Santa Cruz Good Times

Thursday
Jun 20th
Text size
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Demanding Freedom, Liberation & Self-Rule

RisaNewSSeveral festivals occur this week – Friday’s new moon (13 degrees Pisces), Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday (“from dust thou art …”). Also, Lent begins and Mercury enters Aries (preparing for Uranus entering Aries next week—March 11).

Everyone listening to the news knows there are protests occurring in the Mideast and the U.S. It is important to understand that humanity has entered a stage of intellectual development where it is able, for the first time, to aspire toward freedom. Humanity’s task is to be the World Disciple.

Before it can assume this spiritual task it must find its voice and seek freedom and liberation. This revolution esoterically has to do with the “death” of the personality and entering into the Kingdom of the Soul. Humanity, the masses, calling for democracy (self rule), continues to demand liberation in Aquarius.

Humanity is no longer organizing against the different parties, but is standing against the forces of materialism, darkness, obstruction and centralization (autocratic and dictatorial governments, big corporations, banks, the stock market, agro business, etc.). Humanity is building community. It will be done through Revolution as the new archetypes come forth through Uranus in Aries.

We are in Pisces now (month and progressed U.S. Sun), ruled by Neptune, dissolver of all things obstructing humanity’s next developmental. We could call this Neptune time a pre-collapse stage. Before the new era is built, the old archetypes withdraw as the new Aquarian archetypes (freedom, liberation, community) take shape.

Read about the festivals, new moon, Lent, etc. at nightlightnews.com and on Risa’s Esoteric Astrology Facebook page.

Esoteric Astrology as News for the week of Mar 3–9, 2011 For Sun and Rising Signs

ariesAries-March 21–April 20
You are making quick and decisive decisions, planning ahead. There’s little time for pondering. However, ponder you must. For Saturn, the structure-maker, is retrograde and decisions made now should not be implemented until mid June. This is candid and direct information, which you may oppose. If you do, the long run will be frustrating. Use the new thinking that comes from astrological timing.

taurusTaurus
April 21–May 21
Unlike Aries, you take your time making decisions. Your “no” means “give me time to think.” Then no often turns to “yes.” Many don’t realize this about you. Your thinking is never scattered. You like to have fun, be pleasant (due to Venus). However, you are completely realistic, like Capricorn. The world is very real for you and your approach is always practical. You are valuable to many signs, people, friends.

geminiGemini
May 22–June 20
You barely have time to organize. When the archeological digs of papers, books, clothes become too great, they go into a box. Then they’re thrown out. Is this the way things are? Conversations with you are interesting, a sort of philosophical meandering; you’re thinking of other things while conversing. You can be blunt, impatient, direct and indirect, loving and kind. What is the direct route between where you are and the esoteric class?

cancerCancer
June 21–July 20
It’s important to write down, to organize, all impressions. You’re intuitive and telepathic. Impressions contain assistance and information for future endeavors. They help you be more productive. Your word is your honor. You ask others to honor what you say. Are you honorable too? Doubting many things, you seek truth and reality. Here’s a mantram that helps. “Let reality govern my every though and truth be the master of my life.”

leoLeo
July 21–August 22
Someone lovely wants to play this week. Or else a new resource enters your life. Are you being somewhat non-communicative these days? Your mind seems to be locked into a strict pattern of thought. Actually there’s also a simultaneous attempt to break those thought forms, having become crystallized beliefs. This is interesting. The Dweller on the Threshold has arrived.

virgoVirgo
August 23–September 22
You feel more instinctive, able to strategize better. You learn how to eliminate self-criticism able to move toward greater cooperation. You feel a depth of realities and want to share them. But there’s no one of your capacity available. Stand in nature and begin to communicate. Read the Findhorn Garden. Realize we are to cooperate, communicate with the devas to build the new world. This is your realm. Plant corn.

libraLibra
September 23–October 22
There’s a tremendous amount of work expected of you and you roll up your sleeves and each day everything is accomplished and this is good. However, I must ask about your health? Are you able to be consistent with exercise, vitamins and green foods? Chiron is entering your house of health. It’s important to have physical check ups (doctors, dentist, etc.) and to comprehensively overhaul your health regime so you can continue to serve others. Tending to self makes you kind, good and fair to yourself. Unusual.

scorpioScorpio
October 23–November 21
Know that you are useful, your work and research invaluable. You are capable of holding exacting information, both general and detailed. Humbled by your capacities, you are also protective of them. You can be impatient, sometimes quite grumpy when overwhelmed, which can be often. Although you hide away, you’re also grateful for recognition, praise, acknowledgement. You care deeply, but hide it. We see you.

saggSagittarius
November 22–December 20
When speaking, consider speaking with style. What would that mean? With intelligence, no hidden agendas, no sarcasm, no self-criticism (hidden), no seeking acceptance. Speaking with style tells others you have presence of mind, confidence, intellectual abilities and the capacity to love well. It also displays your creativity, extraordinary drama and talent for writing (when you’re in touch) from the heart.

capricornCapricorn
December 21–January 20
You communicate with feeling. Sometimes you’re withdrawn. Your nature is sensitive, personal. You’re free-spirited, too. When people look at you they don’t quite know what they’re seeing. They don’t understand your meditative reflectiveness. Because of your depth people at times think you’re hiding something. We know you’re not. Always you attempt to bring forth balance within a universal rhythm and beat. The angels understand. Dance.

aquariusAquarius
January 21–February 18
Your mind is quick. Sometimes scattered. Because it’s eclectic, filled with facts, knowledge that stimulates and impresses others. You know everyone, picking up bits and pieces of information with lightning speed. You are restless, must keep moving. You are logical and often don’t entertain the emotions of others. Be conservative with your finances this year. Do not ignore your them. Keep them close.


piscesPisces
February 19–March 20
Rely on your senses. Make decisions that are down to earth, not mystical. In the coming days you will provide others with concrete answers and basic concepts that will assist them in real world practical realities. You will teach them to do for themselves, guide them toward an accelerated developmental stage. You will be no nonsense. This will be greatly useful for your sense of identity and self-confidence. Pisces falls to Earth.


Risa is Founder & Director of the Esoteric & Astrological Studies & Research Institute, a contemporary Wisdom School in Santa Cruz, CA.

More at nightlightnews.com. Risa's email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Facebook: Risa's Esoteric Astrology

Comments (0)Add Comment

Write comment
smaller | bigger

busy
 

Share this on your social networks

Bookmark and Share

Share this

Bookmark and Share

 

Silent Dilemma

An inside look at body image and eating disorders. PLUS: Why ‘fat’ is not a feeling. My earliest memory of “feeling fat” was when I was about 12 years old. Up until that time, I was not all that aware of having a body; I was pretty much just in my body, doing the things that kids do. I had not yet learned that I was supposed to look differently than I did. I had not yet downloaded the program that some foods were “good” and others were “bad.” I did not yet have exercise and movement linked up with calorie burning or self-worth.

 

Field to Vase

Open house provides opportunity for residents to meet their local flower growers Valentine’s Day is a high point of the year for those in the cut flower business. So when, one year in the late ’90s, the bouquet-riddled holiday failed to deliver for Kitayama Brothers Farms, the family behind the decades-old rose-growing business knew something was wrong.  “It was the writing on the wall,” recalls Stuart Kitayama, operations manager for the Watsonville-based company. “Those of us who had been hoping things would just get better finally said ‘it’s time to change.’”

 

The Price of Safety

The city's proposed budget addresses public safety needs The City of Santa Cruz’s pocketbook has come a long way since 2009, when an $8 million shortfall loomed. According to City Manager Martin Bernal, the proposed general fund budget for 2013-2014 is healthier than it has been since the beginning of The Great Recession in 2008. Armed with this returning stability, the proposal puts one of the community's top concerns—public safety—front and center.

 

Community Studies 2.0

After a controversial suspension, a new incarnation of the unique UC Santa Cruz major is reinstated The UC Santa Cruz community studies lounge is a great place to have a conversation.  Housed on the second floor of a faculty building in Oakes College, just down the hall from a whiteboard that reads “COMMUNITY STUDIES LIVES,” the room has a big round table, couches and chairs, and shelves stacked with past senior “capstone projects.”

 

North Pacific String Band

Jeff Wilson, who plays banjo for North Pacific String Band, loves being part of original music experiences. “What I like about the music we play is that it’s fairly unique and kind of hard to put your finger on,” Wilson says. “We’re not just trying to do bluegrass or country or folk. It’s a mixture of those things and we try to add in a lot of musicality to all of that.” Originality and musicality aren’t ideas which are limited to the band’s exploits either.

 

Peace in the Middle East

New dance-concert explores Palestinian-Israeli conflict Inspired by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, local choreographer Karl Schaffer’s “Mosaic” is a dance-concert featuring Jewish Diaspora and Arab music from the women’s choral group Zambra, singer Fattah Abbou and a troupe of local dancers. In between rehearsals for the show, which runs June 21-22 at Motion Pacific, Schaffer shared the story behind its creation.

 

Muscle-Bound

Valiant cast battles loud, ugly action for the soul of 'Man of Steel' Early in Man of Steel, fourth-grader Clark, the boy who will be Superman, is cowering in a broom closet at school, eyes screwed shut, hands clapped over his ears. He can't control his super powers: his X-ray vision shows him the skulls and skeletons under everyone's flesh; unfiltered noise—dogs, traffic, heartbeats—assault him from all sides. Rushing to school, his mom kneels outside the door and asks what's wrong.

 

CYNDI

On the eve of Cyndi Lauper’s Mountain Winery gig, we dissect the woman, the icon, the creative beast. Plus: Her thoughts on the music industry, equal rights and those sparkling ‘Kinky Boots’ Few performers possess the kind of fierce, she-bopping tenacity Cyndi Lauper has become famous for. Equal parts free spirit, civil rights activist and Grammy-winner, Lauper is one of the few creative artists able to successfully marry her cutting-edge verve with a heart-of-gold panache. It certainly has helped fuel the remarkable career resurgence she has been experiencing lately.

 

Making the Grade

The quest to identify sources of high levels of bacteria at Cowell Beach continues With straight As on Heal the Bay’s annual “beach report card” for 10 out of 13 Santa Cruz County beaches—Main Beach, Seabright, and even Cowell Beach at the Stairs, to name a few—it would seem that Santa Cruz boasts a high coastal GPA. But in recent years, one Santa Cruz beach just can’t seem to pass: Cowell Beach west of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf.

 

Summer Solstice, Full Moon, Mercury Retros

Early morning Wednesday Mercury, star of communication and conflict, turns stationary retrograde (23 Cancer). We all know by now what not to do. And what to do—through July 19.
Sign up for Tomorrow's Good Times Today
Upcoming arts & events

Latest Comments

 

A Sustainable Culture

The popularity of old world yogurt is surging, and it’s easy to make at home Yogurt is a product of the ages. With a name originating in Turkey and probiotic benefits touted by the health food industry. A fondness for Greek-style yogurt has taken the country by storm, resulting in a tripling of the number of yogurt factories in New York State, and a $2 billion a year industry. What sets this Mediterranean yogurt apart is straining. Other cultures refer to the product as “hung” yogurt. Stirred yogurt is placed in a fine mesh strainer which has been lined with cheesecloth and suspended over a deep container. Watery whey seeps out, resulting in a thicker, denser yogurt with more protein by volume. It makes a lovely base for a stiffer tzatziki cucumber-garlic dip and spread.

 

The Power of Conversation

Local author Cecile Andrews emphasizes importance of community engagement in newest book Cecile Andrews, author of the new book “Living Room Revolution: A Handbook for Conversation, Community and the Common Good,” probably wouldn’t get along too well with Larry David’s character from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, known for hiding his face and avoiding communication with anyone he runs into on the street. Andrews is a longstanding part-time Santa Cruz (part-time Seattle) resident who says something that’s struck her about this town over the years is people's willingness to participate in a practice she’s dubbed the “Stop and Chat”—which is exactly what it sounds like.

 

Is Edward Snowden a patriot or a traitor?

He's a patriot. Anyone who stands up for the rights that we stand for as a country, that is real democracy. That would be in my book—somebody who is a patriot. Leah WeissSanta Cruz | Therapist

 

Best of Santa Cruz County

The 2013 Santa Cruz County Readers' Poll and Critics’ Picks It’s our biggest issue of the year, and in it, your votes—more than 6,500 of them—determined the winners of The Best of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll. New to the long list of local restaurants, shops and other notables that captured your interest: Best Beer Selection, Best Locally Owned Business, Best Customer Service and Best Marijuana Dispensary. In the meantime, many readers were ever so chatty online about potential new categories. Some of the suggestions that stood out: Best Teen Program and Best Web Design/Designer. But what about: Dog Park, Church, Hotel, Local Farm, Therapist (I second that!) or Sports Bar—not to be confused with Bra. Our favorite suggestion: Best Act of Kindness—one reader noted Café Gratitude and the free meals it offered to the Santa Cruz Police Department in the aftermath of recent crimes. Perhaps some of these can be woven into next year’s ballot, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the following pages and take note of our Critics’ Picks, too, beginning on page 91. A big thanks for voting—and for reading—and an even bigger congratulations to all of the winners. Enjoy.  -Greg Archer, EditorBest of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll INDEX | Shops | Food & Drink | Arts & Entertainment | Health & Fitness | Professionals | The Rest |

 

Serene Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

There’s always an upbeat vibe going at MJA’s tasting room on the Westside. On a recent visit, the very sociable owner Marin Artukovich was busy pouring for a roomful of oenophiles having a good time. With the help of staff members, Artukovich makes sure that nobody waits too long to sample his fine wines, while also keeping track of every person’s flight.

 

Paying it Forward

Pianist Benny Green wants jazz’s past to continue to inform its future I can honestly say I’m still learning.” Hearing such an admirable, humble statement from someone like Benny Green—a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and band leader whose 30-plus year career includes performances and recordings with jazz luminaries like Oscar Peterson, Art Blakey and Betty Carter—might be surprising at first. But Green’s insatiable desire to keep learning has served him well. That desire—and his deep love of jazz—is something he wants today’s younger musicians to feel, too.

 

Good Morning Maui

Goodness, righteousness, virtuousness and fairness are some of the four-score English words that attempt to describe the Hawaiian essence of pono, whose use in the state motto translates to “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”

 

Exposed

David Cay Johnston’s new book explains how big companies rob us blind In his late teens David Cay Johnston started to ask questions. “Why do we have these guys in uniforms with guns driving around in cars all day?” “Why is the Santa Cruz County Courthouse being built in such an unusual shape?” He wrote an article, while still living in his hometown of Santa Cruz, proving that the off-kilter courthouse building, which officials had promised would save money, actually cost more than a conventional building.

 

What’s your secret to avoiding the summer swarms?