We Really Still Need to be Reminded?

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Trish and Rob

Before 1967, interracial marriage in certain states in the U.S. was illegal.  Yes, you read that correctly. Whites and blacks weren’t permitted to marry each other. From Wikipedia:

 “Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967),[1] was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, declared Virginia‘s anti-miscegenation statute, the “Racial Integrity Act of 1924“, unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.”

Now here we are in 2012, with another civil rights issue – the right for gay people to legally marry. Legal marriage means you’re able to partake of the same benefits that married heterosexuals do in terms of tax benefits, health insurance, Social Security, raising families and all the rest of it. It’s not just legal recognition, but the emotional and spiritual acceptance that comes from such a union.

On May 8, North Carolina voters approved a state constitutional amendment that declares marriage is only between a man and a woman. It’s the 30th state with this kind of constitutional provision. The amendment states that such a marriage is the only “domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized by the state.”

It essentially writes discrimination into the state’s constitution.

Two days later, President Obama gave an interview to ABC News in which he stated that he personally believes gays should have the right to legally marry. He’s the first president to ever support gay marriage. Never mind that he should have done it long before now; at least he took the calculated political risk and came out in favor of it.

For opponents of gay marriage, the issue is all mixed up and entangled with religion.  In the U.S. Congress, amendments about gay marriage were actually tacked on to a defense bill at 11:30 at night. Someone  cited Leviticus in the Old Testament, which considers homosexuality an abomination punishable by stoning.

Really?

One day my neighbor and I were talking about this very issue and she cited the same chapter and verse in Leviticus that Congresswoman Scott did. I just stood there, mute with shock that I was hearing this from a woman in the 21st century.  And this comes from he woman who takes care of our dog and cats when  we’re out of town.  I burst out laughing, I couldn’t help it.

“Tell me you’re kidding,” I said. “Tell me you don’t really believe this.”

“It’s in the Bible, Trish.”

In other words, it’s written in stone and if I don’t get with the agenda, I’m part of the problem.

As a lapsed Catholic of many, many years, I vaguely recall the Old Testament, which we were taught in Catechism – i.e., Brainwashing 101 for children.  I remember listening to a nun talking about a fiery, angry god who “punished” his children when they “sinned.” And wow, there was a long list of sins, everything from disobeying your parents, lying, not attending church on Sundays, and  saying goddamn.

As a practicing Catholic, I was expected to confess periodically so I could receive communion.  So the priest would ask, “What sins do you need to confess?”And my mind would empty, a kind of panic would sweep through me. Hey, I was ten or eleven years old. I couldn’t think of anything, so I would make up sins – thus committing another sin! – and then dutifully say the 5,000 prayers to compensate for my evil life.

But here are members of Congress citing the Old testament while discussing legislation. Big disconnect. Whatever happened to the separation between church and state? What’s the deal, anyway? Why should anyone give a damn about who marries whom? How do gay couples  who marry and raise families present any “danger” to heterosexuals and their families?

I’m reminded of Shirley Jackson’s brilliant short story, The Lottery,  first published by The New Yorker in 1948. The plot is simple. In a small town of about 300 people, an annual ritual ensues to “ensure a good harvest.” One adult is stoned to death by the rest of the townspeople. People don’t like doing it, but they feel compelled to do so because it’s what you do if you live in this town. This same idea is used in slightly different ways in Hunger Games,  The Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, The Matrix, Majority Report.

In much the same way, the Republican party has turned into an extremist bunch who seem to believe they are the country’s moral compass when it comes to gay marriage, women’s health, a woman’s right to choose, and a host of other privacy issues. They cite the Old Testament and extoll the virtues of family life while dismantling the very foundation of what a family means – love, tolerance, acceptance.

They tear apart food programs for the poor, medical care for the poor and the elderly, the sick and the vulnerable, because they refuse to raise taxes on the top 2 percent of earners. These issues fall under civil rights. The constitution, after all, says that we are all created equal. That should mean  that we have the right to marry whoever we love.

Now here’s the twisted synchro, a glaring trickster: before North Carolina voted to ban same-sex marriages, the Democrats had chosen Charlotte, North Carolina as the site of the Democratic National Convention of 2012, where Obama and the VP will be officially nominated. And despite the state’s ban and Obama’s much publicized proclamation about his support of gay marriage, the convention will still be held there.It’s as if the universe is inviting us to recognize that the new paradigm needs an enemy in order to evolve. In the Fifties, we needed the Russians and the Berlin Wall. Now we apparently need  discrimination against blacks, women, and gays before we can reach the ideal – acceptance.

Go figure.

Posted in synchronicity | 23 Comments

Astro Highlights for May 2012

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Trish and Rob

solar eclipse

 

This month has some terrific astrological events that are worth noting.

Circle May 12-13. These two days are the luckiest this year. The sun and Jupiter meet up in Taurus and spread around luck, expansiveness, optimism, and good cheer generally. This conjunction falls on a weekend, but the effects will be felt for a couple of days on either side of those dates. So send our resumes, schedule interviews, submit manuscripts, buy a lottery ticket, make travel plans, get out of town with the one you love, have a family reunion. You get the idea here. These two days are about joy.

May 20 features a solar eclipse in Gemini. Solar eclipses are like double new moons, with double the new opportunities that surface. This eclipse is particularly good because Jupiter is only six degrees away from the eclipse degree. Check out your natal horoscope here  to find out where the eclipse falls in your chart.   Then go here  to read the description of the house in which the solar eclipse falls. That house is where the new opportunities should surface.

On May 22, Mercury and Jupiter link up in Taurus and   suddenly, your consciousness swells with ideas, your communication skills are sharper, your mind buzzes with ideas.

Between May 15 and June 27, Venus is moving retrograde in Gemini. There may be some bumps and bruises in romantic relationships during this period and it’s a good idea not to buy any large ticket items. Sometimes, a Venus retrograde can create discomforts and inconveniences in your physical environment – no air conditioning, for instance, or no heat.

That said, excellent deals can be found during Venus retros. Several years back, we bought a used car during a Venus retro. It wasn’t exactly what we wanted – namely, it was a manual shift rather than automatic – but it had low mileage and we got it for a great price.

However, when we took it in for its first oil change, we discovered the car had some problems. It had been in an accident and Mazda refused to cover the warranty because the work had apparently been done somewhere other than Mazda. So we complained to the place that had sold us the car and they covered the costs. A year later,  we sold the car for exactly what we paid for it.

One other thing to avoid during a Venus retrograde: don’t sign contracts. Venus retros can depress your profits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in astrology, synchronicity | 4 Comments

The Crow Knew

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Trish and Rob

 

On Sunday, April 22, we made what was supposed to be a drive south that would take about three and a half hours. We were headed to Sugarloaf Key, to have lunch with my (Trish) agent, Al Zuckerman, who also represents Rob for books that we write together, and his wife. He has a winter home in the keys and we try to get down there during the winter months to see him.

We left the house around 8:30 and took the dogs over to a neighbor’s place for the day, then drove to the closest turnpike entrance. In recent months, the turnpike here in South Florida has been under constant construction and unless you drive it frequently, which we don’t, it’s easy to lose track of what’s being done. In the past, most of the turnpike entrances in our area  featured one place to get on and then shortly after the toll booth, the road split into northbound traffic and southbound traffic. Well, not anymore.

As we got on the turnpike, we suddenly realized the road no longer split. We were headed north and our only option was to get off at the next exit and then get on the southbound exit headed for the keys. So a few miles north,  we got off and realized this exit, too, no longer featured the split highway. We were stuck headed north.

Okay, next exit, Rob says. By now, it’s 9 AM and we’re still not headed south. We get off  and realize there’s no southbound entrance here, either. So we head west for several miles and take the first intersection headed south. A few miles later, we finally find a turnpike entrance that will take us south.

Minutes afterward, I’m trying to bring up something on my iPad, not paying attention to anything in front of us,  and Rob starts laughing. “Crow the trickster has a message for us.”

“What crow?”

“The one that just swooped across the road in front of us, then made an abrupt U-turn.”

“C’mon, really?”

“I swear.”

So I’m thinking about the odds of crow the trickster reflecting our maneuvers just minutes after we finally had found a turnpike entrance south. Pretty cool.

Due to tourist traffic and our own snafus, we finally made the turnoff for Al’s neighborhood at 1:08 and pulled into the drive about three minutes later, at 1:11, more than five hours after we’d left home, more than half an hour late for lunch, and at, well, that time. Despite the delay and the sobering news about the state of publishing these days, the company was great, the lunch delicious. I realized Al had been my agent for  18 years,  since Megan was just four years old.  Tempus fugit, as my mother used to say. Time flies.

On the trip back, we were tired and stopped frequently for restrooms, food, Cuban coffee, and pictures. When we finally exited the turnpike at 7:45 that evening, Rob said,  “Do you realize that the crow this morning not only reflected our immediate U-turn, but the fact that we’ve made a huge U-turn today? We drove more than 200 miles for lunch, then made a U-turn and came home.”

 

 

Posted in animals as messengers, crows, synchronicity | 8 Comments

Obama and the David Clusters

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Trish and Rob

Synchronicities involving clusters of names, numbers, songs – virtually anything can be a cluster – are among the most intriguing. This one, brought to our attention by Nicholas (Sansego) centers on President Obama.

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This past weekend, I learned that David Maraniss has a new biography out on President Obama. I thought this was interesting because I hadjust completed reading the most comprehensive biography on Obama, The Bridge, by David Remnick. Before that, the previous biography that one needed to read to understand Obama was Obama: From Promise to Powerby David Mendell.

That’s when I said, “Wait a minute! Three writers named David wrote well research biographies about Obama? Then I thought about two of Obama’s campaign staff: David Axelrod and David Plouff. What’s up with all the Davids regarding Obama? What do you think of that? I’ve never seen one person connected to so many names (well, since I read in a biography about Jacqueline Kennedy about how many Jacks she had in her life).

If Obama had a son, he would have to name him “David”!

+++

When I first read Nicholas’ email, my first thought was David and Goliath.  Is Obama a kind of David, up against the Goliaths of corporations and big money? Can he bring them down with a sling shot and a few stones?

 

Posted in clusters, synchronicity | 8 Comments

Dog Fight in New Mexico

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Trish and Rob

I’m always amazed that when we put energy into a project – a proposal, a book or novel –  we suddenly receive emails that pertain to what we’re writing about. Law of attraction, synchronicity, whatever it is, the last few days have been filled with it.

 This afternoon I received an email from Kerry, who lives in Costa Rica now (one of our favorite countries) and was a fan of my books back in the 1980s, when I was first starting out.  She had Googled me, found the website for my fiction, and sent me an email. During our exchange, she dropped by the blog and read one of the UFO stories then sent her recollection of an experience she had in 1970. The Air Force base she mentions lies about 135 miles East of Roswell, New Mexico.

**

My first husband was Air Force and I remember when we were stationed at Holloman AFB New Mexico.  Reading your blog brought it all back to me.

We had taken a camper high into the Mogollon Mountains. This was about 1970 or so, and we camped near a hanging lake.  At night the stars were almost bright enough to read by.  About 9 PM we were watching the sky when we saw lights moving at tremendous speeds and stopping and changing directions almost instantaneously.

We witnessed what appeared to be a dog fight in the sky between about 6 sources of light over a 30 minute period.  It scared us to death, and I remember it as though it were yesterday.  Several Air Force officers were with us, and when we got back to base we found out that some dead sheep had been found eviscerated on the White Sands Missile Range.

Two of the officers were pilots and they watched the exhibition,  fascinated. They confirmed that no jet they had ever flown could perform like what we were watching.

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How many more incidents like this were never reported?

 

Posted in synchronicity | 5 Comments

Foreign Accent Syndrome

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Trish and Rob

                                                  from Deviant Art

 

For some years now, there’s been a pharmaceutical ad on TV about a drug that supposedly treats something called restless leg syndrome. Rob and I used to get quite a kick out the ad when it came on. We’d never heard about the syndrome and figured it was an ailment created by a drug company, so they could produce  the remedy and make a ton of dough. Cynical, I know.

Then a few years after this ad first appeared, I met a guy at our gym who had restless leg syndrome.  The first question that came to mind was if he actually suffered from this syndrome or if these pharmo ads had brainwashed him into believing he had it. Yes, again, it’s cynical.

So recently I was browsing the Internet and came across this interesting story about a 40-year-old woman from Birmingham, England, who emerged from a bout of flu- and a series of seizures – and now speaks with a French accent, a “Gallic twang,” as the Mirror UK describes it.

Yet, Debie Royston has never been to France.  In the article linked above, with the Mirror, she said, “I had a bad seizure and when it stopped my mouth wouldn’t work. Over the next month, I had to learn to speak again. But when I did, I heard a different sound, not my Brummie accent. I sounded French but I’ve never even been there. People say to me, ‘Where are you from?’ and when I say ‘Birmingham’ they say, ‘No, you’re French’.”

Apparently Debie is one of 60 people worldwide who suffer from the syndrome. I Googled it and Wikipedia offered this and what’s written below:

“Irregular repetitive speech syndrome is a rare medical condition involving speech repetition that usually occurs as a side effect of severe brain injury, such as a stroke or head trauma. Those suffering from the condition pronounce their native language with an accent that to listeners may be mistaken as foreign or dialectical. Two cases have been reported of individuals with the condition as a development problem and one associated with severe migraine.  Between 1941 and 2009 there have been sixty recorded cases.”

Could this be some sort of past-life seeping through as a result of her seizures? Or is it an actual emerging phenomenon? Or is it both? The story is vaguely reminiscent of The Search for Bridey Murphy, the 1952 story about a housewife, Virginia Tighe, from Pueblo, Colorado who, when hypnotically regressed, recalled a life in the 19th century as an Irishwoman and her rebirth in the United States 59 years later. I remember reading this book at some point in the late 1960s and being impressed by it. But then, I was eager to find any proof about reincarnation.

Some of the details that Tighe provided about Bridey Murphy’s life didn’t pan out. But others did. Wikipedia again: “Her descriptions of the Antrim coastline were very accurate. So, too, was her account of a journey from Belfast to Cork. She claimed she went to a St. Theresa’s Church. There was indeed one where she said there was, but it was not built until 1911. The young Bridey shopped for provisions with a grocer named Farr. It was discovered that such a grocer had existed.”

So are Debie Royston and the 59 others on the planet who share her condition, tapped into a past life or is it just some blip in the firing of neurons, some random anomaly that no one understands?

Or is the Foreign Accent Syndrome an emerging side effect, like planetary empaths,  of an emerging paradigm?  Other articles on the empaths are linked here,  here,  here, and here.

 

Posted in foreign accent syndrome, planetary emapths, synchronicity | 16 Comments

‘Supreme’ dream synchro

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Trish and Rob

Occasionally, I have dreams that have no images, no strong emotional context, but are idea-based. Such dreams might involve the repetition of a phrase over and over again. It’s as if my dreaming self is telling me to remember. Don’t forget. Wake up, write it down. Rather than multi-dimensional, these dreams can feel very two-dimensional  – like the image above.

One such dream I recall oddly enough featured the Supreme Court. There were no images of court members, not any issues before the court, not even a gavel pounding the bench. Only the words: Supreme court decision. Except ‘decision’ came out slurred in a non-sensical word. But later, when I said it quickly to myself, I realized it sounded very close to ‘decision.’

Supreme court decision. I remember wondering what could this mean, and thinking what a boring dream, and thinking that while I was dreaming!

There was one other element in the dream: the color green. So as some part of me was spewing out, Supreme court decision  over and over again, I thought of the meaning of green, and tried to analyze the dream while it was taking place. I thought that green might indicate an important court decision related to the environment.

I also thought of green light, as in the court giving the go-ahead. I thought maybe it related to the issue of the moment, the national health care program and the mandate that every adult buy health insurance. But that decision isn’t expected until sometime in June. So why was I dreaming about a decision is early April?

I forgot about the dream until April 16 when we were driving home from Orlando after a visit with daughter Megan. I don’t know why it came to mind, but I mentioned it to Trish.

An hour later, we arrived home and picked up the mail and newspaper. There on the front page of that day’s paper was a detailed analysis of the health care issue before the supreme court.  As a former journalist, I always glance at the by-lines of articles. When I looked at this one, I smiled. The name at the top of the article was Laura Green.

There was my color. A synchro. Why I picked up on it at week or so in advance is just one of the mysteries of the dream world.

Posted in synchronicity | 19 Comments

The Upside-down Mountain Saga

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Trish and Rob

The man in the photo is a resident Bugarach, France, who is saying, “Don’t come to my village for the end of the world.”

Okay. We won’t.

But apparently thousands think it’s the place to be Dec. 21 when the Mayan Calendar runs out of days. The reason is that the French village of 200 is nestled at the base of a peculiar mountain that is attracting the throngs who hope aliens will save them from the end of the world.

According to The Inquisitr, the pilgrims, already more than 20,000, believe that when Doomsday arrives, aliens will appear in UFOs at Pic de Bugarach to rescue all people awaiting them. They will be flown off and relocated for the dawning of a new age. BBC reports that for years, there have been rumors circulated on Internet that Pic de Bugarach is home to powerful aliens and that on apocalypse day, December 21, the top of the mountain will open and the UFOs will emerge to rescue those gathered in the area.

The mountain is called the “upside-down mountain” because, according to geologists, its top layer is an overthrust from the Iberian plate, and is older than the bottom ones. According to French tradition, the mountain inspired Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The local authorities have grown nervous about the goings-on in the area, fearing the possibility of a mass action such as suicide. They have asked the French government to move troops into the area for security. According to The Independent, more than 100,000 are expected to come to the mountain in time for the 21 December “beaming up” of believers aboard UFOs.

BBC reports that a special parliamentary committee has warned that the sects may commit mass suicides in 2012 if the spaceships do not come to save them. A report alleges some people have bought land in the mountains and are planning to building bunkers where they may survive the expected catastrophe at the end of the world.

The mayor says the villagers are worried about these goings-on: “We’ve seen a huge rise in visitors. Already this year more than 20,000 people have climbed right to the top, and last year we had 10,000 hikers, which was a significant rise on the previous 12 months. They think Pic de Bugarach is ‘un garage à ovnis’ [an alien garage]. The villagers are exasperated: the exaggerated importance of something which they see as completely removed from reality is bewildering. After 21 December, this will surely return to normal.”

Not to outdone by the French, some American travel agents apparently are offering special one-way deals  to Amageddon.

We are weary of the Dec. 21 hype – and have been so for some time – but we couldn’t pass up this one. After all, you don’t hear much about upside-down mountains.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in synchronicity | 14 Comments

More Dog Park Politics

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Trish and Rob

 

 

Now that we’ve got two dogs, we try to get to the dog park regularly – like every day.  When that’s not possible – weather, other commitments – we take Nika and Noah down to the dog park in our neighborhood.  They have the place to themselves, enjoy sniffing around and battling over the Frisbee, but we can tell it’s just not the same experience as the real dog park.

During our visit to the dog park the other day, we see this very weird German shepherd prowling the fence as we approach the gate. There’s something wrong with this dog, Rosie.  We’ve seen her before, and we suspect her owner is a diehard, extremist Republican and that she may be the canine version!

As soon as Nika steps inside the gate, Rosie is all over her, a hundred plus pounds versus 42 pounds. But Nika, who is just ten months old and used to playing with Noah – a BIG Golden Retriever, 100 pounds of muscle – defends herself valiantly. Yet, she invariably ends up on her back, whimpering.

So the other day, Rosie is making Nika’s life miserable and Trish is trying to snap the leash on her so we can take her to another part of the park, and Rob is pushing Rosie away from our dog. Rosie’s owner comes rushing over, shouting, “Hey, hey, stop pushing my dog. She doesn’t have a mean or hostile  bone in her body!”

“Then get her away from our dog!” Rob snaps.

“They’re just playing.”

Uh, no, beg to differ. Rosie is attacking Nika. There’s  a difference between dogs who are playing and dogs who are seriously attacking. The difference lies in body language, bared teeth. Rush Limbaugh is like Rosie. Oh, I’m just an entertainer, I don’t mean to defile or damage anyone.

So Rob gets Rosie off of Nika, and we head toward another part of the park. But en route, Rosie’s human makes a big mistake – he grabs Rob’s shoulder. Rob, who is so physically fit and flexible from the gym and yoga that he puts everyone else to shame, pushes Rose’s human away from him. And wow, then profanities fly. “What the f**!! is wrong with you, man? I’ve been nothing but courteous to you, you can’t come in here and push my dog around and then shove me.”

Really? You pushed Rob first, guy.Then I’m thinking, Uh-oh. This guy is asking for trouble. Rob is the most non-violent person I’ve ever known – until the other person makes a move first. Then all bets are off.

Meanwhile, I’m just trying to get Nika and Noah into another part of the dog park, where there’s a fence between us and this weirdo. We finally get into the smaller park and Rosie, oddball dog that she is, races along the fence, still trying to get at Nika. Rosie tries to dig a hole under the fence. She drools, salivates, barks, moans. She’s like Limbaugh going on for days about whatever his current pet peeve is,  twisting facts to fit his agenda.

After that, we skipped a few days at the park and today went over there early, before Limbaugh and Rosie had arrived. Our friend Karin was there with Cody, a husky and Noah’s best friend last summer. I told her the story about Rosie and Limbaugh. She just shook her head.

“Sometimes, it’s like high school here. Cliques, politics, and bullshit.” She gazed wistfully at the larger park that has been closed  since late January so that the city can build a pavilion large enough to accommodate humans when it rains, or it’s windy or cold or   scorching hot. “They need to open the larger part of the dog park. We get on each other’s nerves here.”

Yes, we do. Liberals and conservatives rarely mix well. Their pets tend to reflect that. Rosie, I’m sorry to report, is a conservative extremist who feels she absolutely must overpower every smaller dog in the park while her human shouts, There’s not a hostile bone in her body! Nika, I’m happy to report, is a joyful liberal who will defend herself when she must but is happiest just doing her thing –greeting everyone with licks and a wiggling whisper, Hey, dude,  you on my side?

The dogs know. They get it.  Dog park politics is human politics on a smaller, more intimate  scale.

 

 

 

Posted in politics, synchronicity | 13 Comments

Thrive, the Movie

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Trish and Rob

Our post, Atlas Shrugged Turned on Its Head, brought comments from a couple of individuals who wanted to know what system we advocated if capitalism is so corrupt. Here’s the answer.

This documentary is stunning. It’s narrated and financed by a visionary named Foster Gamble, who rejected his path as a scion of the Proctor & Gamble fortune and chose to seek another more equitable path. Here you will learn about new energy and its connection with ancient wisdom, a hint about the meaning of crop circles, while the last half deals with the forces fighting to maintain the status quo and how they do it.

As Daz says, Thrive should be shown everywhere, and quickly. There’s a synchro in here for us, too, given the proposal we’re working on now. But more on that later. Here’s the movie, courtesy of You Tube.

 

 

Posted in synchronicity | 12 Comments