The moon has been so spectacular around where I live that my daughter has noticed for the first time. My heart swelled with pride as she pointed up to it and asked ‘what that?’ so I said “thats the moon, say hello moon”. She thought about it then waved and said hello moon (getting the word right first time).

We went through our nightly routine and as we passed our upstairs widow she got all excited and pointed out of the window. Wondering if her dad had returned home I stopped and looked. She pointed up and waved, saying “Moon! Nite Nite Moon!”  and has bid the moon goodnight whenever she’s seen it (two nights at least) It will be interesting to see how she deals with the waning moon…

by Henry David Thoreau ( 1817 – 1862).

The Moon

Time wears her not; she doth his chariot guide;
Mortality below her orb is placed.
–Raleigh

The full-orbed moon with unchanged ray
Mounts up the eastern sky,
Not doomed to these short nights for aye,
But shining steadily.

She does not wane, but my fortune,
Which her rays do not bless,
My wayward path declineth soon,
But she shines not the less.

And if she faintly glimmers here,
And paled is her light,
Yet alway in her proper sphere
She’s mistress of the night.

Notes:
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/thoreau.htm
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/thoreau/

Back in July of ‘09 a moron named Alex Pareene posted a “What’s the big deal about exploring space” rant over at a tooth-grindingly annoying hipster site called Gawker. The comments are pretty entertaining. Gawker did recant (in the way that you take back things that you never really meant in the first place in order to link to your original “controversial” post in order to drive up page views). The cause for the 180 on space? Water on the moon!

You see, if you’ve been living under a dry desolate rock in the middle of an ancient space desert, you’ve missed the news that NASA slammed something into the moon to kick up a bunch of angel space dust so that they could examine the dust plumes. The result?

“The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place” (wait for it) … “no longer holds water.”

So of course, I wanted to figure out the significance of this. I was sort of under the impression that it didn’t matter if there were water on the moon because colonies on the moon would be a waste of time. You don’t really save all that much distance by launching exploration missions from the moon. It’d be tough, even if there were waterfalls there to build and supply a long-term base. So who cares if there are some ice fragments there?

Well, I asked a friend whose opinions about space and tech I respect very much. And he pointed me towards this helium-3 stuff.

This single-neutroned isotope of helium is said by some to be a solution to the world’s energy problems. Am I skeptical? Of course. Raping the moon of its mineral resources seems like a sketchy way to “solve the world’s problems.” Too many “new frontiers” have been touted as motherlodes of priceless reserves. (Actually, “priceless” is the wrong word since some weirdo in this article says that helium-3 is worth $4 billion a ton). Oh, and there’s the fact that getting energy out of helium-3 relies on nuclear fusion, rather than fission (a.k.a. Does Not Exist Yet).

Still, the Gold Rush Style, Smokey and the Bandit race is on! China says their taikonauts will be on the moon by 2017. A Russian company says they’ll have a moon base by 2015. Also, India, Japan and Germany. Place your wagers now, members of the Reform Club!

So maybe it’ll work. Maybe a vast legion of the problems of the Earth can be solved with a few payloads of magic moon dust, made extractable because there is some frozen water beneath the Mare Tranquillitatis. Or maybe people will at least get fired up about space so that NASA is well funded for once and we can avoid the extermination of the species because of asteroids. Oh, and also, comets approach faster than 70 km per second. A relatively small object of just one and a half km in diameter hitting the Earth would release more energy than all the atomic bombs ever detonated.

Or maybe people will finally, once and for all, blow up the moon.

My article on the Moon and its relation to the Nodes (The Hungry Moon: the Nodes Part One) prompted some questions about dispositors. There was confusion about the way they operate and how they are different from aspects to planets, and rulers of houses. Part of the problem is in the language; we tend to forget and call the dispositors of a planet the ‘ruler’ of that planet, which is just sloppy terminology, and one I’ve often been guilty of. A dispositor doesn’t rule. A dispositor receives.

First of all, let me say that the first thing anyone needs in learning astrology is a thorough understanding of the houses, on all their levels of manifestation. I’ve said this before and I will keep on saying it. This is particularly important in understanding the relationship between planets and their dispositors.

Aspects to a planet describe the kind and type of activities that will cause that planet to develop. If our ultimate goal is to better ourselves, to raise our consciousness to a higher form of expression, then the aspects will show us how to do that. (The lights behave differently in aspect from the planets, but we will get to that another day.) They put pressure on the planet to evolve. The aspects are continually ‘teaching’ the planet, whether drumming in lessons or offering information. The types of aspect will show the ease or difficulty in processing the new expression. Our inclination (via the Moon) is to cling to the old, the familiar. Our aspects push us, gently or forcefully, to new and often uncomfortable places. This is how we learn, how we change.

So how does the dispositor of a planet or light fit in?

All of this activity, all of this new energy, has to have a focus, a pulling point. If the aspects are ’squeezing’ the planet, the energy of that developing planet has to go somewhere. It has to spill out, play out someplace. This is where the dispositor of a planet kicks in. The dispositor of a planet will receive that planet’s newly forming energy and test it out, use it within the house it finds itself in. The planet has an indirect, but important, influence on the dispositor’s house.

Say you have the Moon conjunct Uranus in Leo in the 11th house. The Moon/Uranus conjunction will cause incidents of enforced change and sudden removal that will alter the Moon’s comfort zones, both mentally and physically. Moon/Uranus has to learn to get comfortable with change. The dispositor of both of these planets will be the Sun. If the Sun is in the seventh house, the change that the Moon has had to endure and learn from will directly affect the 7th house Sun–a change in the way we relate to others on a one to one basis and the experiences that the Sun creates in that house. The 11th house conjunction will describe the general area of the changes the Moon will experience (changes of friends, isolation from groups or societies, being alienated from group creativity) but the dispositor will reflect the results of those changes. As a result of the 11th house experiences, there is an effect in the 7th. (This gets interesting when there are two different dispositors for an out of sign conjunction. If these dispositors are in aspect, you have a key to the nature of the conjunction and the relative ease or difficulty with which it will manifest itself. It becomes highlighted. Note the Moon/Mars conjunction in Tony Perkins’ chart, in which Mars is dominant in it’s own sign and inconjunct a prominent Neptune, which disposits the Moon and the North Node; possibly the most important single aspect in the chart, indicating a major life theme.)

When considering dispositors, it’s best to first focus on each planet separately, all of the aspects to that planet, and ask how that planet is developing; the dispositor will show you were the developing energy of the planet will spill. If a number of planets have the same dispositor, or the dispositors of a number of planets fall into one house, the emphasis should be noted. It will give more information to the meanings of the planets in those houses.

This isn’t to be confused with house rulership. House rulers are like the landlords –it doesn’t matter where they are in the chart, they still own the house. Anything that effects them will have an echo in the house that they rule. This is particularly true with transits and progressions. The immediate impact is in the house the planet finds itself in, but the secondary influence will effect the house it rules. If I have transiting Pluto in the 10th opposite natal Venus in the 4th, this transformative experience may effect both my home life and my career, but will also reflect strongly in whatever houses Venus and Pluto rule. If we understand this, transiting and progressed aspects will start to make sense, and feel less random. Likewise, if we understand dispositors, we will know better what changes are required of us.

We finally got to try out my sister’s telescope tonight cos my dad brought back the tripod. After much twisting and adjusting and tiring exercise, we finally managed to get a real clear view of the moon! ((((: And I even managed to take a photo of it! Okay so it’s not even a full moon, the picture ain’t all that clear or beautiful. BUT STILL. SO EGGS SIGHTING YOU KNOW.

Here is ze picture!

Not bad for a cheapppp telescope eh?

The moon moves so fast though. x.x We had to readjust several times because the telescope was no longer pointing at it.

GREAT FUN. I WANNA LOOK AT JUPITER ND HER MOONS.

Who has NOT heard about The Great Wall of China? No one, I guess. Even young children are already fascinated by one of mankind’s greatest achievements. Visit the wall and you’ll never be the same!

The world’s longest human-made structure measures 6,400 km or 4,000 miles, or that’s what is believed. Due to the rough terrain it is not entirely clear how long it is, but the aforementioned number comes close.

It is often said the Great Wall of China is so big it can even be seen from the moon.

However, this is an urban legend, dating back from times mankind still had to visit the moon.
No astronaut who actually went to the moon said he had seen the wall. This is easy to understand when you know it is only 10 meters or 30 feet wide (at maximum) and has about the same color as its surroundings.

Another myth says the Great Wall of China surrounds China.

Not true: it lies in the northeast of the country. It was built between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire. The current borders of the country are much further north and further west.

The oldest parts are made of earth, stones and wood. Later also bricks, tiles and lime were used. Watchtowers were built for storing weapons.

Several sections close to Beijing were renovated and now attract millions of tourists each year. Other parts, in more remote areas, are often in a rather poor condition or have been destroyed to make space for a new construction.

Visiting the Great Wall of China is an unforgettable experience. It’s the highlight of many trips to Asia. However, be aware the wall is often very steep. Elderly people may have trouble keeping their balance and many never walk further than a few kilometers. Stairs are uneven, the surface is rough and the wall is sometimes only a few meters wide – which can be a problem if there are many people walking by.

And still, it’s something you should not miss!

The most popular place to enter this megastructure is Badaling, 80 km northwest of Beijing. There’s a new expressway connecting Badaling with the capital. Here most tour groups come. No wonder it’s very busy. The portion was constructed during the Ming Dynasty.

If you prefer a quieter section, I recommend Mutianyu, 70 km northeast of Beijing. It is also well-preserved, surrounded by forests and rivers and includes no less than 22 watchtowers. At Mutianyu the wall is 7 to 8 meters high and 4 to 5 meters wide.

No matter if you find it too touristy or not, you haven’t seen China if you haven’t been to the wall.

Most people visit the Great Wall during their stay in Beijing. For the best deals on hotels in Beijing, check out http://www.hotelscombined.com/City/Beijing.htm?a_aid=4d780272

As I mentioned in Friday’s blog, I had an action-packed weekend planned, including the Neko Case concert at the Moon on Friday and the FSU vs. Maryland football game on Saturday. Neko was awesome. She is gorgeous and has an amazing voice. I loved seeing her with all of my friends. What a great way to kick off a fantastic weekend.

And the game wasn’t too bad either. I mean, the Seminoles didn’t look so great, but the weather was fine, the seats were good, and the company was perfect. We were right in front of the Maryland cheerleaders, so we had a lot of crotch shots, too (more game photos will be posted on flickr soon). Nice. Yes, we stayed until the end, so we got to see the dopey ’Noles come back to win, unlike all those loser “fans” who took off with more than 3 minutes left in the game. It ain’t over till it’s over!

Go! Fight! Spread ’em!

And in one of those “it’s a small world” moments, there was a cute college girl and her dad sitting behind us at the game (the girl and I had the same purse!) that we continued to run into for the rest of the weekend. We saw them at breakfast on Sunday, then at roller derby practice on Sunday evening. Weird. The dad remembered me as the girl with the nice camera. That made me happy. (I love my camera.)

So, while I was sitting in Doak Campbell Stadium, enjoying an early (noon games, ugh) afternoon of football, I received an e-mail from an art professor needing a model for Monday’s class. Here I thought I was done for the semester — and that all of Tallahassee was watching the game. I waited until after the game to reply (priorities!), and told her that I’d be happy to do it. She said that I would be “posing with other models in costume.” Excellent. Not sure what she meant by costumes, but I don’t mind posing with other models if we’re all clothed. Since it is Thanksgiving week, I imagined some Pilgrim and Indian — er, First American — pose, which kind of worried me since we all know that first feast didn’t really involve a centerpiece of pinecone turkeys with handprint feathers and the Packers vs. Lions game on TV. Nope. Not so much.

I now know that “posing with other models in costume” means posing in my street clothes with two hot boys. Seriously. She never said “you’ll model in your clothes, so wear what you wish,” she said “costume.” What is that? I mean, not that it really matters, but I was all psyched for costumes. Instead, I wore my favorite green boyfriend sweater over a soft pink T-shirt, black corduroy pants, and my black motorcycle boots. Super comfy and the black pants make me look really tall. Love that. And then I saw that I was the only girl posing with two very hot Latin men from Boca. LOVE that.

The two boys were friends from middle-school, so they were very happy to not be naked in front of each other. I, of course, was already picturing them naked. We briefly talked about our modeling experiences before we were posed, so we kind of got a rapport going. I loved how we all had a lot of hair and were wearing boots. We looked like we would be hanging out together, so I imagined some good work coming from the students. (Not so much. One drawing was of the outline of my bra through my shirt. Jeebus.)

The first pose had us sitting around a table. Pretty easy. Only a 30-minute pose. But we were on stools, and those damn stools are tough on the ass and legs. I liked how I wasn’t the first to twitch. The Puerto Rican model complained about his leg falling asleep (except in my dirty mind I thought he said his ball sack was asleep). I called him a whiny bitch. We laughed. Good times.

By the time we were in our second pose — two of us on an ugly wicker love seat, me with a leg slung over the PR’s lap, the tall boy in a chair in front of me — we felt comfortable enough around one another for the PR to start telling stories about his opium-smoking roommate, the time he took eight hits of acid, how he gets violent when he drinks, how he likes to watch mushrooms grow, and the time his friend had anal sex with someone he picked up on Craigslist. Really? Dude, you don’t even know me. Why are you telling me all this?

At this point I asked, “How old are you two?” Twenty-fucking-one. I was not ready to tell them that I was graduating from high-school about the same time they were putting their tiny fists in their first birthday cake. They are so cute and so young. After class, I had to walk my time sheet over to the Fine Arts Building, and the PR had to do the same, so we walked together. “So, you never said how old you were,” he nudged. “I’m guessing you’re over 21, but not by much.” Cute and smart. Got to love that. I told him that I am going to be 39 next week and he said that I was a terrible liar. Love that.

And you know what the best thing is about those hot college boys? I get older and they stay the same age.

Those 2 days were glorious.  We had left Charleston South Carolina for Beaufort North Carolina and had to veer way out to sea to clear the dangerous Frying Pan shoals, where many a ship had met its maker dashed on these hidden but notorious shallows.  There was something out here somewhere to mark where we could slide by without fear of meeting a similar fate but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking for.  I was imagining a floating buoy like an enormous bell, chiming and clanging with the roll of the sea.

My younger sister had joined me in St. Augustine Florida for this cruise up the coast.  Though a novice she was enthusiastic and willing.  I didn’t make it easy on her like I would have for a boyfriend.  I was a stern but patient taskmaster- chillin in the dinghies stern while she fought the rushing current with her haltingly uneven strokes.  Somehow, with great effort, she got us past the mirth of onlookers and into the breakwater of the crowded Charleston Harbor.  How wonderful to have help.  We took turns making food, basking in the sun, reading and writing. Azurlite sat steady in her place on top of the world, as it rotated beneath us- the clouds parading overhead and the texture of the sea, like emotions, flowing by in infinitely creative patterns. Time didn’t exist in this magical water world, just a string of moments, like pearls, each one of them now.

Monica took beautifully to the tasks at hand but because she didn’t have her glasses she couldn’t be fully trusted to keep a night watch.  We compromised by me curling up in the hard and narrow cockpit with a blanket over my head, trying to grab fistfuls of sleep between my occasional periscope sweeps of the horizon. But we were on high alert for this shoal marker and so when she suddenly shook me I shot up and brought my eyes into focus.  Holy shit!  I cried, jumping up, grabbing the wheel and turning hard to starboard, narrowly missing the iridescent red glow of a channel marker- or so it seemed.   Once we were out of harms way we both squinted into the darkness at the luminous rouge thing that loomed so frightenly close.  It took us a while but we finally figured out what it was that we had almost run dead into.  It was the rising moon.

Everything is possible at sea. The kaleidoscope of distractions that keep us convinced of the illusion of our physical reality doesn’t exist.  There is only the infinite sky and ocean and the horizon like the god dance of yin yang manifest.  There is nothing separating you from the divine.  I remember the empowerment I felt while invoking a protective circle with amethyst crystals around my boat in the middle of a whip cracking electrical storm, ask and you shall be given.

On the sea and on the move also, it’s so much easier to stay in the flow.  The sense of wonder and excitement that each new day brings is harder to maintain in the work a day life, but while one is traveling each new moment keeps you awake. It’s like those little beings in the beginning of Richard Bach book Illusion, who live clinging to a river rock.  While battling to keep their tenuous hold on the slick stone floating debris is constantly battering them and life is an eternal struggle. But as soon as they get over their fear and just let go, whoosh, the river sweeps them up and they glide effortlessly over all obstacles, the debris harmless in the shared current.

I would say I’ve been in that swift current most of my life but my years spent in Hatteras with my ex siphoned me out into a way ward eddy.  I escaped here to Colorado but in the first year I was fired from 3 consecutive jobs.  The universe was trying to tell me something so I stopped the mad search on Craig’s list, didn’t show for the second interview at a restaurant and trained myself to ignore the voice of fear that nagged, so that I could hear what it was trying to say.  Then Marilyn showed up at the last of my doomed jobs needing assistance.  She told me something was wrong with her car, that she was leaving the next day and needed it- which prompted me to ask where she was going.  She was on her way to a 10-day silent meditation course called Vipassana.  A course I had sat 2 and half times when I was still a teen in California and then again in Belgium.  It had been a profound and deeply altering experience on the precipice of my adult life and here it was again.  After sitting for 10 intense days of energetic surgery a year ago in November, I feel like my life opened like a blossom and I was flung back into the fast paced flow to which I’m accustomed.  My car had died and being winter I didn’t know how I’d deal with finding work when a nearby building job for an encouraging and super friendly guy fell into my lap.  I finished that and again was adamant about ignoring the worry voice and trying to just trust. My mom and I ate lunch at the Walnut café and I watched a flirty exchange with a cute waitress and a table full of playful guys.  I thought- I could work here.  That night I was inspired to check Craig’s list and there it was, in my lap.

Saturday was my last day after 10 months.  Though I thought waitressing was the last thing I wanted to do- this job has ended up being such a blessing.  The girls are so their own inappropriate, silly, out of the closet selves that the ground has been fertile for me to grow into my expanding wholeness.  The social time and the abundance of money has been great and I have been absolutely soaked with appreciation.  My going away party was like splashing in a burbling bath of love from all of the worldly friends (and family) that I have collected during my short time here.  What a blast!

And now here I am, a week away.   I love Colorado and though I am a little sad to leave all of my desires have picked up such momentum; my book, my travels, and my big plans.  I have been in the flow but the channel is narrowing up ahead, it’s all whitewater running at thrilling speeds.  I’m about to dive in.  This time I’m gonna shoot for that big red moon, to quote Brian Littrell, “and even if I miss I’m amongst the stars.”

Here there be water: the hills and shadows within Cabeus Crater

Taken by the LROC camera on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, this image shows a detailed look at the mountains within Cabeus Crater – the region where the LCROSS’ Centaur stage rocket impacted to send up a plume of water-rich lunar soil.

Many of the shadows seen here are permanent fixtures. The Moon’s orbit and rotation prevent sunlight from ever illuminating their blackness, and thus they are the coldest known places in our solar system. With temperatures dropping close to 400º F below zero, they harbor frozen water ice and many other elements collected by the Moon via impacts since the time of its creation, over 4 billion years ago.

Unlike mountains on Earth, formed over many years by volcanic activity or over millennia by plate tectonics, most lunar mountains were formed suddenly by the explosive power of impacts by meteorites and comets.

The view shown here is about 9.3 miles wide at the foreground. The entire zoomable panorama can be seen at the Arizona State University’s LROC site here.

Read the LRO image release here.

Image: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

I once went to Spain on holiday. It’s not a particularly wacky story, but it’s true. I went swimming and stuff. Ate some ice creams etc. It was lovely actually, thanks for asking.

Erm. Some sausage rolls once went to the moon in a converted Lada? Then they had a fight with some moon-chickens dressed as teddy boys? They didn’t really, I just thought that was the kind of thing that you were expecting. Did it work? Did I meet your dizzying expectations? You’re such a slave driver, actually.

In reality, I had a lot of fun on a lilo. Nothing dodgy, just floating about and stuff. You should try it sometime.

In Pushto by Rahim Majrooh

Translation by Syed Aadil Omer

I’ve always thought,
If nothing else,
but at least in the matter of love
all the comely people in the world
wouldn’t have any sense of deprivation.
They would be thorougly self-sufficient
with abundance of love for them; they would
be happy in possession of this treasure
without any complain or displeasure,

for they are adored by all;
they rule over the hearts of the people.
They are eagerly awaited wherever they go
as people hold them in high affection;
they are treated with special care.
Every set of eyes admire their beauty.
People even spend their entire
lives to fulfill their wishes.
All the admiration, the veneration
is reserved for them.
They are considered the weakness
of every human being;
their chin-moles have been deemed
wealtheir than Samarqand and Bukhara.
Even kings behave like courtiers
at their doors-steps;
They are dedicated books,
and building are built on their names.
They are the fairies
of the imagination of poets;
they are the princesses
of the dreams of painters.
To meet even a single of their wishes
some are ready to stake
their lives while others could forsake
their entire surroundings and faiths.

Hence I think,
in the matter of love,
all the beauteous in the world
wouldn’t have any sense of deprivation;
they would be self-content in love,
but nay, it isn’t the case!

One can’t fathom the depth of a sea
standing afar on the shore.
The elegance, no matter how charming therewith
they might seem,
like the proud fairies of Koh e Qaaf,
or how reckless or ruthless they might look ,
they also breathe in the very world which we inhabit.
And this world is all but the name
of a trial; of desires, of the dreams unfulfilled.

So, the handsomes too carry in their hearts
a number of wastelands like that of a moon.
They too pass through the phases
of several heartbreaks, like that of a flowerbud
before smiling into a full bloom.
They too melt in the flames of their own selves
like that of a candle.
They could be in likeness to a parched shore
that breaks into cracks in waiting
of the arrival of favourable tides;
and like a phoenix
they burn in to ashes.

Please read the article “The Nodes: An Introduction” before this piece.

In a number of articles in this space, we have been taken through what the Moon represents in our charts (See The Mystery of Solar Fire (part two), The Marriage of Sun and Moon , and the articles on the way the Moon and Saturn partner in synastry). The Moon is the symbol of our consciousness, the repository of all of our experience and the emotional, psychological and spiritual resonance of that experience. The Moon is an echo of where we have been, what we are familiar with, the sum of our being, the totality of our incarnation.

But there is a mistaken notion that the Moon is complete, an absolute. We are what we are. But in reality, the are that we are is evolving minute by minute. The Sun creates and consolidates experience, and the Moon processes that experience as we go on living day by day.

I always thought it was a bit of a mystery, the way the Moon indicates our needs. If the Moon is what we are/have been, why would it hunger? What does the Moon want? A state of neediness, by definition, indicates that we are incomplete.

The Moon represents our material existence. Once born, we are separate beings. Our consciousness appears to be separated from everything around it. The act of being born into material existence appears to sever our connection with the All. The Moon is hungry for its spiritual wholeness, its spiritual completion, which it will seek in this incarnation via the path of the Sun. The Nodes signify our journey towards completion, our one important step forward in this life.

We can’t begin to analyze the Nodes without first looking at the positioning of the Moon and the Sun. The Moon is our summing of what we are, the Sun indicates how we will move forward, and the Nodes tell us the road we must follow. The phasal stage of the Sun and Moon needs to be noted here, as well as sign and house placement. A first quarter Moon will react differently to the Nodal urging than a third quarter Moon, who has been around the block a bit and already knows the landscape. A full Moon may have more of a tug between Nodes, and may have particular difficulty moving forward, as the lunar draw is contrary to the Sun’s actions. A balsamic Moon is finishing up it’s journey, and may end up with a ‘last chance’ mentality as far as the nodes are concerned, going to any lengths to make sure its path to consciousness is developed and its lessons are learned.

Any planet contacting the Moon natally will colour the Nodal experience, particularly conjunctions, which will make their presence felt. They will give us an indication of what type of energy and experience has influenced spiritual development in the past and will influence it in this lifetime. The outer planets can be a particularly strong influence, but any planet can show us the theme of the developing awareness. Uranus/Moon will cause radical change and sudden loss leading us to higher Mind. With Jupiter/Moon, the Nodes will be prompted by the Moon’s inbuilt tendency to go beyond boundaries. Mars/Moon’s awareness may be stimulated by sexual issues, or by experiences regarding desire. The planet will play an important role in Nodal development, and the house it rules can define the types of crises that will nudge the Moon forward in its understanding. Anything that affects the planet will also affect the Moon. Transits or progressions of that planet will raise the awareness of that planet’s role in developing the Nodal themes.

The dispositor of the Moon, in particular, gives us a notion of where the developing lunar consciousness can best be put to its purpose. This is where we need to use what we learn. The house the Moon’s dispositor resides in plays an important role. It defines an area where we can directly focus our development. A Moon in Pisces with Neptune in the 7th house will develop its Nodal wisdom in its relation to others, whereas one with Neptune in the 5th will have the impetus to examine its methods of self-expression. The dispositor and its house best describes the arena where the Nodal gifts and lacks will be challenged, and are the indicators of the way the lunar energy processes its new experiences. For example, I may have the North Node in Sag in the third house and the South Node in Gemini in the 9th. The challenge is to learn to communicate my own truth from direct experience, and not be unduly swayed by others’ beliefs or opinions. My Pisces Moon is already inclined to take on the feelings of others, making the movement to the North Node a bit more difficult. If my Neptune is in the 7th house, this challenge is best met by learning to speak my truth to those I am closely involved with. If Neptune is in the 5th, I will have to find a creative means of self-expression as an outlet, and may find that following my own truth in an artistic sense is a difficult thing.

We will get into illustrations and examples further along in the series. The most important thing to remember now is that in order to get a full understanding of where someone is going in this life and what they need to take away from it, the Nodes cannot really be understood without that symbol of consciousness itself, the Moon, and any and all things that affect it. I like to think of the Moon as the soul of the chart, with the Nodes as its arms reaching out to embrace, experience, and understand life, in all its horror and its glory.

So things end up like this.

Although God was keep telling me, “it will be OK, I will take care of it” I was not sure. My heart was greatly troubled. I tried so hard just to keep the heaviness in me..but I couldn’t take it. I had to get out of my lab, go to someone and ask for a prayer… I was like Thomas who couldn’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection until he saw Jesus standing right in front of him.

It was around 5:30 am when I woke up the second or third time. I just felt like to get out of my bed and check my computer. I saw my assignment undone, all my friends at away status.. my room was super messy, too. I could sense my troubled heart from everywhere in my room. Sigh. Things happens.

But I saw His grace.

I checked my bank account and the things were a lot nicer than before. The money came earlier than I expect, so I can finally argue with the bank and dispute the overdraft fees.. and back to..the way how it was supposed to be.

Praise God.

Well, it was not like I got money from out of nowhere. It was gonna happen that way I assume. However, I still give praise God for the timing. It was right after the day when I desperately prayed to God. It feels like God couldn’t let me stay broken even one more day. Whatever His intention was, God loves me. That’s what I felt, and that’s what it is.

Fully Rely On God’s Strength (F.R.O.G.S)

What a cheesy tag line! Especially when I hate frogs!! However… I think I experienced something like that today. If it was just me… my heart would fail to stay calm. But I had someone to rely on. I just..got so much help. God takes all the glory.

I am weak. I know I am not a great hero like figure. I am still childlike; full of jealousy, greed, and small heart. However, I am a person who is going to be like the Moon. I am going to be great. But all the light shining through me.. is not my own, but God’s. If I am the moon, then God is my sun. His light shines upon me, and I just simply reflect it. That’s how I am going to be glorious like the moon in the night sky. Even the moon started from a single particle of dust. Although I may look like a dust in the air to others… I shall become something that worthy of reflecting God’s light that shines up the night.

I need something more than words. Day by day, I need to be stronger. I really need to be changed with action. I am glad that….I am facing these hardships.. so that I can prove my faith and growth. It is like a taking quizzes. Although taking quizzes are painful, you can see the grade changing, and see the actual performance visibly. My grade is going up. I know it is not like rapid change. I am still weak, and still worry about so many things. I also.. fall down as well.. However. HOWEVER!!!! no matter how things look bad… I am gonna go back to God. If I did something bad, I am gonna repent. Even if I do it again, I will repent again. I am not gonna give up. I am not giving up on myself as GOD NEVER GIVES UP ON ME.

Take away the worried and foolish thoughts. Fill me with Your spirit instead.

Alright. If you love me as much as I do, you will have noticed by now that I haven’t updated in like forever. I had a few more entries from Australia but after the whole prostitute thing I don’t really see a need for them. So… We will cut to the skies above the Pacific Ocean. As I recall the flight back from Australia was better than the flight to Australia. I had a more comfortable seat. And I got to watch Yes Man starring Jim Carrey. So. Score.

The sky does great things when you’re flying over the ocean. My camera was running out of power juice so as the view from my little porthole changed I had to quickly turn on the camera, take a picture, and turn it off again. These pictures were taken over the course of 7 hours or so.

Anyways. Then I landed in LA and happily got back to drinking heavily with stylish people in totally hip places. Yes it was chicks with long bronzed legs all the way up to their asses that aren’t afraid to show them off, and dudes with luxurious beards that seem to just go on for days and days, and gorgeously preserved hot rich women in their late 40’s that you just want to tell the salesman to gift wrap so you can take them home and put them under the tree as a present to yourself for Christmas but you could never afford a gift so lavish, not in a million years.

Yeah. That’s my life. And we will pick it up there tomorrow. I promise.

"Smokin' Gun", Photographic Print.

Mark Raynes
Celestial Peepshow

By appointment.

{:m Momentum Gallery
2014 Main Street
Kansas City, MO
816.560.1450

Hours: First Fridays, 6-10 p.m. and by appointment
Runs through: Dec. 30

Gallery site: http://khesse.chartwellkc.net/getagent/Pages.php?Page=565593

We tend to think of moonlight being cool. The way Mark Raynes depicts it, it’s positively smoldering.

Raynes’ Celestial Peepshow, on display through the end of the year at {:m Momentum Gallery in the Crossroads, casts Earth’s satellite in an entirely new … well, light.

To capture the images, Raynes pointed his camera at the moon, opened the shutter and let motion — natural and artificial — do its work. That produced an effect almost like photographing smoke.

The light curls and twists, losing any resemblance to the moon and taking on decidedly anatomical aspects: a cocked hip here, a trailing leg there, a languid arm  over there. The feeling is one of slow, calculated reveal, which is why Raynes titled the show as he did.

(The peepshow was — or is, if such things still exist — exactly what it sounds like. Viewers would insert a coin into a slot, causing a small screen to go up and reveal a woman in some stage of undress. The screen was on a timer, so that the coins had to keep coming if a viewer wanted to see more. Consequently, the longer a performer could draw out the show, the more money could be extracted.)

So, in keeping with that theme, the free portion of today’s show is over. If you want to continue with this post (and see the really interesting bits), you’ll have to put a quarter into your computer.

Oh … no coin slot? Guess  you’ll have to call {m Momentum Gallery and make an appointment to see it for yourse-

Okay, hands up—how many of you missed the Venus/Neptune square in Tony Perkins’ chart? I was waiting to see if anyone would comment on it, as it was relevant to the discussion. None of the astrology enthusiasts I spoke to privately about the chart picked it up. Neptune, the North Node ruler and dispositor of the Moon, square Venus in the last degree of sensual Taurus. Certainly something that had to be sorted in this life. Addictions, delusions, deceptions and self-deceptions. A striving for the unattainable, for impossible perfection (more emphasized with Neptune in Virgo). Venus at it’s most earthbound struggling towards the highest form of its expression. A challenge to accept things as they are, to love things as they are. To love yourself as you are. A major theme both for Perkins and Norman.

So why didn’t anyone notice? Because the square was out of sign. Hiding.

They’re tricky, these out of sign aspects. They can deceive us. They deceive us in viewing a chart, and they can deceive the person with the out of sign aspect.

With the basic ptolemaic aspects, there is usually some key to interpretation. Conjunctions are born companions, trines share elements; squares share modality; sextiles are linked by compatible elements. (Only the quincunx is left in the dust, always the astrological odd man out. A quincunx is better understood as a yod with one half missing, but we’ll come to that another day.) By assessing the ‘pattern’ behind the aspect, we can make some sense of the way it’s going to perform in the chart. Our eyes are trained to spot the aspects this way, via sign orientation. Out of sign aspects often slip by undetected (Experienced astrologers are usually the most guilty of not looking at grids, as if grids were for amateurs–all of you who want to be astrologers, use your grids.) and even if they are detected, they can throw us off course, because the ‘typical’ pattern of that aspect is broken.

What happens with a conjunction that straddles signs? A sextile or trine with incompatible elements? Or, perhaps worst of all, a hard aspect whose elements agree?

Basically, with out of sign aspects, planets that should work together, don’t do it so well, and planets that should be in conflict wear a false mask of agreement. The Mars/Moon conjunction in the Perkins chart is an extreme example. Signs that are placed next to one another don’t have a lot in common. In fact, they don’t have much to do with one another at all. An Aries Mars conjunct a Pisces Moon is a very different thing from a Pisces Moon/Pisces Mars conjunction or Aries/Aries. A Moon/Mars conjunction within a sign gives direct access to and expression of the inner being. It might be touchy, but it has an easy time expressing needs and motivations. The Pisces conjunction will behave very differently from the Aries conjunction, but in general there is an ease of expression and purpose. When the Moon and Mars are in conflict within the conjunction, the needs of the Pisces Moon have a harder time getting satisfied, because the Aries Mars is too busy running off and satisfying its immediate (Aries) impulses, which gradually lose their connection to the more gentle needs of the watery Moon. The conjunction becomes fragmented; action splits from the developing consciousness–one side is unaware of what the other side is doing. And yet, the Moon and Mars are irrevocably tied. Mars begins to irritate the Moon, which may not be able to bear all this Martian stimulation. It becomes prickly, hypersensitive, wary, sensitive to any slight, and ultimately, insecure. In the conflict between the sensitive Moon and the aggressive Mars, Mars ‘wins’ –in the beginning, at least. Eventually, time and experience will resolve the difference between the two (well, most of the time) and they will find a way to work together. Mars will be able to use it’s energies to spur the Moon in its development, and the Moon will aid Mars’ quest with emotional substance and inspired direction. But their initial reaction is to wrangle. It may take years, particularly with the intensity and unreliability of the conjunction, before they can find a method that suits them.

This happens in synastry, as well. There is a tension to the out of sign aspect between charts, usually unspoken. It feels as if things are working on the surface and communication between the two planets is happening, but then it can suddenly all go wrong, and misunderstandings occur. Imagine a sextile between Venus in late Leo and Mars in early Scorpio. Normally, sextiles gently stimulate and rub along quite nicely. They have a lot to talk about. They have an easy time setting things in motion. But with the Mars in Scorpio, we now have a sextile between fixed signs. Contacts between fixed signs are notorious in synastry. The key to a sextile is movement. In this case, the energy exchange between the two planets would be increased by the sextile, but the fixed sign expression would add to the heat and the tension of Venus/Mars. Depending on other aspects, the sextile might facilitate flare-ups and misunderstandings, which usually never happens within a sextile’s normal energy flow. The fixity creates frustration and steam, which might be used in either a positive or a negative fashion.

It gets even more complicated when hard aspects are in complementary signs. Again, looking at the Perkins chart, we see the Taurus Venus in conflict with the earth Neptune. An initial reaction might be, well, this eases the conflict, doesn’t it? Not particularly. A square is a square. The outward ‘agreement’ can work in a number of ways, but often what happens is that the issues rising in the square go unnoticed. Rather than resulting in immediate problems which must be resolved, the person is allowed to live with the square, getting away with things that shouldn’t be gotten away with. The square can go underground. Rather than direct conflict, the two signs in agreement support behaviours that would have been intolerable to another sign. Perkins lived his life without being called on what were clearly addictions–perhaps most of all to a lethal perfectionism. The Earth signs facilitated an agreement between Venus and Neptune, throwing a veil over its conflicts and avoiding the usual boat-rocking that causes us to take action. The Earth element added to the entrenchment of the difficulties. Earth is very good at sticking its head in the sand.

The one thing to keep in mind is that out of sign aspects are not ‘wrong’ or weak. If anything, the conflicts they represent are more influential. The universe has intended them, and they’re part of a person’s make-up. I think, as astrologers, we often see things that don’t fit and try to ignore them. If an aspect is out of sign, we might spend our time focusing on the aspect but not on how the out of kilter sign placement influences its expression. It’s worth spending a little more time on these trickster aspects and studying how they manifest. Next time, they won’t fool us so easily.

IS.

AMAZING.

Isn’t he though? His music as a whole, is some of the most warmest and beautifully crafted stuff ya’ll ever hear. I like the way that he could record his songs with just him and a guitar, YET he doesn’t. With a combination of bright tape-to-tape recording, and layered instrumentation, he creates a whole different feel and tone to his music. One of the songs I’m gonna post, “The Moon”, is one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s just the matching of the lyrics and music for me. The acoustic version is pretty great as well, i like how he has the ability to make his songs sound completely different with just a guitar (The “Everlong” Effect). Yet STILL be the same song.

BRILL.

Also, he has 2 projects to his name. He use to play drums for Old Time Relijun, check them out as well.

The Microphones

&

Mount Eerie

The Moon – The Microphones

Woolly Mammoth’s Mighty Absence – Mount Eerie