutral lipid fatty acids (NLFA) for estimation of fungal energy reserves and the NLFA/PLFA ratio can give information on the physiological status of the fungus. It is quite laborious to make PLFA and NLFA analyses; so whole cell fatty acid (WCFA) analyses, which are much faster, can be used as a faster alternative to give information of root infection intensity. Signature fatty acids have been used to quantify arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (16:1ω5) and the pea root pathogen Aphanomyces euteiches (14:1ω9). Recently, we have further used arachadonic acid (20:4) to estimate root infection intensity of the plasmodiophorids Plasmodiophora brassica, causing club root in cabbage and Spongospora subterranea, the vector of mop top potato virus. Specificity of the various signature fatty acids of root-inhabiting fungi are discussed in relation to quantifying these fungi in both controlled greenhouse pot experiments and in the field. Furthermore, the possibility of using signature fatty acids to estimate soil inoculum potential of root-inhabiting fungi are discussed

A 4.5 Year‐Long Record of Svalbard Water Vapor Isotopic Composition Documents Winter Air Mass Origin

From May 2014 to September 2018, a laser spectrometer analyzer provided a 4.5 years continuous record of water vapor isotopic composition at Ny-Ålesund (8 m above sea level, a.s.l.), Svalbard. It corresponds to the longest data set published in polar regions. A comparison of this data set with a parallel similar data set obtained during 20 days by a second laser spectrometer installed near Mount Zeppelin (474 m a.s.l.) shows that this data set is representative of a regional signal. In addition, the observation of insignificant diurnal cycles in the isotopic signal compared to the strong isotopic signature of synoptic events and the comparison of simultaneous measurements in the vapor and in rain or snow samples lead to the conclusion that our record reflects a large part of the regional dynamics of the atmospheric water cycle driven by large-scale variability. This study focuses on winters dominated by the occurrence of synoptic events associated with humidity peaks. Using statistics and back trajectories calculations, we link high humidity peaks characterized by an anticorrelation between δ18O and d-excess in the water vapor to a rapid shift of air mass source regions from the Arctic to the North Atlantic Ocean below 60°N. On the other hand, correlation between δ18O and d-excess may be associated with a shift of air mass sources within the Arctic. These results demonstrate the added value of long-term water vapor isotopic monitoring to better understand the moisture origin in the Arctic and the atmospheric dynamics.publishedVersio