Swirling in an everchanging complex organism we hook ourselves to the matrix and hang on for dear life
"If you spend ages fattening up a frog with lots of delicacies, and then a big snake slips into his cage and eats him, you’ve pretty much wasted loads of your time and effort."Probably. Or possibly?
posted by jm at 3:46 AM
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.
23 Comments:
Frogs, snakes, mea culpa and harmonica.
The mea culpa is fitting for this week. But the harmonica playing is genius. I loved it.
Raging Universe is a great masala with you JM as the main ingredient.
Oh, I love them Blues.
Thanks RU for starting off my day in a fantastic mood. The harmonica is genius and thank you for sharing this.
I had to have more, you got me started, and found this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZxQlZw8k9Q&feature=related
We might be fattening the frogs now, but them snakes are going to go. And then we are going--"gonna go" and I don't know what you are going to do?
Love this, and going to find more "blues" today. Singing, strutting and "moseying" on down the road, for today.
"Probably."
How about "possibly."
"You've pretty much wasted loads of your time and effort."
On one level - yes - but - too - maybe it's an opportunity to shift into a more interesting space. Maybe you start to detach from external situations and your thinking and actions become centered around your own personal sense of truth vs the "prevailing winds" of whatever it is that happens in your external world. Maybe you, finally, connect with your own power. Maybe, too, you, finally, "get it" about living and making choices without being attached to the outcome.
Giving up the perceptions of what we thought were the rewards and "goodies"in our external life seems terribly difficult because I'm not there yet. But - when the snake comes into the cage, it gets you to thinking - and that might be the beginning of something, ultimately, more meaningful.
Thank you, duCan.
The harmonica is genius
I'm glad to hear this, dble A. He was the best, totally unique, and unable to be imitated, but most follow the more popular ones. He goes into an alternate dimension when he plays, stretching the usual in people's minds. Breaking patterns. The urge is there in every consciousness for the brave. He's so obviously not trying to please the crowd, but other musicians always crowded around him for inspiration and to learn something.
Maybe you start to detach from external situations and your thinking and actions become centered around your own personal sense of truth vs the "prevailing winds" of whatever it is that happens in your external world.
I think that's the point today, so the events now are necessary. And Sonny expresses this in his harp playing.
Giving up the perceptions of what we thought were the rewards and "goodies" in our external life seems terribly difficult.
Most important, and I agree that the fattening speaks of this.
The idea of wasting time is really flawed to begin with. Can it be wasted? I never thought so. Productivity is ruining the earth, so maybe wasted effort will help mankind!
but them snakes are going to go. And then we are going--"gonna go" and I don't know what you are going to do?
Ha ha! Great question!
Is the veil lifting over the frog fattening?
The more people think about the Paulson Geithner plan the more they start to see the scam behind it.
"Obama has been a powerful national narcotic, but it is starting to wear off. Maybe."
I think so and awareness will increase at the right pace. Mars in Pisces seems to be helping. They need this buildup of illusion to accomplish the task. Everything finds its opposite. After the Jup-Nep conjunction we might really see some progress. Watch for the Mars-Uranus opposition just ahead and Venus turning direct.
I hope these fat frogs teach us well. Whatever the outcome with the snakes in.:o)
OMG!!!!! OMG!!!! I can't believe it!
Dble A, you are so completely in the know. My 1st choice was the song you posted. You have a great sense for IT.
Thank you so much. I am thrilled.
This musician had such good rhythm it hurts. If you notice in the vid dble A posted, you can see it in one sequence in his body and it is beautiful.
OMG, you posted it.
jm, thank you for introducing me to this great blues, muscian/ singer. I just had to hear more today, and this video was perfect, too. Perfect for right now. And, no wonder, I like him and he is such an innovative person. Birthday March 30, 1914, Jackson, Tenn.! LOL
"I don't know what gonna happen to you, when I'm gone." "you ain't making enough money to keep this business going"" "Who in the world gonna take care of you"?
It is so good for the soul, to hear it to music.
What will the "leaders" do, when we say , no more. Who is going to take care of them? It will happen, I am beginning to feel it.
Fooling us about Iraq, will not work either. It will be interesting what the Full Moon brings us?
But , so glad I could not be serious today. Just too much humming going on.
Thanks for the great day.
I loved Jewel's perspective too.
Detaching and becoming centered around our own personal sense of truth is great advice. I am not certain yet, that we will be able to that this time. We will be watching the Mars-Uranus opposition ahead, for any fall-out.
I love the different ideas and thoughts we share here.
Dble A. I'm stunned by your notice of this fine musician and the creative treatment of that simple song. I never ever expect people to get it. I'd love to explain musically why he's so great, but I'll save that for later.
There are a lot of clips there, but you chose the best one. Some aren't good. A lot of what gets recorded isn't good in general, so you have to sift through it all. I am impressed with your judgement and taste.
When people ask me who I like, I hedge around the question because I don't like any of them. Except Sonny Boy Williamson. The first time I heard him he cut through me like an emotional knife, he's so IN there. I never think anyone will get how good he is, and this is why I despair about myself and getting my subtle sound through the insane tense noise and pain out there. But after today with you, I know it's possible. My life has been bound by this question about what to do with my talent in an insensitive, tone-deaf world. I sing in a conversational manner somewhat like Sonny with that softness cloaking tremendous inner strength. And exceptional rhythm. And also, the emotional pain without self pity. If you notice his finger snapping in the clip, you can feel the perfect rhythm.
Popularity can be useless in ascertaining talent, or much of anything. Great things are often obscure requiring search. The musicians who are most popular, such as B.B.King and others, are the worst. Popularity is often a bad sign. The best are often overlooked. So I am glad about this. Definitely. Plus, the TVs have been off or not tuned into the news out there. A space in the cramp for the Aries cut through.
No frogs or snakes here, but I thought of you when I ran across this gem from Joan Chittister, of the Order of St. Benedict (OSB):
Raised to think about the next world for the sake of religion, we far too often forgot about this one for the sake of deepening our spirituality. But the writer Pearl Buck was not fooled. “I am so absorbed in the wonder of the earth and life upon it,” she said, “that I cannot think of heaven and the angels. I have enough for this life.”
Then again, certain monotheistic religions held that reptiles are agents of their Satan, or else remnants of older beliefs that should be discarded. So maybe there's a connection here, after all. :o)
you’ve pretty much wasted loads of your time and effort."
Made me look at all the things that we waste as a society: Time, water, food, money, energy, electricity. Take a look at the huge land fills and dump sites with things and materials that can be recycled. Older people with talent and experience are ignored and forgotten or not hired.
Probably and possibly we are all guilty of wasting something.
'What to do with my talent in an insensitive, tone-deaf world.'
I would like to add 'highly judgmental world.'
True talent is shunted aside for youth and what they deem to be 'good looks.' Just yesterday It was reported that Jessica Simpson grossed millions of dollars and the singer, Shakera signed a 300 hundred million dollar record deal.
I seems to me that one has to have a little dose of narcissism, lots of self confidence and support to make it in this crazy time we are living in. Or is it just luck?
We shouldn't hide our talents but display them like a light that brightens up the world. Listening to Sonny Boy Williamson's harmonica playing first thing in the morning sets the tone that brightens my entire day.
That is true talent.
300 million? Hmmmm. There is a sort of psychosis behind this when you think of what the exchange is. It hasn't changed. I was watching a film about the artists in France early last century and how poor they were. A temporary diversion costs 300 million while an eternity of truth about life is deemed unworthy. Such as it is. The most precious people walk among us unnoticed. Probably for the best. A glimmer is seen occasionally but then the school of fish crowd returns to the familiar and ordinary.
Maybe human loneliness causes us to pay this exorbitant amount for temporary togetherness, the same as creating illusions around leaders and providing a rallying point. I even think crisis is a way to bridge the alienation in a moment of group belonging.
I've often thought artists prefer obscurity so they can work unobstructed. The problems of survival intervene. Then the taste of success starts the ego thing rolling and all those complications set in.
Joe brings up a good point and what I think is the biggest waste going on now: a wasted opportunity.
Pearl Buck was not fooled. “I am so absorbed in the wonder of the earth and life upon it,” she said, “that I cannot think of heaven and the angels. I have enough for this life.”
The Piscean dream for the Magic Transformation ahead is the same thing. Being delivered from the bad, in this case the rich, and freed from bondage and responsibility. All the while, the chance for each one to confront one's own greed and wrongdoing is shunted aside as usual. While 300 million is spent to make their latest celebrity richer. Attention is heaped on the shiny crowd-pleasing pop star amazingly expensive leader as well, without any thought about consequences. Does anyone see a disconnect?
So money and attention are dumped on a few, while paradise is surely just ahead, and within it all lies a chance to see the correction with the SN leaving Leo and Saturn in Virgo.
We could go philosophical and see it as a bridge to education, which it is, but it also can be seen as a waste of so many resources on this damaged earth and a bypassing of the wonder Pearl talks about.
We shall see as Uranus progresses. The Great Transformation could be waiting - who really knows - but just think how much closer the possibility would be if we used this precious time to see the truth about ourselves and our own waste production.
Or maybe it's just because it's garbage removal day in my neighborhood.:)
300 million. It's hard to grasp.
Lets talk about waste for a minute. The rock star returns from his triumphant first world tour with the "Missile Defense System" firmly in place, while magically a launch goes off in Asia, the new playground. Iraq is now ready to take charge of her busted country while the group goes on to Asia and rips up countries there all on our money, while their companies get the spoils. And the rock star certainly knows how to collect money from his beloved people. Iran is a major threat again, depending on the day, so, of course, the missiles are needed. Just as long as people still believe they can have a Hollywood star's body next lifetime. Maybe reroute some of that missile money.
So you take the taxpayers money, shred a country and its people, then rebuild with the contracts nicely in place for the profiteers.
Oh well. I guess it's just the circular nature of things. Waste is hard to define after all. And underneath the turning wheel of right revolves, if only we could ride it consciously. It's a multi-ring circus, but where are the other rings?
I don't know if artists should try to connect people with conscience or waltz off into golden fields and forget it. They still have their own bodies and deeds to contend with, gazing at the 300 million dollar creamsicle in the sky.
Sorry JM:
Shakera signed a one hundred million dollar record deal over 10 years. (Same difference!) LOL
You made some excellent points including wasted opportunity and wasted production - made for a very good read.
So you take the taxpayers money, shred a country and its people, then rebuild with the contracts nicely in place for the profiteers.
Yes, not to mention the wasted young lives filled with potential and talent that are sacrificed in the name of war.
Some morsels for the concerned, discerning, and possibly radical among us. Certainly the disgruntled.
Smooth-talking Barack Obama is a brilliant corporate-imperial bullshit machine.
I didn't see any of the trip but this article breaks down the usual misleading trite crap point by point in his famous French town hall.
And this from Dissident Voice, a little blog concerned with social justice, even a crumb of peace, to celebrate the Libra Full Moon.
Sixty-nine Million of us voted for President Obama because he promised hope and change from the disasters of the Bush Administration. Countless millions of human beings around the planet joined us in our relief and our elation when he was elected. An unthinking uncritical “Obamamania” among most of his supporters continues to prevail so far. This is dangerous for them, for President Obama and for all of us. Without critical analysis and pressure from his millions of supporters, Obama will stumble into disaster.
Well, disaster comes anyway, but a little critical analysis is always a possibility with Saturn still in Virgo, as useless as it seems at the moment. One can never tell. It's in the bank when needed.
jm, something you said in the previous entry about being glassy-eyed got me to thinking, but it's only now coming to light. Glassy-eyed makes me think of fish, which are Piscean. To be described as "glassy-eyed" indicates mental fog or preoccupation, perhaps with a mind-altering substance. Neptune rules all of these of course. Does Neptune, by default, rule the age of Pisces? Could this explain the degree of disconnect and apathy? The thrall of media and the vacuous, overpaid pop-tarts they push?
Would the age of Aquarius, then, be characterized by more awareness, mental agility, individuality, etc?
Or am I generalizing too much?
No. And the glassy-eyed image won't leave my mind, so this is interesting. I didn't think of fish and you are so right. And yes, Neptune rules the Age of Pisces ending with glass covered screens into perception.
The Uranus-Neptune mutual reception is bringing this to a dramatic close, highlighted by the Joop-Nep conjunction ahead. My eyes are better and my head is hurting less, so I think I'll keep going in the same direction for myself. Under my own influence.
You could really see the mass glassy eye during the campaign, and actually that scared me then, but I also was glassy-eyed at the time and decided to run from it.
I wonder why the image just struck a chord?
The Age of Aquarius could be less glassy and foggy, but the mental agility is traded for some soul and feeling gone. There is no guarantee that the next 2000 years will be better, just different. We always have to find our good spots within the massive forces of good and bad. I don't think it will change, which is why I'm reasonably circumspect about the Magic Transformation.
The change of the great ages is bound to create hopes for some illusory improvement in mankind, but I doubt that will happen quickly. It might take another swing around the wheel at 2000 years per pop. Being in the Now has its advantages. Taking things as they are. We really have no choice. So glassy-eyed it is for the time being.
The eye wants to see. Everything probably. But things are destined to remain in various degrees of hiding. Those who think they see more than others are probably wrong. We just see different things. Even through the glass.
The Age of Aquarius could be less glassy and foggy, but the mental agility is traded for some soul and feeling gone.
That's my feeling too, and perhaps it would be unsettled and prone to unexpected changes, given Uranus as the ruler.
I have a couple of astrological questions.
Re: the visual arts... I am reading an essay by Donald Kuspit, a famous and very good critic, about "Art in the age of Glamor" which make me think of Pluto in Sag, in that expansive show was power. Also, there has been an emphasis on art theory, sometimes to an extreme. The intellectualization (jupiter) has been required and often that is all that is required. Now that is shifting and local art markets and venues are collapsing. What do you think the arts will look like with Pluto in Cap?
One more, on a different topic... I don't understand the 6th house very well. Any insights?
Thanks!
At first I thought Pluto in Cap would bring a return to refinement, taste, and technique, but it's too soon to tell. That's interesting about theory. It might diminish somewhat as the practical usage comes in with Capricorn, and a concern with investment value. The curve in the situation is the Uranus square in Aries, which could bring emerging artists and innovation to the forefront. I don't know, but there is always a niche for an artist outside of the fashionable part.
The arts are usually ahead of the trends and the collapse of the markets could be a good sign as they prepare for something better, which I think might happen. I keep thinking the arts are bottoming out, but the markets haven't been improving yet.
We could see a new wave come in midway, combining the traditions of Capricorn, and the Uranian uniqueness. If the markets collapse, we'll kind of need something new and different.
My artist friends have gone underground in the last years, and it's a little too soon to know where it's going, so I think in the midst of the collapse, it's a good time for personal evaluation.
There is a gallery in my town that has led the community for 30 years, always ahead of the game. They used to have large scattered pieces, often ugly, but lately they've been showing small sedate and unusual pieces with a lot of space around them and a hush in the air. The room is a little darker too, conducive to introspection. The other galleries around them were getting the traffic and this one lost the crowd, but now they are returning. I hadn't been going for years, but now I find myself wanting to see what's in the next show. Since they have always been in the vanguard, it could be a sign of contraction ahead. It seems to me that conservation in general will pervade society once Capricorn gets established.
You are right about Jupiter and power. An obvious display of it. Saturn and Pluto are more about focus and detailed concentration, and come to think of it, another gallery I've been watching is also showing smaller pieces with better technique, drawing the viewers closer, rather than pushing them back with the large dimension. The owner said he was proud of the skill in the current show.
The expense of glamour might prove to be unsustainable. Time will tell. Galleries are struggling, yet they refuse to give up. Another trend in my town is the aggregation of studios connected to the galleries. Large warehouses are being converted into intense work spaces where they can be apart but together. I like this development.
I don't think anyone understands the 6th house well.
It's the house of analysis and ritual. Breaking experience up into its essential parts and making sense of the body and all that's tangible. The opposite happens in the 12th, where soma gives way to psyche and spirit. But the 6th is where we come to terms with how to deal with our physical existences.
The 6th is the house of maintenance and repair, so planets there (I have 2), create a desire for neatness and perfection, trying to tie up loose ends, and doing it right. Cleanliness and order are strived for. Of course, the opposite can happen when it gets out of alignment.
Purification is a 6th house concern, and physical rituals can mimic the religious. I see some 6th housers able to repeat the same rituals over and over without a break.
Traditionally, the 6th is health and work, but those are symbolic of the routines required for maintenance of life in general. The ruler of the house, the planets therein, and the placement of the ruler will tell you how it plays out in your life. Problems in these areas are often means to eventual improvement, always a Virgo concern. Fix what you can. Perfection of technique. Honing skills. Precision. No waste. The body as a tool.
But one theory I have is the fact that the 6th is the last personal house before serious relationship starts in the 7th. So I think it's where we want to get it right with ourselves and get everything in order before we lose the focus and have to begin paying attention to the other. Virgo is often associated with shyness and solitude, so this could be the connection to self-perfection before moving out.
I get a reverence and spiritual aspect to the 6th.
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