Astrologer, published author, conference presenter, world traveler, founder & editor of Crone Chronicles: A Journal of Conscious Aging (1989-2001) , and founding visionary of Green Acres Permaculture Village (2010 to present).
Yesterday’s solar eclipse in Libra is here interpreted in an entirely different manner than usual. Why? Because its author, astrologer Liv Woodford, is living through how relationship-oriented Libra is and is not working in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. I, for one, found myself glued to the entire 18-minute read, all the way through, including both her “standard” solar eclipse in Libra interpretation and, in the end, her altered interpretation born of grueling experience that she and others are still, to this day, living through. (Hint: Rather than worrying about being too co-dependent, we need to re-member our mutual dependency!)
Thank you Amy, who sent it to me, and thanks to her astrologer friend, Liv Woodford, in the mountains of North Carolina, who detailed her own lived experience, and how it altered her understanding of what is desperately needed now in terms of coming into balance with Libra.
Her conclusion? We need to remember that we are living beings, here to connect with one another, in person, rather than more and more “remotely,” through technology. For when our devices go down, then what? Imagine, standing directly across from a neighbor who, normally, you might wave to politely on your way out of the house, and who now, you must depend on. As Liv discovered, our decades-long penchant for solipsistic solitude is abruptly — awkwardly at first, and then more and more naturally — bridged by our common need of each other in order to survive.
(And besides, I might add, it’s way more fun to live consciously, in community. Check out how Earthhaven, a nearby intentional community, for example, has been able to immediately join forces to tackle the aftermath of the storm. Why? Because they are quite used to the supposedly antiquated idea of valuing personal relationships.)
That final section begins:
I recommend you read through the entire post. Well worth your time.
Forgot to put a title on this until today, several days later . . .
Amidst the gathering horror, the continuous expurgation of death, destruction, dirty deeds by formerly beloved “celebrity” figures . . . and other yucky stuff as indicated on my twitter/X feed, I remain astonished by the contrast I sometimes feel between the awfulness that keeps getting beamed out via social media and life on earth here, my own experience. Just today, while walking with puppy Scampi, I came across truck drivers, bus drivers, and garbage drivers, all of them with warm, genuine smiles in response to my own grin of recognition — one human being to another.
I make it my practice to write up a daily post charting my paralyzed and nerve-damaged 58-year-old son Colin’s healing process.
It’s been over a year ago now, since his aortic dissection that should have killed him, but instead, and paradoxically, has opened him wide. As he tells me, “my heart exploded open . . .”
Our conversation today was really fun and uplifting, and brings to mind the idea that “the world” is much larger than that of which we are aware.
I told Colin this afternoon that I wasn’t going to ask him about his poop again. That this would take care of my end of the obsession. If he wants to speak about it, great. If not, that’s fine. He thought that was a good idea, and said he’s just not going to worry about it anymore; not even pay attention to it, unless he feels uncomfortable. Good!
Then he wanted to tell me his new idea: calling in benevolent ETs to heal the nerve pain! I know this sounds crazy to some people, but he and I really did have an extraordinary experience, about a dozen years ago, of being with a bunch of people out on a field in the country who were calling in the benevolent ETs, and had been for five nights in a row.
On the final night, once again there were definitely blinking lights (not planes and not satellites), and sometimes moving (with 90° turns!) lights in the sky, more than on any of the other nights; but the definitive moment came when Colin and I stood up (earlier than others; I don’t want to stay up late) to drive home, and he was so appreciative of the beings who were visiting us that he looked up and dramatically lifted his arms wide to the sky, saying “THANK YOU!!!” as a sort of joke, he thought.
But wait! Just then, just as he did that, an enormous light burst came from directly above where we were all circled in lawn chairs, and . . . it was not just momentary, but its fading out took several long seconds, long enough for all of us to see each other on this new moon night.
WHAT?!
We were all flabbergasted. What a demonstration of presence! For Colin, the occasion was so extraordinary that he tells me now it changed his life.
So, this afternoon, sitting in his park inverted, he tells me he’s going to ask to make contact with star beings, knowing it might take awhile, perhaps meditating in supplication for hours at a time on successive days, while gazing at the sky (easy to do when you’re inverted, and he’s had many a day when he wished he was a cartoonist, so amazing are the figures he sees in the clouds). Why not? Might as well! What’s he got to lose?
Then we segued to the many ways his stuck state (referring to nerve pain that, post-op, after six weeks has not yet retreated to the point where he can return to the kinds of exercises he wants to do, and must spend most of his days inverted) is “actually fortunate.” He gets to sit there and investigate with his mind; he gets to listen to podcasts or music; he simply has no other responsibilities, other than to work on lessening his nerve pain.
“Can you imagine how freeing that is?” he asks. To have no other responsibilities in life? How many people are as fortunate as I am?”
”And you? My teacher looked up, his left eyebrow arched, pencil poised. 'I want to do a paper on the concept of time.’” I mumbled, timidly. 'Time?' He sniffed. “I wouldn’t touch the subject. Too difficult.” — AK, 1967
Ph.D. 83
Astrologer, published author, conference presenter, world traveler, founder & editor of Crone Chronicles: A Journal of Conscious Aging (1989-2001) , and founding visionary of Green Acres Permaculture Village (2010 to present).
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