The cosmic order of the day is, well, cosmic order. And boy am I grateful. I just want to let go and let universe. I had so much to accomplish this week, I was meant to perform in a new monthly show on Thursday, and what I thought was a passing cold has knocked me for a loop. So I had to just let it go and let nature take its course, which included four hours of non-stop shivering in the night, and a day of watching classic 1970s movies on Netflix, just like the gods intended it. The Sabian Symbol associated with this day at 12° Aries is A Triangularly Shaped Flight of Wild Geese. And the first thing that strikes me, after al these days of geometric shapes and triangles, is that even the most abstract images can be derived from nature or expressed by it. Today is just about letting the intelligence of the natural world dictate the agenda. It speaks to there being more essential things than what’s on the menu today at the White House or who’s said the wrong thing about Bruce Jenner.

Flight is always an expression of the soul; and because this flight pattern is etched upon the Sky, it naturally makes us look up in awe. Little known facts about wild geese too: They won’t leave any of their kind behind in the migration, and if a goose should become ill or injured in the journey and need to land, one other goose will volunteer to keep that ailing goose company, on land, until it recovers or expires. Try to find that kind of loyalty and devotion among we humans. People born on this day, says one source, are open and willing to embrace their lot, without preconceptions of what that actually should be. Doesn’t that sound super relaxing. I think we could all use a little bit of that brand of mindset. Most people seem to bemoan their lot, or talk with their mouths full of sour grapes.

I was thinking this morning, after seeing a familiar character on social media go off on the notion of celebrity that: My sense is that the down-and-out characters that are always complaining about the famous would leap at the opportunity to be a revolting celebrity themselves given half the chance. Ego is ego. Whether you’re a bubble-headed (booby) booby like pick-a-Kardashian-any-Kardashian or a poverty-loving misanthrope whose always pooh-poohing these people, you’re basically the same thing in my book: not a wild goose. The goose isn’t silly, it’s the emblem of constancy, something I find is pretty rare in people in a larger social context but also in intimate bonds. The upshot being that the true gooses really distinguish themselves. Those are the companions in life whom we should value and emulate.

Venus is the planet of union, its energy being attractive. I like to imagine those geese in the sky giving us a V for that planet of love. When we are unified, in romantic, familial, fraternal, brotherly or sisterly love, in that V-formation, we are equals and in the proverbial It together, whatever obstacles or hardships may come. Indeed we are more able and even willing to accept what comes our way because it would be for no lack of love or protection. It’s only when we feel abandoned that we might act out in an abandoned way. Life is a journey and it sucks thinking you’re always having to be on it alone or worse, in competition with others. Besides a single year in little league, I never played on a team; I went to a huge college and mainly lived off campus; I haven’t worked more than probably a total of two years, my whole life, in an office, on a team; and those who know me will tell you. I have no family to speak of. So this aspect of life is something I really have to work at as it doesn’t come easy. I do tend to isolate and I have a morbid fear of cliques let alone cults. It is nice to have a V-formation of loyal loved ones in your life, but it really isn’t something you can manufacture—it is something which comes naturally, if we are fortunate enough to have found true birds of a feather with which to flock.

Note: The title of this installation is a quoted line from The Roches song “Quitting Time”.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Today we look at power, and worldly power at that. They symbol for 11° Aries is The Ruler of a Nation or The President of a Country. I think the original might be the former and yet the latter expresses the nature of the symbol. For we are not looking at the energy of a monarch or a dictator but the ruler of a democracy for the most part. A president presides, he has the power to execute the will of the collective, but he also has the responsibility to do so. I think of the energy of a president being very Libra, whereas that of a king is super Leo. Democracy and social order, balance of power, harmony among people, are hallmarks of the sign of Libra the mottos of which are “I balance” and “we are”. And being the 11°, one might equate it with the 11th sign of Aquarius in that sign’s Utopian vision. When one is the ruler or president most energy goes to keeping the peace, not just with other nations, but within the ranks of ones own, and among ones people. Where are you the ruler? In your family? At work? In some department? When you are in charge, mainly you deal with the censure of not doing things correctly. Or perhaps you are one who points out how those in charge are deficient; but if you were put in the lead role you would likewise be a target for criticism.

I was watching the documentary on Scientology, Going Clear. And besides the abuse of power by leaders of that “church” what struck me was how the IRS caved and gave Scientology tax-exempt status mainly because they were worn down by lawsuits. The IRS took the lazy route. And as a result that “church” has gotten away with murder, probably literally. The litany of abuses, the brainwashing, the blackmail is staggering. The documentary really left me angry at our powers that be, which allow this type of organization to proliferate. The billions of dollars Scientology pockets while those in its ranks suffer abuse is one thing; but the fact that “we” allow this organization to exist—which it can only do as a tax-free entity—is beyond me. My hope is that this documentary triggers some kind of upshot the way the documentary on Robert Durst brought about his arrest. I know it’s not as specific as the Durst situation—evidence coming to light—but seriously we have to crack down on this crazy cult. There was so much to the story that wasn’t in the documentary. The disappearance, for instance, of Shelly Miscavige, wife of the so-called religion’s leader David Miscavige—she hasn’t been seen in seven years.

In a democracy, we can all be Ruler of the Nation, theoretically. Any organizations that exist within our democracy that disallow that same capability for self-empowerment should be shut down. How is it that Scientology is protected by the First Amendment but Edward Snowden isn’t? If I were ruler of the nation, if I could, I would throw the money lenders (lobbyists) out of the temple (halls of Congress); I would impose caps on campaign fundraising; I would create a new-deal type works program for repairing our infrastructure; I would pardon Snowden; I would revoke any cult’s tax exempt status; I would outlaw GMOs; I would break up big Agro; I would impose oversight on big Pharma; I would tax the one percent at the same rate Eisenhower did in the 1950s, I would do a lot of things…if I could. All impossible, you say? That’s the real issue. Why is doing right by the people impossible? Why are venal, oppressive maneuvers all highly possible? Why do bad people in power always seem to win out? The main answer is: That, for the most part, anybody who needs to be in a position of power probably has a screw loose somewhere anyway. They are driven by ego. I love me some Hillary Clinton but really why does she need to be president so pressingly? I don’t think the prime answer is: to do good. I’d like to say I love me some Obama, for the most part, and he has attempted some good things; but he has also kow-towed to some of the worst people and entities on the planet, like Monsanto. Why? Maybe not because he wants to. Maybe there are threats involved.

That’s be the way Scientology operates: on threats. They have a dossier on “church” members yay high, one that “church” members provide them, admitting all sorts of shit in their audits. The irony of religious participation taking on the form of a visit to the IRS not withstanding, “church” members give their power over, or they believe they do. They are no longer the Ruler of (their own) Nation. And when you’re a celebrity Scientologist, the “church” uses you for their own PR purposes, and you get major perks and payoffs. Would that we could all boycott any project made by these celebrity Scientologists, or better yet: If we could send memos to Tom Cruise and John Travolta and Elizabeth Moss and Beck and Laura Prepon and Greta Van Susteren and Giovanni Ribisi and Kristie Alley and all the other famous “church” members saying that we don’t care what sexual proclivities they might be repressing. This isn’t the 1950s actually; and some spicy tales from their boudoirs might actually make them more interesting because, at a glance, this isn’t the most exciting bunch ever to appear in the same sentence.

Seven years before Graydon Carter and Vanity Fair published the story on Scientology’s search for a wife for Tom Cruise, the magazine included us in their “L.A. Intelligence Report” in the Vanities section in the front of the book. To be fair, it is a tongue-in-cheek page that mixes fact with fiction. Although, in our case, it was mostly fiction. First of all we don’t live in Los Angeles. Anyway, we were deemed “Psychics to the Stars” and one category in the chart-format piece was “Skeleton in Closet”. They said that ours was “Scientology referral swaps”. This immediately made us uneasy. And then came the questions all on the theme of “is this true?”; and despite putting out a statement that none of it was, our business is built upon a real consultancy with real paying clients, most of whom would not be comfortable if we were actually in bed with that awful cult.

I wrote Graydon Carter a letter pointing out the problem. He refused to print any kind of apology or retraction which, to be honest, I didn’t expect. His editors were vaguely sorry, especially Matt Tyrnauer who actually availed himself of guidance from Starsky + Cox on a regular basis, and yet, as often happens in this situation, we seemed to be personae non grata for speaking up about it. As if we should be so lucky to have any mention at all by Vanity Fair. But I do think the magazine was concerned with the legality of the situation, printing something not only untrue but potentially damaging. I then received a letter from Graydon’s office barely apologizing for any distress this had caused and how they planned to make it up to us with the publishing of our next book, which they would champion. They never did. In fact, they pretty much cut off all communication with us. Scientology calls it: To Disconnect. As a Ruler of a Nation, in this case a sensational magazine which is indispensable on long flights, Graydon Carter is well aware of his power, but perhaps he understimates the abuses thereof. When he raised the ire of Scientology, himself, I thought there was something karmic in it. The cult of celebrity vs. the cult to end all cults. If only.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

This is going to be a short one today folks. At least I hope so. I’m on day twenty-one of a thirty day Bikram Yoga challenge and, though I made it through a Boston winter without getting sick, with basically no heat in this impressive looking but ridiculous apartment in which I find myself, I now have some combo platter of Dickensian illnesses that would seem to combine consumption, rickets, pleurisy and gout. I jest (ish), but oucha-magaoucha do I feel like pooh warmed over; and Monday is a big client day and I must be sparklingly alert. Snap out of it.

I’m not sure what it is in my newly emerging personality that is manifesting as daily challenges—the yoga, this Blague—plus the horoscopes and other writing, our priority consultancy, the production and direction of a new Afterglow Festival, for which I must now begin fundraising in earnest, not to mention a number of upcoming shows by Starsky + Cox, both separate and together. Believe me I’m not complaining, I’m going somewhere with this: Today’s Sabian Symbol for 10° Aries is A Teacher Gives New Symbolic Forms To Traditional Images and I immediately think of re-branding, changing the headline, and reinvigorating old modes with powerful new widgets.

So the above litany: That was the old me feigning to be dragged through the new normal. In truth, I’m not planning to stop daily yoga after just a thirty-day challenge—I hope to do it every day for the rest of my life. I’m not shying away from the Cosmic Blague, it requires at least a year of my attention and so I have to sit back and enjoy the ride; and, as has always been the plan, I’d like to die in the wings during a live performance where I’m, forviging the pun, killing it. So I’m giving over to these new forms, now, in my daily existence and letting myself, if not my brand, be changed by them, so I can meet the future more as I see myself. Gosh I hope that made sense.

Dane Rudhyar speaks of today, 10° Aries, as embodying a “revision of attitude at the beginning of a new cycle of experience”; the traditional images we have of ourself and our circumstance might be outmoded, and we need new forms that suggest a wider range of meaning. This isn’t personal. We needn’t have an emotional take on, or reaction to, what is our new design for living We’ve made decisions and we’re sticking to them. This is us now. And we need a new abstract form to mark this shift in our outlook. And it all begins with that ‘tude.

Short of pulling a Prince and branding ourselves with some kind of unpronounceable symbol, or taking on a Ziggy Stardust persona, or inventing a new pronoun to which others might refer to us—all valid moves that great artists and thinkers have done to mark their development—we should at least think about, today, what might emblemize us. What have we stood for? How has that changed? What do we mean (to ourselves and others), now? And what might be our logo. Did you know that the first ever logo to be trademarked was the Bass red triangle in 1876. Thank you Wikipedia.

The fact is that the meaning and interpretation behind any symbol are endless. Especially this symbol which is about new symbolic assignations being added to, or replacing, older “traditional” ones. And it’s awfully generous, isn’t it, for this teacher to be shedding new light on some old forms. Gosh, I wonder if I know anybody like that? Hmmm. The point is we are making progress. We are not static beings. We are not locked into our own traditions and so, every so often, we need new symbols for ourselves, even, to mark or growth in wisdom.

When I was twenty-one I toyed with calling myself Pan and moving to Paris to be an androgynous cabaret artist. Well I did move to Paris but I have never been that androgynous due to hairy Italian genes; and it took me another twenty years to attempt cabaret. But it didn’t not happen. I had the symbol, the form in my mind, way back when. And as most do, I took on a new name when I began working as a professional astrologer-metaphysician. Granted, we had invented the His & Her Horoscope column for Teen People and I didn’t want my New York Times editors to know that it was me writing it, but still there was a tradition of doing this. Alan Leo. Athena Starwoman. Linda Goodman. Dane Rudhyar. The name happened first and then I sort of grew into it. I think that’s how it works. We change our attitude and we mark it with some word or picture, if only in our mind, and then we grow in that direction. Esso just sounds so mid-twentieth century—but Exxon, now that’s a name that could travel into the new millenium.

So, today, ask yourself: What’s your attitude? And how would you characterize it in a word or in an image. What emblemizes the new you? I think I’ll be a big blue ball. Interpret that to your hearts’ content.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Sabian Symbol for 9° Aries is A Seer Gazes With Concentration Into A Crystal Sphere. The correlation of this to the 9th sign of Sagittarius, the motto of which is “I see”, and the sign’s association with the third-eye, is fairly evident. It is written that the crystal sphere represents wholeness, I would suggest that it is the third-eye itself, activated by insight. The third eye, tertiary perception, is that which sees beyond duality and embodies the notion that there are three sides to every story, a fully rounded view. The crystal ball is all-seeing, not only in the sense that it sees everything, but that it sees all sides of any one thing. This is the opposite of navel gazing, which is synonymous with a myopic self-obsession. Here, we don’t know at what we’re looking when first we gaze—our eyes and our understanding are open to every and all possibility. What slowly comes into focus is the sum total of possibility so that we might act from a vantage of considering all factors—this crystal (clarity) is a sphere, suggesting full 360° circumspection. We can be assured of what we see, and we also must accept whatever that might be, for better or worse or both

In this symbol we see the merging of our intellect with our intuition, and we must use the former, in this case to serve the latter, creating a power line between the two. This constitutes “seeing situations as a whole”; intuition and intellect on their own might each tell part of the story. There is the Seer and there is the Sphere, the Seen. It is the Concentration, which, like concentric, etymologically points to “bringing to a center” that unites them. Concentration isn’t projection of will, but a circling in on a larger truth.There is a marriage needing taking place between text and subtext, between conscious and subconscious motivations, between surface actions and underlying intentions. We are seeking to awake the superconscious. For me the takeaway of today’s symbol is there being more at play than the naked eye can see. We mustn’t take situations at face value, we must consult the oracle of our own intuition—our emotional intelligence—and let our brain develop a cinemascopic picture of a situation based on its understanding, as difficult to articulate it as it might be. We must employ that spacious mind of yesterday, symbolized by the Large Woman’s Hat. We can’t have prejudice and we can’t read into situations to serve the smaller aspects of our mind.

Funnily enough I’ve owned a crystal ball. And the story surrounding it does touch on the shadow side of gazing into it, for real, or metaphorically speaking. It was given to me by someone who, it just so happens, was a master of subtext and subterfuge, which can characterize the shadow side of a Scorpio personality. The sign’s ruler Pluto is named for the god of the underworld, a metaphor for a deeply profound personality who is miner for meaning and hearts of gold, on the positive side; while expressing an undermining nature on the negative. We see this in fearful, insecure and un-evolved people of the sign. There were always two conversations going on simultaneously with this individual in question. The one he had with people —in person, by phone or by text—and the one he had about them, via, shall we say, subtext. With people of a character such as this, one is naturally leery, and should never get too close until they hopefully develop out of this behavior, which most shadowy Scorpios actually do. Meanwhile, ironically, it is the sense that people don’t want to warm up to them that fuels their detrimental scheming below the surface. Although this person’s put downs of others were barely subliminal, I assumed them to be isolated and petty, and didn’t give them any power. Until I saw the subtextual web this individual was capable of weaving. The scorpion is an arachnid lest we forget; and the kiss-kiss of some spiders, man or woman, as well as their idle surface chatter, can be designed to mask—Pluto wore a helm of invisibility—the stealthy time-released character assassinations they make against those they target.

Symptomatically, this individual in question was a paranoid, as one might have to be to cut so undercutting a figure. As people know I’m wont to do, I’ll post inspiring, uplifting, motivational messages on my Facebook page, from time to time. There was a spate a few years back when I did this daily. Then I noticed this individual had disappeared from Facebook; he hadn’t, actually; he blocked me. When I asked him about it, he said that he thought my posts, meant to universally empower all my cyber friends, were barbs pointed specifically at tearing him down. He was taking my new age-y or Eastern mystical, inspirational quotes personally…and as insults. Now that’s paranoid. The point I’m trying to make here is that sometimes we gaze into our metaphorical crystals with fear in our hearts and ill intent in our noggins, and that’s the picture that will come into focus. Self-fulfilling prophecy. If we go looking for problems, bent on reading ill intent into others’ conscious or subconscious motivations, we will always find them. Not to say we should gaze into our crystal wearing rose-colored glasses either. We must keep that superconscious line between the subconscious and the conscious free of any imposition of will, hope or fear.

Incidentally, I never used that crystal ball that was sent to me. First of all it arrived with a broken pedestal, which I took as something of a sign; but also, probably because I’ve read too much Tolkien, I was concerned the object could read me on some level, so it was ultimately banned from view, put into a dark corner of a basement; perhaps, one day, it will be resurrected, cleared of negative energy, and employed for its intended purpose; but none too soon, I can assure you.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I started writing the Cosmic Blague a week ago and in some ways I feel like Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory, needing to get into a rhythm, not letting the process get away from me. Also I haven’t done much in the way of outreach to let people know about this new project—not to say I’m writing anything so earth-shattering that people are missing out on something monumental. But I think I might do a bit of promotion today so that people get wind of it. Today’s Sabian Symbol for 8° Aries, A Large Woman’s Hat With Streamers Blown By The East Wind, seems to fit the mood —mine, anyway. I want to be a bit breezy today, I don’t want to get too heavy into it; as I write this I hear in the back of my brain the following phrase: Famous last words.

What strikes me most about today’s symbol is the fact that it’s a hat, belonging to a large woman, but the woman herself is not necessarily in the picture. It seems like an image from a dream sequence in a film, or one you’d have just falling for a brief moment in the middle of the day. There is something cool, calming and Spring-like about it. And, I can’t not equate the image with an Easter bonnet. This date and degree of Aries is surely one on which Easter has fallen. And so we must consider the energy of rebirth and regeneration. I mentioned yesterday that this random site I found online—fatmountain.org.es—lists all the Sabian symbols, labeling them with titles, all of which, in Aries, begin with the word Integrity. Yesterday was labelled: Integrity Light; today is tagged Integrity Regeneration. The description goes on to say that “the main quality of this person”—I’m assuming “person” refers to someone who has a planet in their birth chart pinioned to 8° Aries—”is his spaciousness of outlook.” I like that.

The fact the image is a hat belonging to a large woman suggests that the energy of the day is “feminine” in the sense that it is an energy of receptivity, those streamers reading something like antennae, picking up messages and vibrations. The largesse of the woman would suggest that the capacity for receptivity is vast, that today we might be of an expansive mind and attitude. We can also be open to have our minds blown on some level. But safely so. The hat is a symbol of protection from the elements, specifically the “masculine” Sky elements of Sun (fire) and wind (air)—fire and air signs, in astrology are masculine, whilst water and earth are feminine. An east wind symbolizes new beginnings and also spiritualizing forces. The streamers are there to sense and signal direction, like a weather vane. The hat is receiving the revitalizing forces. The message here is not to blow like the wind but to be open and flexible to new ideas and even sweeping change. Streamers are designed to catch the wind, they suggest a certain rejoicing in doing so. Today we celebrate our ability to go where the winds of change are taking us; doing so could very well characterize our own rebirth or regeneration. We let undeniably strong unseen forces, symbolized by the wind, move us. Interestingly, in biblical symbolism, the East Wind is one that disperses falsities and evil.

Think about the false notions others might have about you. To be great (or large like the owner of the hat) is indeed to be misunderstood; but instead of fighting falsity or evil mendacity we let them blow over us. The east wind destroys destruction. The good among us have nothing to fear from it, but for the baddies, it’s a bit of g/God’s wrath or judgement. So long as your side of the street is clean, you can welcome today as a wind that will wipe away the unrighteous and leave a renewed sense of innocence in its wake. Irrefutable truth is written in the wind—the answer, my friends—and we need only let it blow. We have no responsibility or cause to impose our truths on others. Our higher mind, the hat pointing to our crown chakra, knows the true nature of everything—I think of J.K. Rowling’s sorting hat—we can huff and we can puff but we can’t blow anyone’s house down, nor they ours. It is not for us to do. We must trust the larger forces at play to do such righteous work for us. The winds may gust and blow, but the weather within us need never change.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I woke up thinking, holy merde, I hope I haven’t gone too far in the one direction of exploring the energy of each day via these Sabian Symbols. Not to say they are limiting in any way—au contraire—they are opening a new world of thought to me on one hand and also providing a program to which I can stick, so that I can come to this blague every day with inspiration for something to say. But I awoke worried that I wasn’t exploring the other direction I hoped to: that of the blague cosmique, the cosmic joke element of life that is fairly obvious, in my life anyway. I have a list I’m keeping of stories characterized by strange phenomenon, synchrinicity: outrageous coincidence, seeming divine intervention and also what I sheepishly must admit is my own psychic ability, which comes and goes, and yet, on the whole, grows stronger from year to year. That element of my psyche has always “been there”—I believe it was inherited through my Celtic bloodline—and this extra sense has steadily intensified, crystalized, the more I’ve exercised it via my metaphysical work with clients. When I read people’s astrological charts, for instance, information flows two ways: There is the literal patterning of planets in signs in houses, and how they connect to one another, and what that all means, in an individual’s astrological chart, portrayed, as it is, by the wheel of their zodiac; and then there is what I call “off the page” information whereby “stuff comes through”, the circle of the wheel of the zodiac becoming something of a scrying device, a wonder wall, a magic mirror (I was obsessed by “Romper Room” as a kid), a crystal ball of sorts. Clients of ours know what I mean by all of this.

And lo and behold today’s Sabian Symbol, for 7° Aries is: A Man Successfully Expressing Himself In Two Realms At Once. For starters, seven is a number near and dear to my heart as it is the Libra number, one of Light, Order and Music, seven rainbow rays of in a lightbeam, seven notes to “The Scales”, and many more Apollonian connections. And ways in which any of us lead double lives not withstanding, when I think of two realms I immediately think of the material and on material realms. Yesterday, we explored A Square, With One Of Its Sides Brightly Illumined wherein we are drawn toward that illuminated side, where we might break on through to the proverbial other side. (I neglected to mention that the square, or the cross, symbolizes matter and the material realm.) Today we look at life from both sides now: We have broken through to discover that the other realm or dimension might be immaterial but it is in now way unreal. It is always there, whether or not we are engineered or inclined to perceive it.  And—why not?—it might be empowering to imagine that this dynamic is especially available to us on this particular day. I’ll be curious to peruse a list of people born on this day to see if they personify the dynamic of expressing in “two realms” at once in any way.

There is precious little written online about these symbols. But I stumbled upon an interpretation of 7° Aries being labelled “Integrity Light”, all the Aries degrees being “Integrity something”; tomorrow’s, according to this site is “Integrity Regeneration”, regeneration being the keynote of Scorpio which follows Libra, the sign of (cardinal-air) Light. So, hooray, I’ve just stumbled onto some validation that these symbol degrees may indeed be following the zodiac’s pattern of twelve, times thirty (days in a month) circles within circles, equaling the 360° cycle of the calendar year. It goes to show: sometimes (read: always) leading with our intuitive sense can result in concrete proof in the pudding. Anyway, in this description I found, today’s symbol is characterized as “the one who keeps his lamp alight whatever the price”. We have moved into the light (cue the lady’s voice from the film Poltergeist) and now we are holding that lamplight aloft, or indeed we are the light, shining in two directions at once. I think of the children in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, entering that realm for the first time—Lucy (meaning light) first encounters a lampost, which marks the point between the so-called real and imagined worlds.

Whether we are speaking of the world of our imagination, or some spiritual, energetic realm that we can “psychically” visit if not fully inhabit, we are on about the same thing. Back in the late 1980s, right before I had an extraordinary “event” happened to me whereby I was triggered into an altered state—I will try to write more fully about this for you at a later date, though Stella and I have told this story a number of times, live on stage—I had a dream. The dream centered on this giant black book from which I was privileged to read; the book was titled, in giant silver letters: I Magi Nation. Now of course it spells imagination; but it also points to the notion that perhaps I was a Magi and that I wasn’t alone, but part of a larger body, community, nation of them. Within days after this dream the weird event occurred—it may’ve been triggered by a stranger slipping something into my drink—I will never know—but it resulted in my being endowed for a night with super human thought and strength that involved my “seeing the math in my head in blueprint form” for successfully dive-rolling out of a car going 40 miles an hour, landing on my feet and then sprinting faster than a gazelle as well as my “seeing the math” to launch myself into the air and scale an eight-foot fence without touching it; “seeing the math” as well to “find the sweet-spot” in a chain-link gate, embedded in cement, where I could hit it with my vintage Columbia bicycle so that the fence/gate would be knocked over, out of its cement foundation, allowing me to ride my bike over that fence without so much as taking my feet off the pedals—I remember that was important to me—to stay balanced on my bike without putting a foot down. This and more all actually happened on the eve of the Harmonic Convergence, August 16, 1987. I won’t bore you with the rest of this story now; but the upshot was that I learned the hard way, and in a manner I did not invite, that I was capable of perceiving (an) other realm(s) that had heretofore been closed to me. It was violent and forced upon me, and at the time I did not see any good in this having happened. In time, though, I came to understand that, whether welcomed or not, this event provided a breakthrough.

Needless to say, I strongly relate to today’s symbol, but just because I readily imagine my particular two realms to be that of a solid world and that of an impressionistic one, doesn’t mean the duality begins and ends there. I do find it funny that my particular first “psychic break” with “reality” had “physics” overtones. As one who hated math and science growing up, I suppose the joke was on me that my being endowed with extrasensory powers for one evening back in 1987, manifested as a superhuman strength powered by sudden flashes of mathematical, physicist genius. What springs to mind as the two realms in which you express yourself might be drastically different from mine. And, yes, there are simpler, terrestrial dualities that might be portrayed by phrases like “leading a double life” or “juggling two worlds at once” or even “bringing home the bacon and frying it upon in the pan”, which are also suggested by this symbol.

Still, I am inclined to see the Sabian symbol of A Man Successfully Expressing Himself In Two Realms At Once as being pinioned to the material/non-material world dichotomy. I think that we are, all of of us, expressing ourselves in these two realms simultaneously, but I don’t believe that we are all doing it successfully. Even those of us who might be conscious of doing it at all might fall short. I consider myself a auto-didactical metaphysician—metaphysics can be defined as “the science of the immaterial”. Indeed, “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (Hamlet 1.5 167-8). Increasingly, I am made aware of this and, hopefully, becoming more succesful at said expression. And, having looked at life from both sides, now, what I’ve gleaned from my understanding of the unseen world has only inspired me to live more simply, healthfully and sanely, in the seen one. I am conscious of the fact that the expressions of our thoughts and actions don’t just manifest in the here and now, they make an impression on the “other side” as well—call it the spiritual realm, or that of infinite or eternal or, plainly, the energetic—where elements of our being, thoughts and actions are duly noted. Perhaps there is an Akashic record, I don’t know. But when I consider that possibility I immediately flash to my dream of I Magi Nation and the very real experiencing of realms of power and possibility that I encountered in the days that followed, which seemed to defy my own natural laws not to mention those of physics.

A footnote: When we embarked a decade later on writing Sextrology, our publishers assumed we would write a popular, splashy, sex-sells sort of book. We, however, sensed it was an opportunity to write a book that one really couldn’t judge by its title, let alone its cover. Delving into the immaterial but very real world of archetypes and energies as it does, Sextrology itself is a successful expression in two realms. It is at once a real and funny, bawdy and poppy, academic and logical book that makes a strong argument for the validity of astrology; and yet it is also suffused with that “off the page” element, a sense of esoteric understanding, a knowingness and a mystery that speaks to readers on a more transcendent level. And, without getting too specific, I will say that we’ve had some indication that the book has indeed been well received in realms beyond Horatio’s ken.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

When does our solid foundation, the structures we created, our constructs that provided security become cages, prisons and how will we find a solution, a way out. The Sabian Symbol associated with this day at 6° Aries is A Square, With One Of Its Sides Brightly Illumined. Squares symbolize stability and a sense of completion, so before we set upon dismantling that fact let’s acknowledge it. We can’t deconstruct before we understand our structures. Philosophically, anthropologically, linguistically, upper case Structuralism, as our substitute for a brain Wikipedia puts it: “is the theory that elements of human culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger overarching system or structure.” Basically what this says is that no part of us can be truly understand without looking at its relationship to all the other parts, the whole, of us. Meditations on our our own wholes not withstanding, we all crave solidity in our lives, means of definition, boundaries; and we all put up walls. As I type this I get a visual flash of today’s image being something of a house of cards. What goes up may need to come tumbling down, but not necessarily so.

It’s all about that forth wall. In my mind the top, left and bottom of the square are drawn by solid lines, red lines in my mind’s eye, and the right side of the square is the illumined one, glowing brightly, as if a red line has been drawn over with a yellow highlighter. But that’s just me. That fourth wall is energized, not so much electrified as powered, like a forcefield. Unlike the other ordinary solid walls, this one, though solid too, can be passed through, as if into another dimension. As a thespian whose fourth wall was strengthened by a very strict Uta Hagen, I cannot help but look upon this image as a stage with a pronounced proscenium, the illumination being the flood of the overhead spot- and footlights, where we are compelled to express ourself, giving It all we’ve got. Here we are ready to articulate what needs being said, perhaps to as great an audience as we can reach. Expression is key, whether it be a player on the stage, which all the world is, or someone imprisoned in a cage, shouting convincing pleas into the glare beyond bars. It is here we are ready, perhaps, not only to express but to confess, in either case there is a purge suggested and, by extension of process of purification. The illumined side provides an outlet.

We are all of us contained, if not trapped, within structures within structures. There are walls all around us, designed to protect and/or contain us. There are literal material trappings—we are limited by our physical, mental and emotional spaces and the expression of our soul, thus seems a transcendent outlet. We are constrained by natural laws, by societal codes, by circumstance, by our family origins, by our nationality, by our station or class, by shortcomings, by faults, by our needs, our desires, our addictions, by economic status, on and on and on. However, we have freedom of expression to purge ourselves of so-called restraints by pointing at them, speaking to them, using them as our source material. Whether we are comedians or legislators, activists or gurus, physicists or folksingers, we step through the fourth wall to deliver our observances on the barriers we come up against in our quest for personal or collective growth, freedom and understanding.

Uta used to say: Obstacles should only make your objective stronger. And that is as true in life as it is on the stage, the latter being a metaphor for the former. The more we come up against in life, the more compelled we should be to take to that proscenium, or pulpit or soap box, tearing down that (fourth) wall in an awakening of self, and others, to the Light that needs to be shined into this box or that we find ourselves in. We all feel imprisoned in various ways, by outside influence or inner fears and insecurities. We can hide in the dark corners of society or in the repressed recesses of our minds, or we can run toward that Light and boldly let loose sounds, vibrations, that would shake those walls behind us to their foundations. They will crumble under our jokes, they will melt from the heat of our debate, they will disintegrate and turn to dust, blowing in the wind at the sound of the folk song. There will always be walls, in every epoch. There are walls every day in our individual lives. Feel them, bang your head against them, claw at them and consume what they stand for because they are the confines which to scale; and the containment they are designed to provide should send you over the top in your expression, be it creative, intellectual, spiritual, nurturing, enlightening or all of the above.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

It follows that I ended yesterday’s reading of 4° Aries with the notion of two entities, or the two sides or polarities of the self, adding up to more than the sum of it’s parts. This thought takes flight with the Sabian Symbol for 5° Aries: A Triangle With Wings. We know biologically that the coming together of two individuals can result in a third, so we have a literal, organic expression of one plus one equaling three. But, as I’m inclined to relate everything in these themetic meditations to the individual, I feel that when one feels married to their higher, upper case Self, married, if you will, to their spirit or their genius, we give rise to offspring of our imagination. We often talk, in practice with our clients, about marrying our behaviors with our beliefs—doing so characterizes the cure of many a conflict. The triangle, a geometric shape, represents a tertiary expression, a culmination. The two sides of our being, if not our brain, have come together to make a point. We’ve confided in ourselves (we are confident), we’ve got our inner dialogue going and made a pact (commitment) with ourselves to stick to a path, a direction, so a brainchild may be born. The triangle, here, mainly suggests an abstract thought form, and that thought has wings. Synergy within ourselves, or indeed with another, gives rise to certain transcendence. So what is our point? And can we let it be made rather than making it. Can we accept what naturally arises from the coming together of energies?

I think of that biblical quote Matthew 18:20: “Where two of you agree on anything that they may ask, it shall be done.” The keyword here is agree. Often times when we come together with another being we each have agendas to assert or expectations hoping to be filled. But it will only be the shared agenda that ends up being given flight from the conversation. The thing agreed upon in a meeting henceforth exists in thought form.

As a Libra, the Scales being the only “inanimate” sign in the zodiac, the male archetype of the sign being Apollo, the god of abstracts like: art, order, music, reason, prophesy, light, I’m sensitve to seeming too conceptual, not real, to others. And yet I’ve come to understand that the true nature of the sign isn’t about being inanimate but to animate, or to reveal as animated, that which is supposed unreal because it’s inorganic. What is Art? What is good Art? What is good Abstract Art? Why do we attempt to equate, compare Life with Art? Seriously, why do we do that? Why should Art be akin to Life? We might judge the merit of a piece of Art that falls under the heading—gotta love the term—”abstract realism” or any purely abstract work—a Mark Rothko piece comes to mind—on whether or not it seems alive or, in Rothko’s case, breathing. There might be something real in this. The artist working in absract forms may indeed be giving life and on the whole we, as the observer, sense, if not know, when s/he has. Characters in a play or in a novel are brought to life. Or perhaps they are revealed to be living—that they embody, giving abstract form to, archetypes taht already exist, in intangible form. What is music? We don’t really make it. It exists. We’ve simply found it and, like the triangle in its geometry, music has an inherent math that we’ve divined. All the art forms, personified of course by the Muses from whence the word music derives, are essentially abstracts; but we might consider them to be not only living but also life giving.

I don’t know if we must be careful for what we wish for. But I do believe thoughts are alive. And, by extension, that thoughts as well as deeds can affect our karma. It mightn’t be so hard not to push a so-called nemesis down a flight of stairs; but it’s way more difficult to resist thinking about doing so. These are not the thoughts we wish to bring to light or life, however. In fact, perhaps we shouldn’t be trying to bring thoughts to life at all. Maybe we are meant to simply remain open to the best concepts taking wing into full fledged brain children. The life of a brainchild begins at conception. And so I believe today’s symbol, A Triangle With Wings, is truly about being of a state of mind that is open to conceiving. The triangle, the delta, is an obvious symbol of the receptive female reproductive organ, designed to conceive. The high-priestess of the oracle of Delphi, sacred to Apollo, sat upon a tripod stool. Today, this Sabian oracle suggests, we must acknowledge ourselves as being programmed to receive, that we all have a conceptual coochie that is open to divine, creative insemination. That tertiary point of our triangle might well be our third eye.

I’m not making any more apologies for my theory that each sign of the zodiac presides over each degree of the zodiac in turn and that at 5° Aries we have some serious Leo energy at play. Three points to the triangle plus two wings, forms a pentagram, just as does Da Vinci’s “Universal Man”, which places the divine human at the center of the Universe, the heart and sun center. Leo and the fifth house are centered on creativity and procreativty, astrology making no distinction between real or metaphoric offspring. The Triangle With Wings is the very emblem of creativity, or, more specifically, to employ the fifth-house vernacular “co-creation with god”; is there any other kind? We are both creature and creator. And don’t our best creative ideas seem to come through us as opposed to to us? I could honestly go on all day with this but I must put my pencil down for now. So I will leave you on this note: Let us all, on this day, allow our cosmic yoni’s to take flight and be fertile receptors for divine-creative inspiration!

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4° Aries is characterized by the Sabian Symbol Two Lovers Strolling Through a Secluded Walk and for some reason I find very little interpretation of this from outside sources; which is probably a good thing because I’m feeling the need, today, to remove the training wheels and to employ my own spidey-sense, meditating on these symbols, to come up with my unadulterated interpretations. My strongest inkling about this symbol is a sense of repair and of promise. I believe that the lovers can represent the part of ourselves that longs for a flesh-and-blood other; but I think the imagery also points to a would-be love of self. In the zodiac there is the astrological first house of self and the seventh house of other; and we are bound to look up the house of other not only as it relates to another person, but also to one’s own personality, and the development of our character, in all senses of that word.

To me, the process of knowing oneself is accelerated in our significant one-on-one relationships. Those with whom we partner can be a mirror, or sometimes they can represent parts of ourselves, qualities, which we feel we lack. The adage that “wherever you go there you are” is brought into sharpest relief when we are faced with the constant presence of another invested party. We can actually avoid ourselves and our own issues more readily in solitude. In isolation, we aren’t necessarily reminded if or when we’re being irresponsible to ourselves. On the flip side, we do tend to bring our best selves to relationships with someone significant. As an evolution from 3° Aries, where we are part of, representative, of a group, collective or community, here we bond with a like-mind, a kindred-spirit. Perhaps we’ve singled out from the group someone we wish to pull away for a walk down a secluded lane, just we two, away from the rest. Whom would we do that with? Probably someone whom we feel is most like ourselves. So this symbol and, by extension, the perceived energy of this day, might be about recognizing our self in an other. In 3° we aimed to see our own personal divinity as being part of the larger divine—our Atman in the Brahman. Here we recognize the divinity, the likeness, the kind-red spirit in a fellow or a lover. And our ability to walk the same peaceful path.

But let’s again consider the figures as two parts of our one self, first, from the perspective of masculine and feminine energies. We are all walking-talking yin and yangs. A man has a feminine anima, a woman a masculine animus, trans or third gender people, perhaps, have it all together. We don’t want these energies to be polarized, we want them to be integral to our experience, moving us in the same direction. This is true not only of the masculine-feminine dialectic within us, but of any so-called opposite feelings or forces. We don’t want disassociation of self on any level. We want to be honest with ourselves and to find unity, harmony, literal integrity, especially wherever there might be internal division or schism. We want to have a good talking with ourselves. In fact we want a private inner dialogue going on all the time. We want to be honest with ourselves. We want to confide in ourselves. For, is that not the true definition of confidence?

If we see two people, presumed lovers in particular, strolling down a secluded path we might suspect they’re seeking to share some form of intimacy, sexual or otherwise. We sense they want to be alone. Perhaps they have something secret to discuss—the walkway is isolated for that very reason—they might need to hash out a problem, confront one another, and seek repair. There is always something to repair in life, with others and within ourselves. I promised I wouldn’t do this but I do see this Aries 4° as being akin, in many ways, to the fourth sign of the zodiac, Cancer, cardinal-water, associated with flood myths, the most famous of which involves (re)pairing animals two by two and putting them on an ark (synonymous for promise) and sending them on a journey toward deliverance, in reparation of a spoiled, broken world/experience. Perhaps these lovers on their path are making a promise to one another. Maybe that is the upshot to whatever subject they needed to privately discuss. If the goal was repair, the promise might be never again to do whatever caused the rift or damage. Perhaps the promise is one of deeper commitment, the seclusion providing the perfect setting to propose a marriage of sorts, or some new covenant, marrying intension, determination, goals, purpose. If the lovers are symbols of parts of our one self in conflict, would we not make a promise, a pact, with to ourself to do things differently moving forward on our life path? The two individuals might be our lower case self and our higher Self or power. Cue that song from Carousel.

I just perused a list of famous people born this day and it’s not a day of very showy Aries people. Indeed, those born this day seem uncharacteristic of the sign. Even the few super famous figures are distinguished as being rather retiring and private people. I will venture to say that I feel today has the energy of a time out, when we have a wee off-site meeting with ourself to regain our inner harmony and equilibrium. We might understand on this day that the most important relationship we have is that with ourself and we are taking time and space to get ourself together, examining where it is we might be coming apart, and making the necessary reparations to feel whole. Yes we recognize that we are made up of polarities, that we have two sides to our brain and to our personality and that they work better, and are larger than the sum of their parts, when we blend them into a singular Self. We are always/never alone. Wherever we go, there we are.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I’m already sensing a pattern within a pattern. That is to say that I think the twelve signs of the zodiac might very well impact these 360 degress of Sabian Symbols in turn. I just read brief synopsis of the first twelve, and I can easily see how each of the zodiac signs, Aries through Pisces, influence the first twelve interpretations, in sequence. So, without jumping too far ahead, I’m going to be looking for that pattern to repeat. If this turns out to be the case, or just the signature basis of my interpretation, well, I’d be happy either way. I’d like to feel, of course, that I’m not just doing a Julie & Julia, serving up recipes of interpretation by rote, but rather taking the title of the recipe, free-styling. and dishing up something new. But yes: 1° Aries was all about birth and emergence and objectivity (all very Aries stuff) while 2° Aries was about self-reflection and our nature and subjectivity (so Taurus) and today, moving into 3° Aries, the Sabian Symbol for which is The Cameo Profile of a Man Suggesting The Shape of his Country, the themes are intersection, identifying with community, sussing up immediate surroundings, and understanding the playing field (very Gemini indeed).

As I communicate this theory I realize how laborious it would be to do this every day in my interpretations, so I will leave off it moving forward, keeping the notion in the back of my mind. A cameo is a quick rendering, an outline, an immediate encapsulation and likeness. It speaks to our ability to know where we are and to what we belong. It is associated with the Logos, our ability to name and identify and give life to our identity within a context. Here, today, we identify with some whole and the larger life it expresses. Spiritually speaking it is the connection of our Atman with Brahman—also very Geminian considering that sign’s duality on the theme of divinity. Stop I said. Here we identify so much with a group or even a notion that we become it’s life. When we are representing some whole, acting as it’s agent, and I am borrowing, now very heavily, here, from my hero (and my Julia Child, if I were to have one), the great humanist astrologer Dane Rudhyar, whose birthday it is today (I just realized!), in saying that this Sabian Symbol touches upon leading a transpersonal life. That is to say that we are not mere spokespersons for our surroundings but the conduit through which the whole expresses itself. When we give ourself over to cause or country we do take on a Christ-like nature. We are the face, the “cameo”, of the larger portrait, the collective “country” or environment.

I’m kind of freaking out because, in my calendar, I had set aside this past weekend to work on the cause which I profile: The Afterglow Festival and The Glow Theatre that I founded in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It’s a non-profit arts organization and yet it’s so much more than that; and my assignment this weekend was to communicate, in written form, how much more it actually is so that I might inspire increased support and fundraising in an environment of increasing greed and obstacles. I know my boss (me I thought) is going to have me work nights this week accomplishing this task. But this Sabian Symbol meditation has inspired me and, as I say, it sort of freaks me out. As if the cause of what I’m doing is the real boss. That somehow it found me and made me its agent and I’m the conduit it through which it is finding expression and life. Because, really, it is so much bigger than just a weeklong festival in Provincetown or the starting of a sustainable new theatre company, it’s the spirit of the place that is seeking salvation: Provincetown is the birthplace of the modern American stage; this is a fact. And though it’s also noteworthy fine-arts heritage has remained intact for over a century, its theatrical legacy hasn’t been so fortunate. People buy fine art because they can own it and it lasts. When it comes to the seeming ephemeral nature of a theatrical experience, people can be short-sighted perhaps. In any case, what was once a haven for artists living among the local mainly fisherman community has become an enclave of realtors selling second homes to people who barely inhabit them or who bought them for the sole purpose of renting them out to tourists to whom nearly the entire town and its businesses cater. Some establishments cut and run, making bank enough in the summer months to justify their existence; others complain that there isn’t enough year round business and they want more, more, more.

The glare of the on-season is rife with gimmicks and themes to attract collectives of tourists under the guise of diversity whilst really its just serial homogeny that’s being served up. Provincetown is like a great aged actress turned out to turn tricks. It’s artistic theatrical soul is in danger and in need of saving. And, for whatever reason, I’ve become a cameo for this country. Dane Rudhyar says this symbol characterizes “Participation in a Greater Life”. I’ll buy that. I feel as if my campaign for Provincetown’s theatrical heritage is akin to that of “Save Venice”. But instead of saving the town from literal rising waters—although something tells me those are coming too—I seek to rescue it from its baser nature and the voracious sea of mediocrity, mendacity and greed. I see a Provincetown, with all its lamplights glowing, all the year round, hotels and inns filled with audience gathered together to experience the creation of theater. And I see theatre as the single most profitable and sustainable industry that Provincetown can foster. The Afterglow Festival and The Glow Theatre themselves are just avatars championing what can be this whole industry. Sundance migh have started as a film festival, but it has defined an entire city and revitalized both it and our independent movie industry. I know Afterglow can do that for Provincetown and for the American theatre.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.