Santa Cruz Good Times

Wednesday
May 22nd
Text size
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Mercury in Scorpio – Don’t Be Cruel

RisaThe Sun and Mercury join forces in Scorpio Thursday - Hermes, the messenger (Mercury) sending information about Scorpio’s Nine Tests to humanity via the Sun.  With Mercury in Scorpio we all become resourceful, determined, fearless, intuitive, quite witty, investigative, profound and filled with desires, however secretly and with great mystery. We may go into hiding, display suspicion and skepticism, stubbornness, determination and be emotionally on edge. Scorpio presents an interesting mix of depth-psychology behaviors. Research is best during Mercury in Scorpio. We’ll all be deeply searching for something seeking the heart of all matters. When we find what we’re searching for we’ll “capture” it and make it our own. Our intelligence becomes highly instinctive, and we’ll learn how to strategize. There is a warning with Mercury in Scorpio. That we do not harshly criticize and judge, opinionate or insinuate for Mercury’s communication while in Scorpio could destroy due to its power, force, passion and intensity. Mercury in Scorpio can also be vindictive. Intrigue, hidden motives, and mysteries may appear. We must ask if they are real or mental illusions. We will challenge others and be challenged in return. Everyone may begin to wear black and sales of sunglasses will skyrocket. We are to remember Elvis’ (Jupiter in Scorpio) song “Don’t be Cruel.”

Friday is the feast day of St. Nicholas. Saturday is Richard Stockton’s comedy show, Planet Cruz, 8:00, Kuumbwa www.planetcruz.org/).

Wednesday is Veterans or Remembrance Day. We honor those who served our country and our planet. We pray for them in gratitude. (More on Mercury esoterically www.nightlightnews.com)

ARIES (March 21-April 20) Everything in the introduction applies to you because Mercury in Scorpio is presently moving through your natural Scorpio house. I suggest you read it carefully, underline what’s curious and make intentions to observe your life within this context. One could say you’ve become a Scorpio for a while. This is actually good for you. Scorpio gives you needed depth.

TAURUS
(April 21-May 21) You move into full strategic mode, seeking all ways to transform and reorient both yourself and others. Resources are assessed and you wisely use, disperse and then multiply them over and over. Saturn in Libra has just moved into your house of health and service. We already know you’re serving. It’s your health you must be concerned with. Water, sleep, vitamins, green drinks, sunshine, prayer.

GEMINI
(May 22-June 20)Now is the time to share with others your early life, its ups and down and the vicissitudes of family life. I will assume there was much chaos creating within you how to self balance and understanding life in the midst of disorder. What were the good messages and what were the not-so-good? Understand early lives condition adult lives till we reorient and transform ourselves. This is our job and everyone’s task. Speaking up now.

CANCER
(June 21-July 20) Are you nurturing others and in turn nurturing self? Where do you belong and what is the present state of where you live? What is your creative outlet? Do you have one and is that being nurtured? Many in-depth questions must be asked so you don’t become unsettled psychologically, emotionally, physically or mentally. As you seek a sense of purpose, have the intention to become organized in all areas of your life. This leads to creativity.

LEO (July 21-Aug. 22) You will recognize how deeply your mind is held by emotional patterns created when just a child leading you into developing a great imagination, intuition and a depository of knowledge unequalled by most. This is good until you fall into introversion (and at times gloom) not allowing you exit. Here you dream and built castles in the air. You’re like Persephone but you eat apples instead of pomegranites. Invite others to eat apples with you.

VIRGO
(Aug. 23-Sept. 22) There is such a great aspiration to fix things, to help and to heal others, to serve, to offer assistance and to provide necessary information when things go awry. All thoughts in the coming month may turn inward. You may create a secret room or sanctuary, dream of a secret garden with a secret door. It would be good to actually begin to manifest this, making it a goal for the coming year. What would it look like? What would it hold?

LIBRA
(Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Participation in various arts would elevate concentration and stimulate imagination. Socialibility, friendship and affection should be linked to your spirituality, music, the arts. Actually as leader among your friends, inviting them to participate with you in these endeavors would enliven their minds, open their hearts, and expand their vision and futures. The practical and financial aren’t far behind either in terms of your material success. Try to not
be irritable.

SCORPIO
(Oct. 23-Nov. 21) In the weeks to come you will shift and change, becoming quick-witted and decisive, outgoing, talkative, group and idea oriented. This lasts for just a bit of time so take advantage of it entering groups that inspire like Transition Town, sustainability, food, gardening and permaculture groups. You may travel having energy to explore realities not often available. You’ll bring home what you learned. Share it with everyone. Then begin to build.

SAGITTARIUS
(Nov. 22-Dec. 20) The days find you very sensitive, intuitive, imaginative. Self confidence slips into hiding. You find and feel your way into different realms that don’t include simply reasoning out reality. Your internal self is very powerful, calling you to music, art and poetry. Not necessarily to your usual skills but to others so you may learn more and prepare for later more expansive and unrestrained creations. You’re being retrained in hidden areas. Remain in seclusion.

CAPRICORN
(Dec. 21-Jan. 20) Maintain your directness of communication and truth-telling. Know that what you seek is what everyone needs but you must bring it into form and matter. You’re the builder. Perhaps you are not aware of your position of authority. The climbing of that ladder occurred due to you intellectual capacities along with your ability to observe, assess and to, most importantly, love. Your chosen field is yet to find you. Carry on wherever you are with poise.

AQUARIUS
(Jan. 21-Feb. 18) The next weeks will reveal to you different abilities than experienced before. You will become methodical and practical, organized, reasoned and, surprisingly patient. Most important for you is learning something new or traveling which creates a new reality where learning happens. You will think of the many ways and paths toward success. You might need to some stronger shoes for that endeavor.

PISCES
(Feb.19-March 20) You will seek honesty in the coming weeks and will experience perhaps a bit of shock when the opposite appears. Notice that you will change a lot, studying multiple subjects yet not staying too long with one. You will speak the truth and find a neutral tone in which to convey difficult information. This is a sign of authority, rightly placed, where the mind and heart are balanced. Whatever you choose there is success. You must call in strength, though, to withstand.

Comments (0)Add Comment

Write comment
smaller | bigger

busy
 

Share this on your social networks

Bookmark and Share

Share this

Bookmark and Share

  • Search
  •  

    No Big Surprises

    The highly anticipated draft Environmental Impact Report for desal is finally out. Will it change anything? By Elizabeth Limbach When scwd2, the group pursuing the proposed joint desalination plant for the Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District, set up a booth at the Santa Cruz Earth Day festival in 2012, its reception was less than warm. Signature gathering for Measure P, the “right to vote” on desal ballot measure, was in full swing, as were tensions over the controversial project, which would produce up to 2.5 million gallons per day of desalinated water and cost an estimated $100 million. What were representatives of an energy-intensive desal plant doing among the recycling and conservation booths? That was the attitude Melanie Mow Schumacher, public outreach coordinator for scwd2 (pronounced “squid squared”), remembers sensing.

     

    The Maya-Ixil Move Forward

    Local nonprofit works to educate and create opportunity for indigenous communities in Guatemala In an isolated region of the Guatemala mountains called Ixil, the indigenous Maya population was devastated by a civil war between the government and leftist guerrilla factions that spanned 1960 to 1996. During that 36-year war, the Guatemalan military eradicated entire Mayan communities. In what amounted to genocide, soldiers burned Mayan farmlands and homes, raped and tortured the people, and scattered families. By the end of the war, 200,000 Mayans had been killed, 7,000 of whom were Maya-Ixil.

     

    Public Thinking

    Watsonville teens host TEDx event Santa Cruz County is no stranger to the TED brand. TED—which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design—talks have come to the area through independently organized events 10 times since 2011. This month, the gathering returns to the county with a new twist, thanks to the Watsonville Youth City Council. TEDxYouth@Watsonville, which will take place Sunday, May 19 at the Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville, will feature only speakers younger than 19 years old and will traverse topics from racial stereotypes and renewable energy to traditional Mexican dance.

     

    Transoceana

    Danny Moriarty’s musical influences have been known to impact his life beyond his local rock band, Transoceana. “I went through two periods,” confesses the singer, guitarist and songwriter. “I borrowed Bono’s mullet look from the ’80s for a while, and then I dressed like I was from the ’70s and had big hair like Jimmy Page.” Bono and Page are also symbolic of Transoceana’s evolution as a band during their three years together.

     

    Cruzin’ for Inspiration

    Former resident pays homage to Santa Cruz with locally shot thesis film When he left Santa Cruz for the University of Southern California’s graduate film program in 2010, Christopher Guerrero had completed the film major at UC Santa Cruz in 2008 and worked on campus in the film and digital media department. It wasn’t until he headed south, that Guerrero began to reminisce about the coastal town. “It was really really hard when I moved to L.A., to acclimate and find friends,” he says, adding that—counter to the philosophical, conversational culture of Santa Cruz—he found nowhere in his new town where he could simply sit and talk about life with someone. “I didn’t really realize why I love [Santa Cruz] so much until it was gone.”

     

    Beck to the Future

    In celebration of Beck’s solo acoustic show at The Rio, GT explores Song Reader, the alternative rock icon’s most ambitious interactive art piece yet. Here’s an odd little paradox of the digital revolution: The more sophisticated our technology gets, the more our musical milieu begins to resemble that of a bygone era, when song ideas were passed around from musician to musician, perpetually taking on new twists. Dozens of different YouTube users might try their hand at setting somebody’s rant about cats or double rainbows to music, or you might hear the Belgian musician Gotye turning the many and varied covers of his song “Somebody That I Used to Know” into a virtual orchestra (see below).

     

    Growing Berries Without Bromide

    Researchers test a new alternative to a controversial chemical The scarecrows perched in Santa Cruz strawberry fields do little to scare away the birds, much less the insects and fungi harbored in the soil. Everything likes to eat strawberries, which makes growing them a risky business. This predicament led UC Santa Cruz professor Carol Shennan to take an unconventional approach to pest management. Nine years ago, the fatal plant disease Verticillium wilt was wiping out strawberry plants at the university farm. Chemicals hardly phase the pathogen, and Shennan saw little improvement with crop rotation, which is typically used to treat infested fields. A visiting plant pathologist from the Netherlands recommended a little-known organic technique called anaerobic soil disinfestation, and, with so few other options, Shennan decided to give it a try. 

     

    Uniting All That Has Been Separated

     

    Legal Battles Drag On

    More than a year after the 75 River St. occupation, four defendants remain embroiled in ongoing case  More than a year and a half since a group occupied the former Wells Fargo building on River Street in an act of protest, felony charges linger on for four of the original defendants and a trial may be imminent. Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, Brent Adams, Cameron Laurendeau and Franklin Alcantara were scheduled to begin trial May 13 in connection with the late 2011 protest. That trial now has been pushed back to September due to scheduling conflicts. The four face a felony charge of vandalism and a misdemeanor for trespassing.

     

    Bringing the Message Home

    Former mayor and UCSC student recap their experiences at the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women While traveling to New York for the 57th United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), seasoned local activist Jane Weed-Pomerantz had a notion of what to expect. But, with the vast scope of worldwide women’s rights violations presented at the commission, she knew she would still be taken aback at times. “I was worried because I had a feeling I would be finding out what I did find out about women and girls in the world,” says Weed-Pomerantz. “I was trying to brace myself for the knowledge of the reality, because we are really very protected in this country.”
    Sign up for Tomorrow's Good Times Today
    Upcoming arts & events

    Latest Comments

     

    The Pleasure of Süda

    Süda is a happening place. As my friend Jan and I were enjoying dinner, every table in the restaurant filled up and nearly all the outdoor seating was occupied as well. Located in the Pleasure Point area, Süda is a magnet for just about everybody hanging out in that neck of the woods.

     

    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.

     

    What do you know about Monsanto?

    Santa Cruz | Self Employed  

     

    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 |

     

    Poetic Cellars

    Poetic Cellars makes the most romantic wines. With a verse or two of beautiful poetry on every label, mostly poems of love and romance, this is the perfect wine to open up over dinner with your sweetheart. I particularly love winemaker Katy Lovell’s Syrah ($28) with its voluptuous velvety textures and dark fruit flavors.

     

    The Gypsy

    French-born jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée lives for musical freedom and improvisation Cyrille Aimée is a musical gypsy. Her sound incorporates elements of Latin American, American, Brazilian and other styles of jazz, she has recorded albums as a duet with Diego Figueiredo, she currently performs with the Surreal (same pronunciation as her first name) Band, and she is working on a new album with yet another band. As it happens, Aimée can actually blame gypsies for her love of jazz. “I grew up in Samois-sur-Seine, which is a little town in France where Django Reinhardt used to live,” she says. “Every year they have the Django Festival in his honor, and so gypsies from all parts of Europe come and honor him and play guitar. I started hanging out with the gypsies and became obsessed with their music, their way of living, their freedom. What drew me to jazz music was the freedom of it, all the improvisation, and the fact that it’s a style of music that is constantly changing.”

     

    May Day in the Alps

    When my daughter returns to Santa Cruz from her new home in Los Angeles, she comments on how quiet it is here. It was even more so during a trip to Ben Lomond, when we set out for a sample of her second favorite macaroni and cheese. Sitting at the front of the Tyrolean Inn restaurant, the green tarp with plastic windows kept out the chill as well as the noise of an occasional passing car. A new draft beer celebrating the German spring, Maibok ($6) was refreshing, served in a hefty glass stein, but specialty cocktails are unique as well.

     

    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 are you a total sucker for?

    A cold beer after a long bike ride, gossip, and fighting over politics. Kyle McKinley Santa Cruz | Lecturer