CarolynRelei, Author at Reflections

Coming out of the Era of Deception and into the Era of Fighting for “Justice”

The Neptune in Pisces era is just about over. Neptune enters Aries at the end of March and where it will stay for about 14 years. Already in the past few months and even years, as it has moved closer to the Aries cusp, we have gotten signals of just how Neptune’s energy plays out in the Aries realm.

Neptune, the planet of spirituality, compassion, and deception, which eats away at the foundations of things, was in its own sign of rulership while in Pisces. I saw its influence. There was an excess of kindness which often led to exploitation, the forgiveness and effort to accommodate (rather than fix) people with mental differences, the increase of effort to lift up the downtrodden (sometimes by stepping on the bystander in the process), the government’s and universities’ overreach in efforts to lift up the underdog, the push to change the language we use to describe things in an effort to minimize differences, the blurring of legal and illegal, the push to erase boundaries, are all Neptunian and Piscean (of the sign of Pisces).

The sign Pisces is the sign of the limitless and formless spiritual oneness that we have inside us. Some people epitomize Pisces in an honored way – the yogis and saints who seem to transcend time, the scriptures which tell us to love one another, to give to each other as we would like to receive, to be aware that death is no respecter of persons or positions, and that everyone, no matter what they have done in life, is worthy of God’s forgiveness and a place in the heaven of our respective religions.

How this works in “real life” is sometimes ugly. Your spouse shouldn’t really give your savings account to a stranger, leaving you destitute. Your government shouldn’t really give your farm to a thief, just because he or she is hungry. The element of fairness is missing from Neptune’s realm. Everything is one in that realm, there are no differences, so that working for a goal becomes meaningless, borders don’t exist and private property is an oxymoron, and fighting or making effort toward one’s own well-being is an act of selfishness.

But the planets in our solar system don’t stand still. The moving planets, to astrologers, array themselves in endless spiraling patterns. As they move, the energies change. We can feel the change from Pisces energy to Aries energy in Neptune’s journey. In our country and others (if you read behind the “news”), the change is obvious. Neptune in Aries wants to fight for justice. Aries, Mars’ sign, tries to create a type of heaven on earth by fighting. Aries’ vision is not based on the erasure of boundaries, but on the Aries (somewhat naïve) concept of justice and fairness, individual effort and the vision of creating heaven on earth, a concept that anything that one visualizes can come true and that fighting for one’s vision is a desirable goal of life.

We are already seeing that if we read behind the news. Removing people who broke through borders, reestablishing borders and boundaries, calling for merit based rather than compassion-based hiring, are all symptoms of this new Neptune iteration. Truth is that Aries is ruled by Mars. Though a desire for justice might be the initiating spark that sets off the battle, Mars loves to fight. The next fourteen years will surely be interesting. I hope we all survive!

ASTROLOGY is infused in language and tradition

Astrology is infused in language and tradition.
For example, the names of the days of the week in the Latin derived languages come from the names of the planetary “gods” of the ancients.

The names of the days of the week are derived from the names of the planets.

The Meanings of Many Words Are Derived From Astrology

Further, the qualities of the planetary gods inform our literary vocabulary. Jovial is of the qualities of Jove (Jupiter), Martial is of the military or warlike qualities of Mars. Lunatic is of the qualities of the Luna, the Moon. A Saturnine disposition is a dour one, derived from the energies of Saturn. Venereal (as in a social disease) comes from the name of the planetary goddess, Venus. Indeed, many words we use come from the names of the planets and qualities that the planets represent. I am sure that you, the reader, will recognize these words in literature if you pay attention.

Connection in stories, visions and more

The astrological connection is in our stories, visions, dreams, mythology and religion. An example, perhaps only obvious to a practitioner of astrology, is in the Book of Revelations. We recognize astrological symbolism in Revelation 4:6.

Revelations 4:6

“6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night…. “

What is the connection to astrology in the verses above?

The twelve signs of the zodiac circle include four fixed signs, four mutable signs and four cardinal signs. The fixed signs are the anchors, the signs that hold the energy. The mutable signs are the changeable signs and the cardinal signs are the initiators. The four fixed signs include Aquarius the Water Bearer (a man), Leo the Lion, Taurus the Bull (or Ox) and Scorpio, which we know as a scorpion, a snake or, in Scorpio’s highest and most spiritual manifestation, as an Eagle.

We see the same group in Ezekial 1:10

Ezekial 1:10

Ezekiel 1:10 “As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.“

The Magi Were Astrologers

The story of the Christ child and the crèche statues that we see all around at Christmas attest to the journey of the Magi. Although translations of the Bible called them the Wise Men, the actual translation of the Greek means “astrologers”. Astrologers came from the East to greet the Christ child. This story attests to the fact that astrologers were considered so important that their inclusion in the story of the Christ child gives credence to it.

Learn the keywords for the planets, signs, houses and aspects. The keywords are short phrases or single words that describe. A planet may have hundreds of keywords. For sure, the more keywords you learn, the more you will learn the fabulous depth and breadth of the art of interpretation. The cool things is that you can read a book as old as Chaucer’s Tales or read up on current events and you will be able to connect the planets to the story.

Carolyn and Robert Love Cats

We love cats!

We love cats! We built a home, raised children, chickens, parrots, bunnies, and cats. When the last of our four beautiful and beloved felines died a few years ago, we decided to travel. Sometimes we visit cat shelters on our travels. Below is a photo from inside the shelter in Mazatlan, Mexico.

On our travels, the cat shelter in Mazatlan

Four cats were with us from 1998 through 2021. When they were young, we had cat-sitters care for them when when we took short vacations. But when they got older, after the age 15 or so, we knew they wouldn’t thrive with strangers. Because their ages were within a few years of each other, they became “old” one-by-one. Robert felt he was almost running a care home for cats. In reality, the aging process gave both of us a glimpse into the human aging process, the gradual weakening, slowing down, problems with digestion and all the other stuff that embodied beings experience toward the end of life. Which, hopefully, will give us patience with our own processes.

Dali and her brother George were adorable and loving kittens. — Dali, the Siamese, lived with us for 19 years. We love cats and when Dali crossed the rainbow bridge, the last of our felines to go, we were very sad.

A Feral Cat Family Adopted Us

For Carolyn, the love of cats started in her childhood. For Robert, it started later, when we built the house in Valley Springs, California. For Carolyn the love started in her childhood. For Robert, it started later, when we built our house in Valley Springs, California. A feral cat gave birth to kittens while our home was under construction. Robert placed the mother and the kittens in a cloth-lined cardboard box and placed it under the porch. The mother cat was so appreciative that she followed us around our property whenever we went on walks. That family of cats was the start. We took walks every day. The cats lined up to follow us down the hill, to the spring, and back again.

The big wraparound porch was the location of the momma cat's "cat cafeteria" — The house we built with a big wraparound porch that protected the kittens and their mother.

The house we built is pictured here- it was very beautiful, we were meticulous to get every detail right, but by the time construction was finished we were ready for a change of scenery! Dali, the Siamese pictured above, was one of many kittens born on that property. The cats and kittens formed a feral family. Their behaviors left us in wonder, sometimes. The old feral male, kind of rough looking, and not a all tame, sometimes sat on a log next to his son, our own loving outdoor pet. Their bond was evident.

Cat Parenting

When the son, the cat we named Mr. Meow, became a father to Dali’s kittens, he always groomed them and lay down near the box where they slept. When they were old enough to eat solid food, he stood by their bowl until they all had their fill. It was only then, when they were satiated, that he would eat the remainder.

These behaviors endeared these beings to us. It was by watching them as a family group that we could see their loving interactions. I’ve written more about the cat family in my blog post here.

This is Baby Meow, son of Mr. Meow. Baby Meow lived 18 years with us. — We love cats and especially loved this gentle Tuxedo, who was with us for 18 years.

Baby Meow was with us for 18 years. We love cats and especially loved this gentle tuxedo.

Dali, the tiny Siamese kitten in the photo, was nineteen years old when she crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 2021. Without a pet, the house didn’t seem like a home. We sold our house. Since then we’ve traveled in many parts of Mexico and the Southwest of the USA. We are no longer available for inquiries for house and cat-sitting, though, as we have settled into a home in the Coachella Valley, where we were almost immediately “adopted” by a new kitty.

Why I look at the houses of the transits first.

My first glance at the transit chart notices which houses are occupied by transiting planets. I look at the houses of the transits first because the houses indicate which departments of life are being activated, rewarded, or challenged.

Learning the keywords for each house will be essential for understanding what area of life is represented.

The Houses Keywords

this is a simplified keyword chart of the houses — The houses of the horoscope each have certain “departments” of life that are activated when a planet occupies the house, either by transit or in the natal chart.

The Planets

What is transiting the houses? Well, planets. Each planet has its own nature, its own interest, its own personality. If planets were people, Venus is the sensual femme fatale, Mars is the athlete or warrior, Jupiter is a good natured world traveler or the know-all guru, who rules himself, Saturn is the wet blanket who finds the problems and mentions them when the other planets want to party. Mercury is either reading a book or talking to everybody about everything at once while going quickly from one person to another giving them messages and telling gossipy tales. The moon is either gloriously shining with a silvery light, casting a magnetic glow over the party, or she is crying on the couch, covered with a dark blanket, her exquisitely sensitive feelings having been hurt by a rude guest. The sun is shining brightly, blinding some of the guests while fascinating others with his talent.

The heavies were not invited to the parties of the ancients, but since science discovered them, they insist on an invitation. When Uranus enters the room, the crystal breaks or the guests scatter in different directions for no apparent reason. Neptune comes in with a bong and drinks, promising instant enlightenment if you just take a toke. Then Pluto torches the whole place. The next day a phoenix rises from the ashes, and the world dream begins again.

What is the planet doing in that house, how does it act there?

We combine the nature of the particular planet with the part of life represented by the house it is in to get an idea of what is being triggered in the transit. We look in the ephemeris to see the movement and how long this sojourn in a particular house with last and when will it end.

Each planet’s sojourn in a house is affected by the planet’s affinity with a house. Some planets are more comfortable in certain houses than others. Just as planets are more comfortable or can express themselves better in certain houses than others, planets have affinity for certain signs, as well. When a planet is not in a house or a sign with which it has affinity, the planet does not express its unique qualities with as much success as it would have in better placements.

What is the transiting planet doing to your natal planet(s)

We also look at the relationship between the transiting planet and the natal planets in the birth chart. Are they in a significant angular relationship with one another? Are there other planets connected by an angular relationship? Where are they? That will be part of the picture too.

Learn the Keywords!

Learn the keywords for the houses, learn the keywords for planets, learn the keywords for the signs, and learn the keywords for the angles and you will be able to put together a word picture of what is happening in your own chart. Many astrological textbooks have keyword lists. A old book I own “The A to Z Horoscope Maker and Delineator” has an extensive list of words that, reading though, really enhanced my understanding of astrology.

Compatibility in Astrology

Compatibility in astrology is viewed through the synastry and the composite chart. However, the relationship you get, even if the astrological compatibility in some areas is excellent, will be shaped by type of partner you innately are, based on your own individual chart. This is a truth that you don’t often hear or read. But consider this as similar to cooking: if the ingredients aren’t all good, it doesn’t matter how great the recipe is.

Natal Complexity

Of course I don’t mean that someone or anyone has a bad chart. But some charts have such disparate juxtapositions of key planets in elements and modalities, that it would be very hard to find a partner who would complement the entire chart in every way. Back to my analogy to cooking, some foods may have such complex flavors that they would be hard to combine with a similarly complex flavored ingredient.

Other Significant Relationships

As a caring person, I look at both the synastry and composite charts to understand the relationship focus. I also look at the current transita to the partners’ charts to see what transitory issues are unfolding and when they might be resolved.Where is the complex blending, the sweet spot, tasty to both partners?

Though the romantic partner relationship is key, it is but one of many relationships we cultivate over our lifetime. Relationships with our early caregivers, mom, dad, siblings, extended family, teachers and friends are highly significant. I urge you to look at those relationships with care and focus, through the tools of astrology. You can choose from many options to see your chart(s) at astro.com.

Planetary Pairings

For marriage as a romantic sexual union, Venus and Mars are the most important to be good aspect to each other. But marriages also embody other types of relating or responsibilities. If it’s about nurturing children, then we would want to see Sun -Moon harmony and some nurturing and responsibility aspects. If a person has a strong Mercury and an intellectual need for a communicative partner, then Mercury aspects take precedence. An older or sick person might need a partner who is more of a caregiver, then we see the strong harmonious Neptune or 12th house connection. Sports aficionados and social leaders will be looking toward Mars and Jupiter. Partnerships that focus on competitions like tennis would have first house, seventh house, Aries, and Libra highlighted.

Life Stages

As we go through different stages in our lives, it’s important to take our stage of life into consideration when comparing charts. The difference between a person’s value system or sense of self after the first or second Saturn return can be quite dramatic. Relationships based on a value system that has become outdated may need to find a new focus of communication and sharing.

The Transits Can Alter Our View of Our Relationships

Depending on your own chart, some transits can really alter your perception of your role or your partner’s role in the relation, as well as alter your view of what kind of relationship you want or need. I wrote a short blog post you can find here.

Stepping back in time in the Yucatan

The non-toll road has massive speed bumps!

Robert and I took the non-toll road to Izamal and it felt as if we were stepping back in time in the Yucatan. The non-toll road is slower going than the toll road and requires extra careful driving because of speed bumps on the road. These bumps, which are about 2 or 3 ft wide, several inches high, and cross from shoulder to shoulder, could do real damage to a car if approached too fast. They are not painted so they blend with the road top in most cases. They also are within towns as well as outside the towns. My guess is that as the towns grow along the highway, new bumps are placed near the city edge, while the old bumps, further within the town, remain. The towns have few cars, some motorcycles and there are people on foot or peddling tricycle carts.

The little villages are worth a look!

The non-toll road is an interesting road because of the little villages and towns it goes through. Each village has a town square and a church, both of which are usually photogenic. The churches are still in use. Often a funeral, wedding or other personal and familial event is in process.

Each town has a beautiful central church

Baños (Sanitarios) Public Bathrooms

Something I hadn’t seen before in Mexico when traveling are the signs for baños or sanitarios on some of the stores along the highway. The signs mean that the store is offering a bathroom to the public. The few that I have availed myself of were clean. The charge for using the bathroom is usually less than ten pesos, often five or eight. So it helps to have some change in pesos in your pocket. Of course there are restaurants, taco stands, and handcrafts in almost every town.

Izamal is one of our favorite towns

The yellow buildings in the main part of town, give Izamal an attractive and inviting appearance.

Named a Pueblo Magico because of its history and charm, Izamal is about an hour from Merida. Our first visit there was last fall. It’s a very peaceful place to stay, there are good restaurants and the people seem to be very welcoming. Actually it’s one of the favorite places we have visited on this three year journey in Mexico. For the time being, it is clean, quiet and not crowded, but I think it will become very popular now that the Maya train stops there. Once tourists discover its quaint charm, its good food, friendly people and the very big pyramids (big, though not really tall), it surely will grow.

This pyramid in Izamal doesn’t seem too impressive until you realize that the huge grassy field in the foreground is the flat top of the supporting pyramid.

Xcambo Archaeological Site

From Izamal we drove to visit the Xcambo ruins near the coast on the northern side of the peninsula. My understanding is that this city of the long ago past was situated and successful because of the nearby salt flats and consequent trade in salt. While the reconstructed buildings aren’t big, intricately decorated or as grand like those at Uxmal or Chichen Itza, the site was more extensive that I expected and there are several building groups to explore. There is also the shell of a church, built right on a Mayan structure, obviously an effort of the Spaniards to overcome any lingering vestiges of the religious sensibilities of the Maya inhabitants there.

this church structure is built right on top of a pyramid’s entrance area

Mosquitoes cut short my enjoyment of the site, though, as I hadn’t applied repellent before I arrived and they got me!

Sidewalks and Sacbes

The drive from Izamal took us through several small Maya towns. We noticed that the towns all had raised sidewalks. The sidewalks reminded us of the Maya sacbe ruins we have seen that once upon a time connected the ancient Maya towns to one another. We’ve seen vestiges of sacbes (sacbeob) at several sites. There is one, apparently, at Xcambo as well. In contemplating sacbes in the Yucatan, I think about the downpours of rain in this region and how this civilized people, the Maya, would have desired raised roads or sidewalks to keep their feet out of the muck.

Visiting Antigua, Guatemala

Recently I spent two and a half weeks visiting Antigua, Guatemala, the old capital of the Spanish kingdom of Guatemala. The city of Antigua,Guatemala, is a UNESCO world heritage site because of its history and beautiful architecture. I first visited there in 1963. Subsequent visits to Guatemala took me to the Mayan “capital” of Xela (Quetzaltenango), Chichicastenango, Tikal, and many other towns and sites.

Fears, generated by reports of the civil war that raged for two decades, kept me away until the 1990s, when I returned to spend a few weeks in Antigua, learning Spanish one-on-one at a language school. I returned again a couple of years later. My recent visit was after a 25 year hiatus and I was very surprised by both the changed and the not-changed that I saw. This post will address some of the changes I noticed.

Brilliant Textiles

In 1963, brilliant textiles caught my eyes and I loved them. That hasn’t changed. Guatemalans still produce brilliantly colored hand crafted textiles. Vendors still wear the beautiful traditional Mayan garments. The women, wear long skirts, intricately decorated woven belts, blouses which are called huipiles, fabric headgear, and shawls. They carry baskets, laden with their wares, often on their heads.

Colorful purses line the stairway at the mercado central in Guatemala City. — Colorful purses, belts, shawls, and table runners line the market stairs.

Everyday clothing for most people in the region is now a mix of traditional and manufactured goods. People wear what they want to wear and what is affordable. Traditional Mayan garments are extremely time consuming to weave, therefore expensive, compared to manufactured clothing, so people opt for cheaper manufactured clothing . Take a look at a Maya woman weaving in this video that Robert recorded at the museum of textiles in San Antonio Aguas Calientes. She is using a traditional backstrap loom.

The hand woven textiles are very colorful. Many women still weave, using a backstrap loom. pictured.

Colonial Ruins

The earthquake of 1976 had a big effect on Antigua. While I visited in the 1990s, I didn’t pay much attention to architecture, as I was in Spanish class all day until nightfall. But on this recent trip, I visited some of the landmarks and old churches. Since returning home, I compared my old photos from 1963 to my new ones. Some of the ruins that were easily accessible are now gated or fenced off. On my next trip, I will chase down some of the ruins and find out more about their stories. On this trip, a two week visit, I developed a fever a few days after arriving, so I lost a few days of sightseeing. Hopefully, I will return soon to catch up with my original plans.

This photo from 1963 is of the Covent of Santa Clara. You can see the brilliant sky and Volcano Agua framed in the arch.

This courtyard photo with Volcan Agua was taken in 1963.

Food

Antigua has many restaurants that feature the cuisine of far off places, German, French, Italian and so forth. Because of its status as a world heritage destination, Antigua has an international flavor. But móy goal was to find a restaurant that featured a breakfast of fried plantains, beans, fruit, eggs, tortillas, and coffee, the traditional breakfast that I remembered from the 1960s. And, yes, I found restaurants that still serve just that type of breakfast.

Prices are a lot higher now than in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s. The food is delicious, the fruit and vegetables succulently flavorful.

I took this photo in the mercado central of Guatemala City.

Visiting Antigua, Guatemala, gives many options for dining! I was not disappointed.

Shoes and Water Jugs

In the highland areas outside of Antigua, in 1963, none of the Maya women I saw had shoes. The women carried water in a round jug made of clay on their heads. By 1964, many of the women were still carrying water, but in plastic jugs, the same color and shape as the clay jugs. Too, shoes had been introduced. They were a type of plastic in bright colors. I think they were imported from China. Now, 60 years later, almost every person I saw wore some type of shoe. However, I didn’t stray very far from Antigua, so I can’t write about the highland villages.

In Antigua, where water comes to a public central location, water now is piped to residences. You can see the women washing in the photos at a 2012 article on Antigua here.

Cooking Fires

Women I saw in 1963 made meals over charcoal or wood fires and inhaled a lot of smoke. I didn’t really pay attention to that in 1963, but during my visit in 1970, I realized that it would be a very difficult life if I had to cook over such a smoky hearth. But many women still cook over smoky fires in Guatemala. Though other forms of stoves are available, for reasons of tradition or cost, many women have not given up their centuries old cooking techniques and tools.

Cell Phones

Cell phones are common in and around Antigua. This could have surprised me, but it didn’t. I wasn’t surprised, because of the conversation I had with a fellow American during lunch while in Antigua in 1997.

The lady I met over lunch worked for AT&T. She was in Guatemala, working on a project to bring cell phones to Guatemala. I expressed surprise. After all, many people in the USA did not have cell phones at that time. She told me that mobile or cell phone technology was a no-brainer for developing countries, as the in-ground phone infrastructure was dilapidated and inefficient. It would be costly and almost impossible to bring it into the 21st Century. So, her company planned for cell phone technology to bypass all the old infrastructure. The new towers would bring Guatemala and other third world countries into the modern era of communications. And so it is! Cell phones are everywhere. Sim cards are available at the airport and at little shops all around Antigua. I bought one immediately and put it in my dual SIM phone and had cell service, data and phone calls.

Yoga in Mt. Shasta

I introduced yoga (Hatha) classes in Mt. Shasta

My life took a special turn in 1968, when I moved to Mt. Shasta. The special and amazing gift to me of teaching and demonstrating yoga came “by chance”.

Here I relate my preparation for teaching Yoga, demonstrating yoga and explaining yoga to people to whom it was really foreign. (I know it is hard to imagine, now, that yoga was an unusual practice in the USA in the 1960s.)

View of San Francisco with Coit Tower the highest landmark in the distance. — San Francisco in the 1960s had a smallish size and big city opportunities.

My introduction to yoga was in my high school gym class around 1962. My training as a dancer since three years old had given me a dancer’s grace and flexibility. Yoga seemed a good fit. By 1966, convinced by my reading of Autobiography of a Yogi and several books on Hatha Yoga from the library, I dedicated myself to the practice. Practicing on my own several hours a day, I also took classes from Sivaram and other teachers in San Francisco.

Avid Reader

As an avid reader, I then devoured books about yoga, yogis, yogic, mystic and “Hindu” traditions. Browsing the library shelves, I focused on the shelves in the 180-200s of the Dewey Decimal System, the books on ancient, medieval, and eastern philosophy. At that time, the main library in San Francisco had open stacks. There was access to arcane and obscure books decades old. It was a time of great opportunity for me to learn.

This study was full time and intense, I had no other work. I lived on savings and proceeds from the sale of the stock that my grandmother had bought me when I was a baby.

A Beautiful Practice

The classes, books, and the four hours of practice every day, coupled with the graceful training of 16 years of dance bestowed a beautiful practice, which was private to me. It showed in my body, though, and in my face, my countenance.

Carolyn, 1969s. The yoga practice changed my appearance, softening my features.

One of the books I brought home from the library was an “I AM” book, published by the St. Germaine society based in Mt. Shasta. Unbeknownst to me, this book and others in the series were normally available only to the members of the I AM organization based in Mt. Shasta.

A believer in miracles at that time, I avidly read this book about sightings of high spiritual figures on Mt. Shasta and the superconscious that is accessible to humans who focus on the I AM presence above the human frame.

Mt. Shasta towers over the surrounding landscape.

On the last page of the book was an image of Mt. Shasta. The book had activated a desire in me to go to this mountain, which, a few years before, I had passed on the way to Seattle without much of a second look.

I focused on that little picture in the book and strongly said to myself “Oh how much I want to go to Mt. Shasta”.

Whether weeks or months passed, I don’t remember. But one day, my brother, who I hadn’t seen in a long time, came by with a woman I hadn’t met. He said to me: “I want you to meet my new woman. Her name is Vera. We got jobs in Mt. Shasta. Do you want to come with us?”

My brother did not know anything about my desire to go to Mt. Shasta. Nobody knew. It was just a strong thought that came to me at the close of the book. The miracle was right there in my brother’s question, though. My brother had never moved out of the Bay Area. He had never had a “new woman” but had been married for 13 years. Separating from his wife, getting a new partner, and moving 300 miles away was really out of his normal context.

Of course I moved to Mt. Shasta, staying with my brother for a few months with snow piled up everywhere that winter.

I continued my yoga practices. At the time I was somewhat oblivious to the cold. Taking cold showers toughened me. I slept with the windows open. In the mornings, icicles hung past the opening. I stood on my head outside. If anyone was paying attention to me, I didn’t notice. Like a drunk passed out on on a sidewalk, I was drunk with the power of yoga. But my brother was noticing. And soon he talked to people about his sister, who was freezing out his home with open windows and standing on her head.

I introduced yoga classes

As a result, people wanted to learn what I was doing. My own teacher, Sivaram, told me to go ahead and teach. I gave demonstrations and taught classes in various homes and in my own rented cabin in City Park.

The energy of the sacred mountain permeated my life there. There was no doubt that I was blessed, that my “overself” or spiritual consciousness was accessible there. I reached people who later taught yoga themselves, an ever widening circle of spiritual and physical well being.

Mundane, but joyful

Moving from Mt. Shasta in 1970 began a different period of my life, a life of responsibility, which was unfamiliar and difficult at first. Gradually, this, too, transformed into a life creative and joyful. Wherever I lived, I taught yoga. Like a tiny pebble thrown into a calm pond, ripples made their way to shores far from their source. Many of my friends and students reached farther than I could have ever dreamed.

Although I’ve taken classes and workshops from many teachers over the years, some quite famous, the path of yoga practice and teaching that captivated my students was that of Sivaram, my first real “in person” teacher. I might add, I find no web presence for him, no bio or any information. Funny that. The most influential and powerful people may often be quite unknown.

My Path of Yoga and Creativity

My Path of Yoga

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 800px-1967_Mantra-Rock_Dance_Avalon_poster-181x300.jpg — Mantra Rock Dance Introduced Yoga Chanting

My path of Yoga involved lots of imitation, at first. I read Autobiography of a Yogi in 1966 and believed every word of the book. Shortly afterwards, several things converged to shape and define what it was that I was practicing or thought I was practicing.

I began a Hatha Yoga practice, based on an Indra Devi book and daily followed her suggested routine. Within weeks of that beginning, I had the good fortune to attend the Mantra Rock Dance at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. There I heard the great Maha Mantra, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Allen Ginsberg introduced both the chant and the great teacher and devotee, Swami Bhaktivedanta. The crowd joined in the chanting while a memorable light show lit up the ballroom.

Forging My Own Path

Soon after, I attended the storefront Krishna Temple three evenings per week. I listened carefully to the lectures by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, later given the title of Prabhupada. I enjoyed Hatha Yoga classes at the Cultural Integration Fellowship, taught by Shivaram. Shivaram also taught South Indian dance. As a member of his dance class, I performed as a gopi in a play with the other student dancers. The play, about the saint Tukaram, was written and produced by Sant Keshavadas.

1968 photo of Sivaram as Krishna and the dance glass members as gopis. — Sivaram taught yoga and dance at the Cultural Integration Fellowship. Here he is dancing the part of Lord Krishna. I am one of the pictured gopis, on the right of the photo.

There were many opportunities for learning Indian philosophy and choosing a guru at that time. But I could not choose a guru – there was something that didn’t ring true for me. Forging my own path seemed more authentic, somehow. Something I neglected to add to my practice, mostly because I didn’t believe in it, was use of affirmations. I didn’t believe that the words we said to ourselves had much bearing on our reality. Now I know, however, that our self-talk is very important to all aspects of growth and change.

Rising Early to Practice

I read several books each week related to yoga, its history, philosophy, legends, illuminated masters and so forth, and developed a practice of arising at 3 am every morning to do two or three hours asana, pranayama and meditation. In the evenings I returned to my tiny room for a different set of postures, more meditation and chanting in the evenings. It wasn’t hard at all to do this practice as I had a natural propensity to solitary study and solitary acrobatics from childhood. It was more of a matter of applying the new practices that I was learning.

Imitation

In the meantime, I wondered how long it would take to be just like Ramana Maharshi, Yogananda, Bhaktivedanta Swami, or Meher Baba, or any of the other illuminated masters whose photos I had above my little altar.

How strange that seems, now. We are no longer in the age of gurus, at least in the modern world around me. But it was because of having idealized these personages that I put forth the effort to develop my practice. As I matured, I began to realize that it wasn’t about imitating another, it is about developing a relationship with one’s own Self.

My Path of Yoga Included Family Talents

I also recognized that, for some of us, there are also obligations to ones ancestors, unspoken obligations which propel us to express ourselves in certain ways. It is almost, karmically, as if we cannot move ahead spiritually without discharging our family duty. (The guru system seems to imply that the guru takes the student on and all family obligations are dismissed. Since that was not the path I followed, I did have family obligations.)

What is those? Well, it surely is different for each family. And, within each family, each member may manifest that duty differently. And, the word duty doesn’t imply that it is arduous, necessarily, just that it needs to be expressed. This was brought home to me in 1981. I had been working as a stained glass artist/craftsperson for several years. It was an art form that I “fell into” because there was a modest demand for stained glass windows in my community and it was work that I could do at home, yet still be available for my two young children.

Stained Glass Window in Pinks with glass jewels — Stained Glass Window by Carolyn Relei

The Tiffany Exhibition 1981

In 1981, the Tiffany Exhibition came to San Francisco’s De Young Museum. The museum bookstore accepted my lampshades on consignment there and sold quite a few of them. This brought me a bit of local fame, with a newspaper article and a spot on the Sacramento News 10. At some point during the months when my works were in the museum I had a very vivid dream.

The Dream

My family members were all in my dream, my aunts and uncles, as if at a big family event. All of a sudden, in walked Nono, my grandfather, who had died years before. My grandfather’s skin, in the dream, was green, the same color as the skin of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead. I said to my grandfather, in surprise, “Nono, I thought you were dead!” And he said, “I am dead, I just came back to tell you that I am very proud of you that you have your work at the De Young Museum”. Then I woke up. Nono was an artist, he always answered when asked what his occupation was. But actually, painting pictures was his hobby. With seven children to support, he was a house painter by trade. But he felt inside that he was an artist. Many family members follow an artistic path, two of Nono’s children were very able artists. Artistic giftedness has carried on in his grandchildren and great grandchildren .

I can’t ignore my hands’ needs to create things of utility and beauty. The work itself is a kind of prayer.

The Swami’s Message about War and Peace

What a guru taught me about war and peace

It was 1967, Haight Ashbury, San Francisco and I was in the newly opened Hare Krishna store-front temple. The temple was next-door to the Diggers, near the Panhandle. The temple’s swami and founder, Swami Bhaktivedanta, as he was known then, gave lectures and led chanting. I attended on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. Usually less than a dozen people attended these lectures. The swami chanted prayers, led group chanting with his harmonium, and gave a lecture. His lectures were mesmerizing. Incredibly articulate, he ended his lectures by asking us if we had any questions. I was far too shy in that setting to ask any. But the others weren’t so shy. They asked questions about many topics, many about the Viet Nam war. That conflict was disrupting life for many of us. War and peace were the pressing issues of the times.

This Mantra Rock Dance January 29, 1967, was my first exposure to chanting and to the elderly swami, later to be known as Prabhupad.

The disruptor of my life was my own actions

While the real disruptor of my life at that time was my own actions, I also fretted on the ongoing war. I couldn’t fathom why the war had started and why it wasn’t ending. The government’s reasons seemed unconvincing for many of us. Coupled with our lack of belief in the need for the war was our real fear of escalation. Growing up, many of my age mates and I heard that World War 2 was the last survivable war. Many believed that future war would lead to the use of nuclear weapons and end life on earth. We wanted the guru to tell us something about politics or how to end the war. But his message about war and peace was quite different than I expected.

Conflict is part of life on earth

What he told us was that war and conflict was part of life on earth. This elderly man, the swami, told us that the only way out was to chant the holy names of God. He offered that Hare Krishna was the very best transcendental method to use. Yet, he encouraged us to chant Jesus’ or any name we normally used to connect to God. In that way, he opined, we will be transcendental to the world. He said that the world only ever offers conflict, but spiritual life gives a way to transcend the conflict. I didn’t really believe what he said back then. Yet the world is still as full of conflict as ever, despite organizations, movements, and moneys spent to establish peace. His words echo more true as the years pass by.

Transcending the Conflict

I took up the swami’s suggestion, not immediately, but over time. Within the year, 1967, I gradually incorporated meditation, hatha yoga, chanting, and prayer into my life. Reading scriptures of many faiths, along with attending classes and lectures, supported my journey. With the insights initially provided by Swami Bhaktivedanta, I perceived the common spiritual thread that connects humanity.

The gist of swami’s message is that we are able to transcend the conflict that is intrinsic to earth-life experience. We transcend, not by changing the earth, but by changing ourselves.

We Visited Playa del Carmen Several Times

We first visited Playa del Carmen in 1991 or 1992 on a stop toward the Tulum ruins and points south. Playa del Carmen at that time had sand streets, a few one story small hotels near the beach, and a sign advertising a not yet built development called Playacar. The ferry to Cozumel was the draw that brought most visitors, as Playa’s population was very small.

Map showing Playa del Carmen on the coast south of Cancun. — Playa del Carmen lies south of Cancun and north of Tulum on the Mayan Riviera of Quintana Roo, Mexico.

We were surprised by the well-developed city we found here when we returned in 2021. We stayed several weeks while we considered making our home here. But we wanted to see a little more of Mexico before deciding.

In January, 2022, we left Playa to travel more around Mexico. We stayed from days to several months in various Mexican cities.

When we returned this past spring, we leased a newer condo with a great pool and a view from the roof. After our lease expired we moved to a bigger and older condo two blocks from the beach and two blocks from 5th Avenue. I am really happy to be close to 5th Avenue, a walking street, where pedestrians rule!

5th Avenue

5th Avenue is a walking street in the tourist area of Playa del Carmen. It’s lined with restaurants, bars and shops selling clothing, handcrafts and more. I suspect that lots of the handcrafts are mass produced in China. In any case, the shops are eye catching. Live entertainment in many of the restaurants and bars as well as street performers in exotic looking costumes capture or assault the senses. I love walking streets and 5th Avenue doesn’t disappoint.

Running parallel to the beach, 5th Avenue extends for about five kilometers, with the action becoming quieter as the street extends further from the center of town. On the beach itself, there are often public events. Crystal bowl, copal, and meditation ceremonies at the new and full moon attract many visitors.

We swim when the water is calm and beautifully clear.

The Beaches

I often walk to the beach at dawn, which is a common activity for people who live here. At that hour, a quiet vibe prevails, unlike later on in the day when the beach is crowded with sunbathers, vendors, swimmers and music. Early in the morning, some take pictures as the golden orb crests above the clouded horizon, others sit to welcome the sun in meditation, while others begin their morning swim.

A Woman Sounds Her Gong at Dawn at Playa del Carmen — A Woman Sounds Her Gong at Dawn

Sandwiched between the mornings spent at the ocean and the evening visits to the beach or 5th Avenue, the rest of the day here is usually uneventful for us. We haven’t found a native market, but there are supermarkets, where we get just about everything we need, and smaller produce markets.

Getting Around

Our new neighborhood is in a pricey taxi district, so we usually walk to a different zone if we need to take a taxi to somewhere further away.

When we want to go outside of Playa, Robert rents a car. We’ve so far visited several of the archaeological sites on the Yucatan Peninsula. We have plans to visit more.

Archaeological sites are less than a day's drive from Playa del Carmen. — The Yucatan Peninsula is rich with Mayan sites. Playa del Carmen is within less than a day’s journey to most of them.

I Still Have Hobbies

Recently I decided that I wanted to sew or at least play around with sewing. I was able to find two used machines for sale that are identical to the ones that I left behind in California. I now lack nothing in the sewing department.

Cleaned up, tuned up and ready to use, the two in front are my purchases from Playa.

Buying the machines was interesting in itself, because both of the machines were located in the non-touristy area of Playa. It was kind of an adventure to go into the different neighborhoods. And it meant that I was finally learning enough Spanish that I could ask how the machine ran before I bought it.

Equanimity

Having it all, or not?
It’s never all there, is it? You have a love in your life, but your beloved mom is no longer around. You have great ideas, but not enough money to fund them. Or the big dream house, that you finally could afford, feels empty because your loved ones work and live elsewhere and they never come to visit you. Or, you finally figured out what a great partner you have, but he is now into someone else. You have lots of energy, but lack the wisdom to use it wisely. Conversely, you lack energy, yet have great ideas for what you would do if you had the energy to do it. You have what you want, but you don’t have everything you want all at the same time. You think about it, you deal with it with as much equanimity as you can muster, and go forward in life, with that piece missing. Should that piece come back into your life, another piece may leave.

Yin and Yang, light and dark, in and out, the play of opposites.

Complementary Practices

The practice of yoga, with its postures, meditation, breath work and mantra, gives the opportunity to find equanimity amid changes, to be able to dive down, however temporarily, into that deep still part of oneself that knows not sadness, excitement, or fear.

The study of astrology gives the gift of using the mind. The mental questioning part of oneself, the part that thinks about problems and fears, will learn to identify the patterns which correlate with the changeable moods, feelings and thoughts. Astrology allows us to categorize and analyze patterns that correlate with our mental, emotional and physical states. The transitory part of ourselves, the thinking and feeling part that has opinions, takes on challenges, feels pain and expresses itself as separate and different from others becomes a field of self-observation.

The astrology chart is the visible representation of the energies that form our personalities at the moment of our birth. — The Birth Chart (Horoscope) in astrology is a representation of the entire sky, both above and below the horizon, at the moment of our birth.

Our idiosyncrasies, our uniqueness, strengths, talents, and challenges reveal themselves more clearly through the lens of this ancient complex and fascinating system.

Time to Learn

If you, dear reader, haven’t yet delved into the practice of yoga, this is an opportune time to start. There are teachers everywhere, in person, online, in apps on the computer and smart phones, on DVDs, and books.
For learning astrology, there are webinars, online classes, podcasts, books, YouTube teachers, and organizations like the NCGR, with meetings in the larger urban areas.

An Era of Opportunities

We live in a time of great unfoldment and learning possibilities. From history we learn that times of great awakening and knowledge can end, sometimes abruptly.

As the Roman Empire gradually crumbled, the infrastructure of roads, protected by loyal soldiers, also crumbled. Roving bands of thieves harassed travelers. The increase in danger prevented people from traveling, trading, and exchanging ideas. Safety was only found in sheltered fortress-like towns and in monasteries. Historians labeled that era the Dark Ages.

We don’t live in a Dark Age now, though in some urban areas, people are afraid to go out at night or to walk home from school in the afternoon. Life on this planet is changeable and unpredictable. Because opportunities right now are all around us, now, this present moment, is an excellent time to grasp them.

Travel Tips for the Absent-Minded or Newbie Flyers

Here are some travel tips based on my own experience.

Purse and Fanny Pack

1. A purse is my airline approved “personal item”. I also use a fanny pack that is big enough for tissue, passport, my phone and a few small items I want securely close to my body. The fanny pack doesn’t seem to count toward the carry-on allowance.

2. My purse is roomy enough for a change of clothes and a few personal items. I like that I don’t have to dig through it to use my phone or pull out my passport, as those are in my fanny pack. Most airlines consider a purse to be a “personal item”. It can be fairly big, but it has to fit under the seat in front of you. Check your airline’s website for a detailed description of what constitutes a personal item and its maximum size.

My favorite purse is a Baggallini shoulder bag. Inside my purse I stitched cords to which I secure my wallet and other small items. My wallet, key and passport holder have loops that I stitched on them, so I can snap them onto or off of the cords. The idea wasn’t mine originally. An old travel purse was made that way, but, since my Baggallini bag had none, I decided to add them myself. Though my effort has an amateurish look, the result works as desired. After accidentally leaving my wallet on a store counter one day and then walking out of the store, I realized that all my valuables should always be tethered to the inside of my purse.

I sewed a cord into the purse for clipping on my wallet or key. — The purse has a cord for securing my wallet.

Backpack or Carry-on Suitcase

3. The backpack or carry-on luggage has everything else for a short trip.

4. Since Robert and I actually have lived out of suitcases for a large part of two years of travel, we also have checked bags. But if we go simply on a short vacation trip, the fanny pack, purse and carry-on suitcase or backpack would serve me well.

Shoes

4. I wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off, as US flights require the removal of shoes when going through security.

Laptop

5. At security, if you have a laptop in your backpack, you must remove it and place it in the tray to go through the scanner. It can’t remain in the backpack, even though the whole backpack will go through the scanner too. I take the laptop out of it protective cover before getting into the security line. But I put the protective cover back onto it before walking toward the boarding gate.

Warm Clothes

6. I wear layers of clothes. Airports and airplanes can be quite chilly. Wearing the clothes will keep you warm. If you are too hot, you can take off a layer if you want to. Wearing the layers saves space in your luggage, too.

Drinks Avoidable and Necessary

7. The planes are packed full these days. Don’t expect a roomy flight. No one seems to get up to use the bathroom on these crowded flights. If you have any urinary weakness, do not drink coffee before you board the plane!

8. Part of the necessary expenses of flying is having to dump your water bottle at security, only to have to buy bottled water inside. And it’s pricey. But you really should not let yourself get dehydrated, be sure to buy water for yourself if you are going to be sitting around in the airport lounge for a while.

Water in some countries is not considered potable. I assume that includes tap water in airports.

Gum

9. One of the travel tips that I recently learned was to have chewing gum with me on flights. When my ears started hurting upon descent, a woman next to me gave me chewing gum, saying it would help. Chewing the gum really did clear the pain away as we landed. I will always fly with a pack of gum from now on.

More Travel Tips

You surely can easily find more travel tips by searching on the web. Here is a site I found that you may like: www.worldpackers.com/articles/first-time-travelers

A Short Visit to Izamal

We decided to make a short visit to Izamal, near Merida. Izamal was the first of Mexico’s Pueblo Mágicos. The magic of Izamal is not just the beautiful yellow color of its buildings and abundance of plants. Izamal also has Mayan pyramids, historic churches, and a huge public square, complete with horse-drawn cart rides.

Izamal's buildings are a bright golden shade of yellow.

The central area’s streets are cobblestone. The cobblestones seem to be set deeper than those in some other historical town I have walked in, so they didn’t poke into my shoes.

Our horse drawn carriage ride took us by each of the four large pyramid sites in Izamal. Later that day we walked to view them. They were not all open for exploration. We climbed the largest accessible structure, though, which seemed enormous. Climbing the side to what we thought was the top gave us access to a large grassy platform, itself the base of a smaller pyramid.

The grassy platform is the top of a very large pyramid supporting this smaller pyramid structure. — Izamal’s largest pyramid KINICH KAK MOO has a plateau that supports this smaller pyramid.

Though Izamal is not as famous as other Pueblos Magicos, it is bound to become better known in a short time. Soon, it will be a stop for the new Mayan train that encircles the Yucatan.

In the evenings, we watched and listened as hundreds of birds flitted about in the public square jockeying for roosting space in the trees. https://youtube.com/shorts/Mi46-s8TYeM?si=iQIafgwk61wVoWLI

Izamal shows off its status as a Pueblo Magico with festive decorations.

I would gladly visit this charming and ancient Pueblo Magico again. If you plan to go to Izamal, you may enjoy learning more at this site A Day in Izamal: The Magic Town & Its Massive Pyramid – Sailingstone Travel.

Prince Harry in the News

Birth Chart and Delineation

When Prince Harry was in the news a while ago, I looked up his birth chart and share here my short delineation.

If I did a cold reading of his chart, without knowing his name, profession or anything about him, here are some things I would notice and remark upon. I would see the Mars in Sagittarius, indicating that he likes to move his body freely, sports would include running, climbing, and any competitive tournaments. Since Sagittarius is a crusader at times, I would advise that he has the capacity to be ruthless in promoting or coercing others to adopt or harbor his philosophy or world views. With this Mars in the eleventh house, he applies this approach to society as a whole or his friends.

Prince Harry Birth Chart — Prince Harry Capricorn Rising, Moon in Taurus, Sun in Virgo

Smarter than He Seems

The next planet that I notice is his Mercury in Virgo. He isn’t stupid. Mercury in Virgo is an analyst and sometimes sharp with words. Combined with his Sun in the same sign, he is smarter than he seems, but too focused on details to see the big picture, often getting lost in minutiae, and he may alienate others with his sharp words. The mind here is analytical without vision. However, the position of these planets in the eighth house indicates that he has the capacity to go within, to drop out, to be alone and ponder. Jupiter and Neptune in the 12th house additionally indicate capacity, indeed need, to hide away and be alone. Here they also give capacity for secret philanthropy. Neptune and Jupiter here also expand psychic and emotional energies coming from deep within, can create self-imposed or community imposed isolation and seeking altered states of consciousness.

North and South Nodes

In this short analysis of his chart, I would note that the north and south node positions show a familiarity, though discomfort, with status and career with eventual comfort in home and later in ancestry. The moon in the fourth is a strong indicator of the importance of his mother (and father) in his life and his family in general.

Secret Philanthropy

Because the houses show where we “do” our lives and the planets and signs show what we do, here are my further thoughts:

He would benefit from doing actual secret philanthropy, charity behind the scenes, in institutions like hospitals or prisons. Family life suits him well. When I see several planets in the 8th house in someone’s chart, I often find out that death has made itself known to them in a tragic way. Facing endings, death, is a very hard lesson and the eighth house also asks us to embrace the “what’s next” and to recognize the cycle of life in all its aspects. That is why we associate the eighth house not only with death, but with sex, and recycling, and the renewal of anything by transformation into a new form. This could be a life work for the material, practical Virgo, who isn’t always able to envision the ineffable realities very well.

Seems that Prince Harry is voicing his desire to live his own chart, his written and spoken reality is congruent with this chart I see before me, right, wrong or indifferent, and his Virgo Mercury is doing the speaking.

I’ve written a short blog post about his royal relative Edward VIII at https://blog.carolynrelei.com/edward-viiis-impressions-of-ms-simpson/

Wallace Simpson and Edward VIII

The quote below is from an unearthed memoir of Edward VIII that intrigued me enough to look up both of their natal charts. Looking at their charts, I easily saw that Edward VIII’s impressions of Ms. Simpson accurately describe a Gemini stellium which is prominent in Wallace Simpson’s chart. (A stellium is a grouping of several planets all in the same sign).

The screenshot below captures the intriguing point. View the article which contains the quote at https://mol.im/a/12673407

Edward VIII spoke of how he admired Wallace Simpson for her wit and vivaciousness. — The essence of a Gemini stellium personality

Now, let’s look at the chart itself!

Wallace Simpson natal chart — Planets are grouped in Gemini in Ms. Simpson’s chart

Edward VIII natal astrology chart — Edward VIII also has a grouping in Gemini

Fascinated by the talkative, mercurial Wallace Simpson, Edward VIII’s impressions of Ms. Simpson read like a classic textbook of astrological keywords for Gemini. The interrelatedness of both of their Gemini planets fostered communication, travel, and connections. Of course, some of the travel is because of their position of near or actual exile. History hasn’t been very kind to this couple. Edward VIII’s moon in the first house in Pisces is a position of a psychic sponge and sometimes indicates a quitter or an individual who doesn’t have enough fight in him to see things through to a desired outcome. Though some call the quitting cowardice, I feel that the moon in Pisces often sees the world as an illusion. It wouldn’t be hard to quit something that interiorly seems at times to have so little substance.

If you are interested in the chart of a more modern royal, you will find my post by clicking blog.carolynrelei.com/prince-harry-in-the-news

Major and Minor Influencers, San Francisco 1966

There were major and minor influencers in San Francisco whose legacy continues today. I was fortunate to encounter many of them there.

Acid Rock Music and Peace Marches

Returning from Europe in July 1966, after almost a year of travel, I was immersed in the San Francisco vibe. This was the period of acid rock, Be-ins, the Oracle, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Jefferson Airplane. The venue was the Avalon Ballroom. Our friend, Woody, had a gig as the Master of Ceremonies at the Avalon. Mentioning his name at the box office gave us free entry. During the fall of 1966 through the spring of 1967, we went to the rock concerts weekly, seeing the above mentioned groups and many more.

Peace marches attracted attention with signs and rock groups accompanied the marchers

Besides the rock concerts at the Avalon, there were anti-war demonstrations, marches and celebrations. We attended many of them, mostly by chance, simply by walking into Golden Gate Park or taking the bus to the Panhandle.

I wasn’t in the best of health then, having contracted amoebic dysentery in Egypt. The antibiotics had stopped the virulence of it, but my body wasn’t dealing with food very well yet.

I Made Healing My Focus

My greatest desire was to have good health. So on my “trips” I focused on my body, looking inward, asking what it needed to be well.

My internal and external exploration for healing my body bore fruit. By the the summer of 1967, we were completely living a new lifestyle. Early morning and late evening yoga practice, eating vegetarian food, mantra meditation, and walks to the ocean became a daily routine. The beach below Lincoln Park was relatively deserted in those days. On the beach we often sat patiently to watch barnacles catch their prey in the tide pools.

Time at the beach below Lincoln Park was meditative and healing.

Our path was brightened by the luminaries who lived in San Francisco during that seminal period. Influencers and teachers included A.C.Bhativadanta Swami, Richard Hittleman, Suzuki Roshi, Eknath Easwaran and Sivaram. Many swamis from India taught classes or gave lectures. Timothy Leary was there from time to time. Standing next to him in line one day, I sensed his energy to be nervous and scattered, quite unlike the disciplined energy of the teachers of yogic meditation that were sharing their wisdom with us.

Master Subramuniya’s Influence

There, too, was the relatively unknown yogi, Master Subramuniya, whose ashram was a few blocks from our apartment. While we experienced many in-person classes with several of the important spiritual influencers, we never met Master Subramuniya, though we attempted to attend events at his ashram on more than one occasion.

His influence, though, was through his guest appearances on a nighttime talk show. People called in to ask him questions about their experiences opening the doorways of perception with LSD or mescaline. I remember one of Subramuniya Swami’s calm responses. He explained to the caller, based on the caller’s description of his experience, which chakra was being activated. He explained the psychedelic experience through the lens of yogic states of consciousness.

Explorers in a Strange Land

It’s probably hard to fathom that, in the 1960s, the effects of psychedelic drugs were little known to most people. Like travelers in a land that hasn’t been mapped yet, we were all explorers.

And, while Timothy Leary made the news, others were quietly planting seeds of world views that would bear various kinds of fruit.

Though Subramuniya Swami did not introduce me to yoga, nor was he my guru, I want to acknowledge him in this blog as someone who made reasonable sense out of the chaos of experiences during that tumultuous time. You can learn more about him at the link below.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivaya_Subramuniyaswami

Xel-Ha Archaeological Site

Xel-Ha archaeological site is easy to visit on the way to Tulum from Playa del Carmen. We had a lovely visit to view the ruins and the cenote. I forgot to use mosquito repellent, so I brought home some itchy souvenirs all over my body. Apart from the mosquitoes, the site is peaceful and parklike.

beautiful cenote at Xel-Ha — The view of this beautiful cenote was the reward at the end of our walk along the *sacbe*

We walked along the ancient sacbe, which is a causeway or raised road, which took us to a structure and to a beautiful cenote. I haven’t done the research, but the structure’s proximity to the sacbe caused me to guess that perhaps it served as a kind of “guard house” to screen people or goods coming toward the city on that ancient road.

This structure sits near the path of the *sacbe*

When we visited Coba archaeological site, we learned that a sacbe connected Coba to Xel-Ha in pre-Colombian times. The sacbe facilitated trade between Xel-Ha and Coba. Xel-Ha provided goods from the sea and shore such as fish and shellfish.

The number of structures that we saw indicated that this was no small village, but a place of substantial population and importance. There are also archaeological remains across the modern highway 307 at the Xel-Ha park. We didn’t see those on this visit, as it is not connected to the Xel-Ha archaeological site.

Altogether the visit to the site took an hour or two.

Arne Trettevik: The Star Shaman of South Palm Canyon – California Desert Art by Ann Japenga

https://www.californiadesertart.com/arne-trettevik-the-star-shaman-of-south-palm-canyon/

Arne Trettevik: The star Shaman of South Palm Canyon and his art is the subject of the article linked above.

Several years ago Ann Japenga interviewed me. Ann is a writer based in Palm Springs. She wanted to know about the artist who painted the paintings that I was selling. My response piqued her interest enough that she wrote the above article.

Arne, the subject of Ann Japenga’s article, introduced me to the wonders of Mayan archaeological ruins. Until I saw his slides (photos), I didn’t know much about what Mexico and Central America offered. His seven month journey in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala inspired me.

The gallery below has a small sample of his photos. Unfortunately, my scans of the original beautiful Ektachrome slides are somewhat drab.

Photos taken in 1962: Isla Mujeres, Campeche, cenote at Chichen Itza, unknown volcano, Villahermosa and the PanAmerican Highway,

This is Star Shaman Arne in 1962 — Photos taken in 1962: Isla Mujeres, Campeche, cenote at Chichen Itza, unknown volcano, Villahermosa and the PanAmerican Highway,

Shortly after I viewed Arne’s beautiful slides of his unusual (for the times) journey, he invited me to come down to Mexico to see for myself. Without hesitation, I did, and we spent several years together studying and traveling. In those days we climbed the pyramids and often we were the only visitors around.

Ultimately, there is something about being alone in these ruins that expanded our awareness of different cultures and ways of being. Travel, in general, changes the traveler. Here, in the ruins, my sense of connection to nature and spirit was enhanced.

It’s some sixty years later and I am still fascinated by this region. Most recently, I visited Xel-Ha archaeological site with Robert. I wrote a blog post about Coba with photos here. I plan to visit more of the sites. Although I earned my master of arts degree in Cultural Ecology by doing scholarly research on the region, my visits now are strictly for my own enjoyment.

Kitty Boot Camp

Kitty Boot Camp: a true cat story

This photo of of a black cat who looks very similar to our original feral cat momma.

Kitty Boot Camp: a true cat story tells about some of the behaviors that we observed when we built a house near a colony of feral cats and their offspring. I’ll explain the behavior “kitty boot camp” later.

During the 1990s, we built a home on acreage in a rural subdivision in the California foothills. While working on the initial construction, our builder encountered an apparently vicious cat. She was hiding in the air conditioner ductwork. She bit and scratched the contractor when he tried to pull her out.

Busy as we were, working and commuting to our home and the construction site daily, we forgot our contractor’s cat story. But one day my son heard kittens mewing. A somewhat flattened large box, discarded and not yet hauled to the dumps, lay on the ground . It was in this box that my son found the kittens.

Since it was the rainy time of year, we wanted to rescue the kittens from the storms. Robert suggested the perfect place to shelter them. He lined a small cardboard box, placed the kittens in it and put it under the wraparound porch. The momma cat immediately joined her kittens there. We brought milk and tidbits for momma cat and peeked under the porch sometimes to view them. Momma cat kept her distance from us, at first. Eventually, though, she warmed up to following us around the property when we went on walks.

The wraparound porch sheltered the kittens. It was under the wraparound porch that the feral momma cat revealed the food part of cat culture to us.

A Balance of Nature

At that time, where we lived, there was not an overabundance of cats. Coyotes, mountain lions and other predators roamed there. There were foxes. And there were mice and rodents. The subdivision wasn’t completely built out yet, many lots were empty. The lots themselves were large, up to 5 acres, and some had springs of fresh water. There was a kind of balance of nature. We hadn’t gotten acquainted with the cat as an individual pet, as we later would with her descendants. She was a part of the wild ecosystem that established itself before we moved there.

But I couldn’t resist playing with the kittens and feeding them. The kittens were so friendly and adorable. After a while, I was the “cat lady” of the area. Nearby neighbors often asked for a cat for their own place. Everyone needed a good mouser around their property. Some of our porch kittens, though, stayed, grew up near our house, and had kittens of their own.

This kitten became a valued part of our home.

Although it is hard for an urban dweller to imagine a place where there are not enough cats, cats were in demand in this area at that time. With so many predators thinning out their numbers and many rodents roaming around, cats were valued and useful.

Male Cat Bonding

Two of the cats stayed for years on our property. One cat was the daughter of the original black feral female and the other was a male black cat who apparently was the progenitor of many of the cats in the colony. The old male had a peaceful personality. We would encounter him sitting on a log, just so calmly. We never fed him, he was completely independent and lived off the land. In later years, his grown-up son, who had become somewhat of a pet for us, could be seen sometimes calmly sitting at the old male’s side. For us, this non-confrontational behavior between the elder and younger cat was unbelievable. We didn’t know about what we now call “cat culture”, because we had only ever known city cats, who are often stressed about territory.

Boot Camp for Kittens

A survival aspect of the cat behavior of our “tribe” of cats was what Robert referred to as “kitty boot camp”. The mother cat and her kittens lived in a cloth lined cardboard box on the porch. She nursed them, cleaned them and then went off into the brush for a while to hunt and bring back tidbits for them. When the kittens were about 6 weeks old or so, mother and kittens all disappeared. In about a week they came back.

A vivid memory from those years is of a day when the cat we named Rascal came up out of the brush followed by her nine proud kittens, single file, all with their short fat tails pointing straight up to the sky. The tiniest of them was the last in line. They marched up to the porch and climbed into their “nursery” box. They had successfully returned from a week of “boot camp”, where, we surmised, mother cat taught them to hunt and survive in nature.
The “boot camp” with the kittens was repeated with each litter and was common for all the mother cats and kittens that grew up on the porch.

Arranging the Catch to Entice the Kittens to Eat Solid Food

The first cat we became acquainted with, the feral female, revealed how displaying the catch was part of a cat culture ritual as well. As this was the group of kittens we rescued from the big refrigerator box who sheltered under the porch, we easily observed them. One day Robert went down to peek at the feral cat’s kittens and came rushing up to tell me “you have got to come down right now and see this, she has a kitten cafeteria there!”

I went to see and what I saw was three mice, a couple of lizards and a few large grasshoppers laid carefully in a row from largest to smallest as if an imaginary line marked the bottom of the display. The mother cat had so neatly arranged the catch to display to her kittens, that it looked like a human cafeteria display. The cat’s remarkable natural talents included food arrangement and we were very impressed!

They Moved with Us

When we sold our property we took the cats with us. By then, the tribe had become domestic, tame kitties, ready for city life, vaccinated and “fixed”. There were six of them who moved with us to the city and stayed with us for years. The last to leave us, at the age of 19, was the beautiful Siamese pictured here. She, also, was a descendant of the old, friendly feral black male.

This Siamese cat is actually one of the descendants of the original feral male. — We named this cat Dali. She came with us when we moved from our rural property to the city. At our property, she displayed the same traits as the rest of her relatives described in Kitty Boot Camp. As a city pet she was an honored member of our household.