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!

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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.

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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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

The Houses Keywords

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.

The post Why I look at the houses of the transits first. appeared first on Reflections.

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.

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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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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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.)

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.

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.

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.

The post Yoga in Mt. Shasta appeared first on Reflections.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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.

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