Astro Alchemy

Recently I’ve been playing with an exciting new approach to manifestation, as outlined in the book Scripting the Life You Want, by Royce Christyn. It involves a daily practice of writing down your intentions for the day ahead, including things you hope will happen along with others that you absolutely

Have you been watching Simone Biles at the Paris Olympics? If so, you know greatness when you see it. “She’s not even human,” I’ve heard several people say of the world’s most decorated gymnast – who’s been wowing star-studded crowds. And on Tuesday, Biles clinched her fifth Olympic gold medal

By the early 1950s, Frank Sinatra’s career had hit a low ebb. No one wanted him as a singer or an actor. Yet when he read the book From Here to Eternity, which was about to be made into a movie, Sinatra knew he was born to play the part

One Saturday when I was 14, my friend Erin and I were hanging out at my home when the minister of our church stopped by to lay his hands on my mom’s sprained ankle. As this was not standard procedure for Methodist ministers, Erin and I exchanged dubious looks. We

Our beautiful green planet just marked a shocking new milestone – enduring 12 consecutive months of unprecedented heat. Every single month from June 2023 to May 2024 was the world’s hottest such month on record. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, who are about to mark the beginning

What if, all through your childhood, your dad told you things like, “You’re gonna shake up this world,” and, “You’re gonna win Wimbledon.” And drove you past mansions in the wealthy part of town, assuring you that some day you’d have one of your own. For two young Black girls

It’s hard to imagine, especially for those of us (like me) who spent our summer vacations haunting the local library and devouring adventure novels, but many U.S. kids have no library near where they live – and thus no access to books. Three years ago, this fact became apparent to

Waxing Moon Goddess by Ramona Szczerba I went salsa dancing last Saturday night for the first time in years. Salsa used to be my world, and I was out dancing at least five times a week. Over time, the scene changed – and so did I. But one of my

A butterfly is a delicate, ephemeral creature. So, the Zuni Butterfly Dance, which took place off a dusty, remote New Mexico road, came as a shock to many. As Clarissa Pinkola Estes describes it in Women Who Run with the Wolves, the dancer, Maria Lujan, was a large, elderly native

Some years ago, motivational teacher Debra Poneman was preparing a big speech for Jack Canfield’s Transformational Leadership Council. But fate had a twist up its sleeve. As Poneman recalls, “I had my presentation all planned, replete with my flip chart and white board and power point, and I was ready

“Anything done for another is done for oneself.” –Pope John Paul II Human beings can be profoundly contradictory. Take Pope John Paul II, who helped usher the Catholic Church into the 21st century. A passionate social activist and champion of human rights, Polish-born Karol Wojtyla was actively anti-Communist and played

At age 35, Jennifer Flewellen was put into a medically induced coma after crashing her car into a pole. Doctors soon became certain she would never recover and encouraged Flewellen’s mother, Peggy Means, to take her off life-support. Means refused. Weeks turned to months, which turned into years, but Means’

“Newton was sitting under an apple tree when an apple fell on his head and he discovered gravity. And we here are living in darkness and tragedy, and rockets are falling on us, therefore I thought of creating light.” Using two fans salvaged from a scrap market that he rigged

There’s no place so identified with car culture as California.  Once the fourth-largest crude oil producer in the U.S., my home state’s abundant fossil fuels and balmy weather helped birth a culture of iconic cars, highways, drive-in theaters and restaurants. Whether it was Model-T’s at the beach, Mustangs on the

Martha Graham’s provocative dance, Errand into the Maze In the mid-1940s, legendary dance choreographer Martha Graham was on a flight to Iran that got caught in a brutal snowstorm. As the plane was tossed about, everyone onboard went into a panic – terrified that they were going to die.