Santa Cruz Good Times

Saturday
May 25th
Text size
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

International Day of Peace at Autumn Equinox

Tuesday, 18 September 2012 00:00 Risa D’Angeles Columns - Astrology
 E-mail

RisaNewS

As Archangel Michael, the great protector, assumes protection of the Earth, the Sun enters Libra (autumn equinox) and autumn in northern latitudes begins. We are in the midst of the dark half of the year, leading to winter solstice. Libra is the sign of Right Relationships created through intentions for goodwill, the equation that leads to peace. On Friday, inaugurating Libra and the autumn season, the International Day of Peace (IDP), with a Sag Moon (justice, fairness, honesty, integrity), is celebrated.  Established in 1981 at the United Nations and celebrated as the General Assembly opens (third Tuesday of September), the International Day of Peace is a day of cease-fire and nonviolence. All peoples are urged to honor a “cessation of hostilities, creating a day of education and programs concerning the process of peace”. The theme for 2012 is “A Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future.” During the day humanity is asked to reflect upon the grievous physical, emotional, mental, spiritual toll wars take on all kingdoms (mineral, plant, animal, human), affecting all lives well into the future. Wars “rob humanity of opportunities to develop, create jobs, safeguard environments, fight poverty, reduce risk from disasters, advance social equity and ensure everyone a place to live and enough to eat.” War robs humanity of basic human freedoms. The Forces of Materiality, perpetuating war, understand these consequences. There is a Peace Bell set within a cypress-wood Shinto shrine on the grounds of the U.N. Given to the U.N. as a peace symbol in June 1954, the metal is made from coins collected by delegates’ children from 60 nations. When the bell is rung, the International Day of Peace for all nations begins. Visit peace.org/cpiblog.

Esoteric Astrology as news for the week of Sept. 20–26, 2012 for Sun and Rising signs

ariesAries-March 21–April 20

Your natural fiery, risk-taking, initiating, temperamental, independent behaviors will be tempered a bit. Restraint and control will enhance your ability to communicate and act in the world. This is good. Giving you time to observe how relationships are faring, how resources are being handled, and what intelligence you must bring forth next.



taurusTaurus April 21–May 21

Some Taurus people find they are ill, not feeling strong these days. However, strength and new immune resistances begin to develop, helping to eliminate many physical ailments from the past. Diet should be light, eliminative. Old habits and ways of being will be challenged in daily life. Listening deeply to others is the only way harmony will come forth.



geminiGemini May 22–June 20

The focus in your life shifts into acts of creativity. You wonder what your creativity is. Love is your creativity; your very creative act. At first Gemini is focused upon the mental—gathering and dispersing information from and to all sectors of life. Then a calming process begins and love enters all aspects of life. Then wisdom. And your purpose comes forth under astrological watch.



cancerCancer June 21–July 20

You seek to deepen roots with family and connections with friends. You attempt to provide a stable home, constantly looking for ways to nurture and bring forth the best foods and care, needed for the mind, body and spirit of everyone around. Allow yourself no judgments or criticisms. Plan informative meetings with others. Many need your careful observing knowledge.



leoLeo July 21–August 22

You’re proud of your gifts, abilities and accomplishments. You’re often very humble of them. You work hard, and sometimes feel you haven’t done an adequate job. Let me say you always do the best to the point of exhaustion, which comes when you persevere beyond abilities. Remember also there are no mistakes. Do not judge yourself. Ideas from others may come forth. They are valuable.
 


virgoVirgo August 23–September 22

Again the question is what you value. Create a notebook of values. Begin with the letter “A” and end with the letter “Z” and fill in the pages under each letter. Do this for the entire month of Libra. Simultaneously, list under the letters what you have been liberated from and what would make your life more fruitful. In the meantime tend to all financial obligations with gratitude.

 


libraLibra September 23–October 22

The Sun is in your house of self-identity, self-recognition and how you’re seen in the world. You become more sensitive to what pleases (and displeases) you, to needs generally and specifically. In all interactions support and establish a deep rapport of care. Make no demands. Create more beauty. It strengthens your spirit. And inspires others.



scorpioScorpio October 23–November 21

Your depth of focus, research and abilities are only matched by Pisces. You are cautious, yet confident in decisions. Often you must protect yourself and not be daunted by those who oppose you. If questions come your way at this time, be sure to listen carefully and objectively. You can be blind sometimes to certain realities. Expand your ability to carefully listen. Seek to understand others’ realities.

 


saggSagittarius November 22–December 20

You ponder upon what you have gained, experienced and accomplished in the world. Look upon your past with a sense of wonder, continuing to recognize that what we are given is what we actually shared with and gave to others. An ancient maxim says, “When we give much more is given to us so that we may give and give again.” Continue this art of giving. It ensures good fortune.

 


capricornCapricorn December 21–January 20

Review the many aspects of your life. Ask yourself if there is an area (or two) that needs to be transformed, needing to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Perhaps the coals in those ashes are still hot. Does something somewhere need to be rekindled? Is it possibly a level of love or spirituality? It is a good idea to dedicate yourself to the Will-to-Good, which nourishes you first and then everyone else in your life.

 


aquariusAquarius January 21–February 18

You have many ideas concerning humanity. You see humanity’s needs. Your ideal is to bring these ideas forth into form and matter so that humanity’s living can improve. In your personal and professional life you are sensitive to the qualities of fairness, human rights, respect, truth and freedom. You live within this framework. You may begin to travel more. Exercise with fortitude.

 


piscesPisces February 19–March 20

In your personal life, tend to all financial obligations, all bills and debts. Explain when you find this difficult or impossible. Tell the truth. Truth holds us. A transformation is occurring within. A spiritual choice is being made. Don’t give up. Call forth strength and confidence when challenges arise, which they will. Pray for an intervention. Do your yogas—hatha yoga combined with raja yoga. 

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
< Prev   Next >
 

Share this on your social networks

Bookmark and Share

Share this

Bookmark and Share

  • Search

    •  

    Free Angela

    Political activist and UC Santa Cruz Professor Emerita Angela Davis commands the spotlight in a riveting new documentary. PLUS:  UCSC’s Bettina Aptheker opens up about the political upheavals of the ’60s and ’70s—and today. Angela Davis is not a human being who can be easily summed up in several sentences or paragraphs—books maybe, but, even then, capturing the political activist, scholar and author in the most comprehensive light is downright complex. That’s because Davis is an undeniably unique political creature, one who should be seen and heard to be fully absorbed and downloaded. Which is what makes Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, the new documentary about Davis and the turbulent political upheavals she faced during the late-1960s and ’70s, so inviting. In it, filmmaker Shola Lynch marks the 40th anniversary of Davis’ acquittal on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy with a historical vérité style of filmmaking to illuminate a side of Davis few may have seen (or can recall), and captures the events that thrust the woman into one of the most fascinating orbits of notoriety and political intrigue of the 20th century.

     

    No Big Surprises

    The highly anticipated draft Environmental Impact Report for desal is finally out. Will it change anything? 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.
    GTemail_tileTomorow's GTW Today.
    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