A Roll in the Universe

Of all the seasonal transitions, the one between winter and spring seems to be the most violent. I’ve tried to predict weather using astrology (astrometeorology). The starting point are the seasonal ingress charts, i.e. the charts for the equinoxes and the solstices or the cardinal signs. For the spring equinox the chart is made for 0 degrees of Aries, which is ruled by Mars. For the summer solstice, it’s 0 degrees of Cancer and Moon ruling. For autumn, it’s 0 degrees of Libra and Venus ruling. And for winter solstice, the chart is for 0 degrees of Capricorn and Saturn ruling. These dates are approximately around the 21st of March, June, September and December, respectively. I live where we have four seasons and am used to how they flow into each other, and how it can vary from year to year exactly when one can say that one season is officially over and we are fully in the next season. Spring glides into summer by budding, one type of bush or tree at a time, and growing the leaves an...

A friend commented on another blog post of mine about how we're told that loneliness shortens a life span like a smoking habit does. Her married parents are now within waving distance of 90; she doubts she'll get to that age. I have a theory, or maybe it's just a good ol' opinion about longevity and it's this: People live a long life because they want to. I know where my friend's coming from. I have thought the same: That making it to 90 (or even 80) just might not be in the cards for a single, childless woman who has nothing but seated hobbies like knitting, watching TV, surfing the 'net, blogging… I grew up with "The Greatest Generation", the people who practically starved to death during the Great Depression, then went through a world war (and maybe starved then, too) and still made it into their 90's before giving up this earthbound life. So the researchers think they lived long because they ate little. Underfeeding yourself makes your ...

So, I'm busy downloading old photos from my Flickr account because Flickr is being sold and I'm tired of dealing with various TOS. 'Sides, I'm paying for Dropbox. And digging through the old stuff, here's one from 15 years ago: The weekend I was a professional astrologer. Giving an astrological reading at the Bergen New Age Fair (Alternativmessen) 2003 First of all: Dig the Mac laptop! The toilet lid, as Norwegian Mac afficiendos called it. Heh. I still have the striped knitted cardigan behind me. Handknitted by a dear no-longer-with-us friend who picked quality wool and did quality work. I shared the booth with the blonde Tarot reader in the corner. Haven't stayed in touch. If you dig into the links to earlier pages, you'll find where I wrote about the weekend I spent at the New Age Fair 2003 in Bergen and some other astrology stuff. I never stuck with it. It turns out I don't find people all that interesting. Let me rephrase: I like helping and ...

I like that the word "parallel"—if written in a sans serif font—contains a parallel. What also contains a parallel, is astronomy and from there, astrology. Keep reading if you want to see me attempt to explain the tilt of the planet. First of all, let's get one thing in our heads: All the planets, except Pluto, revolve around our sun on the same plane. Now add to this the fact that the Earth tilts about 23 degrees and this is the reason for seasons. I once really messed explaining this to the point that I called the other person stupid. But I was the stupid one, so let's see if I finally have this straight (hah!) in my head. This is, of course, far easier to understand visually, so grab something and hold it at a tilt and then move it in a circle parallel to the floor, keeping the same tilt, i.e. the object is tilted the same way as you see it all around the circle. You'll notice that at one point, the bottom is closest to the center of the circle and the to...

I could give you all kinds of astrological reasons for why my flow suddenly choked, but suffice to say that the communication planet Mercury is slowing down to turn around and right itself on Sunday. Until then, I shall amuse myself—and hopefully you, too—by wondering about the "false friends" language has. Things that look related or alike, but do not mean the same thing. Take "glimmer" for example. A word that means faint or wavering, especially of light. The dying beams of your flashlight are glimmering. Then there's the Norwegian word "glimmer", which means brilliant or excellent or brightly shining and flickering. Both the English and the Norwegian word have made the rounds but started with German. At what point did the English version come to mean faint rather than bright? Anyway, if someone tells you you're glimmery or something like that in Scandinavia, beam brightly and steadily with pleasure. The Daily Prompt: Glimmer

Disastrous: Causing great damage. Fortunately (heh, see what I did there?), I have never experienced a disaster. Neither of the natural kind, nor the personal kind. And that leads me to the word's origin: From " disaster " which means "ill-starred" or to be ill-fated because of the stars. Modern astrology is more psychological and less about fate, more about choice and less about destiny. If I really want to scare myself all I have to do is read an old book and my own birth chart will horrify me. I should be in prison or a psychiatric hospital, or perhaps married to a violent man whom I stay with because he's stinking rich. Here's where I like the modern stuff better: Understanding that a birth chart is exactly that: A chart, a map, not a reality. You can experience your map in many different ways, and how you do will be colored by the people in your life and your circumstances. We all share a birthday with many people and none of us are having the e...

My shoulder scan This post contains astrology. And bathrooms. And frozen shoulders. Not necessarily in that order. I have discovered I don't take my own advice, which makes me perfectly normal. I always tell people to get their pains and troublesome body parts checked out sooner, rather than later, but I delayed seeing a doctor about my shoulder for well over a year. It wasn't until I actually got a bump on my shoulder that I made an appointment. That was June, and I finally saw the doc in August. What followed then was 50% sick leave, and an MR scan (my first!). The specialist told me I was well beyond the cortisone shot stage but ideal for surgery to remove the scar tissue I now had. This is one of the pictures of my left shoulder. I have no idea what I'm looking at besides a human bone. I do not want surgery and the specialist did say I could use the other treatment for frozen shoulder: Time. So I am doing that. I take a tablespoon of turmeric in a glass of milk ...

OK, I knew my last post  would not appeal to everyone, but as I said in a comment to a comment, I take my wisdom wherever I can find it. Which happens to include astrology. Because of my family's interests, I grew up in a home that not only had huge picture books showing the treasures of the Sun King and Tutankhamen, but also books by Teilhard de Chardin, Krishnamurti, Alan Watts and Agatha Christie. The one common thread: Mystery. Life's mystery. What makes us tick? What else is there? Travel, whether literally or metaphysically. That's what my family does. We like to wonder and dream and think big and if there's a UFO encounter thrown into the mix, that's fine, too, but most importantly: Enjoy humanity. So I knew my Sun sign at the age of 7, and pretty much knew when all the other Sun signs were, too. My grandma had my chart made for me, so I also knew that there is more to astrology than just Sun signs. (The whole solar system is in on the act.) There are so ...

Pluto. Pluto in Virgo. Pluto in Virgo conjunct the North Node. That's what I have to offer in November. Not a novel—navel-gazing. An old hobby is being rekindled. Astrology is a life-long love, and just when I thought I could live without it, it shows back up and shows me how good it is at unraveling mysteries in my life. You think you know yourself, but there's always something new to discover. The astrological equivalent of cleaning out a closet I stuffed back when I first moved into my apartment. "Oh, I forgot I had that!" Mostly, I forgot where I put it. And so it is with Pluto. It may be "just" a planetoid, but astrologically it still packs a punch. So there is a transformative energy (Pluto) in the sign of "Let's file this alphabetically" (Virgo) standing next to "Karma's a Bitch but Also a Fun Gal" (North Node). In other words: My pathway to ultimate happiness in this lifetime is through organization and routine. Do...

Unlike what other people I know experienced, 2012 was a laid-back year for me. I entered the new one, ready for action. Today, I got a taste of what might be in store: I've been asked to stand for election to my co-op's steering committee, an office that is for two years at a time. Right away, I think about Saturn transitting Scorpio during that time frame - in my house of community, groups and friends. I won't know for sure, one way or the other, until later this spring, but the fact that I've gotten this sort of attention tells me I'm no longer at rest; I'm on the move again. In other news, I've finally become an adult. I'm finally starting to understand this business of taking care of home and stomach on a regular basis. At the age of 52, I'm cooking every day for myself (or reheating leftovers from an earlier meal), and my home is fairly tidy (next step: get it fairly clean). I even try to dress like a grown-up, trying to class up my usual swea...

Ah, yes, once again a long hiatus. I still owe you guys my Normandie adventure, and I haven't forgotten. The nice thing about the war is that writing about it has no time limit. (Is my excuse. :-) ) Thing is, I'm having a collision of Fun Things to Do. I want to focus more on my blog, no, my astrology, no, my yoga, no, my decluttering (which has been neglected and therefore resurfaced), no, my venture into low-carbing, no, Joomla, because what that web guy is doing looks like so much fun, and why are there so many good web sites to browse, and a re-run of a surprisingly well-written and well-done Norwegian sci-fi TV mini-series to watch, oh, yeah, and "The Event" is showing now, and that pile of interesting books to read, and all those podcasts to listen to, and meditation. I want to get back into meditation. And in between, my bi-weekly subscription to our local symphony orchestra's concerts. Whew. It's pure abundance. And at work, new department, youn...

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes I do my best writing in other people's comments . Not fair to you, dear reader, so I'll repost and elaborate here. The discussion in the link above was about the weather. If you've been paying attention to my sidebar, you know that I now have another blog where I post weather forecasts made with astrology. So in response to another commenter, I wrote this about astrology: […]after years of hanging out with astrologers, I know that it is very hard to prove anything, especially with natal charts - people being what they are. Part of my psychology class back when included learning how psychology had to devise repeatable tests in order to be considered a science, something that took a lot of time to accomplish. It’s no easier for astrology with all its variables. That’s why I got interested in weather forecasting: There are rules in astrology for forecasting weather and they either work or they don’t. The weather either happens or it doesn’t. It’s the best method ...

This the last day of winter. Tomorrow, March 20, is the first day of spring astrologically and astronomically, and the sun enters the sign of Aries and crosses the equator, heading for the Tropic of Cancer. Outside we have a good old-fashioned storm, with squalls blowing rain sideways. It is the first proper rain since December, and tonight it will clear away what's left of the snow on the ground, after 91 days of white cover. Water is beading on all my windows, and I can hear the wind as it occasionally rises high enough to be heard over the music I have on in the background and my little space heater. It is weather for curling up in a blanket with a book and a cup of tea to candlelight. Or for taking said cup of tea to the desk and do a bit of blogging. I had a starling on my feeder yesterday. They are migratory birds so to see one with snow still on the ground was both odd and encouraging. I, however, find myself not yet ready for spring. I've actually enjoyed the wint...

My dear blog is 7.5 years old. And I have no idea what to do with it. I am not happy keeping it artificially alive via Wordless Wednesday posts. (Ironically, Wednesdays are usually when I feel like writing.) There are things to write about but because I've given myself the rule of not writing about work (at least not in recognizable detail) the one biggy in my life cannot be shared. Oh, what the heck. Here goes (warning, astrology ahead): Once again, I face downsizing. Now, astrology tells me that our department will continue and I'll land on my feet. I want to tell my co-workers that we will be fine, but I don't. We all need to create our future and the best motivation for that is to believe the one we thought we had doesn't exist. We are all aging. I'm the youngest at 49 (eep!). Advantages and disadvantages abound for those of us who are young enough to be used somewhere else in the company and/or have been with the company for over 10 years, and preferably ...

Astro.com tells me this about my solar return: Happy birthday! Today the Sun returns to the position it was in when you were born. As would seem appropriate with this transit, today is a day of new beginnings, and the influences you feel today will affect the entire year to come. However, this does not mean that the whole year will be disappointing if today doesn't work out exactly as planned. You are receiving a new impulse from the energy center within you, as symbolized by the Sun. Therefore any new venture that you start at this time will ride the crest of this new energy and will very likely come to an acceptable conclusion. Whatever you do or begin today will bear the stamp of your individuality more than anything else. This is the day to assert yourself anew. Beats the current Neptune square Mercury which represents fuzzy thinking. And I thought that was just hormones. ;-)

I was telling some friends that I can't give up my blog. It provides an outlet for those times when I want to put my thoughts to writing and maybe even have someone else read them. Why would I consider giving up my blog? Well, this year has not been a year of much writing. It's been an introverted year, a year of repeats, of same old same old, of just going through the motions. Like a good rest. And then I woke up. This is what I wrote to some friends on July 31: Well, I was musing on what the heck to do with my time when a thought quietly shrugged through my brain: Astrology. Then the local meteorologists managed to bungle yet another weather prediction and I thought, "Astrology can do better!", and tried - in vain - to get Astrolog running on my Mac. Then Time Cycles offered a half-price upgrade on all my expensive (but now useless because Intels don't run the Classic environment) astrology software. So I upgraded. Then I looked up the old astro-weather g...

Wordless Wednesday

With a nod to Protege, who did this first : Your Word is "Why" You see life as complicated and intriguing. The only thing you know for sure is that you haven't figured it all out yet. You question everything and believe very little. And whatever you believe is likely to change. You are interested in theories, philosophies, and religions... even if you don't buy into any of them. You are also fascinated by how things work. You'd like to understand as much in the world as possible. What's Your Word? It all fits (me) perfectly. After all, "why?" is the question associated with Sagittarians. ;-)

Wordless Wednesday