Sending Love and Light Request

Kathy Dannel-Vitcak is our incredible webmaster and writer of our newsletters from Brigid’s House. This past week her beloved dog Deuce died. He has been with Kathy for many years and his presence at Kathy’s resort has been a joy for many people. He was a huge dog—had lots of bear energy. He was like every child’s dream of a huge stuffed animal they could ride! He was a friendly dog with much personality. Please, everyone, send Kathy and her family, and Deuce some love and light. We’re all holding you close Kathy, in our hearts! You may contact Kathy at Kathy@kathydv.com

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Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…Literally by Tara Troge

Now that summer is in full swing, many are taking extra measures to ensure their underarms are sweat and odor free. However, if you are like many people and believe that deodorant and antiperspirants are one in the same, please read on.

Antiperspirants are designed to keep you from sweating. They typically contain aluminum salts which clog, close or block pores so sweat can’t be released. With continued use, aluminum accumulates in the brain and has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

On the other hand, deodorants work to kill the bacteria that actually causes body odor. Deodorants allow the body to cool itself through the natural process of sweating. While deodorant is always the preferred choice, what can you do to prevent the embarrassing underarm sweat patches?

Call me lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it!), but I’m one of those people who rarely has underarm odor; however, regardless of the outside temperature, I seem to sweat like I’m continuously running a marathon. Why my body feels the need to continually cool itself is an entirely different matter, but I’ve tried many different concoctions to fight underarm wetness and here are a few of my favorites:

1. Tea Tree Powder: It’s naturally talc-free and keeps me very dry. Just lightly wet your underarms, put some tea tree powder in your palm and pat on to your underarms. The only problem I’ve had with this is when I put on a dark-colored shirt. If you end up getting the powder on your shirt, just dampen a wash cloth and rub it gently over the spot.
2. Baking soda: follow the same instructions as above.
3. Make your own deodorant:
• Powder
o ½ cup cornstarch
o ½ cup baking soda
o 5 drops organic peppermint essential oil
o 5 drops organic lavender essential oil

Place all ingredients in a glass jar with a secure lid. Apply a liberal amount daily (or as needed) with a powder puff, blush brush or your hands. You can also play around with the essential oils – try cedarwood, sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla, etc.

• You can also visit http://www.theexpress.com/express%20351/bodyline.htm for other easy, inexpensive homemade deodorant recipes.

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What the Planets “Mean” by Anne Morgan

Practical Astrology for an Imperfect World 1.9 by Anne mOrgan

Robert Jansky described human life as a balancing act between ‘Import and Export.” We look outside of ourselves for what we do not have within us. We ‘import’ what we need from other people or groups while ‘exporting’ what those people need in return.

We do this from the moment we are born. As babies, we cried when we were hungry, cold or wet. As we grew, we learned to do things in return for getting what we want. We bartered. We made deals. Naturally, we tried to get the greatest return for the least amount of sacrifice.

Under the best circumstances, people around us cared about what we needed, and supplied it freely, out of love. At some stage, we resented our dependence; we proclaimed our autonomy. We distanced ourselves from parents, and looked to friends, partners, teachers, leaders to supply what we lacked.

Success depends on knowing what our strengths and weaknesses are, for whatever we attempt to import, we must be willing to export something in return. A good chart reading can spell this out with clarity.

The Sun represents the core of our individuality and the space we occupy. The more we take in, or import, the more space we require to hold the imported material. (Think of the size of a fertilized human egg, then think of the space an adult occupies. As we grow, we need more space.)

The Moon shows, by sign, degree and house location, how we decide to occupy more space. Its decision-making process is conditioned by past experiences and events, habit patterns, cultural and family traditions, feelings, emotions, memories, etc.

Venus symbolizes our ability to enjoy the space we occupy. It shows how we appreciate what we already have.

Mars describes the actual struggle to hold what we occupy, how we defend it from attack, and how we expand our space.

Mercury is our awareness of this human struggle for more space. It describe how we plan (reason) to acquire more personal space, and defines the pleasure each increase in our holdings will bring us. It is how we bargain, barter, or trade for what we need and want.

Jupiter shows where and how we reach out into our environment to find what we feel we lack. This process results in expansion and growth.

Saturn represents the price we must pay for this expansion and growth—what we must give in order to get.

Uranus symbolizes the voluntary relinquishment of elements of our space. We give up in order to gain.

Neptune represents the dream we have for ourselves, the ideal in the achievement of all of the space we could need or want and its ideal usage once occupied.

Pluto represents the elimination of all the junk presently occupying our space that prevents us from fully enjoying it and developing it.

Now look at your horoscope. Houses 1 through 6 (the bottom hemisphere) are your exports—what you are offering. Houses 7 through 12 (the upper hemisphere) represent your exports—what you are seeking.

Think about this this week. We will continue this topic next time.

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Back to Back New Moons in Cancer & Solar Eclipses

by Anne Morgan

As you know, I welcome questions from readers. This week’s query is:
“What is my take on the back to back new Moons in Cancer and the upcoming solar eclipse?”

June’s New Moon (Lunation) was at Cancer 1 degree 30 minutes on June 22. On July 22, the New Moon falls at Cancer 29.27. This New Moon is conjunct and parallel the Sun. thus creating a solar eclipse.

Solar eclipses occur twice a year. They affect the Earth’s electromagnetic (near cosmic) field. During total eclipses, birds fly about excitedly, night creatures come out of their dens, predators howl, roosters crow, diurnal animals go to sleep, flowers close their blossoms.

Eclipses mark emphasis and crisis—in world astrology and personal horoscopes. The most important factor in personal delineations is in which of the twelve houses the eclipse falls. The eclipse emphasizes matters ruled by that house, and tends to bring them to a crisis stage.

What house(s) in your chart contain Cancer 1.30 and Cancer 29.27? Crisis does not necessarily mean bad. Crisis means simply that you will be required by events in your life to devote more time, attention and energy to some matter(s) than usual.

The January 2009 solar eclipse was at Aquarius 6.38. A meditation for that eclipse is: ‘The emergence of a new type of human being according to the great rhythms of the cosmos.’

The impulse of the January eclipse offered each of us the opportunity to become new. We can evolve, transform. We can be fresh projections of the creative spirit, free from patterns of local culture or racial tradition.

Rolling that information into the current Jupiter-Neptune retrograde transit, stressful events occurring now are showing us what, where, and how we need to change our personal natures to become transformed Spirits, in alignment with the Planetary Whole. What an opportunity! Not to be feared, but celebrated.

Now, wisdom cycles a new Solar eclipse in the final degree of Cancer. A meditation for this eclipse is: ‘Choosing a path that embodies and glorifies a new structure that is built on the struggles of the past.”

What have you been struggling with? What encounters have taxed your composure? Stressed your wallet? Threatened your security? What bombs have you lobbed—ostensibly in self-defense?

Think on this. Starting his week, and lasting until the next solar eclipse in early 2010, is the cosmic time to set up a new system of personal rules, to codify things in a fresh, new way. Be reborn.

Look to the houses that are hosting the eclipses, and Aquarius 23 to 26 degrees. Refer back to my description of matters governed by the houses.

Everyone is responding to the planetary energy. To what degree of consciousness is up to you.

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More on the Signs by Anne Morgan

Practical Astrology for an Imperfect World 1.7

Fire Signs are Aries, Leo and Sagittarius. The fiery element brings self-assertion and active manifestation. People with predominate fire signs (Sun sign, Moon sign, rising sign) tend to be positive, forceful, self-confident, and aggressive. They are inclined to faith and optimism; fond of good living, sport, exercise, company or adventure. They are generally ready for what is new. They are willing to take chances and accept changes.

Overly fiery people are ceaselessly energetic and exuberant. They can be extravagant and flashy. They can be reckless gamblers; they can be thoughtless or careless; they can be arrogant or coarse in nature. They feel little sympathy for those who are weak.

Lack of fire in a chart brings a lack of enthusiasm. The native seldom feels a joy for living. He is overly serious, hum-drum-ly tedious, or boring. He does not know how to play.

Water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Water is the opposite element of Fire. Fire snaps into action; water flows and seeks level. Fire consumes itself with frenetic activity; water holds back and protects itself. Fire acts without deliberation; water embodies prudence and forethought.

Water nature people are sympathetic and protective—of self and others. They desire to shield and protect, to soothe and nurture. They tend to be the last to leap, and are perfectly content to let everyone else go first. They’d rather let others break down the doors and test a new environment. They are the pools of water that extinguish fiery people.

Individuals with an excess of planets in water signs can be too timid, very suspicious, overly distrustful of self and others. All water signs are sensitive, and tend to keep their feelings and thoughts to themselves.

Fire and water are largely primitive and instinctive. They deal on the level of spontaneous emotion and impulses, rather than with deliberately planned ideas.

Earth and air are mental and purposeful. Air designs, Earth builds.

Earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. These signs represent the mind applied to material ends. They are the craftspeople, the builders, the practical scientists. These are the people who built the structures of our civilization. These are stable personalities, lovers of order and rules. They dot the ‘I’s’ and cross the “T’s.” They value practicality over idealism, tradition over change, concrete over abstractions.

Overly earthy individuals tend to be materialistic. Sordid, commonplace, utilitarian in a narrow sense. They are slaves to routine, law, and order. Earth can be a limiting element, and makes the personality dry, the approach to live mere matter-of-fact, the general outlook circumscribed.
Lack of planets in earth signs means the individual will have difficulty bringing forth tangible or useful results.

Air signs are Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. People with many planets in air signs are intellectual, refined, thoughtful. They think in abstract terms and quote theory. They seek truth and ideal. They tend to be co-operative, unitive, and harmonious in action.

A preponderance of air planets tends to make the individual be divorced from what is real and practical. She spends her time day dreaming, prefers to work with ideas, rather than concrete objects. The artist or musician appreciates art and music, but does not have the inner stick-to-it-ness to create works of art or musical composition.

When the elements of a chart are in balance, there is considerable power for both planning and carrying out great/good works. There is the will force to get started—and to finish; there is the intellect to design around the sensitive appreciation of the needs of others.

Look again at your chart. Tally the number of planets in fire, earth, air, and water signs. Add one point for the element of the Ascendant (rising) sign and one point for the Midheaven sign. What element has the greatest number? Which is the lowest?

There is no bad ranking. Understanding is what we’re after—the ability to look honestly at yourself—to ‘Know Thyself.’ Your horoscope describes you as you came (willingly) back to earth, into your body and your life. You are a fine and worthy human being.

Since you were born, you have learned to compensate for weaknesses and capitalize on your strengths. Is there something you could consciously do (or not do) to bring more balance to your elements? You have the knowledge now to do that.

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The Signs of the Zodiac by Anne Morgan

The Sign of the Zodiac…Let’s skip to the Signs of the Zodiac for a while:

The Zodiac lies like a belt around the earth. The Sun, Moon and planets orbit in this ‘belt.” We can track their movement through the zodiac through the calendar year by observing the night sky.

We recognize the signs of the zodiac:
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces

It is very useful to learn each sign’s quality, or modality –cardinal, fixed, and mutable;
and element– fire, earth, air, and water. You will notice that each sign has its own ‘signature.’

Aries cardinal fire
Taurus fixed earth
Gemini mutable air
Cancer fire water
Leo fixed fire
Virgo mutable earth
Libra fire air
Scorpio fixed water
Sagittarius mutable fire
Capricorn cardinal earth
Aquarius fixed air
Pisces mutable water

Cardinal signs are driving, initiating, forceful. They stand for acting, or doing. They produce energy, push, and enterprise. Cardinal people are leaders, people of action, people with a goal and purpose in life. If afflicted in a chart, cardinal signs reveal restlessness, the inconstant busybody or interferrer, always beginning new projects, but soon abandoning them in favor of something new. An absence of planets in cardinal signs causes lack of initiative and lethargy.

Fixed signs are stable, stubborn, determined. They are more concerned with feeling and the ‘pleasure-pain’ aspects of things. Thus, where a Cardinal person would ask, “What does something affect what I want to do?” the fixed person would ask, “Is it pleasant or disagreeable.” Fixed qualities are conservative, set in one’s habits and opinions, strong in their likes and dislikes, and obstinacy. They seldom change, but when they do, the transformation is often dramatic. Lack of planets in fixed signs reveals an absence of principle, ballast and consistency. People with a predominance of planets in Fixed signs often own or manage businesses. They can also be in lifetime public service—people who ‘occupy’ positions, especially those involving the administration of authority, and the upholding of rules and regulations. As a general rule, they do not try to find ways to make things better; they embrace the status quo.

Mutable signs are yielding, compromising, adaptable. They stand for Thought and the impartial attitude toward things, the seeking to understand without bias. Mutable people are usually clever, mentally quick and alert, changeful, possibly ‘mercurial.’ They represent those who study and write about the actions of others, rather than themselves trying to ‘make history.’ Mutable people are often agents, go-betweens, students, inventors, writers, commentators and chroniclers, philosophers and teachers and thinkers.

Look now at your horoscope. Count and record the number of planets in Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable signs. Are you balanced? (3,3,4, or something similar)? Or are you lopsided? (0,1,8)?

Think about your personality in terms of astrological quality. It should fit you (if you are honest. There is no good or bad balance. Just reality.)

If it really does not seem to fit, recalculate your chart. If you come up with the same chart, describe to an adult family member the qualities of cardinal, fixed, and mutable. They will probably peg you just as the numbers add up.

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