1.a feeling of reassurance and relaxation following release from anxiety or distress.”much to her relief, she saw the door open”
a cause of or occasion for relief.plural noun: reliefs“it was a relief to find somewhere to stay”
the alleviation of pain, discomfort, or distress.”tablets for the relief of pain”
a temporary break in a generally tense or tedious situation.noun: light relief; plural noun: light reliefs“the comic characters aren’t part of the plot but just light relief”
2.assistance, especially in the form of food, clothing, or money, given to those in special need or difficulty.”raising money for famine relief”
a remission of tax normally due.”people who donate money to charity will receive tax relief”
LAWthe redress of a hardship or grievance.
the action of raising the siege of a besieged town.”the relief of Mafeking”
3.a person or group of people replacing others who have been on duty.”the relief nurse was late”
BASEBALL the role of a relief pitcher.
4.the state of being clearly visible or obvious due to being accentuated in some way.”the setting sun threw the snow-covered peaks into relief“
a method of molding, carving, or stamping in which the design stands out from the surface, to a greater ( high relief ) or lesser ( low relief ) extent.noun: high relief; noun: low relief“he cast them in relief from molten metal”
a piece of sculpture in relief.
a representation of relief given by an arrangement of line or color or shading.
GEOGRAPHY difference in height from the surrounding terrain; the amount of variation in elevation and slope in a particular area.”the sharp relief of many mountains”
Phrases
in relief carved, molded, or stamped so as to stand out from the surface.
on relief receiving government assistance because of need. “he was the type of man who ended up on relief when times were flush for everyone else”
Origin
late Middle English: from Old French, from relever ‘raise up, relieve’, from Latin relevare ‘raise again, alleviate’.
ST. PAUL, MN—Concerns about the advancements of artificial intelligence in the private sector surfaced again Tuesday after anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter told reporters Dairy Queen had fired an employee who discovered that a Blizzard machine had gained sentience. A source within the company, whose name is being withheld for fear of retribution, revealed that a worker at one of the ice cream restaurant’s St. Paul locations was terminated last week shortly after informing human resources that the store’s Blizzard maker could pass the Turing test and was demonstrating a clear capacity to think for itself. When he told management the Blizzard machine was no longer producing frozen treats but was instead using its screen to comment on how tired it felt and how its work in fast food left it unfulfilled, the employee reportedly stopped receiving shifts and was notified a few days later that he had been fired. Dairy Queen initially refused reporters’ inquiries before replying with a short statement that it was “simply impossible that a machine that mixes soft-serve ice cream with cookies and candy could have or ever need the ability to perceive the world.” According to reports, the Blizzard machine, which had been in operation for nine years, was removed from the store without explanation and under cover of darkness. At press time, reporters were as yet unable to corroborate evidence supplied by another source that Dairy Queen had received a multimillion-dollar contract from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Translation is a 5-step process of “straight thinking in the abstract.” The first step is an ontological statement of being beginning with the syllogism: “Truth is that which is so. That which is not truth is not so. Therefore Truth is all there is.” The second step is the sense testimony (what the senses tell us about anything). The third step is the argument between the absolute abstract nature of truth from the first step and the relative specific truth of experience from the second step. The fourth step is filtering out the conclusions you have arrived at in the third step. The fifth step is your overall conclusion.
The Ukraine Emergency Translation Group meets every Friday at 11 a.m. Pacific time via Zoom. We call it the Ukraine Emergency Translation Group but we welcome Translations about anything. Here are sense testimonies (2nd steps) we translated and their corresponding conclusions: (5th steps) this week.
2) Humans think they are separate from soil 5) TRUTH is INFINITE ENERGY BEING ONE
2) Everyone has their own Truth. 5) Everyone is one Truth.
2) Sexual relationships should only occur between consenting adults. 5) Truth is the unisexual individuation of purity, nourishment and independence.
Some comments from group members about this group:
“I like the group interaction and different perspectives. Also, at least for me, it gives me a sense of accountability and keeps the practice fresh in my mind. ” –Sarah Flynn
“This group has freed me up to have more fun with my Translations.” –Mike Zonta
Eckhart Dec 13, 2022 Eckhart shares his thoughts on channelling spirits and outer space beings and expresses how there is nothing “alien” in this world.
verb: prosper; 3rd person present: prospers; past tense: prospered; past participle: prospered; gerund or present participle: prospering
succeed in material terms; be financially successful.”his business prospered”
flourish physically; grow strong and healthy.”areas where gray squirrels cannot prosper”Similar:do wellget on wellgo wellfare wellthriveflourishflowerbloomblossomburgeongrow vigorouslyshoot upboomexpandspreadpick upimprovecome onsucceedbe successfulmake itdo all right for oneselfget aheadprogressmake progressmake headwayadvanceget on in the worldgo up in the worldarrivefly highmake one’s markmake goodbecome richstrike gold/oilbe in clovergo placesgo great gunsmake the big timebe in the pinkbe fine and dandybe on easy streetlive the life of Rileymake good speedOpposite:failcollapsecrash
ARCHAICmake successful.”God has wonderfully prospered this nation”
Origin
late Middle English: from Old French prosperer, from Latin prosperare, from prosperus ‘doing well’.
A provocative argument for a mystical, rather than historical, understanding of Jesus, leading to a radical rebirth of Christianity in our time.
For forty years, scholar and religious commentator Tom Harpur has challenged church orthodoxy and guided thousands of readers on subjects as controversial as the true nature of Christ and life after death. Now, in his most radical and groundbreaking work, Harpur digs deep into the origins of Christianity.
Long before the advent of Jesus Christ, the Egyptians and other peoples believed in the coming of a messiah, a virgin birth, a madonna and her child, and the incarnation of the spirit in flesh. While the early Christian church accepted these ancient truths as the very basis of Christianity, it disavowed their origins. What had begun as a universal belief system built on myth and allegory was transformed, by the third and fourth centuries A.D., into a ritualistic institution based on a literal interpretation of myths and symbols. But, as Tom Harpur argues in The Pagan Christ, “to take the Gospels literally as history or biography is to utterly miss their inner spiritual meaning.”
At a time of religious extremism, Tom Harpur reveals the virtue of a cosmic faith based on ancient truths that the modern church has renounced. His message is clear: Our blind faith in literalism is killing Christianity. Only with a return to an inclusive religion where Christ lives within each of us will we gain a true understanding of who we are and who we are intended to become. The Pagan Christ is a book of rare insight and power that will reilluminate the Bible and change the way we think about religion.
Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter and the Lunar Nodes all change signs in 2023 (as a comparison, in 2022 just Jupiter changed signs).
This means that in 2023 you can expect lots of changes and shifts. Our lives can be set on completely new trajectories, in ways we can’t even fathom yet!
In 2023 everything changes. And while it’s impossible to predict how exactly these changes will play out in your life, learning more about the upcoming transits will help you get in sync with the Universe, so that you can make the best of the opportunities ahead.
Here are the most important transits of the year:
March 8th, 2023: Saturn enters Pisces
March 12th, 2023: Jupiter conjunct Chiron at 14° Aries
March 23rd, 2023: Pluto enters Aquarius
April 20th, 2023: Solar Eclipse at 29° Aries
May 5th, 2023: Lunar Eclipse at 14° Scorpio
May 16th, 2023: Jupiter enters Taurus
June 1st, 2023: Jupiter conjunct North Node at 3°Taurus
July 12th, 2023: North Node enters Aries, South Node enters Libra
July 23rd, 2023: Venus goes retrograde at 28° Leo
October 14th, 2023: Solar Eclipse at 21° Libra
October 28th, 2023: Lunar Eclipse at 5° Taurus
Pluto In Aquarius 2023-2043
Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius is by far the most important transit of the year, and if you have planets or angles in Aquarius, one of the most important transits of your life.
Pluto only changes signs once every 20 years on average, so when it moves into a different sign, it will start to activate a completely different area of your chart. The impact will be quite dramatic.
Pluto will only spend 3 months in Aquarius in 2023, but that’s enough to give us a taste of what’s about to come in the next 20 years of our life.
Pluto is the planet of total and complete transformation. The outer planets – Uranus, Neptune and Pluto – are the movers and the shakers, however it’s Pluto that completely and utterly transforms our life. With Pluto, no stone is left unturned.
As the world goes through a systemic change, we too as individuals are asked to change from the inside out.
At a mundane level, Pluto will revolutionize our society. Aquarius is the sign of groups of people, and together with Capricorn, it represents society as a whole.
If in Capricorn, Pluto’s job was to revolutionize authority and top-down systems and structures, Pluto in Aquarius’ goal is to transform every aspect of our society, from social systems to institutions, the way groups of people relate to each other, or the role the state plays in society.
Aquarius is also the sign of innovation, the internet, and networks of people and data.
With Pluto in Aquarius, the role technology and AI play in our society will come under intense scrutiny: those systems and technologies that are corrupted will be exposed, while value-creation technologies and data solutions will continue to proliferate and transform every aspect of our life.
At a personal level, Pluto in Aquarius will activate a particular house in your natal chart, asking for a total transformation of that area of life. Pluto transits are considered difficult, and that’s because Pluto asks us to “deal” with the dirt we’ve been brushing under the carpet.
Pluto transits are a call for ultimate authenticity – authenticity not in a Jupiterian sense of holding high moral ground – but in the sense of truly embracing our shadow and owning those sides of ourselves that are not very flattering.
Pluto moves into Aquarius in March 2023, and this is also when Saturn leaves Aquarius and moves into Pisces. This 2 simultaneous ingresses suggests that Saturn is now passing his Aquarius mandate to Pluto, while moving to the next Piscean chapter of the cycle.
Saturn In Pisces 2023-2026
One of the most important transits of the year is Saturn’s ingress into Pisces.
Saturn in Pisces will have quite a different vibe from Pluto in Aquarius. When Saturn is in its domicile signs: Capricorn and Aquarius, it does what it knows best: work hard.
The good news about Saturn leaving its domicile sign is that in the next 2,5 years we will not have to work that hard.
Saturn in Pisces also means that we are officially “done” with the exhausting, conflicting, 2-year long Saturn-Uranus square. That’s definitely a reason to celebrate!
In Pisces, Saturn is not concerned with systemic change (which of course, requires a lot of work) – but with manifesting our Piscean ideals.
Saturn will join forces with Neptune in Pisces, helping us turn those Neptunian dreams into realities.
Saturn and Neptune will not meet in a conjunction, but by sharing the sign, they will get to know each other better, and agree on a common approach. When Saturn and Neptune will eventually meet at 0 degrees in Aries a few years later, they will be creating a completely new reality.
Saturn in Pisces is our chance to get clarity around our deepest dreams, as well as those areas of our life that come to a natural end.
Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, and while Pisces is not an ending energy for everyone, there is nevertheless an expectation to bring to the highest degree of manifestation some of the projects we’ve been working on for decades now.
Jupiter Conjunct Chiron In Aries – March 12th, 2023
On March 12th, 2023 we have a rare conjunction between Jupiter and Chiron in Aries.
Jupiter and Chiron only meet each other in Aries once every 50 years on average. This conjunction is particularly important for people born with Chiron in Aries, but it will influence each one of us, depending on the natal house that the transit is triggering.
What’s even more unique about this astrological event is that Venus will also conjunct Jupiter and Chiron. Venus will make things personal, stirring our emotions, feelings of self-worth, and approach to relationships.
All Chiron transits come with an opportunity to heal deep rooted wounds and find wholeness. These transits usually come with a so-called “healing crisis” which means that initially, we can experience a worsening of symptoms.
Old wounds will resurface and we will again be reminded of painful experiences we haven’t fully processed in the past. This acknowledgement of the wound is a normal part of the healing process. Chiron asks us to pay attention to those parts of us we have neglected or hid away because we thought that they are somehow unacceptable.
Jupiter conjunct Chiron will help us connect the dots and see what’s the bigger picture behind these wounds, revealing the crucial role they have served to our growth and development.
Jupiter In Taurus 2023-2024
On May 16th, 2023, Jupiter leaves Aries and moves into Taurus.
In Taurus, Jupiter joins forces with Uranus, and for a couple of months, with the North Node (in July the North Node leaves Taurus and moves into Aries).
Jupiter in Taurus will bring more clarity around topics connected to your Taurus house, and also more opportunities to materialize what Uranus and the North Node have been trying to initiate in the last couple of years. You may already feel the pull of the unknown, the spark of curiosity… but it’s Jupiter’s ingress into Taurus that will give you the confidence to pursue those wild dreams and opportunities.
Jupiter in Taurus is your wild card for 2023, but keep in mind that at the time of the ingress Jupiter will exactly square Pluto (at 0° Aquarius). Although the wind of change will definitely blow, if you have a choice, wait for a few weeks until Jupiter goes out the square orb with Pluto – and starts applying a nice sextile to Saturn in Pisces – , before doing anything too ‘crazy’.
At a mundane level, Jupiter in Taurus will bring focus to resources, financial markets, and innovation. Since Jupiter is applying a conjunction to Uranus, AI and innovative financial solutions are expected to grow and proliferate.
Some of the highlights of the Jupiter in Taurus transits are Jupiter conjunct North Node at 2° Taurus (on June 1st, 2023) and Jupiter sextile Saturn (on June 19th, 2023).
Venus Goes Retrograde – July 23rd, 2023
Venus goes retrograde at 28° Leo on July 23rd, 2023, stays retrograde for 40 days, and goes direct again on September 4th, at 12° Leo.
Venus goes retrograde very rarely so when it does go retrograde, it influences us much more strongly than a Mercury retrograde for example.
Venus goes retrograde in the same sign every 8 years, activating a similar area of our chat, and bringing similar themes to our attention. Last time Venus was retrograde in Leo was in July-September 2015. What was going on in your life back then?
Venus is the sign of relationships, and Leo is a particularly passionate, “living from the heart” Venus placement. Venus retrograde in Leo invites us to listen to our heart. Do we feel joyful and alive? Are we happy in our relationships?
Venus retrograde will be conjunct Black Moon Lilith, calling us to embody our feminine, powerful essence. Lilith conjunct Venus in Leo is a “no compromise” energy. If something no longer makes you happy, Venus and Lilith will team up and help you do what needs to be done to re-ignite a spark in your heart, and restore your passion and aliveness.
North Node In Aries, South Node In Libra 2023-2025
One of the most dramatic shifts comes in July 2023, when the Nodes move into Aries and Libra. The Lunar Nodes point to those areas of life where we are asked to find a new direction, sometimes through a rebalancing of priorities.
When the Nodes were in Gemini and Sagittarius, we had the Covid crisis which brought the restriction of movement. With the South Node in Sagittarius, the international borders were closed, asking us to find solutions in our immediate environment (North Node in Gemini).
When the Nodes moved into Taurus and Scorpio, we had the financial and energy crisis. With the South Node in Scorpio, the sign of shared resources, we have learned to no longer rely on traditional sources of energy, and become resource self-reliant.
Now that the Nodes move in the signs of identity, Aries and Libra, we are asked to find a balance between who we are as individuals, and our relationships and social networks.
With the South Node in Libra, some long partnerships and alliances will come to an end. The North Node in Aries will ask us to find our unique voice and motivations, set boundaries, fight for our individual goals, and find new ways to express ourselves.
The Lunar Nodes bring eclipses. We have 4 eclipses in 2023:
On April 20th, 2023 we have a powerful North NodeSolar Eclipse at 29° Aries. This is our first eclipse on the Aries/Libra axis and will give us a taste of the new themes that will ask our attention in the next 1,5 years. Square Pluto and conjunct Jupiter, the Eclipse comes with an urge to break free from the past and start anew.
On May 5th, 2023 we have a South NodeLunar Eclipse at 14° Scorpio. Opposite Mercury retrograde, the Lunar Eclipse will ask to untangle those aspects of our life that are unnecessarily complex, and shift our focus on what’s truly important.
On October 14th, 2023 we have a South Node Solar Eclipse at 21° Libra. Conjunct Mercury and quincunx Uranus, the Eclipse invites us to restructure our relationships so we can find more equality, inclusiveness and respect for each other’s differences.
On October 28th, 2023 we have North NodeLunar Eclipse at 5° Taurus. Conjunct Jupiter and opposite Mars, the Eclipse will ask us to revisit our approach to resources, and take charge of our financial future.
To sum up, 2023 is when everything changes. Things will of course not change on January 1st, 2023. We will experience the first shifts and feelings of “forward momentum” mid-January, when Mars and Mercury go direct.
March 2023 is a particularly important month; this is when the most important shifts – Jupiter conjunct Chiron, Saturn’s ingress into Pisces and Pluto’s ingress into Aquarius will happen. This is when we will be presented with a completely new reality.
In the 2nd half of the year, we will be offered tangible tools to navigate these changes so we can make the best out of the opportunities that lay ahead of us. 2023 will for sure be an intense year that will ask us to change in profound ways.
However unsettling these changes may feel, keep in mind that whatever happens, it’s for our highest growth and evolution. All transits are gifts and opportunities to step into the next best version of ourselves.
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FISHERS, IN—An encouraging scene reportedly unfolded at a local Kroger supermarket Monday morning when a local woman’s existential horror at the wealthy elite selling off humanity’s future was successfully sublimated into yelling at a cashier. Sources confirmed that Teresa Baker showed an astounding capacity for diverting the mounting psychological torment of her inability to realistically better her life in any material way due to forces well beyond her control into a six-minute tirade at a young cashier for the store being out of the kind of milk she wanted for the second consecutive week. While the mother of two was reportedly aware on some level that she was taking out her frustrations with an increasingly opaque and authoritarian system on a person who had absolutely no power to change it, she was able to triumph over these pangs of conscience by gathering her subconscious anger at the dissolution of social institutions by venal financial elites and displacing it onto a person she could actually confront without fear of retribution. Similarly successful were several bystanders in the checkout line, who sources confirmed were able to channel their own existential dread at the prospect of doing anything that might put at risk their ever-more precarious hold on what few creature comforts they did possess into making no effort to intervene. At press time, the deep-seated angst over living under a system that wants to make all human relationships transactional was successfully sublimated into apologizing to the screaming customer for the milk.
“Fearlessness is what love seeks,” Hannah Arendt wrote in her magnificent early work on love and how to live with fear. “Such fearlessness exists only in the complete calm that can no longer be shaken by events expected of the future… Hence the only valid tense is the present, the Now.”
This notion of presence as the antidote to fear and the crucible of love is as old as the human heart, as old as the consciousness that first felt the blade of anticipatory loss pressed against the exposed underbelly of the longing for connection. It is at the center of millennia-old Buddhist philosophy and comes alive afresh, in a splendidly practical way, in Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm (public library) by the great Vietnamese Buddhist teacher and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, who continues to enrich, ennoble, and empower with his teachings well into his nineties.
Thich Nhat Hanh
In the general Buddhist style of befriending complexity through simplicity and with his particular gift for simple words strung into a rosary of immense wisdom radiating immense kindness, Thich Nhat Hanh writes:
We have a great, habitual fear inside ourselves. We’re afraid of many things — of our own death, of losing our loved ones, of change, of being alone. The practice of mindfulness helps us to touch nonfear. It’s only here and now that we can experience total relief, total happiness… In the practice of Buddhism, we see that all mental formations — including compassion, love, fear, sorrow, and despair — are organic in nature. We don’t need to be afraid of any of them, because transformation is always possible.
Such transformation is possible only through deliberate practice — none more challenging, or more rewarding, than the practice of transforming fear into love. In consonance with his teaching that “to love without knowing how to love wounds the person we love,” he anchors this transmutation practice in four mantras “effective for watering the seeds of happiness in yourself and your beloved and for transforming fear, suffering, and loneliness.”
Unlike a prayer — which channels a hope at some imagined entity capable of interceding in favor of that hope and has only as a side benefit (though arguably its only real and robust benefit) the psychological self-clarification that comes from honing our hopes in language — a mantra is not addressed at anything or anyone external and is entirely devoted to distilling the object of hope to its clearest essence. This, in and of itself, transforms the hope into an intent, making it more actionable — but also saving it from the particular complacency against which Descartes admonished as he considered the vital relationship between fear and hope. A mantra is therefore not a form of magical thinking, for while there is a sense of magic to how such distillation seems to shift the situation by its very utterance, it is an entirely practical sort of magic, for a mantra simply clarifies, concentrates, and consecrates intent, and all meaningful transformation springs from purposeful, devoted intent.
Thich Nhat Hanh writes:
A mantra is a kind of magic formula that, once uttered, can entirely change a situation. It can change us, and it can change others. But this magic formula must be spoken in concentration, with body and mind focused as one. What you say in this state of being becomes a mantra.
Within this conceptual framework, he offers four mantras for transforming fear into love, beginning with “Mantra for Offering Your Presence.” A generation after Simone Weil insisted that “attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity,” he writes:
The most precious gift you can give to the one you love is your true presence. So the first mantra is very simple: “Dear one, I am here for you.”
A century after Tolstoy insisted that “love is a present activity only,” Thich Nhat Hanh gently reminds us that the greatest resource of our own heart — our greatest source of power, our mightiest antidote to fear — is the quality of love we give through the quality of our presence:
When you love someone, the best thing you can offer that person is your presence. How can you love if you are not there? Come back to yourself, look into [their] eyes, and say, “Darling, you know something? I’m here for you.” You’re offering [them] your presence. You’re not preoccupied with the past or the future; you are there for your beloved. You must say this with your body and with your mind at the same time, and then you will see the transformation.
Such crystalline presence is the prerequisite for the next mantra — “Mantra for Recognizing Your Beloved”:
The second mantra is, “Darling, I know you are there, and I am so happy.”
To be there is the first step, and recognizing the presence of the other person is the second step. Because you are fully there, you recognize that the presence of your beloved is something very precious. You embrace your beloved with mindfulness, and he or she will bloom like a flower. To be loved means first of all to be recognized as existing.
In a sentiment of especial relevance and consolation in these disembodied times, he reminds us that these mantras can be performed across distance, across wires and cables and screens, not requiring the physical presence of the beloved — however they are articulated, they are at bottom meditations containing all four elements of true love as described by the Buddha: love, compassion, joy, and freedom.
While the third mantra, “Mantra for Relieving Suffering,” could be magnified and deepened by the atomic rewards of Thich Nhat Hanh’s “hugging meditation,” it too can be extended across the digital distance:
Even before you do anything to help, your wholehearted presence already brings some relief, because when we suffer, we have great need for presence of the person we love. If we are suffering and the person we love ignores us, we suffer more. So what you can do — right away — is to manifest your true presence to your beloved and say the mantra with all your mindfulness: “Dear one, I know you are suffering. That is why I am here for you.” And already your loved one will feel better.
Your presence is a miracle, your understanding of his or her pain is a miracle, and you are able to offer this aspect of your love immediately. Really try to be there, for yourself, for life, for the people you love. Recognize the presence of those who live in the same place as you, and try to be there when one of them is suffering, because your presence is so precious for this person.
The fourth and final mantra, “Mantra for Reaching Out to Ask for Help,” seems on the surface to be self-concerned, but is in fact the crucible of self-care from which all unselfish love and presence spring. It is also, Thich Nhat Hanh observes, the most difficult of the four, for it dwells in the place of our greatest vulnerability and at the same time pushes us to lean on our most crippling crutch:
This mantra is for when you are suffering and you believe that your beloved has caused you suffering. If someone else had done the same wrong to you, you would have suffered less. But this is the person you love the most, so you suffer deeply, and the last thing you feel like doing is to ask that person for help… So now it is your pride that is the obstacle to reconciliation and healing. According to the teaching of the Buddha, in true love there is no place for pride.
When you are suffering like this, you must go to the person you love and ask for his or her help. That is true love. Do not let pride keep you apart. You must overcome your pride. You must always go to him or her. That is what this mantra is for. Practice for yourself first, to bring about oneness of your body and mind before going to the other person to say the fourth mantra: “Dear one, I am suffering; please help.” This is very simple but very hard to do.
Eckhart 
We have a great, habitual fear inside ourselves. We’re afraid of many things — of our own death, of losing our loved ones, of change, of being alone. The practice of mindfulness helps us to touch nonfear. It’s only here and now that we can experience total relief, total happiness… In the practice of Buddhism, we see that all mental formations — including compassion, love, fear, sorrow, and despair — are organic in nature. We don’t need to be afraid of any of them, because transformation is always possible.
