So lets start our trip into the potion place with what is probably the simplest combination of any magic, and that is Moon Water. Briefly all you do is put water where the moon can shine into it and the water becomes charged with mystical powers, including restoring the shine to dull tired skin, cleaning bad energy from your house, and making plants grow. And the water can be indoors, as long as the moon can look at it through the window.
Intrigued? Well you can read a while lot more at Cosmopolitan/MoonWater, which also tells you what each phase of the moon imbues the water with - and if you have a go, and get results do please let us know.
Today we know this issuer as Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company, but they were founded in April 1898, in Melbourne, Victoria, which makes them Australia's first health food company.
However I wonder how many of you know that they were founded by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia, who wanted to spread their belief that certain foods, especially a plant based diet, were best, and to do this they set up a company to ensure a supply of them was easily available. From here they spread into several states and even into New Zealand. And the company is still owned by the Church, which brings us to our oddest fact of all - for that means they do not pay company tax on any of their profits, because religious bodies are exempt. All we know is that for the last few years their income has been "in excess of $100 million" - without any statement as to how much "in excess" it was. To be fair though, they do have a really huge charity arm, and they are always quick to supply food, know how, and even personnel to national and worldwide emergencies.
This set is only listed in our Australian & New Zealand Reference Book (RB.30) published in 1983. The entry reads :
1959-1 Destination Moon. 73 x 48. Nd. (50) ...... SA2-116
By the way, the first code is the date, and the number after the dash is used to show the number of sets issued in that year. In our case it was only this one, but some years have four different sets, so the sets number from –1 to -4. And there was also a special album, which had the text from the back printed below the little squares in which you gummed the cards.
However there is actually another entry for part of this set a little earlier in the book as SA2–19. That is under “New Zealand issues” and it reads :
Reaching For The Moon. Nd. (25) Caption front and back. As half of set SA2-116. Issued 1962-63
I could not find these, so if anyone has a set, or even a few, perhaps they could contact us and we could see how the two intermingle. Many thanks.