posted April 29, 2004 03:29 PM              

What is the difference between basic and advanced astrology. I mean I know about knowing the foundation of astro but when is it advanced? When you can progress a chart, do horary, or whatever?

And then what is after advanced? Are you a professional?

posted April 29, 2004 03:45 PM              

Yes, basically the tracking and interpretation of transits and progressions and stuff is "advanced". You don't really have any place going too far into those magickal forests unless and until you have mastered an wholistic and interrelated understanding of the planets, signs, and houses, the triplicities, quadriplicities (elements) and how they blend, aspects (conjunction v. opposition v. square, trine, sextile, etc) and the symbols; meaning you can blend them all together in your head at will, understand the different combinations and overlays of any or all of those filters.

So take it easy, don't hurt yourself, you have years to get it all down Also, join fun groups like NCGR, they prolly have a local chapter in your nearest city, and visit Kepler College's website, offer to help a student there on some research project, get in the mix and involved more than just here Have a nice weekend and welcome!

posted April 29, 2004 04:17 PM              

BASIC
The 4 elements
The 3 modes
The characteristics associated with the 12 signs

INTERMEDIATE
The characteristics and signs associated with each planet
The areas of life and the signs associated with each of the 12 houses
The angular houses and their significance
The major aspects, and the type of energy associated with each one
Progressed charts
Synastry & Composite Charts

ADVANCED
Major chart influences such as:
House rulers
Stelliums
Singletons
Repeated themes
Chart types (bucket, locomotive, splay, etc),
Configurations (t-squares, grand trines, kite formation, etc)
Midpoints
Predictive astrology
(actually this catagory could go on for a very long time...lets just say everything else ;-)

That's how I see them. At what point could one call themselves a "professional"? I guess as soon as you make some money with it, perhaps. There are actually 2 organizations in existance that will award certification to astrology students, but I'm not sure what that means, whethor you can officially be considered a professional astrologer, or whethor it just means they deem you as knowledgeable enough to be competent. It's such a gray area because Astrology is not recognized as an official vein of science or acadamia.

My onion

posted April 29, 2004 05:33 PM              

After reading what both of you wrote, Maybe I'm not 50 years behind everyone. I think that if I take what Lioneye wrote and do what Carlo says, maybe I might do okay on this stuff.

Both of you did help to clarify for me what a good astrologer should know, by heart. And what to strive for. When I had quit studies I was just getting into progressions pretty good. I quit because my instructor was more interested in personal relationship synastry, which I thought was a little boring. I wanted to learn financial synastry and predictions, of which he didn't think much of. He was a Gemini. I'm a Pisces. I can do synastry pretty good though. He gave me six long months of it. UGH. Bless his heart, he put with me for a year.

I live in a rural area, no clubs, no groups, just a lot of trees. Even the next largest city has only a couple of astrologers. People here say, now this is phonetic spelling: Huh, you do that oh-kult stuff? I don't think God is going to like that. (;I was born here so I can do this

Are either of you certified? If you are do you feel it has benefited you?

posted April 29, 2004 05:46 PM              

http://lovestarz.com/zzservices.html

Write to me personally if you are interested. All are tailor made to the particular person and what she is looking for (95% of my clients are girls).

For example, I did a fun reading for a Pisces girl last year, I made a web page for her, which I add for an extra few dollars, and it stays up forever. She said it was okay to show people:

http://www.lovestarz.com/rlove.html

How many astrologers will do that for ya?

posted April 29, 2004 06:21 PM              

I'm impressed. I'm waiting on my second Saturn return so no babies, please no babies. How did you get started? By choice or accident? Or natural progression of growth?

Did you always feel that you could do astrology and were talented at it? That this was your calling? I feel like my interest was more curiousity than a calling.

posted May 02, 2004 12:55 PM              

http://lovestarz.com/avo

She is now on the faculty at Kepler College, and we write to each other maybe once or twice a year now. She is fabulous, I think she's authored something like 16 books. I call her the Mother of Astrological Healing, since she does much more than just astrology:

http://lovestarz.com/jansky.html

Then, I just followed my inner bell - research, study and write what I like and what I suspect will be useful to the world. With the help of fellow Knowflakes, a poetry series regarding Connecting with Your Opposite sign has sprung to life:

http://www.lovestarz.com/connect.html

I do the traditional stuff, yet I like focusing more on the art of astrology. Astrology is both an art and science, there are very few things that can be called that. I like to play with the language of astrology through poetry, like Linda, and through imagery, which Donna and I concluded, in the age of the internet, is a wonderful opportunity. On the Jansky page, have you ever seen that chart by Inez Eudora Perry? And you probably wouldn't if I hadn't taken it from a rare book, scanned it, and put it up online. So I just follow my nose, and fill a niche, and like a good Aquarian Moon, as Linda called it, "think 50 years ahead." You see, New Age Astrology is dead, I had to put it out of my misery:

http://www.lovestarz.com/goddess.html

This is the New Millenium, and Astrology is back in the hands of those who will truly care and feed it, folks like us, rather than New Agers who would just use it as another trick in their bag, one that they would dust off only when other things they can conjure up don't work. If you read the article above, I make much clearer what I mean.

Sometimes I get taken to task for being brash or a flirt or a fool, yet no matter, criticism by others means nothing to me. I know that I am contributing to the Aquarian Age mandate of Knowledge for All, and everyone has detractors, and always will. I just basically let my work speak for itself, and let the haters be damned, for amor vincit omnia!

posted May 04, 2004 12:36 PM              

Thank you so much for that. I would have posted sooner but have been in the garden. I've read two of Ms. Cunninghams books and watch for her articles when I surf.

You were very blessed to have worked with her. For one thing that always sticks in my mind, is that everyone passes from this place and you need to ask all of the questions you can while they are here. I know she works a lot with aromatherapy now. I've been watching how that evolves.

A good witch will always part with knowledge if you give a smile and have a twinkle in the eyes.

I did go back over my course listings and I'm okay. I've advanced to where I should be and I'm satified with it.

Thank you again, for telling me about your beginnings. It was inspiring.

posted May 04, 2004 03:38 PM              

I didn't get a chance to read the information in those links until now. Really great work.

It occured to me that it would be ironic if astrology could turn the tables on the scientific community and help them figure out how to be less competitive and more charitable in terms of sharing information. It's all about who gets the "credit".

But I guess that's just one of the downfalls of the field.

posted May 05, 2004 02:41 AM              

Grant Lewi...

Astrology, bar sinister in the escutcheon of astronomy, maintains a unique and lonely position in human thought. It is "believed in" by a lot of people who know practically nothing about it; and it is "disbelieved in" by even more who know absolutely nothing about it.

Of no other art or science can this be said.

Astronomy, the haughty offspring of astrology, has developed through the centuries into a science of celestial measurement. It has developed even further than the lay mind can comprehend, into a sort of metaphysics of time, space and motion which only initiates can talk about, let alone comprehend.

Astrology is making a comeback and its revival has raised a storm of controversy. The modern interest in the ancient art/science has evoked an intense denunciation, for while everyone knows his or her Sun sign and while zodiac jewelry sells in the millions, many adherents to the findings of traditional science have become concerned that the return of astrology is flooding society with worthless and even harmful superstition and irrationalism.

Astrology is not a deterministic straightjacket, nor a system of prediction which maps out an inescapable future. So predictable are some people and some situations that astrology may have at times seemed to see into the future. But this is not the case; the future remains open.

Everything else, however lofty, however universal, is dwarfed by the crusade of the individual seeking peace on Earth. History is the story of this search, as we and our ancestors have prowled up and down the Earth in war and peace - and our efforts to relate more satisfyingly to the conditions of existence. These efforts have produced religion, science, art, literature, metaphysics - in a word, what we call civilization and culture. At the center of them all stands the individual, who in all ages, on whichever deity he or she may rely, is always compelled, for the ultimate solution to perplexities, back into the mystery of Self.

As if by inescapable instinct, each individual seems to know that inside is the root and germ of all that is possible. We seek for knowledge and acquire it; we struggle for power and gain possessions; we seek a voice within the strident farce of embattled egos; we rant aloud at unfairness of circumstance or bless the gods for what we call luck. Yet beneath all this we know that the final and irreducible sum total of our happiness lies in the secret of the Self. Any means by which we may approach the mystery of self-understanding is the most important thing in the world.

Because of this, the human race is lavish in heaping honors on the head of the poet, the philosopher, the psychoanalyst - on those who are devoted to the study of humanity. They are humankind's foremost friends and servants. Whatever aids in the achievement of self-knowledge, and therefore of self-mastery and happiness, belongs in the permanent treasure trove of human possessions.

The endurance of astrology is one of our surest indexes of the value we place on ourselves and on our destiny. Its roots were planted thousands of years ago; its branches include every race that has a history. The Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Native Americans and East Indians, all had and have their astrology. The Greeks acquired it from the East, and the western world inherits it today. First carefully guarded, it was part of the Hermetic doctrine of the priests and priestesses of Isis, a rubric of government in Egypt. Today these long-occluded teachings are being made public by the likes of Ishbel and other devotees of the order. Later astrology became the luxury of kings and captains, a means of determining propitious moments for victory and of guarding against or slaying enemies.

Astrology evolved from esoteric and private uses, until today we have it for what it is: a science dealing with inner, and ultimate, causes behind human conduct. It has escaped from the airs of mystery and odors of sanctity that surrounded it when self-serving authorities used it to frighten and subjugate their flocks

There are many poor astrologers. There are some charlatans. There are some who will tell you what they believe you want to hear and who rely upon their gift for gab rather than the body of astrological knowledge. But their existence no more disproves astrology than the existence of a few quacks discredits medicine, or our experience of dishonest sales people proves the corruption of the market place. It just means you should check out astrologers in much the same way you would check out a physician, an automobile dealer or a door-to-door solicitor.

Yet astrology is eluding the grasp of charlatans who would exploit it as a mystic rite for which the uninitiated must pay a fancy price. It is rapidly wearing away the stigma attached to fortunetelling, has emerged in the humanistic, psychology-oriented 20th century, and now leads us into the 21st century as an essential cog in the machinery of humanity's understanding of itself.

Today's attempts to push astrology to the cultural fringe is largely a matter of fashion. Astrology remains a tunic in this age of suits.

Llewellyn George...

Now that the New Era is at hand – the dawning of the Aquarian Age – thousands under the general title of Advance Thought are beginning to respond actively to the influence of "the water-bearer," and because this advance guard of the Army of Truth and Peace requires insight to the mysteries of Nature in order to best promote their cause of enlightenment, we take this opportunity to present for consideration and study the highest of all sciences, astrology. Highest, because when rightly understood, it opens the way clearly to an understanding of the manifestations of Nature through human and mundane affairs.

The science of astrology is not confined to those of technical training, for much of it can be learned by persons of ordinary education. But astrology is best acquired by those who have an inborn love of mystical subjects, and who at the same time possess an active sixth sense faculty, that of intuition. A peculiar temperment like that of the metaphysically inclined, rather than extraordinary schooling, is the particular requisite of those who would become adepts in this branch of useful investigation.

Astrology is taken from the records of astral phenomena and reduced to a science by observing the effects of planetary influence, commencing with the history of man; these observations being compiled and recorded by some of the brightest intellects known, both ancient and modern. To test its reliability, its truths, and the advantages it offers, requires only earnest, unprejudiced investigation. By it the inequalities of humanity are explained and much light is shed upon the path leading to improvement of conditions for all living beings.

Astrology was the first science known to man and the present age is beginning to realize that it is the greatest, the parent of them all. With a knowledge of astrology much of the unknown becomes known, the mysterious becomes plain and new light is shed in all directions.

Anyone with ordinary ability can learn much of astrology. It is no longer a difficult study. Nothing out of the ordinary is required to become acquainted with it. With proper instruction and a reasonable amount of effort one can learn to cast a horoscope and read it so that it becomes a guide regarding changes, health, marriage, business and all important affairs of life.

There is not only pleasure but also satisfaction and profit in the knowledge which astrology gives. Even a slight investigation of the science tends to make people broader in their views and more charitable toward their fellow human beings. Astrology is a subject which becomes more and more scientific with age. As the number of earnest investigators increases so does more and more conclusive evidence of its usefulness accrue. New facts are constantly being presented for unbiased, truth-seeking minds to review, and if occasion offers, to use with advantage. Nobody can rightly claim to possess a proper understanding of astrology until they can cast and delineate the horoscope of birth, and erect and read a progressed chart.

The term "horoscope" is derived from the words, "hora," an hour, and "scope," to view: a view of the heavens for a certain hour, especially an hour measured by the Sun. Formerly the word referred only to the Ascendant, or rising degree in a chart, but now its meaning is more general and has reference to a whole figure or map of the heavens at birth time and is frequently referred to as a nativity. A horoscope is correctly drawn only when erected in accordance with the laws of Astronomy geocentrically applied, and such a chart drawn by an astrologer is practically identical, from a mathematical standpoint, with one erected from the same data in any astronomical observatory in the world, but its significance is concealed from all except those who are familiar with the precepts of astrology.

The purpose of Astrology is not to shoulder off responsibilities to a planet but, on the contrary, to learn by planetary indications as they were affecting the Earth and its atmosphere at the time of birth (i.e., the nature of vibrations inbreathed by a newly-born babe which endow the tendencies of character it will manifest) whether undesirable traits and circumstances will result from these influences, and to endeavor to develop in this nature qualities which will insure an exalted expression of life. Thus we bring about conditions and consequent events in harmony with the best testimonies contained in the native’s horoscope, and through knowledge and effort consciously applied, improve the manifestation of Nature.

In this forward movement for enlightenment astrology, as of old, maintains a place in the front ranks of progress as an agent for development. Through improved methods for making observations and more accurate systems of calculating planetary configurations, astrologers are able to give better delineations and more useful advice and information than ever before. More is known of planetary influence and human response because of the greater number of qualified investigators and finer facilities for compiling and disseminating the facts.

Sybil Leek...

I suppose the worst criticism, and the least called for, comes from a few medical scientists who use arguments that are no longer scientifically valid and are unworthy of their own status in the world of science. But scientists generally love to argue, and it is rare that a group of scientists is in complete accord, even when talking about their own field. I always wonder why some scientists are so reluctant to study astrology, yet are so ardent in refuting it. For instance, if they feel it is a superstition, long dead and buried, why bother to bring it up so frequently? If it is nonsense, then someone should examine it thoroughly and come up with a valid thesis against it. I defy any thinking person to study astrology seriously for a year and still maintain that it is not valid. Astrology is based on the laws of the universe that are the very laws of science, of action and reaction, and of cause and effect.

posted May 05, 2004 04:19 PM              

Millions of people tune into Astrology every day, and if you ask a scientist HOW it works, well... to me, the following just SAYS IT ALL:

(quoting from your page on Jansky)

"...Scientific Evidence of Astrology

THE TAKATA EXPERIMENTS.
In 1938, Dr. Maki Takata at Toho University in Japan began a biochemical study of the ovarian cycle in the human female. The presence of chemical messengers, called “hormones,” in the body had only recently been recognized, and their monumental influence on personality and physical development was not yet understood.

To carry out his program of research, Takata needed to develop a method of removing the protein albumin from the blood, because this substance interfered with his work. Takata’s method, now called the Takata reaction, consists of adding certain compounds to a blood sample, causing the albumin to flocculate or precipitate out of the liquid portion of the blood so that it can then be removed by centrifuging.

Up until this time, scientists had believed it to be an ironclad law that if a series of identical chemical reactions was performed under the same set of conditions (heat, light, purity, humidity, etc.) each reaction would proceed at the same rate in any geographical location. Takata discovered that this law did not seem to apply to his albumin flocculation reaction. At certain times it went faster, at other times slower. He set out to discover why this was so, after carefully verifying that other scientists using his test around the world were observing a similar phenomenon.

Takata assumed that his variation in rate for the precipitation of albumin in the blood did not occur in males. But in January 1938, he observed this phenomenon in the blood of males as well! Takata was determined to discover the cause of this cyclical variation in the precipitation mechanism. After examining all plausible explanations, none of which corresponded to his findings, he was driven to examine the implausible causes. It turned out that the rate of the reaction varied with the time of day, the date of the year, the eleven-year sunspot cycle, eclipses and magnetic storm’s in the Earth’s ionosphere. Heresy! Clearly, celestial influences were exerting a powerful influence upon the protein in the blood. Takata knew that proteins are the only chemical substances capable of “life” as we know it on Earth, and here he had demonstrated in his test tubes that celestial influences were affecting the chemical behavior of this protein. Could they be affecting other proteins in the body as well?

Proteins belong to a group of substances known to chemists as colloids. In 1951, at the University of Florence in Italy, Dr. Giorgio Piccardi became interested in Takata’s work and decided to repeat the Takata experiments, this time using a nonbiological colloid called oxychloral bismuth, which is prepared by dissolving trichloral bismuth in water. Heresy upon heresy – Piccardi discovered that the speed of this oxychloral bismuth reaction also varied according to celestial conditions! Unusual sunspot activity, eclipses and magnetic storms tended to interfere with and slow down the reaction, while periods of lesser cosmic activity tended to speed it up.

In 1954, Caroli and Pichotka in Germany took the work of Takata and Piccardi and demonstrated again that the rate of reaction varied with time and celestial conditions. There seemed little doubt that something out there in the heavens was definitely affecting events on the Earth. They could see it with their own eyes and time it with their stopwatches.

Piccardi also made another fascinating discovery when a boiler technician at the university complained to him that twice each year the rust in his boilers peeled off contaminated the water. And he could do nothing to control it. Piccardi theorized that the surface tension of the boiler water must have been reduced for some unexplained reason. But why? He noted that this phenomenon always occurred in September and March (to the astrologer, when the Sun is transiting through Virgo and Pisces). When the surface tension of water is reduced, it becomes “wetter.” Softening agents added to wash water reduce the surface tension, thus increasing the water’s ability to dissolve dirt. In Piccardi’s case, the softened water even dissolved the rust.

Schwenk’s experiments seem to support the idea of moving rapidly under favorable cosmic influences and more slowly when influences are adverse, for by remaining relatively quiet we are far less suspectible to outside influences. That, of course, is purpose of bed rest an illness.

BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS. At Northwestern University Dr. Frank Brown has done some fascinating work on mechanism that seems to be built into all living things, which Brown calls biological clocks. This refers to the ability of living organism to sense changes in the Earth’s magnetic field, which is only one ten-millionth as strong as the emanations given off in the immediate area of home electrical appliances. These changes in the Earth’s magnetic field follow a predictable schedule related to the positions of the Sun, Moon planets. For example, Brown discovered that oysters kept their cycle of opening and closing according to the Moon-timed tidal phase of their original home even when transported a thousand miles inland.

This biological clock mechanism can easily be tested in your own home. In the Fall, place some flower bulbs in darkest part of the cellar, away from all light, and leave them there until the following Spring. Check them periodically, and you will find that they do not sprout during the Winter months. But when their normal growing time arrives in Spring, they sprout even in storage.

When bulbs are stored, the tissues do not die, they “breathe.” Dr. Brown carefully measured the rate of respiration (utilation of oxygen) by bulbs in the stored condition. His experiments showed that as Spring approaches, the rate of respiration increases; they require and use more oxygen. The only possible signal these bulbs could receive is from the magnetic-cosmic field surrounding the Earth.

If you wish to learn more about biological clocks, read The Living Clocks, by Ritchie R. Ward, published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York. It contains a very fascinating account of this research.

RADIO TRANSMISSION Perhaps some of the strongest supporting evidence for astrology, especially the effect of aspects, has come from another non-astrologer, John H. Nelson of RCA. In the earlier days of long-distance (short-wave) radio, it was observed that ionospheric conditions had a marked effect upon the quality of short-wave broadcasting. It was important to RCA to be able to predict in advance when transmitting conditions would be adverse so that arrangements could be made to bypass the interference.

They awarded grants totaling several million dollars to some astronomers, who spent the money but produced little of value. RCA then turned to their own engineering staff, headed by John Nelson, who discovered that he could predict the conditions of transmission quite accurately by looking at the angular relationship between the planets on a given day: in other words, planetary aspects.

His forecasts were more that 95 percent accurate, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce in numerous yearly publications. Nelson describes his work in the book, Cosmic Patterns – Their Influence on Man and His Communication, published by the American Federation of Astrologers.

At about the same time, Bell Laboratories in New Jersey was also interested in this phenomenon, because the telephone network sends its signals by microwaves, which are very sensitive radio waves transmitted from tower to tower along a line of sight. Atmospheric conditions garbled these transmissions too. Bell Labs assigned this problem to Dr. Karl Jansky, who developed an electronic receiving instrument called a parabolic reflector, with which he was able to focus on certain sectors of the heavens and “zero” in on interfering radio-wave sources of radio transmission in the heavens where no stars could be found by even the most powerful telescopes.

Jansky’s findings led to the brand-new field of radio astronomy, which specializes in locating stars that radiate radio waves but no visible light. Jansky subsequently became known as the “father of radio astronomy” and his invention, the parabolic reflector, was the prototype of radar transmitting and receiving equipment.

THE HUMAN AURA For many years certain individuals have claimed the ability to see “auras,” that is, colors radiated by certain forms of energy in the body. Science at first gave this little credence, but within the last few years, specialized techniques have made it possible to actually photograph auras. The leaders in this field have been Russian researchers and scientists of the University of California at Los Angeles, notably Dr. Thelma Moss.

Physicists have long known that when current flows through a conducting material, such as an electrical wire, it sets up an electromagnetic field about the conductor. This current can be measured by an electrical instrument called a galvanometer, which is the principle on which electrical generators are based.

The human nervous system is also a conductor of electrical current. Messages are transmitted over the nerve fibers via tiny electrical impulses that can be measured with such instruments as the electrocardiograph and electroencephalograph. (Alpha and beta brain waves are electrical waves.) We already know that when current moves through a conductor, and this magnetic field is probably the “aura” that certain people claim to see.

When the drum or armature of a generator moves within a magnetic field, or cuts magnetic lines of force, it creates a flow of energy. Likewise, as your body moves, cutting the lines of magnetic force flowing from the Earth’s magnetic poles, a counter current is set up along the conducting fibers of the nervous system. Thus, we can clearly see from the preceding experiments that the galactic cosmic field influences the earth’s magnetic field, and that changes in the earth’s magnetic field influence the electrical character of the transmissions of the nervous system. Thus, a cause and effect relationship can be established “scientifically” between what is going on “out there” and what is happening here on Earth.

ADDEY’S RESEARCH Astrologers have not been totally “out of it” all this time! We just haven’t had the means to communicate our findings through scholarly journals as scientists do. One British astrologer, John Addey, has made another breakthrough. His mathematical and statistical work links astrology with nuclear physics rather directly. Addey took the birth times of more than 7,000 medical doctors and clergymen and computer-sorted them according to the location of the Sun in space at the moment of birth. Addey found that many of the doctors’ birthdates were grouped every one-fifth, twenty-fifth, and one hundred twenty-fifth of the way along the circle of the zodiac signs, beginning at vernal point of 0° Aries (where many of the birthtimes he studied were clumped).

Why did the number five figure so importantly? According to classical numerology, five is the natural number of the healer. Paracelsus, father of modern pharmacology (the science that deals with drugs), wrote of the correspondence of fiveness with healing. Addey rediscovered this phenomenon, as any modern statistician would, when he subjected the data to harmonic analysis (Fourier analysis). This was exactly the method used by such renowned nuclear scientists as deBroglie in the 1930s to unlock the secrets of the atom

The scientific proofs for astrology continue to multiply. However, as scientific knowledge proliferates, scientists must become more and more specialized, to the point that research in one area goes unnoticed by a scientist in a different area who might profit by it. Sadly, this is exactly what has happened in astrology, principally because it has never been accepted as a legitimate science, despite the experimental evidence we have described, and also because astrological research has never been adequately funded..."

******************************************
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If I were to present and push ANYTHING as far as SCIENTIFIC PROOF, it would be the above. Is it just me, or doesn't that say it all? I'd like to wave this around like a banner.

posted May 05, 2004 09:37 PM              

Perhaps it's just a matter of mainstream belief, what is deemed Art or Science? I don't know. Doing Web sites is both Art & Science, and almost anything we look at around us started out as a graphic design, eh?

Maybe it's masochistic of me to delineate all things around me as both Art & Science. Is it the tortured artist in me? Maybe that's why I can never go back to being a secretary, as there are only so many ways to put files in alphabetical order before people think you're high.

Anyways, I'm not being completely ignorant. I totally understand what you are saying. Again, it reminds me of issues of "quality" - society continues to find new ways to take any semblance or attempt at quality and TEAR IT TO SHREDS.

posted May 06, 2004 06:44 PM              

That's nice, he does some good work. Yet modern history is filled with examples of scientists who saw the light, were basically forced to kneel and kiss the ring of Astrology at some point, complete converts. The ones who bash it are just clueless and too chicken to check it out, since they know they will be powerless to fight it. So there is still work for us all to do, who didn't know that...

I wrote my upper class writing requirement for law school on a similar topic to that quote above:

http://lovestarz.com/ucwr.html

omg, was it really ten years ago? I was 27. And I've recently reconnected with the family-to-be that I lost during my Saturn Return shortly thereafter...I had a little girl and a fiancee, and now we are all back in touch, she turns 16 the end of this month (the girl, not my ex lol). She told me she loves me in an email last night and misses me, and I bawled. I haven't seen her in almost nine years. She might come out to LA this Summer when her mom goes to a whole foods conference. I am just so happy to be back in touch.

Oh, and imho, coding up a website is an art. HTML is no science. It's not even math, except maybe for some javascripts, which you rip off from sites that give them out for free anyway. Being a webmaster is slavery, not science. How good the site looks and cranks is an art.

posted May 06, 2004 08:59 PM              

I read what you wrote for law school. Lately I've come to the conclusion that we are inherently greedy, humans that is, and where we try to "simmer down now", the greed will find another way to rear it's ugly head. It's extremely difficult to stand up for something which goes against the grain without at some point becoming egotistical about it, but that's one extreme.

The other extreme is a child not being given the educational tools to think for themselves all the while without understanding the "God/god" he/she has INSIDE of them.

These are all very delicate pieces that take a while to become fully integrated into ones life, much less integrated into ones personal expression to the outer world, much less the integration which is only accrued with maturity in the later years.

Reading that reminded me of another thing that's occured to me, in that there is an even greater sin than dumping on mother Earth which must be correctly aligned FIRST before we can expect anything external to manifest positively. It's our INTERNAL environment which is polluted, and this is why we're witness to all the external inconsistencies.

So it's in line with your writing, for establishing a truer sense of religion (the internal). To go dogmatic over this leads us away from certain truths obvious to so many of us. But at the same time, to allow everyone to just "do their thing" and in their own time is a scattering of energy which only increases our sense of isolation in the whole matter. The proverbial neverending debate as to what IS God, which as you know, usually gets quite nasty and breeds more contempt.

OK -

So by the time a generation has figured out some things about life, a new generation has grown fangs of angst which suck away at the point, and successfully distracting everyone away from it. After 100 years, in terms of spiritual evolution if you will, we've only a semblance of what are purpose here was in the first place, and progress is slow. History's ebbs and flows.

You are a pioneer, and many like you. I feel I too am a pioneer. That my mother was a pioneer, and although she tried really hard to be a modern woman, she hates herself and hates me too. I have no relationship with my mother. The universe has been my mother. I've been a child of the universe, in my own private way, none of which I try to instill into others in exactitude.

BUT - one thing the dame DID do, which brought me a ton of anguish but resolved itself in my later years, was hand me a little book when I was about ten years old, called "The Book" by Alan Watts.

It brought me anguish and unbearable suffering because just imagine a ten year old back in 1970, or so, trying to tell her little church-going friends that God was inside of them.

*they'd defend themselves by holding up their fingers in cross formation at me*

(Well... I've said many times here, I've been burned, hanged, and stoned many times in previous lives, and was left for dead in THIS life.)

My parents never pushed any religious belief on me, so it was a given that I had to suffer at the hands of my own *dastardly laugh* creation.

PS: The Web address for the UUA - www.uua.org - I was all up in there for a while last year when I was tapping into the monastic and ministerial side of me.