It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln—who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still-young nation and, through it, much of the Western world.
Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history.From the meaning of the symbols on the one-dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board,Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes, including:
•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776 •The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith •The rural Sunday-school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age •The prominence of mind-power mysticism in the black-nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey •The Idaho druggist whose mail-order mystical religion ranked as the eighth-largest faith in the world during the Great Depression
Here, too, are America’s homegrown religious movements, from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive-thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today. A feast for believers in alternative spirituality, an eye-opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history, Occult America is an engaging, long-overdue portrait of one nation, under many gods, whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the globe.
Some of you may be over the oh so dynamic, dramatic, and action-packed year that 2021 has brought us so far. If this is the case, you’d best brace yourselves, because the ‘best’ has been saved for last, for the most action-packed month, December 2021!
So far, the Saturn-Uranus square which has dominated throughout 2021, has had a rather prohibiting effect, unbalancing us within a state of limbo. You can read my blog for `The Astrology of 2021 One Way Or Another’ here – and watch your inbox for ‘The Astrology of 2022’ (coming soon).
Profound transformations have been happening throughout the background, but at an individual level, there has been a lot of stagnation, waiting, and not enough momentum.
December 2021 will start to shake things up and to ‘fix’ all of this. All the tension and blocked momentum that has been building up throughout 2021 will reach a point of climax and things WILL finally start to shift and move forward.
We have a record number of massive transits throughout December:
A spiritual South Node Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius
The final Saturn-Uranus square in Aquarius-Taurus (Yes!)
Jupiter leaves Aquarius for good and enters Pisces
… that’s 3 huge Hallelujahs!
And with a Venus-Pluto conjunction pretty much the entire month, things will get intense – really really intense.
Let’s take a look at the most important transits of the month:
December 4th, 2021 – New Moon And Solar Eclipse In Sagittarius
On December 4th, 2021 we have a powerful New Moon and Solar Eclipse at 12° Sagittarius.
This is a Solar Eclipse so it is connected with new beginnings, and also a South Node eclipse, connected with releasing old patterns from the past. As with most things in life, when one door closes, another door opens. If we want a different tomorrow, it’s really important we release those patterns that no longer serve us.
December 11th, 2021 – Venus Conjunct Pluto
On December 11th, 2021 Venus is conjunct Pluto at 25° Capricorn. This is just the beginning of a ‘beautiful friendship’.
Not only will Venus and Pluto be holding hands pretty much the whole month of December… but since Venus will be retrograding this month, we have a record of 3 exact Venus-Pluto conjunctions, the last one happening in March 2022.
Venus and Pluto conjunctions are really really intense, even when they last for only 3 days like they normally do.
We are now about to have a 3-month long conjunction. Venus is our feelings, our subjective experience of life – and that includes our values, likes and dislikes, the kinds of things and people we are attracted to. When Venus is conjunct Pluto, some dark Venus truths come to light.
Some uncomfortable, unprocessed feelings ask for release. Pluto demands to get real about what we want – and there’s always something brutal about Pluto’s revelations, no matter how much shadow work we have done in the past, or how spiritually enlightened (we think) we are.
We may think that we know what we want – “I’m just true to my feelings” – but Pluto comes to show us that we don’t.
What we really really want, what we value, the source, the underlying reason for everything, is something so primal, so rooted in our identity, that it is directing our life in a way that leaves us powerless – until we become aware of the dynamic.
Pay attention to any feelings, downloads that happen around this date, because they are really important – and are a major theme in your life for the next 3 months and beyond.
December 13th, 2021 – Mars Enters Sagittarius, Mercury Enters Capricorn
On December 13th, Mercury and Mars both change homes. Just when Mercury leaves Sagittarius and gets serious in Capricorn, Mars leaves Scorpio to have some fun in Sagittarius.
When the planet of the intellect (Mercury) is ahead of the planet of action (Mars) we think before we act. Mercury in Capricorn comes with the plan and the strategy, while Mars in Sagittarius will just do it.
December 15th, 2021 – Mars Conjunct South Node
Just as it enters the fun-loving sign of Sagittarius, Mars is greeted by a most unusual guest: the South Node of the Moon.
The South Node is our karma and gifts, our accumulated body of knowledge. When the South Node meets Mars, the South Node will share its code of conduct. “Yes, you can go to all these great places in Sagittarius, but don’t forget about everything that went wrong in the past”.
This will be a bit of an anticlimax for Mars, especially when he is in Sagittarius, because Mars doesn’t like to be told what to do.
But if Mars listens to the words of wisdom without taking things personally, he may find that knowing the ins-and-outs of the uncharted territory, doesn’t have to take away his freedom.
December 18th, 2021 – Full Moon In Gemini
On December 18th, 2021 we have a Full Moon at 27° Gemini. This lovely Full Moon forms an auspicious trine with Jupiter, culminating with the Gemini/Sagittarius/Jupiter in Aquarius themes we had in 2021.
December 19th, 2021 – Venus Goes Retrograde, Chiron Goes Direct
On December 19th, 2021 Venus goes retrograde at 26° Capricorn, while on the same day Chiron goes direct at 8° Aries.
There’s a lot to talk about this very powerful Venus retrograde (keep your eye out for a separate report we will publish closer to the date) but at this point let’s just note that Venus goes retrograde on the same day Chiron goes direct. Venus is also conjunct Pluto, so we have some very powerful energies in the mix.
A very powerful emotional revelation (Venus retrograde conjunct Pluto) will unveil a hidden wound, at the same time setting in motion the necessary healing process (Chiron direct). It’s like we’re ready for healing, ready for love, but not quite there yet. We must go to the Underworld first.
The great news is that Venus retrograde comes with great clarity. We now know what we need to do – it’s just a matter of embarking on the journey and staying true to ourselves no matter what Pluto has to reveal.
December 21st, 2021 – Sun Enters Capricorn
On December 21st, 2021 Sun enters Capricorn and we have the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
0° of Cardinal signs give us a tremendous energy and sense of direction. We now feel we can move mountains. This is a great time to be clear about what it is that you want to achieve.
December 24th, 2021 – Saturn Square Uranus
On December 24th, 2021 we have a Christmas present: the last Saturn-Uranus square of the year. “Christmas present” is of course a bit ironic – it’s not that we get a Venus conjunct Jupiter type of present.
Saturn square Uranus is a collective transit, and it will likely come with collective shifts that will pretty much conclude the Saturn-Uranus square that influenced us throughout 2021.
It is not that something will suddenly happen (although with Uranus, it might) and then we will never hear about Saturn -Uranus again. Saturn and Uranus will still be in orb throughout 2022, but they will never meet again, so while in 2022 we will still be influenced by what this square has set in motion in 2021, the true outcome will become part of our reality now.
Whether the outcome will be a positive or a negative one (most likely a bit of both) it depends on how well we as the collective have integrated the lessons of the first 2 squares.
December 25th, 2021 – Venus Retrograde Conjunct Pluto
On December 25th, 2021 we get the 2nd installment of the Venus-Pluto conjunction, but this time, with Venus retrograde at 26° Capricorn. Again, this is a very intense transit that will trigger a rebirth of the heart.
Since this transit happens simultaneously with the Saturn-Uranus square at Christmas, we want to be mindful of what we say and do. It’s not that we want to run away from the powerful, liberating truth that these transits will most certainly bring, but we should remember that we always have a choice of ‘how’ we deal with what the planets offer us
December 28th, 2021 – Jupiter Enters Pisces
December is an intense month, no doubt about it. Jupiter’s ingress into Pisces is our saving grace and our most welcomed hallelujah, not only of this month, but for the months to come. You can read more about Jupiter in Pisces here.
December 29th-30th, 2021 – Mercury Conjunct Venus And Pluto
The year ends with a momentous revelation. Mercury, Venus and Pluto all meet at 25° Capricorn for a powerful moment of truth.
When our mind (Mercury) and our heart (Venus) meet the planet of power and transformation (Pluto), we can no longer say we don’t know what we want. Pluto will write it out on our foreheads, and the truth will be so liberating, that it will set in motion the true power of nature.
Make sure you don’t dismiss this powerful guidance, because 2022 will come with exciting opportunities that will help you to make anything possible.
Who would defend himself unless he thought he were attacked, that the attack were real, and that his own defense could save himself? And herein lies the folly of defense; it gives illusions full reality, and then attempts to handle them as real. It adds illusions to illusions, thus making correction doubly difficult. And it is this you do when you attempt to plan the future, activate the past, or organize the present as you wish.
You operate from the belief you must protect yourself from what is happening because it must contain what threatens you. A sense of threat is an acknowledgment of an inherent weakness; a belief that there is danger which has power to call on you to make appropriate defense. The world is based on this insane belief. And all its structures, all its thoughts and doubts, its penalties and heavy armaments, its legal definitions and its codes, its ethics and its leaders and its gods, all serve but to preserve its sense of threat. For no one walks the world in armature but must have terror striking at his heart.
Defense is frightening. It stems from fear, increasing fear as each defense is made. You think it offers safety. Yet it speaks of fear made real and terror justified. Is it not strange you do not pause to ask, as you elaborate your plans and make your armor thicker and your locks more tight, what you defend, and how, and against what?
Let us consider first what you defend. It must be something that is very weak and easily assaulted. It must be something made easy prey, unable to protect itself and needing your defense. What but the body has such frailty that constant care and watchful, deep concern are needful to protect its little life? What but the body falters and must fail to serve the Son of God as worthy host?
Yet it is not the body that can fear, nor be a thing of fear. It has no needs but those which you assign to it. It needs no complicated structures of defense, no health-inducing medicine, no care and no concern at all. Defend its life, or give it gifts to make it beautiful or walls to make it safe, and you but say your home is open to the thief of time, corruptible and crumbling, so unsafe it must be guarded with your very life.
Is not this picture fearful? Can you be at peace with such a concept of your home? Yet what endowed the body with the right to serve you thus except your own belief? It is your mind which gave the body all the functions that you see in it, and set its value far beyond a little pile of dust and water. Who would make defense of something that he recognized as this?
The body is in need of no defense. This cannot be too often emphasized. It will be strong and healthy if the mind does not abuse it by assigning it to roles it cannot fill, to purposes beyond its scope, and to exalted aims which it cannot accomplish. Such attempts, ridiculous yet deeply cherished, are the sources for the many mad attacks you make upon it. For it seems to fail your hopes, your needs, your values and your dreams.
The “self” that needs protection is not real. The body, valueless and hardly worth the least defense, need merely be perceived as quite apart from you, and it becomes a healthy, serviceable instrument through which the mind can operate until its usefulness is over. Who would want to keep it when its usefulness is done?
Defend the body and you have attacked your mind. For you have seen in it the faults, the weaknesses, the limits and the lacks from which you think the body must be saved. You will not see the mind as separate from bodily conditions. And you will impose upon the body all the pain that comes from the conception of the mind as limited and fragile, and apart from other minds and separate from its Source.
These are the thoughts in need of healing, and the body will respond with health when they have been corrected and replaced with truth. This is the body’s only real defense. Yet is this where you look for its defense? You offer it protection of a kind from which it gains no benefit at all, but merely adds to your distress of mind. You do not heal, but merely take away the hope of healing, for you fail to see where hope must lie if it be meaningful.
A healed mind does not plan. It carries out the plans that it receives through listening to wisdom that is not its own. It waits until it has been taught what should be done, and then proceeds to do it. It does not depend upon itself for anything except its adequacy to fulfill the plans assigned to it. It is secure in certainty that obstacles can not impede its progress to accomplishment of any goal that serves the greater plan established for the good of everyone.
A healed mind is relieved of the belief that it must plan, although it cannot know the outcome which is best, the means by which it is achieved, nor how to recognize the problem that the plan is made to solve. It must misuse the body in its plans until it recognizes this is so. But when it has accepted this as true, then is it healed, and lets the body go.
Enslavement of the body to the plans the unhealed mind sets up to save itself must make the body sick. It is not free to be the means of helping in a plan which far exceeds its own protection, and which needs its service for a little while. In this capacity is health assured. For everything the mind employs for this will function flawlessly, and with the strength that has been given it and cannot fail.
It is, perhaps, not easy to perceive that self-initiated plans are but defenses, with the purpose all of them were made to realize. They are the means by which a frightened mind would undertake its own protection, at the cost of truth. This is not difficult to realize in some forms which these self-deceptions take, where the denial of reality is very obvious. Yet planning is not often recognized as a defense.
The mind engaged in planning for itself is occupied in setting up control of future happenings. It does not think that it will be provided for, unless it makes its own provisions. Time becomes a future emphasis, to be controlled by learning and experience obtained from past events and previous beliefs. It overlooks the present, for it rests on the idea the past has taught enough to let the mind direct its future course.
The mind that plans is thus refusing to allow for change. What it has learned before becomes the basis for its future goals. Its past experience directs its choice of what will happen. And it does not see that here and now is everything it needs to guarantee a future quite unlike the past, without a continuity of any old ideas and sick beliefs. Anticipation plays no part at all, for present confidence directs the way.
Defenses are the plans you undertake to make against the truth. Their aim is to select what you approve, and disregard what you consider incompatible with your beliefs of your reality. Yet what remains is meaningless indeed. For it is your reality that is the “threat” which your defenses would attack, obscure, and take apart and crucify.
What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good? Perhaps you have misunderstood His plan, for He would never offer pain to you. But your defenses did not let you see His loving blessing shine in every step you ever took. While you made plans for death, He led you gently to eternal life.
Your present trust in Him is the defense that promises a future undisturbed, without a trace of sorrow, and with joy that constantly increases, as this life becomes a holy instant, set in time, but heeding only immortality. Let no defenses but your present trust direct the future, and this life becomes a meaningful encounter with the truth that only your defenses would conceal.
Without defenses, you become a light which Heaven gratefully acknowledges to be its own. And it will lead you on in ways appointed for your happiness according to the ancient plan, begun when time was born. Your followers will join their light with yours, and it will be increased until the world is lighted up with joy. And gladly will our brothers lay aside their cumbersome defenses, which availed them nothing and could only terrify.
We will anticipate that time today with present confidence, for this is part of what was planned for us. We will be sure that everything we need is given us for our accomplishment of this today. We make no plans for how it will be done, but realize that our defenselessness is all that is required for the truth to dawn upon our minds with certainty.
For fifteen minutes twice today we rest from senseless planning, and from every thought that blocks the truth from entering our minds. Today we will receive instead of plan, that we may give instead of organize. And we are given truly, as we say:
If I defend myself I am attacked. But in defenselessness I will be strong, and I will learn what my defenses hide.
Nothing but that. If there are plans to make, you will be told of them. They may not be the plans you thought were needed, nor indeed the answers to the problems which you thought confronted you. But they are answers to another kind of question, which remains unanswered yet in need of answering until the Answer comes to you at last.
All your defenses have been aimed at not receiving what you will receive today. And in the light and joy of simple trust, you will but wonder why you ever thought that you must be defended from release. Heaven asks nothing. It is hell that makes extravagant demands for sacrifice. You give up nothing in these times today when, undefended, you present yourself to your Creator as you really are.
He has remembered you. Today we will remember Him. For this is Eastertime in your salvation. And you rise again from what was seeming death and hopelessness. Now is the light of hope reborn in you, for now you come without defense, to learn the part for you within the plan of God. What little plans or magical beliefs can still have value, when you have received your function from the Voice for God Himself?
Try not to shape this day as you believe would benefit you most. For you can not conceive of all the happiness that comes to you without your planning. Learn today. And all the world will take this giant stride, and celebrate your Eastertime with you. Throughout the day, as foolish little things appear to raise defensiveness in you and tempt you to engage in weaving plans, remind yourself this is a special day for learning, and acknowledge it with this:
This is my Eastertime. And I would keep it holy. I will not defend myself, because the Son of God needs no defense against the truth of his reality.
When a psychologist who studies well-being ends up with a brain tumor, what happens when she puts her own research into practice? Christina Costa goes beyond the “fight” narrative of cancer — or any formidable personal journey — to highlight the brain benefits of an empowering alternative to fostering resilience in the face of unexpected challenges: gratitude.
This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxUofM, an independent event. TED’s editors chose to feature it for you.
Though published to critical acclaim, Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel, The Power of the Dog, sold poorly and was largely forgotten until its republication in 2001, after which it began to be appreciated as a regional classic. Now, over a half-century after its debut, it may finally get the wider attention it deserves, thanks to Jane Campion’s new film adaptation, which premiered this week on Netflix and in theaters nationwide.
Traditions of disrupting Western genre conventions are almost as old as the genre itself—look no further than Oklahoma! for subversive subtext—but Savage’s novel, which takes place in 1920s Montana, eviscerates the genre more precisely, and fearlessly, than any other work I know. Phil Burbank, the novel’s dominating central character, is a wealthy ranch owner who displays all the accepted markers of Western manhood: grace in the saddle, wit in the saloon, and an apparently unlimited tolerance for pain and discomfort. Phil is also a man in terrified flight from himself, and by the time the reader meets him, he’s buried his vulnerabilities under thick strata of sweat, chaps, and cruelty.
When his brother George, with whom he co-owns the family ranch, marries a young widow named Rose, Phil feels his defenses shaken by the unwitting intruder. He begins to systematically humiliate Rose, a crafty, brutal campaign that leads to a showdown between Phil and Rose’s teenage son Peter. The joke—and the tragedy—is that the willowy, studious Peter proves to be a far more formidable antagonist than Phil himself. In The Power of the Dog, the masculinity so tirelessly defined and celebrated by the Western genre is not a cure for weakness, but a cover for it.In The Power of the Dog, the masculinity so tirelessly defined and celebrated by the Western genre is not a cure for weakness, but a cover for it.
The novel is spare, chilling, and finely crafted, and while its action feels as fated as a Greek epic, it still manages to shock. Phil is a mesmerizing villain, with a vicious charisma that disintegrates as the secret of his sexuality heaves into view. Peter—who, as the novel hints, is also gay—has none of Phil’s manipulative charm, but he has the outsider’s advantage: rejected for his effeminacy and his resolute disinterest in the cowboy code, he has little to fear from others or himself. Savage, who was married to a woman for 50 years but had a passionate, clandestine affair with the children’s book author Tomie dePaola, must have felt some sympathy with both characters.
Campion’s version foregrounds the conflict between Phil and Peter, and the contrast between their definitions of masculinity. The movie’s first lines are Peter’s, in a voiceover during the title sequence: “For what kind of man would I be if I did not help my mother? If I did not save her?” As Phil, Benedict Cumberbatch ably expresses his character’s inner agony, welling up at George’s perceived betrayal even as he plots to destroy his brother’s marriage (George and Rose are played by real-life couple Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst). But while Cumberbatch is a past master at portraying toxic genius (see his Sherlock Holmes, Patrick Melrose, Dominic Cummings, and Doctor Strange, among others), he gets few chances to do so here. The audience is told Phil is smart—“Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, wasn’t it?” one ranch guest inquires—but he displays only flashes of the intelligence he wields in the book.
In Savage’s version, Phil is hazily conscious of what he’s trying to hide, to some extent fooling even himself. In the film, he keeps his late lover’s neckerchief tenderly stuffed in his pants. Self-awareness makes him a dimmer, sadder, less menacing figure, as do his almost comically telegraphed compensations: at one point in the film, Phil picks up a bulky fencepost and ostentatiously pounds it into the ground while Peter (played by Kodi Smith-McPhee) inspects a flower nearby. Though shot in New Zealand, the film communicates the grand scale and beauty of Savage’s Montana—along with the isolation that can both befriend and torment.Indeed, the whole Western genre looks pretty queer in retrospect.
When The Power of the Dog was first published, the Western genre was already past its heyday, and its popularity would soon be overwhelmed by science fiction and fantasy. Even in 1967, the novel was arguably disemboweling a dead horse. Since then, definitions of masculinity have multiplied and expanded, and queerness has become more visible, and at least somewhat more accepted, even within cowboy culture: the first gay rodeo was held less than a decade after the novel appeared and is now a beloved regional institution. Indeed, the whole Western genre looks pretty queer in retrospect. “Now even the most classic Western seems more international, sexually ambiguous, and stylized than it once may have appeared,” observes historian Josh Garrett-Davis in his book What Is a Western?
Still, the cultural grip of the genre’s masculine ideal hasn’t loosened much. Since 1967, two US presidents have self-consciously styled themselves as cowboys, with foreign policies to match. Most science fiction classics are Westerns transferred to other galaxies, with homophobia, sexism, and colonialism intact. And the internet has, of course, created a new frontier for cowboy culture, another place where disaffected young men can shout down those they view as threats to their rigidly conceived identities.
I saw The Power of the Dog in Portland, Oregon, at the Hollywood Theater, which opened its doors in 1926, just a year after the central events in the novel. Less than two blocks from the theater is the Hollywood Transit Center, where in 2017 two teenage girls, both of whom are Black and one of whom was wearing a headscarf, were accosted on the light-rail train by a man yelling anti-Muslim slurs. When three male passengers intervened to protect the girls, the assailant attacked them with a knife, killing two and grievously wounding the third. For months afterward, the transit center doubled as a shrine, decorated with flowers and chalked with expressions of grief and outrage.
Meanwhile, the right-wing extremists with whom the perpetrator associated continue to preach hate and violence, encouraging their faithful to lash out rather than find the courage to look within. The sun may have set on the Western genre, but we still need reminding that those with the biggest hats have the fewest cattle.
Eternalised Carl Jung warns us against the dangers of the shadow (the unknown dark side of our personality). We must acknowledge our shadow and enter into long and difficult negotiations with it through shadow work. Only then can we become conscious of the collective shadow (the unknown dark side of mankind) and not fall prey to it. Exploring our shadow allows us to rescue the good qualities that lie dormant within us, which improves our lives and the lives of those around us. We can then face the collective shadow and take responsibility to address the denial of important issues and a lack of individual and collective initiative. Telling the truth is the most desirable way to deal with a difficult past, rather than dismissing the atrocities and having the shadow grow blacker until it can no grow no more, and thus history repeats itself.
Baruch was well-known, and often walked or sat in Washington, D.C’s Lafayette Park and in New York City’s Central Park. It was not uncommon for him to discuss government affairs with other people while sitting on a park bench. This became his most famous characteristic.[citation needed] and was also referenced in parody in the 1949 Bugs Bunny animated short, Rebel Rabbit.
Winston Churchill and Baruch were personal friends, and Churchill sometimes stayed in Baruch’s New York home when visiting the United States.[citation needed]
In 1960, on his ninetieth birthday, a commemorative park bench in Lafayette Park across from the White House was dedicated to Baruch[26][27] by the Boy Scouts.[28] A life-size bronze of Baruch sitting on a park bench is in the Lobby at Baruch College’s Vertical Campus at 1 Bernard Baruch Way in NYC.
He continued to advise on international affairs until his death on June 20, 1965, in New York City, at the age of 94.[30] His funeral at Temple Shaaray Tefila, the family synagogue, was attended by 700 people.[31] His grave is at Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, Queens, New York City.
Not just a meme, but a masterpiece – why the Mona Lisa earns its exalted place in art
Ceaselessly flocked by tourists at the Louvre Museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503-17) is perhaps the world’s most recognisable work of art. Yet, when you consider that the painting is a small and rather innocuous portrait of a silk-merchant’s wife, it’s easy to wonder – why is that, exactly? In this instalment of his YouTube series Great Art Explained, the UK curator, gallerist and video essayist James Payne argues that the famed depiction of a lady with wandering eyes and a slight smile isn’t just an inescapable cultural meme, but a bonafide masterpiece as well. Exploring the history, mastery and mystery behind the work, Payne provides a straightforward and comprehensive analysis of why, five centuries later, the Mona Lisa still matters.
Matthew Stelzner This is a powerful month of astronomy and astrology, and in this video I share about a range of events to be aware of. First, we have Venus at the brightest part of her cycle, putting on a display every night after sunset, and you’ll see her in a beautiful alignment with Saturn and Jupiter above her. She is also in a tight, long-lasting, conjunction with Pluto until mid January, and I focus on this for much of the video. In total, this will be a nearly three month Venus-Pluto conjunction, so it is a profound time to receive the lessons that these two have to share about our need for deep intimacy, transformational love, and healing sexuality. They have so much to teach about the beauty of nature and how nature is the greatest artist. It is a time to learn the deepest lessons about love and to have the deepest experiences that love has to offer. It is a time to surrender to the transformational lessons of deep love, and to be willing to open your heart further than ever before. Perhaps it is also a time for reflections on the shadow side of love and the wounds that sometimes keep our hearts closed. These two have teachings on the times when our powerful attractions can take us deep into the underworld, but Venus guides us through those deep places with her light, and this month, her final one in the evening sky, is her triumph over darkness. I hope you will take time this month to go out into a beautiful place in nature to observe Venus, and know that as you gaze at her in the darkness you will also be looking in the direction of Pluto, who is out in the deepest hidden reaches of our solar system. My experience is that the more time you devote to spending time with Venus in nature, simply looking at her and sharing your appreciation of her, the more she shows you her own love and appreciation for you. She does this by pulling you towards herself in beautiful natural settings, pulling you towards sweet pleasures, pulling you towards artistic creativity, and most assuredly pulling you towards deep love and intimacy with yourself and others in your life. All year long I’ve been following Venus and her presence in the evening sky, paying special attention to her conjunctions with the Moon each month. There have been seven of these Moon-Venus conjunctions so far, and the eighth and final evening sky conjunction happens on December 6th. This is sure to be striking to see with Venus so bright, so I hope you will get out to see her (and look for Saturn and Jupiter above her in equidistant elegant symmetry with each other). Another super cool thing I share about in this video is that we have a comet fast approaching the Earth, and it may become visible to the naked eye over the next two weeks. It is named comet Leonard, and It is closest to the Earth between 12/13-12/15. Amazingly, and this is what’s so cool, it will be conjunct Venus (and Pluto) 12/16-12/18, being within just 2-4 degrees of her radiance on those days. How remarkable that while Pluto and Venus are already bringing us lessons on love from deep outer space, another visitor from even deeper outer space (Leonard’s orbit around the Sun is once every 80,000 years), will be joining them both for a once-in-many lifetimes masterclass on the deepest mysteries of love, beauty, and art. So while you are out connecting with Venus this month, know that a comet is heading strait for her and will be so close that it may cause a meteor shower on her surface. This will make it easy to find the comet, as you will just need to look for Venus and it will be within a few degrees. I talk about this in the video, and you will find links to more information in the description box below the video. Comets are notoriously unpredictable, and it is not yet clear how visible Leonard will be, but for sure you will be able to see it with binoculars. Good video on Comet Leonard: https://youtu.be/J9Dji1rRoyw Good article on Comet Leonard: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecar… To check out more of my work, see my blog, and get information about my intuitive readings, visit my website at: http://stelz.biz/ Sign up for my mailing list here: http://stelz.biz/register-for-my-emai… If you sign up for my mailing list you will also receive my newsletter and special promotions. Check me out on Instagram where you will find unique content that is not shared here: @tarot_and_lola
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