Magical skies

Today is one of those magical sky days, where, when we look up at the Moon, we find the bright lights of Venus and Mars in a straight line extending from the fat crescent side. Venus is the brighter of the two lights. Over the next two days, the Moon will travel between and then to the other side of the two bright lights. And, if we look carefully beyond the dimmer of the two lights (Mars), and a little lower in the sky, we'll find Jupiter, as well.

Read more at Our Daily Planets

New! Daily Astrology Posts - bookmark it!

Be sure to check out the informative blogs of 'Daily Transit Chats' at The Astrology Studio blog.

A horoscope reading for the day is given, and the major themes are listed and described. Great for learning a little more about how astrology works!

See the site, The Astrology Studio for even more horoscope-related gems. Full and New Moon charts for the entire year are provided, as well as 200 years of spring equinox charts. Want to see where Uranus was in the sky in the year 1927 during the roaring twenties? Or 1969 when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon? Check out the '0 Aries: 1900-2100' link for these and more!

Urbanite camps alone in remote desert for the first time.

Edgar Hasseltuth, who lived his whole life in downtown Manhattan, went on an unusual adventure by camping in the wild and remote expanse of the Nevada desert for several days. He went alone with a tent, some water and food, a beach chair, and a machete that he picked up at an Army-Navy store.

Although Edgar enjoys living in the city, he can feel claustrophobic and lost sometimes with all of the hustle and bustle and impersonal nature of city living. He'd long dreamed of escaping away to someplace remote to get a feel for what it would be like to be in nature and be the only human around for miles. And since a visit to Mars or the Moon is currently not a possibility, it seemed that a visit to the desert is the closest he could get to fulfilling this vision.

The first night in the desert was pretty scary. From inside his tent, the howling wind, the perceived pitter-patter of footsteps (or paw-steps), the isolation and inability to call on someone for help and assurance kept him awake most of the night. It gave him an appreciation for the term 'night terror'. He'd never experienced night terrors in the city, there was no reason to.

Later nights were not so terrible. Although he was lonely, the terrors abated.  Sitting in his chair, gazing at the sky, the desert, and the mountains, watching the stars at night, going on long hikes, watching the wildlife, those were the main activities of each day. He drew in the sand to pass the time, too. Thinking a lot about his life took up a lot of his time.

The hawks circling in the sky were beautiful, and so carefree. The deer with white butts, little red foxes, salamanders, and rabbits sauntered or skittered by sometimes. A bee hovered at the front door of the tent one day right after he opened the door. And a pet grasshopper hung out in front of the tent for over an hour one morning.

After a while his mind quieted down, too. The stillness of the desert had the effect of calming the frantic emotions and thoughts he was in the habit of living in. And the peacefulness and quiet actually became enjoyable! Even the loneliness ebbed away.

Edgar returned to the city a changed man. He was easily able to pick up the pace of his lifestyle and of his friends and colleagues, but now he had an internal reference for stillness that he could draw upon any time he needed it. He found that he knew himself a little better than before, and in that knowledge he felt freedom. There is no doubt that Edgar will be returning to the desert for another vacation of solitude after a while.

Weird tiny house

Ever read about the tiny houses? Someone just drove by with a weird funny-looking homemade house painted green with maroon trim. Sure cure for depression to mockingly laugh at such a spectacle going down the road. But hey, imagine the sweat and equity that went into building that thing. It's someone's pride and joy. We can laugh all we want, the owner and user of it has the last laugh.

Anyway, tiny houses are interesting. Not quite sure why anyone would want to live in one of those. But they're cute to look at and an interesting concept. Here's some links.

Tumbleweed houses: http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/  To my knowledge, this group is the pioneer in the development, production, and sales of tiny houses. Want to look like you live in a tiny old-western style house while driving down the road? Well take a look at their models!

Among the photo galleries galore on the internet is this one of tiny houses by Country Living: http://www.countryliving.com/home-design/g1887/tiny-house/

Up close and personal with a couple proudly living in their tiny house and blogging all about it: http://tinyhouseblog.com/

Got you hooked? Check out this sales site for many styles of tiny houses: http://tinyhouselistings.com/ Perhaps you can find your little dream home here.

With a nice little piece of land to grow your crops and maybe tend livestock, a tiny house could be a great first step to living a rent-free, debt-free lifestyle. Run the land business right, and someday it may be possible to add a lot of elbow room to the living space.

4th day without coffee

It's slowly dawning on me that coffee may be poison for the kidneys.

So many mornings I wake up with bags under my eyes, they look quite ugly, actually, and I've been trying to get my head around why they're there for a long time.  They last anywhere from a half an hour to all day long. I had been in the habit of drinking two to five cups of coffee a day to keep awake and alert at work and after work. It always helped, but I always had the inevitable energy crash.
And when I drink alcohol, the baggy eyes symptom is even worse the next morning. And the moods, oh my!  Well, I only seldom drink, so that's not that much of a problem for me.

So this week, I decided to treat coffee like a kidney poison and just don't drink it!  Oh, I miss the hot bitter taste, sweetened with stevia. I miss the comfort-food aspect of it, as well as the brain cell perkup I get out of it.

But you know what, my baggy eyes are looking better and better in the mornings.  I think I'm doing a kidney detox! And I'm not having energy crashes!

But I am suffering afternoon sleepiness, and I have to jog my brain into action in the morning - that's somewhat hard.  There's always a price to pay!  Let's see how this coffee fast goes - how long I'll do it, and what the effects will be.

I'm pretty concerned with my sense of priorities - where it's important for me to apply my energies. I feel like that's evolving, I just don't know how it's going to turn out. Let's see!

Effeminate?

Ugh! Twice this week people called me effeminate, either directly or by allusion. Makes me mad every time I hear it. And yet, considering that over the years a person here and there has either stated or alluded to it, or even insisted that I was gay (I'm not!), or metrosexual, I suppose it's time to do a little reflection on it.

According to the online Miriam-Webster dictionary, effeminate means 'having or showing qualities that are considered more suited to women than to men: not manly.'  and 1) having feminine qualities untypical of a man :  not manly in appearance or manner, and 2) marked by an unbecoming delicacy or overrefinement <effeminate art> <an effeminate civilization>

Oy! So people perceive that I have mannerisms that seem feminine, and they think I'm gay or effeminate. 

My thoughts and reactions to it? Well, I take it as a flaw, that there's something wrong with me, that I don't portray manliness and gruff; that I like to be expressive and a bit sensual, that I enjoy nature and music, that I live somewhat in fantasy and like to play. From inside of me I think, big deal, life is to be enjoyed, yes? And yet, from the side of me that wants social acceptance, I think, oh shit!

Someone might ask, why do you care?  (Actually, I wonder the same thing.)  Well, having grown up Catholic in a very traditional family setting, I am fairly conservative in how I think of myself and how I fit in society. I love having women as partners, and I love my wife. The thought of being thought of as not much of a man is revulsive to me.

Anyway, I'm an Aquarian - a real Aquarian (Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus there), so I'm probably not the saltiest, earthiest guy around. Rather, I like to talk and engage deeply in topics and themes, and I'm a deep meditator and spiritualist from time to time.  Having such a deep connection to nature (and my nature) probably causes me to express a bit more sensuality than the average fellow, and because of that I'm taken wrongly. I supposed I could have been cursed with worse!

Really?

I just read through all of the posts in this blog of mine.  God - I feel like my own Facebook group!