http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seerseeker
October 17, 2003
8:52 pm EDT
Boston, MA/www
What part of me do they represent? Is there a part of me that, for instance, is selfish, conniving, self serving, etc?
Yes indeed Cassia, this is indeed a truism. When I reflect on my own "re-actions" to those who seem to care nothing for the common weal, particularly those who should know better from positions of responsibility and power, I realise that, in line with my Sun square Pluto volatility, my knee-jerk reaction is quite violent and fuelled by rage. I have nothing against the emotion (it exists, ergo, it is), but it certainly achieves nothing except the perpetuation of a vicious circle which does me and others more harm than good, and makes of me a hypocrite. Yes, we are all one, all humans, all living creatures, one big/little throbbing planet. I'm not comfortable with the word "God" (too much historical baggage), although in my own writings I use it; the term just does not carry for me a sense of cosmic parentage. I was a born-again, fundamentalist Christian for a brief moment when I was 17... looking for a replacement Father image, but when I heard them preaching hellfire and brimstone on the streets in order to save people's souls, I realised that the central message that Jesus of Nazareth spread, had nought to do with them. Understandably, I was extremely disallusioned. In a perhaps typical Libra-rising way, I swung to the opposite extreme, and involved myself with a Pagan group which exalted a divine Mother image. Again, I found myself embroiled in the bitterness carried by these particular women toward the plight of women through the ages under the iron fist of history, and for them men were lesser creatures. I don't blame them at all. History is still alive and well (well...?!) in countries where a woman can be stoned to death for what??
One creation, one earth, one Life throughout. I suppose we can each dress up this in whatever imagery we feel comfortable with. Who am I to judge? for if I am honest with myself (a daily exercise), the moment I judge another for things I abhor, I recognise that I couldn't recognise such horrors unless they were within me. I don't know about other lifetimes, but in this life I see within a host of saints and sinners, angels and demons. It seems to me a matter of keeping the mirror of the soul clean of the dust of ages. This requires vigilance and compassion and strength of character. In my experience at least, where there is light there is shadow, and for me the process is not the elimination of the latter, but rather achieving some kind of alchemy. Life is a Great Work, a Magnum Opus, the extraction of a drop of pure gold from lead, and oh my god, wouldn't you know it, this Sagittarian is preaching.
In a spirit of love,
Bernard
|
Death is a reality for all of us -- not just a possibility. It is a
natural and inevitable part of being alive. So, perhaps it would be
best if we learned to not fear death, not be in dread, but to
understand that, though the circumstances might be fearful or
painful, death itself is an end of pain or reason to fear (or might
even be a new beginning).
Those who are harmed by death are those left behind with a hole in
their lives which a now departed loved one once filled. Of course we
who have experienced such a loss need the comfort of companions who
are still with us. Of course we need the space in which to feel, and
feel our way through, our grief. But we must understand that it is we
the living who have that burden, that task, that hard means to
growth. The honored dead, those with whom we may feel we have
unfinished business, are now beyond the need for growth or
accommodation. And we, all of us, who are indeed going to die,
would do best to make peace with that inevitability, to live as full
a life as we can while we are alive, and, despite the circumstances,
to find a way to peace while we die.
http://www.bemyastrologer.com/nietzsche_schizophrenia_in_the_astrology_chart.html
Friedrich
Nietzsche once said, "If you stare long enough into the abyss, the abyss stares
back at you." Hoist by his own pétard, at 45 years old, poor Nietzsche
permanently lost his mind. This event was a long time coming but was triggered
by an incident where he saw a horse being beaten. Considering his general
philosophy of emotional hardness, I find this a telling event. It prompted me to
explore Nietzsche's chart further.
In
the process I found many references to him as a new kind of man. His chart is
Uranian and Plutonic in tone. He is related in a chain of minds from Arthur
Schopenhauer and Richard Wagner, the latter being also very Uranian and
Plutonic.
Perhaps
Nietzsche was the prototype of humans to emerge in the Aquarian Age. It has to
start somewhere in time ... this seeding of the new human being. Hopefully the
model is being reworked to get the glitches out.
I
have never been one to put much emphasis on the broader astrological predictions
such as the Harmonic Conversion or the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, simply
because as a historian and evolutionist, it is difficult to discern a dividing
line between one era and another, one century and another, or one age and
another. When exactly do we pass from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius?
One astrological website I visited had found at least seventy different
opinions.
I
became interested in the Aquarian
Age again, though, when I read some of the vocabulary used to
describe these three Germans: Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher; Richard
Wagner, German composer with an interest in philosophy, a follower of
Schopenhauer; and Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher. All three were described as
"willful", "will to power", "exceptional", "driving force", "radical
revolutionary" ... Nietzsche even describes himself as a time bomb in so many
words.
These
are the kinds of images that arise when you combine Uranus and Pluto. As Barbara
Watters so beautifully put it, Uranus is guns, Pluto is
bombs.
The
charts of these three men have Uranian/Plutonic themes. It was Nietzsche, you
may recall, who made the dreadful, shocking statement, "God is dead," so many
years ago that now we are used to it.
Brilliance
is fascinating and when it goes awry, I think we are all given pause to think
for a moment ... just what is a "mind". We had a good movie about this recently
called A Beautiful Mind in which Novel Prize winner John Nash's complete
mental breakdown was dramatized.
ABOUT
DR. AL SIEBERT
Dr.
Al Siebert (I am quoting now from his Resiliency
Centerwebsite) is "internationally recognized for his research into
the inner nature of highly resilient survivors. His book The Survivor
Personality is now in its ninth printing, and has been published in German,
Dutch, Russian, Hebrew, Chinese, and United Kingdom editions.
"Articles
quoting his work have appeared in Nation's Business, Family Circle, Men's
Fitness, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, New Woman, Outdoor
Life, Bottom Line/Personal, Good Housekeeping, USA Weekend, CBSHealthwatch.com,
Human Resources Magazine, and many trade publications. His popular quiz "How
Resilient Are You?" has been reprinted in many articles and books. He has been
interviewed about the survivor personality on the NBC Today Show, The
Unexplained, and OPRAH." (end of quote from Resiliency
Center website)
Dr.
Al Siebert wrote an article on "survivor personalities", early in his career in
which he used Friedrich Nietzsche as an illustration of this type of
personality. He believes that "survivor personalities" are exceptional in some
important ways. Currently these people make up only 1% or 2% of the
population.
Siebert's
article explores the emergence at the same time in history of a new
psychological disorder called at firstdementia praecox and later
schizophrenia and a new, exceptional level of mental health, as presumably
described if not exhibited by Friedrich Nietzsche and others. When
something is described as "emerging" into the collective, I think evolution. I
think Uranus and Pluto.
Dr.
Siebert's research into the survivor personality and his call for further
research into the real nature of schizophrenia has been invaluable as a tool of
understanding for psychologists and psychiatrists. It also serves as a powerful
bridge for spiritual healers.
Many
healers like myself (I am an infp personality type, called The Healer)
have commented through the years among ourselves on the resemblance between
rising kundalini energy and what are labeled schizophrenic episodes by the
medical community.
Kundalini
is a force majeur or seemingly external event that has been recognized by
most of the world's major religions in consciousness raising. When you have
prepared yourself and asked to be awakened, at last you are awakened. You have
waited so long. Sometimes you forget that this is the answer to your prayer and
you feel like something is happening TO you.
Please
read Historical Sources
& Knowledge of Kundalini for an excellent though
oversimplified introduction to the cross cultural recognition of the kundalini
energy. Western psychology and medicine often stumble onto the path of the
truths which have been self evident in most of the world's great religions since
their inception. They are amazed at spiritual realities that we work to
recognize through Yoga, meditation, silence and other religious
means.
Dr.
Siebert refers to "paradoxes" and the "breakdown of the bicameral mind" which
the purpose of a Zen Buddhist statement such as, "What is the sound of one hand
clapping?" One day there will be a synthesis and the right hand will no longer
be divided from the left.
Meditation,
which is geared toward Eastern psyches, not Western, can easily trigger
schizophrenic-like events in individuals who are not properly prepared to
"contain the light", as it is called. Those of us who help others with their
spiritual growth are watchful of this. In the Qabalah, this situation is
symbolized by the path from Yesod to Tifereth. Those who are not as familiar
with esoteric studies may not realize that all words referring to the Tree of
Life symbol can be spelled a variety of different ways. It doesn't effect
their meanings if I have spelled these words in a way you are not familiar
with.
On
this path from Yesod (the unconscious where we encounter all that we expect and
fear, which is personal to each pathworker) to Tifereth (the Sun or Christ
center), the Temperance Healing Angel stands guard to keep someone from taking
in too much light. This is why studying the Kabalah is actually a much safer
path of enlightenment for Western psyches than meditation, which is essentially
geared to the Eastern psyche. Onem ight also differentiate between left and
right brain psyches. Meditation is ideal for the Eastern or intuitive right
brain psyche which honors transcendence rather than manifestation. Things like
this are further discussed in my Online Tarot
Course.
The Temperance Healing
Angel XIV is the card in the Tarot Deck that symbolizes the end
result of this process, where two become one in a creative and alchemical union.
This process is also described in two-dimensional terms by Hegel's dialectic,
thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
Plato
described this process of "taking on the light" in hisAllegory of the
Cave. As you recall, people were not allowed to look directly on "reality",
that is to say the Uranian kind of higher reality, except through mirrors as
otherwise they would be blinded. They saw shadows cast against the wall. This is
the way we see now until our eyes are opened.
In
the Tarot Deck, this condition is symbolized on the Lovers
card, which has to do with polarities, not romance. The Man cannot
look directly at the Angel. He, who symbolizes the conscious, looks over at the
Woman, who symbolizes the subconscious, and She looks up at the Angel. We
discover what we know of the Nous or Divine, by looking into the
subconscious; that is to say by dreams, psychoanalysis, Freudian slips,
instincts (as revealed in fairy tales). collective myths, and with Tarot cards
and other symbols, meaningful coincidences, meditation, Yoga and
chanting.
Dr.
Siebert writes that schizophrenia may actually be a "breakdown in the bicameral
mind" and an "unrecognized process of neurological integration ... that takes
years to occur". He further suggests that the classic dementia
praecox form of schizophrenia [may be] a misunderstood, mishandled,
disrupted, interfered with, version of the survivor personality and, conversely,
a person with a survivor personality [may demonstrate] a successful form of
schizophrenia. The survival personality has integrated major mental and
emotional paradoxes.
We
couldn't agree more. This is what we are trying to teach people to do when we
have them look at the Lovers card in the Major Arcana. We are involving them in
a voluntary process to break down their own bicameral mind and proceed through
to a neurological integration, with support from healers, spiritual teachers and
their own guides.
In
this card, it is the Woman who looks at the Angel. The Man cannot.
The Woman
symbolizes the subconscious mind, the Man is the conscious mind.
This has
nothing to do with feminism or chauvinism. It symbolizes a yin/yang
polarity.
By
the way, healers do not believe there is any condition which cannot be healed.
We do not believe in mental illness other than as a false belief. For this
reason, we attract many people whom some psychiatrists or doctors have doomed
"for life" by their diagnoses and labels.
You can see the process visually in
the imagery of Crowley's Lovers and Temperance cards.
Lovers
and Temperance - notice exchange and resolution of images, colors, etc.
One
card echoes or repeats the other at a a higher octave.
The Crowley
Deck
Friedrich
Nietzsche has many remarkable qualities which Siebert sets forth in his article
below. But to me they seem to be largely intellectual, not moral. In other
words, Nietzsche's mind was brilliant but as a person he had many challenges
that make it difficult to imagine him as exceptional in any other way than
mentally.
For
example, Nietzsche describes the Uebermensch (the super-person) as cold
or "hard" emotionally. And yet the straw that broke the camel's back ... the
incident which triggered Nietzsche's final descent into permanent madness ...
was his witnessing a horse being beaten. If indeed Nietzsche had been able to
become "hard" emotionally, this incident could not have occurred. It sounds like
it was an opposite and equal reaction to trying to be something one cannot be,
inhuman. It is not possible to be a human being and not have
feelings.
I
am surprised that this incident is never, to my knowledge, discussed this way.
Perhaps it is too embarrassing for men to admit that this could be the case.
Philosophers are, I'm afraid, rather notorious for trying to remain "rational"
at whatever cost. The stereotype, going all the way back to Socrates and his
wife, Xantippe, is the unflappable scholarly wise man married to the screaming
bitch from hell. If I am not mistaken, the Philosopher and the Hysteric are a
natural pairing.
Nietzsche
is credited with exceptional psychological abilities. He precedes Freud but
their lives overlapped and Freud has this to say about Nietzsche, "he had more
penetrating knowledge of himself than any man who ever lived or was likely to
live." (Jones, 1955 as quoted by Siebert, below) . As an astrologer, we would
attribute this to Nietzsche's Scorpio Rising, ripe in the 29th
degree.
If
Nietzsche is so Uranian, so superior, so expressive of exceptional mental
health, let's take a closer look at the Aquarian Age and what it is supposed to
mean.
The
real meaning of the term "Aquarian Age" comes from the Precession of Equinoxes.
Because of the earth's rotation, the constellations seem to move very, very
slowly backwards across the elliptic. Thus we begin in our dim past with the Age
of Taurus, work backward through Aries and Pisces to the Aquarian Age. Each age
lasts about 2,000 years and is marked by the sign the Sun appears in at the
Vernal Equinox, currently still Pisces. Different individuals have had different
ways of determining the start of the Aquarian Ag, even different reputable
astrologers. Since we're talking in astronomical/geological time, a century
doesn't matter much, one way or the other.
- Gemini,
the Twins - roughly 6,000 to 4,000 BCE
- the
star children, Adam and Eve
- Taurus,
the Fertility Goddesses - roughly 4,000 BCE to 2,000 BCE
- Astarte,
Gaia, Diana of Ephesus, Inanna
- some
bull gods such as Baal and the Golden Calf referred to in Moses
- Mithras
- Aries,
the warrior Ram Gods - 2,000 BCE to 0 CE
- fearsome
Yahweh of the Old Testament; Judaism and the scapegoat
- Jason
and the Golden Fleece
- Pisces,
all sacrificed gods - 0 CE to 2,000 CE
- Jesus,
the Lamb of God
- Odin
or Wotan
- Aquarius
- the Magician, the Scientist, the Rational Man, the Group or Community Member
(??) - roughly the next 2,000 years ... let
me propose some examples just for purposes of discussionj
- Friedrich
Nietzsche
- President
Kennedy in his handling of the Bay of Pigs event (see an interesting discussion
on this inThe Mask of Command by Jonathan Keegan)
- the
Computer
- Aleister
Crowley (1904) says he personally brought in the Aquarian
Age
You
may also want to read some of Rob Hand's articles based on
Jung's Aion which discuss the Precession into Aquarius. Please click
here.
According
to an excellent article at CrystalLinks, "we are presently ending a century, a
millennium, and now 180 degrees around the star clock of the procession of the
equinoxes. That was the time of the great flood. That was the Age of Leo....
Many ancient Star clocks depict the age of Leo. The Flood happened somewhere in
the beginning to the middle of Leo. There are many stories of the flood in
different cultures around the world." That was a v e r y long time
ago.
According
to Naomi Bennett at AccessNewAge, "Robert Hand in the essay, The Age and
Constellation of Pisces, ... calculates the first star in Pisces to cross
the vernal point at 111 BC, which would place the Age of Aquarius to begin near
2,060 AD. Carl Jung supposedly predicted 1997-2000. Aleister Crowley as noted
above, feels he initiated the Age in 1904 (personally). And there are many more.
I will suggest two more websites for further exploration if this interests
you:
In
the same way that Albrecht Dürer seems to be the harbinger of Modern Man, it
seems that for many, Friedrich Nietzsche is the harbinger for the Aquarian Age.
I have not personally read Nietzsche's philosophy other than his first
book, The Birth of Tragedy, but in reviewing the details of his life and
statements made by reputable people such as Dr. Siebert, it would seem that
Nietzsche was a sort of Frankenstein prototype of this kind of New Creature we
are becoming or new creature that has been predicted.
Up
until the time of Dürer there was no such thing as the "self portrait" because
the concept of "self" as we know it today had not emerged from the
collectivization of the Middle Ages or evolved into the human condition you
might say. Dürer painted himself more and more like Christ as he got
older.
Nietzsche
has predominantly Uranian energy in his chart and shows many Uranian
characteristics, both good and bad. It almost feels like he blew his own fuse at
the end. High voltage electrical energy running through weak mutable circuits
can often cause a breakdown of some sort. Nietzsche's Scorpio Rising kept him
together for many years but he always had a weak sensitivity and apparently took
medicine for help with this.
What
is most interesting to me, however, is that the damming of emotions seems to
have been the event that sent him into the chasm of darkness for the final time,
the last twelve years of his life.
Nietzche
came from a long line of Lutheran ministers. His father died of a brain disorder
when he was four and his little brother died within a year of that. Afterwards,
he was raised by his mother, paternal grandmother, his father's two sisters, and
his own younger sister, who also cared for him when he became
incapacitated.
Nietzsche's
first interest scholastically was in philology, a discipline which centers on
the interpretation of classical and biblical texts. He discovered Schopenhauer
at twenty one, which changed the course of his life.
In
1867, at 23, Nietzsche had a dreadful accident in his military service. He was
trying to leap-mount a particularly difficult horse and suffered a serious chest
injury which refused to heal.
Nietzsche
met Richard
Wagner, the composer, a year later. His health further deteriorated
when he contracted dysentery and diphteria during the Franco-Prussian
War.
Nietzsche
seems to have been in love only once in his life, at age thirty-seven. He
proposed to Lou Salomé, a twenty-one-year-old Russian woman who was studying
philosophy and theology in Zurich but she turned him down. It is also suspected
that he had a crush ono Wagner's wife Cosima. In later years, Salomé became an
associate of Sigmund Freud.
On
the morning of January 3, 1889, while in Turin, Nietzsche experienced a mental
breakdown which left him an invalid for the rest of his life. Upon witnessing a
horse being whipped by a coachman at the Piazza Carlo Alberto, Nietzsche threw
his arms around the horse's neck and collapsed, never to return to full
sanity.
Some
reasons for this that have been suggested are: (1) syphilis (this was the
original diagnosis), (2) his use of a sedative, chloral hydrate, which
deteriorated his already weak nervous system, (3) the same brain disease as his
father (4) a mental illness, (5) a gross betrayal by Richard Wagner which
undermined his sense of well being.
It
surprises me that no one wants to connect the horse-beating as the significant
trauma which was repeated,in Freudian terms, or symbolically in Jungian terms.
Was Nietzsche beaten as a boy? Did he tend to become agitated around horses
after his accident in the military? Did he identify with the horse in some other
way (he has Moon and North Node in Sagittarius in the first
house)?
The
exact cause of Nietzsche's incapacitation still remains unclear. That Nietzsche
had an extraordinarily sensitive nervous constitution and took an assortment of
medications is well-documented as a more general fact.
Nietzsche's
mother took care of him until she died and then his sister took care of him.
This must be the same sister with whom he had an incestuous affair. She did as
much as she could to promote his philosophy. (Nietzsche has Gemini South
Node.)
Specific
20th century figures who were influenced, either quite substantially, or in a
significant part, by Nietzsche include painters, dancers, musicians,
playwrights, poets, novelists, psychologists, sociologists, literary theorists,
historians, and philosophers: Alfred Adler, Georges Bataille, Martin Buber,
Albert Camus, E.M. Cioran, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Isadora Duncan,
Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud, Stefan George, André Gide, Hermann Hesse, Carl
Jung, Martin Heidegger, Gustav Mahler, André Malraux, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria
Rilke, Jean-Paul Sartre, Max Scheler, Giovanni Segantini, George Bernard Shaw,
Lev Shestov, Georg Simmel, Oswald Spengler, Richard Strauss, Paul Tillich,
Ferdinand Tönnies, Mary Wigman, William Butler Yeats and Stefan
Zweig.
Interesting
in and of itself, the article sets forth definitive personality characteristics
and is therefore also an easy way to learn more astrology.
Here is Nietzsche's chart. Take a
look at the chart if you haven't already. Then read Dr. Al Siebert's article
which is also an astrological tutorial.
Source
for Chart: Lois Rodden, AstrodatabankRoddenRating:
C
DataSource: Accuracy in question
SourceNotes: Fagan states that the
horoscope was calculated by Bishop Lucas Gauricus and included in
hisTractatus Astrologicus. (May 21 OS)
AN
ASTROLOGICAL TUTORIAL
Here is Dr. Al Siebert's article
which is also an astrological tutorial. I will underline characteristics which
apply to Uranian energy in
red (and its shadow, playful and creative
Leo) and characteristics of the Gemini/Sagittarius axis in
purple. Strictly mutable qualities will be shown in
green. Characteristics that pertain to Nietzsche's Scorpio Rising
are indicated like *this*.
Thus,
the key"
msg86
My name is
MaryEllen Marshall & my astro. info is Oct.30, 1970 3:47pm Hartford, CT,
USA. That makes me a 6X Scorpio with Aries rising. The first astrologer I saw
said it was a very good thing that all that Scorpio fell into the 8th house -
it's natural place - or I could become very unbalanced & dangerous (I
still think 'trouble' follows me around - but I've learned to make 'friends'
with it - in a respectful way). I was brought up in a very strict, New England,
Roman Catholic household. My parents didn't like hippies & I was
encouraged to study science. I left home at 17 - as soon as I could &
went to college to study neuroscience. There I joined the Eclectic Society
& surrounded myself with the oddest bunch of people I could find - we
would talk philosophy, religion, pop-culture & anything else offensive
late into the night. I graduated & got a teaching credetial &
moved to Dallas, TX to teach high school science. After 2 years I burned out
& moved to SanFrancisco, CA where I started to take astrology
seriously. I found I had a 'talent' in it. I had a series of 'psychotic
episodes', 'visions', 'psychic awakenings' - depending on who you talk to -
starting shortly before my Saturn return on my 27th birthday. I began to take
religion seriously - or at least pay more attention to it than as a 'helpful
psychological structure to help humans deal with the obvious chaos of life'. I
now work in a science/art museum - which allows me to combine science &
teaching & creativity in a fun way & I am starting a little
astrology/Tarot/spiritual counseling home business along with a few other
'varied' creative projects.
that's me in a nutshell...
love
all-ways,
MaryEllen
This is
Terra. I am new to this list. I am single, mother to Blake who is a reporter
and is writing a novel and grandmother of the lovely Alexandria aged six and
turning into quite a clothes horse. She likes animals, barbie dolls and a
certain boy (but its a secret so don't tell anyone).
I am also
Mom to Sage, a wolf hybrid who is currently stretched upside down on a Victorian
sofa at the end of the room. Boy is she going to be mad when I reupholster it
and take it for my own. I'll probably have to get her her own couch then. Sage
is a lapwolf.
I am an
astrologer, studying since 1974 and practicing for thirteen years, thirteen, now
that is significant...I should pay attention.
I am
psychic and a medium, never intended to do that but there it is. I wrote a book
about Soul Mates because that is what the publisher wanted when I was wanting to
write something completely different. I have written quite a lot of poetry and
am hoping that with Laurie on this list, I will somehow be inspired to get back
to that.
I live in
a small town in upstate NY moved back here from AZ after a series of events that
were surprising, but I found that it suited me here and that it is very easy to
live here, and Arizona was getting really difficult. I think it is Spirit's way
of telling me in am in the right place, but it is the last place I thought I
would end up!
Who
knows, maybe I am not done yet.
In the
before time, when there was money, I was a graphic artist, had the first
computer graphics studio in Rochester, NY. I do miss that kind of work, but I
got spun off in this new direction and haven't been able to get
back.
The nice
thing about living quite awhile, is that one gets to do a lot of different
things....and if one is lucky gets to see a lot of places in this world. I need
about thirty more years, though to see a lot more. I want more time to wander
through the little side streets in Europe, some of Kenya, Oldavai Gorge, and a
free Lhasa. The Berlin wall came down so this can be undone
too.
I am
Liberal/ Libertarian on the political scales. I believe that there are certain
things that people should have just for being born...food, good shelter, basic
utilities, medical care...these are not things one must
earn.
I
heartily dislike George Bush, JR. and his father. And all their henchmen. I
wonder how much of 9/11 was allowed to happen because of them and how much they
knew.
On this
list I am waiting for some comments that show a direction and I will chime in.
Now that you know a bit about me, who are you all.
Terra
Something I have been battling with over the past few days (must
be
that watching the news again, or perhaps the Mars move from
opposition
to transiting Pluto conjunct my Asc. to square to my
Moon) is that immensely
overwhelming anger against all the needless
tragedy/violence over which I
have no persuasive say. So, after
hiding under the covers for a bit, and
finding that less than
satisfying, I just go back out into the areas in which
I can do
something, and do what I can.
.
.
.
.
for
Leda
my
dearest dear
your pain taken from others' shadows
toss your tears as
blossoms
into a clear, sunlit stream
count those blessings
an array of
shining shades
texture and vivid tones
of your magnificent
heart
.
.
.
.
back
at the last eclipse (some may remember the date, 9/11) I awoke shortly after the
eclipse presumably passed, so noted what I had been dreaming. I have been having
this series of dreams (nonrepetitive, just similar) about seeing beautiful
bodies of water in resort or at least temporary domiciles. So, again, I was at
some kind of summer home with two men who were very close friends in the dream,
but whom I have never met in rl. It was the end of the season, so we were to
leave soon. We had a pick-up truck into which we were putting our belongings to
travel (presumably home). We went out to the water, a lovely stream under a
river with a waterfall. I swam peacefully, feeling very content and exhilarated.
We went back to the room, and discussed why we shouldn't just take what we
wanted, and leave the mess (our belongings were scattered throughout the room
quite messily) behind. A young woman, apparently the manager, said we had to
take responsibility for our own shit, not leave it for someone else. The next
scene, apparently we had taken care of whatever was necessary and were involved
in an impromptu hall party with the other season residents, very smoky and
lascivious.
.
Since then, though, I am still having dreams about temporary
residences and dealing with packing up possessions, though I can't recall the
swimming part. and the situations seem less congenial.
.
.
A couple of
days ago I awoke from yet another of this series of dreams I have been having
involving temporary living situations and water, quite vivid imagery, still with
me:
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I was on vacation with my family in a rural area, the night before
we were to return home. I went for a solitary walk through a wooded expanse
toward a small grouping of restaurants and bars, with the idea of stopping for a
beer and to listen to a local band before returning to the vacation cottage to
pack. When I got there, though, the only places open were an all night diner,
loud lights, greasy food, busy atmosphere, no beer or music; and an upscale
restaurant where there was a bar, and chamber music, far too stuffy an
atmosphere for what I wanted. Disappointed, I headed back. The next thing, I was
in an old-fashioned pub -- dingy, smelling of stale beer and cigarettes,
grizzled old men nursing their drinks at dense wooden tables. I sat at a table
by a window and ate greasy french fries from a round metal ashtray. One of the
old men, across the room, invited me over to share some whiskey, which we drank
from the cap of the bottle in front of him. We had a few capfuls of whisky, then
I was out in the woods in the dark. The woods were higher ground over a
madly-merrily wave-cresting sea. The ground was quite damp, in some places pools
of water had collected. I found myself sinking in and slipping down the
embankment, while mesmerized by the water below. I heard myself thinking that I
would be happy to fall into the sea and drown, if only I did not have to leave
and go back to my usual life.
Then I woke up, back in my usual
life.
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I
love in the desert
wild and windblown
caught up twirling
in the
sunset
oh mystical lover
carry me to your oasis
whirling and
windblown
deep waters
to drown
in our love
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it's not belief
that creates reality. It's belief that gives us the perception of reality that
we live by.
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I
assume, by "our enemy" you mean the "Neocons" or is it the Christian Zionists
(or maybe they are the same)?
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Those of us
who understand that the only viable candidates, in terms of those who are
actually voicing our concerns, are Kucinich, Gravel and Paul, also understand
that they are "unelectable" according to common standards. Thus, if we are
serious, we need to do a great deal more than vote. We need to do all we can to
change public perceptions, to take back political framing of issues, and to
raise awareness of what government "by the people" can be.
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I
totally agree that there is no sane reason for mj or hemp to not be legally
available for a great variety of uses. However, there is obviously much insanity
about in our legal system. This lovely god-given plant of great usefulness on so
many levels has been vilified. While we are sorting all of this out, who hates
who and what group is lazy or evil and all of that, it is profoundly inhumane to
force the already suffering from debilitating illness to also face criminal
charges and the tortures that go with them. Thus, yes, in an even moderately
good world there would be no problem with marijuana use for
recreational/medical/sexual/creativity-enhancement or other human pursuits. In a
less than totally evil world, marijuana to mitigate pain and suffering of the
diseased should be a no brainer.
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What I'm worried about in regard to the Children's Healthcare
issue is big pharm's role in all this. See their signature on pro-SCHIP
commercials? Is this about getting all our kids hooked on dangerous legal
drugs?
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Most
"crimes" - intentional actions that break laws - are not "Hate Crime." Most
crimes are personal. I may well hate you when I assault you, but it is me hating
you, not me hating some group (well, maybe the group of smug, insulting assholes
or the group of people who sleep with my so, or whatever, but not a "group").
From statistics I have seen, most "crimes" seem to be about economic and/or
self-medication-related issues of the "criminal."
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One
could easily consider "hate crimes" crimes of vengeance, carried out against a
target group (feud) rather than the individual one was harmed by. My point was
aboutwhether motivation for a crime is relevant to its
prosecution/penalties.
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What
about when you kill the bastard who terrorized you and your family for years?
What about when you beat someone who is constantly assaulting you verbally,
making your life miserable any way they can, and you can't take it anymore? What
about "arranging an accident" for the guy who brutally raped your 4 year old
daughter, and keeps showing up to terrorize her? Not saying these are the norm,
but motivation can well be a moral/ethical/reasonable
consideration.
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There are
quite a number of things people ought not be doing while in the of duty that are
fine to do in other circumstances. I seem to remember a famous case of a surgeon
who was sued for leaving in the middle of a surgery to cash his paycheck at the
local bank.
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Civil
suit is a different area of law from criminal prosecution. You can certainly sue
someone and win, because you were harmed by some action or inaction of theirs,
without the action for which they are found liable being generally
illegal.
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You
can successfully sue someone for picking their nose, if you can prove direct
harm. We need that kind of outlet, as a society, as people working out our
differences, so those who feel harmed have can have a reasonable expectation of
redress short of feud or trying to make criminal every possible action.
Probably, we would be much better of as a society if many more of our disputes
were handled as civil rather than criminal contests.
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As
far as I am aware (though with all the skullduggery going on at Justice, who
knows) we do not in this country have "thought crime." You must act on the
thought for it to be of notice to legal prosecution.
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I
am so totally not afraid to make moral judgments. I do it all the time, even
without thinking about it. The problem is not in the judgment, but what one does
about these judgments.
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Just
because it makes you feel good, doesn't mean it isn't altruistic. That is, if
you are feeling good because you enjoyed the experience. If you are feeling good
because "look at me, I am so helpful and kind and altruistic," that's you
feeding off the misery of others. The "do-gooder" is generally of the latter
variety, except when it doesn't give them a good feeling and is just done to
maybe decrease some of the bad guilt they generally feel or because it is what
they feel is expected of them from some social authority.
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Mercury
Rx isn't evil at all. It is a time to slow down, turn around, look over past
decisions and ideas to see how they are going. It is a time to reflect,
research, reassess. With the coming Mercury Rx in Scorpio, I am intending to go
ruthlessly through old files and delete what no longer serves, reconnect with
projects lost in the shuffle, go inward to find what needs to be settled before
I go forward with renewed vigor and insight after this. Synchronously, Mercury
will be going Rx on the same day as the Libra New Moon conjunct my natal MC. It
will retro back through my 10th House. Meanwhile, I am getting into sync with
the effects of transiting Saturn in Earth, in a Mercury sign.
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I
seem to be having a creative reemergence. Haven't checked the astrology, but I
think Mars is coming up on my Uranus by way of a trine to my Jupiter. Or maybe
I am just proving my theory about depressive episodes being mislabeled fallow
seasons in which to renew.
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Sorry
about the lack of response to your visions. I get that alot too. My theory
(slightly different from insanity) is to keep trying different ways of
presenting, places to present, people to present to, until the present gets
opened.
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INFP
here (introvert). I find, if I am objective, I do tend to go into some perhaps
not welcome detail, elongating and perhaps making too dense, my conversation. I
seem to be generally seen as a woo-woo hippie type, but I do get resentment from
those who inform me I am condescending or overly intellectualizing. I do not
mean to be so. I am used to my own company, self-entertainment and musing. I do
try, when speaking with others, to be courteous and take due concern over their
views and viewpoints. Often though, conversation becomes draining. I hear that's
part of being an introvert.
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The
solution I am working on for my migrating mind is a novel I am slowly, mentally
building. I find obsessing over the worlds of my characters provides a
wonderful, creative, open-minding distraction from my habit of obsessing over my
own world.
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I
often, consciously, play out characters with myself. That is, with my "true
self." I am that inner voice, that ever-present friend, irrelevant of time or
circumstance. I take in the worldly experiences and find their art. The art is
not artifice. It is the singing of my true self.
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My
problem with the attitude of gratitude proselytizing is that gratitude
presupposes some other to which one is grateful. I am more inclined to work on
promoting, enhancing, utilizing and honoring personal power, which is the basis
of creativity. Yes, we do need to honor as well that great well of spirit from
which all power and creativity springs. Yet, the attitude I tend to see seems to
be more about what I can be given than what I can do for
myself.
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My
current self-therapy for these evil feelings is to talk them out in metaphoric
imagery. It does help, greatly, to know there is someone listening besides
me..
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I
have heard there is a much lower incidence of ADD in countries where children
commonly drink coffee. After all, what is the medicine of choice for ADD --
stimulants. Counterintuitive, but apparently this is a chemical reaction that
aids focus. Coffee, being, as you indicate in this article, a normative social
refreshment, seems to me a better way to go than
pharmaceuticals.
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I recently
saw Wendy Kopp interviewed on C-SPAN about improving education in public
schools. What I found the most salient information from that interview was her
explaining about a poll given to educators asked about the major difficulties
keeping kids from learning gleaned results indicating that most of these
professionals saw the problem as being the kids' lack of motivation, poor
parenting, anti-education community standards, and such. The kids in these
schools bore out the predictions and did poorly in school. However, when
teachers from Wendy's and other pro-kid groups were polled, in their view the
problems in education were the attitudes and lack of appropriate skills shown by
teachers and principles in the failing schools. The kids in their classes showed
amazing progress, jumping several grade levels in skills in one school year.
It's not really hard to teach kids. We are born with great natural curiosity. It
is, however, really easy to discourage kids from wanting to learn through
negative attitudes toward them and their questions.
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Peak
oil, global warming, hyped phrases whether indicative of true conditions or
otherwise. The real point is that we live on a planet, with resources both
renewable and finite. The more salient point is that if we destroy our planet,
our resources, our air, water, fertile earth, we destroy ourselves. If we think
for just a bit rather than settling in to political positions, we can use crises
as an impetus to worthwhile change, better environmental conditions for all of
us and better economic conditions to boot.
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We
as society seem to have forgotten that "money" was invented as a tool to aid in
barter. It is not any more than metaphorically real. Yes, metaphors can impact
our emotions in all kinds of ways. Often that is called "art." However,
happiness is a state of mind based on personal satisfaction, not metaphorical
translation. A good, comfy chair can be very satisfying. Pieces of paper stamped
out by some treasury or pluses on a financial statement seem much less
so.
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People in
political positions seem to be constantly, like Humpty-Dumpty in "Alice,"
creating their own meanings for the public lexicon. They seem to think
"capitalism" means businesses need to have total freedom to do whatever they
want or the economy will surely die. They seem to think "socialism" means what I
generally think of as "nazism" - totalitarian structured social climate to allow
the state to appropriate all the resources. They seem to think "liberalism"
means stupid pandering to identity groups. They seem to think "conservatism"
means all power to big business. Perhaps we need better public education in
basic English vocabulary.
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I
think we do a huge disservice to children when we try to protect their innocence
at the expense of denying them important information about how to protect
themselves. I don't understand why simple self-defense techniques are not taught
even in pre-school. Also, people get all sarcastic about teaching kids about
self-esteem and mutual respect, but these are skills everyone needs to get along
in the world.
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When
I edit, I am very mindful of the author's voice and purpose. I work to bring
these out in the most effective manner.
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Freelance
writing is simply writing for publication without a contract to work for
specific publication(s). I often find publications covering areas in which I
have an interest, and perhaps something I have written about or get inspired to
write about. Then it's just a matter of sending what I have written to the
publication and either getting it accepted or not. The more serious freelancers
will join or work with freelancer organizations, or put together files of
contact info., etc. for publications they then build up relationships with for
regular submitting.
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Limericktarian:
A
man stumped the country for freedom
Though very few bothered to heed
him
They'd much rather fight
to prove themselves right
so found only
damned fools to lead 'em
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Peace,
so simple. Everyone gets fed. Everyone gets to laugh a bit at the silly antics
as we each openly embrace our lives.
Hi
everyone,
I am married to an incredible man, Clay, and we
are living in the mountains of West Virginia. We are building a house here at a
nudist resort called Avalon. We work as artists www.dragonspirits.net making one of a kind porcelain dragons. We built a new studio
last winter, here are our land. My husband is one of those people that can pick
up a piece of clay and see it finished. The commute to work has quite a
fantastic view.
My
interest is really writing, I wrote a book this summer called, Allowing Sexual
Joy: Finding a Divine Path to Freedom. It is getting its final touches. I just
started my second book this week and it will be a collection of sexual fictional
short stories for women and female empowerment.
I am a
Leo moon, born on the Taurus/Gemini cusp, with Capricorn rising. (I get younger
every day...) I have lots of Leo fire in my chart and lots of things hanging out
in my 8th house. (me and Eva Perone...see where that gets me..) I know, or I
should say, retain very little when it comes to the specifics of astrology, but
I am totally intrigued.
My
husband and I came together (the eclipse of '99) to do sexual work. Our charts
are full of sexual and relationship influences. We believe that is what our
calling is, sharing that with the world. Not so easy to do with the culture's
opinions as they are. But I guess that is why we are here. We are polyamorous,
believing, however, that the woman must be in charge of such decisions and
initiations. I write about this...
Since we
have no children, we collect pets. They seem to know where to roam to. We have
three dogs and too scruffy fat cats. Every time we are off to an art show, we
must seek a house sitter.
We live
as simply as possible. We are, in fact, canning organic pears this week that we
picked at my parents house in PA. We believe we create our own reality, as
described in Seth, Abraham, Course of Miracles, etc. readings. We, therefore,
keep our focus on what we do want in our lives. No TV here.
I am
upfront and tell it from my projections, complete with some humor, but you will
always get my authentic side. Anything else to me is a waste of time. I
generally don't belong to groups, but get intrigued once in
awhile.
Cassia
Hello
everyone, this is Bernard writing/typing/talking from the east coast of
Australia, feeling particularly "ticked off" at the moment (I like that Laurie,
thank you!). We have a veritable plague of ticks here at this season, and it's
truly amazing how something no bigger than the pupil of my eye can wreak such
havoc on the human body. Currently I'm carring my right leg around the house as
it attempts to imitate the trunk of a tree.
As a
result of the above, I wasn't going to intro myself for a few days, but on
receiving the postings from Cassia and Laurie, I thought 'Heh, if I can read I
can write.' I agree with you Cassia, to a point, in terms of how society through
our parents, peers and various institutions (eg. schools, churches etc) have
really fucked up the Western mind. Even dear old Freud stuffed it up in my
opinion by saying the human psyche was essentially flawed, perpetuating the Mea
Culpa of Judeo-Christendom. However, I don't agree with the statement "we are
all basically and innately bisexual", as I tend not to agree with any statement
which begins with "we are all...". One could respond by saying: "We are all
human"; "we all use language", "we all love and hate", "we all laugh and cry"
and so forth. (Parenthetically, are all humans human, according to a definition
of humanity? Some world leaders make me wonder). Nonetheless, the above,
hypothetical responses are true. However, if one is, as a man, attracted to men
and not to women, then one is attracted to men and not to women. If one is, as a
woman, attracted to women and not to men, then one is attracted to women and not
to men. If one is attracted to both in proportions equal or otherwise, then one
is.... the rest of the sentence. I, for one, find men very attractive (ie. the
ones I find attractive), but I don't want to have sex with them. I used to
"think" I did, but I don't. I consider this homoerotic rather than homosexual.
In this respect, Western society seems to have lost its appreciation for the
distinction between the erotic and sexual. I'm not particularly attracted to
women, which of course says nothing about women as such. I agree with the
generalisation that we are all basically and innately "something". To use an
analogy, two trees of the same species, living in different environments, will
each grow according to its own, uh, dharma, its own innateness, and somehow
"innateness" for me is more personal than universal. To use an astrological
metaphor, we all have exactly the same planets and signs and what-nots in our
charts, but none of us has the same chart. None of us. Not even
twins.
Anyway,
Cassia, I'm not arguing against your conviction, I'm simply presenting an
alternative perspective which is open-ended and at least as far as my own life
is concerned, to-date, true.
It's after
midnight here, and I've just exhausted what little mental energy I have right
now.
Peace to
you all,
Bernard
Casimir
Byron Bay
NSW
Australia
Hello
Laurie,
in line
with your request "come on folks - let us know who you are", I thought it only
fair to respond, even though when I first read the above, my "reaction" was:
'Excuse me?'
Perhaps I
should begin with a few labels... I'm an astrologer, an artist, a genealogist;
or rather, I've practised astrology for about 25 years, I produce a blend of
traditional and contemporary Celtic art designs, and I've had a passion for
tracing my family tree since I was about 15 for no apparent reason whatsoever. I
did a philosophy major at uni, which I envisage now, seven years later, as
remarkably similar to the image of Tim the Magician in Monty Python's Holy
Grail, standing on a mountain, pointing his wand at everything and blowing it
up, and finally turning the wand on himself (although I can't say the experience
was nearly as funny as the movie). For the astrologically minded, I'm a
Sagittarian (just into Sagittarius, though with four planets in the sign,
thankfully one of which is Saturn), with Moon in Taurus (I just love gardening,
and oftentimes feel a closer kinship with the birds and lizards than I do with
my fellow humans), have Libra rising and Cancer on the MC (Midheaven). I have
Neptune rising in my first house in Scorpio opposite my Moon and trine my
Midheaven, which aids me considerably when reading people's horoscopes, even
though I find the experience somewhat disquieting (the "blending with another's
psyche). I'm thankful for my two Taurus planets (including Moon), for otherwise
I would have left the planet years ago. I'm a bit of an iconoclast (Jupiter
square Uranus in the 11th), and love my friends, and enjoy it when they go away
as well. I want to travel to the lands of my ancestors and tread the ground that
they trod.
I'm all of
a sudden bored with this autobiographical precis. So this'll do for
now,
Bernard
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