News

By Sharmila Kuthunur published yesterday (Space.com)

“The most exciting point is we’re getting back to it — we’re getting back to contemplating what human exploration of the moon could look like.”

As NASA prepares to send astronauts to the moon for the first time in more than half a century, the agency is revising its long-term plans for Earth’s natural satellite.

Speaking at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference on Monday (March 16), NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said that Artemis 2 remains on track for an April 1 launch. If successful, the mission will send astronauts farther from Earth than humans have ever traveled before, surpassing the distance record set by Apollo 13 in 1970.

“The most exciting point is, we’re getting back to it,” Kshatriya said. “We’re getting back to contemplating what human exploration of the moon could look like.”Article continues below You may like

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Click here for more Space.com videos…

The roughly 10-day mission will carry commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen on a trajectory around the far side of the moon. At closest approach, the moon will appear to them about the size of a basketball held at arm’s length. From that vantage point, the astronauts will document various surface features, including regions scientists believe have never been seen by humans.

“We tell the crew that their verbal descriptions are actually going to be the monumental scientific data set from this mission,” said Ariel Deutsch, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California and a member of the science team helping plan Artemis 2 observations. “As humans, the crew provides critical perceptual context that just can’t be replicated with robotic sensors.”

The Artemis 2 crew may spend up to six hours conducting observations, using handheld Nikon cameras, recording verbal descriptions, and making sketches and annotations on tablets. While many lunar targets are large or otherwise easy to identify, scientists are particularly interested in subtle variations in color, lighting and terrain — features human perception can capture in ways that instruments alone may miss, Deutsch said.

Click here for more Space.com videos…

To guide the effort, NASA has developed an interactive lunar atlas to help the crew track priority targets based on lighting and viewing conditions during the flyby. The final observation plan will be uploaded after launch, once the spacecraft’s precise trajectory is confirmed, said Deutsch.

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Preparation for Artemis 2 has included three years of training rooted in Apollo-era techniques, particularly field geology, along with an intensive “lunar fundamentals” course designed to build the vocabulary and observational skills needed to describe the moon from orbit, said Cindy Evans of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who led the geology training program for the crew.

“We practiced a lot their visual observations and their descriptions,” Evans said, “so that they would feel confident in being able to talk about the moon and knowing that they were talking about critical features that are important to lunar scientists back on the Earth.”

A more flexible path back to the moon

Artemis 2 was, until recently, billed as the precursor to a crewed lunar landing in 2028. But in late February, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that milestone will shift from Artemis 3, as originally planned, to Artemis 4, which is now positioned to become the first crewed moon landing since the Apollo era.What to read next

• NASA is overhauling its Artemis program. What does that mean for humanity’s return to the moon?
• NASA’s Artemis 3 astronauts won’t land on the moon after all. ‘This is just not the right pathway forward.’
• NASA chief flies over Artemis 2 moon rocket | Space photo of the day for Feb. 5, 2025

The ultimate destination remains the lunar south pole, a region believed to harbor water ice — a crucial resource for future human exploration — in permanently shadowed craters. But the terrain there is far more challenging than the relatively smooth equatorial sites visited during Apollo, with steep slopes, rugged mountains and extreme lighting conditions.

“The whole point is to get down to the south pole,” Kshatriya said. “I think we agree, still, hopefully, that that’s the right place to go. We are going to keep our sights there.”

To make that goal “more achievable,” NASA is opening up the performance specifications for early Artemis landing missions “in as many ways as we can,” Kshatriya said. The changes allow greater flexibility in spacecraft orbits and mission design, accounting for capabilities and limitations of current systems while giving industry partners more freedom to propose faster paths forward, he said.

“But we’re not yet giving up on the south pole, and I don’t think we will, because I think that’s a place we need to go,” Kshatriya said. “We need to challenge ourselves, and we need to go to some place that we’ve never been.”

The revised strategy places increased emphasis on robotic precursor missions to lay the groundwork for a sustained human presence. NASA envisions a steady cadence of robotic landings near the south pole — potentially as often as monthly — beginning as early as 2027, to gather data on temperature extremes, soil properties and communications challenges.

The data will help reduce risk for future crews and “actually give ourselves a credible shot at aggregating a lunar base in the right spot,” Kshatriya said.

“We’re not just going to plop down a magical bubble dome that everybody lives in and has plants and amazing things,” he said. “We know that that’s not credible.”

The strategy shift comes amid delays to SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket, whose upper stage NASA tapped to be the Artemis program’s first crewed moon lander. Under the original architecture, Artemis 3 depended on the completion of several complex milestones that Starship has yet to demonstrate. These include large-scale transfer and storage of super-cooled propellant in space, as well as a dozen or so refueling flights in Earth orbit before the vehicle can head to the moon.

Click here for more Space.com videos…

NASA has also selected the Blue Moon lander from Blue Origin, which has paused its suborbital space tourism efforts for at least two years to accelerate development of its lunar lander. NASA plans to test the rendezvous and docking capabilities of Orion alongside Starship and/or Blue Moon in Earth orbit during Artemis 3, which is now targeted to launch in 2027

NASA hopes the revised plan will keep it on track for a lunar landing in 2028, while also positioning the agency to return astronauts to the moon before China — and before the end of the current U.S. presidential term in January 2029.

Kshatriya said meeting that timeline will require what he described as “a sea change” in how NASA works with industry.

“It’s going to take NASA folks rolling up their sleeves and getting side by side with industry to finish some of these things,” he said, “which I think a lot of us want to do anyway, but that’s what it’s going to take.”

“It’s ambitious, but I think we can do it.”

Sharmila Kuthunur

Contributing Writer

Sharmila Kuthunur is an independent space journalist based in Bengaluru, India. Her work has also appeared in Scientific American, Science, Astronomy and Live Science, among other publications. She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University in Boston.

by Rob Brezsny | March 17, 2026 (NewCity.com)

Photo: Katarzyna Pypla

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 1960, Aries primatologist Jane Goodall arrived in Tanzania to study the social and family lives of chimpanzees. Her intention was to engage in patient, long-term observation. In subsequent months, she saw the creatures using tools, a skill that scientists had previously believed only humans could do. She also found that “it isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought and emotions like joy and sorrow.” Her discoveries revolutionized our understanding of animal intelligence. I recommend her approach to you in the coming weeks, Aries. Your diligent, tenacious attention can supplant outmoded assumptions. Let the details and rhythms of what you’re studying reveal their deeper truths. Your affectionate watchfulness will change the story.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Ancient Romans had a household deity called Cardea, goddess of hinges and thresholds. She protected the pivot points, like the places where the inside meets the outside and where one state transforms into another. In the coming weeks, you Tauruses will benefit from befriending a similar deity. I hope you will pay eager attention to the metaphorical hinges in your world: the thresholds, portals, transitions and in-between times. They may sometimes feel awkward because they lack the certainty you crave. But I guarantee that they are where the best magic congregates.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You are fluent in the art of fruitful contradiction. While others pursue one-dimensional consistency, you thrive on the fact that the truth is too wild and multifaceted to be captured in a single, simple story. You make spirited use of paradox and enjoy being enchanted by riddles. You can be both serious and playful, committed and curious, strong and receptive. In the coming weeks, Gemini, I hope you will express these superpowers to the max. The world doesn’t need another person who separates everything into neat little categories. Your nimble intelligence and charming multiplicity are the gifts your allies need most.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi celebrates imperfection, impermanence and the soulfulness that comes with age. A weathered wooden gate may be considered more beautiful than a new one. Its surface has a silvery grain from years of exposure to rain and sun. Its hinges creak from long use by countless passersby. Let’s invoke this lovely concept as we ruminate on your life, Cancerian. In my astrological estimation, it’s important that in the coming months you don’t treat your incompleteness as a deficit requiring correction. Consider the possibility that your supposed blemishes may be among your most interesting features. The idiosyncratic aspects of your character are precisely what make you a source of vitality.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In medieval Japan, swordsmiths would undertake spiritual purifications before beginning work on a new blade: abstinence, ritual bathing, prayer and fasting. They believed that the quality of their consciousness influenced the quality of their creation—that the blade would absorb the maker’s mental and spiritual state. I bring this to your attention because you’re in a phase when your inner condition will have extra potent effects on everything you build, develop or initiate. My advice: Prepare yourself with impeccable care before launching new projects. Purify your motivations. Clarify your vision. The creations you will be generating could serve you well for a long time.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Master chess players don’t necessarily calculate more moves ahead than amateurs. Their years of study enable them to perceive the developing trends in a single glance, bypassing complex analysis. What appears to be stellar intuition is actually compressed expertise. You’re in a phase when you can make abundant use of this capacity, Virgo. Again and again, your accumulated experience will crystallize into immediate knowing. So don’t second-guess your first assessments, OK? Trust the pattern recognition that you have cultivated through the years.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The cosmic powers have granted you a triple-strength, extra-long, time-release dose of sweet, fresh certainty. During the grace period that’s beginning, you will be less tempted to indulge in doubt and indecision. A fountain of resolve will rise up in you whenever you need it. Though at first the lucid serenity you feel may seem odd, you could grow accustomed to it—so much so that you could permanently lose up to twenty percent of your chronic tendency to vacillate.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Crows can hold grudges against individual humans for years. But they also remember acts of kindness and bring gifts like shiny objects and buttons to those who’ve helped them. They’re capable of both revenge and gratitude, and they never forget either. I suspect you’re entering a period when you’ll need to decide which of your crow-like qualities to emphasize, Scorpio. You have legitimate grievances worth remembering. You have also received gifts worth honoring. My counsel: Spend twenty percent of your emotional energy on remembering wrongs (enough to protect yourself) and eighty percent on remembering what has helped you thrive. Make gratitude your primary teacher, even as you stay wisely wary.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): More than any other zodiac sign, you Sagittarians can be both a discontented rebel and a sunny celebrant of life. You can see clearly what’s out of alignment and needs adjustment without surrendering your wry, amused tolerance. This double capacity will be especially useful to you in the coming days. You may not find many allies who share this aptitude, though, so you should lean on your own instincts and heed the following suggestions: Be joyfully defiant. Be a generous agitator and an open-hearted critic. Blessings will find their way to you as you subvert the stale status quo with creativity and kindness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your persistence and endurance are among your greatest gifts to the world. You’re committed to building useful structures that outlast transitory moods and trends. On behalf of all the other signs, I say THANK YOU!, dear Capricorn. You understand that real power comes from showing up consistently and doing unglamorous work, refraining from the temptation to score quick and superficial victories. May you always recognize that your pragmatism is a form of loving faith. Your cautionary care is rooted in generosity. Now here’s my plea: More than ever before, the rest of us need you to express these talents with full vigor.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): One of your power symbols right now is the place where two tributaries blend into a single river. A second is where your favorite tree enters the earth. Here are other images to excite your imagination and stimulate your creativity: the boundary between cloud and sky; the darkness where your friend’s shadow overlaps yours; and the time between when the sun sets and night falls. To sum up, Aquarius, I hope you will access extra inspiration in liminal areas. Seek the vibrant revelations that arise where one mystery coalesces with another.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Poet Mark Doty wrote, “The sea doesn’t reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. We should lie as empty, open, and choiceless as a beach—waiting for gifts from the sea.” This quote captures your Piscean genius when it’s working at its best. Others may exhaust themselves trying to force results, but you know that the best gifts often come to those who are patient, open and relaxed. This is true right now more than ever before. I hope you will practice intense receptivity. Protect your permeability like the superpower it is. Be as supple and responsive as you dare.

Homework: What message will you send the person you’ll be in three years? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

Published: March 18, 2026 (TheOnion.com)

THE HEAVENS—Expressing frustration with the sky-rise apartment complex going up right outside His celestial home, God Almighty, Supreme Leader of the Universe, confirmed Wednesday that He was angry about the new construction blocking His view of creation. “I worked hard to have a Heavenly Kingdom from which I can gaze down upon all the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky, but now I’ve got this giant orange crane obstructing almost everything,” said the Lord, adding that when He sat upon His holy throne, the entire Amazon Rainforest was obscured behind the scaffolding that had been erected for what is estimated to be paradise’s largest building project in nearly 6,000 years. “And by the time they finish putting up these bullshit condos, it won’t just be the breathtaking splendor I can’t see anymore. I won’t even have a view of places like Antarctica, the deserts, the ocean’s dead zones, or Wichita, KS. It’ll just be these dumb luxury apartments. Not to mention the cherubim and seraphim can’t sleep with all the endless drilling and jackhammering going on up here.” God went on to state that the massive new multiunit dwellings would bring down property values on every gold-paved street in heaven.

By Maria Popova (themarginalian.org)

In every life, there comes a time when we are razed to the bone of our resilience by losses beyond our control — lacerations of the heart that feel barely bearable, that leave us bereft of solid ground. What then?

“In art,” Kafka assured his teenage walking companion, “one must throw one’s life away in order to gain it.” As in art, so in life — so suggests the American Tibetan Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chödrön. In When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (public library), she draws on her own confrontation with personal crisis and on the ancient teachings of Tibetan Buddhism to offer gentle and incisive guidance to the enormity we stand to gain during those times when all seems to be lost. Half a century after Albert Camus asserted that “there is no love of life without despair of life,” Chödrön reframes those moments of acute despair as opportunities for befriending life by befriending ourselves in the deepest sense.

“Liminal Worlds” by Maria Popova. Available as a print.

Writing in that Buddhist way of wrapping in simple language the difficult and beautiful truths of existence, Chödrön examines the most elemental human response to the uncharted territory that comes with loss or any other species of unforeseen change:

Fear is a universal experience. Even the smallest insect feels it. We wade in the tidal pools and put our finger near the soft, open bodies of sea anemones and they close up. Everything spontaneously does that. It’s not a terrible thing that we feel fear when faced with the unknown. It is part of being alive, something we all share. We react against the possibility of loneliness, of death, of not having anything to hold on to. Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.

If we commit ourselves to staying right where we are, then our experience becomes very vivid. Things become very clear when there is nowhere to escape.

This clarity, Chödrön argues, is a matter of becoming intimate with fear and rather than treating it as a problem to be solved, using it as a tool with which to dismantle all of our familiar structures of being, “a complete undoing of old ways of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and thinking.” Noting that bravery is not the absence of fear but the intimacy with fear, she writes:

When we really begin to do this, we’re going to be continually humbled. There’s not going to be much room for the arrogance that holding on to ideals can bring. The arrogance that inevitably does arise is going to be continually shot down by our own courage to step forward a little further. The kinds of discoveries that are made through practice have nothing to do with believing in anything. They have much more to do with having the courage to die, the courage to die continually.

In essence, this is the hard work of befriending ourselves, which is our only mechanism for befriending life in its completeness. Out of that, Chödrön argues, arises our deepest strength:

Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.

[…]

Things falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

“Broken/hearted” by Maria Popova. Available as a print.

Decades after Rollo May made his case for the constructiveness of despair, Chödrön considers the fundamental choice we have in facing our unsettlement — whether with aggressive aversion or with generative openness to possibility:

Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, nonaggressive, open-ended state of affairs.

To stay with that shakiness — to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge — that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic — this is the spiritual path. Getting the knack of catching ourselves, of gently and compassionately catching ourselves, is the path of the warrior. We catch ourselves one zillion times as once again, whether we like it or not, we harden into resentment, bitterness, righteous indignation — harden in any way, even into a sense of relief, a sense of inspiration.

Half a century after Alan Watts began introducing Eastern teachings into the West with his clarion call for presence as the antidote to anxiety, Chödrön points to the present moment — however uncertain, however difficult — as the sole seedbed of wakefulness to all of life:

This very moment is the perfect teacher, and it’s always with us.

[…]

We can be with what’s happening and not dissociate. Awakeness is found in our pleasure and our pain, our confusion and our wisdom, available in each moment of our weird, unfathomable, ordinary everyday lives.

Illustration by Lisbeth Zwerger from a special edition of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales

Remaining present and intimate with the moment, she argues, requires mastering maitri — the Buddhist practice of loving-kindness toward oneself, that most difficult art of self-compassion. She contrasts maitri with the typical Western therapy and self-help method of handling crises:

What makes maitri such a different approach is that we are not trying to solve a problem. We are not striving to make pain go away or to become a better person. In fact, we are giving up control altogether and letting concepts and ideals fall apart. This starts with realizing that whatever occurs is neither the beginning nor the end. It is just the same kind of normal human experience that’s been happening to everyday people from the beginning of time. Thoughts, emotions, moods, and memories come and they go, and basic nowness is always here.

[…]

In the midst of all the heavy dialogue with ourselves, open space is always there.

Another Buddhist concept at odds with our Western coping mechanisms is the Tibetan expression ye tang che. Chödrön explains its connotations, evocative of Camus’s insistence on the vitalizing power of despair:

The ye part means “totally, completely,” and the rest of it means “exhausted.” Altogether, ye tang che means totally tired out. We might say “totally fed up.” It describes an experience of complete hopelessness, of completely giving up hope. This is an important point. This is the beginning of the beginning. Without giving up hope — that there’s somewhere better to be, that there’s someone better to be — we will never relax with where we are or who we are.

[…]

Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there’s anywhere to hide.

Decades after Simone de Beauvoir’s proclamation about atheism and the ultimate frontier of hope, Chödrön points out that at the heart of Buddhism’s approach is not the escapism of religion but the realism of secular philosophy. And yet these crude demarcations fail to capture the subtlety of these teachings. She clarifies:

The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God… Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there’s some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us. It means thinking there’s always going to be a babysitter available when we need one. We all are inclined to abdicate our responsibilities and delegate our authority to something outside ourselves. Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves.

[…]

Hopelessness is the basic ground. Otherwise, we’re going to make the journey with the hope of getting security… Begin the journey without hope of getting ground under your feet. Begin with hopelessness.

[…]

When inspiration has become hidden, when we feel ready to give up, this is the time when healing can be found in the tenderness of pain itself… In the midst of loneliness, in the midst of fear, in the middle of feeling misunderstood and rejected is the heartbeat of all things.

Art from The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc

Only through such active self-compassion to our own darkness, Chödrön suggests, can we begin to offer authentic light to anybody else, to become a force of radiance in the world. She writes:

We don’t set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people’s hearts.

Complement the immensely grounding and elevating When Things Fall Apart with Camus on strength of character in times of trouble, Erich Fromm on what self-love really means, and Nietzsche on why a fulfilling life requires embracing rather than running from difficulty, then revisit Chödrön on the art of letting go.

SUNDAY MEETING — MARCH 22 Heather Williams, H.W., M.

How to Deal with Humanity’s Identity Crisis! Today we humans are facing an identity crisis. We all must ask ourselves sincerely: WHO AM I? Is there more to me than my body? And what is a digital identity? Am I able to turn it on and off? Am I more than a material, physical, separate thing that can be digitized?      In The Prosperos, we connect with our INNATE IDENTITY, and we learn to base our identity on the AXIOMS (self-evident truth). This Sunday, come explore with Heather the journey of awakening to your INNATE IDENTITY! – – – – – – – – – – – – –For more information, click here: https://www.theprosperos.org/prosperos-events/things-or-love-77l23-dbf5s SUNDAY MEETING March 22, 2026 11:00 am Pacific / Noon Mountain / 1:00 pm Central / 2:00 pm Eastern NEW LINK…PLEASE USE THE JOIN BUTTON BELOW FOR MEETING Join Sunday Meeting By contribution.  Please click here to contribute: Contribute! Call In Information:One tap mobile  +16699006833,,81707590593# US (San Jose)  +16694449171,,81707590593# US  —  Meeting ID: 858 8286 3391 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdTAYZq0XQ

Copyright © 2026 The Prosperos, All rights reserved.

“Lord, a little more time!”

• Google AI Overview

The phrase “Lord, a little more time!” is referred to as the “Dinosaur’s Prayer,” a concept popularised by author Arthur Koestler to illustrate humanity’s hope to avoid extinction by asking for more time to change its ways. It is also famously referenced in Daniel Quinn‘s novel Ishmael as part of this theme. Los Angeles Times +3

• Origin: Arthur Koestler formulated this as the “Dinosaur’s Prayer” in his essays.
• Context: It represents a plea to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs by overcoming destructive behaviors, specifically referenced in the context of Daniel Quinn’s Ishmael and modern environmental or societal challenges.
• Biblical Parallel: In 2 Kings 20 and Isaiah 38, King Hezekiah begs God for more time to live, and God grants him another 15 years. She Reads Truth +3

“There is neither three nor two in the universe; it is all One. It is only under illusion…that the One seems as many.” Vivekananda (1863-1902) Indian Monk

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DAILY REFLECTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SCHOOL OF PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY

Friday March 20th 

2 pm edt / 11 am pdt
zoom (and recorded)

by contribution 

Yes! I wish to join the Equinox Zoom Council!

Ladling Liberating Beauty out of the Cauldron of Calamity 

(calamity (n.) early 15c., “damage, state of adversity;” 1550s, “a great misfortune or cause of misery,” from Old French calamite (14c.), from Latin calamitatem (nominative calamitas) “damage, loss, failure; disaster, misfortune, adversity,” a word of obscure origin.)

*Cooling out the conflagration

*Rising Aroused in Apocalyptic times

*Revelation – accountability fest…

*Defiant joy, honed by adversity 

With 

Caroline Casey
&
Amikaeyla Gaston

Yes, here be my donation, to support Caroline, Ami, World, and Self, to restore equilibrium…

The word “deliberate” derived from Libra, 

and 2 verbs : “librare” – to liberate, and “libare” – to balance….

So to be deliberate is to be in a state of liberating balance.

Quan Yin riding the dragon

So
Let’s deliberately ride this New Moon Tide of Unity – transcending division

Let’s step into the calm at the center of the storm, to gather our wits, make our dedications, partner with what we love, and are, in Nature…

Then 
Do not fear the storm – become the storm
Do not fear the chaos, but guide the chaos…

In times of danger – Trickster comes alive in us – and in Nature…

Music and Metaphor be the incarnational garb whereby power enters the world..

Caroline & Ami will honor the available Vernal Green Fire with language and music craft….

And
call in what we need to make it all happen….

To partner with water – Oshun with Ogun, and Mami Watta- to heal the Potomac River, (largest raw sewage catastrophe in American history, right where Caroline lives) and all Rivers, heal the soil, the air, the ancestors …

And always — Oya, whirling her horsetail whip to summon the winds of change.

Oya (Hrana Janto)

“How large a necessary miracle of change would you all like?”
Pretty big….
 

That our rogue species may have manners again….

Magic is simply a willingness to cooperate with everything

*****************

a great Liberating practice- one small thing…. micro – to waft into macro… 

remedy for vitriol and bombast ….

with Blessing….. Wishing Well… by Omid Safi

@brotheromid

Here’s a beautiful gem from a Muslim sage, Nizamuddin Auliya ( (Nizam al-Din Awliya’), the great Sufi from Delhi in India, on how to response those who would wish us evil.

Watch:https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sD6Xsv1mKmo 

‘Tis such a worthy  aspirational practice….

Keep it going and customize 

(and feel free to send such…)

“As for the one who (fill in the blank), 

may(fill in the blank)”

And 

I am journeying with small group led by Omid to Morocco, for Sufi prayerful pilgrimage…

(April 22nd to early May)

“Bring in the poets and double the madness!”

For me – tis a necessary miracle – Hail Mary – Hail Rumi pass….

So

for all who contribute – whatever windfalls of wherewithal….to make this pilgrimage possible 

Will invite to a customized zoom, upon my return – for deep scouting report…
From Casablanca, Marrakesh, Fez and desert

Yes, delighted to contribute to the necessary miracle of Caroline’s journey to Morocco
being ever more Caroline, as she will be syncretizing all gleaned into radio, councils, consulting… !

Contribute to Caroline’s Journey!

*****************

And here be last Thursday’s lovely Visionary Activist Show  

Reality is a dance 

with guest/ally Banafsheh Sayyed

Listen: https://kpfa.org/episode/the-visionary-activist-show-march-12-2026/ 

*****************

on substack:

The Closure of Hormuz as (Unintentional) Climate Action
Reflecting on Iran’s eco-feminist movement

Max Wilbert 

Read: https://open.substack.com/pub/maxwilbert/p/irans-ecofeminists?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web 

***************** 

To protect as much life’s possible….
Sucking the “g” out of “Kingdom”

– leaving the Kindom …….

(Image from Wikipedia.org)

“Though the ‘Thou’ is not an ‘It’, it is also not “another ‘I’ “. He who treats a person as “another ‘I’ ” does not really see that person but only a projected image of himself. Such a relation, despite the warmest ‘personal’ feeling is really ‘I’-‘It’.”

~ Martin Buber

Martin Buber was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. Wikipedia

Born: February 8, 1878, Vienna, Austria

Died: June 13, 1965 

Who Could You Be a Year from Now?

Rob Brezsny Mar 17, 2026

Many cultures worldwide have celebrated their New Year as spring begins, around the vernal equinox. I propose we all do that now with a rousing ritual, as described below.

The Sacred Contract with Your Future Self

I invite you to write a letter to the person you will be one year from today. Tell this Future You that you have taken a vow to accomplish three feats by then. Say why these feats are more important to you than anything else.

Describe them. Brainstorm about what you’ll do to make them happen. Draw pictures or make collages that capture your excitement about them. Then create a sanctified space where you will put this letter. Open it a year from now.

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Why This Works

Let’s talk about why this practice is different from the usual goal-setting that comes every January and often fades by February.

Most goals fail because they’re written to an imaginary version of yourself. You declare you’re going to lose 10 pounds or write a novel or learn Portuguese, but you’re not actually making a promise to anyone real.

You’re performing goal-setting for an audience of cultural expectations. Maybe you post your intentions on social media, announce them at parties, or write them in a journal.

But there’s no actual relationship or real covenant involved. There’s just you, performing the ritual of aspiration without the substance of commitment.

The practice I’m inviting you to do now will work because you’re entering into a relationship with a specific, real person: Future You.

Not the idealized version that’s already perfect and doesn’t need to work at anything. The actual person who will exist one year from today. They will be dealing with the consequences of what Present You does or doesn’t do in the coming months.

When you write to Future You, you’re acknowledging that they are real,. They have needs and hopes, and they’re counting on you. You’re creating accountability not to an abstract standard of self-improvement, but to an actual person who will open this letter and feel either gratitude or disappointment about what you did with this year.

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How to write this letter so it has optimal power:

Part 1: The Greeting

Start with an intimate welcome and invitation. Example:

“Hello, my beautiful, beloved future self! I love you so much! You’re my hero! Thank you for entering into this daring covenant with me. Let’s collaborate to create the best possible destiny for each other.”

Or:

“To the gorgeous version of me who exists one year from today: I see you. I know you’ve been through things I can’t imagine yet. You have faced challenges and had victories. I made you a promise, and I am asking for your help in fulfilling it.”

The greeting should establish that this is a conversation between two real people who adore each other and are on the same team.

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Part 2: The Vow

This is where you get serious and invoke the power and glory of your highest powers. Don’t just say “I have three goals.” Say “I am taking a sacred vow.”

A sacred vow is different from a goal. A goal is something you’d like to happen, whereas a vow is something you’re staking your integrity on. A vow has weight and consequences. You could say:

“I am taking a sacred vow to accomplish three feats by the time you read this. These aren’t optional. These aren’t ‘nice to haves.’ They are the three things that will determine whether I spent this past year serving my deepest purpose or betraying it.”

Notice the language: FEATS, not goals. Feats require courage, strenuous effort, and risk. Feats are worthy of being celebrated, even revered. They are the stuff of legends.

Part 3: Why These Three Things Matter More Than Anything Else

This is the heart of the letter. You are boldly and brazenly honest about what actually matters to you, versus what your conditioning and peer pressure try to tell you.

When people fail at their goals, it’s often because they’re pursuing goals that don’t align with their deepest values. They say they want to get in shape, but what they really want is to feel alive in their body.

They say they want to make more money, but what they really want is freedom from financial anxiety. They say they want to write a book or record an album or have an art gallery show, but what they really want is to be taken seriously as a thinker and creator.

So before you name your three feats, I hope you will answer: “What do I want my life to have been about when I look back on this year?” Not what will make you look good. Not what seems responsible or mature or properly ambitious.

When you open this letter one year from now, what will make you feel like you flourished during this precious year of your mysterious life?

Examples of why your feats might matter:

“This feat matters more than anything else because if I don’t do it, I’ll be the same person next year that I am right now, and I can’t bear that. I’ve been stuck in this pattern for five years, and this is the year it ends.”

“This feat matters because my daughter or son is watching how I live my life, and I want them to see someone who keeps promises to themselves, who doesn’t just dream but acts.”

“This feat matters because I’ve been carrying my unrealized potential my whole life like stones in my pocket, and I’m either going to finally actualize it or I need to grieve it and move on. No more middle ground.”

“This feat matters because I survived cancer / divorce / bankruptcy / depression to get here, and I didn’t survive just to play small. I survived to build a more beautiful destiny with this second chance.”

“This feat matters because I’ve glimpsed what I’m capable of at my best, and I want to spend a whole year living closer to that edge. Not fixing what’s broken, but celebrating what’s extraordinary.”

“This feat matters because joy is serious business. This is the year I stop treating pleasure, beauty, and delight as rewards I have to earn and start treating them as the whole point.”

“This feat matters because I’ve been given rare gifts—temperament, circumstances, relationships, hard-won wisdom—and I want to be a worthy steward of them. Not out of obligation, but out of sheer gratitude for being alive.”

“This feat matters because the people and places and ideas I love most are asking something of me, and I finally feel ready to answer. This is my yes.”

“This feat matters because I’ve already done impossible things, and I know now that the fear before a great leap and the exhilaration during it are the same sensation. I want more of that aliveness.”

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Part 4: Describe Each Feat in Sensory Detail

Don’t just write “Finish my book” or “Create my dream garden” or “Build a stellar intimate relationship.”

Instead, describe what it will feel like when Future You has accomplished your desirable feats:

“You will hold the completed manuscript in your hands. You will feel the weight of it, not just the physical pages but the weight of having actually finished a creation this big. You will remember all the days you chose this instead of easier pleasures and all the moments you pushed through the fear that it wasn’t good enough. And you will know that you’re a soul who finishes what they start.”

Or:

“You will be standing in the garden you planted, harvesting tomatoes in July, and you’ll realize with amazement that you created this. You transformed that dead patch into something alive and beautiful. And you’ll understand that if you can do that, you can do anything.”

The more sensory, specific, and emotionally resonant you make the description, the more power it has to pull you toward it across the year.

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Part 5: The Brainstorms: Making It Real

Here you shift from vision to strategy. You prove to Future You that you’re serious.

For each feat, brainstorm specifically what you will do to make it happen:

What you’ll do from:

– March-May

– June-July

– August-September

– October-December

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– Weekly: Protect three mornings per week for nothing but these feats.

– Monthly: Share your progress with trusted allies.

– Daily: Remember why this feels so good and how it amplifies your sense that your life is meaningful.

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The brainstorms should be specific but also flexible enough to adjust as circumstances change. You’re not striving to control the future. You’re creating conditions that make the future you want more likely.

Part 6: The Visual Component

Words alone may not carry the full freight of your commitment. So draw pictures. Make collages. Create symbols. Visualize the specific scenarios in your imagination.

PS: You don’t have to be an artist. In fact, crude drawings may have more power because they bypass your critical mind and access more primal sources.

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Part 7: The Closing

End the letter by giving Future You permission to be honest about what happened.

“When you open this letter a year from now, tell the truth. If I kept these vows, celebrate. If I broke them, examine why with compassion but without excuses. Either way, you’re reading this, which means you survived another year, and that’s not nothing. I love you. I’m doing this for you. Everything I do this year, I do with you in mind. See you in 365 days. — Your devoted past self”

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Creating the Sanctified Space

Don’t just stuff this letter in a drawer. Create a sanctified space for it:

Option 1: The Altar. If you have a personal altar or sacred space in your home, this letter becomes a central element. Place it there along with objects that symbolize your three feats. Light a candle when you place it there. Speak your vows out loud.

Option 2: The Sealed Container. Get a beautiful box, an artful envelope, or a decorated jar. Place it somewhere you’ll see it regularly but can’t casually access.

Option 3: The Buried Treasure. Bury it somewhere on your property in a waterproof container. Mark the spot with a beautiful object. The act of burying it makes it even more ceremonial, and the act of digging it up a year later becomes its own ritual.

Option 4: The Witnessed Vow. Read the letter aloud to someone you trust, then give it to them to hold for a few moments. The presence of a witness makes the vow more binding.

Option 5: The Time Capsule. Create a time capsule that includes the letter, photos from right now, objects that symbolize where you are today, and maybe even recordings of your voice. Make it rich with context so that Future You gets the full picture of who was making these vows.

The key is that the space must feel sacred to you. It should communicate: This is a binding agreement with my future self.

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The Monthly Check-In Ritual

Don’t wait a year to think about the letter again. Create a monthly ritual where you commune with a copy of the letter without opening its actual container:

On the 21st of each month (or whatever date you wrote it), remember what you wrote. Ask yourself: “Am I keeping my vows? Am I on track? If Future Me opened this today, would they be grateful or disappointed?”

Don’t criticize yourself if you’re off track. Just recommit, adjust, and course-correct.

The letter is a living covenant, not a static document. You’re allowed to renegotiate if circumstances genuinely change. But you’ve got to do it consciously, not by drifting.

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What Happens When You Open It

One year from now you will perform the ritual of opening this letter. Make it ceremonial. Don’t do it while distracted. Clear your schedule for an hour.

Open the letter. Read what Past You wrote to you. And then write back.

Yes, write a response to Past You. Tell them what happened. Which vows did you keep rigorously, and which did you only partially carry out. Tell the Past You what you learned and what surprised you. What do you want them to know about who you became?

And then—if you want to continue the practice—write a new letter to the person you’ll be on March 21, 2028.

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Three Types of Feats Worth Vowing

As you choose your three feats, consider that there are different categories of transformative action:

Type 1: The External Achievement. Something you can point to in the world as evidence that you did the thing. A completed manuscript, a degree earned, a house built, a garden planted, a business launched, or a performance given.

Type 2: The Internal Transformation. A shift in how you relate to yourself, to others, to the world. Healing an addiction, developing a spiritual practice, transforming a toxic pattern, learning to receive love, making peace with a difficult part of yourself.

Type 3: The Relational Shift. A change in how you show up in your relationships. Deepening your partnership, healing a family rupture, creating genuine community, or becoming the kind of friend / parent / partner / mentor you want to be.

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A powerful set of three feats might include one from each of the above categories. That way you’re developing holistically, not just achieving externally while staying stuck internally; not just transforming internally while avoiding external impact; not just focusing on relationships while neglecting your individual growth.

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The Dark Night Clause

Include this in your letter:

“I know there will be times this year when I want to abandon these vows. There will be moments when they seem impossible, stupid, or irrelevant. I’ll be tempted to tell myself that circumstances changed or that I was naive to think I could do this.

“So I’m writing this now, while I’m clear and committed: Those dark moments are part of the path, not evidence that I should quit. The resistance is the work. The doubt is the initiation.

“When I want to give up, I will remember why these feats matter more than anything else. I will recommit, even if only for one more day.

“This is the vow: not that I’ll never doubt, but that I’ll keep going anyway.”

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Your Assignment From Past You to Future You

Right now, today, you could:

1. Get materials. Beautiful paper, colored pencils or markers, magazines for collage, a container or envelope that feels charged with magic.

2. Create space. Set aside an hour minimum. Turn off your phone. Light a candle. Put on music that makes you feel deep and rich. Make tea. Settle in.

3. Meditate on the question: What do I want my life to have been about when I look back on this year? Not what should you want, but what do you actually want?

4. Choose your three feats. Don’t overthink it. Your body and your heart know. Choose the three things that make you feel scared and excited in equal measure.

5. Write the letter. Don’t rush it. This is a sacred document.

6. Create the visual component. Draw. Collage. Make it vivid and real.

7. Sanctify the space. Choose how you’ll store this letter and make it ceremonial.

8. Read it aloud. To yourself in the mirror, your spirit allies, or to the universe. Make it real by speaking it.

9. Seal it. Once it’s sealed, it’s done. No changing your mind. It’s a time capsule now.

10. Set a reminder for one year from today, and for monthly check-ins.

And then, live like someone who made a vow. Because you did. And Future You is counting on you. They’re already grateful for what you’re about to do.