Black Horoscope

Taurus

Your heaviness is matched only by your legendary slowness. Let’s not forget that you are as stubborn as a mule. However, isn’t it said that “only idiots don’t change their minds”? You are a fat materialist and you can’t see further than the end of your nose. You are greedy for profit, hence your possessive and even stingy side. “Let’s live to eat and let’s not eat to live” could well be your motto. Intellectual and abstract matters are well beyond you, since you are coarsely down to earth and simple. Lastly, you have no interest other than food and comfort, just like an animal that pigs out, and that is unable to think of anything else.

Source: http://www.astrotheme.com/files/black-zodiac.php

...Pisces...begin to comprehend vaguely the secret of Time as an eternal NOW...

The Pisces Love Mystery

Just as the soul is symbolically “born” into the innocent thoughtlessness of Aries, it symbolically “dies” – or leaves the painful Earth plane – to enter into the sympathetic humility and mystical awareness of Pisces.  In the Piscean Sun Sign stage, evolving man and woman begin to comprehend vaguely the secret of Time as an eternal NOW – able to (in varying degrees) see the Past, Present and Future as one.  This is the soul’s third and final excursion into the sensitive Water Element – its fourth and final vibration as a Mutable Communicator – and the last experience under the feminine negative Night Forces.

Ideally, by the time the soul has reached the Pisces stage, it has attained spiritual enlightenment on its long journey through the Mysteries of Love experienced in the preceding eleven Sun Signs.  If not, then it must return to certain Sun Sign vibratory experiences on the astrological circle to learn lessons not absorbed because they were too hastily skimmed over in previous incarnated stages.  But each such return brings a new vulnerability to that Sun Sign lesson – a new inner urgency to master its positive essence and discard its negative.  Of course, some high or advanced souls, after reaching the Piscean stage, elect of their own choosing to return to Earth to rescue those still in darkness.  However, we are discussing here the average Pisces obligation and pattern.

Man and woman, on the Pisces level, have passed at least once through all twelve stages of initiation, and many have been required to fall back and retrace their steps hundreds of times in this experience, because Pisces is the most difficult of all the twelve Sun Signs to comprehend and master.  Usually such an accomplishment is not gained the first time around the wheel of life, except by intense desire and will, which is not to say such achievement is impossible – but it is a path, up until now, chosen by very few.  This is why astrology teaches that Pisces is “an old soul” – also the reason that on every Pisces man or woman is the epitome of spiritual grace; why some swim in waters dangerously close to the fires of Dante’s Inferno.  The Fish lives in two worlds, simultaneously experiencing both Heaven and Hell.

With the secret wisdom of the Piscean ruling planet, Neptune, Pisceans know that sadness and ugliness are not a part of God’s plan.  They have glimpsed the beauty of truth, and the brilliance of such mystical vision brings an urge to retreat from the negative vibrations of the Earth plane.  So Pisces often avoids confrontation and tension through the escape route of drugs, alcohol, daydreams, artistic creation, philosophical theorizing, meditation or religious retreat.  Pisceans may become teachers, monks, mystics, artists, musicians, composers, abstract mathematicians and highly intuitive scientists – or they may choose to swim down into the murky waters of alcoholism and drug addiction, even insanity.  It is, indeed, a difficult and complicated vibration for the soul, for this Sun Sign experience is fraught with temptation for the Pisces man or woman.

Because they’ve been “through it all” on a subconscious level, the Fishes have a natural compassion for the troubles of those around them.  The Neptunian soul is intimately familiar with life’s vicissitudes, understanding the weakness of human nature, therefore tending to pity, rather than to condemn, man’s and woman’s failings.  This is why these “old souls” so frequently become the recipients of everyone’s secrets, trials, worries and apprehensions.  Yet the initial instinct is to turn away form sticky entanglements in all forms.  Only when the Fish finds the courage to face his or her own problems with as much spiritual wisdom as is offered to others can the Neptune mysteries be fathomed.

Through this “death initiation” (death of the human ego) the soul grows more forgiving, more gentle, better able to understand its true relationship to the co-Creators…as Pisces affirms “I BELIEVE.”  To realize the full glory and truth of love, the Fish can, if he or she chooses, call on the innocence of Aries, the patience of Taurus, the awareness of Gemini, the perception of Cancer, the nobility of Leo, the discrimination of Virgo, the judgment of Libra, the penetration of Scorpio, the honesty of Sagittarius, the wisdom of Capricorn – and the humanitarianism of Aquarius.  But sometimes these many fragments of secret knowledge and talents serve only to confuse Pisces, causing the Fish to then take the easier path of passive nonresistance.

The Pisces positive qualities are humility, compassion, sensitivity, spiritual awareness, psychic comprehension, philosophic insight and a healing potential.  Expressed in their negative form they become timidity, apprehension, masochism, idleness, lying and weakness of will.

To Pisces, love is unselfish submission of the ego to the desires of the one needed to become Whole.  The Fish gains more pleasure from giving than from receiving, more happiness in serving than in being served.  Yet enigmatic Neptune tests the Pisces soul with the lure of multiple sexual and romantic experience – floating from one affair to another.

In such promiscuous manner – or by becoming a romantic recluse – does the wary Fish escape the dangers of being “hooked” by deep permanent emotional commitment.  But the Pisces man or woman who resists this temptation to avoid love’s pain by seeking only love’s pleasure…..is richly rewarded by the mastery of love’s final mystery.  He or she can then glimpse for the first time on the soul’s weary journey the true passion of blending in a trinity of mind, heart and spirit, resulting in a rare physical ecstasy – the ultimate Piscean fulfillment of Love’s long-ago Aries springtime promise of a miracle.

...because their anxious quest has not yet led them to search for love where it really hides – within their own hearts...

The Sagittarius Love Mystery

Emerging from the long night of Scorpio meditation, the evolving soul turns again with hope toward the positive masculine Day Forces, as it bridges autumn and winter through the Sagittarius consciousness.  Now it experiences for the third time the vibrations of the Mutable Communicator, and answers for the last time to the impulsive element of Fire.  In Sagittarius, man or woman has become a skeptical philosopher, a reluctant prophet, still unsure of the final answers to the riddle of life.  So the Archer probes further, with penetrating logic and embarrassing candor, to give validity to Jupiter’s claim that “I SEE”.

It is now time for the soul to be once more aware of its own duality.  Sagittarius feels a compelling urge to explore his or her own mind and attempt to unravel the secrets of human behaviour at the philosophic stage of higher learning.  Yet, part of this soul resents the stern requirements of ever more complicated education and longs to play hookey from Life’s demanding karmic school.  He – or she – plunges from the heights of supreme optimism and blind faith to the depths of sarcastic cynicism.  First frivolous and gay, then serious and owlish, Sagittarius is the Centaur, half-man – half-horse, aiming sharp arrow of curiosity directly into the bull’s eye of the knowledge sought.  The Sagittarian search for truth takes this soul through the maze of religious concept, veering from stark atheism to spiritual fanaticism, until the stronghold of church dogma has been exposed – and either accepted or rejected, in part, or in whole.

Sometimes Sagittarius frolics like a clumsy clown, with an irresponsible disregard for the future.  Sometimes he thinks seriously, on a level high above and beyond his peers.  In the Sagittarian stage, the soul has reached the symbolic stage of retirement.  Driven by their ruling planet Jupiter, the Archers yearn to travel, to bask under foreign Suns, to see and learn of other countries, people and ideas.  Although they grudgingly submit to the necessities of work, duty and responsibility, they are extremely impatient of such unwelcome restriction over the realization of their dreams.

To cover a constant restlessness of spirit, Sagittarians adopt the pose of the actor, the thespian, which enables them to entertain others with a mixture of funny and tragic farces, while they remain free to pursue the Socratic method of inquiry with their own souls, behind their theatrical masks.  There is little time for tact on this level, as Sagittarius rushes ahead to find the answers before “Life” is over.  Autumn is ending, the first winds of winter are blowing – and exhilarating weather challenges the Archer to tempt fate, in order to prove that man is stronger than Nature.  The winter season’s withdrawal into seclusion has not yet taken hold.  And so Sagittarius delights in each snowflake, pondering the design and origin…then rolls them together into a snowball, tossed without warning to topple the stuffiness of more sedate souls.  Although intuitively sensing that “old age” looms ahead, with its promised rewards of wisdom and peace, the soul is too nostalgic for the carefree das of lost youth…spring and summer…to resign itself gracefully to its inevitable maturity.

Sagittarian positive qualities are optimism, candor, cheerfulness, logic, honesty, daring and enthusiasm.  Expressed in their negative form they become recklessness, emotional confusion, lack of tact, rudeness and fickleness.

To Sagittarius, who has reached the symbolic middle age of the soul, true love must be discovered now – or lost forever.  As the Archers seek a mate for all seasons, they are blinded by love’s idealism and challenge and therefore wounded by love’s reality, because their anxious quest has not yet led them to search for love where it really hides – within their own hearts.

...but the satisfaction of desire only leaves the Scorpio soul still hungry for something beyond...

Source: http://vi.sualize.us/view/kallini2002/161d695b22f964939afdc47e2b403517/

The Scorpio Love Mystery

As it enters its second experience in the Water element, the now mature soul welcomes the chance for meditation through a return of the negative feminine Night Forces of the Scorpio consciousness.  On a public level, Scorpio is enormously capable of executing the now very familiar duties as a Fixed Organizer.  On a personal level, Scorpio is troubled to discover that he faces for the first time the awesome mystery of his own existence.  Where did he come from? – where is he going? – why is he here?  Scorpio must tear the veil from life, regardless of the cost, to quiet his restless spirit, suddenly released from its former preoccupation with earthly needs alone, as he cries out: “I DESIRE!”

There is much that the Scorpio soul knows… but even more that is sensed and cannot yet be defined.  The Scorpio vibration brings such a burning need to penetrate the unknown that it must be buried beneath deep layers of calm reason, or it would consume the mind and sear the soul.  Lessons well remembered from Libra softness and impartial judgment have made Scorpio wary of expressing opinions to those who would tear them apart.  The strong Scorpion instinct for survival springs from a deep-seated fear that he who is not forearmed will be destroyed.  Each defeat sustained by Scorpio only strengthens the inner conviction that the first loyalty must be to his or her own personal integrity.  For Scorpio sense that if the self is lost, then all is lost.

On the Scorpio level of consciousness, the soul is newly aware of the relationship between birth, death, sex and religious truth.  Scorpio knows that, in some mystical way, these are intertwined.  Therefore, sex becomes something intimately explored with an intensity unknown to those either behind or ahead Of Scorpio’s stage of evolvement.  Although Scorpio trusts love only after is has proven itself deserving of such trust, once dedicated to another, loyalty is unswerving and eternal.  Feeling fiercely the need to protect themselves and those they love from hurt, Scorpio is compelled to demand “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” as insurance that injures will not be repeated.

Through the subtle influence of the ruling planet Pluto, the experience of death comes to the Scorpio soul, as friends and relatives pass away, increasing the need to penetrate even deeper for the knowledge buried in the silent subconscious.  While Scorpio’s spirit soars upward like the eagle, defying gravity, worldly desires and passions intensify, forcing him to question his own worthiness.  Ultra-sensitive, but now able to totally disguise such sensitivity, Scorpio now learns the amazing power of his or her own mind – the silent will – and uses it secretly, lest others learn how to use the same kind of power over him – or her.  The Scorpio consciousness is the period of the soul’s testing.

Scorpio’s positive qualities are loyalty, will power, magnetism, gentleness, insight and amazing self-control.  Expressed in their negative form they become ruthlessness, fanaticism, revenge, sadism, suspicion and self-hatred.

To Scorpio men and women, love is a consuming flame, worth any sacrifice – and they must conquer its challenge.  Sexually uninhibited, yet emotionally fearful and mentally suspicious, they strive desperately to unite love’s physical and spiritual vibrations, with a strange mixture of eroticism and purity.  But the satisfaction of desire only leaves the Scorpio soul still hungry for something beyond.

Source: http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/indschool/WB/calendar1.jpg

Calendar Wisdom.

For all these (3!) months I have not done well at all.  All of these months I have not succeeded, even in March when I decided to stick to “Success” and “supposedly” made resolutions.  No, to be more specific, I made resolutions; the only problem was I did not carry them through.  But remembering the Art of Reframing, it was not a disaster, but a learning experience.  So, I need a plan, I need motivation, I need to check my progress daily.  I will see what will happen from now on.  But I have to admit that two ideas are firmly planted in my head – Love (February’s theme) and Success (March’s theme), they are unrelated (or so it seems so far!).  I have read a book by Anthony Robbins “Awaken the Giant Within” and I will be quoting him regularly.  I guess I can give myself credit for at least trying to find a way – Anthony Robbins is considered to be a psychologist of change and success, even though his expertise is not indisputable.  Regardless of his credentials, I believe that if I do the exercises that he suggests and take his advice with a pinch of salt, I will do better than without any plan or direction in mind.  I have to stay on track!  I can change almost everything, but it takes time.  So, opening a new chapter…

April Fools.

Perhaps it’s light-hearted nature of Spring that brought about April’s Fool Day, the way it looks like summer one day only to be freezing the next.  Take a moment to inject humour into your day.  See if any of the word tiles below strike your funny bone.  If not, try randomly grabbing words and putting them next to each other.  Take it further: put together those words that seem least likely to be side by side.  Create an absurdist collection of funny language.

Quote of the month:

“Humour is the great thing, the saving thing.  The minute is crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place.”

 - Mark Twain

I tend to think that I have a great sense of humour, but some people just don’t get my jokes and in the worst-case scenario it all turns very ugly.  They may get angry, offended or aggressive.  I think they take themselves way too serious.  Do I have to adjust all the time?  I guess it is a choice…  I always laugh at myself, so it must be a good Sign!

Source: http://www.myweddingflowerideas.co.uk/wedding-bouquet/red-gerbera-bouquet-rge.jpg

Cube.

Well, the cube is red, a size of a side table, located in the center of the room and on the floor.  Interpretation: I am humble, grounded and the red colour of the cube might represent that my center is in my heart, small, but all-important.  Maybe because red is the colour of passion and I am a very passionate person.  Or maybe because in Russian “red” is synonymous with “beautiful”.  I do hide who I am from others, but only to a point.  I do consider myself to be fairly open.  The fact that my red cube is in the center of the room means that I (my ego, my heart, my brain, my mind) is the center of my universe.  Where else should it be?  I am still perplexed why I have picked the red colour, for it is not my favourite.  Maybe because walls are so white is this white room? LOL.

Flowers.

They are located on the perimeter, so there are a lot of them, all red Gerbera, natural Gerbera size.  Again, colour red.  I don’t have an explanation for the red colour in this case.  Love, passion, design?  I agree that I need family and a lot of friends, but at the moment they are not so close to me.  I wish they were, or at least I think I wish they were and I am trying to close the gap.

Ladder.

Ladder is white, from floor to ceiling and for that matter a fairly steep one (like in a submarine, or maybe not, I have never been on a submarine!), but it is located in a Northeast corner of the room.  I am not currently working on my goals.  But I am all in the preparation mode.  Last time I did the cube analysis, the ladder was just lying on the floor flat.  So, some improvement.

Horse.

One thing is clear, the horse is near me.  I could not decide what colour to pick (black or white), still indecisive.  Characteristics of a horse?  Mamma mia!  Intelligent, witty, philosophical, trustworthy, true friend.  No interpretation necessary.  Only a comment – there is no horse near me.  I am not in a relationship.

Rainstorm.

Rainstorm is all over the room.  Meaning…  I have way to many problems.  Or opportunities (never forget the Art of Reframing!)

Source:  http://www.smashingapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/love-vectors.jpg

I have copied this article from LavaLife for one reason only – to come back to it a year later and see “Were the predictions even close to reality?”

Source: http://click.lavalife.com/horoscopes/ll1/2Sxy/8/scorpio

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Ruling Planet: Pluto
Symbol: Scorpion and Phoenix
Element: Water
Color: Red

Forget hibernating like a bear! In the New Year you haven’t got a moment to waste. The planetary movements for 2010 are vital to your personal growth and will help you release past beliefs and hindrances and awaken forgotten dreams so that you may enter into a new cycle of personal and professional success. This particular year will be one of transformation on an emotional and spiritual level, and quality of life should be your goal. 

Inspirational yet challenging planetary movements during the first half of 2010 will weed out unhealthy relationship and situations and inspire your creative and realistic ambitions. But the big news is that Jupiter will transit Pisces for most of the year. Whether you’re in a committed relationship or single, you are in for a lovely, romantic cycle. Jupiter’s transit of intuitive and sensitive Pisces gives you the creative edge and makes others remember why they love you.

Between April and July, Saturn will give you confidence in the future and set your curious mind on fire. If you can’t get away, take an online course, spend lunch in the museum or volunteer for a seminar or new assignment. Whatever you do, don’t allow this time to slip by without learning something new, meeting a few interesting people or adding to your résumé.

Jupiter will make a quick sojourn into Aries between June and September, creating an opportunity for you to expand in your present work situation or take on a few more responsibilities or part-time work that will lead to even bigger opportunities.

A friendship or partnership could hit a troubled spot in April, primarily over finances or creative differences and you may decide to part ways. But if you have second thoughts, why not step back and allow time to work his healing magic?

This year, Dr. Denis Waitley’s affirming words could inspire your belief in the endless possibilities of life: “There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or accept the responsibility for changing them.” 

 

 

And who is going to be the lucky guy? Well, I doubt it is going to be a Water Bearer, but who knows…

 

 

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Ruling Planet: Uranus
Symbol: Water Carrier
Element: Air
Color: Violet, blue and pastels

Dear Aquarius, your life has been in the throes of transition for so long that you may wonder if you should trust fate when it offers you the keys to success and happiness. During this transitional year amazing support for your ideas or projects will come from surprising sources. Your assignment will be to open your mind and heart to the endless possibilities of life.

Your social skills will come in handy this year. Networking, new friends and throwing around ideas with colleagues will open the door to a new job, a juicy assignment, client or desired move.

Between May and August, your ruler Uranus will be under the influence of the enthusiastic and ambitions sign of Aries. This sojourn will give you a glimpse into 2011, when you will begin a new journey toward fulfilling a goal or ambition. Step out of your routine, travel, volunteer for a new project, try a new career path or take classes that will enhance your skills or résumé.

Use this energy wisely and you will make an investment that will help you reach a destination, which today eludes your wildest dreams.

The warrior planet Mars continues his disruptive transit of your house of partners until June. This dramatic planet can turn small disagreements into major arguments. At work, stay mindful of those with fragile egos or argumentative personalities and you will avoid being pulled into their personal dramas.

Venus’s presence in your sign between January and February will give love a chance to bloom. Between July and August, Cupid will shoot a few arrows your way. If you catch one, hold on because your sector of true love and commitment in 2011 is beyond beautiful, brilliant and defiantly worth the wait.

“Never be afraid to try something new.  Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.”  – Author Unknown

It took me a while to pick the best idea for the post on March the 8^th, the International Women’s Day.  What do women cherish the most?  Careers?  Perhaps… But love is always the safe bet, so I decided to talk more about love and meaning of life because this is the most important thing for me.  And for the rest of the world?  That is for the rest of the world to decide.

From Katherine Woodward Thomas “Calling in “The One”

Are you frustrated by stymied relationships, missed connections, and the loneliness of the search for someone to spend the rest of your life with?  Are you ready, instead, to find “The One”?  In Calling in “The One”, Katherine Woodward Thomas shares her own personal experience to show women that in order to find the relationship that will last a lifetime, you have to be truly open and ready to create a loving, committed, romantic union.  Calling in “The One” shows you how.

Based on the Law of Attraction, which is the concept that we can only attract what we’re ready to receive, the provocative yet simple seven-week program in Calling in “The One” prepares you to bring forth the love you seek.  For each of the 49 days of Thomas’s thoughtful and life-affirming plan, there is a daily lesson, a corresponding practice, and instruction for putting that lesson into action in your life.  Meditation, visualization, and journaling exercises will gently lead you to recognize the obstacles on your path to love and provide ways to steer around them.  At the end of those 49 days, you will be in the ideal emotional state to go out into the world and find “The One”.

An inspirational approach that offers a radical new philosophy on relationships, Calling in “The One” is your guide to finding the love you seek.

From the Chapter 13 “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall”

Source: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/ny/3-11-fiction-mirror-1.jpg

An ordinary man behaves like a dog which, upon entering a hall of mirrors, barks at all the other dogs.  The sage, entering the hall of mirrors, sees only himself.”

Gurunathan

I no longer try to change outer things.  They are simply a reflection.  I change my inner perception and the outer reveals the beauty so long obscured by my own attitude.  I concentrate on my inner vision and find my outer view transformed.

Daily Word

Like attracts like.  Whatever the conscious mind thinks and believes, the subconscious identically creates.

Brian Adams

A loving person lives in a loving world.  A hostile person lives in a hostile world.  Everyone you meet is your mirror.

Ken Keyes Jr.

Page 84

We often have more faith in the act of assertion than we do in the Law of Attraction – trusting more in trying to make things happen by taking actions than we do in drawing things toward us and allowing them to happen.  This doing-ness could be called the masculine aspect of the creative process; that part that goes out and gets what it wants.  It is the hunter in all of us, both male and female.  The masculine creative principle is largely how our Western culture works.  It is the principle that we are most familiar with and the one that we trust in the most.

The feminine aspect of the creative principle, however, draws toward itself that which it is actively creating from within.  We often mistake this stillness as passive and static.  Women, who are usually cast in this inactive role, are often frustrated by the “sit and wait by the phone” thing.  However, this is a misunderstanding of the power of the feminine creative process, which conceives by cultivating a strong inner vision and then working internally to draw that vision in.  Feminine creative energy is like a barber role.  It alternates between the red and the white with no beginning and no end.  The internal vision is the magnet for the external condition and they dance fluidly and in harmony with one another constantly.

[…]

Many of us feel so desperate and driven to find love.  But the feeling of desperation is really a panicked response to inner belief that you will not get what you want.  This belief then causes an anxious ambition to have this not be so, and we start trying to push, manipulate, and cajole the events of our lives in reaction.  But there’s absolutely nothing you can do externally to prove that your own internal belief is wrong.  Because it’s neither right nor wrong.  It’s simply your belief.  As such, it has the power to magnetize that which does – and that which does not come into your life.

[…]

What can’t come through you, can’t come to you.  If you want to attract in the people, situations, and circumstances that support the manifestation of love in your life, then you must feel love, believe that it is possible for you, and claim it as your own.  Because we draw toward us that which is most compelling within us, believing with all your heart that you can and will have love is the single most important thing that you can do on this quest for fulfillment.

From Robert Greene “The 48 Laws of Power”.

Law 48 – Assume Formlessness

Page 419

Judgment

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack.  Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move.  Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed.  The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order.  Everything changes.

Source: http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff/vt-2004//mt-2003/mt-mercury-map6-normal.jpg

In martial arts, it is important that strategy be unfathomable, that form be concealed, and that movements be unexpected, so that preparedness against them be impossible.  What enables a good general to win without fail is always having unfathomable wisdom and a modus operandi that leaves no tracks.  Only the formless cannot be affected.  Sages hide in unfathomability, so their feelings cannot be observed; they operate in formlessness, so their lines cannot be crossed.

The Book of the Huainan Masters, China, Second Century B.C.

Character Armor

To carry out the instinctual inhibition demanded by the modern world and to be able to cope with the energy stasis which results from this inhibition, the ego has to undergo a change.  The ego, i.e., that part of the person that is exposed to danger, becomes rigid, as we say, when it is continually subjected to the same or similar conflicts between need and a fear-inducing outer world.  It acquires in this process a chronic, automatically functioning mode of reaction, i.e., its “character”.  It is as if the affective personality armored itself, as the hard shell it develops were intended to deflect and weaken the blows of the outer world as well as the clamoring of the inner needs.  This armoring makes the person less sensitive to unpleasure, but also restricts his libidinal and aggressive motility and thus reduces his capacity for achievement and pleasure.  We say the ego has become less flexible and more rigid, and that the ability to regulate the energy economy depends on the extent of the armoring.

Wilhelm Reich, 1897 – 1957

Observance of the law

When you want to fight us, we don’t let you and you can’t find us.  But when we want t fight you, we make sure that you can’t get away and we hit you squarely…and wipe you out… The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.

Mao Tse-Tung, 1893 – 1976

Keys to Power

The human animal is distinguished by its constant creation of forms.  Rarely expressing its emotions directly, it gives them form through language, or through socially acceptable rituals.  We cannot communicate our emotions without a form.

The forms that we create, however, change constantly – in fashion, in style, in all those human phenomena representing the mood of the moment.  We are constantly altering the forms we have inherited from previous generations, and these changes are signs of life and vitality.  Indeed, the things that don’t change, the forms that rigidify, come to look to us like death, and we destroy them.  The young show this most clearly: Uncomfortable with the forms that society imposes upon them, having no set identity, they play with their own characters, trying on a variety of masks and poses to express themselves.  This is the vitality that drives the motor of form, creating constant changes in style.

The powerful are often people who in their youth have shown immense creativity in expressing something new through a new form.  Society grants them power because it hungers for and rewards this sort of newness.  The problem comes later, when they often grow conservative and possessive.  They no longer dream of creating new forms; their habits congeal, and their rigidity makes them easy targets.  Everyone knows their next move.  Instead of demanding respect they elicit boredom: Get off the stage! We say, let someone else, someone younger, entertain us.  When locked in the past, the powerful look comical – they are overripe fruit, waiting to fall from the tree.

Power can only thrive if it is flexible in its forms.  To be formless is not to be amorphous; everything has a form – it is impossible to avoid.  The formlessness of power is more like that of water, or mercury, taking the form of whatever is around it.  Changing constantly, it is never predictable.  The powerful are constantly creating form, and their power comes from the rapidity with which they can change.  Their formlessness is in the eye of the enemy who cannot see what they are up to and so has nothing solid to attack.  This is the premier pose of power: ungraspable, as elusive and swift as the god Mercury, who could take any form he pleased and this ability to wreak havoc on Mount Olympus.

Human creations evolve toward abstraction, toward being more mental and less material.  This evolution is clear in art, which, in this century, made the great discovery of abstraction and conceptualism; it can also be seen in politics, which over time have become less overtly violent, more complicated, indirect and cerebral.  Warfare and strategy too have followed this pattern.  Strategy began in the manipulation of armies on land, positioning them in ordered formations; on land, strategy is relatively two dimensional, and controlled by topography.  But all the great powers have eventually taken to sea, for commerce and colonization.  And to protect their trading lanes they have had to learn how to fight at sea.  Maritime warfare requires tremendous creativity and abstract thinking, since the lines are constantly shifting.  Naval captains distinguish themselves by their ability to adapt to the literal fluidity of the terrain and to confuse the enemy with an abstract, hard-to-anticipate form.  They are operating in a third dimension: the mind.

Image:

Mercury.  The winged messenger, god of commerce, patron saint of thieves, gamblers, and all those who deceive through swiftness.  The day Mercury was born he invented the lyre; by that evening he had stolen the cattle of Apollo.  He would scour the world, assuming whatever form he desired.  Like the liquid metal named after him, he embodies the elusive, the ungraspable – the power of formlessness.

Authority:

Therefore the consummation of forming an army is to arrive at formlessness. Vitory in war is not repetitious, but adapts its form endlessly… A military force has no constant formation, water has no constant shape: The ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius.

(Sun-tzu, fourth century B.C.)

Succeed (ME < L succedere <sub -  up (to) + cedere go)

1. turn out well; prosper : His plans succeeded. Any able person who works well can succeed..
2. accomplish what is attempted or intended: The attack succeeded beyond all expectations.  After much discussion, Jill succeeded in convincing her father that she needed her own car.

Of course, in a philosophical sense of the word, it is much harder to define what success really is.  Or failure for that matter.

Source: http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r320/nizz6pics/success.jpg

Quotes on Success:

“Success is not access to excess.” Anonymous

 

 

“The two hardest things to handle in life are failure & success.” Anonymous

 

 

“Yielding is sometimes the best way of succeeding.” Anonymous

 

 

“You cannot sit on the road to success, for if you do, you will get run over.” Anonymous

 

 

“A successful man continues to look for work after he has found a job.” Anonymous

 

 

“Health, happiness and success depend upon the fighting spirit of each person. The big thing is not what happens to us in life – but what we do about what happens to us.” George Allen

 

 

“Act as though it is impossible to fail.” Anonymous

 

 

“Choice, not circumstances, determines your success.” Anonymous

 

 

“Motivation is the fuel, necessary to keep the human engine running.” Zig Ziglar

 

 

”If you care at all, you’ll get some results.  If you care enough, you’ll get incredible results.” Jim Rohn

 

 

“Every one of us, unconsciously, works out a personal philosophy of life, by which we are guided, inspired, and corrected, as time goes on. It is this philosophy by which we measure out our days, and by which we advertise to all about us the man, or woman, that we are. . . . It takes but a brief time to scent the life philosophy of anyone. It is defined in the conversation, in the look of the eye, and in the general mien of the person. It has no hiding place. It’s like the perfume of the flower — unseen, but known almost instantly. It is the possession of the successful, and the happy. And it can be greatly embellished by the absorption of ideas and experiences of the useful of this earth.” George Matthew Adams

 

 

“Success comes before work only in the dictionary.” Anonymous

 

 

“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”  Dr. Joyce Brothers

 

 

“Men are failures, not because they are stupid, but because they are not sufficiently impassioned.”  Struther Burt

 

 

“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” Winston Churchill