Astro Report: Gemini Season

Sun into Gemini: May 20th at 1:31pm.
New Moon in Gemini: Thursday, May 25th at 12:44pm.
Mercury is Direct in Taurus.
Saturn – Uranus trine at 26 degrees (Sagittarius and Aries respectively) TODAY.
Venus Direct in Aries.  Mars Direct in Gemini.

Silence of the Night, Reiji Hiramatsu

I’d say the big thing is this trine with Saturn and Uranus today. This is a harmonious connection between two complete opposites:

Saturn is reality, time, responsibility, history, discipline, commitment, stability, and the establishment. It is slow, solid change.

Uranus is revolution, invention, science, rebelliousness, genius, Change, disruption, electricity and awakening. It is sudden change.

So these two are having a friendly conversation today, which is interesting.  If you have a duality in your life, you might find some common ground today. The main thing is that Saturn will INSIST on any changes you make being well thought out and solid. In my view, Saturn is heavier than Uranus and so those energies carry more weight, BUT they will have to find a compromise since Uranus will not be silenced.

A new physical reality comes into view.
A revolution with a solid foundation.
A path to making aspirations into realities.

This is a good day to set some goals 

This trine is also happening in the fire signs of Aries and Sagittarius, which brings guts, confidence, self esteem and passion. Creativity and adventure. Composers, artists, actors, musicians and performers are ignited by this energy today. Let your light shine.

Love for Oakland

I’m so moved and saddened by the lives taken in Ghost Ship fire Friday night. When I first heard the story, I understood exactly what it was, because myself and many of my friends have attended gatherings like these many times around the Bay Area. They are exuberant, liberating, creative, inspiring and energizing events for the underground artistic community. To me, they are the heartbeat of the Bay Area, and communities everywhere. I’ve personally been inspired musically by attending these events.
But I wasn’t ready to start seeing the faces and hearing the back stories of the people that perished. I feel rocked to my core this morning; helpless and grieving for the young lives lost. To me, the artists, writers, performers and musicians of this world are hugely important and VITAL – especially as the world is becoming more conservative and protectionist. The world desperately needed to hear more from these brilliant kids, who had their whole lives in front of them.
You can read some of their stories here.
What can be said? What can be done other than to grieve? There is something each of us can do for the ones we lost. We can speak up. We can get disciplined and get to work. We can express ourselves. And we can DO OUR ART. I’m picking up my guitar today in honor of them.

Full Moon In Aries

Full Moon in Aries at 9:23pm Pacific, Saturday, October 15th.

The Full Moon was exact last night, but we are experiencing the effect today, Monday and Tuesday. It’s a VERY powerful Full Moon because it’s in a conjunction with Uranus (revolution, truth, rebellion and “shaking things up”).

This will be a dramatic week. The Full Moon will set off more disruptions and drama on the world stage. The last debate takes place this Wednesday – the same day as a conjunction (combining) between Mars (energy, war, men) and Pluto (toxic purification). Should be interesting! Mars and Pluto both rule Scorpio which is Clinton’s sign, so she should be able to ride the wave. Trump will have women coming out of the woodwork to challenge him, and his supporters will stay resolute.

This is a good week to take things a step at a time and be cautious in social interactions. Creativity is highly enhanced, especially if it goes outside of social norms. This is a week for the revolutionary, unconventional, rebellious genius to fully express herself or himself. Expect revelations regarding your life and personal belief systems. Do something physical; push yourself at the gym or exercise in nature. If you have some great truth to impart to someone, I would wait until next week.

The rest of October is about radical transformation, on a personal and social level.

Pretending You’re Creative Will Make You More Creative

“Being more creative may be as easy as pretending you are. Creativity, that abstract muse, is increasingly thought of as essential not just to artistic pursuits but also to business success. Who doesn’t want to be more creative? Or, conversely, who wants to be more formulaic and rote?

Article: http://mentalfloss.com/article/76358/pretending-youre-creative-will-make-you-more-creative-study-says

A new study by researchers at the University of Maryland indicates that, much like how stereotypes about women being bad at math can lead to women performing worse on math tests, treating yourself like a stereotypical creative genius can lead to more creative thinking. In two different experiments detailed in PLOS ONE, the researchers primed more than 200 undergrads majoring in several different forms of art or science to imagine themselves as either a stereotypically creative professional (“an eccentric poet”) or a stereotypically stodgy one (“a rigid librarian”). The students then completed the Uses of Objects Task, a standard psychology test to measure creativity (as you might guess, you brainstorm various uses of objects). A control group completed the task without being primed to imagine themselves as having any specific characteristics or jobs.

The researchers found that the ability to think outside the box isn’t a static personality trait. It’s malleable, and influenced by stereotypes. Students who imagined themselves as eccentric poets were able to think of more (and more original) uses for objects like bricks than students in the control group. Students who imagined themselves as rigid librarians came up with significantly fewer creative uses than the control group. Not only did thinking of themselves as eccentric give students a creative boost, but thinking of themselves as rigid became an impediment to creativity.”

What a good excuse to declare yourself an artist and act super wacky.

[h/t Pacific Standard]

NY Times: "Finding Success, Well Past the Age of Wunderkind"

In the skies today, Saturn in Sagittarius is squaring Mercury in Pisces. This brings weight and seriousness to our thinking and ideas. Saturn relates to age, structure and time, and since I turned 50 years old in November, I've been contemplating this energy and looking at the directions I want to pursue as I get older. I found this article very inspiring!

Link:  Finding Success, Well Past the Age of Wunderkind


“We absolutely have to revamp this idea of a linear pattern of accomplishment that ends when you’re 50 or 60,” said Karl A. Pillemer, a professor of gerontology at Cornell University, and author of, most recently, “30 Lessons for Loving.” “There are simply too many examples of people who bloom late, and it’s the most extraordinary time of their life.”

Mr. Pillemer, who has interviewed more than 1,500 people age 70 and older for the Legacy Project at Cornell, found that a large number of people said they had achieved a life dream or embarked on a worthwhile endeavor after age 65. “There was this feeling of somehow ‘getting it right’ at 50 or 60 or older,” he said, noting that this sentiment applies to creative efforts, relationships and work.

"Researchers distinguish between crystallized (general knowledge) and fluid (problem solving) intelligence. Crystallized intelligence tends to grow over a lifetime, whereas fluid intelligence usually declines after a person reaches the late 20s. That’s why deciding to become a mathematician or a chess master at age 50 usually does not work. “It is generally very difficult to get a late start in a field that requires lots of fluid intelligence from the get-go,” said Dean Keith Simonton, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and author of “The Wiley Handbook of Genius.” 

In Praise of Melancholy and How It Enriches Our Capacity for Creativity

http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/11/28/against-happiness-melancholy-wilson/

Fantastic article by Maria Popova: 

"“One feels as if one were lying bound hand and foot at the bottom of a deep dark well, utterly helpless,” Van Gogh wrote in one of his many letters expounding his mental anguish. And yet the very melancholy that afflicted him was also the impetus for the creative restlessness that sparked his legendary art. In his diary, the Danish philosopher and poet Søren Kierkegaard — one of the most influential thinkers of the past millennium — wrote that he often “felt bliss in melancholy and sadness” and thought he was “used by the hand of a higher Power through [his] melancholy.” Nietzsche, too, believed that a certain amount of suffering is essential to the soul."


I've personally experienced depression throughout my life, and it seems so prevalent in today's society. Maybe it's more out in the open and more people are talking about it. I want to share any information I find on it, just so people can be informed and supported. It's hard to see any positive, life enhancing effect from depression, and that's why this article is so wonderful to find. 

I manage my depression with exercise, diet and being sociable. If I don't feel like doing anything, my adorable dog makes sure I do! But another great way to work through depression is creativity. I often turn to music, writing or bead working when I feel depression coming on, and it always gives me a sense of accomplishment - makes me feel like I'm moving forward in my life. Depression touches everyone's life, either personally or through our personal relations. What are some ways you manage it?