Full Moon in Virgo: mutable views of the Sky from the Vardo

Last night I moved the pillows on the futon, and fell to sleep with my head on the north end of the bed with my eyes facing south.  There was no logic to the move, just a strong gut sense, telling me it might be a good time to switch things about.  Mutable nature is not plentiful in my chart ... that is, I have a fully loaded 'fixed' chart with Mercury, Saturn, Pluto, True Node, Sun, Mercury and Chiron all in the Fixed Signs. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Astro_signs.svg

The sun in Pisces is joined with the moon in Virgo.  Any way you look at it "Service" is the calling for the day.  CJ Wright has a wagon load of wonderful astrology bloggers who have posted a view of this full moon, and Elsa puts it start out with her Eye on the Sky saying "They are both sides of the same coin."  Both Pisces and Virgo are Mutable signs and their combined energy must surely be shifting my fixed nature ... tweaking my death-grip on both the present and my past.  My dreams have long been a source of shifting that fixed nature that can too often turn me rigid from expectations.  Last night the subtle yet powerful turning of the view for sleep left me with a dreamer's classic recurring dream.  Now, those who understand what is happening here will appreciate how very, very close to the bone this telling is.  (breathing helps and then there is the Virgin and the Fishies swimming in two directions at once to serve my purpose...)  Here goes

Malama and Prayers to the Islands and her people

Sending prayers of safety and protection to the Islands of my birth ... as the tsunami is scheduled to arrive in Hilo on the island of Hawaii ... as I write this.




Malama, malama, take care all!



Aloha nui loa kakou,

Mokihana and Pete

Dust

It was not a night for long sleeping.  Perhaps the double feature of Sherlock Holmes and the movie The Girl in the Cafe had something to do with activity the prevailed upon my time of restoring sleep.  Perhaps it was the chat with my son.  Perhaps it was an example of how Pisces affects the dreamers like me, stirring the dreams into the waking sector of the night while being fully awake.  When I was first woken from sleep it was the hard pinging of rain outside the cracked window that niggled.  "Oh, you can ignore that surely."  I tried to convince my woken dreamer.  Shutting the window tight did not cease the stirred consciousness.  I climbed from the futon, Pete lay asleep deeply.  The rain had indeed begun.  Smiling to myself the thought of the snap peas we had set into the freshly tilled community garden in Lowell drew a grin onto my face.  We hadn't watered them yet.  The clouds did that for us, and I thank 'em!  Dressed in my night shirt I unlocked the front hatch, slipped into my boots.  Glad for my glasses already in place I stepped consciously on the wet wooden steps.  The dust from the short night of sleep washed from me, and I rounded the back of the vardo to find the Denny foil we use to cover the tires from their out-gassing.  "When did that blow free of the wheels?"  Asking no one but my own dear self, I picked up the foil, the offending receiver of rain drops and tossed it under the trailer.

A small thing like this is a magnifying glass of accomplishment for this old gal.  In the years of our flight from this or that, I have been too weak or debilitated in some way, to do such small and comforting things to comfort the two of us.  It has been Pete who shouldered the fix-its and dos.  I climbed the stairs with an acknowledgement ... "Well done, old gal."  I said to myself.  Believing I might be able to reclaim the night of sleep I nestled under the silk comforter and sought sleep.  As I said in the beginning, the dust of dreams was stirred into the inbetween times and instead of sleep there was an inventory of my present come to give me a call.

More about "HOME", the NEW HOMELESS: The Edgy Reality of Pluto squaring Saturn, the Shout out "Partner Up!"

The Green Planet from Space

"Living public"
One of the Paper Napkin Poems published on The Sam and Sally Blog
Copyright 2008 , Mokihana Calizar

Urban life.

Parking lots paved paradise.

Still the palms sway in the afternoon breeze.

`Aole fruit. Cut to avoid killing a haole from land where snow drifts in the same global afternoon breeze.

Homeless—houseless nomads sleep legally in ALOHA STATE licensed vehicle.

Beware the witching hour.

BONG! 6:01 sleeping, you are citable by law.

Living public the maimed and injured catch the eye, draw heavy hands and big billed brother.

Peck. Peck.

Bang, bang.

Slam, Slam.

Cabang.

Security in the parking lots. Log times in. Log times out...

The moon is plumping, waxing into her fullness, Pete and I emerge from the 'Ole cycle just completed.  Four days and nights of review, revisiting and preparing for more life on The Green Planet.  Funny, the description of Earth as 'the green' one ought to be forever true.  Yet, how long is forever?  The four days of 'ole have, as they usually are, been full.  The daily reality of life remains a mixed bag:  the pounding and sanding of the construction next door continues; the formaldhyde soaked 'used to be wood' walls get wet with the rain and set things even more off-center.  We have made adjustments to that reality by investing in a new AUSTIN JR. Plus air purifier.  It's one that filters formaldhyde.  Our friend "A" has invested in us, too.  Thanks to her offer to have our backs when we need it, we got enough money to cover the expenses for that unexpected 'right to breathe'.  After more than a week, the basement is clearer, though I still must spend limited time and go to the vardo and do NAET self-treatments to clear the energy of the depleting chemical.  I'm 'wearing' a formaldyhyde "patch" for twenty-five hours to allow my body to make adjustments to something that I cannot avoid.  (Link here to find out more about NAET.  This is a healing tool that I use regularly, it is for me a way to affirm my belief that I can move energy through me.  It is NOT A CURE in the medically limited definitions.  NAET is a tool that one opens to if there is room, and uses it with practice and attending.)  My carbon filtering mask dangles, like a pear shaped earring off my left ear.  Back-up protection.

Life as a pair of old dears who sleep and recoup in VardoForTwo, while attached by that orange electrical extension cord, is a reality of The Green Planet's morphing reconstruction.  Astrologically, the planet Pluto (that tiniest of planets or non-planets who mirrors the collective unconscious and primal fears) is parked in the constellation of Capricorn, and is squared off with Saturn (the planet of linear time/structure/limitations) in the sign/constellation of Libra.  Back in 2009 Elsa P. from ElsaElsa.com posted this video to prepare us.  Pete and I have been part of what TIME Magazine is calling the "new homeless."  More about that in a moment.  What's important here is to open to the language of the sky, Astrology, and Elsa P. has been a vital key and teacher for me as I learn to reconstruct my life from a tiny home.  Setting the stage on this Green Planet ... the collective reality is:  no one will go without being challenged at the bone!

Homes, journeys, visits and long stays; Astrological navigation

The Astrological Houses and their Meanings

February is being a very full month for these two old dears.  The Year of the Tiger in Aquarius has brought us a wave of clearing energy, and with Mars the planet of action still busy backing up (that is moving in retrograde) in Leo until March 10th I have taken the suggestion to use that Mars energy while it visits.  Mars has been in Leo since December 20, 2009 so it's a bit of a long stay.  When I read Donna Cunningham and CJ Wright's collaboration, it resonated ... ringing bells loudly enough to tame the ever-present ring in my left ear.  Here's an example of how I use astrology to navigate.  For nearly two years Neptune the planet of illusion and dissillusion as well as the planet some astrologers point to as inciter of 'mystery illness' was squaring off with Mars in my astrological life.  That meant my natural ways of acting out, taking action, would be challenged.  In no small way, my world of acting and moving was dissolved during the past two years when MCS steadily watered down all my notions of stability and actions.  Pete has weathered the years of Neptune's by doing what he has learned to do most of his adult life:  he builds and nurtures.  He's a Crab with a very inquiring mind (Gemini), so he built our VardoForTwo and learned to ride the big waves with me, his Scorpio mate.  Now, Pete is building a nurturing venture for his own dear self. 

This post is not coming easily to the page, so much to explain and such insight to share.  I stop *** breath naturally and ask my aging eyes (which seem to be saying, "New glasses, we think.") to stay with me as I try to keep my focus.  Pete has just walked into the room and listened to my angst about this post.  "I don't see why you don't change the zoon level.  Magnify the screen."  "How do I do that?" I ask.  "Right there."  I click on the little plus sign in the lower right corner and oh, that makes a difference."  See what I mean.  Relationships!  And that is a perfect lead into what my Mars in retrograde work has been all about.  "Relationships."  Mars is in retrograde in my 7th and 8th houses. With the chart above and a copy of my Natal Chart showing the position of the planets, moon and sun (called the 'Transits') for this period of time, I zeroed in on the blessing of taking actions where it could do me the most good.  Sorta like having the most fun with a visitor, this visitor being Mars in my House of Relationships ... "Partnerships of all kind and Marriage." 

The Year of the Tiger begins, Clearings done, New beginnings, Commit to your goals

The Year of the Tiger began with rituals of clearings and wonderfully inspired clanging and banging of pan lids with silverware.  Saturday night, just before climbing onto the futon Pete and I sat quietly with small sheets of turquoise colored post-it paper.  Our tiny vardo home/oasis bedroom newly cleaned, the time just before sleep was our time to commit to our private and collective goals/dreams for the coming Year of the Tiger.  A small and precious china bowl painted with violets, a piece of my long ago and treasured history sat empty except for the Citrine crystal that has traveled with us for a decade.  Silently we wrote words and images we see happening in our new lunar year.  When the sheets of turquoise were filled, we folded them words facing in (like eggs ready for fertilization) and placed them in the violet bowl along with the crystal.  "So it is.  Mahalo Ke Akua."  Our ritual of commitment complete, we ended with that simple prayer ending.

MOVE THE Scissors: a feng shui lesson from VardoForTwo

Feng Shui, the ancient science of placement and space based on the Chinese philosophy of attending to the elements of nature and their affect on life with ones home or office or town has been a long-time practice for me.  While we constructed and then created our tiny space which is in essence a bedroom, Feng Shui was ever present in my view.  Challenged by the sensitivities I live with, the basic "good feng shui" tenants have had to be adjusted to accomodate the reality that it is difficult or impossible (at this time) to be with some of those Feng Shui tenants or "cures."  My great-grandfather AhKoon was pure Chinese, my grandfather Amona was half Chinese.  The blood of that ancient legacy traces itself in me, so I ask the ancestors, "Help me out here!"  I've gotta make some wise adjustments to the perfect alignments because we live in a space that is lined with Metal Energy (all the stainless steel walls) and we have one of those beds that is right out of the "not so good feng shui" examples. 

3.  Make sure (THE BED) is a good height. To allow for a balanced feng shui energy flow under the bed you need to have your bed at a reasonable height above the floor level. Generally, the beds that have built-in storage drawers underneath to help you with storage solutions are considered bad feng shui beds. Why? Because the energy needs to circulate around your body when you sleep, which is not possible if the space underneath the bed is blocked.

http://www.wikihow.com/Feng-Shui-Your-Bedroom

LUNAR NEW MOON IN Aquarius, Sunday, February 14

Clipart credit:www.malaysiasite.nl/images/tigerchinese.gif

Chinese New Year, the new Lunar New Year begins on Sunday, February 14, 2010.  Astrologically, the new lunar year begins in the sign of Aquarius.  An abundance of soul-enriching posts have been written by astrologers I respect and enjoy.  Through their eyes and with their perspectives my moon-based life grows with each cycle.  You regular readers know that Mahina is our time-keeper of choice.  Mahina (the moon) in my Hawaiian mother's culture weaves her magic into Pete's and my life raising our consciousness and slowly yet steadily placing our souls, our goals and our visions for present and future good in the flow of sol-lunar time. 

When we lived without the clocks of society, setting up home from the small space of our station wagon, it was the moon, the stars, planets and dark night sky that re-tooled our place on Earth.  Neptune in particular applied harsh pressure on the way I functioned in the world.  Watering down my former ways of being, one of the first things to change was the way we looked at time, the way we marked time.  Any one who has lived in and from a car or wheeled vehicle knows there is a 'witching hour' -- variable from place to place, province to country.  The 'witching hour' turns car dwellers from citizens with rights and dignity to illegal nomads with few rights to be anywhere "public" and too often, void of dignity in the face of authority and the on-looking public.  We learned to live like the feral cat; invisible by day and stealth by night.  The new Chinese New Year begins the year of the Tiger ... and in many ways, Pete and I celebrate the strength we have gained learning to live as feral cat, and recognize that the Full Moon in Leo (the cat) at the end of 2009 has taught me (with Mars in Leo, and with Mars in retrograde until March, 2010) to reassess my relationship with power ... for all the best reasons.

Burnt Biscuits

This story is making its way around the internet.  I found it in my email, sent to me by a friend in our Washington area MCS community.  Karen is the newly-found friend who gifted us with the Portable Mini spin Dryer from http://www.laundry-alternative.com/.  She would take no money, and said instead, "When you no longer need it, pass it along."  Generosity like this happens to us along the way, and we try to do the same every chance we get. 
Thanks, Karen for passing the good along!

BURNT BISCUITS


When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now

and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made

breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed

a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad.

I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach

for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I

don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear

butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!



When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom

apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said:

"Honey, I love burned biscuits."



Later, that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he

really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your

Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a

little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"



You know, life is full of imperfect things - and imperfect people. I'm not

the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just

like everyone else. What I've learned over the years is that learning to

accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences

- is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and

lasting relationship.



And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good,

the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and let go and let God.

Because in the end, God's the only One who will be able to give you a

relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!



We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the

base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!



"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in

your own."

WIPE OUT

How happens when one canary, two canaries put up bamboo curtain rods to enclose and 'pretty-up' their VardoForTwo?  At first, the look and line of bamboo poles and old favorite curtains from Manoa are a dream.  For an afternoon the porch looked wonderful and the breeze moved the yellow curtains like tradewinds.  By the time we went to sleep the oh too familiar, debilitating feel of weakness throughout from head to toe and then a burning sensation signaled a high-level exposure.  Something was creating a chemical sensitivity episode that would not pass.  Why do these things happen just before sleep?

What was it?  The bamboo poles must have been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides a major toxic trigger.  By the light of my small strand of Christmas tree lights and a light drizzle Pete pulled down the four bamboo rods and took them away; I cut and covered the rod holes with Denny Foil.  The trigger eased, yet not early enough to be without ill-effect on my brain and nervous system.  A night later, a walk to the shore and I am better though weak.

It has been another challenging 'Ole Cycle.  The issue of whether a vardo built as a medical necessity will be reason enough to allow occupancy in a residential neighborhood is part of the challenge (when there's more to tell, we will).  A bit of awesome magic did happen: Ruby, our old Sony laptop returned from the dead for one day during the three-day 'Ole Cycle; just long enough for me to copy the story Tree Skin onto my backup cd (thank you!).  Pete has a bowl of freshly popped popcorn tempting me.  I hear someone chopping stuff for dinner upstairs, and the sound of the SuperBowl is a dim backdrop to a Sunday evening.  JOTS is back to being an outdoor and on the porch of the vardo kitty again (it's a rat related story for another time).

That's the short story for now.
A hui hou,
Mokihana

'OLE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF THE HAWAIIAN MOON CALENDAR

Three days and nights of the 'Ole Cycle according to the Hawaiian Moon Calendar begin today.  We will refrain from new posts (though we moderate any new comments) and spend the 'Ole Moon phases reviewing and finishing things already begun.

A hui hou (see you later) when Mahina the Moon moves through her phases.

Mokihana

"Handshake days": Entreprenuers make good use of Moon Energy

Our regular readers know how Pete and I attend to the energy of Mahina (The Moon).  There are links to the Hawaiian Moon Calendar on our sidebar and more if you link to our other blog Makua O'o Pete's Cancer Sun is ruled by the Moon and My Capricorn Moon in the 12th House seeks the solace and feminine retreat there to sort through the jumble.  Kaulana Mahina (The Hawaiian Moon Calendar) gifted to us three years ago planeted the new seeds of awareness in these two old dears.  Through the visual and circular calendar we learned to recognize the times during a thirty day period (a month more or less) when review rather than forward and aggressive new activity was the order of the day and night:  we learned the value of the 'Ole Cycles.  Three years later, the 'Ole Cycles expand our awareness into specific focuses.  We have come to know the names of each moon and try to integrate the knowing into our choices.  Like gardeners, fisherfolk and beings in sync with the natural rhythm of sun, moon, planets and our own bodies-minds-souls we take up these tools and use them to rebuild. 

February begins with the Sun in Aquarius, the dispenser of life-giving water offers a shift from the hard-climbing sea-goat Capricorn.  Pete and I are at a new fork in our world; both of us have new jobs and the learning curve needs clarity and wise use of cosmic timing.  My new job is actually my very old job longing for resurrection:  be my own beloved friend.  Pete's new job:  build good work that opens the inflow of resources including money.  There's a line from one of our favorite movies that replays in my head.  It's the movie A GOOD YEAR with Albert Finney and Russell Crowe and young Freddie Highmore.  Albert Finney plays the role of an eccentric, loveable Brit-expatriate living on a marvelously grand vineyard in the South of France.  (except for the pesticides that are sprayed on the vineyards the setting is our ideal of 'Never-Never Land').  Young Freddie Highmore plays a young Russel Crowe-character who spends the summers of his youth on the vineyard-estate absorbing the values of a truly good life with his uncle (Finney).  Here is the dialogue:  In the dim light of candles in the cellar, Finney, cigar in hand and wine glass in the other asks his nephew, "Ask me ... 'What is the secret to comedy?'"  His nephew complies with a grin and asks, "What IS the secret to comedy?"  And exquisitely poised Finney answered before the question is completed..."TIMING.  The secret to comedy is TIMING."

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/

Comedy.  Life.  All the world's a stage.  The secret to comedy and life is timing.  Oh yes, there are lots of details and circumstance and yet details and circumstance administered at the wrong time is money/energy down the drain if the timing is again' yah.  We are coming out of a long transit of dissolution and disillusion.  Neptune and Pluto have washed my old hopes and dreams completely away.  Pluto has a way of doing that, regardless of ones best 'effort' to the contrary.  Holding on to a sinking ship is the image that comes to mind.  "Too bad, bad things happen to good people."  Yup, it happens all the time and then what?  My chart includes a packed house of Scorpionic activity:  rebirths, face-to-face dealings with other people's assets and money, finding my place somewhere between fearing support from others and feeling secure with my internal value.  It's a very long, long story.  What is important here is the secret to comedy:  TIMING.  It's time to make use of what we do know now and that has to do with utilizing what is called 'HANDSHAKE DAYS" of the Lunar Cycle.