Food and the Family
I stopped gorging myself on animals many many years ago and ceased over-eating entirely as time progressed. Mercury in Cancer can irritate the stomach so I'm careful. The proverbial question in the family seems to be "What's for dinner?" or nowadays "Where are we eating tonight?" as the group moves from one food source to another, meal to meal, hand to mouth, consuming far more than survival requires. I find it fascinating that today's feast had Mars just retrograde in Cancer and I imagine that some truth about this family pursuit emerged amongst the brussels sprouts and bird cracklings. How healthy is this family unit? How emotionally satisfying? I have questions in light of the hysterical shrieking sports' confrontations going on while trying to digest the complicated array of foodstuffs, along with the spoken/yelled and unspoken emotional conflicts almost always woven into the underlying family fabric. Huge meals on this fabric can be problematic but the reverse can happen, too -- joyous celebration of the tribe and its prosperity.
The rituals around food intake still intrigue me along with the fact that human desire still far surpasses need. Since this country over-eats daily, the holiday banquets are sometimes grotesquely consumptive. And now it's especially mindless since people in modern times are so far removed from the source of nourishment. All taken for granted. It's robotic, as well. On the Fourth Thursday everyone stuffs their bodies in unison. Well on May Day, we supposedly dance together, so it all evens out. Anyway, I'm curious. Of course, people are reluctant to admit these insights, so I'll probably never know.
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Thanksgiving was a day i dreaded as a child. Tension prevailed among the relatives and there was nothing but work for a girl child cooking in a steamy kitchen followed by the clean-up. Only the olives and cranberry sauce scored high in my book.
Later we, a vegetarian family pretty much ate our usual meal...until one year talking to a neighbor, i discovered that he, a recovering alcoholic, dreaded Thanksgiving too, for other reasons. So, i looked around my little canyon and noticed other oldsters alone. The Carpenter's Union gave away giant Turkeys to it's members every year, usually we donated them to the foodbank. Instead i began making the traditional dinner and inviting all who wanted to come.
My Thanksgiving-dreading neighbor brought green beans with onions. Every year for ten years he brought the green beans and my son made pumpkin pie. We celebrated with tables under trees, tables in the sand, in the living room, in the kitchen, plates balanced on knees sitting on the stonewall around my garden. People came and more. My little bitty house was overrun. It began to feel like Thanksgiving. Gratitude. We found ourselves discovering all sorts of odd ethnic dishes brought by folk who felt a it would not be a traditional Thanksgiving with out it.
This year in my little sky house it was just me making a favorite dish for a cold day; lentils (with baby beets and their greens which makes the richest lentil soup) cooked on the woodstove. Now a cup of tea and a slice of peach pie fill the evening.
With lots of gratitude.
How absolutely beautiful and touching tseka. I'm making my standard curried yellow pea soup.
I never heard of beets in lentil soup. I must try this since lentils are so good.
We celebrated with tables under trees, tables in the sand, in the living room, in the kitchen, plates balanced on knees sitting on the stonewall around my garden. People came and more. My little bitty house was overrun. It began to feel like Thanksgiving. Gratitude.
A gorgeous picture.
This year in my little sky house it was just me making a favorite dish for a cold day
And a glorious use of Mars in Cancer. I'm going to be stitching in my warm sewing room this evening.
I remember one of the reasons I came to Colorado and that was on account of an article I read long ago in Esquire magazine during the commune days. They talked about one called Libre in the Colorado Rockies, where meat was hunted by asking which animal in the woods wanted to make the sacrifice. I wasn't a vegetarian yet, but I was living in a vegetarian household in Woodstock, NY at the time.
I was so entranced by this description that I decided to come. Of course the astrologer that recommended the Rockies for me contributed.:o)
It's fascinating, this thing called home. Mars in Cancer. Many times it turns out to be far from what we thought.
Happy day, my friends. I'm grateful for your inspiration (and food ideas).
Much love!
Chrispito, yes! These are some pretty far-out food ideas. But what can you expect from an Aquarius rising?? Love to you too.
Curried yellow pea soup sounds good too.
I love when the air turns sharp and the nights grow cold.
My woodstove hummmmmms and the teapot makes a kind of music.
A warm sewing room sounds nice. Making costumes?
I am knitting a vest for my mother out of some homespun Merino wool.
Mars in Cancer sees me fixing the roof and removing dead oleanders and (shhhh i got the washer fixed, so far so good the metal wrap is a deterrent) i scooted the furniture around to be closer to the stove. Cozy and tidy (that old Saturn guy in Virgo maybe looking over my shoulder)and very domestic but of course with a Uranian kick to it all.
Hej Chrispito! it's good to see you.
True North Node is transiting my North Node just about now.....i've been tuned to the past few days listening more acutely....nothing obvious. When Uranus went over my NN a corner of the Universe ripped i'm pretty sure, right in my vicinity.
The washer!!!! Really? It's back on it's feet? Omg! I'm impressed with all your handiwork around the little sky house. Yes, indeed.
It turned very cold yesterday and snowed. Do you often cook on the woodstove?
Tonight I'm doing curtains. The costumes are starting to mock me at this point, challenging my seriousness and motivation. We're still at odds, me and them, with their unfinished hems and no buttons. But I feel as though I will lose. I decided to make a burgundy stretch velvet top to get the ball rolling again. A soft and luxurious piece of fabric in my favorite design.
Good to hear about your mother in her coming homespun vestment.
Yes, the node. I think it's best if nothing obvious happens. The subtle interests me much more and this keeps unfolding long after the exact conjunction. I'm just in the mood for the subtle.
The ripping, shredding, and tearing can certainly come with Uranus, but NN in Pisces is all about flow. It certainly is a relief when the rip isn't necessary. Excitement is overrated.
I'm thankful for this.
Last Thanksgiving was "exciting" with spirited songs and conversation here at Raging Uni, but I was upset and tense underneath it, I remember. This year, in spite of the usual catastrophes, I feel calmer for some odd reason.
So I checked the transits. Jupiter at 29 Scorpio last year. No wonder.
Mars was there too. Although I'm not exactly ecstatic about Mars in Cancer, it beats Scorpio, as far as relaxation is concerned.
Saturn was opposite my Venus last year which certainly contributed.
The costumes are starting to mock me at this point, challenging my seriousness and motivation. We're still at odds, me and them, with their unfinished hems and no buttons.
Hahahahaha you crack me up!
But I feel as though I will lose.
never
I decided to make a burgundy stretch velvet top to get the ball rolling again. A soft and luxurious piece of fabric in my favorite design.
a design on bias?
it sounds divine.
It certainly is a relief when the rip isn't necessary. Excitement is overrated.
absolutely true! Subtle is good. Somehow it reassures that i am going just as i should.
Yes, i cook on my woodstove all winter. I am crazy in love with soups, so one is usually bubbling all winter long. Sometimes it is progressive soup, transforming with new ingredients daily.
Lose? The battle between my imaginary world and the one of practical stitching. The one I run from. Give me a design table and I'm in heaven. Make me finish a piece and I wail in hell. That's the losing battle. The costumes want out of the closet!
The fabric is divine. It slithers and slinks and shines, and oddly enough, it might be easy to work with. It's so flowing that the bias cut is unnecessary. It will be a simple V-neck long sleeve top with perfect buttons. And yes, it will be a costume. The dark velvet looks fantastic around my beautiful neck and long dark hair.
Ja, you and i have been waiting for Mars rx for a while. Wondering. Now it's here and much more restful than i was anticipating.
Mars rx in Pisces i broke my toe...racing around trying to get so much done for a show and not listening to the little voice saying put some shoes on...
I don't know how it will play out for the country. It is an interesting moment. Especially with the NN heading over the bridge soon.
"progressive soup"! Ha ha ha! Now that's an Aquarian cook, all right!
Subtle is good. Somehow it reassures that i am going just as i should.
It surely feels that way. You sound wonderful. I'm surprised actually. Unusual times. My usual insane daily confusion has become acceptable and my head is even quiet at the moment. One never knows.
Ja, you and i have been waiting for Mars rx for a while. Wondering. Now it's here and much more restful than i was anticipating.
Really. Isn't it amazing? It's encouraging to fall in love with my Cancer self and not let the Aries upset it so. Or is it vice versa?
Mars in Pisces? I also broke my toe. It's bigger now than it was.
I expect some of the over-emotionalism to calm down for the country after the nodal shift and the Mars transit. Enough is too much here.
Finishing projects hooboy, this was a big one for me when i was younger. Now my livelihood depends on getting things finished and i just grit my teeth and do it. Like you i love the creative rush. Dreaming would be having someone else frame my paintings and slep them around. Imagine a life of just painting. What an indulgence. Guess we have to have the balance.
The top sounds wonderful. Soft and elegant against the long tresses of a Raven-haired beauty.
A lot of understanding has come my way lately and part of this unusual calm has something to do with the Pluto-Mars coming up for me. I know what it's about and what I will do. It's the passage I want and need in my life now. The biggest one yet, connected completely with the conjunction when I got my first piano. Somehow the magnitude of it is not even daunting. More like relief. I must be ready and I intend to take it it one methodical step after another since my goals have become clear again.
Now my livelihood depends on getting things finished and i just grit my teeth and do it.
Yep. So glad I have teeth to grit! This is exactly what I want. It took survival events to make it so.
Soft and elegant against the long tresses of a Raven-haired beauty.
Huge feeling of well-being and a close warm hug for you, my St. B.
I also have been eyeing a piece of deep lavender velvet which I'd like to make into a suit. I already have the matching purple fedora. I'm getting excited again! Whoa, Nellie!
I find myself looking forward to Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn. I plan to embrace the change, especially the chance of my life taking a good serious turn.
The biggest one yet, connected completely with the conjunction when I got my first piano. Somehow the magnitude of it is not even daunting. More like relief. I must be ready and I intend to take it it one methodical step after another since my goals have become clear again.
Very intriguing. Clear goals this is quite something.
Actually my life is calm but nothing in it is. I will have to seek out some new means of revenue soon. The galleries that have supported me for the last 20 years are not. I was fretting for a while but now i come to the point of it's all an adventure. Ironic. 35 years of hard work arriving at the pinnacle and the part of the art world i am in is collapsing. Juptiter|Pluto etc on my Sun in the 10th. Uranus square - sadly, i'm not really in the mood for adventure.
Tseka, there is a lot to this.
Actually my life is calm but nothing in it is.
Ideal. Desperation is a terrible springboard. The more I live the more I see how impossible it is to control these events so the only recourse is calm disciplined action, sacrificing some of the raw excitement.
Actually my life is calm but nothing in it is.
Of course not. Pluto to your Jupiter and your 2nd house Aries. New sources of revenue. Much much better ones.
sadly, i'm not really in the mood for adventure.
Not to worry. I don't think it will be one in the traditional sense. Just a natural sequence of events as a result of the 35. More money. A relief to be free from the places that aren't working.
I'm working on all of this. The details of the goals are totally unclear, but that seems to matter less. Either I find my success as an artist in society or I don't. There's no desperation. I certainly can make enough to survive and this pivots around my NN1 where I am the point, not them. If I do this, I will succeed. Survival is making me do it more than ever, and once I'm out there, after the square, I imagine my niche will be carved and I can proceed with what I always intended to do with my life. Actualize my potential.
Thanks JM
for some odd reason i keep the Sagittarian optimism. Too many pentacles have come up in the past weeks -> the 10, then the 9 (one of my favorites) and the Queen.
I began painting wandering around with only what i could carry in my rucksack, graduated to a VW bug, then a pick-up. Growing up poor i know where the bottom is, this part is not really a worry.
There is always the confusion that is part of the change, not being able to see down the road. I still have confidence.
Well said fellow 1. We walk point, how true.
There is always the confusion that is part of the change, not being able to see down the road. I still have confidence.
I feel like I'm on the precipice but I have to be now.
There is a lot not to be optimistic about. Times aren't good in general, but they aren't that bad. I think the world is reeling from the two world wars and the letdown. The confusion of what to do without these major riveting challenges. I think there is going to be a general downturn in the excitement of war and this leaves depression in its wake. War is one of the most exciting things mankind does, but too bad. The world is going through a major adjustment. The recent wars are fizzling with impotency. What are they to do?
I've been doing a lot of studying of the wars and the artists it produced. Lots to report.
Confidence is almost impossible to maintain steadily. I have unwavering confidence in my talent but the market is always in flux and we have to live with that uncertainty. Meanwhile, Pluto transits shake foundations and they have to be rebuilt so confidence comes and goes during the process. I've been experienceing it for about 4 years now and it's only recently that I have been able to admit how awful it's really been. It must be improving.
I think optimism is about to take a small upturn but withing reason and this I will accept.
Well said fellow 1. We walk point, how true.
By far, the most important part no matter how many planets are on or near the south. With Pluto in Cap square the Aries points, this is our big, and I mean BIG chance. Aries-Capricorn is as disciplined as it gets and the most self concerned. Vital to go on from the point of loss.
You'll see and I will make a pact right now. If we operate from square 1, the other squares will follow and fall into place.
Part of the prelude to this transit is real fears about survival.
Tonight is a very very good omen. Mars in Cancer and we chose to go it alone, relatively, and think about ourselves and our futures. Not get sidetracked by what they're all doing. The conjunction coming up will be a pivotal point, although it will take time to manifest.
I don't think there is much to fear as Pluto crosses over and the Aries gets triggered. The natural inclination to work toward our goals will take over and we'll know what to do as we go. Just the lack of artifice and group merriment is a great portent.
To be honest JM i believe that the work we do will take on much greater importance to others.
I have already been hearing this. People are searching for something. Listening in new places. The alternative to war...we can make our offering.
I do not consider myself to be much of a writer yet in the last year i have received many requests for things i've written. It is very surprising to me. Yet, i realize that the words help carry the eye inside.
End of wars, also end of duality. I believe that this is the end of an epoch. Personality described by mental emotional is not enough, the soul's door through the heart is opening. For too long we've tried to define by romantic notion, now there will be art and music that provides the cues for integration that is simple- just is.
I was just going to say how this connects with the theme of my post about food. But first; the war downturn is big and it's real. The historical significance of the last century has yet to be learned by the masses, but they are getting glimpses.
People are searching for something. Listening in new places.
If they are paying attention to me then its really real. And they are. I can't even escape, and I'm the best escape artist there is.
The search for nourishment is part of the societal tragedy and tomorrow the horrid shopping cycle starts once again. It's become more and more of an empty ritual with the passing years. One of the saddest things is eating and not feeling pleasure and satisfaction. If they could find these things in other places it would be so much better for their souls. Music, art, dance(not the cheap imitations in movies, etc.) -- they are the only hope for emotional fulfillment and the diminishing of the cycle of over-eating and depression. So as Pluto progresses in Capricorn we should become more valued in society. Pluto is the deepest satisfaction and Capricorn is not food. Instant gratification. The easy fix.
It was easy during the wars with all the blatant ugliness and destruction, for the artists to work against. But now it's more subtle. More within. There's not much we can do while the people continue their search other than be prepared when we're called upon. It is inevitable. The artistic longings reside in every human and humanity can't survive without it. Never could. But it's a hard choice to take the path and stay on it. Not a happy one. I think artists are self immolating to an extent.
This is an indication. It takes people who defy convention and don't do the unfilling things others do to point the way. I used to be smothered for going against popular opinion, even the unpopular popular opinion. But now I am being allowed to breathe.
It must be a sign.
Group frustration is potent and hard to face. the cover-up is dense and the clinging to iconic disasters. Fear of pleasure is a large part of it and the fake sexuality that pervades humanity in lieu of real pleasure that still frightens. The kind that doesn't involve genitals. The shame that could be overcome as war diminishes. The cycle of killing has had everything to do with continuing collective guilt. and punishment. Artists think they have to mimic this to get attention and I think this is one mistake.
And this is what I like about your work. It makes no attempt to do this.
Lots here.
My photographer friend rc just called we fill in lots of hours during the week with conversation about art, alchemy.
More gratitude for brilliant minds like yours, his and our amazing technology that allows me to share beyond the boundary of miles.
Before i slip off to bed i thought i would leave a little ps there is a type b influenza going around. It is being knocked down quickly by Gelsemium 30c. This kind of flu can be averted by taking Gelsemium as a prophylaxis once per day for two days, then once a week for four weeks. Keynotes are slow onset, typical influenza fever, lassitude, heaviness of arms and legs, dull mentally. I have not heard of it being outside the desert SW yet.
More gratitude for brilliant minds like yours, his and our amazing technology that allows me to share beyond the boundary of miles.
My thoughts exactly I was just going to post this. I am so glad I have you to talk to. It's been a good Thanksgiving.
Thanks St. B for the medical expertise. I love the name, Gelsemium. It reminds me of Gelsomina. one of my favorite characters of all time from Fellini's La Strada, played by his wife. Oh I loved her.
What a fruitful night it's been.
Also good to hear from rc. We will reap.
A few quotes from one of my favorite Leos, George Bernard Shaw:
Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does.
I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people.
An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it.
Independence? That's middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth.
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
I do a traditional 20 mile mountain bike ride called the "Appetite Seminar" in the early morning prior to the big Thanksgiving feast. It's a tradition in Marin county close to where I live. There are usually several hundred riders. High up on the ridge some guys set up a java and whiskey station. There is a lot of camaraderie, and it's all for free. At the end of the ride you feel great and eating the big meal tastes ten times as good as your body is actually in need of some extra nourishment. The sick feeling of over indulgence is entirely avoided.
HA HA HA HA HA!!!
High up on the ridge some guys set up a java and whiskey station.
It's a tradition in Marin county close to where I live.
This is a tradition I could get interested in.
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