Weekly Horoscopes

[hester_prynne]

http://www.freewillastrology.com/horosc ... signs.html

[Non Sum]

Hi Hester,
I'm an Aries sun, but don't require the advice to Not act my age. One usually gets the opposite advice. Of course, the people who seem most in need of reminding that they should act their age, are the very ones who are incapable of doing so. Contrary-wise, those in most need of acting outside of their age, generally are incapable of that as well.

Perhaps, we should give the advisors the advice, not to give advice since it is futile at best, and a cause for needless toil and trouble at worse. But, then to do so would only show that we are also incapable of taking even our own advice. So, now do I advise myself not to give anyone advice, or ignore all advice and simply do what destiny does through me? What do you advise?

Are you an astrologer? (I used to do natal charts)
If so, beware: the clocks are about to spring ahead in some places, and not in others.
NS (Neptune Squared)

[hester_prynne]

"what destiny does through me" is certainly my advise on advice. Advice is merely an opinion/suggestion or a sharing of one's belief. It gets dicey when the advisor thinks what they say should be the way everyone is.

I'm not an astrologer but I enjoy reading horoscopes, especially really creative or thoughtful ones. I think it's a valid science and has relativity, at least for me. I'm a Gemini with Leo rising and Scorpio moon.

I've stuck with the Tarot since I was in my twenties, enjoy doing a reading here and there for friends only. Something very serene and centering about it.

So you used to do natal charts? Do you still dabble in it or have you renounced it? Would be interested in knowing that.
If you know of any good horoscope sites feel free to share the link for it here!
H

[Non Sum]

Hi Hester,
HP: I'm not an astrologer but I enjoy reading horoscopes, especially really creative or thoughtful ones.

NS: By my reckoning That is was makes or breaks whether one is an “astrologer” or not, i.e. ‘the reading/interpreting.’ That you “enjoy” readings, would indicate that you’ve got the requisite gift of interpreting them insightfully, no?

I spent some time learning about chart construction (natal & hororary), and even wrote a fairly good computer program for constructing them. Just the technical stuff was all I was adept at; about the equivalent of spinning a cup of tea leaves – leaving the real work, ‘interpreting them’ undone. That, a book cannot really teach.

HP: I think it's a valid science and has relativity, at least for me.

NS: I don’t doubt its “validity,” not anymore than I doubt the validity of flying airplanes to another city. But, that validity is contingent (if and only if) upon a pilot who knows what she is doing.

HP: I'm a Gemini with Leo rising and Scorpio moon.

NS: Living a life of the mind, but must come with variety & newness. A leader, but with emotions that can sting. ‘Sting’ others, or yourself?

I’m a Gemini rising, with an Aquarian moon. Married to a Scorpio sun.

HP: I've stuck with the Tarot since I was in my twenties, enjoy doing a reading here and there for friends only. Something very serene and centering about it.

NS: I’ve my Tarot deck sitting right here, see (NS holds up Ryder-Waite ‘Radiant’ deck, waving it towards Seattle). I’m not proficient with it, but I too like the way it makes faces at me. Wifey is a marvel at the ‘I Ching.’ Which gives me terrific access to most anything I may care to know.

HP: So you used to do natal charts? Do you still dabble in it or have you renounced it?

NS: Yep. More like it renounced me. I haven’t dabbled in many years. I don’t know of any astrology sites.

I’ve been into most all forms of (small ‘m’) mysticism, and spiritualism. I’m a philosophic Mystic. Have you done any reading in religious, or philosophic, Mysticism?

[hester_prynne]

NS: Living a life of the mind, but must come with variety & newness. A leader, but with emotions that can sting. ‘Sting’ others, or yourself?

HP; Myself of course.

NS: I’ve my Tarot deck sitting right here, see (NS holds up Ryder-Waite ‘Radiant’ deck, waving it towards Seattle). I’m not proficient with it, but I too like the way it makes faces at me. Wifey is a marvel at the ‘I Ching.’ Which gives me terrific access to most anything I may care to know.

HP; Ryder-Waite back at you. I've got the mini deck, fits right into the palm of my hand. I've had it for years. The way it makes faces at me is a really good way to put it.

NS; I’ve been into most all forms of (small ‘m’) mysticism, and spiritualism. I’m a philosophic Mystic. Have you done any reading in religious, or philosophic, Mysticism?

HP; Oddly enough, I was born into the the Swedenborg religion, Swedenborg a mystic of sorts, with an illustrious "spiritual version" of the old Testament called the Arcana Celestia. I havent' read it but I did attend their school for my 11th and 12th years of high school, right outside of Philly in a little borough called Bryn Athyn. Some of Swedenborgs writings are compelling. His idea of dimensions really opened up my mind while I was attending school there, ultimately leading me to all sorts of other possibilities, which I suppose is the best thing about mysticism, the possibilities.
I get alot of good feelings reading Castenada. I just re-read all of his books last year, read Dreaming for the first time. I had read him long ago but I think back then it was more for show. This last time I was ready for the content.
It is a dream of mine to spend a year or maybe many years after I retire, exploring other dimensions in the desert.

What about you?

H

[Non Sum]

Hi again, Hester,
“Castenada” brings back a bunch of memories. Your “re-read” of “all his books,” must have gone well for you; or you would have stopped after the first. I’m not so sure how that might go for me today, but I sure enjoyed the hell out of old Don Juan the brujo back in the day. I’ve still got a couple of his paperbacks. I’ll let the idea of a re-read tickle my mind for a while, and see if it takes. Not sure that I’ve heard of one called, “Dreaming.” Is it newer than the others?

I’ve heard, of course, of Swedenborg, but whenever I checked him out, his insights strained my credulity. His ideas were even more utopian than mine own. What were some of his thoughts that you found most “compelling”? I wasn’t aware that a Swedenborg high school existed. That must have been an experience and a half for your last two years of HS!

HP: I suppose [that] is the best thing about mysticism, the possibilities.

NS: I could not have said it better. Some others prefer the certainty of established ‘authority,’ and or, ‘materialism’; priding themselves as having both feets planted firmly in ‘worldly’ (Lat ‘mundus’ as in ‘mundane’) dirt. To each her own, but I’ll take a life of intellectual possibilities over that of firm & sure limitations every damn time.

HP: It is a dream of mine to spend a year or maybe many years after I retire, exploring other dimensions in the desert.

NS: Isn’t “the desert” more a metaphor for withdrawal & solitude, than a literal environment? Though, after Seattle, I suppose,
”It felt good to be out of the rain. In the desert, you can't remember your name 'cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain.” (America).

HP: What about you?

NS: Philosophically, I’m an Advaitist, which is a mysticism. I did the whole Zen-enlightenment thing. The idea being to realize who you really are (i.e. Self-realize), and what you are not. And, then to exclusively Be (identify with) that true Self 24/7. It took decades, but I’m quite pleased with the results.

Have you ever read any of the religious mystics in the major world religions? They (the best of them) vary in their terminology, but are saying the identically same thing. It would have to result that way due the fact that mysticism always resorts to direct personal ‘experience’ as its source, rather than scriptures or authorities.

[mtmynd]

NS: "...the people who seem most in need of reminding that they should act their age, are the very ones who are incapable of doing so. Contrary-wise, those in most need of acting outside of their age, generally are incapable of that as well."

Age is a numerical value placed upon the measurement of time within which we play out our potential. 'Acting one's age' sounds as if one is acting upon a stage, a performance of what age should be rather than what one is, i.e. age becoming a limitation to being.

[Doreen Peri]

lovin this website! thanks for the link, hest!

Rob is very entertaining!

will bookmark it!

[Doreen Peri]

I just found his fan page on facebook and joined ...

also, here's a link to his book
http://www.amazon.com/Pronoia-Antidote- ... 108&sr=1-1

"Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings"

Amazon reviews

Review
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[Non Sum]

Hi
M(inority)T(hesbian): 'Acting one's age' sounds as if one is acting upon a stage, a performance of what age should be rather than what one is, i.e. age becoming a limitation to being.

NS: You’re quite right. But, I was addressing the phrase, ‘acting one’s age,’ as it is (IMO) generally intended, i.e. to censure a ‘free spirit’ from being so free. Those who do, “act their age,” are as unable to leave off being a ‘stuffed shirt’ upon the advice to be otherwise (‘don’t act your age’) as are the free spirits stuck being its opposite.

Aren’t we “acting upon a stage”? Shakespeare, and Khayyam thought we were.

”For the pastime of eternity,
He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold.” (Omar Khayyan, ‘The Rubaiyat’)
NS (Next Stage-out)

[mtmynd]

NS: Aren’t we “acting upon a stage”? Shakespeare, and Khayyam thought we were.

I've often wondered if that were true, who is the audience that all actors rely upon?

But, of course, it was the stage where Shakespeare 'plays' were performed... before an audience. No comment on Omar... other than perhaps he saw his own performance of life as being upon a stage... sans props..?

btw: all artists are performing, many hopeful of drawing an audience sometime in their lives.

[Non Sum]

MT: who is the audience that all actors rely upon?

NS: Tis queer, I would have thought that Omar had just answered that query(?).

MT: But, of course, it was the stage where Shakespeare 'plays' were performed... before an audience. No comment on Omar... other than perhaps he saw his own performance of life as being upon a stage... sans props..?

NS: Why, look around you, don’t you see “props” aplenty? There’s likely a chair that, at this very moment, is ‘propping’ your costumed character up in its supportive role.

Shakespeare staged his plays on a stage staged upon a yet greater staging, since:
”All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”
(William Shakespeare, ‘As You Like It’)

[mtmynd]

Bravo! (cheering from the audience) Bravo! (the audience up on their feet) Encore! (as the players bow not once, not twice, but thrice...)

... as the setting sun slips behind the curtain and another play comes to an end...

The actors: "What a grand play!"
Shakespeare: "What a grand audience..."
The audience: "What a great performance!"

Plays are called such to remind us how we appear to others... acting out others parts, characterizing their behaviors... while the audience judges the performance by how well the players played.

Is this world but a stage with Nature providing but a backdrop? Or is the stage in the eyes of the beholder who views life as but an act to be performed for the sake of an audience..? Do not ask the poet or the actors, not even the writers whose words seek to make sense of it all. But seek the answers in the arms of Nature who have given life reason to be. Does the grackle perched in the pine merely an actor for our enjoyment? Or the pine itself... a prop upon our own stage? What of the mighty whale deep within the ocean... a prop for who? not me! To reduce the magnificence of Life to that of a stage play is but the best Shakespeare could act out... poor miserable soul.

[Non Sum]

Hi
MT: Bravo! Encore!

NS: Thank you, (Bowing) thank you. (An encore generously provided at the end.)

It’s right, and balanced, that you should take Shakespeare for "a poor miserable soul," my friend, since you may be sure that is how he’d see you; though sympathetically so. For, we all start out our lives mis-taking the merely apparent for real, and most of mankind continue doing so right to their grave. Shakespeare has an unfair advantage over those who have not been given the opportunity to witness both sides of the curtain.

Did you ever see the film ‘The Piano’? There’s a analogous scene where the New Zealand settlers stage a play with some Mauri natives seated in the audience. When the ‘Dastardly Dan’ character begins malevolence upon poor ‘Sweet Nell,’ the Mauri become outraged, rush the stage, and attack the actor with hatchets.

I know, and understand, this ‘play’ (Skt. ‘lila’) perspective must appear as the most ridiculous of conceptions, in the face of something so obviously ‘real’ to you; how could you possibly see it otherwise(?). So many poets, philosophers, religious masters, and mystics who take the opposing view are instantly negated by the simple act of stubbing one’s toe. You must marvel at how obtuse these, otherwise intelligent, men and women would have to be in order to miss what is so very obvious.

You’re right to not take their word on faith. But, you would be better served to stage your own investigation to see for yourself if there is in fact another side to the curtain, rather than to simply shake your head, congratulating yourself for the uncanny ability to see the obvious.

"Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."
— William Shakespeare (The Tempest)

[SadLuckDame]

Thanks for this Hester, I've been enjoying. It's entertaining and I'm all sorts into that. Really liking the Shakespeare chat, too.