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bao3bei4 · 4 years ago

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fan language: the victorian imaginary and cnovel fandom

there’s this pinterest image i’ve seen circulating a lot in the past year i’ve been on fandom social media. it’s a drawn infographic of a, i guess, asian-looking woman holding a fan in different places relative to her face to show what the graphic helpfully calls “the language of the fan.”

people like sharing it. they like thinking about what nefarious ancient chinese hanky code shenanigans their favorite fan-toting character might get up to⁠—accidentally or on purpose. and what’s the problem with that?

the problem is that fan language isn’t chinese. it’s victorian. and even then, it’s not really quite victorian at all.

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fans served a primarily utilitarian purpose throughout chinese history. of course, most of the surviving fans we see⁠—and the types of fans we tend to care about⁠—are closer to art pieces. but realistically speaking, the majority of fans were made of cheaper material for more mundane purposes. in china, just like all around the world, people fanned themselves. it got hot!

so here’s a big tipoff. it would be very difficult to use a fan if you had an elaborate language centered around fanning yourself.

you might argue that fine, everyday working people didn’t have a fan language. but wealthy people might have had one. the problem we encounter here is that fans weren’t really gendered. (caveat here that certain types of fans were more popular with women. however, those tended to be the round silk fans, ones that bear no resemblance to the folding fans in the graphic). no disrespect to the gnc old man fuckers in the crowd, but this language isn’t quite masc enough for a tool that someone’s dad might regularly use.

folding fans, we know, reached europe in the 17th century and gained immense popularity in the 18th. it was there that fans began to take on a gendered quality. ariel beaujot describes in their 2012 victorian fashion accessories how middle class women, in the midst of a top shortage, found themselves clutching fans in hopes of securing a husband.

she quotes an article from the illustrated london news, suggesting “women ‘not only’ used fans to ‘move the air and cool themselves but also to express their sentiments.’” general wisdom was that the movement of the fan was sufficiently expressive that it augmented a woman’s displays of emotion. and of course, the more english audiences became aware that it might do so, the more they might use their fans purposefully in that way.

notice, however, that this is no more codified than body language in general is. it turns out that “the language of the fan” was actually created by fan manufacturers at the turn of the 20th century⁠—hundreds of years after their arrival⁠ in europe—to sell more fans. i’m not even kidding right now. the story goes that it was louis duvelleroy of the maison duvelleroy who decided to include pamphlets on the language with each fan sold.

interestingly enough, beaujot suggests that it didn’t really matter what each particular fan sign meant. gentlemen could tell when they were being flirted with. as it happens, meaningful eye contact and a light flutter near the face may be a lingua franca.

so it seems then, the language of the fan is merely part of this victorian imaginary we collectively have today, which in turn itself was itself captivated by china.

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victorian references come up perhaps unexpectedly often in cnovel fandom, most often with regards to modesty.

it’s a bit of an awkward reference considering that chinese traditional fashion⁠—and the ambiguous time periods in which these novels are set⁠—far predate victorian england. it is even more awkward considering that victoria and her covered ankles did um. imperialize china.

but nonetheless, it is common. and to make a point about how ubiquitous it is, here is a link to the twitter search for “sqq victorian.” sqq is the fandom abbreviation for shen qingqiu, the main character of the scum villain’s self-saving system, by the way.

this is an awful lot of results for a search involving a chinese man who spends the entire novel in either real modern-day china or fantasy ancient china. that’s all i’m going to say on the matter, without referencing any specific tweet.

i think people are aware of the anachronism. and i think they don’t mind. even the most cursory research reveals that fan language is european and a revisionist fantasy. wikipedia can tell us this⁠—i checked!

but it doesn’t matter to me whether people are trying to make an internally consistent canon compliant claim, or whether they’re just free associating between fan facts they know. it is, instead, more interesting to me that people consistently refer to this particular bit of history. and that’s what i want to talk about today⁠—the relationship of fandom today to this two hundred odd year span of time in england (roughly stuart to victorian times) and england in that time period to its contemporaneous china.

things will slip a little here. victorian has expanded in timeframe, if only because random guys posting online do not care overly much for respect for the intricacies of british history. china has expanded in geographic location, if only because the english of the time themselves conflated china with all of asia.

in addition, note that i am critiquing a certain perspective on the topic. this is why i write about fan as white here⁠—not because all fans are white⁠—but because the tendencies i’m examining have a clear historical antecedent in whiteness that shapes how white fans encounter these novels.

i’m sure some fans of color participate in these practices. however i don’t really care about that. they are not its main perpetrators nor its main beneficiaries. so personally i am minding my own business on that front.

it’s instead important to me to illuminate the linkage between white as subject and chinese as object in history and in the present that i do argue that fannish products today are built upon.

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it’s not radical, or even new at all, for white audiences to consume⁠—or create their own versions of⁠—chinese art en masse. in many ways the white creators who appear to owe their whole style and aesthetic to their asian peers in turn are just the new chinoiserie.

this is not to say that white people can’t create asian-inspired art. but rather, i am asking you to sit with the discomfort that you may not like the artistic company you keep in the broader view of history, and to consider together what is to be done about that.

now, when i say the new chinoiserie, i first want to establish what the original one is. chinoiserie was a european artistic movement that appeared coincident with the rise in popularity of folding fans that i described above. this is not by coincidence; the european demand for asian imports and the eventual production of lookalikes is the movement itself. so: when we talk about fans, when we talk about china (porcelain), when we talk about tea in england⁠—we are talking about the legacy of chinoiserie.

there are a couple things i want to note here. while english people as a whole had a very tenuous knowledge of what china might be, their appetites for chinoiserie were roughly coincident with national relations with china. as the relationship between england and china moved from trade to out-and-out wars, chinoiserie declined in popularity until china had been safely subjugated once more by the end of the 19th century.

the second thing i want to note on the subject that contrary to what one might think at first, the appeal of chinoiserie was not that it was foreign. eugenia zuroski’s 2013 taste for china examines 18th century english literature and its descriptions of the according material culture with the lens that chinese imports might be formative to english identity, rather than antithetical to it.

beyond that bare thesis, i think it’s also worthwhile to extend her insight that material objects become animated by the literary viewpoints on them. this is true, both in a limited general sense as well as in the sense that english thinkers of the time self-consciously articulated this viewpoint. consider the quote from the illustrated london news above⁠—your fan, that object, says something about you. and not only that, but the objects you surround yourself with ought to.

it’s a bit circular, the idea that written material says that you should allow written material to shape your understanding of physical objects. but it’s both 1) what happened, and 2) integral, i think, to integrating a fannish perspective into the topic.

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japanning is the name for the popular imitative lacquering that english craftspeople developed in domestic response to the demand for lacquerware imports. in the eighteenth century, japanning became an artform especially suited for young women. manuals were published on the subject, urging young women to learn how to paint furniture and other surfaces, encouraging them to rework the designs provided in the text.

it was considered a beneficial activity for them; zuroski describes how it was “associated with commerce and connoisseurship, practical skill and aesthetic judgment.” a skillful japanner, rather than simply obscuring what lay underneath the lacquer, displayed their superior judgment in how they chose to arrange these new canonical figures and effects in a tasteful way to bring out the best qualities of them.

zuroski quotes the first english-language manual on the subject, written in 1688, which explains how japanning allows one to:

alter and correct, take out a piece from one, add a fragment to the next, and make an entire garment compleat in all its parts, though tis wrought out of never so many disagreeing patterns.

this language evokes a very different, very modern practice. it is this english reworking of an asian artform that i think the parallels are most obvious.

white people, through their artistic investment in chinese material objects and aesthetics, integrated them into their own subjectivity. these practices came to say something about the people who participated in them, in a way that had little to do with the country itself. their relationship changed from being a “consumer” of chinese objects to becoming the proprietor of these new aesthetic signifiers.

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i want to talk about this through a few pairs of tensions on the subject that i think characterize common attitudes then and now.

first, consider the relationship between the self and the other: the chinese object as something that is very familiar to you, speaking to something about your own self vs. the chinese object as something that is fundamentally different from you and unknowable to you.

consider: [insert character name] is just like me. he would no doubt like the same things i like, consume the same cultural products. we are the same in some meaningful way vs. the fast standard fic disclaimer that “i tried my best when writing this fic, but i’m a english-speaking westerner, and i’m just writing this for fun so...... [excuses and alterations the person has chosen to make in this light],” going hand-in-hand with a preoccupation with authenticity or even overreliance on the unpaid labor of chinese friends and acquaintances.

consider: hugh honour when he quotes a man from the 1640s claiming “chinoiserie of this even more hybrid kind had become so far removed from genuine Chinese tradition that it was exported from India to China as a novelty to the Chinese themselves”

these tensions coexist, and look how they have been resolved.

second, consider what we vest in objects themselves: beaujot explains how the fan became a sexualized, coquettish object in the hands of a british woman, but was used to great effect in gilbert and sullivan’s 1885 mikado to demonstrate the docility of asian women.

consider: these characters became expressions of your sexual desires and fetishes, even as their 5’10 actors themselves are emasculated.

what is liberating for one necessitates the subjugation and fetishization of the other.

third, consider reactions to the practice: enjoyment of chinese objects as a sign of your cosmopolitan palate vs “so what’s the hype about those ancient chinese gays” pop culture explainers that addressed the unconvinced mainstream.

consider: zuroski describes how both english consumers purchased china in droves, and contemporary publications reported on them. how:

It was in the pages of these papers that the growing popularity of Chinese things in the early eighteenth century acquired the reputation of a “craze”; they portrayed china fanatics as flawed, fragile, and unreliable characters, and frequently cast chinoiserie itself in the same light.

referenda on fannish behavior serve as referenda on the objects of their devotion, and vice versa. as the difference between identity and fetish collapses, they come to be treated as one and the same by not just participants but their observers.

at what point does mxtx fic cease to be chinese?

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finally, it seems readily apparent that attitudes towards chinese objects may in fact have something to do with attitudes about china as a country. i do not want to suggest that these literary concerns are primarily motivated and begot by forces entirely divorced from the real mechanics of power.

here, i want to bring in edward said, and his 1993 culture and imperialism. there, he explains how power and legitimacy go hand in hand. one is direct, and one is purely cultural. he originally wrote this in response to the outsize impact that british novelists have had in the maintenance of empire and throughout decolonization. literature, he argues, gives rise to powerful narratives that constrain our ability to think outside of them.

there’s a little bit of an inversion at play here. these are chinese novels, actually. but they’re being transformed by white narratives and artists. and just as i think the form of the novel is important to said’s critique, i think there’s something to be said about the form that fic takes and how it legitimates itself.

bound up in fandom is the idea that you have a right to create and transform as you please. it is a nice idea, but it is one that is directed towards a certain kind of asymmetry. that is, one where the author has all the power. this is the narrative we hear a lot in the history of fandom⁠—litigious authors and plucky fans, fanspaces always under attack from corporate sanitization.

meanwhile, said builds upon raymond schwab’s narrative of cultural exchange between european writers and cultural products outside the imperial core. said explains that fundamental to these two great borrowings (from greek classics and, in the so-called “oriental renaissance” of the late 18th, early 19th centuries from “india, china, japan, persia, and islam”) is asymmetry.

he had argued prior, in orientalism, that any “cultural exchange” between “partners conscious of inequality” always results in the suffering of the people. and here, he describes how “texts by dead people were read, appreciated, and appropriated” without the presence of any actual living people in that tradition.

i will not understate that there is a certain economic dynamic complicating this particular fannish asymmetry. mxtx has profited materially from the success of her works, most fans will not. also secondly, mxtx is um. not dead. LMAO.

but first, the international dynamic of extraction that said described is still present. i do not want to get overly into white attitudes towards china in this post, because i am already thoroughly derailed, but i do believe that they structure how white cnovel fandom encounters this texts.

at any rate, any profit she receives is overwhelmingly due to her domestic popularity, not her international popularity. (i say this because many of her international fans have never given her a cent. in fact, most of them have no real way to.) and moreover, as we talk about the structure of english-language fandom, what does it mean to create chinese cultural products without chinese people?

as white people take ownership over their versions of stories, do we lose something? what narratives about engagement with cnovels might exist outside of the form of classic fandom?

i think a lot of people get the relationship between ideas (the superstructure) and production (the base) confused. oftentimes they will lob in response to criticism, that look! this fic, this fandom, these people are so niche, and so underrepresented in mainstream culture, that their effects are marginal. i am not arguing that anyone’s cql fic causes imperialism. (unless you’re really annoying. then it’s anyone’s game)

i’m instead arguing something a little bit different. i think, given similar inputs, you tend to get similar outputs. i think we live in the world that imperialism built, and we have clear historical predecessors in terms of white appetites for creating, consuming, and transforming chinese objects.

we have already seen, in the case of the fan language meme that began this post, that sometimes we even prefer this white chinoiserie. after all, isn’t it beautiful, too?

i want to bring discomfort to this topic. i want to reject the paradigm of white subject and chinese object; in fact, here in this essay, i have tried to reverse it.

if you are taken aback by the comparisons i make here, how can you make meaningful changes to your fannish practice to address it?

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some concluding thoughts on the matter, because i don’t like being misunderstood!

i am not claiming white fans cannot create fanworks of cnovels or be inspired by asian art or artists. this essay is meant to elaborate on the historical connection between victorian england and cnovel characters and fandom that others have already popularized.

i don’t think people who make victorian jokes are inherently bad or racist. i am encouraging people to think about why we might make them and/or share them

the connections here are meant to be more provocative than strictly literal. (e.g. i don’t literally think writing fanfic is a 1-1 descendant of japanning). these connections are instead meant to 1) make visible the baggage that fans of color often approach fandom with and 2) recontextualize and defamiliarize fannish practice for the purposes of honest critique

please don’t turn this post into being about other different kinds of discourse, or into something that only one “kind” of fan does. please take my words at face value and consider them in good faith. i would really appreciate that.

please feel free to ask me to clarify any statements or supply more in-depth sources :)

#x #-__- another fandom essay sorry

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thegrapeandthefig · 4 years ago

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Actual ancient lapidaries or "the ancient Greeks and Romans probably didn't use crystals the way you think they did"

The Internet being of cyclic nature, I feel like talks about the use of crystals come back to view at least twice a year. I usually don't pay much attention to those discussions, since they tend to be unfruitful and, to be quite frank, boring. However, the topic of the historicity of linking certain stones to certain gods -or more widely- properties is an interesting one nonetheless.

But first, a disclaimer: 1) Some of the practices I will be describing below are not safe and should not be reproduced at home. I feel like this should go without saying, but the fact Goop's jade egg is still on the market only proves the necessity of such disclaimer. 2) I do not care about people's personal practices. If you associate certain stones with deities, good for you. It's not my problem and this post isn't meant to attack your practice. It's merely meant to put some things within context.

Now that this is out of the way, let's define the matter at hand. Let me start by saying that from this point on, I will refer to "crystals" as "gems" or "stones". Both terms seem to be more appropriate and widely used in academical context.

The sources

We do not lack evidence of gemstone usage in the Ancient world, both literary and archaeological. Usage included jewelry making, medicine, and magic. The first is a given so I won't dwell on it. I am more interested in the other two and how they relate to each other.

On the literary side, the earliest Greek treatise on stones is from Theophrastus (371 - 287 BC), titled Περὶ λίθων ("On stones", quite literally). In this work, he lists the stones known to him and their properties from a physical standpoint and explains where they are found in the Greek world. He gives, in general, very few indications of potential magical properties.

We start having much more literature around the properties of gems in the Roman period, especially around the 1st century BC onwards, with Pliny the Elder's (23/24 – 79 AD) Natural History, and the works of Greek physicians like Dioscorides (40–90 AD) and Galen (129 – 216 AD). Some of those works will be considered of importance throughout the Middle Ages, while some will be "rediscovered" at the Renaissance.

On the archaeological side, we have thousands of magical gems (see: the Campbell Bonner database). Here is the official definition given by the database:

"The designation 'magical gem' is a category of modern archaeology, which denotes the most sophisticated amulet type of the Roman Imperial Period. Magical gems were carved of precious stones sized 1 to 3 centimeters, chiefly between the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD, and were designed to bring their owners health, prosperity and love. Their typology follows the shapes of Graeco-Roman glyptics complemented with a few Mesopotamian and Egyptian variants. They are distinguished by their characteristic engravings of inscriptions, signs and images, which usually appear on both faces of the gems, and sometimes even on the edge."

Their usage

Interestingly, the timeframe the previous definition gives fits the one where we find the majority of literary sources. This is probably no coincidence, and it probably isn't a coincidence that interest in stones and gems seems to appear after the Classical period, especially if we consider the importance of Egyptian and Mesopotamian elements found on them. This would coincide nicely with the growth of the Hellenistic Empire.

Before I jump into what would be considered "magical use" (the lines are blurry, as we'll see), let me give a few examples of medical use taken from Dioscorides:

IV, 139 λίθος σάπφειρος, Lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli seems to help people stung by scorpions when drunk. It is drunk for internal ulcerations and it shrinks excrescences, defects inside the cornea, and pustules on the eyes, and it joins together the rents of their membranes.

Here we have an example of how the stone could be used as an ingredient: filed down to a powdery state and most likely mixed with wine before being drunk by the patient. Another example, still from Dioscorides, would be qualified today as on leaning more on the magical side:

V, 142 λίθος ίασπις, Jasper There is a jasper which is emerald green, another like crystal resembling phlegm, another light blue, another smoky as if it were blackened with smoke, one which has cracks that are quite white <and> shining and which is called astrios, and there is one called terebinthizon, resembling turquoise in color. All seem to guard against evil when hung on a person and to promote a speedy birth when tied around the thigh.

While, in the case of Selenite, both "medical" and "magical" properties are offered:

V, 141 λίθος σεληνίτης, Selenite Selenite, which some people have called aphroselenos because it is found at night when the moon waxes, occurs in Arabia. It is white, transparent, and light. Filed down, it is given as a drink to epileptics and women use it as a protective amulet. It also seems to make trees fruitful when attached on them.

There comes the issue of correspondences. Here Dioscorides gives us straightforward uses but doesn't necessarily tell if the colour matters and/or if something should be carved on it. Meanwhile, the archaeological pieces we have are all inscribed somehow (and it's very likely how the modern eye could distinguish them from just any shiny rock).

So the question is, what makes magical gems magical? Attilio Mastrocinque in his article The Colours of Magical Gems noticed a pattern between the colour of the chosen gem and the organ/bodily function/secretion it is supposed to regulate or heal:

The series of gems discussed above show that haematite (and its reddish-brown variety, i.e. limonite) was used to protect red-brown organs, such as the liver and kidney, and that natural pieces of this stone actually have the shape and gloss of these organs. The inscriptions on several gems confirm that they were amulets for the liver. Moreover the Syrian god Adad was known for his stone kidney, and a Syrian haematite intaglio is shaped like a kidney. The colour and properties of stones were supposed to be syntonic with the world of the gods.

Stomach or intestinal diseases, pregnancy and the womb’s other functions, and breast-feeding were dealt with thanks to Chnoubis and his gems. The liquid secretions on which bodily health depended are red (blood), black (when the intestine is bleeding), green or transparent (the stomach juices), and white (milk). Chnoubis gems are rarely red or yellow, whereas they are often white, green, and sometimes transparent or black. If we reject the idea of casuality, we must look for a logic or a taxonomy in the choice of colour. A possible explanation emerges from the colours, because white stones were suitable for breast-feeding and the iconography of a threeheaded Chnoubis appears on a white gem. This iconography is known as useful for breast-feeding. Therefore: white gems = milk. Greek physicians recommended, in case of stomach diseases, green or transparent stones with the image of this god. Therefore: green or transparent gems = the stomach, whose juices are green or transparent. Other physicians recommended transparent stones for pleuritic and hip diseases, and therefore another possibility is: transparent gems = pleura and hips; but in this case the colour was scarcely related with the disease. Another numerous group of gems shows this god over the womb, and these gems are of haematite.

The divinities majoritarily represented on magical gems are not strictly Greek. Chnoubis or Chnoumis is the Greek name of the Egyptian creator god Chnoum, for example. Even hematite gems which are described as representing Ares are explained by Mastrocinque this way:

This Ares is not the Greek god, but the result of cultural synthesis in which a Syrian god assumed the iconography of the Homeric god. This iconography was used to represent Syrian gods like Azizos and Arsou, or the warlike god of the Nabataeans.

It seems more and more clear that the Greeks and, by extension, the Romans, adopted a long Egyptian and Eastern tradition. There are, still, gems that clearly show Greco-Roman elements:

Pliny describes a type of coral called Gorgonia, after the monster’s name. In fact a series of coral gems with Medusa’s face have been preserved (Pl. 3a). Red jasper could be used as a substitute for coral, as is proved by gems with the same subject. These gems often have an image of Hekate on the reverse; both Gorgon and Hekate were considered to be powerful characters in averting demons, illnesses and enemies.

In this case, we find both the Gorgon and Hekate in very traditional apotropaic positions. More interesting, however, in a series of amulets showing Herakles fighting the Nemean lion serving this purpose (Christopher Faraone, Text, Image and Medium: The Evolution of Graeco-Roman Magical Gemstones):

In his chapter ‘On the colicky condition’ Alexander of Tralles, a 6th-century ad Greek physician, prescribes the following treatment for colic, a painful disease of the lower intestine: ‘On a Median stone engrave Heracles standing upright and throttling a lion. Set it in a gold ring and give it to the patient to wear’ (2.579). There is some confusion about the precise identity of the ‘Median stone’ in this passage, which may have been a form of haematite or magnetite but Alexander’s description coincides well with a popular series of amulets that consist of an opaque red stone (almost always jasper) engraved with the wrestling scene that he describes; [...]

This particular case is interesting because, as Faraone notes, we know of the existence of a carnelian scarab with the same scene that was found in a 5th century BC grave in Cyprus. More curious is the fact that this specific scarab also has two eyes of Horus next to Herakles. It is impossible to know if this amulet was just that, a protective amulet featuring two highly apotropaic symbols or if it was intended as something else.

One last notable example before I start wrapping things up. There is a series of lapis-lazuli gems that represent Aphrodite Anadyomene ("rising from the sea"). The Campbell Bonner database counts 23 of these. On these, Faraone says:

On the back of the stone we find the magical word arôriphrasis which is typical of these amulets, as we can see from one of the lapis stones in the British Museum (Pl. 12c). Scholars, myself included, sometimes repeat the claim that arôriphrasis transliterates an Egyptian title of the goddess Hathor as ‘The Lady of the Blue Stone’; the epithet exists, but apparently bears no phonetic resemblance to the word arôriphrasis on the gemstone. We do find, however, on one lapis gem of this type the name ‘<H>athor’ inscribed before arôriphrasis, suggesting that the word – whatever it means – was, indeed, an epithet of some sort, and since Hathor and Aphrodite are assimilated in Graeco-Roman Egypt, there is some logic to the appearance of the name and Aphrodite on these blue stones. As in the case of the other types, a rare inscribed prayer tells us much about the perceived power of this kind of amulet: on a greenish lapis gem of another type (with Aphrodite and Ares) we read: ‘Arôriphrasis, give your charm to the bearer’. It would seem, then, that like the name Chnoubis, arôriphrasis identifies a divinity – probably Aphrodite/Hathor – who is thereby invoked to produce charm and beauty in the person who wears the gem.

Once again, we have a case of an association linked to a Greco-Egyptian syncretism. It is worth noting, however, that other gems representing Aphrodite aren't necessarily blue. She is also found on hematite, carnelian, or amethyst, amongst others. This would lead us to believe that the choice of the gem is not made upon the basis of correspondence with a divinity, rather than the function, as seen with the medical examples above or, as with this example, a specific epithet or specific voces magicae (and even then, there is an example of Aphrodite Anadyomene on orange/red carnelian...)

This perhaps explains why it is possible to find such statements in some studies:

"It may be observed that gemstones depicting Jupiter are frequently cut on milky chalcedony; those showing Sol are often on heliotrope which was thought to reflect the sun’s rays; of Mars on red jasper or cornelian, the colour of blood; of Demeter on green jasper which has a sympathy with vegetation and of Bacchus on amethyst which was believed to be wine coloured hand to prevent drunkenness. Such systems of correspondences, differing in detail no doubt, form a continuous tradition linking the Hellenistic age to the very end of the Middle Ages. During all that time lapidaries, stone books, were consulted. No doubt they were in Roman Britain."

This quote I took from Religion in Roman Britain by Martin Henig, who only references Joan Evans as source (Magical jewels of the middle ages and the renaissance particularly in England, 1922). Some of those observations, which clearly are hard to consider valid for generalization (counterexamples are plenty) also contradict other systems of correspondences, such as the one found in PGM CX. 1-12:

. . . a voice comes to you in conversation. Lay out the stars on the board in their natural order, with the exception of the sun and the moon. Make the sun gold, the moon silver, Kronos of obsidian, Ares of yellow-green onyx, Aphrodite of lapis-lazuli streaked with gold, Hermes of turquoise; make Zeus of a [dark blue] stone, but underneath of crystal.

The PGM (Greek Magical Papyri) is always a difficult source to assess because of its syncretic and fragmented nature. In any case, its material is dated between the 1st and 4th century AD, which is a timeframe that is likely to be in sync with Roman Britain. It is worth noting that this specific passage of the PGM refers to the planets carrying the names of deities.

In any case, none of those correspondences seem to fit with modern ones, which are, for the most part, taken from an entirely different system (especially the bastardized/westernized idea of chakras). As for other uses, we can clearly see that some of the health claims made by "lithotherapists" (or just Karens on the Internet) trace back to ancient Greek medical treatises. And, please, don't ingest crystals.

Attilio Mastrocinque, The Colours of Magical Gems

Veronique Dasen, Magic and Medicine: Gems and the Power of Seals

Christopher A. Faraone, Text, Image and Medium: the Evolution of Graeco-Roman Magical Gemstones, all 3 in: Gems of Heaven : Recent Research on Engraved Gemstones in Late Antiquity c. AD 200 (eds. Chris Entwistle & Noel Adams), British Museum Press, 2012

Hans Dieter Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation Including the Demotic Spells, 1986

Dioscorides & Lily Y. Beck (tran.), De materia medica, 2005

#hellenic polytheism #hellenic witch #hellenic pagan #hellenic paganism #crystals

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weddingphotoghraphy-blog · 5 years ago

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TOP TIPS FOR CHOOSING A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

All in all, you have a dress, the suits, blossoms, cake and a band… .however what is the one thing that will stay an everlasting memory of your big day? Your photographs should be a wonderful and immortal record of the most significant day of your life and should support each lady of the hour and man of the hour to re-live the sentiment and energy allover once more.

Picking a wedding picture taker can be an overwhelming procedure yet ideally my five top tips will give you an interesting point when settling on your choice.

1 – Image quality/style

Worcestershire-wedding-picture taker Paul-willettsThe nature of a picture taker's portfolio ought to be the main thing that catches your consideration. A decent picture taker ought to have the option to offer customers an assortment of styles, catching the characters of the lady of the hour and groom and displaying the satisfaction and enjoyment of the day. Be sure about what style you might want and ensure the picture taker can give this in their portfolio.

In the event that you are attracted to a specific picture taker, ensure you solicit to see all from their pictures (not simply the top choices they pick for their sites!) https://rajesharya.com/ with the goal that you can check the picture quality is steady all through.

Know that picture takers have distinctive altering strategies. In the event that a picture is vigorously altered, at that point chances are this will be a typical topic inside their photography portfolio and is generally an endeavor to attempt to conceal low quality.

Most importantly, the style of the pictures should say something regarding you both as a couple. Regardless of whether you are searching for loose and casual photography or you might want to go for an increasingly audacious and contemporary style, make certain to get your work done and look around.

2 – Personality

As a lady of the hour and man of the hour, you put a great deal of trust and confidence in your wedding picture taker. So as to get the best pictures and a genuine record of the most significant day of your life, it is basic that you feel good and loose in their presence.Photographer-Worcetsershire

You can as a rule tell inside the initial 5 minutes of meeting somebody, regardless of whether you feel a compatibility or association. Initial introductions are vital and on the off chance that you in a flash strike a bond, at that point you are on to something worth being thankful for. In the event that you feel awkward around your picture taker for reasons unknown, at that point this will turn out to be obvious in your wedding photographs.

Likewise, think about your visitors. On the off chance that your wedding picture taker is receptive, neighborly and rational, your visitors will be quiet permitting the photographic artist to mix in and catch the day as it normally unfurls as opposed to a constrained and presented account.

Keep in mind, a genuine grin is difficult to counterfeit so pick admirably and guarantee you meet with your picture taker a few times before affirming your booking.

3 – Value for cash/cost

This can frequently be a central factor for a great deal of ladies and grooms and in spite of the fact that it is an imperative component, it ought not be the reason for your choice. Very good quality costs don't generally ensure the highest caliber however in like manner, sensible evaluating doesn't generally portray low quality.

A picture taker ought to be open about their valuing structures and thusly, you ought to be sure about your financial limit. Neither one of you needs to burn through whenever so a reasonable discourse directly from the earliest starting point will resolve this.Wedding-photography-paul-willetts

Your picture taker should offer an assortment of bundles to suit all and ought to consistently be adaptable with estimating and what is incorporated inside each bundle. Your picture taker is offering a support and each couple will have various desires and prerequisites so ensure that your photographic artist can tailor make a bundle to suit your necessities.

Continuously make sure to get some information about any shrouded additional items. A few picture takers charge an extra expense for altering, VAT, making work of art for a collection or even travel and nourishment costs. You ought to consistently guarantee that all expenses are nitty gritty in a statement before entering in to any legally binding understanding.

4 – Experience

The experience a picture taker has will have an enormous impact in the association and structure of the day. I am certain numerous picture takers will concur that they have frequently assumed the job of organizer, picture taker, speaker and youngsters' performer. Taking the photographs is only a little piece of being a wedding picture taker and without the vital experience and the capacity to perform under consistent tension significant minutes can be effectively missed.Matara-focus Wedding-Phtography

Continuously attempt to pick a wedding phtography who has just worked at your wedding setting. This isn't a need yet your picture taker must demonstrate an ability to meet at the setting normally, investigating the best photograph areas and open doors just as setting aside the effort to go through the structure of the day. It is likewise a smart thought for the picture taker to meet with the setting owner/wedding facilitator to ensure everybody is sure about the days plan from beginning to end.

Guarantee you ask what number of weddings they have secured since they started exchanging and to what extent they have been in the business. This doesn't imply that they are any less able in the event that they have just be exchanging for a brief timeframe however will give you a smart thought of experience picked up. So also, if a picture taker has been in the business for a considerable length of time and has involvement with bounty, you might need to watch that their style has moved with the occasions and will meet the desires for a cutting edge lady of the hour and husband to be.

5 – Recommendations/Word of Mouth

A great deal of my appointments have come through proposals from past customers and informal. On the off chance that your loved ones have been content with the nature of the administration and work of a specific picture taker at that point chances are, you will be as well. Once more, this ought not be the principle explanation behind your decision however ought to be the last bit of the jigsaw.Wedding-Photography-Paul-Willetts

Address your companions about their encounters with their wedding picture taker and attempt to utilize tips and exhortation from the individuals who have sorted out their own weddings. A decent picture taker will consistently have the option to give you a tribute from past customers upon ask for or even furnish you with contact subtleties should you wish to get notification from them straightforwardly.

Taking everything into account, these best 5 hints ought not be viewed as in any request for significance. Each point is as significant as the following and while picking the correct wedding picture taker for you, a blend of these elements ought to be utilized as a reason for your choice. May I want you to enjoy all that life has to offer of karma in your wedding arranging and a long and upbeat future together.

On the off chance that you need to peruse what individuals need to state about me, at that point why not look at my tributes pages I guarantee its all evident.If you want know more information about on click here.

#weddingphotoghraphy #best wedding photographer melbourne

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bluemoonpunch · 7 years ago

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Shop Update - October 1st

The shop will be open on October 1st and will close for a 1-week break on October 15th. Of course, it could close sooner if the orders start stacking up.

Changes that have been made:

All of the Document Styles have been changed so that they are better defined and a more accurate price could be associated with each one.

All Document Styles now include photos.

Prices all around have been lowered and raised based on the new Document Styles (I figured the prices by timing how long it took me to do the Premium Document style for 3 different readings from start to finish. They all average out to be about 4 hours with the reading, editing the photos, writing out the document, setting the format, and doing the final edits before sending it out.)

The “Floater’s Club” and the “12 Month Blueprint” readings now both have options for 3, 6, or 12-month timeframes for cheaper options.

The “Chakra Balance & Alignment” Reading now has 3 options for 7, 14, or 21 cards per reading for cheaper options.

The “Past, Present, Future” reading has been lowered to 2 cards per pull, making it a 6 card minimum reading to help lower the price.

An “Entertainment” section has been added to the shop for some of the new readings that are more lighthearted and ~fun~.

I’ve also redone all of the thumbnail photos on the shop because I’m annoying like that and need everything to look nice always.

⭐ New Readings:

Ancestral Influence

Dream Interpretation

Core Energy Reading

Astrological Focus

Deck Impression & Advice

New & Full Moon Reading

Planetary Blessings

📣 SHOP HERE📣 - Your consideration and interest is always appreciated! 💕

*All details for the Document Styles and Listings are under the cut for reference.

All paid personal readings are only available through my Etsy shop. If you have any questions about readings you might want to get, please find the listing on the shop and read through the full description because that has way more information there. If you still have questions, please PM me on Tumblr or contact me through Etsy messaging.

New Document Styles

*The style you choose does not affect how I perform the reading. I still do the energy readings before initiating the main reading. The document style you choose only affects what you receive in the final document.

Sample (Price: Minimum Number of Cards + 7)

One (1) unedited photo of the main spread

A list of the cards and their placements in the reading.

A small summary of the reading.

Basic block text. Unformatted.

Mini (Price: Minimum Number of Cards + 20)

One (1) unedited photo of the main spread

Individual explanations of the placements in the spread.

Formatted text.

Basic (Price: Minimum Number of Cards + 40)

Includes the energy reading

One (1) edited photo of all of the cards pulled during the energy reading

Small summary of the energy reading

One (1) edited photo of the main spread

Detailed explanations of the individual placements of the spread.

Formatted text and extended text.

Additional advice on the reading.

Premium (Price: Minimum Number of Cards + 65)

Includes the energy reading

Includes a separate reading to receive messages from your Guides/Spirit Guides

One (1) edited photo of the messages from your Guides/Spirit Guides

A summary of the messages delivered (usually has to do with the main reading or the energy reading in some way)

One (or more) edited photo of the energy reading.

A detailed explanation of the energy reading

One (1) edited photo of the main spread

Multiple edited photos of the individual sets in the spread (better for a closer look at all of the cards)

Detailed explanations of the individual sets

Includes keywords/summarized descriptions of each card from the books they come with

Formatted and extended text

Additional advice on the reading (may include links to articles, meditations, or other readings outside of my own)

A reading for anything and all things under the sun! Choose the number of questions, your topics, and the deck you want and you’re good to go!

Prices: 8$ - 75$

Options: You can choose up to 10 questions and is available in all of the Document Styles.

Document Size: Can vary based on the number of questions, the topics, and Document Style

This reading will provide you with a general outlook for the next 3, 6, or 12 months.

Prices: 10$ - 77$

Options: You can choose between Advisory, Predictive, or Cosmic focus along with your choice of a 3, 6, or 12-month timeframe. Available in all 4 Document Styles.

Document Size: 1 - 20 pages depending on Document Style

This reading DOES NOT allow you to communicate with deceased relatives that have passed on, but it does connect you with the accumulative energy of the many lives and generations that have lead to your own. The reading can focus on accumulated karma, blessings, and general influence from soul and blood connections.

Prices: 10$ - 68$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles.

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on Document Style

This is a simple dream interpretation. I focus more on the subconscious and unconscious connections to the conscious mind, as well as any external influence that may be at hand such as messages from Guides/Spirit Guides or the Higher Self that are coming through dreams.

Prices: 13$ - 78$

Options: There is an option to get the dream interpretation with a 6+ Card reading included, which is available in all 4 Document Styles. The option to get just the interpretation is only available in the Sample Document Style

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading is to help you handle heavier subjects that you know are hindering your progression. This reading is related to the Subconscious Reading. If you are feeling blocked but are unaware of what is causing that block, the Subconscious Reading is better suited for your needs. If you are already aware of the issue and are looking for assistance with dealing with the matter on an energetic level, this reading can help you out.

Price: 11$ - 69$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 12 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading is designed to showcase the current state of your personal alignment with your External Energies (Gods, Guides, Guardians).

Price: 12$ - 70$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading is designed to showcase the current state of your personal alignment with Cosmic Influences (Astrological Alignment).

Price: 12$ - 70$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading covers romantic, platonic, and familial relationships objectively and puts the energetic connection between two people into perspective. This reading covers only 2 people.

Price: 13$ - 71$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading is designed to showcase your current state of alignment with your Internal Energies (Higher Self, Soul Urge, Purpose).

Price: 12$ - 70$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This is a simple core energy reading. It is similar to the energy readings that are included in other readings, but this one specifically is more directed at getting a neutral look at the full core and gaining more detailed information about the state of your energy as a whole without focusing on anything specific. This reading can sometimes include cards, but mostly it is descriptions, notes, and images that I scribble and sketch out while I am meditating. I would consider this reading to be more for fun as it really isn't meant to target any problems or specific areas.

Price: 10$ - 65$

Options: Available in the Sample, Basic, and Premium Document Style

Document Size: 1 - 10 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading is designed to showcase your energetic alignment and balance with the elements and compare it to that of your Higher Self’s alignments.

Price: 13$ - 85$

Options: There is an Extended option for the reading where an additional 4 cards are pulled to gauge how your alignments need to change or be maintained in order to align with the Higher Self. Available in all Document Styles.

Document Size: 1 - 20 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading is designed to show subconscious blocks that could be negatively affecting certain areas of your life and making it hard to progress internally and externally. This reading is related to the Waist Deep reading. If you are already aware of your own subconscious and energetic blocks and you want to have a reading that can help you work through them specifically, please look into that listing instead.

Price: 13$ - 71$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This is a simple and classic Past, Present, and Future reading! A minimum of 6 cards (I usually get a lot more) are pulled to showcase the current status, the progression, and past influences of a situation or particular topic.

Price: 13$ - 71$

Options: There are 5 different focus options for this reading, including one where you can just pick leave details for your own topic. Available in all 4 Document Styles.

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading can help guide you to better cosmic alignment by showing you where you need to focus and direct your attention within your birth chart. It covers external cosmic influences, internal influence, the state of alignment between the two, as well as directed focus, and current and forthcoming energetic influence.

Price: 13$ - 71$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This reading is designed to showcase the current energetic balance of the seven main chakras.

Price: 14$ - 86$

Options: There are 3 options that allow you to choose a reading where 1, 2, or 3 cards are pulled for each chakra center. Each card is for something different. Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 25 pages depending on the Document Style and number of cards per pull

This is an amped up Past, Present, Future reading that will give you the do's and the don'ts. This reading can cover any topic, any question, and any concern you might have in terms of what is to come for you in the near future.

Price: 14$ - 72$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This is a reading that I had as an exclusive add-on to the Signature Punch package reading (no longer available). It's just a fun reading where I have the associated energies of my main 10 decks give you THEIR impression of your core energy or personality, or give you advice based on their specific purposes. Each deck I have is used for something different so each deck will focus in on different areas of your life. It's quite surprising how often the cards will line up between the decks.

Price: 17$ - 90$

Options: There are 3 options for you to choose an impression reading, advisory reading, or both. Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 20 pages depending on the Document Style

This is a reading for anyone that likes to align with and celebrate the New and Full Moons every month. Your reading will not only focus on the phase of the Moon but also the astrological sign it is in as well as the aspects that are in play on the day the New or Full Moons are at their peak. Be wary of when you purchase the reading as it can take up to 1 or 2 weeks for it to be delivered. For the sake of convenience and being able to use it to all of its benefits, the New or Full Moon that I focus on will be whichever one falls into the timeframe AFTER the week that I perform the reading.

Example: If you purchase a Full Moon reading on the 12th of the month and the Full Moon is on the 15th, I will focus on the Full Moon that comes along the following month. If you order the reading for the Full Moon on the 2nd, I will have had a better chance of getting the reading done on time for that month.

Price: 14$ - 89$

Options: There are 3 options for a New Moon reading, Full Moon reading, or both. Available for all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 25 pages depending on the Document Style

This is a reading for all the floaters who don't want to be caught off guard at any point in the next 3, 6, or 12 months!

This is an extended version of the 3, 6, 12 Month Blueprint reading that includes both the Predictive and Advisory portions as individual options. This reading here will cover External Plan and suggested Internal Alignment to go along with that External Plan, as well as the state of Soul Progression between those alignments. A minimum of 3 Cards for every month! You won't have to think at all!

*The timeframe that will be included in this reading will follow the month that you purchase. Example: If you buy this reading in the month of September, the reading will cover the time period between the beginning of October to the end of the following September. As a courtesy, I will pull a few extra cards for the current month if you purchase this reading within the first two weeks of the month.

Price: 16$ - 101$

Options: There are options for a 3, 6, or 12-month timeframe. Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 30 pages depending on the Document Style

This is an intuitive reading that will give you an idea of your previous life and how it influences you now. Cards are pulled throughout this reading, but there is no set number or format.

Price: 15$ - 70$

Options: Available in the Sample, Basic, and Premium Document

Document Size: 1 - 15 pages depending on the Document Style

This is a reading where we can gauge the most positive energies and influences that are gifted to you through the main cosmic bodies that settle as major influences in the birth chart as well as in the physical state. The Planetary Energies (also can be seen as their respective Gods and Goddesses) that are channeled for this reading are the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Earth (Gaia).

Price: 18$ - 76$

Options: Available in all 4 Document Styles

Document Size: 1 - 20 pages depending on the Document Style

#bmp updates #etsy shop #tarot shop #tarot community #tarot reading #oracle reading #energy reading #astrology #zodiac #soul progression #past lives #new moon #full moon

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swisscgny · 5 years ago

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MEET EMILIE BUJÈS

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR VISIONS DU RÉEL

In eager anticipation of Switzerland’s renowned documentary film festival Visions du Réel starting tomorrow, we checked in with the Festival’s Artistic Director Emilie Bujès to talk about this year’s edition, her vision for the Festival, and the challenges of going fully online during the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, Emilie talks about the three Swiss films in the International Feature Film Competition.

Founded in 1969, Visions du Réel is one of Switzerland’s oldest film festivals and the only one in the country entirely dedicated to documentary filmmaking. How has the festival evolved over the years?

The Nyon International Documentary Film Festival was created by Moritz de Hadeln, a British-born photographer and documentary filmmaker, and his wife Erika de Hadeln, in 1969. In 1995 the name changed to Visions du Réel when Jean Perret became the director of the festival. He stayed until 2010 when the Italian director Luciano Barisone took over and remained at the head of the festival until 2017. It was Luciano who appointed me in 2017. 2020 is going to be my third edition as artistic director.

Over the years Visions du Réel has become one of the most important film festivals dedicated to non-fiction cinema in the world. The audience has grown a lot over the past decade, as well as the film submissions which come from all over the world. The large majority of the films are screened as world premieres.

You have been the Festival’s Artistic Director since 2017. What is your vision for the Festival?

First, I would like to maintain the artistic ambition and quality of the programming because it is, of course, the essence of the Festival. Then, it is crucial to select movies that are both coherent and as open and diverse as possible: from films experimenting with forms, narratives and vocabularies to films relying on very strong subjects, protagonists and classical forms, and everything in between.

Each year, we invite three guests to honor their work and to create a certain discourse and picture of what non-fiction cinema can be today. This year, we have invited Claire Denis, a radical and adventurous French director, Petra Costa, a Brazilian 2020 Academy Awards nominee (it will be the first retrospective dedicated to her work both as director and producer), and finally Peter Mettler, a Canadian-Swiss director, essayist and visionary. In 2019, we had the joy and honor to welcome Werner Herzog for our 50th edition.

These guests allow us to widen the reach of the Festival and open it to more diverse audiences. In that regard, I would certainly like to make sure that young people are attending the Festival, not only because they are the Festival's future audience but, more importantly, because I truly believe that it is our mission to promote these films and styles of cinema, and to contribute to the richness of the contemporary film landscape.

Image: Film still from Il mio Corpo by Michele Penetta

Tell us about this year’s selection. What were your guiding principles and criteria? What are you particularly excited about?

Our guidelines and criteria are always based on cinema. We look for strong authors and views, for films that translate a certain urgency to tell something, no matter what, for directors employing the right form and language to embody their ambition. I’m really excited about all of the films. There is not a single film in the selection that we did not carefully consider before inviting. I think it is a very rich and diverse edition, it includes many different approaches, emerging directing talents, alumni of the festival, directors that we know and very much respect.

In response to the current pandemic the Festival will screen its films online and free of charge. While this is certainly great news for the viewers, what are the challenges associated with this change for the Festival? To what extent could this also provide an opportunity to reach a broader, more international audience online?

The first challenge was coordinating a team of 35 and working from home from March 16 onwards. It was not easy to create a new Festival (because it is all entirely new), investigate ideas, problems, look for solutions — and all of this with people who, in some cases, had just arrived at the Festival. So the challenges are human, technical (it was quite tricky to solve everything within such a short timeframe) and also relate to the negotiation of the rights for this new online format.

But the team is amazing: very hard-working, creative and resilient. We are really lucky.

I really hope that what we "lose" (because the joy of being together and exchanging will be dearly missed) will indeed be compensated by the happiness to share the films with people that would not otherwise have been able to join us in Nyon. Not all films will be available worldwide, but some of them will. And I am certainly convinced that it will be exciting for cinephiles and cinema lovers all over the world to watch these films, for free and from home.

Image: Film still from Kombinat by Gabriel Tejedor

How do you think this pandemic could impact the Swiss and international film scene in the long run? Are you anticipating any major changes in the way films are produced or consumed?

It is a bit hard to predict because it will very much depend on how long this will last and how countries deal with it and how a looming economic crisis will affect the film industry. I do feel like things are going to remain complicated for a while, since social distancing might stay in place, and will have implications for festivals and cinemas, for instance.

I think that the solutions found will be different everywhere. We will probably learn interesting things and find new ideas through this period. I belong to those who truly believe in cinema as a shared experience, and I hope we can find new ways to maintain the social quality of cinema, either at home or through new forms of online festivals that might emerge. I still view the theatre as the most magical space to view films.

Please provide our readers with two recommendations: a) A Swiss documentary that surprised you; and b) a documentary from any country that’s particularly uplifting.

We love them all (and besides, they are taking part in competitions so providing recommendations is even trickier). If you allow, I will do something slightly different instead: Not all films will be available world-wide, but some of them will. I will recommend the three Swiss contributions that are taking part in the International Feature Film Competition: Nemesis by Thomas Imbach, Il mio Corpo by Michele Penetta and Kombinat by Gabriel Tejedor. Imbach and Penetta are quite established directors who have screened their previous films as part of the Berlinale Forum (Berlin Film Festival) or Locarno Film Festival. Nemesis is a film that is somehow echoing our current life of confinement, the entire film is shot from Imbach's window, and includes testimonies of migrants on the verge of being sent home. Il mio Corpo is also about being imprisoned to a certain extent, this time on the Italian island of Sicily, seen through the eyes of a migrant and a young boy who become friends. Kombinat portrays a Russian city home to the Kombinat, one of the largest iron and steel factories in the country, and its inhabitants who aim to emancipate from this life in a contemporary world.

Particularly uplifting is Papa s'en va by Pauline Horovitz in the International Medium Length & Short Film Competition, an intimate and very funny film in which the director films her father who is a retired doctor and aims to become an actor.

Thank you Emilie!

Image: Film still from Nemesis by Thomas Imbach

About Emilie Bujès: Artistic Director of Visions du Réel, International Film Festival Nyon since 2017, Emilie Bujès is also a program advisor for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and expert for the Swiss Fund Visions Sud Est. Prior to this, She was has previously been the Deputy Artistic Director of La Roche-sur-Yon IFF and a member of the ‘Image/mouvement’ commission of the French National Centre for Visual Arts. She was a curator at the Geneva Contemporary Art Center for several years and contributed to the program of events and venues such as the Forum Expanded–Berlinale, CAC Vilnius, Forde–Geneva, the Lausanne Underground Film Festival (LUFF) and Transmediale (Berlinale). She used to teach at the Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD) and Bern University of the Arts, and received a Swiss Art Award for curators in 2014.

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oneyeargraduation-blog · 5 years ago

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TOP TIPS FOR CHOOSING A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

Picking a wedding picture taker can be an overwhelming procedure yet ideally my five top tips will give you an interesting point when settling on your choice.

1 – Image quality/style

In the event that you are attracted to a specific picture taker, ensure you solicit to see all from their pictures (not simply the top choices they pick for their sites!) with the goal that you can check the picture quality is steady all through.

Paul-Willetts-Photograher

2 – Personality

You can as a rule tell inside the initial 5 minutes of meeting somebody,https://rajesharya.com/ regardless of whether you feel a compatibility or association. Initial introductions are vital and on the off chance that you in a flash strike a bond, at that point you are on to something worth being thankful for. In the event that you feel awkward around your picture taker for reasons unknown, at that point this will turn out to be obvious in your wedding photographs.

Keep in mind, a genuine grin is difficult to counterfeit so pick admirably and guarantee you meet with your picture taker a few times before affirming your booking.

3 – Value for cash/cost

4 – Experience

Continuously attempt to pick a wedding photoghraphy who has just worked at your wedding setting. This isn't a need yet your picture taker must demonstrate an ability to meet at the setting normally, investigating the best photograph areas and open doors just as setting aside the effort to go through the structure of the day. It is likewise a smart thought for the picture taker to meet with the setting owner/wedding facilitator to ensure everybody is sure about the days plan from beginning to end.

5 – Recommendations/Word of Mouth

#best wedding #wedding photoghraphy

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partyontrotter · 5 years ago

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5 Bad Habits That People In The Concrete Walkways Cost Industry Need To Quit

Sidewalks nearly always tumble beneath unique code rules outlined by your neighborhood municipal govt. Costs in many cases are comparable, but this depends mainly on your neighborhood sidewalk laws. Call your local code regulation, streets or building Division for details.

Start off with the origin. The place do both you and your company park? Usually times two wander strategies make more perception. A single from the street and One more through the drive way can fulfill equally specifications. Another option might be to place yet another walkway beside the push technique to the street.

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Go through more details on how ornamental concrete was used Within this challenge. See much more photos from this contractor >>

Use supplies that supply a smooth floor for the most crucial walkway. Bricks, poured concrete, and mortared pavers or tiles are fantastic components. Use loose resources for secondary paths. See Nicole's walkway ideas - she transformed her aged walkway by installing brick walkway. Take into account the weather conditions when picking elements. Mary and I used to have aggregate walk means and they can be incredibly slippery when damp and even worse when icy.

Household sidewalks are municipal sidewalks in household regions. Both forms tumble less than community purview. Example: sidewalks that operate parallel to some city Road or household boulevard.

Stamped Concrete Walkway & Sidewalks Banish unexciting, simple grey concrete walkways and sidewalks with stamped concrete in styles, designs and colors that convey out the ideal with your environment.

Paving stones insert a lot more beauty as a consequence of their normal stone visual appeal and resistance to damage. Locate an area paver organization near you that may put in the characteristics you desire.

They even experienced to usher in the base and screed by buckets. Your entire system was accomplished quickly and proficiently, within 3 days from start off to finish like sealing the pavers. They still left the parts they labored in day to day, our patio and garage, in better situation than after they arrived. There was a slight set back in the undertaking, which is a thing we're accustomed to from our other household enhancement endeavors. A thing that we aren't accustomed to having said that is definitely the reaction from Jeff and Patios by B&B. Our previous working experience continues to be that when issues arise on the challenge that's ordinarily in the event the contractor commences jacking up the cost; sticking it on the consumer. But that is certainly considerably from what took place In such cases with Jeff and Patios by B&B. Jeff's knowledge, dedication to purchaser gratification and becoming the very best outdoor reworking professional in SoCal definitely shined. Jeff arrived in and took treatment of everything and performed interference with the varied events associated to rectify the situation. It absolutely was at this time while in the task that we ended up certain we created the proper choice in contractors to remodel our patio. Jeff stood driving every thing he promised us commencing with the very first cellphone call to plan an in-home session by way of final payment and inspection. He contacted us when he said that he would, began and concluded the task within the timeframe he committed to, was accessible in any respect hours from the day and night and previously mentioned all, honored his quotation. We are very discerning and skeptical buyers With regards to contractors, having been burned 1 much too over and over, and therefore are delighted to report that Jeff Goldman and Patios by B&B stood nearly, and occasionally, exceeded our large standards. While on paper the bid from Patios by B&B was in the midst of the many bids obtained, the worth of their customer care significantly surpassed the other bids. Patios by B&B is really an Remarkable company and we extremely advocate them to any person searching for major quality perform and Fantastic customer care! It?s too terrible they only specialise in outdoor transforming; we would like we could rely on them for all of our dwelling advancement tasks! Fantastic career and thank you to everyone at Patios by B&B and especially to Jeff, Gabrielle & his crew!!

GrateSafe® Metal Roof Walkway offers safe use of rooftop tools when defending roof panels in opposition to hurt from foot site visitors. Technique attributes 18 GA galvanized steel planks, pierced and punched to get a strong, anti-skid surface. Planks are 12″ wide x 10′ extended and interlock so walkways can put in in different widths.

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A walkway is more than just a technique for getting to the place you want to go – a gorgeous walkway or sidewalk can transform the control attraction of your house and even work as a point of inventive expression by way of attractive concrete alternatives.

We utilised EA development a handful of a long time in the past for our front yard and driveway and we didn't be reluctant to contact Eric again to try and do our backyard. We talked over all sorts of options for the backyard as a whole in advance of we started off, like pavers, distinct forms of decking, colored and stamped cement, patio addresses, fountains, built in B-B-Q and benches, lights and grass. Eric was good at mentioning the positives and negatives of each product and coming up with ideas that experienced never ever even happened to us. He was in the position to demonstrate us pics of other yards he had done to ensure we could far more Obviously image just what the final result of our property may very well be. As soon as we finalized our ideas, Eric gave us a particularly fair quotation and advised us approximately how long the undertaking would take.

Other resources for estimating concrete walkway cost incorporate the shape elements and any reinforcements (for instance wire mesh or rebar), isolation board (inexpensive) and sealer (if you wish to seal the walkway once the concrete cures). Kind components rely upon the challenge but normally include things like 2x4 or 2x6 lumber for straight operates and hardboard siding boards for curves, furthermore tons of Wooden stakes and lots of screws.

Elaborate cement walkway layouts cost greater than clear-cut ones. Also, contractors are most likely planning to charge a lot more mainly because straight edges are less of a challenge to construct than curved edges.

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astrologerabhisheksoni · 6 years ago

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The Sun transition in Virgo, what will be the effect on Virgo & remaining zodiac signs?

Soothsaying considers the planet Sun as the leader of this whole universe. It is hard to envision the presence of people without the nearness of the Sun since its vitality is the reason that keeps different planets moving. As per Vedic Astrology, the constructive effects of this promoter of perspectives like soul, father, stature, etc. help an individual to have an affected existence. Nonetheless, its negative impact can cause a decrease in one's stature, father's wellbeing and increment his sufferings, and cause eye ailments to the local. Presently, a similar planet's travel is occurring on Tuesday, seventeenth September 2019 at 12:43 in the early afternoon. The zodiac sign Virgo will have this travel and it will remain set in a similar spot until Friday, eighteenth September 2019 at 00:04 am. This travel will influence all the 12 zodiac signs. Give us a chance to have a glance at its individual effect on every single zodiac sign. ARIES: The planet Sun is the decision master of your fifth house, while during its fleeting movement, the planet Sun will take home in the 6th place of your zodiac sign. This house edifies us about perspectives like adversaries, self-control, basic instincts, profession, illnesses, aggressive tests, Bank advances, and maternal relatives. This timeframe will present positive outcomes for you the same number of issues will get wiped out from your life. The achievement will be allowed to you in legal issues. Be that as it may, your costs will increment yet you will stay powerful at your working environment. You will perform well and your choices will be valued by your senior authorities. Increases will be acquired through government or higher specialists. TAURUS: The Sun is the decision ruler of your fourth house. Be that as it may, it will remain placed in the fifth place of Taurus locals during its passing movement. A similar house likewise reveals insight into angles like offspring, training, love relations, knowledge, thinking capacities, and our interests. As the Sun takes home in this house, you may need to confront certain challenges. It will fundamentally hamper your basic leadership capacities. The strength of your youngsters will likewise be an explanation behind your worry which is the reason you will sufficiently stay occupied in dealing with them. Be that as it may, they are probably going to exceed expectations in their separate vocations. You may confront certain issues at work concerning your senior authorities. GEMINI: The fourth-place of Gemini locals will have the travel of Sun which is additionally the significator of extravagances and solaces throughout one's life. Furthermore, it gives data about one's mom, costs, different portable, and relentless properties, and vehicle. This travel will make a climate of turmoil in your family life. Due to a distinction of assessment with family individuals, you will engage in discussions and contentions with them. Mental strains will heighten and medical problems will likewise manifest. There might be leaps in achieving conjugal delight yet your companion can get excellent achievement and advancement at their working environment. CANCER: Sun will move into the third place of the Cancer locals. The third house is the significator of our kin and our associations with them. It additionally gives data about diligent work, interests, and long and short separation ventures. Accordingly, an ideal timespan will be experienced by Cancer locals. You will stay more than prepared to face difficulties and effectively handle them. You will achieve your objectives at work by playing out your undertakings with dedication and senior authorities will likewise stay happy with your work. LEO: The planet Sun leads over this zodiac sign and it will travel in the second place of your zodiac sign during its fleeting movement. The subsequent house is the advocate of one's discourse and correspondence capacities. It additionally edifies the locals about angles like kinfolk, reserve funds, face, diet, and essential training. Sun's travel in the subsequent house isn't viewed as promising which is the reason you are encouraged to stay careful. Utilize your words cautiously and express in an agreeable way. Mental and physical pressures may heighten during this interim of time and you are probably going to experience head torment, extreme warmth, and eye disease. VIRGO: The twelfth place of Virgo locals is administered by the planet Sun and this travel will happen in your ascendant or first house, i.e., your very own sign. This house is very compelling as it is in charge of the arrangement of one's character. It likewise causes us in investigating our body, physical highlights, our picture in the public eye, insight, stature, and wellbeing. Sun's travel in a Moon Sign is regularly viewed as unpropitious. You may confront a financial emergency during this time span. Stress and sense of self are the two elements which will command your life and its repercussions will be noticeable on your wellbeing and marital life. Locals who live in an outside nation and work there are well on the way to get good outcomes during this period. LIBRA: The planet Sun is the decision master of the eleventh place of Libra locals and during this travel, it will take home in your twelfth house. This house is known as the place of consumption and misfortunes. Because of this travel, locals brought into the world under the zodiac indication of Libra who has been going after for a long span of time may win a chance to visit an outside nation. You are additionally mentioned to keep a tab on your costs as they are probably going to stay on the higher side. Keep up a solid bond with your companions and resolve the distinctions quickly when they emerge among you and them. SCORPIO: For Scorpio locals, the planet Sun is the decision master of your tenth house. Be that as it may, during this travel, it will remain set in your eleventh house. This specific house is the agent of increases and benefit and This travel will present positive outcomes for you and benefits may likewise be picked up from various sources. There will be a huge climb in your present salary and your costs will be dealt with. You will eclipse your adversaries and they won't set out to confront you. With the assistance offered by senior authorities, you will effectively push ahead throughout everyday life and search for chances to acquire benefits. You are probably going to pick up benefits from the administration area. SAGITTARIUS: The Sun is the decision ruler of your ninth house however the tenth place of your zodiac sign will have the travel of the planet. The tenth house is otherwise called 'karma bhava" as it decides one's calling. Your cultural stature will increment and you will come into contact with certain persuasive characters. They will assist you with strengthening your fortune in the forthcoming time. You will be supported by karma during this entire time. Be that as it may, there can be some unsettling influence in your familial life. You may likewise get moved to a position of your decision, which will enable you to contact extraordinary statures of accomplishment. You should attempt to keep up a sound bond with your dad, as he more you regard and care for him, the more you will flourish in your business or work. CAPRICORN: The eighth-place of Capricorn locals is being ruled by the planet Sun. During this travel, it will take home in your ninth house. This house is viewed as the place of karma and illuminates us about viewpoints like religious conventions, abroad blessed spot ventures. Despite what might be expected, certain different errands may get satisfied. Forgo yourself engaging in unlawful exercises as you may get criticized for it. Handle financial issues with outrageous consideration as you may secure misfortunes generally. Ideological contrasts can likewise make clashes among you and a portion of your older folks. Capricorn locals additionally have brilliant opportunities to gain admittance to their fatherly property. AQUARIUS: Sun will take home in the eighth place of Aquarius locals. For these locals, this planet is the decision ruler of the seventh house. The eighth house is considered very baffling in the domain of Vedic crystal gazing. Because of this travel, you may engage in the discussion, be that as it may, measures ought to be embraced to end it. Marital life will likewise observe challenges and contrasts can likewise sneak in your association with either your life partner or your in-laws. This will affect your financial state in a negative way which is the reason you should devise a spending limit to adjust everything. PISCES: The Sun is the decision master of your 6th house. During its short-lived movement, it will remain placed in your seventh house. Because of this present travel's effect, you are probably going to observe difficulties in your wedded life. It is informed to give up with respect to your self-image as it is the essential reason for conflicts in your wedded life. Your life accomplice and your tyke's wellbeing may likewise endure during this timespan. In your need list, regarding and carrying on genially with your colleague ought to stay at the top. Focus towards your wellbeing on the off chance that you accept an outing as you are probably going to experience the ill effects of stomach torment, heartburn, mental pressure, and cerebral pain as of right now. Read the full article

#astrology #rashi #suntransit

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projectdroid1-blog · 7 years ago

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London Forex Rush Trading System

London Forex Rush Trading System https://www.projectdroid.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/word-image-60.jpeg https://www.projectdroid.com/london-forex-rush-trading-system/ 01 | Introduction 1.1 A Legacy From The Stock Markets – The Open Range Breakout he London Forex Rush system is based on a powerful trading system that comes from the world of the stock markets. Intra-day stock traders have been exploiting the Open Range Breakout strategy for ages. And they continue to do so. That’s T because this strategy is easy to understand, simple to execute, and above all, profitable. The Open Range Breakout intra-day stock trading strategy works like this: once the Wall Street opening bell rings at 9:30 am EST, breakout traders chart the first 20 or 30 minutes of action for certain, particularly volatile stocks. This opening timeframe is usually filled with wild swings as emotions run high in the early trading. Breakout traders mark the high and low point of that early period of volatility, and then watch closely to see which way the stock trends from there. Once the stock “breaks out” of that range, either to the upside or to the downside, the trader can confidently gauge the general direction the stock is likely to take for the rest of that trading session. SUMMARY: The Open Range Breakout strategy attempts to predict a likely trend for the day by analysing the direction of the first “real” move once those initial, often confusing minutes have settled down. Please keep this concept in mind, as it forms the basis for the London Forex Rush system. But before I explain just how we’ll be putting this strategy to use, it’s important that you understand a few key elements of the Forex markets. 1.2 The World’s Three Major Markets There are a number of financial hubs in the world: New York, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Sydney, etc. However, three of them clearly stand out as the major exchange centers: London, Tokyo, and New York. Each of these stands as a financial reference point for its part of the world. But even among these “Big Three” their respective trading volumes differ considerably and, most importantly for us, London has by far the most active Forex market. Let me throw some figures at you: the volume of Forex transactions processed during London trading hours is typically close to 30% of the world’s total daily volume (or about $580 billion US). New York does a little better than half that, with around 16% ($330 billion US). And finally, Tokyo typically sees about 10% ($210 billion US). Remember this because, as you’ll soon see, the London Forex Rush system allows us to put these differences in time zone and trading volume to work for us. 1.3 Seeking Volatility... And Finding The Sterling Pound! So if we’re trying to mimic the stock market’s Open Range Breakout strategy into Forex, we need a candidate currency that’s likely to be volatile early in the trading day. Let’s enter the GBP (Great Britain Pound or Sterling Pound) into the equation. Typically, this is by far the most volatile major currency. And its main crosses – GBPUSD, GBPJPY, GBPCHF, GBPAUD, GBPCAD and GBPNZD – will routinely pull out larger moves across the board than any other major currency. On any given day, all of the GBP major crosses will usually swing across a range of 150 pips and above. Luckily, we only need to be in position to grab a small portion of that range in order to make a healthy profit and grow our trading account. 1.4 The Tokyo Connection Remember above, where I told you to bear in mind the differences in time zone and trading volume? This is where we exploit them. We’ve already got our high-volatility currency picked out: the GBP. Now, beyond volatility, the Sterling Pound has two characteristics associated with trade volume that make it perfect for our system:

The Pound is traded at very low volume during the Tokyo session.

The Pound is traded at very high volume during the London hours. Indeed, not surprisingly, it’s where most of the daily trading for this currency is concentrated.

So on the one hand we have the volatile Pound contained within a fairly narrow range throughout the Tokyo trading day, but on the other, we have it springing to life as the world’s most active Forex trading market opens. If you’re following so far, what we’ve got is a small, predetermined range (the Tokyo session), a high likelihood of a breakout move (during London session) and a high-volatility currency (the GBP). Does all that sound familiar? It’s the formula from the Open Range Breakout strategy we mentioned right at the beginning! But with the London Forex Rush system, we have another advantage that other kinds of Open Range Breakout traders don’t have: the Tokyo and London markets overlap for one hour between 2 am and 3 am EST. What that means, practically speaking, is that the London session can bee seen as a sort of “continuation” of the Tokyo session, but with wildly increased volume and volatility. The work of charting the “breakout range” the way the Open Range Breakout traders usually do in the first half hour has been done for us over the entire Tokyo session, so we’re ready to capitalize on the high volume and volatility of the London session’s passion for the Pound. As the comparatively slow Tokyo session prepares to go to bed, the wild London one is just waking up. At that moment, around 3 am EST, there is significant market acceleration with thousands of transactions and trading orders going through. That market acceleration creates violent swings during the first two hours of the London market, which continue until the trading frenzy calms down a little bit and things return to normality. We’re looking to leverage that momentum, using the information we have from the day’s trading in Tokyo. 1.5 Putting It All Together – The London Forex Rush System Let’s recap what we have got so far: The Open Range Breakout is a strategy borrowed from the intraday stock markets. It seeks to recognize a stock’s likely overall bias for the upcoming trading session by carefully watching for and monitoring its breakout from an early trading range established at the start of the session. The stock – or currency in our case – being tracked needs to be volatile to be useful for this purpose. So…

The Sterling Pound is extremely volatile against other major currencies.

The London Forex market has the highest trading volume of all the major Forex markets, while Tokyo has the lowest.

The Sterling pound is hardly traded at all during the Tokyo session, while it is indeed traded heavily during London’s.

The Tokyo market gives way to the London market between 2 and 3 am EST. At that precise time, the Forex markets experiment a rapid acceleration. This factor, combined with the previous three, makes a momentum breakout of the GBP-crosses rather likely.

Those are the four core pillars upon which the London Forex Rush system is built. We will be looking to trade the most volatile currency crosses (meaning GBP-pairs), right as the market goes through its most dynamic, accelerating period (the London market’s first few hours), and we will be using the breakout from the range established during the Tokyo session as the trigger to our positions. Needless to say, this a momentum-filled strategy! 02 | The Elements of

The System

2.1 The Time Frame ore than perhaps any other system, the London Forex Rush system is focused on one particular time of day – those first two hours as the Tokyo market gives way to London. That means that we’re going to be interested exclusively in taking trades M during those two hours. The London market opens at 7 am GMT (which is 3 am EST), but we will need to be in front of our computers few minutes prior to that, so we can check our charts for possible trading opportunities. By the way, just in case you’re confused about world time zones and you’re not too sure what EST or GMT translates to in your own time zone, you can compare the world’s time zones at this website: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/ . 2.2 The Trigger: The Tokyo Range We will be using the trading range established during the Tokyo session as our entry signal. Or, more accurately, we’ll be looking for the moment and direction in which the London session’s price action breaks out of that range. To make our entry point easy to find, we’ll want to have the Tokyo range clearly marked on our charts. To do that, we’ll mark both the Tokyo high and the Tokyo low with two horizontal lines. So you’re aware, the Tokyo market opens at 23 pm GMT and runs till 8 am GMT – or from 7 pm EST to 4 am EST. So what you’ll need to do is draw two horizontal lines on each chart for GBP crosses: one at the GBP’s high trading value during that time span, and another one at the low. Those two lines mark our main frame of reference – our breakout range. As a general rule of the thumb, the tighter the Tokyo range has been, the better. That way, the explosion and direction of the breakout (if there is one) will be more pronounced as the London volume kicks in. Think of it like this: the Pound has been trying to break out of that tight Tokyo range the whole Tokyo day. The potential volatility has been there – this is the Sterling Pound, after all. But there simply hasn’t been enough volume to propel it on its way. London fuels that volume, and recognizing this change is how we profit. That’s why you want to see tight and sideways price action through the Tokyo session, followed by a momentum move during the first two hours of the London market open. Tokyo’s constraint has set the parameters, and London’s passion for the Pound forces it to break free of them. Have a look at the picture above for a clear example of this phenomenon. You’ll notice how price is squeezed tight from 7 pm to 4 am EST (Tokyo), but then it breaks free in a whiplash during the first hours of the London market. That’s exactly the type of swing we’re looking for! To make our point of entry crystal clear, we’ll set the actual entry point for our trades exactly 5 pips beyond the lines set by the Tokyo session’s high and low. Let me stress this again, because it’s important: the tighter and more horizontal the day’s Tokyo range is, the better. Here’s why: The London Forex Rush system is a momentum breakout strategy based on the market acceleration taking place during the first two hours of the London market. This is a fairly reliable phenomenon, based on the fact that the Tokyo Forex market for the GBP is typically rather sleepy, while the London market’s is wide awake and very active. In order for us to see and capitalize on that momentum swing as the London volume kicks in, the price needs to appear to be slapped “awake” from a “dormant” status. If the Tokyo market has been surprisingly active for the GBP, and therefore price has been swiftly moving in any particular direction, there’s no point in searching for a momentum punch at London open. The momentum is already there, carried over from Tokyo. What we want is a sleepy GBP that’s going to get a “wake up call” around 3 am EST. In order to get that, we’d like to see that tight, sideways Tokyo range. Let me show you some examples below of what is and what is not a valid Tokyo range: That ought to be clear. If not, go back and read that last section again because it really is that important. Always keep in mind that our goal is to profit from an explosive move in value as the usually-quiet Tokyo market gives way to fast-and-furious London. These are the market conditions this system was built to exploit, and it does so beautifully! So don’t cripple your chances by venturing in when conditions are less than ideal. You’ll find that, as long as your cherry-pick your setups, you’ll easily profit from this strategy! 2.3 The Fuel: Momentum It’s important to understand that the success of the London Forex Rush system depends on momentum breakouts. If there’s no momentum in the market this system can not excel. What that means for us is that we need to take notice when the day brings a flat or quiet market – and avoid that market like the plague. Because of this, we will only consider the possibility of entering trades during the first two hours of the London session. That means that if the price hasn’t broken out of the Tokyo range within the first two hours, we might be facing a quiet trading day. That’s okay, but these are precisely the type of market conditions we hope to avoid. We will be waiting for the time when the market conditions are right, and then and only then will we pounce. So please remember: if the Tokyo range hasn’t been breached by 5am EST, we will not be taking any trades for the rest of the day. 2.4 What's The Market Bias: Buy, Sell or Flat? The market bias, or “the trend,” will help us determine whether we want to search for long entries (meaning we’re looking to buy), short entries (looking to sell), or even if we simply don’t want to search for entries at all. It’s an established fact that trading in the direction of the trend increases a trader’s win-to-loss ratio. This helps our overall scoring performance since we have the market inertia pushing our trade forward. That’s why we will only be interested in trading breakouts that take place in the direction of the market bias. For example, if the market has been uptrending throughout the last few days, we will only be interested in breakouts of the upper band of the Tokyo range. In this case, should price drive through the lower band of the Tokyo range, we will simply pass on taking any trade on that currency pair for the time being. Moreover, if the chart shows no clear bias through the last few days, it means the market has been fluctuating sideways, which makes it is too difficult to position ourselves to best take advantage of market momentum. Our best bet in a fluctuating market is to not search for any entry at all. There is only one exception to the rule of following the trend. Sometimes, shortly after the London market opens, you’ll see price “spiking” in the direction opposite the trend, and break through the “wrong” band of the Tokyo range. But then, immediately after (and still within the first two hours of the London session) it will begin to swing back in the direction of overall market trend. When these two things happen, it’s OK to ignore this early activity and look for possibilities to trigger our entry as usual. These spikes happen occasionally when large market players – investment banks, fund managers, etc. – run stoplosses early in the morning in order to shake weaker traders out of the market. It is important for our purposes that we make sure that the spike reverses itself quickly. We can afford to stay in the market against a self-correcting spike, but not when it turns into a full swing against the trend. So please remember the following line: as long as within the first couple of hours, the spike dies out and begins to move solidly again in the direction of the trend, we might still profit from the day’s activity. 2.5 The Trading Instrument: GBP-CROSSES The London Forex Rush system trades exclusively GBP-crosses. Once again, this is due to both their high volatility, and the typical massive early-session volume influx. These are the two factors this system is designed to exploit. We’ll be following six of the major GBP-crosses: GBPUSD (Pound against the US Dollar), GBPJPY (Pound against the Japanese Yen), GBPCHF (Pound against the Swiss Franc), GBPCAD (Pound against the Canadian Dollar), GBPAUD (Pound against the Australian Dollar) and GBPNZD (Pound against the New Zealand Dollar). These six pairs are all a skilled London Forex Rush trader needs to build up his trading account. You’ll note we’re excluding EURGBP (Pound against the Euro) as it simply lacks the volatility we require. Now, be aware that many brokers don’t offer certain of these trades. In particular: GBPCAD, GBPAUD and especially GBPNZD. But it’s worth it to search for a broker who offers as many of these pairs as possible. The more pairs you can find, the more daily trading opportunities you will have. I personally recommend MIG FX: they offer all the currency pairs we need, their spreads are among the lowest for MT4-brokers and they are a secure and honest broker. Better still, MIG Forex features the very powerful (and free!) MetaTrader 4 charting platform which is the trading platform my custom indicators are coded for (more on my custom indicators in the following chapter). I recommend you download their free demo here to test the waters. This will allow you to download their full charting platform immediately, with no risk involved. This is what my charting screen looks like with MIG Forex: 2.6 Controlling The Risk: Stop Losses As you may know, a stoploss is a pending order in the direction opposite your trade. For example, if you buy GBPUSD at 1.9800, you might place a sell stop order at 1.9750. That way, if price heads south, your maximum loss will be limited to 50 pips. Basically, once the price hits your stoploss, you’re automatically exited out of the trade. Stoplosses are crucial in order to avoid unnecessary large losses. That’s why every successful trader uses them religiously. There are two ways you can set your stoploss in the London Forex Rush system, depending on your personal aversion to risk: an aggressive way and a conservative way.

Aggressive stop loss placement: the stoploss is placed 5 pips behind the Tokyo range mid-band. That is, you take the Tokyo range’s high, subtract its low, divide the result by two, and set your stoploss 5 pips behind that figure.

Conservative stop loss placement: to take a more conservative approach, you can place your stoploss 5 pips behind the opposite Tokyo band from the breakout band. For example: if you buy the breakout of the Tokyo high, place your stoploss 5 pips below the Tokyo low.

So which is better? There’s no right or wrong answer to that question. It depends entirely on how much risk you’re willing to take as a trader. I personally use the aggressive stoploss positioning. My reasoning goes like this: the London Forex Rush is a momentum-based technique. When the breakout we’re looking for comes, we want the price to be moving away from the Tokyo trading range rather quickly. If, once it breaks out and we have entered a trade, price comes back within the Tokyo range again, it may well mean that we were lacking the momentum we thought we had in the first place. Without that momentum, I don’t feel the need to wait for the price to reach the opposite band of the Tokyo range in order to exit the trade. In essence, I feel momentum is important enough an ingredient for our success that in its absence, seeing price returning to a level midway through the Tokyo band (plus 5 pips) is more than enough to get me to drop the position. 2.7 Exiting The Trade: Profit Targets Profit targets are similar to stoploss orders, but in the opposite direction. They’re pending orders that automate the exiting process when we hit out profit goal. Why would you want to exit a profitable trade? Because as we already established, the Pound is volatile. We can judge with a fair degree of success when it will go in our direction, but we have to be aware it will always go the other direction sooner or later. Setting profit targets allows us to close a profitable trade at the point where we’re satisfied with the profits we’ve already made – and exit before volatility takes us the wrong direction. Remember, the London Forex Rush system aims to capitalize on two things: 1) The correlation between the Tokyo range breakout and the likely trend for the London session, and 2) the high volume in the first two hours of trading. So we aim to make most of our profits fast and early, then get out. History shows this is the most sensible plan to give us the best chance to build long term profits. Just as we saw with our stoploss placements, our exits also allow both aggressive and conservative approaches. So, how do we set them? Let’s elaborate on this topic in detail: Different currency crosses pour in different average daily moves. That means that while some might move 150 pips per day as an average (such as GBPUSD), others might move over 300 pips per day (such as GBPNZD). By averaging how many pips any particular currency pair has moved per day over the last X number of days (14 days is a commonly used number), we can arrive at the “average daily range”. We use the average daily range to determine our target profits. Here are the two ways of setting our targets:

Aggressive target placement: the aggressive approach seeks to exploit the full amount of the average daily range. Imagine we were seeking to enter a long (BUY) trade: we would calculate the average daily range (in pips) for a particular currency cross for the last 14 days; then we add that number to the Tokyo low for that day (or Tokyo high is it was a SELL trade). The resulting figure gives a potential point where, as a statistical average, that currency pair might be expected to run out of steam. So, by setting our target aggressively, we’ll want to place our exit point just a little before that point, to be on the safe side.

Conservative target placement: the conservative approach is also based on the average daily range, but considers a psychological factor as well. It takes into consideration the “round number phenomenon”. Round numbers are those price levels ending in “00” or “50” (for example: round numbers for GBP/USD would be 1.9700,

1.9750, 1.9800, 1.9850, etc). The “round number phenomenon” suggests that once the price has broken a round number, it tends to gravitate towards the next one. Moreover, if price can not break through a round number, chances are that it will fall back to the round number immediately below. Well, the conservative approach of placing our targets takes them into consideration so we exit the trade few pips before hitting a nearby round number in case price does bounce off that level. Let’s look at an example. Let’s say we take a long entry on GBPUSD at 1.9715 - that’s our starting point. Now, let’s say we calculated the average daily range, and by adding it to our Tokyo low, it takes us, in theory, all the way up to 1.9815 – which would be a gain of 100 pips. The aggressive way of placing your profit target would be to set it just shy of 1.9815, at a number like 1.9810. The conservative approach would suggest we exit the trade few pips before 1.9800 just in case the price does indeed finds resistance there and falls back. I am a firm believer in the round number phenomenon. The markets are run by humans and are susceptible to group psychology. Therefore, I recommend using the conservative approach to setting your exit levels. I feel that in the long run, they will grow your account further than an overly aggressive approach will. To see the round number phenomenon in effect, have a look at the GBPNZD chart below: As you can see, the entry was taken as the price broke out of the Tokyo range in the direction of the down-trend. Now, the average daily move for this currency pair indicated that price might drop all the way down to a level a bit below 2.5000. By setting the profit target conservatively – in this case, 5 pips before hitting the 2.5000 round number at 2.5005 – we can see how a potential loss was turned into a gain. Notice that the price did in fact find support and bounce back up from the 2.5000 level. Psychology can be a stronger market force than momentum so it’s best to take that into consideration. One last point of clarification: even though we’re only looking for entries when a breakout occurs in the first two hours of the London market, don’t expect your profit target or stoploss to be hit within that time span. Usually, the trade will remain open for few hours after the two hour entry window closes. This is normal and furthermore acceptable. Remember, we were using that window of high volume only as a predictor of the overall daily trend, not as a profit target time frame. 2.8 Money Management: The Correct Lot Size Proper Money Management is vital to the trader hoping to grow his account balance. We’re intentionally dealing with a volatile currency here at the end of the day! So even though every trade we take has all the hallmarks of a “good one,” it’s crucial that we don’t over-leverage our trades. Never enter a trade with more contracts (or “lots” in the Forex lingo) than you can afford. The key concept here is capital preservation and slow-but-steady account growth. The Forex London Rush system is built on knowledge and long-term predictability. If we ignore these factors and over-extend ourselves, we’d be in fact treating trading like gambling and that’s certainly not the right approach to trading, is it? Let me stress this: to give ourselves the best chance for sustained account growth, we need to keep under systematic control how many lots we enter our trades with. Here’s a generally-accepted, and I think very effective rule: never risk more than a 3% of your account size on any given trade. That means that should our trade be stopped out for a loss, the impact on our account won’t be any larger than a very acceptable 3%. Calculating that 3% figure takes a little math, but it’s not that hard to understand… and better still, I’ve automated the process for you in my custom indicator (once again, there’s plenty of more info about the indicator in the following chapter). But since it’s still worthwhile to understand how it works, let me dig a little bit in detail: We know from our instructions above how to set the distance between the entry level and the stoploss level. Next, we need to know the value of each pip for one standard lot (100,000 units traded) for that particular cross. Once we know that, we can multiply that dollar amount by the number of pips in from entry level to stoploss. That gives us an idea how much we’d be risking, in dollars, if we trade one standard lot. As long as that result is not more than 3% of our total account balance, the trade is safe. If that result is more than 3%, we’ll need to reduce our lot size. It sounds more complicated than it is. Let’s look at an example, and you’ll see how simple it really is. Say we have a $10,000 account and we’re looking to enter a BUY order on GBPUSD at 1.9200. We’ve done our calculations, and we want to place the stoploss at 1.9155, so we’re risking 45 pips in this trade. The pip value for GBPUSD is $10/pip per standard lot, so if we take the trade with 1 standard lot and our stoploss is hit, we would lose 45 x $10 = $450. Now, the 3% of our $10,000 account that we’re willing to risk is only $300, which means $450 is more than we can safely risk. So we need to enter this trade with less than 1 standard lot. The appropriate lot size for this trade according to our money management rules should be 300/450 = 0.66 lots. Again, it’s worth understanding, but part of the beauty of the system is that it’s fully automated! So keep reading because you’re about to learn how I have automated the whole system into my own particular indicator! 03 | Automating

The System

3.1 Applying The Indicators To Your Charts The entire London Forex Rush system has been programmed to work seamlessly with the MetaTrader 4 platform. But before we can begin trading the London Forex Rush system, we need to download and install all the required elements of the system in your computer. For that reason I have recorded a video with all the instructions you need to have the London Forex Rush system running within five minutes! Here is the link to the tutorial video:

www.LondonForexRush.com/installation/installation.html

Please watch that video and follow the steps carefully. Once again, the recommended MT4 platform can be downloaded for free here. When you placed your order, you received on your email the link to download this eBook, the system indicators and the template I personally use. Now you’re ready to download those files into their appropriate folders:

Download the indicators files (LondonForexRush.ex4 and MarketTrend.ex4) to the MetaTrader4/experts/indicators subfolder.

Download the template (LondonForexRush.tpl) to MetaTrader4/templates subfolder.

Once you have downloaded all the indicators, you’ll need to re-start your MT4 platform. When you have the 6 Sterling Pound pairs charted in your screen, I recommend you to re- adjust them to fit your screen by clicking on the Window menu, and selecting the Tile Vertically option. Voila! Now your screen should look just like mine! Now, please set all six charts to the Hourly (H1) time frame. That’s the only time frame the London Forex Rush system pays attention to. Okay, you’re finally ready to investigate the indicators themselves… 3.2 Reading The Indicators There are two indicators we’ll be concerned with: the Market Trend indicator and the London Forex Rush indicator itself. Here you can have a look at what the indicators actually look like when applied on the chart. Now let me debrief you on what each point means exactly:

The indicator will tell us right at the London market open (3 am EST), based on the factors the London Forex System uses to determine potentially profitable trades, whether there are any trading possibilities for each particular currency cross. At that precise time, it will give three possible readings: “Long trade,” indicating that we’re looking to BUY, “Short trade” indicating that we’re looking to SELL, and “No trade” indicating that we’re not looking to trade that currency pair at all – at least not today.

If the indicator is set at “No Trade”, none of fields 3 through 6 will appear in the screen. This is because there are will be no valid entry, stoploss or exit levels assigned by the system. By the way, the indicator comes alive right at London open time and only stays on for the first two hours of the London session. Don’t worry if all the charts are in “no trade” mode before or after that time span. That’s just the default. It’s only when you see that at 3:00 am EST the indicator is still in “no trade” mode that there are actually no valid trading opportunities available.

The countdown ticks the first two hours of the London market. Remember that we’re only looking to enter the market if conditions present themselves within the first two hours of the London session (3 am to 5 am EST). Once those two hours have ticked away, the indicator will reset itself at “No trade” until the next day. So if the actual breakout move hasn’t taken place within the first two hours of the London session, we can in fact shut down the computer because no entries should be taken thereafter.

If the indicator shows either a BUY or SELL opportunity, it will also tell us our exact

entry level, which will be the high or the low of the Tokyo band (plus 5 pips) depending on what direction we are to trade.

The indicator will automatically calculate both aggressive and conservative levels for out stoploss. Again, I personally use the aggressive level.

It will do the same for our profit target levels. I use and recommend the conservative one.

Money management. As you can see in the screenshot above, the indicator gives two different options for the lot size to be traded – I told you it would be automated! The aggressive option is only to be used if you picked the aggressive stoploss placement, and the conservative in case you picked the conservative stoploss placement. Please don’t mix these two.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the lot size multiplier has nothing to do with target placement. In the chart above, we can see how we should enter our BUY order at 1.9956. Then, if we place our aggressive stoploss at 1.9899, we should enter the market with 0.49 lots. Alternatively, if we decide to place our stoploss at a more conservative 1.9852, we should enter the market with only 0.28 lots. All calculations are done for you by the system. All that regardless of where we place our target.

The Market Trend indicator. This is a custom indicator that points out current market bias. A green color implies the market is trending upwards, and therefore we’ll only interested in BUY entries. A red colour implies a downward trend, so we will only be looking for SELL entries. Finally, a grey color means that there’s no strong bias either way, and it’s best to not look for trades at all, at least for today.

The light blue line marks the high for the day’s Tokyo session. If the system recognizes a BUY opportunity, the entry level will be 5 pips above that line.

The magenta line marks the low for the Tokyo session. If the system recognizes a SELL opportunity, the entry level will be 5 pips below that line.

As you can see, reading the indicators is both easy and intuitive. Once you’ve gone through it a few times, it will take you only a moment to recognize whether there are any trading opportunities on a given day.

This is what your daily routine trading with the London Forex Rush system will look like:

Open up your charts few minutes before the London market kicks off. Quickly check the six GBP-pairs we keep track off.

As the London session begins (3:00 am EST), look to see whether the London Forex Rush system is giving any trade signal. If not, then you’re done for the day and you can shut down the trading station. If yes, stay on as the countdown begins to tick.

Look at the Market Trend indicator and see in which direction you want the breakout to occur when the London market opens up: either to the upside or to the downside. Remember, if it’s green you’ll only be interested in upside breakouts. If red, only in downside breakouts. If grey, you’ll be interested in no breakout at all.

If the breakout does take place in the direction of the Market Trend indicator AND if the London Forex Rush indicator calls the trade, we will enter the market at the entry level specified by the indicator. Furthermore, we’ll also punch in our stoploss, profit target and lot size as instructed by the indicator. It should go without saying that if the breakout takes place in the opposite direction, we should stay out of the market and take no trade. Moreover, if the breakout does take place in the direction of the Market

Trend indicator but the London Forex Rush indicator remains in “No Trade” mode, we will NOT trade that breakout. Trust the system 

If the breakout doesn’t quite happen before the two-hour countdown limit, it’s also time to call it a day: there’s not enough momentum in the market today for us to capitalize. Don’t second guess the system.

And that’s it. Simple, right? With so much of the process automated by our indicator, a little more than two hours a day is all we need to trade with the London Forex Rush system! 3.3 The Indicator Settings Before you begin using the London Forex Rush system, you’ll need to adjust the London Forex Rush indicator settings to your own parameters. Let’s do that now. Once you have the six charts (one for each GBP-cross) loaded up on your screen, right click on one of them and select “Indicator list.” A new window will pop up where you will see the LondonForexRush and the MarketTrend indicators. The MarketTrend indicator doesn’t need any adjustment, so select the LondonForexRush indicator and click “Edit.” Now, the settings window should pop up. Click on the “Inputs” tab at the top of the window. This will take you to the indicator’s parameters. Let’s review them:

Account Size: This is the size of your trading account in dollars. This is not automated so you’ll have to manually modify it after every trade for the Money Management feature to work properly.

Tokyo Start: This is the time of the day the Tokyo market begins, which is used to mark in your chart the beginning of the Tokyo range bands.

If you use MIG FX as your charting platform (and I strongly recommend it), please leave this setting at 0 which means 00:00 or midnight Central Euro Time (MIG FX is a Swiss brokerage firm and thus their servers are based on Central Euro Time). Every MT4 feed uses their own time zone, so if you don’t use MIG you will need to convert 00:00 CET (6:00 pm EST) to whichever time zone your MT4 feed is based on.

Tokyo End: the time of the day the Tokyo market ends, which is used to mark in your chart the end of the Tokyo range bands. Please set it equal to London Start minus 1 hour, despite the fact that in reality Tokyo actually closes one hour after London market opens – at the end of the day, our interest in the Tokyo market concludes once London opens, so we need to set the Tokyo End at 8 am CET or 2 am EST. If you use MIG, set it up to 8, and if you use another MT4 feed you will need to convert that.

But like I say, as an overall rule of the thumb, the Tokyo End parameter is supposed to be set equal to the London Start parameter minus 1.

Tokyo High Color: The color of the Tokyo high band. This is a matter of personal preference. The default is set to Aqua.

Tokyo Low Color: The color of the Tokyo low band. The default is set to Magenta.

London Start: The time of the day the London market opens up. Default settings for MIG is 9 meaning 9:00 am CET (3:00 am EST). Again, if you use another MT4 feed, you will need to convert 9:00 am CET (3:00 am EST) to whichever time zone your MT4 feed is based on.

Countdown: This is the time span, beginning with the London market’s opening, that we may trigger a trade. Leave it at 2, meaning 2:00 hours countdown limit.

Countdown Color: The default is set at Aqua colour.

Text Color: The color for the text entries such as “entry level”, “aggressive and conservative stoplosses”, etc. I recommend an easy to read, high-contrast color like yellow.

Risk Ratio: the percentage of our trading account we will risk per trade. I recommend you to leave it at the default 0.03 (meaning 3% of your account size). If you’re a conservative trader you might want to reduce it down to 0.02 or even 0.01 (2% and 1% respectively). If you have higher tolerance for risk, you may raise it but I certainly don’t recommend this.

The indicator settings are pretty straight forward. The only point you might struggle with is setting the right times for the Tokyo start, Tokyo end and London start parameters. As indicated above, the indicator default settings is configured for MIG FX platform. However, if you're using another MT4 platform, here is a list of the time settings you should use:

Tokyo Start Tokyo End London Start MIG FX 0 8 9 Interbank FX 22 6 7 FXDD 1 9 10 Alpari UK 0 8 9 Crown Forex 22 6 7 FX open 1 9 10 ODL securities 22 6 7 FX pro 1 9 10 TradeView Forex 1 9 10 Ikon Royal 1 9 10

TWO IMPORTANT POINTS – PLEASE READ:

It makes no difference where in the world you live. The only thing that matters is where in the world your MT4 provider's server is located. So, for example, if your MT4 provider is Interbank FX, simply set the indicator parameters to Tokyo Start 22, Tokyo End 6 and London Start 7 as per the table above and you're good to go regardless of where you personally live.

Summer Day Time does not affect the indicator setting. Regardless of whether we are in winter or summer time, the London market still opens at 8:00 am London time or 3:00 am EST, so don't alter the indicator time settings due to summer time changes.

Alright, you’re done adjusting your settings! Now, right-click on the chart again. This time, select “Template”, then “Save template” and finally over-write the old LondonForexRush template. The system will now use your selections as the defaults for that window. One step to go, and you’re all set up: apply the new template to every GBP-cross chart (six in total). Right click on each chart, select “Template,” then “LondonForexRush” and you’re done! You’re now finally ready to trade! 04 | Trading With

The London Forex Rush System

4.1 It's a conservative system! First of all, there is one thing that's worth noting: the London Forex Rush system is a conservative system and therefore it will only signal trade calls when everything falls in line. That means that the indicator will not call for trades every single day. So don't be surprised if the indicator remains on “No Trade” mode for few days in a row: when the perfect market conditions are not there it's best to not risk your money and wait it out until a better market outlook comes by.

Patience is fundamental for a trader, and sooner or later the indicator will find high- probability trades and will let you know so. Those are the trades worth taking!

4.2 The Trading Methodology Let’s quickly review your daily trading routine:

Open your charts a little before the London market opens at 3:00 am EST. Make sure the six GBP-crosses are set to the H1 time frame, your internet connection is fine, and your MT4 platform is receiving the market quotes.

Simply wait for the London market to open at 3:00 am EST or 8:00 am London Time.

At 3:01 am EST, right as the London market opens, the indicator will come alive. It will call one of three things: a “Long Trade” opportunity, a “Short Trade” opportunity, or “No Trade” opportunity at all. If there is a trading opportunity, it will also point out the entry point, stoploss, profit target, and lot size levels.

Before taking a trade, check the Market Trend indicator to verify whether the chart is uptrending (green color), downtrending (red color), or not trending at all (grey color).

If the indicator calls a trading opportunity, we will only take that trade if two conditions are met: 1) if the breakout takes place before the countdown expires, and 2) if the breakout occurs in the direction of the Market Trend indicator. If both these conditions are not met, will pass on the signal given by the London Forex Rush indicator.

If all six charts remain in “No Trade” mode at 3:01 am EST, or if a breakout takes place in the direction opposite the Market Trend indicator, or if no breakout takes place before the countdown expires, we can switch off the computer. We will not take any trade for the rest of the day.

Finally, If we do take a trade, we will exit it as soon as either the stoploss or the profit target level is hit. Again, I recommend using the aggressive stoploss and the conservative profit target, but that choice is up to you.

4.3 Other Considerations Those are the basics, but there are a couple situations that require a bit more careful attention by the trader. We’ll go over those briefly now. Spikes against the trend As mentioned above, sometime, when the market opens, we might see a momentum “spike” against the trend which breaches the opposite band of the Tokyo range. Don’t panic. There’s a reason for it. The start of the London session is highly volatile, and high-volume. This creates a lot of “market noise.” Large institutional traders take advantage of this confusion to run some stop orders, driving price in one direction momentarily. So don’t be surprised if on occasion you see price shooting quickly against the trend, only to turn around immediately after. In trading lingo, you’re seeing what is usually referred as “stop loss hunting”. When you see such a spike, remain calm and follow price action closely. If the spike dies out quickly and begins to move back in the direction of the trend, you will carry on with your basic day’s plan as if the spike had never happened. If it doesn’t fully reverse itself, and continues to push against the trend, it’s best to bail out until the next day. You don’t want to fight the market forces. Risk vs. Reward Ratio This is an advanced Money Management concept that calculates how much we can possibly lose against how much we can possibly gain for a particular trade. Naturally, we’d like to be in a position where we have more to gain than we have to lose. We calculate Risk vs. Reward as follows:

Risk = distance in pips between the entry point and your chosen stoploss level.

Reward = distance in pips between the entry point and your target level.

Divide Reward by Risk and you will get a number. If that number is above 1, the reward is higher than the risk. This is what we’re gunning for.

I recommend sticking to trades with a Risk vs. Reward ratio of 1.5 or higher. That way, even if you only make money on half of your trades, you still have a statistical edge and you will make money in the long term. Let’s imagine half of your trades are winners and the other half go belly up. If every winner grows your account by 1.5 units while every loser sets you back 1 unit, in the long run you still profit! Play it safe, and success will come slowly-but-steadily in the long run. Multiple, simultaneous trading opportunities Some days, you’ll see the London Forex Rush indicator calling possible trades for multiple GBP-crosses. Don’t get excited, and don’t get ahead of yourself. Taking multiple trades at the same time can be dangerous. When we expose that much of our account, any bad shift in the GBP-perception by the market might take a big chunk out of our account balance all of a sudden. You see, it would only take one turn in the market to cause you multiple (and simultaneous) losses, and we cannot afford that! It’s never wise to overexpose or overleverage yourself to the same currency, and since we only trade GBP-crosses the best way to handle this kind of situations is to simply pick one setup and ignore the rest for the day. Which of course leads to the question: “If the indicator calls valid trading signals at the same time on different currency crosses, which one do I pick?”. There are two good ways to choose the best trading opportunity when faced with more than one choice:

Calculate the Risk vs. Reward ratio for each, and pick the one with the highest ratio.

This is probably the most sensible choice for conservative traders.

Watch them all, and pick whichever breaks out from the Tokyo range first. This is probably a more aggressive approach, but it’s equally valid given that all the indicators are in our favour. Remember, this is a momentum-based system, and striking early gives the best chance to capture the market’s early momentum.

Decide which one suits your trading personality better. I personally prefer option #2. Moving your stoploss to a breakeven point Sometimes, as we watch a trade unfolding in our favour, it can be tempting to re-adjust our stoploss to protect ourselves. And this can be a god idea…if we time the move correctly. But it can also come back to haunt us if we’re not careful: if you tighten your stoploss too early, any random swing in price can knock you out of the trade, ruining a potentially-profitable day. Trailing the stoploss up too soon is a common beginner’s mistake. The market is a living thing, and needs room to wiggle. You want to trust the system and believe in the trends without micro-managing your trades to death. For the London Forex Rush system, I recommend you time the trailing of your stoploss with the opening of the New York market, which comes at 9:30 am EST, and here’s the thinking: if the first two hours of the London market are the most volatile time of the day in the Forex market, the first two hours of the NY session are a close second. That means that we might see a second market acceleration at that point. And remember: that acceleration can go in either direction. Don’t trail your stoploss before the New York market opens. The trade does need time to unfold. Make sure you give it some breathing room, and don’t worry about routine fluctuations. That’s why you have a stoploss posted – so you know no fluctuation can prove too damaging. If you want to be even more conservative, you might consider closing out a winning trade no matter what its current level is, right before the NY market opens. You can base that decision upon how well you’ve profited to that point. Following this train of thought, if our trade hasn’t reached its final target by that time, I usually trail my stoploss to breakeven around 9:00 am EST just in case the NY open spurs price against me. If your trade has been successful so far, you’re still facing the limited upside imposed by your profit target, but now that you’re ahead, your potential loss is far greater. Be safe, rather than sorry. Let me give you a quick example: Let’s assume you enter a trade as the London market opens, and you’re hoping to gain about 120 pips. Now let’s also assume that as the London market wears on, the trade moves swiftly in your direction. By 9:00 am EST (half an hour before NY open) you’re sitting at 95 pips in profit. It might not be a bad idea to simply cash those pips off the table and avoid risking the extra volatility from the NY market’s opening. You have only a little left to gain: 25 more pips. Do you want to risk giving 95 pips back to the market in order to squeeze out a final 25? In this scenario, it might be a good idea to be conservative and simply exit out at 9:00 am EST and call it a day knowing that 1) you’ve had a profitable day and 2) you played the game intelligently, exiting the trade ahead of the potential storm.

Summary: I do move stop to breakeven at 9:00 am EST, unless I am rather close to my final target in which case I simply close the trade and end my trading shift for the day.

05 | Epilogue he London Forex Rush system is a fantastic trading strategy for those who want to specialize in a particular type of trading. This system focuses on momentum breakout trading. I am a firm believer in specialization no matter the professional field, and T trading is no different. In the long run, it’s far more profitable to master one single system than it is to dabble in several. You know, to exploit one single, reliable, recurring pattern, rather than trying to follow many. All the professional traders I know have specialized in one particular trading strategy: some of them trade around news announcements and only around news announcements, some others trade stoploss-hunting techniques, some others rely on candlestick formations off the long term charts, etc. All are valid, but the universal theme is specialization. I myself have chosen to specialize in momentum breakouts around the first two hours of the London session – it’s the only time of the day I enter trades and the only trading system I follow. I love this system above all others because of its very particular time schedule: you really need to be focused for those two hours around the London open, but then if no trading opportunity has presented itself, you have the rest of the day free for other family or work commitments. That means that if you trade full time, you have virtually the whole day free. And if you have a full time job, it’s easy to work in the two hours necessary to stay on top of the London Forex Rush system. As long as you can dedicate two hours a day to your charts, you can trade this system successfully! I hope you have found this introduction both helpful and enjoyable. And I hope the London Forex Rush system helps you along the way to all your financial goals. I am positive that if you take the time to master this simple system, and find the dedication to work at it every day, you’ll find it as profitable and mesmerizing as I do. Make sure to practice with a demo account at the beginning until you’re comfortable with the system’s indicators, concepts and, above all, trading results. So please stick to it! Soon you will see with your own eyes the system’s enormous potential. Cheers - to your trading success, Al Russell www.LondonForexRush.com

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