Astro Alchemy

Welcome to the dog days of summer! Although canines do need to stay extra cool and hydrated at this languid time of year, the phrase actually refers to the rising of Sirius, the “Dog Star.” The star system Sirius (said to have  uncanny ties to Earth) disappears below the horizon

The first time California-based Jeannine Schrantz set foot on African soil, she knew she had come home. Her partner, Alan, had convinced her to take a month-long road trip between Uganda and Rwanda in Dec. of 2009. “He told me [Africa] would capture my soul – and he was so

Since Downton Abbey recently arrived on Netflix, I’ve been lost in early 20th Century England. Yes, I’m a bit late to the party – the saga of a highbrow household and its hardworking servants originally debuted in 2011 – but the sumptuous, superbly-written series  does serve as an apt reflection

What’s up with the sudden resurgence of interest in UFOs? Yes, of course it’s connected to the recent release of a long-awaited government assessment of the mysterious flying objects. But why now? The timing is interesting, as it falls not long after the dawn of the Age of Aquarius at

The 1896 Quadricycle was Henry Ford’s first attempt to build a gasoline-powered automobile. He patched together an iron frame, a leather belt, a chain drive, a buggy seat and a primitive ignition system. The result was sketchy, but it ran! Ford sold the Quadricycle for $200, then used the money

If you won the lottery, what would you do? Most would go on a spending spree, and soon the money would be gone. (Studies have found that bankruptcy rates soar for lottery winners three to five years after their win.) But Rachel Lapierre did something quite different with her 2018

When my mother died in the spring of 2005, I was inconsolable. My pain was an ocean too deep to be fathomed. Not only was I grieving the person I loved most in the world, but I was overwhelmed by my father’s pain and the hurtful ways he was expressing

Before Michael Beckwith became a minister and founded the Agape International Spiritual Center, he was a young man with a lot of potential who’d lost his way. The turning point came when he got caught dealing marijuana and was thrown in jail. Beckwith vowed to devote his life to God

A key feng shui maxim is: Whatever is in closest proximity to you has the most impact on you. In other words, what’s happening within your living or work space is a reflection of where you’re at in your life. This includes not only the structure and what’s in it,

In the thought-provoking new film Nomadland, someone refers to people like Fern, the character played by Frances McDormand, as homeless. “Not homeless,” she counters, “just houseless. It’s not the same thing.” Ousted from her long-time home after the company town she lived in went belly-up, the scrappy widow has taken

Recently I decided to clean all my light fixtures. In some cases, this had not been done in ten years. It’s amazing how much filth can accumulate in that length of time – and it definitely hadn’t been doing my feng shui any favors! The taking-down-and-cleaning part was easy, but

In early Feb. 1962, Hindu astrologers braced for a three-day period during which the earth would be “bathed in the blood of thousands of kings.” At the same time in Britain, others were also awaiting disaster, believing the earth’s poles would flip and 75 percent of the world’s population would

I’ve been loving all the hilarious Bernie memes flooding Facebook since the Inauguration. A bundled-up Bernie on the Dating Game, perched on the rings of Saturn, hanging with Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was an unexpectedly creative, slightly giddy reaction to our renewed hope for a better world. Over the

Is it possible to transcend difficult transits? In his article in the April/May 2019 issue of The Mountain Astrologer, “A Mystic Looks at Astrology,” Ray Grasse posed that question to occultist Shelly Trimmer. Trimmer replied with an anecdote about his teacher, Paramahansa Yogananda, renowned yogi and founder of Self Realization

At the holiday season, we all crave the comfort of family around us – as difficult as that may be this year while the pandemic rages on. But some people naturally create family all year ’round. Christie Purviance, for example, is known for treating her patients like loved ones. The