Final Act
Yesterday was their last day of Congressional power. I'm celebrating this country's freedom as well as their release from their own madness. The house lights will be turned off, the seats cleaned, the aisles swept, and the stage readied for the next play. This one is history.
Our lively Jupiter in Sagittarius will be crossing Mr. Bush's South Node in the fifth house next year. This does not bode well for the mentally disturbed being that has posed as the leader of this fine nation, which unfortunately plunged into unpleasant waters for a spell. The star of the show with his South Node in the fifth house will be diminished just in time. He was never meant to have the leading role anyway.
Our mighty little troublemaker, Mars, has closed this chapter, in Sagittarius, with a moment of truth. He will also be bringing in the new Congress just before he leaves for Capricorn. I expect a few more honest paragraphs next year out of the mouths of these babes.
In one last highlight, one of our downtrodden Republican Senators saw the light and said these words among others, in the hallowed halls of power:
"I'm at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs, day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal."Could very well be.
Well, good-bye 109th Congress. You owe me for the aspirin on account of my constant headache. Just take it out of your new pay raise.
Quote by Sen. Gordon Smith-R., Oregon
posted by jm at 4:51 AM
56 Comments:
My password isn't being accepted. Phooey.
astrid
Dem leaders hope to block Congressional pay raise
WASHINGTON (AP)—Members of Congress are in line for a $3,300 pay raise effective Jan. 1 unless they block it, and Democrats said Thursday they intend to try.
Officials said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the party’s leaders, had notified Republicans they will try to add the anti-pay-raise provision to a bill that provides funds for most government agencies through Feb. 15. Congress must pass the funding bill before it adjourns for the year, and the target for that is Friday.
CNN
Doesn't that just make your heart happy?
Well, good-bye 109th Congress. You owe me for the aspirin on account of my constant headache. Just take it out of your new pay raise.
That says it all. I would only add "anti-depressants" to the bill because a lot of people are/were on those, out of sheer horror of what's happened.
Another family photo...
That's just beautiful joe. Well said, we are all star stuff.
The astro-connection here is kind of interesting, but I don't know what this guy's sources are. Still, it made me go "hmm."
The Original Sun of God.
Thanks joe!!
"Gas Giant". I love it!
Doesn't that just make your heart happy?
A resounding yes!
From joe's article:
the sun makes an annual descent southward until December 21st or 22nd, the winter solstice, when it stops moving southerly for three days and then starts to move northward again. During this time, the ancients declared that "God's sun" had "died" for three days and was "born again" on December 25th. So Xmas really is the Birthday of the SUN/SON in every way.
Goes along with tseka's mythology and the 4 days. There're almost here.
Astrid! Can you trick the little monster and open a new account?
Some lawmakers, like Senator Conrad Burns, Republican of Montana, walked off in a huff
If there's one thing I look for in character it's grace in both winning and losing. The laws of equilibrium and justice can't be defied and if the republicans recall....they tried to shove the Democrats into basement caves and delivered endless punishment that even astounded me.
Logic prevails.
Winning also is tricky. We'll see. So far the democrats seem to be doing well. Sticking to business and plans.
It will be a fascinating year as power is established among all the factions. This is a no man's land and a glorious moment of freedom.
I attribute it to the North Node in Pisces and the dissolution into oneness for a brief moment.
The part that made my eyebrows rise:
In some areas, the calendar originally began in the constellation of Virgo, and the sun would therefore be "born of a Virgin. In December, the Virgin, the constellation Virgo precedes sunrise and thus, "Behold, a Virgin shall bring forth the sun/son."
I am really curious what the source is of this idea! Think I'll go diving for treasure. I'll share whatever I find out. :o)
Lots of interesting tidbits in that article and I'm going to go back over it and connect. The repeat of the 12 has always been a big one.
I think there will be new religions developing soon that will take these themes to new places. Pluto in Sag just did a number to the current hierarchy.
Think I'll go diving for treasure. I'll share whatever I find out.
Wonderful proclamation!
And a perfect description of a Scorpio with Gemini Rising. (Scorpio:hidden treasure...Gemini:communication)
The small dark peoples of the Old Goddess Religion, who developed close to the equator, loved the lunar night as it brought cool temps & a time when they relaxed, played music, danced, & made love. Their small dark-skinned statures protected them from a harsh hot daylight sun.
From the numerous invasions & incursions of the "white" people from the extreme north of the planet, one got a hodge-podge of symbologies that rarely made good-sense in southern climes. They developed from hominids with large skin areas & light pigment to take IN as much sun light as possible... they LOVED the sun as they were required to spend SIX MONTHS of the year in darkness. They did nomadic animal herding, no gardening, & lived on meat & animal by-products... very little vegetation in their diets.
Their symbologies made peculiar non-sense in the equatorial countries.
Mercury is now in Sagittarius. The Scorpio purge is over and I would be hard pressed to find anyone around here who hasn't felt it. Also interesting with the exit of the Republicans. Almost too perfect.
The Moon in Leo today is illuminating the Saturn which just turned retrograde. A great chance for some change. Expansion of ideas and a beautiful end to obsessive thinking patterns. I know I could let go of a few.
With all my Sagittarius and love of religion, I've noticed something peculiar. There is so much heat and fire, but a large part of my religious fervor has to do with water and the purification therein. I wonder how that gets so connected with Sagittarius and the hallelujah spirit I so often feel.
jm, it only seems to happen on my first post, but then it a bit it was just fine. I'll just keep trying for a while.
Nancy has an interesting post up on Starlight News that might interest you.
joe, those are interesting articles you've posted. Thank you for bringing them.
Astrid! Good news. We were posting together.
It was so painful reading Nancy's blog that I quit ages ago, but now I'm curious. I will head over there.
Let's take the Mars/Uranus Square, Sagittarius/Pisces.
Yes, violence will occur someplace.
Uranus is also awareness/awakening and Mars is the trigger.
So learning will come in a flash to some. Mars in Sagittarius is a vision of god as an entity above us, Uranus in Pisces is a spiritual view of the vast oneness we are all apart of, so this conflicting concept will be triggered.
Sagittarius is optimism, Pisces is futility sometimes, or none of the above...nothingness. So this conflict will take place.
The synapse we are in now politically as no one knows where we are headed is indicated by this square. Do we dare to hope with all that Mars, or should we be more detached with Uranus in Pisces and keep our despair alive?
Uranus could set off the violence of Mars or the action principle. Violence is part of it, but there is oh so much more.
"...Mars in Sagittarius is a vision of god as an entity above us..."
Or that one's self is god. Not so hot.
There are many ways Mars in Sagittarius can manifest.
*A religious zealot
*A person who speaks bluntly and honestly, sometimes too forcefully
*A lover of sports
*A definite lover of action
*An easily excitable person sometimes excessive in exhuberance
*a person who is angry with God and angry at the church
*A know it all
*A person who identifies with his wisdom
*a preacher and counselor of others
*a resilient person with a zest for life
On and on....
You can look at it simply. Uranus is the electrical circuit in the body, whether the human or the body politic. Mars is action. So this is what it means. Adrenalin, excitement, get up and go. Predicting violence is the lazy way out of looking at the whole beautiful picture, using imagination, and expanding the mind. Plus advising the collective in ways to use the energy for progress.
Three central paradoxes of tennis:
"The first is that you must always have a target, but you must never try to hit it. Consciously aiming...prompts distortion. The second is that you produce speed not by exerting force but by releasing energy. The harder you try to get speed...the more the muscles constrict and the less you are able to fully let go. The third is that you must always play to win, but you can never make winning important. To set winning as a goal...provides structure and focus, but to worry about the result only induces tension and distraction. The common denominator in all of tennis...is using discipline and focus to stay in the moment." [from What Really Matters by Tony Schwartz]
OMG.
aiming...prompts distortion.
This stuns me.
These are fantastic.
using discipline and focus to stay in the moment."
This is always the issue. Maybe the mantra style repetition can achieve this. Why are we so afraid of the moment? As if the future will release us from the present.
And no matter what comes, each person is essentially the same. Experience stays somewhat constant.
Maybe I'll start a new movement:
Freedom from the Future
It's so fascinating and I'm really glad you brought my attention to this astrid, intuitive as you are.
In reading all these astrologers' predictions it's easy to see the personal stuff. they all repeat the same phrases and it's clear they are really talking about their own lives...Aggression, explosion, upsetting events, darkness, etc. That's a small part of what's happening at any moment.
They all use the word powerful over and over. That's easy to figure out. Of course, we all feel powerless, but so what? What is this thing called power everyone wants and is so afraid of. Maybe we'd be better off without it, including the power of fortune telling. The real psychics I've known do not advertise the fact at all.
Some repeat the advent of martial law over and over. So what's that saying about their own lack of self discipline and fear of authority? In fact ther whole obsession with evil men coming to get them is just this. lack of personal autonomy.
Victimization fear has no place in astrological prediction for others.
What I'm seeking is great astrologers with enough detachment and objectivity to give fascinating overviews, and responsibility enough to stick with what they know and truly care for the people. Honesty. I will follow them.
If every individual confronted herself and grappled with the inner conflict, the end result would be the good government she says she desires. And not until then.
And the future will take care of itself. It's perfectly capable.
"These are fantastic."
I thought they related to your question about Mars and Uranus, and Sagittarius and Pisces.
The author, who sought out sources of holistic wisdom developing in contemporary U.S.A., got them from a pioneering sports psychologist. There can be higher lessons to becoming an effective or champion athlete -- performance skills, a dance of body, emotions and consciousness.
But -- there is still a potential pitfall for people who have strong performance skills (athletes, entertainers, salespeople, etc.). A great athlete may still be a marginally adjusted person, turning on performance skills and generating positive emotional states at will, but losing touch with other aspects of the psyche.
The Eastern martial arts, too, can be a spiritual path that leads strongly physical people away from violence...but most people, even many students of them, unfortunately, don't fully understand them that way.
But -- there is still a potential pitfall for people who have strong performance skills (athletes, entertainers, salespeople, etc.). A great athlete may still be a marginally adjusted person, turning on performance skills and generating positive emotional states at will, but losing touch with other aspects of the psyche.
I think this is the case all the way around. Very few master the integration. Athltetes are interesting in their pursuit of physical performance perfection dating back a long way. It's encouraging to know that some realize that the best performance requires the whole system.
I was particulrly interested in the "aiming prompts distortion" one.
How does that figure into the archer and our centaur?
If we don't aim precisely, what do we focus on?
I can see the Mars in Sagittarius square Pisces in this, Pisces being the lack of a specific point.
I think that they mean that consciously aiming begins to invoke the ego mind and critical faculties which are designed to analyze (and tend to evoke questioning, skepticism, doubt, etc.), but not to perform physically with any immediacy. It may be akin to the interference of micromanagement, and it uses up brain capacity and attention which could be better allocated to performing.
The centaur suggests that the intellect emerges from and rides on its animal foundations. The thinker can relax, give the body reminder or correction, direction as a non-verbal order (e.g., mentally picture hitting the target), and let the body perform.
The body will be freed to act without awkward hesitations, and it will learn from experience. It's built in to the animal heritage to do all kinds of physical acts with grace and accuracy. The accuracy will become part of its automatic repetoire, like any other habitual process (walking, bicycling, breathing). The mind can focus on the goals of accuracy, speed, power, etc., and on maintaining clarity and flow of intent, emotion, and action.
In between physical acts and performances, the critical faculties can help to evaluate past actions and make recommendations to improve. Part of its job is to direct the unlearning of bad habits and prevent new ones from becoming automatic.
It so happens that complex "sequences" or flows of patterned movement can be difficult to perceive, absorb, and imitate. Movements, like dance, can be intellectually broken down into small segments for study and absorption. But this is for study and refinement, which should be cleanly differentiated from performing.
"Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature nor do children as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run, than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
To keep our faces toward change and behave like free sprits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable." [Helen Keller, Let Us Have Faith]
Some people mire themselves in following the literal letter of laws, suspicious of the guidance of spirit. The spiritual pursuit is directional, an orientation, or expansion into new realms. The aim is toward something outside the frame of the picture.
"Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature nor do children as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run, than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable." [Helen Keller, Let Us Have Faith]
This pretty much sums up one aspect of my basic beliefs . . . Thanks Kad! And this whole stream of comments is just full of food for thought! :-)
The body will be freed to act without awkward hesitations, and it will learn from experience. It's built in to the animal heritage to do all kinds of physical acts with grace and accuracy.
This has long been on my mind. The grace and accuracy should be there but I see an overwhelmimg awkwardness around me. I thought it was attributed to an evolutionary adjustment going on now to bipedalism. But maybe there are other reasons. maybe people are undermining the natural grace. I am astounded by the sea of crippled looking bodies around me.
Part of its job is to direct the unlearning of bad habits and prevent new ones from becoming automatic.
Lifetime job.
"maybe people are undermining the natural grace."
They probably don't give their bodies proper care and direction, or they are dominated by the body. Graceful and orchestrated movement, balance, coordination takes mental effort, precise attention and direction to the body.
Later, it becomes automatic.
:-)
But then....
It's built in to the animal heritage to do all kinds of physical acts with grace and accuracy.
Why would it have to be learned then?
I notice in children the grace is there so it must be natural. What I think happens is that negative experience gets written in body language. People maybe haven't learned how to deal with the changing manmade environment. Still points to evolutionary flux.
Some teachers of tai chi highlight efficient and economic movement. Clumsiness misses the mark, undershoots or overshoots, ends up using too much energy, is often imbalanced and off-center (or to borrow joe's pun, off-centaur).
Some teachers of tai chi highlight efficient and economic movement. Clumsiness misses the mark, undershoots or overshoots, ends up using too much energy, is often imbalanced and off-center (or to borrow joe's pun, off-centaur).
One of the many reasons I love Tai Chi. There are days when the balance comes effortlessly & others where I wobble all over the place. And then there are the times when a sequence gets "misplaced" . . . and since it's all muscle memory now, I just have to get out of my way!
"Why would it have to be learned then?
I notice in children the grace is there so it must be natural."
Well, the capacity is there. There is a general, adaptable capacity. There is learning to make more use of the potential. Learning is also balanced growth in joint and muscle strength and flexibility, and in neural pathways. Without both strength and flexibility, which grow through experience, some skills will be beyond reach.
The direction or programming can be confused or flawed. Habits pattern posture and movement. Unlearning distortions returns one to a default level, and then one can seek to develop further.
Children are flexible, compact and lightweight, but adults are heavier, longer, and often stiffer (naturally and unnaturally); their habits will be writ large in time. How people use their voices is an interesting area.
The vocal question is a fascinating one. The voice is connected to the throat and getting nourishment. Our first way of getting fed.
I've noticed that people's voices are usually strained and pinched. So this could mean that they can't cry out for their needs and maybe part of the weight problem in society. Plus the greed for money (throat).
Why is the voice stifled? Then overcompensation comes in the form of screaming pop divas crying about love. The hideous yelling is amazing. In the grocery stores especially where all that abundance is.
I'd like to know exactly what went wrong.
I remember speaking with someone who studied sound and psychology. She claimed that very high pitched tones are disturbing to young children's nervous systems, tending to evoke fear or nervousness, and that they need low sounds.
What does fear do to one's voice? Hmm.
Well, low pitched sounds and the act of making them is traditionally believed to be grounding. Good for people with fear and survival issues.
Speaking of sound and stores, the Mosquito ringtone is amusing turnabout.
Well, low pitched sounds and the act of making them is traditionally believed to be grounding. Good for people with fear and survival issues.
OMG. OMG in heaven. I sing so low. The high pitch around me is part of what is so disturbing. The missing of the mark. The upper register. Spirit, of course. I've alresdy got that. Ground here I come.
I couldn't get the ringtone. Darn.
Couldn't download? It's interesting. I can hear the tone much better if I turn my head to a certain angle in relation to the sound system's speakers.
The high notes have to be balanced by low notes, maybe, otherwise they're always pulling the spirit away.
Never articulated this, but I've thought of it constantly. Great, great thought, pulling spirit away. Maybe that's part of the sensation I feel, like they're pulling me from myself. I can't escape it when I hear it and I don't want to go with them. Wish they'd stop. Then the piped in fake part adds to the loss of spirit.
They definitely could use grounded spirit out there but it seems so daunting.
The low notes are the hardest to sing. They wobble and are hard to control. Plus they're not nearly as loud and piercing. Not overtly exciting and don't grab and trap the audience. I wonder if ego weakness is equal to the high pitch and scream. Afraid of subtlety. Afraid of losing the audience. The audience usually is lost, in fact.
Low notes draw in, loud high notes, push away but make a big spectacle. People are impresssed, they think, when loud, hard, fast, high, and gymnastical.
How to get the soft and low through is a question of genius.
It's a very interesting question how to build a bridge of sounds to take people to different states of mind and body. A question of art, maybe.
Maybe there are transitional places or doors in the flow of sounds.
With canned sounds, there is going to be some loss in the unheard frequencies that the body would have felt viscerally.
With canned sounds, there is going to be some loss in the unheard frequencies that the body would have felt viscerally.
So much is lost it's hard to even evaluate.
It's a very interesting question how to build a bridge of sounds to take people to different states of mind and body. A question of art, maybe.
This is a lot to think about. I don't think one can really build the bridge with them in mind. And the juxtaposition of sounds, where it will go, is the almost impossible illusive chase. The flashes come and go. So sometimes no flow to another place happens, and other times, a sudden transportation occurs. This is quite unpredictable.
And every time the same sequence is played an entirely different reaction from the peole will result. A different passageway.
I think maybe the musician can only be a conduit unconsciously in the end. And then maybe there is no need of a bridge and no need to go anywhere. Just fill in the blanks of the moment.
There's no guarantee of exactly what one experiences, and bridges have to be walked, but I think one can create an environment conducive to perceptions and enriched awareness. Maybe it's not actually about leaving, despite the linear appearance of bridges, but more about connecting. Maybe some people won't be able to do that even with the help of art.
Certainly most people would agree on the difference between a tune that elicits cheerful feelings and a tune that reminds them of sadness. But within that each listener will use a musical experience in a unique way, just as we use emotions.
I think I recall reading that Middle Eastern music emphasizes the beat, highly complex rhythms. Whereas Western music tends to emphasize melody. Some people have to learn to listen in a different way to recognize the richness of unfamiliar music.
Need? I thought you simply wanted to get the low and soft through. :-) Some people have needs, if needs are real. I was thinking more of options, perhaps creative ones. There's no guarantee of exactly what one experiences, and real bridges have to be walked, but I think one can create an environment conducive to perceptual choices and enriched awareness. Maybe it's not actually about leaving, despite the linear appearance of bridges, but more about connecting. Maybe some people won't be able to do that even with the help of art.
Certainly most people would agree on the difference between a tune that elicits cheerful feelings and a tune that reminds them of sadness. But within that each listener will use a musical experience in a unique way, just as we use emotions.
I think I recall reading that Middle Eastern music emphasizes the beat, highly complex rhythms. Whereas Western music tends to emphasize melody. Often people just have to listen in a new way to recognize the richness of unfamiliar music.
Testing 1, 2, 3.
Sorry for the redundant posts! It didn't look like the server was responding, so I tried again.
Maybe it's not actually about leaving, despite the linear appearance of bridges, but more about connecting. Maybe some people won't be able to do that even with the help of art.
Yes. Connection. Completion of a circuit.
I think I recall reading that Middle Eastern music emphasizes the beat, highly complex rhythms. Whereas Western music tends to emphasize melody.
Yes again. I wonder why. Melody is my weakest part, rhythm my strongest. This could explain some of the difficulty fitting in.
Needs? Ah yes.
was thinking more of options, perhaps creative ones.
I certainly like that concept with my love of free choice.
The server seems to act up late at night!
This is worth contemplating. Just releasing is one thing, I can do that alone. But an audience becomes part of the creative act and that has to be incorporated and considered technique-wise.
It's suggested to just be oneself and express it, but it's not that simple. Not at all. I believe there is a whole skill in audience connection as you suggest. One worth learning.
I wonder how important the place is. I was looking at a room tonight as a possibility, but I often find too much wrong. I'm trying to decide if this is wise and if I should limit my performances to select places or not. Any ideas?
What is the right comfort point and does it depend on the environment or mostly myself. A combo of course, but how much is dependent on the room?
"Yes again. I wonder why."
Differences in music and languages are intriguing to me, maybe for that reason. Music with mixed roots is interesting.
Hmmm...It's good to look for spaces that offer potential. Setting the environment for something to happen is very important, I feel. (One time, I blessed an on-line chat room prior to an on-line memorial service. Why not?)
On the other hand, I've noticed that searching for perfection makes me more dissatisfied with everything. Maybe I need to be more at peace to do that in a more flexible way.
And then there are times when I take on circumstances that challenge me, whose apparent limitations offer me an opportunity to manifest more fully. Then some people say, "Why in the world are you struggling with that awful painting when you've shown that you can do this other type of painting with virtuosity?"
For example, one time I did the "wrong" thing in terms of the known best practices of visual composition (I knew that I was doing it, too), then proceeded to solve the compositional problem through the use of color interactions and lively strokes of paint. It's watching or listening for the intuitive leaps that can enter in to the open process. The result was highly successful, a still life in prussian blues that bursted with implied inner motion -- perhaps heightened by contrast to what might otherwise have come off as a static composition.
So, sometimes I feel something to learn through setting interesting "problems" to solve.
The performance plays the audience and vice versa -- always a chance for spontaneity to enter in, unpredictable, charged with the aliveness for which the audience and performer find themselves in the same place and time. Maybe the interaction with an audience is kind of like a meta level of performance.
I remember as a student having to present my work every week or so before fellow students and instructors, and making my delivery entertaining and evocative, incorporating my audience's questions into my delivery and humor. It wasn't something I had experience doing in this life before. Somehow the presentations became extradimensional extensions of the works of art. The art has a life of its own that radiates far from the flat surfaces of paper, board and canvas.
A certain amount is reasoning but the sale is cinched for me, I'm finally sold on a direction, through feeling the possibilities.
Solo or group performance, I think if we can perceive it intuitively, then we're connecting to that reality, and that means we can create or manifest it.
perhaps heightened by contrast to what might otherwise have come off as a static composition.
Yes. The magic of contrast and how to use it successfully.
I think maybe it's just simply recognizing the value of the audience, no matter where. And allowing them their natural behaviors.
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