My Love Continues
A well-read tortoise. Just my type.
posted by jm at 4:28 PM
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
About Me
- Name: jm
I am a brilliant creation of the universe formed from the cosmic protoplasm sailing into eternity. I have two hands, two feet, a couple of great ears, and I'm clipping through life at a moderate pace; minding my p*s and q*s, crossing my t*s, dotting every i.
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- I agree with this. But not the "but "part.
- Uh-Oh
- Mornin Everyone!
- Hello?
- The Whispering Wineglass
- A Warning.
- One Last Virgo Before the Equinox
- Fer Sale
- A little blues tune in the key of E
- The Journey Begins
58 Comments:
I think I'm one. I read all of Proust's magnum opus when I had once had to spend a month in the hospital. How else find the time? A new translation came out when I was half way through, and I switched with some trepidation, but loved that one, based on Montcrieff, as well. But I'm not keen on the newer translations. I love comparing translations of things, like hearing many versions of old blues songs.
whoops. I guess I'm Other. I kind of like that.
love comparing translations of things, like hearing many versions of old blues songs.
Me too! One song called Sittin on Top if the World is one of the most often done and the versions are amazing in their individuality.
I can see why, juju, you would like this...North Node in the 3rd, the perfect setup for a writer. Much more on this later.
The interest in translation is a love of the fullness, power, and meaning of the words, themselves, not just the ideas when when strung up. A must for a great writer.
HEY! I can't believe that while I was slaving over a hot computer all day, you guys had a discussion of Uranus without me. I just might have to throw you an apple bomb for that!
As an Aquarius, Aquarius Rising, with Uranus in Leo on the Descendant, I never fear Uranus transits. Even the dread mid-life crisis transit -- the Uranus half return that happens to everyone between 40 and 42 years old -- was very kind to me. With Uranus having just crossed my Ascendant, I realized a life-long dream by selling everything I owned and flying off to France. I intended to stay for a year and stayed for eight (until Uranus was well into Pisces). It was the most wonderful experience imaginable and totally changed my life. As the plane was taking off from JFK, the Full Moon in Aquarius was rising from the runway, huge and orange. I will never forget that.
Even now, with Uranus conjunct my natal Moon and square natal Saturn, I've been going through an emotionally rough but extremely exciting and transformational time.
"With Uranus having just crossed my Ascendant, I realized a life-long dream by selling everything I owned and flying off to France."
Wow! You make it sound great. I can hardly wait!
just might have to throw you an apple bomb for that!
No! No please! Anything but that! I should have known better than to excite you Uranians.
I love Uranus. Have to with all my aspects. Uranus is actually the trigger of my whole life positioned as it is.
Hey Kad! Viva La France! Send us a post card!
I have Uranus coming up on my ASC after youses, but I AM NOT MOVING!!
Well, it'll be a couple years away before I get that transit. Go directly to Paree! Do not pass Go. How can they keep me down on the farm after that. Woo!
but I AM NOT MOVING!!
Famous Uranian last words.
Hold on to your breeches! Aquarians don't like to move either. Not as easy as 1-2-3.
Famous Uranian last words.
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
It's true. One major Uranus transit landed me in India.
OMG...That must have been a story. Don't think I'd go there.
You are not going there. France is enough. Maybe the Mediterranean.
I want to go there! How'd you end up in India, jm? I have strong affinities with all things Indian (except maybe the black hole of Calcutta). Tell us more, please?
I am not so enamored of the French...since I work for them. Though my immediate supervisor is Indian. We discuss Indian music a bit. We are both fond of Chinmaya Dunster (who isn't Indian at all but English). The other thing we talk about is Indian food. And "Have you got it done yet?" "We must find a way to get it done faster." oops, how'd that work talk get in there?
I'm still on vacation.
OMG, casey. It was the most transformative experience of my life. I love India and all things Indian. The music is so so beautiful. The food, the spices, the teas, the silks, the incense, the bells and chants going all day and night in the temples, which are everywhere. It's unbelievable.
I was in Europe for summer vacation from college and met a friend of a friend who was driving to India. So I joined him. We drove all the way overland through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and then into india.
I fell completely in love with the country and stayed for a year and a half. I wore Indian clothes and got some tablas and sang and drummed. The Indians thought I was touched by God, they loved my singing so much. I was in an ashram for awhile, and went up to Nepal for 7 months. It was like being on a neverending psychedelic trip.
The most fascinating part was in northern Pakistan. A man took us on a trip through the mountains, no road, to a place called Kafiristan, the most magical place I've ever been on earth. The people were completely different, supposedly coming from Alexander the Great's men mixed with the Mountain locals. They were the most gentle people I've ever seen. We trekked in the mts there and lived on walnuts, corn, and pomegranates. It was unbelievable.
A lot of people hate India. It's crowded and the people are intimate, always talking to us, sharing, and connecting. It's way too much for some Westerners. And life is exposed in all its everything on the streets. There is a joy in the rhythm of life there that I never see in Western cultures.
The Indians are musical in every way. Their speech is musical and their movement totally rhythmical.
Right before I left, outside of Calcutta we met a man who was an odd guru who told his people that the Americans were coming and he taught the whole village English. Well, we did come, and this village was impossible to descibe. It was like a dream. He was planning on coming to America to start an ashram, but he never did. We never knew who he really was. But the experience was cosmic to say the least.
I had a lot of that feeling there. Like I knew the people. They would direct me in my life, telling me what towns to go to when. The whole experience was in another dimension.
I will always love India with all my being. I still want to get to the Southern part. I was in the north. Benares is a holy city there, and it is absolutely unforgettable.
I could go on for days.
I was going to be an anthropologist after one year of college, but as a result of India, my whole life direction changed. I decided to become a musician, and to devote myself to spiritual studies forever.
"The music is so so beautiful. The food, the spices, the teas, the silks, the incense, the bells and chants going all day and night in the temples, which are everywhere."
Yes, that's what I love about India, though I've never been there.
My favorite scent is sandalwood. And curry. Hmmm. Maybe my plain ol' chicken & dumplings tomorrow will become chicken biryani instead. Got me hungry for Indian.
Interesting, my friend eve did the same thing in 1980 (what a year THAT was). Drove from Turkey to India...as they would leave each major region, some terrible thing would happen immediately behind them. Iran and the hostages, the Soviets entered Afghanistan, Pakistani cities would have bombs explode... We always tease her that she's really a spy. She's the one with all her planets in the upper hemisphere and all those major planets in the 9th.
World travellers.
Sandalwood sends me into ecstasy.
My favorite scent is sandalwood. And curry. Hmmm. Maybe my plain ol' chicken & dumplings tomorrow will become chicken biryani instead. Got me hungry for Indian.
Taurusspeak.
Yes. I've got the major Moon/Jup conj in the 9th.
That IS interesting bout Eve. She does sound like a full person. Inner wealth.
The Indian sound of bending strings, like in the vena, sends a pulsation through my body every time. I can't resist it. The sensuality is uniquely Indian.
It is fascinating how the bluesmen did the same thing with their bottlenecks.
The best sound I know.
I once called my Aquarian friend to tell him that I need to bend a string immediately. He was working in a music store, so down I went and bought a guitar. He selected it for me. I don't bend them enough.
Probably need some ginger too. My throat is sore and my boss is always telling me to take ginger tea for it. Ragweed season here.
Yes, Eve has one little tiny planet in the 6th -- just little ol' Uranus in Gemini conjunct her descendant. Nothin' important.
Speaking of Uranus
Oops, I am up very, very late. This is what happens when you're simmin' and surfin' the net. Time just whizzes by. Must go to sleep.
hasta
'nite casey. Do what he says and drink that ginger tea.
"The food, the spices, the teas, the silks, the incense, the bells and chants going all day and night in the temples, which are everywhere. It's unbelievable."
Oh, that does sound rapturous! What a great story. You must have some really good karma there. :-)
I've felt I would be disturbed by social conditions in some countries. My brother had a past life in India, but it wasn't an uplifting experience for him. And I have issues with China. But I also feel that the East is a treasure trove of wisdom. I feel a connection to Tibetan things. And Egypt. I've thought I'd like to travel around the world, more than once, someday.
"It's crowded and the people are intimate, always talking to us, sharing, and connecting. It's way too much for some Westerners. And life is exposed in all its everything on the streets. There is a joy in the rhythm of life there that I never see in Western cultures."
Some of that was lost in trading away community for individual privacy and freedom.
I would like to go to India too. There is a huge gathering there every year called the "Experience Festival"-you can find it on line. They have speakers, workshops and teachers from every known spiritual discipline on earth. Sounds lovely.
I think I got a lot of my uranian wild hairs out years ago when it swept across my MC then hit my sun, moon, and all my personal planets. With uranus opp my natal second house uranus, all I want to do is be home for awhile...Is there any chance of suddenly, unexpectedly finding myself at home sitting on a comfy couch and a drinking a hot cup of ginger tea? I've really felt the need to ground....:) My son has a third house uranus as well, conjoined with saturn and neptune in cap. His desire is to make movies someday...he delights me sometimes with how off-beat his thinking is...
Casey, Ginger tea can be lovely stuff. I have an anti-flu combo that kicks the crap outta the nasties...simmer a good-sized chunk of sliced fresh ginger root and 3 or 4 crushed cloves of garlic in about a quart of water for around 20 minutes. Pour a cup ful and add honey and lemon to taste. Cayenne pepper is also good to add.
We used to drink this during the winter at one of my last jobs when we thought we were coming down with something...my boss was happy to supply the ingredients as she couldn't afford to lose us over the holidays :)....
What a wonderful story of going to France, Pat. Those kind of stories of following dreams and radical life changes are my favorite. And I love France, though have only been there for months, not years at a time.
And jm, your India saga is so amazing. The way you tell it is as rich as the story itself. It is clear how it has helped shaped you into the person you are today. Just two days ago I looked up a story in the NYTimes on a show of Indian art, which has always enticed me. The article is wonderfully written and there is a slide show worth checking out. http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/arts/design/22indi.html
There's a lovely painting called The Sports of Love, which will enlarge if you click on it. And we are told that sugar is from the sanskrit "sarkar."
from the article:
"India itself is sometimes envisioned as a spiritual geography, a grand chart of pilgrimage sites and empyreal encampments. By this view, wherever you go, you are both on earth and in heaven, and sacred and profane are constantly mingling, nowhere more intimately than in the realm of love."
and
" A Mughal painting titled “Demons in a Wild Landcape” introduces an entire troupe of Purple (and mauve and puce and green) People Eaters, who seem ferocious only in their mania for keeping their caves and grottoes tidy. Another picture offers a herd of pink-skinned creatures with leonine bodies, elephant heads and impossibly tiny aphid wings. Pure confection, they bring the meal to a pixilated close."
Also, my favorite writing teacher is Indian, though she mostly grew up in London. She is incredibly intelligent, and her thinking is like no one else's I've ever met. She also is a healer and in an article she wrote about ayurveda and menopause she wrote this:
"My mother recently arrived from India to visit in me in Colorado for the summer. She is reading this article over my shoulder as I type it into the computer, and she just said: “Don’t forget to tell them about the sandal!” By sandal, she doesn’t mean a type of footwear, but, rather, sandalwood incense. She’s right. Sandalwood reduces vata and raises the spirits. I don’t like to burn incense during a massage, but perhaps, in the future, I’ll hand a stick of sandal to a client as she leaves. Later, at home, breathing in the fragrant, protective smoke, may she pass, let’s imagine, with greater ease through her “dark gate.”"
I'm with you, Juno...strictly an armchair traveler these days. It's an odd feeling too because for many years I had itchy feet and a record of staying in one dwelling for maybe 2 years before moving on. And I also have a profound fondness for hot & cold running water & indoor plumbing!
Good sandalwood is just about my favorite fragrance - with an emphasis on "good". My sense of smell is quite good and very sensitive to nuances & the way a fragrance changes over time.
Is India a Scorpio country? Seems I remember reading that somewhere . .
well, checking around, I found two sites that said India was a Capricorn, but the official chart of the country for the day it "became" the Republic of India made it an Aquarian.
Really Casey? W've got to get the chart.
This is great, the interest in these travels. It was the journey of a lifetime, and I think a lot of seekers get this although not always a physical journey. Pivotal experiences.
Back in a minute for some specifics. This is wonderful. I have an interesting story about the ashram.
Hmmm...indoor plumbing. Having been without, I can declare indoor plumbing as the most luxurious thing in the world, perhaps only second to solid floors and working ovens...:)
I understand the two year thing, neith, same here. Must be hooked to some astrological cycle (mars maybe?)
I do hold out some hope for international travel when uranus hits my aries/9th house jupiter. Until then, I just want to sit here and listen breathlessly while jm relates her adventures in the glorious east....
A while back I came across a site that had a huge collection of birthdates for countries, famous figures, etc. I'll post if I can find it again....
You must have some really good karma there. :-)
I felt like I'd been there before because people recognized me. The Indians would come up to me on the street and tell me things of importance. Strangers, out of the blue. I immediately started trusting them, sensing they were trying to direct me to something. It was wild. I loved the people.
I've felt I would be disturbed by social conditions in some countries.
I think you would be. The ones here disturb me more, though, since they are not recognized.
It's exposed there. A very odd thing also is in the marketplace, where business is done on the streets. There are mirrors everywhere. I've never seen so many. I think this also disturbs westerners, along with the false teeth advertised outside the shops!
There's an outpouring of life there, whereas we withhold the expression. You can't walk down the street in India without seeing yourself hundreds of times.
Also, my favorite writing teacher is Indian, though she mostly grew up in London
Indian writers are sublime. You must read Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, juju.
Thje way they mixed with British culture is fascinating, and the language is so very beautiful and unique the way the Indians use it with their natural poetic grace.
Juno, on to your comments now.
A while back I came across a site that had a huge collection of birthdates for countries, famous figures, etc. I'll post if I can find it again....
Oh Please do!!! I checked Astrodatabank but they mostly just do people's birth data - and very little of it is free . . .
Yes, we need the chart. Also Kadimiros made some interesting comments on another thread about the USA and now we can look together at the chart and a lot of this will make sense to you.
Juno, you have that North Node in Cancer and you're coming home this lifetime, getting off the Sagittarius camping out road. Snuggling up and staying in.
The journeys through your inner landscape are calling you and I can see exactly why you don't need nor want to travel.
Travel can be a huge inconvenience to some. All the useless schlepping, when you could have been home doing what you really want to do. It's so individualistic. I don't travel at all anymore.
We're led to believe so often that we're missing something important all the time, especially if we'e not hyper active as is so prized in this culture, grabbing experience with so much greed.
I don't believe it. Absorbing is just as fulfilling.
indoor plumbing. Having been without, I can declare indoor plumbing as the most luxurious thing in the world, perhaps only second to solid floors and working ovens...:)
Good thing to keep in mind, especially since the shits are common in these places. My poor Danish friend suffered horribly in Afghanistan, although the hotel did have a modern toilet!
That's so true. It's amazing how much the oven is missed, and I was cooking then! Lots of cauliflower!
It looks like your Aries 9th is just barely intercepted. If so, this is a factor too.
There's a famous Indian star who comes here regularly and he says that he is always amazed at the coldness and distance of people and things. As if everything is too far away. The alienation.
Mixed in with the suffering in India is the warmth, intimacy, and flow of vitality.
The children are allowed to crash in whatever bed is there, often out in some small yard, whenever they get sleepy. They also take care of the new babies, and you always see little 7 or so year olds carrying toddlers almost as big as they are.
And they're always yelling at the cows, who wander through the streets and get into everything.
As if everything is too far away. The alienation.
Americans have a different closeness comfort level than most Asian, Indian, Mediterranean types & those from the Middle East. Northern Europeans in general like to stand back a ways when conversing . . . (& if I could remember the exact term for that I'd use it!)
Northern Europeans in general like to stand back a ways when conversing . .
Makes complete sense. Goes with Kad's comment about the coldness.
Some of that was lost in trading away community for individual privacy and freedom.
One of the most amazing things that happened was with the European/American community traveling there. We became completely communal in that environment, sharing rooms, food, money, everything. Whoever had the money would go buy food and someone would cook up a big pot for everyone. We loved being together and everyone was cared for. I'd never experienced anything like this and never have since. It was just natural there.
A van full of Italian moviemakers came to Kabul and the community really took off. They shared a bottle of LSD with everyone and it never stopped giving. Then they packed anyone who wanted to come into the VW bus headed for Pakistan. never will forget them.
Alfonso was my fav and he didn't speak English, just a little French. My HS French kicked in and we talked endlessly about life. I couldn't believe how the language came to me.
I couldn't believe how the language came to me.
That incredible 3rd house of yours . . . plus youth . . our minds seem to be able to handle the language thing better the younger we are. As you know, children absorb new languages like water.
our minds seem to be able to handle the language thing better the younger we are.
Yes. And I would add to that desire. I've always found this force to be the key to achieving everything.
I bet I could learn Swahili tomorrow even at my advanced age, if I really wanted to!
I wonder what they speak in Lapland?
Yes. And I would add to that desire. I've always found this force to be the key to achieving everything.
I bet I could learn Swahili tomorrow even at my advanced age, if I really wanted to!
Yes, you probably could!!
And they speak Sami in Lapland . . . as tseka would undoubtedly have informed us we already know! I miss that lovely lady very much . . .
Joe, when you get home, there's a message for you on the Whispering Wineglass thread.
Really? Sami?
She's almost here, neith. Said she had plans of snuggling in for the winter.
Now I show my ignorance...intercepted? What exactly does that mean in this context?
I am fascinated by your accounts of india. It sounds like an incredible place, especially the way you got to experience it. Do tell more...
You are probably right about the cancer node, and you've given one of the best explanations I've found so far, thank you. I think that's the ultimate reason I'm with the crab, those cancer sensibilities are so comfy...If I gotta deal with the scorp no matter what, better have one that gives me bitchin head massage and pays the bills... I've been camping out for far too many life times. I know what to do, I can deal, but I really don't have my heart in it at times. I once went to this huge outdoor rave in northern Wisconsin ostensibly as a vendor. It was horrible. It rained all that october weekend and we were chilled thru. For the most part, none of these city kids had given a thought to food, shelter or warmth. My girlfreind and I were part of the few who bothered to take tents, sleeping bags and food (with utensils, very underrated, those)... I aquired a new respect for some kids who had come up from the IL cowtown that I was currently living in. They got out and collected firewood and helped me prepare what must have been the only hot meal in our half of the encampment. I cooked everything I had in my cooler, two days worth, into a massive thai stir-fry with noodles. Everyone who had helped got some. We had people coming by for hours, the rumour of food had gotten around and the fire was surrounded all nite...I thought it so weird that no-one else out of maybe a thousand people or so, except we bumpkins, had thought of something so simple as a fire and food...I have one visual of that weekend, a girl in rave costume, balancing on these 12-inch silver platforms slogging angrily thru the mud in between bands, sucking in about 8" with every step. I just wonder about some people's priorities... And that is why I prefer comforatble shoes, hmmm.....
One day in Katmandu, I boarded a bus to a nearby mountain town that was said to be beautiful. Well, beautiful is an understatement.
It was perched next to a view of the Himalayas that went on into eternity. Nothing but snow covered mts to the horizon. It's amazing to think about the earth and the changes that happen overtime. Weren't they once under water?
And the ocean floor will surely reveal itself in time. For man to think he can destroy this sphere is ridiculous and entirely naive. Man's little ego is amusing at times, though.
The Himalayas are so high and vast, and they still harbor secrets. There are societies hidden in them that are cut off from the rest of the world. And some mystics, of course.
think that's the ultimate reason I'm with the crab, those cancer sensibilities are so comfy...
The best thing in the world for you, juno.
The nodes are everything. The puzzle of our lives, the main theme. Just the continued talk will bring them into clarity for all of us. I'll do more as we progress.
When you have relationships that touch the North, things are good, no matter what the details are.
It's fascinating juno. I know exactly what you mean about the Scorpio.
You have Saturn in Aquarius in the 7th and need detachment. But the ruler, Uranus is conjunct Pluto. Voila! A Scorpio! Sometimes they dig into you and won't release. This drives my Uranus crazy!
It's in the 2nd house so this is the best thing to do. Fight for your freedom and independence, use his Cancer comfyness, and his Scorpio to help you make money! Being in the 2nd, it's a go.
Scorpios are emotional troublemakers, but you can use the tension for growth and acquisition. Get a rich and cozy nest built together and you'll be happy.
Aries is an uncontained energy. So I think the intercept would trap it and use it differently. Rather than gallivanting around the globe, more inner focused. But I think some house systems are different.
With the intercept, Pisces still rules, so the need for travel would be a Pisces...whatever.
girl in rave costume, balancing on these 12-inch silver platforms slogging angrily thru the mud in between bands, sucking in about 8" with every step. I just wonder about some people's priorities... And that is why I prefer comforatble shoes, hmmm.....
Another great descriptive passage.
Ooh ooh! *waves* I can help! I had a political astrology website that I think I can find again. Showed the birthdates of many countries including the US, England, Israel, China, Russia, etc. If I find it, I will share it.
That was ridiculously easy. maybe someone else already found it and I missed the announcement. :o) The site has been updated greatly since I was there last. Now that I know a tetch more about astrology, what this guy has to say will make more sense.
http://www.homestead.com/politicalastrology/Menu.html
Thank you joe! An astro goldmine.
These are some of the ones I found:
http://www.astrologyweekly.com/more-horary/countries-cities.php
http://www.skynet.ie/~ger/zodiac/symbols.html
The second one doesn't give any rationale for assigning India to the Cappies. Personally, I always felt it was a Cancer kind of place.
Cap doesn't sound right to me either. They are so childlike and so sensual.
Well, my source says capricorn.
Jeff Jawar over on StarIQ uses Aug 15, 1947 for India, link to chart:
http://tinyurl.com/o42yg
And here's a link to the Wikipedia page that states that day is India's Independence Day!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(India)
Thanks neith!
Amazing chart. No wonder I didn't stop singing there. And Moon conjunct my Sun. Very interesting.
This chart explains a lot. It is the incarnation of modern India after British domination.
A phenomanal conjunction of five planets in Leo. This tells of the warmth and exhuberance of the atmosphere. The music, color, noise, costumes, the constant bursting of vitality like a celebration. The streets are full of theatrics all the time. It's impossible to describe. There'll be hundreds of different modes of transport at once....bicycles, cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, animals and carts, trucks, feet, everything imaginable in a huge flow teeming through the streets. Never a dull moment. This chart makes sense.
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