Magic has power to experience and fathom things which are inaccessible to human reason. For magic is a great secret wisdom, just as reason is a great public folly. PARACELSUS

Both in thought and in feeling, even though time be real, to realise the unimportance of time is the gate of wisdom. BERTRAND RUSSELL

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. CARL SAGAN

Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. JULES DE GAULTIER

The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other people!  A weird life it is, indeed, to be always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real! THOMAS MERTON

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were.  But without it we go nowhere. CARL SAGAN

To live is the rarest thing in the world.  Most people exist, that is all. OSCAR WILDE

Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere. ALBERT EINSTEIN

The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it. MARCUS AURELIUS

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead. BERTRAND RUSSELL

...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.

... and so begins a "second childhood" on the level of the Water Bearer...

The Aquarius Love Mystery

Having reached the Aquarian initiation, the evolving soul feels that it must return to life much of what it gathered along the way.  And so begins a “second childhood” on the level of the Water Bearer, who pours out his knowledge, both determined and anxious to share it before he leaves this planet to explore the exciting realm of the unknown on the other side.

Aquarius feels the stirrings of the masculine positive Day Forces for the last time as a Fixed Organizer, in the final experience of the detached and unpredictable Air Element.  A puzzle to friends and family, the Aquarian man or woman cavorts in peculiar fashion with the young at heart – peculiar, since wisdom and experience are in direct contrast with such liberal, eccentric behaviour.  There were so many mysteries missed in the past

because there wasn’t time to investigate them.  Now Aquarians must taste them all – must investigate every nuance of up and down, left and right, will and won’t.  They delight in shocking those around them, suddenly aware of an inexplicable ability to peek into the future.  Amazingly intuitive and bristling with unexpected flashes of telepathic images, The Aquarian soul examines people and ideas without sentiment, arriving at truth with no apparent logic or traceable effort.

On this level, the soul tends to flaunt law and authority because the spirit actually exists in the world of the future.  Aquarius knows that the rigid rules of todays’s society must sooner or later be compromised.  Therefore he (or she) sees no sensible reason to respect what will surely evolve into something new and different tomorrow.  If violent revolt is necessary to bring about tolerance, brotherhood and understanding, then Aquarius believes the result will be worth the conflict.  However, although they advocate change for the world (and for their friends and family), the Water Bearers remain Fixed in their own personal opinions, private codes and life-styles, reflecting the contradictory nature of the ruling planet, Uranus.

The soul has now acquired a true humanitarian approach.  To the unprejudiced Aquarian, every human being is a friend, whatever that person’s personal values may be, for the Water Bearer has learned that he (or she) is one with all mankind and womankind – and with Nature.  Yet, personal relationships may be neglected, as these men and women pursue an idealism related to the benefit of society in general.  Like the Aquarian Age it reflects, the soul at this stage envisions a golden and glorious future that may be attained only by blasting old customs and outdated ideas to clear the way for spiritual awareness, through the thunderbolt path of accelerated mass Karma.  If more conservative people are offended by the Uranus behaviour, the Aquarian individualist laughs off their disapproval.  Secure in an intuitive grasp of the future, Aquarians retort, “I KNOW” to all questions, then perversely refuse to explain how they know – except to the children, who understand through their own innocence the innocent state of simplicity the soul returns to in the “second childhood” Uranus vibration.

The Aquarian positive qualities are vision, individuality, tolerance, friendliness, inventiveness, originality and genius.  Expressed in their negative form they become eccentricity, neurosis, detachment, absentmindedness and refusal to cooperate.

To Aquarius, love is a detached and unselfish emotion, to be explored and enjoyed.  The Water Bearer understands love’s scope and investigates all its dimensions, but scatters it carelessly, confusing it with friendship.  Physical fulfillment leaves Aquarius emotionally empty and still wistful, failing to sense the mystery of Oneness with the mate – the final truth of love, which awaits discovery silently, in the shadows – the secret guarded by Neptune, just beyond Uranus comprehension.

Only afterward, when the sobering influence of maturity returns, does Capricorn feel a vague sense of remorse and melancholy for having succumbed to the temptation of forbidden passions.

The Capricorn Love Mystery

Now the chilling blasts of winter grow more insistent, forcing the experience-weary soul to symbolically retreat back into the haven of the family circle, to submit once again to the meditative, negative-feminine Night Forces.  On the Capricorn level of consciousness, for the fourth and final time, the soul feels the powerful vibrations of Cardinal leadership.  But this time it leads through the stable Earth Element, from a position of strength inside the home, beside the hearth.  Why should the Goat expose himself (or herself) to the icy temperatures outside, just to be seen and heard – applauded and praised?

Capricorn souls, now sure of both their ability and their right to take command, no longer feel the need to display or aggressively flaunt their power – either for public adulation, or for inner security.  By this stage, the soul has learned that true peace comes from within.  Being appointed Leader is a responsibility to be handled as carefully as possible, with no special recognition due for doing what is obviously one’ duty.  The Capricon’s relatives (especially parents) now assume marked importance for either good or ill, because the symbolic “old age” of the soul has arrived – and along with it, a sense of  the priorities of life, the most important being the security of belonging.  The excitement of romance and the freedoms of youth are not nearly as enticing to the Goat as comfort and contentment with those he can depend on to care for him (or her).

Capricorn is both prepared and willing to impart the hard-earned Saturnine wisdom, but only when invited to do so.  Because the Goats know the folly of forcing people to mature before their time, they smile with the benevolent indulgence of a fond grandparent (whatever his or her chronological age) upon the playful antics of the still young at heart.  Secretly, the Capricorn soul longs to abandon duty but is by now resigned to the knowledge that sheer idealism is impractical – and spontaneous enthusiasm can never replace experience.  Acutely aware of the dangers of impulsive action, the soul has become more conservative – and the Goat’s refusal to either scatter efforts or to indulge in sentimentality brings on accusations of emotional coldness from those born into the Fire and Air Elements.  Capricorns respect authority because they see the law as necessity for the protection of human rights and safety.  They shyly worship the famous and successful because Capricorn’s ruler, Saturn, teaches them to revere achievement, knowing full well its price.

Although Capricorn may appear to be serious and unyielding to more liberal souls, Life has also taught the Goats its humourous side, and their subtle jokes are tinged with the irony of existence.  Because the new Saturnine duties as counselor to the foolish weigh heavily on their shoulders, they sometimes try to drink the last full measure of Life’s rare pleasures, calmly accepting them without false modesty or undue inhibition.  Only afterward, when the sobering influence of maturity returns, does Capricorn feel a vague sense of remorse and melancholy for having succumbed to the temptation of forbidden passions.  In this soul vibration there is a compulsion to acknowledge the necessity for being practical, as Capricorn admits, “I USE”.  But a gentleness of spirit softens the severity of the surface sternness commanded by Saturn, for the Capricorn consciousness brings with it a sympathy for human mistakes, born from understanding gained through ten stages of Life’s – and Love’s – mysteries.

Capricorn’s positive qualities are determination, stability, wisdom, dependability, sureness and tranquility.  Expressed in their negative form they become selfishness, narrowness, ruthless ambition, rigidity, snobbery, depression and loneliness.

To Capricorn, love is a quiet and undemanding exchange of personal gratification.  The Goats have fully learned the valuable lesson that love is not measured by excessive emotion.  But because they equate it only with the necessities of mutual need and desire, they have not yet experienced the release of its inner longings.

...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.

Libra knows: he -- or she -- must not be alone when winter comes

The Libra Love Mystery

Turning from the lonely Virgo path of self-discipline, the evolving soul reaches out once again to the positive Day Forces, as the Libra vibration seductively beckons to it to accept, for the third time, the challenge of Cardinal leadership.  In the Libra consciousness, the soul is fully grown, aware now of both sunshine and shadow.  During the struggle for maturity which culminated in Virgo, it has learned that there is in the world (and in people) both night and day – good and evil – dark and light.  Beyond that, Libra is consumed with the intriguing polarity of male and female.

Experience has taught Libra men and women to judge their fellows fairly.  Until the Libra level, the soul’s interest has been centered primarily on itself.  Now it expands to include, for the first time, an awareness of the necessity to relate to other human beings.  The soul is now equipped with the lessons of five previous levels, capable of leading with both logic and force.  Libra acts with a blend of wisdom composed of knowledge gained through one excursion into WATER and from twice experiencing FIRE, EARTH and AIR.  “I BALANCE”, says Libra, priding himself or herself on seeing both sides.  Because it shatters Libra’s conscience to be unfair, decisions are difficult and painful.  A sense of social justice is emerging, and in the face of prejudice or intolerance, Libra often turns to endless argument, using the cold logic learned through Gemini and sharpened through Virgo.  But this approach is softened by a new sense of the value of persuasion.  Libra has acquired the quality of charm, which he has discovered is a sure way to win, so he artfully uses a mellow voice and dazzling smile to cajole and get his way with others.

Libra feels a growing awareness of beauty of harmony – in music, art and romance.  As Librans subconsciously recall their Virgo loneliness, they experience the stirring of a deep and primal urge to find a mate.  Sentimental, yet practical, the Libra soul instinctively knows the need for someone to walk nearby, in both love and business, in order to balance Life and satisfy the desire for harmony of Libra’s ruler, Venus.  In the Libran Air Element, however, a love partner is not easy to find.  When the vices and virtues of prospective mates are weighed and balanced on the Libra Scales, they often are found wanting, bringing on the anguish of emotional indecision.  But through it all, this man or woman continues the relentless search for someone to share life’s joys and sorrows.  The autumn season so loved will someday fade, the spring so fondly remembered is long past, and there is one thing Libra knows: he – or she – must not be alone when winter comes.  And so Librans respond to sunset’s beauty, sadly sensing simultaneously that for all is crimson-gold glory, it nevertheless announces another approaching night of the soul.

Libra’s positive qualities are justice, intelligence, charm, gentleness and emotional balance.  Expressed in their negative form they become laziness, procrastination, indecision, argumentativeness, pleasure-seeking and temperament.

To Libra, love is a mating of the minds and hearts – not too passionate, not too detached – a happy medium, to be equally shared.  But these souls are too infatuated with love’s surface beauty to penetrate completely its deeper implications.  They recognize only that they love.  It has not occurred to them to wonder why.

Life is all sunlight, the gloomy Past is behind, the miracle of the Future still ahead...

The Leo Love Mystery

The Cancerian Adolescent soul is transformed with brilliant suddenness into a symbolic Teenager, brought by the Leo vibration into the first expression of self-confidence and pride in individuality.  Now the soul knows (or assumes) who he is – or who she is – as Leo feels an even stronger pull of the masculine positive Day Forces and the Fire Element than was felt on the Aries level.  The world belongs to the Lion – or the Lioness – and so the Leonine “Teenager” gazes at his or her image in the mirror, admires what is seen and makes the noble vow “I WILL.”  Summer has come into full bloom of furious beauty with lazy afternoons and bright sunshine as Leo moves into SELF consciousness from the polarity meaning of Cancer’s self-consciousness.

The idealism of youth stirs the Lion’s heart and sets the blood afire with the dawning knowledge of sexuality, two powerful urges that bring private inner doubts of worth, well hidden beneath outward vanity.  The Leo soul knows what to do with this second experience as a Fixed Organizer, using it wit apparent confidence to lecture others, take charge of his or her own life and rule over those who need Leo’s protection.  Yet the Leo man or woman, like the actual teenager, still seeks reassurance in the form of flattery, still cringes secretly when ridiculed, because he is not quite yet a man – she is not quite yet a woman – for all the surface sureness.

The soul has already passed through the painful experiences of infancy, babyhood, childhood and adolescence, so Leo leads with sympathetic consideration for those who are more vulnerable.  The soul in its Leo expression has no real desire to crush the helpless.  Generosity of spirit was carved into Leo’s memory by the tears wept through the Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer levels.  However, although Leos have learned to tolerate and forgive enemies, they have not yet learned to respect the wisdom of elders.  Like the real teenager, Leos think they know all the answers, and are impatient with those who question their new worldly knowledge.  The Leo soul worships the Sun, for the Sun is Leo’s ruler, the source of all Life – and of his or her Leonine strength.  Leo admires and is admired, loves and is loved.  As social life begins, the joys of romance begin to bud……then finally to flower.  Puppy love is warm and bright, bringing to the Leo “Teenager” both elation and disappointment.  The dizzy power of his manhood (or womanhood) gives to Leo a sense of personal dignity and importance – through the opposite sex.  No longer must the Lions and Lionesses be restricted by the stifling authority of parental guidance.  The bridge from childhood to adulthood has been spanned.  The responsibilities of maturity are sensed, but still haven’t become a burden.  Life is all sunlight, the gloomy Past is behind, the miracle of the Future still ahead — and the Present is a time for fun and relaxation.  Leo decides arrogantly that the world needs his newfound wisdom, and is more than willing to give it.  Only through exercising unquestioned command over younger children (the weaker and not yet liberated souls) can a Leo man or woman in this experience retain the necessary image of superiority and self-respect.

Leo’s positive qualities are warmth, generosity, nobility, strength, loyalty, leadership and a soothing, gentle tenderness – the protective charisma of the older brother or sister, of the strong toward the weak.  Expressed in their negative form they become arrogance, false pride, vanity, tyranny, haughtiness …and romantic promiscuity.

To the Leo in the symbolic Teenager stage of development, love is shimmering romance, the song-of-songs, the fulfillment of all ideals and beauty.  Leo is “in love with love” and with himself – herself.  Lions and Lionesses give affection generously only because it brings such pleasure to be so royally beneficent, demanding gratitude and respect, demanding gratitude and respect from the beloved, outraged if love requires that they humble themselves……as yet unable to comprehend its depth, or the beauty of its sacrifice of the “self”.

...as man and woman evolve around the astrological karmic circle...

Source: http://vi.sualize.us/view/a88fcaef202af1d3a168db985111f343/

The Twelve Initiations of Love

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In each of the following experiences, man or woman is fully capable of giving and teaching others the first quality, but for the personality to learn the second quality is a struggle.  When one’s understanding of this second quality equals that of the first, he or she has achieved mastery of a particular Sun Sign.  The Soul must pass more than once through the First Six Initiations of Love as:

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After achieving emotional maturity in these first six stages of development, man and woman must then pass through love’s Final Six Initiations (more than once) to discover its deeper spiritual meaning in:

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and to realize at last that

Love Is Eternal

"Let tears do the talking..."

Source: http://vi.sualize.us/view/kallini2002/fb2e876fda6aaeb94118ba1c8eb27571/

A shadow of Spring in the Fall

Source: http://vi.sualize.us/view/kallini2002/bacc8993e315c84ad049d5ed10a8b2e0/

Calendar Wisdom.

Delicate whisper of a garden

Incubate a thousand dreams

A shadow of spring in the fall

(composed with Book Lover Kit, but not by me)

I am doing well with the song of myself (September assignment).  My web site is all about me, that is my song.  October is my favourite month and I was born on Halloween.  Let’s see what October will bring.  Beauty, love, wisdom?  Change?  Not only in colours, I hope.  I hope. I hope.

Shadow of History.

The colours and feelings of fall can be exhilarating, the red maple leaves in a cool breeze, a sometimes melancholy season following summer’s easygoing charm, all leading up to the spectral celebration of Halloween.  Poets often like to reflect on the supernatural; considering its power, watching for ghosts, and talking to the past.  During the month, consider what spirits may haunt the neighborhood you walk through everyday, perhaps moving through your streets.  What is the history of your place?  How does it still exist and how has it been covered over?

Quote of the month:

“Autumn is a second spring

When every leaf is a flower.”

- Albert Camus