This is Virginia Bell. She is not only a gifted astrologer but a lovely friend and mentor whom I trust implicitly. Once a year, I consult her professionally and, with big-picture perspective and kind wisdom, she helps chart a path that aligns me with my calling and the lessons I must court given the astrological aspects coming into the play. She cites such wide-ranging sages as Jane Austen, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Marianne Williamson, Rumi, and Jung, and connects my chart to those of our country and world, which I love since I ardently believe no human trajectory exists in a vacuum. Every visit she offers me a guiding catchphrase and question to consider. This year’s catchphrase: “Creative chaos.” The question: “Where am I thinking too small?” Gosh, I just love her.
Today is my solar return, though according to the Christian calendar my birthday is tomorrow. I share this day (technically January 19) with three women whom I consider geniuses, cultural alchemists, phoenixes who make art from their ashes so as not to waste an inch of this Earth’s precious resources. Sweet and sour Janis Joplin died young—she burned herself right up at age 27, talk about economical—but Dolly Parton and Cindy Sherman keep reinventing themselves with a pixie purity and a fulsome smarts that I only hope is my true legacy. Continue Reading →
The full moon in Cancer arrived a few hours ago and I know because I woke weeping. This is an aspect that opens us to our intuitive abilities and also our deepest feelings—the sweetest ones, the sorest ones. Cancer is all about the home, so we are asked: What feels like home? More to the point, who feels like home? As is true for many from broken lines, opening my heart—and my hearth—is the hardest thing to do, and I react badly when my welcome mat is muddied through carelessness or cruelty. Today I feel the full weight of those miscommunications and unkindnesses— my own as well as others. So I am doing the only thing I can when energy lines are blocked. I am cleaning, literally and metaphorically. Straightening your house—scrubbing it, saging it, shining it—is the best way to let go of what’s not yours to keep. More to the point, it’s the best way to make room for love and light. May your hearth sparkle like the cleanest of mirrors. The cleanest of windows, too. Painting: Diann Blevins
This is Virginia Bell. She is not only a gifted astrologer but a lovely friend and mentor whom I trust implicitly. Once a year, I consult her professionally and, with big-picture perspective and kind wisdom, she helps chart a path that aligns me with my calling and the lessons I must court given the astrological aspects coming into the play. She cites such wide-ranging sages as Jane Austen, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Marianne Williamson, Rumi, and Jung, and connects my chart to those of our country and world, which I love since I ardently believe no human trajectory exists in a vacuum. Every visit she offers me a guiding catchphrase and question to consider. This year’s catchphrase: “Creative chaos.” The question: “Where am I thinking too small?” Gosh, I just love her.
Today is my solar return, though according to the Christian calendar my birthday is tomorrow. I share this day (technically January 19) with three women whom I consider geniuses, cultural alchemists, phoenixes who make art from their ashes so as not to waste an inch of this Earth’s precious resources. Sweet and sour Janis Joplin died young—she burned herself right up at age 27, talk about economical—but Dolly Parton and Cindy Sherman keep reinventing themselves with a pixie purity and a fulsome smarts that I only hope is my true legacy. Continue Reading →
The full moon in Cancer arrived a few hours ago and I know because I woke weeping. This is an aspect that opens us to our intuitive abilities and also our deepest feelings—the sweetest ones, the sorest ones. Cancer is all about the home, so we are asked: What feels like home? More to the point, who feels like home? As is true for many from broken lines, opening my heart—and my hearth—is the hardest thing to do, and I react badly when my welcome mat is muddied through carelessness or cruelty. Today I feel the full weight of those miscommunications and unkindnesses— my own as well as others. So I am doing the only thing I can when energy lines are blocked. I am cleaning, literally and metaphorically. Straightening your house—scrubbing it, saging it, shining it—is the best way to let go of what’s not yours to keep. More to the point, it’s the best way to make room for love and light. May your hearth sparkle like the cleanest of mirrors. The cleanest of windows, too. Painting: Diann Blevins