Instagram and Trump and the rest of it…

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Trish and Rob

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 29: U.S. President Donald Trump and his granddaughter Arabella Rose Kushner walk across the South Lawn as they return from a weekend stay in Bedminster, New Jersey at the White House on July 29, 2018 in Washington, DC. Earlier in the day, the President once again went after the media on Twitter, calling them the ‘enemy of the people.’ (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo-Pool/Getty Images)

I waded into Instagram for only one reason: because my agent said you need a social media platform to sell books. I’m not so sure  IG is that medium, but I know that Twitter isn’t. Facebook may not be that medium, either, but it has  a third of the world’s population engaged, so who knows?

Here’s what I know about IG. Pockets of it are so dark and strange it’s as if you’ve fallen into an alternative universe. I ran into one of these tonight.

A sampling:

How to offend a liberal with 4 words, a series:

there are 2 genders
Abortion kills unborn babies
Guns don’t kill people
Illegal immigrants are ILLEGAL
We need border security
Make America great again
Your feelings are irrelevant

Huh?

Then this, from an IG called superior_conservatives:

Beside giving illegal visas, we should give them Mastercards as well, with a photo of AOC as the backdrop.

Or this: Trump is literally making unemployment rate go down and is bringing in more jobs. So shut your ass up you dumb Obama cock sucker.

When the press, when ordinary people, talk about the lack of decorum among trump supporters, the lack of any sort of presidential anything, this is the kind of thing they’re referencing.

When the president talks like some racist misogynistic who holds nothing but disdain for the rules of law and what’s best for the country he’s supposed to be leading, it’s no surprise that the people like this come out of the closet. Hey, guess what! I’m also a racist. I think women and everyone else who isn’t like me belongs in a detention camp, a cage, prison. No collusion, no crime, nothing going on here, you stupid electorate. Just vote for me in 2020 and let’s make America great again.

Well, sorry dude, hate to break your bubble. Even Fox News recognizes that trump’s refusal to comply with subpoenas, his instructions to staff to do the same, constitutes obstruction of justice.

I don’t understand why any woman, of any color would support you. I don’t understand your Evangelical support because, frankly, there’s no moral compass connected to anything you do. Your prime directive is to make money as president, which is why you won’t release your tax returns and are demanding that your former attorney, Andy McCabe and everyone else who has worked for you must ignore his/her subpoenas from Congress.

We stand at an unprecedented point in history, where Democracy lies in the cross hairs of a nut in the White House who figures he can bully his way to a second term. I think Joe Biden is a nice guy, was a good VP for Obama, and that his life has been riddled with tragedies that give him an insightful understanding of the human dilemma. But I also don’t think he’ll win against trump. Nice Guys rarely win against bullies, even a Nice Guy with Biden’s long public service record.

We’re entering a  new paradigm, and to fully realize it, we need visionaries, not throwbacks. We need impeachment that holds trump accountable, not waffling about whether impeachment is a good political strategy. If impeachment proceedings aren’t brought against trump, then the Dems are basically saying, Hey, we know you’re a crook who violated innumerable laws, but we’re going to give you a pass in the hopes that we win the White House in 2020. It’s a weak, stupid strategy.

And by doing that, they’re telling every subsequent president to do whatever the hell they want and not worry about consequences unless there’s an expedient reason to do so. The current  DOJ policy says that current presidents can’t be held accountable, can’t be indicted because they are like kings and emperors, autocrats and dictators who are above the law.

Really?  Since when is anyone above the law?

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Elizabeth Warren’s Birth Chart

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Trish and Rob

The first chart I did for the Dem candidates was that of Kamala Harris. Here’s my interp of Elizabeth Warren’s chart.

She has a Cancer sun, Taurus Moon, and Libra rising. Notice that all the planets are above the horizon – except for Jupiter in Aquarius in the 4th house. Of the thousands of charts I’ve done, most have planets scattered through the chart, above and below the horizon. The fact that she has 9 planets above the horizon tells me one really important thing: no secrets here. What she says is what she believes. What you see is pretty much what you get.

Her one-degree Cancer sun in the 9th house is conjunct her Uranus at 0 degrees cancer.This house rules the courts, law, attorneys, worldview, philosophical and spiritual beliefs, publishing, and foreign people, places, travel. Whenever I see the sun and Uranus conjunct, I know this is the chart of a genius. For Warren, that brilliance manifests itself in the law – her knowledge of it, of politics, of the courts, and her talent for policy. She has a plan for everything. And oh, she teaches law at Harvard.

Her rising, Libra, is depicted by the sign for justice – lawyers, courts , the law.

She has three planets in the 8th house. It represents other people’s money – banks, mortgages, insurance, taxes – as well as more esoteric stuff, like life after death and the paranormal. This house is the source of her banking knowledge. She has Mars and Mercury conjunct here in Gemini, the sign of the communicator. Mars makes her intellectually (Gemini) feisty, and Mercury enables her to communicate her opinions and beliefs about her policies.

In that 8th house, that third planet is the moon in Taurus, the most stubborn sign in the zodiac.The moon represents our emotions, intuition, how we nurture self and others, what makes us feel secure. Warren will never back down from what she believes and she’ll never be shy about expressing it

But here’s the really important thing about Warren’s chart and her chances for the presidency: her 0 degree Jupiter in Aquarius in the 4th house.

A little background. Every 11.6 years -call it 12 – Jupiter returns to where it was when you were born. It’s called a Jupiter return. That year is usually one of harvest, expansion, great luck, you’re in the right place at the right time and are the right person for the job. That kind of luck. BIG magic. Around the time of the election, Warren will be pretty close to her Jupiter return on December 17.

Now, what’s also interesting is that Obama has natal Jupiter at 0 degrees Aquarius in the 12th house.

In January 2009, around the time Obama was inaugurated, he hit his Jupiter return.

Now look at trump’s chart.

His Jupiter at 17 Libra is in his 2nd house – money, earned income, values – and fits with wealth and its expansion. In December 2016, trump entered a Jupiter return in Libra.

So what we have here is both Obama and trump winning the presidency as they approached their Jupiter returns. Will Warren be the third person to do the same? There may well be other people who have won presidencies under their Jupiter returns, but I’ve only done the last 2 presidents.

After seeing Warren in a town hall with Chris Hayes, I love this woman. She understands that you don’t govern according to politics, but according to what you believe is right.

 

 

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Venezuela

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Trish and Rob

View of Caracas from Mount Avila

 

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela during the oil boom, born to American parents who arrived there in 1937 to work for Standard Oil. That made me an American citizen.Years later, I realized it was one of the few things that I shared with Senator John McCain, born in Panama to American parents.

Today, Venezuela is a a country in complete chaos. Rampant poverty. Not enough food, medicine, water, not enough of anything for survival. From the news I read on the Internet, it sounds like the birth of a Dystopian world that isn’t quite Dystopia yet because there are no set rules yet in place. In The Hunger Games, we knew early on what the rules were – 12 districts, and once a year, these districts were pitted against each other in the games that pitted children against children. In Venezuela now, there are no such clear rules.

Maduro, who inherited his position through the previous dictator, Hugo Chavez, when he died, declares that he won the presidency. Juan Guaido, president of the National Assembly – like our Congress – says he’s the prez. More than 50 countries, including the U.S., agree with him. But as long as Maduro is backed by the Venezuelan military – that drove back incoming aid from Colombia and the Red Cross- then he can do stuff like cut power to the country for more than a week.

During many of the years that I lived in Venezuela, went to school here, had a life there – it was under the dictatorship of Perez Jimenez. He was a despot who, like his dictator brothers around the world, did away with his adversaries, made deals with the king pins in various parts of the world, including the U.S. – and could do so easily because of the oil, the country’s greatest economic resource.

In fact, when my dad went there in 1937, he did so for a job. The U.S. was coming out of the depression and he, an accountant couldn’t find work in Tulsa, Oklahoma, answered a Standard Oil ad. He spent nearly 30 years in Venezuela, working for a company that helped to develop the oil industry in Venezuela – and really milked it for profit.

In the early 1960s Jimenez nationalized the oil companies and Americans started leaving the country in droves. I remember standing on the balcony of our apartment the night that Jimenez fled the country, watching the procession of government cars speeding down the mountain. He had embezzled $13 million from the Venezuelan treasury and ended up living in Miami Beach.

But that was the night, I’m sure, when my dad decided he’d had enough. He was going to retire, take his pension (meager, considering all the years he’d worked there), and move back to the U.S. I understand why he made that decision. But for me, the repercussions were huge. I loved Venezuela. Loved its diversity, its beauty, its strangeness. I loved my life there, enfolded as it was in all sorts of weirdness. When school was cancelled it wasn’t because of a hurricane; it was due to a revolution. But the process was the same – a run to the grocery store for water and other supplies and the shelves would be bare. No cell phones back then to record it, just that permanent photo in your head.

In the late 80s, we returned to Venezuela on a trip with my parents. In the city of Maracaibo, where we had lived in an “oil camp “ – housing for oil company employees – we were hurrying down a road in intense heat and my dad was trying to remember the address of the house in which we’d lived. When you compare the reality to the memory, that’s tough. Suddenly, he said, “57, we lived at 57!”

And there it was, the little house where we’d been living when my sister was born, where a rabid monkey once had sought refuge during an escape, where I’d plucked incredible mangos from a tree in the backyard. We knocked at the door. And the couple who owned the house invited us to lunch.

That Venezuela is now history.

In that Venezuela, among the oil brats who shared at least a part of that history, are trump supporters. And I don’t understand that at all.

Here are some of the BBC’s more recent headlines about Venezuela.

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New Moon in Gemini

Posted on June 2, 2019 by Trish and Rob

The New Moon in Gemini on June 3 has something good for everyone. New moons are always about new opportunities, new people, new chapters opening in our lives. New moons favor submissions, interviews, starting new projects.

This one, at 12 degrees Gemini, also enjoys Mercury at 27 degrees Gemini, and the part of fortune at 20, exactly conjunct the 20 degree Gemini rising in the chart. This is all about communication, networking, and socializing.

To see what’s in store for you for the rest of June, the new forecasts are in the masthead.

ARIES

It should be a great month for you, and it all begins on June 3, with a new moon in compatible air sign Gemini. You may have an opportunity to collaborate on a book with a friend or could be invited to teach a workshop or conduct a seminar. You may be networking and socializing more, and new and valuable contacts are made.

TAURUS

With the new moon in Gemini on June 3, a new source of income should surface for
you. It could be a freelance job, something that comes to you through your network of acquaintances, a writing or publicity gig or even a part-time job. All that’s required of you, Taurus, is to be vigilant and recognize the opportunity as it surfaces.

GEMINI

A new moon in your sign happens just once a year and usually sets the tone for the rest of the year. Make a wish list and at some point on June 3, mull over each item on your list. Vividly imagine each thing happening. Do something special for yourself on the 3rd. Do whatever makes you happy. Then step out of the way, and let the universe do its job.

CANCER

June should be to your liking, and the good stuff begins on June 3, with a new moon in Gemini. Opportunities that surface may revolve around learning, research, communication— writing, speaking, teaching—and networking. You might have a chance to teach a course or 
or workshop, could get a freelance writing project or could be hired for a behind-the-scenes project. Gemini is a sociable sign, so expect to be out and about more than usual.

LEO

The new moon in Gemini should be very nice for your social life. As new friends enter your life, so do new opportunities for networking, publicity and communication projects. Today, you can talk to anyone about virtually anything. If you’re in sales, you probably surpass your daily quota! The new moon kick starts a good month for you, Leo.

VIRGO

The new moon in Gemini on June 3 brings new professional opportunities that could range from a promotion and raise to an entirely new career path. It depends on what you’ve been desiring and where you’ve been putting your attention. If you’ve been working toward starting your own business, then the energy of this new moon could make it happen.

LIBRA

The new moon in Gemini is a good one for you. Be on the lookout for new opportunities to network. You may be asked to conduct a workshop or teach a class on a subject in which you’re an expert. Or you may take a workshop or class. Gemini is perpetually curious, so on or around the time of this new moon, you may have a chance to research something that intrigues you.

SCORPIO

Expect new opportunities for writing and speaking gigs, for networking with professional colleagues and for living more gregariously. It’s a good time to enter the flow of events and situations and leave the worrying and fretting to someone else!

SAGITTARIUS

This new moon brings in new opportunities in partnerships. You and your spouse may launch your own business or deepen your commitment to each other in some way. You have a chance to form new networks of friends and acquaintances or to work on a publicity campaign for a new client. With Mercury also in Gemini, your communication skills are sharp.

CAPRICORN

The new moon in Gemini on June 3 ushers in new opportunities in your daily work routine and in the maintenance of your health. You might be promoted or tapped to head up a team, or if you’ve been looking for employment, you get the job you want. If you’re self-employed, a new client or project comes your way. You may have a stab at a writing project or could be hired for a publicity or merchandising campaign.

AQUARIUS

If you aren’t involved in a romantic relationship, this moon may change the status quo, particularly once Venus transits Gemini and this same area of your chart from June 8 to July 3. The new moon and this Venus transit also facilitates all your creative endeavors. Whatever your skill or talent, you may sell a project this month or be invited to exhibit your products. If you and your partner are considering starting a family, then this new moon and the Venus transit may bring it about. This part of your chart also governs children.

PISCES

The new moon in Gemini brings in new opportunities for your family/home. Unless your kids are very young, engage the entire family in the decision about where to go this year. If you have been going to the same areas year after year, be more adventurous now and choose a spot where none of you have been.

 

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‘Angel Numbers’

Posted on June 1, 2019 by Trish and Rob

Seeing the same numbers repeatedly over a period of time is one of the most common synchronicities  that people report. They usually want to know what does it mean. Well, here’s one possible answer, called Angel Numbers, that popped up recently on my FB inbox from someone calling him/herself Ancient Soul.

What are your thoughts?

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Forecasts for June

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Trish and Rob

The astrological forecasts for June are now posted in the masthead. Happy June, everyone!

 

 

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How’d This Happen?

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Trish and Rob

Take a good look at this guy. What do you see?

There are certain members of congress who remind me of reptiles. They’re not so different from the lizards that scamper through our backyard, eating anything within reach.

Take Mitch McConnell, repub from Kentucky, senate majority leader who blocked Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court for months. Who seems to love trump regardless of what he’s doing. Whose soul (if he ever had one) has been whisked off to trump Neverland.

You know, that Neverland that says, Women are subservient to men. Women shouldn’t have any control over their own bodies, it’s okay if the prez is a pathological liar and con man, it’s all good as long as the republican agenda can be shoved through.

If the dems ever get really serious about impeachment hearings, they already know it will die in the Senate. Mitch decides what can come to the floor. In Nixon’s era, he resigned before he could be impeached. Pelosi needs to fully embrace impeachment even if she knows it will die in McConnell’s senate, otherwise trump and every prez that comes after him (if there are any) will figure they can do what they want without impunity.

The bottom line here is ugly. Trump has torn apart the fabric of the constitution, of the presidency, of diplomatic ties with our allies, pulled out of climate and nuclear accords, and calls himself a genius, the best prez ever. As the protagonist in The Handmaid’s Tale laments at one point, “How’d we get to this place?”

Well, one possible answer is that we believed it could never happen here.

 

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Simba, RIP

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Trish and Rob

Simba was my first orange tabby. He came to us from our neighbor, Annette, when she found him and his bro, Copper, as a kitten near her church. She adopted Copper and asked if we would take Simba. Annette thinks this happened in 2005, I think it was 2007. Simba and Copper were nearly identical except that Simba’s eyes were green and Cooper’s were amber. But if you saw them close together like this, you could hardly tell them apart.

Over the years, Simba was the alpha cat – not mean, but firm about his positions among the cats we had. When younger, one of his favorite spots was on top of my desk, just sitting there looking regal as I worked, as in the top photo.

Outside, he and Copper often climbed a tree in our front yard that enabled them to get to the roof, where they would sit together watching the world below. This tree: and that’s Copper during catobatics, with Simba just visible above him. When Copper was hit by a car three years ago, Annette and her family buried him next to this tree. I would often spot Simba sitting on that grave.

One summer, we stated finding dead mice around the house – in the shower, the kitchen. And then we started seeing Simba crouched in various places around the house where he sensed a mouse was hiding. We realized we had an infestation and Rob started placing mousetraps in cabinets Simba had pinpointed. Eventually, they were all caught. He was our mouse detector.

Noah, our Golden Retriever, was like a horse next to Simba but Simba befriended him early on. The same was true of Nigel and of Megan’s dog, Nika. There are Nika and Nigel at the end of the sidewalk, with Simba watching them.

He was tolerant of our other cats, but not exactly warm and fuzzy.

As he got older, his spot at night was next to my head on my bed,where we often tussled over who got the extra pillow.

When Nala entered our lives last Christmas, she quickly cozied up to Noah and Simba gradually accepted her.

For the last several days, he hadn’t been eating and yesterday, didn’t eat at all or go outside to his favorite spot by the pile of wood we use for our fire pit during the winter. He was also bloated  – we thought he’d just gained weight  – so I took him to our vet.

X rays revealed so much fluid in his chest that his lungs were floating. His stomach was also filled with fluid. Ira, our vet, walked me through the X rays and pointed out what he thought might be a mass, a tumor, close to his lungs, which would explain the buildup of fluid. Even if the fluid was drained, it probably would return, he said. Simba was already having difficulty breathing.  Rather than put him through additional tests and blood work, I felt it was best to euthanize him.

Ira and his technician, Juan, were wonderfully compassionate.

I miss seeing Simba by that fire pit in the morning. Or in the backyard by the pool, stalking lizards or trying to teach Nala about the etiquette of outside freedoms. I miss him by my head at night. I hope Noah and our other cats were with him as he passed.

Rob dug a grave for him close to where we buried Powder not that long ago. Now there are 4 cats and a bird buried in our backyard. And I’m waiting for Simba to pay us a visit.

 

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Synchros in St. Augustine

Posted on May 26, 2019 by Trish and Rob

Whenever we travel, we tend to experience synchronicities. Maybe it’s because we are taken out of our everyday routine…and things happen. That was the case again in early May when we journeyed to St. Augustine, Florida – the oldest city in the U.S. – for a couple of days.

A friend had said we should visit a bar called The Well. So after visiting the old stone fort, we decided to go find it. It turned into a half-hour hike, but we located it on the grounds of the The Collector Inn & Garden. By the time we finished our beers it was after 5 p.m. and we debated about walking to a restaurant called Catch 27 – also recommended to us. Google told us it was several blocks away, but Trish said she wanted to go back to our room first. So we headed back through Old Town.

As soon as we got in our car and left the parking lot, we noticed the bridge we needed to cross to the barrier island where we were staying was raised for boat traffic and cars we backed up for more than a quarter mile. Rush hour.We skirted the traffic, circled back through Old Town on what is apparently the only street that allows car traffic. Just a block before we were to exit onto a main road, we noticed a sign for Catch 27, which was more than mile from where we thought the restaurant was located. We managed to get back to our parking spot, which still had two hours left on the meter, and walked over to the restaurant.

As we were seated, I asked if there were two Catch 27s, and was told there was only one and that it had moved to the new location. So if we would’ve taken our other option and attempted to walk to the restaurant from the bar, we wouldn’t have found it. So, for us, what originally seemed like an inconvenience – the bridge raised and a long wait – turned into a lucky find. Instead of being blocked, we ended up right where we wanted to be!

Here’s one other one from that trip. A couple of days before we left for St. Augustine, I completed a script called Spinning Out. In the story, my main character, Jake, has an out-of-body experience in which he becomes stuck out of his body and ultimately is aided by a group of inter-dimensional beings that resemble odd-looking human children. These beings form a circle around Jake, lock arms and rotate around him, bringing him slowly back into his body. Yay, good aliens!

So, to my surprise, upon arriving at our airbnb in St. Augustine, I noticed a strange ceramic sculpture near the floor in one corner of the main room. It’s a group of odd-looking little beings with arms locked forming a circle. Of course, that reminded me of my scenario in the script. Here’s a pic of it. Another syncro.

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Animal Spirit Contact & That Rainbow Bridge

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Trish and Rob

Melissa Fordham is one of the most interesting women I know. Years back when we lived in the neighborhood we moved to when our daughter, Megan, was 6 weeks old, she lived in the neighborhood with her family. She’s 11 years older than Megan, who will be 30 this year, and back then, when Melissa was in her teens, she used to babysit for Megan.

I saw her periodically during her college years, we went to her wedding, and then she and her husband, Jon, moved to New York. But she kept in touch. She’s a Leo who grew up with cats and who, for 20 years, had a beautiful cat named Star. Melissa also has an insatiable appetite for answers that don’t fall within the normal or usual scheme of things and in the past several years, has been exploring that unseen realm.

Last year, Star died and ever since, Melissa has been experiencing a lot of contact with Star. We’ve written about several of her contacts. The most recent event appeared in my text messages this evening. It’s a weird one, for sure.

Toward the end of her life, Star was on a med called Cosequin for her arthritis, featured in both pics.  It’s a joint supplement. But after the cat died, Melissa got rid of the pills and sent them to friends with older cats. “I’ve actually deep cleaned in the year since she died, so there’s really no explanation for what happened.”

On her kitchen floor, she found a single pill, Cosequin, and texted Jon about it. “There’s a Cosequin pill just in the middle of the floor in the kitchen. Just there. Randomly. We don’t have that anymore.”

Jon: Star put it there. She’s saying, “Hi! I don’t need this anymore.”

Melissa wrote that she left the pill there all day and into the next morning – well, just because.

“At first I thought it was a pill of mine, but then I was like, no, I haven’t taken any pills…and Jon’s been gone a week…so it wasn’t his. Then I got closer and was like…OH. MY. GOD.
I was almost afraid to touch it at first. I also liked Jon’s explanation of it.”

What I find so intriguing about her experience is that apparently animal spirits, like their human counterparts, seem to use whatever is most convenient to let us know they’re around.

Now I would really enjoy some type of communication from our Golden Retriever, Noah, who died on March 14. Or form our first Golden, Jessie, who died in 2007. Or from our cats Powder and Tigerlil, who passed in 2017 and 2012, or from our black and white tuxedo cat, Whiskers, who passed in 2006.

You get the idea here, right? We outlive all our animal buddies. And they do seem to reach out to us once they get to that Rainbow Bridge.

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