Gaia breathes

Odd that after my ‘breathing‘ post the other day, I was wondering why I didn’t think of including info about how the Earth breathes….then the US gets earthquakes.  She has been breathing for millions of years; very slowly, and at a lower vibration than humans, but breathing nonetheless.

See Pangea at left for a visual of how the continents looked millions of years ago, before plate tectonics moved the earth by the addition of new ground rising up, and older pushing below.

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From Aug 22-24, several earthquakes hit regions where they do not normally occur.  Several small pre-cursor quakes out in Cali– nothing new there, they take their juice shaken most days anyway–then a 5.3 near the Colorado/New Mexico border, a few small ones near the New Madrid fault, then soon after a 5.8 in Virginia.

(Click here for USGS, then click animation to view the sequence of recent earthquakes)

I have been reading Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home by Rupert Sheldrake. In his book, he mentions earthquake prediction via animal behavior, also known as Etho-Geological Forecasting.
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Chart for the time of quake indicates chart ruler, Pluto (earth shifts) in Capricorn (material world), in square to Uranus (vibrations,quakes) in the 4th house of home and property, in square to Mars (energy) which is in opposition to Pluto.  Mars (activity) square Saturn (bedrock, Earth), which is also square Pluto.  Be aware these aspects are in cardinal signs (crisis, activity, action).
(see big red square)

There is also a grand Earth trine involving Jupiter (expansion), Venus (sensations) and Sun (government buildings) with metamorphic Pluto.

How to reduce earthquake dangers.
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namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Pulse

 Shamanic drumming allows us to weave sacred magic through conscious dreaming with the rhythm present in our breath, heartbeat and the Earth itself.

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 Drumming results in an alpha state; (relaxation, super learning, light trance) it is the resonating power of vibration through sound which brings an altered state of consciousness / contemplation / connection with All That Is; the I AM.

Aries is Cardinal Fire !  Aries motto is I AM.
Aries is ruled by Mars.  Mars rules Drums !

Rhythm can be used to find your ‘center’, to become more grounded, calm and aware of the connections between all life forms.  Drumming induces deep relaxation, lowers blood pressure, and brings the vibratory levels of the physical and spiritual bodies to a state of balance.

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Research has demonstrated that the physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. When the logical left hemisphere and the intuitive right hemisphere begin to pulsate in harmony, the inner guidance of intuitive knowing can then flow unimpeded into conscious awareness.

Winkelman, Michael, Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing
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For a detailed report on the physical benefits of drumming, go
HERE 

get yer groove on~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Web of Life

This is a Darwins Bark spider web…a very impressive piece of work !

Spiders are Saturn ruled, of course !  
The long-term builders of the zodiac, the patient ones because they have to be.
Capricorn types able to climb the mountain / build the web when the going gets tough.
I am Saturn-ruled, and I love spiders.

Spiders (8 legs) have the vibration of strength and willpower.  Eight here.

Spiders spin incredibly strong silk webs.  Spider silk is ruled by Neptune, as are nets, and poison.  Spiders use poison to sting their prey so they can wrap them up for a snack later !
Orb spider webs are spiral.  Spirals and vibrations (indicate prey caught in web) are ruled by Uranus, as are science and astrology !
Just wait until you read where this post ends up, spiral indeed…and oh.. so Saturn.

Spiders spin many different types of webs each depending on what the spider needs for the time/place.


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When I look at my natal map and the current planetary transits to it — I see a giant web of life, my life–when one silken strand snaps, I build another somewhere else to shore up the loose end.  Don’t we all…?  Better to focus on what needs done than dwell on what didn’t work out.  Tie a knot and move on.
Special shout-out to my Virgos, next time someone is up your whatzit about being too Virgo… just remember : we see the web of life.

Zoologist Ingi Agnarsson and colleagues have found Darwin’s bark spider webs as wide as 82 feet (25 meters)—about as long as two city buses.  WoW.
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A close relative to the spider above, the Nephila komaci has an unusual mating ritual.
The female of the species has a leg span of up to 5 inches (12 centimeters), while the male—which spends much of its time clambering on its partner’s back—barely reaches an inch (2.5 centimeters), a new study says.
Highlight below if you want to know what it is …
~> In addition, the males are “sort of fanatically monogamous” during their roughly one-year life spans…when ready to mate, a male will usually make his move when the female is molting, he added.  Her legs are soft and her body’s soft, and she can’t prevent being inseminated by the male,” Coddington said. “Once he’s inseminated her, he’ll break off his genitalia in hers, thereby plugging her up.” The male, which is left sterile, then drives away other males until he dies. This strategy should stymie other males’ mating attempts—though some females have been found with several dismembered male organs lodged inside them, he said.

source for the above: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091021-largest-web-spinning-spider.html

If you would love even more spider info, I encourage you to look here: http://www.americanarachnology.org/JOA_online.html

peace
GMA

quiet moon

It’s a dark void moon in the sign of Cancer.
The moon rules Cancer which is a yin, or passive water sign.  People with strong Cancer in their chart tend to be quiet, moody, love home, family, cooking and gardening.  These energies or moods may be swaying your emotions on the moons 2 day stay in this sign.

The dark moon is a quiet time of incubation and preparation for the future.  (Visualize garden seeds underground sprouting.)  It’s also a good time for some house-witchery cleaning of the corners; setting goals and using energies for manifesting the most positive future that will be growing with the moon as it reaches its full moon potential.

Presently it is also a void of course moon (a moon making no significant aspects before leaving the sign it’s in) which is a period of wait-and-see, do nothing of importance while the moon, emotions, or any other moon ruled issues are adrift (void) and hidden (dark).  Traditionally astrologers believe actions taken during void moons will not come to fruition as planned, or not at all.  I suggest caution, see how the void moon works for you in your life.
(The New Moon breathes in some fire in Leo at 1:16 pm CST USA on the 30th)

So let’s all order pizza and watch movies in the dark, I’ll light the candles and the musky incense …
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The Lunarium Universal Calendar in the astrology links can be adjusted to your time zone world-wide.  Great for lunar info, including void of course moons.

Hum a few bars

Ahhh…The Look.  You know the one…the look you get when you speak something Not of Status Quo, the look generally followed by a chuckle + eye roll.  Perhaps the odd bit pops out of your mouth in polite conversation about : astrology, aliens, crystals, crop circles or in my case today~ the Taos Hum.  The curious Uranian blurt followed by knowing glances around the room.  Yes.  I am, once again, safe in the knowledge that I have raised the freak flag in the academic crowd; aka the weirdo in the room just stood up.
I have heard the Taos Hum and here is my story…
I was planning on driving the enchanted circle after leaving Taos heading home toward Eagle Nest Lake along the river on my way to 64 East to Cimmaron.  I had driven this route before and fell in love…it is a winding road that follows the river on the south side with bluffs on the north; trees and forest lush on both sides.  There is a little Buddhist monastery tucked up in the bluffs too, and as you can see by the map, that’s not all.

I was stopped at the crossroads fiddling with my ipod -[must have road-worthy tunes for one of the best drives in the country]- when, it occurred to me my truck seemed really loud, even for my old Dodge.  So I put it in park and got out to look at the rear chassis.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  hmm…?…  So I climb back in and I hear it again…a very low register, but very loud, wave-like humming sound.  Ok, my truck had a lotta miles this trip: Colorado mountain top festival in the 14ers, Arches, Grand Canyon,  Monument Valley, Barringer Crater, Zuni Pueblo, Santa Fe, Taos…and that was only this vacation.  I have driven my truck coast to coast and I know how it sounds.  So this time I turned my truck off…and could still hear it.
Then I sit and wait for the dump truck hauling rock that I am sure will be appearing from around the bend anytime now.   ….nope.  All Alone.   Me, my silent parked truck, and The Hum.

I finally gave up, after several trips around the vehicle, knowing my truck sounded fine when I climbed out of it to hear it, and I had places to go.  ( Like the worst bathroom in the US- Cimmaron- fair warning- skip it !)
In case you are ever near Taos and want to try a ‘hearing the humming’ experiment…I was parked at the crossroads near the star marked Taos.
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Ok, so now a bit about The Hum~ the sound registers louder to the people who hear it while they are inside a structure than if they are outside a structure; standing in the yard, it can’t be heard.   The noise has driven nearby residents to petition Congress.  In 1993 residents asked the government to help locate the source of the disturbance, to no avail.  Some who are routinely subjected to the sound feel symptoms such as: dizziness, insomnia, disorientation, pressure on the ears, and headaches.  Among several theories of what causes the hum :  Infrasound, audible electro-magnetic earth frequencies, or the echo of undetected seismic activity.
Strangely, only 2% of Taos residents are able to hear the hum.  *When recorded by a Denver audiologist, the hum was a steady vibration of 17 cycles per second with a harmonic rising to 70 cycles per second near Taos. The low range of human hearing is 20 to 30 cycles per second. (Aquiziam.com)*  Similar humming sounds have been reported in the UK and New Zealand.
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Astrologically, I am thinking my Sun conjunct Uranus and biggie Neptune in 11th aspecting Toro Moon feels the vibrations ~ Saturn trine Mars on the 12th sign is getting the hidden dial tuned into the Earth.  ? shrug ?
What do you think..?

*edit: Check out the great convo on this subject at Mystic Medusa
http://mysticmedusa.com/2011/09/have-you-heard-the-hum/

Also check out The World Hum Map and Database here.
Hum Database on twitter here.

namaste~
gneissmoonastrology.net

Blue Mooneptune

“I was determined to carve out a music of my own.  I didn’t want to copy anybody.” 

~May I introduce the ‘Father of Bluegrass’,  Mr. Bill Monroe.


Changing the face of American music forever, Bill Monroe founded the Monroe Brothers, later the Bluegrass Boys; culling the best pickers around to play in his band – including Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and much later, Peter Rowan.

For five decades they created the ‘high lonesome’ sound.

I was very pleased to see his chart-> it’s another astrological slam-dunk, folks !

Virgo Bill Monroe is a life path 7.

Sevens are mystics, intellectuals- they are the builders of bridges between worlds.

Obviously a grand earth trine (ease of energies) anchored by rebel Uranus in hard-working Capricorn.  You don’t get to be the best without a LOT of practice and perseverance in your craft.

Neptune (rules string instruments) at the apex of the kite, exalted in Cancer. 

A kite formation indicates strong energies passing with ease along the trine, and more difficult energies in the opposition.

Uranus in Bill’s case is the inventive quality of his music expressed through the opposition with musical Neptune.  Powerful Mars in the dexterous sign of Gemini in square (inner conflict) to Virgo stellium, which includes Sun (Ego, spirit, creativity), Mercury (communication) and Venus (art, music) indicates Bill’s exacting work- Virgos are precise; seeking perfection.

He was also very demanding of those he played with.

Moon (feelings) conjunct Saturn (work, concentration) in methodical Taurus (ruled by Venus, his art) meant his music was his life, plain and simple.

Moon, exalted in Taurus, rules the throat.
Hello High Lonesome ! 

Uranus (rules vision) opposite Neptune (rules suffering as well as transcendence) indicates his life-long vision problems.

Saturn (time, building, father) conjunct Moon (public) shows the legacy of bluegrass music Bill has created, as well as the moniker, ‘Father of Bluegrass.’
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“You know, I never wrote a tune in my life. All that music’s in the air around you all the time. I was just the first one to reach up and pull it out.” – Bill Monroe

peace
GMA

Saturn Sleeps

Was it the Neptune incense that brought the dreams…?  Perhaps…or maybe was it the eclipses and endings they bring that are circling me like vultures ?  Three hours of sleep, waking three times and three times falling back asleep to the same nightmare.  Such is growth…tilling the same ground another year for a different harvest.  (Threes are Mercurial, exploratory, growing. )

Neptune (rules dreams, hiding) is my most highly aspected planet and has all my difficulties growing through it, including some lovely fixed squares to the secretive 8th.  Toss in a 29 degree Sun (endings- each house has 30 degrees) conjunct Uranus (astrology), Pluto (struggle) ; all three in opposition to Chiron (the healer) in Pisces -and you have an astrologer reluctant to reveal anything personal, regardless of the fact it would be the most helpful in lighting the spiritual path for others.  Hang tight…I’m workin’ on it…follow the breadcrumbs into the labyrinth.

While reading “Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art of Remembering Everything” by Joshua Foer, I read something that reminded me of fixed squares.  It is mentioned that “memories are nomadic until revisited and reinforced thereby making them impervious to erasure. It’s thought that sleep plays a critical role in this process of consolidating our memories and drawing meaning out of them.  Rats that have spent an hour running around a track apparently run through the same track in their sleep, and exhibit the same patterns of neural firings with their eyes closed as when they were learning the mazes in the first place.  It has been suggested that the reason our own dreams so often feel like a surreal recombination of elements plucked from real-life is that they are just the by-product of experiences slowly hardening into long-term memories.”

Fixed squares in a chart are the maps leading to the deeply ingrained patterns made over many lifetimes; places where self-will is strong.  (Fixed signs are: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.)  Fixed squares indicate a need to bend the will; give as well as take; a need to find balance between the two.
Look in the chart for help from any trines, sextiles or otherwise easier aspects for a more favorable expression of the squared planet.   (In my case, Neptune sextiles my stellium and Mercury sextiles my 8th.  So I’m usually happy to talk about spirituality, metaphysics, music and art)  In the case of a chart without sextiles, trines or easier aspects to the squared planets – concentrate on vibrating to the highest most positive expression of the planets involved.
For example; Saturn can be restrictive and pessimistic or concentrating and disciplined, and Venus can be vain or loving.
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.  ~Maori Proverb

Myth of Sisyphus: http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/sisyphus.html