Mercury is still retrograde, and still fouling up communication, as you might have noticed.  Today, there’s some other stuff going on, and knowing about it might help you get through it with less stress and trauma.

The quincunx aspect, 150 degrees, is considered a “minor” one, but can be challenging, tending to throw us off-course.  Today’s Sun in Gemini quincunx Jupiter in Capricorn could have us wasting energy or misdirecting our efforts, and Sun quintile (72 degrees) Saturn can help us get back on task to finish the job.  Take interruptions in stride.

The asteroid Ceres is opposite Pluto, and the asteroid Juno is opposite Venus today.  These aspects can shake things up in families or domestic relations. Maybe things needed to be shaken up.  Make it a learning experience.  Moon in Libra all day helps us smooth over the rough spots, and Ceres in Cancer brings out nurturing instincts.

Chiron trined Venus last night and trines the Sun today, in air signs, energizing healing and helping us sort out some of the confusion from Mercury retrograde.

Tonight, Venus in Gemini square Uranus in Pisces can disrupt close relationships and put stress on partnerships.  Try to stay calm and be kind.

Greyfox here — How’s everyone on this fine day?

Warning/disclaimer: The following may be construed as a manifestation
of the dualistic fallacy, and inimical to those aspiring to unity
consciousness. On the other hand, it may be good for a laugh.

Seriously folks, we ARE all one; separation is an illusion. However, it
is a pervasive, seductive and sometimes useful illusion. In this
context, it may be useful in helping one grok one’s metaphysical
biases, leanings, or tendencies.

What I mean is, most of us fall into one of two camps–New Age or
Archaic Revival (to use Terence McKenna’s term). New Agers are your
channelers, dolphin-swimmers, UFO fans, and so forth. AR folks are
your pagans, your shamans (YAY!), and your white Wannabe Indians.

Back in the 80s, there was a tremendous amount of animosity between the
groups–this was known as the witch wars. As far as I know, there was
no physical violence involved, just a bunch of heavy bad vibes. In
retrospect, it now seems rather silly, although we took it quite
seriously at the time, despite the fact that there was–even then–a
lot of cross-over, notably in the use of quartz crystals.

As a shaman and card-carrying redskin, I was a booga booga; my wife,
being a professional psychic reader and Urantia Book devotee, was in the
opposite camp. Rather than kill each other (AGAIN–been there, done
that, got the karma), we sort of merged. She now uses shamanic
techniques in her readings, and I read more and more New Agey channeled
stuff–although I still find the language off-putting.

The title? Wave your hands in mystic gestures, wiggle your fingers and
intone “woo, woo”–that’s New Age. Make a sort of pouncing gesture,
making guttural “booga booga ” noises–that’s Archaic Revival.  Which is your preferred style?

Don’t.

Just don’t.

Fear not.

That does not mean act without prudent caution and concern for your wellbeing.  Caution and circumspect behavior based on credible evidence of real danger is not what I mean by fear.  Paying attention to where you are and what you’re doing is as likely to have you smiling at attractive people, smelling pretty flowers, and picking up money that someone dropped, as it is to enable you to avoid stepping in front of a bus.  Fear won’t keep you from getting run over, but attention can.

Fear is not in the here and now.  It feeds off of past pain and disappointment, and pulls your consciousness out of the here and now into some dire imagined future.  Without imagination, you can’t have fear, and there are lots of things to do with an imagination that are more fun and more productive than fear is.

In dangerous circumstances, where you are most in need of focused attention and clear thinking, fear can get you hurt or killed.  But, for pity’s sake, don’t start fearing fear.  Think about that.  It’s absurd, isn’t it?  You don’t conquer fear by fearing it.  Let’s just forget about conquest, fighting, and think about transcending fear, rising above it.

How do you do it?  You do it by facing your fear, looking at whatever it is that has you running scared.  Then, you think about the alternative, the desired outcome or the acceptable status quo that whatever you’re fearing would negate or destroy.  Maintain an awareness of what is, the here and now, and move toward what you want.  The Universe will support you, and guide you to your desires.

See Greyfox’s recent post about The Law of Attraction.  The Universe does not understand “no” or “not”, so don’t bother trying to tell it what you don’t want.   Be clear in your own mind about what you want.  That is called clarity of intent.  With clarity of intent and focused attention, you can get what you desire, if you are willing to do what it takes to get it and to accept what comes along with it.

It’s worth a try, isn’t it?
 

For the potential sales involved, of course.  Students not only have money to spend right now, but getting them addicted to nicotine at an early age ensures continued sales for years or even decades, until the smokers either get wise and kick the habit, or they die, possibly from one of the ill effects of the drug.
   

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

I know what I’m thinking.
The problem is getting my idea across.
First, I need to put it into words.

That’s easy, unless it’s a new idea,
or a far out concept beyond words.
I have an adequate vocabulary.
Less than one in ten thousand uses more words than I.

My vocabulary tends to get in my way.
Sometimes, when I say precisely what I mean,
I use words unknown to the other person.
Not many want to ask and show they don’t know.

It’s my problem, not theirs.
I’m the one with the thought to convey.
They don’t care what I have to say.

Even in writing, words get in my way.
If I use a word unknown to you,
how likely are you to go look it up?

How likely are you to guess what it means,
and maybe guess wrong?
How likely are you to let it slide by,
paying no attention?

We could always use ESP.
I score high on telepathy,
especially as the sender.
How are you at receiving?

There is no little red light in your mind
to alert you to incoming messages.
You might think you’re imagining things,
or remembering something seen in a dream.

You could mistake my thought
for just a random brain fart,
if you get it at all.

I have something to say.
Will anybody get it?

It has been about a decade and a half since James Redfield wove an idyllic tale around a series of nine spiritual insights and The Celestine Prophecy became a bestseller.  The book’s popularity both confirmed and accelerated the planetary awakening it depicted.

I like the way Alan Atkisson summarized the nine insights for the August, 1994 edition of New Age Journal:

       1. Feeling restless? You’re not alone: Everybody’s starting to look for more meaning in life. Start paying closer attention to those seemingly “Chance Coincidences” – strange occurrences that feel like they were meant to happen. They are actually synchronistic events, and following them will start you on your path to spiritual truth.

       2. Observe our culture within its proper historical context. The first half of the past millennium was spent under the thumb of the church; in the second half we became preoccupied with material comfort. Now, at the end of the twentieth century, we’ve exhausted that preoccupation. We’re ready to discover life’s ultimate purpose.

       3. Start to get acquainted with the subtle energy that infuses all things. With practice, you can learn to see the aura around any living being and to project your own energy around it to give it strength.

       4. An unconscious competition for energy underlies all conflicts. By dominating or manipulating others, we get the extra energy we think we need. Sure, it feels good – but both parties are damaged in the conflict.

       5. The key to overcoming conflict in the world is the mystical experience, which is available to everyone. To nurture the mystical and build your energy, allow yourself to be filled with a sense of love.

       6. Childhood traumas block our ability to fully experience the mystical. All humans, because of their upbringing, tend toward one of four control dramas:
              * Intimidators steal energy from others by threat.
              * Interrogators steal it by judging and questioning.
              * Aloof people attract attention (and energy) to themselves by playing coy.
              * Poor me’s make us feel guilty and responsible for them.
          Become aware of the family dynamics that created your control drama and you can focus on your essential question, which is how to make of your life a higher- level synthesis of your parents’ lives.

       7. Once cleared of traumas, you can build energy through contemplation and meditation, focus on your basic life question, and start riding a steady stream of intuitions, dreams, and synchronistic coincidences, all guiding you in the direction of your own evolution and transformation.

       8. That evolution can’t be done alone, so begin to practice the new “Interpersonal Ethic” by uplifting those who cross your path. Talk to people who make spontaneous eye contact with you. Avoid co-dependent relationships. Be there for people. Call attention to other people’s control dramas. In groups, speak when the spirit (instead of the ego) moves you.

       9. Our purpose here is to evolve beyond this plane. Fewer people (a result of reproductive abstinence) and more old-growth forests will help us to sustain our energy and accelerate our evolution. Technology will do most of our work for us. As we begin to value spiritual insight more and more, we will pay those who bring it to us, and this will eventually replace the market economy and our need for paid employment. We can connect to God’s energy in such a way that we will eventually become beings of light, and walk straight into heaven.

Following publication of The Celestine Prophecy, Redfield published a tenth and eleventh insight, and has promised a twelfth.  From his website:

The current cultural popularity of this power, expressed in various terms such as the Power of Attraction and Conscious Creation, has been coming to our (Fox’s and Coyote’s, Greyfox’s and Kathy’s) attention with increasing frequency for a while now.  Recently, SuSu (Can’t tell the characters without a program around here, eh?) posted two lists of recommended reading  (#1 and #2) on these and related topics, and we intend to post more on the subject here in the near future.

  

DNA research has revealed that Genghis Khan’s genetic line comprises 8% of the males in the region of the former Mongolian Empire, across Asia from the Pacific Ocean to the Caspian Sea.  That’s about one man out of every 200 alive in the world now, and it can be assumed that the number of his female descendants comes close to that.

Couple the influence upon history of his conquests and all the cultures he either wiped out or drastically altered as he raped and pillaged his way across Asia, with the influence his many descendants have had in the intervening centuries, and he seems an excellent candidate for “most influential” in history.  Even though each little influence might be subtle, cumulatively, they could be quite mind-boggling.
   

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

XxzorroxX
past life reading by Greyfox

He was born in 18th century Japan, scion of a mercantile family.  Call him Sonji (which probably isn’t exactly Japanese, but that was my flash).  Very intelligent, he wanted to be a scholar, but was forced into the family business. He was the only son, married young (arranged) to a woman Komo (sp?).  It was a loveless union, made for political and economic advantage for both families.

He chafed in his situation–hated it, and her, in fact–and felt bad about feeling bad.  Did a wonderful “stiff upper lip” job.  Another cause of strain was the fact that they had no children, due to his low sperm count.

His life turned around when a mendicant Buddhist monk showed up at their doorstep.  Impressed with the guy’s serenity, he decided to feign a religious awakening, abandoned his wife and business and entered the nearest monastery, this being a reasonably honorable way of getting out of his situation.  His family was stunned but accepting, and coped with his absence.

He dived into religious study, and soon found some religious justification for his actions, even though mainstream Buddhist teaching emphasized holding onto family responsibilities.  Over the years, he ended up becoming the “abbot”, head monk, whatever. 

Eventually, he did such a good job of feigning holiness that it took–he transcended his guilt, anger and so on.  Finally died in his sleep at an advanced age.

His wife from that life is now a male authority figure in his life (not a relative) with whom he clashes but doesn’t know why.