New Moon In Virgo Circle

NEW MOON IN VIRGO CIRCLE:
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 8
8PM

PLANTING SEEDS FOR NEW WORK OR NEW WAYS OF WORKING
REVAMPING DAILY RITUALS
AUTUMN CLEANSING RITUAL
SPIRITUAL DIARY TECHNIQUES
WORKING WITH INTENSITY OF VENUS IN SCORPIO: SEPT 8-JANUARY 2011 (SEX, DEATH & ROCK N' ROLL)
MEDITATION ON THE ARCHETYPE OF THE HERMIT
RITUALS FOR SURVIVING MERCURY RETROGRADE & MORE

8pm

at:

299 w. 12th street

9a

between 8th ave and Hudson

$20



Keep on Burning: August Astrology

 

August Astrology

At a recent Sivananda satsang, there was a discussion about the power of the imagination--and how it is real if you feel it is real. The operative word being feel. The way we manifest our experience is completely dependent on the way we imagine it to be and the feeling or bhava (mental attitude coupled with feeling) we have about it. Pisces reminds us that our reality and our perceptions are one. We cannot see anything externally as it really is--all is colored by our perceptions. If you really think deeply about this, that means that we actually share the same power as the creator on this level. To be truly creative means to see everyone and everything with new eyes every day. Otherwise we are basically living a perpetual "Groundhog Day" hell. 

In the midst of early east coast autumnal weather, summer somehow feels like eons ago. And what a crazy summer: the planets have been in retrograde or a perpetual war since the early summer eclipse get-go. Moments of magic, moments of chaos, fear, humiliation and every other Capricorn demon--and most importantly a whole lotta growing up compliments of the strong Saturn-Pluto influence. Hopefully you’ve had a chance to make or experience some good art---of the dark and deep variety in homage to this intense planetary duo. Think Doestevsky, T.S. Eliot, Camus, Dylan, Arthur Miller, The Doors and Stravinsky (born or channeled best work under Saturn-Pluto aspects).

And now here we are under the hazy auspices of a Full Moon in Pisces--expect a  chaotic tour de force of synchronicity and messages. The left-brain seems to be on extended hiatus so consider the following reflections a free-form-free-association-free write to sift through like song lyrics or a poem. Pisces prefers piles, process, symbolism, metaphors, illusions, imagery and soma.  Pisces begs us to unlock the power of the right brain through accessing the subtle body: music, dance, not moving until we feel moved, metaphor, compassion, dance, meditation, being near the ocean etc.

Dig if you will a  picture: locals sipping Sangria at Sevilla in the West Village randomly quote Janis Joplin: “Another effing day in the life of love and loss.”  Roxy Music’s Siren (Bryan Ferry born with a Moon in Pisces) spins on vinyl against the backdrop of a rainy NYC Full Moon in Pisces evening. What are your deepest longings? Making a list of your top three often brings instant soul reunion. Put down the Virgoan to-do lists and get back to what makes life poetic, dreamy, mystical and sublime. Avoid the victimization, whoa is me, and self-pity party complexes over the next few days! Maya, the goddess of illusion rules this Full Moon. Say to yourself “none of this is real” a thousand times a day and then kick back and enjoy the show.

How are you all enduring the introspective calling forced upon us by another Mercury Retrograde (in Virgo)?  Retrogrades tend to give us no choice but to look within as every outer distraction is suddenly in a state of disrepair. Delays, dropped calls, missed connections, miscommunication, do-overs, and projections galore. This particular Mercury retrograde scores highly on the neurotic scale: worry, anxiety and obsessiveness over details can plague our thought patterns if we don’t take some serious time out in the woods. Virgo is the archetype of the Hermit and needs to be in the forest complete with gray frock and hoodie, on hiatus from all of his or her helping duties even if only for a weekend.

 Have you been recently caught berating yourself for lack of self-discipline? (re-current Pisces problem. Change comes in waves and only with constant resets and retrograde planets. Saturn is exalted in Libra and commitment to small but beautiful changes that bring one back to center will be greatly rewarded. Saturn in Libra says if you’re going to spend time on it, make it lovely and you won’t incur any bad karma. Maximize the sweetness and light in your actions, and never underestimate the karmic boomerang delivered under the Scales of Justice. We get back whatever we put out there. Our Maat-worthy goal is to keep the heart lighter than a feather-- which means avoiding extreme thoughts and actions that lead to heavy-heartedness.

Have you felt strangely invisible lately despite all attempts to increase your online presence? Not enough social network feedback," Likes" or Retweets? Are you compelled to cry rivers for reasons beyond your comprehension? Does chaos threaten to disrupt your every waking moment? Blame it on the Full Moon in paranoid Pisces at a weird angle to Mars in (do you like me?) Libra. It’s about dealing with lack of visibility and the ego's need to be seen. Pisces reveals the illusion inherent even in our most creative undertakings. It’s all about the inner world now and creating more glamour on that level. 

Saturn in Libra vs. Pluto in Capricorn:

Co-dependency No More & Healing the Father Complex:

Daddy:

You do not do, you do not do

Any more black shoe

In which I have lived like a foot

For thirty years, poor and white,

Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

I f I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two—

The vampire who said he was you

-Sylvia Plath 

Maturity in our approach to relationships is fast becoming a do or die necessity for psychological survival. This means untangling the depths of our own parental complexes that get projected onto our partners. Abandonment issues, addiction, co-dependency, bottomless fear, and selling ourselves to our own inner or outer devils are no longer options. The more we cling to old dysfunctional patterns (daddy boyfriend, bank, boss, credit card or any authority outside of ourselves), the harder we fall, the deeper we suffer and the more we lose. Now is a powerful time to perform the “Last Exorcism” and clean up the relationships with ourselves and any demon lovers, past or present, to avoid future emotional vampirism! We have an opportunity to tear down the old walls of fear and burn through outworn defense mechanisms piled on by years of parental neglect, abuse or other wounds that keep us from deeper trust and commitment in our relationships. The healing powers of the current Saturn-Pluto square ask us to dig deeply to relinquish ourselves from the old archetype of relationships, focus on the inner marriage of masculine and feminine and burn through the rubbish of the old emotional baggage. 

 Keep on burning until the End—Roxy Music

~Sherene Schostak

Full Moon in Pisces: The Victimization

From the Zodiac Dance Show at Merce Cunningham Studio in NYC

2008:

with Matthew Branham & Sherene Schostak

Late Summer Fortune Cookie

Aries:

The Center of your Heart- The Swans

 There's a soft idea, wrapped around your mind.

You're suffering for god.

I want the center of your heart.

I've been wondering what it takes to destroy you.

I found out yesterday: all you need is humility.

I want the center of your heart.

Taurus:

Mad World -Tears for Fears

 All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races

Going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are fillin' up their glasses

No expression, no expression

Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow

Gemini:

Sweet and Tender Hooligan-The Smiths

 The sweet and tender hooligan, hooligan 

Because he'll never, never, never, never, never, never do it again 

(not until the next time) 

Jury, you've heard every word 

So before you decide 

Would you look into those "Mother me" eyes 

I love you for you, my love, you my love 

Cancer:

On a Plain-Nirvana

 The finest day

That I ever had

Was when I learned

To cry on command

Love myself

Better than you

I know it's wrong

So what should I do?

Leo:

Once-Pearl Jam

Backstreet lover on the side of the road

I got a bomb in my temple that is gonna explode

I got a sixteen gauge buried under my clothes, I play...

Once upon a time I could control myself

Ooh, once upon a time I could lose myself

Oh, try and mimic what's insane

I am in it...where do I stand?

Virgo:

Midnight Rider-The Allman Brothers

Well, I've got to run to keep from hiding

And I'm bound to keep on riding

And I've got one more silver dollar

But I'm not gonna let them catch me, no

Not gonna let 'em catch the midnight rider

And I don't own the clothes I'm wearing

And the road goes on forever

Libra:

New Pony-The Dead Weather

Sometimes I wonder what's going on in the mind of Miss X

You know she got such a sweet disposition

I never know what the poor girl's gonna do to me next

They say you're usin' voodoo, your feet walk by themselves

Oh, baby, that god you been prayin' to

Is gonna give ya back what you're wishinn' on someone else

Scorpio:

Mayonaise-Smashing Pumpkins

 Shut my mouth and strike the demons 

That cursed you and all your reasons 

 Fool enough to almost be it 

And cool enough to not quite see it 

And old enough to always feel this 

Always old, I'll always feel this 

Sagittarius:

Teardrop Collector-Love and Rockets

If you don't love someone why not fake it?

And if you love someone why chain them to you?

You know you'll never make it

So now you finally realize

Sometimes you just gotta let love pass you by

And watch the world go around

And it's alright 

Capricorn:

The Falling-PJ Harvey

How to walk and where to run

Walking in oblivion 

Its gotta give its gotta change

Today is the day

To all the men whom I've loved

Something to free your angry hearts

I'm opening up my arms

Speak of the fear inside

Its time to change, there still is time

Aquarius:

Sugar Kane-Sonic Youth

I'm back again in love, I'm back again a dove

Where'd you get your light, your smilin' sugar life

Another lovers day, another cracked up night

Every night I say, the light is coming

And I know

There's something down there sugar cone

Back to the cross a twisted lane

Pisces:

Sober-Tool

There's a shadow just behind me,

shrouding every step I take,

making every promise empty,

pointing every finger at me.

Waiting like a stalking butler

who upon the finger rests.

Murder now the pattern: must we.

Astrology: Zen Quotes By Sun Sign

Zodiac Mosaic of Beth Alpha synagogue

By Lonesome Liz

Aries


"Move and the way will open." - Zen Proverb

"And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T.S. Eliot

"Nothing is more real than nothing." Samuel Beckett

"And if there is not any such thing as a long time, nor the rest of your lives, nor from now on, but there is only now, why then now is the thing to praise and I am very happy with it." Ernest Hemingway

Taurus

"Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine" - Shunryu Suzuk

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." - Shakespeare

"In singing and dancing is the voice of the law." Hakuin

"The sun shines not on us, but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing." John Muir

Gemini

"If you are in the future, then ego seems to be very substantial. If you are in the present the ego is a mirage, it starts disappearing." - Osho

"The two exist because of the One, But hold not even to this One.." Hsin-hsin ming

"The reverse side also has a reverse side" - Japanese Proverb

"In the sun
the butterfly wings
like a church window." Jack Kerouac

Cancer

"When there is no place that you have decided to call your own, then no matter where you go, you are always heading home." - Muso Soseki

"All the fish needs is to get lost in water. All man needs is to get lost in Tao." Chuang-Tzu

"Things are always changing, so nothing can be yours." Shunryu Suzuki

"The knowledge beyond the knowledge is my knowledge." Kabir

Leo

"Be careful how you interpret the world: it is like that." Erich Heller

"We feel and know that we are eternal." Edmund Spenser

"A gloss on Descartes: Sometimes I think: and sometimes I am." Paul Valery

Posted by Lonesome Liz at 7:41 PM 0 comments

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Full Zodiac Mosaic from Beth Alpha Synagogue

Virgo

"Teach us delight in simple things, and mirth that has no bitter springs." Rudyard Kipling

"They arise spontaneously, the principles of all things. Water need not think to offer itself as a home for clear moonlight." Sogi

"Every situation, every moment is of infinite worth for it is representative of a whole eternity." John Wolfgang von Goethe

Libra

"The Truth is perfect like the vastness of space, With nothing wanting, nothing superfluous." Hsin-hsin ming

"Today is absolutely today. Today is not yesterday. Today is not tomorrow." - Ogui

"Do not conquer the world with force, force only causes resistance. Years of misery follow a great victory." Lao Tze

"When we return to the root, we gain the meaning. When we pursue the external objects, we lose the purpose. The moment we are enlightened within, We go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us." Hsin-hsin ming

Scorpio

"Those who know don't tell and those who tell don't know." - Zen Proverb

"When you seek it, you cannot find it." - Zen Proverb

"Who is it that hears this?" Bassui's "Essential Zen"

"It is the stars not known to science that I would know, the stars which the lonely traveler knows." Henry David Thoreau

Sagittarius

"Seize from every moment its unique novelty and do not prepare your joys." - Andre Gide

"The infinite is the infinite of every instant." - Zen Proverb

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." - Helen Keller

"Not to be bound by rules, but to be creating one's own rules--this is the kind of life which Zen is trying to have us live." - D. T. Suzuki

Capricorn

"Do not entertain hopes for realization, but practice all your life." - Milarepa

"There is nothing left to you at this moment but to have a good laugh." - Zen Master

"The believer is happy. The doubter is wise." Greek Proverb

"Bellygoat boom
At ache of
Day bang." Jack Kerouac

Aquarius

"Life, according to Zen, ought to be lived as a bird flies through the air, or as a fish swims in the water." - D. T. Suzuki

"First thought, best thought." Zen saying

"Read not the times, read the eternities." Henry David Thoreau

"Wherever you are is the entry point." Kabir

Pisces

"Who is awake and who is asleep? Lalla

"This sounds an extraordinary statement to make, but in fact all truth is very ordinary. It is peoples' fantasies of what is true that is so extraordinary." - Brian Perkins

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." - Helen Keller

"If you understand, things are just as they are... If you do not understand, things are just as they are." - Zen Saying

"Often I am still listening when the song is over." - Marquis de Saint-Lambert